Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 09 September 2022

Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

• Why It’s Mission-Critical That All-Sized Businesses Stay Cyber Secure

A study analysing millions of emails across thousands of companies found that on average, employees of small businesses with less than 100 employees experience 350% more social engineering attacks than employees of larger enterprises. 57% of these are phishing attacks – the most prevalent social engineering attack of 2021.

Add to the mix that the global average cost of a data breach for businesses has skyrocketed. According to IBM Security’s annual Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average global cost is now a phenomenal $4.35 million.

Generally, larger corporations tend to have bigger security budgets, making them less of a target than smaller businesses with lesser budgets, and as such, more attractive to cyber criminals. This means that for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – with fewer resources and money – protection from cyber-attacks is now a matter of survival.

Ease of attack is not the only reason why criminals attack SMEs either. SMEs are often an entry point to target bigger organisations within the same supply chain. These larger corporations can either be crucial partners, suppliers, or customers, making SMEs prime targets.

But with efficient cyber security measures, every business regardless of size can keep themselves and their network safe.

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/articles/why-its-mission-critical-that-all-sized-businesses-stay-cyber-secure/

• Half of Firms Report Supply Chain Ransomware Compromise

Over half (52%) of global organisations know a partner that has been compromised by ransomware, yet few are doing anything to improve the security of their supply chain, according to Trend Micro.

The security vendor polled nearly 3,000 IT decision makers across 26 countries to produce its latest report, ‘Everything is connected: Uncovering the ransomware threat from global supply chains’.

It revealed that 90% of global IT leaders believe their partners and customers are making their own organisation a more attractive ransomware target.

That might be down in part to the fact that SMBs comprise a significant chunk of the supply chain for 52% of respondents. The security of SMBs is generally thought to be less effective than protection in larger, better resourced companies.

However, despite their concerns, less than half (47%) of respondents said they share knowledge about ransomware attacks with their suppliers, while a quarter (25%) claimed they don’t share potentially useful threat information with partners.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/half-firms-supply-chain-ransomware/

• Vulnerability Exploits, Not Phishing, Are the Top Cyber Attack Vector for Initial Compromise

Breaches involving phishing and credential compromise have received a lot of attention in recent years because of how frequently threat actors have employed the tactics in executing both targeted and opportunistic attacks. But that doesn't mean that enterprise organisations can afford to lessen their focus on vulnerability patching one bit.

A report from Kaspersky this week identified more initial intrusions last year resulting from exploitation of vulnerabilities in Internet-facing applications than breaches involving malicious emails and compromised accounts combined. And data that the company has collected through the second quarter of 2022 suggests the same trend might be playing out this year as well.

Kaspersky's analysis of its 2021 incident-response data showed that breaches involving vulnerability exploits surged from 31.5% of all incidents in 2020 to 53.6% in 2021. Over the same period, attacks associated with the use of compromised accounts to gain initial access declined from 31.6% in 2020 to 17.9% last year. Initial intrusions resulting from phishing emails decreased from 23.7% to 14.3% during the same period.

https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/vulnerability-exploits-phishing-top-attack-vector-initial-compromise

• Uber’s Ex-Security Chief Faces Landmark Trial Over Data Breach That Hit 57m Users

Uber’s former security officer, Joe Sullivan, is standing trial this week in what is believed to be the first case of an executive facing criminal charges in relation to a data breach.

The US district court in San Francisco will start hearing arguments on whether Sullivan, the former head of security at the ride-share giant, failed to properly disclose a 2016 data breach affecting 57 million Uber riders and drivers around the world.

At a time when reports of ransomware attacks have surged and cyber security insurance premiums have risen, the case could set an important precedent regarding the culpability of US security staffers and executives for the way the companies they work for handle cyber security incidents.

The breach first came to light in November 2017, when Uber’s chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, revealed that hackers had gained access to the driver’s licence numbers of 600,000 US Uber drivers as well as the names, email addresses and phone numbers of as many as 57 million Uber riders and drivers.

Public disclosures like Khosrowshahi’s are required by law in many US states, with most regulations mandating that the notification be made “in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay”.

But Khosrowshahi’s announcement came with an admission: a whole year had passed since the information had been breached.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/sep/06/uber-joe-sullivan-trial-security-data-breach

• Over 10% of Enterprise IT Assets Found With Missing Endpoint Protection

More than 10% of enterprise IT assets are missing endpoint protection and roughly 5% are not covered by enterprise patch management solutions.

The figures come from new research by Sevco Security, which the company has compiled in the State of the Cybersecurity Attack Surface report.

"Attackers are very adept at exploiting enterprise vulnerabilities. Security and IT teams already have their hands full mitigating the vulnerabilities that they know about, and our data confirms that this is just the tip of the iceberg," Sevco told Infosecurity Magazine.

The document analyses data aggregated from visibility into more than 500,000 IT assets, and underlines existential and underreported cyber security issues in relation to securing enterprises’ assets.

“The uncertainty of enterprise inventory – the elements that make up an organisation’s cyber security attack surface – upends the foundation of every major security framework and presents a challenge to security teams: it’s impossible to protect what you can’t see,” they said.

For instance, the data found that roughly 3% of all IT assets are “stale” in endpoint protection, while 1% are stale from the perspective of patch management coverage.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/enterprise-assets-miss-endpoint/

• Some Employees Aren't Just Leaving Companies — They're Defrauding Them

Since the Great Resignation in 2021, millions of employees have left their roles with current employers in search of better ones. According to Microsoft, 40% of employees reported they are considering leaving their current roles by the end of 2022. With many still working in remote or hybrid positions due to the pandemic, larger businesses have started implementing measures to gain a better understanding of employee morale and sentiment to prevent turnover.

While most employees leave companies on good terms, some may become extremely unhappy or disgruntled prior to their departure and are more likely to defraud the company either before leaving or on their way out the door. The unfortunate reality is that no business is immune to fraud, but luckily, there are several steps you can take to prevent it from happening.

According to the Cressey Fraud Triangle, fraudulent behaviour often occurs due to three contributing factors. These include pressure or motive to commit a fraud (usually a personal financial problem), perceived opportunity within the organisation to commit a fraud (poor oversight or internal controls), and rationalisation (the ability to justify the crime to make it seem acceptable).

Very often, a fraudster needs all three sides of the triangle to successfully commit a crime. Therefore, it is extremely important for organisations to do their best to create controls and understand the risk associated with each of these areas. For example, an employee may be disgruntled and also have personal financial issues. However, if internal controls are robust and the employee doesn't have access to financial instruments, valuable assets or software systems, their ability to defraud the company is extremely limited or will get identified immediately.

https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/some-employees-aren-t-just-leaving-companies-they-re-defrauding-them

• Ransomware Gangs Switching to New Intermittent Encryption Tactic

A growing number of ransomware groups are adopting a new tactic that helps them encrypt their victims' systems faster while reducing the chances of being detected and stopped.

This tactic is called intermittent encryption, and it consists of encrypting only parts of the targeted files' content, which would still render the data unrecoverable without using a valid decryption key.

For example, by skipping every other 16 bytes of a file, the encryption process takes almost half of the time required for full encryption but still locks the contents for good.

Additionally, because the encryption is milder, automated detection tools that rely on detecting signs of trouble in the form of intense file IO operations are more likely to fail.

SentinelLabs has posted a report examining a trend started by LockFile in mid-2021 and now adopted by the likes of Black Basta, ALPHV (BlackCat), PLAY, Agenda, and Qyick.

These groups actively promote the presence of intermittent encryption features in their ransomware family to entice affiliates to join the RaaS operation.

"Notably, Qyick features intermittent encryption, which is what the cool kids are using as you read this. Combined with the fact that is written in Go, the speed is unmatched," describes a Qyick advertisement on hacking forums.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ransomware-gangs-switching-to-new-intermittent-encryption-tactic/

• How Posting Personal and Business Photos Can Be a Security Risk

Image geotags, metadata, and location information can allow competitors, cyber criminals, and even nation-state threat actors to gain knowledge they can use against organisations.

Marketers in every industry enjoy evidencing their reach to their superiors and providing tangible examples of their width and breadth of influence via social networks, media, and other means of engagement. Photos of both customers and employees engaging at hosted social events, trade shows, conferences, and direct one-on-one encounters are often viewed as gold. Couple this with the individual employee’s or customer’s photos working their way onto social network platforms for others to see and admire, and the value of that gold increases, success being quantified by impressions, views and individual engagements.

The value of that gold doubles when not only does the company harvest data and call it a success, but their competitors also analyse such photos capturing a plethora of useful data points, including geotagged data, metadata of the photo, and identity of the individuals caught in the frame. They, too, call it a success. Yes, the digital engagement involving location data and or location hints within photos is a double-edged sword.

It isn’t just competitors who harvest the data. Criminal elements and nation-state intelligence and security elements do as well. Francis Bacon’s adage, “Knowledge itself is power,” applies. With location, time and place, and identity, competitors, criminals, and nation-states are given their initial tidbits of openly acquired information from which to begin to build their mosaic. 

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3672869/how-posting-personal-and-business-photos-can-be-a-security-risk.html#tk.rss_news

• Your Vendors Are Likely Your Biggest Cyber Security Risk

As speed of business increases, more and more organisations are looking to either buy companies or outsource more services to gain market advantage. With organisations expanding their vendor base, there is a critical need for holistic third-party risk management (TPRM) and comprehensive cyber security measures to assess how much risk vendors pose.

While organisations assess and manage risk on a multitude of layers, none present bigger threats to business resiliency than third-party risk and a lack of robust cyber security controls. Breaches and service interruptions tied to these risk areas have brought down critical systems of major organisations. In 2021, 53% of CISOs surveyed by Black Kite reported being hit by at least one ransomware attack.

It bears repeating: Cyber security and third-party risk are the two biggest problems facing your long-term viability. Businesses need to be able to tackle these risk vectors individually to gain a complete view of their risk profile. A cross-functional process is essential to managing the overlap between these risk areas to better protect your organisation and increase workflow efficiency.

