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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 10 February 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 10 February 2023:
-Companies Banned from Paying Hackers After Attacks on Royal Mail and Guardian
-Fraud Set to Be Upgraded as a Threat to National Security
-98% of Attacks are Not Reported by Employees to their Employers
-UK Second Most Targeted Nation Behind America for Ransomware
-Financial Institutions are Suffering from Increasingly Sophisticated Cyber Attacks
-An Email Attack Can End Up Costing You Over $1 Million
-Cyber Crime Shows No Signs of Slowing Down
-Surge of Swatting Attacks Targets Corporate Executive and Board Members
-Phishing Surges Ahead, as ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence Loom
-Pro-Russian Hacktivist Group is Only Getting Started, Experts Warn
-Crypto Investors Lost Nearly $4 Billion to Hackers in 2022
-PayPal and Twitter Abused in Turkey Relief Donation Scams
-Mysterious Leak of Booking.com Reservation Data is Being Used to Scam Customers
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
UK Companies Banned from Paying Ransomware Hackers After Attacks on Royal Mail and Guardian
British companies have been banned from paying ransomware hackers after a spate of attacks on businesses including Royal Mail and the Guardian newspaper.
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Thursday unveiled sanctions on seven Russian hackers linked to a gang called Conti, effectively banning any payments to the group.
Thursday’s sanctions are the first of their kind to be specifically targeted against Russian ransomware gang members.
The actions follow a spate of high-profile attacks on businesses and amid warnings from GCHQ that Russian and Iranian hackers are stepping up actions in Britain.
Fraud Set to Be Upgraded as a Threat to National Security
Fraud is to be reclassified as a threat to national security under UK government plans that will force police chiefs to devote more officers to solving the crime.
It will be elevated to the same status as terrorism, with chief constables mandated to increase resources and combine capabilities in a new effort to combat a fraud epidemic that now accounts for 30 per cent of all crime.
It will be added to the strategic policing requirement, which means that forces will be required by ministers to treat fraud as a major priority alongside not only terrorism, but also public disorder, civil emergencies, serious and organised crime, cyber attacks and child sexual abuse.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/04/fraud-set-upgraded-threat-national-security/
98% of Attacks are Not Reported by Employees to their Employers
Cyber attackers are increasingly using social engineering tactics to lure employees into opening malicious emails in an attempt to trick them into providing login credentials, updating bank account information and paying fraudulent invoices. Worryingly, research conducted by security provider Abnormal has found that 98% of attacks on organisations are not reported to the organisation’s security team. In addition to this, the report found that the volume of business email compromise attacks are spiking, growing by 175% over the past two years. The report also found that nearly two-thirds of large enterprises experiencing a supply chain compromise attack in the second half of 2022.
UK Second Most Targeted Nation Behind America for Ransomware
Security research team Kraken Labs released their report earlier this week, which found that of the 101 different countries that registered victims of ransomware, the UK had registered the second highest number of victims behind the US. Currently, there are over 60 ransomware groups, with the top 3 accounting for a third of all ransomware attacks.
Financial Institutions are Suffering from Increasingly Sophisticated Cyber Attacks
This week security provider Contrast Security released its Cyber Bank Heists report, an annual report that exposes cyber security threats facing the financial sector. The report warns financial institutions that security must be a top-of-mind issue amid rising geopolitical tensions, increased destructive attacks utilising wipers and a record-breaking year of zero-day exploits. The report involved a series of interviews with financial sector security leaders and found some notable results. Some of the results include 64% of leaders seeing an increase in application attacks, 72% of respondents planning to increase investment in application security in 2023, 60% of respondents falling victim to destructive attacks and 50% of organisations detecting campaigns which aimed to steal non-public market information.
An Email Attack Can End Up Costing You Over $1 Million
According to a report by security provider Barracuda Network, 75% of organisations had fallen victim to at least one successful email attack in the last 12 months, with those affected facing potential costs of over $1 million for their most expensive attack. The fallout from an email security attack can be significant, with the report finding 44% of those hit had faced significant downtime and business disruption. Additionally financial services greatly impacted by the loss of valuable data (59%) and payments made to attackers (51%). When it came to organisations preparation, 30% felt underprepared when dealing with account takeover and 28% felt unprepared for dealing with business email compromise.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/02/10/email-attack-damage-1-million/
Cyber Crime Shows No Signs of Slowing Down
Global risks from population pressures and climate change to political conflicts and industrial supply chain challenges characterised 2022. Cyber criminals used this turmoil to exploit these trending topics, including significant events, public affairs, social causes, and anywhere else opportunity appeared. According to security researchers at Zscaler TheatLabz, 2023 will see a rise in Crime-as-a-service (CaaS), supply chains will be bigger targets than ever, there will be a greater need for defence in depth as endpoint protection will not be enough and finally, there will be a decrease in the time between initial compromise and the final stage of an attack.
https://www.darkreading.com/zscaler/cybercrime-shows-no-signs-of-slowing-down
Surge of Swatting Attacks Targets Corporate Executive and Board Members
Swatting is the act of deceiving an emergency service with the purpose of the service then sending an emergency response, often armed, to a targeted persons address. Security provider Black Cloak has found that swatting incidents are now beginning to target C-suite executives and corporate board members, with the number of incidents increasing over the last few months. Malicious actors are using information from the dark web, company websites and property records to construct their swatting attacks.
Phishing Surges Ahead, as ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence Loom
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making it easier for threat actors to create sophisticated and malicious email campaigns. In their report, security provider Vade found that Q4 of 2022 saw a 36% volume increase in phishing campaigns compared to the previous quarter, with over 278.3 million unique phishing emails in that period. The researchers found in particular, new AI tools such as ChatGPT had made it easy for anyone, including those with limited skills, to conduct a sophisticated phishing campaign. Furthermore, the ability of ChatGPT to tailor phishing to different languages is an area for concern.
https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/bolstered-chatgpt-tools-phishing-surged-ahead
Pro-Russian Hacktivist Group is Only Getting Started, Experts Warn
A pro-Russian hacktivist group's low-level distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on US critical infrastructure could be a precursor to more serious cyber attacks, health care and security officials warned this week. A DDoS attack involves overwhelming a targeted service, service or network with traffic in an attempt to disrupt it. Earlier this week Killnet, a politically motivated Russian hacking group, overloaded and took down some US healthcare organisations. The attack came after threatening western healthcare organisations for the continued NATO support of Ukraine.
https://www.axios.com/2023/02/03/killnet-russian-hackers-attacks
Crypto Investors Lost Nearly $4 Billion to Hackers in 2022
Last year marked the worst year on record for cryptocurrency hacks, according to analytic firm Chainalysis’ latest report. According to the report, hackers stole $3.8 billion in 2022, up from $3.3 billion the previous year. De-centralised finance products, which are products that have no requirement for an intermediary or middle-man accounted for about 82% of all crypto stolen.
PayPal and Twitter Abused in Turkey Relief Donation Scams
Scammers are now exploiting the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Turkey and Syria. This time, stealing donations by abusing legitimate platforms such as PayPal and Twitter. It has been identified that multiple scams are running which call for fundraising, linking the victim to a legitimate PayPal site. The money however, is kept by the scammer.
Mysterious Leak of Booking.com Reservation Data is Being Used to Scam Customers
For almost 5 years, Booking.com customers have been on the receiving end of a continuous series of scams that demonstrate criminals have obtained travel plans amongst other personally identifiable information that were provided to Booking.com. The scams have involved users receiving fake emails purporting to be from Booking.com with genuine travel details that victims had provided. These emails contain links to malicious URL’s that look nearly identical to the Booking.com website. These then display the victim’s expected travel information, requiring them to input their card details. Some of the scams have developed and involve scammers sending WhatsApp messages after payment has been made, purporting to be from hotels which have been booked by the victims.
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
UK/US cyber crime crackdown sees 7 ransomware criminals sanctioned | CSO Online
US, UK Slap Sanctions on Trickbot Cyber crime Gang - SecurityWeek
UK second most targeted nation behind America for Ransomware - IT Security Guru
Hackers who breached ION say ransom paid; company declines comment | Reuters
New Wave of Ransomware Attacks Exploiting VMware Bug to Target ESXi Servers (thehackernews.com)
Massive ESXiArgs ransomware attack targets VMware ESXi servers worldwide (bleepingcomputer.com)
Royal Ransomware adds support for encrypting Linux, VMware ESXi systems-security affairs
Ongoing VMware ESXi Ransomware Attack Highlights Inherent Virtualisation Risks (darkreading.com)
Lessons Learned on Ransomware Prevention from the Rackspace Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
ESXiArgs Ransomware Hits Over 3,800 Servers as Hackers Continue Improving Malware - SecurityWeek
Ransomware Revolution: 4 Types of Cyber Risks in 2023 (trendmicro.com)
Hypervisor patching struggles exacerbate ESXiArgs attacks | TechTarget
Linux version of Royal Ransomware targets VMware ESXi servers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nevada Ransomware has released upgraded locker - Help Net Security
Italy, France and Singapore Warn of a Spike in ESXI Ransomware-security affairs
Massive ransomware attack targets VMware ESXi servers worldwide | CSO Online
LockBit ransomware gang claims Royal Mail cyber ttack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Medusa botnet returns as a Mirai-based variant with ransomware sting (bleepingcomputer.com)
New Linux variant of Clop Ransomware uses a flawed encryption-security affairs
After Hive takedown, could the LockBit ransomware crew be the next to fall? | CyberScoop
Russia-Linked Ransomware Gang Claims Responsibility for Royal Mail Attack (gizmodo.com)
Largest Canadian bookstore Indigo shuts down site after cyber ttack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers hit Vesuvius, UK engineering company shuts down affected systems • Graham Cluley
MKS Instruments falls victim to ransomware attack | CSO Online
North Korea ransomware targets hospitals to fund digital spycraft, US agencies warn | CyberScoop
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Phishing Surges Ahead, as ChatGPT & AI Loom (darkreading.com)
Employees Fail to Report 98% of Email Cyber Hacks To Security Teams, Study Finds - MSSP Alert
An email attack can end up costing you over $1 million - Help Net Security
What SOCs Need to Know About Water Dybbuk A BEC Actor Using Open-Source Toolkits (trendmicro.com)
How Can ChatGPT Make It Easier to Boost Phishing Scams? (analyticsinsight.net)
Cyber criminals exploit volatile job market for targeted email attacks - Help Net Security
'Phishing-as-a-service' kits drive uptick in theft: One business owner's story (cnbc.com)
Malicious Google ads sneak AWS phishing sites into search results (bleepingcomputer.com)
NewsPenguin Goes Phishing for Maritime & Military Secrets (darkreading.com)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Malware
Hacker develops new 'Screenshotter' malware to find high-value targets (bleepingcomputer.com)
Threat group targets over 1,000 companies with screenshotting and infostealing malware | CSO Online
ESXiArgs Ransomware Hits Over 3,800 Servers as Hackers Continue Improving Malware - SecurityWeek
Android mobile devices from top vendors in China have pre-installed malware-security affairs
Hackers backdoor Windows devices in Sliver and BYOVD attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
GuLoader Malware Using Malicious NSIS Executables to Target E-Commerce Industry (thehackernews.com)
Novel Banking Trojan 'PixPirate' Targets Brazil - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
New QakNote attacks push QBot malware via Microsoft OneNote files (bleepingcomputer.com)
Gootkit Malware Adopts New Tactics to Attack Healthcare and Finance Firms (thehackernews.com)
Mobile
Android mobile devices from top vendors in China have pre-installed malware-security affairs
Fraudulent "CryptoRom" Apps Slip Through Apple and Google App Store Review Process - SecurityWeek
Android phones from Chinese vendors share private data • The Register
'Money Lover' Finance App Exposes User Data (darkreading.com)
Xiaomi, OnePlus, Top Android Phones in China Spy on You: Study (gizmodo.com)
Android 14 to block malware from abusing sensitive permissions (bleepingcomputer.com)
UK Proposes Making the Sale and Possession of Encrypted Phones Illegal (vice.com)
Android's February 2023 Updates Patch 40 Vulnerabilities - SecurityWeek
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Here's a list of proxy IPs to help block KillNet's DDoS bots • The Register
Tor and I2P networks hit by wave of ongoing DDoS attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Experts published a list of proxy IPs used by the group Killnet-security affairs
Internet of Things – IoT
Medusa botnet returns as a Mirai-based variant with ransomware sting (bleepingcomputer.com)
Security manufacturer’s smart cameras went dark for two hours (mybroadband.co.za)
Vulnerability Allows Hackers to Remotely Tamper With Dahua Security Cameras - SecurityWeek
NIST Picks IoT Standard for Small Electronics Cyber security (darkreading.com)
Data Breaches/Leaks
Swiss authorities open criminal probe into bank data breaches | Financial Times (ft.com)
Mysterious leak of Booking.com reservation data is being used to scam customers | Ars Technica
TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate confirm data breach affecting 20M customers (bleepingcomputer.com)
20 Million Users Impacted by Data Breach at Instant Checkmate, TruthFinder - SecurityWeek
Over 12% of analysed online stores expose private data, backups (bleepingcomputer.com)
'Money Lover' Finance App Exposes User Data (darkreading.com)
Reddit Suffers Security Breach Exposing Internal Documents and Source Code (thehackernews.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Crypto – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Minister: Cyber crimes Now 20% of Spain’s Registered Offenses - SecurityWeek
