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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 10 May 2024

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 10 May 2024:

-China Suspected of Hacking MoD, Through Its Payroll Provider

-Security Tools Fail to Translate Risks for Executives

-Gang Accused of MGM Hack Shifts Attacks to Finance Sector

-Are SMEs Paving the Way for Cyber Attacks on Larger Companies?

-Misconfigurations Drive 80% of Security Exposure, Report Finds

-Only 45% of Organisations Employ MFA Protections

-You Cannot Protect What You Do Not Know You Have, as Criminals are Exploiting Vulnerabilities Faster Than Ever

-The Rise and Stealth of The Socially Engineered Insider

-Over 70% of Staff Use AI At Work, But Only 30% of European Organisations Provide AI Training

-Don't Be the Weakest Link – You and Your Team's Crucial Role in Cyber Security

-Ransomware Activity Thrives, Despite Law enforcement Efforts

-NATO Warns of Russian Hybrid Warfare

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

China Suspected of Hacking UK Ministry of Defence, Through Its Payroll Provider

UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has confirmed that over 270,000 personal details have been leaked after the MoD was hacked through its third-party payroll provider, SSCL. The affected systems have been pulled offline since the attack. SSCL’s website describes that it manages HR for the armed forces, the Metropolitan Police and other areas of British government. The commercial supply chain, and in particular HR and payroll providers, is increasing being used as the soft underbelly to attack larger and better protected organisations.

Sources: [LBC] [The Register] [Sky News]

Security Tools Fail to Translate Risks for Executives

Organisations are struggling with internal communication barriers, hindering their ability to address and mitigate cyber security threats, according to a report which found that seven out of 10 C-suite executives said their security teams talk in technical terms without providing business context. However, in contrast, 75% of CISO’s highlight the issue is rooted in security tools that cannot generate the insights C-level executives and boards can use to understand business implications. The role of a good CISO should be to take the output of these tools and turn that data into metrics the Boards can understand.

The issues highlight the necessity for organisations to have someone in their organisation, whether an employee or a third-party, who is able to ingest technical results and translate them into a style that the C-suite can understand for business risk management.

Source: [Help Net Security]

Gang Accused of MGM Hack Shifts Attacks to Finance Sector

The hacking group responsible for the infamous hack on MGM and Caesar’s Palace resorts is engaged in a new campaign targeting the financial sector. The group known as Scattered Spider has targeted 29 companies since 20 April this year, compromising at least 2 insurance companies so far. The research has stated that the attackers are purchasing lookalike domains that match the name of target companies, hosting fake log-in pages. Links to these are sent to employees, in an attempt to direct them there. The most recent attack took place just days ago, with more expected.

Sources: [Bloomberg Law] [Claims Journal]

Are SMEs Paving the Way for Cyber Attacks on Larger Companies?

A recent study highlights the escalating cyber threats facing businesses, particularly SMEs and supply chains. The study found that 32% of UK businesses, including 69% of large and 59% of mid-sized organisations, suffered a cyber attack last year. The situation is worse for SMEs, with weaker security systems and 77% lacking in-house cyber security. SMEs can become entry points for hackers targeting larger partners through interconnected supply chains. Meanwhile, Verizon’s latest data breaches report revealed a 68% increase in supply chain breaches, accounting for 15% of all breaches in 2023, up from 9% in 2022. These breaches are primarily driven by third-party software vulnerabilities exploited in ransomware and extortion attacks. Experts emphasise proactive cyber policies, vulnerability scans, and employee education for SMEs to bolster defences. They also urge organisations to consider third-party bugs as both vulnerability and vendor management problems, make better vendor choices, and use external signals like SEC disclosures in the United States to guide decisions. These measures can help prevent SMEs from becoming gateways for larger attacks and manage the rising threat of supply chain breaches.

Sources: [Insurance Times] [Dark Reading]

Misconfigurations Drive 80% of Security Exposure, Report Finds

A recent report has found that 80% of security exposures are caused by identity and credential misconfigurations, with a third of these putting critical assets at risk of a breach. According to the report, the majority of this is within an organisation’s network user management (Active Directory) and 56% of breaches that impact critical assets are within cloud platforms. There is often the misconception that cloud-based environments are secure by default, but misconfigurations can undo any security benefits and still leave you exposed. Just because someone else built and maintains your house, it is still your responsibility to lock the doors and windows.

Sources: [Security Magazine]

Only 45% of Organisations Employ MFA Protections

A recent report of IT decision-makers has found that 97% are facing challenges with identity verification and 52% are very concerned about credential compromise, followed by account takeover (50%). When it comes to reinforcing identity verification, only 45% used multi-factor authentication (MFA). By using MFA, organisations are forcing two identification verifications: simply knowing a username and password is not enough, especially given the speeds with which attackers can crack passwords, with average 8 character passwords able to be cracked in less than a minute. Whilst no control is 100% impenetrable, enabling MFA will aid in increasing your organisation's cyber resilience.

Source: [Help Net Security]

You Cannot Protect What You Do Not Know You Have, as Criminals are Exploiting Vulnerabilities Faster Than Ever

For many organisations, visibility of their information assets can be incredibly hard to obtain and maintain, with different tools, under-reporting and shadow IT contributing to the problem. Unfortunately, cyber criminals are getting faster at exploiting vulnerabilities, and if you do not know you have the vulnerability in your estate then you cannot patch against it. In their recent report, Fortinet found that attacks started on average 4.76 days after new exploits were publicly disclosed.

