February 1, 2025 - Red Dot Security

(Select here for a video version of my opening commentary)

Hello all,

Unless your system administrators programmed your web and email filters to block it, the news of the week has been DeepSeek AI, the gains and pitfalls of this seeming revolutionary model, and what it means for governments, the AI industry, security practitioners, and everyone else. The full RedDotSecurity.news post contains a very large number of links to articles that discuss the gamut of questions and findings around this Chinese cyber-bombshell.

Undaunted, or perhaps because of the intense focus on AI, threat actors from nation states, script-kiddies, and cartels of cyber criminals have continued their evil work of stealing, encrypting, and extorting with no sign of slowing. Thankfully there is some good news with the United States, along with authorities from Australia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania, Spain, and the Netherlands having taken down several major cybercrime marketplaces. Score for the good guys!

Headline NEWS:

Apple released patches from an actively exploited vulnerability, along with a number of other fixes. If you use iFruit, heed Apple’s advice and update quickly.
Backdoor sends patient data to China. Epsimed MN-120 patient monitors, which are re-labeled Contec CMS8000 devices, have both been found to have a hard-coded back door that enables remote device takeover, and that they send patient data to a server in China. CISA has analyzed the functionality and has concluded that it can only be a back door, and not some hitherto unknown update mechanism.
Google Chrome needs to be updated to patch two more defects in the VP8 JavaScript engine.
Oracle has released a massive amount of updates, as mentioned last week. If you use their WebLogic Server, you should prioritize that update as the current defect could allow for Remote Code Execution (RCE).
VMware Avi Load Balancer has a high-severity SQL injection vulnerability. Broadcom has made an update available to address this flaw.
Zyxel has a zero-day vulnerability under active attack. Researchers, GreyNoise, published their findings about it when Zxyel failed to respond to them or to issue a patch. If you use Zyxel, turn off Telnet and any other unused service and if your device is End-of-Life, replace it.

In Ransomware, Malware, and Vulnerabilities News:

DeepSeek, the Chinese stunned the world last week with their AI model that seemingly performs as well as OpenAI’s O3 and was developed for significantly less money. As the week went on new details have emerged that have thrown major shade on how this was accomplished, the security of any data it receives, and of guardrails against malicious activity. The model itself can be used offline and fully disconnected, working very well. However, potential users need to practice safe computing and understand that if you use DeepSeek’s website, or phone apps, anything and everything that is shared with DeepSeek goes straight to China. Countries worldwide are scrambling to determine how to ensure the safety of their data, privacy of their citizens, and also at the same time, how not dismiss a potential revolution in how AI computes.

In Other News Events of Note and Interest:

Facebook blocked posts that mentioned Linux In a truly hilarious twist of someone doing a job they are not qualified to perform, Facebook declared that any post that mentioned Linux was related to malware and hacking. Unfortunately for Distro watch, a very popular forum for discussing Linux and its variants, it found itself the subject of the Facebook police. After being locked out of their account for several days, it would appear that Meta has relented and has stated, “This enforcement was in error and has since been addressed. Discussions of Linux are allowed on our services”. That’s good to know, since Meta itself runs on Linux servers.

Musings:

I love being part of the technology industry. I’ve been blessed to live in an age where people from all walks of life, size, shape, nation, color, gender, and ability are benefiting from technological advances that augment nearly every aspect of life. From shopping, farming, travel, leisure, entertainment, employment, nearly everything, is being massively impacted by a dramatic upswell of enablement and lifestyle gains. If you can’t tell, I love to geek out with the best of them. However, please don’t forget to unplug at times. Technology can do unbelievable, seemingly magical things, but it cannot heal as well as an hour in nature, listening to birds sing, smelling fresh cut grass, watching and listening to waves lapping onto a shore, seeing snowflakes gently descend, and gazing at the ever-changing shapes of clouds overhead. Turn off, tune out, and commune with nature, you’ll be glad you did.

Headline NEWS

Ransomware, Malware, and Vulnerabilities News

Other News Events of Note and Interest

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