Schneier on Security

APRIL 2, 2024

Anyone in possession of a predetermined encryption key could stash any code of their choice in an SSH login certificate, upload it, and execute it on the backdoored device. In theory, the code could allow for just about anything, including stealing encryption keys or installing malware. It was an incredibly complex backdoor.

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Social Engineering Engineering Software Encryption 353

Krebs on Security

DECEMBER 18, 2024

Then came another call, this one allegedly from security personnel at Trezor , a company that makes encrypted hardware devices made to store cryptocurrency seed phrases securely offline. This process, he explained, essentially self-selects people who are more likely to be susceptible to their social engineering schemes. [It

Cryptocurrency 363

Cryptocurrency Accountability Authentication Phishing 363

The Last Watchdog

MARCH 28, 2025

Ransomware attacks typically involve tricking victims into downloading and installing the ransomware, which copies, encrypts, and/or deletes critical data on the device, only to be restored upon the ransom payment. Traditionally, the primary target of ransomware has been the victims device.

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Antivirus Ransomware Social Engineering Engineering 147

SecureWorld News

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

The hackers rely heavily on social engineering tactics to distribute the malware. Education on verifying app downloads, MFA, advanced threat detection, encrypted communications, and tighter mobile device management controls can all contribute to protecting users.

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Social Engineering Mobile Authentication Engineering 106

Krebs on Security

JANUARY 24, 2020

In the case of e-hawk.net, however, the scammers managed to trick an OpenProvider customer service rep into transferring the domain to another registrar with a fairly lame social engineering ruse — and without triggering any verification to the real owners of the domain. ” REGISTRY LOCK.

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DNS Social Engineering Engineering Accountability 338

SecureWorld News

FEBRUARY 28, 2025

The elephant in the (server) room We've all seen the headlines: AI is taking over, deepfakes are fooling the masses, quantum computing will break encryption! Because no firewall, no AI-powered SOC, no quantum-proof encryption will save you if your employees keep clicking phishing emails, because let's face it. So what do we do?

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Cybersecurity Risk Social Engineering Phishing 115

Schneier on Security

SEPTEMBER 17, 2020

The only way to protect against BLURtooth attacks is to control the environment in which Bluetooth devices are paired, in order to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks, or pairings with rogue devices carried out via social engineering (tricking the human operator). However, patches are expected to be available at one point.

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Authentication Social Engineering Firmware Encryption 363

Krebs on Security

MARCH 31, 2020

The attacker also obtained free encryption certificates for escrow.com from Let’s Encrypt. The employee involved in this incident fell victim to a spear-fishing or social engineering attack. 49 (that domain is hobbled here because it is currently flagged as hosting a phishing site).

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Phishing DNS Social Engineering Accountability 349

eSecurity Planet

MAY 25, 2022

Encryption and the development of cryptography have been a cornerstone of IT security for decades and remain critical for data protection against evolving threats. While cryptology is thousands of years old, modern cryptography took off in the 1970s with the help of the Diffie-Hellman-Merkle and RSA encryption algorithms.

Encryption 138

Encryption Computers and Electronics Password Management Passwords 138

Security Affairs

MARCH 24, 2025

. “Cloaks attack strategy involves acquiring network access through Initial Access Brokers (IABs) or social engineering methods such as phishing, malvertising, exploit kits, and drive-by downloads disguised as legitimate updates like Microsoft Windows installers.”

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Ransomware Hacking Social Engineering Manufacturing 102

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.

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Retail Social Engineering Passwords Ransomware 106

Krebs on Security

AUGUST 19, 2021

. “For decades, West African scammers, primarily located in Nigeria, have perfected the use of social engineering in cybercrime activity.” ransomware-as-a-service gang actually includes a solicitation for insiders in the desktop wallpaper left behind on systems encrypted with the malware. For example, the Lockbit 2.0

Ransomware 363

Ransomware Social Engineering Cybercrime Scams 363

SecureWorld News

FEBRUARY 20, 2025

Ghost ransomware actors, identified as operating from China, have been targeting unpatched systems and stolen credentials to infiltrate networks, encrypt data, and demand ransom payments. Cybersecurity awareness and incident response Train employees to recognize phishing attempts and social engineering.

