Information Technology Security

By Solomon Klappholz, IT Pro Hackers are increasingly targeting remote desktop tools in their attacks, new research reveals, prompting warnings for enterprises globally In the era of hybrid work, remote desktop tools have become vital business enablers, but due to their pervasiveness on corporate networks they have become a popular entry point for cyber criminals. If successfully exploited, remote access tools can provide hackers with a direct pathway into a system or network, and once access is gained attackers can move laterally within the network, escalating privileges and maintaining persistence. In an investigation into which remote desktop tools are targeted the most, Jonathan Tanner, senior security researcher at Barracuda Networks, explained that remote desktop software poses a particular challenge to IT teams to secure. “Among the security challenges facing IT teams implementing remote desktop software is that there are many different tools available, each using different and ...

By Sergiu Gatlan,  Bleeping Computer This month's Windows Server updates are causing a wide range of issues, including VPN and RDP connectivity problems on servers with Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) enabled. RRAS is a Windows service that offers additional TCP connectivity and routing features, including remote access or site-to-site connectivity with the help of virtual private network (VPN) or dial-up connections. Last week, Microsoft released the Windows Server 2019 2012 R2 KB5014746, the Windows Server 2019 KB5014692, the Windows Server 20H2 KB5014699, and the Windows Server 2022 KB5014678 updates as part of the June 2022 Patch Tuesday. However, after deploying these recent updates, Windows admins have reported experiencing multiple issues that could only be resolved after completely uninstalling the updates. One of the more severe problems is the servers freezing for several minutes after a client connects to the RRAS server with SSTP.

By Griffin Davis, Tech Times Cybersecurity stocks are now increasing as more people invest in security firms. This may sound like a good thing since the industry that focuses on preventing hackers, and other online attackers is further growing.   A participant looks at lines of code on a laptop on the first day of the 28th Chaos Communication Congress (28C3) - Behind Enemy Lines computer hacker conference on December 27, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. The Chaos Computer Club is Europe's biggest network of computer hackers and its annual congress draws up to 3,000 participants. However, this is bad news for some U.S. companies and government agencies. Among the cybersecurity firms that experience share increases are FireEye Inc. and Crowdstrike Holdingfs Inc.  "It's really the pure-play security companies that do threat detection that are the ones that can be the direct beneficiary of something like this," said Mandeep Singh, an intelligence analyst working for Bloomberg.  ...

By  KrebsOnSecurity Conti — one of the most ruthless and successful Russian ransomware groups — publicly declared during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic that it would refrain from targeting healthcare providers. But new information confirms this pledge was always a lie, and that Conti has launched more than 200 attacks against hospitals and other healthcare facilities since first surfacing in 2018 under its earlier name, “ Ryuk .” On April 13, Microsoft said it executed a legal sneak attack against Zloader , a remote access trojan and malware platform that multiple ransomware groups have used to deploy their malware inside victim networks. More specifically, Microsoft obtained a court order that allowed it to seize 65 domain names that were used to maintain the Zloader botnet. Microsoft’s civil lawsuit against Zloader names seven “John Does,” essentially seeking information to identify cybercriminals who used Zloader to conduct ransomware attacks. As the company’s complaint ...