Ensuring that the cyber security practices of your vendors align with your organisation’s standards is critical to safeguarding your systems and data. In fact, it is just as important as how stable the business is or how well it delivers products and services.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/09/05/vendors-cybersecurity-risk/

• A Recent Chinese Hack Is a Wake-up Call for the Security of the World’s Software Supply Chain

It’s perhaps only a coincidence that there’s a famous Chinese saying ‘No one knows, not even the ghosts’ that neatly summarises a recent hack on MiMi, a Chinese messaging app. According to recent reports, a Chinese state-backed hacking group inserted malicious code into this messaging app, essentially pulling off the equivalent of the infamous SolarWinds hack. Users of MiMi were served a version of the app with malicious code added, thanks to attackers taking control of the servers that delivered the app. In short, this was a software supply chain attack in which the software delivery pipeline was compromised.

Observers could be forgiven for thinking that this is just another hack. Chinese hacking groups, and those of Western countries too, have developed a reputation over the past two decades for spying, surveillance, and sabotage. But this attack is different than typical hacking fare because the attackers rode in on the back of a trusted piece of software. This is a software supply chain attack, where the attackers tamper with either source code, the software build system, or the software publishing pipeline, all of which have become essential to the functioning of the world’s digital economy.

Software supply chain attacks have been rapidly growing in frequency. Twenty years ago, there might have been one or two a year. These days, depending on the methodology, there are either hundreds or thousands a year, and that’s only counting the reported attacks. And increasingly anybody who depends upon software (read: everybody) is or shortly will be a victim: the U.S. government, Microsoft, thousands of other companies and, apparently in this MiMi attack, individuals.

https://thediplomat.com/2022/09/a-recent-chinese-hack-is-a-wake-up-call-for-the-security-of-the-worlds-software-supply-chain/

• Massive Hotels Group IHG Struck by Cyber Attack Which Disrupts Booking Systems

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), which owns brands such as InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, and many others, has had its IT systems breached by malicious hackers.

In a filing with the London Stock Exchange, the multinational hospitality company reported that "parts of the company's technology systems have been subject to unauthorised activity."

As a result, the company said, "IHG's booking channels and other applications have been significantly disrupted since [Monday], and this is ongoing."

The first indication that the company was experiencing problems appeared early on Monday morning UK time, when anyone who tried to book a hotel room via the company's website or app, or access their IHG One Rewards account was greeted by a maintenance message.

Although it has made no declaration regarding the nature of the security breach, in its filing with the London Stock Exchange, IHG mentioned they were "working to fully restore all systems". This would fit into the scenario of IHG having hit been hit with ransomware, which may not only have encrypted data - locking the company out of its systems and demanding a ransom be paid - but could have also caused even more problems.

https://www.bitdefender.com/blog/hotforsecurity/massive-hotels-group-ihg-struck-by-cyberattack-which-disrupts-booking-systems/

• London's Biggest Bus Operator Hit by Cyber "Incident"

Travellers in London were braced for more delays last week after the city’s largest bus operator revealed it has been hit by a “cyber security incident,” according to reports.

Newcastle-based transportation group Go-Ahead shared a statement with the London Stock Exchange indicating “unauthorised activity” had been discovered on its network yesterday.

“Upon becoming aware of the incident, Go-Ahead immediately engaged external forensic specialists and has taken precautionary measures with its IT infrastructure whilst it continues to investigate the nature and extent of the incident and implement its incident response plans,” it stated. “Go-Ahead will continue to assess the potential impact of the incident but confirms that there is no impact on UK or International rail services which are operating normally.”

However, the same may not be true of its bus services. Sky News reported that bus and driver rosters may have been impacted by the attack, which could disrupt operations.

Go-Ahead operates multiple services in the South, South West, London, North West, East Anglia, East Yorkshire and its native North East. It is London’s largest bus company, operating over 2400 buses in the capital and employing more than 7000 staff.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/londons-biggest-bus-operator-hit/

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Threats

Ransomware and Extortion

• Ransomware remains the number one threat to businesses and government organisations - Help Net Security

• Interpol dismantles sextortion ring, warns of increased attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Play Ransomware Attack Playbook Similar to that of Hive, Nokoyawa (trendmicro.com)

• Ransomware attacks on Linux to surge - Help Net Security

• LockBit gang leads the way for ransomware (techtarget.com)

• Some Members of Conti Group Targeting Ukraine in Financially Motivated Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• How to Improve Mean Time to Detect for Ransomware | SecurityWeek.Com

• Google: Former Conti ransomware members attacking Ukraine (techtarget.com)

• Hackers Are Using NASA Telescope Images To Push Ransomware (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Ransomware gang's Cobalt Strike servers DDoSed with anti-Russia messages (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Everything You Need To Know About BlackCat (AlphaV) (darkreading.com)

• Microsoft: Iranian hackers encrypt Windows systems using BitLocker (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft Warns of Ransomware Attacks by Iranian Phosphorus Hacker Group (thehackernews.com)

• Clarion Housing: Anger over landlord silence since cyber attack - BBC News

• New Ransomware Hits Windows, Linux Servers Of Chile Govt Agency (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• QNAP warns new Deadbolt ransomware attacks exploiting 0day - Security Affairs

• Second largest U.S. school district LAUSD hit by ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Windows Defender identified Chromium, Electron apps as Hive Ransomware - Security Affairs

• BlackCat Ransomware Linked to Italy's Energy Services Firm Hack - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• EvilProxy Commodifies Reverse-Proxy Tactic for Phishing, Bypassing 2FA (darkreading.com)

• Criminals harvest users' PI by impersonating popular brands - Help Net Security

• Lampion malware returns in phishing attacks abusing WeTransfer (bleepingcomputer.com)

• A new phishing scam targets American Express cardholders - Security Affairs

• EvilProxy phishing-as-a-service with MFA bypass emerged on the dark web - Help Net Security

• GIFShell attack creates reverse shell using Microsoft Teams GIFs (bleepingcomputer.com)

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

• Defeat social engineering attacks by growing your cyber resilience - Help Net Security

Malware

• Cyber criminals targeting Minecraft fans with malware • The Register

• Next-Gen Linux Malware Takes Over Devices With Unique Tool Set (darkreading.com)

• TeslaGun Primed to Blast a New Wave of Backdoor Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)

• New Linux malware evades detection using multi-stage deployment (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Bumblebee malware adds post-exploitation tool for stealthy infections (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Botnets in the Age of Remote Work (darkreading.com)

• North Korean Hackers Deploying New MagicRAT Malware in Targeted Campaigns (thehackernews.com)

Mobile

• In-app browser security risks, and what to do about them | CSO Online

• Fake Antivirus and Cleaner Apps Caught Installing SharkBot Android Banking Trojan (thehackernews.com)

• SharkBot Malware Resurfaces on Google Play to Steal Users' Credentials - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Internet of Things – IoT

• New Stealthy Shikitega Malware Targeting Linux Systems and IoT Devices (thehackernews.com)

Data Breaches/Leaks

• NATO docs sold on darkweb after they were stolen from Portugal - Security Affairs

• Criminals claim they've stolen NATO missile plans • The Register

• TikTok denies data breach following leak of user data - Security Affairs

• IRS mistakenly published confidential info for roughly 120K taxpayers - Security Affairs

• Samsung US Says Customer Data Compromised in July Data Breach | SecurityWeek.Com

• Digital Identity Provider SDK Leaves Hundreds Of Thousands Of Biometric (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• Scammers live-streamed on YouTube a fake Apple crypto event - Security Affairs

• FBI: Crooks are using these DeFi flaws to steal your money | ZDNET

• Feds freeze $30m in cryptocurrency stolen from Axie Infinity • The Register

• New Rules for Crypto Exchanges to Stop Sanctions Evaders - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• 62% of consumers see fraud as an inevitable risk of online shopping - Help Net Security

• Islanders in Jersey lose nearly £400,000 to romance fraud | ITV News Channel

• The Advantages of Threat Intelligence for Combating Fraud | SecurityWeek.Com

AML/CFT/Sanctions

• UK forces crypto exchanges to report suspected sanction breaches | Cryptocurrencies | The Guardian

• US Treasury sanctioned Iran ’s Ministry of Intelligence over Albania cyber attack - Security Affairs

Insurance

• Lloyd’s of London defends cyber insurance exclusion for state-backed attacks | Financial Times (ft.com)

• Global Cyber security Insurance Market Size Expected to Top $32.6 Billion by 2028 - MSSP Alert

• With cyber insurance costs increasing, can smaller firms avoid getting priced out? - Help Net Security

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• Supply chain risk is a top security priority as confidence in partners wanes - Help Net Security

• KeyBank: Hackers of third-party provider stole customer data | The Seattle Times

• Government guide for supply chain security: The good, the bad and the ugly - Help Net Security

Software Supply Chain

• Report Highlights Prevalence of Software Supply Chain Risks (darkreading.com)

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

• Ransomware gang's Cobalt Strike servers DDoSed with anti-Russia messages (bleepingcomputer.com)

Cloud/SaaS

• Defenders Be Prepared: Cyber attacks Surge Against Linux Amid Cloud Migration (darkreading.com)

• Hybrid Cloud Security Challenges & Solutions (trendmicro.com)

• 3 Critical Steps for Reducing Cloud Risk (darkreading.com)

Identity and Access Management

• There is no secure critical infrastructure without identity-based access - Help Net Security

Encryption

• A Pragmatic Response to the Quantum Threat (darkreading.com)

API

• 6 Top API Security Risks! Favoured Targets for Attackers If Left Unmanaged (thehackernews.com)

• API Security for the Modern Enterprise - IT Security Guru

Open Source

• New Linux malware combines unusual stealth with a full suite of capabilities | Ars Technica

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

• Are Default Passwords Hiding in Your Active Directory? Here's how to check (bleepingcomputer.com)

• 200,000 North Face accounts hacked in credential stuffing attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

Social Media

• TikTok denies security breach after hackers leak user data, source code (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Facebook Engineers Admit They Don’t Know What They Do With Your Data (vice.com)

• Meta axes Responsible Innovation team charged with addressing ethical problems with Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp | Fortune

Privacy

• You should know that most websites share your in-site search queries with third parties - Help Net Security

• Meta Fined $400m in Ireland For Children's Privacy Breach - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Parental Controls and Child Safety

• Google’s image-scanning illustrates how tech firms can penalise the innocent | John Naughton | The Guardian

Cyber Bullying and Cyber Stalking

• ‘I didn’t want it anywhere near me’: how the Apple AirTag became a gift to stalkers | Apple | The Guardian

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• Tear up decades-old law to save Britain from hackers, say cyber experts (telegraph.co.uk)

