Month: July 2024

Many organizations are at risk of full takeover, and macOS devices aren’t helping, experts warn.

A worrying number of environments are vulnerable to complete takeover via escalated privileges, a new report from Picus Security has found.

Environments were tested in simulated attacks, with the average organization managing to defend against 7 out of 10 attacks, but considering the constant threat presented by organized cybercrime groups, this leaves a serious margin for potential intrusion.

Out of all the attacks simulated, over half (56%) were logged by firewalls, while just 12% triggered an alert.

macOS is putting organizations at risk

Full environment takeovers occur when an attacker can escalate their privileges to an administrator level, giving them access to move throughout systems and networks to steal data, install malware and much more.

When it comes to which operating systems were most successful at keeping out simulated attacks, Linux took the gold keeping out 65%, shortly followed by Windows at 62%, with macOS keeping out just 23% of attempted attacks.

“While we have found Macs are less vulnerable to start, the reality today is that security teams are not putting adequate resources into securing macOS systems,” said Volkan Ertürk, Picus Security Co-Founder and CTO. 

“Our recent Blue Report research shows that security teams need to validate their macOS systems to surface configuration issues. Threat repositories, like the Picus Threat Library, are armed with the latest and most prominent macOS specific threats to help organizations streamline their validation and mitigation efforts,” Ertürk concluded.

Many environments were also at risk from a lack of best practices, with 25% of companies using common language passwords which can easily be brute forced or decrypted into cleartext credentials. Moreover, just 9% of data exfiltration techniques were prevented by the tested organizations, with BlackByte being the most challenging group for organizations to defend against (17%), followed by BabLock (20%) and Hive (30%).

“Like a cascade of falling dominoes that starts with a single push, small gaps in cybersecurity can lead to big breaches,” said Dr. Suleyman Ozarslan, Picus co-founder and VP of Picus Labs.

“It’s clear that organizations are still experiencing challenges when it comes to threat exposure management and balancing priorities. Small gaps that lead to attackers obtaining domain admin access are not isolated incidents, they are widespread. Last year, the attack on MGM used domain admin privileges and super admin accounts. It stopped slot machines, shut down virtually all systems, and blocked a multi-billion-dollar company from doing business for days,” Ozarslan said.

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Nevertheless, it will offer more context

As is the trend for most AI-infused products these days, Circle to Search is expanding – again. The feature, which premiered on the Galaxy S24 series in January of this year and then rolled out to other Android devices, allows you to simply circle something on screen – be it an amazing slice of cheesecake while scrolling through Instagram, or the next fashion item – and get search results for it. 

Now, Google is expanding Circle to Search to include a version of this handy tool. You can still circle anything you’d like on the screen, but if you’re looking for intel on an image, it can now add additional context and even look into the metadata, which could tell you the type of camera it was shot on and even when it was created or exported.

(Image credit: Google)

Further, though, ‘About This Image’ promises to tell you if it’s an AI-generated image containing some invisible pixels, although there is a catch here: the image needs to have Google’s DeepMind Synth Watermark. 

Along with identifying that hidden watermark or the metadata, you’ll see more context around the image. In an example of a cloud that looked like a UFO, the search returned results from other sites that had that same image or one similar to it; in this case, that’s news sites that provide the context. It wasn’t a UFO, but rather a very unique-looking cloud. To a degree, it’s nice to see Google relying on publishers to provide the context rather than an AI-generated chunk of copy. 

Still, it’s nice to see Google expanding the capabilities of Circle to Search, and adding a feature that you might already have some experience with. The rollout of this feature begins today (July 31), so it might not be available on your device immediately. If your Android device, like a Pixel 8 Pro, Galaxy Z Fold 6, or countless others, supports Circle to Search, you might see it immediately, and you can also use it within Google Lens on Android or iOS. 

The integration with Google Lens rolls this out to be a bit more people, and there, you can either take a photo of something or upload a screenshot of the image in question rather than circling it. Either route, ‘About This Image’ within Circle to Search, is supported in 40 languages worldwide.

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With multiple websites reportedly blocked, Proton VPN confirmed a spike of 4000% in VPN sign-ups as citizens fear a social media blackout.

VPN usage in Venezuela has skyrocketed in the aftermath of the presidential elections held last Sunday, July 28, 2024.

One of the best VPN services around, Proton VPN, saw a spike of 4000% sign-ups above normal level so far, with downloads still soaring at the time of writing.

The provider confirmed to TechRadar that, over the last few days, its Android VPN app has been the most downloaded application in the Venezuelan Android app store across all categories. Likewise, Proton VPN is also among the top three most downloaded apps on Apple’s App Store.

Via its Proton VPN Observatory, the provider monitor VPN usage spikes to act as an alarm bell when sudden censorship takes place. (Image credit: Proton)

“Usually, the most downloaded apps are social media and communication apps. The fact that these have now been surpassed by a VPN app is unprecedented and shows how people in Venezuela are turning to tech companies like Proton to maintain their basic freedoms,” David Peterson, General Manager at Proton VPN, told me.

As people increasingly resort to VPN apps, though, Venezuelan authorities appear to have tried to clamp down on VPN usage in the country. Ahead of the elections, some Proton users lamented issues accessing its VPN apps. Peterson also told me Proton VPN had been the target of a disinformation campaign, incorrectly claiming it was a tool to harvest data. Yet, “efforts to block Proton VPN have been ineffective to date,” he added.

If the situation changes and you encounter issues using a Proton VPN in Venezuela – or any other service, for that matter – here are some tips on getting around potential blocks.

Why is Venezuela VPN usage so high? 

“VPNs were already a much-used tool in Venezuela because the media is heavily censored there, and baseline levels were already very high,” Peterson told me, adding that this latest spike shows how such software is now essential in Venezuela.

Many websites have reportedly been blocked since last Sunday, in fact, as protests spread across the country.

On July 28, UK-based internet watchdog NetBlocks reported that multiple Venezuela ISPs began throttling access to all language editions of Wikipedia. An incident that, according to experts, matched “a similar pattern observed in 2019.” Among others, digital rights advocacy group Access Now confirmed further website blockage, including against an opposition portal to compare the voting results and a local civil society site. 

Luckily, a virtual private network (VPN) can help against these internet disruptions. 

For the less techie users out there, a VPN is security software that encrypts your internet connections, boosts your online privacy, and spoofs your real IP address. The latter function is exactly why people use these services to reliably access news outlets, social media platforms, and other services when restrictions hit.

This is also the reason why Proton launched a free VPN network of dedicated anti-censorship servers in Venezuela a week before and after the presidential elections as part of its election support initiative.

If you’re in Venezuela, all you need to do is choose a server located outside the country. As a result, you will trick local ISPs into granting you access to restricted content.

“We recommend people in Venezuela have a VPN downloaded in advance, should internet censorship get even tighter in the country,” said Peterson, adding that Venezuelan citizens are also creating and sharing how-to guides for their fellow citizens. 

For more information in Spanish on how to use Proton VPN, I recommend checking some translated guides, and a full install and how-to video here. 

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