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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 04 November 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 04 November 2022:
-NCSC Looks Back on Year Of ‘Profound Change’ for Cyber
-LastPass Research Finds False Sense of Cyber Security Running Rampant
-Insurance Giant Settles NotPetya ‘Act of War’ Lawsuit, Signaling Cyber Insurance Shakeup
-Microsoft Warns of Uptick in Hackers Leveraging Publicly-Disclosed 0-Day Vulnerabilities
-Chinese Mob Has 100K Slaves Working in Cambodian Cyber Crime Mills
-Ransomware Research: 17 Leaked Databases Operated by Threat Actors Threaten Third Party Organisations
-Not Enough Ransomware Victims Are Reporting Attacks, And That's a Problem for Everyone
-Hackers Selling Access to 576 Corporate Networks for $4 Million
-Cyber Security Recovery is a Process That Starts Long Before a Cyber Attack Occurs
-Geopolitics Plays Major Role in Cyber Attacks, Says EU Cyber Security Agency
-Russian Hackers Account for Most 2021 Ransomware Schemes, US Says
-Exposed: The Global Hacking Network That Targets VIPs
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
NCSC Looks Back on Year Of ‘Profound Change’ for Cyber
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) provided support for 18 nationally significant ransomware attacks; removed 2.1 million cyber-enabled commodity campaigns; issued 34 million early warning alerts about attacks, compromises, vulnerabilities or open ports; and received 6.5 million reports of suspicious emails in the past 12 months – but in a year of “profound change” in the cyber security landscape, it was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that dominated the agenda.
Reflecting on the past 12 months as she launched the NCSC’s latest annual report on 1 November at an event in London, NCSC CEO Lindy Cameron said that the return of war to Europe with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine presented a unique set of challenges in cyber space for the NCSC and its partners and allies.
Cameron added that while the cyber threat from Russia has perhaps been the most visible security issue of 2022, it was also important not to forget that when it comes to nation-state actors, it will likely be the technical development and evolution of China that ultimately has the more lasting impact on the UK’s national cyber security.
https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252526766/NCSC-looks-back-on-year-of-profound-change-for-cyber
LastPass Research Finds False Sense of Cyber Security Running Rampant
LastPass released findings from its fifth annual Psychology of Password findings, which revealed even with cyber security education on the rise, password hygiene has not improved. Regardless of generational differences across Boomers, Millennials and Gen Z, the research shows a false sense of password security given current behaviours across the board. In addition, LastPass found that while 65% of all respondents have some form of cyber security education — through school, work, social media, books or via online courses — the reality is that 62% almost always or mostly use the same or variation of a password.
The survey, which explored the password security behaviours of 3,750 professionals across seven countries, asked about respondents’ mindset and behaviours surrounding their online security. The findings highlighted a clear disconnect between high confidence when it comes to their password management and their unsafe actions. While the majority of professionals surveyed claimed to be confident in their current password management, this doesn’t translate to safer online behaviour and can create a detrimental false sense of safety.
Key findings from the research include:
Gen Z is confident when it comes to their password management, while also being the biggest offenders of poor password hygiene.
Cyber security education doesn’t necessarily translate to action.
Confidence creates a false sense of password security.
The latest research showcases that even in the face of a pandemic, where we spent more time online amid rising cyber attacks, there continues to be a disconnect for people when it comes to protecting their digital lives. Even though nearly two-thirds of respondents had some form of cyber security education, it is not being put into practice for varying reasons.
https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/untitled
Insurance Giant Settles NotPetya ‘Act of War’ Lawsuit, Signaling Cyber Insurance Shakeup
The settlement last week in a $100 million lawsuit over whether insurance giant Zurich should cover losses Mondelez International suffered from NotPetya may very well reshape the entire cyber insurance marketplace.
Zurich initially denied claims from Mondelez after the malware, which experts estimate caused some $10 billion in damages globally, wreaked havoc on its computer networks. The insurance provider claimed an act of war exemption since it’s widely believed Russian military hackers unleashed NotPetya on a Ukrainian company before it spread around the world.
Now, however, it’s increasingly clear insurers aren’t off the hook for NotPetya payouts or from covering losses from other attacks with clear links to nation-state hackers.
That’s because in this case, what Mondelez and many other corporations endured was not an act of war, but “collateral damage” in a much larger cyber conflict that had nothing to do with them, said the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
There needs to be a rethink what act of war means in cyber space when it comes to insurance. The current definitions come out of the 19th century when we had pirates, navies and privateers.
Last week’s ruling in favour of Mondelez follows a January ruling in a New Jersey court that sided with global pharmaceutical company Merck in a similar case. Its insurance companies initially refused to pay for damages from NotPetya. Merck claimed losses that amounted to $1.4 billion. The insurers are appealing the ruling.
Insurers seized on the NotPetya episode to test how courts would rule on cyber coverage questions, particularly when there’s so much evidence pointing to one particular nation-state actor. Since NotPetya was widely attributed to the Russian government it gave the industry a “really strong opportunity” to set legal precedent limiting their responsibility in these instances.
Insurers will start to be much more upfront about the fact that they aren’t going to cover acts of cyber war or limit payouts for NotPetya type incidents in the future.
https://www.cyberscoop.com/insurance-giant-settles-notpetya-lawsuit/
Microsoft Warns of Uptick in Hackers Leveraging Publicly-Disclosed 0-Day Vulnerabilities
Microsoft is warning of an uptick among nation-state and criminal actors increasingly leveraging publicly-disclosed zero-day vulnerabilities for breaching target environments.
The tech giant, in its 114-page Digital Defense Report, said it has "observed a reduction in the time between the announcement of a vulnerability and the commoditisation of that vulnerability," making it imperative that organisations patch such exploits in a timely manner.
This also corroborates with an April 2022 advisory from the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which found that bad actors are "aggressively" targeting newly disclosed software bugs against broad targets globally.
Microsoft noted that it only takes 14 days on average for an exploit to be available in the wild after public disclosure of a flaw, stating that while zero-day attacks are initially limited in scope, they tend to be swiftly adopted by other threat actors, leading to indiscriminate probing events before the patches are installed.
It further accused Chinese state-sponsored groups of being "particularly proficient" at discovering and developing zero-day exploits. This has been compounded by the fact that the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) enacted a new vulnerability reporting regulation in September 2021 that requires security flaws to be reported to the government prior to them being shared with the product developers.
Redmond further said the law could enable government-backed elements to stockpile and weaponise the reported bugs, resulting in the increased use of zero-days for espionage activities designed to advance China's economic and military interests.
https://thehackernews.com/2022/11/microsoft-warns-of-uptick-in-hackers.html
Chinese Mob Has 100K Slaves Working in Cambodian Cyber Crime Mills
Up to 100,000 people from across Asia have been lured to Cambodia by Chinese crime syndicates with the promise of good jobs. When they arrive, their passports are seized and they are put to work in modern-day sweatshops, running cyber crime campaigns.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Cambodia, which was hit hard economically by the pandemic, has allowed Chinese mobsters to set up enormous cyber crime operations using human trafficked labour without consequence, because of the revenue it generates for the country. The campaigns they carry out run the gamut from romance scams to fake sports betting.
