Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 24 June 2022
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
The NCSC Sets Out the UK’s Cyber Threat Landscape
The current state of the UK’s cyber threat landscape was outlined by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), during a keynote address on the final day of Infosecurity Europe 2022.
They described the cyber threats posed by nation-states, particularly Russia and China. Russia remains “one of the world’s most prolific cyber actors and dedicates significant resources to conducting cyber operations across the globe.” The NCSC and international partner organisations have attributed a number of high-profile attacks related to the conflict to Russian state actors, including the Viasat incident on the eve of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Therefore, the NCSC recommends that organisations prepare for a dynamic situation that is liable to change rapidly.
The NCSC emphasised that a more significant long-term threat comes from China, citing GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming’s assertion that “Russia is affecting the weather, but China is shaping the climate.” She described the nation’s “highly sophisticated” activities in cyberspace, born out of its “increasing ambitions to project its influence beyond its borders.” This includes a keen interest in the UK’s commercial secrets.
In addition to nation-state attacks, the NCSC noted that cyber crime is continuing to rise, with ransomware a continuing concern. Attacks are expected to grow in scale, with threat actors likely to increasingly target managed service providers (MSPs) to gain access to a wider range of targets. More generally, cyber capabilities will become more commoditised over the next few years, meaning they are increasingly available to a larger group of would-be attackers who are willing to pay.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ncsc-uk-cyber-threat-landscape/
We're Now Truly in The Era of Ransomware as Pure Extortion Without the Encryption
Increasingly cyber crime rings tracked as ransomware operators are turning toward primarily data theft and extortion – and skipping the encryption step altogether. Rather than scramble files and demand payment for the decryption keys, and all the faff in between in facilitating that, simply exfiltrating the data and demanding a fee to not leak it all is just as effective. This shift has been ongoing for many months, and is now virtually unavoidable.
The FBI and CISA this month warned about a lesser-known extortion gang called Karakurt, which demands ransoms as high as $13 million. Karakurt doesn't target any specific sectors or industries, and the gang's victims haven't had any of their documents encrypted and held to ransom. Instead, the crooks claim to have stolen data, with screenshots or copies of exfiltrated files as proof, and they threaten to sell it or leak it publicly if they don't receive a payment.
Some of these thieves offer discounted ransoms to corporations to encourage them to pay sooner, with the demanded payment getting larger the longer it takes to cough up the cash (or Bitcoin, as the case may be).
Additionally, some crime groups offer sliding-scale payment systems. So you pay for what you get, and depending on the amount of ransom paid you get a control panel, you get customer support, you get all of the tools you need."
https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/25/ransomware_gangs_extortion_feature/
5 Social Engineering Assumptions That Are Wrong
Social engineering is involved in the vast majority of cyber attacks, but a new report from Proofpoint has revealed five common social engineering assumptions that are not only wrong but are repeatedly subverted by malicious actors in their attacks.
Threat actors don’t have conversations with targets.
Legitimate services are safe from social engineering abuse.
Attackers only use computers, not telephones.
Replying to existing email conversations is safe.
Fraudsters only use business-related content as lures.
Commenting on the report’s findings, Sherrod DeGrippo, Proofpoint’s Vice-President Threat Research and Detection, stated that the vendor has attempted to debunk faulty assumptions made by organisations and security teams so they can better protect employees against cyber crime. “Despite defenders’ best efforts, cyber criminals continue to defraud, extort and ransom companies for billions of dollars annually. Security-focused decision makers have prioritised bolstering defences around physical and cloud-based infrastructure, which has led to human beings becoming the most relied upon entry point for compromise. As a result, a wide array of content and techniques continue to be developed to exploit human behaviours and interests.”
Indeed, cyber criminals will go to creative and occasionally unusual lengths to carry out social engineering campaigns, making it more difficult for users to avoid falling victim to them.
Gartner: Regulation, Human Costs Will Create Stormy Cyber Security Weather Ahead
Security teams should prepare for what researchers say will be a challenging environment through 2023, with increased pressure from government regulators, partners, and threat actors.
Gartner kicked off its Security & Risk Management Summit with the release of its analysts' assessments of the work ahead, which Richard Addiscott, the company's senior director analyst, discussed during his opening keynote address.
“We can’t fall into old habits and try to treat everything the same as we did in the past,” Addiscott said. “Most security and risk leaders now recognise that major disruption is only one crisis away. We can’t control it, but we can evolve our thinking, our philosophy, our program, and our architecture.”
Topping Gartner's list of eight predictions is a rise in the government regulation of consumer privacy rights and ransomware response, a widespread shift by enterprises to unify security platforms, more zero trust, and, troublingly, the prediction that by 2025 threat actors will likely have figured out how to "weaponise operational technology environments successfully to cause human casualties”, the cyber security report said.