Finland’s Most-Wanted Hacker Nabbed in France – Krebs on Security
Australian Man Sentenced for Scam Related to Optus Hack - SecurityWeek
Bungling Optus scammer was no criminal mastermind • Graham Cluley
Dark Web Market Revenues Sink 50% in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Crypto investors lost nearly $4 billion to hackers in 2022 (cnbc.com)
Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Crypto – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Avraham Eisenberg in court accused of crypto exchange crash • The Register
Crypto Drainers Are Ready to Ransack Investor Wallets (darkreading.com)
How Cyber criminals Are Operationalising Money Laundering and What to Do About It (darkreading.com)
FTX Being Advised by Cyber security Firm Sygnia on Hack Inquiry, CEO Ray Says (coindesk.com)
Scammers steal $4 million in crypto during in-person meeting • The Register
Enigma Stealer Targets Cryptocurrency Industry with Fake Jobs (trendmicro.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Another RAC staffer nabbed for sharing road accident data • The Register
Ex-Ubiquiti worker pleads guilty to data theft, extortion, and smear plot (bitdefender.com)
Cyber Hygiene: How to get buy-in from employees (trendmicro.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
PayPal and Twitter abused in Turkey relief donation scams (bleepingcomputer.com)
Working from home is fuelling fraud epidemic, warn managers (telegraph.co.uk)
Mysterious leak of Booking.com reservation data is being used to scam customers | Ars Technica
As V-Day nears: Romance scams cost victims $1.3B last year • The Register
What CISOs Can Do About Brand Impersonation Scam Sites (darkreading.com)
Father killed himself after falling victim to romance scam | News | The Times
'Brushing' scams send people free items, but could be a warning sign about a data breach - ABC News
Fraudulent "CryptoRom" Apps Slip Through Apple and Google App Store Review Process - SecurityWeek
How Cyber criminals Are Operationalising Money Laundering and What to Do About It (darkreading.com)
Banks leave doors open for scammers with flaws in online security | This is Money
Trio Arrested in COVID PPE Fraud Probe - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Twitter restricted in Turkey after the earthquake amid disinformation fear-security affairs
Impersonation Attacks
What CISOs Can Do About Brand Impersonation Scam Sites (darkreading.com)
HTML smuggling campaigns impersonate well-known brands to deliver malware | CSO Online
AML/CFT/Sanctions
How Cyber criminals Are Operationalising Money Laundering and What to Do About It (darkreading.com)
UK/US cyber crime crackdown sees 7 ransomware criminals sanctioned | CSO Online
US, UK Slap Sanctions on Trickbot Cyber crime Gang - SecurityWeek
Insurance
Tackling the New Cyber Insurance Requirements: Can Your Organisation Comply? (thehackernews.com)
How to Optimise Your Cyber Insurance Coverage (darkreading.com)
Dark Web
BlackSprut: Darknet Drug Market Advertises On Billboards In Moscow (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Dark Web Market Revenues Sink 50% in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Have we learnt nothing from SolarWinds supply chain attacks? • The Register
Vulnerability Provided Access to Toyota Supplier Management Network - SecurityWeek
Software Supply Chain
Cloud/SaaS
Cloud Apps Still Demand Way More Privileges Than They Use (darkreading.com)
Amazon S3 to apply security best practices for all new buckets - Help Net Security
Why Some Cloud Services Vulnerabilities Are So Hard to Fix (darkreading.com)
Malicious Google ads sneak AWS phishing sites into search results (bleepingcomputer.com)
7 Critical Cloud Threats Facing the Enterprise in 2023 (darkreading.com)
Hybrid/Remote Working
Working from home is fuelling fraud epidemic, warn managers (telegraph.co.uk)
Predictions For Securing Today's Hybrid Workforce (darkreading.com)
Identity and Access Management
Encryption
It Isn't Time to Worry About Quantum Computing Just Yet (darkreading.com)
UK Proposes Making the Sale and Possession of Encrypted Phones Illegal (vice.com)
API
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Biometrics
Social Media
Twitter Implements API Paywall, but Will That Solve Its Enormous Bot Crisis? (darkreading.com)
Twitter restricted in Turkey after the earthquake amid disinformation fear-security affairs
Malvertising
Training, Education and Awareness
Cyber Hygiene: How to get buy-in from employees (trendmicro.com)
Infosec Launches New Office Comedy Themed Security Awareness Training Series (darkreading.com)
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Corporate ‘privacy’ concerns must not derail Europe’s Data Act | Financial Times (ft.com)
While governments pass privacy laws, companies struggle to change - Help Net Security
Prioritising Cyber security Regulation Harmonisation (darkreading.com)
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Quarter of CFOs Have Suffered $1m+ Breaches - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Swiss authorities open criminal probe into bank data breaches | Financial Times (ft.com)
Trends that impact on organisations' 2023 security priorities - Help Net Security
With TikTok Bans, the Time for Operational Governance Is Now (darkreading.com)
Optimising Cyber security Investments in a Constrained Spending Environment (darkreading.com)
Surge of swatting attacks targets corporate executives and board members | CSO Online
Lessons From the Cold War: How Quality Trumps Quantity in Cyber security (darkreading.com)
Cyber Hygiene: How to get buy-in from employees (trendmicro.com)
Models, Frameworks and Standards
Data Protection
Corporate ‘privacy’ concerns must not derail Europe’s Data Act | Financial Times (ft.com)
While governments pass privacy laws, companies struggle to change - Help Net Security
Regulator Halts AI Chatbot Over GDPR Concerns - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
European Police Arrest 42 After Cracking Covert App - SecurityWeek
Eurocops shut down Exclu encrypted messaging app • The Register
Finnish psychotherapy extortion suspect arrested in France – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Xiaomi, OnePlus, Top Android Phones in China Spy on You: Study (gizmodo.com)
Steps To Planning And Implementation Of Data Privacy (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
ChatGPT is a data privacy nightmare, and we ought to be concerned | Ars Technica
Artificial Intelligence
Adversaries Using OpenAI’s ChatGPT Chatbot for Cyber Attacks? Here are Some Clues - MSSP Alert
Phishing Surges Ahead, as ChatGPT & AI Loom (darkreading.com)
IT Leaders Reveal Cyber Fears Around ChatGPT - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
How Can ChatGPT Make It Easier to Boost Phishing Scams? (analyticsinsight.net)
ChatGPT's potential to aid attackers puts IT pros on high alert - Help Net Security
Hackers are selling a service that bypasses ChatGPT restrictions on malware | Ars Technica
ChatGPT is a data privacy nightmare, and we ought to be concerned | Ars Technica
Jailbreak Trick Breaks ChatGPT Content Safeguards (darkreading.com)
Regulator Halts AI Chatbot Over GDPR Concerns - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Google's Bard AI bot mistake wipes $100bn off shares - BBC News
$120bn wiped off Google after Bard AI chatbot gives wrong answer (telegraph.co.uk)
Why ChatGPT Isn't a Death Sentence for Cyber Defenders (darkreading.com)
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Pro-Russian hacktivist group Killnet could just be getting started (axios.com)
Yes, CISOs should be concerned about the types of data spy balloons can intercept | CSO Online
Android mobile devices from top vendors in China have pre-installed malware-security affairs
China sharply rebukes US over decision to shoot down spy balloon | Financial Times (ft.com)
Here's a list of proxy IPs to help block KillNet's DDoS bots • The Register
What is hybrid warfare? Inside the centre dealing with modern threats - BBC News
DPRK Using Unpatched Zimbra Devices to Spy on Researchers (darkreading.com)
Russian hackers using new Graphiron information stealer in Ukraine (bleepingcomputer.com)
The impact of Russia's Ukraine invasion on digital threats - Help Net Security
Russian Hackers Steal Data In Ukraine With New Graphiron Malware (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Spies, Hackers, Informants: How China Snoops on the US - SecurityWeek
US teases new China tech sanctions to deflate balloon-makers • The Register
Nation State Actors
Pro-Russian hacktivist group Killnet could just be getting started (axios.com)
With TikTok Bans, the Time for Operational Governance Is Now (darkreading.com)
Yes, CISOs should be concerned about the types of data spy balloons can intercept | CSO Online
Android mobile devices from top vendors in China have pre-installed malware-security affairs
China sharply rebukes US over decision to shoot down spy balloon | Financial Times (ft.com)
Microsoft: Iran Unit Behind Charlie Hebdo Hack-and-Leak Op - SecurityWeek
Here's a list of proxy IPs to help block KillNet's DDoS bots • The Register
Android phones from Chinese vendors share private data • The Register
DPRK Using Unpatched Zimbra Devices to Spy on Researchers (darkreading.com)
SNP MP Stewart McDonald's emails hacked by Russian group - BBC News
Australia to remove Chinese surveillance cameras amid security fears - BBC News
Russian hackers using new Graphiron information stealer in Ukraine (bleepingcomputer.com)
Xiaomi, OnePlus, Top Android Phones in China Spy on You: Study (gizmodo.com)
UN Experts: North Korean Hackers Stole Record Virtual Assets - SecurityWeek
Mysterious Russian satellites are now breaking apart in low-Earth orbit | Ars Technica
The impact of Russia's Ukraine invasion on digital threats - Help Net Security
Russian Hackers Steal Data In Ukraine With New Graphiron Malware (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Experts published a list of proxy IPs used by the group Killnet-security affairs
NewsPenguin Goes Phishing for Maritime & Military Secrets (darkreading.com)
US teases new China tech sanctions to deflate balloon-makers • The Register
North Korea ransomware targets hospitals to fund digital spycraft, US agencies warn | Cyber scoop
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerabilities and exposures to rise to 1,900 a month in 2023: Coalition | CSO Online
Patching & Passwords Lead the Problem Pack for Cyber-Teams (darkreading.com)
Hypervisor patching struggles exacerbate ESXiArgs attacks | TechTarget
How to fix the top 5 cyber security vulnerabilities | TechTarget
20 Powerful Vulnerability Scanning Tools In 2023 (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Vulnerabilities
High-Severity Privilege Escalation Vulnerability Patched in VMware Workstation - SecurityWeek
New Wave of Ransomware Attacks Exploiting VMware Bug to Target ESXi Servers (thehackernews.com)
GoAnywhere MFT Users Warned of Zero-Day Exploit - SecurityWeek
Serious security hole plugged in infosec tool binwalk | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)
Cisco fixed command injection bug in IOx Application Hosting Environment-security affairs
Vulnerability In F5 BIG-IP May Cause DoS And Code Execution (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
GoAnywhere MFT zero-day flaw actively exploited-security affairs
Exploitation attempts for Oracle E-Business Suite flaw observed after PoC release-security affairs
Critical vulnerability patched in Jira Service Management Server and Data Center | CSO Online
Warning: Hackers Actively Exploiting Zero-Day in Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT (thehackernews.com)
Exploit released for actively exploited GoAnywhere MFT zero-day (bleepingcomputer.com)
Patch Released for Actively Exploited GoAnywhere MFT Zero-Day - SecurityWeek
Unpatched Security Flaws Disclosed in Multiple Document Management Systems (thehackernews.com)
SonicWall warns web content filtering is broken on Windows 11 22H2 (bleepingcomputer.com)
OpenSSL Fixes Multiple New Security Flaws with Latest Update (thehackernews.com)
Android's February 2023 Updates Patch 40 Vulnerabilities - SecurityWeek
Tools and Controls
Other News
Yes, CISOs should be concerned about the types of data spy balloons can intercept | CSO Online
How to Think Like a Hacker and Stay Ahead of Threats (thehackernews.com)
Surge of swatting a attacks targets corporate executives and board members | CSO Online
Bermuda: Major Internet And Power Outage Strikes (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 03 February 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 03 February 2023:
-Business Leaders Need a Hands-on Approach to Stop Cyber Crime, Says Spy Chief
-Rising ‘Firebrick Ostrich’ BEC Group Launches Industrial Scale Cyber Attacks
-The Corporate World is Losing its Grip on Cyber Risk
-Microsoft Reveals Over 100 Threat Actors are Deploying Ransomware in Attacks
-Greater Incident Complexity, a Shift in How Threat Actors Use Stolen Data Will Drive the Cyber Threat Landscape in 2023
-The Threat from Within: 71% of Business Leaders Surveyed Think Next Cyber Security Breach Will come from the Inside
-98% of Organisations Have a Supply Chain Relationship That Has Been Breached
-New Survey Reveals 40% of Companies Experienced a Data Leak in the Past Year
-Russian Hackers Launch Cyber Attack on Germany in Leopard Tank Retaliation
-Financial Services Targeted in 28% of UK Cyber Attacks Last Year
-Phishing Attacks are Getting Scarily Sophisticated. Here’s what to Watch Out For
-City of London on High Alert After Ransomware Attack
-Ransomware Conversations: Why the CFO is Pivotal to Discussing and Preparing for Risk
-JD Sports Warns of 10 Million Customers Put at Risk in Cyber Attack
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
Business Leaders Need a Hands-on Approach to Stop Cyber Crime, Says Spy Chief
Business leaders must not see cyber crime as “just a technical issue” that can be left up to IT departments, said Lindy Cameron, chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). Ms Cameron later commented that “In the world of cyber security, the new year has brought with it some sadly familiar themes - a continuation of cyber incidents affecting organisations large and small as well as the British public”.
Along with this, came the urge for business leaders to step up their efforts in combating cyber crime by taking an active interest and educating themselves on the subject. When commenting upon board members’ level of understanding, Ms Cameron said “I’d also encourage board members to develop a basic understanding of cyber security, which can help when seeking assurances from IT teams about the resilience of an organisation - in a similar way that leaders have a certain level of understanding of finance to assess financial health”.
Rising ‘Firebrick Ostrich’ BEC Group Launches Industrial Scale Cyber Attacks
Business email compromise (BEC) has become one of the most popular methods of financially motivated hacking. And over the past year, one group in particular has demonstrated just how quick, easy, and lucrative it really is.
"Firebrick Ostrich" is a threat actor that's been performing BEC at a near-industrial scale. Since April 2021, the group has carried out more than 350 BEC campaigns, impersonating 151 organisations and utilising 212 malicious domains in the process. This volume of attacks is made possible by the group's wholesale gunslinging approach. Firebrick Ostrich doesn't discriminate much when it comes to targets, or gather exceptional intelligence in order to craft the perfect phishing bait. It throws darts at a wall because, evidently, when it comes to BEC at scale, that's enough.
BEC is attractive to bad actors due to the lower barriers to entry than malware, less risk, faster scaling opportunities, and way more profit potential to higher echelons than other methods of attack. These factors may explain why such attacks are absolutely the emerging trend, potentially even leaving even ransomware in the dust. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of these groups out there.
