Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 26 April 2024

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

Coalition Finds More Than Half of Cyber Insurance Claims Originate in the Email Inbox

The 2024 Cyber Claims Report by insurer Coalition reveals critical vulnerabilities and trends affecting cyber insurance policyholders. Notably, over half of the claims in 2023 stemmed from funds transfer fraud (FTF) and business email compromise (BEC), underlining the critical role of email security in cyber risk management. The report also indicated heightened risks associated with boundary devices like firewalls and VPNs, particularly if they are exposed online and have known vulnerabilities. Additionally, the overall claims frequency and severity rose by 13% and 10% respectively, pushing the average loss to $100,000. These insights emphasise the necessity of proactive cyber security measures and the valuable role of cyber insurance in mitigating financial losses from cyber incidents.

Sources: [IT Security Guru] [Emerging Risks]

Unmasking the True Cost of Cyber Attacks: Beyond Ransom and Recovery

The global cost of cyber crime is expected to soar to $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, a steep rise from $3 trillion in 2015, underscoring a significant improvement in the methods of cyber criminals, according to Cybersecurity Ventures. Beyond direct financial losses like ransomware payments, the hidden costs of cyber attacks for businesses include severe operational disruptions, lost revenue, damaged reputations, strained customer relationships, and regulatory fines. These incidents, further exacerbated by increased insurance premiums, collectively contribute to substantial long-term financial burdens. The report indicates that 88% of data breaches are attributable to human error, underscoring the importance of comprehensive employee training alongside technological defences. To combat these evolving cyber threats effectively, organisations must adopt a multi-pronged strategy that includes advanced security technologies, regular system updates, employee education, and comprehensive security audits.

According to another report from SiliconAngle, cyber insurance claims increased 13% year-over-year in 2023, with the 10% rise in overall claims severity attributed to mounting ransomware attack claims.

Sources: [The Hacker News] [Huntress] [SC Media]

Why Cyber Security Should Be Driving Your Enterprise Risk Management Strategy

Cyber security has transformed from a secondary concern into the cornerstone of corporate risk management. The historical view of cyber security as merely a component of broader risk strategies is outdated; it now demands a central role in safeguarding against operational, financial, and reputational threats. Many businesses, recognising the vital role of technology in all operations, have begun elevating the position of Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) to integrate cyber security into their overall enterprise risk frameworks. This shift not only enhances visibility and strategic alignment at the highest organisational levels but also fosters more robust defences against cyber threats. As such, adopting a cyber security-centric approach is crucial for compliance and long-term resilience in the face of growing digital threats.

Source: [Forbes]

Ransomware Double-Dip: Re-Victimisation in Cyber Extortion

A recent cyber security study reveals a troubling trend of re-victimisation among organisations hit by cyber extortion or ransomware attacks. Analysis of over 11,000 affected organisations shows recurring victimisation due to repeated attacks, data reuse among criminal affiliates, or cross-affiliate data sharing. Notably, cyber extortion incidents have surged by 51% year-on-year. Additionally, a separate study reports payments exceeding $1 billion and a 20% increase in ransomware attack victims since early 2023. These findings underscore the increasing sophistication and persistence of cyber criminals. Despite law enforcement efforts, adaptable cyber crime groups swiftly resume operations, complicating effective threat mitigation. Organisations must enhance their cyber security measures to avoid becoming repeated targets.

Sources: [Security Magazine] [The Hacker News] [SC Media]

AI is a Major Threat and Many Financial Organisations Are Not Doing Enough

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a major concern for organisations, especially for the financial services sector due to the information they hold. Recent reports have found that AI has driven phishing up by 60% and AI tools have been linked to data exposure in 1 in 5 UK organisations. But it is not just attackers utilising AI: a separate report found that 20% of employees have exposed data via AI.

Currently, many financial organisations are not doing enough to secure themselves to fight AI. In a recent survey, 69% of fraud-management decision makers, AML professionals, and risk and compliance leaders reported that criminals are more advanced at using AI for financial crime than firms are in defending against it.

Sources: [Verdict] [Beta News] [Infosecurity Magazine] [TechRadar] [Security Brief]

[Biometric Update]

6 out of 10 Businesses Struggle to Manage Cyber Risk

A report has found that 6 in 10 businesses are struggling to manage their cyber risk and just 43% have confidence in their ability to address cyber risk. Further, 35% of total respondents worry that senior management does not see cyber attacks as a significant risk; the same percentage also reported a struggle in hiring skilled professionals. When it came to implementing their security policy, half of respondents found difficulty, and when it came to securing the supply chain, a third reported worries.

Given the inevitability of a cyber attack, organisations need to prepare themselves. Those that struggle to manage their cyber risk and/or hire skilled professions will benefit from outsourcing to skilled, reputable cyber security organisations who can guide them through the process.

Sources: [PR Newswire] [Beta News]

'Junk Gun' Ransomware: New Low-Cost Cyber Threat Targets SMBs

Sophos’ research reveals a concerning trend: ‘junk gun’ ransomware variants are now traded on the dark web. Rather than going the traditional route of selling or buying ransomware to or as an affiliate, attackers have now begun creating and selling unsophisticated ransomware variants for a one-time cost. Priced at a median of $375, they attract lower-skilled attackers, especially those targeting small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). As major ransomware players fade, these variants pose significant threats, accounting for over 75% of cyber incidents affecting SMBs in 2023.

Source: [Security Brief] [Tripwire]

Penetration Testing Infrequency Leaves Security Gaps

Many organisations are struggling to maintain the balance between penetration testing and IT changes within the organisation, leaving security gaps according to a recent report. The report found that 73% of organisations reported changes to their IT environments at least quarterly, however only 40% performed penetration testing at the same frequency.

The issue arises where there is a significant duration during which changes have been implemented without undergoing assessment, leaving organisations open to risk for extended periods of time. Consider the situation in which an organisation moves their infrastructure from on-premise to the cloud: they now have a different IT environment, and with that, new risks.

Black Arrow always recommends that a robust penetration test should be conducted whenever changes to internet facing infrastructure have been made, and at least annually.

Source: [MSSP Alert]

Bank Prohibited from Opening New Accounts After Regulators Lose Patience with Poor Cyber Security Governance

A bank in India has been banned from signing up new customers, and instructed to focus on improving its cyber security after “serious deficiencies and non-compliances” were found within their IT environment. The compliances provided by the bank were described as “inadequate, incorrect or not sustained”. The bank is now subject to an external audit, which if passed, will consider the lifting of the restrictions placed upon them.

Source: [The Register]

The Psychological Impact of Phishing Attacks on Your Employees

Phishing remains one of the most prevalent attack vectors for bad actors, and its psychological impact on employees can be severe, with many employees facing a loss in confidence and job satisfaction as well as an increase in anxiety. In a study by Egress, it was found that 74% of employees were disciplined, dismissed or left voluntarily after suffering a phishing incident, which can cause hesitation when it comes to reporting phishing.

Phishing incidents and simulations where employees have clicked should be seen as an opportunity to learn, not to blame, and to understand why a phish was successful and what can be done in future to prevent it. Organisations should perform security education and awareness training to help employees lessen their chance of falling victim, as well as knowing the reporting procedures.

Source: [Beta News]

Where Hackers Find Your Weak Spots

A recent analysis highlights social engineering as a primary vector for cyber attacks, emphasising its reliance on meticulously gathered intelligence to exploit organisational vulnerabilities. Attackers leverage various intelligence sources; Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) for public data, Social Media Intelligence (SOCMINT) for social media insights, Advertising Intelligence (ADINT) from advertising data, Dark Web Intelligence (DARKINT) from the DarkWeb, and the emerging AI Intelligence (AI-INT) using artificial intelligence. These methods equip cyber criminals with detailed knowledge about potential victims, enabling targeted and effective attacks. The report underscores the critical importance of robust information management and employee training to mitigate such threats, specifically advocating for regular training, AI-use policies, and proactive intelligence gathering by organisations to protect against the substantial risks posed by social engineering.

Source: [Dark Reading]

The Role of Threat Intelligence in Financial Data Protection

The financial industry’s reliance on digital processes has made it vulnerable to cyber attacks. Criminals target sensitive customer data, leading to financial losses, regulatory fines, and reputational damage. To combat these threats such as phishing, malware, ransomware, and social engineering, financial institutions must prioritise robust cyber security measures. One effective approach is threat intelligence, which involves ingesting reliable threat data, customised to your sector and the technology you have in place, and dark web monitoring.

Source: [Security Boulevard]

Government Cannot Protect Business and Services from Cyber Attack, Decision Makers Say

According to a recent report, 66% of surveyed IT leaders expressed a lack of confidence in their government’s ability to defend people and enterprises from cyber attacks, especially those from nation state actors. This scepticism arises from the growing complexity of threats and the rapid evolution of cyber warfare. While governments play a critical role in national security, their agility in adapting to the ever-changing digital landscape leaves organisations finding themselves increasingly responsible for their own protection.

Source: [TechRadar] [Security Magazine]

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Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Ransomware triggers cyber insurance claims increase | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Coalition Finds More Than Half of Cyber Insurance Claims Originate in the Email Inbox - IT Security Guru

• Pen Testing Infrequency Leaves Security Gaps | MSSP Alert

• Six out of 10 businesses struggle to manage cyber risk (betanews.com)

• Email inbox cyber crime leaps as claims soar (emergingrisks.co.uk)

• It Costs How Much?!? The Financial Pitfalls of Cyber Attacks on SMBs | Huntress

• Why Cyber Security Should Be Driving Your Enterprise Risk Management Strategy (forbes.com)

• Cyber attacks are on the rise, and that includes small businesses. Here's what to know | AP News

• Cyber staff priority as threats continue – report (emergingrisks.co.uk)

• UK government cannot protect businesses and services from cyber attacks, IT pros say | TechRadar

• Why cyber attacks shouldn’t be viewed as isolated incidents - Raconteur

• Bank banned from opening new accounts over IT risks • The Register

• Battening down the hatches: Navigating third-party cyber threats  | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Cyber Attacks Keep Rising. Here's What Small Businesses Need to Know | Inc.com

• 73% of SME security pros missed or ignored critical alerts - Help Net Security

• Unmasking the True Cost of Cyber Attacks: Beyond Ransom and Recovery (thehackernews.com)

• 4 steps CISOs can take to raise trust in their business | TechTarget

• NCSC Says Newer Threats Need Network Defence Strategy | Trend Micro (US)

• Uncertainty is the most common driver of noncompliance - Help Net Security

• More and more businesses now have CISOs - but they're increasingly taking the blame for attacks | TechRadar

• Cyber metrics journey | Professional Security

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Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

• Ransomware triggers cyber insurance claims increase | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Coalition Finds More Than Half of Cyber Insurance Claims Originate in the Email Inbox - IT Security Guru

• Report finds a near 20% increase in ransomware victims year-over-year | Security Magazine

• Risks to ransomware attack payment | Professional Security

• Ransomware Double-Dip: Re-Victimization in Cyber Extortion (thehackernews.com)

• 'Junk gun' ransomware: New low-cost cyber threat targets SMBs (securitybrief.co.nz)

• Mandiant: Attacker dwell time down, ransomware up in 2023 | TechTarget

• Behavioural patterns of ransomware groups are changing - Help Net Security

• Record ransomware attacks in March 2024, report finds (securitybrief.co.nz)

• Ransomware payments drop to record low of 28% in Q1 2024 (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Hackers use developing countries as testing ground for new ransomware attacks (ft.com)

• Ransomware Still On Rise Despite Better Defences, Firm Says - Law360

• Hackers are using developing countries for ransomware practice | Ars Technica

• Dark web inundated by cheap ransomware tools | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Unmasking the True Cost of Cyber Attacks: Beyond Ransom and Recovery (thehackernews.com)

• Action needed amid escalating ransomware attacks, record-high payments | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• HelloKitty ransomware rebrands, releases CD Projekt and Cisco data (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Rising Ransomware Issue: English-Speaking Western Affiliates (govinfosecurity.com)

• Ransomware in Q1 2024: Frequency, size of payments trending downwards, SMBs beware! - Help Net Security

• CL0P ransomware gang is on the rise | Hogan Lovells - JDSupra

• Proportion paying ransoms declines in Q1 2024, even as takings break a new record (computing.co.uk)

• Megazord Ransomware Attacking Healthcare & Govt Entities (cybersecuritynews.com)

• CISA ransomware warning program set to fully launch by end of 2024 | CyberScoop

