Fishing the Internet

Following recent events in Ukraine, various cybersecurity agencies such as CISA or BSI have warned of potential data wiping attacks spillover to organisations in other countries. While destructive malware such as wipers are still rare and more targeted compared to malware focused on espionage and financial gains, there are reasons for believing that this wipers will become more prevalent: If hybrid warfare operations continue and/or intensify, it must be assumed that (destructive) cyber operations will increasingly be used alongside kinetic weapons despite the fact significant impact has not yet been observed in the current war. Sanctions and/or support for Ukraine by other countries may also increase the risk for Russian retaliatory cyber attacks against those countries. The increasing number of (sophisticated) hacktivists that support either Russia or Ukraine for ideological reasons (e.g., IT Army of Ukraine counts ~300,000 people in their Telegram group) may lead to more s...

Based on a specific subset of Recorded Future’s research reporting, which focuses on emerging tools and TTPs, we saw a large increase in observations of the Scheduled Task technique (T1053.005), the sub-technique of Scheduled Task/Job (T1053), as compared to previous reporting by Recorded Future. In this blog, I will first give an overview of the technique and discuss why it is used by adversaries. Second, I show multiple ways to access the Windows Task Scheduler. Third, I show how the technique has been used by various threat actors to achieve persistence, lateral movement, code execution, detection evasion, and privilege escalation. Lastly, I will discuss ways to detect the malicious use of the technique.  What are Scheduled Tasks? Adversaries may abuse the Windows Task Scheduler to perform task scheduling for initial or recurring execution of malicious code to achieve persistence, lateral movement, execution, detection evasion, and privilege escalation. The Task Scheduler allows...

What is mistakenly accepted as true in our society and enough to believe in a flat earth? With this question, the mind quickly reaches the limits of the conceivable. Something similar happens when you ask yourself what happens when people stop googling or stop flying? Adobe Research Director Sridhar Mahadevan got to the bottom of this very question and wondered what comes after the internet and artificial intelligence. The article is very convincingly written, conceptual and at the same time based on many real examples and experienced references.

Machines Like Me is a 2019 novel by British author Ian McEwan. The novel is written ironically and at the same time deeply. It is set in London in the 1980s and offers an "alternative variant" of London. Charlie, a man in his 40s, tries to make ends meet through sporadic, impulse-driven businesses while trying to avoid permanent employment. He is in love with the much younger student Miranda, who lives in the house directly above him. When Charlie's mother dies, he buys "Adam" with the inheritance. Adam is the first man-made, synthetic human. Charlie installed along with Miranda Adam and his personality. A unique relationship develops between the "perfect" humanoid Adam, Charlie and Miranda. As time goes on, they are haunted by a terrible secret from the past. This presents the three with a massive moral dilemma. I found four aspects of this novel particularly entertaining / interesting: 1. Time merging: In the novel, Alan Turing (British computer sci...