The Corporate World is Losing its Grip on Cyber Risk
Lloyd's of London’s insurance market prides itself on being able to put a price on anything, from Tina Turner’s legs or Bruce Springsteen’s vocal cords, to the risk that a bounty hunter might claim the reward from Cutty Sark Whisky in the 1970s for capturing the Loch Ness monster.
But from the end of March, there will be something it won’t price: systemic cyber risk, or the type of major, catastrophic disruption caused by state-backed cyber warfare. In one sense, this isn’t surprising. Insurance policies typically exclude acts of war. Russia’s NotPetya attack on Ukraine in 2017 showed how state-backed cyber assaults can surpass traditional definitions of armed conflict and overspill their sovereign target to hit global businesses. It caused an estimated $10bn in damages and years of wrangling between companies like pharma group Merck and snack maker Mondelez and their insurers.
But the move is prompting broader questions about the growing pains in this corner of the insurance world. “Cyber insurance isn’t working anywhere at the moment as a public good for society,” says Ciaran Martin, former head of the UK National Cyber Security Centre. “It has a huge role to play in improving defences in a market-based economy and it has been a huge disappointment in that sense so far.”
The Lloyd’s move is designed, say insurers, to clarify rather than restrict coverage. Whether it succeeds is another matter: this is a murky world, where cyber crime groups operate with impunity in certain jurisdictions.
https://www.ft.com/content/78bfdf29-1e20-4c12-a348-06e98d5ae906
Microsoft Reveals Over 100 Threat Actors are Deploying Ransomware in Attacks
Microsoft revealed this week that its security teams are tracking over 100 threat actors deploying ransomware during attacks. In all, the company says it monitors over 50 unique ransomware families, with some of the most prominent ransomware payloads in recent campaigns including Lockbit, BlackCat (aka ALPHV), Play, Vice Society, Black Basta, and Royal.
Microsoft said that defence strategies should focus less on payloads themselves but more on the chain of activities that lead to their deployment, since ransomware gangs are still targeting servers and devices not yet patched against common or recently addressed vulnerabilities.
Furthermore, while new ransomware families launch all the time, most threat actors utilise the same tactics when breaching and spreading through networks, making the effort of detecting such behaviour even more helpful in thwarting their attacks.
Attackers are increasingly relying on tactics beyond phishing to conduct their attacks, with threat actors for example capitalising on recently patched Exchange Server vulnerabilities to hack vulnerable servers and deploy Cuba and Play ransomware.
Ransomware Conversations: Why the CFO is Pivotal to Discussing and Preparing for Risk
With the amount of cyber attacks in all industries, organisations are beginning to grasp the significance of cyber risk and how it is integral to protecting and maintaining an efficient business. In fact, the first half of 2022 alone saw 236.1 million cases of ransomware.
Whilst the expectation for responsibility has typically fallen on Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) are just as vital in managing cyber risk, which is now inherently also business risk. The CFO plays an important part in determining whether cyber security incidents will become material and affect the business more seriously. Their insight is critical across many areas which include ransomware, cyber insurance, regulatory compliance and budget management.
Greater Incident Complexity, a Shift in How Threat Actors Use Stolen Data Will Drive the Cyber Threat Landscape in 2023
Insurance provider Beazley released their Cyber Services Snapshot Report which claims the cyber security landscape will be influenced by greater complexity and the way threat actors use stolen data. The report also found that as a category, fraudulent instruction experienced a growth as a cause of loss in 2022, up 13% year-over year.
In response to vulnerabilities such as fraudulent instructions, the report suggests organisations must get smarter about educating users to spot things such as spoofed emails or domain names. The report also cautions organisations to watch for social engineering, spear phishing, bypassing of multi-factor authentication (MFA), targeting of managed service providers (MSP) and the compromise of cloud environments as areas of vulnerability.
The Threat from Within: 71% of Business Leaders Surveyed Think Next Cyber Security Breach Will Come from the Inside
A survey conducted by IT provider EisnerAmper found that 71% of business executives worry about accidental internal staff error as one of the top threats facing their organisation and 23% of these worried about malicious intent by an employee. In comparison, 75% of business executives had concerns about external hackers. The survey also asked about current safety measures, with 51% responding that they were “somewhat prepared”. Despite this, only 50% of respondents reported conducting regular cyber security training.
98% of Organisations Have a Supply Chain Relationship That Has Been Breached
A report from SecurityScorecard found that 98% of organisations have a relationship with at least one third party that has experienced a breach in the last two years, while more than 50% have an indirect relationship with more than 200 fourth parties that have been breached. Of course, this is keeping in mind that not all organisations disclose or even know they have been breached.
New Survey Reveals 40% of Companies Experienced a Data Leak in the Past Year
Software provider SysKit has published a report on the effects of digital transformation on IT administrators and the current governance landscape. The report found that 40% of organisations experienced a data leak in the previous year. A data leak can have severe consequences on an organisation's efficiency and the impact can lead to large fines, downtime, and loss of business-critical certifications and customers.
In addition, the Survey found that the biggest challenge for IT administrators was a lack of understanding from superiors, huge workloads and misalignment of IT and business strategies.
Russian Hackers Launch Cyber Attack on Germany in Leopard Tank Retaliation
The websites of key German administrations, including companies and airports, have been targeted by cyber attacks, the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) stated.
The BSI commented they had been informed of DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks “currently in progress against targets in Germany". This was followed by the statement that “Individual targets in the financial sector” and federal government sites were also attacked, with some websites becoming temporarily unavailable. It is believed that this is due to the approved deployment of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, with Russian hacker site Killnet taking credit.
Financial Services Targeted in 28% of UK Cyber Attacks Last Year
Based on data from security provider Imperva, security researchers have identified that over a quarter (28%) of all cyber attacks in the UK hit the financial services and insurance (FSI) industry in the last 12 months. The data also found that Application Programme Interface (API) attacks, malicious automated software and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks were the most challenging for the industry. In addition, the data found that roughly 40% of all account takeover attempts were targeted at the FSI industry.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/quarter-cyber-attacks-uk-financial/
Phishing Attacks are Getting Scarily Sophisticated. Here’s What to Watch Out For
Hackers are going to great lengths, including mimicking real people and creating and updating fake social media profiles, to trick victims into clicking phishing links and handing over usernames and passwords. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) warns that these phishing attacks are targeting a range of sectors.
The NCSC has also released mitigation advice to help organisations and individuals protect themselves online. The mitigation advice included the use of strong passwords, separate to other accounts; enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA); and applying the latest security updates.
City of London on High Alert After Ransomware Attack
A suspected ransomware attack on a key supplier of trading software to the City of London this week appears to have disrupted activity in the derivatives market. The company impacted, Ion Cleared Derivatives, is investigating. It is reported that 42 clients were impacted by the attack.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/city-of-london-high-alert/
JD Sports Warns of 10 Million Customers Put at Risk in Cyber Attack
Sportswear retailer JD Sports said it was the victim of a cyber attack that exposed the data of 10 million customers, in the latest spate of hacks on UK companies.
JD Sports explained that the attack involved unauthorised access to a system that contained “the name, billing address, delivery address, phone number, order details and the final four digits of payment cards”. The data related to customers’ orders made between November 2018 and October 2020, with outdoor gear companies Millets and Blacks also impacted. A full review with cyber security and external specialists is underway.
https://www.ft.com/content/afe00f2f-afcd-478f-9e4d-1cf9c943fa79
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
City Of London Traders Hit By Russia-Linked Cyber Attack (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
New Nevada Ransomware targets Windows and VMware ESXi systems (bleepingcomputer.com)
US puts a $10m bounty on Hive while Russia shuts down access • The Register
Copycat Criminals mimicking Lockbit gang in northern Europe security affairs
Most criminal cryptocurrency is funneled through just 5 exchanges | Ars Technica
Cyber Attack Hits Derivatives Unit of Trading Software Firm ION - Bloomberg
Regulators weigh in on ION attack as LockBit takes credit • The Register
New Mimic Ransomware Abuses Windows Search Engine (cyber securitynews.com)
Stratford University discloses ransomware attack — but which ransomware attack? (databreaches.net)
Schools don't pay, but ransomware attacks still increasing | TechTarget
Poser Hackers Impersonate LockBit in SMB Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)
Risk & Repeat: The FBI's Hive ransomware takedown | TechTarget
Nevada Ransomware Has Released Upgraded Locker security affairs
LockBit Green ransomware variant borrows code from Conti one security affairs
Arnold Clark customer data stolen in attack claimed by Play ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware attacks on public sector persist in January | TechTarget
Ransomware attack on data firm ION could take days to fix -sources | Reuters
APT groups use ransomware TTPs as cover for intelligence gathering and sabotage | CSO Online
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Phishing attacks are getting scarily sophisticated. Here's what to watch out for | ZDNET
Rising ‘Firebrick Ostrich’ BEC Group Launches Industrial-Scale Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)
Porsche halts NFT launch, phishing sites fill the void (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishers Trick Microsoft Into Granting Them 'Verified' Cloud Partner Status (darkreading.com)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
2FA/MFA
Malware
How Can Disrupting DNS Communications Thwart a Malware Attack? (darkreading.com)
Hackers use new IceBreaker malware to breach gaming companies (bleepingcomputer.com)
New Threat: Stealthy HeadCrab Malware Compromised Over 1,200 Redis Servers (thehackernews.com)
PoS malware can block contactless payments to steal credit cards (bleepingcomputer.com)
HeadCrab malware targets Redis to mine cryptocurrency | TechTarget
Malvertising attacks are distributing .NET malware loaders • The Register
Hackers weaponize Microsoft Visual Studio add-ins to push malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mobile
Google Fi data breach let hackers carry out SIM swap attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Over 1,800 Android phishing forms for sale on cyber crime market (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mobile phone fraud: 'They stole £22,500 using my banking app' - BBC News
Botnets
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Killnet Attackers DDoS US and Dutch Hospitals - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
New DDoS-as-a-Service platform used in recent attacks on hospitals (bleepingcomputer.com)
Internet of Things – IoT
IoT, connected devices biggest contributors to expanding application attack surface | CSO Online
European IoT Manufacturers Lag in Vulnerability Disclosure (databreachtoday.co.uk)
Anker finally comes clean about its Eufy security cameras - The Verge
Data Breaches/Leaks
JD Sports warns data of 10mn customers put at risk in cyber attack | Financial Times (ft.com)
New Survey Reveals 40% of Companies Experienced a Data Leak in the Past Year (darkreading.com)
Planet Ice hacked! 240,000 skating fans' details stolen (bitdefender.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cyber crime job ads on the dark web pay up to $20k per month (bleepingcomputer.com)
Most criminal cryptocurrency is funneled through just 5 exchanges | Ars Technica
Cyber crime Ecosystem Spawns Lucrative Underground Gig Economy (darkreading.com)
Cyber crime job ads on the dark web pay up to $20k per month (bleepingcomputer.com)
Developers, Attackers Top List of Most In Demand Dark Web Jobs, Kaspersky Reports - MSSP Alert
Report on hackers' salaries shows poor wages for developers • The Register
6 Examples of the Evolution of a Scam Site (darkreading.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Most criminal cryptocurrency is funneled through just 5 exchanges | Ars Technica
FBI: North Korea’s Lazarus Group behind $100m crypto attack • The Register
Oxford student jailed for £2m crypto theft after PhD blunder | News | The Times
Porsche halts NFT launch, phishing sites fill the void (bleepingcomputer.com)
Crypto theft: North Korea-linked hackers stole $1.7b in 2022 - BBC News
HeadCrab malware targets Redis to mine cryptocurrency | TechTarget
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Insider attacks becoming more frequent, more difficult to detect - Help Net Security
Are Your Employees Thinking Critically About Their Online Behaviours? (darkreading.com)
The next cyber threat may come from within - Help Net Security
Insider threats: The cyber risks lurking in the dark (betanews.com)
Former Ubiquiti dev pleads guilty to data theft, extortion • The Register
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
FBI: North Korea’s Lazarus Group behind $100m crypto attack • The Register
Oxford student jailed for £2m crypto theft after PhD blunder | News | The Times
Porsche halts NFT launch, phishing sites fill the void (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russian Millionaire on Trial in Hack, Insider Trade Scheme - SecurityWeek
6 Examples of the Evolution of a Scam Site (darkreading.com)
Mobile phone fraud: 'They stole £22,500 using my banking app' - BBC News
Crypto theft: North Korea-linked hackers stole $1.7b in 2022 - BBC News
Romance fraud losses rose 91% during the pandemic, claims UK's TSB bank | Tripwire
Romance Fraudsters Have Stolen £65m From Brits Since 2020 (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Impersonation Attacks
AML/CFT/Sanctions
Insurance
Dark Web
There’s a Wild Scramble for Control of the Dark Web Taking Place in Russia (vice.com)
Cyber crime job ads on the dark web pay up to $20k per month (bleepingcomputer.com)
Developers, Attackers Top List of Most In Demand Dark Web Jobs, Kaspersky Reports - MSSP Alert
Report on hackers' salaries shows poor wages for developers • The Register
Supply Chain and Third Parties
98% of Firms Have a Supply Chain Relationship That Has Been Breached: Analysis - SecurityWeek
Cyber attack Impact “Catastrophic” for Third Parties, New Study Finds MSSPs at Risk? - MSSP Alert
New “MITRE ATT&CK-like” framework outlines software supply chain attack TTPs | CSO Online
CISA to Open Supply Chain Risk Management Office (darkreading.com)
Cloud/SaaS
Misconfiguration and vulnerabilities biggest risks in cloud security: Report | CSO Online
Hybrid cloud storage security challenges - Help Net Security
Short-staffed SOCs struggle to gain visibility into cloud activities - Help Net Security
Containers
Encryption
Serious Security: The Samba logon bug caused by outdated crypto – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Encryption Explained: At Rest, In Transit & End-To-End Encryption | Splunk
Cyber Insights 2023 | Quantum Computing and the Coming Cryptopocalypse - SecurityWeek
API
The emergence of trinity attacks on APIs - Help Net Security
API management (APIM): What It Is and Where It’s Going security affairs