• DragonForce Ransomware Group Uses LockBit’s Leaked Builder - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Cyber Hygiene Helps Organisations Mitigate Ransomware-Related Vulnerabilities  | CISA

• Ransomware attacks rise in global food & agriculture sector (securitybrief.co.nz)

• Preventing Ransomware Attacks at Scale (hbr.org)

Ransomware Victims

• Hackers Were in Change Healthcare 9 Days Before Attack (pymnts.com)

• UnitedHealth BlackCat Attack Cost is $872M in Q1 | MSSP Alert

• UnitedHealth admits breach could affect large chunk of US • The Register

• Back from the Brink: UnitedHealth Offers Sobering Post-Attack Update (darkreading.com)

• UnitedHealth Paid Ransom to Protect Patient Data | MSSP Alert

• Will the Change Healthcare case finally make providers do a business impact analysis? | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• UNDP, City of Copenhagen Targeted in Data-Extortion Cyber Attack (darkreading.com)

• Cannes Hospital Cancels Medical Procedures Following Cyber Attack - Security Week

• Small medical practices will close because of Change cyber attack, says AMA | Healthcare IT News

• HelloKitty ransomware rebrands, releases CD Projekt and Cisco data (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Sweden's liquor shelves to run empty this week due to ransomware attack (therecord.media)

• Authentication failure blamed for Change Healthcare ransomware attack | CSO Online

• Ransomware feared as Octapharma Plasma closes 150+ centers • The Register

• Red Ransomware takes credit for Targus attack | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Ransomware Gang Leaks Data Allegedly Stolen From Government Contractor - Security Week

• Carpetright unable to trade after cyber attack - Retail Gazette

• Street lights in Leicester City cannot be turned off due to a cyber attack (securityaffairs.com)

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Phishing attacks up 60 percent driven by AI (betanews.com)

• Coalition Finds More Than Half of Cyber Insurance Claims Originate in the Email Inbox - IT Security Guru

• The psychological impact of phishing attacks on your employees (betanews.com)

• Hackers Create Legit Phishing Links With Ghost GitHub, GitLab Comments (darkreading.com)

• Authorities investigate LabHost users after phishing service shut down | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Researchers Detail Multistage Attack Hijacking Systems with SSLoad, Cobalt Strike (thehackernews.com)

• LA County Health Services: Patients' data exposed in phishing attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

BEC

• Coalition Finds More Than Half of Cyber Insurance Claims Originate in the Email Inbox - IT Security Guru

• Email inbox cyber crime leaps as claims soar (emergingrisks.co.uk)

Other Social Engineering

• LastPass Users Lose Master Passwords to Ultra-Convincing Scam (darkreading.com)

• Open Source Groups Warn of Social Engineering Backdoors | MSSP Alert

Artificial Intelligence

• AI is a major threat and financial organisations are not doing enough to fight it | Biometric Update

• Phishing attacks up 60 percent driven by AI (betanews.com)

• Fifth of CISOs Admit Staff Leaked Data Via GenAI - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Five Eyes agencies publish report on AI security | Hogan Lovells - JDSupra

• AI tools linked to data exposure in 1 in 5 UK organisations (securitybrief.co.nz)

• Security Leaders Braced for Daily AI-Driven Attacks by Year-End - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• CSOs say AI is 'biggest cyber threat' to organisations | TechRadar

• Man arrested for 'framing colleague' with AI-generated voice • The Register

• Microsoft Warns: North Korean Hackers Turn to AI-Fueled Cyber Espionage (thehackernews.com)

• People doubt their own ability to spot AI-generated deepfakes - Help Net Security

• A National Security Insider Does the Math on the Dangers of AI | WIRED

• 40% of organisations have AI policies for critical infrastructure | Security Magazine

• GPT-4 can exploit real vulnerabilities by reading advisories • The Register

• 25 cyber security AI stats you should know - Help Net Security

• Cyber Threats in the Age of AI: Protecting Your Digital DNA - Security Boulevard

• The Dark Side of Deepfakes: How Malicious Actors Use Synthetic Media to Manipulate and Deceive | Metaverse Post (mpost.io)

• 6 security items that should be in every AI acceptable use policy | CSO Online

• 'Poisoned' data could wreck AIs in wartime, warns Army software acquisition chief - Breaking Defence

• The use of AI in war games could change military strategy (theconversation.com)

2FA/MFA

• Strengths & Weaknesses of MFA Methods Against Cyber Attacks | Duo Security

• What is multi-factor authentication (MFA), and why is it important? - Help Net Security

Malware

• ToddyCat APT Is Stealing Data on 'Industrial Scale' (darkreading.com)

• Report says over 10 million devices were infected by data-stealing malware in 2023 - PhoneArena

• New Brokewell malware takes over Android devices, steals data (bleepingcomputer.com)

• GitLab affected by GitHub-style CDN flaw allowing malware hosting (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft unmasks Russia-linked ‘GooseEgg’ malware (therecord.media)

• Hackers hijack antivirus updates to drop GuptiMiner malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• eScan Antivirus Update Mechanism Exploited to Spread Backdoors and Miners (thehackernews.com)

• Beware! Notorious Samurai Stealer Used in Targeted Attacks (cybersecuritynews.com)

• Threat Actor Uses Multiple Infostealers in Global Campaign - Security Week

• Seedworm Hackers Exploit RMM Tools to Deliver Malware (cybersecuritynews.com)

• Antivirus updates hijacked to drop dangerous malware | TechRadar

• Hackers infect users of antivirus service that delivered updates over HTTP | Ars Technica

• Researchers sinkhole PlugX malware server with 2.5 million unique IPs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Millions of IPs remain infected by USB worm years after its creators left it for dead | Ars Technica

• North Korea's Lazarus Group Deploys New Kaolin RAT via Fake Job Lures (thehackernews.com)

Mobile

• Report says over 10 million devices were infected by data-stealing malware in 2023 - PhoneArena

• Ukrainian soldiers’ apps increasingly targeted for spying, cyber agency warns (therecord.media)

• iPhone password reset attacks are real – how to protect yourself | Mashable

• New Brokewell malware takes over Android devices, steals data (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Godfather Banking Trojan Spawns 1.2K Samples Across 57 Countries (darkreading.com)

• Major Security Flaws Expose Keystrokes of Over 1 Billion Chinese Keyboard App Users (thehackernews.com)

• Give Your iPhone a Security Boost With This iOS 17.4 Feature - CNET

• A Briefing on SIM Hijacking | Intel471

Data Breaches/Leaks

• 5.3M World-Check records may be leaked; how to check your records | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Hackers stole 7,000,000 people's DNA. But what can they do with it? | Tech News | Metro News

• AT&T Offers All Customers Free Security Bundle After Data Breach (tech.co)

• AT&T faces class action lawsuit over massive data breach exposing 70 million customers’ personal information (click2houston.com)

• App bug exposes 1M neighbourhood watchers to data harvesters • The Register

• Fifth of CISOs Admit Staff Leaked Data Via GenAI - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Rising Ransomware Issue: English-Speaking Western Affiliates (govinfosecurity.com)

• Russian FSB Counterintelligence Chief Gets 9 Years in Cyber Crime Bribery Scheme – Krebs on Security

• Authorities investigate LabHost users after phishing service shut down | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• To Catch a Cyber Criminal -- and the Fallout That Follows (informationweek.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• eScan Antivirus Update Mechanism Exploited to Spread Backdoors and Miners (thehackernews.com)

• Lazarus On the Hunt: How North Korean Hackers are Targeting Crypto via LinkedIn (bitcoinist.com)

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Most people still rely on memory or pen and paper for password management - Help Net Security

• The rise of the outsmarted insider (betanews.com)

• CesiumAstro claims former exec spilled trade secrets to upstart competitor AnySignal | TechCrunch

Insurance

• Ransomware triggers cyber insurance claims increase | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Coalition Finds More Than Half of Cyber Insurance Claims Originate in the Email Inbox - IT Security Guru

• Email inbox cyber crime leaps as claims soar (emergingrisks.co.uk)

• Coalition: Insurance claims for Cisco ASA users spiked in 2023 | TechTarget

• Munich Re on the impact of cyber rate changes | Insurance Business America (insurancebusinessmag.com)

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• Battening down the hatches: Navigating third-party cyber threats  | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Ransomware Gang Leaks Data Allegedly Stolen From Government Contractor - Security Week

• Tech Investments Help SMBs Fortify Supply Chains Amid Economic, Workforce, and Security Concerns | Business Wire

Cloud/SaaS

• How Attackers Can Own a Business Without Touching the Endpoint (thehackernews.com)

• 5 Hard Truths About the State of Cloud Security 2024 (darkreading.com)

Identity and Access Management

• How Attackers Can Own a Business Without Touching the Endpoint (thehackernews.com)

• Identity-based security threats are growing rapidly: report | CSO Online

Encryption

• Europol asks tech firms, governments to get rid of E2EE • The Register

• How tech firms are tackling the risks of quantum computing | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)

• Australian authorities call for Big Tech help with decryption • The Register

Linux and Open Source

• Open Source Groups Warn of Social Engineering Backdoors | MSSP Alert

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

• Most people still rely on memory or pen and paper for password management - Help Net Security

• Apple @ Work: Over 52% of workers try to memorize and reuse the same password across multiple apps at work - 9to5Mac

• New Password Cracking Analysis Targets Bcrypt - Security Week

• Brute Force Password Cracking Takes Longer - Don't Celebrate Yet (technewsworld.com)

Social Media

• Dutch govt body: Don't use Facebook if unsure about privacy • The Register

• North Korea's Lazarus Group Deploys New Kaolin RAT via Fake Job Lures (thehackernews.com)

Malvertising

• Windows 11 now comes with its own adware (engadget.com)

Training, Education and Awareness

• 10 colleges and universities shaping the future of cyber security education - Help Net Security

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• What is the EU Cyber Solidarity Act? | UpGuard

• International Lawyers Network Announces the Launch of Comprehensive Data Protection Guide (prleap.com)

• Preparing for NIS2: A Compliance Guide For Covered Entities | UpGuard

• NIS2: Preparing for EU’s New Cyber Security Rules | Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati – JDSupra

• Compliance in 2024: Cutting through the noise (federalnewsnetwork.com)

• Google Postpones Third-Party Cookie Deprecation Amid UK Regulatory Scrutiny (thehackernews.com)

• A view from Brussels: To be sovereign, or not to be (iapp.org)

• Cyber Security | UK Regulatory Outlook April 2024 - Lexology

• Net neutrality has been restored in the US - Help Net Security

Models, Frameworks and Standards

• Fortifying your business with ISO 27001 - DCD (datacenterdynamics.com)

• Preparing for NIS2: A Compliance Guide For Covered Entities | UpGuard

• Taking Time to Understand NIS2 Reporting Requirements - Security Boulevard

Data Protection

• International Lawyers Network Announces the Launch of Comprehensive Data Protection Guide (prleap.com)

• Boost your data protection with insights from Dell's report - SiliconANGLE

• A view from Brussels: To be sovereign, or not to be (iapp.org)

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

• Cyber staff priority as threats continue – report (emergingrisks.co.uk)

• Pluralsight Study Finds the Biggest Technical Skills Gaps are in Cyber Security, Cloud, and Software Development (prnewswire.com)

• Three Ways Organisations Can Overcome the Cyber Security Skills Gap - Security Boulevard

• Addressing the cyber skills shortage: 5 key steps to take | CSO Online

• Five Essential Steps To Land Your First Cyber Security Job (forbes.com)

• Expert Insight: Outdated Recruitment Methods Are Impeding The Global Cyber Army - IT Security Guru

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

• Exploring Law Enforcement Hacking as a Tool Against Transnational Cyber Crime - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

• Authorities investigate LabHost users after phishing service shut down | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Trend Micro Collaborated with Interpol in Cracking Down Grandoreiro Banking Trojan | Trend Micro (US)

• To Catch a Cyber Criminal -- and the Fallout That Follows (informationweek.com)

• Man arrested for 'framing colleague' with AI-generated voice • The Register

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda

• Campaigns and political parties are in the crosshairs of election meddlers | CyberScoop

• Mandiant: Russia, Iran pose biggest threat to 2024 elections • The Register

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

Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage

• State-Sponsored Hackers Exploit Two Cisco Zero-Day Vulnerabilities for Espionage (thehackernews.com)

China

• ToddyCat APT Is Stealing Data on 'Industrial Scale' (darkreading.com)

• Chinese, Russian espionage campaigns increasingly targeting edge devices (therecord.media)

• UK mulls fresh controls on 'sensitive tech' after China cyber claim (thenextweb.com)

