Threat Intelligence Blog

Contact us to discuss any insights from our Blog, and how we can support you in a tailored threat intelligence report.

Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 12 April 2024

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 12 April 2024:

-UK Cyber Breaches Survey Finds Business Falling Short on Cyber, as Half Suffer Breach and Many Fail to Report

-The Cyber Attack Stopped by a Microsoft Engineer Was Scarier Than We Realise

-UK Government Urged to Get on ‘Front Foot’ with Ransomware Instead of ‘Absorbing the Punches’

-74% of Employees Falling Victim to Phishing Attacks Hit with Disciplinary Actions; Egress Reveals

-Why Are Many Businesses Turning to Third-Party Security Partners?

-60% of SMBs and 74% of Businesses with up to 500 Employees are Concerned About Cyber Security as Attacks Rise

-Cyber Attacks Cost Financial Firms $12bn Says IMF

-LastPass: Hackers Targeted Employee in Failed Deepfake CEO Call

-Most Cyber Criminal Threats are Concentrated in Just a Few Countries

-Why Incident Response is the Best Cyber Security ROI

-Ransomware Attacks are the Canaries in the Cyber Coal Mine

-Cyber Security is Crucial, but What is Risk and How do You Assess it?

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

UK Cyber Breaches Survey Finds Business Falling Short on Cyber, as Half Suffer Breach and Many Fail to Report

Half of UK businesses experienced a cyber breach last year, according to a survey by the UK Government. The figure could be much higher however, as the survey found only 34% report breaches externally.

It is said that a cyber incident is a matter of when, not if. Nonetheless, 78% of organisations lack a dedicated response plan outlining actions to be taken in the event of a cyber incident and only 11% review their immediate suppliers for risks. To improve cyber resilience, there needs to be a paradigm shift.

Sources: [Computer Weekly] [Computing] [Infosecurity Magazine] [Info Risk Today]

Cyber Attacks Cost Financial Firms $12bn Says IMF

A recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report has highlighted significant financial losses in the financial services sector, totalling $12 billion over the last two decades due to cyber attacks, with losses accelerating post-pandemic. The number of incidents and the scale of extreme losses have sharply increased, prompting the IMF to urge enhanced cross-border cooperation to uphold the stability of the global financial system.

The report underscores the critical threat that cyber attacks pose to financial stability, particularly for banks in advanced economies which are more exposed to such risks. With major institutions like JP Morgan facing up to 45 billion cyber threats daily, the IMF emphasises the need for international collaboration to effectively manage and mitigate these risks.

Source: [Finextra]

The Cyber Attack Stopped by a Microsoft Engineer Was Scarier Than We Realise

A critical security breach was narrowly avoided when a Microsoft developer detected suspicious activity in XZ Utils, an open-source library crucial to internet infrastructure. This discovery revealed that a new developer had implanted a sophisticated backdoor in the software, potentially giving unauthorised access to millions of servers worldwide. This incident has intensified scrutiny on the vulnerabilities of open-source software, which is largely maintained by unpaid or underfunded volunteers and serves as a backbone for the internet economy. The situation has prompted discussions among government officials and cyber security experts about enhancing the protection of open-source environments. This close call, described by some as a moment of "unreasonable luck," underscores the pressing need for sustainable support and rigorous security measures in the open-source community.

Source: [Inc.com]

UK Government Urged to Get on ‘Front Foot’ with Ransomware Instead of ‘Absorbing the Punches’

Amidst a rising tide of ransomware attacks affecting wide range of UK services, officials in Westminster are being pressured to enhance funding for operations aimed at disrupting ransomware gangs. The current strategy focuses on bolstering organisational cyber security and recovery preparedness, a stance under the second pillar of the UK's National Cyber Strategy known as resilience. However, this approach has not curbed the frequency of incidents, which have steadily increased over the past five years, impacting sectors including the NHS and local governments. In contrast to the proactive disruption efforts seen in the US, the UK has yet to allocate new funds for such measures, despite successful disruptions like the recent takedown of the LockBit gang by the US National Crime Agency, which underscored the potential benefits of increased resources for cyber crime disruption.

Source: [The Record Media]

74% of Employees Falling Victim to Phishing Attacks Hit with Disciplinary Actions

The Egress 'Email Threat Landscape 2024' report reveals a surge in phishing attacks, with 94% of companies falling victim to this type of crime in this past year alone, leading to increasingly complex cyber security challenges. According to the report, 96% of these companies suffered significant repercussions, including operational disruption and data breaches, with common attack vectors being malicious URLs, and malware or ransomware attachments.

The human cost is also notable, with 74 per cent of employees involved in attacks having faced disciplinary actions, dismissals, or voluntary departures, underscoring the severity of the issue and the heightened vigilance among companies in addressing the phishing threat. Financial losses primarily stem from customer churn, which accounts for nearly half of the total impact. Amidst rising attacks through compromised third-party accounts, Egress advocates for stronger monitoring and defence strategies to protect critical data and reduce organisational and individual hardships.

Source: [The Fintech Times]

Why Are Many Businesses Turning to Third-Party Security Partners?

In 2023, 71% of organisations reported being impacted by a cyber security skills shortage, leading many to scale back their cyber security initiatives amid escalating threats. To bridge the gap, businesses are increasingly turning to third-party security partnerships, reflecting a shift towards outsourcing crucial cyber security operations to handle complex challenges more efficiently. This approach is driven by the need to fill technical and resource gaps in the face of a severe workforce shortfall, with an estimated 600,000 unfilled security positions in the US alone. Moreover, these strategic partnerships allow organisations to leverage external expertise for scalable and effective security solutions, alleviating the burden of staying updated with the rapidly evolving threat landscape.

Source: [Help Net Security]

74% of Businesses with up to 500 Employees are Concerned About Cyber Security as Attacks Rise

According to a recent poll by the US Chamber of Commerce, 60% of small businesses expressed concerns about threats, with 58% concerned about a supply chain breakdown. The highest concern came from businesses with 20-500 employees (74%). Despite such concern, only 49% had trained staff on cyber security. When it came to the impact of a cyber event, 27% of respondents say they are one disaster or threat away from shutting down their business.

Sources: [Malwcv arebytes][Marketplace] [US Chamber]

LastPass: Hackers Targeted Employee in Failed Deepfake CEO Call

LastPass recently reported a thwarted voice phishing attack targeting one of its employees using deepfake audio technology to impersonate CEO Karim Toubba. The attack, conducted via WhatsApp, was identified by the employee as suspicious due to the unusual communication channel and clear signs of social engineering, such as forced urgency. Despite the failure of this particular attempt, LastPass has shared the incident publicly to highlight the growing use of AI-generated deepfakes in executive impersonation schemes. This incident underscores a broader trend, as indicated by alerts from both the US Department of Health and Human Services and the FBI, pointing to an increase in sophisticated cyber attacks employing deepfake technology for fraud, social engineering, and potential influence operations.

Source: [Bleepingcomputer]

Most Cyber Criminal Threats are Concentrated in Just a Few Countries

Oxford researchers have developed the world's first cyber crime index to identify global hotspots of cyber criminal activity, ranking countries based on the prevalence and sophistication of cyber threats. The index reveals that a significant portion of cyber threats is concentrated in a few countries, with Russia and Ukraine positioned at the top, with the USA and the UK also ranking prominently. The results indicate that countries like China, Russia, Ukraine, the US, Romania, and Nigeria are among the top hubs for activities ranging from technical services to money laundering. This tool aims to refine the focus for cyber crime research and prevention efforts, although the study acknowledges the need for a broader and more representative sample of expert opinions to enhance the accuracy and applicability of the findings. The index underscores that while cyber crime may appear globally fluid, it has pronounced local concentrations.

