Threat Intelligence Blog

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

Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 20 October 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 20 October 2023:

-Cyber Insecurity: Many Businesses Scared They May be Hit by a Cyber Attack at Any Moment

-Cyber Security Investments Show Mature Business Mindset

-SMBs Struggle to Keep Pace as Cyber Threats Reach All Time High

-Phishing Attacks Reach Record Highs as Banks, Financial Services Remain Top Targets with HR Remaining the Most Effective Phishing Lure

-Cyber Attacks are a Matter of When not if, The Best Time to Deal With Them is Before They Happen

-Lloyd's Of London Warns Of Worst-Case-Scenario Cyber Attack

-20,000 Britons Approached By Chinese Agents On LinkedIn, Says MI5 Head

-Ransomware - All it Takes is One Employee Mistake, Criminals are Aiming at Third-Party Vendors

-39% of Individuals Use the Same Password for Multiple Accounts

-Why Fourth-Party Risk Management Is a Must-Have

-AI Adoption Surges But Security Awareness Lags Behind

-UK watchdog fines Equifax £11 million for role in cyber breach

-Why Boards Must Understand and Govern Cyber Security Risk

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Cyber Insecurity: Many Businesses Scared They May be Hit by a Cyber Attack at Any Moment

A report from the Commvault and the International Data Corporation (IDC) found that 61% of respondents believe that a data loss within the next 12 months is "likely" or "highly likely" to occur due to increasingly sophisticated attacks. Unfortunately, most businesses do not have an unlimited budget; cyber security related spending must therefore be effective, taking an informed risk based approach to prioritise the biggest threats to businesses. To understand these threats, businesses must know the current threat landscape and how that relates to their business specifically. In order to be able to apply any threat intelligence, organisations must first ascertain what they need to protect through a documented asset register; after all you cannot protect something you do not know exists.

Sources: [PR Newswire] [TechRadar]

Cyber Security Investments Show Mature Business Mindset

Companies need to start embracing cyber security as a business enabler, rather than being viewed as a pure cost or as a regulatory burden. Good cyber security is a strong indicator of a mature business mindset, giving customers, employees, and suppliers confidence that you are running a mature, responsible operation that takes the value of its data and IP very seriously. With the perception of customers changing to be more security-based, having a high level of cyber security can establish trust and therefore distinguish a business in the marketplace.

Source: [Insider Media] [Compare the Cloud]

SMBs Struggle to Keep Pace as Cyber Threats Reach All Time High

Research conducted by Sage has found UK small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) are particularly struggling with cyber security preparedness, with 57% asking for more support with education and training and 45% not understanding what security is needed for their business. The report found that globally, 70% of SMBs highlighted cyber threats as a major concern, with 51% struggling to keep on top of new threats and 48% experiencing a cyber incident in the past year.

SMBs globally, found that their struggle related to making sure employees know what is expected of them in protecting the organisation (45%), providing education and awareness training (44%) and cost (43%).

Source: (IT Security Guru)

Phishing Attacks Hit Record Highs in Q2 2023, with Emails from HR still the Most Effective Lure

Research has found in the third quarter of this year, phishing attacks soared by 173% compared with the previous three months, and malware was up 110% over the same period, with 233.9 million malicious emails detected. Banks and financial services organisations remained a top target, with a 121% rise in phishing attacks.

In a separate report, human resource topics were found to account for more than half of the top-clicked phishing email subjects. This included emails that related to a change in dress code and updates on annual leave. It’s important for organisations to take this into account when training employees.

Sources: [SiliconANGLE1] [Beta News] [SiliconANGLE2] [TechRadar] [Security Brief]

Cyber Attacks Are a Matter of When, Not If; The Best Time to Deal with Them Is Before They Happen

Another week brings more companies added to the list of victims of cyber attacks. Just this week, UK based social care provider CareTech’s childcare subsidiary Cambian was criticised for keeping a cyber attack quiet, with individuals who had data stolen having to chase Cambian for details.

Cyber attacks happen, and companies need to admit when they have happened and inform relevant people. Honesty and clarity are key. After an attack, there are a number of things going on at once such as finding out what has happened, identifying stolen or encrypted data, fulfilling legal and regulatory requirements and communicating both internally and externally. Unfortunately, many companies do not expect to be attacked and therefore do not have anything in place to respond to an attack. In addition to having the necessary defences in place, organisations must be prepared for the event of an attack. This can be outlined in an incident response plan (IRP).

