The Philadelphia ransomware enables attackers to offer "mercy" to their victims by choosing to decrypt their files for free. Attackers are likely distributing Philadelphia, which is a new version of Stampado, via the use of phishing emails disguised as payment notices from Brazil's Ministério da Fazenda or the Ministry of Finance. ...

Seven online scammers will soon begin serving out prison sentences for their involvement in an international fraud conspiracy. On 7 September, Funso Hassan, 27, of Ibadan, Nigeria, and Anthony Shane Jeffers, 44, of Maryville, Tennessee received orders to serve out 10 years of jail time. Their prison...

Recently, I had the personal thrill of directly seeing the influence I've had on my friends and family's cybersecurity knowledge and perspectives. I have long been “tech support” for my family and friends. In late 2013, when data breaches started making national news, I also became the “cyber security tech support” go-to person. Four different...

The United States military has announced it will be launching its inaugural bug bounty program called "Hack the Army" in November 2016. Outgoing secretary of the Army Eric Fanning made the announcement in a press conference. He said the program will help the Army keep up with the latest digital threats. As quoted by WIRED: "We’re not agile enough...

Casino Rama Resort says hackers stole information pertaining to its customers, employees, and vendors in a digital attack. On 4 November, the casino based in Rama, Ontario first learned of a security incident that affected one of its networks. Its internal teams began working with digital security experts to figure out what happened. Following their...

According to new research published by Microsoft last month, one in three users fell victim to a tech support scam in the last year. One in five followed up on a suspicious interaction by downloading software or visiting a fraudulent website, while nearly one in ten lost money.The classic scamThe traditional form of a tech support scam has been around...

Today’s VERT Alert addresses 14 new Microsoft Security Bulletins. VERT is actively working on coverage for these bulletins in order to meet our 24-hour SLA and expects to ship ASPL-698 on Wednesday, November 9th. Ease of Use (published exploits) to Risk Table Automated Exploit ...

A team sent by Bangladesh Bank arrived in Manila to move part of 81 million USD stolen from it in a heist back to its account at the New York Federal Reserve. According to Reuters , casino boss Kim Wong surrendered 4.63 million USD and 488.28 million pesos (10.05 million USD) to authorities after...

I've added some handy tools to my pentest toolbox this year. You'll find a short description of each with links to more information below. Whether red or blue team, you'll want to know what these tools can do. Password Spraying Password spraying is guessing a few passwords against a large list of users in order to avoid account lockout. You would...

As we near the end of 2016, it’s safe to say this year has brought its fair share of notorious cyber attacks, data breaches and security incidents. We saw a rampant rise in ransomware targeting hospitals and healthcare providers; we saw attacks on industrial control systems (ICS) resulting in disruptions and outages; we saw high-profile banks lose...

The current diagnosis for healthcare cyber security is frightening. Here's our current assessment:One in three healthcare records were compromised in 2015 (IBM 2016).Healthcare is the number one industry when it comes to its records being breached (IBM 2016).Ransomware is on the rise, with 88 percent of attacks occurring in healthcare (Solutionary...

We’ve all been warned – no matter what we do online, somebody is out there watching. It might be to gather information for marketing purposes. The exposure of personal information to the wrong party, however, is a real concern. All of our emails, photos, passwords, addresses, credit card numbers, and social media messages are out there for someone...

Information security is the fastest growing area of IT. It affects more people in more ways than ever before. It affects not only our public records, our utilities, our white-collar work, and our entertainment. Now that we carry small computers in our pockets and in our cars, talk of the Internet of Things (IoT) is also starting to become reality....

Hackers stole technical trade secrets from some of the business areas of ThyssenKrupp Steel in a "professional attack." On 8 December, the German industrial group published a statement confirming the incident:"thyssenkrupp has been the target of a cyber-attack. It has been a professional attack, apparently from the Southeast Asian region. According to...

The overwhelming majority of NHS hospital trusts in England are continuing to use Microsoft’s unsupported Windows XP operating system, putting patients and their organizations at risk. According to new research conducted by software company Citrix, nine out of ten NHS trusts questioned confirmed they still have PCs running the outdated software....

The fact that you're reading this blog means that you're probably familiar with the EU GDPR, the possible impact it may have on your business, and the consequences should you find yourself on the wrong side of non-compliance – especially if that non-compliance is highlighted as the result of a breach in which identifiable personal data is...

Attackers are leveraging a new malware campaign – dubbed Gooligan ­­– to target Android devices and compromise users’ Google accounts, researchers unveiled on Thursday. To date, the attackers have gained access to more than 1.3 million Google accounts with an additional 13,000 devices being breached each day, according to cybersecurity firm Check...

Christmas is around the corner, and cyber criminals are as restless as Santa’s dwarves. All big ransomware families are being updated on quite a regular basis, leaving users breathless and file-less. The Cerber ransomware family is an excellent example of a crypto family constantly being renewed. Cerber 5.0.1 is now making its rounds in the wild,...

Readers beware! The .Aesir Virus File Ransomware is becoming one of the biggest threats to your online security. We have recently become aware of a change in one of the most infamous cyber threats’ behavioral patterns. It would appear that the all-too-well known Locky ransomware virus has changed its format. Victims are now seeing their encrypted...

Researchers have found a new Android spyware program that's using command and control (C&C) servers previously ran by Hacking Team. Team Red Naga came into contact with the spyware after someone contacted them about "advanced malware" that had infected one of their co-workers. Early on in their analysis, Team Red Naga didn't find anything...