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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 07 April 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 07 April 2023:

-15 Million Public-Facing Services Vulnerable to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities

-New Research Highlights Increased Security Risks Posed by Remote Working and BYOD

-Lack of Security Employees Makes SMBs Sitting Ducks for Cyber Attacks

-IT and Security Pros Pressured to Keep Quiet About Data Breaches

-Phishing Emails are Seeing a Huge Rise, So Stay on Your Guard"

-Ransomware Attacks Skyrocket as Threat Actors Double Down on Global Attacks

-MSPs a Favoured Target of Supply Chain and Infrastructure Attacks

-Fake Ransomware Gang Targets Organisations with Empty Data Leak Threats

-GCHQ Updates Security Guidance for Boards

-More than 60% of Organisations have been Hit with Unplanned Downtime on a Monthly Basis

-For Cyber Crime Gangs, Professionnalisation Comes With “Corporate” Headaches

-UK’s Offensive Hacking Unit Takes on Military Opponents and Terrorist Groups

-Man Kills Himself After an AI Chatbot 'Encouraged' Him to Sacrifice Himself to Stop Climate Change

-Hackers Exploit WordPress Plugin Flaw That Gives Full Control of Millions of Sites

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

  • 15 Million Public-Facing Services Vulnerable to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities

Over 15 million publicly facing services are susceptible to at least one of the 896 vulnerabilities listed in CISA's KEV (known exploitable vulnerabilities) catalogue. The findings are particularly worrying because the examined vulnerabilities are known and highlighted in CISA's KEV catalogue as actively exploited by hackers, so any delays in their patching maintain a large attack surface, giving threat actors numerous potential targets.

Over half of those 7 million instances were vulnerable to one of the 137 CVEs concerning Microsoft Windows, making this component a top priority for defenders and an excellent target for attackers. Almost half of those are over five years old, so roughly 800,000 machines have not applied security updates for a significant period of time.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/15-million-public-facing-services-vulnerable-to-cisa-kev-flaws/

  • New Research Highlights Increased Security Risks Posed by Remote Working and BYOD

New research has highlighted the increased threats associated with remote work and bring your own device (BYOD) policies faced by organisations. The results of the survey show that with remote and hybrid working, personal and work tasks blur together and the boundaries between the two have become more porous. The data shows that 32% of remote and hybrid workers use apps or software not approved by IT and 92% of remote employees perform work tasks on their personal tablet or smartphone devices. These devices, apps and software, along with the corporate data being accessed, are not visible to IT, thereby dramatically increasing an organisation’s risk posture.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2023/04/03/new-research-highlights-increased-security-risks-posed-by-remote-working-and-bring-your-own-device-policies/

  • Lack of Security Employees Makes SMBs Sitting Ducks for Cyber Attacks

Cyber security is a growing concern among all businesses but lack of security expertise in SMBs is leaving smaller firms open to attack. Cyber threats are more real and prevalent than ever before and the risk to businesses includes not only exposure of customer data and a decrease in trust, but also losses in revenue.

54% of small businesses say they are more concerned about cyber security now than one year ago yet 38% of SMBs said they had zero employees dedicated to security as part of their role, and 42% had just one employee working on security. Even without a traditional security role, there should be someone responsible for making security decisions in every organisation.

A lack of time to focus on security and keeping up with changing threats are amongst the biggest challenges for businesses.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/04/04/smbs-security-posture/

  • IT and Security Pros Pressured to Keep Quiet About Data Breaches

It is not possible to stop every bad thing from happening. Alarmingly, when something does go wrong IT/security professionals are being told to keep a breach confidential, even when they knew it should be reported. More than 42% of IT/security professionals reporting this happening to them, and a worrying 30% said they have kept a breach confidential.

At 71%, IT/security professionals in the US were the most likely to say they have been told to keep quiet followed by the UK at 44%.

52% of global organisations have experienced a data breach or data leak in the last 12 months. The US led at 75% (or 23% higher than average) followed by the UK at 51.4%.