• FBI Director Wray Issues Dire Warning on China's Cyber Security Threat (darkreading.com)

• Head of Belgian Foreign Affairs Committee says she was hacked by China | Reuters

• New tool used in China-linked attacks against Asia-Pacific | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Dutch intelligence warns of stronger threats from China, jihadists and extremists | NL Times

• MITRE breached by nation-state threat actor via Ivanti zero-days - Help Net Security

• Ads on .gov.uk websites raise eyebrows over privacy • The Register

• China's Vision for Global Security: Implications for Southeast Asia | United States Institute of Peace (usip.org)

Russia

• Microsoft: APT28 hackers exploit Windows flaw reported by NSA (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft issues warning over ‘GooseEgg’ tool used in Russian hacking campaigns | ITPro

• Chinese, Russian espionage campaigns increasingly targeting edge devices (therecord.media)

• Russia's Fancy Bear Pummels Windows Print Spooler Bug (darkreading.com)

• Who Are APT29? - Security Boulevard

• Overflowing Water Tank Linked to Russian Cyber Attack (govtech.com)

• Russia accused of jamming GPS signal on flights from UK causing route chaos (inews.co.uk)

• Russian Sandworm hackers targeted 20 critical orgs in Ukraine (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Rare Computer Virus Detected in Ukrainian Network, Confidential Document Potentially Compromised (kyivpost.com)

• Russian FSB Counterintelligence Chief Gets 9 Years in Cyber Crime Bribery Scheme – Krebs on Security

• Campaigns and political parties are in the crosshairs of election meddlers | CyberScoop

• Mandiant: Russia, Iran pose biggest threat to 2024 elections • The Register

• Ukrainian soldiers’ apps increasingly targeted for spying, cyber agency warns (therecord.media)

• MITRE breached by nation-state threat actor via Ivanti zero-days - Help Net Security

• Ukraine participates in NATO cyber security exercise in Estonia / The New Voice of Ukraine (nv.ua)

• Cyber attacks on Poland surged after election of pro-Ukraine regime (thenextweb.com)

Iran

• $10 Million Bounty on Iranian Hackers for Cyber Attacks on US Gov, Defence Contractors - Security Week

• Campaigns and political parties are in the crosshairs of election meddlers | CyberScoop

• Mandiant: Russia, Iran pose biggest threat to 2024 elections • The Register

• Iranian nationals charged with hacking US companies, Treasury and State departments | CyberScoop

• The Biggest 2024 Elections Threat: Kitchen-Sink Attack Chains (darkreading.com)

North Korea

• Over 10 Defence Industry Firms Targeted in Concentrated Cyber Attacks by N. Korean Hackers l KBS WORLD

• Hackers hijack antivirus updates to drop GuptiMiner malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft Warns: North Korean Hackers Turn to AI-Fuelled Cyber Espionage (thehackernews.com)

• North Korean Hackers Target Dozens of Defence Companies - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• North Korea's Lazarus Group Deploys New Kaolin RAT via Fake Job Lures (thehackernews.com)

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

• Dutch intelligence warns of stronger threats from China, jihadists and extremists | NL Times

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Vulnerability Management

• Third-Party Software Patching: Your Cyber Armor in 2024 | MSSP Alert

• Automated patch management: 9 best practices for success | TechTarget

• Vulnerability Exploitation on the Rise as Attacker Ditch Phishing - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Vulnerabilities Versus Intentionally Malicious Software Components - The New Stack

• GPT-4 can exploit real vulnerabilities by reading advisories • The Register

• CISA ransomware warning program set to fully launch by end of 2024 | CyberScoop

Vulnerabilities

• 22,500 Palo Alto firewalls "possibly vulnerable" to ongoing attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Palo Alto Networks Discloses More Details on Critical PAN-OS Flaw Under Attack (thehackernews.com)

• Nation-state actors exploited two zero-days in Cisco ASA and FTD firewalls to breach government networks - Security Affairs

• Russia's Fancy Bear Pummels Windows Print Spooler Bug (darkreading.com)

• 'MagicDot' Windows Weakness Allows Unprivileged Rootkit Activity (darkreading.com)

• Microsoft: APT28 hackers exploit Windows flaw reported by NSA (bleepingcomputer.com)

• MITRE says state hackers breached its network via Ivanti zero-days (bleepingcomputer.com)

• GitLab affected by GitHub-style CDN flaw allowing malware hosting (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Google Patches Critical Chrome Vulnerability - Security Week

• Microsoft releases Exchange hotfixes for security update issues (bleepingcomputer.com)

• PoC Exploit Released For Critical Oracle VirtualBox Vulnerability (gbhackers.com)

• Critical Forminator plugin flaw impacts over 300k WordPress sites (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Dependency Confusion Vulnerability Found in Apache Project - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Major Security Flaw in Popular Keyboard Apps Puts Millions at Risk (cybersecuritynews.com)

• Patch Now: CrushFTP Zero-Day Cloud Exploit Targets US Orgs (darkreading.com)

• GitHub vulnerability leaks sensitive security reports | TechTarget

• New Password Cracking Analysis Targets Bcrypt - Security Week

• Maximum severity Flowmon bug has a public exploit, patch now (bleepingcomputer.com)

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Tools and Controls

• Seedworm Hackers Exploit RMM Tools to Deliver Malware (cybersecuritynews.com)

• Third-Party Software Patching: Your Cyber Armour in 2024 | MSSP Alert

• The Role of Threat Intelligence in Financial Data Protection - Security Boulevard

• Automated patch management: 9 best practices for success | TechTarget

• Rethinking How You Work with Detection and Response Metrics (darkreading.com)

• Choosing SOC Tools? Read This First [2024 Guide] - Security Boulevard

• Research Shows How Attackers Can Abuse EDR Security Products - SecurityWeek

• What is multi-factor authentication (MFA), and why is it important? - Help Net Security

• Strengths & Weaknesses of MFA Methods Against Cyber Attacks | Duo Security

• Zero Trust Takes Over: 63% of Orgs Implementing Globally (darkreading.com)

• Pen Testing Infrequency Leaves Security Gaps | MSSP Alert

• 5 Hard Truths About the State of Cloud Security 2024 (darkreading.com)

• Explore CASB use cases before you decide to buy | TechTarget

• SD-WAN: Don't Build a Dead End, Prepare for Future-Proof Secure Networking - SecurityWeek

• Identity-based security threats are growing rapidly: report | CSO Online

• Microsoft criticized for charging for security add-ons • The Register

• 5 insights from new Microsoft CNAPP guide | Microsoft Security Blog

• The Peril of Badly Secured Network Edge Devices (inforisktoday.com)

• VPNs, Firewalls' Nonexistent Telemetry Lures APTs (darkreading.com)

• The first steps of establishing your cloud security strategy - Help Net Security

• 40% of organizations have AI policies for critical infrastructure | Security Magazine

• Understand the Benefits and Limitations of Automated Tools in Penetration Testing (prweb.com)

• World´s most advanced cyber defence exercise kicks off in Tallinn

• Tech Investments Help SMBs Fortify Supply Chains Amid Economic, Workforce, and Security Concerns | Business Wire

• CISA ransomware warning program set to fully launch by end of 2024 | CyberScoop

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• M-Trends 2024 | Google Cloud

• Mandiant's M-Trends Report Reveals New Insights from Frontline Cyber Investigations (prnewswire.com)

• Coalition's 2024 Cyber Claims Report (coalitioninc.com)

• Boost your data protection with insights from Dell's report - SiliconANGLE

• 2024 Cisco Cyber Security Readiness Index

• Rising Cyber Threats Pose Serious Concerns for Financial Stability (imf.org)

• Cyber Security in the UK - House of Commons Library (parliament.uk)

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Other News

• These sectors are top targets for cyber crime, and other cyber security news to know this month | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)

• Online Banking Security Still Not Up to Par, Says Which? - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Why Educating HR Professionals on Cyber Risk Is Crucial (thehrdirector.com)

• Where Hackers Find Your Weak Spots (darkreading.com)

• Network Threats: A Step-by-Step Attack Demonstration (thehackernews.com)

• Microsoft is reportedly making security improvements its current top priority at the company - Neowin

• UK cyber agency NCSC announces Richard Horne as its next chief executive (therecord.media)

• Internet cable at Cali airport cut in apparent sabotage • The Register

• DOD establishes Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defence for Cyber Policy (securityintelligence.com)

• EU Statement – UN General Assembly 1st Committee: Cyber Security | EEAS (europa.eu)

• US: The European Union and the United States hold the 9th Cyber Dialogue in Brussels | EEAS (europa.eu)

• Why Tourists Are Particularly Vulnerable To Cyber Attacks (maltatoday.com.mt)

• Microsoft needs to win back trust - The Verge

• AI Is Going Well For Microsoft, But Cyber Security Is Not - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) - Benzinga

• Questions for IT and cyber leaders from the CSRB Microsoft report | Computer Weekly

• World´s most advanced cyber defence exercise kicks off in Tallinn

• Why Cyber Security Is Key To Solving Global Crises (forbes.com)

• Cyber Security is Relentless! | Gray Reed - JDSupra

• Colleges spending more than ever on cyber security efforts (insidehighered.com)

• Foreign states targeting UK universities, MI5 warns - BBC News

• Cyber resilience in the public sector: lessons for UK Councils (techinformed.com)

• Digital Blitzkrieg: Unveiling Cyber Logistics Warfare (darkreading.com)

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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

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 Advisory 25 April 2024 – Cisco ASA and FTD Zero-days Exploited by Nation-state Hackers, Patch Now

Executive summary

Cisco has published a security advisory warning regarding an active attack campaign labelled as “ArcaneDoor”. The campaign involves threat actors exploiting vulnerabilities in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) or Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) to implant previously unknown malware, execute commands and exfiltrate data. Activity is thought to have begun in early January 2024.

What’s the risk to me or my business?

There is a risk that organisations running vulnerable software versions of Cisco ASA or FTD are leaving themselves at risk of allowing an attacker to implant malware, execute commands and exfiltrate data, impacting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data. There is no current workaround, and Cisco advises to upgrade to a fixed software release immediately.

What can I do?

Black Arrow recommends following Cisco’s advice, and applying patches immediately. Additionally, organisations can also open a case with Cisco Technical Assistance Center, referencing the keyword “ArcaneDoor” to verify the integrity of their Cisco ASA or FTD devices. Further information on this can be found in the advisory provided by Cisco.

Technical Summary

CVE-2024-20353-  a denial of service vulnerability impacting Cisco ASA and FTD software.

CVE-2024-20359- A privilege escalation vulnerability, which could allow an authenticated local attacker to execute code with the highest level of privilege. Administrator level privileges are required to exploit this vulnerability.

Further information can be found below.

The advisories provided by Cisco can be found here:

https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/resources/asa_ftd_attacks_event_response

https://blog.talosintelligence.com/arcanedoor-new-espionage-focused-campaign-found-targeting-perimeter-network-devices/

https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-asaftd-websrvs-dos-X8gNucD2

https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-asaftd-persist-rce-FLsNXF4h

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

#threatadvisory #threatintelligence #cybersecurity

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 19 August 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 Found to Neglect Cyber Security Until it is Too Late

Businesses only take cyber security seriously after falling victim to an attack, according to a report published by the UK's Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) this week.

For the research, the UK government surveyed IT professionals and end users in 10 UK organisations of varying sizes that have experienced cyber security breaches in the past three years. This analysed their existing level of security prior to a breach, the business impacts of the attack and how cyber security arrangements changed in the wake of the incident.

Nearly all respondents said their organisation took cyber security much more seriously after experiencing a breach, including reviewing existing practices and significantly increased investment in technology solutions.

While there was a consensus among participants that there is a greater need for vigilance and investment in cyber security, there was significant variation between organisations’ practices in this area. Medium and large organisations tended to have formal plans in place and budget allocated for further cyber security investment, but smaller businesses mostly did not due to resource constraints.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cybersecurity-seriously-breach/

• Cyber Tops Staff Retention as Biggest Business Risk

Cyber security concerns represent the most serious risk facing organisations, beating inflation, talent acquisition/retention and rising production costs, according to a new PwC study.

The PwC Pulse: Managing business risks in 2022 report was compiled from interviews with 722 US C-suite executives.

Two-fifths (40%) ranked cyber-attacks as a serious risk, rising to 51% of board members. PwC said boardrooms may be getting more attuned to cyber risk after new SEC proposals were published in March that would require directors to oversee cyber security risk and be more transparent about their cyber expertise.

