Author: HackWatchit

Pentest reports sometimes include bad information under a heading like, “Weak TLS Configuration” or “Insecure SSL Certificates.” This article will explain how TLS is supposed to work, common ways it goes wrong, and a few pitfalls to avoid when testing.  First, there are two separate things at play here — the certificate is one, the cryptography for the TLS connection is another.  Your first thought about certificates and HTTPS may be, “Oh, that’s what keeps my information private. It encrypts the data as it goes across networks so that only the server and I can decrypt it…” but that’s not…

In January 2025, a critical security vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-21298 was disclosed, affecting Windows Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) technology.   This vulnerability, with a CVSS score of 9.8, allows for remote code execution (RCE) through specially crafted emails, posing significant risks to users and organizations. Understanding CVE-2025-21298 CVE-2025-21298 is a zero-click vulnerability in Windows OLE, a technology that enables embedding and linking to documents and other objects.   Attackers can exploit this flaw by sending a malicious email containing a harmful RTF document.   When the victim opens or previews the email in Microsoft Outlook, the vulnerability is triggered, allowing the attacker…

A former cyber executive at the Department of Homeland Security and the Energy Department has joined the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Karen Evans is now “senior advisor for cybersecurity” at CISA, an agency spokesman confirmed to Federal News Network today. Evans posted about joining CISA on LinkedIn last night. A CISA spokesman did not confirm whether Evans would be elevated to a permanent role at the agency. But multiple sources said Evans is likely to either be named as executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA or move on to a top position at DHS headquarters. During the first…

It happens with more regularity than any of us like to see. There’s either a headline in your news feed or an email from a website or service you have an account with—there’s been a data breach. So what do you do when you find out that you and your information may have been caught up in a data breach? While it can feel like things are out of your hands, there are actually several things you can do to protect yourself.  Let’s start with a look at what kind of information may be at stake and why crooks value…

The post Talkin’ About Infosec News – 1/31/2024 appeared first on Black Hills Information Security.

One month into his second term, President Trump’s actions to shrink the government through mass layoffs, firings and withholding funds allocated by Congress have thrown federal cybersecurity and consumer protection programs into disarray. At the same time, agencies are battling an ongoing effort by the world’s richest man to wrest control over their networks and data. Image: Shutterstock. Greg Meland. The Trump administration has fired at least 130 employees at the federal government’s foremost cybersecurity body — the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Those dismissals reportedly included CISA staff dedicated to securing U.S. elections, and fighting misinformation and foreign…

Introduction Welcome back to part 2 of this series. If you are here, it’s most likely because you did enjoy reading part 1. However, if you haven’t read that article, I believe you should, as it forms a strong background for this article. Now that you know how we got to web3 and what it stands for, the lurking question would be, “How can I be part of it?” In this article, we will start by having an overview of the different blockchain networks and then look at the financial aspect of things, which I know is why most of…

Executive Summary: In one of the largest thefts in digital asset history, hackers gained access to an offline Ethereum wallet and stole $1.5 billion worth of digital assets, primarily consisting of Ethereum tokens. The recent incident with Bybit marks a new phase in attack methods, featuring advanced techniques for manipulating user interfaces. Rather than just targeting protocol flaws, the attackers used clever social engineering to trick users, which led to the compromise of a major institutional multisig setup. This past July, Check Point’s Threat Intelligence Blockchain system identified and published a concerning pattern where attackers manipulate legitimate transactions through the…

Health Net Federal Services (HNFS) and its parent company, Centene Corporation, have agreed to pay $11,253,400 to settle allegations that HNFS falsely certified compliance with cybersecurity requirements under its Defense Health Agency (DHA) TRICARE contract. The U.S. government contracted HNFS to provide managed healthcare support services for TRICARE’s North region, covering 22 states. The contract required compliance with cybersecurity standards, specifically 48 C.F.R. § 252.204-7012 and 51 security controls from NIST Special Publication 800-53 (Security and Privacy Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations). According to a U.S. Department of Justice announcement, between 2015 and 2018, HNFS allegedly failed to…