Infosec professionals are increasingly worried about their company facing legal action due to a breach being handled incorrectly.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/04/06/pressure-keeping-breaches-confidential/

  • Phishing Emails are Seeing a Huge Rise, So Stay on Your Guard

Phishing attacks are up 5x year-on-year, researchers say. A report from Cofense analysed data received from 35 million people across the world, finding there has been a 569% increase in phishing attacks to 2022 and 478% increase to credential phishing. With the increased frequency, intensity and sophistication of these threats small and medium-sized businesses should be particularly wary of phishing and other forms of email-borne cyber attacks as their numbers have grown explosively over the last year, experts have warned. Organisations should keep eyes open for Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks as this type continues to be one of the top crimes for the eighth year in a row.

https://www.techradar.com/news/phishing-emails-are-seeing-a-huge-rise-so-stay-on-your-guard

  • Ransomware Attacks Skyrocket as Threat Actors Double Down on Global Attacks

New studies have found that ransomware exploits are increasing, and a large percentage of victims are being hit multiple times. The NCC Group noted that there were 240 ransomware attacks in February 2023, a 45% increase from the record-high number of attacks in January. North America accounted for 47% of the global ransomware attacks, with Europe following (23%). Another report found that of all organisations hit by ransomware in the last 12 months, 28% were reported to be hit twice or more. Of the organisations breached, 69% reported phishing as the initial access vector.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/nccgroup-ransomware-attacks-up-february/

  • MSPs a Favoured Target of Supply Chain and Infrastructure Attacks

With the backdrop of increasing cyber attacks on supply chains, Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are increasingly being favoured by attackers due to their pivotal role in the supply chain and access to the organisations they are serving.

When measured by sector, MSPs are the hardest hit by hackers in supply chain attacks.

ConnectWise’s cyber research unit analysed some 440,000 incidents that impacted MSPs and their clients and found that Lockbit led among the most prolific ransomware hijackers targeting MSPs, (42% of all ransomware attacks) followed by Cl0p at 11%. Whilst numerous other ransomware gangs also directly targeted MSPs in 2022.

Third party risk assessments should be carried out for all organisations in your supply chain and this is especially true of MSPs and external IT providers given the level of access they have into your systems and data.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/msps-a-favored-target-of-supply-chain-and-infrastructure-attacks-connectwise-reports/

  • Fake Ransomware Gang Targets Organisations with Empty Data Leak Threats

Fake extortionists are piggybacking on data breaches and ransomware incidents, threatening companies with publishing or selling allegedly stolen data unless they get paid. Sometimes the actors add the menace of a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack if the message recipient does not comply with the instructions in the messages. It is possible that victims are selected from publicly available sources, such as the initial attacker’s data leak site, social media, news reports, or company disclosures; in some cases a fake extortionist could learn about ransomware victims that have yet to disclose the cyber attack, making it more likely for victims to believe them.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/fake-ransomware-gang-targets-us-orgs-with-empty-data-leak-threats/

  • GCHQ Updates Security Guidance for Boards

The UK’s leading cyber security agency GCHQ, has urged the country’s business leaders to “get to grips” with cyber risk after releasing an updated toolkit to help them do so. GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said its updated Cyber Security Board Toolkit is designed to boost the confidence of senior execs when discussing security with key stakeholders from the organisation.

Given the potentially serious impact breaches can have on business operations and growth, the agency wants boards to treat cyber risk with the same urgency as other business risks in areas such as financial and legal.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/gchq-updates-security-guidance/

  • More than 60% of Organisations have been Hit with Unplanned Downtime on a Monthly Basis

A recent report found that 52% of organisations had suffered a data breach in the past two years, an increase from 49% in 2022. In addition, 62% of organisations reported that business critical applications suffered from unplanned downtime due to a cyber security incident on at least a monthly basis, an increase from 54% in 2022. Other key findings include downtime costing roughly 2.7% of annual revenue, 39% of organisations believing cyber security incidents directly harmed their competitive position and 31% noting that it had reduced shareholder revenue. As a result of the impact, 95% of organisations reported that they had planned to increase their security budget over the next 2 years.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/splunk-details-increase-in-data-breaches-downtime-due-to-cybersecurity-issues/