Open Source
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Bitwarden Password Manager users are being targeted by phishing ads on Google- gHacks Tech News
KeePass disputes vulnerability allowing stealthy password theft (bleepingcomputer.com)
Social Media
Inside TikTok’s proposal to address US national security concerns | CyberScoop
Facebook Bug Allows 2FA Bypass Via Instagram (darkreading.com)
Malvertising
Training, Education and Awareness
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Regulators weigh in on ION attack as LockBit takes credit • The Register
New UN cyber crime convention has a long way to go in a tight timeframe | CSO Online
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Business leaders need hands-on approach to stop cyber crime, says spy chief (telegraph.co.uk)
New Survey Reveals 40% of Companies Experienced a Data Leak in the Past Year (darkreading.com)
70% of CIOs anticipate their involvement in cyber security to increase - Help Net Security
Cyber security Budgets Are Going Up. So Why Aren't Breaches Going Down? (thehackernews.com)
The corporate world is losing its grip on cyber risk | Financial Times (ft.com)
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
The Effect of Cyber security Layoffs on Cyber security Recruitment - SecurityWeek
Economic headwinds could deepen the cyber security skills shortage | CSO Online
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
7 Ways Hive Ransomware Gang Caused Chaos Before FBI Hacked It (gizmodo.com)
US puts a $10m bounty on Hive while Russia shuts down access • The Register
Hacker accused of having stolen personal data of all Austrians security affairs
Risk & Repeat: The FBI's Hive ransomware takedown | TechTarget
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
On Data Privacy Day, Organisations Fail Data Privacy Expectations (darkreading.com)
Hacker accused of having stolen personal data of all Austrians security affairs
Enterprises Need to Do More to Assure Consumers About Privacy (darkreading.com)
Artificial Intelligence
Foreign states already using ChatGPT maliciously, UK IT leaders believe | CSO Online
OpenAI releases tool to detect AI-written text (bleepingcomputer.com)
Reality check: Is ChatGPT really the next big cyber security threat? | CyberScoop
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Iranian APT Leaks Data From Saudi Arabia Government Under New Persona - SecurityWeek
Ukraine Links Media Centre Attack to Russian Intelligence (govinfosecurity.com)
Russia-Linked APT29 Uses New Malware in Embassy Attacks - SecurityWeek
Russia's Sandworm APT Launches Swarm of Wiper Attacks in Ukraine (darkreading.com)
Russia-linked Hackers Launch DDoS Attacks on Germany and US. Hospitals, Threaten Canada - MSSP Alert
Latvia says Russian hackers tried to phish its Ministry of Defence (bitdefender.com)
Inside Killnet: Pro-Russia Hacktivist Group's Support and Influence Grows (darkreading.com)
Crypto theft: North Korea-linked hackers stole $1.7b in 2022 - BBC News
North Korean hackers stole research data in two-month-long breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
APT groups use ransomware TTPs as cover for intelligence gathering and sabotage | CSO Online
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Russian Nuisance Hacking Group KillNet Targets Germany (govinfosecurity.com)
Russian hackers launch cyber attack on Germany in Leopard retaliation | Euronews
Ukraine Links Media Centre Attack to Russian Intelligence (govinfosecurity.com)
A Link to News Site Meduza Can (Technically) Land You in Russian Prison | WIRED
Russia-Linked APT29 Uses New Malware in Embassy Attacks - SecurityWeek
Russia's Sandworm APT Launches Swarm of Wiper Attacks in Ukraine (darkreading.com)
Russia-linked Hackers Launch DDoS Attacks on Germany and US. Hospitals, Threaten Canada - MSSP Alert
Latvia says Russian hackers tried to phish its Ministry of Defence (bitdefender.com)
Killnet Attackers DDoS US and Dutch Hospitals - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
IT Army of Ukraine gained access to 1.5GB archive from Gazprom security affairs
There’s a Wild Scramble for Control of the Dark Web Taking Place in Russia (vice.com)
Inside Killnet: Pro-Russia Hacktivist Group's Support and Influence Grows (darkreading.com)
Nation State Actors – China
Google deletes 50,000 pro-China fake-news vids and blogs • The Register
TikTok CEO to testify before US. Congress over security concerns | Reuters
Nation State Actors – North Korea
FBI: North Korea’s Lazarus Group behind $100m crypto attack • The Register
Crypto theft: North Korea-linked hackers stole $1.7b in 2022 - BBC News
North Korean hackers stole research data in two-month-long breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nation State Actors – Iran
Nation State Actors – Misc
Vulnerability Management
The future of vulnerability management and patch compliance - Help Net Security
What is the CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System)? (techtarget.com)
Vulnerabilities
Researchers to release VMware vRealize Log RCE exploit, patch now (bleepingcomputer.com)
Patch management is crucial to protect Exchange servers, Microsoft warns security affairs
QNAP Fixes Critical Vulnerability in NAS Devices with Latest Security Updates (thehackernews.com)
Over 29,000 QNAP devices unpatched against new critical flaw (bleepingcomputer.com)
Firmware Flaws Could Spell 'Lights Out' for Servers (darkreading.com)
Why you might not be done with your January Microsoft security patches | CSO Online
HPE, NetApp warn of critical open-source bug | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
High-severity bug in F5 BIG-IP can lead to code execution and DoS security affairs
Cisco fixes bug allowing backdoor persistence between reboots (bleepingcomputer.com)
CISA Alert: Oracle E-Business Suite and SugarCRM Vulnerabilities Under Attack (thehackernews.com)
Threat activity increasing around Fortinet VPN vulnerability | TechTarget
Remote code execution exploit chain available for VMware vRealize Log Insight | CSO Online
Tools and Controls
Other News
We can't rely on goodwill to protect our critical infrastructure - Help Net Security
Playing Military Sim War Thunder May Get You Classed as a National Security Risk
Cyber attacks in space: How safe are our satellites? | Metro News
Massive Microsoft 365 outage caused by WAN router IP change (bleepingcomputer.com)
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
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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 18 November 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 18 November 2022:
-Amid Legal Fallout, Cyber Insurers Redefine State-Sponsored Attacks as Act of War
-Supply Chains Need Shoring Up Against Cyber Attacks, C-Suite Executives Say
-Is Your Board Prepared for New Cyber Security Regulations?
-Unwanted Emails Steadily Creeping into Inboxes
-People Are Still Using the Dumbest Passwords Available
-Zero-Trust Initiatives Stall, as Cyber Attack Costs Rocket to $1M per Incident
-44% of Financial Institutions Believe Their Own IT Teams Are the Main Risk to Cloud Security
-MFA Fatigue Attacks Are Putting Your Organisation at Risk
-Cyber Security Training Boosts Risk Posture, Research Finds
-MI5 Chief: UK will have to tackle Russian Aggression ‘for Years to Come’
-Offboarding Processes Pose Security Risks as Job Turnover Increases: Report
-Do Companies Need Cyber Insurance?
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
Amid Legal Fallout, Cyber Insurers Redefine State-Sponsored Attacks as Act of War
As carriers rewrite their act-of-war exclusions following the NotPetya settlement between Mondelez and Zurich, organisations should read their cyber insurance policies carefully to see what is still covered.
The consequences from NotPetya, which the US government said was caused by a Russian cyber attack on Ukraine in 2017, continue to be felt as cyber insurers modify coverage exclusions, expanding the definition of an "act of war." Indeed, the 5-year-old cyber attack appears to be turning the cyber insurance market on its head.
Mondelez International, parent of such popular brands as Cadbury, Oreo, Ritz, and Triscuit, was hit hard by NotPetya, with factories and production disrupted. It took days for the company's staff to regain control of its computer systems. The company filed a claim with its property and casualty insurer, Zurich American, for $100 million in losses. After initially approving a fraction of the claim — $10 million — Zurich declined to pay, stating the attack was an act of war and thus excluded from the coverage. Mondelez filed a lawsuit.
Late last month Mondelez and Zurich American reportedly agreed to the original $100 million claim, but that wasn't until after Merck won its $1.4 billion lawsuit against Ace American Insurance Company in January 2022 for its NotPetya-related losses. Merck's claims also were against its property and casualty policy, not a cyber insurance policy.
Back in 2017, cyber insurance policies were still nascent, and so many large corporations filed claims for damages related to NotPetya — the scourge that caused an estimated $10 billion in damage worldwide — against corporate property and casualty policies.
What's Changed? The significance of these settlements illustrates an ongoing maturation of the cyber insurance market, says Forrester Research.
Until 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, cyber insurance policies were sold in a fashion akin to traditional home or auto policies, with little concern for a company's cyber security profile, the tools it had in place to defend its networks and data, or its general cyber hygiene.
Once a large number of ransomware attacks occurred that built off of the lax cyber security many organisations demonstrated, insurance carriers began tightening the requirements for obtaining such policies.
Is Your Board Prepared For New Cyber Security Regulations?
Boards are now paying attention to the need to participate in cyber security oversight. Not only are the consequences sparking concern, but the new regulations are upping the ante and changing the game.
Boards have a particularly important role to ensure appropriate management of cyber risk as part of their fiduciary and oversight role. As cyber threats increase and companies worldwide bolster their cyber security budgets, the regulatory community, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is advancing new requirements that companies will need to know about as they reinforce their cyber strategy.
Most organisations focus on cyber protection rather than cyber resilience, and that could be a mistake. Resiliency is more than just protection; it’s a plan for recovery and business continuation. Being resilient means that you’ve done as much as you can to protect and detect a cyber incident, and you have also done as much as you can to make sure you can continue to operate when an incident occurs. A company who invests only in protection is not managing the risk associated with getting up and running again in the event of a cyber incident.
Research indicates that most board members believe it is not a matter of if, but when, their company will experience a cyber event. The ultimate goal of a cyber-resilient organisation would be zero disruption from a cyber breach. That makes the focus on resilience more important.
In March 2022, the SEC issued a proposed rule titled Cybersecurity Risk Management, Strategy, Governance, and Incident Disclosure. In it, the SEC describes its intention to require public companies to disclose whether their boards have members with cyber security expertise: “Cyber security is already among the top priorities of many boards of directors and cyber security incidents and other risks are considered one of the largest threats to companies. Accordingly, investors may find disclosure of whether any board members have cyber security expertise to be important as they consider their investment in the registrant as well as their votes on the election of directors of the registrant.”
The SEC will soon require companies to disclose their cyber security governance capabilities, including the board’s oversight of cyber risk, a description of management’s role in assessing and managing cyber risks, the relevant expertise of such management, and management’s role in implementing the registrant’s cyber security policies, procedures, and strategies. Specifically, where pertinent to board oversight, registrants will be required to disclose:
whether the entire board, a specific board member, or a board committee is responsible for the oversight of cyber risks,
the processes by which the board is informed about cyber risks, and the frequency of its discussions on this topic,
whether and how the board or specified board committee considers cyber risks as part of its business strategy, risk management, and financial oversight.
https://hbr.org/2022/11/is-your-board-prepared-for-new-cybersecurity-regulations
Unwanted Emails Steadily Creeping into Inboxes
A research from cloud security provider Hornetsecurity has revealed that 40.5% of work emails are unwanted. The Cyber Security Report 2023, which analysed more than 25 billion work emails, also reveals significant changes to the nature of cyber attacks in 2022 – indicating the constant, growing threats to email security, and need for caution in digital workplace communications.
Phishing remains the most common style of email attack, representing 39.6% of detected threats. Threat actors used the following file types sent via email to deliver payloads: Archive files (Zip, 7z, etc.) sent via email make up 28% of threats, down slightly from last year’s 33.6%, with HTML files increasing from 15.3% to 21%, and DOC(X) from 4.8% to 12.7%.
This year’s cyber security report shows the steady creep of threats into inboxes around the world. The rise in unwanted emails, now found to be nearly 41%, is putting email users and businesses at significant risk.
HornetSecurity’s analysis identified both the enduring risk and changing landscape of ransomware attacks – highlighting the need for businesses and their employees to be more vigilant than ever.
New cyber security trends and techniques for organisations to watch out for were also tracked. Since Microsoft disabled macros settings in Office 365, there has been a significant increase in HTML smuggling attacks using embedded LNK or ZIP files to deliver malware. Microsoft 365 makes it easy to share documents, and end users often overlook the ramifications of how files are shared, as well as the security implications. Hornetsecurity found 25% of respondents were either unsure or assumed that Microsoft 365 was immune to ransomware threats.
For these attackers, every industry is a target. Companies must therefore ensure comprehensive security awareness training while implementing next-generation preventative measures to ward off threats.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/11/14/email-security-threats/
People Are Still Using the Dumbest Passwords Available
If you were thinking that most people would have learned by now not to use “password” as the password for their sensitive systems, then you would be giving too much credit to the general scrolling public.
Cyber security researchers from Cybernews and password manager company NordPass both independently reported this week on data surrounding the most commonly-used passwords. Trying to discern the frequently used words, phrases, and numbers among the general public wouldn’t be simple if it weren’t for the troves of leaked passwords being sold on the dark web.
Cybernews said it based its data on a list of 56 million breached or leaked passwords in 2022 found via databases in darknet and clearnet hacker forums. Some of the most-used passwords were exactly what you expect, easy-to-remember junk passwords for company accounts, including “123456,” “root,” and “guest” all looking pretty in the top three.
NordPass, on the other hand, listed its top passwords by country and the supposed gender of the user. In their case, “password” sat in the number one spot for most-used password throughout the globe. Some countries had very specific passwords that were commonly used, such as “liverpool” being the number 4 most-used password in the UK despite it being 197 in the world. The number 2 most-used password for Brazil accounts is “Brasil” while in Germany, number 5 is “hallo.”
NordPass said the list of passwords was built by a team of independent researchers who compiled 3TB of data from listings on the dark web, including some data that was leaked in data breaches that occurred in 2022. The company noted that some data might be from late 2021, though the passwords were listed on the dark web in the new year.
https://gizmodo.com/passwords-hacker-best-passwords-cybersecurity-1849792818
Zero-Trust Initiatives Stall, as Cyber Attack Costs Rocket to $1M per Incident
Researchers find current data protection strategies are failing to get the job done, and IT leaders are concerned, while a lack of qualified IT security talent hampers cyber-defence initiatives.
