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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 23 February 2024
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 23 February 2024:
-Despite Recent FBI Disruptions, a Rise in Ransomware Means 2024 Will be a Volatile Year for Cyber Security
-The Old, Not the New: Basic Security Issues Still the Biggest Threat to Enterprises
-Reevaluating Your Cyber Security Priorities
-Cyber Threat Environment at its Most Dangerous for SMBs, as Geopolitical Tenison, Extortion and Attacks Present Biggest Risks
-Legal Sector Grows as a Target, with Cyber Attacks on Law Firms Surging by Over a Third
-It’s Not Only Ransomware Seeing Huge Rises, Business Email Compromise (BEC) Attacks are Also Seeing a Huge Rise – is Your Business Prepared?
-Deepfake Phishing Grew by 3,000% in 2023, and it’s Just the Beginning
-Cyber Attacks are Getting Faster, More Common and More Successful, Although Detection is More Advanced Than Ever — New Report Signals the Threats to Businesses, Supply Chains, and Democracy
-Report Finds Malicious Emails Bypassing Secure Email Gateways Rose by 105%
-Rising Cyber Threats Identified Amongst Other Major Business Risks for 2024
-Huge Cyber Security Leak Lifts the Lid on China’s Hackers for Hire
-Fifth of British Kids Have Broken the Law Online
-Over 40% of Firms Struggle with Cyber Security Talent Shortage
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
Despite Recent NCA and FBI Disruptions, a Rise in Ransomware Means 2024 Will be a Volatile Year for Cyber Security
There has been a lot of high profile coverage this week of the infamous and prolific LockBit gang’s infrastructure having been seized by law enforcement following an international Police operation led by the UK’s National Crime Agency. Whilst the international operation shows the seriousness of the matter, and the success of the operation should be celebrated, those celebrations should be muted and organisations should not become lax. Like the Hydra of Greek mythology, when one head disappears, a few more appear in its place. Ransomware really is a case of if, not when, and your organisation needs to be prepared.
Further, a recent threat report has found that the median ransom demand rose by 20% year on year, hitting an average of $600,000 and it is expected that 2024 will be even more volatile. Ransomware groups are expanding their target lists and exploring new pressure tactics in response to increasingly effective law enforcement efforts, and this is coupled with the increasing regulatory impact on organisations.
Sources: [Sky News] [GOV Infosecurity] [Bleeping Computer] [Infosecurity Magazine] [Cyber Reason]
The Old, Not the New: Basic Security Issues Still the Biggest Threat to Enterprises
In the latest IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index, it was revealed that basic security issues remain the most significant threat to enterprises. Cyber criminals are increasingly turning to credential stuffing, using and exploiting valid accounts harvested from the darkweb and previous breaches, with a 266% uptick in info-stealing malware. This tactic is harder to detect and elicits a costly response from enterprises. On the other hand, it is also important to adopt an attacker mindset for effective security. Understanding the attacker’s tools, motives, and efforts can help in limiting access, compartmentalising the impact of any successful attack, and minimising the time to attack detection. In essence, while organisations continue to grapple with complex cyber threats, the biggest security problem boils down to the basic and the already known. Therefore, it is crucial to focus on strengthening basic security measures and thinking like an attacker to proactively mitigate the risk for a more secure attack surface.
Source: [Help Net Security] [Forbes]
Reevaluating Your Cyber Security Priorities
Both technology and cyber criminals are evolving, yet many companies and organisations are not. For many corporate leaders, they may not know where to begin. Organisations looking to evolve their cyber security posture should look to elevate cyber to the C-suite and board, conduct audits of their sensitive information, create or update and test their incident response plan and finally, revisit their cyber hygiene training to ensure it is doing more than just ticking boxes. Organisations doing the above will find themselves improving their cyber security posture, and mitigating their risk to threats.
Source: [Dark Reading]
Cyber Threat Environment at its Most Dangerous for SMBs, as Geopolitical Tenison, Extortion and Attacks Present Biggest Risks
A new study has found that extortion campaigns, geopolitical threats, and attacks on small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are amongst the greatest threats to cyber security defences currently. The report, conducted by Mimecast, highlights how individual ransom groups have claimed over 1,000 victims and over $300 million in payments. Regarding SMBs, the report found that these businesses encountered twice the normal number of threats, at over 30 threats per user, as compared to larger companies who saw approximately 15. Not only are SMBs at more risk, but they also do not have the same resources a large company would have to mitigate such threats. SMBs must be efficient in the way they prioritise and address their cyber risk as part of their larger risk management strategy.
Sources: [Emerging Risks] [The HR Director]
Legal Sector Grows as a Target, with Cyber Attacks on Law Firms Surging by Over a Third
A new report has found that the number of reported cyber breaches on UK law firms has increased 30% from the previous year, as attackers increasingly target the profession. As a note, this does not include firms who may be unaware that they have been breached. Law firms are an attractive target to attackers due to the sensitive information such as M&A activity, divorce information and big ticket litigation; many attackers believe that law firms will pay handsomely to have this data back.
Sources: [Emerging Risks] [Legal Cheek]
It’s Not Only Ransomware Seeing Huge Rises: Business Email Compromise (BEC) Attacks are Also Seeing a Huge Rise. Is Your Business Prepared?
A recent report found that business email compromise (BEC) saw a staggering increase of 10 time the amount compared to the previous year. BEC involves a genuine business email account being compromised by a threat actor; this could be your supplier, a client, or anyone you have legitimate contact with. With such an increase, organisations must consider if they would be able to spot and mitigate BEC in their corporate environment through robust operational controls such as callback procedures for example. Due to the rise in deep fake fraud with voice cloning and video, the efficacy of traditional safeguards such as callbacks are not providing the assurance they once did. Firms and employees need to be on their guard to these changing tactics to safeguard the business.
Source: [TechRadar]
Deepfake Phishing Grew by 3,000% in 2023, and it’s Just the Beginning
Phishing remains one of the most prevalent cyber security threats, and with the emergence of artificial intelligence it is only going to carry on getting worse. According to a recent report, the number of deepfake fraud attempts rose by 3,000%. In one instance, the CEO of an energy enterprise sent €220,000 to a supplier after getting a call from the parent company’s leader requesting the exchange; the call was a deepfake.
Source: [HackerNoon]
Cyber Attacks are Getting Faster, More Common and More Successful, Although Detection is More Advanced Than Ever. New Report Signals the Threats to Businesses, Supply Chains, and Democracy
A recent report from CrowdStrike sheds light on the increasing speed and sophistication of cyber attacks. Breakout times have plummeted to an average of 62 minutes, with a record time of just two minutes and seven seconds observed. Hackers are now targeting the cloud, exploiting its vulnerabilities and leveraging AI assistance to escalate attacks. The human factor remains a primary entry point for threat actors, with social engineering and phishing campaigns on the rise. As organisations transition to the cloud, threat actors follow suit, with cloud intrusions soaring by 75%. CrowdStrike warns of state-sponsored adversaries targeting critical elections, emphasising the need for a platform-based approach bolstered by threat intelligence to safeguard against evolving threats.
Source: [TechRadar]
Report Finds Malicious Emails Bypassing Secure Email Gateways Rose by 105%
A report by Cofense has found a 105% increase in malicious emails that successfully bypassed Secure Email Gateways (SEGs), with approximately one malicious email navigating their way past SEGs every 57 seconds. The report suggests that phishing efforts are outpacing that of SEGs, and such phishing efforts are responsible for 90% of data breaches. Whilst SEGs may be filtering out a number of malicious emails, they, like everything in cyber security, are not a silver bullet. Organisations should not fall foul of believing that they are impenetrable because they have a SEG.
Sources: [SiliconANGLE] [Security Magazine] [Help Net Security]
Rising Cyber Threats Identified as Major Business Risk for 2024
In the latest Allianz risk barometer, cyber incidents have been identified as the most significant concern for companies globally in 2024. This is particularly true for remote desktop connections, which have become a prime target for cyber attacks since the shift to a work-from-home environment. The report also highlights that the risk landscape is being shaped by digitalisation, climate change, and geopolitical uncertainties. Meanwhile, a report from Coalition reveals that the cyber attack surface has expanded due to new ways of working. The report found that smaller businesses often lack the resources to prepare for a wide range of risk scenarios, which can lead to longer recovery times after an unexpected incident. These findings underscore the importance of robust cyber security measures and the need for continuous monitoring and improvement of an organisation’s digital defences.
Sources: [Reinsurance News] [Allianz]
Huge Cyber Security Leak Lifts the Lid on China’s Hackers for Hire
A huge leak of data from a Chinese cyber security firm, iSoon, has revealed state security agents paying tens of thousands of pounds to harvest data on targets, including the likes of foreign governments, and the leak shows this has been going on for years. Since the release, CrowdStrike has drawn overlaps between the firm and multiple known Chinese threat actors who are well resourced and conduct attacks over an extended period (referred to as advanced persistent threats, APTs). Among some of the 500 leaked documents are product manuals, lists of clients and employees, and WeChat instant messages. The leaks show over 14 governments have been attacked, as well as gambling and telecommunications companies.
Sources: [Dark Reading] [The Guardian]
Fifth of British Kids Have Broken the Law Online
In a recent study by the UK National Crime Agency (NCA), one in five children aged 10 to 16 have engaged in online offences with the figure rising to 25% among online gamers. These "low-level" cyber crimes, such as attempting to access protected servers or launching distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, may not be perceived by young individuals as violating the Computer Misuse Act. The consequences, however, are severe, including potential arrest, criminal records, and restrictions on future opportunities. The NCA stresses the importance of educating both children and adults about the legal and ethical implications of such actions, highlighting the transition from minor offences to more serious cyber crimes. With a significant shortage of cyber security professionals globally, fostering positive digital skills among young individuals is crucial for meeting industry demands and deterring cyber crime. Parents, teachers, and children are encouraged to explore resources provided by the NCA's Cyber Choices website to prevent inadvertent involvement in illegal online activities.
Source: [Infosecurity Magazine]
Over 40% of Firms Struggle with Cyber Security Talent Shortage
A recent report from Kaspersky has unveiled a critical global challenge: over 40% of companies are struggling to fill essential cyber security roles, with information security research and malware analysis roles particularly affected. This scarcity is felt most acutely in Europe and Latin America. Roles within security operations centres (SOCs) and network security are also understaffed, with figures around 35% and 33% respectively. The government sector faces the most significant demand for cyber security experts, followed closely by the telecoms and media sectors. While efforts like offering competitive salaries and enhanced training are underway, the gap persists due to the rapid pace of technological advancement outstripping educational initiatives. The report emphasises the need for innovative solutions to bridge this shortfall, highlighting recruitment, training, and technological advancements as key components of a comprehensive strategy to bolster cyber security resilience in the face of evolving threats.
Source: [Infosecurity Magazine]
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Cyber security professionals admit “knowledge gaps” have led to serious security blunders | ITPro
The old, not the new: Basic security issues still biggest threat to enterprises - Help Net Security
Cyber threat environment more dangerous then ever - Mimecast (emergingrisks.co.uk)
Gartner: Three top trends in cyber security for 2024 | Computer Weekly
Coalition report reveals rising cyber threats amidst business vulnerabilities - Reinsurance News
Thinking Like An Attacker—Another Look At Enterprise Security (forbes.com)
Hackers using stolen credentials to launch attacks as info-stealing peaks | CSO Online
How CISOs Balance Business Growth, Security in Cyber Threat Landscape (darkreading.com)
Allianz Risk Barometer: Identifying the major business risks for 2024
Why cyber security can boost organisational innovation | TechRadar
4 Key Steps to Reevaluate Your Cyber Security Priorities (darkreading.com)
Cyber security success -- elevate your defence against cyber threats (betanews.com)
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Ransom demands surge by 20% in 2023, hitting key industries hardest - SiliconANGLE
LockBit Attempts to Stay Afloat with a New Version (trendmicro.com)
LockBit registered nearly 200 "affiliates" over the past two years | TechRadar
2024 will be a volatile year for cyber security as ransomware groups evolve - Help Net Security
Ransomware Experts See Problems With Banning Ransom Payments (govinfosecurity.com)
Ransomware and BEC are seeing a huge rise — is your business ready? | TechRadar
ConnectWise exploit could spur ‘ransomware free-for-all,’ expert warns | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
3 trends set to drive cyber attacks and ransomware in 2024 | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
Year-over-year, the median initial ransom has risen by 20% | Security Magazine
Alpha ransomware linked to NetWalker operation dismantled in 2021 (bleepingcomputer.com)
Akira Ransomware Exploiting Cisco Anyconnect Vulnerability (gbhackers.com)
Knight ransomware source code for sale after leak site shuts down (bleepingcomputer.com)
Stuck in cyber attack nightmare? Call the negotiators (techxplore.com)
Report: Manufacturing bears the brunt of industrial ransomware | CyberScoop
Ransomware Victims
eSentire Confirms Rhysida Ransomware Victims - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
ALPHV ransomware claims loanDepot, Prudential Financial breaches (bleepingcomputer.com)
147 ransomware attacks on large Dutch companies, institutions last year; 18% paid ransom | NL Times
Pharmacy Delays Across US Blamed on Nation-State Hackers (darkreading.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
New report warns of ongoing rise of malicious emails bypassing secure email gateways - SiliconANGLE
Deepfake Phishing Grew by 3,000% in 2023 — And It's Just Beginning | HackerNoon
Other Social Engineering
Artificial Intelligence
AI models can be weaponized to hack websites on their own • The Register
Deepfake Phishing Grew by 3,000% in 2023 — And It's Just Beginning | HackerNoon
Generative AI and elections are key focus for hackers in 2024, report warns | Evening Standard
As adversaries harness AI, tech firms peer through chat logs to catch them - Defense One
Air Canada Has to Honor a Refund Policy Its Chatbot Made Up | WIRED
36% of code generated by GitHub CoPilot contains security flaws - Help Net Security
Employees input sensitive data into generative AI tools despite the risks | ZDNET
Ransomware Declines as InfoStealers and AI Threats Gain Ground: IBM X-Force - SecurityWeek
Gartner: Three top trends in cyber security for 2024 | Computer Weekly
Malware
FBI's Most-Wanted Zeus and IcedID Malware Mastermind Pleads Guilty (thehackernews.com)
Iranian Hackers Target Middle East Policy Experts with New BASICSTAR Backdoor (thehackernews.com)
VIPRE report predicts 276% rise in malware in 2024 (securitybrief.co.nz)
Anatsa Android malware downloaded 150,000 times via Google Play (bleepingcomputer.com)
'Lucifer' Botnet Turns Up the Heat on Apache Hadoop Servers (darkreading.com)
What are Botnets and Why are MSSPs So Concerned? | MSSP Alert
New SSH-Snake malware steals SSH keys to spread across the network (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware Declines as InfoStealers and AI Threats Gain Ground: IBM X-Force - SecurityWeek
Your Mac Is Not Virus Proof. It Never Has Been. (gizmodo.com)
Click: Your innocent mouse could be a cyber criminal's silent weapon - Digital Journal
Vibrator virus steals your personal information | Malwarebytes
Mobile
Meta Warns of 8 Spyware Firms Targeting iOS, Android, and Windows Devices (thehackernews.com)
New Wave of 'Anatsa' Banking Trojans Targets Android Users in Europe (darkreading.com)
New Wi-Fi Vulnerabilities Expose Android and Linux Devices to Hackers (thehackernews.com)
Zero-Click Apple Shortcuts Vulnerability Allows Silent Data Theft (darkreading.com)
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Internet of Things – IoT
Wyze camera glitch gave 13,000 users a peek into other homes (bleepingcomputer.com)
As Cyber attacks Ramp Up, Electric Vehicles Are Vulnerable (autoweek.com)
Data Breaches/Leaks
Infosys subsidiary named as source of Bank of America leak • The Register
Massive Cloud Database Leak Exposes 380 Million Records (hackread.com)
UK council's sneaky insider steals 79k email addresses • The Register
Eye Care Services Firm Faces Lawsuit Over Data Breach Impacting 2.3 Million - SecurityWeek
Cyber Crime General & Criminal Actors
Fifth of British Kids Have Broken the Law Online - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Insurance
Insurers Use Claims Data to Recommend Cyber Security Technologies (darkreading.com)
Cyber Insurance Needs to Evolve to Ensure Greater Benefit (darkreading.com)
What is Cyber Insurance and Does Your Small Business Need It? (smallbiztrends.com)
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Infosys subsidiary named as source of Bank of America leak • The Register
North Korean hackers linked to defence sector supply-chain attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cloud/SaaS
Cyber security report reveals 75% spike in cloud attacks (securitybrief.co.nz)
Massive Cloud Database Leak Exposes 380 Million Records (hackread.com)
Six steps for stronger cloud security | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Identity and Access Management
Why identity fraud costs organisations millions - Help Net Security
Active Directory outages can cost organisations $100,000 per day - Help Net Security
Encryption
Linux and Open Source
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Hackers using stolen credentials to launch attacks as info-stealing peaks | CSO Online
How to proactively prevent password-spray attacks on legacy email accounts | CSO Online
Social Media
EU Watchdog Urged to Reject Meta 'Pay for Privacy' Scheme - SecurityWeek
Social Media Platforms Are in an ‘Information Trafficking Business’: Cyber Security Adviser | NTD
ChatGPT Used by North Korean Hackers to Scam LinkedIn Users (tech.co)
76% of Super Bowl Traffic From Elon Musk's X to Advertisers Could Be Fake (thewrap.com)
Elon Musk’s X allows China-based propaganda banned on other platforms | Ars Technica
European Union deepens its investigation of TikTok • The Register
Training, Education and Awareness
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
European Court of Human Rights rules against government backdoors in end-to-end encryption - Neowin
Hedge Funds Warn SEC Cyber Lapses Risk Exposing Trading Secrets (bloomberglaw.com)
European Union deepens its investigation of TikTok • The Register
Decoding DORA: Navigating the digital regulatory landscape | World Finance
FTC Fines Avast $16.5 Million For Selling Browsing Data Harvested by Antivirus (404media.co)
Avast settles claims of customer data peddling for $17M • The Register
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
The Psychology of Cyber Security Burnout (informationweek.com)
How can we adapt work practices to protect CISO mental health? | Computer Weekly
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Feds deliver stark warnings to state election officials ahead of November - Iowa Capital Dispatch
UK election cyber attack warning after Putin's hackers target US (inews.co.uk)
Social Media Platforms Are in an ‘Information Trafficking Business’: Cyber Security Adviser | NTD
Elon Musk’s X allows China-based propaganda banned on other platforms | Ars Technica
Election security threats in 2024 range from AI to … anthrax • The Register
76 percent of Super Bowl LVIII traffic from Twitter dubbed 'fake' (awfulannouncing.com)
Iran and Hezbollah Hackers Launch Attacks to Influence Israel-Hamas Narrative (thehackernews.com)
Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare, Cyber Espionage and Geopolitical Threats/Activity
Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage
Nation State Actors
Countries fear state-sponsored cyber war | The World from PRX
Generative AI and elections are key focus for hackers in 2024, report warns | Evening Standard
Pharmacy Delays Across US Blamed on Nation-State Hackers (darkreading.com)
China
'Major Chinese hack' on Foreign Office urgently investigated by UK spies (inews.co.uk)
Leaked Chinese Hacking Files Reveal How Compromised the US Could Be (businessinsider.com)
iSoon's Secret APT Status Exposes China's Foreign Hacking Machination (darkreading.com)
Generative AI and elections are key focus for hackers in 2024, report warns | Evening Standard
Elon Musk’s X allows China-based propaganda banned on other platforms | Ars Technica
China’s Spy Agency Sees Threats Everywhere in Data Security Push - Bloomberg
Russia
FBI disrupts hacking network 'linked to Russian intelligence services' | US News | Sky News
Russian APT 'Winter Vivern' Targets European Governments, Military (darkreading.com)
Russian Cyber attackers Launch Multiphase PsyOps Campaign (darkreading.com)
Russian-Linked Hackers Target 80+ Organisations via Roundcube Flaws (thehackernews.com)
NHS hospitals ‘easy targets’ for Russian hackers (thetimes.co.uk)
Generative AI and elections are key focus for hackers in 2024, report warns | Evening Standard
Russian Turla Cyber Spies Target Polish NGOs With New Backdoor - SecurityWeek
Russian Government Software Backdoored to Deploy Konni RAT Malware (thehackernews.com)
Three terms sure to grab attention: Russia, nuclear, anti-satellite weapon | Ars Technica
Iran
Iranian Hackers Target Middle East Policy Experts with New BASICSTAR Backdoor (thehackernews.com)
Iranian APTs Dress Up As Hacktivists for Disruption, Influence Ops (darkreading.com)
Iran and Hezbollah Hackers Launch Attacks to Influence Israel-Hamas Narrative (thehackernews.com)
Iran-Backed Charming Kitten Stages Fake Webinar Platform to Ensnare Targets (darkreading.com)
North Korea
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerabilities
ConnectWise exploit could spur ‘ransomware free-for-all,’ expert warns | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Exploiting critical ConnectWise bug is 'embarrassingly easy' • The Register
Akira Ransomware Exploiting Cisco AnyConnect Vulnerability (gbhackers.com)
Microsoft Exchange flaw CVE-2024-21410 could impact up to 97,000 servers (securityaffairs.com)
VMware Alert: Uninstall EAP Now - Critical Flaw Puts Active Directory at Risk (thehackernews.com)
VMware issues no-patch advisory for critical flaw in old SSO plugin | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Russian-Linked Hackers Target 80+ Organisations via Roundcube Flaws (thehackernews.com)
ESET fixed high-severity local privilege escalation bug in Windows products (securityaffairs.com)
SolarWinds addressed critical RCEs in Access Rights Manager (securityaffairs.com)
Chrome 122, Firefox 123 Patch High-Severity Vulnerabilities - SecurityWeek
Critical Vulnerability in VMware vSphere Plug-in Allows Session Hijacking (darkreading.com)
Joomla XSS Bugs Open Millions of Websites to RCE (darkreading.com)
Zero-Click Apple Shortcuts Vulnerability Allows Silent Data Theft (darkreading.com)
Urgent patches available for QNAP vulnerabilities, one 0-day • The Register
Hackers exploit critical RCE flaw in Bricks WordPress site builder (bleepingcomputer.com)
Tools and Controls
Stuck in cyber attack nightmare? Call the negotiators (techxplore.com)
New Google Chrome feature blocks attacks against home networks (bleepingcomputer.com)
How Businesses Can Safeguard Their Communication Channels Against Hackers (thehackernews.com)
Limiting remote access exposure in hybrid work environments | CSO Online
Cyber Insurance Needs to Evolve to Ensure Greater Benefit (darkreading.com)
Active Directory outages can cost organisations $100,000 per day - Help Net Security
SOC Landscapes: Insights from SANS' 2023 SOC Report (trendmicro.com)
36% of code generated by GitHub CoPilot contains security flaws - Help Net Security
Microsoft expands free logging capabilities after May breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
Why ransomware gangs love using RMM tools—and how to stop them | Malwarebytes
Other News
The Power Sector’s High-Stakes Battle for Cyber-Resiliency (powermag.com)
Ways to elevate public sector cyber security | Professional Security
Increasing Europe's cyber resilience - government.lu (gouvernement.lu)
Industries most targeted by active adversaries | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
US govt shares cyber attack defence tips for water utilities (bleepingcomputer.com)
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.
