Information Technology Security

By Bill Toulas, Bleeping Computer Security researchers have revealed that hackers can hijack your online accounts before you even register them by exploiting flaws that have been already been fixed on popular websites, including Instagram, LinkedIn, Zoom, WordPress, and Dropbox. Andrew Paverd, a researcher at Microsoft Security Response Center, and Avinash Sudhodanan, an independent security researcher, analyzed 75 popular online services and found that at least 35 are vulnerable to account pre-hijacking attacks. These attacks vary in type and severity, but they all stem from poor security practices on the side of the websites themselves. As some vulnerable websites run bug bounty programs, it is surprising and worrying to see that such elementary attacks are still possible against their users.

By Scott Ikeda, CPO Magazine A newly-uncovered phishing campaign is targeting diplomats by presenting malicious messages as official embassy communications, and basing out of legitimate cloud-based services such as DropBox and Trello to aid in evading detection and remediation. The scheme was uncovered by security firm Mandiant , who believe that state-backed Russian hackers are behind it. Embassies targeted by Russian hackers The phishing campaign is just one element of a rash of recent activity by advanced persistent threat group 29 (APT 29), probably better known to the general public as “Cozy Bear.” Believed to be backed by Russian intelligence, the group conducted a similar operation in 2021 that focused on compromising diplomats via legitimate-looking Constant Contact emails. Mandiant says that the current phishing campaign makes use of legitimate email addresses that have been previously compromised, and opens with what appears to be an administrative notice from an embassy. The...