Sources: [ThisisOxfordshire] [Phys Org]

Why Incident Response is the Best Cyber Security ROI

The Microsoft Incident Response Reference Guide predicts that most organisations will encounter one or more major security incidents where attackers gain administrative control over crucial IT systems and data. While complete prevention of cyber attacks may not be feasible, prompt and effective incident response is essential to mitigate damage and protect reputations. However, many organisations may not be adequately budgeting for incident response, and the recent UK Government report found that 78% of organisations do not have formalised incident response plans, risking prolonged recovery and increased costs. Cyber crime damages hit $23b in 2023, but the true costs of incidents includes non-financial damage such as reputational harm. If a cyber incident is a matter of when, not if, then a prepared incident response plan is the best cyber security ROI.

Black Arrow works with organisations of all sizes and sectors to design and prepare for managing a cyber security incident; this can include an Incident Response Plan and an educational tabletop exercise for the leadership team that highlights the proportionate controls to help the organisation prevent and mitigate an incident.

Source: [CSO Online]

Ransomware Attacks are the Canaries in the Cyber Coal Mine

A recent report has found that ransomware attacks were up 110% compared to the prior month, stating that unreported attacks were up to 6 times higher. The report found that tactics are increasingly using data extortion, with 92% of attacks utilising this method.

Sources: [Silicon Republic] [The Hill]

Cyber Security is Crucial, but What is Risk and How do You Assess it?

Cyber security is an increasingly sophisticated game of cat and mouse, where the landscape is constantly shifting. Your cyber risk is the probability of negative impacts stemming from a cyber incident, but how do you assess risk?

One thing to understand is that there are a multitude of risks: risks from phishing, risks from insiders, risks from network attacks, risks of supply chain compromise, and of course, nation states. To understand risk, an organisation must first identify the information that it needs to protect, to avoid only learning of the information asset’s existence from a successful attacker. Once all assets are identified, then organisations should conduct risk assessments to identify threats and an evaluation the potential damage that can be done.

Sources: [Security Boulevard] [International Banker]


Governance, Risk and Compliance


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

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Insurance

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Encryption

Linux and Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Backup and Recovery

Data Protection

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda


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

Nation State Actors

China

Russia

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


Vulnerability Management

Vulnerabilities




Other News


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 Advisory 13 September 2023 – Microsoft Patch Tuesday fixes 59 Vulnerabilities, including Two Actively Exploited, also Adobe, Chrome, Mozilla and SAP Updates

Black Arrow Cyber Advisory 13 September 2023 – Microsoft Patch Tuesday fixes 59 Vulnerabilities, including Two Actively Exploited, also Adobe, Chrome, Mozilla and SAP Updates

Executive summary

Microsoft’s September Patch Tuesday provides updates to address 59 security issues across its product range, including two actively exploited zero-day vulnerabilities. The exploited zero-days have both been added to the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) “Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog”. Of the 59 security issues addressed by Microsoft , 5 were rated critical.

What’s the risk to me or my business?

The actively exploited vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to gain SYSTEM privileges or capture and relay hashes of user passwords to gain access to that users account. Both compromise the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data stored by an organisation.

What can I do?

Security updates are available for all supported versions of Windows impacted. The updates should be applied as soon as possible for the actively exploited vulnerabilities and all other vulnerabilities that have a critical severity rating.

Technical Summary

CVE-2023-36802: The actively exploited allows a local attacker to gain SYSTEM privileges.

CVE-2023-36761: This actively exploited vulnerability can allow an attacker to steal user password NTLM hashes of users who open a document, even if just in the preview plane.


Adobe

This month, Adobe released fixes for 5 vulnerabilities, including 1 critical vulnerability, across Adobe Acrobat & Reader (1), Adobe Connect (2) and Adobe Experience Manager (2).  The critical vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-26369, impacts both Windows and macOS versions of Adobe Acrobat & Reader and if exploited, can allow an attacker to execute malicious code.


Chrome

A new update for Google Chrome is available for Windows, Linux and macOS. The update addresses 16 security fixes, including one critical and actively exploited vulnerability which could cause for denial of service or allow code execution.


Mozilla

Mozilla released fixes for two critical vulnerabilities, impacting Firefox and Thunderbird. The vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to perform code execution.


SAP

Enterprise software vendor SAP has addressed 13 vulnerabilities in several of its products, including two critical-severity vulnerabilities that impact SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform. 66Including remote execution and authentication bypass. A total of 5 vulnerabilities were given the “Hot News” priority, which is the highest priority according to SAP.


further details on other specific updates within this patch Tuesday can be found here:

https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/12/the-windows-september-2023-security-updates-are-now-available/

Further information on Adobe Acrobat and Reader can be found here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/acrobat/apsb23-34.html

Further information on Adobe Connect can be found here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/connect/apsb23-33.html

Further information on Adobe Experience Manager can be found here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/experience-manager/apsb23-43.html

Further information on the patches by SAP can be found here:

https://dam.sap.com/mac/app/e/pdf/preview/embed/ucQrx6G?ltr=a&rc=10

Further information on Google Chrome can be found here:

https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2023/09/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_12.html

Further information on Mozilla can be found here:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2023-40/

Need help understanding your gaps, or just want some advice? Get in touch with us.

#threatadvisory #threatintelligence #cybersecurity


Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Advisory 10 August 2023 – Microsoft Patch Tuesday Fixes 86 Vulnerabilities, including Two Actively Exploited, and Adobe Updates Summary

Black Arrow Cyber Advisory 10 August 2023 – Microsoft Patch Tuesday Fixes 86 Vulnerabilities, including Two Actively Exploited, and Adobe Updates Summary

Executive summary

Microsoft’s August Patch Tuesday provides updates to address 86 security issues across its product range, including two zero-day vulnerabilities (CVE-2023-36884, CVE-2023-38180). The vulnerabilities allow remote code execution and denial of service. Among the updates provided by Microsoft, 6 addressed critical vulnerabilities.

What’s the risk to me or my business?

The vulnerabilities allow an attacker to remotely execute code and cause a denial-of-service, impacting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data held by an organisation. CVE-2023-38180, which is a denial-of-service vulnerability has been recorded by the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in its “Known Exploited Vulnerabilities” Catalogue.

What can I do?

Security updates are available for all supported versions of Windows impacted. The updates should be applied immediately for the zero-day vulnerabilities and as soon as possible for all other vulnerabilities.  Microsoft has also published an separate advisory for CVE-2023-36884.

Technical Summary

CVE-2023-36884: This vulnerability, if exploited allows threat actors to create specially crafted documents which bypass Mark of the Web (MoTW) security features, causing files to be opened with no warning, allowing a threat actor to perform remote code execution.

CVE-2023-38180: The actively exploited vulnerability allows an attacker to cause a denial-of-service attack on .NET applications and Visual Studio.


Adobe

In addition to Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday Adobe released fixes for 36 vulnerabilities, of which 19 were rated critical. The critical vulnerabilities spanned across Adobe Acrobat and Reader (16), Adobe Commerce and  Adobe Dimension (2). At current, Adobe is not aware of any of these vulnerabilities being actively exploited. The vulnerabilities include remote code execution, memory leak and security bypass.


further details on other specific updates within this patch Tuesday can be found here:

https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/08/the-windows-august-2023-security-updates-fix-critical-vulnerabilities-and-internet-explorer/

Further details about CVE-2023-38180 can be found here:                     

https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2023-38180

Further details about CVE-2023-36884 can be found here:                     

https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2023-36884  

The advisory from Microsoft can be found here:

Further information on CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog can be found here:

https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog

https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/ADV230003

Further details of the vulnerabilities addressed in Adobe Acrobat DC and Reader can be found here: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/acrobat/apsb23-30.html

Further details of the vulnerabilities addressed in Adobe Commerce can be found here: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/magento/apsb23-42.html

Further details of the vulnerabilities addressed in Adobe Dimension can be found here: https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/dimension/apsb23-44.html

Need help understanding your gaps, or just want some advice? Get in touch with us.

