New Apps Allow Retrieval of Deleted Message for Users of WhatsApp on Android
Written by Sean Kalinich
WhatsApp is one of a group of relatively secure messaging services available to both iPhone and Android users. WhatsApp states that it supports full end-to-end encryption, secure deletion of messages (by the sender and receiver) as well as the option to setup disappearing messages. It can also be set to block screen shots of chats which is nice when you want to keep your conversation private.
Direct Carrier Billing Scam Apps Nab 105 Million Users on Mobile Devices
Written by Sean Kalinich
Scammers and threat groups are nothing if not creative. They have time and quite a bit of talent on their hands to figure out ways around security features and gateways to get what they want. Take the recent discovery of Dark Hearing; this lovely mobile malware/scam gem was discovered by Zimnperium and was inserted into several seemingly benign apps. These apps were pushed to Google Play where they were downloaded by hundreds of millions of people.
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MFA App on Google Play Store Used to Install Banking Malware
Written by Sean Kalinich
Mobile device security is not where is should be. There is just no way around this fact. The vas majority of people simple download and install an app on their phone or tablet thinking that they are not going to get something nasty. They never review the permissions that new app is asking for or what those permissions might allow it to do. Now it seems that clever threat actors have slipped a malware into a Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) App.
Security Awareness Training Versus Security Culture Building
Written by Sean Kalinich
We have all opened our emails and seen the message “you have annual security awareness training assigned”. This message is one that usually elicits eye-rolls and groans of frustration. Who wouldn’t be annoyed? After all, these trainings are simplistic, boring and they take time out of your day to get done. They also tend to have little to no effect on user security practices. Running phishing and social engineering tests in an environment will almost certainly yield the same groups of people.
Yesterday Apple released several patches for their different operating systems. One that we have talked about before is a core bug in Apple’s WebKit based Safari. This bug could potentially leak personal information regardless of the privacy settings you had enabled. In macOS you could always change to another browser that was not WebKit based. On iOS, iPadOS, watchOS and other app store locked devices there was no option as Apple requires every browser to use WebKit for its render engine.
Meta works to add security to messenger that should have been there
Written by Sean Kalinich
Metabook has announced some new security features in their messenger app and platform. Many of these are items that competing SMS/MMS applications and services already have, but Meta knows that they need are now facing some solid competition, so they are finally getting around to these. Of course, this does not mean that people are going to flow back to Meta Messenger. None the less, it is good to see these show up.
What’s in a name? Well, quite a bit really. The name of something can be the make or break for a product in many instances. When Facebook decided to rebrand themselves as Meta, most people though it was both presumptuous and rather funny. The ego behind a move like that as well as the “wannabe” feel to it (remember when Google changed their parent company name to ABC?) had the memes flowing.
Phishing Campaign Leverages New Technique to Evade Detection
Written by Sean Kalinich
Researchers at Morphisec have detailed a new delivery type for AsyncRAT (Remote Access Trojan) used in part of a phishing campaign that has been running since at least September 2021. The phishing part of the campaign is routine, an email with an HTML attachment. The attachment looks like a receipt. When opened, the victim is directed to a webpage that asked them to save a file (an ISO file). On the surface it looks like it would be a regular file download that will go through common security channels. However, things turn out not to be what they expected (read that in Morgan Freeman’s voice).
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IAG Prophet Spider Targeting VMWare Horizon Servers Via Log4J Vulnerability
Written by Sean Kalinich
A shell for me, a shell for you, a shell for everybody in the room. If you have not heard about Log4J and the associated vulnerabilities in versions between 2.0 and 2.16 you might have not been near a computer in quite a while. This Remote Code Execution vulnerability that has several CVEs (common vulnerabilities and exploits) associated with it is commonly lumped into the term Log4Shell. Log4J itself is a Java based Apache logging framework that is in widespread usage in many applications. The list of impacted applications is not, and may never be, known. Many vendors have release complex mitigation steps and patches, but many devices are not getting patched (nothing surprising here). This has allowed this vulnerability to become quickly weaponized and used in targeted attacks.
Bug in Safari Used in Watering Hole attack on macOS devices in Asia.
Written by Sean Kalinich
When you are hunting, finding out where your target frequents and laying in wait is an often-used tactic. If your information is good, you are going to have a successful hunt. The same is true in cybersecurity, both from an attacker and researcher perspective. These attacks are called watering hole attacks. You are looking for your intended target to come and “take a drink” so you can spring your trap.
12 Year Old Linux vulnerability Allows Root on Every Major Linux Flavor
Written by Sean Kalinich
A newly released CVE (common vulnerabilities and exposures) CVE-2021-4034 for Linux has identified a vulnerability in PolKit’s (formerly PolicyKit) pkexe that exists in very major release of Linux. The vulnerability known as PwnKit can be exploited to gain full root on a target system. The flaw, according to researchers has also been present for more than 12 years.
NFTs become part of scams as they rise in popularity but remain misunderstood.
Written by Sean Kalinich
The NFT or Non-Fungible Token is becoming a rather big deal in circles where blockchain and cryptocurrency are popular. The NFT, as designed, is supposed to represent ownership, or the chain of ownership back to the original creator. However, as nothing really changes hands it is not much more than a list in a distributed database. NFT themselves are neither a good thing nor bad thing. They just are, but they can be and have been used as parts of scams. They have also turned out to be not exactly what the buyer thought when they dumped a ton of cash on buying or creating one.