Although the Cambodian government acknowledges that as many as 100,000 workers are involved in these activities, it denies anyone is being held against their will. However, the stories from traumatised victims rescued from cyber crime mills include tales of beatings and torture for failing to meet quotas, and of being sold and passed around from gang to gang.
https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/chinese-mob-100k-slaves-cambodian-cybercrime-mills
Ransomware Research: 17 Leaked Databases Operated by Threat Actors Threaten Third Party Organisations
Ransomware remains a serious threat to organisations, Deep Instinct, a New York-based deep learning cyber security specialist, said in its recently released 2022 Interim Cyber Threat Report.
It’s no surprise, the company said, as there are currently 17 leaked databases operated by threat actors who are leveraging the data for attacks on third-party companies, most notably social engineering, credential theft, and triple-extortion attacks.
Here are the report’s key findings:
Changes in ransomware gangs, including LockBit, Hive, BlackCat, and Conti. The latter has spawned “Conti Splinters” made up of former affiliates Quantum, BlackBasta, and BlackByte.
Significant changes to tactics by Emotet, Agent Tesla, NanoCore, and others. For example, Emotet uses highly obfuscated VBA macros to avoid detection.
The use of documents for malware has decreased as the top attack vector, following Microsoft’s move to disable macros by default in Microsoft Office files. Threat actors have already pivoted to other methods such as LNK, HTML, and archive email attachments.
Vulnerabilities such as SpoolFool, Follina and DirtyPipe highlighted the exploitability of both Windows and Linux systems despite efforts to enhance their security.
The number of exploited in-the-wild vulnerabilities spikes every 3-4 months. The next spike is expected to occur by the end of the year.
Threat actor groups are extending data exfiltration attacks to demand ransoms from third-party companies if the leaked data contains their sensitive information.
The report also makes three predictions:
More inside jobs. Malicious threat actors look for the weakest link, which is often in the supply chain. Groups like Lapsus$ do not rely on exploits but instead look for insiders who are willing to sell access to data within their organisation.
Rise of protestware. Look for a spike in protestware, which is self-sabotaging one’s software and weaponising it with malware capabilities in an effort to harm all or some of its users. The war between Russia and Ukraine has caused a surge in protestware.
End of year attacks. While no major vulnerability in 2022 has emerged similar to the Log4J or the Exchange cases in 2021, there is an increase year-over-year in the number of publicly assigned CVEs for reported vulnerabilities. For now, threat actors are still exploiting old vulnerabilities during 2022 simply because there is a plethora of unpatched systems for 2021 CVEs but that will change.
Organisations are warned to be on their guard. 2022 has been another record year for cyber criminals and ransomware gangs. It’s no secret that these threat actors are constantly upping their game with new and improved tactics designed to evade traditional cyber defences. Defenders must continue to be vigilant and find new approaches to prevent these attacks from happening.
Ransomware: Not Enough Victims Are Reporting Attacks, And That's a Problem for Everyone
Ransomware continues to be a significant cyber threat to businesses and the general public – but it's difficult to know the true impact of attacks because many victims aren't coming forward to report them.
The warning comes in the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) Annual Review for 2022, which looks back at key developments and incidents in cyber crime over the last year, with ransomware described as an "ever present" threat and a "major challenge" to businesses and public services.
That's demonstrated by how the review details how in the 12-month period between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022 there were 18 ransomware incidents that needed a "nationally coordinated" response. These included attacks on a supplier to the National Health Service (NHS) and a ransomware attack against South Staffordshire Water.
However, the true impact of ransomware remains unclear, because the NCSC says that many organisations that fall prey to ransomware attacks aren't disclosing them.
That lack of reporting is despite the significant and disruptive consequences ransomware attacks can have, not only for organisations that fall victim, but for wider society – which is why it's vital that cyber security is taken seriously and incidents are reported.
Hackers Selling Access to 576 Corporate Networks for $4 Million
A new report shows that hackers are selling access to 576 corporate networks worldwide for a total cumulative sales price of $4,000,000, fuelling attacks on the enterprise.
The research comes from Israeli cyber-intelligence firm KELA which published its Q3 2022 ransomware report, reflecting stable activity in the sector of initial access sales but a steep rise in the value of the offerings.
Although the number of sales for network access remained about the same as in the previous two quarters, the cumulative requested price has now reached $4,000,000. For comparison, the total value of initial access listings in Q2 2022 was $660,000, recording a drop in value that coincided with the summer ransomware hiatus that hurt demand.
Initial access brokers (IABs) are hackers who sell access to corporate networks, usually achieved through credential theft, webshells, or exploiting vulnerabilities in publicly exposed hardware. After establishing a foothold on the network, the threat actors sell this corporate access to other hackers who use it to steal valuable data, deploy ransomware, or conduct other malicious activity. The reasons IABs choose not to leverage network access vary, ranging from lacking diverse intrusion skills to preferring not to risk increased legal trouble.
IABs still play a crucial role in the ransomware infection chain, even if they got sidelined last year when big ransomware gangs that operated as crime syndicates operated their own IAB departments.
Cyber Security Recovery is a Process That Starts Long Before a Cyber Attack Occurs
Organisations are racing to stay ahead of cyber criminals, and as a result, we see businesses investing a lot of money on identifying and detecting attacks, on preventing attacks in the first place, and in responding to live attacks. But they are not spending the same amounts on attack recovery. They may have followed all the relevant guidelines, and even implemented the ISO 27000 standard, but none of that helps them to understand how to build the business back after a serious cyber attack.
Until recent years, this cyber security recovery investment would be spent on an annual tabletop exercise or disaster recovery test and auditing recovery plans. While this should be done, it isn’t enough on its own.
Cyber security insurance is also critical, of course, but it only covers some of the losses. It won’t cover future loss. The reality is most organisations find it very difficult to fully recover from an attack. Those that invest more in disaster recovery and business continuity recover from these attacks far more swiftly than their less-prepared competitors.
The four core components of an effective cyber security recovery program
Pre-emptive action
Responsibilities and accountability
Having the right IT architecture, security and recovery process in place
Learning lessons and implementing changes.
Once these factors are understood, and any weak spots identified, the organisation can focus on re-designing or updating architecture and procedures, and on retraining employees (something that should happen regularly).
Recovery is a process that starts long before a cyber attack occurs. It concludes not when the data is secured, but when the organisation can say that it’s learned everything it can from the event and has made the changes necessary to avoid it happening again.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/11/03/cybersecurity-recovery/
Geopolitics Plays Major Role in Cyber Attacks, Says EU Cyber Security Agency
The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has resulted in an increase in hacktivist activity in the past year, with state-sponsored threat actors targeting 128 governmental organisations in 42 countries that support Ukraine, according to the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA).
In addition, some threat actors targeted Ukrainian and Russian entities during the early days of the conflict, likely for the collection of intelligence, according to the 10th edition of the ENISA threat landscape report. The report, this year titled Volatile Geopolitics Shake the Trends of the 2022 Cybersecurity Threat Landscape, notes that in general geopolitical situations continue to have a high impact on cyber security.
This year's report identified several attack types frequently used by state-sponsored attackers. These include zero-day and critical vulnerability exploitation; attacks on operational technology (OT) networks; wiper attacks to destroy and disrupt networks of governmental agencies and critical infrastructure entities; and supply chain attacks. Attacks also featured social engineering, disinformation, and threats against data.
State-sponsored threat actors have also been observed targeting entities from countries in Southeast Asia, Japan, Australia, and Taiwan. Due to increased tensions between specific countries in Asia, state-sponsored threat actors have targeted countries (including EU member states) that had established closer ties with Taiwan.
