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Action required: 90-day notice – Barracuda DMARC policy Must Read Please

Barracuda Networks, Inc. is taking steps to harden our email-sending domains by moving our DMARC policy into an enforcement configuration. 
 
This important measure will prevent the potential threat of an adversary looking to impersonate Barracuda. As we implement this control, we advise all our customers to change their notification email address and the SMTP server setting on their Barracuda appliance(s) to use their domain/email address instead of ‘barracuda.com‘. Doing this will ensure your email provider accepts your notification emails from your Barracuda appliance.  
 
Please note this is a 90-day notice that we plan to enforce our DMARC policy. If you have not moved to the new product version that supports this change by July 19, 2024, your product (see list below) will no longer be supported. 
 
Below are articles to assist in making these changes to your Barracuda appliances where Barracuda DMARC policy will be enforced, please click on the one(s) that are relevant to you or locate them on Barracuda Campus by searching for “DMARC.”  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Please note, if you have not moved to the new version by July 19, 2024 your product will no longer be supported.  

 
We greatly appreciate your cooperation in this matter to improve your security posture and reduce potential email impersonation attacks. 
 
If you have questions or need assistance, please reach out to the support team at support@barracuda.com.

 
  
Thank you! 
 
TheBarracudaTeam

Roy Miehe | MspPortal Partners Inc. | Ceo/President

Security Software Distributor: Bitdefender , Barracuda, Phishing Simulation & Cyber Security Training

“Where Service and Technical Skills Count”

Cybercriminals pose as LastPass staff to hack password vaults

Cybercriminals pose as LastPass staff to hack password vaults

If you are not Off Last Pass Yet get off it..you should be Try Bitwarden
By Bill Toulas April 18, 2024 10:56 AM

LastPass is warning of a malicious campaign targeting its users with the CryptoChameleon phishing kit that is associated with cryptocurrency theft.

CryptoChameleon is an advanced phishing kit that was spotted earlier this year, targeting Federal Communications Commission (FCC) employees using custom-crafted Okta single sign-on (SSO) pages.

According to researchers at mobile security company Lookout, campaigns using this phishing kit also targeted cryptocurrency platforms Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini, using pages that impersonated Okta, Gmail, iCloud, Outlook, Twitter, Yahoo, and AOL.

During its investigations, LastPass discovered that its service was recently added to the CryptoChameleon kit, and a phishing site was hosted at at the “help-lastpass[.]com” domain.

The attacker combines multiple social engineering techniques that involve contacting the potential victim (voice phishing) and pretending to be a LastPass employee trying to help with securing the account following unauthorized access.

Below are the tactics LastPass observed in this campaign:

Victims receive a call from an 888 number claiming unauthorized access to their LastPass account and are prompted to allow or block the access by pressing “1” or “2”.

If they choose to block the access, they’re told they will get a follow-up call to resolve the issue.

A second call comes from a spoofed number, where the caller, posing as a LastPass employee, sends a phishing email from “support@lastpass” with a link to the fake LastPass site.

Entering the master password on this site allows the attacker to change account settings and lock out the legitimate user.

The malicious website is now offline but it is very likely that other campaigns will follow and threat actors will rely on new domains.

Users of the popular password management service are recommended to beware of suspicious phone calls, messages, or emails claiming to come from LastPass and urging immediate action.

Some indicators of suspicious communication from this campaign include emails with the subject “We’re here for you” and the use of a shortened URL service for links in the message. Users should report these attempts to LastPass at abuse@lastpass.com.

Regardless of the sevice, the master password should not be shared with anyone since it is the key to all your sensitive information.

Article (https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/cybercriminals-pose-as-lastpass-staff-to-hack-password-vaults/)

Roy Miehe | MspPortal Partners Inc. | Ceo/President
Security Software Distributor: Bitdefender , Barracuda, Phishing Simulation & Cyber Security Training
“Where Service and Technical Skills Count”

Cisco Duo warns third-party data breach exposed SMS MFA logs

Plus Bonus Article must read today

By Bill Toulas April 15, 2024 10:52 AM

Cisco Duo’s security team warns that hackers stole some customers’ VoIP and SMS logs for multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in a cyberattack on their telephony provider.

