New variants of a banking malware called Grandoreiro have been found to adopt new tactics in an effort to bypass anti-fraud measures, indicating that the malicious software is continuing to be actively developed despite law enforcement efforts to crack down on the operation.
"Only part of this gang was arrested: the remaining operators behind Grandoreiro continue attacking users all over the

New variants of a banking malware called Grandoreiro have been found to adopt new tactics in an effort to bypass anti-fraud measures, indicating that the malicious software is continuing to be actively developed despite law enforcement efforts to crack down on the operation.

"Only part of this gang was arrested: the remaining operators behind Grandoreiro continue attacking users all over the world, further developing new malware and establishing new infrastructure," Kaspersky said in an analysis published Tuesday.

Some of the other freshly incorporated tricks include the use of a domain generation algorithm (DGA) for command-and-control (C2) communications, ciphertext stealing (CTS) encryption, and mouse tracking. Also observed are "lighter, local versions" that are specifically focused on targeting banking customers in Mexico.

Grandoreiro, active since 2016, has consistently evolved over time, taking efforts to stay undetected, while also widening its geographic scope to Latin America and Europe. It's capable of stealing credentials for 1,700 financial institutions, located in 45 countries and territories.

It's said to operate under the malware-as-a-service (MaaS) model, although evidence points to it being only offered to select cybercriminals and trusted partners.

One of the most significant developments this year concerning Grandoreiro is the arrests of some of the group's members, an event that has led to the fragmentation of the malware's Delphi codebase.

"This discovery is supported by the existence of two distinct codebases in simultaneous campaigns: newer samples featuring updated code, and older samples which rely on the legacy codebase, now targeting only users in Mexico — customers of around 30 banks," Kaspersky said.

Grandoreiro is primarily distributed by means of a phishing email, and to a lesser extent, through malicious ads served on Google. The first stage is a ZIP file, which, in turn, contains a legitimate file and an MSI loader that's responsible for downloading and launching the malware.

Campaigns observed in 2023 have been found to leverage extremely large portable executables with a file size of 390 MB by masquerading as AMD External Data SSD drivers to bypass sandboxes and fly under the radar.

The banking malware comes equipped with features to gather host information and IP address location data. It also extracts the username and checks if it contains the strings "John" or "WORK," and if so, halts its execution.

"Grandoreiro searches for anti-malware solutions such as AVAST, Bitdefender, Nod32, Kaspersky, McAfee, Windows Defender, Sophos, Virus Free, Adaware, Symantec, Tencent, Avira, ActiveScan, and CrowdStrike," the company said. "It also looks for banking security software, such as Topaz OFD and Trusteer."

Another notable function of the malware is to check for the presence of certain web browsers, email clients, VPN, and cloud storage applications on the system and monitor user activity across those apps. Furthermore, it can act as a clipper to reroute cryptocurrency transactions to wallets under the threat actor's control.

Newer attack chains detected in the aftermath of the arrests this year include a CAPTCHA barrier prior to the execution of the main payload as a way to get around automatic analysis.

The latest version of Grandoreiro has also received significant updates, including the ability to self-update, log keystrokes, select the country for listing victims, detect banking security solutions, use Outlook to send spam emails and monitor Outlook emails for specific keywords.

It's also equipped to capture mouse movements, signaling an attempt to mimic user behavior and trick anti-fraud systems into identifying the activity as legitimate.

"This discovery highlights the continuous evolution of malware like Grandoreiro, where attackers are increasingly incorporating tactics designed to counter modern security solutions that rely on behavioral biometrics and machine learning," the researchers said.

Once the credentials are obtained, the threat actors cash out the funds to accounts belonging to local money mules by means of transfer apps, cryptocurrency, or gift cards, or an ATM. The mules are identified using Telegram channels, paying them $200 to $500 per day.

Remote access to the victim machine is facilitated using a Delphi-based tool named Operator that displays a list of victims whenever they begin browsing a targeted financial institution website.

"The threat actors behind the Grandoreiro banking malware are continuously evolving their tactics and malware to successfully carry out attacks against their targets and evade security solutions," Kaspersky said.

"Brazilian banking trojans are already an international threat; they're filling the gaps left by Eastern European gangs who have migrated into ransomware."