Ransomware Attacks - This Is the Data That Cyber Criminals Really Want to Steal
There are certain types of data that criminals target the most, according to an analysis of attacks.
Data theft and extortion has become a common – and unfortunately effective – part of ransomware attacks, where in addition to encrypting data and demanding a ransom payment for the decryption key, gangs steal information and threaten to publish it if a payment isn't received.
These so-called double extortion attacks have become an effective tool in the arsenal of ransomware gangs, who leverage them to force victims to pay up, even in cases where data could be restored from offline backups, because the threat of sensitive information being published is too great.
Any stolen data is potentially useful to ransomware gangs, but according to analysis by researchers at cyber security company Rapid7, of 161 disclosed ransomware incidents where data was published, some data is seen as more valuable than others.
According to the report, financial services is the sector that is most likely to have customer data exposed, with 82% of incidents involving ransomware gangs accessing and making threats to release this data. Stealing and publishing sensitive customer information would undermine consumer trust in financial services organisations: while being hacked in the first place would be damaging enough, some business leaders might view paying a ransom to avoid further damage caused by data leaks to be worth it.
The second most-leaked type of file in ransomware attacks against financial services firms, featuring in 59% of disclosures from victims, is employee personally identifiable information (PII) and data related to human resources.
Cloud Email Threats Soar 101% in a Year
The number of email-borne cyber-threats blocked by Trend Micro surged by triple digits last year, highlighting the continued risk from conventional attack vectors.
The vendor stopped over 33.6 million such threats reaching customers via cloud-based email in 2021, a 101% increase. This included 16.5 million phishing emails, a 138% year-on-year increase, of which 6.5 million were credential phishing attempts.
Trend Micro also blocked 3.3 million malicious files in cloud-based emails, including a 134% increase in known threats and a 221% increase in unknown malware.
The news comes as Proofpoint warned in a new report of the continued dangers posed by social engineering, and the mistaken assumptions many users make.
Many users don’t realise that threat actors may spend considerable time and effort building a rapport over email with their victims, especially if they’re trying to conduct a business email compromise (BEC) attack, it said.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cloud-email-threats-soar-101-in-a/
80% of Firms Suffered Identity-Related Breaches in Last 12 Months
Rapidly growing employee identities, third-party partners, and machine nodes have companies scrambling to secure credential information, software secrets, and cloud identities, according to researchers.
In a survey of IT and identity professionals from Dimensional Research, almost every organisation — 98% — experienced rapid growth in the number of identities that have to be managed, with that growth driven by expanding cloud usage, more third-party partners, and machine identities. Furthermore, businesses are also seeing an increase in breaches because of this, with 84% of firms suffering an identity-related breach in the past 12 months, compared with 79% in a previous study covering two years.
The number and complexity of identities organisations are having to manage and secure is increasing. Whenever there is an increase in identities, there is a corresponding heightened risk of identity-related breaches due to them not being properly managed and secured, and with the attack surfaces also growing exponentially, these breaches can occur on multiple fronts.
For the most part, organisations focus on employee identities, which 70% consider to be the most likely to be breached and 58% believe to have the greatest impact, according to the 2022 "Trends in Securing Digital Identities" report based on the survey. Yet third-party partners and business customers are significant sources of risk as well, with 35% and 25% of respondents considering those to be a major source of breaches, respectively.
https://www.darkreading.com/operations/identity-related-breaches-last-12-months
After Being Breached Once, Many Companies Are Likely to Be Hit Again
Cymulate announced the results of a survey, revealing that two-thirds of companies who have been hit by cyber crime in the past year have been hit more than once, with almost 10% experiencing 10 or so more attacks a year.
Research taken from 858 security professionals surveyed across North America, EMEA, APAC and LATAM across a wide range of industries including technology, banking, finance and government, also highlighted larger companies hit by cyber crime are experiencing shorter disruption time and damage to business with 40% reported low damage compared with medium-size businesses (less than 2,500 employees) which had longer recovery times and more business affecting damage.
Other highlights
40% of respondents admitted to being breached over the past 12 months.
After being breached once, statistics showed they were more likely to be hit again than not (66%).
Malware (55%), and more specifically ransomware (40%) and DDoS (32%) were the main forms of cyber attacks experienced by those surveyed.
Attacks primarily occurred via end-user phishing (56%), via third parties connected to the enterprise (37%) or direct attacks on enterprise networks (34%).
