Armed by AI Technology, Hackers Cause a 464% Rise in Email-Based Phishing During the First Half of 2023

The first half of 2023 saw a startling increase in the use of AI for cybercrime, particularly in the area of email-based phishing attacks. Not only have these attacks become more frequent, but they have also grown in complexity and sophistication due to a rapidly evolving AI landscape.

Hackers are leveraging sophisticated AI tools like generative models and open-source AI platforms to craft phishing emails that are virtually indistinguishable from legitimate correspondence. By utilizing AI’s capabilities, these emails can be more precisely targeted and adapted to the victim’s behavior, interests, or professional role, making them harder to detect. The ability of AI to generate human-like text and analyze large amounts of data enables phishing scams to reach unprecedented levels of believability and effectiveness.

Implementing an enterprise DNS security platform could be a critical step in fortifying against these evolved threats. Such a platform is designed to detect and neutralize the sophisticated tactics used in AI-powered hacking, providing a robust defense layer against this new generation of cyber threats.

In the face of a remarkable surge in AI-driven phishing attacks, organizations must act with urgency and precision to defend their critical digital assets. These cyber threats’ complex and evolving nature demands a multi-layered defense strategy. From leveraging advanced machine learning algorithms for enhanced detection to strategic collaboration with specialized security organizations, the following solutions outline a comprehensive approach.

By integrating various aspects such as real-time monitoring, dark web analysis, education, and tailored protection plans, enterprises can create a robust and adaptive defense against the relentless wave of phishing attacks. This cohesive strategy strengthens cybersecurity and fosters a resilient organizational culture ready to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing cyber landscape.

Read: https://domainsure.com/articles/2023-cyberthreat-report-why-email-based-phishing-attacks-surged-464-and-what-to-do-about-it/

COVID-Related Terms Censored on Threads Platform During Renewed Efforts to Double Down on Free Speech

The new social networking app Threads, marketed as an alternative to the platform formerly known as Twitter, is now limiting access to information and prohibiting searches related to key terms such as “coronavirus” and “vaccines,” as revealed by the Washington Post.

Despite only being a couple of months old, the platform has already been observed to deliberately muzzle certain search terms in its novel search functionality. Meta has previously implemented search blackouts around Covid-related terms due to combating what it says is “misinformation.”

Offering an explanation for the obstruction, Meta conceded to the Washington Post, “The search functionality temporarily doesn’t provide results for keywords that may show potentially sensitive content.”

They assured that they would reinstate search results for these terms when they believed the content quality was up to their standards. However, they declined to disclose a complete list of obstructed search terms, leaving users guessing.

Read: https://reclaimthenet.org/threads-is-already-blacklisting-covid-terms-from-search

UK’s Online Safety Bill Sparks Debate

The UK’s Online Safety Bill, which aims to cleanse the internet of illegal and harmful content, has been a subject of debate. The bill mandates that platform owners eliminate all banned content.

A particular point of contention is the so-called “spy clause”, which would empower Ofcom to demand messaging services to implement software for scanning. Critics have raised concerns that such scanning is fundamentally at odds with end-to-end encrypted messaging applications.
Stephen Parkinson, the Culture Minister, clarified in the House of Lords that Ofcom cannot mandate the use of a technology if it does not meet these requirements. This implies that Ofcom cannot compel companies to proactively use technology in private communications.

However, UK government officials have indicated that the government could still authorize Ofcom to instruct companies to either employ or make their best efforts to develop or procure technology to identify and eliminate illegal child sexual abuse content. If the bill becomes law, major services like WhatsApp have warned they may withdraw from the UK.

Read: https://totaltele.com/appropriate-technology-does-not-exist-uk-govt-backs-down-in-online-safety-bill-row/

Unveiling the Breach: Chinese Hackers Exploit Microsoft’s Signing Key to Breach Outlook Accounts

Chinese hackers from the Storm-0558 ATP group breached European government emails in July 2023. They used forged authentication tokens and acquired a Microsoft account (MSA) consumer signing key. Microsoft has now revealed the breach’s methodology.

Microsoft has acknowledged that Storm-0558 obtained the key from a software dump incident in April 2021. The key was inadvertently leaked during a computer crash, where the machines generated a crash dump report.

According to the report, crash dumps are supposed to exclude sensitive information like the signing key. However, the key was included in the crash dump due to a race condition. Microsoft has implemented system updates to ensure that sensitive data is not inadvertently included in crash dump files.

Read: https://www.hackread.com/microsoft-chinese-hackers-signing-key-breach-outlook/

Mozilla Resolves Firefox and Thunderbird WebP Zero-Day

Mozilla on Tuesday released security updates to resolve a critical zero-day vulnerability in Firefox and Thunderbird that has been actively exploited in the wild, a day after Google released a fix for the issue in its Chrome browser.

The shortcoming, assigned the identifier CVE-2023-4863, is a heap buffer overflow flaw in the WebP image format that could result in arbitrary code execution when processing a specially crafted image.

“Opening a malicious WebP image could lead to a heap buffer overflow in the content process,” Mozilla said in an advisory. “We are aware of this issue being exploited in other products in the wild.”

According to the description on the National Vulnerability Database (NVD), the flaw could allow a remote attacker to perform an out-of-bounds memory write via a crafted HTML page.

The development comes a day after Google released fixes for the same flaw in Chrome, noting it’s “aware that an exploit for CVE-2023-4863 exists in the wild.”

While specific details regarding the flaws’ exploitation remain unknown, it’s suspected that they are all being leveraged to target individuals who are at an elevated risk, such as activists, dissidents, and journalists.

Read: https://thehackernews.com/2023/09/mozilla-rushes-to-patch-webp-critical.html

Protecting Your Brand Online: DNS Cyber Security and Its Strategic Imperative

Online brand integrity transcends the “cool” factor. It symbolizes a commitment to excellence, a pledge to your prospects and customers that can be undermined by phishing, domain hijacking, or DDoS attacks. Such infractions can diminish customer confidence and tarnish the reputation of your brand, making robust cybersecurity not only prudent but vital. Here’s what cyberattacks could mean for your brand…

Read: https://domainsure.com/news/protecting-your-brand-online-dns-cyber-security-and-its-strategic-imperative/

Elsewhere Online:

Zero-Day Vulnerabilities Addressed in Recent Software Updates from Adobe, Apple, Google, and Microsoft
Read: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/09/adobe-apple-google-microsoft-patch-0-day-bugs/

China Denies Alleged iPhone Ban for Chinese Government Officials
Read: https://www.securityweek.com/china-says-no-law-banning-iphone-use-in-govt-agencies/

Microsoft Issues Warning About Targeted Phishing Campaign via Teams Messages
Read: https://thehackernews.com/2023/09/microsoft-warns-of-new-phishing.html

Newly Uncovered MetaStealer Malware Targets macOS
Read: https://cyware.com/news/newly-discovered-metastealer-malware-targets-macos-users-1b87592f/

ICO and NCSC Join Forces to Tackle Cyber Threats
Read: https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ico-ncsc-share-anonymized-threat/