Cisco Duo is a multi-factor authentication and Single Sign-On service used by corporations to provide secure access to internal networks and corporate applications.

Duo’s homepage reports that it serves 100,000 customers and handles over a billion authentications monthly, with over 10,000,000 downloads on Google Play.

In emails sent to customers, Cisco Duo says an unnamed provider who handles the company’s SMS and VOIP multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages was compromised on April 1, 2024.

The notice explains that a threat actor obtained employee credentials through a phishing attack and then used those credentials to gain access to the telephony provider’s systems.

The intruder then downloaded SMS and VoIP MFA message logs associated with specific Duo accounts between March 1, 2024, and March 31, 2024.

“We are writing to inform you of an incident involving one of our Duo telephony suppliers (the “Provider”) that Duo uses to send multifactor authentication (MFA) messages via SMS and VOIP to its customers,” reads the notice sent to impacted customers.

“Cisco is actively working with the Provider to investigate and address the incident. While the investigation is ongoing, the following is a summary of the incident based on what we have learned to date.”

The provider confirmed that the threat actor did not access any contents of the messages or use their access to send messages to customers.

However, the stolen message logs do contain data that could be used in targeted phishing attacks to gain access to sensitive information, such as corporate credentials.

The data contained in these logs includes an employee’s:

Phone number
Carrier
Location data
Date
Time
Message type

When the impacted supplier discovered the breach, they invalidated the compromised credentials, analyzed activity logs, and notified Cisco accordingly. Additional security measures were also implemented to prevent similar incidents in the future.

The vendor provided Cisco Duo with all of the exposed message logs, which can be requested by emailing msp@duo.com to help better understand the scope of the breach, its impact, and the appropriate defense

strategy to take.

Cisco also warns customers impacted by this breach to be vigilant against potential SMS phishing or social engineering attacks using the stolen information.

“Because the threat actor obtained access to the message logs through a successful social engineering attack on the Provider, please contact your customers with affected users whose phone numbers were contained in the message logs to notify them, without undue delay, of this event and to advise them to be vigilant and report any suspected social engineering attacks to the relevant incident response team or other designated point of contact for such matters,” concludes the notification from Cisco’s Data Privacy and Incident Response Team.

“Please also consider educating your users on the risks posed by social engineering attacks and investigating any suspicious activity.”

The FBI warned last year that threat actors were increasingly using SMS phishing and voice calls in social engineering attacks to breach corporate networks.

In 2022, Uber was breached after a threat actor performed an MFA fatigue attack on an employee and then contacted them on WhatsApp via their phone numbers, pretending to be IT help desk personnel. This eventually led to the target allowing the hackers to log into the account and gain access to Uber’s systems.

Cisco has not disclosed the supplier’s name and the number of customers impacted by this incident. BleepingComputer contacted Cisco with further questions but a reply was not immediately available.
Related Articles:

Article (https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/cisco-duo-warns-third-party-data-breach-exposed-sms-mfa-logs/)

Article a Must Read ( https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/cisco-warns-of-large-scale-brute-force-attacks-against-vpn-services/) Cisco warns of large-scale brute-force attacks against Most VPN services

Roy Miehe | MspPortal Partners Inc. | Ceo/PresidentSecurity

Software Distributor: Bitdefender , Barracuda, Phishing Simulation & Cyber Security Training

“Where Service and Technical Skills Count

 

Bitdefender Changes access to Power user

Bitdefender recently made major changes to the Power User capability, and the main driver for this change is security. The 3rd party technology we use for PowerUser could pose some security risks in the future, and we had to act quickly to mitigate those risks. Also, the latest version of the technology is not compatible with any operating system before Windows 10, which does not fall in line with our target to offer backward compatibility.

Therefore, we’ve decided to provide a change which will let us continue PowerUser for all the supported operating systems. The new CLI will help us provide a lighter agent footprint, and much more precise control of all modules going forward.