Interestingly though, while zero-day threats garner much attention (these are ‘new’ vulnerabilities that are being exploited by attackers but for which there are no security patches yet available), one third of all exploits are for older vulnerabilities. This highlights the need for a comprehensive and robust approach to network security and vulnerability management, beyond simply patching what Microsoft puts out once a month. To have effective patch management, organisations must know what they need to patch and therefore must have visibility of the corporate environment. A good starting block is the creation of a robust information asset register.

Sources: [Security Brief] [Help Net Security] [IT Security Guru]

The Rise and Stealth of The Socially Engineered Insider

Social engineering has become increasingly prevalent as the preferred tactic for foreign adversaries. Insiders are prime targets due to their privileged access to sensitive data. This is particularly affecting the technology, pharma, and critical infrastructure sectors. Advances in AI and social platforms have made it easier to exploit these vulnerabilities. These advances allow threat actors to tailor attacks with unprecedented speed and realism. Using methods like coercion or deception, these actors exploit employees to gain high-value data that can be weaponised. As a result, the threat landscape has become more complex, blurring the lines between internal and external risks. To bolster their defences, organisations are now investing in insider risk management and AI. They are also emphasising employee education and cross-sector collaboration.

Source: [Forbes]

Over 70% of Staff Use AI At Work, But Only 30% of European Organisations Provide AI Training

An ISACA study and the AI Security & Governance Report reveal a complex landscape of AI adoption and security. 73% of European organisations and 54% of global organisations use AI, with 79% increasing their AI budgets, however training and policy development lag behind. Only 30% offer limited training, 40% provide none, and a mere 17% have a comprehensive AI policy. Despite AI’s potential, 80% of data experts find it complicates security, with concerns high around generative AI exploitation (61% of respondents) and AI-powered attacks (over 50% of business leaders). Data poisoning and privacy issues persist, yet 85% of leaders express confidence in their data security strategies, with 83% revising privacy and governance guidelines. With 86% recognising a need for AI training within two years, the call for dynamic governance strategies and formal education is clear to manage evolving threats.

Sources: [Help Net Security] [IT Security Guru]

Don't Be the Weakest Link – You and Your Team's Crucial Role in Cyber Security

Cyber security success depends on more than just technology. Bad actors are always looking for the easiest entry point, meaning that employees’ everyday actions are crucial, when even one careless click or a weak password can be an open door for hackers. However, empowered with the right knowledge and tools, staff can become a robust defence. Nearly 80% of organisations have reported an increase in phishing attacks, but training programs like role-playing exercises and phishing simulations significantly reduce these risks. Effective cyber security also hinges on C-suite leaders promoting a security-first culture, ensuring all employees understand the risks and follow strict protocols like MFA and strong password policies. Consistent training and open communication are vital in fostering a resilient, security-aware workforce.

Source: [JDSupra]

Ransomware Activity Thrives, Despite Law enforcement Efforts

Despite the recent law enforcement takedowns on ransomware groups, ransomware remains rife. Whilst the takedown of a group can come as an initial relief in that the group has gone, it simply forces ransomware affiliates to diversify. This is reflected in ransomware continuing its growth in the first quarter of 2024, with 18 new leak sites, the largest number in a single quarter, emerging over this period. When comes to those at risk, both financial services and healthcare remain a prominent target.

Sources: [Help Net Security ] [Infosecurity Magazine] [Help Net Security]

NATO Warns of Russian Hybrid Warfare

NATO has issued a statement in which it describes it is “deeply concerned about Russia's hybrid actions and the threat that they constitute to NATO security”.  The actions are described to include sabotage, acts of violence, cyber and electronic interference, and disinformation campaigns. This comes as many countries including the UK and US are due to have elections this year.

Sources: [EU Reporter] [Financial Times]

Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Ransomware Victims

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Other Social Engineering

Artificial Intelligence

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Cloud/SaaS

Encryption

Linux and Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Training, Education and Awareness

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Data Protection

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare, Cyber Espionage and Geopolitical Threats/Activity

Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage

Nation State Actors

China

Russia

Iran

North Korea

Other Nation State Actors, Hacktivism, Extremism, Terrorism and Other Geopolitical Threat Intelligence

Tools and Controls

Reports Published in the Last Week

Sector Specific

Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.

Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.

·         Automotive

·         Construction

·         Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

·         Defence & Space

·         Education & Academia

·         Energy & Utilities

·         Estate Agencies

·         Financial Services

·         FinTech

·         Food & Agriculture

·         Gaming & Gambling

·         Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)

·         Health/Medical/Pharma

·         Hotels & Hospitality

·         Insurance

·         Legal

·         Manufacturing

·         Maritime

·         Oil, Gas & Mining

·         OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems

·         Retail & eCommerce

·         Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)

·         Startups

·         Telecoms

·         Third Sector & Charities

·         Transport & Aviation

·         Web3

As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.

Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.

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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 17 March 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 17 March 2023:

-Almost Half of IT Leaders Consider Security as an Afterthought

-Over $10bn Lost To Online Frauds, with Pig Butchering and Investment Scams Accounting for $3B, Overtaking BEC – FBI Report Says

-Over 721 Million Passwords Were Leaked in 2022

-How Much of a Cyber Security Risk are Suppliers?