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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.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 07 July 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 07 July 2023:
-Cyber Attacks Against Mobile Devices Growing Fast
-One Third of Security Breaches Go Unnoticed by Security Professionals
-Cyber Security Experts Have Become Targets for Board Seats
-Phishing Attack Prevention as Email Attacks Surge Over 450%
-Outsmarting Business Email Compromise Scammers
-Small Organisations Face Security Threats on a Limited Budget
-Cloud Security: Sometimes the Risks May Outweigh the Rewards
-Cl0p's MOVEit Campaign Represents a New Era in Cyber Attacks
-75% of Consumers Prepared to Ditch Brands Hit by Ransomware
-Scammers Using AI Voice Technology to Commit Crimes
-What are the Causes of Data Loss and What it the Impact on Your Organisation?
-Ransomware Affiliates, Triple Extortion, and the Dark Web Ecosystem
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 Attacks Against Mobile Devices Growing Fast
A rise in mobile-powered businesses is creating vulnerability gaps that are being exploited by cyber criminals and nation-states, according to a new report. 43% of all compromised devices were fully exploited, not just jailbroken or rooted, which is an increase of 187% year-over-year. The report found that the average user is 6 to 10 times more likely to fall for an SMS phishing attack than an email based attack.
It was also found that there was a 138% increase in critical Android vulnerabilities discovered in 2022, while Apple iOS accounted for 80% of the zero-day vulnerabilities actively being exploited in the wild. With malware increasingly spreading through legitimate channels, such as official marketplaces and ads in popular apps. This is true for both scam apps and dangerous mobile banking malware. For organisations, no matter if they are corporate-owned or part of a BYOD strategy, the need to implement appropriate security controls, and educate end-users about potential threats, is critical.
https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/mobile-cyberattacks-soar-andoird-users
One Third of Security Breaches Go Unnoticed by Security Professionals
While surface-level confidence around hybrid cloud security is high, with 94% of global respondents stating their security tools and processes provide them with complete visibility and insights into their IT infrastructure, the reality is nearly one third of security breaches are not spotted by IT and security professionals, according to a recent report.
The report highlighted that 50% of IT and security leaders lack confidence when it comes to knowing where their most sensitive data is stored and how it is secured. The issue is that 31% of breaches are being identified later down the line, rather than pre-emptively using security and observability tools either by data appearing on the dark web, files becoming inaccessible, or users experiencing slow application performance (likely due to DoS or inflight exfiltration). This number rises to 48% in the US, and 52% in Australia.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/07/03/hybrid-cloud-security-breaches/
Cyber Security Experts Have Become Targets for Board Seats
The need for strong cyber security programs is a vital part of doing business today, and a good reflection of that is adding security executives to Boards. The trend is for chief information security officers (CISOs) to be elevated to the board of directors, as risk and regulatory compliance become more visible in an organisation, many of the initiatives and controls will be security related, addressing those controls usually falls to the CISO.
The research also showed that 90% of public companies lack even one qualified cyber expert, showing a significant cyber board supply-demand gap. With only 15% of CISOs have broader traits required for board level positions, such as a holistic understanding of the business, a global perspective and ability to navigate a range of stakeholders, with another 33% having a subset of those necessary traits.
CISOs are hard to come by and few have the requisite Board level experience. To fill this gap Black Arrow provide a virtual CISO (vCISO) where you get a whole team of highly skilled and experienced professionals for less than you would pay for one permanent resource, and firms can also take advantage of Black Arrow’s Cyber NED, incorporating Board, Governance, Finance, HR and Risk experience with specialist cyber expertise and experience.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/03/cybersecurity-experts-have-become-targets-for-board-seats.html
Phishing Attack Prevention as Email Attacks Surge Over 450%
A Recent report found that email attacks had surged 464% this year compared to the previous year as phishing attacks remain amongst the most used tactics by attackers due to their high success rate and the ease in which they can be conducted. For preventing such attacks, the following principles will help mitigate: not clicking on unknown links, not trusting unknown sites, enabling multi-factor authentication, hardly disclosing personal information and having increased phishing awareness.
In an organisation, such awareness and principles can be highlighted and continually reinforced through having an effective awareness training programme. This in turn, will help to create a cyber aware culture and reduce the risk of someone in the organisation falling victim to phishing.
https://cybersecuritynews.com/phishing-attack-prevention-checklist/
Outsmarting Business Email Compromise (BEC) Scammers
Last year the FBI registered over 21,000 complaints about business email fraud, with adjusted losses of over $2.7 billion. Today this line of attack shows no sign of slowing down. Business email compromise (BEC) techniques are increasingly sophisticated and cyber crime-as-a-service (CaaS) along with AI have lowered the barrier to entry for threat actors.
There are six key elements which can help to mitigate the impact of BEC, these are; inbox protection, strong authentication, secure emails, zero-trust control, secure payment processes and education. Putting the brakes on this con game takes the entire organisation, from the C-suite and IT, compliance, and risk management teams to every business unit. Awareness, backed by policy and technology, is the crucial factor in a consistently strong defence.
https://www.darkreading.com/microsoft/6-steps-to-outsmarting-business-email-compromise-scammers
Small Organisations Face Security Threats on a Limited Budget
Small organisations face the same security threats as larger organisations overall but have less resources to address them. The most common security incidents faced are phishing, ransomware, and user account compromise also known as business email compromise (BEC). However, smaller organisations usually have fewer resources and experience with which to address security threats. Indeed, lack of budget is their top security challenge, reported by one in two small companies.
The lack of budget won’t stop a threat actor from attacking however, and so small organisations need to be able to effectively identify, prioritise and mitigate against security incidents. This may require small organisations outsourcing some of their cyber strategy, to allow them access to expertise.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/07/05/small-organizations-security-threats/
Cloud Security: Sometimes the Risks May Outweigh the Rewards
Threat actors are well-aware of the vulnerabilities in the cloud infrastructure. IT teams and decision-leadersmakers must have a clear understanding of the types of cloud services and the associated risk of cyber attacks associated. Around two in five (39%) businesses experienced a data breach in their cloud environment in 2022, a rise of 4% compared with 2021, a new report has found. The leading cause of cloud data breaches was human error, at 55%, according to the report. This was significantly above the next highest factor identified by respondents (21%), which was exploitation of vulnerabilities.
Other issues can arise from the cloud as it gives organisations the opportunity to create large amounts of infrastructure quickly and easily, which leaves it exposed to the possibility of substandard security configurations being applied to it. Due to the ease of use of cloud services, companies might become negligent in terms of their security.
https://cyber-reports.com/2023/07/03/cloud-security-sometimes-the-risks-may-outweigh-the-rewards/
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/human-error-cloud-data-breaches/
Cl0p's MOVEit Campaign Represents a New Era in Cyber Attacks
A number of organisations impacted by the mass hacks exploiting a security flaw in the MOVEit file transfer tool, including energy giant Shell and US-based First Merchants Bank, have confirmed that hackers accessed sensitive data. The ransomware group shows an evolution of its tactics with the MOVEit zero-day, potentially ushering in a new normal when it comes to extortion supply chain cyber attacks, experts say.
From what the industry has seen in recent Cl0p breaches, GoAnywhere, MFT and MOVEit, they have not executed ransomware to encrypt data within the target environments. The operations have strictly been exfiltrating data and using that stolen information for later blackmail and extortion. The MOVEit vulnerability isn't an easy or straightforward one, it required extensive research into the MOVEit platform to discover, understand, and exploit this vulnerability. The skill set required to uncover and exploit this vulnerability isn't easily learned and is hard to come by in the industry. This operation isn't something Cl0p ransomware group usually does, which is another clue leading to suspect Cl0p acquired the MOVEit zero-day vulnerability rather than developing it from scratch. Something future groups may decide to adopt.
https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/c10p-moveit-campaign-new-era-cyberattacks
75% of Consumers Prepared to Ditch Brands Hit by Ransomware
As 40% of consumers harbour scepticism regarding organisations’ data protection capabilities, 75% would shift to alternate companies following a ransomware attack a recent report found. Furthermore, consumers request increased data protection from vendors, with 55% favouring companies with comprehensive data protection measures such as reliable backup and recovery, password protection, and identity and access management strategies.
While 37% of Gen Z prefers an apology from companies experiencing a ransomware attack, ranking 12% higher than monetary compensation, Baby Boomers are less forgiving. 74% of them agree their trust in the vendor is irreparably damaged after suffering more than one ransomware attack, compared to only 34% of Gen Z.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/07/05/consumers-data-protection-request/
Scammers Using AI Voice Technology to Commit Crimes
The usage of platforms like Cash App, Zelle, and Venmo for peer-to-peer payments has experienced a significant surge, with scams increasing by over 58%. Additionally, there has been a corresponding rise of 44% in scams stemming from the theft of personal documents according to a recent report.
The report also highlights the rise of AI voice scams as a significant trend in 2023. AI voice technology enables scammers to create remarkably realistic voices and convincingly imitate family members, friends and other trusted individuals. With just a short voice clip usually taken from social media, a scammer can clone a loved one’s voice and call a victim pretending to be that person. The scammer deceives the victim into thinking their loved one is in distress to get them to send money, provide personal information or perform other actions. AI voice technology has gotten to the point where a mother can’t tell the difference between her child’s voice and a machine, and scammers have pounced on this to commit crimes.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/07/07/ai-voice-cloning-scams/
What are the Causes of Data Loss and What it the Impact on Your Organisation?
In today’s digital age, data has become the lifeblood of organisations, driving critical decision-making, improving operational efficiency, and allowing for smoother innovation. Simply put, businesses heavily rely on data. In an era where data has become the cornerstone of business operations, the loss of vital information can result in severe setbacks and irreparable damage. Whether it’s due to accidental deletion, hardware failure, cyber-attacks, or natural disasters, the loss of valuable data can have devastating impacts on an organisation.
It's imperative that businesses understand different types of data (structured, unstructured, semi-structured, metadata) and deploy tailored protection strategies. A significant 26% of companies suffered data loss in 2022, underlining the need for robust data security measures like regular backups, cyber security protocols, employee training, and data encryption. Effective data loss prevention can shield organisations from severe impacts like intellectual property theft, operation disruption, and legal repercussions.
https://securityaffairs.com/148086/security/impacts-of-data-loss.html
Ransomware Affiliates, Triple Extortion, and the Dark Web Ecosystem
Many people associate the dark web with drugs, crime, and leaked credentials, but in recent years the dark web has emerged as a complex and interdependent cyber crime ecosystem, exemplified by the increasingly complex methods used to extort companies.
One of the more recent trends we see is that groups are now setting up infrastructure, in some cases outsourcing actual infection (and in some cases negotiation) to “affiliates” who effectively act as contractors to the Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) group and split the profits at the end of a successful attacks. The world of cyber crime is ever-evolving and it is no easy task to stay on top of the changing landscape.
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Cyber Security experts have become targets for board seats (cnbc.com)
The Impacts of Data Loss on Your Organisation -Security Affairs
One third of security breaches go unnoticed by security professionals - Help Net Security
Small organisations face security threats on a limited budget - Help Net Security
How to cultivate a culture of continuous cyber Security improvement - Help Net Security
CISOs Find 'Business as Usual' Shows the Harsh Realities of Cyber-Risk (darkreading.com)
Mitigate Top 5 Common Cyber Security Vulnerabilities (trendmicro.com)
Cyber Security's Future Hinges on Stronger Public-Private Partnerships (darkreading.com)
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
75% of consumers prepared to ditch brands hit by ransomware - Help Net Security
More than 16 million people and counting have had data exposed in MOVEit breaches (therecord.media)
Cl0p's MOVEit Campaign Represents a New Era in Cyber Attacks (darkreading.com)
Encryption-less ransomware: Warning issued over emerging attack method for threat actors | ITPro
Malvertising: A stealthy precursor to infostealers and ransomware attacks (malwarebytes.com)
8Base ransomware group leaks data of 67 victim organisations - Help Net Security
Cyber Security Awareness Training to Fight Ransomware (trendmicro.com)
Ransomware Affiliates, Triple Extortion, and the Dark Web Ecosystem (bleepingcomputer.com)
BlackCat Operators Distributing Ransomware Disguised as WinSCP via Malvertising (thehackernews.com)
Seven ways to prepare for double extortion ransomware | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
The rise in cyber extortion attacks and its impact on business security - Help Net Security
University of California sues Lloyd’s of London in cyber insurance dispute | CSO Online
Ransomware Criminals Are Dumping Kids' Private Files Online After School Hacks - SecurityWeek
Ransomware accounts for 54% of cyber threats in the health sector- Security Affairs
Avast released a free decryptor for Windows version of Akira ransomware- Security Affairs
FIS Global Data Breach: Cyber Attack On FIS Global Follows MOVEit Mayhem (thecyberexpress.com)
How ransomware impacts the healthcare industry - Help Net Security
June saw flurry of ransomware attacks on education sector | TechTarget
Decryption tool for Akira ransomware available for free | Tripwire
Japanese Port of Nagoya Resumes Operations After 2-Day Russian Ransomware Attack - MSSP Alert
Ransomware Victims
Shell Confirms MOVEit-Related Breach After Ransomware Group Leaks Data - SecurityWeek
Dublin airport staff’s pay and benefits compromised in cyber attack (thetimes.co.uk)
Japan’s largest port stops operations after ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russians may have hacked NHS trust with 2.5 million patients (telegraph.co.uk)
More than 16 million people and counting have had data exposed in MOVEit breaches (therecord.media)
8Base ransomware group leaks data of 67 victim organisations - Help Net Security
Dublin airport staff’s pay and benefits compromised in cyber attack (thetimes.co.uk)
FIS Global Data Breach: Cyber Attack On FIS Global Follows MOVEit Mayhem (thecyberexpress.com)
MOVEit Hacks Ensnare US Department of Health and Human Services - Bloomberg
UCLA among victims of worldwide cyber attack – NBC Los Angeles
BlackCat Hacking Gang Says It Stole Data from UK's Barts Health NHS Trust - Bloomberg
Chipmaker TSMC says supplier targeted in cyber Attack | Reuters
MOVEit hack impacts US financial services provider for academics | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Email Cyber Attacks Spiked Nearly 500% in First Half of 2023, Acronis Reports - MSSP Alert
Phishing Attack Prevention Checklist - A Detailed Guide (cybersecuritynews.com)
African Nations Face Escalating Phishing & Compromised Password Cyber Attacks (darkreading.com)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Quishing on the rise: How to prevent QR code phishing | TechTarget
Why cyberpsychology is such an important part of effective cyber Security | CSO Online
Artificial Intelligence
Microsoft, OpenAI sued for ChatGPT 'privacy violations' • The Register
Cyber Criminals can break voice authentication with 99% success rate - Help Net Security
Dutch counterterrorism agency says Generative AI is posing new cyber threats | NL Times
AI-generated attack vectors cyber Security should watch for (fastcompany.com)
OpenAI Pauses ChatGPT's 'Browse With Bing' as Users Bypass Paywalls (gizmodo.com)
Promoting responsible AI: Balancing innovation and regulation - Help Net Security
GPT-4 is great at infuriating telemarketing scammers • The Register
3 Reasons SaaS Security is the Imperative First Step to Ensuring Secure AI Usage (thehackernews.com)
Malware
Microsoft Teams Exploit Tool Auto-Delivers Malware (darkreading.com)
Experts detected a new variant of RUSTBUCKET macOS malware- Security Affairs
Iranian Hackers' Sophisticated Malware Targets Windows and macOS Users (thehackernews.com)
CISA: Truebot malware infecting networks in US, Canada | TechTarget
Mockingjay - A New Injection Technique to Bypass EDR (cybersecuritynews.com)
Malvertising: A stealthy precursor to infostealers and ransomware attacks (malwarebytes.com)
Mobile
Android Security Updates Patch 3 Exploited Vulnerabilities - SecurityWeek
Mobile Cyber Attacks Soar, Especially Against Android Users (darkreading.com)
Android users at risk as banking trojan targets more apps | Fox News
Cyber Attacks Against Mobile Devices Growing Fast - MSSP Alert
We can’t trust the Government to protect your privacy, says boss of Signal (telegraph.co.uk)
Apps with 1.5M installs on Google Play send your data to China (bleepingcomputer.com)
Botnets
Twitter's bot spam keeps getting worse — it's about porn this time (bleepingcomputer.com)
Botnets Send Exploits Within Days to Weeks After Published PoC (darkreading.com)
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
CISA issues DDoS warning after attacks hit multiple US orgs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russian Hacktivist Platform 'DDoSia' Grows Exponentially (darkreading.com)
Data Breaches/Leaks
FIS Global Data Breach: Cyber Attack On FIS Global Follows MOVEit Mayhem (thecyberexpress.com)
Microsoft denies data breach, theft of 30 million customer accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)
Capita’s own pension scheme suffered data breach in March hack | Financial Times (ft.com)Russians may have hacked NHS trust with 2.5 million patients (telegraph.co.uk)
Cyber Attacks and Data Breaches in Review: June 2023 - IT Governance Blog En
The Impacts of Data Loss on Your Organisation- Security Affairs
Nickelodeon investigates breach after leak of 'decades old’ data (bleepingcomputer.com)
OpenAI lawsuit reignites privacy debate over data scraping | CyberScoop
28,000 Impacted by Data Breach at Pepsi Bottling Ventures - SecurityWeek
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Meduza Stealer targets tens of crypto wallers and pwd managers- Security Affairs
$7.8 Billion Lost to Crypto Ponzi Schemes in 2022: Report (cryptopotato.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Google Searches for 'USPS Package Tracking' Leads to Banking Theft (darkreading.com)
Support from British businesses crucial in removing over... - NCSC.GOV.UK
GPT-4 is great at infuriating telemarketing scammers • The Register
Ex-Amazon manager who stole $9m+ gets 16 years in prison • The Register
$7.8 Billion Lost to Crypto Ponzi Schemes in 2022: Report (cryptopotato.com)
Deepfakes
Scammers using AI voice technology to commit crimes - Help Net Security
Cyber Criminals can break voice authentication with 99% success rate - Help Net Security
AML/CFT/Sanctions
Insurance
University of California sues Lloyd’s of London in cyber insurance dispute | CSO Online
Find A Cyber Insurance Policy That Fits Your Small Business Budget (forbes.com)
Cyber insurance rates drop 10% in June, report says | Reuters
How Pen Testing can Soften the Blow on Rising Costs of Cyber Insurance (thehackernews.com)
How Cyber Insurance Can Help Relieve The Costs Of A Cyber Attack (forbes.com)
Dark Web
Ransomware Affiliates, Triple Extortion, and the Dark Web Ecosystem (bleepingcomputer.com)
Deep Web vs Dark Web: What’s the Difference? - Keeper (keepersecurity.com)
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Software Supply Chain
Cloud/SaaS
Microsoft Teams Exploit Tool Auto-Delivers Malware (darkreading.com)
Japan rebukes Fujitsu for cloud security fails • The Register
IT leaders believe hybrid cloud solutions are the future of IT - Help Net Security
Microsoft investigates Outlook.com bug breaking email search (bleepingcomputer.com)
11 best practices for securing data in the cloud | Microsoft Security Blog
3 Reasons SaaS Security is the Imperative First Step to Ensuring Secure AI Usage (thehackernews.com)
Attack Surface Management
Encryption
Cyber Criminals Hijacking Vulnerable SSH Servers in New Proxyjacking Campaign (thehackernews.com)
Apple, Civil Liberty Groups Condemn UK Online Safety Bill - SecurityWeek
API
Open Source
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
High school changes every student’s password to ‘Ch@ngeme!’ | TechCrunch
Evasive Meduza Stealer Targets 19 Password Managers and 76 Crypto Wallets (thehackernews.com)
Social Media
Twitter's bot spam keeps getting worse — it's about porn this time (bleepingcomputer.com)
EU Court Deals Blow to Meta in German Data Case - SecurityWeek
Privacy Woes Hold Up Global Instagram Threads Launch (darkreading.com)
Malvertising
Training, Education and Awareness
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Apple, Civil Liberty Groups Condemn UK Online Safety Bill - SecurityWeek
EU Court Deals Blow to Meta in German Data Case - SecurityWeek
Promoting responsible AI: Balancing innovation and regulation - Help Net Security
European companies slam the EU’s incoming AI regulations in open letter - The Verge
Models, Frameworks and Standards
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Crack the Code: How to Secure Your Dream Cyber Security Career - IT Security Guru
3 Ways to Build a More Skilled Cyber Security Workforce (darkreading.com)
Make Diversity the 'How,' Not the 'What,' of Cyber Security Success (darkreading.com)
CISO Speaks: Resilience and Avoiding Burnout - IT Security Guru
Top 5 Free Online Cyber Security Courses in 2023 (analyticsinsight.net)
ISACA joins ECSO to strengthen cyber Security and digital skills in Europe - Help Net Security
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage
Russia
Russians may have hacked NHS trust with 2.5 million patients (telegraph.co.uk)
Satellite system used by Russian military is hacked - The Washington Post
Russian Hacktivist Platform 'DDoSia' Grows Exponentially (darkreading.com)
Russian railway site allegedly taken down by Ukrainian hackers (therecord.media)
China
US authorities warn on China’s new counter-espionage la' • The Register
Chinese Threat Actors Targeting Europe in SmugX Campaign - Check Point Research
Chinese threat actor attacks diplomats across Europe • The Register
Apps with 1.5M installs on Google Play send your data to China (bleepingcomputer.com)
Iran
Iran-Linked APT35 Targets Israeli Media With Upgraded Spear-Phishing Tools (darkreading.com)
Iranian Hackers' Sophisticated Malware Targets Windows and macOS Users (thehackernews.com)
North Korea
Experts detected a new variant of RUSTBUCKET macOS malware- Security Affairs
North Korean satellite had no military utility for spying • The Register
Misc/Other/Unknown
Vulnerability Management
Botnets Send Exploits Within Days to Weeks After Published PoC (darkreading.com)
Mitigate Top 5 Common Cyber Security Vulnerabilities (trendmicro.com)
Vulnerabilities
300,000+ Fortinet firewalls vulnerable to critical FortiOS RCE bug (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft puts out Outlook fire, downplays Teams flaw • The Register
WordPress plugin lets users become admins – Patch early, patch often! – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Cyber Criminals Hijacking Vulnerable SSH Servers in New Proxyjacking Campaign (thehackernews.com)
Firefox 115 Patches High-Severity Use-After-Free Vulnerabilities - SecurityWeek
Microsoft fixes bug behind Windows LSA protection warnings, again (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cisco warns of bug that lets attackers break traffic encryption (bleepingcomputer.com)
StackRot Linux Kernel Bug Has Exploit Code on the Way (darkreading.com)
Tools and Controls
Cyber Security Awareness Training to Fight Ransomware (trendmicro.com)
Attack surface visibility a top CISO priority amid growing attacks: Report | CSO Online
VMware, Other Tech Giants Announce Push for Confidential Computing Standards - SecurityWeek
Small organisations face security threats on a limited budget - Help Net Security
11 best practices for securing data in the cloud | Microsoft Security Blog
How Pen Testing can Soften the Blow on Rising Costs of Cyber Insurance (thehackernews.com)
How Cyber Insurance Can Help Relieve The Costs Of A Cyber Attack (forbes.com)
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
Foreign spies hacked government 20 years ago (thetimes.co.uk)
GCHQ Reveals Details of State-Backed Breach - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Police investigate stolen exam papers after cyber attack (schoolsweek.co.uk)
VMware, Other Tech Giants Announce Push for Confidential Computing Standards - SecurityWeek
Why Schools are Low-Hanging Fruit for Cyber Criminals - IT Security Guru
Hacks targeting British exam boards raise fears of students cheating (therecord.media)
Cyber Attacks and Data Breaches in Review: June 2023 - IT Governance Blog En
Is your browser betraying you? Emerging threats in 2023 - Help Net Security
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.