#threatadvisory #threatintelligence #cybersecurity 

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 15 April 2022

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 15 April 2022:

-Cyber Security Is Getting Harder: More Threats, More Complexity, Fewer People

-Terrible Cloud Security Is Leaving the Door Open for Hackers. Here's What You're Doing Wrong

-More Organisations Are Paying the Ransom. Why?

-Cyber Attack Puts City Firms on High Alert To Bolster Defences

-More Than 60% of Organisations Suffered a Breach in the Past 12 Months

-Account Takeover Poised to Surpass Malware as The No. 1 Security Concern

-Security Research Reveals 42% Rise In New Ransomware Programs In 2021

-Fraudsters Stole £58m with Remote Access Trojans (RATs) in 2021

-As State-Backed Cyber Threats Grow, Here's How the World Is Reacting

-Q1 Reported Data Compromises Up 14% Over 2021

-Europol Announces Operation to Hit Russian Sanctions-Evaders

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 Security Is Getting Harder: More Threats, More Complexity, Fewer People

Splunk and Enterprise Strategy Group released a global research report that examines the security issues facing the modern enterprise. More than 1,200 security leaders participated in the survey, revealing they’ve seen an increase in cyber attacks while their teams are facing widening talent gaps.

According to the report, 65% of respondents say they have seen an increase in attempted cyber attacks. In addition, many have been directly impacted by data breaches and costly ransomware attacks, which have left security teams exhausted:

·       49% of organisations say they have suffered a data breach over the past two years, an increase from 39% a year earlier.

·       79% of respondents say they’ve encountered ransomware attacks, and 35% admit that one or more of those attacks led them to lose access to data and systems.

·       59% of security teams say they had to devote significant time and resources to remediation, an increase from 42% a year ago.

·       54% of respondents report that their business-critical applications have suffered from unplanned outages related to cyber security incidents on at least a monthly basis, with a median of 12 outages per year. The median time to recover from unplanned downtime tied to cyber security incidents is 14 hours. Respondents estimated the cost of this downtime averaged about $200,000 per hour.

·       64% of security professionals have stated that it’s challenging to keep up with new security requirements, up from 49% a year ago.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/04/13/modern-enterprise-security-issues/

  • Terrible Cloud Security Is Leaving the Door Open for Hackers. Here's What You're Doing Wrong

A rise in hybrid work and a shift to cloud platforms has changed how businesses operate - but it's also leaving them vulnerable to cyber attacks.

Cloud applications and services are a prime target for hackers because poor cyber security management and misconfigured services are leaving them exposed to the internet and vulnerable to simple cyber attacks.

Analysis of identity and access management (IAM) polices taking into account hundreds of thousands of users in 18,000 cloud environments across 200 organisations by cyber security researchers at Palo Alto Networks found that cloud accounts and services are leaving open doors for cyber criminals to exploit – and putting businesses and users at risk.

The global pandemic pushed organisations and employees towards new ways of remote and hybrid working, with the aid of cloud services and applications. While beneficial to businesses and employees, it also created additional cyber security risks – and malicious hackers know this.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/terrible-cloud-security-is-leaving-the-door-open-for-hackers-heres-what-youre-doing-wrong/

  • More Organisations Are Paying the Ransom. Why?

Most organisations (71%) have been hit by ransomware in 2021, and most of those (63%) opted for paying the requested ransom, the 2022 Cyberthreat Defense Report (CDR) by the CyberEdge Group has shown.

The research company says that possible explanations for the steady yearly rise of the percentage of organisations that decided to pay the ransom may include: the threat of exposing exfiltrated data, increased confidence for data recovery, and the fact that many organisations find that paying a ransom is significantly less costly than system downtime, customer disruption, and potential lawsuits.

“72% of ransom-paying victims recovered their data [in 2021], up from 49% in 2017. This increased confidence for successful data recovery is often factored into the ransom-paying decision,” the company noted.

Similarly, BakerHostatler’s 2022 Data Security Incident Response Report says that in ransomware incidents the US-based law firm was called in to manage in 2021, ransomware groups provided decryptors and stuck to their promise to not publish stolen data 97% of the time.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/04/11/organizations-paying-ransom/

  • Cyber Attack Puts City Firms on High Alert to Bolster Defences

Experts warn a combination of 'ignorance and arrogance' makes City executives vulnerable to attacks.

City firms on high alert for cyber attacks were sent a clear warning recently, bolstering concerns of the potential for breaches from Russia.

Ince Group, the London-listed law firm, last month fell prey to hackers who infiltrated its computer systems and stole confidential data. The company's security systems detected the intrusion on March 13, prompting the IT team to shut down servers to try and prevent widespread damage.

But soon after, the hackers demanded a ransom for stolen data and threatened to publish it on the dark web if Ince Group, which has clients in the shipping, energy and healthcare sectors, didn't pay up.

The incident has intensified worries of possible breaches after warnings that City firms could be targeted by Russian hackers following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Julia O'Toole, chief executive of MyCena Security Solutions, says executives should be "very concerned" about any news of a cyber attack at a rival company.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/04/11/cyber-attack-puts-city-firms-high-alert-bolster-defences/

  • More Than 60% of Organisations Suffered a Breach in the Past 12 Months

Firms focus too narrowly on external attackers when it's insiders, third parties, and stolen assets that cause many breaches, new study shows.

The majority of companies — 63% — have suffered at least one breach in the past 12 months. The global average breach cost $2.4 million — a price tag that increases to $3.0 million for companies unprepared to respond to compromises.

The new data from Forrester Research, released on April 8 in a report titled "The 2021 State Of Enterprise Breaches," found that the number of breaches and the cost of breaches varied widely depending on the geographic location of the business and to what degree the organisation is prepared to respond to breaches. Companies in North America had the largest disparity between the haves and have-nots: While the average organisation required 38 days to find, eradicate, and recover from a breach, companies that failed to adequately prepare for security challenges took 62 days.

The difference in response resulted in a large difference in cost as well, with the average North American company paying $3.0 million to recover from a breach, a bill that rises to $4.0 million if the company suffered from a lack of incident-response preparation.

"The misalignment between the expectation and the reality of breaches has become very important," says Allie Mellen, an analyst with Forrester's Security and Risk group. "On a global scale, there is a big disparity of about $600,000 between those who are prepared to respond to a breach and those who are not."

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/more-than-60-of-organizations-suffered-a-breach-in-the-past-12-months

  • Account Takeover Poised to Surpass Malware as The No. 1 Security Concern

As most researchers and financial executives can attest, virtually all types of fraud have dramatically risen over the past two years. However, attackers taking over legitimate financial accounts have become even more of a favourite with cyber criminals than most fraud schemes.

Many major recent research reports have pointed out that account takeover (ATO), a form of identity theft where bad actors access legitimate bank accounts, change the account information and passwords, and hijack a real customer’s account, has skyrocketed since last year. According to Javelin Research’s annual "Identity Fraud Study: The Virtual Battleground" report, account takeover increased by 90% to an estimated $11.4 billion in 2021 when compared with 2020 — representing roughly one-quarter of all identity fraud losses last year.

Like many types of financial fraud, cyber thieves are betting on the fact that if they attempt to seize a large number of legitimate accounts, eventually they will get a payoff.

Account takeovers are a numbers game, the more accounts that an organisation has, the bigger their risk that some of them will be compromised.