We are currently working on adding new commands in PowerUser ComandLine to support additional actions and we plan to expend its coverage as we move forward.
Considering the feedback we recently received from some of our customers and partners, we also plan to release example scripts in our documentation, and allow the use of our existing Power User capability. It will be accessible only by running the process EPPowerConsole.exe directly, and it will be limited to Windows 10 and above operating systems.

An important project we have ongoing right now is the development of a new BEST GUI, which will offer some of the Power User capabilities in the endpoint GUI.
We aim to introduce as many settings as possible going forward on this new UI and CLI. Your feedback is most welcome, as it will determine what options will be available in the upcoming BEST GUI.”

I spoke to a nice gentleman in Romaina (BD Head Quarters, and he stated it had changed to only getting to it: By following these steps Windows/program Files/Bitdefender/endpoint security/ run as admin EPPowerConsole.exe-> then put the password in to bring up the UI. A little painful but secure

Roy Miehe | MspPortal Partners Inc. | Ceo/President
Security Software Distributor: Bitdefender , Barracuda, Phishing Simulation & Cyber Security Training
“Where Service and Technical Skills Count”

CISA Issues Emergency Directive 24-02: Mitigating the Significant Risk from Nation-State Compromise of Microsoft Corporate Email System

CISA Issues Emergency Directive 24-02: Mitigating the Significant Risk from Nation-State Compromise of Microsoft Corporate Email System

04/11/2024 02:15 PM EDT

Today, CISA publicly issued Emergency Directive (ED) 24-02 to address the recent campaign by Russian state-sponsored cyber actor Midnight Blizzard to exfiltrate email correspondence of Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies through a successful compromise of Microsoft corporate email accounts. This Directive rhttps://www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/ed-24-02-mitigating-significant-risk-nation-state-compromise-microsoft-corporate-email-systemequires agencies to analyze the content of exfiltrated emails, reset compromised credentials, and take additional steps to secure privileged Microsoft Azure accounts.

While ED 24-02 requirements only apply to FCEB agencies, other organizations may also have been impacted by the exfiltration of Microsoft corporate email and are encouraged to contact their respective Microsoft account team for any additional questions or follow up. FCEB agencies and state and local government should utilize the distro MBFedResponse@Microsoft.com for any escalations and assistance with Microsoft. Regardless of direct impact, all organizations are strongly encouraged to apply stringent security measures, including strong passwords, multifactor authentication (MFA) and prohibited sharing of unprotected sensitive information via unsecure channels.

Article (https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2024/04/11/cisa-issues-emergency-directive-24-02-mitigating-significant-risk-nation-state-compromise-microsoft)

Folks be smart get off O365 they are compromised ever since they were invefected by solarwinds a leaking timebomb

2020 was a roller coaster of major, world-shaking events. We all couldn’t wait for the year to end. But just as 2020 was about to close, it pulled another fast one on us: the SolarWinds hack, one of the biggest cybersecurity breaches of the 21st century.

The SolarWinds hack was a major event not because a single company was breached, but because it triggered a much larger supply chain incident that affected thousands of organizations, including the U.S. government.

Suggestion at least use our malware protection products (Like Mail Protection to start off with)

Roy Miehe | MspPortal Partners Inc. | Ceo/President
Security Software Distributor: Bitdefender , Barracuda, Phishline Training
“Where Service and Technical Skills Count”

New Windows driver blocks software from changing default web browser

Must read article (https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/new-windows-driver-blocks-software-from-changing-default-web-browser/)

 

By Lawrence Abrams April 7, 2024 10:17 AM
Microsoft is now using a Windows driver to prevent users from changing the configured Windows 10 and Windows 11 default browser through software or by manually modifying the Registry.

Windows users can still change their default browser through the Windows settings. However, those who utilized software to make the changes are now blocked by a driver quietly introduced to users worldwide as part of the February updates for Windows 10 (KB5034763) and Windows 11 (KB5034765).

IT consultant Christoph Kolbicz was the first to notice the change when his programs, SetUserFTA and SetDefaultBrowser, suddenly stopped working.

SetUserFTA is a command line program that lets Windows admins change file associations through login scripts and other methods. SetDefaultBrowser works similarly but is only for changing the default browser in Windows.

