BATH, UK - More than 4,000 web backdoors that had been abandoned but were still active with live malware were hijacked and their communication infrastructure sinkholed – a term used to describe the process of redirecting malicious traffic to a DNS sinkhole – after web security researchers registered numerous expired domains, preventing them from being used by hackers and cybercriminals. A backdoor is a covert method of bypassing normal authentication or encryption in a … [Read more...]
Hackers Utilizing Russian Domains for Rising Number of Complex Phishing Attacks
REDMOND, WA - Cybersecurity experts have noted a large increase in the number of phishing attacks recently as hackers have been altering their attack avenues in order to work their way around increasingly complex email security systems designed to circumvent their efforts. Both the volume and complexity of malicious emails have been on the rise and are proving to be increasingly able to bypass Secure Email Gateways (SEGs) such as Microsoft and Proofpoint, according … [Read more...]
Thousands of Domain Names Owned by Legitimate Brands Hijacked to Send Spam
TEL AVIV - As part of a sophisticated scheme involving spam proliferation and click monetization, over 8,000 domains and 13,000 sub-domains once owned by major, legitimate brands and institutions have been hijacked to allow millions of spam emails to bypass standard security blocks for nefarious gain. This coordinated malicious activity – dubbed “SubdoMailing” – has been going on since at least September 2022, according to Guardio Labs, the Israeli security … [Read more...]
10 Billion Connections to Malicious Domains Blocked by NSA in 2023 via “PDNS”
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The National Security Agency (NSA) noted that 10 billion user connections to known malicious or suspicious domains were blocked over the course of the past year as part of the agency’s efforts, according to its 2023 Cybersecurity Year in Review report released on Tuesday. The NSA‘s annual report is a public account of the agency’s work with government partners, defense industrial base (DIB) entities, and foreign partners to help keep the nation secure, … [Read more...]
Multiple Domains Used by Vietnamese Cybercrime Group Seized by Microsoft
REDMOND, WA - Multiple domains utilized by a Vietnamese cybercrime group known as “Storm-1152” to sell fraudulent Outlook email accounts have been seized by Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit. The domains have been used to cause millions of dollars in damage. Storm-1152 had reportedly used these domains to register over 750 million fake Outlook accounts that they then would sell online to cybercriminals. In addition, the outlaw group also provided numerous other illegal … [Read more...]
Threat Intelligence Firm Recommends Blocking All .ZIP Domains Due to Phishing
SUNNYVALE, CA - FortiGuard Labs reports that they have discovered many .ZIP domains are responsible for phishing attacks on users by automatically downloading a malicious executable titled “file.exe” to their computers. Phishing attacks have been a thorn in the side of computer users for years due to the fact that they often are able to camouflage themselves as innocuous programs or prompts that seemingly pose no threat, but in reality can cause a great deal of … [Read more...]
Popular Domain Name Software BIND Patched to Correct Severe Vulnerabilities
NEWMARKET, NH - In an effort to address what has been referred to as “severe security vulnerabilities,” the nonprofit Internet Systems Consortium (ISC) has released a series of patches for multiple versions of BIND 9, a popular suite of software utilized for interacting with the Domain Name System (DNS). The issues with BIND – which stands for Berkeley Internet Name Domain – were uncovered by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and … [Read more...]
How Expired Domain Names Have Been Used to Redirect to Malicious Websites
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - Expired domains or domain names which have not been renewed by their previous owner are encountered by all of us often – most times we just don’t notice it. When we do, we open a website only to find out it no longer exists. We are redirected to a site with links on it, or it showcases a sales page for auction of the domain name. These types of websites are generally considered harmless, but recent research proves otherwise. In a report released by … [Read more...]
It’s Only A Matter of Time Until You Need to Be Licensed to Operate A Web Server
PALM BEACH, FL – I have been thinking about this off and on for a few years now, but I have never really posted or written about it. That is because it is an awful prediction that I hate the idea of, but I think it is going to eventually happen. Here it goes…. I predict that to operate a web server sometime in the near future, you will be required to have a license, or have passed a basic course in IT security or Cybersecurity intrusion mitigation. Not at the single site … [Read more...]
Malicious Web Code Added To Macy’s Website Leads to Critical Data Breach
PALM BEACH, FL - Right at the start of the year's busiest shopping season, retailer Macy's notified impacted customers (by letter) that an unauthorized third party was able to access sensitive customer payment information from the Macys.com checkout and wallet pages. The following information may have been accessed if it was typed into the affected web-pages by a customer: Payment card numbersPayment card security codesPayment card expiration datesFull … [Read more...]