Law enforcement agencies around the world appear to have scored a major victory in the fight against fraudsters, in an operation that seized tens of millions of dollars and seen more than 2000 people arrested. Operation "First Light 2022", running for two months from March 8 2002 until May 8 2022, saw 76 countries clamp down on organised crime...

Apple says that it protected many millions of users from being defrauded to the tune of nearly $1.5 billion dollars in the last year, by policing its official App Store. According to a newly published report by Apple, over 1.6 million risky and untrustworthy apps and app updates were stopped in their tracks due to the company's fraud prevention...

The great thing about working in the world of cybersecurity is that there's always something new. You may think you've seen it all, and then something comes along that completely surprises you. And that's certainly true of the GoodWill ransomware, which security firm CloudSEK described this week. In fact, the GoodWill ransomware stands out so much...

Spanish police say that they have dismantled a phishing gang operating across the country, following the arrest of 13 people and the announcement that they are investigating a further seven suspects. According to police, the phishing ring defrauded some 146 victims, stealing at least 443,600 Euros from online bank accounts. Victims were tricked...

It should be hard for malicious hackers to break into systems, but all too often it isn't. That's a takeaway from a joint cybersecurity advisory issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the NSA and FBI, and their counterparts in Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and United Kingdom. The advisory, which is titled ...

Over US $43 billion has been lost through Business Email Compromise attacks since 2016, according to data released this week by the FBI. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) issued a public service announcement on May 4 2022, sharing updated statistics on Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks which use a variety of social engineering...

If your company is worried about the financial hit of paying a ransom to cybercriminals after a ransomware attack, wait until they find out the true cost of a ransomware attack. Because the total costs of recovering from the ransomware attack are likely to be much, much higher. That's the finding of a new study by researchers at Check Point, who...

All of us at Tripwire’s Vulnerability Exposure and Research Team (VERT) are constantly looking out for interesting stories and developments in the infosec world. Here’s what cybersecurity news stood out to us during the week of April 18, 2022. I’ve also included some comments on these stories. CISA Alert on ICS, SCADA Devices Highlights Growing...

Sometimes referred to as Sodinokibi, the notorious REvil ransomware-as-a-service (RAAS) enterprise was responsible for a series of high profile attacks against the likes of the world's biggest meat supplier JBS Foods and IT service firm Kaseya. However, it looked like its activities had come to a halt after law enforcement agencies pushed REvil...

Agencies of the US Government have issued a joint warning that hackers have revealed their capability to gain full system access to industrial control systems that might help enemy states sabotage critical infrastructure. In a joint cybersecurity advisory issued by the Department of Energy, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA...

A new report, which surveyed 1200 IT security professionals in 17 countries around the world, has shone a light on a dramatic rise in the number of organisations willing to pay ransoms to extortionists. The ninth annual Cyberthreat Defense Report (CDR), produced by CyberEdge Group, shows that not only has there been a substantial increase in the...

What is this AvosLocker thing I’ve heard about? AvosLocker is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) gang that first appeared in mid-2021. It has since become notorious for its attacks targeting critical infrastructure in the United States, including the sectors of financial services, critical manufacturing, and government facilities. In March 2022, the...

All of us at Tripwire’s Vulnerability Exposure and Research Team (VERT) are constantly looking out for interesting stories and developments in the infosec world. Here’s what cybersecurity news stood out to us during the week of March 14, 2022. I’ve also included some comments on these stories. Most Orgs Would Take Security Bugs Over Ethical Hacking...

With just a few weeks until the April 15 deadline for US individuals and businesses to file their tax returns, scammers are as busy as ever. Security researchers at Cofsense have warned that they have seen a number of malicious email campaigns which pose as communications from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The emails which purport to come...

What is this Ragnar Locker thing I’ve heard about? Ragnar Locker is a family of ransomware, which first came to prominence in early 2020 when it became notorious for hitting large organisations, attempting to extort large amounts of cryptocurrency from its victims. So just your bunch of cybercriminals then? Yes, although on their underground...

The US Senate has passed legislation designed to improve the cybersecurity of the Federal Government. The legislation, which consists of three bills, was unanimously passed by the Senate on Tuesday evening, and would - amongst other things - require organisations working in critical industry sectors to alert the US Government about hacks and...

Global supply chains are bearing the brunt of ransomware attacks, according to a new report that finds manufacturing was the most targeted industry during 2021. Knocking financial services and insurance off the top of the heap after a long reign, the manufacturing industry was found by IBM to be the most attacked sector - accounting for 23% of...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and National Security Agency (NSA) have joined forces to publish a joint warning that Russian hackers have targeted defence contractors to steal sensitive data. According to an advisory issued by the US authorities,...

A surge in "sophisticated, high impact" ransomware attacks has prompted the United States's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), and the Australian Cyber Security Center to issue a joint advisory about the techniques being used by cybercriminals to attack businesses and...

What is this BlackCat thing I've heard about? BlackCat (also known as ALPHV) is a relatively new ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation, which has been aggressively recruiting affiliates from other ransomware groups and targeting organisations worldwide. What makes BlackCat different from other ransomware-as-a-service providers? Like other...