Ransomware remains the top cyber crime attack type this year as well. More than 10 terabytes of data were stolen monthly during the period studied, with phishing identified as the most common initial vector of such attacks. The report also noted that 60% of affected organisations likely have paid the ransom demanded.
The second most used form of attack was DDoS. The largest DDoS attack ever was launched in Europe in July 2022 against a European customer of Akamai. The attack hit a peak at 853.7Gbps and 659.6Mpps (megapackets per second) over 14 hours.
While all sectors fell victim to attacks, public administration and government entities were the most affected, making up 24% of all cyber attack victims. This was followed by digital service providers at 13% and the general public at 12%. These three sectors alone accounted for 50% of all the attacks during this year.
Russian Hackers Account for Most 2021 Ransomware Schemes, US Says
Payment-seeking software made by Russian hackers was used in three quarters of all the ransomware schemes reported to a US financial crime agency in the second half of 2021, a Treasury Department analysis released on Tuesday showed.
In an analysis issued in response to the increase in number and severity of ransomware attacks against critical infrastructure in the United States since late 2020, the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) said it had received 1,489 ransomware-related filings worth nearly $1.2 billion in 2021, a 188% jump from the year before.
Out of 793 ransomware incidents reported to FinCEN in the second half of 2021, 75% "had a nexus to Russia, its proxies, or persons acting on its behalf," the report said.
Washington last week hosted a meeting with officials from 36 countries and the European Union, as well as 13 global companies to address the growing threat of ransomware and other cyber crime, including the illicit use of cryptocurrencies.
Exposed: The Global Hacking Network That Targets VIPs
Private investigators linked to the City of London are using an India-based computer hacking gang to target British businesses, government officials and journalists.
The Sunday Times and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism have been given access to the gang’s database, which reveals the extraordinary scale of the attacks. It shows the criminals targeted the private email accounts of more than 100 victims on behalf of investigators working for autocratic states, British lawyers and their wealthy clients. Critics of Qatar who threatened to expose wrongdoing by the Gulf state in the run-up to this month’s World Cup were among those hacked.
It is the first time the inner workings of a major “hack-for-hire” gang have been leaked to the media and it reveals multiple criminal conspiracies. Some of the hackers’ clients are private investigators used by major law firms with bases in the City of London.
The investigation — based on the leaked documents and undercover work in India — reveals:
Orders went out to the gang to target the BBC’s political editor Chris Mason in May, three weeks after his appointment was announced.
The president of Switzerland and his deputy were targeted just days after he met Boris Johnson and Liz Truss in Downing Street to discuss Russian sanctions.
Philip Hammond, then chancellor, was hacked as he was dealing with the fallout of Russia’s novichok poisonings in Salisbury.
A private investigator hired by a London law firm acting for the Russian state ordered the gang to target a British-based oligarch fleeing President Putin.
Michel Platini, the former head of European football, was hacked shortly before he was due to talk to French police about corruption allegations relating to this year’s World Cup.
The hackers broke into the email inboxes of the Formula One motor racing bosses Ruth Buscombe, the British head of race strategy at the Alfa Romeo team, and Otmar Szafnauer, who was chief executive of the Aston Martin team.
The gang seized control of computers owned by Pakistan’s politicians, generals and diplomats and eavesdropped on their private conversations apparently at the behest of the Indian secret services.
The commissioning of hacking is a criminal offence punishable with a maximum sentence of ten years in jail in Britain. The Metropolitan Police was tipped off about the allegations regarding Qatar in October last year, yet chose not to take any action. David Davis, the former cabinet minister, said that the force should reopen its investigation into the cyber attacks against British citizens. Davis said the investigation exposed how London has become “the global centre of hacking”.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/exposed-the-global-hacking-network-that-targets-vips-nff67j67z
Threats
Ransomware and Extortion
International Counter Ransomware Initiative 2022 Joint Statement | The White House
Oreo Giant Mondelez Settles NotPetya 'Act of War' Insurance Suit (darkreading.com)
Extortion fears after hacker stole patient files from Dutch mental health clinics (bitdefender.com)
Ransomware activity and network access sales in Q3 2022 - Security Affairs
Ransomware costs top $1 billion as White House inks new threat-sharing initiative - CyberScoop
FIN7 Cyber crime Group Likely Behind Black Basta Ransomware Campaign (darkreading.com)
Yanluowang ransomware gang goes dark after leaks (techtarget.com)
LockBit 3.0 gang claims to have stolen data from Thales - Security Affairs
Ransomware cost US banks $1.2 billion last year • The Register
Australia sees rise in cyber crimes on back of 'destructive' ransomware, state actors | ZDNET
Australian Defence Department Impacted In Ransomware Attack (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
LockBit ransomware gang claims the hack of the Continental automotive group - Security Affairs
Cyber attack Strikes Global Copper Conglomerate (darkreading.com)
ALMA Observatory shuts down operations due to a cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Robin Banks phishing service returns to steal banking accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)
Attackers leverage Microsoft Dynamics 365 to phish users - Help Net Security
CISA Urges Organisations to Implement Phishing-Resistant MFA | SecurityWeek.Com
130 private Dropbox GitHub repos copied after phish attack • The Register
As Twitter brings on $8 fee, phishing emails target verified accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
New Crimson Kingsnake gang impersonates law firms in BEC attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Double-check those demand-payment emails from law firms • The Register
Malware
RomCom RAT malware campaign impersonates KeePass, SolarWinds NPM, Veeam (bleepingcomputer.com)
Emotet botnet starts blasting malware again after 4 month break (bleepingcomputer.com)
Drinik banking malware returns: Things you can do to keep your data safe | Mint (livemint.com)
Hacking group abuses antivirus software to launch LODEINFO malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
This stealthy hacking campaign uses a new trick to deliver its malware | ZDNET
Cranefly threat group uses innocent-looking info-stealer • The Register
250+ US news sites spotted spreading FakeUpdates malware in a supply-chain attack - Security Affairs
New Azov data wiper tries to frame researchers and BleepingComputer
Dozens of PyPI packages caught dropping 'W4SP' info-stealing malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mobile
US govt employees exposed to mobile attacks from outdated Android, iOS (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyber-Threat Actor Uses Booby-Trapped VPN App to Deploy Android Spyware (darkreading.com)
Malicious dropper apps on Play Store totaled 30.000+ installations - Security Affairs
New SandStrike spyware infects Android devices via malicious VPN app (bleepingcomputer.com)
Internet of Things – IoT
IoT devices can undermine your security. Here are four ways to boost your defences | ZDNET
Understanding The Importance Of Cyber Resilience In Smart Buildings - IT Security Guru
Data Breaches/Leaks
Royal Mail customer data leak shutters online Click and Drop • The Register
Vodafone Italy discloses data breach after reseller hacked (bleepingcomputer.com)
LockBit 3.0 gang claims to have stolen data from Thales - Security Affairs
Dropbox discloses breach after hacker stole 130 GitHub repositories (bleepingcomputer.com)
Experian tool exposed partial Social Security numbers, putting customers at risk - CyberScoop
Label Giant Multi-Color Corporation Discloses Data Breach | SecurityWeek.Com
Bed Bath & Beyond Discloses Data Breach to SEC (darkreading.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Four-year cyber crime campaign targeting African banks netted $30 million - CyberScoop
French-speaking crooks stole $30m in bank cyber-heist spree • The Register
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Fraudulent Instruction Losses Spike in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Former Apple worker pleads guilty to $17m fraud charges • The Register