In fact, executives appear to be getting more proactive with cyber security on a number of fronts.

Some 84% said they are taking action or monitoring closely policy areas related to cyber security, privacy and data protection. A further 79% said they’re revising or enhancing their cyber risk management approaches, and half (49%) pointed to increased investments in cyber security and privacy.

By way of comparison, 53% said they’re increasing investment in digital transformation and 52% in IT.

Cyber security is a strategic business enabler – technology is the central nervous system of many companies – and confirming its data is secure and protected can be brand defining.

There’s now heightened attention from a wider range of business leaders and corporate directors as they recognise that cyber security and data privacy should be part of not only a risk management strategy, but also a broader corporate strategy. C-suite and boards are actively taking steps to better understand the global threat landscape, confirm a foundational cyber security program is in place, and manage these risks to create opportunities.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cyber-tops-staff-retention-biggest/

• Cyber Criminals Weaponising Ransomware Data for BEC Attacks

Cyber criminals and other threat actors are increasingly using data dumped from ransomware attacks in secondary business email compromise (BEC) attacks, according to new analysis by Accenture Cyber Threat Intelligence.

The ACTI team analysed data from the 20 most active ransomware leak sites, measured by number of featured victims, between July 2021 and July 2022. Of the 4,026 victims (corporate, non-governmental organisations, and governmental entities) uncovered on various ransomware groups’ dedicated leak sites, an estimated 91% incurred subsequent data disclosures, ACTI found.

Dedicated leak sites most commonly provide financial data, followed by employee and client personally identifiable information and communication documentation. The rise of double extortion attempts – where attack groups use ransomware to exfiltrate data and then publicise the data on dedicated leak sites – has made large amounts of sensitive corporate data available to any threat actor. The most valuable types of data most useful for conducting BEC attacks are financial, employee, and communication data, as well as operational documents. There is a significant overlap between the types of data most useful for conducting BEC attacks and the types of data most commonly posted on these ransomware leak sites, ACTI said.

The data is a “rich source for information for criminals who can easily weaponise it for secondary BEC attacks,” ACTI said. “The primary factor driving an increased threat of BEC and VEC attacks stemming from double-extortion leaks is the availability of [corporate and communication data].”

https://www.darkreading.com/edge-threat-monitor/cybercriminals-weaponizing-ransomware-data-for-bec-attacks

• Callback Phishing Attacks See Massive 625% Growth Since Q1 2021

Hackers are increasingly moving towards hybrid forms of phishing attacks that combine email and voice social engineering calls as a way to breach corporate networks for ransomware and data extortion attacks.

According to Agari's Q2 2022 cyber-intelligence report, phishing volumes have only increased by 6% compared to Q1 2022. However, the use of 'hybrid vishing' is seeing a massive 625% growth.

Vishing, "voice phishing," involves some form of a phone call to perform social engineering on the victim. Its hybrid form, called "callback phishing," also includes an email before the call, typically presenting the victim with a fake subscription/invoice notice.

The recipient is advised to call on the provided phone number to resolve any issues with the charge, but instead of a real customer support agent, the call is answered by phishing actors.

The scammers then offer to resolve the presented problem by tricking the victim into disclosing sensitive information or installing remote desktop tools on their system. The threat actors then connect to the victim's device remotely to install further backdoors or spread to other machines.

These callback phishing attacks were first introduced by the 'BazarCall/BazaCall' campaigns that appeared in March 2021 to gain initial access to corporate networks for ransomware attacks.

The attacks work so well that multiple ransomware and extortion gangs, such as Quantum, Zeon, and Silent Ransom Group, have adopted the same technique today to gain initial network access through an unsuspecting employee.

"Hybrid Vishing attacks reached a six-quarter high in Q2, increasing 625% from Q1 2021. This threat type also contributed to 24.6% of the overall share of Response-Based threats," details the Agari report.

"While this is the second quarter hybrid vishing attacks have declined in share due to the overall increase of response-based threats, vishing volume has steadily increased in count over the course of the year."

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/callback-phishing-attacks-see-massive-625-percent-growth-since-q1-2021/

• Credential Phishing Attacks Skyrocketing, 265 Brands Impersonated in H1 2022

Abnormal Security released a report which explores the current email threat landscape and provides insight into the latest advanced email attack trends, including increases in business email compromise, the evolution of financial supply chain compromise, and the rise of brand impersonation in credential phishing attacks.

The research found a 48% increase in email attacks over the previous six months, and 68.5% of those attacks included a credential phishing link. In addition to posing as internal employees and executives, cyber criminals impersonated well-known brands in 15% of phishing emails, relying on the brands’ familiarity and reputation to convince employees to provide their login credentials. Most common among the 265 brands impersonated in these attacks were social networks and Microsoft products.

“The vast majority of cyber crime today is successful because it exploits the people behind the keyboard,” said Crane Hassold, director of threat intelligence at Abnormal Security.

“By compromising people rather than networks, it’s easier for attackers to circumvent conventional security measures. This is especially true with brand impersonation, where attackers use urgency and fear to encourage their targets to provide usernames and passwords.”

LinkedIn took the top spot for brand impersonation, but Outlook, OneDrive and Microsoft 365 appeared in 20% of all attacks. What makes these attacks particularly dangerous is that phishing emails are often the first step to compromising employee email accounts. Acquiring Microsoft credentials enables cyber criminals to access the full suite of connected products, allowing them to view sensitive data and use the account to send business email compromise attacks.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/08/15/landscape-email-threat/

• Are Cloud Environments Secure Enough for Today’s Threats?

Cyber security is a major problem right now. Not only is it the highest priority of any given business to keep their own data and their customers’ and clients’ data secure, but changes in the workplace have had a knock-on effect on cyber security. The concept of working from home has forced businesses all around the world to address old and new cyber security threats. People taking their laptops, and therefore their data, home to public networks that can be hacked or leaving access details like passwords scribbled on notebooks has meant that access to a business and therefore their customers’ data is a lot more accessible.

The saving grace was said to be the cloud. Beyond retraining cyber security in staff workforces, the practical solution was to move data into the cloud. But we’re now a few years from the point when the cloud really gained popularity. Is it still the answer to all our cyber security problems? Is there a chance of risk to using the cloud?

Cloud data breaches do happen and misconfiguration is a leading cause of them, mainly due to businesses inadequate cyber security strategies. This is due to several factors, such as the fundamental nature of the cloud designed to be easy for anyone to access, and businesses unable to completely see or control the cloud’s infrastructure and therefore relying on the cyber security controls that are provided by the cloud service provider (or CSP).

Unauthorised access is also a risk. The internet, which is a readily available public resource to most of the world, makes it easy for hackers to access data if they have the credentials to get past the cyber security set up by the individual business. This is where the ugliness of internal cloud breaches happens. If security is not configured well or credentials like passwords and secret questions are compromised, an attacker can easily access the cloud.

However, it’s not only through an employee that hackers access credentials. Phishing is a very common means of gaining information that would allow access to a customer or business data.

Plus, the simple nature of sharing data can easily backfire on a company. A lot of data access is granted with a link to someone external, which can then be forwarded, either sold or stolen, to an attacker to access the cloud’s data.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/08/16/are-cloud-environments-secure-enough-for-todays-threats/

• Most Q2 Attacks Targeted Old Microsoft Vulnerabilities

Attacks targeting a remote code execution vulnerability in Microsoft's MSHTML browser engine — which was patched last September — soared during the second quarter of this year, according to a Kaspersky analysis.

Researchers from Kaspersky counted at least 4,886 attacks targeting the flaw (CVE-2021-40444) last quarter, an eightfold increase over the first quarter of 2022. The security vendor attributed the continued adversary interest in the vulnerability to the ease with which it can be exploited.

Kaspersky said it has observed threat actors exploiting the flaw in attacks on organisations across multiple sectors including the energy and industrial sectors, research and development, IT companies, and financial and medical technology firms. In many of these attacks, the adversaries have used social engineering tricks to try and get victims to open specially crafted Office documents that would then download and execute a malicious script. The flaw was under active attack at the time Microsoft first disclosed it in September 2021.

Attacks targeting a remote code execution vulnerability in Microsoft's MSHTML browser engine — which was patched last September — soared during the second quarter of this year, according to a Kaspersky analysis. Researchers from Kaspersky counted at least 4,886 attacks targeting the flaw last quarter, an eightfold increase over the first quarter of 2022. The security vendor attributed the continued adversary interest in the vulnerability to the ease with which it can be exploited. According to Kaspersky, exploits for Windows vulnerabilities accounted for 82% of all exploits across all platforms during the second quarter of 2022. While attacks on the MSHTML vulnerability increased the most dramatically, it was by no means the most exploited flaw, which was a remote code execution vulnerability in Microsoft Office that was disclosed and patched four years ago that was attacked some 345,827 times last quarter.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/most-attacks-in-q2-targeted-old-microsoft-vulnerabilities

• Cyber Resiliency Isn't Just About Technology, It's About People

Cyber attacks are on the rise — but if we're being honest, that statement has been true for quite a while, given the acceleration of cyber incidents over the past several years. Recent research indicates that organisations experienced 50% more attack attempts per week on corporate networks in 2021 than they did in 2020, and tactics such as phishing are becoming increasingly popular as attackers refine their tried-and-true methods to more successfully entice unsuspecting targets.

It's no surprise, then, that cyber resiliency has been a hot topic in the cyber security world. But although cyber resiliency refers broadly to the ability of an organisation to anticipate, withstand, and recover from cyber security incidents, many experts make the mistake of applying the term specifically to technology. And while it's true that detection and remediation tools, backup systems, and other resources play an important role in cyber resiliency, organisations that focus exclusively on technology risk are overlooking an equally important element: people.

People are often thought of as the weak link in cyber security. It's easy to understand why. People fall for phishing scams. They use weak passwords and procrastinate on installing security updates. They misconfigure hardware and software, leave cloud assets unsecured, and send confidential files to the wrong recipient. There's a reason so much cyber security technology is moving toward automation: removing people from the equation is seen as one of the most obvious ways to improve security. To many security experts, that's just common sense.

Except — is it, really? It's true that people make mistakes — it's called "human error" for a reason, after all — but many of those mistakes come when employees aren't put in a position to succeed. Phishing is a great example. Most people are familiar with the concept of phishing, but many may not be aware of the nefarious techniques that today's attackers deploy. If employees have not been properly trained, they may not be aware that attackers often impersonate real people within the organisation, or that the CEO asking them to buy gift cards "for a company happy hour" probably isn't legit. Organisations that want to build strong cyber-resiliency cannot pretend that people don't exist. Instead, they need to prioritise the resiliency of their people just as highly as the resiliency of their technology.

Training the organisation to recognise the signs of common attack tactics, practice better password and cyber hygiene, and report signs of suspicious activity can help ease the burden on IT and security personnel by providing them better information in a more timely manner. It also avoids some of the pitfalls that create a drain on their time and resources. By ensuring that people at every level of the business are more resilient, today's organisations will discover that their overall cyber-resiliency will improve significantly.

https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/cyber-resiliency-isn-t-just-about-technology-it-s-about-people

• The “Cyber Insurance Gap” Is Threatening Most Companies

A new study by BlackBerry and Corvus Insurance confirms a “cyber insurance gap” is growing, with a majority of businesses either uninsured or under insured against a rising tide of ransomware attacks and other cyber threats.

• Only 19% of all businesses surveyed have ransomware coverage limits above the median ransomware demand amount ($600,000)

• Among SMBs with fewer than 1,500 employees, only 14% have a coverage limit in excess of $600,000

• 37% of respondents with cyber insurance do not have any coverage for ransomware payment demands

• 43% of those with a policy are not covered for auxiliary costs such as court fees or employee downtime

• 60% say they would reconsider entering into a partnership or agreement with another business or supplier if the organisation did not have comprehensive cyber insurance

• Endpoint detection and response (EDR) software is frequently a key component to obtaining a policy

• 34% of respondents have been previously denied cyber coverage by insurance providers due to not meeting EDR eligibility requirements

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/expert-comments/the-cyber-insurance-gap-is-threatening-most-companies/

• Easing the Cyber-Skills Crisis with Staff Augmentation

Filling cyber security roles can be costly, slow, and chancy. More firms are working with third-party service providers to quickly procure needed expertise.

There are many possible solutions to the cyber security skills shortage, but most of them take time. Cyber security education, career development tracks, training programs, employer-sponsored academies, and internships are great ways to build a talent pipeline and develop skill sets to meet organisational needs in years to come.