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New Grandoreiro Banking Malware Variants Emerge with Advanced Tactics to Evade Detection

Tax preparation firms shared user information with Google and Meta without proper consent by using tracking pixels

Four tax preparation software companies failed to comply with government rules that require the sharing of tax-related info to be done only with specific disclosures and full tax-payer consent, according to an audit released by the Treasure Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) in the United States.

> “According to Treasury Regulation § 301.7216-3, tax return information may not be used or disclosed except as specifically permitted or when the taxpayer provides consent.”

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) partners with tax professionals and other entities that assist taxpayers in meeting their tax obligations. Before partnering with these professionals and entities, the IRS conducts suitability checks. But the IRS does not have awareness of the full scope of information that an online provider routinely collects, beyond what is filed with the IRS, or shared with third parties.

Further, the guidance for obtaining taxpayer consent to use or disclose taxpayer information does not specifically address the use of pixels, such as those used by Facebook and Google to track information on a website.

These pixels are basically a piece of code that website owners can place on their website. The pixel collects data that helps businesses track conversions from ads, optimize ads, build target audiences for future ads, and re-market to people that have already taken some kind of action on their website. That’s nice for the advertisers, but the combined information of all these pixels potentially provides the recipients with an almost complete portrait of your browsing behavior.

The audit was performed after TIGTA received a congressional letter raising concerns about the data sharing practices of online tax filing companies. This letter spoke of data sharing methods that used a pixel to capture an individual’s entries on the online tax filing companies’ website, which then sent data entered for the preparation of online tax returns to a third party to focus marketing and advertisement efforts to each user.

In other words, information that is highly regulated was collected and shared outside the rules of those regulations, which could have allowed for invasions of privacy.

TIGTA acknowledged that it shared similar concerns and that it was in the process of conducting a separate but related review.

TIGTA did not disclose the names of the four companies that were the subject of these investigations, but in a follow-up letter from 3 senators and a member of congress they mention TaxSlayer, H&R Block, TaxAct, and Ramsey Solutions.

The review found that the audited companies’ consent statements did not comply with the requirements of Treasury Regulation § 301.7216. Specifically, the consent statements did not clearly identify the intended purpose of the disclosure and the specific recipient(s) of the tax return information.

Based on the results TIGTA advised the IRS to update their revenue procedure to include language that consent statements must identify the purpose of disclosure and specific recipient(s); evaluate whether any updates are needed to the guidance regarding data sharing practices, e.g., the use of pixels; and identify and implement potential solutions that will ensure that online providers comply with the regulatory requirements of taxpayer consent statements.

The IRS has taken actions to address the previously reported deficiencies with the suitability check processes and procedures for tax preparation companies. For example, the IRS:

*   Updated procedures to ensure consistency with initial and continuous suitability checks.
*   Established a consistent adjudication process for applicants with a criminal history.
*   Modified procedures to systemically create cases requiring research and resolution for tax compliance issues.
*   Modified procedures to accept only electronic fingerprint cards.

**We don’t just report on threats – we help safeguard your entire digital identity**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Protect your—and your family’s—personal information by using identity protection.

 After concerns of handing Facebook taxpayer info, four companies found to have improperly shared data 

Popular titles on both Google Play and Apple's App Store include hardcoded and unencrypted AWS and Azure credentials in their codebases or binaries, making them vulnerable to misuse by threat actors.

Source: Aleksia via Alamy Stock Photo

Several widely used mobile apps, some with millions of downloads, expose hardcoded and unencrypted credentials to cloud services within their code bases, researchers from Symantec have found. This potentially allows anyone with access to the app’s binary or source code to extract the credentials to exploit cloud infrastructure for misuse.

Popular apps for both Android and iPhone devices include credentials for either Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure Blog Storage within their code, Symantec revealed in a blog post this week. And they're found on each device platform’s respective official mobile app store: Google Play and Apple's App Store.

"This dangerous practice means that anyone with access to the app's binary or source code could potentially extract these credentials and misuse them to manipulate or exfiltrate data, leading to severe security breaches," Symantec engineers wrote in the post.

Further, the "widespread nature" of the vulnerabilities across apps for both iOS and Android platforms "underscores the urgent need for a shift towards more secure development practices" when it comes to mobile applications, they added.

