 Google has reported that an Italian company helped actors breach targets who were located in Italy and Kazakhstan. The spyware has not been heavily used in previous hacking campaigns. More: - The company, named RCS Labs, used private spyware to help unknown actors spy on their targets. The Milan-based company also has affiliate offices in France and Spain.
- This spyware has the ability to record audio, redirect calls, make calls on behalf of the victim, collect photos, videos, contact logs, etc.
- While the exact breach that occurred as a result of the company's help is not known, spyware that targeted Android devices in Kazakhstan was confirmed to be active from at least April. Considering the similarity between the methodologies used, and the countries in which the breaches happened, it is very likely that RCS Labs was involved in this breach.
- The spyware the company created is tracked as "Hermit" and has been previously used in Italy in 2019 and in Syria.
- Similar to other variations, the spyware used in Kazakhstan and Italy can hide its malicious functions as it is being downloaded and then activate after a certain period of time has passed. RCS may be connected to a company known as Hacking Team, which had been criticized for providing IT services that did not adhere to ethical and lawful practices.
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 Israeli company NSO stated that at least five European countries use its spyware. The spyware has been used in numerous cases in different hacking campaigns, including a campaign in which European politicians were spied on. More: - NSO, the company that created the famous Pegasus spyware, is currently in the midst of being questioned by the EU. The process comes from the spying scandal in which top-level politicians such as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez were hacked.
- Besides admitting that at least five EU countries use the spyware, the company also stated that it is aware of the fact that it could have done certain things better. NSO claims that it is not against legislation that would regulate this kind of software. While the EU has formed a commission to investigate the company, its data supervisor has called for the software to be banned altogether.
- Pegasus is spyware that can overcome standard security protocols and is difficult to be traced. While its initial goal was to be used for defensive purposes, recent events have shown that governments around the world have used it to reach their different agendas and spied on individuals that have not necessarily posed a security threat to their countries.
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 A message from SECURITY COMPASS Current approaches to Threat Modeling simply don’t work. - They are manual and inconsistent
- They take too long
- They don’t scale
- They don’t give developers what they need
Here you can find a series of posts breaking down how you can anticipate threats earlier in the software development life cycle to create more secure software. Learn more about current threat modeling challenges. See how a new, developer-centric approach to threat modeling can help your organization deliver secure software faster. Read Series on Threat Modeling And, yes, we understand that threat modeling is a time-consuming process that requires the expertise of security professionals and figuring out the best approach to mature application security programs can be difficult, especially with increasing internal demands for a faster time to market. According to this Total Economic Impact™study, SD Elements enabled its users to decrease the time needed to develop security requirements for products by 90%. See how
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 Chinese hackers are infecting targets with a new SMS bomber malware that disrupts the victims' devices with messages. The malware is being tracked to the Tropic Trooper hacker group. More: - Tropic Trooper, also tracked as Pirate Panda, is known for targeting governments, healthcare, military, transportation, tech, etc.
- The hacker group is utilizing the fact that the malware has never been previously used, making it harder to deal with for security teams and companies in general.
- SMS bombing is essentially a way of overloading the victim's device until the point it is rendered nonfunctional. This kind of DDoS attack is unconventional for hacker groups as it requires a higher level of targeting, which may have been potentially used to extrapolate information regarding one or several targets who were of interest.
- This malware is partially connected with the group's previous malware attack known as Yahoyah. The trojan is particularly effective in extracting data, further adding doubts that the attack was meant to target a specific set of people.
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 A new bug related to Microsoft Office 365's cloud features was found. The bug could make files inaccessible for their original owners and may make them susceptible to ransom. More: - The bug affects Microsoft's cloud products, such as SharePoint and OneDrive.
- Hackers can use old versions of saved files in these cloud products by utilizing the Autosave feature. Through a combination of scripts and different hacking methods such as phishing, the threat actors can gain access to the victim's files, leveraging the access to breach their accounts and/or devices.
- Through this bug, the threat actors can encrypt each file individually, finally leading the user toward a full lockdown. This would mean that the original owner of the file would be unable to access any of the files, making them potential victims of whatever demands the hackers may have. Microsoft has stated that in order to avoid being breached through this bug, security protocols such as two-factor authentication must be followed.
Zoom Out: - Microsoft has had several security issues in the past. A few months ago, the company was hacked by the infamous hacker group Lapsus$.
- Microsoft's system has proven to be susceptible to breaches, being hacked a total of 11 times during a zero-day competition.
- This has not stopped the company from increasing its efforts in the space, with Microsoft launching a cybersecurity services division recently.
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 Log4Shell is still being used to hack VMWare servers, according to a new statement by CISA. The cloud company's breach had affected thousands of clients previously, resulting in a warning by the U.S. government to install patch updates immediately. More: - The CyberSecurity and Infrastructure Agency stated that all companies that have not updated their servers need to do so soon to avoid being targeted by hackers.
- Even though CISA has previously warned agencies to patch their systems, many hackers are still finding backdoors that enable them to gain access to VMWare servers.
- The location from which these hacks are being launched is similar to the previous hacker groups that breached their victims through the flaw from countries such as Iran, North Korea, Turkey, China, etc. All of the hacker groups involved managed to exploit at least several levels of security protocols around the world.
- VMware Horizon servers were infamously targeted with Log4shell by hackers multiple times. VMWare has been targeted with Night Sky ransomware by Chinese hackers, as well as by the Lazarus group. Conti Ransomware group, however, was the first significant hacker group to breach a victim with the bug in recent memory. Later on, Iran-backed Phosphorus managed to do the same. China-backed Hafnium group breached several Southeast Asian companies, with their earliest efforts dating back to 2017.
- Lazarus, a North Korean hacker group, has consistently tried to steal data from government officials and private companies to gain information that could be used by the country to falsely present its hackers as IT workers in Western companies.
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- Asimily announced that it has raised a strategic investment round led by Ridge Ventures.
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- The cybersecurity framework of Canada, which was proposed three years ago, has still not been implemented due to COVID-related delays, according to government officials.
- Identity-platform startup Okta announced that it will launch a charity initiative in which $1M will be spread across six different charities.
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 |  | Arbër is an Inside writer who also has experience in entrepreneurship. He has experience covering Consumer Tech, Venture Capital, NFTs, Crypto, etc. Arbër holds a Bachelor's degree in Business from XAMK University in Finland. When he is not reading(and writing) business news, he chooses to watch sports or anime...and then read news about sports or anime. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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