Insurance
Dark Web
Supply Chain and Third Parties
NCSC issues fresh guidance following recent rise in supply chain cyber attacks – Intelligent CISO
Hundreds of US news sites push malware in supply-chain attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Software Supply Chain
You can up software supply chain security by implementing these measures - Help Net Security
W4SP Stealer Stings Python Developers in Supply Chain Attack (darkreading.com)
Denial of Service DoS/DDoS
FBI: Hacktivist DDoS attacks had minor impact on critical orgs (bleepingcomputer.com)
DDoS Attacks are Upgrading 70% with The Help of CLDAP (analyticsinsight.net)
Cloud/SaaS
Why Identity & Access Management Governance is a Core Part of Your SaaS Security (thehackernews.com)
Top 4 priorities for cloud data protection - Help Net Security
Zscaler's Cloud-Based Cyber security Outages Showcase Redundancy Problem (darkreading.com)
API
Open Source
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Social Media
Training, Education and Awareness
Travel
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
ICO Slashes Government Data Breach Fine - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
SolarWinds reaches $26m settlement, expects SEC action • The Register
How to Prepare for New SEC Cyber security Disclosure Requirements | SecurityWeek.Com
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
How Microsoft works to grow the next generation of cyber defenders - Microsoft Security Blog
Economic Uncertainty Isn't Stopping Cyber crime Recruitment — It's Fueling It (darkreading.com)
How to Narrow the Talent Gap in Cyber security (darkreading.com)
Is there a problem with stress and burnout in cyber security? - IT Security Guru
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Will cyber saber-rattling drive us to destruction? - Help Net Security
No.10 WhatsApp Use Is Critical Danger To Security (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Oreo Giant Mondelez Settles NotPetya 'Act of War' Insurance Suit (darkreading.com)
Cyber Threat Actor Uses Booby-Trapped VPN App to Deploy Android Spyware (darkreading.com)
New SandStrike spyware infects Android devices via malicious VPN app (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russian missile strikes overshadow cyber attacks as Ukraine reels from blackouts | CNN Politics
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Liz Truss 's phone was allegedly hacked by Russian spies - Security Affairs
MPs 'constantly' warned their phones are national security risk (telegraph.co.uk)
US Treasury thwarted attack by Russian hacker group last month-official | Reuters
Russia tries to impose switch to Linux from Windows (freethink.com)
Nation State Actors – China
China-Backed APT10 Supercharges Spy Game With Custom Fileless Backdoor (darkreading.com)
Chinese Hackers Using New Stealthy Infection Chain to Deploy LODEINFO Malware (thehackernews.com)
Nation State Actors – Misc
Vulnerabilities
Critical ConnectWise Vulnerability Affects Thousands of Internet-Exposed Servers | SecurityWeek.Com
Fortinet fixed 16 vulnerabilities, 6 rated as high severity - Security Affairs
Cisco Patches High-Severity Bugs in Email, Identity, Web Security Products | SecurityWeek.Com
You Need to Update Google Chrome, Windows, and Zoom Right Now | WIRED UK
The Sky Is Not Falling: Disclosed OpenSSL Bugs Are Serious but Not Critical (darkreading.com)
Splunk Patches 9 High-Severity Vulnerabilities in Enterprise Product | SecurityWeek.Com
OpenSSL downgrades horror bug after week of speculation • The Register
Follina Exploit Leads to Domain Compromise (thedfirreport.com)
Patch Now: Dangerous RCE Bug Lays Open ConnectWise Server Backup Managers (darkreading.com)
Other News
Meet fundamental cyber security needs before aiming for more - Help Net Security
NCSC Issued 34 Million Cyber Alerts in Past Year - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Multi-factor authentication fatigue can blow open security • The Register
WiFi security flaw lets a drone track devices through walls | Engadget
Build Security Around Users: A Human-First Approach to Cyber Resilience (darkreading.com)
The Role of Ethical Hacking in Cyber security (bolton.ac.uk)
Top 10 Ethical Hacking Trends and Predictions for 2023 (analyticsinsight.net)
British govt is scanning all Internet devices hosted in UK (bleepingcomputer.com)
Red Cross Eyes Digital Emblem for Cyber space Protection | SecurityWeek.Com
Security hygiene and posture management requires new tools (techtarget.com)
Offense Gets the Glory, but Defence Wins the Game | SecurityWeek.Com
The 7 Core Pillars of a Zero-Trust Architecture (techtarget.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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Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 08 July 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 08 July 2022:
-Businesses Urged Not To Give In To Ransomware Cyber Criminals As Authorities See Increase In Payouts
-People Are the Primary Attack Vector Around the World
-Early Detection Crucial in Stopping Business Email Compromise (BEC) Scams
-54% of SMBs Do Not Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
-New Cyber Threat Emerges from the Inside, Research Report Finds
-Ransomware: Why it's still a big threat, and where the gangs are going next
-NCSC: Prepare for Protected Period of Heightened Cyber-Risk
-69% Of Employees Need to Deal With More Security Measures In A Hybrid Work Environment
-FBI and MI5 Leaders Give Unprecedented Joint Warning on Chinese Spying
-As Cyber Criminals Recycle Ransomware, They're Getting Faster
-UK Military Investigates Hacks on Army Social Media Accounts
-APT Campaign Targeting SOHO Routers Highlights Risks to Remote Workers
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
Businesses Urged Not to Give In To Ransomware Cyber Criminals As Authorities See Increase In Payouts
While there have been arguments made for criminalising the payment of ransoms, it poses a number of additional risks such as providing the criminals with an additional factor they could use to extort their victims.
Businesses are being urged not to pay cyber extortionists as authorities say they are seeing evidence of a rise in ransomware payments.
In a joint letter to the Law Society, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Information Commissioner's Office are warning solicitors who may have been advising their clients to pay.
It follows warnings earlier this year by cyber security experts from the UK, US, and Australia of a "growing wave of increasingly sophisticated ransomware attacks" which could have "devastating consequences".
The joint letter states that while ransomware payments are "not unusually unlawful" those who pay them "should be mindful of how relevant sanctions regimes (particularly those related to Russia)" when considering making the payment.
The US sanctioned in December 2019 any financial dealings with a Russian cyber crime group that was accused of working with Russian intelligence to steal classified government documents.
Despite the spillover from the Russian war in Ukraine - in one case knocking 5,800 wind turbines in Germany offline - the NCSC says it has not detected any increase in hostile activity targeting Britain during the conflict.
Businesses however had been warned that there is a heightened threat level when it comes to cyber attacks due to the conflict which is likely to be here "for the long-haul".
People Are the Primary Attack Vector Around the World
With an unprecedented number of employees now working in hybrid or fully remote environments, compounded by an increase in cyber threats and a more overwhelmed, COVID-19 information fatigued workforce, there has never been a more critical time to effectively create and maintain a cyber secure workforce and an engaged security culture.
People have become the primary attack vector for cyber-attackers around the world. Humans, rather than technology, represent the greatest risk to organisations and the professionals who oversee security awareness programs are the key to effectively managing that risk.
Awareness programs enable security teams to effectively manage their human risk by changing how people think about cyber security and help them exhibit secure behaviours, from the Board of Directors on down.
Effective and mature security awareness programs not only change their workforce’s behaviour and culture but also measure and demonstrate their value to leadership via a metrics framework. Organisations can no longer justify an annual training to tick the compliance box, and it remains critical for organisations to dedicate enough personnel, resources, and tools to manage their human risk effectively.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/05/people-primary-attack-vector/
Early Detection Crucial in Stopping Business Email Compromise (BEC) Scams
Cofense Intelligence studied hundreds of business email compromise attacks and found that most scams attempt to establish trust with targeted employees over multiple emails.