• UK Privacy Regulator Fines Halfords for Spam Deluge - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Meta Fined $400m in Ireland For Children's Privacy Breach - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

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

• Google Details Recent Ukraine Cyber attacks | SecurityWeek.Com

• Ukraine dismantles more bot farms spreading Russian disinformation (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ukraine is under attack by hacking tools repurposed from Conti cyber crime group | Ars Technica

• Sprawling, multi-year Iranian cyberespionage and surveillance group exposed in new report - CyberScoop

• Iranian APT42 Launched Over 30 Espionage Attacks Against Activists and Dissidents (thehackernews.com)

• Newly discovered cyber spy group targets Asia • The Register

• New Iranian hacking group APT42 deploys custom Android spyware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Israeli Defence Minister's Cleaner Sentenced for Spying Attempt | SecurityWeek.Com

• An interview with Ukrainian hacker 'Herm1t' on countering pro-Kremlin attacks - The Record by Recorded Future

• Researchers Find New Android Spyware Campaign Targeting Uyghur Community (thehackernews.com)

• Anonymous hacked Yandex taxi causing a traffic jam in Moscow - Security Affairs

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Raspberry Robin Malware Connected to Russian Evil Corp Gang (darkreading.com)

Nation State Actors – China

• US bans ‘advanced tech’ firms from building facilities in China for a decade | Technology sector | The Guardian

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• North Korean Hackers Deploying New MagicRAT Malware in Targeted Campaigns (thehackernews.com)

• North Korea's Lazarus Targets Energy Firms With Three RATs | SecurityWeek.Com

Nation State Actors – Iran

• Microsoft: Iranian hackers encrypt Windows systems using BitLocker (bleepingcomputer.com)

• UK condemns Iran for reckless cyber attack against Albania - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

• US Treasury sanctioned Iran ’s Ministry of Intelligence over Albania cyber attack - Security Affairs

• NATO Condemns Alleged Iranian Cyber attack on Albania | SecurityWeek.Com

• New Iranian hacking group APT42 deploys custom Android spyware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft investigates Iranian attacks against the Albanian government - Microsoft Security Blog

• Microsoft Warns of Ransomware Attacks by Iranian Phosphorus Hacker Group (thehackernews.com)

Nation State Actors – Misc

• Nation-state attacks are a growing threat to video conferencing - Help Net Security

• Use of machine identities is growing in state-sponsored cyber attacks - Help Net Security

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Vulnerability Management

• High-profile vulnerabilities encourage organisations to improve security posture - Help Net Security

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Vulnerabilities

• CISA adds 12 new flaws to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog - Security Affairs

• September 2022 Patch Tuesday forecast: No sign of cooling off - Help Net Security

• High-risk ConnectWise Automate vulnerability fixed, admins urged to patch ASAP - Help Net Security

• Hackers Exploit Zero-Day in WordPress BackupBuddy Plugin in ~5 Million Attempts (thehackernews.com)

• Cisco Releases Security Patches for New Vulnerabilities Impacting Multiple Products (thehackernews.com)

• Mirai Variant MooBot Botnet Exploiting D-Link Router Vulnerabilities (thehackernews.com)

• Cisco won’t fix authentication bypass zero-day in EoL routers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Critical RCE Vulnerability Affects Zyxel NAS Devices — Firmware Patch Released (thehackernews.com)

• Chrome and Edge fix zero-day security hole – update now! – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Google Patches Sixth Chrome Zero-Day of 2022 | SecurityWeek.Com

• QNAP patches zero-day used in new Deadbolt ransomware attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• HP fixes severe bug in pre-installed Support Assistant tool (bleepingcomputer.com)

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Other News

• Top 5 Cyber crime Cases in 2022 (techgenix.com)

• The Heartbleed bug: How a flaw in OpenSSL caused a security crisis | CSO Online

• Cyber Security - the More Things Change, the More They Are The Same | SecurityWeek.Com

• CISOs say stress and burnout are their top personal risks (cnbc.com)

• How to deal with unprecedented levels of regulatory change - Help Net Security

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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

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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.

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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 15 July 2022

Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

• 10,000 Organisations Targeted by Phishing Attack That Bypasses Multi-Factor Authentication

Microsoft has shared details of a widespread phishing campaign that not only attempted to steal the passwords of targeted organisations, but was also capable of circumventing multi-factor authentication (MFA) defences.

The attackers used AiTM (Attacker-in-The-Middle) reverse-proxy sites to pose as Office 365 login pages which requested MFA codes, and then use them to log into the genuine site.

According to Microsoft’s detailed report on the campaign, once hackers had broken into email inboxes via the use of stolen passwords and session cookies, they would exploit their access to launch Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks on other targets.

By creating rules on victims’ email accounts, the attackers are able to then ensure that they maintain access to incoming email even if a victim later changes their password.

The global pandemic, and the resulting increase in staff working from home, has helped fuel a rise in the adoption of multi-factor authentication.

Cyber criminals, however, haven’t thrown in the towel when faced with MFA-protected accounts. Accounts with MFA are certainly less trivial to break into than accounts which haven’t hardened their security, but that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible.

Reverse-proxy phishing kits like Modlishka, for instance, impersonate a login page, and ask unsuspecting users to enter their login credentials and MFA code. That collected data is then passed to the genuine website – granting the cyber criminal access to the site.

As more and more people recognise the benefits of MFA, we can expect a rise in the number of cyber criminals investing effort into bypassing MFA.

Microsoft’s advice is that organisations should complement MFA with additional technology and best practices.

https://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/featured/10000-organisations-targeted-by-phishing-attack-that-bypasses-multi-factor-authentication/

• Businesses Are Adding More Endpoints, But Can’t Manage Them All

Most enterprises struggle to maintain visibility and control of their endpoint devices, leading to increased security breaches and impaired ability to ward off outside attacks, according to a survey conducted by Ponemon Institute.

Findings show that the average enterprise now manages approximately 135,000 endpoint devices. Despite $4,252,500 of annual budget spent on endpoint protection, an average of 48 percent of devices – or 64,800 per enterprise – are at risk because they are no longer detected by the organisation’s IT department or the endpoints’ operating systems have become outdated.

Additionally, 63 percent of respondents find that the lack of visibility into their endpoints is the most significant barrier to achieving a strong security posture.

IT organisations are facing unprecedented rates of distribution point sprawl, which has grown rapidly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 61 percent of respondents say distribution points have increased in the last two years, and the average endpoint has as many as 7 agents installed for remote management, further adding to management complexity.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/14/businesses-are-adding-more-endpoints/

• Ransomware Activity Resurges in Q2

Ransomware activity rose by a fifth in the last quarter, according to a report from security firm Digital Shadows.

The company, which monitors almost 90 data leak sites on the dark web, observed ransomware groups name 705 victims in Q2 2022, representing a 21% increase over last quarter’s 582. This was a resurgence in activity following a 25.3% decline quarter-on-quarter during Q1.

The LockBit ransomware group overtook Conti in victim numbers as Conti ceased operations following the leak of internal chat logs. Conti had reached almost 900 victims during its operations, but LockBit is now closing in on 1,000 after a 13% growth in activity during the quarter.

LockBit also continued to innovate, releasing version 3 of its ransomware with new features, including support for payments using the Zcash cryptocurrency. It also launched a reward program for any information on high-value targets, along with a data leak site that allows anyone to purchase victim data.

At around 230, Lockbit’s quarterly victim numbers far exceeded any other group in Q2. It was accountable for almost a third of all postings to leak sites in Q2. Conti, which had limped along for several weeks after its own data leak, managed just over 50. In third place was Alphv, which grew 118% during the quarter. Basta came in fourth.

Some other smaller groups are also growing rapidly, according to the report. Vice Society, in fifth place this quarter, doubled its activity.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ransomware-activity-resurges-q2/

• One-Third of Users Without Security Awareness Training Click on Phishing URLs

Phishing attacks just won't die, and new data underscores their effectiveness among users who have not been provided security awareness training.

According to data pulled from security awareness training provider KnowBe4's clients, 32.4% of users will fall for a phish — clicking on a link or following a phony request — if those users have not had any official training. The disconnect is worse in some industry sectors, including consulting, energy and utilities, and healthcare and pharmaceuticals, where half of all untrained users fall for phishing attacks.

The data was pulled from 23.4 million simulated phishing tests conducted at more than 30,000 organisations, encompassing some 9.5 million users. According to KnowBe4, 90 days after monthly or more training, the number of phishing test fails dropped to around 17.6%, and to 5% after one year of regular awareness training.

https://www.darkreading.com/remote-workforce/one-third-of-users-click-on-phishing

• Ransomware Scourge Drives Price Hikes in Cyber Insurance

Cyber security insurance costs are rising, and insurers are likely to demand more direct access to organisational metrics and measures to make more accurate risk assessments.

The rising cost of ransomware attacks is helping push significant premium increases in cyber insurance policies in the UK and US, new data shows.

With the average payouts across the past two years averaging more than $3.5 million in the US, a growing number of cyber security insurers want direct access to customer security metrics and measures. This would help prove the status of security controls, according to a Panaseer report on the state of the cyber insurance industry.

However, insurance firms are struggling to accurately understand a customer's security posture, which is in turn affecting price increases.

Panaseer notes that 82% of insurers surveyed said they expect the rise in premiums to continue. The increasing cost of ransomware is putting premiums up, and the increase in the number of attacks, as well as the number of successful attacks, means insurance is getting harder to get and is getting more expensive.

Meanwhile, 87% of insurers surveyed say they want a more consistent approach to analysing cyber-risk. Fundamentally, insurers need better information in order to price the risk — questionnaires aren't going to cut it. Having real live data coming from a customer about their security posture is what's going to be required for them to accurately price risk, in the same way that telematics did for car insurance.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/ransomware-scourge-drives-price-hikes-in-cyber-insurance

• Conventional Cyber Security Approaches Are Falling Short

Traditional security approaches that rely on reactive, detect-and-respond measures and tedious manual processes can’t keep pace with the volume, variety, and velocity of current threats, according to Skybox Security. As a result, 27% of all executives and 40% of CSOs say their organisations are not well prepared for today’s rapidly shifting threat landscape.

On average, organisations experienced 15% more cyber security incidents in 2021 than in 2020. In addition, “material breaches”— defined as “those generating a large loss, compromising many records, or having a significant impact on business operations” — jumped 24.5%.

