Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

The Associated Press (AP) has disclosed a data breach affecting the legacy AP Stylebook website that led to phishing attacks against impacted customers, BleepingComputer reports. “On July 20, 2023, Stylebooks.com notified us that AP Stylebook customers had received phishing emails directing them to a fake website that imitated AP Stylebook to provide updated credit card information,” the AP said. “APS immediately engaged a cyber forensics firm to investigate the incident.

Researchers at Truesec are tracking a phishing campaign that’s distributing the DarkGate Loader malware via external Microsoft Teams messages. “On August 29, in the timespan from 11:25 to 12:25 UTC, Microsoft Teams chat messages were sent from two external Office 365 accounts compromised prior to the campaign,” the researchers write.

The Telekopye toolkit allows scammers to create phishing websites, send fraudulent SMS messages and emails, and target popular Russian and non-Russian online marketplaces. While toolkits are nothing new, the frequency, speed of time-to-market, and the functionality available to the “every-scammer” is becoming truly frightening.

Organizations have started to recognize the importance of tying executive pay to cybersecurity metrics. This practice is gaining traction among the largest U.S. companies, with nine Fortune 100 companies incorporating cyber goals into the calculation of short-term bonuses for top executives.

The Interisle Consulting Group has published a paper looking at the phishing landscape in 2023, KrebsOnSecurity reports. Notably, Interisle found that the.us top-level domain is being widely abused in phishing attacks. “.US is the ccTLD of the United States and had a very large number of its domains used for phishing -- almost 30,000 domains, more than 20,000 of which were registered maliciously by phishers,” Interisle said.

New data suggests that the gangs and toolkits behind current ransomware attacks are materially improving their abilities, resulting in a speeding up of attacks before defenses kick in. It’s the last thing we want to hear; the threat actors are winning. But, according to Sophos’ 2023 Active Adversary Report for Tech Leaders report – at least when looking at threat actor dwell time – it seems to be the case.

The use of lookalike domains has reached critical mass with not just one counterfeit website, but many. The second act of a phishing attack intent on tricking the victim into providing valuable information is the website they are taken to. It has to look and feel like the real thing. But it also needs to have a domain that doesn’t raise suspicion. Thus, the advent of lookalike domains.

Identity and authentication management provider Okta has warned of social engineering attacks that are targeting IT workers in an attempt to gain administrative privileges within organizations’ networks.

I frequently write about authentication, including PKI, multi-factor authentication (MFA), password managers, FIDO, Open Authentication, and biometrics. I have written dozens of articles on LinkedIn and have presented during many KnowBe4 webinars about different authentication subjects. I have been professionally writing about authentication since at least November 2004, when I wrote my first ebook for Windows & IT Pro magazine on password attacks and security.

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has warned that scammers are exploiting the recent hurricanes that have hit the US. Criminals frequently impersonate charities and related organizations following natural disasters.