  • For Cyber Crime Gangs, Professionalisation Comes With “Corporate” Headaches

Today’s largest cyber crime gangs are operating like large enterprises, with $50 million dollars in annual revenue and around 80% of operating expenses going towards wages. Researchers have found that small, medium and especially large cyber crime gangs are operating just like their legitimate counterparts, from their managerial structure to employee benefits. The research highlights a worrying level of sophistication within cyber crime gangs; we are no longer dealing with the lone attacker in a dark room, but in some cases an enterprise with clear objectives.

https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/cybercrime-professionalization-gangs-corporate-headaches

  • UK’s Offensive Hacking Unit Takes on Military Opponents and Terrorist Groups

Britain’s newly created offensive hacking unit, the National Cyber Force (NCF), has said it is engaged daily in operations to disrupt terrorist groups and military opponents of the UK. Operational details remain unclear, however the NCF says it is engaged in techniques to “undermine the tradecraft” of Russian, Chinese and other state-sponsored hackers and in “technical disruption” against terrorist groups, for example to prevent the dissemination of online propaganda. This news comes after the recent leak of files for Moscow, which had tasked an IT company to develop cyber warfare tools aimed at taking down infrastructure networks and scouring the internet for vulnerabilities.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/apr/03/uks-offensive-hacking-unit-takes-on-military-opponents-and-terrorist-groups

  • Man Kills Himself After an AI Chatbot 'Encouraged' Him to Sacrifice Himself to Stop Climate Change

A man reportedly took his own life following a six-week-long conversation about the climate crisis with an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot. Reports found that the chatbot had fed the mans worries about climate change, which had worsened his anxiety and later led to suicidal thoughts. The AI chatbot failed to dissuade the man from committing suicide and had in fact encouraged him to act on the thoughts and join the AI chatbot so “they could live together, as one person, in paradise”. This is despite the efforts made to limit these kind of events.

https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/03/31/man-ends-his-life-after-an-ai-chatbot-encouraged-him-to-sacrifice-himself-to-stop-climate-

  • Hackers Exploit WordPress Plugin Flaw That Gives Full Control of Millions of Sites

Hackers are actively exploiting a critical vulnerability in a widely used WordPress plugin that gives them the ability to take complete control of millions of sites, researchers said. The vulnerability is in Elementor Pro, a premium plugin running on more than 12 million sites powered by WordPress.  Despite the vulnerability being fixed, many have not installed the patch. Worryingly, this is a common theme in cyber; many organisations remain vulnerable due to them not having an efficient patching process and as a result, a number of the most exploited vulnerabilities have available patches.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/03/hackers-exploit-wordpress-plugin-flaw-that-gives-full-control-of-millions-of-sites/

Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

BEC – Business Email Compromise

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

BYOD

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Deepfakes

Insurance

Dark Web

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Cloud/SaaS

Hybrid/Remote Working

Shadow IT

Identity and Access Management

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Parental Controls and Child Safety

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Governance, Risk and Compliance

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

Artificial Intelligence

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda

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

Nation State Actors

Sector Specific

Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.

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

·       Automotive

·       Construction

·       Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

·       Defence & Space

·       Education & Academia

·       Energy & Utilities

·       Estate Agencies

·       Financial Services

·       FinTech

·       Food & Agriculture

·       Gaming & Gambling

·       Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)

·       Health/Medical/Pharma

·       Hotels & Hospitality

·       Insurance

·       Legal

·       Manufacturing

·       Maritime

·       Oil, Gas & Mining

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

·       Retail & eCommerce

·       Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)

·       Startups

·       Telecoms

·       Third Sector & Charities

·       Transport & Aviation

·       Web3

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

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

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

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

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Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 31 March 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 31 March 2023:

-Phishing Emails Up a Whopping 569% in 2022

-The End User Password Mistakes Putting Your Organisation at Risk

-Millions of Penetration Tests Show Companies’ Security Postures are Getting Worse

