CyberSec Roundup
A synopsis of the Latest Cybersecurity News
CISA warns of Microsoft Office Attacks
CISA has alerted organizations to be aware of a remote code execution vulnerability found in Microsoft Office documents. Tracked as CVE-2021-40444, an attacker could gain control of a user’s system if they open a Microsoft Office document that has a malicious ActiveX control. Most antivirus applications should catch these types of malicious documents, once they are current with security updates, but Microsoft also recommends disabling the installation of all ActiveX controls in Internet Explorer to mitigate this attack.
Hackers Leak FortiGate passwords
Passwords for FortiGate SSL-VPNs have been leaked online by the Groove ransomware group. These were gathered from devices not patched for the CVE-2018-13379 vulnerability at the time of the hackers’ scan. Organizations should ensure they change the credentials for their devices and apply the patch if they haven’t already done so, as this vulnerability is being actively exploited by hackers.
Howard University Hacked
Howard University confirmed they were hit with a ransomware attack last week. They notified the FBI, and have leading external forensic experts and law enforcement looking into the incident. The attack resulted in the cancellation of classes for a day, the WIFI network being taken down and many non-cloud resources being unavailable. So far it appears that no personal information for students or staff information was accessed or stolen.
By: David Pinder
IT & Security Consultant
Certified Ethical Hacker (Master)