Account takeovers often piggyback off of previous attacks, making these crimes a way for hackers to make the most out of stolen information. Diskin pointed out that account takeovers most commonly happen when a password is “taken from another data leak and reused for different accounts. But there are a variety of risky scenarios that can lead to compromise.”

https://www.scmagazine.com/analysis/cybercrime/account-takeover-poised-to-surpass-malware-as-the-no-1-security-concern

  • Security Research Reveals 42% Rise in New Ransomware Programs In 2021

Critical infrastructure in the crosshairs: operational technology vulnerabilities jump 88% .

Threat intelligence analysts at Skybox Research Lab uncovered a 42% increase in new ransomware programs targeting known vulnerabilities in 2021. The Silicon Valley cyber security company released its annual 2022 Vulnerability and Threat Trends Report, revealing how quickly cyber criminals capitalise on new security weaknesses – shrinking the window that organisations have to remediate vulnerabilities ahead of an attack.

With 20,175 new vulnerabilities published in 2021, Skybox Research Lab witnessed the most vulnerabilities ever reported in a single year. And these new vulnerabilities are just the tip of the iceberg. The total number of vulnerabilities published over the last 10 years reached 166,938 in 2021 — a three-fold increase over a decade. These cumulative vulnerabilities, piling up year after year, represent an enormous aggregate risk, and they’ve left organisations struggling with a mountain of cyber security debt. As the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) highlights in its Top Routinely Exploited Vulnerabilities list, threat actors are routinely exploiting publicly disclosed vulnerabilities from years past.

The sheer volume of accumulated risks — hundreds of thousands or even millions of vulnerability instances within organisations — means they can’t possibly patch all of them. To prevent cyber security incidents, it is critical to prioritise exposed vulnerabilities that could cause the most significant disruption, then, apply appropriate remediation options including configuration changes or network segmentation to eliminate risk, even before patches are applied or in cases where patches aren’t available.

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/study-research/skybox-security-research-reveals-42-rise-in-new-ransomware-programs-in-2021/

  • Fraudsters Stole £58m with Remote Access Trojans (RATs) in 2021

2021 saw victims of Remote Access Tool (RAT) scams lose £58m in 2021, official UK police figures show.

RAT scams involve scammers taking control of a victim’s device, typically in order to access bank accounts.

Some 20,144 victims fell for this type of scam in 2021, averaging around £2800 stolen per incident.

Typically, RAT attacks begin with a victim being inundated with pop-ups claiming there is a problem with the computer. Users are often then asked to call a “hotline” number, when a scammer will persuade them to download a RAT.

RAT scams are often compared to the classic “tech support” scams. Modern RAT scams are typically more devious, however, with scammers often cold-calling their victims pretending to work for their bank and claiming that they need computer access to investigate a fraudulent transaction.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/04/11/fraudsters-stole-58m-with-rats-in-2021/

  • As State-Backed Cyber Threats Grow, Here's How the World Is Reacting

With the ongoing conflict in Eurasia, cyber warfare is inevitably making its presence felt. The fight is not only being fought on the fields. There is also a big battle happening in cyberspace. Several cyber-attacks have been reported over the past months.

Notably, cyber attacks backed by state actors are becoming prominent. There have been reports of a rise of ransomware and other malware attacks such as Cyclops Blink, HermeticWiper, and BlackCat. These target businesses as well as government institutions and nonprofit organisations. There have been cases of several attempts to shut down online communications and IT infrastructure.

The ongoing list of significant cyber incidents curated by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) shows that the number of major incidents in January 2022 is 100% higher compared to the same period in the previous year. With the recent activities in cyberspace impacted by the emergence of the geopolitical tumult in February, it is not going to be surprising to see an even more dramatic rise in the number of significant incidents.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/04/as-state-backed-cyber-threats-grow.html

  • Q1 Reported Data Compromises Up 14% Over 2021

The Identity Theft Resource Center published a First Quarter 2022 Data Breach Analysis which found that Q1 of 2022 began with the highest number of publicly reported data compromises in the past three years.

Publicly reported data compromises totalled 404 through March 31, 2022, a 14 percent increase compared to Q1 2021.

This is the third consecutive year when the number of total data compromises increased compared to Q1 of the previous year. It also represents the highest number of Q1 data compromises since 2020.

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/expert-comments/q1-reported-data-compromises-up-14-over-2021/

  • Europol Announces Operation to Hit Russian Sanctions-Evaders

European police have announced a major new operation designed to crack down on Russian oligarchs and businesses looking to circumvent sanctions.

Operation Oscar will run for at least a year as an umbrella initiative that will feature many separate investigations, Europol explained.

The policing organisation’s European Financial and Economic Crime Centre will work to exchange information and intelligence with partners and provide operational support in financial crime investigations.

A key focus appears to be on illicit flows of money, which Russian individuals and entities will be trying to move around the region in order to bypass sanctions imposed since President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Europol will centralise and analyse all information contributed under this operation to identify international links, criminal groups and suspects, as well as new criminal trends and patterns,” Europol said.

“Europol will further provide tailor-made analytical support to investigations, as well as operational coordination, forensics and technical expertise, and financial support to the relevant national authorities.”

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/europol-hit-russian/


Threats

Ransomware

Other Social Engineering

Malware

Mobile

IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

Cloud

Privacy

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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Advisory 13/04/2022 – Adobe releases security patches to address various vulnerabilities.

Black Arrow Cyber Advisory 13/04/2022 – Adobe releases security patches to address various vulnerabilities.

Executive Summary

Adobe has released several security updates deemed as ‘critical’ across their product range to address various vulnerabilities. The affected applications include Adobe Acrobat and Reader which are used by most commercial organisations, along with Photoshop and other products within their range. Some of these vulnerabilities could give a malicious actor access to remote code execution.

What’s the risk to me or my business?

While Adobe has disclosed that they are not aware of these vulnerabilities being currently exploited, it is highly likely that they will a target by malicious actors since products such as Adobe Reader are used by a large percentage of organisations.

What can I do?

Apply the available updates from Adobe as soon as possible for the software products deployed across your organisation, while taking into consideration any potential downtime that these updates may cause.

Technical Summary

The vulnerabilities have been confirmed to affect both Windows and MacOS versions of various Adobe products, including Acrobat, Reader, Photoshop, After Effects, commerce, Magento Open Source, DC. Some of the effects of the vulnerabilities may be mitigated by good security practices, such as limiting end users local privileged access on end points. Further details on the individual vulnerabilities can be found here: Multiple Vulnerabilities in Adobe Products Could Allow for Arbitrary Code Execution (cisecurity.org)

 Need help understanding your gaps, or just want some advice? Get in touch with us.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 14 January 2022

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 14 January 2022

-Businesses Suffered 50% More Cyber Attack Attempts per Week in 2021

-Cyber Attacks Against MSPs Jump 67%

-SMEs Still An Easy Target For Cyber Criminals

-World Economic Forum: Cyber Security Failures an Increasing Global Threat

-Microsoft Faces Wormable, Critical RCE Bug & 6 Zero-Days

-Russia Arrests REvil Ransomware Gang Responsible for High-Profile Cyber Attacks

-North Korea Hackers Stole $400m Of Cryptocurrency In 2021, Report Says

-No Lights, No Heat, No Money - That's Life In Ukraine During Cyber Warfare

-Ukrainian Police Arrest Five Members Of Ransomware Affiliate

-Fingers Point To Lazarus, Cobalt, Fin7 As Key Hacking Groups Attacking Finance Industry

-Ransomware, Supply Chain, And Deepfakes: The Top Threats The Finance Industry Needs To Prepare For

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

Businesses Suffered 50% More Cyber Attack Attempts per Week in 2021

Cyberattack attempts reached an all-time high in the fourth quarter of 2021, jumping to 925 a week per organisation, partly due to attempts stemming from the Log4j vulnerability, according to new data.

Check Point Research on Monday reported that it found 50% more attack attempts per week on corporate networks globally in calendar year 2021 compared with 2020.

