🔒 “Words matter,” says INTERPOL.

Shifting from "pig butchering" to "romance baiting" shifts the narrative to support victims, not shame them.

Victims are not just losing money—they're trapped in emotional manipulation by transnational organized crime groups.

Read to know how these scams operate and how to defend against them 👉 https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/interpol-pushes-for-romance-baiting-to.html

APT29, a Russia-linked threat group, is repurposing legitimate red team tools for cyberespionage:

» Targeting: Governments, researchers, and think tanks
» Scale: 200 victims hit in just one day
» Method: Malicious RDP files that bypass malware defenses

Why should you care? These attacks silently steal data like credentials and sensitive documents—without leaving a trace.

🔗 Stay informed. Details here: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/apt29-hackers-target-high-value-victims.html

🔒 2024’s Cybersecurity Benchmark is Here! Cynet just achieved 100% Detection Visibility and 100% Protection in the 2024 MITRE ATT&CK Evaluation.

Here’s why this matters:

🛡️ 100% Detection across every test.
🚫 No false positives, no delays.
🔒 Protection on every attack step executed.

Evaluate how your current vendor compares. Read more about Cynet’s performance: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/only-cynet-delivers-100-protection-and.html

🚨 A critical flaw (CVE-2024-12356, CVSS score: 9.8) has been discovered in BeyondTrust's Privileged Remote Access (PRA) and Remote Support (RS) products.

An unauthenticated attacker could exploit this to inject commands and execute arbitrary OS actions, posing a serious security risk.

Learn more: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/beyondtrust-issues-urgent-patch-for.html

Are tech debt challenges holding you back?

📉 Dive into ActiveState's latest whitepaper, featuring best practices to turn tech debt into a strategic advantage.

🔍 Learn how effective open source management can reduce opportunity costs and security risks. Empower your team with actionable insights.

Download now: https://thn.news/tech-debt-best-practices

🔒 Would you click on a fake DocuSign email? Thousands already did.

Phishers are baiting employees with urgent DocuSign alerts, exploiting trusted services like HubSpot Free Form Builder to redirect users to fake Office 365 login pages for credential theft.

The numbers tell the story:
💻 20,000+ users in Europe impacted
🛠️ Bulletproof hosting powers attackers’ infrastructure
🌍 Increasing abuse of trusted tools like Google Calendar

👉 Learn more: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/hubphish-exploits-hubspot-tools-to.html

⚠️ Ukraine’s CERT-UA uncovers a malware attack targeting military personnel.

Disguised as the Army+ app, this sophisticated attack:

» Exploits Cloudflare Workers and Pages to host fake login pages.
» Tricks users into giving up credentials.
» Installs OpenSSH and steals cryptographic keys via the TOR network.

💡 Even legitimate services are becoming a haven for cybercriminals, raising red flags for CISOs and CTOs.

🔗 Read the full analysis here: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/uac-0125-abuses-cloudflare-workers-to.html

Netflix has been fined €4.75M for violating GDPR by failing to explain how it used customer data like email addresses and payment details between 2018–2020.

Read more: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/dutch-dpa-fines-netflix-475-million-for.html

🔥 Critical Alert: CISA’s new directive, BOD 25-01, sets a new benchmark in cloud security for federal agencies.

Why? Misconfigurations and weak controls are opening doors to attackers.

Key Deadlines:
» By Feb 2025: Identify all cloud tenants
» By Apr 2025: Deploy SCuBA assessment tools
» By Jun 2025: Implement mandatory policies

🔗 Learn how to protect your communications effectively: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/cisa-mandates-cloud-security-for.html

🛡️ Regularly update security configurations to reduce your attack surface.

🛑 Fortinet's Wireless LAN Manager (FortiWLM) is vulnerable to a path traversal flaw (CVE-2023-34990) with a 9.6/10 CVSS score.

Why it’s urgent: It allows attackers to...
1️⃣ Access admin accounts using static session IDs.
2️⃣ Execute unauthorized commands by chaining vulnerabilities.
3️⃣ Gain root access to your network in minutes.

