Galaxy S22 hacked in seconds, U.S. COVID funds stolen and the Zombinder Android campaign
Researchers exploit Samsung Galaxy S22 in 55 seconds, Chinese hackers steal millions worth of U.S. COVID relief money, and the Android Zombinder threat. Catch all this and more in this week’s edition of Cybersecurity Weekly.
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1. Samsung Galaxy S22 hacked in 55 seconds on the third day of Pwn2Own
On day 3 of the Pwn2Own hacking contest, researchers from Pentest Limited managed to hack the Samsung Galaxy S22 in just 55 seconds. They did this after successfully demoing a zero-day bug as part of an Improper Input Validation attack against the device. This is the fourth time Samsung’s flagship device was hacked during the Toronto-based contest. In all four cases, it was running the latest version of Android OS with all the latest updates installed.
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2. Chinese hackers stole millions worth of COVID-19 relief funds: Secret Service
The Secret Service recently stated that Chinese hackers had stolen tens of millions of dollars worth of U.S. Covid relief funds since 2020. According to them, the Chinese cybercriminal group APT41 is responsible for the theft. It’s said to be the first instance of a pandemic fraud tied to state-sponsored threat factors that the U.S. government has acknowledged publicly. The Secret Service also said it considers the group to be highly adept at conducting financial crimes and espionage missions for personal benefit.
3. Zombinder darknet service binds Android malware with legitimate apps
Cybersecurity firm ThreatFabric has discovered a new darknet platform that enables cybercriminals to bind malware to legitimate Android apps. Dubbed Zombinder, the campaign infects victims’ devices while maintaining the original functionality of the apps to escape detection. Basically, Zombinder appends an obfuscated loader to the app’s code, which displays a prompt to install a plugin when a user launches the app. If accepted, the campaign drops a malicious payload capable of keylogging, intercepting 2FA codes, and stealing emails from Gmail.
4. Rackspace confirms ransomware attack after multiple customers report outages
Cloud company Rackspace confirmed a ransomware attack affected its exchange server. A security researcher believes the attackers exploited the ProxyNotShell vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange. While the company has since restored services for thousands of customers by migrating them to Microsoft 365, many took to social media to express dissatisfaction over the incident.
5. North Korean threat actors used Seoul Halloween tragedy to distribute malware
Google’s threat analysis group found that North Korean hackers used the Seoul Halloween stampede as a reference to distribute malware in South Korea. The adversaries embedded the malware in Microsoft Office documents, which purported to be a report from the government. Google also said it hasn’t learned what the objective of the malware was, except that it exploited a vulnerability in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
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In this Series
- Galaxy S22 hacked in seconds, U.S. COVID funds stolen and the Zombinder Android campaign
- Canada Flipper Zero ban and new RustDoor macOS malware
- AnyDesk hack and iPhone patched kernel flaw
- Tesla Pwn2Own hacks and iOS push alerts abuse
- TeamViewer breach and Atlassian Jira outage
- Moscow ISP revenge hack and Microsoft Sharepoint bug warning
- X verified accounts hack and SpectralBlur macOS malware
- CISA default password alert and SOHO KV-botnet campaign
- New 5G modem flaws and Apple’s data breach report
- Staples cyberattack, Agent Racoon backdoor and other news
- British Library ransomware attack, Windows fingerprint authentication bypass
- Samsung UK data breach and ransomware actor’s SEC complaint
- ICBC ransomware attack and ChatGPT outage
- Boeing Lockbit ransomware attack, Apple’s vulnerability and WhatsApp mods spyware
- Octo Tempest hacking group and new iLeakage attack
- Okta support system breach and Google Ads fake KeePass campaign
- Skype DarkGate malware, Shadow PC breach and AvosLocker ransomware warning
- 23andMe data theft, MGM’s $100M ransomware loss and the Azure VM breach
- Malicious Bing Chat ads and FBI’s dual ransomware warning
- T-Mobile app glitch and fake Booking.com pages
- Airbus data leak, Cisco Webex ad malware and €345 million TikTok fine
- New Apple iMessage exploit and CISA’s Apache RocketMQ warning
- Forever 21 data breach and Android BadBazaar espionage
- Duolingo data leak and the Met Police IT hack
- Discord.io data breach and Ivanti Avalanche vulnerabilities
- UK Electoral Commission hack and Microsoft’s role in China email breach
- Salesforce email zero-day exploit and Microsoft Power Platform criticism
- Airlines disclose pilot data breach and the Microsoft Teams bug
- GravityRAT Android Trojan and new MOVEit Transfer flaw
- University of Manchester hack and Honda API flaws
- MOVEit zero-day exploit and the U.S. iPhone hack accusation
- Daam Android virus and Barracuda zero-day flaw
- TP-Link router exploit and 18-year-old charged with hacking DraftKings accounts
- Discord support hack and Toyota location data leak
- Twitter private tweets bug and Cisco phone router vulnerabilities
- Cisco XSS zero-day flaw and PaperCut vulnerabilities
- 3CX hackers hit critical infrastructure and secondhand routers cause security concerns
- Hyundai data breach and Microsoft’s warning to accountants
- Western Digital cloud breach and the MSI ransomware hack
- TMX loan data breach, Italy bans ChatGPT and WordPress Elementor Pro exploit
- ChatGPT data leak and Gmail message theft by North Korean hackers
- U.S. federal agency hack and the return of FakeCalls Android malware
- Massive AT&T data breach and fake jobs targeting security researchers
- U.S. Marshals service breach and TPM 2.0 security flaws
- Dangerous ChatGPT apps and food giant Dole ransomware attack
- GoDaddy malware installations, record-breaking DDoS attack and the new WhiskerSpy malware
- Reddit’s employees phished, healthcare firms targeted and the new Screenshotter malware
- JD Sports data breached, VMware ESXi servers attacked and the HeadCrab malware
- Yandex source code leaked, 4500+ WordPress sites hacked and the new SwiftSlicer malware
- PayPal accounts breached, Fortinet VPN flaw exploited, and the new Hook malware
- Twitter users’ emails leaked, ChatGPT used to write malware and Slack’s repository breach
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