From The Blog
-
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 711 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 348 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 700 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 515 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 643 times Read more...
-
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 1064 times Read more...
-
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 573 times Read more...
-
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 1290 times Read more...
-
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 787 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 115430 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 85199 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 79535 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 78507 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 68346 times Read more...
Apple Rolling out a Feature that Lets Your iPhone Sound Just Like You, What Could Go Wrong
Written by Sean KalinichI’ll take stupid features for $500 Alex. It seems that Apple is looking to deploy a feature that would allow your phone to sound and reply just like you do. The feature called “Personal Voice” uses a form of AI to replicate the sound and speech pattern of your voice in as little as 15 minutes (queue GEICO joke here). The feature is part of an update to their built-in accessibility features toolkit and on the surface is intended to help people that have speech challenges. Personal Voice can be used for in-person conversations and via phone calls. This feature will be tied to something called Live Speech which allows someone to type in messages and have them spoken by your phone.
Microsoft Stops Pushing Defender Update That Hid a Bug Due to Bugs
Written by Sean KalinichOver the last few months Windows 11 users have dealt with an annoying bug in Windows Defender. The bug was a continuous restart prompt to “enable” LSA protection. The problem is that LSA was enabled the whole time. The system just did not acknowledge that his was complete and had a flag requiring a reboot to finish the configuration. To combat this Microsoft pushed out a patch that was really little more than removing the reboot flag from the registry.
Fake ChatGPT and Midjourney Sites used in Cyber-Attacks *** Updated ***
Written by Sean KalinichIt was only a matter of time before something like this happened. As services like ChatGPT, Midjourney, Bard and other “AI” platform we viral, threat actors were bound to start trying to get in on the action. ChatGPT and Midjourney were easy targets for this as neither has a standalone app yet. To use them you have to get to their online presence; ChatGPT’s website or Midjourney’s Discord. This gap allowed the threat group known as BatLoader to start impersonating both of them via cleverly crafted Google search ads.
Inside a Ransomware as a Service Operation Shows How Simple and Profitable This can Be
Written by Sean KalinichAs part of our ongoing (really never ending) series on modern ransomware, we are taking a look at a recent study of one Ransomware as a Service operation. In this case the look is at the Qilin scheme which was brought to light by Group-IB. They were able to infiltrate the group through a conversation with a recruiter (nothing like being invited in). The cybersecurity firm started their inside look in March of 2023 and what they found was eye opening. It shows that RaaS clearly pays well and that services like this make things easy and profitable for people looking to get in on the “fun” but might not have the skill set or infrastructure to do it on their own.
Steam Brings Their Own Version of the Short Attention Span Review
Written by Sean KalinichWhen DecryptedTech was much more hardware and gaming focused we used to have a review style called Short Attention Span. It was a very quick 90-minute test of a game which included first launch, general configuration and any game play that could be accomplished inside a 90-minute window. If the game could capture our attention, we noted it and it got a follow on review. If it did not, usually there was no further mention of it unless we had a direct request for a more complete review. To me the 90-minute window was enough to get a good understanding of how a game worked, what hurdles to actual play time there were and if I would like it or not. It was very subjective with some basic objective observations around game engine, enemy AI, and startup complexity/cut scenes.
Azure Serial Console being Abused for VM Takeover
Written by Sean KalinichGoogle owned Mandiant has released findings on a group known as Roasted 0ktapus, Scattered Spider and UNC3944 (sort of rolls off the tongue there). This group has been seen to abuse the Microsoft Azure Serial Console to push out their own remote management tools in previously compromised environments. The fact that this new technique is not available from outside of an existing environment is a good thing, but it does mean organizations should monitor access and improve controls to avoid account compromise.