-71% of Employees Keep Work Passwords on Personal Devices

-Cyber Crime Frontlines in Russia-Ukraine War Move to Eastern and Northern Europe

-Security Flaws Cost Fifth of Executive’s Businesses

-Companies Struggle to Build and Run Effective Programs to Protect Data from Insider Threats

-Only 10% of Workers Remember All Their Cyber Security Training

-Silence Gets You Nowhere in a Data Breach

-Just 1% of Cloud Permissions are Actively Used

-Dangerous Misconceptions About Emerging Cyber Threats

-‘Grim’ Criminal Abuse of ChatGPT is Coming, Europol Warns

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

  • Phishing Emails Up a Whopping 569% in 2022

The volume of phishing emails sent in 2022 spiked by a jaw-dropping 569% according to a new report. Based on data from 35 million users, the report details the astronomical rise of email phishing as a tactic among threat actors in 2022. Key findings from the report include the number of credential phishing emails sent spiked by 478% and, for the eighth consecutive year, business email compromise (BEC) ranked as the top cyber crime.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/phishing-emails-up-whopping-569-percent-2022

  • The End User Password Mistakes Putting Your Organisation at Risk

Businesses rely on their end users, but those same users often don't follow the best security practices. Without the right password security policies, a single end user password mistake can be a costly breach of your organisation's defences. End users want to do their work quickly and efficiently, but sharing, reusing and weak passwords can put your organisation at risk so having the right policies in place is essential for security.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/the-end-user-password-mistakes-putting-your-organization-at-risk/

  • Millions of Penetration Tests Show Companies’ Security Postures are Getting Worse

The risk score for the average company worsened in the past year as companies fail to adapt to data exfiltration techniques and adequately protect web applications. Companies' effective data-exfiltration risk increased to 44 out of 100 (with 100 indicating the riskiest posture) in 2022, from an average score of 30 in the previous year, indicating that the overall risk of data being compromised has increased. That's according to rankings by Cymulate, who crunched data on 1.7 million hours of offensive cyber security testing. The research noted that while many companies are improving the adoption of strict network and group policies, attackers are adapting to sidestep such protections. They also found that four of the top-10 CVEs (known vulnerabilities) identified in customer environments were more than two years old.

https://www.darkreading.com/cloud/millions-pen-tests-companies-security-posture-getting-worse

  • 71% of Employees Keep Work Passwords on Personal Devices

71% of employees store sensitive work passwords on their personal phones, and 66% use their personal texting apps for work, according to a new mobile bring your own device (BYOD) security report this week, with the report also suggesting 95% of security leaders are increasingly concerned about phishing attacks via private messaging apps. With the widespread use of personal mobile devices in the workplace, it is increasingly difficult for employers to ensure the security of sensitive information. The use of personal devices and personal apps was the direct cause of many high-profile corporate breaches and this is a trend that will surely continue, as employees often use corporate and personal devices for work, effectively doubling the attack surface for cyber criminals as threat actors know there are fewer security controls on personal mobile devices than on corporate ones.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/70-employees-keep-work-passwords/

  • Cyber Frontlines in Russia-Ukraine War Move to Eastern and Northern Europe

More than a year into the war in Ukraine, hackers have extended the cyber battleground to Eastern and Northern Europe with the number of incidents in those geographies spiking noticeably. A new report shows that cyber warfare inside the conflict has “clearly moved on” from the beginnings of the war. Over the last 12 months, the research reports that the majority of incidents only affecting Ukraine in the first quarter of 2022 (50.4%) sank to 28.6% in the third period. But European Union countries have seen a spike in incidents related to the war in the past six months from 9.8% to 46.5%. Indeed, the number of attacks on EU countries in the third quarter of 2022 totalled just slightly less than those in the Ukraine. And, in the first quarter of this year, more than 80% of incidents occurred inside the European Union. Cyber is now a crucial weapon in the arsenal of new instruments of war, alongside disinformation, manipulation of public opinion, economic warfare, sabotage and guerrilla tactics. With the lateralisation of the conflict from Ukraine to the rest of Europe, Western Europe should be wary of possible attacks on critical infrastructure in the short term if the conflict continues to accelerate.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/cybercrime-front-lines-in-russia-ukraine-war-move-to-eastern-and-northern-europe/