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

Sources: [Euronews] [The Times] [AI-CIO]

Lloyd's Of London Warns of Worst-Case-Scenario Cyber Attack

In recent modelling by a Lloyds of London researcher, a worst-case-scenario was found to have the potential to cause $3.5 trillion of economic damage within 5 years. While this may seem implausible, with the increased number of cyber attacks, especially to the financial sector, this figure is not as incredulous as it may seem.

The FBI has also stated that the average annual cost of cyber crime worldwide is expected to soar from $8.4 trillion in 2022 to more than $23 trillion in 2027.

Sources: [Reinsurance News] [ABS-CBN News] [The Motley Fool] [City AM]

20,000 Britons Approached by Chinese Agents on LinkedIn, Says MI5 Head

An estimated 20,000 Britons have been approached by Chinese state actors on LinkedIn in the hope of stealing industrial or technological secrets, the head of MI5 stated ahead of the Five Eyes agencies summit. This summit is a meeting of the heads of security from the Five Eyes nations – UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The summit discussed how industrial espionage was happening at “real scale”, with 10,000 UK businesses being at risk, particularly in artificial intelligence, quantum computing or synthetic biology where China was trying to gain a march.

A 'secure innovation' guideline has been released to assist small to medium-sized enterprises, especially tech start-ups, in bolstering their defences against threats from foreign states, criminals, and competitors. This guideline offers basic security advice on areas like investments, supply chains, IT networks, and cloud computing to safeguard emerging technologies.

Sources: [Computer Weekly] [Tech Monitor] [Guardian]

Ransomware - All it Takes is One Employee Mistake, As Criminals are Aiming Third-Party Vendors

According to a report, human error is the root cause of more than 80% of all cyber breaches. The solution in this case, is for organisations to provide effective training to employees to reduce the risk of such an error happening. However, this does not have any impact on third parties that the  organisations use. A separate report found that nearly a third of ransomware claims involved a third-party vendor as a point of failure.

Whilst organisations often focus on improving their own cyber security, third parties can become an easily overlooked area. You don’t want to invest a significant amount into your organisation’s cyber security, only for it to fail due to a third party. This is why it is important for organisations to have an effective way of measuring supply chain risk, to ensure that they know what data their third parties have access to and what is being done by the third parties to protect it.

Black Arrow have helped many clients carry out third party risk assessments on a large number of suppliers and this can be done as a standalone offering or as part of a fractional CISO engagement.

Sources: [Security Affairs] [Claims Journal]

39% of Individuals Use the Same Password for Multiple Accounts

According to a recent survey by Yubico, 80% of respondents are concerned about the security of their online accounts. Additionally, 39% admitted to using the same passwords for multiple accounts. The report found that Boomer-generation users are the least likely to reuse passwords at 20%. In comparison, Millennials are twice as likely to reuse passwords for multiple accounts at 47%. This survey highlights that whilst younger generations may be more tech savvy, having grown up with this technology, it also brings with it a more relaxed and complacent attitude when it comes to cyber security hygiene.

Source: [Security Magazine]

Why Fourth-Party Risk Management Is a Must-Have

Most organisations today are acutely aware of the risks that third-party relationships pose, and many employ some form of third-party risk management to understand and monitor these alliances. Another danger also needs to be borne in mind: the threats organisations face from their third parties’ third parties. These ‘fourth parties’, the vendors of an organisation's vendor, are becoming an increasing concern among regulators, particularly those in the banking and financial services sector. Attackers exploit fourth parties just the same as they do third parties to indirectly target an organisation. As a result, these fourth parties greatly increase an IT environment's attack surface.

Fourth parties pose reputational, operational and regulatory risks, and with new regulations such as the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) in Europe coming into place, organisations need to implement a comprehensive third-party risk management program that extends to cover fourth-party risk management. This is the only way to ensure fourth parties are vetted appropriately.

Source: [Tech Target]

AI Adoption Surges but Security Awareness Lags Behind

A new survey found that security is reportedly not the primary concern for organisations when using tools such as ChatGPT and Google Bard. Respondents are more worried about inaccurate responses than the exposure of customer and employee personally identifiable information (PII), disclosure of trade secrets (33%) and financial loss (25%). Basic security practices are lacking, however, with 82% of respondents confident in their security stacks but less than half investing in technology to monitor generative AI use, exposing them to data loss risks. Only 46% have established security policies for data sharing.