The top four causes of the most significant breaches reported by the affected organisations were:

• Human error

• Misconfigurations

• Poor maintenance/lack of cyber hygiene

• Unknown assets.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/14/conventional-cybersecurity-approaches/

• Virtual CISOs Are the Best Defence Against Accelerating Cyber-Risks

The cyber security challenges that companies are facing today are vast, multidimensional, and rapidly changing. Exacerbating the issue is the relentless evolution of threat actors and their ability to outmanoeuvre security controls effortlessly.

As technology races forward, companies without a full-time CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) are struggling to keep pace. For many, finding, attracting, retaining, and affording the level of skills and experience needed is out of reach or simply unrealistic. Enter the virtual CISO (vCISO). These on-demand experts provide security insights to companies on an ongoing basis and help ensure that security teams have the resources they need to be successful.

Typically, an engagement with a vCISO is long lasting, but in a fractional delivery model. This is very different from a project-oriented approach that requires a massive investment and results in a stack of deliverables for the internal team to implement and maintain. A vCISO not only helps to form the approach, define the action plan, and set the road map but, importantly, stays engaged throughout the implementation and well into the ongoing management phases.

The best vCISO engagements are long-term contracts. Typically, there's an upfront effort where the vCISO is more engaged in the first few months to establish an understanding, develop a road map, and create a rhythm with the team. Then, their support drops into a regular pace which can range from two to three days per week or five to ten days per month.

https://www.darkreading.com/careers-and-people/virtual-cisos-are-the-best-defense-against-accelerating-cyber-risks

• Firms Not Planning for Supply Chain Threats

Enterprises are failing to plan properly for supply chain risks and cyber security threats from the wider digital ecosystem, a leading technology consultancy has warned.

According to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), firms put the risks posed by ecosystem partners at the bottom of a list of 10 key threats. CISOs and chief risk officers believed that financial systems, customer databases and R&D were the systems most likely to be targeted. Supply chain and distribution was placed in ninth.

The report, based on a survey of larger firms with annual revenues of $1bn or more, found that only 16% of chief risk officers believed the digital ecosystem was a concern when it comes to cyber risks, and only 14% said those ecosystems were a priority for board level discussions.

The research also found that a small number of enterprises fail to focus on cyber risk, with one in six boards discussing it only “occasionally, as necessary or never.” TCS found, though, that organisations with above-average profit and revenue growth were more likely to put cyber security on the agenda at board meetings.

TCS also found that enterprises view the cloud as a more secure environment than conventional data centres and on-premises systems. Additionally, the research highlighted ongoing concerns about skills and the need to attract and retain talented security staff. Firms where senior leaders focus on cyber security are more likely to be able to close the skills gap, according to the study.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/planning-supply-chain-threats/

• Data Breach Lawsuit: Will IT Service Provider Capgemini Owe Damages?

IT service provider and consulting firm Capgemini is facing a lawsuit related to a June 2020 data breach. The plaintiff — gaming company Razer — is seeking $7 million in damages. A trial in Singapore’s High Court regarding the dispute is underway, according to Vulcan Post.

Razer claims it has suffered approximately $6.85 million in profit losses from its online website due to the data breach. Razer is pursuing damages for an unquantified sum for profit losses from the rejection of its digital bank license application.

The Razer data breach occurred due to an issue with an IT system. It may have exposed the personal information of about 100,000 Razer customers.

The Razer data breach may have occurred due to a misconfigured Elasticsearch cluster. It also was exposed to the public and indexed by public search engines and took more than three weeks to fix.

Experts from Razer and Capgemini agreed that the data breach was caused by a security misconfiguration. However, Razer now claims that a Capgemini employee recommended the IT system that led to the breach and is therefore responsible for the incident.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-breaches-and-attacks/data-breach-lawsuit-gaming-company-razer-sues-capgemini-for-7-million/

• Security Culture: Fear of Cyber Warfare Driving Initiatives

KnowBe4, the provider of security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, has conducted a survey during Infosecurity Europe, which evaluated the opinions of nearly 200 security professionals towards security culture, or more specifically: the ideas, customs and social behaviours of an organisation that influence their security practices.

The research found the threat of cyber warfare (30%) or experiencing a data breach or cyber attack (30%) were the two biggest reasons why security professionals wanted to improve security culture at their organisations. Given the current invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the resulting cyber security warnings announced by many of the world’s leading governments, improving current cyber security efforts has continued to be a top priority for many.

The study also revealed just over two thirds (67%) answered that a strong security culture would very likely reduce the risk of security incidents, with the majority (85%) directing their efforts into both improving security awareness training and communicating values expected from employees regarding security.

However, there are many obstacles when attempting to create a strong security culture, with the main issue being a lack of budget (26%) which was followed security professionals facing indifference from fellow employees (24%) and a lack of senior management support (16%).

Interestingly, just under three quarters (73%) admitted to putting an increased effort into measuring employees understanding of security – this still leaves a considerable gap of 27% that do not, something many security professionals will want to consider closing. Thankfully, 38% agree this aspect of security culture would be an area they want to improve in their organisation. When witnessing a colleague display poor security practises, 67% of UK security experts would prefer to tell the individual discreetly, while just under a third (31%) would send the member of staff training material to review. Only 18% would report the individual to the security team.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/07/11/security-culture-fear-of-cyber-warfare-driving-initiatives/

• Cryptocurrency 'Mixers' See Record Transactions from Sanctioned Actors

Use of so-called cryptocurrency “mixers,” which combine various types of assets to mask their origin, peaked at a 30-day average of nearly $52 million worth of digital currency in April, representing an unprecedented volume of funds moving through those services, researchers at cryptocurrency research firm Chainalysis found.

A near two-fold increase in funds sent from illicit addresses has accelerated the increase, indicating that the technology that can obfuscate the currency continues to be highly attractive to cyber criminals.

Cryptocurrency mixers work by taking an individual’s cryptocurrency and combining it with a larger pool before returning units equivalent to the original amount minus a service fee to the original account. As a result, it makes it harder for law enforcement and cryptocurrency analysts to trace the currency.

Mixers aren’t solely used by criminals, but they are extremely popular with them. 10% of all funds from illicit wallets are sent to mixers, while mixers received less than 0.5% of the share of other sources of funds tracked by the firm, including decentralised finance projects.

The bulk of illicit funds transferred to mixers came from sanctioned actors, primarily Russian dark net market Hydra and more recently the Lazarus Group, a group of North Korean state-backed hackers. International law enforcement took out Hydra, which had been responsible for 80% of dark web transactions involving cryptocurrency, in May. The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control followed with sanctions on more than 100 of its cryptocurrency addresses.

The use of mixers by North Korea state-backed hackers, and a popular mixer they employed to launder funds, made up the rest of the transfers.

https://www.cyberscoop.com/cryptocurrency-mixers-see-record-transactions-from-sanctioned-actors/

• Online Payment Fraud Expected to Cost $343B Over Next 5 Years

Despite ratcheted-up efforts to prevent account takeover, fraudsters are cashing in on a range of online payment fraud schemes, which researchers predict will cost retail organisations more than $343 billion over the next five years.

Physical good purchases are loss leaders, making up 49% of online payment fraud, driven in large part by developing markets with little address verification, according to a new Juniper Research report.

Fundamentally, no two online transactions are the same, so the way transactions are secured cannot follow a one-size-fits-all solution. Payment fraud detection and prevention vendors must build a multitude of verification capabilities, and intelligently orchestrate different solutions depending on circumstances, in order to correctly protect both merchants and users.

https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/online-payment-fraud-expected-to-cost-343b-over-5-years

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Threats

Ransomware

• Largest ransom pay-outs by cyber-insurers averaged £3.2 million in the past two years – Intelligent CISO

• Risk & Repeat: Ransomware in 2022 so far (techtarget.com)

• Paying ransomware crooks won’t reduce your legal risk, warns regulator – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Ransomware Attacks Reign Supreme in 2022 - MSSP Alert

• BlackCat (aka ALPHV) ransomware is increasing stakes up to $2.5 million in demands - Help Net Security

• New Lilith ransomware emerges with extortion site, lists first victim (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Experts warn of the new 0mega ransomware operation - Security Affairs

• Organisations Warned of New Lilith, RedAlert, 0mega Ransomware | SecurityWeek.Com

• Microsoft links H0ly Gh0st ransomware operation to North Korean hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Feds Issue Warning for North Korean-backed Ransomware Hijackers - MSSP Alert

• Ransomware gang now lets you search their stolen data (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Rise in ransomware drives IT leaders to implement data encryption - Help Net Security

• BlackCat Ransomware Group Deploys Brute Ratel Pen Testing Kit - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Bandai Namco confirms hack after ALPHV ransomware data leak threat (bleepingcomputer.com)

• 1.9m patients' medical data exposed in PFC ransomware attack • The Register

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Email scams are getting more personal – they even fool cyber security experts (theconversation.com)

• New Phishing Attacks Shame, Scare Victims into Surrendering Twitter, Discord Credentials (darkreading.com)

• Hackers impersonate cyber security firms in callback phishing attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• $8 million stolen in large-scale Uniswap airdrop phishing attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Almost a third of untrained users will click a phishing link - KnowBe4 research - IT Security Guru

• PayPal phishing kit added to hacked WordPress sites for full ID theft (bleepingcomputer.com)

Other Social Engineering

• Rise In Smishing Scams, Why And How To Protect? (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• How Hackers Create Fake Personas for Social Engineering (darkreading.com)

• How attackers abuse Quickbooks to send phone scam emails - Help Net Security

Malware

• Criminals are now posing as security companies to trick you into installing malware | TechRadar

Mobile

• New Android malware on Google Play installed 3 million times (bleepingcomputer.com)

• The weaponizing of smartphone location data on the battlefield - Help Net Security

Internet of Things – IoT

• Honda Admits Hackers Could Unlock Car Doors, Start Engines | SecurityWeek.Com

• Watch This $80,000 Tesla Model Y Get Hacked With $20 Hardware - autoevolution

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Fewer Individuals Fall Victim to Data Breaches as Attackers Switch to Business in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• A look inside Russian cyber crime syndicate TrickBot reveals an organised, potent adversary - CyberScoop

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• Crypto Scams Soar Despite Crash (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Cryptocurrency flowing into “mixers” hits an all-time high. Wanna guess why? | Ars Technica

