August 5, 2023


Hello all,

It has been a surprisingly busy week as far as news items are concerned. The next two weeks should prove to be even busier. Hacker Summer Camp starts next week in Las Vegas, NV. There are three separate events attracting an estimated 45,000 hackers, crackers, phreaks, geeks, nerds, criminal overlords, and cyber people of all ranks, skill sets, colors, abilities, sizes, and nationalities. There will be numerous product announcements, vulnerability reveals, and tools demonstrated for use by good guys, and bad guys. And, if that wasn’t enough, Tuesday is Patch Tuesday. Buckle up, it looks like it will be a bumpy ride.

As usual, the complete the Red-N Weekly Cyber Security News newsletter report is below the Notable Callouts. Don’t forget, our site, https://red-n-security.com also has searchable archives of past newsletters. 

Notable Callouts:

  • Apple users have a new malware to worry about. It is a hidden VNC server that is apparently trivial to install. The latest MacOS’s are protected, but older versions are vulnerable.
  • AWS has unveiled an AI to assist doctors. While I can see the benefits, I do ask that they please, please check what the AI is recommending. I do not want to lose body parts due to a hallucinating AI.
  • Backblaze, in addition to being a rather inexpensive data hosting company, puts out regular reports on the statistics for hard drives and SSD drives they use. The Q2 HDD data is now available. There are some clear winners and losers. If you’re looking to purchase storage, it is worth checking their reports.
  • Burger King, that’s a name you don’t expect to see in a Cybersecurity focused newsletter. Due to an error in a webserver for job applicants, there were publicly exposed passwords available.
  • Citrix ShareFile has made a patch available for an RCE, but apparently not everyone has gotten the message. Attackers have started to exploit unpatched systems.
  • Cloudzy, such an innocent sounding name, is a US internet hosting provider that has been proven to enable a large portion of cyber-criminal activity and may be linked to a NSO in Iran.
  • Google is pitching a new method to authenticate devices that connect. Their plan has come under intense backlash by experts and companies that make Chromium based browsers.
  • Ivanti has another zero day that has been found. Patch quickly.
  • Linus Torvads, in what is a somewhat surprising move, has called for turning off AMD’s “stupid” fTPM due to numerous errors with attempted fixes, and errors still persisting.
  • Milesight Industrial Routers recently underwent intense scrutiny. They were shown to have dozens of RCEs. If you use these, check for updates and mitigation advice immediately.
  • PaperCut has a new high-severity vulnerability that’s been patched. If you or your customers have a version lower than 22.1.3, patch quickly.
  • Tenable, maker of the Nessus scanner, has had their CEO, Amit Yoran, accuse Microsoft of negligence and “a culture which denies the criticality of vulnerabilities.” Apparently, the public calling out had some efficacy as Microsoft promptly fixed the vulnerability that triggered the outburst.
  • VMware released patches for multiple vulnerabilities in their Horizon Server product.
  • In Ransomware, Malware, and Vulnerabilities News, 67% of data breaches start with a single click. That statistic should send shudders through every security defender.

    The aforementioned Microsoft vulnerability called out by Amit Yoran and Microsoft’s response is in this section this week.

    ICS/OT systems are increasingly showing up in the news as attackers are shifting to what they know are likely to be unpatched and largely unmonitored systems.
  • In Other News Events of Note and Interest, the White House has released a cybersecurity workforce and education plan that is worth perusing.

    Google will start deleting inactive accounts in December.

    Firefox version 116 has dropped support for Windows 7, 8, and macOS 10.1.
  • In Cyber Insurance News, a report that Cyber Insurance is NOT fueling the ransomware epidemic.

With the trifecta of Hacker Summer Camps (Blackhat, BSidesLV, and DefCon) coming up, batten the hatches, shore up the lines, and prepare for some rough seas soon. Lots of folks on both sides of the security divide will be newly armed for combat.

Viscount Zebulon Wamboldt Pike
Red-N Weekly Cyber Security News

Headline NEWS

Ransomware, Malware, and Vulnerabilities News

Other News Events of Note and Interest

Cyber Insurance News

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