Krebs on Security

JANUARY 14, 2025

.” Bob Hopkins at Immersive Labs called attention to the CVE-2025-21311 , a 9.8 “critical” bug in Windows NTLMv1 (NT LAN Manager version 1), an older Microsoft authentication protocol that is still used by many organizations. Unpatched.ai “It may be the first of many in 2025.”

Artificial Intelligence 290

Artificial Intelligence Social Engineering Encryption Internet 290

The Last Watchdog

JULY 24, 2023

Today, bad actors are ruthlessly skilled at cracking passwords – whether through phishing attacks, social engineering, brute force, or buying them on the dark web. The next big thing is passwordless authentication. First and foremost, most solutions rely on connected devices like mobile phones to authenticate users.

Authentication 245

Authentication Passwords Phishing Social Engineering 245

Duo's Security Blog

DECEMBER 14, 2023

But as it turns out, John was a victim of a phishing scam, a type of social engineering attack where the cybercriminal impersonated John’s IT department to gain his trust and trick him into revealing his login credentials. What is social engineering? If it is, access is granted.

Social Engineering 130

Social Engineering Engineering Phishing Passwords 130

Krebs on Security

NOVEMBER 21, 2024

The targeted SMS scams asked employees to click a link and log in at a website that mimicked their employer’s Okta authentication page. Some SMS phishing messages told employees their VPN credentials were expiring and needed to be changed; other phishing messages advised employees about changes to their upcoming work schedule.

Identity Theft 269

Identity Theft Phishing Cryptocurrency Accountability 269

Krebs on Security

AUGUST 21, 2020

” The perpetrators focus on social engineering new hires at the targeted company, and impersonate staff at the target company’s IT helpdesk. Consider using a formalized authentication process for employee-to-employee communications made over the public telephone network where a second factor is used to.

VPN 363

VPN Social Engineering Authentication Engineering 363

Schneier on Security

SEPTEMBER 17, 2020

When, say, an iPhone is getting ready to pair up with Bluetooth-powered device, CTKD’s role is to set up two separate authentication keys for that phone: one for a “Bluetooth Low Energy” device, and one for a device using what’s known as the “Basic Rate/Enhanced Data Rate” standard.

Authentication 363

Authentication Social Engineering Firmware Encryption 363

Security Affairs

MAY 17, 2025

“Contact information acquired through social engineering schemes could also be used to impersonate contacts to elicit information or funds.” Always confirm authenticity before responding, and contact security officials or the FBI if uncertain. Enable and protect two-factor authentication and never share OTP codes.

Government 122

Government Social Engineering Authentication Accountability 122

The Hacker News

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

When it comes to access security, one recommendation stands out above the rest: multi-factor authentication (MFA). With passwords alone being simple work for hackers, MFA provides an essential layer of protection against breaches. However, it's important to remember that MFA isn't foolproof. It can be bypassed, and it often is.

Social Engineering 140

Social Engineering Engineering Passwords Authentication 140

Krebs on Security

FEBRUARY 26, 2023

GoDaddy described the incident at the time in general terms as a social engineering attack, but one of its customers affected by that March 2020 breach actually spoke to one of the hackers involved. But we do know the March 2020 attack was precipitated by a spear-phishing attack against a GoDaddy employee.

Hacking 332

Hacking Social Engineering Phishing Scams 332

SecureWorld News

FEBRUARY 13, 2025

Evolution of social engineering Social engineering exploits human psychology to manipulate individuals into revealing sensitive information or taking harmful actions. Attacks on identity verification systems Bypassing biometric security: Many organizations use facial and voice recognition for authentication.

Social Engineering 90

Social Engineering Authentication Identity Theft Engineering 90

SecureWorld News

APRIL 28, 2025

The phishing game has evolved into synthetic sabotage a hybrid form of social engineering powered by AI that can personalize, localize, and scale attacks with unnerving precision. At the heart of many of these kits are large language models (LLMs) trained or fine-tuned specifically for social engineering tasks.

Phishing 104

Phishing Social Engineering Engineering Data breaches 104

Malwarebytes

JULY 30, 2024

If you were trying to download the popular Google Authenticator (a multi-factor authentication program) via a Google search in the past few days, you may have inadvertently installed malware on your computer. Fake site leads to signed payload hosted on Github The fraudulent site chromeweb-authenticators[.]com

Authentication 144

Authentication Computers and Electronics Social Engineering Advertising 144

The Last Watchdog

MARCH 28, 2025

Rather, this attack targets the victim’s digital identity, taking advantage of the widespread shift toward cloud-based enterprise storage and the fact that browser-based authentication is the primary gateway to accessing these resources.