But sometimes the need to fill a gap in capability is more immediate.

An organisation in the entertainment industry recently found itself in such a position. Its primary cyber security staff member quit suddenly without notice, taking along critical institutional knowledge and leaving various projects incomplete. With its key defender gone, the organisation's environment was left vulnerable. In a scarce talent market, the organisation faced a long hiring process to find a replacement — too long to leave its digital estate unattended. It needed expertise, and quickly.

According to a 2021 ESG report, 57% of organisations have been impacted by the global cyber security skills crisis. Seventy-six percent say it's difficult to recruit and hire security professionals. The biggest effects of this shortage are increasing workloads, positions open for weeks or months, and high cyber security staff burnout and attrition.

In this climate, more companies are turning to third parties for cyber security staff reinforcement. According to a NewtonX study, 56% of organisations are now subcontracting up to a quarter of their cyber security staff. Sixty-nine percent of companies rely on third-party expertise to assist in mitigating the risk of ransomware — up from 58% in 2017 — per a study by Ponemon and CBI, a Converge Company.

One way that companies gain this additional support is via third-party staff augmentation and consulting services. Cyber security staff augmentation, or strategic staffing, entails trained external consultants acting as an extension of an organisation's security team in a residency. Engagements can be anywhere from a few weeks to a few years, and roles can range from analysts and engineers to architects, compliance specialists, and virtual CISOs.

https://www.darkreading.com/operations/easing-the-cyber-skills-crisis-with-staff-augmentation

• Mailchimp Suffers Second Breach In 4 Months

Mailchimp suffered another data breach earlier this month, and this one cost it a client.

In a statement Friday, Mailchimp disclosed that a security incident involving phishing and social engineering tactics had targeted cryptocurrency and blockchain companies using the email marketing platform. It was the second Mailchimp breach to target cryptocurrency customers in a four-month span.

Though Mailchimp said it has suspended accounts where suspicious activity was detected while an investigation is ongoing, it did not reveal the source of the breach or scope of the attack.

More details were provided Sunday by one of the affected customers, DigitalOcean, which cut ties with Mailchimp on Aug. 9.

The cloud hosting provider observed suspicious activity beginning Aug. 8, when threat actors used its Mailchimp account for "a small number of attempted compromises" of DigitalOcean customer accounts -- specifically cryptocurrency platforms.

While it is not clear whether any DigitalOcean accounts were compromised, the company did confirm that some email addresses were exposed. More importantly, the statement attributed a potential source of the most recent Mailchimp breach.

https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/252523911/Mailchimp-suffers-second-breach-in-4-months

• Firm Told It Can't Claim Full Cyber Crime Insurance After Social Engineering Attack

A Minnesota computer store suing its cyber insurance provider has had its case dismissed, with the courts saying it was a clear instance of social engineering, a crime for which the insurer was only liable to cover a fraction of total losses.

SJ Computers alleged in a November lawsuit that Travelers Casualty and Surety Co. owed it far more than paid on a claim for nearly $600,000 in losses due to a successful business email compromise (BEC) attack.

According to its website, SJ Computers is a Microsoft Authorised Refurbisher, reselling Dell, HP, Lenovo and Acer products, as well as providing tech services including software installs and upgrades.

Travelers, which filed a motion to dismiss, said SJ's policy clearly delineated between computer fraud and social engineering fraud. The motion was granted with prejudice last Friday.

In the dismissal order, the US District Court for Minnesota found that the two policy agreements are mutually exclusive, as well as finding SJ's claim fell squarely into its social engineering fraud agreement with Travelers, which has a cap of $100,000.

When SJ filed its claim with Travelers, the court noted, it did so only under the social engineering fraud agreement. After realising the policy limit on computer fraud was 10 times higher, "SJ Computers then made a series of arguments – ranging from creative to desperate – to try to persuade Travelers that its loss was not the result of social-engineering-fraud (as SJ Computers itself had initially said) but instead the result of computer fraud," the district judge wrote in the order.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/16/social_engineering_cyber_crime_insurance/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware Group Threatens to Leak Data Stolen From Security Firm Entrust | SecurityWeek.Com

• Cisco Confirms Hack: Yanluowang Ransom Gang Claims 2.8GB Of Data (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Ransomware is still on the rise. Here's what you need to do to stay safe from hackers | ZDNET

• Russian Man Extradited to US for Laundering Ryuk Ransomware Money | SecurityWeek.Com

• ‘Coopetition’ a growing trend among ransomware gangs (computerweekly.com)

• Hackers Attack UK Water Supplier, Sends Ransom Demand to the Wrong Company (gizmodo.com)

• SOVA malware adds ransomware feature to encrypt Android devices (bleepingcomputer.com)

• BlackByte ransomware v2 is out with new extortion novelties - Security Affairs

• Ransomware is back, healthcare sector most targeted - Help Net Security

• Why Hackers Are Now Targeting Electric Car Charging Stations (nocamels.com)

• BlackByte Ransomware Gang Returns With Twitter Presence, Tiered Pricing (darkreading.com)

• Ski-Doo maker BRP resumes operations following cyber attack; shares fluctuate - MarketWatch

• Argentina's Judiciary of Córdoba hit by PLAY ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

BEC – Business Email Compromise

• Three Extradited from UK to US on $5m BEC Charges - Infosecurity Magazine

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Response-based attacks make up 41% of all email-based scams - Help Net Security

• PayPal Phishing Scam Uses Invoices Sent Via PayPal – Krebs on Security

• Microsoft admits it can't stop scammers fooling you with their latest tricks | ZDNET

Other Social Engineering; SMishing, Vishing, etc

• This is the lamest Microsoft Office security threat we've ever seen - but people will still fall for it | TechRadar

Malware

• Hackers Deploy Bumblebee Loader to Breach Target Networks - Infosecurity Magazine

• 'DarkTortilla' Malware Wraps in Sophistication for High-Volume RAT Infections (darkreading.com)

• Malicious browser extensions targeted almost 7 million people (bleepingcomputer.com)

• DoNot Team Hackers Updated its Malware Toolkit with Improved Capabilities (thehackernews.com)

• Whack-a-Mole: More Malicious PyPI Packages Spring Up Targeting Discord, Roblox (darkreading.com)

• This String of Emojis Is Actually Malware (vice.com)

Mobile

• SOVA Android malware now also encrypts victims' files - Security Affairs

• Malware devs already bypassed Android 13's new security feature (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Google releases Android 13 with improved privacy and security features - Help Net Security

• Android malware apps with 2 million installs found on Google Play (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Researchers Find 35 Adware Apps on Google Play - Infosecurity Magazine

• Nearly 1,900 Signal Messenger Accounts Potentially Compromised in Twilio Hack (thehackernews.com)

Internet of Things – IoT

• How attackers are exploiting corporate IoT - Help Net Security

• ‘Ask all the time: why do I need this?’ How to stop your vacuum from spying on you | Smart homes | The Guardian

• Amazon fixes Ring Android app flaw exposing camera recordings (bleepingcomputer.com)

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Digital Ocean dumps Mailchimp after security breach • The Register

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• How Do Hackers Steal Credit Card Information? | TechTarget

• IT security worker who hacked businesses caught out by neighbour's Wi-Fi - Manchester Evening News

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• With Plunge in Value, Cryptocurrency Crimes Decline in 2022 (darkreading.com)

• Microsoft: Cryptojackers Continue to Evolve to Be Stealthier and Spread Faster - Infosecurity Magazine

• Hardware-based threat defence against increasingly complex cryptojackers - Microsoft Security Blog

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Ex-HP manager jailed for $5m company card shopping spree • The Register

• Microsoft Employees Exposed Own Company’s Internal Logins (vice.com)

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• SEC claims $1.3m pump-and-dump scam used hacked accounts • The Register

AML/CFT/Sanctions

• Alleged Russian Money Launderer Extradited from the Netherlands to U.S. | OPA | Department of Justice

Insurance

• Organisations are losing cyber insurance as an important risk management tool - Help Net Security

• For cyber insurance, some technology leads to higher premiums (techtarget.com)

• New Study Reveals Serious Cyber-Insurance Shortfalls - Infosecurity Magazine

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• Expert On Report Showing 297% Increase in US Breaches Tied To Supply Chain (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Transitioning From VPNs to Zero-Trust Access Requires Shoring Up Third-Party Risk Management (darkreading.com)

• How a Third-Party SMS Service Was Used to Take Over Signal Accounts

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

• Google blocked the largest Layer 7 DDoS reported to date - Security Affairs

Cloud/SaaS

• Organisations Struggle to Fend Off Cloud and Web Attacks - Infosecurity Magazine

• Incident response in the cloud can be simple if you are prepared - Help Net Security

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

• Credential Theft Is (Still) A Top Attack Method (thehackernews.com)

• FBI Warns of Proxies and Configurations Used in Credential Stuffing Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com

• Over 9,000 VNC servers exposed online without a password (bleepingcomputer.com)

Privacy

• Google fined $60 million over Android location data collection (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New Amazon Ring Vulnerability Could Have Exposed All Your Camera Recordings (thehackernews.com)

• ‘Ask all the time: why do I need this?’ How to stop your vacuum from spying on you | Smart homes | The Guardian

• Period and pregnancy tracking apps have bad privacy protections, report finds - The Verge

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• Financial Services & Cyber Security Regulations: New York Making Changes? - MSSP Alert

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

• 5 Russia-Linked Groups Target Ukraine in Cyberwar (darkreading.com)

• Russia-linked Gamaredon APT continues to target Ukraine - Security Affairs

• Microsoft shuts down accounts linked to Russian spies • The Register

• State-Sponsored APTs Dangle Job Opps to Lure In Spy Victims (darkreading.com)

• Estonia Repels Biggest Cyber-Attack Since 2007 - Infosecurity Magazine

• Spyware Scandals Are Ripping Through Europe | WIRED

• US Cyber Command deploys defensive operators to Croatia to hunt for malicious cyber activity - Help Net Security

• NHS cyber attacks hit record levels in four in five trusts after Russian invasion (telegraph.co.uk)

• Spyware Hunters Are Expanding Their Tool Set | WIRED

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Microsoft disrupts Russian hackers' operation on NATO targets (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Russian APT29 hackers abuse Azure services to hack Microsoft 365 users (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft Disrupts Russian Group's Multiyear Cyber-Espionage Campaign (darkreading.com)

• Russian hackers target Ukraine with default Word template hijacker (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Estonia says it repelled major cyber attack after removing Soviet monuments | Reuters

Nation State Actors – China

• Western companies wake up to China risk | Financial Times (ft.com)

• China-backed APT41 Hackers Targeted 13 Organisations Worldwide Last Year (thehackernews.com)

• China-linked RedAlpha behind multi-year credential theft campaign - Security Affairs

• Chinese Cyberspy Group 'RedAlpha' Targeting Governments, Humanitarian Entities | SecurityWeek.Com

• China's APT41 Embraces Baffling Approach for Dropping Cobalt Strike Payload (darkreading.com)

• Chinese takeover of tech company blocked over security fears (telegraph.co.uk)

• 3 ways China's access to TikTok data is a security risk | CSO Online

• Montana flagged bugs in cow app exploited in alleged China hack | Business and Economy | Al Jazeera

• APT41 group: 4 malicious campaigns, 13 victims, new tools and techniques - Help Net Security

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• North Korean hackers use signed macOS malware to target IT job seekers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Mac Attack: North Korea's Lazarus APT Targets Apple's M1 Chip (darkreading.com)

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Vulnerability Management

• Zero Day Initiative seeing an increase in failed patches (techtarget.com)

• Vulnerability Broker Applies Pressure on Software Vendors Shipping Faulty, Incomplete Patches | SecurityWeek.Com

• Which Security Bugs Will Be Exploited? Researchers Create an ML Model to Find Out (darkreading.com)

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Vulnerabilities

• CISA adds 7 vulnerabilities to list of bugs exploited by hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Google patches yet another Chrome zero-day vulnerability (techtarget.com)

• Chrome browser gets 11 security fixes with 1 zero-day – update now! – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Cisco fixes High-Severity bug in Secure Web Appliance - Security Affairs

• Exploit out for critical Realtek flaw affecting many networking devices (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Software Patches Flaw on macOS Could Let Hackers Bypass All Security Levels - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Safari 15.6.1 fixes a zero-day flaw actively exploited in the wild - Security Affairs

• Rapid7: Cisco ASA and ASDM flaws went unpatched for months (techtarget.com)

• Windows Vulnerability Could Crack DC Server Credentials Open (darkreading.com)

• ÆPIC and SQUIP Vulnerabilities Found in Intel and AMD Processors (thehackernews.com)

• PoC exploit code for the critical Realtek RCE flaw released online - Security Affairs

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Other News

• Exploiting stolen session cookies to bypass multi-factor authentication (MFA) - Help Net Security

• The Future of Endpoint Management | SecurityWeek.Com

• Janet Jackson music video given CVE for crashing laptops • The Register

• More Evil Markets | How It's Never Been Easier To Buy Initial Access To Compromised Networks - SentinelOne

• How aware are organisations of the importance of endpoint management security? - Help Net Security

• The Future of Cyber Security is Prevention | SecurityWeek.Com

• Signal/Twilio Incident - How Secure Are SMS Verifications? Experts Weigh (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• DigitalOcean Discloses Impact From Recent Mailchimp Cyber Attack | SecurityWeek.Com

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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.