-90% of £5m+ Businesses Hit by Cyber Attacks

-Rushed Cloud Migrations Result in Escalating Technical Debt

-17 European Nations Targeted by Russia in 2023 as Espionage Ramping Up

-Microsoft Warns of Large-Scale Use of Phishing Kits

-BEC Volumes Double on Phishing Surge

-The Risk of Pasting Confidential Company Data in ChatGPT

-Ransomware Attacks have Entered a New Phase

-MI5 Launches New Agency to Tackle State-Backed Attacks

-Why Cyber Awareness Training is an Ongoing Process

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

  • Almost Half of IT Leaders Consider Security as an Afterthought

A recent industry report found that security is an afterthought for almost half of UK IT leaders, despite 92% of respondents agreeing that security risks had risen in the last five years. Additionally, 48% of respondents felt that the rapid development of new tools had caused challenges around security. The concept of security as an afterthought is worrying when considering that 39% of UK businesses identified a cyber attack within the past 12 months.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2023/03/14/almost-half-of-it-leaders-consider-security-as-an-afterthought-research-reveals

  • Over $10bn Lost to Online Frauds, with Pig Butchering and Investment Scams Accounting for $3B, Overtaking BEC – FBI Report Says

According to the latest FBI crime report pig butchering now accounts for $3 billion of the $10 billion total lost to online fraud. Pig butchering is a rising investment scam that uses the promise of romance and the lure of making easy cryptocurrency profit against its unsuspecting targets. The concept of pig butchering is to “fatten up” the victim, with small returns on cryptocurrency and personal interactions, often with an element of romance; eventually, the victim is lured into making a larger investment with the scammer. In addition to pig butchering, other investment scams are growing in provenance and are set to overtake Business Email Compromise (BEC) as a major earner for cyber criminals.

https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/pig-butchering-investment-scams-3b-cybercrime-threat-overtaking-bec

  • Over 721 Million Passwords were Leaked in 2022

A report published this week discovered 721.5 million exposed credentials online in 2022. Additionally, the report identified 72% of users reusing previously compromised passwords. The study also uncovered 8.6 billion personally identifiable information assets, including 67 million credit card numbers which were publicly available.

https://www.neowin.net/news/study-over-721-million-passwords-were-leaked-in-2022/

  • How Much of a Cyber Security Risk are Suppliers?

When your business is digitally connected to a service provider, you need to understand how a cyber security attack on their business can affect yours. You can have all the right measures in place to manage your own cyber risks, but this doesn’t matter if there are undiscovered vulnerabilities in your supply chain. Organisations need to audit the cyber security of suppliers at several stages of their relationship; you may benefit from specialist cyber security support if you can’t do this in-house. Ask hard questions and consider advising your suppliers that if their cyber security is not enough then you may take your business elsewhere. Many businesses now require suppliers to be certified to schemes such as ISO 27001; demonstrating your security posture to your customers is an important ticket to trade.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-much-of-a-cybersecurity-risk-are-my-suppliers-mqbwcf7p2

  • 90% of £5m+ Businesses Hit by Cyber Attacks

A study from Forbes found that 57% of small and medium-sized enterprises had suffered an online attack. Businesses with an annual turnover in excess of £5 million were even more likely to experience a cyber crime with the figure rising to nearly 90% of firms of this size suffering a cyber attack. To make matters worse, the study found that a significant proportion of British businesses are without any form of protection against online attacks.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2023/03/13/nine-in-10-5m-businesses-hit-by-cyber-attacks/

  • Rushed Cloud Migrations Result in Escalating Technical Debt

A cloud service provider found 83% of CIO’s are feeling pressured to stretch their budgets even further than before. 72% of CIOs admitted that they are behind in their digital transformation because of technical debt and 38% believed the accumulation of this debt is largely because of rushed cloud migrations. Respondents believed these rushed migrations caused for miscalculations in the cloud budget, which resulted in significant overspend.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/03/16/managing-cloud-costs/

  • Microsoft: 17 European Nations Targeted by Russia in 2023 as Espionage Ramping Up

According to an intelligence report from Microsoft, Russia has been ramping up its cyber espionage operations and this now includes 17 European nations. Of all 74 countries targeted, the UK ranked third, after the US and Poland.

https://www.securityweek.com/microsoft-17-european-nations-targeted-by-russia-in-2023-as-espionage-ramping-up/

  • Microsoft Warns of Large-Scale Use of Phishing Kits

Microsoft have found that phishing kits are being purchased and used to perform millions of phishing emails every day. In their report, Microsoft found the availability of purchasing such phishing kits was part of the industrialisation of the cyber criminal economy and lowered the barrier of entry for cyber crime. Microsoft identified phishing kits which had the capability to bypass multi factor authentication selling for as little as $300. The emergence of AI is only going to compound this.

https://thehackernews.com/2023/03/microsoft-warns-of-large-scale-use-of.html

  • BEC Volumes Double on Phishing Surge

The number of Business Email Compromise (BEC) incidents doubled last year according to security provider Secureworks. In their report, they found that the main initial access vectors for BEC were phishing and systems with known vulnerabilities, with each accounting for a third of initial accesses.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/bec-volumes-double-on-phishing/

  • The Risk of Pasting Confidential Company Data in ChatGPT

Researchers analysed the use of artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT and found that 4.9% of employees have provided company data to the tool; ChatGPT builds its knowledge on this and in turn, this knowledge is shared publicly. The risk is serious, with employees putting their organisation at risk of leaking sensitive and confidential information. The research found that 0.9% of employees are responsible for 80% of leaks caused by pasting company data into ChatGPT and this number is expected to rise.