Organisations are struggling with mounting data losses, increased downtime, and rising recovery costs due to cyber attacks — to the tune of $1.06 million in costs per incident. Meanwhile, IT security teams are stalled on getting defences up to speed.
That's according to the 2022 Dell Global Data Protection Index (GDPI) survey of 1,000 IT decision-makers across 15 countries and 14 industries, which found that organisations that experienced disruption have also suffered an average of 2TB data loss and 19 hours of downtime.
Most respondents (67%) said they lack confidence that their existing data protection measures are sufficient to cope with malware and ransomware threats. A full 63% said they are not very confident that all business-critical data can be reliably recovered in the event of a destructive cyber attack.
Their fears seem founded: Nearly half of respondents (48%) experienced a cyber attack in the past 12 months that prevented access to their data (a 23% increase from 2021) — and that's a trend that will likely continue.
The growth and increased distribution of data across edge, core data centre and multiple public cloud environments are making it exceedingly difficult for IT admins to protect their data.
On the protection front, most organisations are falling behind; for instance, 91% are aware of or planning to deploy a zero-trust architecture, but only 12% are fully deployed.
And it's not just advanced defence that's lacking: Keegan points out that 69% of respondents stated they simply cannot meet their backup windows to be prepared for a ransomware attack.
https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/zero-trust-initiatives-stall-cyberattack-costs-1m-per-incident
44% of Financial Institutions Believe Their Own IT Teams Are the Main Risk to Cloud Security
Netwrix, a cyber security vendor, today announced additional findings for the financial and banking sector from its global 2022 Cloud Security Report.
Compared to other industries surveyed, financial institutions are much more concerned about users who have legitimate access to their cloud infrastructure. Indeed, 44% of respondents in this sector say their own IT staff poses the biggest risk to data security in the cloud and 47% worry about contractors and partners, compared to 30% and 36% respectively in other verticals surveyed.
Financial organisations experience accidental data leakage more often than companies in other verticals: 32% of them reported this type of security incident within the last 12 months, compared to the average of 25%. This is a good reason for them to be concerned about users who might unintentionally expose sensitive information. To address this threat, organisations need to implement a zero-standing privilege approach in which elevated access rights are granted only when they are needed and only for as long as needed. Cloud misconfigurations are another common reason for accidental data leakage. Therefore, security teams must continually monitor the integrity of their cloud configurations, ideally with a dedicated solution that automates the process.
All sectors say phishing is the most common type of attack they experience. However, 91% of financial institutions say they can spot phishing within minutes or hours, compared to 82% of respondents in other verticals.
Even though mature financial organisations detect phishing quickly, it is still crucial for them to keep educating their personnel on this threat because attacks are becoming more sophisticated. To increase the likelihood of a user clicking a malicious link, attackers are crafting custom spear phishing messages that are directed at the person responsible for a certain task in the organisation and that appear to come from an authority figure. Regular staff training, along with continuous activity monitoring, will help reduce the risk of infiltration.
MFA Fatigue Attacks Are Putting Your Organisation at Risk
The rapid advancement of technology in all industries has led to the threat of ever-increasing cyber attacks that target businesses, governments, and individuals alike. A common threat targeting businesses is MFA Fatigue attacks—a technique where a cyber criminal attempts to gain access to a corporate network by bombarding a user with MFA prompts until they finally accept one.
MFA refers to multi-factor authentication, a layered end-user verification strategy to secure data and applications. For a user to log in, an MFA system needs them to submit various combinations of two or more credentials.
Using MFA Fatigue attacks, cyber criminals bombard their victims with repeated 2FA (two-factor authentication) push notifications to trick them into authenticating their login attempts, to increase their chances of gaining access to sensitive information. This attempt can be successful, especially when the target victim is distracted or overwhelmed by the notifications or misinterprets them as legitimate authentication requests.
One major MFA Fatigue attack, also known as MFA bombing, targeted the ride-sharing giant Uber in September 2022. Uber attributed the attack to Lapsus$, a hacking group that started by compromising an external contractor’s credentials.
Cyber criminals increasingly use social engineering attacks to access their targets’ sensitive credentials. Social engineering is a manipulative technique used by hackers to exploit human error to gain private information.
MFA Fatigue is a technique that has gained popularity among hackers in recent years as part of their social engineering attacks. This is a simple yet effective technique with destructive consequences as the hackers are banking on their targets’ lack of training and understanding of attack vectors. Since many MFA users are unfamiliar with this style of attack, they would not understand that they are approving a fraudulent notification.
Cyber Security Training Boosts Risk Posture, Research Finds
Business executives worldwide see the economic advantages of continuing professional cyber security education and the steep downside from a workforce of under-trained individuals, Cybrary, a training platform provider, said in a new report.
The survey of 275 executives, directors and security professionals in North America and the UK who either procure or influence professional cyber security training, was conducted by consultancy Omdia. The results showed that the benefits of professional training boost an employee’s impact on the organisation, the overall risk posture of the organisation, and in the costs associated with finding and retaining highly skilled employees, the analyst said.
The study’s key findings include:
73% of respondents said their team’s cyber security performance was more efficient because of ongoing professional cyber security training.
62% of respondents said that training improved their organisation’s cyber security effectiveness (which encompasses decreases in the number of breach attempts and overall security events).
79% of respondents ranked professional cyber security training at the top or near the top of importance for the organisation’s ability to prevent and rapidly remediate breaches and ensuing consequences such as reputational damage.
70% of companies reported a relationship between an incident and training, and two-thirds of respondents reported increased investments in ongoing cyber security training after a security incident.
Large enterprises are the least likely to delay upskilling until after an incident, indicating that companies with larger cyber security teams firmly understand the importance of ongoing professional training.
67% of surveyed SMBs invested in cyber security training after a security incident, which served as a call to action.
53% invested in professional cyber security training due to a cyber security insurance audit.
48% of organisations said that cyber security training drives retention and decreases the likelihood that a cyber security professional will leave the organisation that trains them.
41% said that ongoing cyber security training has no significant impact on if a cyber security professional leaves.
Cybrary said the research shows the rewards that organisations enjoy by investing in training and upskilling their security professionals. The data “codifies the fiscal and reputational paybacks in proactively improving cyber security defences versus responding to attacks. It also codifies an often-underrecognised benefit of cyber security upskilling: helping the organisation retain invaluable security talent despite market and organisational uncertainty”.
MI5 Chief: UK Will Have to Tackle Russian Aggression ‘for Years to Come’
Britain will have to tackle Russian aggression for years to come, said the MI5’s chief on Wednesday, adding that his agency had blocked more than 100 attempts by the Kremlin to insert suspected spies into the UK since the Salisbury poisonings.
Ken McCallum, giving an annual threat update, said state-based threats were increasing and said the UK also faced a heightened direct threat from Iran, which had threatened “to kidnap or even kill” 10 people based in Britain in the past year.
The spy chief said Russia had suffered a “strategic blow” after 400 spies were expelled from around Europe following the start of the war in Ukraine, but he said the Kremlin was actively trying to rebuild its espionage network.
Britain had expelled 23 Russian spies posing as diplomats after the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury in 2018, yet since then “over 100 Russian diplomatic visa applications” had been rejected on national security grounds.
McCallum accused Russia of making “silly claims” about British activities without evidence, such as that UK was involved in attacking the Nord Stream gas pipelines. But the head of MI5 said “the serious point” was that “the UK must be ready for Russian aggression for years to come”.
Iran’s “aggressive intelligence services” were actively targeting Britain and had made “at least 10” attempts to “kidnap or even kill” British or UK-based individuals since January as the regime felt greater pressure than ever before.
Offboarding Processes Pose Security Risks as Job Turnover Increases: Report
Research from YouGov finds that poor offboarding practices across industries including healthcare and tech are putting companies at risk, including for loss of end-user devices and unauthorised SaaS application use.
Organisations across multiple industries are struggling to mitigate potential risks, including loss of end-user and storage devices as well as unauthorised use of SaaS applications, during their offboarding process, according to new research conducted by YouGov in partnership with Enterprise Technology Management (ETM) firm Oomnitza.
Over the last 18 months, employee turnover has increased, with the US Department of Labor estimating that by the end of 2021, a total of 69 million people, more than 20% of Americans, had either lost or changed their job. Although these figures could initially be attributed to the so-called Great Resignation, this figure is likely to increase due to the numerous job cuts that are now being reported, including layoffs at major technology companies, as organisations look to reduce operational costs.
Although the circumstances of an employee’s departure can sometimes make the offboarding process more complex, ultimately offboarding should aim to prevent disruption and mitigate any potential risks.
However, in YouGov’s 2022 State of Corporate Offboarding Process Automation report, the research found that although implementing a secure offboarding processes is now seen as a business imperative for enterprises, 48% of the survey’s respondents expressed deficiencies in or lack of automated workflows across departments and IT tools to facilitate the secure offboarding of employees.
Supply Chains Need Shoring Up Against Cyber Attacks, C-Suite Executives Say
Nearly every organisation (98%) in a new survey of some 2,100 C-suite executives has been hit by a supply chain cyber attack in the last year, security provider BlueVoyant said in a newly released study.
The study gleaned data from interviews with chief technology officers (CTOs), chief security officers (CSOs), chief operating officers (COOs), chief information officers (CIOs), chief information security officers (CISOs), and chief procurement officers (CPOs) responsible for supply chain and cyber risk management in organisations of more than 1,000 employees across business services, financial services, healthcare and pharmaceutical, manufacturing, utilities and energy, and defence industries.
While the number of companies experiencing digital supply chain attacks has stayed relatively static year-over-year, the attention paid by organisations to that attack vector has increased, BlueVoyant said. Still, the New York-based cyber defender said, there’s a lot of room for organisations to better monitor suppliers and “work with them to remediate issues to reduce their supply chain risks.”
Here are some macro highlights from the survey:
40% of respondents rely on the third-party vendor or supplier to ensure adequate security.
In 2021, 53% of companies said they audited or reported on supplier security more than twice per year. That number has improved to 67% in 2022. These numbers include enterprises monitoring in real time.
Budgets for supply chain defence are increasing, with 84% of respondents saying their budget has increased in the past 12 months.
The top pain points reported are internal understanding across the enterprise that suppliers are part of their cyber security posture, meeting regulatory requirements, and working with suppliers to improve their security.
Do Companies Need Cyber Insurance?
Companies are increasingly seeking to transfer risk with cyber insurance. This trend has been influenced by a greater severity in cyber attacks and the resulting skyrocketing costs of incident response, business disruption and recovery.
Companies struggle to afford the high prices of cyber insurance, however. One market index reported the price of cyber insurance increased 79% in the second quarter of 2022. Without it, however, companies risk shouldering the full cost of any resulting harm. Furthermore, insurance companies that lack traditional decades of actuarial data must consider whether to provide cyber insurance to clients unable or unwilling to show their cyber security maturity through independent risk analysis.
This combination of circumstances leaves businesses vulnerable, financially drained and facing potential reputational damage. But does it have to be this way? And is cyber insurance truly necessary? For the majority of organisations, the answer is that cyber insurance is a worthwhile investment as part of their overall risk treatment plans. There are a number of activities, however, that should be undertaken to optimise the benefits and reduce the costs of cyber-risk insurance.
A rise in high-profile attacks, in tandem with increased regulation and compliance surrounding cyber security and privacy, has shifted the conversation around digital safety. No longer is cyber security an optional aspect of the business model with a fixed, stagnant cost. Businesses today have become too digitally dependent to ignore cyber security, with classified, internal information stored online; communication largely conducted via email or another platform; and the workforce transitioned to hybrid and remote work environments. Effective cyber security and privacy, as well as mitigating financial and operational risks, can be strategic enablers to modern digital business.
Cyber insurance is not a solution -- it's a piece of the puzzle. Regardless of industry or company size, all businesses should conduct an independent cyber audit prior to committing to cyber insurance. In doing so, organisations can determine the need for cyber insurance and better understand their organisations' risk posture and weak points.
Even if insurance is needed, the audit further adds value as it lets insurance companies support the company specific to its digital landscape and help it become more digitally strong. Additionally, the existence of an independent audit and risk review may indeed enable the insurance company to offer higher levels of coverage without the need for excessive premiums.