Starting with Windows 8, Microsoft introduced a new system for associating file extensions and URL protocols with default programs to prevent them from being tampered with by malware and malicious scripts.

This new system associates a file extension or URL protocol to a specially crafted hash stored under the UserChoice Registry keys.

If the correct hash is not used, Windows will ignore the Registry values and use the default program for this URL protocol, which is Microsoft Edge.

Kolbicz reverse engineered this hashing algorithm to create the SetUserFTA and SetDefaultBrowser programs to change default programs.

However, with the Windows 10 and Windows 11 February updates installed, Kolbicz noted that these Registry keys have now been locked down, giving errors when modified outside the Windows Settings.

For example, using the Windows Registry Editor to modify these settings gives an error stating, “Cannot edit Hash: Error writing the value’s new contents.”

BleepingComputer contacted Microsoft about the lockdown of these Registry keys in March, but they said they had nothing to share at this time.

Roy Miehe | MspPortal Partners Inc. | Ceo/President
Security Software Distributor: Bitdefender , Barracuda, Phishline Training
“Where Service and Technical Skills Count”

FTC: Americans lost $1.1 billion to impersonation scams in 2023

By Bill Toulas April 1, 2024 12:03 PM

At MspPortal Partners Inc we/partners can train your employees for Work and Home. With our # 1 Mail Protection and Phishing Education rated and used by the top 500 firms.

“Many scammers impersonate more than one organization in a single scam – for example, a fake Amazon employee might transfer you to a fake bank or even a fake FBI or FTC employee for fake help.”

The top Five scam types FTC highlights are:

1) Copycat Account Security Alerts: Scammers send fake alerts about unauthorized account activity, tricking victims into transferring funds for protection.
Phony Subscription Renewals: Emails claim a subscription you never had is renewing, coaxing you into a refund scam that involves returning over-refunded amounts via gift cards.

2) Fake Giveaways, Discounts, or Money to Claim: Scams offer bogus discounts or giveaways from known brands, leading victims to buy gift cards or send money to claim the non-existent offers.

3) Bogus Problems with the Law: Impersonators claim you’re implicated in a crime, pushing you to move money or buy gift cards under the guise of resolving the issue.

4) Phony Subscription Renewals: Emails claim a subscription you never had is renewing, coaxing you into a refund scam that involves returning over-refunded amounts via gift cards.

5) Made-up Package Delivery Problems: Fraudulent messages from carriers about delivery issues, aiming to steal credit card information or account details under the pretense of resolving a delivery problem.

The agency provides tips for consumers to protect against this type of fraud, which include avoiding clicking on URLs arriving via unsolicited communications, distrusting requests for money transfers, and taking the time to verify suspicious communications.

148,0000 Phone Calls
120,0000 Phishing Emails
65,000 Text Messages
45,000 Other Methods

Article (https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ftc-americans-lost-11-billion-to-impersonation-scams-in-2023/)

Roy Miehe | MspPortal Partners Inc. | Ceo/President
Security Software Distributor: Bitdefender , Barracuda, Phishline Training
“Where Service and Technical Skills Count”

New MFA-bypassing phishing kit targets Microsoft 365, Gmail accounts

FYI We do have Phishing Training Available..spend the money don’t get malware. Targets O365 and Gsuite which in reality are easy targets

By Bill Toulas March 25, 2024 12:56 PM

Cybercriminals have been increasingly using a new phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) platform named ‘Tycoon 2FA’ to target Microsoft 365 and Gmail accounts and bypass two-factor authentication (2FA) protection.

Tycoon 2FA was discovered by Sekoia analysts in October 2023 during routine threat hunting, but it has been active since at least August 2023, when the Saad Tycoon group offered it through private Telegram channels.

The PhaaS kit shares similarities with other adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) platforms, such as Dadsec OTT, suggesting possible code reuse or a collaboration between developers.

In 2024, Tycoon 2FA released a new version that is stealthier, indicating a continuous effort to improve the kit. Currently, the service leverages 1,100 domains and has been observed in thousands of phishing attacks.