Symantec’s research zeroed in on a number of widely distributed mobile applications that included either AWS or Azure credentials in their codebases. In terms of the former, both Android and iOS apps are guilty of credential exposure, while several Android apps expose Azure storage credentials.

Related:SoftwareOne Launches Cloud Competency Centre in Malaysia

For example, an app called The Pic Stitch: Collage Maker found on the Google Play store contains hardcoded AWS production credentials — including the production Amazon S3 bucket name, the read and write access keys, and secret keys — in its codebase, the researchers found. It also reveals staging credentials in some cases.

**iOS Apps With Serious Security Risks**

Meanwhile, three iOS apps examined by Symantec also were found to expose AWS credentials. One called Crumbl, which has more than 3.9 million user ratings and is ranked No. 5 in the Food & Drink category on the Apple App Store, initializes an AWSStaticCredentialsProvider with plaintext credentials. The credentials, which are used to configure AWS services, include both an access key and secret key.

Furthermore, the app also includes another "significant security oversight" by including a WebSocket Secure (WSS) endpoint within its code. This endpoint, part of the Amazon API URL, is hardcoded with an API Gateway that directly connects to the Internet of Things services on AWS.

"Exposing such URLs alongside static credentials makes it easier for attackers to potentially intercept or manipulate communications, leading to unauthorized access to the associated AWS resources," the engineers wrote. Thus, this vulnerable configuration, without proper encryption or obfuscation, "presents a serious risk to the integrity of the application and its backend infrastructure," they noted.

Related:Unmanaged Cloud Credentials Pose Risk to Half of Orgs

Two other iOS apps with hundreds of thousands of App Store ratings also expose AWS credentials by hardcoding them directly within their code; the apps are Eureka: Earn Money for Surveys and Videoshop – Video Editor.

The former allocates an INMAWSCredentials object and initializes it with the access key and secret key, both stored in plaintext and which can be used to log events to AWS, "exposing critical cloud resources to potential attacks," the engineers said.

The latter directly embeds unencrypted AWS credentials in the \[VSAppDelegate setupS3\] method, which means anyone with access to the app's binary could easily extract them. This would give them unauthorized access to the associated S3 buckets and potentially lead to data theft or manipulation.

**Android Apps Expose Azure Credentials**

Similarly, three Android applications expose credentials to Microsoft Azure Blob Storage directly, via either their binaries or codebases, Symantec found.

Related:Cisco Disables DevHub Access After Security Breach

An Indian ride-sharing app, Meru Cabs — which has more than 5 million downloads on Google Play — includes hardcoded Azure credentials within its UploadLogs service by embedding a connection string that includes an account key. "This connection string is used to manage log uploads, exposing critical cloud storage resources to potential abuse," the engineers wrote.

Sulekha Business, another Android app with more than 500,000 downloads, embeds multiple hardcoded Azure credentials used for various purposes — such as adding posts, handling invoices, and storing user profiles — across its codebase.

A third Android app that also has more than 500,000 downloads, ReSound Tinnitus Relief, also hardcodes Azure Blob Storage credentials for managing various assets and sound files, the exposure of which could lead to unauthorized access and data breaches.

**Mitigation Begins With App Development**

Symantec’s findings come a day after the release of a report by Datadog that found that unmanaged credentials that live for too long on a cloud-based network posed a security risk to half of organizations. Indeed, any inadvertent disclosure of credentials to cloud services exposes any organization with network infrastructure, software, or other assets running on them to significant risk, according to Symantec.

A good place to start to mitigate these risks is in the development of applications, where developers should follow best practices for managing sensitive information. They include the use of environment variables to store sensitive credentials so they are loaded at runtime rather than embedded directly in the app's code, according to Symantec.

Developers also should use dedicated secrets management tools, such as AWS Secrets Manager or Azure Key Vault, to securely store and access credentials. If the credentials must be stored in the app, then they should ensure that they use strong encryption algorithms, and decrypt them at runtime as needed.

According to Symantec, another way to protect credentials and also avoid other potential app-development missteps is to integrate automated security-scanning tools into the development pipeline to detect common security flaws early in the development process.

