All articles tagged with #cactus
In 1982 near Lake Pleasant, Arizona, 27-year-old David Grundman shot a 27-foot saguaro with a shotgun; a roughly 23-foot section of the cactus toppled onto him, crushing him to death. Some accounts differ on whether an arm broke off or the central column collapsed. There’s no known video of the incident, and the piece ends with a tongue-in-cheek remark about the Second Amendment not guaranteeing victory in a fight.
A game of "hairy cactus or spun-sugar dessert" leads to an introduction to the Cephalocereus Senilis, also known as the "Old Man Cactus." The cactus has a shaggy coat of long, white hairs that protect it from frost and sun. Resources are provided to learn more about the plant and how to grow and care for it. The article also mentions a delicious spun-sugar dessert from Rick's Place in Melbourne, Australia.
Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new ransomware strain called CACTUS that exploits known flaws in VPN appliances to infiltrate targeted networks. The ransomware has been observed targeting large commercial entities since March 2023, using double extortion tactics to steal sensitive data prior to encryption. CACTUS actors attempt to enumerate local and network user accounts before creating new user accounts and deploying the ransomware encryptor via scheduled tasks. The ransomware also utilizes Cobalt Strike and a tunneling tool referred to as Chisel for command-and-control, alongside remote monitoring and management (RMM) software like AnyDesk to push files to the infected hosts.
A new ransomware operation called Cactus has been exploiting vulnerabilities in VPN appliances for initial access to networks of “large commercial entities.” Cactus encrypts itself to evade antivirus and uses a batch script to obtain the encryptor binary using 7-Zip. The ransomware operation uses a unique AES key known only to the attackers to decrypt the ransomware's configuration file and the public RSA key needed to encrypt files. Cactus also steals data from the victim and threatens to publish the stolen files unless they get paid.