Avoiding a costly social engineering attack often requires employees to spot suspicious emails before threat actors request sensitive information or access.
Cofense Intelligence published new research Thursday that showed most business email compromise (BEC) scams can be thwarted in their initial stages when the attackers are not asking for money or a transfer of funds. The cyber security vendor analysed hundreds of BEC emails sent to customers during March and April, and engaged with the threat actors in approximately half the cases.
The company found that only 36% of attackers looking to conduct fraud attacks opened with a cordial greeting and request for cash, gift cards or confidential payment information. Most BEC scams, Cofense found, attempt to slowly build up trust over the course of multiple email exchanges with the target and ingratiate them with common phrases like "sorry to bother you."
Once they realise they can get money out of you, they will do everything they can to drain you dry. For many of the scammers, this becomes a literal hustle, where they will quickly pivot to other cash-out methods. Just because something starts as a wire transfer doesn't mean they won't ask you to send cryptocurrency, gift cards, a cheque, or use your personal Venmo or PayPal to wire them money.
54% of SMBs Do Not Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
SMB owners across the globe are still relying only on usernames and passwords to secure critical employee, customer, and partner data, according to the Global Small Business Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Study released by the Cyber Readiness Institute (CRI).
Services that enforce MFA require users to present more than one piece of evidence whenever they log in to a business account (e.g., company email, payroll, human resources, etc.).
MFA has been in use for decades and is widely recommended by cyber security experts, yet 55% of SMBs surveyed are not “very aware” of MFA and its security benefits, and 54% do not use it for their business. Of the businesses that have not implemented MFA, 47% noted they either didn’t understand MFA or didn’t see its value. In addition, nearly 60% of small business and medium-sized owners have not discussed MFA with their employees.
Nearly all account compromise attacks can be stopped outright, just by using MFA. It’s a proven, effective way to thwart bad actors.
Of the companies that have implemented some form of MFA, many still seem to have done so haphazardly. Only 39% of those who offer MFA have a process for prioritising critical hardware, software, and data, with 49% merely “encouraging the use of MFA when it is available.”
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/08/smb-implement-mfa/
New Cyber Threat Emerges from the Inside, Research Report Finds
In its 2022 Insider Risk Intelligence & Research Report, DTEX Systems, a workforce cyber intelligence and security company, identifies a new cyber threat: the “Super Malicious Insider.”
Just what is a Super Malicious Insider and where does it come from? Well, it comes from inside your own organisation or someone who recently worked for you — a threat actor who may be truly of your own making.
“It was the year (2021) we all came to realise the Work-from-Anywhere (WFA) movement was here to stay,” DTEX reports. “For security and risk professionals, this hastened the end of corporate perimeter-centric security, and a requirement to protect hundreds of thousands of ‘remote offices’ outside of traditional corporate controls. To make matters worse, a measurable increase in employee attrition toward the end of 2021 created the perfect storm for insider threats.”
So, if your organisation didn’t observe a proportional increase in attempted or actual data loss, then you were likely not looking, DTEX asserts.
Critically your insiders know your vulnerabilities and can exploit them, for example, when an employee quits to join a competitor, it is often tempting to take proprietary information with them. This can include customer lists, product plans, financial data and other intellectual property.
The Super Malicious Insider is better able to hide their activities, obfuscate data and exfiltrate sensitive information without detection. Importantly, in numerous insider incidents reviewed in 2021, the Super Malicious Insider had made significant efforts to appear normal by not straying outside of their day-to-day routine, DTEX reports.
Here are some key statistics from the report:
Industrial espionage is at an all-time high. In 2021, 72% of respondents saw an increase in actionable insider threat incidents. IP or data theft led the list at 42% of incidents, followed by unauthorised or accidental disclosure (23%), sabotage (19%), fraud (%) and other (7%). In fact, 42% of all DTEX i3 investigations involved theft of IP or customer data.
The technology industry (38%), followed by pharma/life sciences (21%), accounted for the most IP theft incidents. In addition, technology (33%) had the most super malicious incidents, followed by critical infrastructure (24%) and government (11%).
Investigations that led to criminal prosecution occurred within someone’s home 75% of the time. More telling, 32% of malicious incident incidents included sophisticated insider techniques.
Ransomware: Why It's Still A Big Threat, And Where The Gangs Are Going Next
Ransomware attacks are still lucrative for cyber criminals because victims pay ransoms - and the threat is still evolving.
Ransomware has been a cyber security issue for a long time, but last year it went mainstream. Security threats like malware, ransomware and hacking gangs are always evolving.
Major ransomware attacks like those on Colonial Pipeline, the Irish Healthcare Executive and many others demonstrated how significant the problem had become as cyber attacks disrupted people's lives.
What was once a small cyber-criminal industry based around encrypting files on personal computers and demanding a ransom of a few hundred dollars for a decryption key had evolved into a massive ecosystem designed around holding critical services and infrastructure to ransom - and making extortion demands of millions of dollars.
No wonder Lindy Cameron, head of the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), has described ransomware as "the biggest global cyber threat".
Ransomware is continually evolving, with new variants appearing, new ransomware groups emerging, and new techniques and tactics designed to make the most money from attacks.
And as the recent Conti ransomware leaks showed, the most successful ransomware gangs are organised as if they were any other group of software developers.
They are really acting like a business. Aside from the fact they're not legitimately registered, they really are. They're functioning like a real business and sometimes the number of people within these organisations is bigger than some startups. They have shown a lot of resilience and a lot of agility in adapting to what's new.
NCSC: Prepare for Protracted Period of Heightened Cyber Risk
The UK’s leading cyber security agency has urged organisations to follow best practices and take care of their infosecurity staff in order to weather an extended period of elevated cyber risk due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) guide, Maintaining A Sustainable Strengthened Cyber Security Posture, comes on the back of warnings that organisations must “prepare for the long haul” as the conflict enters its fifth month.
Alongside basic hygiene controls, the strengthening of cyber-resilience and revisiting of risk-based decisions made in the earlier acute phase of the war, organisations should pay special attention to their security staff, the NCSC said.
“Increased workloads for cyber security staff over an extended period can harm their wellbeing and lead to lower productivity, with a potential rise in unsafe behaviours or errors,” it said.
With this in mind, the guide highlighted several steps IT security managers should consider:
Empower staff to make decisions in order to improve agility and free-up leaders to focus on medium-term priorities
Spread workloads evenly across a wider pool of staff to reduce the risk of burnout and enable less experienced employees to benefit from development opportunities
Provide opportunities for staff to recharge through more frequent breaks and time away from the office, as well as work on less pressured tasks
Look after each other by watching for signs that colleagues are struggling and ensuring they always have the right resources to hand
Engage the entire workforce with the right internal communications processes, and support so that all staff are able to identify and report suspicious behaviour
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ncsc-prepare-cyber-risk/
69% Of Employees Need to Deal with More Security Measures In A Hybrid Work Environment
Security firm Ivanti worked with global digital transformation experts and surveyed 10,000 office workers, IT professionals, and the C-Suite to evaluate the level of prioritisation and adoption of digital employee experience in organisations and how it shapes the daily working experiences for employees. The report revealed that 49% of employees are frustrated by the tech and tools their organisation provides and 64% believe that the way they interact with technology directly impacts morale.