**About the Author**

Elizabeth Montalbano is a freelance writer, journalist, and therapeutic writing mentor with more than 25 years of professional experience. Her areas of expertise include technology, business, and culture. Elizabeth previously lived and worked as a full-time journalist in Phoenix, San Francisco, and New York City; she currently resides in a village on the southwest coast of Portugal. In her free time, she enjoys surfing, hiking with her dogs, traveling, playing music, yoga, and cooking.

Mobile Apps With Millions of Downloads Expose Cloud Credentials

The #opentowork hashtag may attract the wrong crowd as criminals target LinkedIn users to steal personal information, or scam them.

Microsoft’s social network for professionals, LinkedIn, is an important platform for job recruiters and seekers alike. It’s also a place where criminals go to find new potential victims.

Like other social media platforms, LinkedIn is no stranger to bots attracted to special keywords and hashtags. Think “I was laid off”, “I’m #opentowork” and similar phrases that can wake up a swarm of bots hungry to scam someone new.

Bots are problematic as they not only create a poor user experience but also present real security risks. Perhaps even more insidious are customized phishing attempts, where fraudulent LinkedIn accounts directly reach out to their victim via the premium InMail feature. In this case, it’s all about harvesting personal information from targets of interest.

In this article, we review recent observations and provide tips for job seekers and users of the platform in general.

**Hungry bots**

Online bots are so common that they transcend every possible industry: advertising, music and concerts, social media, games, and more. There are even companies whose entire business model is to disrupt and contain bots. The impact of bots depends on which point of view you are taking, as it can range from simple nuisance, to opinion swaying, costly fraud, and a lot more in between.

We recently observed fake LinkedIn accounts that prey on those just laid off. Within minutes of a post, dozens of accounts start replying with links or requests to be added as a connection.

The use of certain hashtags was already known to attract bots, and the _#opentowork_ one is no different. Ironically, even a recruiter was previously swamped with similar messages and questioned whether they might have to refrain from ever having to use the hashtag again:

The battle between HR and the bots was featured in a Brian Krebs article from a couple of years ago. While the accounts we saw in the most recent campaign were not labeled as recruiters directly, they often pointed to other profiles that were. In the majority of cases, scammers used the name of real people and their pictures to create new accounts.

It appears their primary goal may be to gain connections by pretending to help a job seeker. This may increase the supposed authenticity of their profile and make it harder to shut them down.

LinkedIn did take action sometime after we witnessed the original spam wave. Many of the accounts indeed disappeared and comments were removed. It’s unclear whether this was a result of user reports, LinkedIn’s own algorithms, or a combination of both.

Fine tuning anti-fraud algorithms requires constant calibration, and isn’t without casualties. Some content creators have been banned due to “false positives”, eroding the trust and dedication they put into the platform.

**You’ve got InMail**

While bots are annoying, they are usually so predictable and noisy that they can be spotted from miles away, especially when they duplicate their own comments on the same post. More dangerous are personalized requests that come directly into a user’s inbox.

It’s the same idea of a fake recruiter, but the profile looks more credible and scammers are using paid accounts. In fact, the ability to send a message to a user who’s not in your circle of contacts, is one of LinkedIn’s feature for going premium, called InMail.

In the image seen above, an alleged Amazon recruiter going by the name “Kay Poppe”, sent a direct message about a unique job opportunity at Amazon Web Services. The so-called recruiter’s profile picture looks to be AI-generated, and the name Kay Poppe vaguely reminds us of “K-pop”, the Korean pop music phenomenon. Perhaps this is a bit of a stretch, but we couldn’t help but think of North Korea’s relentless phishing attempts.

This was not a standard, copy-paste message but rather a carefully crafted one based on the victim’s job profile. The link shortener they used was related to their current position and was the hook to get them to visit a fake LinkedIn page showing a number of documents related to that role. None of the links to the documents actually load what they claim to be, instead they are meant to be a segway to a page hosting a phishing kit.

In this particular instance, this is the Rockstar2FA phishing-as-a-service toolkit used to harvest Google credentials. As more and more people are using two-factor authentication, criminals have come up with their own methods to bypass 2FA. While it is recommended to avoid SMS-based verification and instead use a one-time password (OTP) app, users can still get social engineered into entering the temporary code into a phishing page.

