Apple & Microsoft Patch Tuesday, July 2023 Edition
Microsoft Corp. today released software updates to quash 130 security bugs in its Windows operating systems and related software, including at least five flaws that are already seeing active exploitation. Meanwhile, Apple customers have their own zero-day woes again this month: On Monday, Apple issued (and then quickly pulled) an emergency update to fix a zero-day vulnerability that is being exploited on MacOS and iOS devices. READ MORE...
Chinese hackers forged authentication tokens to breach government emails
Sophisticated hackers have accessed email accounts of organizations and government agencies via authentication tokens they forged by using an acquired Microsoft account (MSA) consumer signing key, the company has revealed on Tuesday. "The threat actor Microsoft links to this incident is an adversary based in China that Microsoft calls Storm-0558. We assess this adversary is focused on espionage, such as gaining access to email systems for intelligence collection." READ MORE...
Ransomware payments on record-breaking trajectory for 2023
Data from the first half of the year indicates that ransomware activity is on track to break previous records, seeing a rise in the number of payments, both big and small. According to a report by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, ransomware is the only cryptocurrency crime category seeing a rise this year, with all others, including hacks, scams, malware, abuse material sales, fraud shops, and darknet market revenue, recording a steep decline. READ MORE...
Fortinet Patches Critical FortiOS Vulnerability Leading to Remote Code Execution
Fortinet on Tuesday announced security updates that address a critical-severity vulnerability in FortiOS and FortiProxy that could be exploited for remote code execution (RCE). Tracked as CVE-2023-33308 (CVSS score of 9.8), the bug is described as a stack-based overflow issue impacting the deep inspection function in proxy mode. Because the issue only occurs if deep inspection is enabled on proxy policies or firewall policies with proxy mode, disabling the function prevents exploitation. READ MORE...
Citrix Patches Critical Vulnerability in Secure Access Client for Ubuntu
Citrix on Tuesday announced the release of patches for a critical-severity vulnerability in the Secure Access client for Ubuntu that could be exploited to achieve remote code execution (RCE). According to Citrix's advisory, however, exploitation of the issue, which is tracked as CVE-2023-24492 (CVSS score of 9.6), requires user interaction. Citrix has not provided technical details on the flaw, but announced that version 23.5.2 of the Secure Access client for Ubuntu addresses it. READ MORE...
Mastodon Patches 4 Bugs, but Is the Twitter Killer Safe to Use?
Four vulnerabilities in the microblogging platform Mastodon were patched late last week, sparking new questions about the decentralized platform's security, with overtones of the open source debates of yesteryear. Security advisories published to GitHub by Mastodon founder Eugen Rochko included cross-site scripting (XSS), arbitrary file creation, and denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerabilities, as well as a weakness enabling attackers to arbitrarily hide parts of URLs. READ MORE...
Same code, different ransomware? Leaks kick-start myriad of new variants
Threat landscape trends demonstrate the impressive flexibility of cybercriminals as they continually seek out fresh methods of attack, including exploiting vulnerabilities, gaining unauthorized access, compromising sensitive information, and defrauding individuals, according to the H1 2023 ESET Threat Report. One of the reasons for shifts in attack patterns is stricter security policies introduced by Microsoft, particularly on opening macro-enabled files. READ MORE...
Growing reliance on satellites requires new approach to cybersecurity in space, expert says
As critical infrastructure organizations grow increasingly reliant on satellite communication, the need to better secure space system has never been more vital, experts said on Tuesday at a summit focused on space innovation. "Just about every critical infrastructure you can think of - whether it's finance, energy, oil and gas, transportation, healthcare, agriculture, which is a big one - depends on space systems," said Sam Visner, a tech fellow at the Aerospace Corp. READ MORE...
Hackers exploit gaping Windows loophole to give their malware kernel access
Hackers are using open source software that's popular with video game cheaters to allow their Windows-based malware to bypass restrictions Microsoft put in place to prevent such infections from occurring. The software comes in the form of two software tools that are available on GitHub. Cheaters use them to digitally sign malicious system drivers so they can modify video games in ways that give the player an unfair advantage. READ MORE...
Critical VMware Bug Exploit Code Released Into the Wild
A critical security vulnerability in the VMware Aria Operations for Logs analysis tool for cloud management - known as CVE-202-20864 - now has an exploit available that allows threat actors to run arbitrary code as root, no user interaction necessary. The flaw was originally patched in April, along with several security updates for less severe vulnerabilities. Now, VMware asserts that waiting any longer to apply the fixes to VMware software should be a nonstarter. READ MORE...
- ...in 1862, the Presidential Medal of Honor is established by President Lincoln.
- ...in 1895, architect and engineer Buckminster Fuller, best-known for popularizing the geodesic dome, is born in Milton, MA.
- ...in 1962, the Rolling Stones make their first public appearance with a gig at London's Marquee Club.
- ...in 1967, President Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the first U.S. President to travel by helicopter.