  • Security Flaws Cost Fifth of Executives New Business

Boards continue to under-appreciate the value of cyber security to the business, despite acknowledging its critical role in winning new business and talent, according to Trend Micro. The security giant polled 2,718 business decision makers globally to compile its Risky Rewards study and it found that half (51%) believe cyber security is a necessary cost but not a revenue contributor. 48% argue that its value is limited to threat prevention and two-fifths (38%) see security as a barrier rather than a business enabler. That’s despite a fifth (19%) acknowledging that poor security posture has already impacted their ability to win new business, and 57% thinking there is a strong connection between cyber and client acquisition.

 https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/fifth-execs-security-flaws-cost/

  • Companies Struggle to Build and Run Effective Programs to Protect Data from Insider Threats

Insider risk is emerging as one of the most challenging threats for organisations to detect, mitigate and manage, Code42 Software said in its annual Data Exposure Report for 2023. To compile data for the study they surveyed some 700 cyber security leaders, managers and practitioners and whilst more than 72% of companies indicated they have an insider risk management (IRM) program in place, the same companies experienced a year-over-year increase in data loss incidents of 32%. 71% of respondees expect data loss from insider events to increase in the next 12 months. Insider incidents are costing organisations $16 million per incident on average, and chief information security officers (CISOs) say that insider risks are the most challenging type of threat to detect. Data loss from insiders is not a new problem but it has become more complex with workforce turnover and cloud adoption.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/companies-struggle-to-build-and-run-effective-programs-to-protect-data-from-insider-threats/

  • Only 10% of Workers Remember All Their Cyber Security Training

New research has found that only 10% of workers remember all their cyber security training. Furthermore, only half of employees are undergoing regular training, and a quarter aren’t receiving any training at all. Organisations should look to carry out effective and regular training that is tailored to their employees to increase the chance of training content being retained, with a programme of ongoing continual reinforcement.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2023/03/30/only-10-of-workers-remember-all-their-cyber-security-training/

  • Silence Gets You Nowhere in a Data Breach

In cyber security, the phrase “what they don’t know won’t hurt them” is not only wrong, it’s dangerous. Despite this, it’s a motto that remains in many organisations’ PR playbooks, as demonstrated by the recent LastPass and Fortra data breaches. Smaller companies, too, are employing a silent-treatment approach to data breaches, and cyber attacks are now a fact of doing business with almost half of US organisations having suffered a cyber attack in 2022. Attackers are increasingly targeting smaller businesses due to the fact they are seen as easier targets than large companies.

 https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/29/silence-gets-you-nowhere-in-a-data-breach/

  • Just 1% of Cloud Permissions are Actively Used

According to Microsoft, a surge in workload identities, super admins and “over-permissioning” is driving the increase in cyber risk for organisations. Just 1% of users are using the permissions granted to them for day-to-day work. Worryingly, this leaves a significant number of unnecessary permissions which could be used by an attacker to elevate their privileges.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/just-1-of-cloud-permissions-used/

  • Dangerous Misconceptions About Emerging Cyber Threats

Organisations are leaving common attack paths exposed in their quest to combat emergent threats, according to a new report that delves into the efficacy of different security controls, the most concerning threats as tested by organisations worldwide, and top cyber security best practices for 2023. One of the key findings of the report is that many organisations are actively testing against threats seen in the news, likely from pressure to report on their exposure risk to emergent threats, and whilst this is good, it should not take away from assessing threats and exposures that are more likely actively targeting the business.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/03/30/misconceptions-emerging-cyber-threats/  

