From The Blog
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NetSPI’s Offensive Security Offering Leverages Subject Matter Experts to Enhance Pen Testing
Written by Sean KalinichBlack Hat 2023 Las Vegas. The term offensive security has always been an interesting one for me. On the surface is brings to mind reaching…Written on Tuesday, 12 September 2023 17:05 in Security Talk Read 1248 times Read more...
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Black Kite Looks to Offer a Better View of Risk in a Rapidly Changing Threat Landscape
Written by Sean KalinichBlack Hat 2023 – Las Vegas. Risk is an interesting subject and has many different meanings to many different people. For the most part Risk…Written on Tuesday, 12 September 2023 14:56 in Security Talk Read 755 times Read more...
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Microsoft Finally Reveals how they Believe a Consumer Signing Key was Stollen
Written by Sean KalinichIn May of 2023 a few sensitive accounts reported to Microsoft that their environments appeared to be compromised. Due to the nature of these accounts,…Written on Thursday, 07 September 2023 14:40 in Security Talk Read 1135 times Read more...
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Mandiant Releases a Detailed Look at the Campaign Targeting Barracuda Email Security Gateways, I Take a Look at What this all Might Mean
Written by Sean KalinichThe recent attack that leveraged a 0-Day vulnerability to compromise a number of Barracuda Email Security Gateway appliances (physical and virtual, but not cloud) was…Written on Wednesday, 30 August 2023 16:09 in Security Talk Read 923 times Read more...
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Threat Groups Return to Targeting Developers in Recent Software Supply Chain Attacks
Written by Sean KalinichThere is a topic of conversation that really needs to be talked about in the open. It is the danger of developer systems (personal and…Written on Wednesday, 30 August 2023 13:29 in Security Talk Read 994 times Read more...
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Leaked Data from Duolingo incident Shows US is most Impacted
Written by Sean KalinichDuolingo, is a language learning site (not to be confused with an LLM) and has a very large base of users. The site is a…Written on Tuesday, 29 August 2023 19:12 in Security Talk Read 1407 times Read more...
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We talk about the Ransomware Threat Landscape with SecureWorks at Black Hat 2023
Written by Sean KalinichBlack Hat 2023 – Las Vegas, NV – One of my personal focuses is understanding the “Why” behind changes in the threat landscape. In simple…Written on Tuesday, 29 August 2023 18:26 in Security Talk Read 1002 times Read more...
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Now Patched Flaw Leverages Abandoned Reply URL found in Entra ID allows for Privilege Escalation
Written by Sean KalinichMicrosoft has not been having the greatest of months. First it was identified that a stollen MSA signing key was used by a Nation State…Written on Monday, 28 August 2023 15:39 in Security Talk Read 1629 times Read more...
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Qrypt Looking to Attack the Inefficiencies in Quantum Encryption to make Quantum Secure Communication a Reality Today
Written by Sean KalinichBlack Hat 2023, Las Vegas – At Black Hat one of my favorite things to do is see what the latest buzzword(s)/phrases are. One of…Written on Monday, 28 August 2023 12:53 in Security Talk Read 1120 times Read more...
Recent Comments
- Sean, this is a fantastic review of a beautiful game. I do agree with you… Written by Jacob 2023-05-19 14:17:50 Jedi Survivor – The Quick, Dirty, and Limited Spoilers Review
- Great post. Very interesting read but is the reality we are currently facing. Written by JP 2023-05-03 02:33:53 The Dangers of AI; I Think I Have Seen this Movie Before
- I was wondering if you have tested the microphone audio frequency for the Asus HS-1000W? Written by Maciej 2020-12-18 14:09:33 Asus HS-1000W wireless headset impresses us in the lab
- Thanks for review. I appreciate hearing from a real pro as opposed to the blogger… Written by Keith 2019-06-18 04:22:36 The Red Hydrogen One, Possibly One of the Most “misunderstood” Phones Out
- Have yet to see the real impact but in the consumer segment, ryzen series are… Written by sushant 2018-12-23 10:12:12 AMD’s 11-year journey to relevance gets an epic finish.
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1, 2, 3, 4… I Think I see a Hacker War. Just as Anonymous Declares Cyberwar on Russia, Conti Declares Cyberwar Back
Written by Sean KalinichThe Russian invasion of Ukraine has given an insight into how modern warfare is carried out on a strategic level. We have seen how Russia used malware and specific cyber attacks to interrupt communications and to potentially wipe critical data. We have seen new methods to disrupt this these attacks. We have also seen a new shift in modern warfare, the rise of the cyber partisan. In typical wars commanders on both side account for local resistance and partisan groups that can have an impact on battles and logistics. These are usually small groups of armed civilians (sometimes with government support), but now they have moved behind the keyboard.
More Banking Malware Slips by the Protections in the Google Play Store, Meet TeaBot
Written by Sean KalinichBanking malware for mobile devices is on the rise thanks to the ubiquitous use of mobile apps for personal financial tracking and transactions. This move was almost certain to attract threat actors like a moth to a porchlight. When given the gloriously poor state of mobile anti-malware and protection it is no wonder there are so many flavors of this popping up. What is even more disappointing, is the fact that we are seeing the malware packages pushed out through legitimate app stores.