The researchers define a cyberattack attempt as a single isolated cyber occurrence that could be at any point in the attack chain — scanning/exploiting vulnerabilities, sending phishing emails, malicious website access, malicious file downloads (from Web/email), second-stage downloads, and command-and-control communications.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/corporate-networks-saw-50-more-attacks-per-week-in-2021-

Cyber Attacks Against MSPs Jump 67%

Cyber attacks spiked by 50 percent in 2021 as compared to 2020, aided by millions of attacks in December by hackers attempting to exploit the Log4J vulnerability, according to a Check Point Software Technologies research report.

In terming 2021 a “record breaking year,” the security provider pointed to a worldwide peak of 925 cyber attacks per organisation weekly and an October 2021 measure that showed a 40 percent increase in cyberattacks, with one out of every 61 entities hit by ransomware each week. The number of cyberattacks on managed service providers (MSPs) and internet service providers (ISPs) rose by nearly 70 percent year over year.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-news/cyberattacks-vs-msps-skyrocket/

SMEs Still An Easy Target For Cyber Criminals

Cyber crime continues to be a major concern, with 51% of SMEs experiencing a cyber security breach, a Markel Direct survey reveals.

In this survey that polled 1000 respondents, Markel Direct explored the issue of cybercrime and its impact on the self-employed and SMEs. The survey found the most common cybersecurity attacks were malware/virus related (24%) followed by a data breach (16%) and phishing attack (15%), with 68% reporting the cost of their breach was up to £5,000.

This comes after the latest Quarterly Fraud and Cyber Crime Report revealed that Britons lost over £1 billion in the first six months of 2021, due to the considerable increase in fraudulent activity.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/12/smes-cybersecurity-breach/

World Economic Forum: Cyber Security Failures an Increasing Global Threat

Cybersecurity was once again identified as a major short and medium-term threat to the world in this year’s World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) The Global Risk Report. The analysis was based on insights from nearly 1000 global experts and leaders who responded to the WEF’s Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, environmental issues like climate action failure and extreme weather ranked highest on the risks facing the world over the short (0-2 years), medium (2-5 years) and long-term (5-10 years). In addition, a number of challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, such as livelihood crises, infectious diseases and mental health deterioration, also scored highly. Overall, this added up to a pessimistic assessment, with 84.2% of respondents stating they were either “worried” or “concerned” about the global outlook.

Digital challenges, such as “cyber security failures,” were also viewed as a significant and growing problem to the world. Nearly one in five (19.5%) respondents believe cybersecurity failures will be a critical threat to the world in just the next 0-2 years, and 14.6% said it would be in 2-5 years

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/world-economic-forum-cybersecurity/

Microsoft Faces Wormable, Critical RCE Bug & 6 Zero-Days

Microsoft started 2022 with a large January Patch Tuesday update covering nine critical CVEs, including a self-propagator with a 9.8 CVSS score.

Microsoft has addressed a total of 97 security vulnerabilities in its January 2022 Patch Tuesday update – nine of them rated critical – including six that are listed as publicly known zero-days.

The fixes cover a swath of the computing giant’s portfolio, including: Microsoft Windows and Windows Components, Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based), Exchange Server, Microsoft Office and Office Components, SharePoint Server, .NET Framework, Microsoft Dynamics, Open-Source Software, Windows Hyper-V, Windows Defender, and Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

https://threatpost.com/microsoft-wormable-critical-rce-bug-zero-day/177564/

Russia Arrests REvil Ransomware Gang Responsible for High-Profile Cyber Attacks

In an unprecedented move, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the country's principal security agency, on Friday disclosed that it arrested several members belonging to the notorious REvil ransomware gang and neutralized its operations.

The surprise takedown, which it said was carried out at the request of the US authorities, saw the law enforcement agency conduct raids at 25 addresses in the cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Leningrad and Lipetsk regions that belonged to 14 suspected members of the organised cyber crime syndicate.

"In order to implement the criminal plan, these persons developed malicious software, organised the theft of funds from the bank accounts of foreign citizens and their cashing, including through the purchase of expensive goods on the Internet," the FSB said in a statement.

In addition, the FSB seized over 426 million rubles, including in cryptocurrency, $600,000, €500,000, as well as computer equipment, crypto wallets used to commit crimes, and 20 luxury cars that were purchased with money obtained by illicit means.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/01/russia-arrests-revil-ransomware-gang.html

North Korea Hackers Stole $400m Of Cryptocurrency In 2021, Report Says

North Korean hackers stole almost $400m (£291m) worth of digital assets in at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms last year, a report claims.

Blockchain analysis company Chainalysis said it was one of most successful years on record for cyber-criminals in the closed east Asian state.

The attacks mainly targeted investment firms and centralised exchanges.

North Korea has routinely denied being involved in hack attacks attributed to them.

"From 2020 to 2021, the number of North Korean-linked hacks jumped from four to seven, and the value extracted from these hacks grew by 40%," Chainalysis said in a report.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59990477

No Lights, No Heat, No Money - That's Life In Ukraine During Cyber Warfare

Hackers who defaced and interrupted access to numerous Ukrainian government websites on Friday could be setting the stage for more serious cyberattacks that would disrupt the lives of ordinary Ukrainians, experts said.

"As tensions grow, we can expect more aggressive cyber activity in Ukraine and potentially elsewhere," said John Hultquist, an intelligence analyst at US cyber security company Mandiant, possibly including "destructive attacks that target critical infrastructure."

"Organisations need to begin preparing," Hultquist added.

Intrusions by hackers on hospitals, power utility companies, and the financial system were until recently rare. But organised cyber criminals, many of them living in Russia, have gone after institutions aggressively in the past two years with ransomware, freezing data and computerized equipment needed to care for hospital patients.

In some cases, those extortion attacks have led to patient deaths, according to litigation, media reports and medical professionals.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/no-lights-no-heat-no-money-thats-life-ukraine-during-cyber-warfare-2022-01-14/

Ukrainian Police Arrest Five Members Of Ransomware Affiliate

Ukrainian police announced the arrest of five members of a ransomware affiliate on Thursday, noting that the group was behind attacks on more than 50 companies across Europe and the US.

In a statement, both the Ukrainian Security Service and Ukrainian Cyber Police said the group made at least $1 million through their attacks on the companies.

US and UK law enforcement officials worked with Ukrainian officials on the operation.

Officials said the leader of the group was a 36-year-old who worked with his wife and three other people out of Kyiv. The five are facing a variety of charges in Ukraine related to money laundering, hacking, and selling malware.

One of the people charged is wanted by law enforcement agencies in UK after "using a virus to obtain bank card details of the customers of British banks," according to the police statement.

The bank card details were used to buy things online that were then resold.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ukrainian-police-arrest-members-of-ransomware-affiliate/

Fingers Point To Lazarus, Cobalt, Fin7 As Key Hacking Groups Attacking Finance Industry

The Lazarus, Cobalt, and FIN7 hacking groups have been labeled as the most prevalent threat actors striking financial organisations today.

According to "Follow the Money," a new report (.PDF) published on the financial sector by Outpost24's Blueliv on Thursday, members of these groups are the major culprits of theft and fraud in the industry today.

The financial sector has always been, and possibly always will be, a key target for cybercriminal groups. Organisations in this area are often custodians of sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) belonging to customers and clients, financial accounts, and cash.

They also often underpin the economy: if a payment processor or bank's systems go down due to malware, this can cause irreparable harm not only to the victim company in question, but this can also have severe financial and operational consequences for customers.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/fingers-point-to-lazarus-cobalt-fin7-as-key-hacking-groups-focused-on-finance-industry/

Ransomware, Supply Chain, And Deepfakes: The Top Threats The Finance Industry Needs To Prepare For

The finance industry is constantly targeted by numerous threat actors, and they are always innovating and trying new techniques (such as deepfakes) to outsmart security teams and breach an organisation’s network.