https://securityaffairs.com/143394/security/company-data-chatgpt-risks.html

  • Ransomware Attacks have Entered a Heinous New Phase

With an increasing amount of victims refusing to pay, cyber criminal gangs are now resorting to new techniques; this includes the recent release of stolen naked photos of cancer patients and sensitive student records. Where encryption and a demand for payment were previously the de facto method for cyber criminals, this has now shifted to pure exfiltration. In a report, the FBI highlighted evolving and increasingly aggressive extortion behaviour, with actors increasingly threatening to release stolen data.

https://www.wired.com/story/ransomware-tactics-cancer-photos-student-records/

  • MI5 Launches New Agency to Tackle State-Backed Attacks

British intelligence agency MI5 have announced the creation of the National Protective Security Authority (NPSA), created as part of a major review of government defences. The NPSA is to operate out of MI5 and absorb and extend the responsibilities for the protection of national infrastructure. The NPSA will work with existing agencies such as the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Counter Terrorism Security Office (CTSO) to provide defensive advice to UK organisations.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/mi5-new-agency-tackle-statebacked/

  • Why Cyber Awareness Training is an Ongoing Process

A survey conducted by Hornetsecurity found that 80% of respondents believed remote working introduced extra cyber security risks and 75% were aware that personal devices are used to access sensitive data, fuelling the need for employees to be cyber aware. Where IT security training is only undertaken once, for example in block training, it is likely that participants will have forgotten a lot of the content after as little as a week; this means that for organisations to get the most out of training, they need to conduct frequent awareness training. By conducting frequent training there is more chance of trainees retaining the training content and allowing the organisation to shape a culture of cyber security.

https://www.hornetsecurity.com/en/security-information/why-cyber-awareness-training-is-an-ongoing-process/

Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

BEC – Business Email Compromise

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

Botnets

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Impersonation Attacks

Deepfakes

AML/CFT/Sanctions

Dark Web

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Software Supply Chain

Cloud/SaaS

Hybrid/Remote Working

Attack Surface Management

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Malvertising

Training, Education and Awareness

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Governance, Risk and Compliance

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Data Protection

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

Artificial Intelligence

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda

Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Nation State Actors

Vulnerabilities

Sector Specific

Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.

Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.

·       Automotive

·       Construction

·       Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

·       Defence & Space

·       Education & Academia

·       Energy & Utilities

·       Estate Agencies

·       Financial Services

·       FinTech

·       Food & Agriculture

·       Gaming & Gambling

·       Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)

·       Health/Medical/Pharma

·       Hotels & Hospitality

·       Insurance

·       Legal

·       Manufacturing

·       Maritime

·       Oil, Gas & Mining

·       OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems

·       Retail & eCommerce

·       Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)

·       Startups

·       Telecoms

·       Third Sector & Charities

·       Transport & Aviation

·       Web3

As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.

Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 27 May 2022

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 27 May 2022

-How Confident Are Companies in Managing Their Current Threat Exposure?

-'There's No Ceiling': Ransomware's Alarming Growth Signals a New Era, Verizon DBIR Finds

-Paying Ransom Doesn’t Guarantee Data Recovery

-Report: Frequency of Cyber Attacks in 2022 Has Increased by Almost 3M

-New Zoom Flaws Could Let Attackers Hack Victims Just by Sending them a Message

-VMware, Airline Targeted as Ransomware Chaos Reigns

-Crypto Hacks Aren't a Niche Concern; They Impact Wider Society

-State of Cyber Security Report 2022 Names Ransomware and Nation-State Attacks as Biggest Threats

-Vishing (Voice Phishing) Cases Reach All Time High

-DeFi (Decentralised Finance) Is Getting Pummelled by Cyber Criminals

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

  • How Confident Are Companies In Managing Their Current Threat Exposure?

Crossword Cybersecurity has released a report based on the findings of a survey of over 200 CISOs and senior UK cyber security professionals. The paper reveals companies are more concerned and exposed to cyber threats than ever before, with 61 percent describing themselves as at best only “fairly confident” at managing their current cyber security threat exposure, which should raise some eyebrows around the boardroom.

Respondents also feared their cyber strategy would not keep pace with the rate of tech innovation and changes in the threat landscape. 40 percent of organisations believe their existing cyber strategy will be outdated in two years, and a further 37 percent within three years. Additional investment is needed to address longer term planning, with 44 percent saying they only have sufficient resources in their organisation to focus on the immediate and mid-term cyber threats and tech trends.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/26/organizations-cyber-strategy/

  • 'There's No Ceiling': Ransomware's Alarming Growth Signals A New Era, Verizon DBIR Finds

Ransomware has become so efficient, and the underground economy so professional, that traditional monetisation of stolen data may be on its way out.

The past year has seen a staggering acceleration in ransomware incidents, with 25% of all breaches containing a ransomware component.

That's the top-line finding in the 2022 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), which found that ransomware events in conjunction with breaches ballooned 13% in the past year — last year's report found that just 12% of incidents were ransomware-related. That translates into a rate of increase that's more than the previous five years of growth combined.

The 15th annual DBIR analysed 23,896 security incidents, of which 5,212 were confirmed breaches. About four in five of those were the handiwork of external cyber criminal gangs and threat groups, according to Verizon. And according to Alex Pinto, manager of the Verizon Security Research team, these nefarious types are finding it easier and easier to earn an ill-gotten living with ransomware, making other types of breaches increasingly obsolete.