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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.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 23rd June 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 23 June 2023:
-How the MOVEit Breach Shows Hackers' Interest in Corporate File Transfer Tools
-Attackers Discovering Exposed Cloud Assets Within Minutes
-Majority of Users Neglect Best Password Practices
-One in Three Workers Susceptible to Phishing
-Ransomware Misconceptions Abound, to the Benefit of Attackers
-Threat Actors Scale and Commoditise Uncommon Tools and Techniques
-Goodbyes are Difficult, IT Offboarding Processes Make Them Harder
-Security Budget Hikes are Missing the Mark, CISOs Say
-Understanding Cyber Resilience: Building a Holistic Approach to Cyber Security
-Emerging Ransomware Group 8Base Releasing Data on SMBs Globally
-Cyber Security Industry Still Fighting to Recruit and Retain Talent
-Financial Firms to Build Resilience in Face of Growing Cyber-Threats
-Fulfilling Expected SEC Requirements for Cyber Security Expertise at Board Level
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 Industry Still Fighting to Recruit and Retain Talent
Cyber security teams are struggling to find the right talent, with the right skills, and to retain experienced employees. The situation is only likely to worsen, as inflation and a tight labour market push up wages. Universities produce graduates with a strong focus on technical knowledge, but not always the broader skills they need to operate in a business environment. This includes the lack of communications skills, understanding of how businesses operate and even emotional intelligence. One solution is to outsource to a corporate cyber security provider or outsource to infill shortages whilst trying to recruit permanent staff.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cybersecurity-industry-recruit/
How the MOVEit Breach Shows Hackers' Interest in Corporate File Transfer Tools
The world of managed file transfer (MFT) software has become a lucrative target for ransom-seeking hackers, with significant breaches including those of Accellion Inc's File Transfer Appliance in 2021 and Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT earlier this year. These MFT programs, corporate versions of popular file sharing programs like Dropbox or WeTransfer, are highly desirable to hackers for the sensitive data they often transfer between organisations and partners. The recent mass compromise tied to Progress Software Corp's MOVEit transfer product has prompted governments and companies worldwide to scramble in response.
Hackers are shifting their tactics, with an increasing focus on MFT programs which typically face the open internet, making them more vulnerable to breaches. Once inside these file transfer points, hackers have direct access to a wealth of data. In addition, there's a noticeable shift from ransomware groups encrypting a company's network and demanding payment to unscramble it, to a simpler tactic of pure extortion by threatening to leak the data.
Attackers Discovering Exposed Cloud Assets within Minutes
The shift to cloud services, increased remote work, and reliance on third-parties has led to widespread use of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications. This has also opened avenues for attackers to exploit weak security configurations and identities. Over the past year, attackers have intercepted authorisation tokens, bypassed multifactor authentication, and exploited misconfigured systems, targeting critical applications like GitHub, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack, and Okta. A study revealed alarmingly fast rates of breach discovery and compromise of exposed cloud assets, with assets being discovered within as little as two minutes for some and others within an hour.
https://www.darkreading.com/dr-tech/growing-saas-usage-means-larger-attack-surface
Majority of Users Neglect Best Password Practices
The latest Password Management Report by Keeper Security has shed light on the concerning state of password security practices. The survey found that only 25% of respondents used solid and unique passwords. In comparison, 34% admitted to using repeat variations of passwords, and 30% still relied on simple and easily guessable passwords. The survey also found that 44% of individuals who claimed to have well-managed passwords still admitted to using repeated variations, while 20% acknowledged having had at least one password involved in a data breach or available on the dark web. The document also revealed that 35% of respondents feel overwhelmed when it comes to improving their cyber security. Furthermore, 10% admitted to neglecting password management altogether. More generally, Keeper Security said the survey’s findings highlight a significant gap between perception and reality regarding password security.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/users-neglect-best-password/
One in Three Workers Susceptible to Phishing
More than one in three workers in the UK and Ireland are susceptible to falling for phishing attacks, according to the new 2023 Phishing by Industry Benchmarking Report by KnowBe4. The study found that 35% of users who had received no security training were prone to clicking on suspicious links or engaging in fraudulent actions. Regular training and continual reinforcement can get this figure down but even with training very few organisations ever get click rates down to zero, and you only need one person to click to cause potentially devastating consequences.
Globally, ransomware was responsible for 24% of all data breaches in 2023, with human error accounting for 74% of these incidents. Phishing attacks can often lead to significant reputational damage, financial loss and disruption to business operations.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/one-in-three-phishing/
Ransomware Misconceptions Abound, to the Benefit of Attackers
There is a common ransomware misperception that there's no capability to fight this all too common hostage taking of business data. This is not true. Proactive organisations are increasingly making more strategic use of threat intelligence to prevent or disrupt attacks.
Ransomware has evolved into a massive, often state-sponsored, industry where operators buy, develop, and resell ransomware code, infiltrate networks, and collect ransoms. The perception that a speedy response is critical to prevent data encryption and loss is outdated; attackers now focus on data exfiltration, using ransomware as a distraction. They often target smaller organisations that are linked to larger ones through supply chains, using them as stepping stones. It is important to use in-depth defence measures, including email security to prevent phishing and efficient detection and response systems to identify and recover from changes.
Threat Actors Scale and Commoditise Uncommon Tools and Techniques
Proofpoint’s 2023 Human Factor report highlights significant developments in the cyber attack landscape in 2022. Following two years of pandemic-induced disruption, cyber criminals returned to their usual operations, honing their social engineering skills and commoditising once sophisticated attack techniques. There was a noticeable increase in brute-force and targeted attacks on cloud tenants, conversational smishing attacks, and multifactor authentication (MFA) bypasses. Microsoft 365 formed a large part of organisations' attack surfaces and faced broad abuse, from Office macros to OneNote documents.
Despite some advances in security controls, threat actors continue to innovate and scale their bypasses. Techniques like MFA bypass and telephone-oriented attack delivery are now commonplace. Attackers consistently exploit people, who remain the most critical variable in the attack chain.
Goodbyes are Difficult, IT Offboarding Processes Make Them Harder
A recent survey found that 68% of organisations recognise the offboarding process as a major cyber security risk, but only 36% have adequate controls in place to secure data access when employees depart. The study revealed that 60% of organisations have discovered former employees still had access to corporate applications after leaving, and 52% have had security incidents linked to former employees. Interestingly, IT professionals are not always alerted when employees leave, leading to access not being revoked and IT assets being mishandled 34% of the time.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/06/19/it-offboarding-processes/
Security Budget Hikes are Missing the Mark, CISOs Say
Misguided expectations on security spend are causing problems for CISOs despite notable budget increases. A recent report found that while most CISOs are experiencing noteworthy increases in security funding, impractical expectations of budget holders are leading to significant amounts being spent on what’s hitting the headlines instead of strategic, business-centric investment in security defences. This lack of understanding shows that a lot of work needs to be done to ensure that information security receives the attention it deserves, especially in the boardroom.
The report found that just 9% of CISOs said information security is always in the top three priorities on the boardroom’s meeting agenda, and less than a quarter (22%) of CISOs are actively participating in business strategy and decision-making processes. Talking to the board about cyber security in a way that is productive can be a significant challenge for CISOs, and failing to do so effectively can result in confusion, disillusionment, and a lack of cohesion among directors, the security function, and the rest of the organisation.
https://www.csoonline.com/article/3700073/security-budget-hikes-are-missing-the-mark-cisos-say.html
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/06/22/average-cybersecurity-budget-increase/
Understanding Cyber Resilience: Building a Holistic Approach to Cyber Security
In today’s interconnected world, the threat of cyber attacks is a constant concern for organisations of all sizes and across all industries. Cyber resilience entails not only making it difficult for attackers to infiltrate your systems but also ensuring that your organisation can bounce back quickly and continue operations successfully.
Cyber resilience offers a holistic approach to cyber security, emphasising the ability to withstand and recover from cyber attacks. By adopting the right mindset, leveraging advanced technology, addressing cyber hygiene, and measuring key metrics, organisations can enhance their cyber resilience. Additionally, collaboration within industries and proactive board engagement are crucial for effective risk management. As cyber threats continue to evolve, organisations must prioritise cyber resilience as an ongoing journey, continuously adapting and refining their strategies to stay ahead of malicious actors.
Emerging Ransomware Group 8Base Releasing Confidential Data from SMBs Globally
A ransomware group that operated under the radar for over a year has come to light in recent weeks, thanks to a series of business data leaks on the Dark Web. Since at least April 2022, 8base has been conducting double-extortion attacks against small and midsized businesses (SMBs). It all came to a head in May, when the group dumped data belonging to 67 organisations on the cyber underground.
Not much is known yet about the group's tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), likely due to the low profile of their victims. The victims span science and technology, manufacturing, retail, construction, healthcare, and more, with victims from as far afield as India, Peru, Madagascar and Brazil, amongst others.
https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/emerging-ransomware-8base-doxxes-smbs-globally
Financial Firms to Build Resilience in Face of Growing Cyber-Threats
Cyber resilience is now a key component of operational resilience for the UK’s financial markets, according to a Bank of England official. Cyber attacks have increased by 38% in 2022, and the range of firms and organisations being impacted seems to grow broader and broader.
Regulators want to see how financial firms will cope with an attack, and its impact on the wider financial services ecosystem. Similar work is being done at an international level by the G7, which has its own cyber expert group. In the UK, the main tools for improving resilience are threat intelligence sharing, better coordination between firms, regulators, the Bank and the Treasury, and penetration testing including CBEST. Financial services firms should have scenario specific playbooks, to set out how to contain intruders and stop them spreading to clients and counterparties. In the past, simulation exercises have been used to model terrorist incidents and pandemics and they are now being used to model cyber attacks.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/financial-firms-to-build-resilience/
Fulfilling Expected SEC Requirements for Cyber Security Expertise at Board Level
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to introduce a rule requiring demonstration of cyber security expertise at the board level for public companies. A recent study found that currently up to 90% of companies in the Russell 3000 lack even a single director with the necessary cyber expertise. The simplest and speediest solution would be to promote the existing CISO, provided they have the appropriate qualities and experience, to the board but that would require transplanting a focused operational executive into a strategic business advisory role. A credible alternative is to bring in a cyber focused Non-Executive Director with the appropriate skills and experience.
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Why assessing third parties for security risk is still an unsolved problem | CSO Online
Navigating the Complex World of Cyber security Compliance - MSSP Alert
Security budget hikes are missing the mark, CISOs say | CSO Online
How to Weather the Coming Cyber security Storm - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Certifications are no guarantee of security - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Increased spending doesn't translate to improved cyber security posture - Help Net Security
Placing People & Realism at the Center of Your Cyber security Strategy (darkreading.com)
CISOs’ New Stressors Brought on by Digitalization: Report - SecurityWeek
Fulfilling Expected SEC Requirements for Cyber security Expertise at Board Level - SecurityWeek
From details to big picture: how to improve security effectiveness | CIO
IT Staff Increasingly Saddled with Data Protection Compliance (darkreading.com)
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Explainer: How MOVEit breach shows hackers' interest in corporate file transfer tools | Reuters
Ransomware Misconceptions Abound, to the Benefit of Attackers (darkreading.com)
US Offers $10m Reward For MOVEit Attackers - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Data leak at Australian law firm spooks government, business • The Register
Fresh Ransomware Gangs Emerge As Market Leaders Decline (darkreading.com)
Emerging Ransomware Group 8Base Doxxes SMBs Globally (darkreading.com)
A Russian national charged for committing LockBit Ransomware attacks - Security Affairs
Rorschach Ransomware: What You Need to Know (darkreading.com)
Ransomware is only getting faster: Six steps to a stronger defence (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware gang preys on cancer centers, triggers alert | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Ransomware attacks pose communications dilemmas for local governments | CSO Online
LockBit Developing Ransomware for Apple M1 Chips, Embedded Systems (darkreading.com)
Ransomware Victims
Australian Government Says Its Data Was Stolen in Law Firm Ransomware Attack - SecurityWeek
Hackers threaten to release photos of Beverly Hills plastic surgery patients (bitdefender.com)
Norton Parent Says Employee Data Stolen in MOVEit Ransomware Attack - SecurityWeek
BlackCat gang threatens to leak plastic surgery photos • The Register
Reddit confirms BlackCat ransomware gang stole its data • The Register
Adur and Worthing Councils investigating after contractor data breach | The Argus
Iowa’s largest school district confirms ransomware attack, data theft (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers warn University of Manchester students’ of imminent data leak (bleepingcomputer.com)
USDA is investigating a 'possible data breach' related to global Russian cyber criminal hack | CNN
Avast, Norton Parent Latest Victim of MOVEit Ransomware Attacks (darkreading.com)
MOVEit Vulnerability Breaches Targeted Fed Agencies (trendmicro.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Cyber crime: what does psychology have to do with phishing? – podcast | Science | The Guardian
Hackers Will Be Quick to Bypass Gmail's Blue Check Verification System (darkreading.com)
UPS discloses data breach after exposed customer info used in SMS phishing (bleepingcomputer.com)
Insurance companies neglect basic email security - Help Net Security
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Artificial Intelligence
How generative AI is creating new classes of security threats | VentureBeat
Over 100,000 Stolen ChatGPT Account Credentials Sold on Dark Web Marketplaces (thehackernews.com)
‘With hackers adopting AI, it’s a cat-and-mouse game’ | Mint (livemint.com)
ChatGPT and data protection laws: Compliance challenges for businesses - Help Net Security
Google Tells Employees to Stay Away from Its Bard Chatbot (gizmodo.com)
Malware
Attacker seizes abandoned S3 bucket to launch malicious payloads | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Hackers use fake OnlyFans pics to drop info-stealing malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Researchers Discover New Sophisticated Toolkit Targeting Apple macOS Systems (thehackernews.com)
Mysterious Mystic Stealer Spreads Like Wildfire in Mere Months (darkreading.com)
Hackers infect Linux SSH servers with Tsunami botnet malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
To kill BlackLotus malware, patching is a good start, but... • The Register
Microsoft Teams bug allows malware delivery from external accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)
APT37 hackers deploy new FadeStealer eavesdropping malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
ScarCruft Hackers Exploit Ably Service for Stealthy Wiretapping Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Chinese Hacker Group 'Flea' Targets American Ministries with Graphican Backdoor (thehackernews.com)
USB Drives Spread Spyware as China's Mustang Panda APT Goes Global (darkreading.com)
NSA shares tips on blocking BlackLotus UEFI malware attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Chinese malware accidentally infects networked storage • The Register
ChamelDoH: New Linux Backdoor Utilising DNS-over-HTTPS Tunneling for Covert CnC (thehackernews.com)
Mobile
SMS delivery reports can be used to infer recipient's location (bleepingcomputer.com)
Apple fixes zero-days used to deploy Triangulation spyware via iMessage (bleepingcomputer.com)
Android spyware camouflaged as VPN, chat apps on Google Play (bleepingcomputer.com)
Botnets
Romanian cyber crime gang Diicot builds DDoS botnet with Mirai variant | CSO Online
New Condi malware builds DDoS botnet out of TP-Link AX21 routers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers infect Linux SSH servers with Tsunami botnet malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mirai botnet targets 22 flaws in D-Link, Zyxel, Netgear devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Police crack down on DDoS-for-hire service active since 2013 (bleepingcomputer.com)
New Condi malware builds DDoS botnet out of TP-Link AX21 routers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Zeeland port website hit by DDOS attack, possibly by Russian hackers | NL Times
From Cryptojacking to DDoS Attacks: Diicot Expands Tactics with Cayosin Botnet (thehackernews.com)
Internet of Things – IoT
Romanian cyber crime gang Diicot builds DDoS botnet with Mirai variant | CSO Online
Smart Pet Feeders Expose Personal Data - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Security for embedded devices is ignored by too many companies, expert says | Fierce Electronics
Our cities are becoming increasingly automated—and we’re not ready (fastcompany.com)
US Military Personnel Receiving Unsolicited, Suspicious Smartwatches - SecurityWeek
Mirai botnet targets 22 flaws in D-Link, Zyxel, Netgear devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
Data Breaches/Leaks
Data leak at Australian law firm spooks government, business • The Register
Australian Government Says Its Data Was Stolen in Law Firm Ransomware Attack - SecurityWeek
Mondelez says crooks stole staff data in security breach • The Register
UPS discloses data breach after exposed customer info used in SMS phishing (bleepingcomputer.com)
Reddit hackers threaten to leak data stolen in February breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
Australia Inc roiled by raft of cyber attacks since late 2022 - The Economic Times (indiatimes.com)
SSD missing from SAP datacenter turns up on eBay • The Register
Smart Pet Feeders Expose Personal Data - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Hackers warn University of Manchester students’ of imminent data leak (bleepingcomputer.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Crypto and Cyber Security: A Complex Relationship (analyticsinsight.net)
Cyber attackers Got More Creative Post-Pandemic, Proofpoint Study Finds - MSSP Alert
The Great Exodus to Telegram: A Tour of the New Cyber crime Underground (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Crypto and Cyber Security: A Complex Relationship (analyticsinsight.net)
Blockchain security: Everything you should know for safe use | TechTarget
From Cryptojacking to DDoS Attacks: Diicot Expands Tactics with Cayosin Botnet (thehackernews.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Influencers in firing line as France tackles scams - BBC News
Keep Job Scams From Hurting Your Organisation (darkreading.com)
Impersonation Attacks
AML/CFT/Sanctions
Dark Web
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Capita faces first legal Letter of Claim over mega breach • The Register
Why assessing third parties for security risk is still an unsolved problem | CSO Online
Mondelez says crooks stole staff data in security breach • The Register
Untangling the web of supply chain security with Tony Turner - Help Net Security
Software Supply Chain
Cloud/SaaS
Growing SaaS Usage Means Larger Attack Surface (darkreading.com)
Explainer: How MOVEit breach shows hackers' interest in corporate file transfer tools | Reuters
A new threat to financial stability lurks in the cloud | Financial Times (ft.com)
Cloud CISO Perspectives: Early June 2023 | Google Cloud Blog
Western Digital Blocks Unpatched Devices From Cloud Services - SecurityWeek
Attacker seizes abandoned S3 bucket to launch malicious payloads | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Attackers discovering exposed cloud assets within minutes | TechTarget
Cloud-native security hinges on open source - Help Net Security
Hybrid Microsoft network/cloud legacy settings may impact your future security posture | CSO Online
US cyber ambassador says China can win on AI, cloud • The Register
Hybrid/Remote Working
Shadow IT
Identity and Access Management
Encryption
Quantum hacking alert: Critical vulnerabilities found in quantum key distribution (techxplore.com)
The US Navy, NATO, and NASA are using a shady Chinese company’s encryption chips | Ars Technica
Physics - Long-Range Quantum Cryptography Gets Simpler (aps.org)
API
Open Source
Hackers infect Linux SSH servers with Tsunami botnet malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cloud-native security hinges on open source - Help Net Security
ChamelDoH: New Linux Backdoor Utilising DNS-over-HTTPS Tunneling for Covert CnC (thehackernews.com)
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
The future of passwords and authentication - Help Net Security
These are the most hacked passwords. Is yours on the list? | ZDNET
Social Media
Influencers in firing line as France tackles scams - BBC News
Reddit hackers threaten to leak data stolen in February breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
Training, Education and Awareness
Digital Transformation
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
ChatGPT and data protection laws: Compliance challenges for businesses - Help Net Security
Bill allowing CISA to assist foreign governments passes Senate committee | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Fulfilling Expected SEC Requirements for Cyber security Expertise at Board Level - SecurityWeek
Models, Frameworks and Standards
The significance of CIS Control mapping in the 2023 Verizon DBIR - Help Net Security
What is PCI Compliance? 12 Requirements and More Explained | Definition from TechTarget
Secure Disposal
Data Protection
ChatGPT and data protection laws: Compliance challenges for businesses - Help Net Security
Consumer Data: The Risk and Reward for Manufacturing Companies (darkreading.com)
IT Staff Increasingly Saddled with Data Protection Compliance (darkreading.com)
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
8 notable entry-level cyber security career and skills initiatives in 2023 | CSO Online
UK military is struggling to recruit tech experts, says report | Financial Times (ft.com)
Certifications are no guarantee of security - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Google announces $20 million investment for cyber clinics | CyberScoop
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Police crack down on DDoS-for-hire service active since 2013 (bleepingcomputer.com)
Megaupload duo will go to prison at last, but Kim Dotcom fights on… – Naked Security (sophos.com)
A Russian national charged for committing LockBit Ransomware attacks - Security Affairs
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Killnet Threatens Imminent SWIFT, World Banking Attacks (darkreading.com)
A Newly Named Group of GRU Hackers is Wreaking Havoc in Ukraine | WIRED
Russia sent its reserve team to wipe Ukrainian hard drives • The Register
Russian APT Group Caught Hacking Roundcube Email Servers - SecurityWeek
Hacktivist group Anonymous Sudan a ‘bear in wolf’s clothing’ | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Russian APT28 hackers breach Ukrainian govt email servers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Strategies for staying ahead of modern cyber warfare - CyberTalk
German intelligence services point to increased hybrid security threats – EURACTIV.com
Nation State Actors
Microsoft Pins Early June DDoS Attacks on Russian-linked Cyber Crew - MSSP Alert
US DOJ Launches Cyber Unit to Prosecute Nation-State Threat Actors - SecurityWeek
US Military Personnel Receiving Unsolicited, Suspicious Smartwatches - SecurityWeek
USB Drives Spread Spyware as China's Mustang Panda APT Goes Global (darkreading.com)
CISA orders govt agencies to patch bugs exploited by Russian hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)
US Cyber Ambassador says China can win on AI, cloud • The Register
Cadet Blizzard emerges as a novel and distinct Russian threat actor | Microsoft Security Blog
The Israeli weapons and spyware falling into the hands of despots | Financial Times (ft.com)
The US Navy, NATO, and NASA are using a shady Chinese company’s encryption chips | Ars Technica
Zeeland port website hit by DDOS attack, possibly by Russian hackers | NL Times
A Russian national charged for committing LockBit Ransomware attacks - Security Affairs
Hacktivist group Anonymous Sudan a ‘bear in wolf’s clothing’ | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
APT37 hackers deploy new FadeStealer eavesdropping malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
ScarCruft Hackers Exploit Ably Service for Stealthy Wiretapping Attacks (thehackernews.com)
20-Year-Old Chinese APT15 Finds New Life in Foreign Ministry Attacks (darkreading.com)
Chinese Hacker Group 'Flea' Targets American Ministries with Graphican Backdoor (thehackernews.com)
North Korean APT targets defectors, activists with infostealer malware | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
China-sponsored APT group targets government ministries in the Americas | CSO Online
Chinese malware accidentally infects networked storage • The Register
Trellix Detects Leading Threat Actor Countries Behind Nation-State Activity - MSSP Alert
Vulnerability Management
Guess what happened to this US agency that didn't patch? • The Register
EU Council mulls pan-European platform to handle cyber vulnerabilities – EURACTIV.com
Vulnerabilities
VMware warns of critical vRealize flaw exploited in attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft Teams Vulnerability: The GIFShell Attack (latesthackingnews.com)
Patch Now: Cisco AnyConnect Bug Exploit Released in the Wild (darkreading.com)
Zyxel addressed critical flaw CVE-2023-27992 in NAS Devices - Security Affairs
Microsoft Teams bug allows malware delivery from external accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)
Chrome and Its Vulnerabilities - Is the Web Browser Safe to Use? - SecurityWeek
Critical WordPress Plugin Vulnerabilities Impact Thousands of Sites - SecurityWeek
SMB Edge Devices Walloped With Asus, Zyxel Patch Warnings (darkreading.com)
VMware fixes vCenter Server bugs allowing code execution, auth bypass (bleepingcomputer.com)
Azure AD 'Log in With Microsoft' Authentication Bypass Affects Thousands (darkreading.com)
Western Digital Blocks Unpatched Devices From Cloud Services - SecurityWeek
Risk & Repeat: Mandiant sheds light on Barracuda ESG attacks | TechTarget
ASUS warns router customers: Patch now, or block all inbound requests – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Firmware Backdoor Discovered in Gigabyte Motherboards, Hundreds of Models Affected - CPO Magazine
Apple fixes zero-days used to deploy Triangulation spyware via iMessage (bleepingcomputer.com)
A (cautionary) tale of two patched bugs, both under exploit • The Register
Millions of GitHub repos likely vulnerable to RepoJacking, researchers say (bleepingcomputer.com)
Windows 11 KB5027231 also breaks Chrome for Cisco, WatchGuard EDR users (bleepingcomputer.com)
Gaps in Azure Service Fabric’s Security Call for User Vigilance (trendmicro.com)
Tools and Controls
Getting Over the DNS Security Awareness Gap (darkreading.com)
Zscaler CEO: Firewalls Are Going The Way Of The Mainframe | CRN
The future of passwords and authentication - Help Net Security
Increased spending doesn't translate to improved cyber security posture - Help Net Security
Placing People & Realism at the Center of Your Cyber security Strategy (darkreading.com)
Security investments that help companies navigate the macroeconomic climate - Help Net Security
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
Boris Johnson’s notebooks cause national security alarm (thetimes.co.uk)
Keep it, Tweak it, Trash it – What to do with Aging Tech in an Era of Consolidation - SecurityWeek
Cyber attacks on OT, ICS Lay Groundwork for Kinetic Warfare (darkreading.com)
Why CISOs should be concerned about space-based attacks | CSO Online
Legal firms urged to strengthen cyber defences with latest... - NCSC.GOV.UK
GCHQ’s top hacker James Babbage quits to join NCA in blow to UK cyber force (telegraph.co.uk)
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.