Tycoon 2FA attacks

Tycoon 2FA attacks involve a multi-step process where the threat actor steals session cookies by using a reverse proxy server hosting the phishing web page, which intercepts the victim’s input and relays them to the legitimate service.

“Once the user completes the MFA challenge, and the authentication is successful, the server in the middle captures session cookies,” Skoia explains. This way, the attacker can replay a user’s session and bypass multi-factor authentication (MFA) mechanisms.

Sekoia’s report describes the attacks in seven distinct stages as described below Target :

Stage 0 – Attackers distribute malicious links via emails with embedded URLs or QR codes, tricking victims into accessing phishing pages.
Stage 1 – A security challenge (Cloudflare Turnstile) filters out bots, allowing only human interactions to proceed to the deceptive phishing site.
Stage 2 – Background scripts extract the victim’s email from the URL to customize the phishing attack.
Stage 3 – Users are quietly redirected to another part of the phishing site, moving them closer to the fake login page.
Stage 4 – This stage presents a fake Microsoft login page to steal credentials, using WebSockets for data exfiltration.
Stage 5 – The kit mimics a 2FA challenge, intercepting the 2FA token or response to bypass security measures.
Stage 6 – Finally, victims are directed to a legitimate-looking page, obscuring the phishing attack’s success.

An overview of the attack is described with the diagram below, which includes all the steps of the process.

Evolution and scale

Sekoia reports that the latest version of the Tycoon 2FA phishing kit, released this year, has introduced significant modifications that improve the phishing and evasion capabilities.

Key changes include updates to the JavaScript and HTML code, alterations in the order of resource retrieval, and more extensive filtering to block traffic from bots and analytical tools.

For example, the kit now delays loading malicious resources until after the Cloudflare Turnstile challenge is resolved, using pseudorandom names for URLs to obscure its activities.

Also, Tor network traffic or IP addresses linked to data centers are now better identified, while traffic is rejected based on specific user-agent strings.

Regarding the scale of operations, Sekoia reports that it’s substantial, as there’s evidence of a broad user base of cybercriminals currently utilizing Tycoon 2FA for phishing operations.

The Bitcoin wallet linked to the operators has recorded over 1,800 transactions since October 2019, with a notable increment starting August 2023, when the kit was launched.

Over 530 transactions were over $120, which is the entry price for a 10-day phishing link. By mid-March 2024, the threat actors’ wallet had received a total of $394,015 worth of cryptocurrency.

Tycoon 2FA is just a recent addition to a PhaaS space that already offers cybercriminals plenty of options. Other notable platforms that can bypass 2FA protections include LabHost, Greatness, and Robin Banks.

For a list of the indicators of compromise (IoCs) linked to the Tycoon 2FA operation, Sekoia makes available a repository with over 50 entries.

Article (https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/new-mfa-bypassing-phishing-kit-targets-microsoft-365-gmail-accounts/)

Roy Miehe | MspPortal Partners Inc. | Ceo/President
Security Software Distributor: Bitdefender , Barracuda, Phishline Training
“Where Service and Technical Skills Count”

 

Google’s new AI search results promotes sites pushing malware, scams

Google’s new AI search results promotes sites pushing malware, scams  (Get off Google Chrome)

By Mayank Parmar March 25, 2024 07:32 AM

Google’s new AI-powered ‘Search Generative Experience’ algorithms recommend scam sites that redirect visitors to unwanted Chrome extensions, fake iPhone giveaways, browser spam subscriptions, and tech support scams.

Earlier this month, Google began rolling out a new feature called Google Search Generative Experience (SGE) in its search results, which provides AI-generated quick summaries for search queries, including recommendations for other sites to visit related to the query.

However, as SEO consultant Lily Ray first spotted, Google’s SGE is recommending spammy and malicious sites within its conversational responses, making it easier for users to fall for scams.
BleepingComputer found that the listed sites promoted by SGE tend to use the .online TLD, the same HTML templates, and the same sites to perform redirects.

This similarity indicates that they are all part of the same SEO poisoning campaign that allowed them to be part of the Google index.

When clicking on the site in the Google search results, visitors will go through a series of redirects until they reach a scam site.