"Everything in cyber crime has become so commoditised, so much like a business now, and it's just too darn efficient of a methodology for monetising their activity," he tells Dark Reading, noting that with the emergence of ransomware as-a-service (RaaS) and initial-access brokers, it takes very little skill or effort to get into the extortion game.

"Before, you had to get in somehow, look around, and find something worth stealing that would have a reseller on the other end," he explains. "In 2008 when we started the DBIR, it was by and large payment-card data that was stolen. Now, that has fallen precipitously because they can just pay for access someone else established and install rented ransomware, and it's so much simpler to reach the same goal of getting money."

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/ransomware-alarming-growth-verizon-dbir

  • Paying Ransom Doesn’t Guarantee Data Recovery

A Veeam report has found that 72% of organisations had partial or complete attacks on their backup repositories, dramatically impacting the ability to recover data without paying the ransom.

Additionally, 76% of organisations admitted to paying the ransom. But while 52% paid the ransom and were able to recover data, 24% paid the ransom but were still not able to recover data.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/24/paying-ransom-recover-data-video/

  • Report: Frequency Of Cyber Attacks in 2022 Has Increased By Almost 3M

Kaspersky has released a new report revealing a growing number of cyber attacks on small businesses in 2022 so far. Researchers compared the period between January and April 2022 to the same period in 2021, finding increases in the numbers of Trojan-PSW detections, internet attacks and attacks on Remote Desktop Protocol.

In 2022, the number of Trojan-PSW (Password Stealing Ware) detections increased globally by almost a quarter compared to the same period in 2021 一 4,003,323 to 3,029,903. Trojan-PSW is a malware that steals passwords, along with other account information, which then allows attackers to gain access to the company network and steal sensitive information.

Internet attacks grew from 32,500,000 globally in the analysed period of 2021 to almost 35,400,000 in 2022. These can include web pages with redirects to exploits, sites containing exploits and other malicious programs, botnet command & control centres and more.

The number of attacks on Remote Desktop Protocol grew in the U.S. (while dropping slightly globally), going from 47.5 million attacks in the first trimester of 2021 to 51 million in the same period of 2022. With the widespread shift toward remote work, many companies have introduced Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), a technology that enables computers on the same corporate network to be linked together and accessed remotely, even when the employees are at home.

With small business owners typically handling numerous responsibilities at the same time, cyber security is often an afterthought. However, this disregard for IT security is being exploited by cyber criminals. The Kaspersky study sought to assess the threats that pose an increasing danger to entrepreneurs.

https://venturebeat.com/2022/05/20/report-frequency-of-cyberattacks-in-2022-has-increased-by-almost-3m/

  • New Zoom Flaws Could Let Attackers Hack Victims Just By Sending Them A Message

Popular video conferencing service Zoom has resolved as many as four security vulnerabilities, which could be exploited to compromise another user over chat by sending specially crafted Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) messages and execute malicious code.

With Zoom's chat functionality built on top of the XMPP standard, successful exploitation of the issues could enable an attacker to force a vulnerable client to masquerade a Zoom user, connect to a malicious server, and even download a rogue update, resulting in arbitrary code execution stemming from a downgrade attack.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/05/new-zoom-flaws-could-let-attackers-hack.html

  • VMware, Airline Targeted As Ransomware Chaos Reigns

Global ransomware incidents target everything from enterprise servers to grounding an airline, with one India-based group even taking a Robin Hood approach to extortion with the "GoodWill" strain.

Ransomware incidents are on the rise and this week proved no exception, with the discovery of a Linux-based ransomware family called Cheerscrypt targeting VMware ESXi servers and an attack on SpiceJet, India’s second largest airline.

Meanwhile, an oddball "GoodWill" variant purports to help the needy.

The Cheerscrypt ransomware variant was uncovered by Trend Micro and relies on the double-extortion scheme to coerce victims to pay the ransom – i.e., stealing data as well and threatening to leak it if victims don’t pay up.

Because of the popularity of ESXi servers for creating and running multiple virtual machines (VMs) in enterprise settings, the Cheerscrypt ransomware could be appealing to malicious actors looking to rapidly distribute ransomware across many devices.

Meanwhile, low-cost carrier SpiceJet faced a ransomware attack this week, causing flight delays of between two and five hours as well as rendering unavailable online booking systems and customer service portals.

While the company’s IT team announced on Twitter that it had successfully prevented the attempted attack before it was able to fully breach all internal systems and take them over, customers and employees are still experiencing the ramifications.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/vmware-airline-targeted-as-ransomware-chaos-reigns

  • Crypto Hacks Aren't A Niche Concern; They Impact Wider Society

Million-dollar crypto heists are becoming more common as the currency starts to go mainstream; prevention and enforcement haven't kept pace.

The attack against the Ronin Network in March was quickly speculated to be one of the largest cryptocurrency hacks of all time. Approximately $540 million was stolen from the cryptocurrency and NFT games company in a combination of USDC and Etherium, with $400 million of the stolen funds owned by customers playing the game Axie Infinity.

This attack was the latest in a string of thefts perpetrated against crypto and should be a jolt to both the digital asset and cyber security communities to bring the security of cryptocurrencies into line.

The current vogue of large-scale crypto heists goes as far back as the 2014 Mt. Gox hack (another cryptocurrency exchange built around a game, Magic: The Gathering), which went into bankruptcy after losing $460 million of assets.