One of the biggest challenges facing IT leaders today is the need to enable a seamless end user experience while maintaining robust security. The challenge becomes more complex when there is pressure from the top to bypass security measures, with 49% of C-level executives reporting they have requested to bypass one or more security measures in the last year.
Maintaining a secure environment and focusing on the digital employee experience are two inseparable elements of any digital transformation. In the war for talent a key differentiator for organisations is providing an exceptional and secure digital experience. Ivanti, a cyber security software provider, says “We believe that organisations not prioritising how their employees experience technology is a contributing factor for the Great Resignation”.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/04/security-measures-hybrid-work-environment/
FBI and MI5 Leaders Give Unprecedented Joint Warning on Chinese Spying
The head of the FBI and the leader of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency have delivered an unprecedented joint address, raising fresh alarm about the Chinese government, warning business leaders that Beijing is determined to steal their technology for competitive gain.
In a speech at MI5’s London headquarters intended as a show of western solidarity, Christopher Wray, the FBI director, stood alongside the MI5 director general, Ken McCallum. Wray reaffirmed longstanding concerns about economic espionage and hacking operations by China, as well as the Chinese government’s efforts to stifle dissent abroad.
“We consistently see that it’s the Chinese government that poses the biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security, and by ‘our’, I mean both of our nations, along with our allies in Europe and elsewhere,” Wray said.
He told the audience the Chinese government was “set on stealing your technology, whatever it is that makes your industry tick, and using it to undercut your business and dominate your market”.
Ken McCallum said MI5 was running seven times as many investigations into China as it had been four years ago and planned to “grow as much again” to tackle the widespread attempts at inference which pervade “so many aspects of our national life”.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/06/fbi-mi5-china-spying-cyberattacks-business-economy
As Cyber Criminals Recycle Ransomware, They're Getting Faster
Like history, ransomware repeats itself. Researchers recently encountered a new variant of a ransomware campaign and observed that it has been improving itself by reusing code from publicly available sources.
Nokoyawa is a new ransomware for Windows that first appeared at the beginning of this year. The first samples found by researchers were gathered in February 2022 and contain significant coding similarities with other older ransomware strains, some going back to 2019.
These new variants had been improving themselves by reusing code from publicly available sources. The April 2022 samples include three new features that increase the number of files that Nokoyawa can encrypt. These features already existed in recent ransomware families, and their addition just indicates that Nokoyawa developers are trying to match pace with other operators in terms of technological capability.
https://www.securityweek.com/cybercriminals-recycle-ransomware-theyre-getting-faster
UK Military Investigates Hacks on Army Social Media Accounts
British military authorities are trying to find out who hacked the army’s social media accounts over the weekend, flooding them with cryptocurrency videos and posts related to collectible electronic art.
The investigation was launched after authorised content on the army’s YouTube account was replaced with a video feed promoting cryptocurrencies that included images of billionaire Elon Musk. The Army’s Twitter account retweeted a number of posts about non-fungible tokens, unique digital images that can be bought and sold but have no physical counterpart.
“Apologies for the temporary interruption to our feed,” the Army said in a tweet posted after the Twitter account was restored on Sunday. “We will conduct a full investigation and learn from this incident. Thanks for following us, and normal service will now resume.”
The Ministry of Defence said late Sunday that both breaches had been “resolved.”
While internet users were unable to access the Army’s YouTube site on Monday, a spokesperson said the site was down for standard maintenance. The Twitter feed was operating normally.
Although U.K. officials have previously raised concerns about state-sponsored Russian hacking, the military did not speculate on who was responsible for Sunday’s breaches.
“The Army takes information security extremely seriously, and until their investigation is complete it would be inappropriate to comment further,” the Ministry of Defence said.
https://www.securityweek.com/uk-military-investigates-hacks-army-social-media-accounts
Campaign Targeting SOHO Routers Highlights Risks to Remote Workers
A targeted attack campaign has been compromising small office/home office (SOHO) routers since late 2020, with the goal of hijacking network communications and infecting local computers with stealthy and sophisticated backdoors. Attacks against home routers are not new, but the implants used by attackers in this case were designed for local network reconnaissance and lateral movement instead of just abusing the router itself.
"The rapid shift to remote work in spring of 2020 presented a fresh opportunity for threat actors to subvert traditional defence-in-depth protections by targeting the weakest points of the new network perimeter - devices that are routinely purchased by consumers but rarely monitored or patched - small office/home office (SOHO) routers," researchers from Black Lotus Labs, the threat intelligence arm of telecommunications company Lumen Technologies said in a recent report.
Threats
Ransomware
Lawyers Urged to Stop Advising Clients to Pay Ransomware Demands - Infosecurity Magazine
Ransomware in 2022: Evolving threats, slow progress (techtarget.com)
AstraLocker ransomware closes doors to pursue cryptojacking • The Register
Ransomware gangs are feeling the crypto winter's impact | TechSpot
LockBit explained: How it has become the most popular ransomware | CSO Online
Hive ransomware gang turns to Rust, more complex encryption • The Register
New RedAlert Ransomware targets Windows, Linux VMware ESXi servers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware, hacking groups move from Cobalt Strike to Brute Ratel (bleepingcomputer.com)
North Korean ransomware dubbed Maui active since May 2021 • The Register
Hive Ransomware Upgrades to Rust for More Sophisticated Encryption Method (thehackernews.com)
Ransomware, hacking groups move from Cobalt Strike to Brute Ratel (bleepingcomputer.com)
New 'HavanaCrypt' Ransomware Distributed as Fake Google Software Update | SecurityWeek.Com
As New Clues Emerges, Experts Wonder: Is REvil Back? (thehackernews.com)
Researchers Detail Techniques LockBit Ransomware Using to Infect its Targets (thehackernews.com)
New 0mega ransomware targets businesses in double-extortion attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Evolution of the LockBit Ransomware operation relies on new techniques - Security Affairs
AstraLocker ransomware shuts down and releases decryptors (bleepingcomputer.com)
QNAP warns of new Checkmate ransomware targeting NAS devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
Quantum ransomware attack affects 657 healthcare orgs (bleepingcomputer.com)
How Conti ransomware group crippled Costa Rica — then fell apart | Financial Times (ft.com)
Researchers Detail Techniques LockBit Ransomware Using to Infect its Targets (thehackernews.com)
EternalBlue 5 years after WannaCry and NotPetya - SANS Internet Storm Center
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Malware
Hackers Exploiting Follina Bug to Deploy Rozena Backdoor (thehackernews.com)
Dangerous new malware dances past more than 50 antivirus services | TechRadar
Raspberry Robin campaign leverages compromised QNAP devicesSecurity Affairs
Malware knocks IT services vendor SHI offline • The Register
Near-undetectable malware linked to Russia's Cozy Bear • The Register
New stealthy OrBit malware steals data from Linux devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers are using YouTube videos to trick people into installing malware | TechRadar
Mobile