Antivirus 147

Antivirus Ransomware Social Engineering Engineering 147

Krebs on Security

OCTOBER 20, 2023

Okta , a company that provides identity tools like multi-factor authentication and single sign-on to thousands of businesses, has suffered a security breach involving a compromise of its customer support unit, KrebsOnSecurity has learned.

Social Engineering 362

Social Engineering Engineering Accountability Hacking 362

The Last Watchdog

NOVEMBER 19, 2023

As the companies face nine federal lawsuits for failing to protect customer data, it’s abundantly clear hackers have checkmated multi-factor authentication (MFA). But the coup de gras was how easily they brushed aside the multi-factor authentication protections. How they steamrolled multi-factor authentication is a reason for pause.

Social Engineering 310

Social Engineering Passwords Authentication Marketing 310

SecureWorld News

APRIL 22, 2025

This incident highlights the critical vulnerability in cryptocurrency communities, where high-net-worth individuals or executives may be more prone to social engineering attacks due to the high volume of media and investor engagement they handle. This adds an additional layer of protection in the event of credential theft.

Cryptocurrency 95

Cryptocurrency Social Engineering Cybercrime Engineering 95

Security Affairs

APRIL 21, 2025

The malware is delivered via social engineering, attackers attempt to trick victims into tapping cards on infected phones. Calls enable social engineering in a Telephone-Oriented Attack Delivery (TOAD) scenario. Analysis of the SuperCard X campaign in Italy revealed custom malware builds tailored for regional use.

Malware 106

Malware Social Engineering Banking Engineering 106

The Last Watchdog

JANUARY 30, 2025

The extension then silently authenticates the victim into a Chrome profile managed by the attackers Google Workspace. Once this authentication occurs, the attacker has full control over the newly managed profile in the victims browser, allowing them to push automated policies such as disabling safe browsing and other security features.

Social Engineering 130

Social Engineering Engineering Authentication Accountability 130

IT Security Guru

FEBRUARY 25, 2025

A prime example is multi-factor authentication (MFA), a security process that requires users to verify their identity in two or more ways, such as a password, a code sent to their phone, or a fingerprint. Other Ways Threat Actors Exploit Human Behaviour In addition to fatigue attacks, malefactors weaponise social engineering.

Social Engineering 118

Social Engineering Authentication Risk Accountability 118

SecureWorld News

JANUARY 22, 2025

Additionally, these conventional tools lack the contextual awareness needed to identify sophisticated social engineering tactics employed by AI-powered phishing campaigns. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) : Enforce robust MFA protocols to add an extra layer of security.

Phishing 115

Phishing Threat Detection Social Engineering DNS 115

Krebs on Security

AUGUST 19, 2020

Allen said a typical voice phishing or “vishing” attack by this group involves at least two perpetrators: One who is social engineering the target over the phone, and another co-conspirator who takes any credentials entered at the phishing page and quickly uses them to log in to the target company’s VPN platform in real-time.

Phishing 363

Phishing VPN Social Engineering Media 363

Security Affairs

NOVEMBER 15, 2024

The malware could harvest a huge trove of data from infected systems, including cookies, autofill, cryptocurrency wallets, 2FA authenticators, password managers, and email client information. Researchers from Gen Digital who discovered the threat, believe it is in its early development phase.

Encryption 116

Encryption Password Management Cryptocurrency Social Engineering 116

Schneier on Security

MAY 1, 2019

These mechanisms may also rely on security keys, but chances are that they don't (and somewhere down the line, there's probably a fallback mechanism that uses SMS, or Google Authenticator, or an email confirmation loop, or a password, or an administrator who can be sweet talked by a social engineer).

Social Engineering 259

Social Engineering Backups Authentication Passwords 259

Bleeping Computer

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

Software company Retool says the accounts of 27 cloud customers were compromised following a targeted and multi-stage social engineering attack. [.]

Social Engineering 141

Social Engineering Authentication Engineering Accountability 141

Krebs on Security

NOVEMBER 21, 2020

In response to questions from KrebsOnSecurity, GoDaddy acknowledged that “a small number” of customer domain names had been modified after a “limited” number of GoDaddy employees fell for a social engineering scam. authenticate the phone call before sensitive information can be discussed. and 11:00 p.m.