However, the trend has been gathering pace. In the months leading up to the Ronin Network attack, cyber criminals stole nearly $200 million worth of cryptocurrency from the crypto trading platform BitMart, attacked 400 Crypto.com users, and orchestrated NFT-related scams, to name but a few incidents.

There is often an uncomfortable tendency to see these attacks as something that takes place in isolation in a remote part of the Internet when they actually have a huge impact on thousands of people.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/crypto-hacks-aren-t-a-niche-concern-they-impact-wider-society

  • State Of Cyber Security Report 2022 Names Ransomware And Nation-State Attacks As Biggest Threats

Ransomware is the biggest concern for cyber security professionals, according to results of the Infosecurity Group’s 2022 State of Cybersecurity Report, produced by Infosecurity Europe and Infosecurity Magazine.

Cyber Security Professionals' Number One Concern: Ransomware.

This attack vector was voted as the biggest cyber security trend (28%) by the survey respondents (including CISOs, CTOs, CIOs and academics), marking a significant change from the previous report in 2020, where ransomware did not break the top three. This follows surging ransomware incidents in 2021, with ransom demands and payments growing significantly last year. A number of these attacks have also impacted critical industries, for example, taking down the US’ largest fuel pipeline.

The survey respondents also highlighted the evolving tactics and capabilities of ransomware attackers. This includes threat actors becoming more sophisticated as they evolve into loosely coupled service-based operations.

A number of cyber security professionals believe that cyber-criminal groups will become more guarded in their approach due to new initiatives by governments and law enforcement to tackle these activities.

Cyber Security Professionals' Number Two Concern: Nation-State Attacks.

The second biggest concern for survey respondents was geopolitics/nation-state attacks (24%), particularly the shifting hostilities from the Russia-Ukraine conflict into cyberspace. Russia already had a reputation for conducting offensive cyber operations prior to the conflict, and the Ukrainian government and critical services have experienced numerous attacks both before and since the war began.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/2022-state-industry-report/

  • Vishing (Voice Phishing) Cases Reach All Time High

Vishing (voice phishing) cases have increased almost 550 percent over the last twelve months (Q1 2021 to Q1 2022), according to the latest Quarterly Threat Trends & Intelligence Report from Agari and PhishLabs.

In Q1 2022, Agari and PhishLabs detected and mitigated hundreds of thousands of phishing, social media, email, and dark web threats targeting a broad range of enterprises and brands. The report provides an analysis of the latest findings and insights into key trends shaping the threat landscape.

According to the findings, vishing attacks have overtaken business email compromise (BEC) as the second most reported response-based email threat since Q3 2021. By the end of the year, more than one in four of every reported response-based threat was a vishing attack, and this makeup continued through Q1 2022.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/24/vishing-cases-increased/

  • DeFi (Decentralised Finance) Is Getting Pummelled By Cyber Criminals

Decentralised finance lost $1.8 billion to cyber attacks last year — and 80% of those events were the result of vulnerable code, analysts say.

Decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms — which connect various cryptocurrency blockchains to create a decentralised infrastructure for borrowing, trading, and other transactions — promise to replace banks as a secure and convenient way to invest in and spend cryptocurrency. But in addition to attracting hordes of new users with dreams of digital fortune, cyber criminals have discovered them to be an easy target, wiping out wallets to zero balances in a moment, tanking whole markets while profiting, and more, according to a new report.

Analysts with Bishop Fox found that DeFi platforms lost $1.8 billion to cyber attacks in 2021 alone. With a total of 65 events observed, 90% of the losses came from unsophisticated attacks, according to the report, which points to the lax cyber security practices of the sector.

DeFi averaged five attacks per week last year, with most of them (51%) coming from the exploitation of "smart contracts" bugs, the analysts found. Smart contracts are essentially records of transactions, stored on the blockchain.

Other top DeFi attack vectors include cryptowallets, protocol design flaws, and so-called "rug-pull" scams (where investors are lured to a new cryptocurrency project that is then abandoned, leaving targets with a worthless currency). But taken together, 80% of all events were caused by the use (and re-use) of buggy code, according to the report.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/defi-pummeled-by-cybercriminals

Threats

Ransomware

BEC – Business Email Compromise

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Other Social Engineering

Malware

Mobile

BYOD

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Dark Web

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

Cloud/SaaS

Attack Surface Management

Open Source

Privacy

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine

As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.

Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.

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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 24 December 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 24 December 2021

-Cyber Criminals Shifting Focus: IT Sector Most Targeted In 2021

-Log4j Flaw: Attackers Are 'Actively Scanning Networks' Warns New Guidance, Joint Advisory from Cyber Agencies in US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom

-New Ransomware Variants Flourish Amid Law Enforcement Actions

-93% of Tested Networks Vulnerable to Breach, Pen Testers Find

-Dridex Malware Trolls Employees With Fake Job Termination Emails

-More Than 35,000 Java Packages Impacted By Log4j Flaw, Google Warns

-Conti Ransomware Gang Has Full Log4Shell Attack Chain

-Second Ransomware Family Exploiting Log4j Spotted In US, Europe

-Threat actors steal $80 million per month with fake giveaways, surveys

-Microsoft Teams might have a few serious security issues

-The Future of Work Has Changed, and Your Security Mindset Needs to Follow

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

Cyber Criminals Shifting Focus: IT Sector Most Targeted In 2021

Darktrace reported that the IT and communications sector was globally the most targeted industry by cybercriminals in 2021.