In addition to that, there is currently a huge demand for data and new tools on the dark web. In fact, users are selling access to point-of-sale (PoS) terminals and login details to the websites of financial services organisations all the time.

How can financial organisations protect themselves from existing threats and combat new ones at the same time?

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/12/finance-industry-threats/


Threats

Ransomware

Phishing

Malware

Mobile

IoT

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

DoS/DDoS

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

Nation State Actors

Cloud

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

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 ‘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 06 November 2020

Cyber Threat Briefing 06 November 2020

Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest of open source intelligence (OSINT), 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 Headlines of the Week

2020 could be 'the worst year in cyber security history'

Businesses around the world are severely unprepared to face the sheer scale of cyber threats facing us today, new research has claimed.

The latest 2020 Business Threat Landscape report from security firm Bitdefender has said that this could be the worst year in cyber security history, as despite multiple warnings, many firms still aren't ready to protect themselves.

Bitdefender's report found that the "new normal" of remote working had led many businesses to face difficulties in ensuring their online protection, with 50% of organisations "completely unprepared" to face a scenario in which they had to migrate their entire workforce in a working from home environment.

https://www.techradar.com/news/2020-could-be-the-worst-year-in-cybersecurity-history

Two-Thirds of Financial Services Firms Suffered Cyber-Attack in the Past Year

Almost two-thirds (65%) of large financial services companies have suffered a cyber attack in the past year, while 45% have experienced a rise in attack attempts since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is according to new research from HelpSystems, which surveyed 250 CISOs and CIOs in global financial services firms about the impact of the pandemic on their cybersecurity.

It highlighted that these organisations are taking cybersecurity increasingly seriously, with 92% stating that they have increased investment in this area over the past 12 months, with 26% doing so by a significant amount. The main targets of this investment have included secure file transfer (64%), protecting the remote workforce (63%) and cloud/office365 (56%).

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/two-thirds-financial-services/

Proofpoint survey: IT security leaders worry about and are ill-prepared to defeat cyber-attacks

IT security leaders say they are ill-prepared for a cyber attack and believe that human error and a lack of security awareness are major risk factors for their organisations, according to a series of reports and surveys from cyber security vendor Proofpoint. But there are some marked variations in both the rates and the types of cyber attack between the regions surveyed.

It’s a dynamic attack landscape: in the DACH countries of Germany, Austria and Switzerland 67 per cent of IT security leaders say they have suffered at least one attack in the last 12 months, while in Benelux 72 per cent of respondents say their business has suffered at least one cyber attack in the same time period. In Sweden 59 per cent of businesses have been attacked at least once, while in the UAE the figure is much higher at 82 per cent - with 51 per cent of IT security leaders in the UAE saying their business has been targeted multiple times.

https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/05/proofpoint_survey_it_security_leaders/

Akamai sees doubling in malicious internet traffic as remote world’s bad actors boom, too

Akamai Technologies’ CEO said he is impressed by the amazing traffic levels on the internet during the coronavirus pandemic, and the world technology infrastructure’s ability to handle it. But during the stay-at-home boom, the web and cyber security expert also has been closely watching a boom in bad actors.

With so many people working from home, hackers are taking advantage, and massively increasing the number of attacks as daily routine changes caused by the pandemic are prolonged, and become potentially permanent.

“I think the threat actors are trying to take advantage of the pandemic, and of course, the prize is greater now that so much business has moved online”

Quarter-over-quarter — Akamai reported its Q3 results this week — the cyber security and cloud computing company has tracked a doubling of malicious traffic as telecommuting makes for easier targets.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/29/akamai-malicious-net-traffic-doubles-as-remote-world-bad-actors-boom.html

Attacks Against Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol Soar Under Work From Home Measures

The number of Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) attacks soared by 140% in Q3 compared with the previous quarter, as cyber criminals looked to take advantage of companies relying on remote access while working from home.

RDP makes it possible for one computer to connect to another over a network and control it as though the individual was sat at the keyboard themselves. While the Microsoft tool is useful for businesses and popular among IT administrators, it has increasingly been targeted by hackers who try to gain administrator access to company servers. Once inside they are able to disable security software, steal files, delete data and install malicious software.

Slovak internet security firm ESET detected the surge between July and September, with the number of separate companies reporting brute-force attacks against their RDP connection increasing by 37% quarter-over-quarter.

https://www.verdict.co.uk/rdp-attacks-eset/


Threats

Ransomware

Ransomware gangs that steal your data don't always delete it

Ransomware gangs that steal a company's data and then get paid a ransom fee to delete it don't always follow through on their promise.

The number of cases where something like this has happened has increased, according to a report published by Coveware this week and according to several incidents shared by security researchers with ZDNet researchers over the past few months.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-gangs-that-steal-your-data-dont-always-delete-it/

Spike in Emotet activity could mean big payday for ransomware gangs

There's been a massive increase in Emotet attacks and cyber criminals are taking advantage of machines compromised by the malware to launch more malware infections as well as ransomware campaigns.

The October 2020 HP-Bromium Threat Insights Report reports a 1,200% increase in Emotet detections from July to September compared to the previous three months in which deployment of the malware appeared to decline.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/spike-in-emotet-activity-could-mean-big-payday-for-ransomware-gangs/

Italian beverage vendor Campari knocked offline after ransomware attack

Campari Group, the famed Italian beverage vendor behind brands like Campari, Cinzano, and Appleton, has been hit by a ransomware attack and has taken down a large part of its IT network.

The attack took place last Sunday, on November 1, and has been linked to the RagnarLocker ransomware gang, according to a copy of the ransom note shared with ZDNet by a malware researcher who goes online by the name of Pancak3.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/italian-beverage-vendor-campari-knocked-offline-after-ransomware-attack/

Hackney Council still working to restore services as IT boss describes horror at cyber attack

Hackney’s director of information communication technology (ICT) Rob Miller was playing football with his family on a Sunday morning early in October when he got a message letting him know there was a systems outage being investigated at the Town Hall.

By the end of Sunday, the council had moved swiftly to shut down its systems, declared an emergency and notified national agencies after Miller’s team found “clear markers” that the local authority had been hit by a serious cyber attack.

https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2020/11/04/council-still-working-restore-services-boss-horror-cyber-attack/

Leading toy maker Mattel hit by ransomware

Toy industry giant Mattel disclosed that they suffered a ransomware attack in July that impacted some of its business functions but did not lead to data theft.

Mattel is the second-largest toymaker in the world with 24,000 employees and $5.7 billion in revenue for 2019. Mattel is known for its popular brands, including Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, American Girl, and Thomas & Friends.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/leading-toy-maker-mattel-hit-by-ransomware/


Business Email Compromise (BEC)

BEC attacks increase in most industries, invoice and payment fraud rise by 155%

BEC attacks increased 15% quarter-over-quarter, driven by an explosion in invoice and payment fraud, Abnormal Security research reveals.

“As the industry’s only measure of BEC attack volume by industry, our quarterly BEC research is important for CISOs to prepare and stay ahead of attackers,” said Evan Reiser, CEO of Abnormal Security.

“Not only are BEC campaigns continuing to increase overall, they are rising in 75% of industries that we track. Since these attacks are targeted and sophisticated, these increases could indicate an ability for threat actors to scale that may overwhelm some businesses.”

For this research, BEC campaigns across eight major industries were tracked, including retail/consumer goods and manufacturing, technology, energy/infrastructure, services, medical, media/tv, finance and hospitality.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2020/11/03/bec-attacks-increase-quarter-over-quarter/


Phishing

Sneaky Office 365 phishing inverts images to evade detection

A creative Office 365 phishing campaign has been inverting images used as backgrounds for landing pages to avoid getting flagged as malicious by crawlers designed to spot phishing sites.