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 12 August 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

• Three Ransomware Gangs Consecutively Attacked the Same Network

Hive, LockBit and BlackCat, three prominent ransomware gangs, consecutively attacked the same network, according to Sophos. The first two attacks took place within two hours, and the third attack took place two weeks later. Each ransomware gang left its own ransom demand, and some of the files were triple encrypted.

It’s bad enough to get one ransomware note, let alone three. Multiple attackers create a whole new level of complexity for recovery, particularly when network files are triple encrypted. Cyber security that includes prevention, detection and response is critical for organisations of any size and type—no business is immune.

The “Multiple Attackers: A Clear and Present Danger” whitepaper further outlines additional cases of overlapping cyber attacks, including cryptominers, remote access trojans (RATs) and bots. In the past, when multiple attackers have targeted the same system, the attacks usually occurred across many months or multiple years. The attacks described in Sophos’ whitepaper took place within days or weeks of each other—and, in one case, simultaneously—often with the different attackers accessing a target’s network through the same vulnerable entry point.

Typically, criminal groups compete for resources, making it more difficult for multiple attackers to operate simultaneously. Cryptominers normally kill their competitors on the same system, and today’s RATs often highlight bot killing as a feature on criminal forums. However, in the attack involving the three ransomware groups, for example, BlackCat—the last ransomware group on the system—not only deleted traces of its own activity, but also deleted the activity of LockBit and Hive.

In another case, a system was infected by LockBit ransomware. Then, about three months later, members of Karakurt Team, a group with reported ties to Conti, was able to leverage the backdoor LockBit created to steal data and hold it for ransom.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/08/09/ransomware-gangs-attacks/

• As The Cost of Cyber Insurance Rises, The Number of Organisations Who Can’t Afford It Is Set to Double

The number of organisations that will be either unable to afford cyber insurance, be declined cover, or experience significant coverage limitations is set to double in 2023, according to Huntsman Security.

Even for those insured, the perfect storm of ongoing attacks, tightening regulations and growing financial pressures is making it more likely that any attack on an organisation will leave it exposed.

Factors like the supply chain crisis, inflation and skill shortages are all adding to the difficulty for organisations trying to execute on their cyber security strategy. At the same time, increases in insurance premiums, limits on coverage, increasing underwriting rigour, and capacity constraints are all limiting the accessibility of cyber insurance, for many.

Loss ratios will not improve until premium incomes better match the current level of pay-outs. With this reduced insurance access alongside increasing cyber threats and tightening regulations, many organisations are losing cyber insurance as an important risk management tool. Even those who can still get insurance are paying a prohibitively high cost.

With a third of UK firms subject to cyber attacks at least once a week, cyber insurance as part of overall risk management is crucial. To bridge this accessibility gap insurers are seeking to improve the quality of risk information, so premiums better reflect the true cost of that risk. Unless organisations can demonstrate they have insurers’ specified controls in place to manage their security risks, insurers will continue to have difficulty quantifying that risk. It’s for these reasons that insurers have changed the basis upon which their products are offered to reflect the risk being underwritten more accurately.

In this environment, improving and demonstrating the effectiveness of security controls will now be essential: both for organisations looking to improve their cyber resilience and oversight while enhancing their eligibility for insurers, and for insurers who need to minimise their own exposure by ensuring the accuracy of their risk pricing process.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/08/11/afford-cyber-insurance/

• Identity Cyber Attacks, Microsoft 365 Dominate Cyber Security Incidents, Expel Research Finds

Identity-based cyber attacks (including credential theft, credential abuse and long-term access key theft) accounted for 56% of all incidents in Q2 of 2022, and Microsoft 365 remained the prime target for SaaS attacks, according to Expel’s Quarterly Threat Report.

Among the key findings:

• Business email compromise (BEC) and business application compromise (BAC) access to application data represented 51% of all incidents.

• Identity-based attacks in popular cloud environments like Amazon Web Services (AWS) accounted for 5%.

• Ransomware groups change tactics, with threat groups and their affiliates all but abandoning the use of Visual Basic for Application (VBA) macros and Excel 4.0 macros to gain initial entry to Windows-based environments. In Q1, a macro-enabled Microsoft Word document (VBA macro) or Excel 4.0 macro was the initial attack vector in 55% of all pre-ransomware incidents. In Q2, that figure fell sharply to 9%. Instead, ransomware operators opted to use disk image (ISO), short-cut (LNK) and HTML application (HTA) files to gain initial entry.

• Cloud attacks are becoming more sophisticated, with 14% of identity attacks against cloud identity providers tackling the multi-factor authentication (MFA) requirement by continuously sending push notifications.

• Microsoft 365 is a common threat target, with BEC in Microsoft Office 365 (O365) remaining the top threat to organisations in Q2. 45% of all Q2 incidents were BEC attempts in O365. No BEC attempts were identified in Google Workspaces. 19% of BEC attempts bypassed MFA in O365 using legacy protocols, a 16% increase of compared to Q1.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/identity-cyberattacks-targeting-microsoft-365-dominate-cybersecurity-incidents-expel-research-finds/

• Exploit Activity Surges 150% in Q2 Thanks to Log4Shell

Detections of malware events, botnet activity and exploits all increased significantly in the second quarter of 2022, according to new data from Nuspire.

The managed security services provider (MSSP) gathered the data from its endpoint detection and response (EDR) and managed detection and response (MDR) tools to produce its Q2 2022 Quarterly Threat Report.

The company recorded an increase in malware events of over 25%, a doubling of botnet detections and a rise in exploit activity of 150% versus the first quarter.

Botnet activity in particular surged towards the end of Q2, thanks to the Torpig Mebroot botnet – a banking trojan designed to scrape credit card and payment information from infected devices, the report revealed. Nuspire claimed it is particularly difficult to detect and remove, because it targets a machine’s master boot record.

It attributed much of the surge in exploit activity to the persistent threat posed by the Log4j bugs discovered at the end of December 2021. At the time, experts warned that the ubiquity of the utility, and the difficulty many organisations have in finding all instances of the CVE due to complex Java dependencies, means it may be exploited for years.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/exploit-activity-150-q2-log4shell/

• Ransomware Is Not Going Anywhere: Attacks Are Up 24%

Avast released a report revealing a significant increase in global ransomware attacks, up 24% from Q1/2022. Researchers also uncovered a new zero-day exploit in Chrome, as well as signals of how cyber criminals are preparing to move away from macros as an infection vector.

After months of decline, global ransomware attacks increased significantly in Q2/2022, up 24% from the previous quarter. The highest quarter-on-quarter increases in ransomware risk ratio occurred in Argentina (+56%), UK (+55%), Brazil (+50%), France (+42%), and India (+37%).

Businesses and consumers should be on guard and prepared for encounters with ransomware, as the threat is not going anywhere anytime soon.

The decline in ransomware attacks observed in Q4/2021 and Q1/2022 were thanks to law enforcement agencies busting ransomware group members, and caused by the war in Ukraine, which also led to disagreements within the Conti ransomware group, halting their operations. Things dramatically changed in Q2/2022. Conti members have now branched off to create new ransomware groups, like Black Basta and Karakurt, or may join other existing groups, like Hive, BlackCat, or Quantum, causing an uptick in activity.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/08/12/increase-ransomware-attacks/

• Email Is the Single Biggest Threat to Businesses, And Here’s What You Can Do About It

Email remains one of the most popular methods of communication, particularly for business communications. There were 316.9 billion emails sent and received every day in 2021, and this is set to increase to 376.4 billion by 2025. But despite the scale of its use and how much people exchange confidential information over email, it is not a secure system by design.

Consequently, email is a major attack vector for organisations of all sizes. Deloitte found that 91% of all cyber attacks originate from a phishing email (an email that attempts to steal money, identity or personal information through a spoof website link that looks legitimate). The cost to organisations can be catastrophic with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) reporting in August 2021 that phishing email attacks had cost UK organisations more than £5 million in the past 13 months.

It’s not enough for individuals to create complex passwords or rely on the security services of their email provider. Spam filters are not enough to stop malicious emails creeping into inboxes. Fortunately, safeguarding your emails with enterprise-grade email security doesn’t have to cost the earth or be hard to integrate so businesses of any size can protect themselves.

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/articles/email-is-the-single-biggest-threat-to-businesses-and-heres-what-you-can-do-about-it/

• Realtek SDK Vulnerability Exposes Routers from Many Vendors to Remote Attacks

A serious vulnerability affecting the embedded Configurable Operating System (eCos) software development kit (SDK) made by Taiwanese semiconductor company Realtek could expose the networking devices of many vendors to remote attacks.

The security hole, tracked as CVE-2022-27255 and rated ‘high severity’, has been described as a stack-based buffer overflow that can allow a remote attacker to cause a crash or achieve arbitrary code execution on devices that use the SDK. An attack can be carried out through the wide area network (WAN) interface using specially crafted session initiation protocol (SIP) packets.

The Realtek eCos SDK is provided to companies that manufacture routers, access points and repeaters powered by RTL819x family SoCs. The SDK implements the base functionalities of the router, including the web administration interface and the networking stack. Vendors can build on top of this SDK to add custom functionality and their branding to the device.

Realtek informed customers about the eCos SDK vulnerability in March, when it announced the availability of a patch. However, it’s up to the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) using the SDK to ensure that the patch is distributed to end-user devices.

The vulnerability can be exploited remotely — directly from the internet — to hack affected routers running with default settings. No user interaction is required for successful exploitation.

https://www.securityweek.com/realtek-sdk-vulnerability-exposes-routers-many-vendors-remote-attacks

• Most Companies Are at An Entry-Level When It Comes to Cloud Security

Ermetic released a study by Osterman Research that found 84% of respondents were at an entry-level (one or two rating, with four being the highest) in terms of their cloud security capabilities.

The study found that only 16% ranked on the Ermetic Cloud Security Model at the top two levels, and 80% of companies said they lack a dedicated security team responsible for protecting cloud resources from threats.

“One of the most unexpected findings that emerged from this study was the lack of cloud security maturity among the largest enterprises surveyed,” said the author of the report. “Less than 10% of companies with more than 10,000 employees reported being at the top two maturity levels, while nearly 20% of smaller enterprises have achieved repeatable or automated & integrated cloud security capabilities.”

The report shows why new cloud data breaches are being reported all the time. Multi-cloud deployments, plus low investment in security, does not make for a good combination.

The new frontiers of cyber security, such as cloud security or internet of things (IoT) security are often at early stages of maturity. Organisations that are mature in their IT and data centre security are already overwhelmed and stretched thin and that’s why automation and simplification will help organisations accelerate their maturity in areas like cloud security.

There’s a mistaken belief that cloud computing environments inherently have security built-in — they don’t.

https://www.scmagazine.com/news/cloud-security/most-companies-are-at-an-entry-level-when-it-comes-to-cloud-security

• The Impact of Exploitable Misconfigurations on Network Security

Network professionals feel confident with their security and compliance practices but data suggests that they also leave their organisations open to risk, which is costing a significant amount of revenue, according to Titania.

In addition, some businesses are not minimising their attack surface effectively. Companies are prioritising firewall security and chronicle a fast time to respond to misconfigurations when detected in annual audits. However, switches and routers are only included in 4% of audits and these devices play a vital role in reducing an organisation’s attack surface and preventing lateral movement across the network.

Respondents also indicated that financial resources allocated to mitigating network configuration, which currently stands around 3.4% of the total IT budget, and a lack of accurate automation are limiting factors in misconfiguration risk management.

The study, which surveyed 160 senior cyber security decision-makers revealed:

• Misconfigurations cost organisations millions, up to 9% of their annual revenue but the true cost is likely to be higher.