22% of companies publicly disclosed cyber attacks in the worst-case breaches, with 35% needing to hire security consultants, 12% dismissing their current security professionals and 12% hiring public relations consultants to deal with the repercussions to their reputations. Top three best practices for cyber attack prevention, mitigation and remediation include multi-factor authentication (67%), proactive corporate phishing and awareness campaigns (53%), and well-planned and practiced incident response plans (44%). Least privilege also ranked highly, at 43%.
29% of attacks come from insider threats – intentionally or unintentionally.
Leadership and cyber security teams who meet regularly to discuss risk reduction are more cyber security-ready – those who met 15 times a year incurred zero breaches whereas those who suffered six or more breaches met under nine times on average.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/21/companies-hit-by-cybercrime/
Do You Have Ransomware Insurance? Look at the Fine Print
Insurance exists to protect the insured party against catastrophe, but the insurer needs protection so that its policies are not abused – and that's where the fine print comes in. However, in the case of ransomware insurance, the fine print is becoming contentious and arguably undermining the usefulness of ransomware insurance.
In recent years, ransomware insurance has grown as a product field because organisations are trying to buy protection against the catastrophic effects of a successful ransomware attack. Why try to buy insurance? Well, a single, successful attack can just about wipe out a large organisation, or lead to crippling costs – NotPetya alone led to a total of $10bn in damages.
Ransomware attacks are notoriously difficult to protect against completely. Like any other potentially catastrophic event, insurers stepped in to offer an insurance product. In exchange for a premium, insurers promise to cover many of the damages resulting from a ransomware attack.
Depending on the policy, a ransomware policy could cover loss of income if the attack disrupts operations, or loss of valuable data, if data is erased due to the ransomware event. A policy may also cover you for extortion – in others, it will refund the ransom demanded by the criminal.
The exact payout and terms will of course be defined in the policy document, also called the "fine print." Critically, fine print also contains exclusions, in other words circumstances under which the policy won't pay out. And therein lies the problem.
https://thehackernews.com/2022/06/do-you-have-ransomware-insurance-look.html
The Price of Stolen Info: Everything on Sale on The Dark Web
What is the price for personal information, including credit cards and bank accounts, on the dark web?
Privacy Affairs researchers concluded that criminals using the dark web need only spend $1,115 for a complete set of a person’s account details, enabling them to create fake IDs and forge private documents, such as passports and driver’s licenses.
Access to other information is becoming even cheaper. The Dark Web Price Index 2022 – based on data scanning dark web marketplaces, forums, and websites, revealed:
Credit card details and associated information cost between $17-$120
Online banking login information costs $45
Hacked Facebook accounts cost $45
Cloned VISA with PIN cost $20
Stolen PayPal account details, with minimum $1000 balances, cost $20.
In December 2021, about 4.5 million credit cards went up for sale on the dark web, the study found. The average price ranged from $1-$20.
Scammers can buy full credit card details, including CVV number, card number, associated dates, and even the email, physical address and phone number. This enables them to penetrate the credit card processing chain, overriding any security countermeasures.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/22/stolen-info-sale-dark-web/
How Companies Are Prioritising Infosec and Compliance
New research conducted by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), examines the impact of the compliance budget on security strategy and priorities. It describes areas for which companies prioritise information security and compliance, which leaders control information security spending, how compliance has shifted the overall security strategy of the organisation, and the solutions and tools on which organisations are focusing their technology spending.
The findings cover three critical areas of an organisation’s security and compliance posture: information security and IT audit and compliance, data security and data privacy, and security and compliance spending.
One key takeaway is that merging security and compliance priorities addresses regulatory control gaps while improving the organisation’s security posture. Respondents revealed insights on how they handle compliance, who is responsible for compliance and security responsibilities, and what compliance-related security challenges organisations face.
Additional findings:
Companies found the need to shift their information security strategy to address compliance priorities (93%).
Information security and IT compliance priorities are generally aligned (89%).
Existing security tools have to address data privacy considerations going forward (76%).
Managing an organisation’s multiple IT environments and the controls that govern those environments is the greatest challenge in the IT audit and compliance space (39%).
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/24/companies-infosec-compliance-priorities/
Businesses Risk ‘Catastrophic Financial Loss’ from Cyber Attacks, US Watchdog Warns
A US Government watchdog has warned that private insurance companies are increasingly backing out of covering damages from major cyber attacks — leaving businesses facing “catastrophic financial loss” unless another insurance model can be found.
The growing challenge of covering cyber risk is outlined in a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which calls for a government assessment of whether a federal cyber insurance option is needed.
The report draws on threat assessments from the National Security Agency (NSA), Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Department of Justice, to quantify the risk of cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, identifying vulnerable technologies that might be attacked and a range of threat actors capable of exploiting them.