Organisations need to rigorously assess and control how large language models (LLMs) handle data, ensuring alignment with regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA. This involves employing strong encryption, consent mechanisms and data anonymisation techniques, and ensuring control over how the organisation’s data is used, alongside regular audits and updates to ensure data handling practices remain compliant.

Source: [Infosecurity Magazine]

UK Watchdog Fines Equifax £11 Million For Role in Cyber Breach

Britain's financial watchdog has fined the consumer credit rating body Equifax £11 million ($13.4 million) for its role in "one of the largest" cyber security breaches in history. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) stated that "The cyber attack and unauthorised access to data was entirely preventable", identifying that the UK arm of Equifax did not find out data had been accessed until six  weeks after their parent company discover the hack.

Source: [Reuters]

Why Boards Must Understand and Govern Cyber Security Risk

The boardroom is a critical control in every company’s system of cyber security risk management. An ineffective approach to cyber security governance creates an overall system of cyber security that is weaker than it needs to be. Boards have typically viewed cyber security as something that it left to IT and have not been able to challenge or interpret the reports that they receive, if any, from their IT departments or IT providers. Governing bodies such as the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) have identified this and have started bringing in regulations that force the board of directors to fully understand digital cyber security risk and have a more vital role as part of the system.
Black Arrow supports business leaders in organisations of all sizes to demonstrate governance of their cyber security, by owning their cyber security strategy and leveraging their existing internal and external resources to build resilience against a cyber security incident.

Source: [Forbes]

Governance, Risk and Compliance

Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Ransomware Victims

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Artificial Intelligence

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Insurance

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

Linux and Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Malvertising

Training, Education and Awareness

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Backup and Recovery

Data Protection

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda

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

Misc Nation State/Cyber Warfare

Geopolitical Threats/Activity

China

Russia

Iran

North Korea

Tools and Controls

Sector Specific

Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.

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

·         Automotive

·         Construction

·         Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

·         Defence & Space

·         Education & Academia

·         Energy & Utilities

·         Estate Agencies

·         Financial Services

·         FinTech

·         Food & Agriculture

·         Gaming & Gambling

·         Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)

·         Health/Medical/Pharma

·         Hotels & Hospitality

·         Insurance

·         Legal

·         Manufacturing

·         Maritime

·         Oil, Gas & Mining

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

·         Retail & eCommerce

·         Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)

·         Startups

·         Telecoms

·         Third Sector & Charities

·         Transport & Aviation

·         Web3

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

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

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

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

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 01 October 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 01 October 2021:

-Cyber Second Only To Climate Change As Biggest Global Risk

-Businesses Unsure Which Tech Is Essential Against Ransomware

-Cyber Crime Awareness Heightened, Yet People Still Engage In Risky Online Behaviours

-Attacks Against Remote Desktop Protocol Endpoints Have Exploded This Year

-Ransomware Attacks Up 1,070% Year Over Year

-Baby’s Death Alleged To Be Linked To Ransomware

-Ransomware Shame: More Than Half Of Business Owners Conceal Cyber-Breach

-More Than 90% Of Q2 Malware Was Hidden In Encrypted Traffic

-Cyber Attack Floors British Payroll Firm

-GriftHorse Malware Infected More Than 10 Million Android Phones From 70 Countries

-50% Of Servers Have Weak Security Long After Patches Are Released

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Cyber Second Only To Climate Change As Biggest Global Risk

Cyber security has been ranked as the second largest threat to our way of life in a major new survey of 23,000 people, comprised of both experts and members of the public. Cyber came second only to climate change on the world stage, but was ranked as the number one risk in the Americas and second in Asia, Africa, and Europe. https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cyber-second-biggest-global-risk/

Businesses Unsure Which Tech Is Essential Against Ransomware

As ransomware attacks grow in number, a new report finds that many organisations are under the impression they have things in hand but most are unsure what protections they should have in place. The report, based on a survey of 455 business leaders and cyber security professionals, claims businesses are on top of employee training, risk assessments and cyber insurance. Where firms fall flat however is their “clear gap” in thinking, in what many respondents see as “essential tech” in the fight against ransomware – nearly half of respondents (49%) thought paying up was their best option. https://www.techradar.com/news/businesses-unsure-which-tech-is-essential-against-ransomware