Darktrace’s data is developed by ‘early indicator analysis’ that looks at the breadcrumbs of potential cyber-attacks at several stages before they are attributed to any particular actor and before they escalate into a full-blown crisis. Findings show that its artificial intelligence autonomously interrupted an average of 150,000 threats per week against the sector in 2021.

The IT and communications sector includes telecommunications providers, software developers, and managed security service providers, amongst others. There was also a growing trend of hackers targeting backup servers in an attempt to deliberately disable or corrupt backup files by deleting a single index file that would render all backups inaccessible. Attackers could then launch ransomware attacks against the clients of the backup vendor, preventing recovery and forcing payment.

In 2020, the most attacked industry was the financial and insurance sector, showing that cyber-criminals have shifted their focus over the last 12 months.

Over the last 12 months, it is clear that attackers are relentlessly trying to access the networks of trusted suppliers in the IT and communications sector. Quite simply, it is a better return on investment than, for example, going after one company in the financial services sector. SolarWinds and Kaseya are just two well-known and recent examples of this. Sadly, there is likely to be more in the near term.

The findings of this research mark one year since the compromise of US software company SolarWinds rattled the security industry. This landmark supply-chain attack made thousands of organisations vulnerable to infiltration by inserting malicious code into the Orion system. Over the last 12 months, there has been a continued spate of attacks against the IT and communications sector, including the high-profile attacks on Kaseya and Gitlab.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/12/22/cybercriminals-it-sector/

New Ransomware Variants Flourish Amid Law Enforcement Actions

Ransomware groups continue to evolve their tactics and techniques to deploy file-encrypting malware on compromised systems, notwithstanding law enforcement's disruptive actions against the cyber crime gangs to prevent them from victimizing additional companies.

"Be it due to law enforcement, infighting amongst groups or people abandoning variants altogether, the RaaS [ransomware-as-a-service] groups dominating the ecosystem at this point in time are completely different than just a few months ago," Intel 471 researchers said in a report published this month. "Yet, even with the shift in the variants, ransomware incidents as a whole are still on the rise."

Sweeping law enforcement operations undertaken by government agencies in recent months have brought about rapid shifts in the RaaS landscape and turned the tables on ransomware syndicates like Avaddon, BlackMatter, Cl0p, DarkSide, Egregor, and REvil, forcing the actors to slow down or shut down their businesses altogether.

https://thehackernews.com/2021/12/new-ransomware-variants-flourish-amid.html

93% of Tested Networks Vulnerable to Breach, Pen Testers Find

Data from dozens of penetration tests and security assessments suggest nearly every organisation can be infiltrated by cyber attackers.

The vast majority of businesses can be compromised within a month by a motivated attacker using common techniques, such as compromising credential, exploiting known vulnerabilities in software and Web applications, or taking advantage of configuration flaws, according to an analysis of security assessments by Positive Technologies.

In 93% of cases, an external attacker could breach a target company's network and gain access to local devices and systems, the company's security service professionals found. In 71% of cases, the attacker could affect the businesses in a way deemed "unacceptable." For example, every bank tested by the security firm could be attacked in a way that disrupted business processes and reduced the quality of their service.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/93-of-tested-networks-vulnerable-to-breach-pentesters-find

Dridex Malware Trolls Employees With Fake Job Termination Emails

A new Dridex malware phishing campaign is using fake employee termination emails as a lure to open a malicious Excel document, which then trolls the victim with a season's greeting message.

Dridex is a banking malware spread through malicious emails that was initially developed to steal online banking credentials. Over time, the developers evolved the malware to use different modules that provide additional malicious behaviour, such as installing other malware payloads, providing remote access to threat actors, or spreading to other devices on the network.

This malware was created by a hacking group known as Evil Corp, which is behind various ransomware operations, such as BitPaymer, DoppelPaymer, WastedLocker variants, and Grief. Due to this, Dridex infections are known to lead to ransomware attacks on compromised networks.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/dridex-malware-trolls-employees-with-fake-job-termination-emails/

More Than 35,000 Java Packages Impacted By Log4j Flaw, Google Warns

The Google Open Source Team scanned the Maven Central Java package repository and found that 35,863 packages (8% of the total) were using versions of the Apache Log4j library vulnerable to Log4Shell exploit and to the CVE-2021-45046 RCE.

“More than 35,000 Java packages, amounting to over 8% of the Maven Central repository (the most significant Java package repository), have been impacted by the recently disclosed log4j vulnerabilities (1, 2), with widespread fallout across the software industry.” reads the report published by Google. “As far as ecosystem impact goes, 8% is enormous.”

The Google experts used the Open Source Insights, a project used to determine open source dependencies, to assess all versions of all artifacts in the Maven Central Repository.

The experts pointed out that the direct dependencies account for around 7,000 of the affected packages. Most of the affected artifacts are related to indirect dependencies.

Since the vulnerability was disclosed, 13% of all vulnerable packages have been fixed (4,620).

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/125845/security/log4j-java-packages-flaws.html

Log4j Flaw: Attackers Are 'Actively Scanning Networks' Warns New Guidance, Joint Advisory from Cyber Agencies in US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom

A new informational Log4J advisory has been issued by cybersecurity leaders from the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The guide includes technical details, mitigations and resources to address known vulnerabilities in the Apache Log4j software library.

The project is a joint effort by the US' Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), FBI and NSA, as well as the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS), Computer Emergency Response Team New Zealand (CERT NZ), New Zealand National Cyber Secure Centre (NZ NCSC), and the United Kingdom's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-UK).