https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/post/Do-companies-need-cyber-insurance
Threats
Ransomware and Extortion
Ransomware is a global problem that needs a global solution | TechCrunch
FBI: Hive ransomware extorted $100M from over 1,300 victims (bleepingcomputer.com)
The psychological fallout of a ransomware crisis - Help Net Security
New extortion scam threatens to damage sites’ reputation, leak data (bleepingcomputer.com)
Thales Denies Getting Hacked as Ransomware Gang Releases Gigabytes of Data | SecurityWeek.Com
Microsoft Warns of Cyber crime Group Delivering Royal Ransomware, Other Malware | SecurityWeek.Com
Hive Ransomware Has Made $100m to Date - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
LockBit Remains Most Prolific Ransomware in Q3 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
DEV-0569 finds new ways to deliver Royal ransomware, various payloads - Microsoft Security Blog
Transportation sector targeted by both ransomware and APTs - Help Net Security
Ukraine says Russian hacktivists use new Somnia ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware on Healthcare Organisations cost Global Economy $92 bn - IT Security Guru
Russian hacktivists hit Ukrainian orgs with ransomware - but no ransom demands - Help Net Security
Australia to ‘stand up and punch back’ against cyber crims • The Register
LockBit ransomware activity nose-dived in October (techtarget.com)
How to deal with the trauma of the Medibank cyber breach | Andrea Szasz | The Guardian
Researchers secretly helped decrypt Zeppelin ransomware for 2 years (bleepingcomputer.com)
Vanuatu: Hackers strand Pacific island government for over a week - BBC News
Canadian Supermarket Chain Sobeys Hit by Ransomware Attack | SecurityWeek.Com
Two public schools in Michigan hit by a ransomware attack - Security Affairs
Ukraine says Russian hacktivists use new Somnia ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Top enterprise email threats and how to counter them - Help Net Security
China-Based Sophisticated Phishing Campaign Uses 42,000 Domains - Information Security Buzz
Mass Email Extortion Campaign Claims Server Hack - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Netflix Phishing Emails Surge 78% - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Earth Preta Spear-Phishing Governments Worldwide (trendmicro.com)
Email Security Best Practices for Phishing Prevention (trendmicro.com)
Malware
Wipermania: Malware Remains a Potent Threat, 10 Years Since 'Shamoon' (darkreading.com)
QBot phishing abuses Windows Control Panel EXE to infect devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
Researchers Sound Alarm on Dangerous BatLoader Malware Dropper (darkreading.com)
Study: Almost 50% of macOS malware only comes from one app - Neowin
Notorious Emotet botnet returns after a few months off • The Register
Chinese hackers use Google Drive to drop malware on govt networks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft Warns of Cyber crime Group Delivering Royal Ransomware, Other Malware | SecurityWeek.Com
LodaRAT Malware Resurfaces with New Variants Employing Updated Functionalities (thehackernews.com)
New attacks use Windows security bypass zero-day to drop malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Updated RapperBot malware targets game servers in DDoS attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Google Wins Lawsuit Against Glupteba Botnet Operators | SecurityWeek.Com
Mobile
Internet of Things – IoT
Shocker: EV charging infrastructure is seriously insecure • The Register
Aiphone Intercom System Vulnerability Allows Hackers to Open Doors | SecurityWeek.Com
Data Breaches/Leaks
Police published sexual assault victims' names and addresses on its website (bitdefender.com)
Whoosh confirms data breach after hackers sell 7.2M user records (bleepingcomputer.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Long-Standing Chinese Cyber crime Campaign Spoofs Over 400 Brands | SecurityWeek.Com
Suspected Zeus cyber crime ring leader ‘Tank’ arrested by Swiss police (bleepingcomputer.com)
Australia's Hack-Back Plan Against Cyber attackers Raises Familiar Concerns (darkreading.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Banks ban crypto to fight fraudsters | Money | The Sunday Times (thetimes.co.uk)
'Three quarters' of retail Bitcoin investors are in the red • The Register
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Massive adware campaign spoofs top brands to trick users | TechRadar
Police Celebrate Arrest of 59 Suspected Scammers - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Cyber Monday Will Be the Most Fraudulent Day of the Season, Says SEON (darkreading.com)
UK Shoppers Lost £15m+ to Scammers Last Winter - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
How scammers are now exploiting cashless parking (telegraph.co.uk)
Experts Advice On International Fraud Awareness Week - Information Security Buzz
Banks ban crypto to fight fraudsters | Money | The Sunday Times (thetimes.co.uk)
Impersonation Attacks
42,000 sites used to trap users in brand impersonation scheme (bleepingcomputer.com)
Instagram Impersonators Target Thousands, Slipping by Microsoft's Cyber security (darkreading.com)
Dark Web
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Software Supply Chain
Denial of Service DoS/DDoS
2022 holiday DDoS protection guide - Microsoft Security Blog
Updated RapperBot malware targets game servers in DDoS attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cloud/SaaS
Cloud data protection trends you need to be aware of - Help Net Security
Cyber security implications of using public cloud platforms - Help Net Security
Evolving Security for Government Multiclouds (darkreading.com)
Encryption
Why companies can no longer hide keys under the doormat - Help Net Security
Quantum Cryptography Apocalypse: A Timeline and Action Plan (darkreading.com)
Open Source
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Social Media
Advertising giant warns clients to stay off Twitter (telegraph.co.uk)
Meta keeps booting small-business owners for being hacked on Facebook | Ars Technica
Guinness, Cadbury’s and Nissan told to avoid ‘toxic’ and ‘dangerous’ Twitter (telegraph.co.uk)
FBI director says he's 'extremely concerned' about China's ability to weaponize TikTok - CyberScoop
Instagram Impersonators Target Thousands, Slipping by Microsoft's Cyber security (darkreading.com)
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Electronics repair technicians snoop on your data - Help Net Security
Google to Pay $391 Million Privacy Fine for Secretly Tracking Users' Location (thehackernews.com)
Security firms hijack New York trees to monitor workers • The Register
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Cyber security jobs: Five ways to help you build your career | ZDNET
Google cloud wants CISOs to do more about diversity • The Register
Amazon poaches top National Cyber Security Centre exec Levy | Business News | Sky News
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Zeus Botnet Suspected Leader Arrested in Geneva - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Police Celebrate Arrest of 59 Suspected Scammers - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Suspected Zeus cyber crime ring leader ‘Tank’ arrested by Swiss police (bleepingcomputer.com)
Police dismantle pirated TV streaming network with 500,000 users (bleepingcomputer.com)
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Chinese hackers target government agencies and defence orgs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russian hacktivists hit Ukrainian orgs with ransomware - but no ransom demands - Help Net Security
COP27 Delegates Given Burner Phones To Combat Spying - Information Security Buzz
Avast details Worok espionage group's compromise chain - Security Affairs
Biden set to approve expansive authorities for Pentagon to carry out cyber operations - CyberScoop
Ukraine says Russian hacktivists use new Somnia ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Europe’s spyware scandal is a global wakeup call. (slate.com)
Koch-funded group sues US state over mobile 'spyware' • The Register
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
UK Banks Bolstering Defences As Russian Cyber Threat Rises - Information Security Buzz
EXCLUSIVE Russian software disguised as American finds its way into U.S. Army, CDC apps | Reuters
Pro-Russian hackers claim cyber attack on FBI website: Report | Fox News
Ukraine says Russian hacktivists use new Somnia ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nation State Actors – China
China playing ‘long game’ as it co-opts UK assets, warns MI5 chief | Financial Times (ft.com)
FBI director says he's 'extremely concerned' about China's ability to weaponize TikTok - CyberScoop
Chinese Cyber espionage Group 'Billbug' Targets Certificate Authority | SecurityWeek.Com
Previously undetected Earth Longzhi APT is a subgroup of APT41 - Security Affairs
Rishi Sunak to hold surprise meeting with Chinese president at G20 | Financial Times (ft.com)
Chinese hackers use Google Drive to drop malware on govt networks (bleepingcomputer.com)
State-sponsored hackers in China compromise certificate authority | Ars Technica
Chinese 'Mustang Panda' Hackers Actively Targeting Governments Worldwide (thehackernews.com)
Reports of Chinese police stations in US worry FBI - BBC News
Nation State Actors – North Korea
Nation State Actors – Iran
US govt: Iranian hackers breached federal agency using Log4Shell exploit (bleepingcomputer.com)
CISA: Iranian APT actors compromised federal network (techtarget.com)
US Gov Warning: Start Hunting for Iranian APTs That Exploited Log4j | SecurityWeek.Com
Nation State Actors – Misc
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerabilities
Microsoft Office lets hackers execute arbitrary code, update now | TechRadar
Unpatched Zimbra Platforms Are Probably Compromised, CISA Says (darkreading.com)
Exploit released for actively abused ProxyNotShell Exchange bug (bleepingcomputer.com)
F5 fixes two remote code execution flaws in BIG-IP, BIG-IQ (bleepingcomputer.com)
Samba Patches Vulnerability That Can Lead to DoS, Remote Code Execution | SecurityWeek.Com
Firefox 107 Patches High-Impact Vulnerabilities | SecurityWeek.Com
Windows Kerberos authentication breaks after November updates (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nasty SQL Injection Bug in Zendesk Endangers Sensitive Customer Data (darkreading.com)
Mastodon users vulnerable to password-stealing attacks | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)
High Severity Vulnerabilities Reported in F5 BIG-IP and BIG-IQ Devices (thehackernews.com)
Tools and Controls
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
Cyber Resilience: The New Strategy to Cope With Increased Threats | SecurityWeek.Com
The 4 horsemen of the cyber security apocalypse | Security Magazine
The Top Five Cyber security Trends of 2023: KnowBe4 Makes Its Predictions - MSSP Alert
Build a mature approach for better cyber security vendor evaluation | CSO Online
Almost half of customers have left a vendor due to poor digital trust: Report | CSO Online
Global 2000 companies failing to adopt key domain security measures | CSO Online
Research: Most North American SMBs Outsource Cyber security Management to Third Parties - MSSP Alert
Repair technicians caught snooping on customer data • The Register
Research: Most North American SMBs Outsource Cyber security Management to Third Parties - MSSP Alert
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
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Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 13 May 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 13 May 2022
-UK, US Intelligence Agencies Warn Managed Service Providers, including External IT Providers, Are Now Prime Targets for Cyber Attacks
-Wannacry – 5 Years On, 68% Of Enterprises Are Still At Risk
-You Can’t Eliminate Cyber Attacks, So Focus on Reducing the Blast Radius
-Just In Time? Bosses Are Finally Waking Up to The Cyber Security Threat
-Most Organisations Hit by Ransomware Would Pay Up If Hit Again
-31,000 FTSE 100 Logins Found on Dark Web
-Ransomware: How Executives Should Prepare Given the Current Threat Landscape
-What Your Cyber Insurance Application Form Can Tell You About Ransomware Readiness
-NCSC Shut Down 2.7 Million Scams in 2021
-Top 6 Security Threats Targeting Remote Workers
-Password Reuse Is Rampant Among Employees in All Sectors
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
UK, US Intelligence Agencies Warn Managed Service Providers, including External IT Providers, Are Now Prime Targets for Cyber Attacks
The Five Eyes coalition of international cyber security authorities, this week issued an advisory to warn managed service providers (MSPs), including external IT providers, of an escalating threat of attack from both everyday cyber criminals and state-sponsored threat actors.
MSPs provide or operate information and communications technology services.
With input from cyber security leaders from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US, the NSA provided recommendations to help bolster their cyber defences, including:
Finding and disabling dormant accounts.
Implementing and enforcing multifactor authentication on accounts.
Ensuring contracts clearly map out who owns and is responsible for securing data.
Malicious actors are targeting MSPs to break into their customers' networks and deploy ransomware, steal data, and spy on them, the Five Eyes authorities have formally warned in a joint security alert.
"The UK, Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, and US cyber security authorities expect malicious cyber actors — including state-sponsored advanced persistent threat (APT) groups — to step up their targeting of MSPs in their efforts to exploit provider-customer network trust relationships," the alert warned.
These types of supply-chain or "island-hopping" attacks can prove very lucrative for cyber criminals because once they break into an MSP, they gain access to all of the customers' networks and data being managed, and in turn commit computer crimes and fraud against those customers' customers.
Wannacry – 5 Years On, 68% Of Enterprises Are Still at Risk
5 years on from one of the world’s most damaging ransomware attacks, research from network detection and response leader ExtraHop has found that 68% of enterprises are still running insecure protocol that were exploited by the North Korean ransomware.
The events of 12 May 2017 live on in cyber security lore. WannaCry revealed just how extensive the damage caused by ransomware can be if deployed in large scale – from downtime to ransom paid to reputational damage. Yet despite the danger, huge numbers of organisations are still running SMBv1, the protocol exploited in the WannaCry attacks that has been publicly deprecated since 2014.
You Can’t Eliminate Cyber Attacks, So Focus on Reducing the Blast Radius
Given it is impossible to prevent all cyber attacks, many organisations should look to reduce the size of the company’s attack surface and the limit the “blast radius” of a potential attack.
There is a danger that the biggest risk concerning cyber attacks is that we’re becoming desensitised to them. After all, businesses experience a ransomware attack every 11 seconds—the majority of which the public never hears about. Faced with this reality, it may seem like efforts to safeguard the enterprise are futile. But that’s all the more reason to strengthen your resolve—and switch up your cyber defence strategy.
The core of this strategy should be the concept of “reducing the blast radius” of an attack, and since you can’t completely eliminate cyber attacks, you need to take steps to contain the impact.
This strategy should contain basic blocking and also consider things such as Zero Trust for remote access, traffic inspection, software-based micro-segmentation and other practical measures to reduce your attack surface.
https://threatpost.com/cyberattacks-blast-radius/179612/
Just In Time? Bosses Are Finally Waking Up to The Cyber Security Threat
Boardrooms have a reputation for not paying much attention to cyber security, but it could be that executives are finally keen to take more interest in securing the systems and networks their businesses rely on.
Senior figures from American, British and Australian cyber security agencies have said that business execs are now more aware of cyber threats and are actively engaging with their chief information security officer (CISO) and information security teams.
Chief execs are starting to ask their CISOs the right questions, rather than leaving them to it because they don't have to understand complex technology. It does feel like a much more engaging strategic conversation, but there can still be a disconnect between knowing what needs to happen, then actually budgeting for and implementing a cyber security strategy.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/just-in-time-bosses-are-finally-waking-up-to-the-cybersecurity-threat/
Most Organisations Hit by Ransomware Would Pay Up If Hit Again
Almost nine in 10 organisations that have suffered a ransomware attack would choose to pay the ransom if hit again, according to a new report, compared with two-thirds of those that have not experienced an attack.
The findings come from a report titled "How business executives perceive ransomware threat" by security company Kaspersky, which states that ransomware has become an ever-present threat, with 64 percent of companies surveyed already having suffered an attack, but more worryingly, that executives seem to believe that paying the ransom is a reliable way of addressing the issue.
The report is based on research involving 900 respondents across North America, South America, Africa, Russia, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. The respondents were in senior non-IT management roles at companies between 50 and 1,000 employees.
Kaspersky claims that in 88 percent of organisations that have had to deal with a ransomware incident, business leaders said they would choose to pay the money if faced with another attack. In contrast, among those that have not so far suffered a ransomware attack, only 67 percent would be willing to pay, and they would be less inclined to do so immediately.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/13/organizations_pay_ransomware/
31,000 FTSE 100 Logins Found on Dark Web
Researchers with Outpost24 are reporting over 31,000 corporate credentials for many of the UK’s leading FTSE 100 firms on the dark web. These are the 100 biggest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange by market capitalisation. The researchers used their threat monitoring and auditing tool Blueliv to search dark web sites for the breached credentials.