This WhatsApp scam promises big, but just sends you into a spiral | ZDNet
Android malware subscribes you to premium services without you knowing - GSMArena.com news
Free smartphone stalkerware detection tool gets dedicated hub (bleepingcomputer.com)
Apple Debuts Spyware Protection for State-Sponsored Cyber Attacks (darkreading.com)
Internet of Things – IoT
Data Breaches/Leaks
Marriott Data Breach Exposes PII, Credit Cards (darkreading.com)
Aon Hack Exposed Sensitive Information of 146,000 Customers - Infosecurity Magazine
Hackers Claim to Have Stolen Police Data in China’s Largest Cyber Security Breach - Bloomberg
Human Error Blamed for Leak of 1 Billion Records of Chinese Citizens | Threatpost
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Ransomware gangs are feeling the crypto winter's impact | TechSpot
AstraLocker ransomware closes doors to pursue cryptojacking • The Register
Hackers are using YouTube videos to trick people into installing malware | TechRadar
PennyWise crypto-stealing malware spreads through YouTube (cointelegraph.com)
US urges Japan to step up pressure on crypto miners with links to Russia | Financial Times (ft.com)
Large-scale cryptomining campaign is targeting the NPM repositorySecurity Affairs
ECB to warn eurozone countries over crypto regulation | Financial Times (ft.com)
Microsoft Issue Updated Warning Against Known Cloud Threat Actor Group - IT Security Guru
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Human Error Blamed for Leak of 1 Billion Records of Chinese Citizens | Threatpost
HackerOne incident raises concerns for insider threats (techtarget.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Software Supply Chain
Cloud/SaaS
Microsoft Issue Updated Warning Against Known Cloud Threat Actor Group - IT Security Guru
What Do All of Those Cloud Cyber Security Acronyms Mean? (darkreading.com)
Identity and Access Management
Asset Management
Encryption
Encryption is high up on corporate priority lists - Help Net Security
Quantum-resistant encryption recommended for standardization • The Register
The threat of quantum computing to sensitive data - Help Net Security
Inside NIST's 4 Crypto Algorithms for a Post-Quantum World (darkreading.com)
End-to-end encryption’s central role in modern self-defence | Ars Technica
API
Open Source
Social Media
Digital Transformation
Travel
Cyber Bullying and Cyber Stalking
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
ICO Set to Scale Back Public Sector Fines - Infosecurity Magazine
ECB to warn eurozone countries over crypto regulation | Financial Times (ft.com)
Wegmans hit with $400,000 data-breach penalty (democratandchronicle.com)
Models, Frameworks and Standards
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Apple's New "Lockdown Mode" Protects iPhone, iPad, and Mac Against Spyware (thehackernews.com)
Pro-Kremlin hackers Killnet hit Latvia with biggest cyber attack in its history | World | The Times
TrickBot Gang Shifted its Focus on "Systematically" Targeting Ukraine (thehackernews.com)
NATO Announce Plans to Develop Cyber Rapid Response Capabilities - IT Security Guru
FBI and MI5 bosses: China cheats and steals at massive scale • The Register
Hackers linked to the Chinese government increasingly target Russia, analysis suggests - CyberScoop
In Switch, Trickbot Group Now Attacking Ukrainian Targets (darkreading.com)
Apple Debuts Spyware Protection for State-Sponsored Cyber Attacks (darkreading.com)
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Russian Info Ops Ramp Up Effort to Divide West on Ukraine - Infosecurity Magazine
Near-undetectable malware linked to Russia's Cozy Bear • The Register
Nation State Actors – China
China Censors What Could Be Biggest Data Hack in History (gizmodo.com)
Hackers linked to the Chinese government increasingly target Russia, analysis suggests - CyberScoop
China’s Cabinet Stresses Cyber Security After Data Leak - Bloomberg
Security warning after sale of stolen Chinese data - BBC News
Five accused of trying to silence China critics in US • The Register
50 Chinese students leave UK in three years after spy chiefs’ warning | Espionage | The Guardian
More UK calls for ban of CCTV makers Hikvision, Dahua • The Register
Nation State Actors – North Korea
Russian information operations focus on dividing Western coalition supporting Ukraine - CyberScoop
North Korean ransomware dubbed Maui active since May 2021 • The Register
Nation State Actors – Iran
Vulnerabilities
Cisco and Fortinet Release Security Patches for Multiple Products (thehackernews.com)
OpenSSL version 3.0.5 fixes a flaw that could potentially lead to RCE - Security Affairs
Django fixes SQL Injection vulnerability in new releases (bleepingcomputer.com)
Google fixes the fourth Chrome zero-day in 2022 - Security Affairs - Security Affairs
Tens of Jenkins plugins are affected by zero-day vulnerabilities - Security Affairs
OpenSSL fixes two “one-liner” crypto bugs – what you need to know – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Fortinet addressed multiple vulnerabilities in several products - Security Affairs
There’s a Nasty Security Hole in the Apache Webserver – The New Stack
Sector Specific
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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
Other News
These are the cyber security threats of tomorrow that you should be thinking about today | ZDNet
Why Browser Vulnerabilities Are a Serious Threat — and How to Minimize Your Risk (darkreading.com)
Microsoft rolls back plan to block macros by default • Graham Cluley
Attacker groups adopt new penetration testing tool Brute Ratel | CSO Online
Security tester says he broke into datacenter via toilets • The Register
SQL injection, XSS vulnerabilities continue to plague organisations | CSO Online
Imagination is key to effective data loss prevention - Help Net Security
The Age of Collaborative Security: What Tens of Thousands of Machines Witness (thehackernews.com)
Maintaining a sustainable strengthened cyber security posture - NCSC.GOV.UK
Zero Trust Bolsters Our National Defence Against Rising Cyber Threats (darkreading.com)
Security advisory accidentally exposes vulnerable systems (bleepingcomputer.com)
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 01 July 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 01 July 2022:
-Ransomware Is the Biggest Global Cyber Threat. And The Attacks Are Still Evolving
-Study Reveals Traditional Data Security Tools Have a 60% Failure Rate Against Ransomware and Extortion
-Patchable and Preventable Security Issues Lead Causes of Q1 Attacks
-Three in Four Vulnerability Management Programs Ineffective, NopSec Research Finds
-EMEA Continues to Be a Hotspot for Malware Threats
-A New, Remarkably Sophisticated Malware Is Attacking Home and Small Office Routers
-What Are Shadow IDs, and How Are They Crucial in 2022?
-Zero-Days Aren't Going Away Anytime Soon & What Leaders Need to Know
-Half of 2022's Zero-Days Are Variants of Previous Vulnerabilities
-Human Error Remains the Top Security Issue
-Carnival Cruises Torpedoed by US States, Agrees to Pay $6m After Wave of Cyber Attacks
-Uber Ex-Security Chief Accused of Hacking Coverup Must Face Fraud Charges, Judge Rules
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
Ransomware Is the Biggest Global Cyber Threat. And The Attacks Are Still Evolving
Ransomware is the biggest cyber security threat facing the world today, with the potential to significantly affect whole societies and economies – and the attacks are unrelenting, the head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has warned.
"Even with a war raging in Ukraine – the biggest global cyber threat we still face is ransomware. That tells you something of the scale of the problem. Ransomware attacks strike hard and fast. They are evolving rapidly, they are all-pervasive, they're increasingly offered by gangs as a service, lowering the bar for entry into cyber crime," said Lindy Cameron, CEO of the NCSC in a speech at Tel Aviv Cyber Week.
She added that the NCSC has dealt with "nationally significant incidents" along with hundreds of general cyber incidents that "affect the UK more widely every year".
While she didn't detail any specific instances of responding to ransomware incidents, Cameron warned that "these complex attacks have the potential to affect our societies and economies significantly", and implied that if it weren't for the work of NCSC incident responders, alongside their counterparts in the industry and international counterparts, the attacks could have had a major impact.