• Compliance is a top priority, with 75% of organisations across all sectors saying their business relies on compliance to deliver security. Whilst almost every organisation reported that it is meeting its security and compliance requirements, this is at odds with a number of the other findings from the survey and other reports that show a decline in organisations maintaining full compliance with regulated data security standards.

• Remediation prioritisation is a challenge. 75% said their network security tools meant they could categorise and prioritise compliance risks ‘very effectively’. However, 70% report difficulties prioritising remediation based on risk and also claim inaccurate automation as the top challenges when meeting security and compliance requirements.

• Routers and switches are mostly overlooked. 96% of organisations prioritise the configuration and auditing of firewalls, but not routers or switches. This leaves these devices exposed to potentially significant and unidentified risks.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/08/12/impact-exploitable-misconfigurations-network-security/

• Industrial Spy Ransomware: New Threat Group Emerges to Exfiltrate Data, Extort Victims

A new ransomware group dubbed Industrial Spy that first emerged in April 2022 is specialising in exfiltration and double extortion tactics and has the potential to do significant damage, Zscaler’s threat tracking team said.

The threat crew has shown that it possesses the capability to breach organisations and have been “actively adding unencrypted data from two or three victims every month,” Zscaler said. In some instances, the threat group appears to only exfiltrate and ransom data. In other cases, they encrypt, exfiltrate and ransom the data, the cloud security provider said.

At this point, it’s not clear who’s behind the threat entry or if it’s nation-state affiliated. The group started as a data extortion marketplace where criminals could buy large companies’ internal data, promoting the marketplace through Readme.txt files downloaded using malware downloaders.

In May, 2022, the threat group introduced their own ransomware to create double extortion attacks that combine data theft with file encryption.

What you need to know:

• Industrial Spy started by ransoming stolen data and more recently has combined these attacks with ransomware.

• The threat group exfiltrates and sells data on their dark web marketplace, but does not always encrypt a victim’s files.

• The ransomware utilises a combination of RSA and 3DES to encrypt files.

• Industrial Spy lacks many common features present in modern ransomware families.

• The Industrial Spy ransomware family is relatively basic, and parts of the code appear to be in development.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-breaches-and-attacks/ransomware/new-ransomware-family-industrial-spy-emerges-to-exfiltrate-data-extort-victims/

• UK NHS Service Recovery May Take a Month After MSP Ransomware Attack

Managed service provider (MSP) Advanced confirmed that a ransomware attack on its systems disrupted emergency services (111) from the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS). Customers of seven solutions from the British MSP have been impacted either directly or indirectly, the company said. The first has stated it could take a month to recover systems to full service.

The ransomware attack started to disrupt Advanced systems on Thursday, August 4 and was identified around 7 AM. It caused a major outage to NHS emergency services across the UK.

Advanced did not disclose the ransomware group behind the attack but said that it took immediate action to mitigate the risk and isolated Health and Care environments where the incident was detected. The company is working with forensic experts from Microsoft (DART) and Mandiant, who are also helping bring the affected systems back online securely and with added defences:

• Implementing additional blocking rules and further restricting privileged accounts for Advanced staff

• Scanning all impacted systems and ensuring they are fully patched

• Resetting credentials

• Deploying additional endpoint detection and response agents

• Conducting 24/7 monitoring

After implementing the security measures above, Advanced said it would restore connectivity to its environments and assist customers to gradually reconnect safely and securely.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/uk-nhs-service-recovery-may-take-a-month-after-msp-ransomware-attack/

• A Single Flaw Broke Every Layer of Security in MacOS

Every time you shut down your Mac, a pop-up appears: “Are you sure you want to shut down your computer now?” Nestled under the prompt is another option most of us likely overlook: the choice to reopen the apps and windows you have open now when your machine is turned back on. Researchers have now found a way to exploit a vulnerability in this “saved state” feature—and it can be used to break the key layers of Apple’s security protections.

The vulnerability, which is susceptible to a process injection attack to break macOS security, could allow an attacker to read every file on a Mac or take control of the webcam. It's basically one vulnerability that could be applied to three different locations.

https://www.wired.com/story/a-single-flaw-broke-every-layer-of-security-in-macos/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Cisco hacked by Yanluowang ransomware gang, 2.8GB allegedly stolen (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ransomware, email compromise are top security threats, but deepfakes increase | CSO Online

• Feds: Zeppelin Ransomware Resurfaces with New Compromise, Encryption Tactics | Threatpost

• Black Basta: New ransomware threat aiming for the big league | CSO Online

• Could criminalizing ransomware payments put a stop to the current crime wave? - Help Net Security

• 7-Eleven Denmark confirms ransomware attack behind store closures (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Update: Colosseum Dental Benelux pays ransom to threat actors (databreaches.net)

• SolidBit Ransomware Group Recruiting New Affiliates on Dark Web - Infosecurity Magazine

• Fears for patient data after ransomware attack on NHS software supplier | NHS | The Guardian

• US reveals 'Target' pic of Conti man with $10m reward offer • The Register

• Organisations would like the government to help with ransomware demand costs - Help Net Security

• Hacker uses new RAT malware in Cuba Ransomware attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Maui ransomware linked to North Korean group Andariel • The Register

• How to Stop Zeppelin Ransomware Attacks: CISA, FBI Mitigation Guidance - MSSP Alert

• Novel Ransomware Comes to the Sophisticated SOVA Android Banking Trojan (darkreading.com)

• US govt will pay you $10 million for info on Conti ransomware members (bleepingcomputer.com)

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• LogoKit update: The phishing kit leveraging open redirect vulnerabilities - Help Net Security

• Phishing site masquerading "Have I Been Pwned" website detected. Be careful as very similar URL (exploitone.com)

Other Social Engineering; SMishing, Vishing, etc

• Hackers Behind Twilio Breach Also Targeted Cloudflare Employees (thehackernews.com)

• SMS phishing nabs Twilio employee credentials, allowed access customer data (scmagazine.com)

Malware

• Cyber criminals Shift From Macros to Shortcut Files to Hack Business PCs, HP Reports - Infosecurity Magazine

• Emotet Tops List of July's Most Widely Used Malware - Infosecurity Magazine

• Top malware strains observed in 2021 | Security Magazine

• Microsoft blocks UEFI bootloaders enabling Windows Secure Boot bypass (bleepingcomputer.com)

Mobile

• Google researchers dissect Android spyware, zero days (techtarget.com)

• Novel Ransomware Comes to the Sophisticated SOVA Android Banking Trojan (darkreading.com)

• Xiaomi Phones with MediaTek Chips Found Vulnerable to Forged Payments (thehackernews.com)

• Hackers install Dracarys Android malware using modified Signal app (bleepingcomputer.com)

Internet of Things – IoT

• The Time Is Now for IoT Security Standards (darkreading.com)

• Introducing the book: If It's Smart, It's Vulnerable - Help Net Security

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Cisco hacked by access broker with Lapsus$ ties (techtarget.com)

• New dark web markets claim association with criminal cartels (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Dark Utilities C2 service draws thousands of cyber criminals • The Register

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• Email marketing firm hacked to steal crypto-focused mailing lists (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Swan Bitcoin Discloses Data Leak Due to Phishing Attack on Newsletter Provider - Decrypt

• Phishers Swim Around 2FA in Coinbase Account Heists | Threatpost

• Crypto and the US government are headed for a decisive showdown | Ars Technica

• Cameo’s CEO fell victim to the latest Bored Ape NFT heist - The Verge

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• “Hi Mum” Phishing Scam Swindles Unsuspecting Parents (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• How hackers are stealing credit cards from classifieds sites (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Why robotexts are scammers' favourite new tool - CyberScoop

AML/CFT/Sanctions

• US Sanctions Crypto 'Laundering' Service Tornado | SecurityWeek.Com

• Virtual Currency Platform ‘Tornado Cash’ Accused of Aiding APTs | Threatpost

• Greece Flies Russian Money Launderer to US: Lawyer | SecurityWeek.Com

Insurance

• BlackBerry Study: Most SMBs Have Less Than $600K in Ransomware Coverage - MSSP Alert

• Number Of Firms Unable To Access Cyber-Insurance Set To Double (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Australian court finds insurer not liable for ransomware clean-up costs - Security - iTnews

Cloud/SaaS

• Implementing zero trust for a secure hybrid working enterprise - Help Net Security

• How to Clear Security Obstacles and Achieve Cloud Nirvana (darkreading.com)

• Why SAP systems need to be brought into the cyber security fold - Help Net Security

Open Source

• Chinese hackers backdoor chat app with new Linux, macOS malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

Social Media

• Facebook's Metaverse is Expanding the Attack Surface (trendmicro.com)

• Meta's chatbot says the company 'exploits people' - BBC News

• Facebook’s In-app Browser on iOS Tracks ‘Anything You Do on Any Website’ | Threatpost

Training, Education and Awareness

• 25% of employees don't care enough about cyber security to report a security incident - Help Net Security

Privacy

• Facebook’s In-app Browser on iOS Tracks ‘Anything You Do on Any Website’ | Threatpost

Travel

• Don't get stung by these fake holiday cyber-scams this summer | TechRadar

Parental Controls and Child Safety

• Predator Pleads Guilty After Targeting Thousands of Young Girls Online - Infosecurity Magazine

• Huge rise in self-generated child sexual abuse content online, report finds | Internet safety | The Guardian

• Online sexual blackmail of primary school children surges since lockdown (telegraph.co.uk)

Models, Frameworks and Standards

• Compliance Certifications: Worth the Effort? (darkreading.com)

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

• Russia's digital attacks are haphazard, chaotic, says top Ukrainian cyber official - CyberScoop

• Cyberspying Aimed at Industrial Enterprises in Russia and Ukraine Linked to China | SecurityWeek.Com

• Killnet Releases 'Proof' of its Attack Against Lockheed Martin | SecurityWeek.Com

• Meta Cracks Down on Cyber Espionage Operations in South Asia Abusing Facebook (thehackernews.com)

• New Hacker Forum Takes Pro-Ukraine Stance | Threatpost

• Ex Twitter employee found guilty of spying for Saudi Arabia - Security Affairs

• Ex-CIA security boss predicts coming crackdown on spyware • The Register

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Russia Is Escalating Ukraine Hacking, Black Hat Research Says (gizmodo.com)

• Russian invasion has destabilized cyber security norms • The Register

• Russia-Ukraine Conflict Holds Cyberwar Lessons (darkreading.com)

• Industroyer2: How Ukraine avoided another blackout attack (techtarget.com)

Nation State Actors – China

• Chinese Hackers May Be Behind Attacks Targeting Eastern Europe and Afghanistan - Infosecurity Magazine

• China-linked spies used six backdoors to steal defence info • The Register

• Mandiant researchers uncover significant new disinformation campaign (securitybrief.co.nz)

• Stats say Chinese researchers are not deterred by China's vulnerability law (scmagazine.com)

• Chinese scammers target kids with promise of extra gaming • The Register

• Chinese hackers backdoor chat app with new Linux, macOS malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• North Korea Allegedly Stole Millions of Dollars Worth of Crypto Assets - IT Security Guru

• Maui ransomware linked to North Korean group Andariel • The Register

• North Korean hackers target crypto experts with fake Coinbase job offers (bleepingcomputer.com)

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Vulnerability Management

• Google's bug bounty boss: Finding vulns is 'totally useless' • The Register

• Patch Madness: Vendor Bug Advisories Are Broken, So Broken (darkreading.com)

• Human Threat Hunters Are Essential to Thwarting Zero-Day Attacks (darkreading.com)

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Vulnerabilities

• Microsoft Patches ‘Dogwalk’ Zero-Day and 17 Critical Flaws | Threatpost

• Cisco Patches High-Severity Vulnerability Affecting ASA and Firepower Solutions (thehackernews.com)

• Yet another Microsoft RCE bug under active exploit • The Register

• Palo Alto Networks: New PAN-OS DDoS flaw exploited in attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• CISA adds UnRAR and Windows flaws to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog - Security Affairs

• Zimbra auth bypass bug exploited to breach over 1,000 servers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Researchers Debut Fresh RCE Vector for Common Google API Tool (darkreading.com)

• Surge in CVEs as Microsoft Fixes Exploited Zero Day Bugs - Infosecurity Magazine

• Risky Business: Enterprises Can’t Shake Log4j flaw - Security Affairs

• Years after claiming DogWalk wasn't a vulnerability, Microsoft confirms flaw is being exploited and issues patch (bitdefender.com)

• Three flaws allow attackers to bypass UEFI Secure Boot feature - Security Affairs

• Windows devices with newest CPUs are susceptible to data damage (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Critical Flaws Disclosed in Device42 IT Asset Management Software (thehackernews.com)

• Cisco fixed a flaw in ASA, FTD devices that can give access to RSA private key - Security Affairs

• Organisations Warned of Critical Vulnerabilities in NetModule Routers | SecurityWeek.Com

• 4 Flaws, Other Weaknesses Undermine Cisco ASA Firewalls (darkreading.com)

• New vulnerability in AMD Ryzen CPUs could seriously jeopardize performance | TechRadar

• ÆPIC Leak: Architectural Bug in Intel CPUs Exposes Protected Data | SecurityWeek.Com

• Microsoft Paid $13.7 Million via Bug Bounty Programs Over Past Year | SecurityWeek.Com

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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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Other News

• Microsoft 365 outage triggered by Meraki firewall false positive (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Why VPN no longer has a place in a secure work environment | TechRadar

• VMware: The threat of lateral movement is growing (techtarget.com)

• 36% of orgs expose insecure FTP protocol to the internet, and some still use Telnet - Help Net Security

• 5 key things learned from CISOs of smaller enterprises survey - Help Net Security

• Stolen credentials are the most common attack vector companies face - Help Net Security

• Your cyber security staff are burned out - and many have thought about quitting | ZDNet

• Researchers Use ‘Invisible Finger’ to Remotely Control Touchscreens (vice.com)

• Businesses are struggling to balance security and end-user experience - Help Net Security

• Starlink Successfully Hacked Using $25 Modchip | Threatpost

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 02 July 2021

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.