Ransomware 113

Ransomware IoT Encryption Social Engineering 113

Security Affairs

DECEMBER 1, 2024

A Case-Control Study to Measure Behavioral Risks of Malware Encounters in Organizations PyPI Python Library “aiocpa” Found Exfiltrating Crypto Keys via Telegram Bot Bootkitty: Analyzing the first UEFI bootkit for Linux Hudson Rock Announces First Comprehensive Infostealers AI Bot: CavalierGPT Gaming Engines: An Undetected Playground for (..)

Malware 71

Malware Social Engineering Antivirus Engineering 71

SecureWorld News

MAY 9, 2025

The method, known as "ClickFix," leverages social engineering to bypass traditional email-based defenses. The LOSTKEYS malware shows how attackers are getting smarter at tricking people and sneaking past basic security tools, especially by using fake websites and social engineering to get users to run harmful scripts," said J.

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Malware Social Engineering Engineering Government 90

Security Affairs

APRIL 7, 2025

In Dark Web environments as well as on specialized forums, sellers are posting synthetic ads inviting potential buyers to contact them privately, often via Telegram, Session, and other encrypted messaging apps. Payments are mostly made in Bitcoin or Monero, to ensure confidentiality and irreversibility.

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Cybercrime Social Engineering Accountability Government 139

Krebs on Security

OCTOBER 2, 2023

These company-specific Zoom links, which include a permanent user ID number and an embedded passcode, can work indefinitely and expose an organization’s employees, customers or partners to phishing and other social engineering attacks. Image: @Pressmaster on Shutterstock.

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Encryption Engineering Social Engineering Healthcare 324

Krebs on Security

JANUARY 30, 2024

2022 that an intrusion had exposed a “limited number” of Twilio customer accounts through a sophisticated social engineering attack designed to steal employee credentials. LastPass said criminal hackers had stolen encrypted copies of some password vaults, as well as other personal information.

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Social Engineering Mobile Passwords Cybercrime 359

eSecurity Planet

DECEMBER 7, 2023

Encryption scrambles data to make it unreadable to those without decryption keys. Proper use of encryption preserves secrecy and radically lowers the potential damage of a successful cybersecurity attack. Encryption algorithm types will provide an overview of the mathematical algorithms used to encrypt data (AES, RSA, etc.),

Encryption 109

Encryption Authentication Passwords Password Management 109

SecureList

MAY 28, 2025

The threat actors behind Zanubis continue to refine its code adding features, switching between encryption algorithms, shifting targets, and tweaking social engineering techniques to accelerate infection rates. Communication with the C2 API was encrypted with RC4 using a hardcoded key and Base64-encoded.

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Banking Malware Energy and Utilities Encryption 108

Krebs on Security

JUNE 15, 2024

Among those was the encrypted messaging app Signal , which said the breach could have let attackers re-register the phone number on another device for about 1,900 users. LastPass said criminal hackers had stolen encrypted copies of some password vaults, as well as other personal information.

Hacking 346

Hacking Cybercrime Phishing Passwords 346

Security Boulevard

DECEMBER 5, 2023

The post AI and Quantum Computing Threaten Encryption and Data Security appeared first on Security Boulevard. The combination of AI and quantum computing in the wrong hands are enough of a security concern to give pause to even the most experienced technologists.

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Encryption Social Engineering Data privacy Engineering 120

eSecurity Planet

NOVEMBER 6, 2024

Implement Data Encryption & Backup Protocols Encrypting sensitive data adds a layer of protection by ensuring that even if data is accessed, it remains unreadable without proper decryption keys. Cybersecurity awareness training helps staff recognize phishing scams , social engineering attempts, and other threats.

Ransomware 113

Ransomware Authentication Identity Theft Penetration Testing 113

eSecurity Planet

APRIL 8, 2025

Called Xanthorox AI, the tool was first spotted earlier this year on darknet forums and encrypted chat groups, where its being marketed as the killer of WormGPT and all EvilGPT variants. But this isnt just another tweaked version of a chatbot. Xanthorox is something entirely different and far more advanced.