Key findings from stolen and leaked credentials study:
The majority (81%) of the companies within the FTSE 100 had at least one credential compromised and exposed on the dark web
31,135 total stolen and leaked credentials detected for FTSE 100 companies, with 38% disclosed on the underground in the past 12 months
Nearly half (42%) of FTSE 100 companies have more than 500 compromised credentials exposed on the dark web
Up to 20% of credentials are stolen via malware infection and stealers
11% disclosed in the last 3 months (21% in the last 6 months and over 68% have been exposed for over 12 months)
Over 60% of stolen credentials came from 3 industries – IT/Telecom (23%), Energy and Utility (22%) and Finance (21%)
IT/Telecoms industry is the most at risk with the highest total amount (7,303) and average stolen credentials per company (730), they are most affected by malware infection and have the most amount of stolen credentials disclosed in the last 3 months
On average, healthcare has the highest number of stolen credentials per company (485) from data breach as they found themselves increasingly in the cyber criminals’ crosshairs since the pandemic.
https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/expert-comments/31000-ftse-100-logins-found-on-dark-web/
Ransomware: How Executives Should Prepare Given the Current Threat Landscape
As the number of ransomware attacks continue to increase, the response at C-level must be swift and decisive.
Top executives are increasingly dreading the phone call from their fellow employee notifying them that their company has been hit by a cyber attack. Nearly every week in 2021 and early 2022, a prominent organisation has been in the media spotlight as their public relations team struggles to explain how they were attacked and how they can regain consumer confidence. A recent survey showed that 37 percent of organisations surveyed had been affected by ransomware attacks in the last year.
Worse, the days when executive leadership teams could fully delegate responsibility to a CISO are over. Regardless of reality, surveys have shown that about 40 percent of the public perception of fault for a ransomware attack lands squarely on the CEO’s shoulders, and that 36 percent of attacks result in the loss of C-level talent. While executive involvement in the security program does not guarantee a successful defence, it does give the executive leadership team (ELT) a degree of ownership of the final product, as well as the ability to speak confidently and knowledgeably to the public.
What Your Cyber Insurance Application Form Can Tell You About Ransomware Readiness
The annual cyber insurance application form shows what the carriers think you should be doing to best prevent and recover from ransomware attacks. Pay attention.
If it’s the time of year for you to fill out the annual cyber insurance policy application, you will see how the focus for insurance firms is changing. Each year you can get an insight into what insurance vendors are using to rate the risks and threats to your business and what they are stressing firms should have in place as best practice or what they are expecting you should have in place as a baseline set of controls. Not having them in place could affect insurance rates, whether you are able to get cyber coverage at all, or crucially whether they would pay out in the event of you having to make a claim.
This year you might find more questions specifically around ransomware prevention techniques and protections, from Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) to Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), and email filtering protections to the robustness of your backups.
Make sure to review your cyber insurance policy and its related questionnaire. And ask whether you are doing everything you can to protect your firm and tailoring your actions to align with what your insurance provider has deemed as a best practice.
NCSC Shut Down 2.7 Million Scams in 2021
The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) removed 2.7 million online scams last year, it was revealed this week, four times as many scams compared to 2020.
The announcement comes as the security agency shared the most recent data from its Active Cyber Defence initiative at the CYBERUK summit earlier in the week.
According to the NCSC, neutralised scams included fake celebrity endorsements and spoof extortion emails.
It has also been revealed that fraud campaigns used common themes, with NHS vaccines and vaccine passports being particularly popular.
Some cyber criminals even posed as NCSC CEO Lindy Cameron – victims received an email claiming the NCSC had prevented £5m of their money from being stolen, and were urged to supply personal information to retrieve the funds.
https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/05/10/ncsc-shut-down-2-7-million-scams-in-2021/
Security Threats Targeting Remote Workers
Remote work offers great benefits, like reduced commute time, increased freedom, and more time to spend with loved ones. But there can be security downsides if sufficient controls are not in place to protect remote workers against the digital threats that come with working via unsecured connections.
Being on a home network lacks the layered network security of the company environment. Remote work itself is not new, but the dramatic shift to working from home over the past two years means there are more security-naive people who are not in the office.
Not all security threats are the fault of technology. Much of it also comes from human error.
Remote work greatly exacerbates human-activated risk, and people are working in more distracting environments where they may have to answer the door for deliveries or might multitask with household chores. That means mistakes are more likely to happen, like sending an email to the wrong recipient or falling for a malicious email attack.
Recent research by Egress found that 77% of IT leaders said they have seen an increase in security compromises since going remote two years ago.
https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/top-6-security-threats-targeting-remote-workers
Password Reuse Is Rampant Among Employees in All Sectors
SpyCloud published an annual analysis of identity exposure among employees of Fortune 1000 companies in key sectors such as technology, finance, retail and telecommunications.
Drawing on a database of over 200 billion recaptured assets, researchers identified over 687 million exposed credentials and PII tied to Fortune 1000 employees, a 26% increase from last year’s analysis.
Analysis of this data showed a 64% password reuse rate, widespread use of easy-to-guess passwords, and a spike in malware-infected devices –– all sources of cyber risk for both employers and consumers who rely on businesses to safeguard their personal data. With remote work blurring the lines between work and personal device use, a larger attack surface compounds the risk of cyber attacks proliferating beyond compromised employee and consumer identities to penetrate corporate networks.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/11/fortune-1000-identity-exposure/
Threats
Ransomware
Costa Rica Shows the Damage Ransomware Can Do to a Country - The Washington Post
Ransomware Works Fast, You Need to Be Faster To Counter It - Help Net Security
A Closer Look At Today’s Ransomware Attack Landscape - MSSP Alert
Ransomware Is a National Security Threat, So Please Tell Us About Attacks, Says Government | ZDNet
5 Years That Altered the Ransomware Landscape (darkreading.com)
Colonial Pipeline Faces Nearly $1m Fine After Ransomware • The Register
These Ransomware Attackers Sent Their Ransom Note to The Victim's Printer | ZDNet
New Malware Samples Indicate Return of REvil Ransomware | SecurityWeek.Com
How to Avoid Falling Victim to PayOrGrief's Next Rebrand (darkreading.com)
Examining the Black Basta Ransomware’s Infection Routine (trendmicro.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Novel Phishing Trick Uses Weird Links to Bypass Spam Filters | Threatpost
New Email Security Tool Launched to Help Organisations Check Their Defences - NCSC.GOV.UK
Malware
Novel ‘Nerbian’ Trojan Uses Advanced Anti-Detection Tricks | Threatpost
Low-rent Remote Access Trojan (RAT) Worries Researchers | Threatpost
Eternity Malware Kit Offers Stealer, Miner, Worm, Ransomware Tools (bleepingcomputer.com)
It costs $7 to Rent DCRat Malware to Backdoor Your Network • The Register
Shopping For Malware: $260 Gets You a Password Stealer... • The Register
Microsoft: Sysrv Botnet Targets Windows, Linux Servers with New Exploits (bleepingcomputer.com)
Google Drive Emerges as Top App For Malware Downloads - Help Net Security
Stealthy Linux Implant BPFdoor Compromised Organizations Globally For Years | CSO Online
Malware Attacks Getting More Regional, Claims Netskope • The Register
5-Buck DCRat Malware Foretells a Worrying Cyber Future (darkreading.com)
Threat Actors Use Telegram to Spread ‘Eternity’ Malware-as-a-Service | Threatpost
German Automakers Targeted in Year-Long Malware Campaign (bleepingcomputer.com)
Data Breaches/Leaks
PII Of 21M SuperVPN, GeckoVPN Users Leaked On Telegram - Information Security Buzz
Victims of Horizon Actuarial Data Breach Exceed 1M (techtarget.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Crypto Robber Who Lured Victims Via Snapchat and Stole £34,000 Jailed (bleepingcomputer.com)
Crook Jailed for Selling Stolen Credentials On Dark Web • The Register
US Agrees to International Electronic Cyber Crime Evidence Swap (darkreading.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs
NFTs Emerge as the Next Enterprise Attack Vector (darkreading.com)
Fake Binance NFT Mystery Box Bots Steal Victim's Crypto Wallets (bleepingcomputer.com)
Possible $1 Billion Crypto Ponzi Scheme Probed by Tax Investigators - Bloomberg
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
How Can Your Business Defend Itself Against Fraud-as-a-Service? (darkreading.com)
Scammers Impersonate Britain’s Top Cyber Crime Chief in Fake £5m Heist (telegraph.co.uk)
Caramel Credit Card Stealing Service Is Growing in Popularity (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers Are Exploiting WordPress Themes, Plugins to Hawk Scams (gizmodo.com)
Thousands of WordPress Sites Hacked to Redirect Visitors to Scam Sites (thehackernews.com)
Insurance
Multi-Factor Authentication: A Key to Cyber Risk Insurance Coverage (tripwire.com)
How Cyber Liability Insurance Can Help Protect Your Business Reputation - MSSP Alert
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Denial of Service DoS/DDoS
Cloud
Open Source
Travel
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Cyber Bullying and Cyber Stalking
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Wars Start in Cyberspace Well Before Shots Are Fired • The Register
#CYBERUK22: Cyber Trends from the Russia-Ukraine War - Infosecurity Magazine
US Pledges to Help Ukraine Keep the Internet and Lights On (darkreading.com)
Spain’s Spy Chief Sacked Over Pegasus Scandal - Infosecurity Magazine
OpRussia Update: Anonymous Breached Other Organizations - Security Affairs
Pro-Russian Hacktivists Target Italy Government Websites - Security Affairs
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Russian Hackers Targeting Opponents Of Ukraine Invasion, Warns GCHQ Chief | Hacking | The Guardian
Western Intelligence Blames Russia for Europe-Wide Cyber Attack - Infosecurity Magazine
State Department Says Russian Cyber War Against Ukraine Began in January | The Independent
Ukraine War: Don’t Underestimate Russia Cyber-Threat, Warns US - BBC News
Nation State Actors – China
Experts Uncovered a New Wave Of Attacks Conducted By Mustang Panda - Security Affairs
China-Backed Winnti Hackers Attacked Manufacturers Globally, Cybereason Alleges - MSSP Alert
Nation State Actors – Iran
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerabilities
Critical F5 BIG-IP Vulnerability Exploited to Wipe Devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
Adobe Warns of 'Critical' Security Flaws in Enterprise Products | SecurityWeek.Com
Log4Shell Exploit Threatens Enterprise Data Lakes, AI Poisoning (darkreading.com)
Intel Emits Raft of Firmware Patches For Security Flaws • The Register
Actively Exploited Zero-Day Bug Patched by Microsoft | Threatpost
HP Fixes Bug Letting Attackers Overwrite Firmware in Over 200 Models (bleepingcomputer.com)
Zyxel Fixes Firewall Flaws That Could Lead to Hacked Networks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft Releases Fixes for Azure Flaw Allowing RCE Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Researchers Find Flaws in Word, PDF Script Handling • The Register
SonicWall Releases Patches for New Flaws Affecting SSLVPN SMA1000 Devices (thehackernews.com)
Microsoft: May Windows Updates Cause AD Authentication Failures (bleepingcomputer.com)
Sector Specific
Health/Medical/Pharma Sector
Ransomware Group Strikes Second US Health Care System in The Last Two Months - CyberScoop
Is That Health App Safe to Use? A New Framework Aims To Provide An Answer - Help Net Security
Manufacturing
German Automakers Targeted in Year-Long Malware Campaign (bleepingcomputer.com)
China-Backed Winnti Hackers Attacked Manufacturers Globally, Cybereason Alleges - MSSP Alert
Education and Academia
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
An Offensive Mindset Is Crucial for Effective Cyber Defence - Help Net Security
Zero-Click Attacks Explained, And Why They Are So Dangerous | CSO Online
Britain Must Upgrade Cyber Defences ‘Or Be Hit By 9/11-Style Attack’ (telegraph.co.uk)
Everything We Learned From the LAPSUS$ Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Threat Actors Are Stealing Data Now to Decrypt When Quantum Computing Comes (darkreading.com)
Prepare for What You Wish For: More CISOs on Boards | SecurityWeek.Com
Ready, IAM, Fire: How Weak Identity and Access Management (IAM) Makes You a Target (darkreading.com)
How Privileged Access Management (PAM) Must Evolve - MSSP Alert
Secure Your CMS-Based Websites Against Pervasive Attacks - Help Net Security
Threats To Hardware Security Are Growing - Help Net Security
Government’s “Whole of Society” Cyber Strategy Takes Shape - Infosecurity Magazine
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 21 January 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 21 January 2022
-Cyber Risks Top Worldwide Business Concerns In 2022
-Bosses Think That Security Is Taken Care Of: CISOs Aren't So Sure
-Fraud Is On the Rise, and It's Going to Get Worse
-Two-Fifths of Ransomware Victims Still Paying Up
-Less Than a Fifth of Cyber Leaders Feel Confident Their Organisation is Cyber-Resilient
-Endpoint Malware And Ransomware Detections Hit All-Time High
-End Users Remain Organisations' Biggest Security Risk
-Supply Chain Disruptions Rose In 2021
-Red Cross Begs Attackers Not to Leak Stolen Data for 515K People
-DHL Dethrones Microsoft As Most Imitated Brand In Phishing Attacks
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 Risks Top Worldwide Business Concerns In 2022
Cyber perils are the biggest concern for companies globally in 2022, according to the Allianz Risk Barometer. The threat of ransomware attacks, data breaches or major IT outages worries companies even more than business and supply chain disruption, natural disasters or the COVID-19 pandemic, all of which have heavily affected firms in the past year.
Cyber incidents tops the Allianz Risk Barometer for only the second time in the survey’s history (44% of responses), Business interruption drops to a close second (42%) and Natural catastrophes ranks third (25%), up from sixth in 2021. Climate change climbs to its highest-ever ranking of sixth (17%, up from ninth), while Pandemic outbreak drops to fourth (22%).
The annual survey incorporates the views of 2,650 experts in 89 countries and territories, including CEOs, risk managers, brokers and insurance experts. View the full global and country risk rankings.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/20/cyber-concern-2022/
Bosses Think That Security Is Taken Care Of: CISOs Aren't So Sure
The World Economic Forum warns about a significant gap in understanding between C-suites and information security staff - but it's possible to close the gap.
Organisations could find themselves at risk from cyberattacks because of a significant gap between the views of their own security experts and the boardroom.