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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 17 February 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 17 February 2023:
-High Risk Users May be Few, but the Threat They Pose is Huge
-The Cost of Cyber Security Insurance is Soaring so Firms Need to Take Prevention More Seriously
-Cyber Attacks Worldwide Increased to an All-Time Record Breaking High
-Most Organisations Make Cyber Security Decisions Without Insights
-Ransomware Attackers Finding New Ways to Weaponise Old Vulnerabilities
-Are Executives Fluent in IT Security Speak? 5 Reasons Why the Communication Gap is Wider Than You Think
-Business Email Compromise Groups Target Firms with Multilingual Impersonation Attacks
-EU Countries Told to Step up Defence Against State Hackers
-Cyber Criminals Exploit Fear and Urgency to Trick Consumers
-How to Manage Third Party and Supply Chain Cyber Security Risks that are Too Costly to Ignore
-Russian Spear Phishing Campaign Escalates Efforts Towards Critical UK, US and European Targets
-5 Biggest Risks of Using Third Party Managed Service Providers
-Cyber Crime as a Service: A Subscription Based Model in the Wrong Hands
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
High Risk Users May be Few, but the Threat They Pose is Huge
High risk users represent approximately 10% of the worker population according to research provider, Elevate Security research. The research found that high risk users were responsible for 41% of all simulated phishing clicks, 30% of all real-world phishing clicks, 54% of all secure-browsing incidents and 42% of all malware events. This is worrying, considering the rise in sophisticated targeted phishing campaigns.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/02/16/high-risk-behavior/
The Cost of Cyber Security Insurance is Soaring so Firms Need to Take Prevention More Seriously
State-backed cyber attacks are on the rise, but they are not raising the level of alarm that they should in the corporate world. Unfortunately, this is not a productive way of thinking. Come the end of March, insurance provider Lloyds will no longer cover damage from cyber attacks carried out by state or state-backed groups. In the worst cases, this reduced insurance coverage could exacerbate the trend of companies taking a passive approach toward state-backed attacks as they feel there is now really nothing they can do to protect themselves. The uncertainty however, could be the motivation for companies to take the threat of state-backed attacks more seriously.
Cyber Attacks Worldwide Increased to an All-Time Record-Breaking High, Report Shows
According to a report by security provider Check Point, cyber attacks rose 38% in 2022 compared to the previous year. Some of the key trends in the report included an increase in the number of cloud-based networking attacks, with a 48% rise and non-state affiliated hacktivist groups becoming more organised and effective than ever before. Additionally, ransomware is becoming more difficult to attribute and track and extra focus should be placed on exfiltration detection.
Most Organisations Make Cyber Security Decisions Without Insights
A report by security provider Mandiant found some worrying results when it came to organisational understanding of threat actors. Some of the key findings include, 79% of respondents stating that most of their cyber security decisions are made without insight into the treat actors targeting them, 79% believing their organisation could focus more time and energy on identifying critical security trends, 67% believing senior leadership teams underestimate the cyber threats posed to their organisation and finally, 47% of respondents felt that they could not prove to senior leadership that their organisation has a highly effective cyber security program.
Ransomware Attackers Finding New Ways to Weaponise Old Vulnerabilities
Ransomware attackers are finding new ways to exploit organisations’ security weaknesses by weaponising old vulnerabilities. A report by security provider Cyber Security Works had found that 76% of the vulnerabilities currently being exploited were first discovered between 2010-2019.
Are Executives Fluent in IT Security Speak? 5 Reasons Why the Communication Gap is Wider Than You Think
Using data from two different reports conducted by security provider Kaspersky, the combined data showed some worrying results. Some of the results include 98% of respondents revealing they faced at least one IT security miscommunication that regularly leads to bad consequences, 62% of managers revealing miscommunication led to at least one cyber security incident, 42% of business leaders wanting their IT security team to better communicate and 34% of C-level executives struggle to speak about adopting new security solutions.
Business Email Compromise Groups Target Firms with Multilingual Impersonation Attacks
Security providers Abnormal Security have identified two Business Email Compromise (BEC) groups “Midnight Hedgehog” and “Mandarin Capybara” which are conducting impersonation attacks in at least 13 different languages. Like many payment fraud attacks, finance managers or other executives are often targeted. In a separate report by Abnormal Security, it was found that business email compromise (BEC) attacks increased by more than 81% during 2022.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/bec-groups-multilingual/
EU Countries Told to Step up Defence Against State Hackers
European states have raced to protect their energy infrastructure from physical attacks but the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) said more needed to be done against cyber warfare against financial institutions and the telecommunications networks and power grids they rely on. "The war in Ukraine, the broader geopolitical landscape and the increasing use of cyber attacks have significantly heightened the cyber threat environment," the ESRB said in a report. In addition, the ESRB highlight an increased risk of cyber attacks on the EU financial system, suggesting that stress tests and impact analyses should be carried out to identify weaknesses and measure resilience.
Cyber Criminals Exploit Fear and Urgency to Trick Consumers
Threats using social engineering to steal money, such as refund and invoice fraud and tech support scams, increased during Q4 of 2022 according to a report by software provider Avast. “At the end of 2022, we have seen an increase in human-centred threats, such as scams tricking people into thinking their computer is infected, or that they have been charged for goods they didn’t order. It’s human nature to react to urgency, fear and try to regain control of issues, and that’s where cyber criminals succeed” Avast commented.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/02/13/cybercriminals-exploit-fear-urgency-trick-consumers/
How to Manage Third Party and Supply Chain Cyber Security Risks that are Too Costly to Ignore
Many organisations have experienced that “after the breach” feeling — the moment they realise they have to tell customers their personal information may have been compromised because one of the organisations’ vendors had a data breach. Such situations involve spending significant amount of money and time to fix a problem caused by a third party. An organisation’s ability to handle third-party cyber risk proactively depends on its risk management strategies.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/10/why-third-party-cybersecurity-risks-are-too-costly-to-ignore/
Russian Spear Phishing Campaign Escalates Efforts Towards Critical UK, US and European Targets
Following the advisory from the NCSC, it is clear that Russian state-sponsored hackers have become increasingly sophisticated at launching phishing attacks against critical targets in the UK, US and Europe over the last 12 months. The attacks included the creation of fake personas, supported by social media accounts, fake profiles and academic papers, to lure targets into replying to sophisticated phishing emails. In some cases, the bad actor may never leverage the account to send emails from and only use it to make decisions based on intelligence collection.
5 Biggest Risks of Using Third Party Managed Service Providers
As business processes become more complex, companies are turning to third parties to boost their ability to provide critical services from cloud storage to data management to security. It’s often more efficient and less expensive to contract out work. But it does present risks. 5 of the biggest risks to be considered are: indirect cyber attacks, financial risks from incident costs, reputational damage, geopolitical risk and regulatory compliance risk.
Cyber Crime as a Service: A Subscription Based Model in the Wrong Hands
Arguably nothing in tech has changes the landscape more than ‘as a Service’ offerings, the subscription-based IT service delivery model, in fact, the ‘as a Service’ offering has made its way into the cyber crime landscape. And cyber crime, for its part, has evolved beyond a nefarious hobby; today it’s a means of earning for cyber criminals. Organised cyber crime services are available for hire, particularly to those lacking resources and hacking expertise but willing to buy their way into cyber criminal activities. Underground cyber crime markets have thus emerged, selling cyber attack tools and services ranging from malware injection to botnet tools, Denial of Service and targeted spyware services.
https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/learn/cybercrime-as-a-service.html
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Ransomware attackers finding new ways to weaponize old vulnerabilities | VentureBeat
US, UK slap sanctions on Russians linked to Conti and more • The Register
Clop ransomware claims it breached 130 orgs using GoAnywhere zero-day (bleepingcomputer.com)
Members of Russian cyber crime network unmasked by US and UK authorities - The Verge
Over 500 ESXiArgs Ransomware infections in one day in Europe-Security Affairs
New ESXi ransomware strain spreads, foils decryption tools | TechTarget
North Korea Using Healthcare Ransomware To Fund More Hacking (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Cisco Talos spots new MortalKombat ransomware attacks | TechTarget
Hackers Target Israel’s Technion Demanding Huge Sum In Bitcoin - I24NEWS
City of Oakland systems offline after ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
MTU cyber breach: Probe after ransomware attacks 'like a murder investigation' (irishexaminer.com)
MTU data appears on dark web after cyber attack – The Irish Times
Oakland City Services Struggle to Recover From Ransomware Attack (darkreading.com)
Ransomware gang uses new zero-day to steal data on 1 million patients | TechCrunch
City of Oakland issued state of emergency after ransomware attack-Security Affairs
Glasgow Arnold Clark customers at risk after major cyber attack | HeraldScotland
No relief in sight for ransomware attacks on hospitals | TechTarget
Burton Snowboards cancels online orders after 'cyber incident' (bleepingcomputer.com)
Dallas Central Appraisal District paid $170,000 to ransomware attackers (bitdefender.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
NameCheap's email hacked to send Metamask, DHL phishing emails (bleepingcomputer.com)
Spain, US dismantle phishing gang that stole $5 million in a year (bleepingcomputer.com)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
2FA/MFA
Malware
Experts Warn of Surge in Multipurpose Malware - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Microsoft OneNote Abuse for Malware Delivery Surges - Security Week
New TA886 group targets companies with Screenshotter malware-Security Affairs
Novel phishing campaign takes screenshots ahead of payload delivery | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Great, hackers are now using ChatGPT to generate malware | Digital Trends
Devs targeted by W4SP Stealer malware in malicious PyPi packages (bleepingcomputer.com)
Pepsi distributor blames info-stealing malware for breach • The Register
Malware that can do anything and everything is on the rise - Help Net Security
New stealthy 'Beep' malware focuses heavily on evading detection (bleepingcomputer.com)
Thousands of WordPress sites have been infected by a mystery malware | TechRadar
Beep: New Evasive Malware That Can Escape Under The Radar (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Hackers start using Havoc post-exploitation framework in attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Malware authors leverage more attack techniques that enable lateral movement | CSO Online
Mobile
Botnets
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Cloudflare blocks record-breaking 71 million RPS DDoS attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
87% of largest DDoS attacks in Q4 targeted telecoms: Lumen (fiercetelecom.com)
The Tor network hit by wave of DDoS attacks for at least 7 months-Security Affairs
Internet of Things – IoT
Digital burglaries: The threat from your smart home devices | Fox News
Mirai V3G4 botnet exploits 13 flaws to target IoT devices-Security Affairs
New Mirai malware variant infects Linux devices to build DDoS botnet (bleepingcomputer.com)
Data Breaches
MP’s laptop and iPad stolen from pub in 'worrying' security breach | Metro News
Reddit was hit with a phishing attack. How it responded is a lesson for everyone | ZDNET
Reddit Hack Shows Limits of MFA, Strengths of Security Training (darkreading.com)
Highmark data breach affecting about 300,000 members exposed personal information to hackers – WPXI
Gulp! Pepsi hack sees personal information stolen by data-stealing malware (bitdefender.com)
Nearly 50 million Americans impacted by health data breaches in 2022 (chiefhealthcareexecutive.com)
My Password Manager was Hacked! How to Prevent a Catastrophe (bleepingcomputer.com)
After apparent hack, data from Australian tech giant Atlassian dumped online | CyberScoop
Atlassian: Leaked Data Stolen via Third-Party App (darkreading.com)
Health info for 1 million patients stolen using critical GoAnywhere vulnerability | Ars Technica
Scandinavian Airlines says cyber attack caused passenger data leak (bleepingcomputer.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cyber crime as a Service: A Subscription-based Model in The Wrong Hands | Splunk
A Hacker’s Mind — how the elites exploit the system | Financial Times (ft.com)
Dark Web Revenue Down Dramatically After Hydra's Demise (darkreading.com)
Russian hacker convicted of $90 million hack-to-trade charges (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Enigma, Vector, and TgToxic: The New Threats to Cryptocurrency Users (thehackernews.com)
Lazarus hackers use new mixer to hide $100 million in stolen crypto (bleepingcomputer.com)
451 PyPI packages install Chrome extensions to steal crypto (bleepingcomputer.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Russian IT biz owner made $90M from stolen financial info • The Register
Refund and Invoice Scams Surge in Q4 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Russian Hackers Disrupt NATO Earthquake Relief Operations (darkreading.com)
Romance scam targets security researcher, hilarity ensues • The Register
10 signs that scammers have you in their sights | WeLiveSecurity
AML/CFT/Sanctions
Insurance
Dark Web
Supply Chain and Third Parties
How to manage third-party cyber security risks that are too costly to ignore | TechCrunch
5 biggest risks of using third-party services providers | CSO Online
Cloud/SaaS
Cloud security: Where do CSP and client responsibilities begin and end? | VentureBeat
Application and cloud security is a shared responsibility - Help Net Security
Attack Surface Management
Open Source
Configuration Issues in SaltStack IT Tool Put Enterprises at Risk (darkreading.com)
Solving open-source security — from Alpha to Omega | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
New Mirai malware variant infects Linux devices to build DDoS botnet (bleepingcomputer.com)
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Eek! You Can Steal Passwords From This Password Manager Using the Notepad App | PCMag
Eurostar forces 'password resets' — then fails and locks users out (bleepingcomputer.com)
My Password Manager was Hacked! How to Prevent a Catastrophe (bleepingcomputer.com)
Social Media
Metaverse Adds New Dimensions to Web 3.0 Cyber security | TechRepublic
Elon Musk Seems to Think His Own Employees Are Shadowbanning Him (gizmodo.com)
Malvertising
Training, Education and Awareness
High-risk users may be few, but the threat they pose is huge - Help Net Security
Reddit Hack Shows Limits of MFA, Strengths of Security Training (darkreading.com)
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
The Online Safety Bill: An attack on encryption (element.io)
As regulations skyrocket, is compliance even possible anymore? - Help Net Security
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Security buyers lack insight into threats, attackers, report finds | Computer Weekly
Cyber attacks Worldwide Increased to an All-Time High, Check Point Research Reveals - MSSP Alert
Actionable intelligence is the key to better security outcomes - Help Net Security
Build Cyber Resiliency With These Security Threat-Mitigation Considerations (darkreading.com)
Evolving cyber attacks, alert fatigue creating DFIR burnout, regulatory risk | CSO Online
As regulations skyrocket, is compliance even possible anymore? - Help Net Security
Storage security for compliance and cyberwar in 2023 • The Register
Backup and Recovery
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Get hired in cyber security: Expert tips for job seekers - Help Net Security
3 Ways CISOs Can Lead Effectively and Avoid Burnout (darkreading.com)
Cyber security Jobs Remain Secure Despite Recession Fears (darkreading.com)
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Members of Russian cyber crime network unmasked by US and UK authorities - The Verge
Spain, US dismantle phishing gang that stole $5 million in a year (bleepingcomputer.com)
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Artificial Intelligence
Russian hackers are trying to break into ChatGPT, says Check Point | ZDNET
Cyber criminals Bypass ChatGPT Restrictions to Generate Malicious Content - Check Point Software
Great, hackers are now using ChatGPT to generate malware | Digital Trends
Eric Schmidt Is Building the Perfect AI War-Fighting Machine | WIRED
A.I. in the military could be a game changer in warfare | Fortune US issues declaration on responsible use of AI in the military | Reuters
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
EU countries told to step up defence against state hackers | Reuters
Britain must ‘wake up’ to China security challenges, ex-MI6 head says | The Independent
Hacks, leaks and wipers: Google analyses a year of Russian cyber attacks on Ukraine | Cyber scoop
Google: Russia continues to set cyber sights on NATO nations | TechTarget
US shoots down ‘high-altitude object’ above Alaska | Financial Times (ft.com)
Military Organizations in Pakistan Targeted With Sophisticated Espionage Tool - security Week
SpaceX curbed Ukraine's use of Starlink terminals - Militarnyi
US shoots down ‘octagonal’ flying object near military sites in Michigan | US news | The Guardian
Six companies join US entity list after Chinese spy balloon • The Register
How Alan Turing still casts his genius in the age of cyberwar | Metro News
US warns its citizens in Russia to get out immediately over security fears | Euronews
Russian Hackers Disrupt NATO Earthquake Relief Operations (darkreading.com)
Ukraine’s use of SpaceX satellites risks starting World War Three, says Elon Musk (telegraph.co.uk)
Eric Schmidt Is Building the Perfect AI War-Fighting Machine | WIRED
Albanian gangs set up hundreds of spy cameras to keep ahead of police | Financial Times (ft.com)
A.I. in the military could be a game changer in warfare | Fortune
Chinese cameras leave British police vulnerable to spying, says watchdog | Espionage | The Guardian
China-based cyber espionage actor seen targeting South America | CSO Online
The Lessons From Cyberwar, Cyber-in-War and Ukraine - security Week
Storage security for compliance and cyberwar in 2023 • The Register
Nation State Actors
EU countries told to step up defence against state hackers | Reuters
Britain must ‘wake up’ to China security challenges, ex-MI6 head says | The Independent
Hacks, leaks and wipers: Google analyses a year of Russian cyber attacks on Ukraine | CyberScoop
Google: Russia continues to set cyber sights on NATO nations | TechTarget
Military Organizations in Pakistan Targeted With Sophisticated Espionage Tool - Security Week
MagicWeb Mystery Highlights Nobelium Attacker's Sophistication (darkreading.com)
Russian hackers are trying to break into ChatGPT, says Check Point | ZDNET
Six companies join US entity list after Chinese spy balloon • The Register
Lazarus hackers use new mixer to hide $100 million in stolen crypto (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russian Hackers Disrupt NATO Earthquake Relief Operations (darkreading.com)
Chinese Hackers Targeting South American Diplomatic Entities with ShadowPad (thehackernews.com)
Ukraine’s use of SpaceX satellites risks starting World War Three, says Elon Musk (telegraph.co.uk)
Chinese cameras leave British police vulnerable to spying, says watchdog | Espionage | The Guardian
China-based cyber espionage actor seen targeting South America | CSO Online
UK Policing Riddled with Chinese CCTV Cameras - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
A new operating system has been released in Russia! (gizchina.com)
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerabilities
Microsoft Patch Tuesday: 36 RCE bugs, 3 zero-days, 75 CVEs – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Citrix Patches High-Severity Vulnerabilities in Windows, Linux Apps - Security Week
Adobe Plugs Critical Security Holes in Illustrator, After Effects Software - Security Week
Apple releases new fix for iPhone zero-day exploited by hackers | TechCrunch
Firefox Updates Patch 10 High-Severity Vulnerabilities - Security Week
Critical RCE Vulnerability Discovered in ClamAV Open-Source Antivirus Software (thehackernews.com)
Microsoft says Intel driver bug crashes apps on Windows PCs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Serious Security: GnuTLS follows OpenSSL, fixes timing attack bug – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Splunk Enterprise Updates Patch High-Severity Vulnerabilities - Security Week
Dozens of Vulnerabilities Patched in Intel Products - Security Week
High-severity DLP flaw impacts Trellix for Windows | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Critical Vulnerability Patched in Cisco Security Products - Security Week
Health info for 1 million patients stolen using critical GoAnywhere vulnerability | Ars Technica
Tools and Controls
A CISOs Practical Guide to Storage and Backup Ransomware Resiliency (thehackernews.com)
Combining identity and security strategies to mitigate risks - Help Net Security
Defending against attacks on Azure AD: Goodbye firewall, hello identity protection | CSO Online
Regular Pen Testing Is Key to Resolving Conflict Between SecOps and DevOps (thehackernews.com)
Attack surface management (ASM) is not limited to the surface - Help Net Security
How to filter Security log events for signs of trouble | TechTarget
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
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 13 January 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 13 January 2023:
-Quarter of UK SMBs Hit by Ransomware in 2022
-Global Cyber Attack Volume Surges 38% in 2022
-1 in 3 Organisations Do Not Provide Any Cyber Security Training to Remote Workers Despite the Majority of Employees Having Access to Critical Data
-AI-Generated Phishing Attacks Are Becoming More Convincing
-Customer and Employee Data the Top Prize for Hackers
-Royal Mail hit by Ransomware Attack, Causes ‘Severe Disruption’ to Services
-The Guardian Confirms Personal Information Compromised in Ransomware Attack
-Ransomware Gang Releases Info Stolen from 14 UK Schools, Including Passport Scans
-The Dark Web’s Criminal Minds See Internet of Things as Next Big Hacking Prize
-Corrupted File to Blame for Computer Glitch which Grounded Every US Flight
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
Quarter of UK SMBs Hit by Ransomware in 2022
Over one in four (26%) British SMBs have been targeted by ransomware over the past year, with half (47%) of those compromised paying their extorters, according to new data from anti-virus provider Avast. The security vendor polled 1000 IT decision makers from UK SMBs back in October, to better understand the risk landscape over the previous 12 months.
More than two-thirds (68%) of respondents said they are more concerned about being attacked since the start of the war in Ukraine, fuelling concerns that have led to half (50%) investing in cyber-insurance. They’re wise to do so, considering that 41% of those hit by ransomware lost data, while 34% lost access to devices, according to Avast.
Given that SMBs comprise over 99% of private sector businesses in the country, it’s reassuring that cyber is now being viewed as a major business risk. Nearly half (48%) ranked it as one of the biggest threats they currently face, versus 66% who cited financial risk stemming from surging operational cost. More respondents cited cyber as a top threat than did physical security (35%) and supply chain disruption (33%).
Avast argued that SMBs are among the groups most vulnerable to cyber-threats as they often have very limited budget and resources, and many don’t have somebody on staff managing security holistically. As a result, not only are SMB’s lacking in their defence, but they’re also slower and less able to react to incidents.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/quarter-of-uk-smbs-hit-ransomware/
Global Cyber Attack Volume Surges 38% in 2022
The number of cyber attacks recorded last year was nearly two-fifths (38%) greater than the total volume observed in 2021, according to Check Point.
The security vendor claimed the increase was largely due to a surge in attacks on healthcare organisations, which saw the largest year-on-year (YoY) increase (74%), and the activities of smaller, more agile hacking groups.