🛠️ Patch now:
Affected versions: 8.5.0 to 8.6.5.
Fixed in 8.6.6—update immediately.

Read: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/fortinet-warns-of-critical-fortiwlm.html

🚨 What if your device unknowingly became a tool for cybercrime? It’s happening now.

Mirai malware strikes Juniper SSR devices, leveraging default passwords to turn them into DDoS attack machines. Over 90% of breached systems had unaltered factory settings.

🔑 Don’t leave the door open. Secure your systems today.

Read the full report: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/juniper-warns-of-mirai-botnet-targeting.html

Threat actors are tricking developers with fake npm packages like typescript-eslint lookalikes, amassing thousands of downloads.

Compromised tools = compromised enterprises. One wrong download could breach your entire development cycle.

🔒 Your move:
✅ Review your dependencies.
✅ Learn how these attacks work.
✅ Build a resilient security strategy.

👉 Read here: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/thousands-download-malicious-npm.html

🚨 CISA warns of an actively exploited critical flaw (CVE-2024-12356, CVSS: 9.8) in BeyondTrust's Privileged Remote Access (PRA) and Remote Support (RS) products.

Attackers can exploit this flaw to run arbitrary commands—no authentication required.

Read: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/cisa-adds-critical-flaw-in-beyondtrust.html

🛑 Attackers are exploiting Fortinet's CVE-2023-48788 (CVSS 9.3) to install remote desktop tools like AnyDesk and ScreenConnect.

They’ve already targeted companies across 12 countries, leveraging:

» SQL injection for unauthorized access
» Password recovery tools like Mimikatz
» PowerShell scripts for persistence

Don’t just patch vulnerabilities—assume attackers are already inside.

Find details here: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/hackers-exploiting-critical-fortinet.html

🔔 Alert: Two critical vulnerabilities in Sophos Firewalls could grant attackers remote code execution and privileged access.

🔧 Action Plan:
✔️ Update to v21 MR1 or newer.
✔️ Restrict SSH access immediately.
✔️ Ensure user portals are not WAN-exposed.

🔗 Full advisory here: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/sophos-fixes-3-critical-firewall-flaws.html

The notorious Lazarus Group is targeting nuclear engineers using trojanized VNC tools disguised as job assessments for aerospace roles.

They’ve introduced a new modular malware—CookiePlus—capable of evading top-tier detection systems.

🔗 Explore the full story here: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/lazarus-group-spotted-targeting-nuclear.html

🔥 A dual Russian-Israeli national charged as the mastermind behind LockBit ransomware—a cyber weapon that caused chaos across 120+ countries and left $500M in illicit profits.

» Targeted hospitals, schools, and critical infrastructure.
» Gained access to systems using custom malware to disable antivirus.
» LockBit is now planning a comeback with version 4.0!

Explore the full story of LockBit’s rise and fall: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/lockbit-developer-rostislav-panev.html

🔒 Italy has fined OpenAI €15 Million for violating GDPR.

Key issues:
» Processing user data without legal basis
» Failing to notify users about a 2023 security breach
» No age verification, exposing kids under 13 to risky content

🔗 Full story here: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/italy-fines-openai-15-million-for.html

🔒 A U.S. judge held NSO Group liable for breaching WhatsApp’s terms of service and misusing its servers to silently deploy Pegasus spyware, targeting 1,400 users within a single month.

Learn more: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/us-judge-rules-against-nso-group-in.html

🚨 Rockstar2FA, a notorious phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) toolkit, suffered a major collapse on November 11. In its place, FlowerStorm has emerged as the new threat. These tools exploit legitimate services like Cloudflare Turnstile to bypass detection effortlessly.

📍 Key Targets:
» Sectors: Engineering, real estate, consulting
» Countries: U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, India

If you operate in these industries, you’re already in the crosshairs of attackers. Basic MFA protections are no longer sufficient.

🔗 Full story here: https://thehackernews.com/2024/12/rockstar2fa-collapse-fuels-expansion-of.html