BotNet News

Cyberthreat News is a monthly feature that highlights notable cybersecurity attacks, trends and research. These topics can range from data theft to denial-of-service attacks to phishing. They can be launched by nation-states and governments, powerful individuals and corporations, criminal networks and even extremist organizations.

A new malware variant dubbed Blind Eagle is targeting organizations in Latin America with a focus on Colombian financial institutions. It is leveraging an unpatched zero-day exploit to gain access to system configuration files containing user credentials. A phishing campaign is targeting Microsoft 365 tenants, using spoofed e-mails to trick users into sharing credentials with attackers.

Retailers like Marks & Spencer were targeted by threat actor Scattered Spider in a multistage attack that affected online shopping and inventory management systems. The attack exposed customer data, including payment details.

Researchers have discovered vulnerabilities in select models of Lenovo webcams that allow attackers to turn them into BadUSB attack devices. The attacker can then inject keystrokes covertly, enabling them to run attacks independent of the host operating system.

This body of research illustrates that while journalists, technology companies and researchers are aware of digital threats to an independent press, for several cultural, institutional and practical reasons, these conversations rarely result in new resources or collaborations. This needs to change. More research is needed on how to create a network of journalists, technology providers and researchers that share knowledge about digital security tools and practices. Research is also needed on how to best support the security of journalists, whistleblowers and sources and how to help them defend themselves against digital threats.