• Falling Cryptocurrency Market Stalling Cyber Crime Activity - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Hackers stole $620 million from Axie Infinity via fake job interviews (bleepingcomputer.com)

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Joshua Schulte Convicted of Leaking CIA 'Vault 7' to Wikileaks (gizmodo.com)

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• New Phishing Kit Hijacks WordPress Sites for PayPal Scam (darkreading.com)

Insurance

• Cyber Insurers Looking for New Risk Assessment Models - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• How War Impacts Cyber Insurance | Threatpost4

• The cyber insurance market has a critical infrastructure problem - CyberScoop

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• 3 Golden Rules of Modern Third-Party Risk Management (darkreading.com)

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

• Mantis, the tiny shrimp that launched 3,000 DDoS attacks • The Register

Identity and Access Management

• Report: Financial Institutions Overly Complacent About Current Authentication Methods (darkreading.com)

• Access Permissions: Manual Reviews Less Effective than Automation, Netwrix Study Finds - MSSP Alert

Encryption

• What to do now about tomorrow’s code-cracking computers | The Economist

Social Media

• Facebook 2FA scammers return – this time in just 21 minutes – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Disneyland Social Media Hacked - IT Security Guru

Training, Education and Awareness

• Accessible Cyber security Awareness Training Reduces Your Risk of Cyber Attack (darkreading.com)

Privacy

• New Cache Side Channel Attack Can De-Anonymize Targeted Online Users (thehackernews.com)

• Amazon handed Ring video to police without warrant, consent • The Register

• TikTok Chief Security Officer Steps Down Amid Concerns About Privacy (businessinsider.com)

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• Proposed SEC Rules Require More Transparency About Cyber-Risk (darkreading.com)

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

• Ukraine's Cyber Agency Reports Q2 Cyber-Attack Surge - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Cyber espionage groups increasingly target journalists and media organisations | CSO Online

• Sandworm APT Trolls Researchers on Its Trail as It Targets Ukraine (darkreading.com)

• The Man at the Centre of the New Cyber World War - POLITICO

• How War Impacts Cyber Insurance | Threatpost

• Lithuanian Energy Firm Disrupted by DDOS Attack - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Security vendor splits to address Russia’s war in Ukraine • The Register

• Apple previews Lockdown Mode, a new extreme security feature | ZDNet

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• ‘Nobody is holding them back’ — North Korean cyber-attack threat rises (cointelegraph.com)

• North Korean threat actor targets small and midsize businesses with H0lyGh0st ransomware - Microsoft Security Blog

Nation State Actors – Misc APT

• APT groups target journalists and media organisations since 2021 - Security Affairs

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Vulnerability Management

• Rethinking Vulnerability Management in a Heightened Threat Landscape | Threatpost

• Using shields up to secure credentials and mitigate vulnerabilities (scmagazine.com)

• The enemy of vulnerability management? Unrealistic expectations - Help Net Security

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Vulnerabilities

• DHS warns: Expect Log4j risks for 'a decade or longer' • The Register

• Microsoft's Patch Tuesday fixes one bug under active exploit • The Register

• Multiple Vulnerabilities in Adobe Products Could Allow for Arbitrary Code Execution (cisecurity.org)

• CISA orders agencies to patch new Windows zero-day used in attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Flaw in Netwrix Auditor application allows arbitrary code execution - Security Affairs

• Elastix VoIP systems hacked in massive campaign to install PHP web shells (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Hackers Targeting VoIP Servers by Exploiting Digium Phone Software (thehackernews.com)

• Microsoft Teams security vulnerability left users open to XSS via flawed stickers feature | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)

• Anvil Mobile Hit By New Exploit - DNS Hijacking. (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Microsoft Issues Fixes for 84 Vulnerabilities: Here's What to Patch Now (darkreading.com)

• Patch these Juniper Networks bugs, CISA says • The Register

• Buggy WordPress plugin allows complete site takeover • The Register

• VMware patches vCenter Server flaw disclosed in November (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Vulnerabilities that could allow undetectable infections affect 70 Lenovo laptop models | Ars Technica

• AMD, Intel chips vulnerable to 'Retbleed' Spectre variant • The Register

• Microsoft fixes dozens of Azure Site Recovery privilege escalation bugs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft releases PoC exploit for macOS sandbox escape vulnerability (bleepingcomputer.com)

• AWS squashes authentication bugs in Kubernetes service • The Register

• Lenovo fixes trio of UEFI vulnerabilities • The Register

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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

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Reports Published in the Last Week

State of Authentication in the Finance Industry 2022 | HYPR

Online Payment Fraud Market Report 2022-27: Size, Share, Trends (juniperresearch.com)

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Other News

5 key considerations for your 2023 cyber security budget planning | CSO Online

What Are the Risks of Employees Going on a 'Hybrid Holiday'? (darkreading.com)

New ‘Luna Moth’ hackers breach orgs via fake subscription renewals (bleepingcomputer.com)

Experian accounts could still be at risk from hackers | TechRadar

Cyber security skills surpass cloud skills as this year's training priority, if professionals can find the time | ZDNet

Average American Accesses Suspicious Sites 6.5 Times a Day - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Mergers and acquisitions are a strong zero-trust use case • The Register

Recruitment agency Morgan Hunt confirms 'cyber incident' • The Register

New Exploit Attacks UK Routers and Runs Up Mobile Data Bills - ISPreview UK

How Attackers Could Dupe Developers into Downloading Malicious Code From GitHub (darkreading.com)

CEO of Dozens of Companies Charged in Scheme to Traffic An Estimated $1bn in Fake Cisco Devices - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Data breaches explained: Types, examples, and impact | CSO Online

President of European Central Bank Christine Lagarde targeted by hackers - Security Affairs

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 08 July 2022

Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

• Businesses Urged Not to Give In To Ransomware Cyber Criminals As Authorities See Increase In Payouts

While there have been arguments made for criminalising the payment of ransoms, it poses a number of additional risks such as providing the criminals with an additional factor they could use to extort their victims.

Businesses are being urged not to pay cyber extortionists as authorities say they are seeing evidence of a rise in ransomware payments.

In a joint letter to the Law Society, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Information Commissioner's Office are warning solicitors who may have been advising their clients to pay.

It follows warnings earlier this year by cyber security experts from the UK, US, and Australia of a "growing wave of increasingly sophisticated ransomware attacks" which could have "devastating consequences".

The joint letter states that while ransomware payments are "not unusually unlawful" those who pay them "should be mindful of how relevant sanctions regimes (particularly those related to Russia)" when considering making the payment.

The US sanctioned in December 2019 any financial dealings with a Russian cyber crime group that was accused of working with Russian intelligence to steal classified government documents.

Despite the spillover from the Russian war in Ukraine - in one case knocking 5,800 wind turbines in Germany offline - the NCSC says it has not detected any increase in hostile activity targeting Britain during the conflict.

Businesses however had been warned that there is a heightened threat level when it comes to cyber attacks due to the conflict which is likely to be here "for the long-haul".

https://news.sky.com/story/businesses-urged-not-to-give-in-to-ransomware-cyber-criminals-as-authorities-see-increase-in-payouts-12648253

• People Are the Primary Attack Vector Around the World

With an unprecedented number of employees now working in hybrid or fully remote environments, compounded by an increase in cyber threats and a more overwhelmed, COVID-19 information fatigued workforce, there has never been a more critical time to effectively create and maintain a cyber secure workforce and an engaged security culture.

People have become the primary attack vector for cyber-attackers around the world. Humans, rather than technology, represent the greatest risk to organisations and the professionals who oversee security awareness programs are the key to effectively managing that risk.

Awareness programs enable security teams to effectively manage their human risk by changing how people think about cyber security and help them exhibit secure behaviours, from the Board of Directors on down.

Effective and mature security awareness programs not only change their workforce’s behaviour and culture but also measure and demonstrate their value to leadership via a metrics framework. Organisations can no longer justify an annual training to tick the compliance box, and it remains critical for organisations to dedicate enough personnel, resources, and tools to manage their human risk effectively.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/05/people-primary-attack-vector/

• Early Detection Crucial in Stopping Business Email Compromise (BEC) Scams

Cofense Intelligence studied hundreds of business email compromise attacks and found that most scams attempt to establish trust with targeted employees over multiple emails.

Avoiding a costly social engineering attack often requires employees to spot suspicious emails before threat actors request sensitive information or access.

Cofense Intelligence published new research Thursday that showed most business email compromise (BEC) scams can be thwarted in their initial stages when the attackers are not asking for money or a transfer of funds. The cyber security vendor analysed hundreds of BEC emails sent to customers during March and April, and engaged with the threat actors in approximately half the cases.

The company found that only 36% of attackers looking to conduct fraud attacks opened with a cordial greeting and request for cash, gift cards or confidential payment information. Most BEC scams, Cofense found, attempt to slowly build up trust over the course of multiple email exchanges with the target and ingratiate them with common phrases like "sorry to bother you."

Once they realise they can get money out of you, they will do everything they can to drain you dry. For many of the scammers, this becomes a literal hustle, where they will quickly pivot to other cash-out methods. Just because something starts as a wire transfer doesn't mean they won't ask you to send cryptocurrency, gift cards, a cheque, or use your personal Venmo or PayPal to wire them money.

https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/252522493/Early-detection-crucial-in-stopping-BEC-scams

• 54% of SMBs Do Not Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

SMB owners across the globe are still relying only on usernames and passwords to secure critical employee, customer, and partner data, according to the Global Small Business Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Study released by the Cyber Readiness Institute (CRI).

Services that enforce MFA require users to present more than one piece of evidence whenever they log in to a business account (e.g., company email, payroll, human resources, etc.).

MFA has been in use for decades and is widely recommended by cyber security experts, yet 55% of SMBs surveyed are not “very aware” of MFA and its security benefits, and 54% do not use it for their business. Of the businesses that have not implemented MFA, 47% noted they either didn’t understand MFA or didn’t see its value. In addition, nearly 60% of small business and medium-sized owners have not discussed MFA with their employees.

Nearly all account compromise attacks can be stopped outright, just by using MFA. It’s a proven, effective way to thwart bad actors.

Of the companies that have implemented some form of MFA, many still seem to have done so haphazardly. Only 39% of those who offer MFA have a process for prioritising critical hardware, software, and data, with 49% merely “encouraging the use of MFA when it is available.”