Stealing a Google account is usually only the first step in longer chain leading to a full compromise. Many people use their Google email as a recovery address for a number of other online accounts. This can allow a criminal to reset as many passwords as they can get their hands on before the victim even realizes what’s happened. It’s also not unusual to get locked out of your account and then struggle to regain control of it.

**Fish in a larger pod**

Scammers are notorious for targeting the vulnerable, and one could say that after losing a job you probably feel this way. All too eager to regain employment, you may jump at the first opportunity and engage in a conversation that could end badly.

Many of the bots spamming via comments tie back to some kind of fraud such as the advance-fee scam where you need to pay an up-front fee in order to receive goods or services. Some job offers are also too good to be true, and you could unknowingly participate in illegal activities by helping to funnel and launder money.

The more targeted phishing attempts are dangerous not only for the individual in question but also for the company they work for. This may be the case if you are not actively looking for a new job, and as such compromising you could in turn have further consequences, such as getting an entry point into an entire organization.

Whether you are looking for a job or already have one, you should expect to get contacted by some unknown third-party at some point. Treat every such inquiry with suspicion and caution. Remember that on the internet, not everyone is who they pretend to be.

Also, consider passkeys, a newer form of authentication that was specifically designed to move away from passwords and be less prone to phishing attacks. They rely on a private-public key exchange between a device and the service’s login page removing the need to enter passwords or codes.

If you ever fall victim to a scam, time is of the essence. Immediately:

*   be on the lookout for unusual account changes
*   proactively do a full password sweep
*   reach out to your bank and credit card company
*   inform your contacts who may receive fraudulent messages coming from you

**We don’t just report on threats – we help safeguard your entire digital identity**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Protect your—and your family’s—personal information by using identity protection.

 LinkedIn bots and spear phishers target job seekers 

The longer we avoid reform, the further behind we'll fall in AI innovation — and the more vulnerable we'll be.

Stephen Kines, Chief Operations Officer, Goldilock

October 23, 2024

5 Min Read

Source: Jochen Tack via Alamy Stock Photo

COMMENTARY

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has become virtually inescapable, and its growth has kickstarted a worldwide AI arms race. But where the US was once at the forefront, it's quickly losing ground to countries like China, because its energy grid cannot support the breakneck pace of innovation. To remain a global AI leader, the federal government needs to make the grid more secure and resilient by addressing three compounding issues. 

**Growing Energy Demands**

First, data center electricity consumption is expected to triple, from 2.5% of the US total in 2022 to 7.5% by 2030. That's equivalent to the energy consumption of one-third of all US homes. We need to squeeze more power generation out of the energy grid, or it won't be able to meet the demand of AI. At the same time, the US must show the world that this can be done sustainably as it continues working toward its net-zero goals. 

Acknowledging this necessity, executives from OpenAI, Nvidia, Anthropic, and Google met at the White House recently for a Roundtable on US Leadership in AI Infrastructure. Following the gathering, the administration announced several new actions to accelerate public-private collaboration, including plans to launch a new Task Force on AI Data Center Infrastructure to coordinate policy across government. 

Time will tell if these efforts help achieve the energy usage and data center capacity required by AI. In the meantime, there are other challenges to consider.

**Utilities Are the New Frontlines of the Cyber War**

Countries like Russia, China, and Iran have a long history of infiltrating US businesses to steal proprietary technology and data. Today, critical infrastructure has become a primary target for cyberattacks by nation-states engaged in geopolitical conflict, and the impact this can have on the ability of the US to prevail in the AI arms race is huge.  

I've seen the chaos critical infrastructure attacks can cause firsthand through my participation in NATO's Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), which is aiming to "provide companies with the resources, networks, and guidance to develop deep technologies to solve critical defense and security challenges." Energy is at the top of its agenda and was highlighted as one of three challenges in 2023. 

Rogan Shimmin, challenge manager at DIANA, calls attention to the fact that "these threats are compounded by a significant lack of cyber literacy in the energy sector, which is leading to continued investment in insecure legacy infrastructure and is scaring industry players away from adopting proper security measures." 