Cryptocurrency 364

Cryptocurrency Scams VPN Social Engineering 364

Security Affairs

OCTOBER 30, 2024

The emails were highly targeted, using social engineering lures relating to Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and the concept of Zero Trust.” . “On October 22, 2024, Microsoft identified a spear-phishing campaign in which Midnight Blizzard sent phishing emails to thousands of users in over 100 organizations.

Phishing 123

Phishing Social Engineering Government Hacking 123

Duo's Security Blog

MAY 28, 2025

The Duo difference: End-to-end phishing resistance For too long, defenders have focused solely on login protection with multi-factor authentication (MFA). Seamless Help Desk Verification: A new tech partnership enabling identity verification for help desks, safeguarding against social engineering attacks.

Social Engineering 124

Social Engineering Engineering Phishing Marketing 124

SecureWorld News

FEBRUARY 25, 2025

One of the report's most pressing concerns is the role of Generative AI in social engineering attacks. From the report: "Generative AI is being used to create highly convincing phishing emails, fake voices, and even deepfake videosmaking social engineering attacks more difficult to detect.

Cybersecurity 99

Cybersecurity Social Engineering Artificial Intelligence Cyber threats 99

SecureWorld News

NOVEMBER 6, 2024

Google moved away from VPNs, instead using device-based authentication and continuous access verification, ensuring that each access request is authenticated. Deepfake social engineering: Deepfakes can mimic legitimate users to manipulate access. Take Google's BeyondCorp as an example.

Social Engineering 104

Social Engineering Authentication Architecture Ransomware 104

Krebs on Security

APRIL 6, 2022

“They would just keep jamming a few individuals to get [remote] access, read some onboarding documents, enroll a new 2FA [two-factor authentication method] and exfiltrate code or secrets, like a smash-and-grab,” the CXO said. ” Like LAPSUS$, these vishers just kept up their social engineering attacks until they succeeded.

Social Engineering 293

Social Engineering Phishing Engineering Accountability 293

SecureWorld News

MAY 16, 2025

Scattered Spider is a financially motivated threat actor group known for its social engineering prowess, SIM-swapping attacks, and living-off-the-land (LOTL) techniques. The group is well known to employ social engineering tactics to gain access, so hardening your help desk is an immediate first step in defense," Staynings continued.

Retail 78

Retail Social Engineering Engineering Telecommunications 78

SecureWorld News

MAY 28, 2025

In early May 2025, two of the United Kingdom's best-known grocers, Marks & Spencer (M&S) and the Co-op, as well as luxury retailer Harrods, were struck by sophisticated social-engineering attacks that tricked IT teams into resetting critical passwords and deploying ransomware across their networks.

Retail 106

Retail Social Engineering Passwords Ransomware 106

Security Affairs

JULY 4, 2024

Twilio states that threat actors have identified the phone numbers of users of its two-factor authentication app, Authy, TechCrunch reported. This week the messaging firm told TechCrunch that “threat actors” identified data of Authy users, a two-factor authentication app owned by Twilio, including their phone numbers.

Authentication 133

Authentication Social Engineering Phishing Accountability 133

eSecurity Planet

NOVEMBER 6, 2024

Rhysida went so far as to publish sample files to verify the authenticity of the data, revealing access to a trove of information, including city databases, employee credentials, cloud management files, and even the city’s traffic camera feeds.

Ransomware 113

Ransomware Authentication Identity Theft Penetration Testing 113

eSecurity Planet

OCTOBER 22, 2024

Cybercriminals employ social engineering techniques to trick you into believing you must resolve fictitious technical issues. The hallmark of ClickFix campaigns is their clever use of social engineering. Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA): Implementing MFA adds layer of security to your accounts.

Scams 123

Scams Malware Phishing Social Engineering 123

Thales Cloud Protection & Licensing

MAY 7, 2025

Traditional Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), while a step up from password-only security, is no longer enough to fight modern phishing schemes. Todays threat actors use AI to craft compelling phishing campaigns and advanced social engineering tactics to slip past MFA, resulting in credential theft and account takeovers.

Phishing 71

Phishing Authentication Passwords Social Engineering 71

Krebs on Security

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

This weakness technically requires the attacker to be authenticated to the target’s local network, but Breen notes that a pair of phished Exchange credentials will provide that access nicely.

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Social Engineering Phishing Internet Internet 328