Cyber Crime Awareness Heightened, Yet People Still Engage In Risky Online Behaviours

A survey of over 2,000 adults suggests that 76% of respondents recognise the severity of data breaches. This heightened awareness may be driven by constant news of major consumer, enterprise and infrastructural breaches over the last year alone. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/10/01/risky-online-behaviors/

Attacks Against Remote Desktop Protocol Endpoints Have Exploded This Year

A recent report warns of a huge increase in attacks on the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), an almost universal protocol used by nearly every business in operation today. The figures show attacks on RDP have jumped 103.9% since its T1 report in June and represents around 55 billion devices. The RDP protocol is leveraged by threat actors to deploy ransomware and has become a popular target due to both heavy use by IT service providers and common misconfigurations.  https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/30/eset_threat_report/

Ransomware Attacks Up 1,070% Year Over Year

The prevalence of ransomware is growing rapidly, according to the 2021 Ransomware Survey Report. The report shockingly found many of the ransom demands are paid, and comes as a result in the rise of “ransomware as-a-service”. The report found 94% of businesses are concerned about ransomware, with 49% stating they would simply pay the ransom outright. Respondents in Europe were more concerned than those in North America, and around 67% felt they had already been the target of ransomware.  https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/fortinet-report-ransomware-attacks-up-1070-year-over-year/

Baby’s Death Alleged To Be Linked To Ransomware

A US hospital paralyzed by ransomware in 2019 will be defending itself in court this November over the death of a newborn. The baby was born amid the hospital’s eighth day of fending off the attack. Court filings show the hospital – Springhill Medical Center in Alabama – believes wireless tracking systems and heartbeat monitoring equipment were compromised by the ransomware, leading to the death.

https://threatpost.com/babys-death-linked-ransomware/175232/

Ransomware Shame: More Than Half Of Business Owners Conceal Cyber-Breach

Around a third (32%) of enterprises experienced a six-figure breach last year, but well over half (61%) admitted to concealing it. The findings come as a global survey of 1,400 decision makers in cyber is released. https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/ransomware-cyber-breach-concealed

More Than 90% Of Q2 Malware Was Hidden In Encrypted Traffic

Around 91.5% of malware detections in Q1 2021 were concealed in HTTPS-encrypted connections. A ubiquitous protocol – used to secure traffic any time you open a web page – only 20% of organisations have mechanisms in place to scan the arriving HTTPS traffic. The terrifying result found that most firms are missing over nine-tenths of malware hitting their networks every day. https://www.darkreading.com/perimeter/more-than-90-of-q2-malware-was-hidden-in-encrypted-traffic

Cyber Attack Floors British Payroll Firm

A "sophisticated" cyber attack has forced a British payroll company to shut down its entire network, leaving some contractors without pay.  Giant Group confirmed on September 24 that it had taken its network, fully integrated IT infrastructure, phone, and email systems offline last Wednesday after detecting suspicious activity. https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cyberattack-floors-british-payroll/#.YVQiuXlCjOA.twitter

GriftHorse Malware Infected More Than 10 Million Android Phones From 70 Countries

A malicious trojan has been making its way through the Google Play Store since at least November of 2020. The app, purportedly harmless on the surface, hijacks payments on the victim device, resulting in a series of hidden charges and a nasty surprise at the end of the month. Researchers who discovered the malware estimate its impact to be over 10 million victims in 70 countries, and several hundreds of millions of Euros in losses. https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/122730/malware/grifthorse-malware-campaign.html

50% Of Servers Have Weak Security Long After Patches Are Released

Over 50% of servers scanned still have weak security, a new study suggests, even after patches have been issued. Researchers found that servers were still vulnerable weeks and even months after critical updates, leaving many businesses wide open to attack. https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/50-of-servers-have-weak-security-long-after-patches-are-released

Threats

Ransomware

Phishing

Other Social Engineering

Malware

Vulnerabilities

Data Breaches/Leaks

Cryptocurrency/Cryptojacking

Insider Threats

Dark Web

DoS/DDoS

Nation State Actors

Cloud

Privacy

Reports Published in the Last Week

ESET Threat Report T2 2021

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

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

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

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

Read More