Tag Archive for: sees

IBM Sees Influx In Zero-day Exploits

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IBM’s X-Force security team has released a mid-year report(PDF) stating that the number of zero-day exploits is growing at an alarming rate. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a zero-day exploit is a program that is created and implemented within 24 hours of the disclosure of a security flaw. These exploits usually affect users before they even know the vulnerability exists and long before a patch is made available. The researchers also found that many of these exploits were targeted at browser plug-ins, which most users utilize on a daily basis.

[Kris Lamb], X-Force operations manager, is blaming the problem on a lack of a unified process for disclosing vulnerabilities. He also claims that the long-held practice of publishing example code of vulnerabilities should be frowned upon.

[via Liquidmatrix]


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Gulp! Pepsi hack sees personal information stolen by data-stealing malware

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Towards the end of last year, malicious hackers broke into the systems of Pepsi Bottling Ventures, the largest privately-owned bottler of Pepsi-Cola beverages in the USA, and installed malware.

For almost the month the malware secretly exfiltrated personally identifiable information (PII) from the company’s network.

The first Pepsi Bottling Ventures knew about the unauthorized access to its network was on January 10 2023, but it took a further nine days until the organisation completely shut the attackers out of its systems.

As Bleeping Computer reports, a notification letter sent to affected individuals confirms that a worrying array of information was stolen:

  • Full name
  • Home address
  • Financial account information (including passwords, PINs, and access numbers)
  • State and Federal government-issued ID numbers and driving license numbers
  • ID cards
  • Social Security Numbers (SSNs)
  • Passport information
  • Digital signatures
  • Information related to benefits and employment (health insurance claims and medical history)

Clearly the potential exists for cybercriminals to exploit the information stolen from the company’s network to launch phishing attacks and attempt to commit identity theft.

What isn’t clear from the notification letter is how many people may be affected by the data breach, and whether any business partners or customers are impacted. It certainly appears, from the information shared so far, that the information stolen relates to Pepsi employees.

Affected individuals are being offered free identity monitoring for one year.  Pepsi is also recommending that users change their login credentials, and ensure that they are not using the same password anywhere else on the internet.

The company says that it has informed law enforcement agencies of the attack, reset company passwords, and put in place additional measures to secure its network.

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Cryptomining Malware Sees 230% Increase in Q3 2022 / Digital Information World

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The recent shockwaves that were sent through the crypto world have made various crypto tokens extremely affordable, and it has also resulted in the entire industry experiencing an extended bear market with all things having been considered and taken into account. In spite of the fact that this is the case, malicious actors are still not letting up and are continuing to use cryptominers to profit from mining malware by infecting users who download pirated content from the internet.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that there has been a 230% increase in cryptominer usage in the third quarter of 2022 alone, as reported by Kaspersky. There are now over 150,000 distinct cryptominers that are being used because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing malicious actors to earn tens of thousands of dollars.

Monero is a popular cryptocurrency for these malicious actors since it allows them to stay more under the radar than might have been the case otherwise, but bitcoin is also being mined with these programs. The people who are infecting users with these mining programs often disguise them as being useful programs or cracks that can allow users to use paid programs free of charge.

Criminals can hijack computer systems and use their processing power to mine crypto. This is useful considering the high cost of electricity these days which has forced many legitimate miners to close up shop for the short term. Avoiding pirated content and software can be a useful way to avoid having your own systems used for such illicit purposes, but it will take a long time before this information makes its way into the mind of the average user.

Victims are often left with slow computer systems due to much of the processing power going towards crypto mining. They also get left with immense electricity bills and they often don’t know the reason for the bill being so high. Something must be done to curtail this activity because it is seriously hurting end users around the world.

Read next: New Report Confirms Gen Z Could Care Less About Cybersecurity At The Workplace

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India sees sharp rise in cyber attacks as internet base continues to widen

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Even as India’s internet base continues to widen, with the country set to have over 900 internet users by 2025, a parallel rise in cyber threats has become a matter of huge concern.



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