Overall, attacks reached an all-time high in Q4 with an average of 1168 weekly attacks per organisation. The average weekly figures for the year were highest for education sector organisations (2314), government and military (1661) and healthcare (1463).
Threat actors appear to have capitalised on gaps in security created by the shift to remote working. The ransomware ecosystem is continuing to evolve and grow with smaller, more agile criminal groups that form to evade law enforcement. Hackers are also now increasingly widening their aim to target business collaboration tools such as Slack, Teams, OneDrive and Google Drive with phishing exploits. These make for a rich source of sensitive data given that most organisations’ employees continue to work remotely.
It is predicted that AI tools like ChatGPT would help to fuel a continued surge in attacks in 2023 by making it quicker and easier for bad actors to generate malicious code and emails.
Recorded cyber-attacks on US organisations grew 57% YoY in 2022, while the figure was even higher in the UK (77%). This chimes with data from UK ISP Beaming, which found that 2022 was the busiest year on record for attacks. It recorded 687,489 attempts to breach UK businesses in 2022 – the equivalent of one attack every 46 seconds.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/global-cyberattack-volume-surges/
1 in 3 Organisations Do Not Provide Any Cyber Security Training to Remote Workers Despite the Majority of Employees Having Access to Critical Data
New research from cyber security provider Hornetsecurity has found that 33% of companies are not providing any cyber security awareness training to users who work remotely.
The study also revealed nearly three-quarters (74%) of remote staff have access to critical data, which is creating more risk for companies in the new hybrid working world.
Despite the current lack of training and employees feeling ill-equipped, almost half (44%) of respondents said their organisation plans to increase the percentage of employees that work remotely. The popularity of hybrid work, and the associated risks, means that companies must prioritise training and education to make remote working safe.
Traditional methods of controlling and securing company data aren't as effective when employees are working in remote locations and greater responsibility falls on the individual. Companies must acknowledge the unique risks associated with remote work and activate relevant security management systems, as well as empower employees to deal with a certain level of risk.
The independent survey, which quizzed 925 IT professionals from a range of business types and sizes globally, highlighted the security management challenges and employee cyber security risk when working remotely. The research revealed two core problems causing risk: employees having access to critical data, and not enough training being provided on how to manage cyber security or how to reduce the risk of a cyber-attack or breach.
AI-Generated Phishing Attacks Are Becoming More Convincing
It's time for you and your colleagues to become more sceptical about what you read.
That's a takeaway from a series of experiments undertaken using GPT-3 AI text-generating interfaces to create malicious messages designed to spear-phish, scam, harass, and spread fake news.
Experts at WithSecure have described their investigations into just how easy it is to automate the creation of credible yet malicious content at incredible speed. Amongst the use cases explored by the research were the use of GPT-3 models to create:
Phishing content – emails or messages designed to trick a user into opening a malicious attachment or visiting a malicious link
Social opposition – social media messages designed to troll and harass individuals or to cause brand damage
Social validation – social media messages designed to advertise or sell, or to legitimise a scam
Fake news – research into how well GPT-3 can generate convincing fake news articles of events that weren’t part of its training set
All of these could, of course, be useful to cyber criminals hell-bent on scamming the unwary or spreading unrest.
Customer and Employee Data the Top Prize for Hackers
The theft of customer and employee data accounts for almost half (45%) of all stolen data between July 2021 and June 2022, according to a new report from cyber security solution provider Imperva.
The data is part of a 12-month analysis by Imperva Threat Research on the trends and threats related to data security in its report “More Lessons Learned from Analysing 100 Data Breaches”.
Their analysis found that theft of credit card information and password details dropped by 64% compared to 2021. The decline in stolen credit card and password data pointing to the uptake of basic security tactics like multi-factor authentication (MFA). However, in the long term, PII data is the most valuable data to cyber-criminals. With enough stolen PII, they can engage in full-on identity theft which is hugely profitable and very difficult to prevent. Credit cards and passwords can be changed the second there is a breach, but when PII is stolen, it can be years before it is weaponised by hackers.
The research also revealed the root causes of data breaches, with social engineering (17%) and unsecured databases (15%) two of the biggest culprits. Misconfigured applications were only responsible for 2% of data breaches, but Imperva said that businesses should expect this figure to rise in the near future, particularly with cloud-managed infrastructure where configuring for security requires significant expertise.
It’s really concerning that a third (32%) of data breaches are down to unsecured databases and social engineering attacks, since they’re both straightforward to mitigate. A publicly open database dramatically increases the risk of a breach and, all too often, they are left like this not out of a failure of security practices but rather the total absence of any security posture at all.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/customer-employee-data-hackers/
Royal Mail hit by Ransomware Attack, Causes ‘Severe Disruption’ to Services
Royal Mail experienced “severe service disruption” to its international export services following a ransomware attack, the company has announced. A statement said it was temporarily unable to despatch export items including letters and parcels to overseas destinations.
Royal Mail said: “We have asked customers temporarily to stop submitting any export items into the network while we work hard to resolve the issue” and advising that “Some customers may experience delay or disruption to items already shipped for export.”
The attack was later attributed to LockBit, a prolific ransomware gang with close ties to Russia. Both the NCSC and the NCA were involved in responding to the incident.
https://www.independent.co.uk/business/royal-mail-cyber-attack-exports-b2260308.html
The Guardian Confirms Personal Information Compromised in Ransomware Attack
British news organisation The Guardian has confirmed that personal information was compromised in a ransomware attack in December 2022.
The company fell victim to the attack just days before Christmas, when it instructed staff to work from home, announcing network disruptions that mostly impacted the print newspaper.
Right from the start, the Guardian said it suspected ransomware to have been involved in the incident, and this week the company confirmed that this was indeed the case. In an email to staff on Wednesday, The Guardian Media Group’s chief executive and the Guardian’s editor-in-chief said that the sophisticated cyber attack was likely the result of phishing.
They also announced that the personal information of UK staff members was compromised in the attack, but said that reader data and the information of US and Australia staff was not impacted. “We have seen no evidence that any data has been exposed online thus far and we continue to monitor this very closely,” the Guardian representatives said. While the attack forced the Guardian staff to work from home, online publishing has been unaffected, and production of daily newspapers has continued as well.
“We believe this was a criminal ransomware attack, and not the specific targeting of the Guardian as a media organisation,” the Guardian said.
The company continues to work on recovery and estimates that critical systems would be restored in the next two weeks. Staff, however, will continue to work from home until at least early February. “These attacks have become more frequent and sophisticated in the past three years, against organisations of all sizes, and kinds, in all countries,” the Guardian said.
https://www.securityweek.com/guardian-confirms-personal-information-compromised-ransomware-attack
Ransomware Gang Releases Info Stolen from 14 UK Schools, Including Passport Scans
Another month, another release of personal information stolen from a school system. This time, it's a group of 14 schools in the United Kingdom.
Once again, the perpetrator appears to be Vice Society, which is well known for targeting educational systems in the US. As the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) pointed out in a bulletin from Sept. 6, "K-12 institutions may be seen as particularly lucrative targets due to the amount of sensitive student data accessible through school systems or their managed service providers."
The UK hack may have turned up even more confidential information than the Los Angeles school system breach last year. As the BBC reported on Jan. 6, "One folder marked 'passports' contains passport scans for pupils and parents on school trips going back to 2011, whereas another marked 'contract' contains contractual offers made to staff alongside teaching documents on muscle contractions."
Some prominent school cyber attacks in the US include public school districts in Chicago, Baltimore, and Los Angeles. A new study from digital learning platform Clever claims that one in four schools experienced a cyber-incident over the past year, and according to a new report from security software vendor Emsisoft, at least 45 school districts and 44 higher learning institutions suffered ransomware attacks in 2022.
Schools are an attractive target as they are typically data-rich and resource-poor. Without proper resources in terms of dedicated staffing and the necessary tools and training to protect against cyber-attacks, schools can be a soft target. Many of the 14 schools hit by this latest leak are colleges and universities, but primary and secondary schools were also hit, according to the BBC's list.
The Dark Web’s Criminal Minds See Internet of Things as Next Big Hacking Prize
Cyber security experts say 2022 may have marked an inflection point due to the rapid proliferation of IoT (Internet of Things) devices.
Criminal groups buy and sell services, and one hot idea — a business model for a crime — can take off quickly when they realise that it works to do damage or to get people to pay. Attacks are evolving from those that shut down computers or stole data, to include those that could more directly wreak havoc on everyday life. IoT devices can be the entry points for attacks on parts of countries’ critical infrastructure, like electrical grids or pipelines, or they can be the specific targets of criminals, as in the case of cars or medical devices that contain software.
For the past decade, manufacturers, software companies and consumers have been rushing to the promise of Internet of Things devices. Now there are an estimated 17 billion in the world, from printers to garage door openers, each one packed with software (some of it open-source software) that can be easily hacked.
What many experts are anticipating is the day enterprising criminals or hackers affiliated with a nation-state figure out an easy-to-replicate scheme using IoT devices at scale. A group of criminals, perhaps connected to a foreign government, could figure out how to take control of many things at once – like cars, or medical devices. There have already been large-scale attacks using IoT, in the form of IoT botnets. In that case, actors leveraging unpatched vulnerabilities in IoT devices used control of those devices to carry out denial of service attacks against many targets. Those vulnerabilities are found regularly in ubiquitous products that are rarely updated.
In other words, the possibility already exists. It’s only a question of when a criminal or a nation decides to act in a way that targets the physical world at a large scale. There are a handful of companies, new regulatory approaches, a growing focus on cars as a particularly important area, and a new movement within the software engineering world to do a better job of incorporating cyber security from the beginning.
Corrupted File to Blame for Computer Glitch which Grounded Every US Flight
A corrupted file has been blamed for a glitch on the Federal Aviation Administration's computer system which saw every flight grounded across the US.
All outbound flights were grounded until around 9am Eastern Time (2pm GMT) on Wednesday as the FAA worked to restore its Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system, which alerts pilots of potential hazards along a flight route.
On Wednesday 4,948 flights within, into or out of the US had been delayed, according to flight tracker FlightAware.com, while 868 had been cancelled. Most delays were concentrated along the East Coast. Normal air traffic operations resumed gradually across the US following the outage to the NOTAM system that provides safety information to flight crews.
A corrupted file affected both the primary and the backup systems, a senior government official told NBC News on Wednesday night, adding that officials continue to investigate. Whilst Government officials said there was no evidence of a cyber attack, it shows the real world impacts that an outage or corrupted file can cause.
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Royal Mail unable to despatch items abroad after 'cyber incident' | UK News | Sky News
Lorenz ransomware gang plants backdoors to use months later (bleepingcomputer.com)
Quarter of UK SMBs Hit by Ransomware in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Worldwide Ransomware Attacks Trend (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
LastPass Faces Class-Action Lawsuit Over Password Vault Breach (pcmag.com)
Rackspace: Ransomware actor accessed 27 customers' data | TechTarget
Rackspace Ransomware Incident Highlights Risks of Relying on Mitigation Alone (darkreading.com)
Risk & Repeat: Analysing the Rackspace ransomware attack | TechTarget
Guardian confirms it was hit by ransomware attack | The Guardian | The Guardian
Post-ransomware attack, The Guardian warns staff their personal data was accessed • Graham Cluley
The Guardian Confirms Personal Information Compromised in Ransomware Attack | SecurityWeek.Com
Royal Mail cyber attack linked to LockBit ransomware operation (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hive Ransomware leaked 550 GB stolen from Consulate Health Care - Security Affairs
Iowa’s largest school district cancels classes after cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers leak sensitive files after attack on San Francisco transit police (nbcnews.com)
Vice Society ransomware claims attack on Australian firefighting service (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware attack at Hope Sentamu Learning Trust in York | York Press
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
AI-generated phishing emails just got much more convincing • The Register
Better Phishing, Easy Malicious Implants: How AI Could Change Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)
AI-generated phishing attacks are becoming more convincing | Tripwire
Twitter Data Leak: What the Exposure of 200 Million User Emails Means for You | WIRED
Phishing campaign targets government institution in Moldova - Security Affairs
Malware
Better Phishing, Easy Malicious Implants: How AI Could Change Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)
Turla, a Russian Espionage Group, Piggybacked on Other Hackers' USB Infections | WIRED
ChatGPT Used to Develop New Malicious Tools - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Russia’s Turla falls back on old malware C2 domains to avoid detection | Computer Weekly
Many of 13 New Mac Malware Families Discovered in 2022 Linked to China | SecurityWeek.Com
Dridex Malware Now Attacking macOS Systems with Novel Infection Method (thehackernews.com)
Over 1,300 fake AnyDesk sites push Vidar info-stealing malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Attackers abuse business-critical cloud apps to deliver malware - Help Net Security
New Analysis Reveals Raspberry Robin Can be Repurposed by Other Threat Actors (thehackernews.com)
6 PyPI Packages Detour Firewall Using Cloudflare Tunnels (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Microsoft: Kubernetes clusters hacked in malware campaign via PostgreSQL (bleepingcomputer.com)
Malicious PyPi packages create CloudFlare Tunnels to bypass firewalls (bleepingcomputer.com)
Gootkit Loader Actively Targets Australian Healthcare Industry (trendmicro.com)
Android TV box on Amazon came pre-installed with malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
VLC media player is being hiajcked to send out malware | TechRadar
RAT malware campaign tries to evade detection using polyglot files (bleepingcomputer.com)
Italian Users Warned of Malware Attack Targeting Sensitive Information (thehackernews.com)
Hackers push fake Pokemon NFT game to take over Windows devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
How to protect yourself from bot-driven account fraud - Help Net Security
Mobile
Android spyware strikes again targeting financial institutions and your money | Fox News
Messenger billed as better than Signal is riddled with vulnerabilities | Ars Technica
StrongPity hackers target Android users via trojanized Telegram app (bleepingcomputer.com)
Threema claims encryption flaws never had a real-world impact (bleepingcomputer.com)
Latest Firmware Flaws in Qualcomm Snapdragon Need Attention (darkreading.com)
Threat actors claim access to Telegram servers through insiders - Security Affairs
$20K Buys Insider Access to Telegram Servers, Dark Web Ad Claims (darkreading.com)
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
The most significant DDoS attacks in the past year - Help Net Security
Big Prizes, Cash on Offer for Joining 'DDosia' Anti-Ukraine Cyber attack Project (darkreading.com)
Internet of Things – IoT
The dark web's criminal minds see IoT as the next big hacking prize (cnbc.com)
Android TV box on Amazon came pre-installed with malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers can trick Wi-Fi devices into draining their own batteries | New Scientist
Data Breaches/Leaks
Twitter Data Leak: What the Exposure of 200 Million User Emails Means for You | WIRED
14 UK schools hit by cyber attack and documents leaked - BBC News
Air France and KLM notify customers of account hacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Vice Society Releases Info Stolen From 14 UK Schools, Including Passport Scans (darkreading.com)
Twitter's mushrooming data breach crisis could prove costly | CSO Online
Twitter Denies Hacking Claims, Assures Leaked User Data Not from its System (thehackernews.com)
CircleCI – code-building service suffers total credential compromise – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Aflac's Japan says US partner leaked cancer customer info • The Register
Data leak exposes information of 10,000 French social security beneficiaries | CSO Online
Chick-fil-A investigates reports of hacked customer accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
JP Morgan must face suit over $272m cybertheft • The Register
Cyber criminals are already using ChatGPT to own you | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Russian Cyber Crew Targets Ukraine Financial Sector Via Infected USB Drives - MSSP Alert
2022 Was the Biggest Year Yet for Crypto, if You're a Crook (gizmodo.com)
Researchers Find 'Digital Crime Haven' While Investigating Magecart Activity (darkreading.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
2022 Was the Biggest Year Yet for Crypto, if You're a Crook (gizmodo.com)
European police takes down call centres behind cryptocurrency scams (bleepingcomputer.com)
European cops shut down fake crypto call centres • The Register
Kinsing Crypto Malware Hits Kubernetes Clusters via Misconfigured PostgreSQL (thehackernews.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
European police takes down call centres behind cryptocurrency scams (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nationwide warns ‘checking is important’ as thousands targeted in online scam | Personal Finance |
How to protect yourself from bot-driven account fraud - Help Net Security
Insurance
Insurance Co. Beazley Launches $45M 'Cyber Catastrophe Bond' (gizmodo.com)
Insurer Beazley launches first catastrophe bond for cyber threats | Financial Times (ft.com)
4 Cyber Insurance Requirement Predictions for 2023 (trendmicro.com)
Dark Web
Threat actors claim access to Telegram servers through insiders - Security Affairs
$20K Buys Insider Access to Telegram Servers, Dark Web Ad Claims (darkreading.com)
Pakistan tells government agencies to avoid the dark web • The Register
Software Supply Chain
Cloud/SaaS
Attackers abuse business-critical cloud apps to deliver malware - Help Net Security
Top SaaS Cyber security Threats in 2023: Are You Ready? (thehackernews.com)
Why Do User Permissions Matter for SaaS Security? (thehackernews.com)
Attack Surface Management
Why the atomized network is growing, and how to protect it - Help Net Security
Web 3.0 Shifts Attack Surface and Highlights Need for Continuous Security (darkreading.com)
Identity and Access Management
Encryption
RSA crypto cracked? Or perhaps not! – Naked Security (sophos.com)
What is Triple DES and why is it being disallowed? | TechTarget
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
A fifth of passwords used by federal agency cracked in security audit | Ars Technica
Why FIDO and passwordless authentication is the future - Help Net Security
'Copyright Infringement' Lure Used for Facebook Credential Harvesting (darkreading.com)
Why it might be time to consider using FIDO-based authentication devices | CSO Online
Social Media
Twitter Data Leak: What the Exposure of 200 Million User Emails Means for You | WIRED
Twitter's mushrooming data breach crisis could prove costly | CSO Online
Twitter Denies Hacking Claims, Assures Leaked User Data Not from its System (thehackernews.com)
If governments are banning TikTok, why is it still on your corporate devices? | CSO Online
'Copyright Infringement' Lure Used for Facebook Credential Harvesting (darkreading.com)
Training, Education and Awareness
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Governance, Risk and Compliance
US cyber security director: The tech ecosystem has ‘become really unsafe’ (yahoo.com)
Global Cyber-Attack Volume Surges 38% in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Global Risks Report: Understand the risk landscape in 2023 and beyond - Help Net Security
Why Analysing Past Incidents Helps Teams More Than Usual Security Metrics (darkreading.com)
Cyber security spending and economic headwinds in 2023 | CSO Online
Practical Risk Management - Beyond Certification (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Vulnerable software, low incident reporting raises risks | TechTarget
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
European cops shut down fake crypto call centres • The Register
European police takes down call centres behind cryptocurrency scams (bleepingcomputer.com)
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Artificial Intelligence
AI-generated phishing emails just got much more convincing • The Register
ChatGPT: The infosec assistant that is jack of all trades, master of none - Help Net Security
Better Phishing, Easy Malicious Implants: How AI Could Change Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)
VALL-E AI can mimic a person’s voice from a 3-second snippet • The Register
ChatGPT Artificial Intelligence: An Upcoming Cyber security Threat? (darkreading.com)
Hackers Exploiting OpenAI’s ChatGPT to Deploy Malware (hackread.com)
Cyber criminals are already using ChatGPT to own you | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Trojan Puzzle attack trains AI assistants into suggesting malicious code (bleepingcomputer.com)
ChatGPT Used to Develop New Malicious Tools - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
DHS, CISA plan AI-based cyber security analytics sandbox • The Register
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Turla, a Russian Espionage Group, Piggybacked on Other Hackers' USB Infections | WIRED
Russia’s Turla falls back on old malware C2 domains to avoid detection | Computer Weekly
Exclusive: Russian hackers targeted U.S. nuclear scientists | Reuters
Russian cyber attacks on Ukraine halved with help from Amazon and Microsoft (telegraph.co.uk)
New Dark Pink APT group targets govt and military with custom malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Big Prizes, Cash on Offer for Joining 'DDosia' Anti-Ukraine Cyber attack Project (darkreading.com)
Phishing campaign targets government institution in Moldova - Security Affairs
Russian and Belarusian men charged with spying for Russian GRU - Security Affairs
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Turla, a Russian Espionage Group, Piggybacked on Other Hackers' USB Infections | WIRED
Russia’s Turla falls back on old malware C2 domains to avoid detection | Computer Weekly
Exclusive: Russian hackers targeted U.S. nuclear scientists | Reuters
Russian cyber attacks on Ukraine halved with help from Amazon and Microsoft (telegraph.co.uk)
How Elon Musk’s Starlink has changed warfare | The Economist
Big Prizes, Cash on Offer for Joining 'DDosia' Anti-Ukraine Cyber attack Project (darkreading.com)
Phishing campaign targets government institution in Moldova - Security Affairs
Russian and Belarusian men charged with spying for Russian GRU - Security Affairs
Musk's Starlink Satellite's Role In Ukraine War Inspires Taiwan To Thwart Potential China Attack
Nation State Actors – China
Many of 13 New Mac Malware Families Discovered in 2022 Linked to China | SecurityWeek.Com
If governments are banning TikTok, why is it still on your corporate devices? | CSO Online
Musk's Starlink Satellite's Role In Ukraine War Inspires Taiwan To Thwart Potential China Attack
Nation State Actors – Iran
Nation State Actors – Misc
Vulnerability Management
Patch Where it Hurts: Effective Vulnerability Management in 2023 (thehackernews.com)
70% of apps contain at least one security flaw after 5 years in production - Help Net Security
Rackspace Ransomware Incident Highlights Risks of Relying on Mitigation Alone (darkreading.com)
Does a hybrid model for vulnerability management make sense? • Graham Cluley
Vulnerabilities
Microsoft Patch Tuesday: 97 Windows Vulns, 1 Exploited Zero-Day | SecurityWeek.Com
Microsoft plugs actively exploited zero-day hole (CVE-2023-21674) - Help Net Security
The Roadmap to Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) - MSSP Alert
Hundreds of SugarCRM servers infected with critical in-the-wild exploit | Ars Technica
Cyber criminals bypass Windows security with driver-vulnerability exploit | CSO Online
Attackers target govt networks exploiting Fortinet SSL-VPN CVE-2022-42475 - Security Affairs
Adobe Plugs Security Holes in Acrobat, Reader Software | SecurityWeek.Com
Zoom Patches High Risk Flaws on Windows, MacOS Platforms | SecurityWeek.Com
Cisco warns of auth bypass bug with public exploit in EoL routers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Swiss Threema messaging app found to have vulnerabilities • The Register
Fortinet says hackers exploited critical vulnerability to infect VPN customers | Ars Technica
Critical bug in Cisco Small Business Routers will receive no patch - Security Affairs
Severe Vulnerabilities Allow Hacking of Asus Gaming Router | SecurityWeek.Com
JsonWebToken Security Bug Opens Servers to RCE (darkreading.com)
Latest Firmware Flaws in Qualcomm Snapdragon Need Attention (darkreading.com)
Tools and Controls
How to prevent and detect lateral movement attacks | TechTarget
Data Loss Prevention Capability Guide (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
4 key shifts in the breach and attack simulation (BAS) market - Help Net Security
How to prioritize effectively with threat modeling • The Register
XDR and the Age-old Problem of Alert Fatigue | SecurityWeek.Com
Why FIDO and passwordless authentication is the future - Help Net Security
Why it might be time to consider using FIDO-based authentication devices | CSO Online
DHS, CISA plan AI-based cyber security analytics sandbox • The Register
ChatGPT: The infosec assistant that is jack of all trades, master of none - Help Net Security
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.