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Social Engineering Phishing Engineering Cyber threats 109

The Last Watchdog

DECEMBER 18, 2024

Quantum computing advances are making traditional encryption obsolete, and adversaries are stockpiling data for future decryption. FIPS-203 enables legal PQC deployment, prompting CISOs to overhaul encryption strategies. Organizations face rising risks of AI-driven social engineering and personal device breaches.

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Risk Threat Detection Technology Phishing 173

Security Affairs

MARCH 10, 2025

Using this social engineering trick, threats like stealers, RATs, Trojans, and crypto miners can persist undetected. Its configuration is Base64-encoded and encrypted with AES-CBC. Threat actors distribute malware in archives with fake installation instructions, urging users to disable security tools to allow their execution.

Cryptocurrency 91

Cryptocurrency Malware Social Engineering Antivirus 91

Malwarebytes

OCTOBER 27, 2023

Octo Tempest is believed to be a group of native English speaking cybercriminals that uses social engineering campaigns to compromise organizations all over the world. This can be done in a number of ways, but the most common ones involve social engineering attacks on the victim's carrier. Stop malicious encryption.

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Social Engineering Engineering Ransomware Backups 131

SecureWorld News

MARCH 13, 2025

Similarly, the AI-assisted ransomware provided a high-level approach to encrypting files but lacked complete execution. Instead, security teams should prioritize behavioral analysismonitoring for unusual patterns such as unexpected file encryption, unauthorized persistence mechanisms, or anomalous network traffic.

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Malware Cybersecurity Cyber threats Threat Detection 114

eSecurity Planet

OCTOBER 3, 2022

PuTTY, KiTTY, TightVNC, Sumatra PDF Reader, and the muPDF/Subliminal Recording software installer have been backdoored to perform a wide range of social engineering campaigns that started in April 2022. Then they moved the conversation away from the platform to encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp.

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Software Social Engineering Engineering Phishing 128

Jane Frankland

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

Why Free Tools Don’t Cut It While consumer grade and free communication tools like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal offer end-to-end encryption, and can help in crises, they do fall short when it comes to enterprise level security and compliance.

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Cyber Risk CISO Risk Encryption 130

The Hacker News

MAY 17, 2023

OilAlpha used encrypted chat messengers like WhatsApp to launch social engineering attacks against its targets," cybersecurity company Recorded Future said in a

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Cyber threats Social Engineering Media Encryption 111

Duo's Security Blog

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

WebAuthn-based authenticators use private keys that are not shared publicly and that can be stored securely on tamper-resistant hardware protected with strong encryption. Platform credentials (passkeys) that are synced using services like iCloud Keychain are encrypted in transit.

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Social Engineering Authentication Phishing Engineering 135

Schneier on Security

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

But aside from some special cases and unique circumstances, that’s not how encryption systems are exploited in practice. I wrote this in my book, Data and Goliath : The problem is that encryption is just a bunch of math, and math has no agency. Cryptographic attacks can be passive.

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Encryption Hacking Software Social Engineering 272

The Last Watchdog

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

Malicious intent or manipulation: AI chatbots can be exploited to spread misinformation, execute social engineering attacks or launch phishing. Such manipulation can harm user trust, tarnish brand reputation and have broader social consequences. Machine learning helps AI chatbots adapt to and prevent new cyber threats. .

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Cybersecurity Penetration Testing Authentication Social Engineering 273

Digital Shadows

OCTOBER 23, 2024

The attacker gained initial access to two employee accounts by carrying out social engineering attacks on the organization’s help desk twice. Within six hours, the attacker began encrypting the organization’s systems. This concealed their attack until the environment was encrypted and backups were sabotaged.

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Social Engineering Engineering Accountability Backups 122

The Last Watchdog

APRIL 28, 2022

That explains why over 80 percent of data breaches start with weak, reused, and stolen passwords through password phishing, social engineering, brute force attacks and credential stuffing. O’Toole. Hackers don’t need to hack in, they just log in. With more victims, they harvest more credentials, which lead to more victims.

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Passwords Encryption Phishing Social Engineering 237

IT Security Guru

NOVEMBER 1, 2024

Phishing and Social Engineering: These tactics manipulate individuals to disclose sensitive information. With the use of social media and encrypted communication channels, terrorist organizations have expanded their reach, recruiting members and coordinating attacks globally.

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Technology Cyber Attacks Government Social Engineering 109