—— Unveiled ——

Researchers finally discovered how SUNBURST backdoor was inserted into the SolarWinds software.

Hackers used a 3rd malware strain, dubbed 'SUNSPOT,' that was deployed into the Orion platform's build environment.

Read details: https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/unveiled-sunspot-malware-was-used-to.html

Cybersecurity experts sound alarm on a new Android spyware sold on hacking forums—marketed by a 25-year-old #Indian vendor.

https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/experts-sound-alarm-on-new-android.html

It can exfiltrate photos, locations, contacts & messages from popular apps such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram.

Warning — Researchers took the wraps off a new spyware operation targeting users in Pakistan that leverages trojanized versions of legitimate Android apps to carry out covert surveillance and espionage.

Read: https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/warning-5-new-trojanized-android-apps.html

~~ Patch Tuesday, Jan 2021 ~~

Microsoft releases Windows updates to patch a total of 83 newly discovered security flaws, including an actively exploited zero-day RCE vulnerability affecting Defender (CVE-2021-1647) application.

https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/microsoft-issues-patches-for-defender.html

⚠️ WARNING : "A sophisticated threat actor" compromised the digital certificate 'Mimecast' provided to certain customers to connect its products securely with cloud-based #Microsoft 365 Exchange.

Read details here: https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/hackers-steal-mimecast-certificate-used.html

In a Europol-led operation, authorities have taken down—DarkMarket—the world's largest illegal marketplace on the dark web, specialized in the sales of drugs, counterfeit money, stolen credit card data, anonymous SIM cards, and off-the-shelf malware.

https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/authorities-take-down-worlds-largest.html

Intel adds hardware-enabled ransomware detection to its newly announced 11th generation Core vPro business-class processors.

Read: https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/intel-adds-hardware-enabled-ransomware.html

Cybersecurity researchers took the wraps off an ongoing surveillance campaign — "Operation Spalax" — directed against Colombian government institutions and private companies in the energy and metallurgical industries.

https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/experts-uncover-malware-attacks-against.html

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed a series of attacks by a threat actor of Chinese origin (Winnti or APT41) that has targeted organizations in Russia and Hong Kong with malware — including a previously undocumented backdoor.

https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/researchers-disclose-undocumented.html

Joker's Stash, the largest #darkweb marketplace notorious for selling compromised payment card data, has announced plans to shut down its operations on February 15, 2021.

https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/jokers-stash-largest-carding.html

Amid severe criticism and backlash, WhatsApp postponed the roll-out of its recently announced controversial data-sharing related Privacy Policy by 3 months to clear up "a lot of misinformation."

Read: https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/whatsapp-delays-controversial-data.html

Apple has finally removed a controversial feature from macOS BigSur that could have allowed malicious apps to bypass content filters, VPNs, and firewall security.

Read details: https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/apple-removes-macos-feature-that.html

Fire A new ongoing cyberattack has been found exploiting recently disclosed Linux vulnerabilities to infect targeted systems with an IRC botnet—dubbed FreakOut—for launching DDoS attacks and mining cryptocurrency.

Read: https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/freakout-ongoing-botnet-attack.html

A set of severe vulnerabilities affect popular DNSMasq DNS Forwarding software—potentially allowing an adversary to mount DNS cache poisoning attacks and remotely execute malicious code.

Read: https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/a-set-of-severe-flaws-affect-popular.html

Google discloses flaws in multiple video chat apps—Signal, JioChat, Mocha, Duo, and Facebook Messenger—which could have allowed attackers to initiate a video call and eavesdrop on targets without user consent.

Read details: https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/google-discloses-flaws-in-signal-fb.html

Hackers behind the SolarWinds' cyber-attack also breached cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes and accessed its internal emails.

Read: https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/solarwinds-hackers-also-breached.html

Cybercriminals accidentally exposed thousands of stolen log-in credentials accessible to anyone via Google search—which were compromised during a large-scale phishing campaign that mainly targeted energy and construction companies.

https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/hackers-accidentally-expose-passwords.html

Google discloses flaws in multiple video chat apps—Signal, JioChat, Mocha, Duo, and Facebook Messenger—which could have allowed attackers to initiate a video call and eavesdrop on targets without user consent.

Read details: https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/google-discloses-flaws-in-signal-fb.html

Microsoft uncovers how SolarWinds hackers stayed under the radar for long enough during one of the most sophisticated attacks in recent history.

Read details: https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/heres-how-solarwinds-hackers-stayed.html

MrbMiner cryptocurrency-mining malware that surfaced last year and infected thousands of Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL) databases has been found linked to a small software development company based in Iran.

Read: https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/mrbminer-crypto-mining-malware-links-to.html