These inverted backgrounds are commonly used as part of phishing kits that attempt to clone legitimate login pages as closely as possible to harvest a target's credentials by tricking them into entering them into a fake login form.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/sneaky-office-365-phishing-inverts-images-to-evade-detection/

The BBC Experiences Over 250,000 Malicious Email Attacks Per Day

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the UK’s public service broadcaster, faces in excess of a quarter of a million malicious email attacks every day, according to data obtained following a Freedom of Information (FoI) request.

The corporation blocked an average of 283,597 malicious emails per day during the first eight months of 2020.

According to the data, every month the BBC receives an average of 6,704,188 emails that are classified as scam or spam as well as 18,662 malware attacks such as viruses, ransomware and spyware. In total, 51,898,393 infected emails were blocked in the period from January to August 2020.

The month which contained the highest amount of recorded incidents was July, when the BBC received 6,787,635 spam and 13,592 malware attempts. The next highest was March, when the COVID-19 first struck the UK, with 6,768,632 spam emails and 14,089 malware attacks.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/bbc-experiences-malicious-email/


Malware

US Cyber Command exposes new Russian malware

US Cyber Command has exposed eight new malware samples that were developed and deployed by Russian hackers in recent attacks

Six of the eight samples are for the ComRAT malware (used by the Turla hacking group), while the other two are samples for the Zebrocy malware (used by the APT28 hacking group).

Both ComRAT and Zebrocy are malware families that have been used by Russia hacking groups for years, with ComRAT being deployed in attacks for more than a decade, having evolved from the old Agent.BTZ malware.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/us-cyber-command-exposes-new-russian-malware/


IoT

New data shows just how badly home users overestimate IoT security

A new survey from the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) shows adult workers vastly overestimate the security of the internet devices in their homes.

The survey polled 1,000 adults – 500 aged 18-34 and 500 aged 50-75 – and found that the overwhelming majority of both believed the internet of things devices they owned were secure.

IoT devices, particularly those that are cheap, outdated and hard to upgrade, are widely considered to be an easy target for hackers.  Yet 87 percent of the younger group and 77 percent of the older group said they were either “somewhat” or “very confident” in the security of their connected things

https://www.scmagazine.com/home/security-news/with-work-from-home-booming-new-data-shows-just-how-badly-home-users-overestimate-iot-security/


Vulnerabilities

Windows 10 zero-day could allow hackers to seize control of your computer

A security bug has been discovered that affects every version of the Windows operating system, from Windows 7 to Windows 10. The vulnerability can be found within the Windows Kernel Cryptography Driver and enables attackers to gain admin-level control of a victim’s computer.

The flaw was discovered by Google’s Project Zero security team, which subsequently notified Microsoft. The Redmond-based firm was given seven days to patch the bug before Google published further details – a task that proved beyond the company. 

https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/windows-10-zero-day-could-allow-hackers-to-seize-control-of-your-computer

Adobe warns Windows, MacOS users of critical acrobat and reader flaws

Adobe has fixed critical-severity flaws tied to four CVEs in the Windows and macOS versions of its Acrobat and Reader family of application software services. The vulnerabilities could be exploited to execute arbitrary code on affected products.

These critical flaws include a heap-based buffer overflow, out-of-bounds write glitch and two use-after free flaws. The bugs are part of Adobe’s regularly scheduled patches, which overall patched critical-, important- and moderate-severity vulnerabilities tied to 14 CVEs.

https://threatpost.com/adobe-windows-macos-critical-acrobat-reader-flaws/160903/

Zero-day in Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client yet to be fixed

Cisco has disclosed a zero-day vulnerability, in the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client software with the public availability of a proof-of-concept exploit code.

The flaw resided in the inter-process communication (IPC) channel of Cisco AnyConnect Client, it can be exploited by authenticated and local attackers to execute malicious scripts via a targeted user.

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/110414/security/zero-day-cisco-anyconnect-secure-mobility-client.html

Critical bug actively used to deploy Cobalt Strike on Oracle servers

Threat actors are actively exploiting Oracle WebLogic servers unpatched against CVE-2020-14882 to deploy Cobalt Strike beacons which allow for persistent remote access to compromised devices.

Cobalt Strike is a legitimate penetration testing tool also used by threat actors in post-exploitation tasks and to deploy so-called beacons that enable them to gain persistent remote access.

This later allows them to access the compromised servers to harvest data and to deploy second stage malware payloads.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/critical-bug-actively-used-to-deploy-cobalt-strike-on-oracle-servers/

Oracle Solaris Zero-Day Attack Revealed

A previously known threat group, called UNC1945, has been compromising telecommunications companies and targeting financial and professional consulting industries, by exploiting a security flaw in Oracle’s Solaris operating system.

Researchers said that the group was exploiting the bug when it was a zero-day, long before a patch arrived.

The bug, was recently addressed in Oracle’s October 2020 Critical Patch Update. The vulnerability exists in the Oracle Solaris Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) and allows an unauthenticated attacker with network access via multiple protocols to exploit and compromise the operating system. Threat actors utilized a remote exploitation tool, which researchers call “EVILSUN,” to exploit the flaw.

https://threatpost.com/oracle-solaris-zero-day-attack/160929/


Data Breaches

Marriott Hotels fined £18.4m for data breach that hit millions

The UK's data privacy watchdog has fined the Marriott Hotels chain £18.4m for a major data breach that may have affected up to 339 million guests.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said names, contact information, and passport details may all have been compromised in a cyber-attack.

The breach included seven million guest records for people in the UK.

The ICO said the company failed to put appropriate safeguards in place but acknowledged it had improved.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54748843

23,600 hacked databases have leaked from a defunct 'data breach index' site

More than 23,000 hacked databases have been made available for download on several hacking forums and Telegram channels in what threat intel analysts are calling the biggest leak of its kind.

The database collection is said to have originated from Cit0Day.in, a private service advertised on hacking forums to other cybercriminals.

Cit0day operated by collecting hacked databases and then providing access to usernames, emails, addresses, and even cleartext passwords to other hackers for a daily or monthly fee.

Cybercriminals would then use the site to identify possible passwords for targeted users and then attempt to breach their accounts at other, more high-profile sites.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/23600-hacked-databases-have-leaked-from-a-defunct-data-breach-index-site/



Reports Published in the Last Week

NCSC defends UK from more than 700 cyber attacks while supporting national pandemic response

The NCSC's fourth Annual Review reveals its ongoing work against cyber attacks, support for the UK during the coronavirus pandemic.

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/news/ncsc-defends-uk-700-cyber-attack-national-pandemic

Ransomware Demands continue to rise as Data Exfiltration becomes common, and Maze subdues

The Coveware Quarterly Ransomware Report describes ransomware incident response trends during Q3 of 2020. Ransomware groups continue to leverage data exfiltration as a tactic, though trust that stolen data will be deleted is eroding as defaults become more frequent when exfiltrated data is made public despite the victim paying. In Q3, Coveware saw the Maze group sunset their operations as the active affiliates migrated to Egregor (a fork of Maze). We also saw the return of the original Ryuk group, which has been dormant since the end of Q1.

https://www.coveware.com/blog/q3-2020-ransomware-marketplace-report


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
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Cyber Weekly Flash Briefing for 20 March 2020 – Working from home brings security challenges, COVID-19 scams and malware, VPNs and MFA, broadband strain, critical patches

Cyber Weekly Flash Briefing for 20 March 2020 – Working from home brings security challenges, COVID-19 scams and malware, VPNs and MFA, broadband strain, critical patches

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.


Working from Home: COVID-19’s Constellation of Security Challenges

Organisations are sending employees and students home to work and learn — but implementing the plan opens the door to more attacks, IT headaches and brand-new security challenges.

