Synthetic data can be used to improve cybersecurity algorithms, such as facial recognition and fingerprint matching. These applications have the potential to improve suspect identification in law enforcement and streamline border control processes. Synthetic data generation involves manipulating variables and parameters in order to replicate data patterns. Since synthetic data does not contain real individuals' sensitive information, it can help to alleviate data privacy concerns. This is important in criminal investigations, where privacy is critical.

The National Security Agency (NSA) has joined the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and other US and international partners in releasing a Cybersecurity Information Sheet (CSI) titled "The Case for Memory Safe Roadmaps." The report, which expands on NSA's "Software Memory Safety" CSI published in April 2023, offers guidance for software manufacturers and technology providers in developing roadmaps tailored to eliminate memory safety vulnerabilities from their products.

The recently released Cisco Talos Year in Review report highlights new trends in the cybersecurity threat landscape. According to the report, more ransomware actors have shifted to extortion rather than encryption, while commodity loaders have become stealthier and more effective. For the second year in a row, LockBit was the most active ransomware group, followed by ALPHV and Clop. However, some ransomware groups continued to evolve in 2023, with structures often merging or rebranding to confuse law enforcement and the researchers tracking them.

Aplite researchers warn that thousands of exposed servers are leaking millions of patients' medical records and personal health information due to security flaws in a decades-old industry standard, Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM). This standard is designed for storing and sharing medical images. DICOM, the internationally recognized medical imaging format, is the file format for CT scans and X-ray images.

Twenty-two computer scientists, election security experts, and voter advocacy organizations call for a federal investigation and a risk assessment of voting machines used in the US, emphasizing that software breaches have "urgent implications for the 2024 election and beyond." According to the letter, breaches have affected voting equipment made by two companies that count more than 70 percent of all votes in the country. Douglas W.

Threat actors can use Amazon Web Services Security Token Service (AWS STS) to infiltrate cloud accounts and launch follow-on attacks. According to Red Canary researchers, the service allows threat actors to impersonate user identities and roles in cloud environments. AWS STS is a web service that lets users request temporary, limited-privilege credentials to access AWS resources without creating an AWS identity. These STS tokens have a validity period of 15 minutes to 36 hours.

Preventing exploitable vulnerabilities requires catching coding errors in Application Programming Interface (API) preproduction before they go live. Therefore, "shift left" has become a significant focus in API development, in which DevOps takes responsibility for incorporating security testing into the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), lowering the cost and expense of resolving coding errors and vulnerabilities. However, fixing code or knowing business logic abuse possibilities can be time-consuming for developers who are not security experts.

Google recently announced the release of Chrome 120 to the stable channel with patches for 10 vulnerabilities.  According to Google, of the resolved issues, five were reported by external researchers, who received a total of $15,000 in bug bounty rewards.  Based on the reward handed out, the most serious of the flaws is CVE-2023-6508, a high-severity use-after-free issue in Media Stream.  Google says it paid out $10,000 for the bug.  Next in line is CVE-2023-6509, a high-severity use-after-free defect that impacts Chrome’s Side Panel Search component.

IT services and business consulting company HTC Global Services has recently confirmed that they suffered a cyberattack after the ALPHV ransomware gang began leaking screenshots of stolen data.  HTC Global Services is a managed service provider offering technology and business services to the healthcare, automotive, manufacturing, and financial industries.  According to the ALPHV ransomware group, the leaked data includes passports, contact lists, emails, and confidential documents.

According to Cornell University researchers, attackers could manipulate responses to user prompts from Large Language Models (LLMs) behind Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots like ChatGPT by hiding malicious instructions in strategically placed images and audio clips online. Adversaries could use "indirect prompt injection" attacks to redirect users to malicious URLs, collect personal information from users, deliver payloads, and perform other malicious actions.