**Growing Threat of Climate Change and Severe Weather**

Malicious actors and adversaries aren't the only players who can compromise networks. Severe weather and the heightened energy demand that often results during these instances can also take down networks, as we saw during the 2021 Texas grid collapse. Plus, there's the ongoing possibility of another solar flare knocking out grids, like this year's auroral storms. 

If we continue with business as usual, our energy grids will remain vulnerable to both physical and cyberattacks at any time. As we saw with SolarWinds and the Colonial Pipeline attack, the damage can be catastrophic, not just impacting energy supply but putting the US's position on the world stage at risk. 

**Assessing Recent Federal Efforts for Energy Resiliency**

Fortunately, the federal government recognizes that energy resilience is a priority and has taken measures to support this. Announced in May, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) Order No. 1920 outlines a smart grid approach that's a crucial step in addressing long-term transmission planning needs. However, its passage has been hamstrung by political debate in an election year when action is urgently needed.  

In the same vein, the White House launched a Federal-State Modern Grid Deployment Initiative with commitments from 21 leading states. The goal is to bring states together with federal entities and power sector stakeholders in support of modern grid technologies to enable next-level capacity and throughput. The initiative was launched in tandem with the US Climate Alliance's announcement of "policy, technical, and analytical assistance to help participating members advance state-level efforts to carry out these commitments." 

**Is This Enough? Not Really**

These regulations and state-by-state initiatives are a step in the right direction, but they fall short. As the Modern Grid Deployment Initiative alludes, the US must address its energy demands through a level of smart controls, mainly via dynamic line rating (DLR) systems using intelligent sensors and more widely geographically distributed networks. This technology is fundamental to getting more out of networks, and it should be applied to water and other core sectors as well. However, it requires crossing state lines, which is a political hot potato.  

The US must also reduce its attack surface. While DLR and other modern grid technologies can be revolutionary, they exponentially increase the threat of cyberattacks and create new vectors for malicious actors. We have to develop these technologies with a security-first mindset to give utilities a way to stop attacks in their tracks before they can spread, and get back online quickly through better backup and disaster recovery solutions.  

James Appathurai, acting assistant secretary general for innovation, hybrid, and cyber at NATO, argues the ability to disconnect is one of the main security lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war. Upon Russia's first invasion, Ukraine prioritized improving its cyber resilience by building in air gaps through physical network segmentation so its critical infrastructure could be disconnected from the Internet at critical moments. "\[The Internet of Things\] is great, connecting to the Internet for efficiency is great, but you absolutely must build in the worst-case scenario. Being able to run if you are cyberattacked — to air gap, to run on island mode — is very important." 

The federal government needs to acknowledge this urgency and implement regulations that will ensure a more resilient and secure electrical grid. We must push past the partisan divide, as the longer we avoid reform, the further behind we'll fall in AI innovation, and the more vulnerable we'll be. 

**About the Author**

Chief Operations Officer, Goldilock

Stephen Kines is the chief operations officer (COO) and co-founder of Goldilock. He served in the Canadian military and currently represents Goldilock in NATO on the DIANA program. Stephen is also an international corporate lawyer who has been a general counsel for international law firms, as well as ultra-high net worth individuals and families. His expertise is in technology transactions with a positive-ESG impact.

The US Needs a Better Energy Grid to Win the AI Arms Race

Despite a law enforcement sweep last May, the sophisticated downloader malware is re-emerging.

Source: Antony Cooper via Alamy Stock Photo

Just a few months after Europol launched a full-scale disruption effort against malware botnets, one of its primary targets — a downloader malware called Bumblebee — seems to have staged a revival.

The sophisticated piece of malware has been widely used by cybercriminals to break into corporate networks, and its effectiveness is precisely what drew law enforcement's attention. In May, Europol launched full-scale takedowns of a variety of botnets, including IcedID, Trickbot, Smokeloader, SystemBC and Pickabot, as well as Bumblebee. The multipronged effort, dubbed Operation Endgame, was a splashy and highly publicized action to hunt down and stop cybercriminals hiding in their jurisdiction.

In addition to May's botnet bust-up, Operation Endgame added eight Russian nationals to Europe's list of most wanted fugitives for their alleged roles as developers of the Emotet botnet. By mid-June, Operation Endgame made an arrest: a 28-year-old Ukrainian man accused of working as a developer for Russian ransomware groups Conti and LockBit.