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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 16 December 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 16 December 2022:
-Executives Take More Cyber Security Risks Than Office Workers
-CISO Role is Diversifying from Technology to Leadership & Communication Skills
-How Emerging AIs, Like ChatGPT, Can Turn Anyone into a Ransomware and Malware Threat Actor
-Cyber Security Drives Improvements in Business Goals
-Incoming FCA Chair Says Crypto Firms Facilitate Money Laundering
-Managing Cyber Risk in 2023: The People Element
-What We Can't See Can Hurt Us
-Uber Suffers New Data Breach After Attack on Vendor, Info Leaked Online
-When Companies Compensate the Hackers, We All Foot the Bill
-HSE Cyber-Attack Costs Ireland $83m So Far
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
Executives Take More Cyber Security Risks Than Office Workers
IT software company Ivanti worked with cyber security experts and surveyed 6,500 executive leaders, cybersecurity professionals, and office workers to understand the perception of today’s cybersecurity threats and to find out how companies are preparing for yet-unknown future threats.
The report revealed that despite 97% of leaders and security professionals reporting their organisation is as prepared, or more prepared, to defend against cybersecurity attacks than they were a year ago, one in five wouldn’t bet a chocolate bar that they could prevent a damaging breach.
In fact, the study finds that organisations are racing to fortify against cyber attacks, but the industry still struggles with a reactive, checklist mentality. This is most pronounced in how security teams are prioritising patches. While 92% of security professionals reported they have a method to prioritise patches, they also indicated that all types of patches rank high – meaning none do.
“Patching is not nearly as simple as it sounds,” said Ivanti. “Even well-staffed, well-funded IT and security teams experience prioritisation challenges amidst other pressing demands. To reduce risk without increasing workload, organisations must implement a risk-based patch management solution and leverage automation to identify, prioritise, and even address vulnerabilities without excess manual intervention”.
Cyber security insiders view phishing, ransomware, and software vulnerabilities as top industry-level threats for 2023. Approximately half of respondents indicated they are “very prepared” to meet the growing threat landscape including ransomware, poor encryption, and malicious employees, but the expected safeguards such as deprovisioning credentials is ignored a third of a time and nearly half of those surveyed say they suspect a former employee or contractor still has active access to company systems and files.
The report also revealed that leaders engage in more dangerous behaviour and are four times more likely to be victims of phishing compared to office workers.
Additionally:
More than 1 in 3 leaders have clicked on a phishing link
Nearly 1 in 4 use easy-to-remember birthdays as part of their password
They are much more likely to hang on to passwords for years
And they are 5x more likely to share their password with people outside the company.
One survey taker shared, “We’ve experienced a few advanced phishing attempts and the employees were totally unaware they were being targeted. These types of attacks have become so much more sophisticated over the last two years – even our most experienced staff are falling prey to it.”
To cope with a rapidly expanding threat landscape, organisations must move beyond a reactive, rules-based approach.
CISO Role is Diversifying from Technology to Leadership & Communication Skills
The role of chief information security officer (CISO), a relatively new executive position, is undergoing some significant changes and an archetype has yet to emerge, a new global report from Marlin Hawk, an executive recruiting and leadership consultant, said.
CISOs are still more likely to serve on advisory boards or industry bodies than on the board of directors. Only 13% of the global CISOs analysed are women; approximately 20% are non-white. Each diversity dimension analysed is down one percentage point year-on-year.
According to James Larkin, managing partner at Marlin Hawk, “Today’s CISOs are taking up the mantle of responsibilities that have traditionally fallen solely to the chief information officer (CIO), which is to act as the primary gateway from the tech department into the wider business and the outside marketplace. This widening scope requires CISOs to be adept communicators to the board, the broader business, as well as the marketplace of shareholders and customers. By thriving in the ‘softer’ skill sets of communication, leadership, and strategy, CISOs are now setting the new industry standards of today and, I predict, will be progressing into the board directors of tomorrow.”
The job does not come without its downsides. For one, according to the search firm, many CISOs change roles and leave their jobs. Their skillset may not be adequate or new leaders get appointed to the job, they lack the necessary internal support, or their company may not have the required commitment to cyber security to make the job effective.
Key findings from the report include:
45% of global CISOs have been in their current role for two years or less, down from 53% in 2021, with 18% turnover year-on-year. While there is still a lot of movement in the CISO seat, there is potentially some stabilisation emerging.
Approximately 62% of global CISOs were hired from another company, indicating a slight increase in the number of CISOs hired internally (38% were hired internally compared to 36% in 2021) but a large gap remains in appropriate successors.
36% of CISOs analysed with a graduate degree received a higher degree in business administration or management. This is down 10% from last year (46% in 2021). Conversely, there has been an increase to 61% of CISOs receiving a higher degree in STEM subjects (up from 46% in 2021).
How Emerging AIs, Like ChatGPT, Can Turn Anyone into a Ransomware and Malware Threat Actor
Ever since OpenAI launched ChatGPT at the end of November, commentators on all sides have been concerned about the impact AI-driven content-creation will have, particularly in the realm of cybersecurity. In fact, many researchers are concerned that generative AI solutions will democratise cyber crime.
With ChatGPT, any user can enter a query and generate malicious code and convincing phishing emails without any technical expertise or coding knowledge.
While security teams can also leverage ChatGPT for defensive purposes such as testing code, by lowering the barrier for entry for cyber attacks, the solution has complicated the threat landscape significantly. From a cyber security perspective, the central challenge created by OpenAI’s creation is that anyone, regardless of technical expertise, can create code to generate malware and ransomware on-demand.
Whilst it can be used for good to assist developers in writing code for good, it can (and already has) been used for malicious purposes. Examples including asking the bot to create convincing phishing emails or assist in reverse engineering code to find zero-day exploits that could be used maliciously instead of reporting them to a vendor.
ChatGPT does have inbuilt guardrails designed to prevent the solution from being used for criminal activity. For instance, it will decline to create shell code or provide specific instructions on how to create shellcode or establish a reverse shell and flag malicious keywords like phishing to block the requests.
The problem with these protections is that they’re reliant on the AI recognising that the user is attempting to write malicious code (which users can obfuscate by rephrasing queries), while there’s no immediate consequences for violating OpenAI’s content policy.
https://venturebeat.com/security/chatgpt-ransomware-malware/
Cyber Security Drives Improvements in Business Goals
Cyber threats should no longer be viewed as just an IT problem, but also a business problem, Deloitte said in its latest Future of Cyber study. Operational disruption, loss of revenue, and loss of customer trust are the top three significant impacts of cyber incidents. More than half, or 56%, of respondents told Deloitte they suffered related consequences to a moderate or large extent.
In 2021, the top three negative consequences from cyber incidents and breaches were operational disruption, which includes supply chain and the partner ecosystem, intellectual property theft, and a drop in share price. While operational disruption remained the top concern in 2022, loss of revenue and loss of customer trust and negative brand impact moved up in importance. Intellectual property theft and drop in share price dropped to eighth and ninth (out of ten) in ranking. Losing funding for a strategic initiative, loss of confidence in the integrity of the technology, and impact on employee recruitment and retention moved up in ranking in 2022. Respondents were also asked to mark two consequences they felt would be most important in 2023: Operational disruption and loss of revenue topped the list.
"Today, cyber means business, and it is difficult to overstate the importance of cyber as a foundational and integral business imperative," Deloitte noted in its report. "It [cyber] should be included in every functional area, as an essential ingredient for success—to drive continuous business value, not simply mitigate risks to IT."
Deloitte categorised organisations' cyber security maturity based on their adoption of cyber planning, risk management, and board engagement. Risk management included activities such as industry benchmarking, incident response, scenario planning, and qualitative and quantitative risk assessment.
Whether or not the organisation adopted any of these three practices hinged on stakeholders recognising the importance of cyber responsibility and engagement across the whole organisation, Deloitte said in its report. Examples included having a governing body that comprises IT and senior business leaders to oversee the cyber program, conducting incident-response scenario planning and simulation at the organisational and/or board level, regularly providing cyber updates to the board to secure funding, and conducting regular cyber awareness training for all employees.
https://www.darkreading.com/edge-threat-monitor/cybersecurity-drives-improvements-in-business-goals
Incoming FCA Chair Says Crypto Firms Facilitate Money Laundering
The man who will lead UK efforts to regulate cryptocurrency firms issued a stark condemnation of the sector on Wednesday, telling MPs that in his experience crypto platforms were “deliberately evasive”, facilitated money laundering at scale and created “massively untoward risk”.
The comments from Ashley Alder, the incoming chair of the Financial Conduct Authority, suggest that crypto firms hoping to build businesses in the UK will face an uphill battle when the FCA assumes new powers to regulate broad swaths of the sector.
They also put Alder, who will become FCA chair in February, on a potential collision course with the government’s aspiration to create a high quality crypto hub that fosters innovation, a vision ministers have remained loyal to even as the global crypto market lurches from crisis to crisis, epitomised by the collapse of FTX. The FCA declined to comment on whether their incoming chair’s views were at odds with those of the government.
Alder comments came during a sometimes terse appointment hearing with the cross-party Treasury select committee, where he faced sustained criticism for appearing virtually from Hong Kong and for his lack of familiarity with some parts of the UK market place and its accountability structures.
https://www.ft.com/content/7bf0a760-5fb5-4146-b757-1acc5fc1dee5
Managing Cyber Risk in 2023: The People Element
2022 has had many challenges from cyber war between Russia and Ukraine, continuing ransomware attacks, and a number of high-profile vulnerabilities and zero day attacks. With the attack surface constantly expanding, CISOs and security leaders are acutely aware of the need to minimise risk across people, processes, and technology.
Top infrastructure risk: people
It’s common knowledge that it’s not if, but when, your organisation will be the target of a cyber attack. CISOs and security leaders seem to share the same opinion—according to Trend Micro’s latest Cyber Risk Index (CRI) (1H’2022), 85% of 4,100 respondents across four global regions said its somewhat to very likely they will experience a cyber attack in the next 12 months. More concerning was 90% of respondents had at least one successful cyber attack in the past 12 months.
The CRI (1H’2022) also found that CISOs, IT practitioners, and managers identified that most organisations’ IT security objectives are not aligned with the business objectives, which could cause challenges when trying to implement a sound cyber security strategy.
It’s important to note that while ideal, avoiding a cyber attack isn’t the main goal—companies need to address critical challenges across their growing digital attack surface to enable faster detection and response, therefore minimising cyber risk.
While it's commonly assumed that security efforts should be largely focused on protecting critical servers and infrastructure, the human attack vector shouldn’t be so quickly forgotten.
https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/ciso/22/e/managing-cyber-risk.html
What We Can't See Can Hurt Us
In speaking with security and fraud professionals, visibility remains a top priority. This is no surprise, since visibility into the network, application, and user layers is one of the fundamental building blocks of both successful security programs and successful fraud programs. This visibility is required across all environments — whether on-premises, private cloud, public cloud, multicloud, hybrid, or otherwise.
Given this, it is perhaps a bit surprising that visibility in the cloud has lagged behind the move to those environments. This occurred partially because few options for decent visibility were available to businesses as they moved to the cloud. But it also partially happened because higher priority was placed on deploying to the cloud than on protecting those deployments from security and fraud threats.
This is unfortunate, since what we can't see can hurt us. That being said, cloud visibility is becoming a top priority for many businesses. There are a few areas where many businesses are looking for visibility to play a key role, including Compliance, Monitoring, Investigation, Response, API Discovery, Application Breaches, and Malicious User Detection.
Organisation have been a bit behind in terms of ensuring the requisite visibility into cloud environments. Whilst time has been lost, it does seem that gaining visibility into the network, application, and user layers is now a priority for many businesses. This is a positive development, as it enables those businesses to better mitigate the risks that operating blindly creates.
https://www.darkreading.com/edge-articles/what-we-can-t-see-can-hurt-us
Uber Suffers New Data Breach After Attack on Vendor, Info Leaked Online
Uber has suffered a new data breach after a threat actor leaked employee email addresses, corporate reports, and IT asset information stolen from a third-party vendor in a cyber security incident.
On Saturday last week, a threat actor named 'UberLeaks' began leaking data they claimed was stolen from Uber and Uber Eats on a hacking forum known for publishing data breaches. The leaked data includes numerous archives claiming to be source code associated with mobile device management platforms (MDM) used by Uber and Uber Eats and third-party vendor services.
The threat actor created four separate topics, allegedly for Uber MDM at uberhub.uberinternal.com and Uber Eats MDM, and the third-party Teqtivity MDM and TripActions MDM platforms. Each post refers to a member of the Lapsus$ hacking group who is believed to be responsible for numerous high-profile attacks, including a September cyber attack on Uber where threat actors gained access to the internal network and the company's Slack server.
News outlet BleepingComputer has been told that the newly leaked data consists of source code, IT asset management reports, data destruction reports, Windows domain login names and email addresses, and other corporate information. One of the documents seen by BleepingComputer includes email addresses and Windows Active Directory information for over 77,000 Uber employees.
While BleepingComputer initially thought this data was stolen during the September attack, Uber told BleepingComputer it believes it is related to a security breach on a third-party vendor.
When Companies Compensate the Hackers, We All Foot the Bill
Companies are always absorbing costs that are seen as par for the course of budget planning: maintenance, upgrades, office supplies, wastage, shrinkage, etc. These costs ratchet up the price of a company's products and are then passed on to the consumer. Breaches in cyber security and paying out ransoms to hackers should be outside of this remit, and yet more than half of all companies admit to transferring the costs of data breaches on to consumers. Careless or ill-informed employees and other weaknesses in a company's protections lead to catastrophic losses to businesses of around $1,797,945 per minute — and the consumers are paying it off.
If a company estimates the recovery costs from a ransomware attack to exceed the requested payment from the hacker, then it feels like a no-brainer — they're better off just cutting their losses and giving in to the cyber criminal's demands. The issue is that this creates an unvirtuous circle of paying the hacker, which enforces nefarious behaviour and empowers hackers to increase the number and volume of ransoms.
When it comes to ransomware, 32% of companies pay off hackers, and, of that percentage, the average company only retrieves about 65% of its data. Giving in to hackers is counterintuitive. On an even more disturbing note, one study found that 80% of companies that paid a ransom were targeted a second time, with about 40% paying again and a majority of that 40% paying a higher ransom the second time round. This is ludicrous. With 33% of companies suspending operations following an attack, and nearly 40% resorting to laying off staff, it comes as no surprise that the downstream costs are picked up to some extent by the consumer.
As for smaller companies, about 50% of US small businesses don't have a cyber security plan in place, despite the fact that small businesses are three times more likely to be targeted by cyber criminals than larger companies. An average breach costs these companies around $200,000 and has put many out of business. It isn't simply the cost passed on to consumers, it's also the intangible assets, such as brand reputation.
When data is leaked and a site goes down, customers become rightly anxious when their information is sold to the highest bidder on the Dark Web. To safeguard against this, companies of all sizes should exploit automated solutions while training every single member of staff to recognise and report online threats. Paying a ransom does not guarantee the return of data, and for a smaller business, losing valuable customer information could cause long-term damage way beyond the initial attack.
Cyber security professionals, governments, and law enforcement agencies all advise companies to avoid paying the hackers' ransoms. This strategy is affirmed by the success businesses have had in retrieving the stolen data and turning the lights back on — 78% of organisations who say they did not pay a ransom were able to fully restore systems and data without the decryption key. This evidently is not enough to reassure companies who, at the click of a dangerous email being opened, have lost sensitive information and access to their systems and are desperate to get back online. There are many preventative techniques businesses can take advantage of before it even gets to that stage.
HSE Cyber-Attack Costs Ireland $83m So Far
The cost of the cyber-attack that hit the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) last year has officially reached €80m ($83.75m).
The figures come from a letter from HSE’s chief information officer, seen by The Irish Times. This comes months after the Department of Health suggested in February the attack could end up costing up to €100m ($104m). The letter confirmed that the costs reached €42m ($43.97m) in 2021 and almost €39m ($40.83m) until October of this year.
Ireland has a very capable national cyber security centre and a well-oiled CSIRT team that engages the public/private sector. If the cost does continue to escalate to €100m, that is the equivalent to everyone in the Republic of Ireland having been defrauded by €20. According to The Irish Times, the costs were said to be “enormous,” and the government has been asked to complete a comprehensive assessment of the impact caused by the breach.
The cyber-attack, believed to have been conducted by Russia-based state actors, was reportedly caused by a malicious Microsoft Excel file delivered via a phishing email. According to a December 2021 report, the file was opened at an HSE workstation in March 2021. The malware would have been latent for two months before the breach, which was reportedly discovered in May, two months later. A total of roughly 100,000 people had their personal data stolen during the cyber-attack.
Healthcare continues to be a target of attacks given their enormous attack surface across critical applications, cloud environments and IoT devices.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/hse-cyber-attack-ireland-dollar83m/
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
HSE Cyber-Attack Costs Ireland $83m So Far - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Ransomware-hit Rackspace email outage enters 12th day • The Register
The Dark Web is Getting Darker - Ransomware Thrives on Illegal Markets (bleepingcomputer.com)
Rash of New Ransomware Variants Springs Up in the Wild (darkreading.com)
Patch Tuesday: Microsoft Plugs Windows Hole Exploited in Ransomware Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Preventing a ransomware attack with intelligence: Strategies for CISOs - Help Net Security
LockBit ransomware crew claims attack on California Department of Finance - CyberScoop
When Companies Compensate the Hackers, We All Foot the Bill (darkreading.com)
Clop ransomware uses TrueBot malware for access to networks (bleepingcomputer.com)
TrueBot infections were observed in Clop ransomware attacks - Security Affairs
Play ransomware claims attack on Belgium city of Antwerp (bleepingcomputer.com)
Brooklyn hospital network victim of cyber hack crash (msn.com)
Cyber security Experts Uncover Inner Workings of Destructive Azov Ransomware (thehackernews.com)
Cybereason warns of rapid increase in Royal ransomware | TechTarget
New Royal ransomware group evades detection with partial encryption | CSO Online
How ChatGPT can turn anyone into a ransomware and malware threat actor | VentureBeat
Check Point classifies Azov as wiper, not ransomware | TechTarget
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Open-source repositories flooded by 144,000 phishing packages (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishing attack uses Facebook posts to evade email security (bleepingcomputer.com)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Malware
Microsoft digital certificates have once again been abused to sign malware | Ars Technica
Hackers target Japanese politicians with new MirrorStealer malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Zscaler: Nearly 90% of Cyber attacks Now Use Encrypted Channels, Malware Tops - MSSP Alert
Crooks use HTML smuggling to spread QBot malware via SVG files - Security Affairs
A clever trick turns antivirus software into unstoppable data wiping scourges | TechSpot
How ChatGPT can turn anyone into a ransomware and malware threat actor | VentureBeat
Mobile
Android Malware Campaign Leverages Money-Lending Apps to Blackmail Victims (thehackernews.com)
Why You Should Enable Apple’s New iOS 16.2 Security Feature | Reviews by Wirecutter (nytimes.com)
Xnspy stalkerware spied on thousands of iPhones and Android devices | TechCrunch
Internet of Things – IoT
3.5m IP cameras exposed, with US in the lead - Security Affairs
Are robots too insecure for lethal use by law enforcement? | CSO Online
10 Ways Doorbell Cameras Pose a Threat to Privacy and Security - Listverse
Data Breaches/Leaks
Uber suffers new data breach after attack on vendor, info leaked online (bleepingcomputer.com)
Twitter confirms recent user data leak is from 2021 breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
HR platform Sequoia says hackers accessed customer SSNs and COVID-19 data | TechCrunch
Australia's Telstra suffers privacy breach, 132,000 customers impacted | Reuters
Unauthorised server access caused AirAsia data leak: Fahmi | Malaysia | The Vibes
FBI's InfraGard Cyber security Program Breached by Hackers (gizmodo.com)
Aussie Data Breaches Surge 489% in Q4 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Uber staff information leaks after IT supply chain attack • The Register
TPG Telecom joins list of hacked Australian companies, shares slide | Reuters
How companies can avoid costly data breaches - Help Net Security
Hackers leak personal info allegedly stolen from 5.7M Gemini users (bleepingcomputer.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Incoming FCA chair says crypto firms facilitate money laundering | Financial Times (ft.com)
Britons lose life savings to ‘Ali Baba and the cryptocurrency scammers’ | News | The Times
DOJ divided over charging Binance for alleged crypto crimes, report says | Ars Technica
Facebook Asks Lawmakers Not to Regulate Crypto Too Harshly Just Because of All the Fraud (vice.com)
The amateur sleuths who helped to bring down Sam Bankman-Fried - New Statesman
Hackers leak personal info allegedly stolen from 5.7M Gemini users (bleepingcomputer.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Executives take more cyber security risks than office workers - Help Net Security
Managing Cyber Risk in 2023: The People Element (trendmicro.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Britons lose life savings to ‘Ali Baba and the cryptocurrency scammers’ | News | The Times
Restaurant closes after fraudsters posing as officials steal thousands | News | The Times
Woman gets 66 months in prison for role in $3.3 million ID fraud op (bleepingcomputer.com)
Patrick Giblin conned women all over the US. Now he's going to prison for 5 years | CNN
UK arrests five for selling dodgy point of sale software • The Register
The amateur sleuths who helped to bring down Sam Bankman-Fried - New Statesman
8 charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud • The Register
AML/CFT/Sanctions
Insurance
Dark Web
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Uber staff information leaks after IT supply chain attack • The Register
Report highlights serious cyber security issues with US defence contractors | CSO Online
Software Supply Chain
How Naming Can Change the Game in Software Supply Chain Security (darkreading.com)
Microsoft digital certificates have once again been abused to sign malware | Ars Technica
Denial of Service DoS/DDoS
FBI Charges 6, Seizes 48 Domains Linked to DDoS-for-Hire Service Platforms (thehackernews.com)
Prosecutors charge 6 people for allegedly waging massive DDoS attacks | Ars Technica
‘Booter’ sites taken down in global cyber crime bust (gbnews.uk)
Microsoft discovers Windows/Linux botnet used in DDoS attacks | Ars Technica
Cloud/SaaS
Microsoft launches EU 'data boundary' from next year • The Register
HR platform Sequoia says hackers accessed customer SSNs and COVID-19 data | TechCrunch
Lego fixes dangerous API vulnerability in BrickLink service | TechTarget (computerweekly.com)
Data Destruction Policies in the Age of Cloud Computing (darkreading.com)
Hybrid/Remote Working
Encryption
Zscaler: Nearly 90% of Cyber attacks Now Use Encrypted Channels, Malware Tops - MSSP Alert
The FBI Says Apple’s New Encryption Is “Deeply Concerning” (futurism.com)
Over 85% of Attacks Hide in Encrypted Channels - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Privacy advocates are aghast at UK’s anti-encryption plans (thenextweb.com)
API
Open Source
Google Launches OSV-Scanner Tool to Identify Open Source Vulnerabilities (thehackernews.com)
Open-source repositories flooded by 144,000 phishing packages (bleepingcomputer.com)
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Social Media
TikTok may push potentially harmful content to teens within minutes, study finds | CNN Business
Meta warns spyware still being used to target people on social media | Meta | The Guardian
Elon Musk Bans Journalists From Twitter After Reinstating Nazis (gizmodo.com)
Russian disinformation rampant on far-right social media platforms - CyberScoop
HowTo: Fight Cyber-Threats in the Metaverse - Infosecurity Magazine
US politicians propose TikTok ban over China security concerns (telegraph.co.uk)
Training, Education and Awareness
Keep Your Grinch at Bay: Here's How to Stay Safe Online this Holiday Season (thehackernews.com)
Remote Work Cyber security Requires a Change in Mindset (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Parental Controls and Child Safety
TikTok may push potentially harmful content to teens within minutes, study finds | CNN Business
Microsoft Teams is a vector for child sexual abuse material • The Register
Cyber Bullying, Cyber Stalking and Sextortion
Xnspy stalkerware spied on thousands of iPhones and Android devices | TechCrunch
Proposed law offers support to tech-enabled abuse survivors • The Register
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Privacy concerns are limiting data usage abilities - Help Net Security
European Commission takes step toward approving EU-US data privacy pact | Computerworld
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Managing Cyber Risk in 2023: The People Element (trendmicro.com)
Executives take more cyber security risks than office workers - Help Net Security
Cyber security Drives Improvements in Business Goals (darkreading.com)
Compliance Is Not Enough: How to Manage Your Customer Data (darkreading.com)
5 tips for building a culture of cyber security accountability - Help Net Security
Data Destruction Policies in the Age of Cloud Computing (darkreading.com)
What CISOs consider when building up security resilience - Help Net Security
CISO Role is Diversifying From Technology to Leadership & Communication Skills - MSSP Alert
Models, Frameworks and Standards
Why PCI DSS 4.0 Should Be on Your Radar in 2023 (thehackernews.com)
PCI Secure Software Standard version 1.2 sets out new payment security requirements | CSO Online
Backup and Recovery
Why Your MSSP Should Offer Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) - MSSP Alert
CISA Warns Veeam Backup & Replication Vulnerabilities Exploited in Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Data Protection
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
FBI Charges 6, Seizes 48 Domains Linked to DDoS-for-Hire Service Platforms (thehackernews.com)
Prosecutors charge 6 people for allegedly waging massive DDoS attacks | Ars Technica
8 charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud • The Register
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Privacy advocates are aghast at UK’s anti-encryption plans (thenextweb.com)
Apple should pay €6m for tracking users – French official • The Register
European Commission takes step toward approving EU-US data privacy pact | Computerworld
Privacy concerns are limiting data usage abilities - Help Net Security
Artificial Intelligence
Are robots too insecure for lethal use by law enforcement? | CSO Online
How ChatGPT can turn anyone into a ransomware and malware threat actor | VentureBeat
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Trojanized Windows 10 Operating System Installers Targeted Ukrainian Government | Mandiant
Reassessing cyberwarfare. Lessons learned in 2022 | Securelist
As Wiretap Claims Rattle Government, Greece Bans Spyware | SecurityWeek.Com
Ex-Twitter Worker Gets Prison Time in Saudi 'Spy' Case | SecurityWeek.Com
Reassessing cyberwarfare. Lessons learned in 2022 | Securelist
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Seven accused of smuggling out US military tech for Moscow • The Register
Neo-Nazi Russian militia appeals for intelligence on Nato member states | Ukraine | The Guardian
NSA cyber director warns of Russian digital assaults on global energy sector - CyberScoop
Russian disinformation rampant on far-right social media platforms - CyberScoop
Nation State Actors – China
NSA Outs Chinese Hackers Exploiting Citrix Zero-Day | SecurityWeek.Com
US politicians propose TikTok ban over China security concerns (telegraph.co.uk)
Hackers target Japanese politicians with new MirrorStealer malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
US to add Chinese chipmaker to trade blacklist | Financial Times (ft.com)
AIIMS cyber attack suspected to have originated in China, Hong Kong - Rediff.com India News
Spies and Lies by Alex Joske — inside China’s intelligence operation | Financial Times (ft.com)
Nation State Actors – North Korea
Nation State Actors – Iran
Vulnerability Management
Transitive Dependencies Account for 95% of Bugs - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
24% of technology applications contain high-risk security flaws - Help Net Security
Vulnerabilities
Hackers exploit critical Citrix ADC and Gateway zero day, patch now (bleepingcomputer.com)
CISA Warns Veeam Backup & Replication Vulnerabilities Exploited in Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Adobe Patches 38 Flaws in Enterprise Software Products | SecurityWeek.Com
VMware fixed critical VM Escape bug demonstrated at Geekpwn hacking contest - Security Affairs
Samba Issues Security Updates to Patch Multiple High-Severity Vulnerabilities (thehackernews.com)
Fortinet says SSL-VPN pre-auth RCE bug is exploited in attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Transitive Dependencies Account for 95% of Bugs - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Citrix Releases Security Updates for Citrix ADC, Citrix Gateway | CISA
Security Flaw in Atlassian Products Affecting Multiple Companies (darkreading.com)
Patch Tuesday: 0-days, RCE bugs, and a curious tale of signed malware – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Patch Tuesday: Microsoft Plugs Windows Hole Exploited in Ransomware Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
New Actively Exploited Zero-Day Vulnerability Discovered in Apple Products (thehackernews.com)
Apple patches everything, finally reveals mystery of iOS 16.1.2 – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Apple fixed the tenth actively exploited zero-day this year - Security Affairs
High-Severity Memory Safety Bugs Patched With Latest Chrome 108 Update | SecurityWeek.Com
Top 5 Web App Vulnerabilities and How to Find Them (thehackernews.com)
Severe vulnerabilities found in most industrial controllers - The Washington Post
Akamai WAF bypassed via Spring Boot to trigger RCE | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)
Tools and Controls
CISA Warns Veeam Backup & Replication Vulnerabilities Exploited in Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Why Your MSSP Should Offer Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) - MSSP Alert
Data Destruction Policies in the Age of Cloud Computing (darkreading.com)
Other News
Cyber Threats Loom as 5B People Prepare to Watch World Cup Final (darkreading.com)
Tech companies must start sharing intelligence to avert global conflicts | Financial Times (ft.com)
Microsoft Defender, Avast, AVG turned against Windows to permanently delete files - Neowin
Analysis Shows Attackers Favour PowerShell, File Obfuscation (darkreading.com)
Automated Cyber campaign Creates Masses of Bogus Software Building Blocks (darkreading.com)
12 types of wireless network attacks and how to prevent them | TechTarget
FuboTV says World Cup streaming outage caused by a cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
MTTR “not a viable metric” for complex software system reliability and security | CSO Online
Low-code/no-code security risks climb as tools gain traction | TechTarget
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.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 07 October 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 07 October 2022:
-Russian Sanctions Instigator Lloyd's Possibly Hit by Cyber Attack
-Former Uber Security Chief Convicted of Covering Up Data Breach
-First 72 Hours of Incident Response Critical to Taming Cyber Attack Chaos
-Email Defences Under Siege: Phishing Attacks Dramatically Improve
-Remote Services Are Becoming an Attractive Target for Ransomware
-Growing Reliance on Cloud Brings New Security Challenges
-Many IT Pros Don’t Think a Ransomware Attack Can Impact Microsoft 365 Data
-Ransomware Group Bypasses "Enormous" Range of EDR Tools
-MS Exchange Zero-Days: The Calm Before the Storm?
