Author: HackWatchit

Microsoft says it will soon fix a known issue causing CPU spikes when typing messages in recent versions of its classic Outlook email client. Redmond confirmed this bug last week after a wave of user reports on various online platforms since early November, including Microsoft’s community website, with those affected saying that disabling all spell-check options and add-ins did not resolve the CPU usage issues. As the company says in an update to the original support document, this issue now impacts users in the Semi-Annual Channel who have updated to Outlook Version 2406 Build 17726.20126 and later. “When you write…

In a bold move to protect user privacy, Apple Inc. has issued a warning to its vast user base of 1.8 billion iPhone owners, urging them to remove the Google-owned Chrome browser from their devices due to escalating privacy and security concerns. Apple has cited growing issues with how Chrome collects, stores, and utilizes users’ browsing data without explicit consent, calling into question the integrity of Google’s handling of personal information. Apple’s warning is part of a broader push to steer users toward its own Safari browser, which the tech giant emphasizes as a more privacy-conscious alternative. The company released…

Jonathan Murphy, a national security and cyber policy expert, has taken on a new leadership role at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), where he now serves as Senior Counselor to the Administrator. Murphy, who announced the move on LinkedIn, brings nearly two decades of federal service, deep policy expertise, and a track record of working across government and industry to his latest position. Murphy is no stranger to TSA. He previously served in multiple roles within the agency, including as Cybersecurity Coordinator from 2016 to 2018 and earlier as a Transportation Security Specialist. His return comes after serving in several…

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released its Internet Crime Report 2024, highlighting US$16.6 billion in losses reported to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) over the past year. Fraud accounted for the majority of these losses, while ransomware remained the most pervasive threat to critical infrastructure, with complaints increasing by 9 percent compared to 2023. Among all demographics, individuals over the age of 60 experienced the highest financial losses and filed the greatest number of complaints. These escalating losses are particularly troubling given the FBI’s intensified efforts in 2024 to disrupt cybercriminal operations and increase the cost of malicious…

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released its Internet Crime Report 2024, highlighting US$16.6 billion in losses reported to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) over the past year. Fraud accounted for the majority of these losses, while ransomware remained the most pervasive threat to critical infrastructure, with complaints increasing by 9 percent compared to 2023. Among all demographics, individuals over the age of 60 experienced the highest financial losses and filed the greatest number of complaints. These escalating losses are particularly troubling given the FBI’s intensified efforts in 2024 to disrupt cybercriminal operations and increase the cost of malicious…

Organizations have implemented various aspects of threat exposure validation, including security control validation (51%) and filtering threat exposures based on the effectiveness of security controls to mitigate threats (48%), according to Cymulate. At the same time, nearly all respondents say they have implemented exposure validation in one or more areas, including cloud security (53%), security controls (49%), response (36%) and threats (34%). Optimizing defense with exposure validation The report surveyed 1,000 security leaders, SecOps practitioners, and red and blue teamers from around the world to assess how they engage in security validation across cloud, on-premises and hybrid environments. The findings…

Want to learn how attackers bypass endpoint products? Slides for this webcast can be found here: https://www.blackhillsinfosec.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/SLIDES_SacredCashCowTipping2020.pdf 3:41 – Alternate Interpreters 9:19 – Carbon Black Config Issue 15:07 – Cisco AMP EDR – Quick and Easy Bypass 18:24 – PowerShell AMSI Bypass – Rhino 19:07 – CylancePROTECT Bypass 24:14 – Windows Defender and Carbon Black Bypass 30:36 – Windows Subsystem for Linux 39:59 – PowerShell HTTP Web Cradle for Downloads Last year we came to the conclusion that we are going to keep going with the Sacred Cash Cow Tipping Webcast series. Why? Because many in the industry still believe that…

XRP Ledger SDK hit by supply chain attack: Malicious NPM versions stole private keys; users urged to update xrpl package to 4.2.5 or 2.14.3 immediately. A serious security breach targeting users of the XRP Ledger has been uncovered by the Aikido Intel threat detection system. Aikido’s research reveals that it was a sophisticated supply chain attack that compromised the official xrpl Node Package Manager (NPM) package, a widely utilized software development kit (SDK) for interacting with the XRP Ledger. This malicious infiltration resulted in the introduction of a backdoor designed to steal users’ private keys, granting attackers complete control over…

Crooks exploit the death of Pope Francis Pierluigi Paganini April 24, 2025 Crooks exploit the death of Pope Francis, using public curiosity and emotion to launch scams and spread malware, an old tactic during global events. After Pope Francis’ death, cybercriminals launched scams and malware attacks, exploiting public curiosity, grief, and confusion. Cybercriminals are ready to exploit any event of global interest, it has already happened in the past during events like Queen Elizabeth II’s death or the COVID-19 pandemic. Check Point Research calls this trend “cyber threat opportunism,” noting similar spikes during COVID-19, when Google saw 18M+ daily virus-related…