Stay secure online with the latest on authentication techniques, best practices, and industry updates at the forefront of information security.
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Background for this topic.
Authentication confirms the identity of users or systems before granting access to resources, typically using factors like passwords (knowledge), hardware tokens (possession), or biometrics (inherence). It establishes trust boundaries that prevent unauthorized entities from impersonating legitimate users or devices within networks and applications.
Weak authentication enables attackers to perform account takeover, privilege escalation, or lateral movement by exploiting stolen credentials, phishing, or replay attacks. Deploying multi-factor authentication (MFA) with independent factors significantly reduces these risks. Secure credential storage, regular rotation, and monitoring authentication logs for anomalies are critical defenses to detect and block unauthorized access attempts early in the attack chain.
Scans on the public web show that approximately 150,000 Fortinet FortiOS and FortiProxy secure web gateway systems are vulnerable to CVE-2024-21762, a critical security issue that allows executing code without authentication. [...]
Microsoft says the Russian 'Midnight Blizzard' hacking group recently accessed some of its internal systems and source code repositories using authentication secrets stolen during a January cyberattack. [...]
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Thursday added a critical security flaw impacting JetBrains TeamCity On-Premises software to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, based on evidence of active exploitation
Hackers have started to exploit the critical-severity authentication bypass vulnerability (CVE-2024-27198) in TeamCity On-Premises, which JetBrains addressed in an update on Monday. [...]
Hackers have started to exploit the critical-severity authentication bypass vulnerability (CVE-2024-27198) in TeamCity On-Premises, which JetBrains addressed in an update on Monday. [...]
Proofpoint Spots Recent Changes in Cyber Tactics for Black Basta-Affiliated GroupA cyber threat actor is shifting tactics from conventional malware delivery to a targeted focus on acquiring NT LAN Manager authentication information to potentially collect sensitive data and perform other malicious actions. The campaigns have targeted hundreds of organizations globally.
Users Advised to Prioritize Patching for Publicly Known Flaws, ExploitTwo critical vulnerabilities affecting all on-premises versions of TeamCity servers can result in authentication bypass and path traversal, enabling an attacker to gain administrative privileges for a server and take it over. Users should prioritize patching now that the exploit is public.
Biometrics is increasingly common for authentication, and organizations must make sure their data security solutions protect what may be a new goldmine for hackers.
The hacking group known as TA577 has recently shifted tactics by using phishing emails to steal NT LAN Manager (NTLM) authentication hashes to perform account hijacks. [...]
Yet challenges remain as many nation's policies for the email authentication protocol remain lax and could run afoul of Google's and Yahoo's restrictions.
Proofpoint warned the method could be used for data gathering and further malicious activities