-Average Company with Data in the Cloud Faces $28 Million in Data-Breach Risk
-Secureworks Finds Network Intruders See Little Resistance
-Regulations, Laws and Accountability are Changing the Cyber Security Landscape
-This Year’s Biggest Cyber Threats
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
Russian Sanctions Instigator Lloyd's Possibly Hit by Cyber Attack
Lloyd’s of London, the London-based insurance market heavily involved in implementing sanctions against Russia, may have been hit by a cyber-attack. On Wednesday, October 5, 2022, the British insurance market revealed it had detected “unusual activity” on its systems and has turned off all external connectivity “as a precautionary measure.”
“We have informed market participants and relevant parties, and we will provide more information once our investigations have concluded,” said a Lloyd’s spokesperson.
The company did not comment on whether or not it has been contacted by hackers, if a ransom demand has been issued, or on the possible source of the attack.
However, the insurance market has been closely involved with the design and implementation of sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine – a potential motive for the attack. Lloyd’s itself has confirmed it was working closely with British and international governments to implement such sanctions.
Around 100 insurance syndicates operate at Lloyd's.
Earlier in 2022, Lloyd’s instructed its 76 insurance syndicates to remove “nation-state-backed cyber attacks” from insurance policies by March 2023, as well as losses “arising from a war.”
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/lloyds-possibly-hit-by-cyberattack/
Former Uber Security Chief Convicted of Covering Up Data Breach
Uber’s former head of security has been convicted of covering up a 2016 data breach at the rideshare giant, hiding details from US regulators and paying off a pair of hackers in return for their discretion.
The trial, closely watched in cyber security circles, is believed to be the first criminal prosecution of a company executive over the handling of a data breach.
Joe Sullivan, who was fired in 2017 over the incident, was found guilty by a San Francisco jury of obstructing an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. At the time of the 2016 breach, the regulator had been investigating the car-booking service over a different cyber security lapse that had occurred two years earlier.
Jurors also convicted Sullivan of a second count related to having knowledge of but failing to report the 2016 breach to the appropriate government authorities. The incident eventually became public in 2017 when Dara Khosrowshahi, who had just taken over as chief executive, disclosed details of the attack.
Prosecutors said Sullivan had taken steps to make sure data compromised in the attack would not be revealed. According to court documents, two hackers approached Sullivan’s team to notify Uber of a security flaw that exposed the personal information of almost 60mn drivers and riders on the platform.
https://www.ft.com/content/051af6a1-41d1-4a6c-9e5a-d23d46b2a9c9
First 72 Hours of Incident Response Critical to Taming Cyber Attack Chaos
Cyber security professionals tasked with responding to attacks experience stress, burnout, and mental health issues that are exacerbated by a lack of breach preparedness and sufficient incident response practice in their organisations.
A new IBM Security-sponsored survey published this week found that two-thirds (67%) of incident responders suffer stress and anxiety during at least some of their engagements, while 44% have sacrificed the well-being of their relationships, and 42% have suffered burnout, according to the survey conducted by Morning Consult. In addition, 68% of incidents responders often have to work on two or more incidents at the same time, increasing their stress, according to the survey's results.
Companies that plan and practice responding to a variety of incidents can lower the stress levels of their incident responders, employees, and executives, says John Dwyer, head of research for IBM Security's X-Force response team.
"Organisations are not effectively establishing their response strategies with the responders in mind — it does not need to be as stressful as it is," he says. "There is a lot of time when the responders are managing organisations during an incident, because those organisations were not prepared for the crisis that occurs. These attacks happen every day."
The IBM Security-funded study underscores why the cyber security community has focused increasingly on the mental health of its members. About half (51%) of cyber security defenders have suffered burnout or extreme stress in the past year, according to a VMware survey released in August 2021. Cyber security executives have also spotlighted the issue as one that affects the community and companies' ability to retain skilled workers.
Email Defences Under Siege: Phishing Attacks Dramatically Improve
This week's report that cyber attackers are laser-focused on crafting attacks specialised to bypass Microsoft's default security showcases an alarming evolution in phishing tactics, security experts said this week.
Threat actors are getting better at slipping phishing attacks through the weak spots in platform email defences, using a variety of techniques, such as zero-point font obfuscation, hiding behind cloud-messaging services, and delaying payload activation, for instance. They're also doing more targeting and research on victims.
As a result, nearly 1 in 5 phishing emails (18.8%) bypassed Microsoft's platform defences and landed in workers' inboxes in 2022, a rate that increased 74% compared to 2020, according to research published by cyber security firm Check Point Software. Attackers increasingly used techniques to pass security checks, such as Sender Policy Framework (SPF), and obfuscate functional components of an e-mail, such as using zero-size fonts or hiding malicious URLs from analysis.
The increasing capabilities of attackers is due to the better understanding of current defences, says Avanan, an email security firm acquired by Check Point in August 2021.
"It is a family of 10 to 20 techniques, but they all lead to the objective of deceiving a company's security layers," he says. "The end result is always an email that looks genuine to the recipient but looks different to the algorithm that analyses the content."
Microsoft declined to comment on the research. However, the company has warned of advanced techniques, such as adversary-in-the-middle phishing (AiTM), which uses a custom URL to place a proxy server between a victim and their desired site, allowing the attacker to capture sensitive data, such as usernames and passwords. In July, the company warned that more than 10,000 organisations had been targeted during one AiTM campaign.
Remote Services Are Becoming an Attractive Target for Ransomware
Stolen credentials are no longer the number one initial access vector for ransomware operators looking to infect a target network and its endpoints - instead, they’ve become more interested in exploiting vulnerabilities found in internet-facing systems.
A report from Secureworks claims ransomware-as-a-service developers are quick to add newly discovered vulnerabilities into their arsenals, allowing even less competent hackers to exploit them swiftly, and with relative ease.
In fact, the company's annual State of the Threat Report reveals that flaw exploitation in remote services accounted for 52% of all ransomware incidents the company analysed over the last 12 months.
Besides remote services, Secureworks also spotted a 150% increase in the use of infostealers, which became a “key precursor” to ransomware. Both these factors, the report stresses, kept ransomware as the number one threat for businesses of all sizes, “who must fight to stay abreast of the demands of new vulnerability prioritisation and patching”.
All things considered, ransomware is still the biggest threat for businesses. It takes up almost a quarter of all attacks that were reported in the last 12 months, Secureworks says, and despite law enforcement being actively involved, operators remained highly active.
https://www.techradar.com/news/remote-services-are-becoming-an-attractive-target-for-ransomware
Growing Reliance on Cloud Brings New Security Challenges
There was a time when cloud was just a small subset of IT infrastructure, and cloud security referred to a very specific set of tasks. The current reality is very different, organisations are heavily dependent on cloud technologies and cloud security has become a much more complex endeavour.
Organisations increasingly rely on the cloud to deliver new applications, reduce costs, and support business operations. One in every four organisations already have majority workloads in the cloud, and 44% of workloads currently run in some form of public cloud, says Omdia, a research and advisory group.
Practically every midsize and large organisation now operates in some kind of a hybrid cloud environment, with a mix of cloud and on-premises systems. For most organisations, software-as-a-service constitute the bulk (80%) of their cloud environments, followed by infrastructure-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service deployments.
In the past, cloud security conversations tended to focus on making sure cloud environments are being configured properly, but cloud security nowadays goes far beyond just configuration management. The sprawling cloud environment means security management has to be centralised, Omdia said. Security functions also need to be integrated into existing application deployment workflows.
On top of all of this, multicloud is becoming more common among organisations as they shift their workloads to avoid being dependent on a single platform. The three major cloud providers – Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform – account for 65% of the cloud market.
https://www.darkreading.com/dr-tech/growing-reliance-on-cloud-brings-new-security-challenges
Many IT Pros Don’t Think a Ransomware Attack Can Impact Microsoft 365 Data
The 2022 Ransomware Report, which surveyed over 2,000 IT leaders, revealed that 24% have been victims of a ransomware attack, with 20% of attacks happening in the last year.
Cyber attacks are happening more frequently. Last year’s ransomware survey revealed that 21% of companies experienced an attack. This year it rose by three percent to 24%.
“Attacks on businesses are increasing, and there is a shocking lack of awareness and preparation by IT pros. Our survey shows that many in the IT community have a false sense of security. As bad actors develop new techniques, companies like ours have to do what it takes to come out ahead and protect businesses around the world,” said Hornetsecurity.
The report highlighted a lack of knowledge on the security available to businesses. 25% of IT professionals either don’t know or don’t think that Microsoft 365 data can be impacted by a ransomware attack.
Just as worryingly, 40% of IT professionals that use Microsoft 365 in their organisation admitted they do not have a recovery plan in case their Microsoft 365 data was compromised by a ransomware attack.
“Microsoft 365 is vulnerable to phishing attacks and ransomware attacks, but with the help of third-party tools, IT admins can backup their Microsoft 365 data securely and protect themselves from such attacks,” said Hofmann.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/10/03/ransomware-attack-impact-microsoft-365-data/
Ransomware Group Bypasses "Enormous" Range of EDR Tools
A notorious ransomware group has been spotted leveraging sophisticated techniques to bypass endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools.
BlackByte, which the US government has said poses a serious threat to critical infrastructure, used a “Bring Your Own Driver” technique to circumvent over 1000 drivers used by commercially available EDR products, according to Sophos. The UK cyber security vendor explained in a new report that the group had exploited a known vulnerability, CVE-2019-16098, in Windows graphics utility driver RTCorec6.sys. This enabled it to communicate directly with a victim system’s kernel and issue commands to disable callback routines used by EDR tools.
The group also used EDR bypass techniques borrowed from open source tool EDRSandblast to deactivate the Microsoft-Windows-Threat-Intelligence ETW (Event Tracing for Windows) provider. This is a Windows feature “that provides logs about the use of commonly maliciously abused API calls such as NtReadVirtualMemory to inject into another process’s memory,” explained Sophos. Neutralising it in this way renders any security tool relying on the feature also useless, the firm argued.
“If you think of computers as a fortress, for many EDR providers, ETW is the guard at the front gate,” said Sophos. “If the guard goes down, then that leaves the rest of the system extremely vulnerable. And, because ETW is used by so many different providers, BlackByte’s pool of potential targets for deploying this EDR bypass is enormous.”
BlackByte is not the only ransomware group using these advanced techniques to get around existing detection tools, illustrating the continued arms race between attackers and defenders. AvosLocker used a similar method in May, Sophos said. “Anecdotally, from what we’re seeing in the field, it does appear that EDR bypass is becoming a more popular technique for ransomware threat groups,” the firm confirmed. “This is not surprising. Threat actors often leverage tools and techniques developed by the ‘offensive security’ industry to launch attacks faster and with minimal effort.”
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ransomware-bypasses-enormous-range/
MS Exchange Zero-Days: The Calm Before the Storm?
Two exploited MS Exchange zero-days that still have no official fix, have been added to CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog.
But mitigating the risk of exploitation until patches are ready will require patience and doggedness, as Microsoft is still revising its advice to admins and network defenders, and still working on the patches.
The two vulnerabilities were publicly documented last Wednesday, by researchers with Vietnamese company GTSC, and Microsoft soon after sprung into (discernible) action by offering customer guidance, followed by an analysis of the attacks exploiting the two vulnerabilities. Several changes have been made to the documents since then, after the company found and other researchers pointed out several shortcomings.
Microsoft says its threat analysts observed “activity related to a single activity group in August 2022 that achieved initial access and compromised Exchange servers by chaining CVE-2022-41040 and CVE-2022-41082 in a small number of targeted attacks,” and that the attackers breached fewer than 10 organisations globally. “MSTIC assesses with medium confidence that the single activity group is likely to be a state-sponsored organisation,” they added.
The other good news is there are still no public exploits for the two vulnerabilities. But, Microsoft says, “Prior Exchange vulnerabilities that require authentication have been adopted into the toolkits of attackers who deploy ransomware, and these vulnerabilities are likely to be included in similar attacks due to the highly privileged access Exchange systems confer onto an attacker.”
Enterprise defenders should expect trouble via this attack path in the near future, it seems, so keeping abreast of the changing situation and springing into action as quickly as possible once the patches are made available is advised. Scammers have since started impersonating security researchers and offering non-existing PoC exploits for CVE-2022-41082 for sale via GitHub
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/10/03/ms-exchange-cve-2022-41040-cve-2022-41082/
Average Company with Data in the Cloud Faces $28 Million in Data-Breach Risk
Hard-to-control collaboration, complex SaaS permissions, and risky misconfigurations — such as admin accounts without multi-factor authentication (MFA) — have left a dangerous amount of cloud data exposed to insider threats and cyber attacks, according to Varonis.
For the report, researchers analysed nearly 10 billion cloud objects (more than 15 petabytes of data) across a random sample of data risk assessments performed at more than 700 companies worldwide. In the average company, 157,000 sensitive records are exposed to everyone on the internet by SaaS sharing features, representing $28 million in data-breach risk, Varonis researchers have found.
One out of every 10 records in the cloud is exposed to all employees — creating an impossibly large internal blast radius, which maximises damage during a ransomware attack. The average company has 4,468 user accounts without MFA enabled, making it easier for attackers to compromise internally exposed data.
Out of 33 super admin accounts in the average organisation, more than half did not have MFA enabled. This makes it easier for attackers to compromise these powerful accounts, steal more data, and create backdoors. Companies have more than 40 million unique permissions across SaaS applications, creating a nightmare for IT and security teams responsible for managing and reducing cloud data risk.
“Cloud security shouldn’t be taken for granted. When security teams lack critical visibility to manage and protect SaaS and IaaS apps and services, it’s nearly impossible to ensure your data isn’t walking out the door,” said Varonis. “This report is a true-to-life picture of over 700 real-world risk assessments of production SaaS environments. The results underscore the urgent need for CISOs to uncover and remediate their cloud risk as quickly as possible.”
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/10/05/company-data-breach-risk/
Secureworks Finds Network Intruders See Little Resistance
Attackers who break into networks only need to take a few basic measures in order to avoid detection.
Security vendor Secureworks said in its annual State of the Threat report that it observed several data breaches between June 2021 and June 2022 and found that, by and large, once network intruders gained a foothold on the targets' environment, they had to do relatively little to stay concealed.
"One thing that is notable about them is that none of these techniques are particularly sophisticated," the vendor said. "That is because threat actors do not need them to be; the adversary will only innovate enough to achieve their objectives. So there is a direct relationship between the maturity of the controls in a target environment and the techniques they employ to bypass those controls."
Among the more basic measures taken by the attackers was coding their tools in newer languages such as Go or Rust. This tweak created enough of a difference in the software to evade signature-checking tools, according to Secureworks' report. In other cases, the network intruders hid their activity by packing their malware within a trusted Windows installer or by sneaking it into the Authenticode signature of a trusted DLL. In another case, a malware infection was seen moving data out of the victim's network via TOR nodes. While effective, Secureworks said the techniques are hardly innovative. Rather, they indicate that threat actors find themselves only needing to do the bare minimum to conceal themselves from detection.
Regulations, Laws and Accountability are Changing the Cyber Security Landscape
As cyber criminals continue to develop new ways to wreak havoc, regulators have been working to catch up. They aim to protect data and consumers while avoiding nation-state attacks that are a risk to national and economic security. But some of these regulations may provide an opportunity for MSSPs.
Some of these regulations are a response to what’s generally been a hands-off approach to telling organisations what to do. Unfortunately, cyber security isn’t always prioritised when budgets and resources are allocated. The result is a steadily rising tide of breaches and exploits that have held organisations hostage and made private information available on the dark web.
The new regulations are coming from all directions: at the state and federal levels in the US and around the world. While many of these regulations aren’t yet final, there’s no reason not to start aligning with where trends will ease the impact of changing rules. At the same time, many organisations want to hold the government responsible for some kinds of attacks. It will be interesting to see how regulating works, as most politicians and bureaucrats aren’t known for their technological savvy.
In the US, for example, new regulations are in development in the Federal Trade Commission, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, Department of Energy, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Thirty-six states have enacted cyber security legislation, and the count increases as other countries join.
One of the motivating factors for all these new regulations is that most cyber attacks aren’t reported. Lawmakers realise cyber security threats continue to be one of the top national security and economic risks. In the last year and a half (2020-2022), there have been attacks on America’s gas supply, meat supply, and various other companies, courts, and government agencies. One FBI cyber security official estimated the government only learns about 20% to 25% of intrusions at US business and academic institutions.
In March, Congress passed legislation requiring critical infrastructure operators to report significant cyber attacks to CISA within 72 hours of learning about the attack. It also required them to report a ransomware payment within 24 hours. These regulations will also consider reporting “near misses” so that this data can also be studied and tracked. The problem is, how does one define a “near miss”?
This Year’s Biggest Cyber Threats
OpenText announced the Nastiest Malware of 2022, a ranking of the year’s biggest cyber threats. For the fifth year running, experts combed through the data, analysed different behaviours, and determined which malicious payloads are the nastiest.
Emotet regained its place at the top, reminding the world that while affiliates may be taken down, the masterminds are resilient. LockBit evolved its tactics into something never seen before: triple extortion. Analysis also revealed an almost 1100% increase in phishing during the first four months of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, indicating a possible end to the “hacker holiday,” a hacker rest period following the busy holiday season.