Microsoft Says that Reset My PC Option Does not Work as Expected Due to a Bug
Written by Sean KalinichIt seems that Microsoft shares an issue that is a bit like one that can happen in mobile devices. When you reset your device on an Android Device and you have accounts that sync data with their own internal folders, there can be lingering information even after a reset of the device. Although not as prevalent as it once was, the advice was and still is, to remove all accounts before beginning the reset process. This is so that there is no data left behind after a reset. This same issue has popped up in Windows 10.
High Fraudulent Transaction Rates Combined with Volatility Led to Steam Dropping Crypto as a Payment Form in 2017
Written by Sean KalinichAs the Steam Deck is starting to get to people that have ordered them questions about Steam’s place in Web3 and recent moves around NFTs come up in conversation. Steam, Valve’s distribution arm has been seen as a one of the more cutting-edge services, with founder Gabe Newell once having a following like Elon Musk (at least in the gaming world). However, despite this perception they have never really been completely onboard with Crypto and the trappings of Web3.
Elon Musk Brings Starlink Internet to Ukraine as Russian Invasion Continues
Written by Sean KalinichWarfare has changed little over its centuries of existence. The tools have changes, the arenas have moved from two dimensions to 3, but the concepts and execution area basically the same. You need to not only assault and occupy ground, but you must stop organized response of whoever you are attacking or defending from. If you can successfully confuse or disrupt their attack/defense, then you gain a tactical advantage on the battlefield. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine this was very clear as the country was hit with multiple cyber attacks prior to the ground assault.
Research shows that Meta is not Ready for the Metaverse.
Written by Sean KalinichLast year a group call Centre for Countering Digital Hate reviewed interactions in the Metaverse. The results of their checkup were not encouraging as they encountered 100 potential violations of Meta’s policies in the span of only 11.5 hours. The focus was on the VRChat app, one of the apps you can pickup from the Meta VR App store. They recorded interactions in the chat app as part of their study.
Companies Prepare for Attacks as Sanctions Hit and as Russia is Blocked from SWIFT Banking System over Ukraine Invasion
Written by Sean KalinichUS and other Western Organizations are preparing for potential cyber attacks from Russia, especially banks after a new wave of sanctions went into effect that included blocking the banks from the SWIFT system and freezing Russian assets. The goal of these moves is to make it difficult for Russia to continue with their invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions have also had an unintended effect on the citizens in Russia as they rush to pull money out of the banks before they lose access.
Malware Found in Microsoft Store Gaming Apps Could Hijack Social Media Accounts
Written by Sean KalinichApp Stores have been around for a while and pretty much everyone has one. Although they started off in the mobile device world, they quickly were bolted on to the other areas. As their usage has grown attackers have found them to be a very valuable resource as well. We have seen poisoned apps across just about every platform and the sophistication of them is increasing as well.
Microsoft Preps to Remove WMIC from Windows 11 and Remove an Attack Vector
Written by Sean KalinichWMIC or the Windows Management Instrumentation Command line is a very powerful tool. It can allow an administrator or an attacker a lot of control over a system. Because of the number of times that WMIC has been abused to take control of/or compromise a system Microsoft has been testing the removal of the WMIC component of WMI. Different sources have reported that WMIC as a commend no longer works in development builds, but the WMI process is still running on the device.
Vulnerabilities Disclosed in Cisco NX-OS that Could Allow Arbitrary Code Execution
Written by Sean KalinichCisco has announced that a series of vulnerabilities along with the associated patches that go with them for some of the Nexus Series Switches based on NX-OS. Cisco’s NX-OS is the heart of their data center line of switches like the Nexus 3k, 5500 and 5600, as well as the 6k and 9k series. These switches are often deployed inside large data centers or used as core switches for data and storage networks. Because of this large and critical deployment footprint the new flaw (tracked as CVE-2022-20650) is a rather dangerous one.
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Trickbot Shuttering its Infrastructure as it moves to New Methods and Malware
Written by Sean KalinichIt looks like the group behind Trickbot, the Swiss Army Knife of Malware as service for Windows is shutting down the framework and infrastructure behind the “solution”. According to research groups that have been tracking the campaign the disappearance there are several factors that have led up to this. One of the most recent changes appears to be a shift in efforts to a new malware format and potentially being “acquired” by another malware operator.
IRS backs off Collecting Biometric Data as part of ID.me Account Creation
Written by Sean KalinichID.me, the private identification verification company, has become a popular go-to when it comes to governmental services. We have seen it put in play at the local, state, and federal level. The idea is to have a source of truth for someone’s identity that can be used across multiple platforms. The reality is very different as it seems you need to have a different ID.me account for different services depending on the email address used. It also seems to be going well beyond normal methods of verification as we have seen multiple state and federal agencies begin collecting biometric data through the service.
Vulnerabilities, Phishing, and More allow Attackers to Compromise web3 services including OpenSea and Steal $1.7 Million in virtual assets
Written by Sean KalinichWe have another Web3 article today. This one covers a new NFT marketplace compromise though the use of phishing emails that tricked users into singing over their digital assets to an, as of yet, unknown attacker.
Unpatched and Unprotected Microsoft SQL Servers Targeted for Cobalt Strike Injection
Written by Sean KalinichIt seems that there are still some MS SQL servers that are not only exposed to the open internet but are also still using weak passwords. When this is combined with vulnerabilities and the lack of other security controls and monitoring, it allows threat actors to compromise them. This is the case in a recently observed campaign where the attackers are targeting exposed MS SQL servers and injecting Cobalt Strike.