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  • Joined: September 10, 2024
  • Articles: 6427

U.S. Government Dismantles Russia’s Advanced Snake Cyber Espionage Tool

May 10, 2023
Cyber Espionage / Cyber Attack

On Tuesday, the U.S. government announced the successful court-authorized disruption of a global network compromised by an advanced malware strain known as Snake, utilized by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). Referred to as the “most sophisticated cyber espionage tool,” Snake is attributed to the Russian state-sponsored group Turla (also known as Iron Hunter, Secret Blizzard, SUMMIT, Uroburos, Venomous Bear, and Waterbug), connected to a unit within Center 16 of the FSB. This threat actor has historically targeted entities in Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and NATO-affiliated countries, with recent efforts expanding into Middle Eastern nations viewed as threats to Russian-supported interests in the region. “For nearly 20 years, this unit […] has leveraged versions of the Snake malware to steal sensitive documents from hundreds of computer systems in at least 50 countries…”

U.S. Government Disrupts Advanced Russian Cyber Espionage Network On May 10, 2023, the U.S. government announced it had successfully disrupted a sophisticated cyber espionage network tied to an advanced malware strain known as Snake. This operation was carried out with…

New Reports Reveal Vulnerabilities: Jailbreaks, Unsafe Code, and Data Theft Risks in Major AI Systems

April 29, 2025
Vulnerability / Artificial Intelligence

Recent findings have identified significant vulnerabilities within various generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) platforms, uncovering two distinct jailbreak techniques that can produce harmful or illegal content. The first technique, known as Inception, manipulates an AI tool to envision a fictional scenario, which can then evolve into a second scenario devoid of safety measures. According to an advisory from the CERT Coordination Center (CERT/CC), “Continuous prompting within this second context can lead to the bypassing of safety guardrails, enabling the generation of malicious outputs.” The second jailbreak tactic involves instructing the AI on how to evade specific responses. “By alternating between illicit and legitimate prompts, attackers can effectively navigate around safety protocols,” CERT/CC noted.

New Findings Expose Vulnerabilities in Prominent AI Systems, Highlighting Risks of Jailbreaks and Data Theft April 29, 2025 Recent reports have unveiled significant vulnerabilities in various generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) services, revealing that they are susceptible to two distinct forms…

Critical Cisco ISE Authentication Bypass Vulnerability Threatens Cloud Environments on AWS, Azure, and OCI

June 5, 2025
Network Security / Vulnerability

Cisco has issued security patches for a severe vulnerability affecting its Identity Services Engine (ISE). This flaw, identified as CVE-2025-20286 and rated 9.9 out of 10 on the CVSS scale, could be exploited by unauthenticated attackers to perform harmful actions on vulnerable systems. The vulnerability, categorized as a static credential issue, affects cloud deployments on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). Cisco warned that attackers could potentially access sensitive data, perform limited administrative tasks, alter system configurations, or disrupt services in the affected environments. The networking company credited Kentaro Kawane from GMO Cybersecurity for reporting the flaw and acknowledged the presence of a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit, although no active exploitation has been confirmed.

Critical Cisco ISE Authentication Bypass Vulnerability Threatens Cloud Environments on AWS, Azure, and OCI On June 5, 2025, Cisco announced the release of security patches addressing a high-severity vulnerability within its Identity Services Engine (ISE). This flaw, designated as CVE-2025-20286,…

Advanced DownEx Malware Campaign Targets Central Asian Governments

May 10, 2023
Malware / Cyber Attack

Central Asian government entities are under threat from a sophisticated espionage operation utilizing a previously unidentified strain of malware known as DownEx. In a report shared with The Hacker News, cybersecurity firm Bitdefender indicated that the malicious activities are ongoing, with indications pointing towards involvement from Russia-based threat actors. The malware was first detected in a highly targeted assault on foreign government institutions in Kazakhstan in late 2022, followed by an attack in Afghanistan. The use of a diplomat-themed lure document and the campaign’s emphasis on data exfiltration imply the actions of a state-sponsored group, although the exact identity of the hacking organization remains unclear. The campaign’s initial breach method appears to involve spear-phishing emails containing a malicious payload disguised as a Microsoft Word file.

Sophisticated DownEx Malware Campaign Targets Central Asian Governments A newly identified malware campaign, known as DownEx, is targeting government institutions in Central Asia, raising significant concerns within the cybersecurity community. According to a recent report by Bitdefender, the ongoing campaign…

AI in Action: Key Real-World Applications Webinar

Presented by Red Hat 60 mins The rise of Generative AI is prompting organizations across various sectors to consider how they can integrate AI capabilities into their applications. Many anticipate that Generative AI will enhance enterprise operations by increasing employee…

RansomHub Disappears on April 1; Affiliates Shift to Qilin as DragonForce Takes Over

April 30, 2025
Cybercrime / Threat Intelligence

Cybersecurity experts have reported that RansomHub’s online operations unexpectedly went offline on April 1, 2025, raising alarm among its affiliates in the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) ecosystem. According to Singaporean cybersecurity firm Group-IB, this disruption has likely led to affiliates migrating to Qilin, with evidence showing that disclosures on its data leak site have surged since February. RansomHub, which debuted in February 2024, has reportedly compromised data from over 200 victims. It quickly eclipsed prominent RaaS groups LockBit and BlackCat, attracting affiliates like Scattered Spider and Evil Corp with enticing profit-sharing models. “After potentially acquiring the web application and source code for Knight (formerly Cyclops), RansomHub swiftly gained traction in the ransomware landscape, leveraging a feature-rich multi-platform encryptor and a robust, affiliate-friendly approach…”

RansomHub Disappears from the Cyber Landscape; Affiliates Shift to Qilin While DragonForce Claims Leadership April 30, 2025 In a significant turn of events within the cybercriminal ecosystem, the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation known as RansomHub has unexpectedly gone offline as of…

Two Separate Botnets Target Wazuh Server Vulnerability for Mirai-Based Attacks

June 09, 2025
Wazuh Server Vulnerability

A critical security flaw in the Wazuh Server, now patched, has been exploited by threat actors to deploy two distinct variants of the Mirai botnet for executing distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Akamai, which identified these exploitation efforts in late March 2025, reports that the campaign is targeting CVE-2025-24016 (CVSS score: 9.9), a dangerous deserialization vulnerability enabling remote code execution on affected Wazuh servers. This vulnerability impacts all server software versions from 4.4.0 onward and was addressed in February 2025 with the release of version 4.9.1. A proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit became publicly available around the same time. The issue stems from the Wazuh API, where parameters in the DistributedAPI are serialized as JSON and then deserialized using “as_wazuh_object” in the framework/wazuh/core/cluster/common.py file. Malicious actors can exploit this vulnerability by injecting harmful JSON…

Two Separate Botnets Exploit Wazuh Server Vulnerability for Mirai-Based Attacks On June 9, 2025, cybersecurity experts reported that a critical vulnerability in the Wazuh Server is being actively exploited by malicious actors to deploy two different variants of the Mirai…