Citing an annual threat assessment released by the ODNI, the report finds that hacking groups linked to Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea pose the greatest threat to US infrastructure — along with certain non-state actors like organised cyber criminal gangs.
Given the wide and increasingly skilled range of actors willing to target US entities, the number of cyber incidents is rising at an alarming rate.
Threats
Ransomware
Attackers exploited a Mitel VOIP zero-day to compromise a network Security Affairs
Chinese hackers use ransomware as decoy for cyber espionage (bleepingcomputer.com)
If you don't store valuable data, ransomware is impotent • The Register
Ransomware-as-a-Service: Learn to Enhance Cyber security Approaches (analyticsinsight.net)
Mitigate Ransomware in a Remote-First World (thehackernews.com)
Delivery Firm Yodel Scrambling to Restore Operations Following Cyber attack | SecurityWeek.Com
Black Basta Ransomware Becomes Major Threat in Two Months | SecurityWeek.Com
These hackers are spreading ransomware as a distraction - to hide their cyber spying | ZDNet
Conti ransomware hacking spree breaches over 40 orgs in a month (bleepingcomputer.com)
Conti effectively created an extortion-oriented IT company, says Group-IB - Help Net Security
Conti ransomware finally shuts down data leak, negotiation sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Conti ransomware group's pulse stops, but did it fake its own death? | Malwarebytes Labs
Without Conti on the Scene, LockBit 2.0 Leads Ransomware Attacks (darkreading.com)
Cyber attack: Gloucester council services still not back to normal - BBC News
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Your email is a major source of security risks and it's getting worse | ZDNet
New Phishing Attack Infects Devices with Cobalt Strike- IT Security Guru
Voicemail phishing emails steal Microsoft credentials • The Register
The Risk of Multichannel Phishing Is on the Horizon (darkreading.com)
Cops arrests nine suspected of stealing millions via email • The Register
Cyber criminals Use Azure Front Door in Phishing Attacks - Security Affairs
Microsoft Exchange servers hacked by new ToddyCat APT gang (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyber attackers Abuse QuickBooks Cloud Service in 'Double-Spear' Campaign (darkreading.com)
Other Social Engineering
Proofpoint: Social engineering attacks slipping past users (techtarget.com)
Inside a large-scale phishing campaign targeting millions of Facebook users - Help Net Security
Malware
RIG Exploit Kit Now Infects Victims' PCs With Dridex Instead of Raccoon Stealer (thehackernews.com)
Organisations Battling Phishing Malware, Viruses the Most (darkreading.com)
This Linux botnet has found a novel way of spreading to new devices | ZDNet
New 'Quantum' Builder Lets Attackers Easily Create Malicious Windows Shortcuts (thehackernews.com)
NSA warns against silly mistake in the fight against Windows malware | TechRadar
Mobile
This Android malware is so dangerous, even Google is worried | TechRadar
Google is notifying Android users targeted by Hermit government-grade spyware | TechCrunch
This phone-wiping Android banking trojan is getting nastier | ZDNet
BRATA Android Malware Group Now Classified As Advanced Persistent Threat - Infosecurity Magazine
Spurred by Roe overturn, senators seek FTC probe of iOS and Android tracking | Ars Technica
Internet of Things – IoT
Data Breaches/Leaks
US Bank Data Breach Impacts Over 1.5 Million Customers - Infosecurity Magazine
CafePress fined $500,000 for breach affecting 23 million users (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Hackers steal $100 million from California cryptocurrency firm - CNN
DARPA study finds blockchain not as decentralised as assumed • The Register
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Cloud/SaaS
Microsoft 365 Users in US Face Raging Spate of Attacks (darkreading.com)
Getting a Better Handle on Identity Management in the Cloud (darkreading.com)
Researchers Uncover Ways to Break the Encryption of 'MEGA' Cloud Storage Service (thehackernews.com)
Identity and Access Management
Risky behaviour reduced when executives put focus on identity security - Help Net Security
Access management issues may create security holes (techtarget.com)
IAM Research: Inadequate Programs Leave Organisations Open to Cyber Attacks - MSSP Alert
Why 84% Of US Firms Hit With Identity-Related Breaches In 2021 – Information Security Buzz
Open Source
Open-source software risks persist, according to new reports | CSO Online
Less Than Half of Organisations Have Open Source Security Policy - Infosecurity Magazine
Blind trust in open source security is hurting us: Report | ZDNet
Training, Education and Awareness
Privacy
Privacy-focused Brave Search grew by 5,000% in a year (bleepingcomputer.com)
Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade reversal sparks calls for strengthening privacy - CyberScoop
