Security

1 of  2: Vulnerability uncovered in Kubernetes open-source container softwareSituationA critical privilege-escalation vulnerability (CVE-2018-1002105) has been uncovered in the Kubernetes open-source container software.ProblemA hacker can send specially crafted requests to establish a connection through the Kubernetes API server. Once that connection is established, there’s no check on the ability to send arbitrary requests directly to those backends because the requests will be automatically authenticated with the Kubernetes API server’s TLS… Read More

Situation A critical vulnerability was found in the Zoom meetings platform that affected all Zoom products. Problem The vulnerability could allow a malicious user to control Zoom meeting functions and, if a user was sharing their desktop, take control of the mouse and keyboard. Implication If a malicious user were to take control of the desktop mouse and keyboard, they would have full access of the system. Need Zoom has… Read More

Situation A critical vulnerability was found in the Xorg X.Server package that is used on most major Linux operating systems. Problem The X.Server program does not properly handle and validate arguments for two command line options -modulepath and -logfile. Implication This allows an unprivileged user who has access to the system to elevate their permissions and then execute malicious code or overwrite any file on the system. Need Xorg and… Read More

Excerpts from NorCal CyberSecurity Summit on September 5, 2018; session presented by Shahin Pirooz, CTO/CISO of DataEndure. You can watch the full presentation here. More and more organizations and agencies are getting attacked on a daily basis, with newer threat vectors emerging faster than ever and even new business models developing to take advantage of the extremely lucrative cybercrime market. The city of Atlanta serves as a recent example (and warning)… Read More

Situation Two high-severity vulnerabilities were found within the Cisco Umbrella platform. Problem Within the Cisco umbrella platform, the Umbrella Roaming Client runs as System on startup and consumes several files within a directory.  It has been discovered that local users had the ability to write data to this directory. As a result, malicious files could be placed within the directory and ran to create or elevate user permissions. Implication  An… Read More

From ransomware to DDoS attacks, companies are under siege. To effectively mitigate breach risk today requires enormous expertise, resources and budget. Companies are losing more each year on cybercrime than they are spending to prevent it. Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM) tools are one example of how organizations are attempting to combat the problem of cybercrime. A SIEM scans your network and provides visibility into suspicious/illegitimate activity. Unfortunately, as… Read More

Situation AZORult is a trojan malware designed to extract data from the attacked system. Data can include passwords, cookies, files, wallet.dat data and more. Problem In July 2018, AZORult was substantially updated with Hermes ransomware. The update includes the ability to steal from non-Microsoft browsers, an improved loader, ability to use system proxies, and added support for cryptocurrency wallets. Implication The new version was seen in a large email campaign on July… Read More

In June, DataEndure participated in the Argyle CISO Leadership Forum panel, “Security Innovation; Unifying Proactive and Reactive.” Security leaders from across industries discussed the nature of insider threats, and where they are seeing the most opportunity for attacks – and innovation. This Executive Summary highlights the key themes and ideas that came out of the session. Time to Go on the Offense Historically, organizations (and vendors) have focused on reactive… Read More

A recent article in Security Magazine highlighted a “clear and present danger” for many organizations today—that of cyber-response fatigue. In short, those tasked with securing their companies against IT risk are hitting their limits.  With shrinking public tolerance for cybersecurity breaches and greater penalties for noncompliance in regulated industries (consider, for example, the GDPR that just went into effect), the heat and light on and from the boardroom have intensified dramatically. There is a fundamental… Read More

Reflecting on the recent ransomware attack that shut down the city of Atlanta’s online systems, even weeks later, officials are still struggling to restore key services across the extensive service network. While details about the attack remain thin (and understandably so); authorities have confirmed the city experienced a ransomware cyberattack accompanied by a written demand for $51,000 in bitcoin. While this “hostage situation” played out, scores of government services came to a standstill,… Read More