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/08/smb-implement-mfa/

• New Cyber Threat Emerges from the Inside, Research Report Finds

In its 2022 Insider Risk Intelligence & Research Report, DTEX Systems, a workforce cyber intelligence and security company, identifies a new cyber threat: the “Super Malicious Insider.”

Just what is a Super Malicious Insider and where does it come from? Well, it comes from inside your own organisation or someone who recently worked for you — a threat actor who may be truly of your own making.

“It was the year (2021) we all came to realise the Work-from-Anywhere (WFA) movement was here to stay,” DTEX reports. “For security and risk professionals, this hastened the end of corporate perimeter-centric security, and a requirement to protect hundreds of thousands of ‘remote offices’ outside of traditional corporate controls. To make matters worse, a measurable increase in employee attrition toward the end of 2021 created the perfect storm for insider threats.”

So, if your organisation didn’t observe a proportional increase in attempted or actual data loss, then you were likely not looking, DTEX asserts.

Critically your insiders know your vulnerabilities and can exploit them, for example, when an employee quits to join a competitor, it is often tempting to take proprietary information with them. This can include customer lists, product plans, financial data and other intellectual property.

The Super Malicious Insider is better able to hide their activities, obfuscate data and exfiltrate sensitive information without detection. Importantly, in numerous insider incidents reviewed in 2021, the Super Malicious Insider had made significant efforts to appear normal by not straying outside of their day-to-day routine, DTEX reports.

Here are some key statistics from the report:

• Industrial espionage is at an all-time high. In 2021, 72% of respondents saw an increase in actionable insider threat incidents. IP or data theft led the list at 42% of incidents, followed by unauthorised or accidental disclosure (23%), sabotage (19%), fraud (%) and other (7%). In fact, 42% of all DTEX i3 investigations involved theft of IP or customer data.

• The technology industry (38%), followed by pharma/life sciences (21%), accounted for the most IP theft incidents. In addition, technology (33%) had the most super malicious incidents, followed by critical infrastructure (24%) and government (11%).

• Investigations that led to criminal prosecution occurred within someone’s home 75% of the time. More telling, 32% of malicious incident incidents included sophisticated insider techniques.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/new-cyberthreat-emerges-from-the-inside-research-report-finds/

• Ransomware: Why It's Still A Big Threat, And Where The Gangs Are Going Next

Ransomware attacks are still lucrative for cyber criminals because victims pay ransoms - and the threat is still evolving.

Ransomware has been a cyber security issue for a long time, but last year it went mainstream. Security threats like malware, ransomware and hacking gangs are always evolving.

Major ransomware attacks like those on Colonial Pipeline, the Irish Healthcare Executive and many others demonstrated how significant the problem had become as cyber attacks disrupted people's lives.

What was once a small cyber-criminal industry based around encrypting files on personal computers and demanding a ransom of a few hundred dollars for a decryption key had evolved into a massive ecosystem designed around holding critical services and infrastructure to ransom - and making extortion demands of millions of dollars.

No wonder Lindy Cameron, head of the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), has described ransomware as "the biggest global cyber threat".

Ransomware is continually evolving, with new variants appearing, new ransomware groups emerging, and new techniques and tactics designed to make the most money from attacks.

And as the recent Conti ransomware leaks showed, the most successful ransomware gangs are organised as if they were any other group of software developers.

They are really acting like a business. Aside from the fact they're not legitimately registered, they really are. They're functioning like a real business and sometimes the number of people within these organisations is bigger than some startups. They have shown a lot of resilience and a lot of agility in adapting to what's new.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-why-its-still-a-big-threat-and-where-the-gangs-are-going-next/

• NCSC: Prepare for Protracted Period of Heightened Cyber Risk

The UK’s leading cyber security agency has urged organisations to follow best practices and take care of their infosecurity staff in order to weather an extended period of elevated cyber risk due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) guide, Maintaining A Sustainable Strengthened Cyber Security Posture, comes on the back of warnings that organisations must “prepare for the long haul” as the conflict enters its fifth month.

Alongside basic hygiene controls, the strengthening of cyber-resilience and revisiting of risk-based decisions made in the earlier acute phase of the war, organisations should pay special attention to their security staff, the NCSC said.

“Increased workloads for cyber security staff over an extended period can harm their wellbeing and lead to lower productivity, with a potential rise in unsafe behaviours or errors,” it said.

With this in mind, the guide highlighted several steps IT security managers should consider:

• Empower staff to make decisions in order to improve agility and free-up leaders to focus on medium-term priorities

• Spread workloads evenly across a wider pool of staff to reduce the risk of burnout and enable less experienced employees to benefit from development opportunities

• Provide opportunities for staff to recharge through more frequent breaks and time away from the office, as well as work on less pressured tasks

• Look after each other by watching for signs that colleagues are struggling and ensuring they always have the right resources to hand

• Engage the entire workforce with the right internal communications processes, and support so that all staff are able to identify and report suspicious behaviour

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ncsc-prepare-cyber-risk/

• 69% Of Employees Need to Deal with More Security Measures In A Hybrid Work Environment

Security firm Ivanti worked with global digital transformation experts and surveyed 10,000 office workers, IT professionals, and the C-Suite to evaluate the level of prioritisation and adoption of digital employee experience in organisations and how it shapes the daily working experiences for employees. The report revealed that 49% of employees are frustrated by the tech and tools their organisation provides and 64% believe that the way they interact with technology directly impacts morale.

One of the biggest challenges facing IT leaders today is the need to enable a seamless end user experience while maintaining robust security. The challenge becomes more complex when there is pressure from the top to bypass security measures, with 49% of C-level executives reporting they have requested to bypass one or more security measures in the last year.

Maintaining a secure environment and focusing on the digital employee experience are two inseparable elements of any digital transformation. In the war for talent a key differentiator for organisations is providing an exceptional and secure digital experience. Ivanti, a cyber security software provider, says “We believe that organisations not prioritising how their employees experience technology is a contributing factor for the Great Resignation”.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/04/security-measures-hybrid-work-environment/

• FBI and MI5 Leaders Give Unprecedented Joint Warning on Chinese Spying

The head of the FBI and the leader of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency have delivered an unprecedented joint address, raising fresh alarm about the Chinese government, warning business leaders that Beijing is determined to steal their technology for competitive gain.

In a speech at MI5’s London headquarters intended as a show of western solidarity, Christopher Wray, the FBI director, stood alongside the MI5 director general, Ken McCallum. Wray reaffirmed longstanding concerns about economic espionage and hacking operations by China, as well as the Chinese government’s efforts to stifle dissent abroad.

“We consistently see that it’s the Chinese government that poses the biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security, and by ‘our’, I mean both of our nations, along with our allies in Europe and elsewhere,” Wray said.

He told the audience the Chinese government was “set on stealing your technology, whatever it is that makes your industry tick, and using it to undercut your business and dominate your market”.

Ken McCallum said MI5 was running seven times as many investigations into China as it had been four years ago and planned to “grow as much again” to tackle the widespread attempts at inference which pervade “so many aspects of our national life”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/06/fbi-mi5-china-spying-cyberattacks-business-economy

• As Cyber Criminals Recycle Ransomware, They're Getting Faster

Like history, ransomware repeats itself. Researchers recently encountered a new variant of a ransomware campaign and observed that it has been improving itself by reusing code from publicly available sources.

Nokoyawa is a new ransomware for Windows that first appeared at the beginning of this year. The first samples found by researchers were gathered in February 2022 and contain significant coding similarities with other older ransomware strains, some going back to 2019.

These new variants had been improving themselves by reusing code from publicly available sources. The April 2022 samples include three new features that increase the number of files that Nokoyawa can encrypt. These features already existed in recent ransomware families, and their addition just indicates that Nokoyawa developers are trying to match pace with other operators in terms of technological capability.

https://www.securityweek.com/cybercriminals-recycle-ransomware-theyre-getting-faster

• UK Military Investigates Hacks on Army Social Media Accounts

British military authorities are trying to find out who hacked the army’s social media accounts over the weekend, flooding them with cryptocurrency videos and posts related to collectible electronic art.

The investigation was launched after authorised content on the army’s YouTube account was replaced with a video feed promoting cryptocurrencies that included images of billionaire Elon Musk. The Army’s Twitter account retweeted a number of posts about non-fungible tokens, unique digital images that can be bought and sold but have no physical counterpart.

“Apologies for the temporary interruption to our feed,” the Army said in a tweet posted after the Twitter account was restored on Sunday. “We will conduct a full investigation and learn from this incident. Thanks for following us, and normal service will now resume.”

The Ministry of Defence said late Sunday that both breaches had been “resolved.”

While internet users were unable to access the Army’s YouTube site on Monday, a spokesperson said the site was down for standard maintenance. The Twitter feed was operating normally.

Although U.K. officials have previously raised concerns about state-sponsored Russian hacking, the military did not speculate on who was responsible for Sunday’s breaches.

“The Army takes information security extremely seriously, and until their investigation is complete it would be inappropriate to comment further,” the Ministry of Defence said.

https://www.securityweek.com/uk-military-investigates-hacks-army-social-media-accounts

Campaign Targeting SOHO Routers Highlights Risks to Remote Workers

A targeted attack campaign has been compromising small office/home office (SOHO) routers since late 2020, with the goal of hijacking network communications and infecting local computers with stealthy and sophisticated backdoors. Attacks against home routers are not new, but the implants used by attackers in this case were designed for local network reconnaissance and lateral movement instead of just abusing the router itself.