Microsoft Visual Studio Marketplace Found to Have Malicious Extensions Targeting Developers
Written by Sean KalinichAttackers are always looking to get targets coming and going. As such you have a very rich ecosystem of attack types to cover as much ground as possible. A concerning one has always been direct supply chain attacks. These attacks seek to compromise software during the development stage, so the malicious pieces get bundled into the released code and signed with a trusted certificate. The highly publicized attack on SolarWinds is one of those types of attacks and shows just how effective and dangerous they can be. Supply chain attacks some in multiple flavors including (but certainly not limited to) compromising code repositories, poisoned plugins or open-source packages, and targeting of developer systems.
Microsoft CEO Hints that New Games Might not be Available in the UK While Claiming Pro Competition Stance
Written by Sean KalinichYesterday we talked about how the Microsoft Activision Blizzard deal had been approved by the European Commission (on antitrust) touting licensing deals that were pro competition. As we stated in that article, the licensing agreements only extend to cloud gaming services, they exclude consoles and other non-Microsoft controlled hardware. The EC and Microsoft are calling this very pro-competition even though cloud gaming represents around 1% of the market.
ChatGPT-4 Seems to Show Sparks of Near Human Reasoning
Written by Sean KalinichThere is a quote from the movie “The Matrix” that has always stuck with me. It was a scene where Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne) is explaining to Neo (Keanu Reeves) the state of the real world and the history that allowed it to get there. The line is “We marveled at our own magnificence as we gave birth to AI.” There is another important line from the HBO series “From the Earth to the Moon. This line take place when Frank Borman (David Andrews) was asked what caused the Apollo One fire, he replied “A failure of imagination.” These two lines compete for how I view the state of AI development. As we marvel at our own magnificence, we should not stop thinking about the potential risks involved as we push to advance AI. Yet that seems to be what is happening.
Microsoft gets a Green Light from the European Commission on Activision Blizzard Buy
Written by Sean KalinichIt looks like the folks at the European Commission have decided that Microsoft buying out Activision Blizzard for $69 billion (with a B) is not going to be a violation of their antitrust rules. The approval means that there are only a few roadblocks to the deal going through. South Korea and China have not decided yet, while the US and UK have challenged it. The deal has been called the world’s biggest gaming takeover and is viewed by many as a bad thing for competition as it would leave Microsoft in control of a majority of game development groups.
More...
Money Message Ransomware Group Hits PharMerica and Steals 5.8 million Patient Records
Written by Sean KalinichThe same Ransomware gang that hit MSI recently also appears to have hit Pharmacy services provider PharMerica and stole information on 5.8 million patents. The data that was exfiltrated as part of the attack includes social security numbers, full name and address, health insurance, medications, and date of birth. PharMerica disclosed the breach to the Maine Attorney General on March 12th, 2023.
Ransomware Group RA Group Is Open for Business in the US and South Korea
Written by Sean KalinichThere is a new player in the ransomware space. Dubber RA group this new organization appears to have had their grand opening last month (April 2023). RA Group published a data leak site on the dark web as part of the now all too familiar double extortion scheme that most ransomware brings to the table. RA Group is also one of the organizations that has leveraged the Babuk source code links to get things going, as reported by Cisco Talos.
Attackers using Google’s Golang to Take a Bite Out of Apple
Written by Sean KalinichTwo new variants of Cobalt Strike written in Ggoogle’s Golang have popped up on the wild internet. According to SentinelOne, this new flavor is set up to target macOS systems. They have also noted that this new beacon (called Geacon) has been popping up on malware review sites like Virus Total in the past few months. The new detections could be part of red-teaming exercises, but the increase seems to indicate that real-world malicious activity is also part of the surge in detections.
Cloud Management Systems for Three Industrial Cellular Providers Put OT Environments at Risk
Written by Sean KalinichCybersecurity firm OTORIO has announced several new vulnerabilities in cloud management platforms at Black Hat Asia 2023. The Israeli company named three industrial cellular providers with a total of eleven vulnerabilities which could allow for complete compromise of operational technology devices. These three providers represent a very large number of OT and IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) devices, making them a serious concern.