In BleepingComputer’s tests, the redirects most commonly lead you to fake captchas or YouTube sites that try to trick the visitor into subscribing to browser notifications.

Browser notifications are a common tactic scammers use to send visitors a barrage of unwanted ads directly to the operating system desktop, even when you’re not on the website.

Once we subscribed to some of the notifications, we began to receive spam with advertisements for tech support affiliate scams, fake giveaways, and other unwanted sites.

In one instance, we received an alert for McAfee antivirus that led to a site claiming our system was infected with ten viruses, urging the visitor to “Scan now to remove viruses” or renew their license.

However, these misleading ads are simply designed to sell McAfee licenses so the fraudsters can earn affiliate commissions.

Finally, and while not as common, BleepingComputer saw some of the redirects pushing unwanted browser extensions that perform search hijacking, and potentially other malicious behavior.

Other scams promoted by the SGE results lead to fake Amazon giveaways that pretend to be loyalty programs giving away an Apple iPhone 15 Pro.

These giveaway scams are used to collect your personal information, which will be sold to other scammers and direct marketers.

Article (https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/google/googles-new-ai-search-results-promotes-sites-pushing-malware-scams/)

Roy Miehe | MspPortal Partners Inc. | Ceo/President
Security Software Distributor: Bitdefender , Barracuda, Phishline Training
“Where Service and Technical Skills Count”

 

New Windows Server updates cause domain controller crashes, reboots

By Sergiu Gatlan March 20, 2024 04:40 PM 0

The March 2024 Windows Server updates are causing some domain controllers to crash and restart, according to widespread reports from Windows administrators.

Affected servers are freezing and rebooting because of a Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) process memory leak introduced with the March 2024 cumulative updates for Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2022.

LSASS is a Windows service that enforces security policies and handles user logins, access token creation, and password changes.

As many admins have warned, after installing the KB5035855 and KB5035857 Windows Server updates released this Patch Tuesday, domain controllers with the latest updates would crash and reboot due to increasing LSASS memory usage.

“Since installation of the march updates (Exchange as well as regular Windows Server updates) most of our DCs show constantly increasing lsass memory usage (until they die),” one admin said.

“We’ve had issues with lsass.exe on domain controllers (2016 core, 2022 with DE and 2022 core domain controllers) leaking memory as well. To the point all domain controllers crashed over the weekend and caused an outage,” another one added.

“Our symptoms were ballooning memory usage on the lsass.exe process after installing KB5035855 (Server 2016) and KB5035857 (Server 2022) to the point that all physical and virtual memory was consumed and the machine hung,” one admin told BleepingComputer.

“The Support rep says they expect official comms to be announced from Microsoft soon.”
Temporary workaround available

Until Microsoft officially acknowledges this memory leak issue, admins are advised to uninstall the buggy Windows Server updates from their domain controllers.

“Microsoft Support has recommended that we uninstall the update for the time being,” the same admin told BleepingComputer.

To remove the troublesome updates, open an elevated command prompt by clicking the Start menu, typing ‘cmd,’ right-clicking the Command Prompt application, and then choosing ‘Run as Administrator.’

Next, run one of the following commands, depending on what update you have installed on your Windows domain controller:

wusa /uninstall /kb:5035855
wusa /uninstall /kb:5035857

Once uninstalled, you should also use the ‘Show or Hide Updates’ troubleshooter to hide the buggy update so it will no longer appear in the available updates list.

Microsoft addressed another LSASS memory leak affecting domain controllers in December 2022, when affected servers would freeze and restart after installing Windows Server updates released during the November 2022 Patch Tuesday.

In March 2022, Microsoft fixed one more LSASS crash, causing unexpected Windows Server domain controller reboots.

A Microsoft spokesperson could not immediately provide more details when contacted by BleepingComputer earlier today.

Article ( https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/new-windows-server-updates-cause-domain-controller-crashes-reboots/)

Update Article 3-21-2024 (https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-confirms-windows-server-issue-behind-domain-controller-crashes/)

Roy Miehe | MspPortal Partners Inc. | Ceo/President
Security Software Distributor: Bitdefender , Barracuda, Phishline Training
“Where Service and Technical Skills Count”