“The key takeaway from this year’s findings is that malware remains centre stage in the threats posed towards individuals, businesses, and governments,” said OpenText.
“Cyber criminals continue to evolve their tactics, leaving the infosec community in a constant state of catch-up. With the mainstream adoption of ransomware payloads and cryptocurrency facilitating payments, the battle will continue. No person, no business—regardless of size—is immune to these threats.”
While this year’s list may designate payloads into different categories of malware, it’s important to note many of these bad actor groups contract work from others. This allows each group to specialise in their respective payload and perfect it.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/10/06/2022-nastiest-malware/
Threats
Ransomware and Extortion
Ransomware Attacks On The Rise, Secureworks Reveals in its State of the Threat Report - MSSP Alert
Ransomware: This is how half of attacks begin, and this is how you can stop them | ZDNET
Fake adult sites push data wipers disguised as ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)
BlackByte ransomware abuses legit driver to disable security products (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware attacks ravage schools, municipal governments (techtarget.com)
More and more ransomware is just data theft, no encryption • The Register
Netwalker ransomware affiliate sentenced to 20 years in prison (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cheerscrypt ransomware is linked to Chinese DEV-0401 APT group - Security Affairs
ADATA denies RansomHouse cyber attack, says leaked data from 2021 breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
Avast releases a free decryptor for some Hades ransomware variants - Security Affairs
Cyber criminals Leak LA School Data After It Refuses to Ransom (vice.com)
How Ransomware Is Causing Chaos in American Schools (vice.com)
Ransomware hunters: the self-taught tech geniuses fighting cyber crime | Cyber crime | The Guardian
BEC – Business Email Compromise
BEC fraudster and romance scammer sent to prison for 25 years – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Hackers Target Homebuyers’ Life Savings in Real Estate Scam - Bloomberg
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Callback phishing attacks evolve their social engineering tactics (bleepingcomputer.com)
3 ways enterprises can mitigate social engineering risks - Help Net Security
Malware
OpenText Releases List Of The Year’s “Nastiest” Malware - MSSP Alert
This devious malware is able to disable your antivirus | TechRadar
Bumblebee Malware Loader's Payloads Significantly Vary by Victim System (darkreading.com)
Live support service hacked to spread malware in supply chain attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
NullMixer Dropper Delivers a Multimalware Code Bomb (darkreading.com)
Maggie malware already infected over 250 Microsoft SQL servers - Security Affairs
Mobile
Internet of Things – IoT
7 IoT Devices That Make Security Pros Cringe (darkreading.com)
Ikea Smart Light System Flaw Lets Attackers Turn Bulbs on Full Blast (darkreading.com)
Acronis founder is afraid of his own vacuum cleaner • The Register
Data Breaches/Leaks
“Egypt Leaks” – Hacktivists are Leaking Financial Data - Security Affairs
No Shangri-La for you: Top hotel chain confirms data leak • The Register
NSA: Someone hacked military contractor and stole data • The Register
City of Tucson discloses data breach affecting over 123,000 people (bleepingcomputer.com)
Optus Says ID Numbers of 2.1 Million Compromised in Data Breach | SecurityWeek.Com
Aussie Telco Telstra Breached, Reportedly Exposing 30,000 Employees' Data (darkreading.com)
2K warns users their info has been stolen following breach of its help desk | Ars Technica
Russian retail chain 'DNS' confirms hack after data leaked online (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Breaking: Scams Linked To Crypto Soared By 335% (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Hacker steals $566 million worth of crypto from Binance Bridge (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers are breaching scam sites to hijack crypto transactions (bleepingcomputer.com)
Binance Says $100 Million Stolen in Latest Crypto Hack (gizmodo.com)
Hackers are breaching scam sites to hijack crypto transactions (bleepingcomputer.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Meta sues app dev for stealing over 1 million WhatsApp accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft publishes report on holistic insider risk management - Microsoft Security Blog
Unearth offboarding risks before your employees say goodbye - Help Net Security
Splunk alleges source code theft by former employee • The Register
Ex-NSA Employee Arrested for Trying to Sell U.S. Secrets to a Foreign Government (thehackernews.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Consumers Feel Hopeless in Protecting Themselves Against Cyber crime, ISACA Reports - MSSP Alert
BEC fraudster and romance scammer sent to prison for 25 years – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Hackers Target Homebuyers’ Life Savings in Real Estate Scam - Bloomberg
Russians dodging mobilization behind flourishing scam market (bleepingcomputer.com)
Scammers and rogue callers – can anything ever stop them? – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Online romance scam boss netted $9.5m, jailed for 25 years • The Register
Deepfakes
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Live support service hacked to spread malware in supply chain attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Supply Chain Attack Targets Customer Engagement Firm Comm100 | SecurityWeek.Com
Denial of Service DoS/DDoS
Cloud/SaaS
Encryption
API
More Than 30% of All Malicious Attacks Target Shadow APIs (darkreading.com)
APIs are quickly becoming the most popular attack vector - Help Net Security
The Problem of API Security and How To Fix It (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
API authentication failures demonstrate the need for zero trust - Help Net Security
Shadow APIs hit with 5 billion malicious requests - Help Net Security
Open Source
When transparency is also obscurity: The conundrum that is open-source security - Help Net Security
How Secure is Using Open Source Components? - IT Security Guru
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Microsoft warns Basic Auth users over password spray attacks • The Register
Is mandatory password expiration helping or hurting your password security? - Help Net Security
Detecting and preventing LSASS credential dumping attacks - Microsoft Security Blog
Meta Says It Has Busted More Than 400 Login-Stealing Apps This Year | WIRED
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Models, Frameworks and Standards
Secure Disposal
Backup and Recovery
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Relentless Russian Cyber attacks on Ukraine Raise Important Policy Questions (darkreading.com)
Finnish intelligence warns of Russia's cyber espionage activities - Security Affairs
Kazakhstan Pins Wave Of Cyber attacks On Foreign Actors | OilPrice.com
Albania weighed invoking NATO’s Article 5 over Iranian cyber attack - POLITICO
We breached Russian satellite network, say pro-Ukraine partisans | Cybernews
Ukrainian forces report Starlink outages during push against Russia | Financial Times (ft.com)
Report: Mexico Continued to Use Spyware Against Activists | SecurityWeek.Com
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – China
US authorities name China's 20 favourite vulns to exploit • The Register
Cheerscrypt ransomware is linked to Chinese DEV-0401 APT group - Security Affairs
Nation State Actors – North Korea
Vulnerabilities
Fortinet warns admins to patch critical auth bypass bug immediately (bleepingcomputer.com)
Atlassian, Microsoft bugs make CISA’s must-patch list • The Register
US authorities name China's 20 favourite vulns to exploit • The Register
October 2022 Patch Tuesday forecast: Looking for treats, not more tricks - Help Net Security
Fake Microsoft Exchange ProxyNotShell exploits for sale on GitHub (bleepingcomputer.com)
CISA Warns of Attacks Exploiting Recent Atlassian Bitbucket Vulnerability | SecurityWeek.Com
No fix in sight for mile-wide loophole plaguing a key Windows defence for years | Ars Technica
Hackers Exploiting Unpatched RCE Flaw in Zimbra Collaboration Suite (thehackernews.com)
Lazarus employed an exploit in a Dell firmware driver in recent attacks - Security Affairs
Unpatched Zimbra flaw under attack is letting hackers backdoor servers | Ars Technica
macOS Archive Utility Bug Lets Malicious Apps Bypass Security Checks (darkreading.com)
Fortinet Warns of New Auth Bypass Flaw Affecting FortiGate and FortiProxy (thehackernews.com)
VMware fixed a high-severity bug in vCenter Server - Security Affairs
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
Guilty verdict in the Uber breach case makes personal liability real for CISOs | CSO Online
Cyber attackers view smaller organisations as easier targets - Help Net Security
Moody's turns up the heat on 'riskiest' sectors for attacks • The Register
5 reasons why security operations are getting harder | CSO Online
Former NSA Employee Faces Death Penalty for Selling Secrets (darkreading.com)
Fast Company Is Back From the Dead After Being Hacked (gizmodo.com)
Ready Or Not, Web 3 Is Coming And With It Comes Cybersquatting 2.0 (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Cyber Hygiene: 5 Best Practices for Company Buy-In (trendmicro.com)
School Is in Session: 5 Lessons for Future Cyber Security Pros (darkreading.com)
Want More Secure Software? Start Recognizing Security-Skilled Developers (thehackernews.com)
Incident responders increasingly seek out mental health assistance - Help Net Security
You Are Not Alone If You're Unclear About Extended Detection and Response (XDR) - MSSP Alert
Why digital trust is the bedrock of business relationships - Help Net Security
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.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 05 May 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 05 May 2022
-Cyber Scams Cost Victims $6.9b-Plus Worldwide in 2021
-Bad Actors Are Maximizing Remote Everything
-New Hacker Group Pursuing Corporate Employees Focused on Mergers and Acquisitions
-FBI: Business Email Compromise: The $43 Billion Scam
-Disgruntled Employees Cashing in On Confidential Information Over Dark Web
-Google Sees More APTs Using Ukraine War-Related Themes
-Cryptocurrency Regulators Are Scrambling to Catch Up with Hackers Who Are Swiping Billions
-Tackling the Threats Posed by Shadow IT
-Hackers Used the Log4j Flaw to Gain Access Before Moving Across a Company's Network, Say Security Researchers
-This Sneaky Hacking Group Hid Inside Networks For 18 Months Without Being Detected
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 Scams Cost Victims $6.9b-Plus Worldwide in 2021
Cyber-scams cost victims around the globe at least $6.9 billion last year, according to the FBI's latest Internet Crime Report.
Since 2017, the bureau's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received an average of 552,000 complaints per year. This includes reports of extortion, identity theft, phishing, fraud, and a slew of other nefarious schemes that cost victims no less than $18.7 billion in losses over the five-year period.
Unsurprisingly, the volume of these crimes — and related costs — have grown every year; 2021 set records for the total number of complaints (847,376) as well as losses exceeding $6.9 billion, a jump from the $4.2 billion reported a year earlier.
As with earlier years, phishing attacks were by far the most commonly reported crimes, with 323,972 last year. A subset of this category, business email compromise (BEC), is proving very lucrative and cost victims almost $2.4 billion from 19,954 victims, according to the Feds.
BEC involves a cyber criminal compromising a legitimate email account, and then tricking a business or individual into transferring funds, sending employees' personal data, or unlocking cryptocurrency wallets. The fraudster then steals the cash, drains the crypto wallet and/or sells employees' identities and credentials on the dark web.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/05/fbi_cyber_scams/
Bad Actors Are Maximising Remote Everything
The rise of remote work and learning opened new opportunities for many people – as we’ve seen by the number of people who have moved to new places or adapted to “workcations.” Cyber criminals are taking advantage of the same opportunities – just in a different way. Evaluating the prevalence of malware variants by region reveals a sustained interest by cyber adversaries in maximising the remote work and learning attack vector.
As hybrid work and learning become embedded paradigms in our culture, there are fewer layers of protection between malware and would-be victims. And bad actors are gaining access to more tools to help them pull off their nefarious deeds – like exploit kits. At the same time, the attack surface has rapidly expanded and continues to do so.
That means enterprises must take a work-from-anywhere approach to their security. They need to deploy solutions capable of following, enabling and protecting users no matter where they are located. They need security on the endpoint (EDR) combined with zero trust network access (ZTNA) approaches.
https://threatpost.com/bad-actors-remote-everything/179458/
This Sneaky Hacking Group Hid Inside Networks For 18 Months Without Being Detected
A previously undisclosed cyber-espionage group is using clever techniques to breach corporate networks and steal information related to mergers, acquisitions and other large financial transactions – and they've been able to remain undetected by victims for periods of more than 18 months.
Detailed by cyber security researchers at Mandiant, who've named it UNC3524, the hacking operation has been active since at least December 2019 and uses a range of advanced methods to infiltrate and maintain persistence on compromised networks that set it apart from most other hacking groups. These methods include the ability to immediately re-infect environments after access is removed. It's currently unknown how initial access is achieved.
One of the reasons UNC3524 is so successful at maintaining persistence on networks for such a long time is because it installs backdoors on applications and services that don't support security tools, such as anti-virus or endpoint protection.
FBI: Business Email Compromise: The $43 Billion Scam
According to the FBI, business email compromise (BEC) and email account compromise (EAC) losses have surpassed $43 billion globally. BEC/EAC is a sophisticated scam that targets both businesses and individuals who perform legitimate transfer-of-funds requests.
The BEC/EAC scam continues to grow and evolve, targeting small local businesses to larger corporations, and personal transactions. Between July 2019 and December 2021, there was a 65% increase in identified global exposed losses, meaning the dollar loss that includes both actual and attempted loss in United States dollars.
The following information was derived from filings with financial institutions between June 2016 and December 2021:
Domestic and international incidents: 241,206
Domestic and international exposed dollar loss: $43,312,749,946
The following BEC/EAC statistics were reported in victim complaints to the IC3 between October 2013 and December 2021:
Total US victims: 116,401
Total US exposed dollar loss: $14,762,978,290
Total non-US victims: 5,260
Total non-US exposed dollar loss: $1,277,131,099
Disgruntled Employees Cashing in On Confidential Information Over Dark Web
Disgruntled employees are making hundreds of thousands of dollars by leaking confidential information over a new platform on the so-called dark web, cyber researchers have said.
Hidden in a part of the internet that is only accessible using special software, the Industrial Spy platform promises huge payouts to staff willing to hand over "dirty secrets" to competitors, according to experts at intelligence business Cyberint.
Industrial Spy currently has data on twelve companies from a range of industries available to people who sign up, Cyberint said.
The platform recently managed to sell two tranches of company data for $400,000 (£318,236) and $750,000 each.
An individual has advertised the platform to potential purchasers of the data on the dark web.
The post said: "With our information you could refuse partnership with an unscrupulous partner, reveal dirty secrets of your competitors and earn millions of dollars using insider information."
Cyber criminals have long approached employees individually and offered a bribe to release sensitive information such as internal data and passwords to access computer systems.
But this new platform allows employees to act on their own initiative to steal data and sell it online.
Google Sees More APTs Using Ukraine War-Related Themes
Researchers at Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) say the number of advanced threat actors using Ukraine war-related themes in cyber attacks went up in April with a surge in malware attacks targeting critical infrastructure.
According to Google, known state-backed APT groups from China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, along with various unattributed groups have been using war-related themes in phishing and malware distribution campaigns.
Looking at the cyber attacks that target Eastern Europe, however, a new Google report notes there hasn't been a significant change from the normal levels of activity, despite the increased adoption of lures related to the Ukraine war.
https://www.securityweek.com/google-sees-more-apts-using-ukraine-war-related-themes
Cryptocurrency Regulators Are Scrambling to Catch Up with Hackers Who Are Swiping Billions
Just four months in, 2022 has been a banner year for hackers, and fraudsters targeting the industry have swindled more than $1 billion from cryptocurrency investors, according to separate estimates by cryptocurrency analysis firm Immunefi.
The rise in fraud has put US regulators on the offensive. The US Securities and Exchange Commission, which has positioned itself as the industry’s main regulator and enforcer, announced on Tuesday that it was going to double its staff working to resources to combat the rise in fraud.
“Crypto markets have exploded in recent years, with retail investors bearing the brunt of abuses in this space. Meanwhile, cyber-related threats continue to pose existential risks to our financial markets and participants,” Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement said in a statement. “The bolstered Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit will be at the forefront of protecting investors and ensuring fair and orderly markets in the face of these critical challenges.”
https://www.cyberscoop.com/cryptocurrency-sec-cybersecurity-bitcoin-regulation-enforcement/
Tackling the Threats Posed by Shadow IT
While remote technologies have allowed businesses to shift their workforces online, this flexibility has created a swathe of challenges for IT teams who must provide a robust security framework for their organisation – encompassing all the personnel and devices within their remit. In addition to the ever-increasing number of personal devices, corporate devices and programs, more and more applications are moving to the cloud as workloads become increasingly distributed across public clouds and software-as-a-service (SaaS).
This means IT teams are even harder pressed to secure and manage the complex environments they operate in. The unsanctioned use of corporate IT systems, devices, and software – known as shadow IT – has increased significantly during the shift to remote work, and recent research found almost one in seven (68%) are concerned about information security because of employees following shadow IT practices.
Shadow IT can allow hackers to steal employee and customer identities, company intellectual property, and cause companies to fail compliance audits. It can also open the door to enterprises accidentally breaking laws and exposes organisations to data exfiltration, malware, and phishing.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/05/shadow-it-risk/
Hackers Used the Log4j Flaw to Gain Access Before Moving Across a Company's Network, Say Security Researchers
State-backed hacking groups are some of the most advanced cyber attack operations in the world - but criminals don't need to rely on them if they can exploit unpatched cyber security flaws.
A North Korean hacking and cyber espionage operation breached the network of an engineering firm linked to military and energy organisations by exploiting a cyber security vulnerability in Log4j.
First detailed in December, the vulnerability (CVE-2021-44228) allows attackers to remotely execute code and gain access to systems that use Log4j, a widely used Java logging library.
The ubiquitous nature of Log4j meant cyber security agencies urged organisations globally to apply security updates as quickly as possible, but months on from disclosure, many are still vulnerable to the flaw.
According to cyber security researchers at Symantec, one of those companies that was still vulnerable was an undisclosed engineering firm that works in the energy and military sectors. That vulnerability resulted in the company being breached when attackers exploited the gap on a public-facing VMware View server in February this year. From there, attackers were able to move around the network and compromise at least 18 computers.
New Hacker Group Pursuing Corporate Employees Focused on Mergers and Acquisitions
[Explanatory note from Black Arrow: When a group of cyber attackers is identified by the cyber security community, it is given a code name usually composed of letters and digits. These groups are also sometimes referred to as APTs., or Advanced Persistent Threats, because the groups are highly skilled and are persistent in their attacks; they are often supported by their state government].
A newly discovered suspected espionage threat actor has been targeting employees focusing on mergers and acquisitions as well as large corporate transactions to facilitate bulk email collection from victim environments.
Mandiant is tracking the activity cluster under the uncategorised moniker UNC3524, citing a lack of evidence linking it to an existing group. However, some of the intrusions are said to mirror techniques used by different Russia-based hacking crews like APT28 and APT29.
"The high level of operational security, low malware footprint, adept evasive skills, and a large Internet of Things (IoT) device botnet set this group apart and emphasise the 'advanced' in Advanced Persistent Threat," the threat intelligence firm said in a report.
The initial access route is unknown but upon gaining a foothold, attack chains involving UNC3524 culminate in the deployment of a novel backdoor called QUIETEXIT for persistent remote access for as long as 18 months without getting detected in some cases.
https://thehackernews.com/2022/05/new-hacker-group-pursuing-corporate.html
Threats
Ransomware
US DoS Offers a Reward of Up To $15M For Info on Conti Ransomware Gang - Security Affairs
Trend Micro Discovers AvosLocker Can Disable Antivirus Software (techtarget.com)
Experts Analyse Conti and Hive Ransomware Gangs' Chats with Their Victims (thehackernews.com)
New Ransomware Strains Linked to North Korean Govt Hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)
REvil Revival: Are Ransomware Gangs Ever Really Gone? (darkreading.com)
What We've Learned in the 12 Months Since the Colonial Pipeline Attack (darkreading.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Google SMTP Relay Service Abused for Sending Phishing Emails (bleepingcomputer.com)
US DoD Scammed Out of $23M in Phishing Attack on Jet-Fuel Vendors (darkreading.com)
1000s of Phishing Emails Sent from NHS Inboxes - IT Security Guru
Malware
This New Fileless Malware Hides Shellcode in Windows Event Logs (thehackernews.com)
Raspberry Robin Spreads Via Removable USB Devices - Security Affairs
Hackers Using PrivateLoader PPI Service to Distribute New NetDooka Malware (thehackernews.com)
Mobile
IoT
Unpatched DNS Bug Affects Millions of Routers and IoT Devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
What Should I Know About Defending IoT Attack Surfaces? (darkreading.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs
Crypto Hackers Stole More Than $370 Million In April Alone (vice.com)
Ferrari Subdomain Hijacked to Push Fake Ferrari NFT Collection (bleepingcomputer.com)
Supply Chain
Open Source
Open-Source Security: It's Too Easy to Upload 'Devastating' Malicious Packages, Warns Google | ZDNet
How Linux Became the New Bullseye for Bad Guys | SecurityWeek.Com
Passwords & Credential Stuffing
Good End User Passwords Begin with A Well-Enforced Password Policy - Help Net Security
55% of People Rely on Their Memory To Manage Passwords - Help Net Security
A Third of Americans Use Easy-to-Guess Pet Passwords (darkreading.com)
Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Mandiant CEO: False-flag Ops a Red Line For Nation-States • The Register
Anonymous and Ukraine IT Army Continue to Target Russian Entities - Security Affairs
Pro-Ukraine Hackers Use Docker Images to DDoS Russian Sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russia Hammered by Pro-Ukrainian Hackers Following Invasion | Ars Technica
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Russia-Linked APT29 Targets Diplomatic and Government Organisations - Security Affairs
Russian Ransomware Group Claims Attack on Bulgarian Refugee Agency - CyberScoop
Russia Cyber Attacks Raise Questions About Hacking Red Lines - Bloomberg
Putin Threatens Supply Chains with Counter-Sanction Order • The Register
Russian Hackers Targeting Diplomatic Entities in Europe, Americas, and Asia (thehackernews.com)
China-linked APT Curious Gorge Targeted Russian Govt Agencies - Security Affairs
Russia-Ukraine War Prompts Security Best Practices Refresher (techtarget.com)
Nation State Actors – China
China-Linked Winnti APT Group Silently Stole Trade Secrets for Years: Report | SecurityWeek.Com
State-Backed Chinese Hackers Target Russia - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Chinese "Override Panda" Hackers Resurface With New Espionage Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Experts Uncover New Espionage Attacks by Chinese 'Mustang Panda' Hackers (thehackernews.com)
China Not Happy With South Korea Joining NATO Cyber Defense Center | SecurityWeek.Com
Nation State Actors – North Korea
Security Researchers: Here's How the Lazarus Hackers Start Their Attacks | ZDNet
VHD Ransomware Variant Linked to North Korean Cyber Army (darkreading.com)
Nation State Actors – Misc
Vulnerabilities
CISA Adds Five Known Exploited Vulnerabilities to Catalogue | CISA
Aruba and Avaya Network Switches Are Vulnerable to RCE Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cisco Issues Patches for 3 New Flaws Affecting Enterprise NFVIS Software (thehackernews.com)
F5 Warns of a New Critical BIG-IP Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
May 2022 Patch Tuesday Forecast: Look Beyond Just Application and OS Updates - Help Net Security
Critical Cisco VM-Escape Bug Threatens Host Takeover (darkreading.com)
Researchers Disclose Years-Old Vulnerabilities in Avast and AVG Antivirus (thehackernews.com)
QNAP Releases Firmware Patches for 9 New Flaws Affecting NAS Devices (thehackernews.com)
Critical RCE Bug Reported in dotCMS Content Management Software (thehackernews.com)
Sector Specific
Financial Services Sector
Telecoms
Health/Medical/Pharma Sector
Education and Academia
Other News
Car Rental Company Sixt Hit by a Cyber Attack that Caused Disruptions - Security Affairs
White House Says To Prepare For Cryptography-Cracking Quantum Computers - Information Security Buzz
CMS-Based Sites Under Attack: The Latest Threats and Trends - Help Net Security
Mozilla Finds Mental Health Apps Fail 'Spectacularly' at User Security, Data Policies | ZDNet
UK to Place Security Requirements on App Developers and Store Operators - Infosecurity Magazine
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.