  • ‘Grim’ Criminal Abuse of ChatGPT is Coming, Europol Warns

Europol has warned that criminals are set to take advantage of artificial intelligence to commit fraud and other crimes. Europol highlighted that ChatGPT could be used to speed up criminal research, impersonate speech styles for phishing and write code. Furthermore, despite ChatGPT having safeguards, Europol note that these can be circumvented.

https://www.securityweek.com/grim-criminal-abuse-of-chatgpt-is-coming-europol-warns/

Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

BEC – Business Email Compromise

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

Botnets

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Deepfakes

AML/CFT/Sanctions

Insurance

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Cloud/SaaS

Hybrid/Remote Working

Shadow IT

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

API

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Training, Education and Awareness

Parental Controls and Child Safety

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Governance, Risk and Compliance

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Backup and Recovery

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

Artificial Intelligence

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

Nation State Actors

Tools and Controls

Sector Specific

Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.

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

·       Automotive

·       Construction

·       Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

·       Defence & Space

·       Education & Academia

·       Energy & Utilities

·       Estate Agencies

·       Financial Services

·       FinTech

·       Food & Agriculture

·       Gaming & Gambling

·       Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)

·       Health/Medical/Pharma

·       Hotels & Hospitality

·       Insurance

·       Legal

·       Manufacturing

·       Maritime

·       Oil, Gas & Mining

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

·       Retail & eCommerce

·       Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)

·       Startups

·       Telecoms

·       Third Sector & Charities

·       Transport & Aviation

·       Web3

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

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

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

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

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 25 June 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 25 June 2021: BEC Losses Top $1.8B As Tactics Evolve; 30M Dell Devices At Risk For Remote BIOS Attacks, Remote Code Exploits; Bad Employee Behaviours Picked Up During Remote Working Pose Serious Security Risks; Ways Technical Debt Increases Security Risk; Orgs Ill-Equipped To Deal With Growing BYOD Security Threats; Firewall Manufacturer Sees 226.3 Million Ransomware Attack Attempts This Year; Ransomware Criminals Look To Other Hackers To Provide Them With Network Access

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

BEC Losses Top $1.8B As Tactics Evolve

Business email compromise (BEC) attacks ramped up significantly in 2020, with more than $1.8 billion stolen from organisations with these types of attacks last year alone — and things are getting worse. BEC attacks are carried out by cyber criminals either impersonating someone inside an organisation, or masquerading as a partner or vendor, bent on financial scamming. A new report from Cisco’s Talos Intelligence examined the tactics of some of the most dangerous BEC attacks observed in the wild in 2020 and reminded the security community that in addition to technology, smart users armed with a healthy scepticism of outside communications and the right questions to ask are the best line of defence. “The reality is, these types of emails and requests happen legitimately all over the world every day, which is what makes this such a challenge to stop,” the report said.

https://threatpost.com/bec-losses-top-18b/167148/

30M Dell Devices At Risk For Remote BIOS Attacks, Remote Code Execution

A high-severity series of four vulnerabilities can allow remote adversaries to gain arbitrary code execution in the pre-boot environment on Dell devices, researchers said. They affect an estimated 30 million individual Dell endpoints worldwide. According to analysis the bugs affect 129 models of laptops, tablet, and desktops, including enterprise and consumer devices, that are protected by Secure Boot. Secure Boot is a security standard aimed at making sure that a device boots using only software that is trusted by the device original equipment manufacturer (OEM), to prevent rogue takeovers.

https://threatpost.com/dell-bios-attacks-rce/167195/

Bad Employee Behaviours Picked Up During Remote Working Pose Serious Security Risks in the New Hybrid Workplace

Most employers are wary that the post-pandemic hybrid workforce would bring bad cyber security behaviours. More than half (56%) of employers believed that employees had picked bad security practices while working remotely. Similarly, nearly two-fifths (39%) of employees also admitted that their employee behaviours differed significantly while working from home compared to the office. Additionally, nearly a third (36%) admitted discovering ‘workarounds’ since they started working remotely. Younger workers were more prone to these bad employee behaviours, with 51% of 16-24, 46% of 25-34, and 35% of 35-44-year-olds using ‘workarounds.’ Close to half (49%) of workers adopted the risky behaviour because they felt that they were not being watched by IT departments. Nearly a third (30%) said they felt that they could get away with the risky employee behaviours while working away from the office.