**Bumblebee Takes Flight Again**

The botnet was first identified and named by the Google Threat Analysis Group in March 2022. Since its takedown in May, there hadn't been any sign of Bumblebee, until now. Researchers at Netskope found a new instance of Bumblebee being used in combination with a payload not typically associated with the botnet, indicating this is a new iteration of the malware downloader.

Related:Dark Reading News Desk Live From Black Hat USA 2024

"The infection chain used to deliver the final payload is not new, but this is the first time we have seen it being used by Bumblebee," the Netskope researchers wrote in a recent blog post. "These activities might indicate the resurfacing of Bumblebee in the threat landscape."

Its re-emergence would hardly come as a surprise. Other valuable botnet strains like Emotet have likewise risen from the dead. Though disrupted for a time by law enforcement in 2021, Emotet returned with a vengeance and new functionality.

Bumblebee is known for spreading through a variety of methods, including phishing, malicious advertising, and SEO poisoning, explains Patrick Tiquet, vice president of security and architecture for Keeper Security.

And Bumblebee's latest attack chain is even more difficult for defenders to spot than previous versions, according to Tamir Passi, senior product director at DoControl. "What makes this version particularly concerning is its sophistication," Passi says. "Instead of the noisy, obvious attacks we've seen before, it's using a stealthier approach that makes it harder to detect. The attackers are leveraging legitimate tools like MSI installers — it's basically hiding in plain sight."

Related:Anti-Bot Services Help Cybercrooks Bypass Google 'Red Page'

Scarier still is what happens after Bumblebee gets inside a corporate network, he adds.

"But here's the real kicker — this isn't just about compromising individual machines," Passi says. "Once attackers gain access, they can potentially harvest credentials and access all sorts of corporate resources, including SaaS applications. Think about it — one successful phishing email could lead to widespread access across your entire cloud environment."

With stakes that high, cybersecurity teams need to rely on a healthy combination of user awareness training, a zero-trust cybersecurity model, strong password security, and more, Tiquet advises.

Law enforcement organizations will continue to do what they can to tamp down the effectiveness of large cybercrime operations, but along with enterprise cybersecurity teams, they are up against formidable, highly motivated adversaries.

"The re-emergence of Bumblebee after Operation Endgame demonstrates the adaptability of the group believed to be responsible for its development," says Callie Guenther, senior manager of cyber-threat research at Critical Start. "Despite law enforcement efforts to disrupt their activities, the actors quickly reintroduced Bumblebee, indicating well-prepared contingency plans."

Related:Anonymous Sudan Unmasked as Leader Faces Life in Prison

Bumblebee Malware Is Buzzing Back to Life

A high-severity flaw impacting Microsoft SharePoint has been added to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Tuesday, citing evidence of active exploitation.
The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-38094 (CVSS score: 7.2), has been described as a deserialization vulnerability impacting SharePoint that could result

Vulnerability / Threat Intelligence

A high-severity flaw impacting Microsoft SharePoint has been added to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Tuesday, citing evidence of active exploitation.

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-38094 (CVSS score: 7.2), has been described as a deserialization vulnerability impacting SharePoint that could result in remote code execution.

"An authenticated attacker with Site Owner permissions can use the vulnerability to inject arbitrary code and execute this code in the context of SharePoint Server," Microsoft said in an alert for the flaw.

Patches for the security defect were released by Redmond as part of its Patch Tuesday updates for July 2024. The exploitation risk is compounded by the fact that proof-of-concept (PoC) exploits for the flaw are available in the public domain.

"The PoC script \[...\] automates authentication to a target SharePoint site using NTLM, creates a specific folder and file, and sends a crafted XML payload to trigger the vulnerability in the SharePoint client API," SOCRadar said.

There are currently no reports about how CVE-2024-38094 is exploited in the wild. In light of in-the-wild abuse, Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies are required to apply the latest fixes by November 12, 2024, to secure their networks.

The development comes as Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) revealed that a now-patched zero-day vulnerability in Samsung's mobile processors has been weaponized as part of an exploit chain to achieve arbitrary code execution.

Assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2024-44068 (CVSS score of 8.1), it has been addressed as of October 7, 2024, with the South Korean electronics giant characterizing it as a "use-after-free in the mobile processor \[that\] leads to privilege escalation."

While Samsung's terse advisory makes no mention of it having been exploited in the wild, Google TAG researchers Xingyu Jin and Clement Lecigne said a zero-day exploit for the shortcoming is used as part of a privilege escalation chain.

"The actor is able to execute arbitrary code in a privileged cameraserver process," the researchers said. "The exploit also renamed the process name itself to 'vendor.samsung.hardware.camera.provider@3.0-service,' probably for anti-forensic purposes."

The disclosures also follow a new proposal from CISA that puts forth a series of security requirements in order to prevent bulk access to U.S. sensitive personal data or government-related data by countries of concern and covered persons.

In line with the requirements, organizations are expected to remediate known exploited vulnerabilities within 14 calendar days, critical vulnerabilities with no exploit within 15 calendar days, and high-severity vulnerabilities with no exploits within 30 calendar days.

"To ensure and validate that a covered system denies covered persons access to covered data, it is necessary to maintain audit logs of such accesses as well as organizational processes to utilize those logs," the agency said.

"Similarly, it is necessary for an organization to develop identity management processes and systems to establish an understanding of what persons may have access to different data sets."

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CISA Warns of Active Exploitation of Microsoft SharePoint Vulnerability (CVE-2024-38094)

Millions of iOS and Android users are at risk after Symantec discovered that popular apps contain hardcoded, unencrypted…

Millions of iOS and Android users are at risk after Symantec discovered that popular apps contain hardcoded, unencrypted cloud keys. This security flaw could lead to unauthorized access, data breaches, and service disruptions.

Research conducted by cybersecurity experts at Symantec has revealed that popular apps on both Android and iOS platforms contain hardcoded, unencrypted cloud service credentials, putting millions of users’ sensitive data and backend services at risk of unauthorized access and potential data breaches.

The issue comes from developers embedding access and secret keys directly in the app’s code instead of using secure storage methods. This makes it easy for attackers to access sensitive data, steal user information, or disrupt services.

Among the affected Android apps, Pic Stitch: Collage Maker, with over 5 million downloads, and Meru Cabs, Sulekha Business, and ReSound Tinnitus Relief, each with hundreds of thousands of downloads, were found to contain hardcoded AWS and Azure credentials, respectively. These credentials grant access to critical cloud storage and other backend services.

On the iOS side, popular apps like Crumbl (over 3.9 million ratings), Eureka: Earn Money for Surveys (402.1K ratings), and Videoshop – Video Editor (357.9K ratings) were also found to have hardcoded AWS credentials, including access keys and even WebSocket Secure (WSS) endpoints, further simplifying potential attacks.

Eureka IDA code with hardcoded AWS credentials (Via Symantec)

****Full list of impacted apps on iOS and Android****

*   **Crumbl (over 3.9 million ratings)**
*   **Meru Cabs (over 5 million downloads)**
*   **Sulekha Business (over 500,000 downloads)**
*   **Videoshop – Video Editor (over 357,000 ratings)**
*   **ReSound Tinnitus Relief (over 500,000 downloads)**
*   **Pic Stitch: Collage Maker (over 5 million downloads)**
*   **Eureka: Earn Money for Surveys (over 402,000 ratings)**

This issue, found on both Android and iOS, is a serious concern. It could lead to anything from individual data breaches to major service disruptions. Symantec’s findings show the urgent need for developers to follow security best practices.

To mitigate these risks, developers are advised to follow best practices for managing sensitive information within their applications. These include using environment variables, implementing secrets management, encrypting sensitive data, conducting regular code reviews and audits, and automating security scanning.

“This repeated pattern of insecure credential management across multiple apps underscores the critical need for developers to prioritize security in the mobile app development lifecycle,” **said** a Symantec spokesperson.

For users, Symantec advises installing **reputable security software**, downloading apps only from trusted sources, keeping software updated, carefully reviewing app permissions, and regularly backing up important data. These precautions can help mitigate the risks associated with insecure apps while developers work to address these critical vulnerabilities.

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Millions of iOS and Android Users at Risk as Popular Apps Expose Cloud Keys

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