"The rapid shift to remote work in spring of 2020 presented a fresh opportunity for threat actors to subvert traditional defence-in-depth protections by targeting the weakest points of the new network perimeter - devices that are routinely purchased by consumers but rarely monitored or patched - small office/home office (SOHO) routers," researchers from Black Lotus Labs, the threat intelligence arm of telecommunications company Lumen Technologies said in a recent report.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3665912/apt-campaign-targeting-soho-routers-highlights-risks-to-remote-workers.html#tk.rss_news

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Threats

Ransomware

• Lawyers Urged to Stop Advising Clients to Pay Ransomware Demands - Infosecurity Magazine

• Ransomware in 2022: Evolving threats, slow progress (techtarget.com)

• AstraLocker ransomware closes doors to pursue cryptojacking • The Register

• Ransomware gangs are feeling the crypto winter's impact | TechSpot

• LockBit explained: How it has become the most popular ransomware | CSO Online

• Hive ransomware gang turns to Rust, more complex encryption • The Register

• New RedAlert Ransomware targets Windows, Linux VMware ESXi servers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ransomware, hacking groups move from Cobalt Strike to Brute Ratel (bleepingcomputer.com)

• North Korean ransomware dubbed Maui active since May 2021 • The Register

• Hive Ransomware Upgrades to Rust for More Sophisticated Encryption Method (thehackernews.com)

• Ransomware, hacking groups move from Cobalt Strike to Brute Ratel (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New 'HavanaCrypt' Ransomware Distributed as Fake Google Software Update | SecurityWeek.Com

• As New Clues Emerges, Experts Wonder: Is REvil Back? (thehackernews.com)

• Researchers Detail Techniques LockBit Ransomware Using to Infect its Targets (thehackernews.com)

• New 0mega ransomware targets businesses in double-extortion attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Feds wave red flag over Maui ransomware | CSO Online

• Evolution of the LockBit Ransomware operation relies on new techniques - Security Affairs

• AstraLocker ransomware shuts down and releases decryptors (bleepingcomputer.com)

• QNAP warns of new Checkmate ransomware targeting NAS devices (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Quantum ransomware attack affects 657 healthcare orgs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• How Conti ransomware group crippled Costa Rica — then fell apart | Financial Times (ft.com)

• Researchers Detail Techniques LockBit Ransomware Using to Infect its Targets (thehackernews.com)

• EternalBlue 5 years after WannaCry and NotPetya - SANS Internet Storm Center

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Fake copyright complaints push IcedID malware using Yandex Forms (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Spear Phishing Fake Job Offer Likely Behind Axie Infinity's Lazarus $600m Hack - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Malware

• Hackers Exploiting Follina Bug to Deploy Rozena Backdoor (thehackernews.com)

• Dangerous new malware dances past more than 50 antivirus services | TechRadar

• Raspberry Robin campaign leverages compromised QNAP devicesSecurity Affairs

• Malware knocks IT services vendor SHI offline • The Register

• Near-undetectable malware linked to Russia's Cozy Bear • The Register

• New stealthy OrBit malware steals data from Linux devices (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Hackers are using YouTube videos to trick people into installing malware | TechRadar

Mobile

• This WhatsApp scam promises big, but just sends you into a spiral | ZDNet

• Android malware subscribes you to premium services without you knowing - GSMArena.com news

• Free smartphone stalkerware detection tool gets dedicated hub (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Four more apps that infected thousands of Android devices with malware removed from Google Play store | ZDNet

• Apple Debuts Spyware Protection for State-Sponsored Cyber Attacks (darkreading.com)

Internet of Things – IoT

• Vulnerability allows hackers to unlock and start Honda cars remotely | TechSpot

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Marriott Data Breach Exposes PII, Credit Cards (darkreading.com)

• Aon Hack Exposed Sensitive Information of 146,000 Customers - Infosecurity Magazine

• Hackers Claim to Have Stolen Police Data in China’s Largest Cyber Security Breach - Bloomberg

• Human Error Blamed for Leak of 1 Billion Records of Chinese Citizens | Threatpost

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• Ransomware gangs are feeling the crypto winter's impact | TechSpot

• AstraLocker ransomware closes doors to pursue cryptojacking • The Register

• Hackers are using YouTube videos to trick people into installing malware | TechRadar

• PennyWise crypto-stealing malware spreads through YouTube (cointelegraph.com)

• US urges Japan to step up pressure on crypto miners with links to Russia | Financial Times (ft.com)

• Large-scale cryptomining campaign is targeting the NPM repositorySecurity Affairs

• ECB to warn eurozone countries over crypto regulation | Financial Times (ft.com)

• Microsoft Issue Updated Warning Against Known Cloud Threat Actor Group - IT Security Guru

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Human Error Blamed for Leak of 1 Billion Records of Chinese Citizens | Threatpost

• HackerOne incident raises concerns for insider threats (techtarget.com)

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Ukrainian police takes down phishing gang behind payments scam | ZDNet

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• Applying Shift Left principles to third party risk management - Help Net Security

Software Supply Chain

• NPM supply-chain attack impacts hundreds of websites and apps (bleepingcomputer.com)

Cloud/SaaS

• Microsoft Issue Updated Warning Against Known Cloud Threat Actor Group - IT Security Guru

• Cloud Misconfig Exposes 3TB of Sensitive Airport Data in Amazon S3 Bucket: 'Lives at Stake' (darkreading.com)

• What Do All of Those Cloud Cyber Security Acronyms Mean? (darkreading.com)

Identity and Access Management

• 6 signs your IAM strategy is failing, and how to fix it | CSO Online

Asset Management

• How a cyber asset management strategy can help enterprises detect threats - Help Net Security

Encryption

• Encryption is high up on corporate priority lists - Help Net Security

• Quantum-resistant encryption recommended for standardization • The Register

• The threat of quantum computing to sensitive data - Help Net Security

• Inside NIST's 4 Crypto Algorithms for a Post-Quantum World (darkreading.com)

• End-to-end encryption’s central role in modern self-defence | Ars Technica

API

• Why your API gateway is not enough for API security? - Help Net Security

Open Source

• Researchers Warn of New OrBit Linux Malware That Hijacks Execution Flow (thehackernews.com)

Social Media

• British Army Cyber Attack Reminds Businesses That Social Media Accounts Are Prime Targets (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Limp Facebook Policies – Do They Ignore Suffering And Crime! (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

Digital Transformation

• Cyber security is driving digital transformation in alternative investment institutions - Help Net Security

Travel

• Marriott suffered a new data breach, attackers stole 20GB of data - Security Affairs

Cyber Bullying and Cyber Stalking

• Free smartphone stalkerware detection tool gets dedicated hub (bleepingcomputer.com)

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• ICO Set to Scale Back Public Sector Fines - Infosecurity Magazine

• ECB to warn eurozone countries over crypto regulation | Financial Times (ft.com)

• Wegmans hit with $400,000 data-breach penalty (democratandchronicle.com)

Models, Frameworks and Standards

• PCI DSS 4.0 released, addresses emerging threats and technologies - Help Net Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

• Ukrainian police takes down phishing gang behind payments scam | ZDNet

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

• Apple's New "Lockdown Mode" Protects iPhone, iPad, and Mac Against Spyware (thehackernews.com)

• Pro-Kremlin hackers Killnet hit Latvia with biggest cyber attack in its history | World | The Times

• TrickBot Gang Shifted its Focus on "Systematically" Targeting Ukraine (thehackernews.com)

• UK to combat Russia’s ‘hostile online warfare’ by forcing internet firms to remove disinformation | TechCrunch

• NATO Announce Plans to Develop Cyber Rapid Response Capabilities - IT Security Guru

• FBI and MI5 bosses: China cheats and steals at massive scale • The Register

• Hackers linked to the Chinese government increasingly target Russia, analysis suggests - CyberScoop

• In Switch, Trickbot Group Now Attacking Ukrainian Targets (darkreading.com)

• Apple Debuts Spyware Protection for State-Sponsored Cyber Attacks (darkreading.com)

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Russian Info Ops Ramp Up Effort to Divide West on Ukraine - Infosecurity Magazine

• Near-undetectable malware linked to Russia's Cozy Bear • The Register

Nation State Actors – China

• US and UK intelligence chiefs call for vigilance on China’s industrial spies | Financial Times (ft.com)

• China Censors What Could Be Biggest Data Hack in History (gizmodo.com)

• Hackers linked to the Chinese government increasingly target Russia, analysis suggests - CyberScoop

• China’s Cabinet Stresses Cyber Security After Data Leak - Bloomberg

• Security warning after sale of stolen Chinese data - BBC News

• Five accused of trying to silence China critics in US • The Register

• 50 Chinese students leave UK in three years after spy chiefs’ warning | Espionage | The Guardian

• More UK calls for ban of CCTV makers Hikvision, Dahua • The Register

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• Russian information operations focus on dividing Western coalition supporting Ukraine - CyberScoop

• North Korean ransomware dubbed Maui active since May 2021 • The Register

• Feds wave red flag over Maui ransomware | CSO Online

• Spear Phishing Fake Job Offer Likely Behind Axie Infinity's Lazarus $600m Hack - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Nation State Actors – Iran

• Hacktivists claiming attack on Iranian steel facilities dump tranche of 'top secret documents' - CyberScoop

• Latest Cyber Attack Against Iran Part of Ongoing Campaign | Threatpost

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Vulnerability Management

• Google: Half of zero-day exploits linked to poor software fixes | ZDNet

• Why Browser Vulnerabilities Are a Serious Threat — and How to Minimize Your Risk (darkreading.com)

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Vulnerabilities

• Cisco and Fortinet Release Security Patches for Multiple Products (thehackernews.com)

• Google Patches Actively Exploited Chrome Bug | Threatpost

• OpenSSL version 3.0.5 fixes a flaw that could potentially lead to RCE - Security Affairs

• Apache “Commons Configuration” patches Log4Shell-style bug – what you need to know – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Cisco fixed a critical arbitrary File Overwrite flaw in Enterprise Communication solutions - Security Affairs

• Cisco Releases 10 Security Patches For Expressway Series and TelePresence VCS Products - Infosecurity Magazine

• Django fixes SQL Injection vulnerability in new releases (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Google fixes the fourth Chrome zero-day in 2022 - Security Affairs - Security Affairs

• Tens of Jenkins plugins are affected by zero-day vulnerabilities - Security Affairs

• OpenSSL fixes two “one-liner” crypto bugs – what you need to know – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Fortinet addressed multiple vulnerabilities in several products - Security Affairs

• There’s a Nasty Security Hole in the Apache Webserver – The New Stack

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Sector Specific

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

We currently provide tailored threat intelligence based on the following sectors, additional sectors by arrangement:

• 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

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Other News

• These are the cyber security threats of tomorrow that you should be thinking about today | ZDNet

• Rising threats spark scramble for cyber workers | The Hill

• Why Browser Vulnerabilities Are a Serious Threat — and How to Minimize Your Risk (darkreading.com)

• Microsoft rolls back plan to block macros by default • Graham Cluley

• Attacker groups adopt new penetration testing tool Brute Ratel | CSO Online

• Security tester says he broke into datacenter via toilets • The Register

• SQL injection, XSS vulnerabilities continue to plague organisations | CSO Online

• Endless cyber-threat pressure could leave security staff burnt out. Here's what you need to change | ZDNet

• Top 7 types of data security technology (techtarget.com)

• Imagination is key to effective data loss prevention - Help Net Security

• The Age of Collaborative Security: What Tens of Thousands of Machines Witness (thehackernews.com)

• Maintaining a sustainable strengthened cyber security posture - NCSC.GOV.UK

• Hacking the Crypto-Monetized Web (trendmicro.com)

• Reflections Of A Former Hacker: How Leaders Can Protect Their Business From Cyber Threats (forbes.com)

• Zero Trust Bolsters Our National Defence Against Rising Cyber Threats (darkreading.com)

• Security advisory accidentally exposes vulnerable systems (bleepingcomputer.com)

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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 27 May 2022

Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Paying Ransom Doesn’t Guarantee Data Recovery

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• VMware, Airline Targeted As Ransomware Chaos Reigns

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cyber Security Professionals' Number One Concern: Ransomware.