The World Economic Forum's new report, The Global Cyber Security Outlook 2022, warns there are big discrepancies between bosses and information security personnel when it comes to the state of cyber resilience within organisations.
According to the paper, 92% of business executives surveyed agree that cyber resilience is integrated into enterprise risk management strategies – or in other words, protecting the organisation against falling victim to a cyberattack, or mitigating the incident so it doesn't result in significant disruption.
However, only 55% of security-focused executives believe that cyber resilience is integrated into risk management strategies – indicating a significant divide in attitudes to cyber security.
This gap can leave organisations vulnerable to cyberattacks, because boardrooms believe enough has been done in order to mitigate threats, while in reality there could be unconsidered vulnerabilities or extra measures put in place.
Fraud Is On the Rise, and It's Going to Get Worse
The acceleration of the digital transformation resulted in a surge of online transactions, greater adoption of digital payments, and increased fraud.
As more daily activities — work, education, shopping, and entertainment — shift online, fraud is also on the rise. A trio of recent reports paint a bleak picture, highlighting concerns that companies are experiencing increasing losses from fraud and that the situation will get worse over the coming year.
In KPMG's survey of senior risk executives, 67% say their companies have experienced external fraud in the past 12 months, and 38% expect the risk of fraud committed by external perpetrators to somewhat increase in the next year. External fraud, which includes credit card fraud and identity theft, is specifically referring to incidents perpetuated by individuals outside the company. For most of these respondents, there was a financial impact: Forty-two percent say their organisations experienced 0.5% to 1% of loss as a result of fraud and cybercrime.
https://www.darkreading.com/edge-articles/fraud-is-on-the-rise-and-its-going-to-get-worse
Two-Fifths of Ransomware Victims Still Paying Up
Two-fifths (39%) of ransomware victims paid their extorters over the past three years, with the majority of these spending at least $100,000, according to new Anomali research.
The security vendor hired The Harris Poll to complete its Cyber Resiliency Survey – interviewing 800 security decision-makers in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, the UAE, Mexico and Brazil.
Some 87% said their organisation had been the victim of a successful attack resulting in damage, disruption, or a breach since 2019. However, 83% said they’d experienced more attacks since the start of the pandemic.
Over half (52%) were ransomware victims, with 39% paying up. Of these, 58% gave their attackers between $100,000 and $1m, while 7% handed over more than $1m.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/two-fifths-ransomware-victims/
Less Than a Fifth of Cyber Leaders Feel Confident Their Organisation is Cyber-Resilient
Less than one-fifth (17%) of cyber leaders feel confident that their organisations are cyber-resilient, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s inaugural Global Cyber Security Outlook 2022 report.
The study, written in collaboration with Accenture, revealed there is a wide perception gap between business executives and security leaders on the issue of cyber security. For example, 92% of businesses believe cyber-resilience is integrated into their enterprise risk-management strategies, compared to just 55% of cyber leaders.
This difference in attitude appears to be having worrying consequences. The WEF said that many security leaders feel that they are not consulted in security decisions, and only 68% believe cyber-resilience forms a major part of their organisation’s overall corporate risk management.
In addition, over half (59%) of all cyber leaders admitted they would find it challenging to respond to a cyber security incident due to a shortage of skills within their team.
Supply chain security was another major concern among cyber leaders, with almost nine in 10 (88%) viewing SMEs as a key threat to supply chains.
Interestingly, 59% of cyber leaders said cyber-resilience and cyber security are synonymous, with the differences not well understood.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cyber-leaders-organisation/
Endpoint Malware And Ransomware Detections Hit All-Time High
Endpoint malware and ransomware detections surpassed the total volume seen in 2020 by the end of Q3 2021, according to researchers at the WatchGuard Threat Lab. In its latest report, WatchGuard also highlights that a significant percentage of malware continues to arrive over encrypted connections.
While zero-day malware increased by just 3% to 67.2% in Q3 2021, the percentage of malware that arrived via Transport Layer Security (TLS) jumped from 31.6% to 47%. Data shows that many organisations are not decrypting these connections and therefore have poor visibility into the amount of malware hitting their networks.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/20/endpoint-malware-ransomware-detections-q3-2021/
End Users Remain Organisations' Biggest Security Risk
With the rapid adoption of hybrid working environments and increased attacks, IT and security professionals worry that future data breaches will most likely be the result of end users who are negligent of or break security policy, according to a recent Dark Reading survey. The percentage of respondents in Dark Reading's 2021 Strategic Security Survey who perceive users breaking policy as the biggest risk fell slightly, however, from 51% in 2020 to 48% in 2021. Other potential issues involving end users showed improvements as well, with social engineering falling in concern from 20% to 15% and remote work worries halving from 26% to 13%.
While this trend is positive, it's unclear where the increased confidence comes from, since more people now report ineffective end-user security awareness training (11%, to 2020's 7%).
Respondents shared their heightened concern about well-funded attacks. In 2021, 25% predicted an attack targeted at their organisations (a rise from 2020, when 20% said the same), and fear of a nation-state-sponsored action rose to 16% from 9% the year before. Yet only 16% reported sophisticated, automated malware as a top concern, a 10% drop from 2020, and fear of a gap between security and IT advances only merited 9%. A tiny 3% worried that their security tools wouldn't work well together, dropping from the previous year's 10%.
Supply Chain Disruptions Rose In 2021
56% of businesses experienced more supply chain disruptions in 2021 than 2020, a Hubs report reveals.
Last year was marked by a number of challenges, including computer chip shortages, port congestion, the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, logistics impediments, and energy crises, though with every hurdle faced, solutions are being sought. It is increasingly clear that while certain risks are hard to anticipate and difficult to plan for, it is possible to mitigate the effects of supply chain disruptions by establishing a robust and agile supply chain.
Over 98% of global companies are now planning to boost the resilience of their manufacturing supply chains, however, 37% have yet to implement any measures. As businesses develop long term strategies, over 57% of companies say diversification of their supply chains is the most effective way of building resilience. This report explores last year’s most disruptive events, how disruptions have changed over time, industry trends and strategies for strengthening manufacturing supply chains.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/19/supply-chain-disruptions-2021/
Red Cross Begs Attackers Not to Leak Stolen Data for 515K People
A cyber attack forced the Red Cross to shut down IT systems running the Restoring Family Links system, which reunites families fractured by war, disaster or migration. UPDATE: The ICRC says it’s open to confidentially communicating with the attacker.
The Red Cross is imploring threat actors to show mercy by abstaining from leaking data belonging to 515,000+ “highly vulnerable” people. The data was stolen from a program used to reunite family members split apart by war, disaster or migration.
“While we don’t know who is responsible for this attack, or why they carried it out, we do have this appeal to make to them,” Robert Mardini, the director general of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), said in a release on Wednesday. “Your actions could potentially cause yet more harm and pain to those who have already endured untold suffering. The real people, the real families behind the information you now have are among the world’s least powerful. Please do the right thing. Do not share, sell, leak or otherwise use this data.”
https://threatpost.com/red-cross-begs-attackers-not-to-leak-515k-peoples-stolen-data/177799/
DHL Dethrones Microsoft As Most Imitated Brand In Phishing Attacks
DHL was the most imitated brand in phishing campaigns throughout Q4 2021, pushing Microsoft to second place, and Google to fourth.
This isn't surprising considering that the final quarter of every year includes the Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas shopping season, so phishing lures based on package deliveries naturally increase.
DHL is an international package delivery and express mail service, delivering over 1.6 billion parcels per year.
As such, phishing campaigns impersonating the brand have good chances of reaching people who are waiting for a DHL package to arrive during the holiday season.
The specific lures range from a package that is stuck at customs and requires action for clearance to supposed tracking numbers that hide inside document attachments or embedded links.
Threats
Ransomware
New White Rabbit Ransomware Linked To FIN8 Hacking Group (bleepingcomputer.com)
Conti Ransomware Gang Started Leaking Files Stolen From Bank Indonesia - Security Affairs
This New Ransomware Comes With A Small But Dangerous Payload | ZDNet
FBI Warning: This New Ransomware Makes Demands Of Up To $500,000 | ZDNet
Experts Warn Of Attacks Using A New Linux Variant Of SFile Ransomware - Security Affairs
SEC Filing Reveals Fortune 500 Firm Targeted in Ransomware Attack | Threatpost
FBI Warns Organisations of Diavol Ransomware Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Marketing Giant RRD Confirms Data Theft In Conti Ransomware Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
After Ransomware Arrests, Some Dark Web Criminals Are Getting Worried | ZDNet
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Phishing
Phishing Impersonates Shipping Giant Maersk To Push STRRAT Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
#COVID19 Phishing Emails Surge 500% on Omicron Concerns - Infosecurity Magazine
Financially Motivated Earth Lusca Threat Actors Targets Orgs Worldwide - Security Affairs
Malware
Microsoft Details Recent Damaging Malware Attacks on Ukrainian Organisations (darkreading.com)
Custom-Written Malware Discovered Across Windows, MacOS, And Linux Systems | TechSpot
Backdoor RAT for Windows, macOS, and Linux went undetected until now | Ars Technica
Ukraine: Wiper Malware Masquerading As Ransomware Hits Government Organisations - Help Net Security
Linux Malware Is On The Rise. Here Are Three Top Threats Right Now | ZDNet
Malware That Can Survive OS Reinstalls Strikes Again, Likely for Cyber Espionage | PCMag
New MoonBounce UEFI Malware Used By Apt41 In Targeted Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Data Breaches/Leaks
Exposed Records Exceeded 40 Billion In 2021 - Help Net Security
European Regulators Hand Out €1.1bn in GDPR Fines - Infosecurity Magazine
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Financially Motivated Earth Lusca Threat Actors Targets Orgs Worldwide - Security Affairs
A Hacker Is Negotiating With Victims on the Blockchain After $1.4M Heist (vice.com)
FBI & European Police Take Down Computer Servers Used In Major Cyberattacks Worldwide - CNNPolitics
Europol Shuts Down VPNLab, Cyber Criminals' Favourite VPN Service (thehackernews.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking
Cyber Criminals Actively Target VMware vSphere with Cryptominers | Threatpost
New BHUNT Password Stealer Malware Targeting Cryptocurrency Wallets (thehackernews.com)
Cheap Malware Is Behind A Rise In Attacks On Cryptocurrency Wallets | ZDNet
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Research: Why Employees Violate Cyber Security Policies (hbr.org)
What CISOs Can Learn About Insider Threats From Iran's Human Espionage Tactics | CSO Online
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
How Buy Now, Pay Later Is Being Targeted By Fraudsters - Help Net Security
Romance Scammer Who Targeted 670 Women Gets 28 Months In Jail – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Insurance
CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA
UK Mulls Making MSPs Subject To Mandatory Security Standards • The Register
‘Anomalous’ Spyware Stealing Credentials In Industrial Firms (bleepingcomputer.com)
European Union Simulated A Cyber Attack On A Fictitious Finnish Power Company - Security Affairs
Nation State Actors
Ukraine Cyber Attack Timeline: Microsoft, CISA, White House and Kyiv Statements - MSSP Alert
Chinese Hackers Spotted Using New UEFI Firmware Implant in Targeted Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Security Scanners Across Europe Tied To China Govt, Military | AP News
Cloud
Privacy
Passwords & Credential Stuffing
Your Keyboard Walking Password Isn’t Complex Or Secure – Review Geek
Box Flaw Allowed To Bypass MFA And Takeover Accounts - Security Affairs
Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare
Vulnerabilities
CISA Adds 13 Exploited Vulnerabilities To List, 9 with Feb. 1 Remediation Date | ZDNet
High-Severity Vulnerabilities Patched in McAfee Enterprise Product | SecurityWeek.Com
Cisco Releases Patch for Critical Bug Affecting Unified CCMP and Unified CCDM (thehackernews.com)
A bug in McAfee Agent allows to run code with SYSTEM privileges - Security Affairs
Zoho Fixes A Critical Vulnerability (CVE-2021-44757) in Desktop Central - Security Affairs
Ubuntu Patch For Heap Buffer Overflow Vulnerability • The Register
Google Details Two Zero-Day Bugs Reported in Zoom Clients and MMR Servers (thehackernews.com)
Hackers Attempt to Exploit New SolarWinds Serv-U Bug in Log4Shell Attacks (thehackernews.com)
F5 Patches Two Dozen Vulnerabilities in BIG-IP | SecurityWeek.Com
McAfee Bug Can Be Exploited to Gain Windows SYSTEM Privileges | Threatpost
Oracle Critical Patch Update for January 2022 will fix 483 new flaws - Security Affairs
20K WordPress Sites Exposed by Insecure Plugin REST-API | Threatpost
Cisco Issues Patch for Critical RCE Vulnerability in RCM for StarOS Software (thehackernews.com)
Critical Bugs in Control Web Panel Expose Linux Servers to RCE Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Critical SAP Vulnerability Allows Supply Chain Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Zoho Plugs Another Critical Security Hole In Desktop Central (bleepingcomputer.com)
Safari Exploit Can Leak Browser Histories And Google Account Info | Engadget
Sector Specific
Financial Services Sector
Health/Medical/Pharma Sector
More Than Half Of Medical Devices Found To Have Critical Vulnerabilities | ZDNet
Additional Healthcare Firms Disclose Impact From Netgain Ransomware Attack | SecurityWeek.Com
Retail
Education and Academia
Other News
Biggest MSP Takeaways From The Apache Log4j Vulnerability - MSSP Alert
The Emotional Stages Of A Data Breach: How To Deal With Panic, Anger, And Guilt | CSO Online
The Log4j Vulnerability Puts Pressure on the Security World | Threatpost
Hackers Planted Secret Backdoor in Dozens of WordPress Plugins and Themes (thehackernews.com)
BadUSB explained: How rogue USBs threaten your organisation | CSO Online
Millions of UK Wi-Fi Routers Vulnerable To Security Threats - IT Security Guru
NATO, Ukraine Sign Deal to 'Deepen' Cyber Cooperation | SecurityWeek.Com
UK Umbrella Company Parasol Group Confirms Cyber Attack • The Register
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