From The Blog
-
ConnectWise Slash and Grab Flaw Once Again Shows the Value of Input Validation We talk to Huntress About its Impact
Written by Sean KalinichAlthough the news of the infamous ConnectWise flaw which allowed for the creation of admin accounts is a bit cold, it still is one that…Written on Tuesday, 19 March 2024 12:44 in Security Talk Read 596 times Read more...
-
Social Manipulation as a Service – When the Bots on Twitter get their Check marks
Written by Sean KalinichWhen I started DecryptedTech it was to counter all the crap marketing I saw from component makers. I wanted to prove people with a clean…Written on Monday, 04 March 2024 16:17 in Editorials Read 1501 times Read more...
-
To Release or not to Release a PoC or OST That is the Question
Written by Sean KalinichThere is (and always has been) a debate about the ethics and impact of the release of Proof-of-Concept Exploit for an identified vulnerability and Open-Source…Written on Monday, 26 February 2024 13:05 in Security Talk Read 1055 times Read more...
-
There was an Important Lesson Learned in the LockBit Takedown and it was Not About Threat Groups
Written by Sean KalinichIn what could be called a fantastic move, global law enforcement agencies attacked and took down LockBit’s infrastructure. The day of the event was filled…Written on Thursday, 22 February 2024 12:20 in Security Talk Read 903 times Read more...
-
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 2077 times Read more...
-
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 1789 times Read more...
-
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 2061 times Read more...
-
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 2049 times Read more...
-
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 1821 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.
Most Read
- Microsoft Fail - Start Button Back in Windows 8.1 But No Start Menu Written on Thursday, 30 May 2013 15:33 in News Be the first to comment! Read 116468 times Read more...
- We take a look at the NETGEAR ProSafe WNDAP360 Dual-Band Wireless Access Point Written on Saturday, 07 April 2012 00:17 in Pro Storage and Networking Be the first to comment! Read 87370 times Read more...
- Synology DS1512+ Five-Bay NAS Performance Review Written on Tuesday, 12 June 2012 20:31 in Pro Storage and Networking Be the first to comment! Read 81921 times Read more...
- Gigabyte G1.Sniper M3 Design And Feature Review Written on Sunday, 19 August 2012 22:35 in Enthusiast Motherboards Be the first to comment! Read 80247 times Read more...
- The Asus P8Z77-M Pro Brings Exceptional Performance and Value to the Lab Written on Monday, 23 April 2012 13:02 in Consumer Motherboards Be the first to comment! Read 70874 times Read more...
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.
Services
DecryptedTech provides a variety of consulting services geared towards any sized business. As DecryptedTech is a context aware service we can quickly adapt to your needs and scale well across multiple verticals. We work to make operationalizing your IT infrastructure and security easy to manage and maintain.
Contact us for more information about our Consulting Services
DecryptedTech offers something different: context-aware service. We work to understand not only what you are looking for and need, but also how these items impact your business. It is no longer enough to just buy or install a service or product. The product must work well within your environment and culture.
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).
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.
More...
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.
.NET Packer, DTPacker Acts Like a Packer and Downloader with an Odd Password
Written by Sean Kalinich
Malware delivery and distribution techniques always changing. As blue teams develop an understanding of one type of attack, the attackers shift to something different. Security researchers and security teams follow (or should follow) these methods so they can shift defensive tactics and software to meet the new challenge. This brings us to our topic for today. Researchers over at Proofpoint have identified an unusual packer called DTPacker, a .NET packer that not only obfuscates the payload that it is delivering but can act as both a runtime packer (a self-executing archive) as well as a downloader. This is unusual all on its own, but there are other factors that have been observed in this packer that make it the odd person out.