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Vishing (Voice Phishing) Cases Reach All Time High

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware Attacks Increasing at “Alarming” Rate - Infosecurity Magazine

• VMware, Airline Targeted as Ransomware Chaos Reigns (darkreading.com)

• Clop ransomware gang is back, hits 21 victims in a single month (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Link Found Connecting Chaos, Onyx and Yashma Ransomware | Threatpost

• Ransomware demands three good demands to restore files • The Register

• Ransomware Cheerscrypt targets VMware ESXi systems • The Register

• New Chaos Malware Variant Ditches Wiper for Encryption (darkreading.com)

• CLOP Ransomware Activity Spiked in April (darkreading.com)

• Industrial Spy data extortion market gets into the ransomware game (bleepingcomputer.com)

• BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware asks $5 million to unlock Austrian state (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Conti Ransomware Operation Shut Down After Splitting into Smaller Groups (thehackernews.com)

• Suspected phishing email crime boss arrested in Nigeria • The Register

BEC – Business Email Compromise

• Interpol arrests alleged leader of the SilverTerrier BEC gang (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Cyber security breach at the city of Portland led to fraudulent $1.4M transaction | KATU

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Intuit warns of QuickBooks phishing threatening to suspend accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)

• NCSC Report Reveals Phishing Lures Increasingly Disguised as Vaccine Appointments - Infosecurity Magazine

• Suspected phishing email crime boss arrested in Nigeria • The Register

Other Social Engineering

• Vishing Attacks Reach All Time High, According to Latest Agari and PhishLabs Report (darkreading.com)

Malware

• BPFDoor malware uses Solaris vulnerability to get root privileges (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Snake Keylogger Spreads Through Malicious PDFs | Threatpost

• New Windows Subsystem for Linux malware steals browser auth cookies (bleepingcomputer.com)

• This Windows malware uses PowerShell to subvert Chrome • The Register

• Hackers have found a new way to smuggle malware onto your device | TechRadar

• Cyber Security Community Warned of Fake PoC Exploits Delivering Malware | SecurityWeek.Com

• Popular Python and PHP libraries hijacked to steal AWS keys (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New Attack Shows Weaponized PDF Files Remain a Threat (darkreading.com)

Mobile

• Microsoft finds severe bugs in Android apps from large mobile providers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Google warns Android smartphones targeted by dangerous Predator spyware | TechRadar

• New ERMAC 2.0 Android malware steals accounts, wallets from 467 apps (bleepingcomputer.com)

BYOD

• Spring Cleaning Checklist for Keeping Your Devices Safe at Work (darkreading.com)

Data Breaches/Leaks

• GM Discloses Data Breach of Cars' Locations, Mileage, Service (gizmodo.com)

• MGM Resorts' customer data now leaked on Telegram for free • The Register

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• REvil prosecutions reach a 'dead end,' Russian media reports - CyberScoop

• Scammer Behind $568M International Cyber Crime Syndicate Gets 4 Years (darkreading.com)

• Multi-Continental Operation Leads to Arrest of Cyber Crime Gang Leader - Infosecurity Magazine

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs

• Hacker Steals $1.4 Million in NFTs From Collector In One Sweep (vice.com)

• 8 ways to avoid NFT scams (techtarget.com)

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• 68% of Legal Sector Data Breaches Caused by Insider Threats - Infosecurity Magazine

• Verizon Report: Ransomware, Human Error Among Top Security Risks | Threatpost

Dark Web

• Military cyber weapons could become available on dark web: Interpol (cnbc.com)

• Darknet market Versus shuts down after hacker leaks security flaw (bleepingcomputer.com)

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• Use of Obfuscated Beacons in ‘pymafka’ Supply Chain Attack Signals a New Trend in macOS Attack TTPs - SentinelOne

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

• Cybergang Claims REvil is Back, Executes DDoS Attacks | Threatpost

• DDoS Extortion Attack Flagged as Possible REvil Resurgence (darkreading.com)

• Anatomy of a DDoS amplification attack - Microsoft Security Blog

Cloud/SaaS

• Security has become more difficult, IT leaders say - Help Net Security

Attack Surface Management

• Where is attack surface management headed? - Help Net Security

Open Source

• Open source is becoming a national security risk | CSO Online

Privacy

• Twitter fined $150M for misusing 2FA data (techtarget.com)

• Zuckerberg sued by DC attorney general over Cambridge Analytica data scandal | Meta | The Guardian

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• Strong Password Policy Isn't Enough, Study Shows (darkreading.com)

• Verizon DBIR: Stolen credentials led to nearly 50% of attacks (techtarget.com)

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• How to navigate GDPR complexity - Help Net Security

• GDPR Anniversary, Expert Insight On What Lead To GDPR Fines – Information Security Buzz

• Indian stock markets given ten day deadline to file reports • The Register

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

• Network of hyperlocal Russian Telegram channels spew disinformation in occupied Ukraine - CyberScoop

• Predator spyware uses in Chrome, Android zero-day exploits • The Register

• Unknown APT group is targeting Russian government entities - Security Affairs

• Hackers target Russian govt with fake Windows updates pushing RATs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Remote bricking of Ukrainian tractors raises agriculture security concerns | CSO Online

• Anonymous Declares Cyber-War On Pro-Russian Hacker Gang Killnet – Information Security Buzz

• Ex-spymaster and fellow Brexiteers' emails stolen, leaked • The Register

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Fronton: Russian IoT Botnet Designed to Run Social Media Disinformation Campaigns (thehackernews.com)

• Russian Hackers Believed to Be Behind Leak of Hard Brexit Plans - Infosecurity Magazine

• Russian Gamaredon APT could fuel a new round of DDoS attacks - Security Affairs

• Putin aimed cyber attack at me, says former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove | News | The Times

Nation State Actors – China

• Trend Micro Patches Vulnerability Exploited by Chinese Cyber Spies | SecurityWeek.Com

• Chinese "Twisted Panda" Hackers Caught Spying on Russian Defense Institutes (thehackernews.com)

Nation State Actors – Iran

• Pro-Iran Group ALtahrea Hits Port of London Website by DDoS Attack (hackread.com)

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Vulnerabilities

• CISA ‘Strongly Urges’ You To Patch 75 Actively Exploited Security Bugs (forbes.com)

• CISA adds 41 vulnerabilities to list of bugs used in cyber attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Exploit released for critical VMware auth bypass bug, patch now (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Zoom Patches ‘Zero-Click’ RCE Bug | Threatpost

• Zyxel addresses four flaws affecting APs, AP controllers, and firewalls - Security Affairs

• Critical New Google Chrome Security Warning For All Users, Update Now (forbes.com)

• Patching the latest Active Directory vulnerabilities is not enough | CSO Online

• Microsoft Elevation-of-Privilege Vulnerabilities Spiked Again in 2021 (darkreading.com)

• Tails OS Users Advised Not to Use Tor Browser Until Critical Firefox Bugs are Patched (thehackernews.com)

• 'Fixed' Chrome extension flaw could allow hackers to record both your webcam and desktop feeds | PC Gamer

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Sector Specific

SMBs – Small and Medium Businesses

• Small Business Cyber Security: Do SMB Owners Underestimate Risk? - MSSP Alert

Legal

• 68% of Legal Sector Data Breaches Caused by Insider Threats - Infosecurity Magazine

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• teiss - News - American healthcare tech giant Omnicell suffers a major ransomware attack

• Web app attacks on the rise in healthcare as insider challenges remain (scmagazine.com)

Retail/eCommerce

• Microsoft: Credit card stealers are getting much stealthier (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft warns of new highly evasive web skimming campaigns - Security Affairs

Transport and Aviation

• Hundreds Stranded After Ransomware Attack on Indian Airline | SecurityWeek.Com

• SpiceJet airline passengers stranded after ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Taking the Danger Out of IT/OT Convergence (darkreading.com)

• Critical Flaws in Popular ICS Platform Can Trigger RCE | Threatpost

Energy & Utilities

• Can we trust the cyber security of the energy sector? - Help Net Security

Oil, Gas and Mining

• Oil and gas companies take cyber resilience pledge - IT Security Guru

Education and Academia

• FBI: compromised US academic credentials available on crime forums - Security Affairs

• Ed tech illegally tracked school children during pandemic - IT Security Guru

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report | Verizon

• State of Cyber Security Report 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine

• 2022 Voice of the CISO | Proofpoint US

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Other News

• IP and cyber security disputes are top legal concerns for tech companies | TechCrunch

• Verizon DBIR: Stolen credentials led to nearly 50% of attacks (techtarget.com)

• Managed Detection and Response (MDR): Who's Responsible for the R? - MSSP Alert

• Survey Evidences Leaders Lack Confidence in Cyber-Risk Management - Infosecurity Magazine

• Flaw in PayPal can allow attackers to steal money from users' account - Security Affairs

• When it comes to remote work, 71% of IT leaders say security is the main challenge - Help Net Security

• Most organisations do not follow data backup best practices - Help Net Security

• There are systems 'guarding' your data in cyberspace – but who is guarding the guards? (theconversation.com)

• Why are current cyber security incident response efforts failing? - Help Net Security

• Nation-state malware will be a commodity on dark web soon, Interpol warns - Security Affairs

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