Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

Google Says Criminals Used AI to Discover and Code ExploitA cybercriminal group came close to launching a mass attack earlier this year, armed with a software exploit that an AI model had built from scratch, said Google researchers. Google said it worked with the affected vendor to patch the flaw before an attack could be launched.

CRM-Obsessed ShinyHunters Gang Exploits Misconfigured Customer Experience PortalsA prolific and noisy cybercrime gang with a penchant for stealing Salesforce customers' data and holding it ransom is taking advantage of misconfigured guest accounts meant to provide public access to services meant to remain private, using a Google scanning tool to identify vulnerable accounts.

China, Iran, North Korea Hackers Exploit Gemini Across Attack Life CycleState-backed hackers weaponized Google's artificial intelligence model Gemini to accelerate cyberattacks, using the productivity tool as an offensive asset for reconnaissance, social engineering and malware development. Google said it has disabled accounts and strengthened defenses.

Seeking to Add Urgency, Mandiant Publishes Rainbow Tables for NTLM Key HashesFor nearly 30 years, security experts have warned organizations to ditch the weak NTLM authentication protocol in Windows. But its use persists, even amidst easy and active exploits. Now Google has published rainbow tables for NTLMv1. Will this finally drive holdout organizations to change?

Signs Point to Multiple Exploit Chains, One Including a Zero-Day, Being EmployedData-stealing attacks targeting Oracle E-Business Suite, for which an affiliate of Russian-speaking Clop ransomware group is claiming credit, appear to have begun by August and involved multiple attack chains, of which one targeted a zero-day vulnerability, report Google threat researchers.

Google Cloud's Hultquist on How State Hackers Exploit Code and Corporate HiringJohn Hultquist, chief analyst at Google Threat Intelligence Group, Google Cloud, discussed how China and North Korea are transforming cyberattacks into organized, factory-like operations. Alongside zero-day exploits, North Korean IT operatives are quietly infiltrating Fortune 500 companies under false identities.

Google Says Iranian and Chinese Threat Group the Most ActiveIranian and Chinese threat actors are using Google's artificial intelligence application Gemini for vulnerability scanning and reconnaissance activities, with some attempting to bypass security guardrails of the application, the computing giant disclosed.

Attackers Could Exploit Flaw to Run Malicious Code on Google' s, Customers' ServersGoogle patched a critical remote execution vulnerability in its cloud platform Cloud Composer service, "CloudImposer," which could have allowed attackers to compromise millions of servers, say researchers from Tenable. The CloudImposer vulnerability could lead to the Jenga Tower effect.

Cryptocurrency Users Targeted in Latest Campaign Involving FudModule RootkitA hacking group tied to North Korea exploited a zero-day vulnerability in the open source Google Chromium web browser to try and steal cryptocurrency, Microsoft said. The attack campaign is the latest to involve a sophisticated North Korean rootkit called FudModule. Google has fixed the flaw.

Espionage Groups and Commercial Surveillance Vendors Tied to Many Zero-Day ExploitsFresh zero-day vulnerabilities continue to be getting actively exploited in the wild by attackers, often for surveillance and espionage purposes, according to the latest annual review of in-the-wild exploits published by Google. In 2023, 97 new zero-days came to light, up from 62 in 2022.

Zimbra Patched the Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerability on July 25A zero-day flaw in the Zimbra Collaboration email server proved to be a bonanza for hackers as four distinct threat actors exploited the bug to steal email data and user credentials, says Google. Most of the exploit activity occurred after Zimbra had posted a hotfix on July 5.