The organisations said they issued the advisory in response to "active, worldwide exploitation by numerous threat actors, including malicious cyber threat actors." Numerous groups from North Korea, Iran, Turkey and China have been seen exploiting the vulnerability alongside a slate of ransomware groups and cybercriminal organisations.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/cisa-cybersecurity-centers-from-australia-nz-uk-and-canada-release-log4j-advisory/

Conti Ransomware Gang Has Full Log4Shell Attack Chain

The Conti gang was the first professional-grade, sophisticated ransomware group to weaponise Log4j2, now with a full attack chain.

The Conti ransomware gang, which last week became the first professional crimeware outfit to adopt and weaponize the Log4Shell vulnerability, has now built up a holistic attack chain.

The sophisticated Russia-based Conti group – which Palo Alto Networks has called “one of the most ruthless” of dozens of ransomware groups currently known to be active – was in the right place at the right time with the right tools when Log4Shell hit the scene 10 days ago, security firm Advanced Intelligence (AdvIntel) said in a report shared with Threatpost on Thursday.

As of Monday the attack chain has taken the following form, AdvIntel’s Yelisey Boguslavskiy told Threatpost: Emotet -> Cobalt Strike -> Human Exploitation -> (no ADMIN$ share) -> Kerberoast -> vCenter ESXi with log4shell scan for vCenter.

https://threatpost.com/conti-ransomware-gang-has-full-log4shell-attack-chain/177173/

Second Ransomware Family Exploiting Log4j Spotted In US, Europe

This was quickly followed by a second ransomware group when researchers found a second family of ransomware has been growing in usage for attack attempts that exploit the critical vulnerability in Apache Log4j, including in the US and Europe.

A number of researchers, including at cybersecurity giant Sophos, have now said they’ve observed the attempted deployment of a ransomware family known as TellYouThePass. Researchers have described TellYouThePass as an older and largely inactive ransomware family — which has been revived following the discovery of the vulnerability in the widely used Log4j logging software.

https://venturebeat.com/2021/12/21/second-ransomware-family-exploiting-log4j-spotted-in-u-s-europe/

Threat actors steal $80 million per month with fake giveaways, surveys

Scammers are estimated to have made $80 million per month by impersonating popular brands asking people to participate in fake surveys or giveaways.

Researchers warn of this new trend in global fraud schemes involving targeted links to make investigation and take-down increasingly challenging.

According to current estimates, these massive campaigns resulted in an estimated $80,000,000 per month, stolen from 10 million people in 91 countries.

The scam themes are the typical and "trustworthy" fake surveys and giveaways from popular brands with the holiday season making targets more susceptible to fraudulent gift offerings.

According to a report by Group-IB, there are currently 60 known scam networks that use targeted links in their campaigns, impersonating 121 brands in false giveaways.

Each network uses an average of 70 different Internet domain names as part of their campaigns, but some find great success with fewer domains, which indicates that quality beats quantity when it comes to scams.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/threat-actors-steal-80-million-per-month-with-fake-giveaways-surveys/

Microsoft Teams might have a few serious security issues

Security researchers have discovered four separate vulnerabilities in Microsoft Teams that could be exploited by an attacker to spoof link previews, leak IP addresses and even access the software giant's internal services.

These discoveries were made by researchers at Positive Security who “stumbled upon” them while looking for a way to bypass the Same-Origin Policy (SOP) in Teams and Electron according to a new blog post. For those unfamiliar, SOP is a security mechanism found in browsers that helps stop websites from attacking one another.

During their investigation into the matter, the researchers found that they could bypass the SOP in Teams by abusing the link preview feature in Microsoft's video conferencing software by allowing the client to generate a link preview for the target page and then using either summary text or optical character recognition (OCR) on the preview image to extract information.

https://www.techradar.com/news/microsoft-teams-might-have-a-few-serious-security-issues

The Future of Work Has Changed, and Your Security Mindset Needs to Follow

VPNs have become a vulnerability that puts organisations at risk of cyber attacks.

When businesses first sent employees to work from home in March 2020 — thinking it'd only be for two weeks — they turned to quick fixes that would enable remote work for large numbers of people as quickly as possible. While these solutions solved the short-term challenge of allowing distributed workforces to connect to a company's network from anywhere, they're now becoming a security vulnerability that is putting organisations at risk of growing cyberattacks.

Now that almost two years have passed and work has fundamentally shifted, with fully or hybrid remote environments here to stay, business and security leaders need solutions that better fit their unique and increasingly complex needs. In fact, a new survey from Menlo Security has found that 75% of organisations are re-evaluating their security strategies for remote employees, exemplifying that accommodating remote work is a top priority for the majority of business leaders.

To successfully manage the risks that distributed workforces entail, leaders must shift their mindset away from the hub-and-spoke approach of providing connectivity to the entire network, instead segmenting access by each individual private application, wherever it is deployed, as threats of cyberattacks loom across all industries. As organisations grapple with the added security challenges that remote and hybrid work environments bring, adopting a zero-trust approach will be critical for end-to-end network and endpoint protection.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/the-future-of-work-has-changed-and-your-security-mindset-needs-to-follow

Threats

Ransomware

Phishing

Malware

IoT

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Scams, Fraud & Financial Crime

Insurance

Dark Web

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

Nation State Actors

Passwords

Parental Controls and Child Safety

As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.

Look out for our weekly ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.

Read More