Security news weekly round-up - 14th March 2025

As a security-minded person, you'll know that malware and vulnerability are among the threats to computer and network security. Malware can take advantage of a vulnerability and wreak havoc on a network or other malicious purposes that the author intended. Now, artificial intelligence. Think ChatGPT and the likes. They are good to have, but they can still be abused. These are the topics that we'll cover in this week's review. The objective is to ensure that you're aware of the threats out there. AI-driven deception: A new face of corporate fraud Fraudsters are leveraging advanced AI tools to mimic voices, manipulate images, and generate convincing fake content for social engineering attacks. This emerging tactic has enabled more sophisticated impersonation attempts, making traditional security measures less effective. From the article: As the battle between malicious and benevolent AI enters an intense new phase, organizations must update their cybersecurity and anti-fraud policies to ensure they keep pace with the evolving threat landscape. With so much at stake, failure to do so might impact long-term customer loyalty Nearly 1 million Windows devices targeted in advanced “malvertising” spree Trickery is one thing that can deceive internet users. In this scenario, attackers used malicious ads to trick users into downloading infected software, often disguised as legitimate updates or tools. The campaign leveraged sophisticated evasion tactics to bypass security defenses. A quick one from the article: The campaign targeted “nearly” 1 million devices belonging both to individuals and a wide range of organizations and industries. The indiscriminate approach indicates the campaign was opportunistic, meaning it attempted to ensnare anyone, rather than targeting certain individuals, organizations, or industries. GitLab patches critical authentication bypass vulnerabilities The good news is that they have patched it. Now, what can we learn from this? First, the flaws could allow authenticated attackers with access to a valid signed SAML document to impersonate other users within the same SAML Identity Provider (IdP) environment. The effect? It can potentially lead to unauthorized account access, data breaches, and privilege escalation. Which versions are affected? GitLab Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE) versions before 17.7.7, 17.8.5, and 17.9.2. Read the article for more details. Credits Cover photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash. That's it for this week, and I'll see you next time.

Mar 14, 2025 - 23:52

Security news weekly round-up - 14th March 2025

As a security-minded person, you'll know that malware and vulnerability are among the threats to computer and network security. Malware can take advantage of a vulnerability and wreak havoc on a network or other malicious purposes that the author intended. Now, artificial intelligence. Think ChatGPT and the likes. They are good to have, but they can still be abused.

These are the topics that we'll cover in this week's review. The objective is to ensure that you're aware of the threats out there.

AI-driven deception: A new face of corporate fraud

Fraudsters are leveraging advanced AI tools to mimic voices, manipulate images, and generate convincing fake content for social engineering attacks. This emerging tactic has enabled more sophisticated impersonation attempts, making traditional security measures less effective.

From the article:

As the battle between malicious and benevolent AI enters an intense new phase, organizations must update their cybersecurity and anti-fraud policies to ensure they keep pace with the evolving threat landscape. With so much at stake, failure to do so might impact long-term customer loyalty

Nearly 1 million Windows devices targeted in advanced “malvertising” spree

Trickery is one thing that can deceive internet users. In this scenario, attackers used malicious ads to trick users into downloading infected software, often disguised as legitimate updates or tools. The campaign leveraged sophisticated evasion tactics to bypass security defenses.

A quick one from the article:

The campaign targeted “nearly” 1 million devices belonging both to individuals and a wide range of organizations and industries. The indiscriminate approach indicates the campaign was opportunistic, meaning it attempted to ensnare anyone, rather than targeting certain individuals, organizations, or industries.

GitLab patches critical authentication bypass vulnerabilities

The good news is that they have patched it. Now, what can we learn from this? First, the flaws could allow authenticated attackers with access to a valid signed SAML document to impersonate other users within the same SAML Identity Provider (IdP) environment. The effect? It can potentially lead to unauthorized account access, data breaches, and privilege escalation.

Which versions are affected? GitLab Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE) versions before 17.7.7, 17.8.5, and 17.9.2.

Read the article for more details.