Hacker group “ Charming Kitten ” used false identities to ferret out information , says Israel-based cybersecurity firm ClearSky An Iranian cyber espionage group known as Charming Kitten is believed to be behind a campaign targeting academic researchers , human rights activists , media outlets and political advisors focusing on Iran , according to a report published earlier this week by Israel-based threat intelligence company ClearSky Cyber Security . The group has also set up Attack.Phishing a news outlet called The British News Agency to lure Attack.Phishing targets in . Most of the group 's targets are in Iran , the U.S. , Israel and the U.K. , the report said , but some come from countries including France , Germany , Switzerland , Denmark , India , Turkey and the United Arab Emirates . The report detailed the various methods used to gain access Attack.Databreach to computers and private social accounts . Those include false identities , the impersonation Attack.Phishing of real companies , the insertion of malicious code into a breached website , also known as `` watering hole attacks , '' and spear phishing Attack.Phishing , the process of pretending to be Attack.Phishing service providers like Gmail or Facebook to trick Attack.Phishing people into giving out personal information . A significant mainstay of the group 's activity was the establishment of a media outlet called The British News Agency . Much effort went into creating Attack.Phishing a seemingly legitimate website , including details about the agency and a contact list of the management team . The purpose of the site was to attract Attack.Phishing the targets and infect them with malware . According to the report , multiple Israeli researchers of Iran and the Middle East were sent Attack.Phishing emails and Twitter direct messages from accounts registered with seemingly Jewish Israeli names . Messages coming from Attack.Phishing one such account were presented as if coming from Attack.Phishing a journalist and political researcher at KNBC News . Other messages were presented as if coming from Attack.Phishing an Israeli political researcher raised in California who needed help with an article and also wanted to apply for a position at an Israeli university . Another message was described as coming from Attack.Phishing a Jewish girl living in Iran . These messages often linked to phishing pages . ClearSky can not estimate how many accounts were successfully infiltrated , but the success rate for such attacks is usually around 10 % , said Mr. Dolev .

Cisco has released Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability fixes for 34 flaws in its software , including 24 that affect Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability its FXOS software for Firepower firewalls and NX-OS software for Nexus switches . Cisco 's June updates include fixes for five critical arbitrary code execution vulnerabilities affecting Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability FXOS and NX-OS and 19 high-rated flaws affecting Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability the software . Four of the critical flaws affect Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability FXOS and NX-OS Cisco Fabric Services , while the fifth one affects Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability the NX-API feature of NX-OS . All have a CVSS v3 score of 9.8 out of a maximum of 10 . Cisco Fabric Services facilitate distribution and synchronization of configuration data between Cisco devices on the same network . Some of the flaws allow an unauthenticated , remote attack to execute arbitrary code and one allows an attacker to do so as root . Multiple switches are vulnerable Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability if they 've been configured to use Cisco Fabric Services , including its Nexus 2000 series through to Nexus 9000 series switches , as well as Cisco 's Firepower 4100 Series Next-Gen Firewalls and other hardware . The insufficient input validation may occur when FXOS and NX-OS process Cisco Fabric Services packets received during distribution and synchronization . There are various ways to exploit each of the flaws , depending on what Cisco Fabric Services distribution types have been configured . For example , if Fibre Channel ports are configured as a distribution type for a device , the attack could occur via Fibre Channel over Ethernet ( FCoE ) or Fibre Channel over IP ( FCIP ) . Cisco has already rolled out Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability fixes in some releases of FXOS and NX-OS . Cisco posted a blog this week explaining why it often fixes Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability bugs in IOS and NX-OS releases before disclosing Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability them in an advisory . It 's a practice that appears to cause confusion for customers wondering why it has n't told them fixed code has been available Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability for several months before it discloses Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability them . Cisco 's answer is that some flaws affect Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability more than 50 versions of its software . `` There have been some questions as to why creating Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability fixes and releasing Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability updates can take several weeks , or sometimes even months , before an advisory is published , '' Cisco 's Customer Assurance Security Programs team wrote . `` In some cases , there is a large number of supported software versions to be updated . The number of affected versions that will be updated Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability can range from single digits to nearly 50 or more . We are committed to issuing Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability fixes for every one of those supported versions . '' `` If we disclosed Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability the vulnerability after only fixing Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability one release , we would unnecessarily expose all customers running Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability other releases to potential exploitation once details about the attack itself became public . '' There are also 10 medium-severity flaws , including one that affects Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability some WebEx endpoints due to an already disclosed flaw in Nvidia 's Tegra TX1 chips .

The BBC recently uncovered that scammers are attempting to trick Attack.Phishing us through the abuse of multilingual character sets . By creating Attack.Phishing these lookalike sites with domain names that are almost identical to the URLs we know and trust , it ’ s made telling the difference between fake and genuine sites – and avoiding phishing scams Attack.Phishing – increasingly difficult . Research by security company Wandera revealed that people are three times more likely to fall for a phishing scam Attack.Phishing if it is on their phone . As a result , this new scam Attack.Phishing targets smartphone users , where the lookalike sites are harder to spot . A recent survey that tested the British public ’ s knowledge of scams and online security behaviours found 16 % of British adults have experienced online fraud . For phishing scams Attack.Phishing specifically , it ’ s one in ten of us . The most common age group to experience online fraud is 35 – 54 , with almost one-fifth ( 19 % ) of this demographic having fallen victim to a scam . CEO of Get Safe Online , Tony Neate , said : “ While online fraud is common , it becomes less so when you engage common sense . “ It is very easy to clone Attack.Phishing a real website and does not take a skilled developer long to produce a very professional-looking but malicious site , but if you know what to look for , it ’ s easy to stay safe. ” There are numerous ways to determine whether or not a received email is from a legitimate company trying to help , or a scammer looking to steal Attack.Databreach financial details . The initial sender is a good starting point . Take the time to look at the email address you ’ re being contacted by , not just the name . An unfamiliar address , or one that doesn ’ t correspond with the company , is a giveaway that it ’ s a fraudster . Then take a look at the greeting . If the email opens with ‘ Dear loyal customer ’ or ‘ Hello ( followed by your email address ) ’ then it ’ s another telltale sign . The real company would address you by your full name and make it personal to you . Careless slip-ups in the copy of the email are also giveaways . Does any of the grammar or spelling not sit quite right ? This is a big indicator that it ’ s a phishing scam Attack.Phishing . You wouldn ’ t expect poor language by someone from a legitimate company .