As the threat of coronavirus continues to spread, businesses are sending employees home to work remotely, and students are moving to online classes. But with the social distancing comes a new threat – a cyber-related one.

As organisations rush to shift their businesses and classes online, cybercriminals are ramping up their tactics to take advantage of those who may have inadequate or naive security postures as a result. Given the challenges in securing work- and learn-from-home environments, the attack surface represents an attractive opportunity for threat actors

Read more here: https://threatpost.com/working-from-home-covid-19s-constellation-of-security-challenges/153720/


Thousands of COVID-19 scam and malware sites are being created on a daily basis

Malware authors and fraudsters aren't letting a tragedy go to waste.

In the midst of a global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, hackers are not letting a disaster go to waste and have now automated their coronavirus-related scams to industrial levels.

According to multiple reports, cybercriminals are now creating and putting out thousands of coronavirus-related websites on a daily basis.

Most of these sites are being used to host phishing attacks, distribute malware-laced files, or for financial fraud, for tricking users into paying for fake COVID-19 cures, supplements, or vaccines.

More here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/thousands-of-covid-19-scam-and-malware-sites-are-being-created-on-a-daily-basis/


EU warns of broadband strain as millions work from home

The EU has called on streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube to limit their services in order to prevent the continent’s broadband networks from crashing as tens of millions of people start working from home. 

Until now, telecoms companies have been bullish that internet infrastructure can withstand the drastic change in online behaviour brought about by the coronavirus outbreak. 

But on Wednesday evening, Thierry Breton, one of the European commissioners in charge of digital policy, said streaming platforms and telecoms companies had a “joint responsibility to take steps to ensure the smooth functioning of the internet” during the crisis.

Read more on the FT here: https://www.ft.com/content/b4ab03db-de1f-4f98-bcc2-b09007427e1b


COVID-19: With everyone working from home, VPN security has now become paramount

With most employees working from home amid today's COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak, enterprise VPN servers have now become paramount to a company's backbone, and their security and availability must be the focus going forward for IT teams.

It is critical that the VPN service is patched and up to date because there will be more scanning against these services.

It is also critical that multi factor authentication (MFA or 2FA) is used to protect connections over VPN.

More: https://www.zdnet.com/article/covid-19-with-everyone-working-from-home-vpn-security-has-now-become-paramount/


What do you not want right now? A bunch of Cisco SD-WAN, Webex vulnerabilities? Here are a bunch of them

Cisco has issued a series of security updates for its SD-WAN and Webex software, just when they're most needed.

SD-WAN is host to five vulnerabilities ranging from privilege escalation to remote code injection.

Meanwhile, the Webex video-conferencing software also needs some sorting out right when everyone's working from home amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The patch bundle includes a fix for Cisco Webex Network Recording Player for Microsoft Windows and Cisco Webex Player for Microsoft Windows. A hacker can send a suitably crafted file in either the Advanced Recording Format (ARF) or the Webex Recording Format (WRF), and if the recipient clicks on it on a vulnerable computer, they get pwned. iOS users also need to patch an information-disclosure bug.

The other fixes mention SQL injection and cross-site scripting flaws.

More on The Register here: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/19/cisco_sdwan_bugs/


Windows 10 or Mac user? Patch Adobe Reader and Acrobat now to fix 9 critical security flaws

Adobe has released an important security update for its popular PDF products, Adobe Acrobat and Reader after missing its usual release aligned with Microsoft Patch Tuesday.

The company has released an update for the PDF software for Windows and macOS machines. The update addresses nine critical flaws and four vulnerabilities rated as important.

The critical flaws include an out-of-bounds write, a stack-based overflow flaw, a use-after-free, buffer overflow, and memory corruption bug.

All the critical flaws allow for arbitrary code execution, meaning attackers could use them to rig a PDF to install malware on a computer running a vulnerable version of the software.

More here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-or-mac-user-patch-adobe-reader-and-acrobat-now-to-fix-9-critical-security-flaws/


WordPress and Apache Struts account for 55% of all weaponized vulnerabilities

Comprehensive study looks at the most attacked web technologies of the last decade.

A study that analysed all the vulnerability disclosures between 2010 and 2019 found that around 55% of all the security bugs that have been weaponized and exploited in the wild were for two major application frameworks, namely WordPress and Apache Struts.

The Drupal content management system ranked third, followed by Ruby on Rails and Laravel, according to a report published this week.

In terms of programming languages, vulnerabilities in PHP and Java apps were the most weaponized bugs of the last decade.

Read the full article here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/wordpress-and-apache-struts-account-for-55-of-all-weaponized-vulnerabilities/


Trickbot malware adds new feature to target telecoms, universities and finance companies

Researchers uncover a Trickbot campaign with new abilities that looks like it's being used in an effort to steal intellectual property, financial data - and potentially for espionage.

The new form of the infamous Trickbot malware is using never-before-seen behaviour in attacks targeting telecommunications providers, universities and financial services in a campaign that looks to be going after intellectual property and financial data.

Trickbot has been in operation since 2016 and, while it started life as a banking trojan, the modular nature of the malware means it can be easily re-purposed for other means, which has led to it becoming one of the most advanced and capable forms of malware attack delivery in the world today.

And now it has been updated with yet another new capability, with a module that uses brute force attacks against targets mostly in telecoms, education, and financial services in the US and Hong Kong. These targets are pre-selected based on IP addresses, indicating that the attackers are going after them specifically.

More here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/trickbot-malware-adds-new-feature-to-target-telecoms-universities-and-finance-companies/


Most organizations have yet to fix CVE-2020-0688 Microsoft Exchange flaw

Organisations are delaying in patching Microsoft Exchange Server flaw (CVE-2020-0688) that Microsoft fixed with February 2020 Patch Day updates.

The CVE-2020-0688 flaw resides in the Exchange Control Panel (ECP) component, the root cause of the problem is that Exchange servers fail to properly create unique keys at install time.

A remote, authenticated attacker could exploit the CVE-2020-0688 vulnerability to execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges on a server and take full control.

More here: https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/99752/hacking/companies-cve-2020-0688-fixed.html


Two Trend Micro zero-days exploited in the wild by hackers

Hackers tried to exploit two zero-days in Trend Micro antivirus products, the company said in a security alert this week.

The Japanese antivirus maker has released patches on Monday to address the two zero-days, along with three other similarly critical issues (although, not exploited in the wild).

According to the alert, the two zero-days impact the company's Apex One and OfficeScan XG enterprise security products.

Trend Micro did not release any details about the attacks.

These two zero-days mark the second and third Trend Micro antivirus bugs exploited in the wild in the last year.

Read more here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/two-trend-micro-zero-days-exploited-in-the-wild-by-hackers/


Most ransomware attacks take place during the night or over the weekend

27% of all ransomware attacks take place during the weekend, 49% after working hours during weekdays

The vast majority of ransomware attacks targeting the enterprise sector occur outside normal working hours, during the night or over the weekend.

According to a report published this week, 76% of all ransomware infections in the enterprise sector occur outside working hours, with 49% taking place during night-time over the weekdays, and 27% taking place over the weekend.

The numbers were compiled from dozens of ransomware incident response investigations from 2017 to 2019.

The reason why attackers are choosing to trigger the ransomware encryption process during the night or weekend is because most companies don't have IT staff working those shifts, and if they do, they are most likely short-handed.

If a ransomware attack does trigger a security alert within the company, then there would be nobody to react right away and shut down a network, or the short-handed staff would have a hard time figuring what's actually happening before the ransomware encryption process ends and the company's network is down & ransomed.

Read more here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/most-ransomware-attacks-take-place-during-the-night-or-the-weekend/


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.

Read More