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

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Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

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Russian Hackers Target IT Supply Chain In Ransomware Attack Leading To Hundreds Of Firms Being Hit

Hackers began a ransomware attack on Friday, hitting at least 200 companies, according to cyber security researchers. 

In what appears to be one of the largest supply chain attacks to date, hackers compromised Kaseya, an IT management software supplier, in order to spread ransomware to the managed service providers that use its technology, as well as to their clients in turn. 

The attacks have been attributed t=to REvil, the notorious Russia-linked ransomware cartel that the FBI claimed was behind recent crippling attack on beef supplier JBS. 

The attack is the latest example of hackers weaponising the IT supply chain in order to attack victims at scale, by breaching just one provider. Last year, it emerged that Russian state-backed hackers had hijacked the SolarWinds IT software group in order to penetrate the email networks of US federal agencies and corporations, for example. 

Late on Friday, Kaseya urged those using the compromised “VSA server” tool, which provides remote monitoring and patching capabilities, to shut it down immediately. 

https://www.ft.com/content/a8e7c9a2-5819-424f-b087-c6f2e8f0c7a1

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71% Of Organisations Experienced BEC Attacks Over The Past Year

Business email compromise (BEC) attacks are one of the most financially damaging cyber crimes and have been on the rise over the past year. This is according to a new report which revealed that spoofed email accounts or websites accounted for the highest number of BEC attack as 71% of organisations acknowledged they had seen one over the past year. This is followed by spear phishing (69%) and malware (24%). Data from 270 IT and cyber security professionals were collected to identify the latest enterprise adoption trends, gaps and solution preferences related to phishing attacks.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/06/25/bec-attacks-past-year/

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Cyber Insurance Isn't Helping With Cyber Security, And It Might Be Making The Ransomware Crisis Worse, Say Researchers

Cyber insurance is designed to protect organisations against the fallout of cyber attacks, including covering the financial costs of dealing with incidents. However, some critics argue that insurance encourages ransomware victims to simply pay the ransom demand that will then be covered by the insurers, rather than have adequate security to deter hackers in the first place. Insurers argue that it's the customer that makes any decision to pay the ransom, not the insurer.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-has-become-anc`-existential-threat-that-means-cyber-insurance-is-about-to-change/

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LinkedIn Breach Reportedly Exposes Data Of 92% Of Users, Including Inferred Salaries

A second massive LinkedIn breach reportedly exposes the data of 700M users, which is more than 92% of the total 756M users. The database is for sale on the dark web, with records including phone numbers, physical addresses, geolocation data, and inferred salaries. The hacker who obtained the data has posted a sample of 1M records, and checks confirm that the data is both genuine and up to date. No passwords are included, but as the site notes, this is still valuable data that can be used for identity theft and convincing-looking phishing attempts that can themselves be used to obtain login credentials for LinkedIn and other sites. https://9to5mac.com/2021/06/29/linkedin-breach/

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Users Clueless About Cyber Security Risks

Organisations are facing yet another unprecedented threat to their cyber security now that employees are headed back into offices with their personal devices, lax security hygiene and no clue about some of the most catastrophic attacks in history, such as the Colonial Pipeline shutdown. A new survey shows the mountains of work ahead for security teams in not just locking down their organisations’ systems but also in keeping users from getting duped into handing over the keys to the kingdom. 2,000 end users were surveyed in the U.S. and found the dangers to critical infrastructure, utilities and food supplies are not sinking in with the public, despite the deluge of headlines.

https://threatpost.com/users-clueless-cybersecurity-risks-study/167404/

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Ransomware: Paying Up Won't Stop You From Getting Hit Again, Says Cyber Security Chief

Ireland's Health Service Executive (HSE) has been praised for its response after falling victim to a major ransomware attack and for not giving into cyber criminals and paying a ransom. HSE was hit with Conti ransomware in May, significantly impacting frontline health services. The attackers initially demanded a ransom of $20 million in bitcoin for the decryption key to restore the network. While the gang eventually handed over a decryption key without receiving a ransom, they still published stolen patient data – a common technique by ransomware attackers, designed to pressure victims into paying.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-paying-up-wont-stop-you-from-getting-hit-again-says-cybersecurity-chief/

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Don’t Leave Your Cyber IR Plan To IT, It’s An Organisational Risk

Phishing attacks, insider threats, denial of service disruptions, malware and ransomware — cyber security incidents like these happen on a daily basis. For most of these incidents, the onsite IT team will remediate based on a pre-developed plan and process. And for many of these incidents, that’s a solid approach. But those incident response plans and strategies are IT oriented and geared toward short-term fixes and single incident responses. Meaning, if an incident accelerates beyond a handful of infected laptops or a compromised server and begins to affect operations of all or even part of the organisation, business itself can be disrupted — or even shut down entirely.

https://securityintelligence.com/posts/incident-response-vs-cyber-crisis-management-plan/

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Cyber Crime Never Sleeps

When the Colonial Pipeline fell victim to a ransomware attack, people across the United States were shocked to find that a single episode of cyber crime could lead to widespread delays, gas shortages and soaring prices at the pump. But disruptive ransomware attacks like these are far from rare; in fact, they are becoming more and more frequent. Cyber crime is on the rise, and our cyber security infrastructure desperately needs to keep up. A quick look at the data from the last year confirms that cyber crime is a growing threat. Identity theft doubled in 2020 over 2019.

https://www.newsweek.com/cybercrime-never-sleeps-opinion-1603901

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IT, Healthcare And Manufacturing Facing Most Phishing Attacks

Researchers examined more than 905 million emails for the H1 2021 Global Phish Cyber Attack Report, finding that the IT industry specifically saw 9,000 phishing emails in a one month span out of almost 400,000 total emails. Their healthcare industry customers saw more than 6,000 phishing emails in one month out of an average of over 450,000 emails and manufacturing saw a bit less than 6,000 phishing emails out of about 330,000 total emails. Researchers said these industries are ripe targets because of the massive amount of personal data they collect and because they are often stocked with outdated technology that can be easily attacked.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/it-healthcare-and-manufacturing-facing-most-phishing-attacks-report/

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Classified Ministry Of Defence Documents Found At Bus Stop

Classified Ministry of Defence documents containing details about HMS Defender and the British military have been found at a bus stop in Kent. One set of documents discusses the likely Russian reaction to the ship's passage through Ukrainian waters off the Crimea coast on Wednesday. Another details plans for a possible UK military presence in Afghanistan after the US-led NATO operation there ends. The government said an investigation had been launched.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57624942

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Cabinet Office Increases Cyber Security Training Budget By Almost 500%

The UK’s Cabinet Office increased its cyber security training budget to £274,142.85 in the fiscal year 2021 – a 483% increase from the £47,018 spent in the previous year. In its FOI response, the Cabinet Office detailed the cyber security courses attended by its staff, revealing that the number of booked courses grew from 35 in 2019-20 to 428 in the current fiscal year.

https://www.itpro.co.uk/security/cyber-security/360039/cabinet-office-increases-cyber-spending-by-almost-500-amid-cctv

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Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware Funds More Ransomware, So How Do We Stop It?

• Cyber Security Chief Warns ‘Ransomware As A Service’ Scam

• New Ransomware Group Hive Leaks Altus Group Sample Files

• Increase In Ransomware Attacks ‘Absolutely Aligns’ With Rise Of Crypto, FireEye CEO Says

• Ransomware Gangs Now Creating Websites To Recruit Affiliates

• New Ransomware Highlights Widespread Adoption Of Golang Language By Cyber Attackers

• $12 Billion Government Contractor Booz Allen Facilitates Ransomware Payments—Even Though The FBI Says Never Pay

• Ransomware: A Thriving Business

• This Major Ransomware Attack Was Foiled At The Last Minute. Here's How They Spotted It

• Babuk Ransomware Builder Mysteriously Appears In VirusTotal

• Using VMs To Hide Ransomware Attacks Is Becoming More Popular

Phishing

• Phishing Most Common Cyber Incident Faced By SMEs

• HMRC-Branded Phishing Scams Up 87% In A Year

Malware

• Microsoft Admits To Signing Rootkit Malware In Supply-Chain Fiasco

• The 'ChaChi' Trojan Is Helping A Ransomware Gang Target Schools

• Indexsinas SMB Worm Campaign Infests Whole Enterprises

Mobile

• Carrier Suspected Of Injecting Ads Into Two-Factor SMS Messages

IoT

• Homes Filled With Smart Devices Could Be Exposed To Thousands Of Hacking Attacks In A Week

Data Breaches

• Tulsa Police Say 18,000 Files Are Leaked After Conti Ransomware Hack

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Cobalt Strike Usage Explodes Among Cybercrooks

• FIN7 ‘Pen Tester’ Headed To Jail Amid $1B In Payment-Card Losses

 Cryptocurrency/Cryptojacking

• Hackers Crack Pirated Games With Crypto Jacking Malware

• Crackonosh Malware Abuses Windows Safe Mode To Quietly Mine For Crypto Currency

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• USB Threats Could Critically Impact Business Operations

Nation State Actors

• Russian Hackers Had Months-Long Access To Denmark's Central Bank

• Russian Hackers Are Trying To Brute-Force Hundreds Of Networks

• US And UK Agencies Accuse Russia Of Political Cyber Campaign

Cloud

• Cloud Security Is Still A Work In Progress

• 50% Of CISOs Say The Push For Rapid Growth And Digital Transformation Stalls Cloud Security

Privacy

• Data Collected To Promote Public Health Must Never Be Surrendered To Police

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Vulnerabilities

• Microsoft Finds Netgear Router Bugs Enabling Corporate Breaches

• Cisco ASA Bug Now Actively Exploited As PoC Drops

• June 2021 Quarterly Exchange Updates

• Exploitable Critical RCE Vulnerability Allows Regular Users To Fully Compromise Active Directory

• Critical VMware Carbon Black Bug Allows Authentication Bypass

• My Book Live Users Wake Up To Wiped Devices, Active RCE Attacks

• Flaws In FortiWeb WAF Expose Fortinet Devices To Remote Hack

• NFC Flaws Let Researchers Hack ATMs By Waving A Phone

• 5G Security Vulnerabilities Fluster Mobile Operators

• Hackers Exploited 0-Day, Not 2018 Bug, To Mass-Wipe My Book Live Devices

• A Second Exploit Has Emerged In The Sad WD My Book Live Data Deletion Saga

• Microsoft Adds Second CVE For PrintNightmare Remote Code Execution

• Zyxel Says A Threat Actor Is Targeting Its Enterprise Firewall And VPN Devices

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Other News

• Microsoft Says SolarWinds Hacking Group Has Breached Three New Victims

• Cyber Security Study: SolarWinds Attack Cost Affected Companies An Average Of $12 Million

• EA Ignored Domain Vulnerabilities For Months Despite Warnings And Breaches

• Hackney Blames A Cyber Attack For Not Issuing Council Tax Refund

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

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

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