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Do Privacy and Data Protection Regulations Create as Many Problems as They Solve? | SecurityWeek.Com
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Phishing gang behind millions in losses dismantled by police (bleepingcomputer.com)
Euro Police Target Crime Groups Grooming Ukrainian Refugees Online - Infosecurity Magazine
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Microsoft: Russian Cyber Spying Targets 42 Ukraine Allies | SecurityWeek.Com
Italian spyware firm is hacking into iOS and Android devices, Google says | Computerworld
NSO claims 'more than 5' EU states used its Pegasus spyware • The Register
#InfosecurityEurope2022: Geopolitical Tensions a “Danger” to Cyber security - Infosecurity Magazine
Examples of Cyber Warfare #TrendTalksBizSec (trendmicro.com)
Ukraine deploys a DDoS protection service to survive the cyberwar | VentureBeat
Lithuania warns of rise in DDoS attacks against government sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russia's APT28 Launches Nuke-Themed Follina Exploit Campaign (darkreading.com)
Ukrainian cyber security officials disclose two new hacking campaigns - IT Security Guru
Scalper bots out of control in Israel, selling state appointments (bleepingcomputer.com)
Research questions potentially dangerous implications of Ukraine's IT Army - CyberScoop
Lithuania under cyber-attack after ban on Russian railway goodsSecurity Affairs
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Russia Steps Up Cyber-Espionage Against Ukraine Allies - Infosecurity Magazine
Fancy Bear Uses Nuke Threat Lure to Exploit 1-Click Bug | Threatpost
Russian APT28 hacker accused of the NATO think tank hack in Germany - Security Affairs
Russia fines Google for spreading ‘unreliable’ info defaming its army (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nation State Actors – China
Chinese APT 'Bronze Starlight' Uses Ransomware to Disguise Cyberespionage | SecurityWeek.Com
Chinese Tropic Trooper APT spreads a hacking tool laced with a backdoor - Security Affairs
Chinese hackers target script kiddies with info-stealer trojan (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nation State Actors – Iran
Nation State Actors – Misc APT
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerabilities
Cisco warns of security holes in its security appliances • The Register
Google Patches 14 Vulnerabilities With Release of Chrome 103 | SecurityWeek.Com
Cisco will not address critical RCE in end-of-life Small Business RV routers - Security Affairs
Google expert detailed a 5-Year-Old flaw in Apple Safari exploited in the wild - Security Affairs
Oracle spent 6 months to fix 'Mega' flaws in the Fusion Middleware - Security Affairs
Researchers criticize Oracle's vulnerability disclosure process (techtarget.com)
Critical PHP Vulnerability Exposes QNAP NAS Devices to Remote Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Sector Specific
Financial Services Sector
Flagstar Bank discloses data breach impacting 1.5 million customers (bleepingcomputer.com)
7 Cyber security Best Practices for Financial Services Firms - MSSP Alert
Why Financial Institutions Must Double Down on Open Source Investments (darkreading.com)
SMBs – Small and Medium Businesses
How tool sprawl is becoming a common issue for SMEs - Help Net Security
Middle market companies under attack: Threats coming from all directions - Help Net Security
#InfosecurityEurope2022: How Should SMEs Defend Against Cyber-Risks? - Infosecurity Magazine
Legal
Health/Medical/Pharma Sector
Retail/eCommerce
Magecart attacks are still around. And they are becoming more stealthy | ZDNet
Newly Discovered Magecart Infrastructure Reveals the Scale of Ongoing Campaign- IT Security Guru
Manufacturing
CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
Threat Intelligence Services Are Universally Valued by IT Staff (darkreading.com)
Security pros increasingly plan to adopt MDR services in the next 12 months - Help Net Security
Board members and the C-suite need secure communication tools - Help Net Security
Adobe Acrobat may block antivirus tools from monitoring PDF files (bleepingcomputer.com)
7 Ways to Avoid Worst-Case Cyber Scenarios (darkreading.com)
3 threats dirty data poses to the enterprise (techtarget.com)
Data recovery depends on how good your backup strategy is - Help Net Security
Unsecured APIs Could Be Costing Firms $75bn Per Year - Infosecurity Magazine
The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of the Presumption of Compromise (darkreading.com)
#InfosecurityEurope2022: Are You Prepared For The Next Big Crisis? - Infosecurity Magazine
Ongoing PowerShell security threats prompt a call to action (techtarget.com)
Despite known security issues, VPN usage continues to thrive - Help Net Security
Space-based assets aren’t immune to cyber attacks | CSO Online
Cyber security expert on how $13K of fuel was stolen from station (wtvr.com)
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