The Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) recently published a new report “Adversarial Misuse of Generative AI,” which is well worth the read. The report shares findings on how government-backed threat actors use and misuse the Gemini web application. Although the GTIG is committed to countering threats across Google’s platforms, it is also committed to sharing
threat actors
CISA + FBI Issue Joint Advisory on Threat Actors Chaining Ivanti Vulnerabilities
On January 22, 2025, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a joint advisory related to previous vulnerabilities in the Ivanti Cloud Service Appliance, including an administrative bypass, a SQL injection, and remote code execution vulnerabilities – previously listed as CVE-2024-8963, CVE-2024-9379, CVE-2024-8190 and CVE-2024-9380.
The alert…
Privacy Tip #429 – Threat Actors Continue to Use QR Codes For Fraudulent Purposes
We have repeatedly warned our readers about malicious QR codes and their use by threat actors.
Threat actors are now using these codes to disguise packages as gifts. Upon opening the package, recipients find a note with instructions to scan a QR code to identify the sender. The code launches a website that asks for…
CrowdStrike Customers Targeted by Threat Actors Using Fake Help Websites
If you are a customer of CrowdStrike, you are working on recovering from the outage that occurred on July 19, 2024. As if that isn’t enough disruption, CrowdStrike is warning customers that threat actors are taking advantage of the situation by using fake websites and domains, sending phishing emails impersonating CrowdStrike, and offering malicious products…
CISA Warns of Three New Vulnerabilities Actively Exploited by Threat Actors
On July 17, 2024, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an Alert adding three vulnerabilities to its Known Vulnerabilities Catalog. The three vulnerabilities related to Adobe, SolarWinds, and VMWare products are:
Privacy Tip #398 – Cybersecurity Agencies Issue Guidance for Civil Society on Mitigating Cyber Threats
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and its partners recently issued helpful guidance for entities that have limited resources to address cyber threats. The guidance, entitled “Mitigating Cyber Threats with Limited Resources: Guidance for Civil Society,” is targeted to assist civil society—“nonprofit, advocacy, cultural, faith-based, academic, think tanks, journalist, dissident, and diaspora organizations, communities…
HC3 Warns Health Sector About Social Engineering Attacks Against IT Help Desks
The Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) recently issued an Alert warning that “threat actors employing advanced social engineering tactics to target IT help desks in the health sector and gain initial access to target organizations” have been on the rise.
The social engineering scheme starts with a telephone call to the IT help desk…
Privacy Tip #389 – FTC Outlines Top Scams in 2023
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) keeps track of scams that are reported to it and summarizes those scams in a report outlining the most successful scams of the prior year.
Last year’s statistics are disturbing, as many of the same techniques from previous years are still being used successfully by threat actors. Old scams are…
Ransomware Hitting U.S. Companies at Increasing Rate
Unfortunately, according to Unit 42 of Palo Alto’s recently published “Ransomware and Extortion Report,” ransomware groups had a good year in 2022. They found that threat actors are using multi-extortion tactics to get paid by victims, including data exfiltration. In addition, there was “a 49% increase in victims reported by ransomware leak sites, with a…
Privacy Tip #379 – Protecting Veterans from Scams
Let us take time this week to thank current members of the military and all veterans for their service in protecting our country and democracy. As the daughter of a veteran, I am profoundly grateful to all of our service members who put their lives and families at risk every day, and those that forged…