Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

Flaw Enabled Remote Code Execution, Say AWS ResearchersResearchers from AWS said they spotted a hacking campaign taking advantage of a zero-day vulnerability in Cisco network access control software before the routing giant patched it earlier this year. The flaw let attackers perform pre-authentication remote code execution.

The North Korean threat actor linked to the Contagious Interview campaign has been observed merging some of the functionality of two of its malware programs, indicating that the hacking group is actively refining its toolset

CISA Issues Emergency Directive After Cisco Exploits Persist After RebootCISA issued an emergency directive Thursday after discovering an advanced hacking campaign exploiting two persistent zero-days in Cisco firewall gear - malware that survives system reboots and upgrades - forcing agencies to disconnect vulnerable devices by Friday.

Seven-year-old Cisco vuln that remains inexplicably unpatched is their way in The US State Department has put a $10 million bounty on the heads of three Russians accused of being intelligence agents hacking America's critical infrastructure - primarily via old Cisco kit, it seems.…

A Chinese-speaking advanced persistent threat (APT) actor has been observed targeting web infrastructure entities in Taiwan using customized versions of open-sourced tools with an aim to establish long-term access within high-value victim environments

Also: ToolShell Hits South Africa, Most Americans Are Online Fraud VictimsThis week: Did China sneak a peek into ToolShell? ToolShell hacking in South Africa, Cisco flaws, an Arizona woman sentenced for aiding North Korea. Most Americans scammed online, a NASCAR data breach and a claimed data leak at France's Naval Group. Orange telecom disrupted. Dating app Tea breach.

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and the FBI confirm that the Chinese state-sponsored 'Salt Typhoon' hacking group is also targeting Canadian telecommunication firms, breaching a telecom provider in February. [...]

UAT-5918 Breaches Taiwan's Critical Sectors Using N-Day Flaws for CyberespionageHackers with ties to China-based hacking groups including Volt Typhoon are breaching Taiwan's critical infrastructure by exploiting unpatched web and application servers as entry points for a cyberespionage campaign. Cisco Talos threat hunters identified the new threat actor as UAT-5918.

Telecoms Still Falling to Chinese Nation-State Hacking Group, Researchers WarnA Chinese cyber espionage group tracked as Salt Typhoon and tied to the mass hacking of telecommunications networks in the U.S. and dozens of other countries has been continuing to seek and hack unpatched equipment, including exploiting two long-patched vulnerabilities in Cisco gear.

Cisco has confirmed to BleepingComputer that it is investigating recent claims that it suffered a breach after a threat actor began selling allegedly stolen data on a hacking forum. [...]

A new remote access trojan called MoonPeak has been discovered as being used by a state-sponsored North Korean threat activity cluster as part of a new campaign

Networking Giant Dubs Campaign Against Government Customers 'Arcane Door'Probable nation-state hackers targeted Cisco firewall appliances in a campaign dating to late 2023, the networking giant disclosed Wednesday while releasing three patches, two of them rated critical. Cisco doesn't connect the hackers with a specific country. It dubs the campaign "Arcane Door."

​Cisco warned today that a state-backed hacking group has been exploiting two zero-day vulnerabilities in Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) firewalls since November 2023 to breach government networks worldwide. [...]

Also: Omni Hack Exposed Customer Data; More Ivanti Vulnerabilities Come to LightThis week, police disrupted the LabHost phishing-as-a-service site, customer data compromised in Omni Hotels hack, more Ivanti vulnerabilities found, Moldovan botnet operator faces U.S. charges, Cisco warned of a data breach in Duo and a Spanish Guardia Civil contractor suffered a ransomware attack.

Also: Omni Hack Exposed Customer Data and More Ivanti VulnerabilitiesThis week, police took down the LabHost phishing-as-a-service site, customer data compromised in Omni Hotels hack, more Ivanti vulnerabilities, a Moldovan botnet operators faces U.S. charges, Cisco warned of data breach in Duo and a Spanish Guardia Civil contractor suffered a ransomware attack.

CoralRaider Looks for Social Media Accounts That Contain Payment InformationVietnamese financially motivated hackers are targeting businesses across Asia in a campaign to harvest corporate credentials and financial data for resale in online criminal markets. Researchers at Cisco Talos identified a cluster of hacking activity its tracks as CoralRaider.

'Volt Typhoon' Could Be Preparing for Renewed Burst of ActivityA Chinese state hacking group is attacking superseded Cisco routers to target government entities in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Beijing cyberespionage hackers dubbed "Volt Typhoon" are using vulnerabilities that were first disclosed in early 2019.

Public exploit code is now available for the critical Cisco IOS XE vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-20198 that was leveraged as a zero-day to hack tens of thousands of devices. [...]

Cisco has addressed the two vulnerabilities (CVE-2023-20198 and CVE-2023-20273) that hackers exploited to compromise tens of thousands of IOS XE devices over the past week. [...]

Hackers are targeting Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SSL VPNs in credential stuffing and brute-force attacks that take advantage of lapses in security defenses, such as not enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA). [...]