Archive for the ‘Cyber Spy’ Category

Office macro security: on-again-off-again feature now BACK ON AGAIN!

The phrase Office macros is a harmless-sounding, low-tech name that refers, in real life, to program code you can squirrel away inside Office files so that the code travels along with the text of a document, or the formulas of a spreadsheet, or the slides in a presentation… …and even though the code is hidden from sight in […]

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US Gov’t Flip-Flops on NSO Group Sale to L3Harris

US Gov’t Flip-Flops on NSO Group Sale to L3Harris by Richi Jennings on July 11, 2022 NSO Group, notorious makers of the notorious Pegasus spyware, has been in acquisition talks with a huge U.S. government defense contractor you’ve never heard of: L3Harris Technologies, Inc. Doesn’t that give you a warm, tingly feeling inside? Pictured is Christopher E. “Call Me Chris” […]

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NSO Group told lawmakers that Pegasus spyware was used by at least 5 European countries

The Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group revealed that its Pegasus spyware was used by at least five European countries. The controversial Israeli surveillance vendor NSO Group told the European Union lawmakers that its Pegasus spyware was used by at least five countries in the region. NSO Group’s General Counsel Chaim Gelfand admitted that the company had “made mistakes,” but […]

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NSO Group Pegasus spyware leverages new zero-click iPhone exploit in recent attacks

Researchers reported that threat actors leveraged a new zero-click iMessage exploit to install NSO Group Pegasus on iPhones belonging to Catalans. Researchers from Citizen Lab have published a report detailing the use of a new zero-click iMessage exploit, dubbed HOMAGE, to install the NSO Group Pegasus spyware on iPhones belonging to Catalan politicians, journalists, academics, and activists. […]

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NSO Group Spied on European Union—on French Orders?

An espionage attempt was made by an NSO Group customer to hack the phones of senior EU officials. Although there’s some suggestion that it might have been QuaDream—a similar Israeli spyware firm. Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders (pictured) seems to have been the main target, along with several of his staffers at the Directorate-General for Justice and […]

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European Data Protection Supervisor call for bans on surveillance spyware like Pegasus

The European Data Protection Supervisor authority called for a ban on the development and the use of Pegasus-like commercial spyware. The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) authority this week called for a ban on the development and the use of surveillance software like the Pegasus spyware in the EU. Pegasus is a surveillance malware developed by the Israeli surveillance NSO […]

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Finnish diplomats’ devices infected with Pegasus spyware

Finland Ministry for Foreign Affairs revealed that devices of Finnish diplomats have been infected with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs revealed that the devices of some Finnish diplomats have been compromised with the infamous NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. The diplomats were targeted with the popular surveillance software as part of a […]

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Pegasus: Google reveals how the sophisticated spyware hacked into iPhones without user’s knowledge

Pegasus spyware was allegedly used by governments to spy upon prominent journalists, politicians and activists. A Google blog has revealed how the sophisticated software was used to attack iPhone users. The software used a vulnerability in iMessages to hack into iPhones without the user’s knowledge. The Pegasus spyware, developed by Israel’s NSO group, made headlines for being used by […]

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Hackers Compromised Middle East Eye News Website to Hack Visitors, Researchers Say

Cybersecurity researchers tracked a hacking campaign spanning more than a year that hit around 20 websites – Israeli spyware vendor Candiru, recently blacklisted by the US, waged “watering hole” attacks on UK and Middle East websites critical of Saudi Arabia and others  A group of hackers compromised a popular London-based news website that focuses on […]

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How to protect the corporate network from spyware

There are a range of security policies for dealing with users’ smartphones, from the most restrictive approach – no smartphone access allowed – to an open approach that allows personal phones to connect to the internal corporate network. We suggest that the right solution is somewhere in between. You may have read about the Pegasus spyware in […]

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Samsung can remotely disable their TVs worldwide using TV Block

Samsung says that it can disable any of its Samsung TV sets remotely using TV Block, a feature built into all television products sold worldwide. This was revealed by the South Korean multinational in a press release issued earlier this month in response to the July South African riots that led to large-scale looting, which also impacted Samsung warehouses […]

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Female journalists and activists say they had their private photos shared on social media by governments seeking to intimidate and silence them.

Female journalists and activists say they had their private photos shared on social media by governments seeking to intimidate and silence them. ‘I will not be silenced’: Women targeted in hack-and-leak attacks speak out about spyware Ghada Oueiss, a Lebanese broadcast journalist at Al-Jazeera, was eating dinner at home with her husband last June when […]

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NSO Group Hacked

There’s a lot to read out there. Amnesty International has a report. Citizen Lab conducted an independent analysis. The Guardian has extensive coverage. More coverage. Most interesting is a list of over 50,000 phone numbers that were being spied on by NSO Group’s software. Why does NSO Group have that list? The obvious answer is that NSO Group provides spyware-as-a-service, and centralizes […]

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FCC Boots Chinese Telecom Companies, Citing Security

he Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau on March 12 identified five Chinese companies they said posed a threat to U.S. national security. These companies are: Huawei Technologies Co., ZTE Corp., Hytera Communications Corp., Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. and Dahua Technology Co. The declaration, according to the FCC, is in accordance […]

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Chinese cyberspies go after telco providers, 5G secrets

A Chinese cyber-espionage group has shifted operations from targeting Vatican officials and Catholic organizations to telecom providers across Asia, Europe, and the US. The group, known in the cybersecurity community as Mustang Panda or RedDelta, has been targeting employees of telecom companies since last fall, as a gateway inside organizations, with the end goal of stealing 5G-related information. […]

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Microsoft releases open-source CodeQL queries to assess Solorigate compromise

Microsoft announced the release of open-source CodeQL queries that it experts used during its investigation into the SolarWinds supply-chain attack In early 2021, the US agencies FBI, CISA, ODNI, and the NSA released a joint statement that blames Russia for the SolarWinds supply chain attack. The four agencies were part of the task force Cyber Unified Coordination Group (UCG) […]

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Chinese Supply-Chain Attack on Computer Systems

Bloomberg News has a major story about the Chinese hacking computer motherboards made by Supermicro, Levono, and others. It’s been going on since at least 2008. The US government has known about it for almost as long, and has tried to keep the attack secret: China’s exploitation of products made by Supermicro, as the U.S. company is […]

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Suspected Russian hackers spied on U.S. Treasury emails

Hackers believed to be working for Russia have been monitoring internal email traffic at the U.S. Treasury Department and an agency that decides internet and telecommunications policy, according to people familiar with the matter. Three of the people familiar with the investigation said Russia is currently believed to be behind the attack. Two of the […]

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Operation In(ter)ception: Aerospace and military companies in the crosshairs of cyberspies

Aerospace and military companies in the crosshairs of CyberSpies | CyberWar ESET research uncovers attacks against several high-profile aerospace and military companies in Europe and the Middle East, with several hints suggesting a possible link to the Lazarus group. Source: Operation In(ter)ception: Aerospace and military companies in the crosshairs of cyberspies | WeLiveSecurity This blogpost […]

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