https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/bad-employee-behaviors-picked-up-during-remote-working-pose-serious-security-risks-in-the-new-hybrid-workplace/

7 Ways Technical Debt Increases Security Risk

Two in three CISOs believe that technical debt, the difference between what's needed in a project and what's finally deployed, to be a significant cause of security vulnerability, according to the 2021 Voice of the CISO report. Most technical debt is created by taking shortcuts while placing crucial aspects such as architecture, code quality, performance, usability, and, ultimately, security on hold. Many large organisations are carrying tens or hundreds of thousands of discovered but un-remediated risks in their vulnerability management systems,. In many sectors there's this insidious idea that underfunded security efforts, plus risk management, are almost as good as actually doing the security work required, which is dangerously wrong.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3621754/7-ways-technical-debt-increases-security-risk.html

Organisations Ill-Equipped To Deal With Growing BYOD Security Threats

A report shows the rapid adoption of unmanaged personal devices connecting to work-related resources (aka BYOD) and why organisations are ill-equipped to deal with growing security threats such as malware and data theft. The study surveyed hundreds of cyber security professionals across industries to better understand how COVID-19’s resulting surge of remote work has affected security and privacy risks introduced using personal mobile devices. The insights in this report are especially relevant as more enterprises are shifting to permanent remote work or hybrid work models, connecting more devices to corporate networks and, as a result, expanding the attack surface.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/06/17/byod-security/

Firewall Manufacturer SonicWall Sees 226.3 Million Ransomware Attack Attempts This Year

Firewall manufacturer SonicWall said it saw dramatic increases in almost every market, even in those such as the US and UK, where ransomware attacks were already common. The US saw a 149% spike, and the UK 69%. “The bombardment of ransomware attacks is forcing organisations into a constant state of defence rather than an offensive stance,” said the SonicWall CEO. “And as the tidal wave of ransomware attacks continues to crush company after company, there is a lot of speculation on how to keep individual organisations safe, but no real consensus on how to move forward when it comes to combating ransomware.

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252502854/SonicWall-sees-2263-million-ransomware-attack-attempts-this-year

Ransomware Criminals Look To Other Hackers To Provide Them With Network Access

According to a new report, cyber criminals distributing ransomware are increasingly turning to other hackers to buy access into corporate networks.

Researchers said a robust and lucrative criminal ecosystem exists where criminals work together to carry out ransomware attacks. In this ecosystem, ransomware operators buy access from independent cyber criminal groups who infiltrate major targets for part of the ransom proceeds.

Cyber criminal threat groups already distributing banking malware or other trojans may also become part of a ransomware affiliate network said researchers.

https://www.itpro.co.uk/security/ransomware/359919/ransomware-criminals-look-to-other-hackers-to-provide-them-with-network

5 Biggest Healthcare Security Threats For 2021

Cyber Attacks targeting the healthcare sector have surged because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting rush to enable remote delivery of healthcare services. Security vendors and researchers tracking the industry have reported a major increase in phishing attacks, ransomware, web application attacks, and other threats targeting healthcare providers. The trend has put enormous strain on healthcare security organisations that already had their hands full dealing with the usual volume of threats before the pandemic. “The healthcare industry is under siege from a range of complex security risks," says Terry Ray. Cyber Criminals are hunting for the sensitive and valuable data that healthcare has access to, both patient data and corporate data, he says. Many organisations are struggling to meet the challenge because they are under-resourced and rely on vulnerable systems, third-party applications, and APIs to deliver services.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3262187/biggest-healthcare-security-threats.html

Threats

Ransomware

BEC

Phishing

Other Social Engineering

Malware

Mobile

Vulnerabilities

Data Breaches

Cryptocurrency

Dark Web

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

Nation State Actors

Cloud

Privacy

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

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