Study Reveals Traditional Data Security Tools Have a 60% Failure Rate Against Ransomware and Extortion
Titaniam, Inc., the data security platform, announced the ‘State of Data Exfiltration & Extortion Report.’ The survey revealed that while over 70% of organisations have an existing set of prevention, detection, and backup solutions, nearly 40% of organisations have been hit with ransomware attacks in the last year, and more than 70% have experienced one in the previous five years, proving existing solutions to be woefully inadequate in managing the risks and impacts from these attacks.
Data exfiltration during ransomware attacks is up 106% relative to where it was five years ago. We are seeing the emergence of a new trend where cyber criminals are no longer limiting themselves to just encrypting entire systems—they are making sure to steal data ahead of the encryption so that they can have additional leverage on the victim. The survey found that 65% of those who have experienced a ransomware attack have also experienced data theft or exfiltration due to the incident. Of those victims, 60% say the hackers used the data theft to extort them further, known as double extortion. Most of them, i.e., 59% of victims, paid the hackers, implying that they were not helped by their backup or data security tools to prevent this fate.
Data is being exposed for theft and extortion in other ways too. Nearly half (47%) uncovered publicly exposed data in their systems in the last 24 months. It was found that respondents have a mix of data security & protection (78%), prevention & detection (75%), and backup and recovery (73%) in their cyber security stacks. Still, exposure and extortion numbers imply a missing puzzle piece regarding attacks.
Patchable and Preventable Security Issues Lead Causes of Q1 Attacks
Attacks against companies spiked in Q1 2022 with patchable and preventable external vulnerabilities responsible for the bulk of attacks.
Eighty-two percent of attacks on organisations in Q1 2022 were caused by the external exposure of known vulnerabilities in the victim’s external-facing perimeter or attack surface. Those unpatched bugs overshadowed breach-related financial losses tied to human error, which accounted for 18 percent.
The numbers come from Tetra Defense and its quarterly report that sheds light on a notable uptick in cyber attacks against United States organisations between January and March 2022.
The report did not let employee security hygiene, or a lack thereof, off the hook. Tetra revealed that a lack of multi-factor authentication (MFA) mechanisms adopted by firms and compromised credentials are still major factors in attacks against organisations.
https://threatpost.com/lead-causes-of-q1-attacks/180096/
Three in Four Vulnerability Management Programs Ineffective
How at risk are organisations to unsecured vulnerabilities in their networks? NopSec, a threat and exposure management provider, gives us the answers in a new study of some 430 cyber security professionals.
Are security teams finding successful approaches to their vulnerability management, or are “open doors around their attack surface” leaving them susceptible to disaster in their organisation? The answer, as it turns out, is that some organisations are better at detection, response and remediation of their vulnerabilities.
Perhaps more importantly, others are not as locked down as they believe, according to the report. Keeping track of known vulnerabilities and responding quickly is one thing, but locating flaws they did not previously know existed is quite another.
Seventy percent of respondent say their vulnerability management program (VMP) is only somewhat effective or worse, blind spots and shadow IT remain top challenges, and vulnerabilities take too long to patch.
EMEA Continues to Be a Hotspot for Malware Threats
Ransomware detections in the first quarter of this year doubled the total volume reported for 2021, according to the latest quarterly Internet Security Report from the WatchGuard Threat Lab. Researchers also found that the Emotet botnet came back in a big way, the infamous Log4Shell vulnerability tripled its attack efforts and malicious cryptomining activity increased.
Although findings from the Threat Lab’s Q4 2021 report showed ransomware attacks trending down year over year, that all changed in Q1 2022 with a massive explosion in ransomware detections. While Q4 2021 saw the downfall of the infamous REvil cybergang, WatchGuard analysis suggests that this opened the door for the LAPSUS$ extortion group to emerge, which along with many new ransomware variants such as BlackCat – the first known ransomware written in the Rust programming language – could be contributing factors to an ever-increasing ransomware and cyber-extortion threat landscape.
The report also shows that EMEA continues to be a hotspot for malware threats. Overall regional detections of basic and evasive malware show WatchGuard Fireboxes in EMEA were hit harder than those in North, Central and South America (AMER) at 57% and 22%, respectively, followed by Asia-Pacific (APAC) at 21%.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/30/emea-malware-threats/
A New, Remarkably Sophisticated Malware Is Attacking Home and Small Office Routers
An unusually advanced hacking group has spent almost two years infecting a wide range of routers in North America and Europe with malware that takes full control of connected devices running Windows, macOS, and Linux, researchers reported on June 28.
So far, researchers from Lumen Technologies' Black Lotus Labs say they've identified at least 80 targets infected by the stealthy malware, including routers made by Cisco, Netgear, Asus, and DrayTek. Dubbed ZuoRAT, the remote access Trojan is part of a broader hacking campaign that has existed since at least the fourth quarter of 2020 and continues to operate.
The discovery of custom-built malware written for the MIPS architecture and compiled for small-office and home-office routers is significant, particularly given its range of capabilities. Its ability to enumerate all devices connected to an infected router and collect the DNS lookups and network traffic they send and receive, and remain undetected, is the hallmark of a highly sophisticated threat actor.
"While compromising small office/home office (SOHO) routers as a vector to gain access to an adjacent LAN is not a novel technique, it has seldom been reported," Black Lotus Labs researchers wrote. "Similarly, reports of person-in-the-middle style attacks, such as DNS and HTTP hijacking, are even rarer and a mark of a complex and targeted operation. The use of these two techniques congruently demonstrated a high level of sophistication by a threat actor, indicating that this campaign was possibly performed by a state-sponsored organisation."
The campaign comprises at least four pieces of malware, three of them written from scratch by the threat actor. The first piece is the MIPS-based ZuoRAT, which closely resembles the Mirai internet-of-things malware that achieved record-breaking distributed denial-of-service attacks that crippled some Internet services for days. ZuoRAT often gets installed by exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities in SOHO devices.
https://www.wired.com/story/zuorat-trojan-malware-hacking-routers/
What Are Shadow IDs, and How Are They Crucial in 2022?
Just before last Christmas, in a first-of-a-kind case, JPMorgan was fined $200M for employees using non-sanctioned applications for communicating about financial strategy. No mention of insider trading, naked shorting, or any malevolence. Just employees circumventing regulation using, well, Shadow IT. Not because they tried to obfuscate or hide anything, simply because it was a convenient tool that they preferred over any other sanctioned products (which JPMorgan certainly has quite a few of.)
Visibility into unknown and unsanctioned applications has been required by regulators and also recommended by the Center for Internet Security community for a long time. Yet it seems that new and better approaches are still in demand. Gartner has identified External Attack Surface Management, Digital Supply Chain Risk, and Identity Threat Detection as the top three trends to focus on in 2022, all of which are closely intertwined with Shadow IT.
"Shadow IDs," or in other words, unmanaged employee identities and accounts in third-party services, are often created using a simple email-and-password-based registration. Cloud access security broker (CASB) and corporate single-sign-on (SSO) solutions are limited to a few sanctioned applications, and are not widely adopted on most websites and services either. This means, that a large part of an organisation's external surface - as well as its user identities - may be completely invisible.
https://thehackernews.com/2022/06/what-are-shadow-ids-and-how-are-they.html
Zero-Days Aren't Going Away Anytime Soon, and What Leaders Need to Know
Few security exploits are the source of more sleepless nights for security professionals than zero-day attacks. Just recently, researchers discovered a new vulnerability enabling hackers to achieve remote code execution within Microsoft Office. Dubbing the evolving threat the Follina exploit, researchers say all versions of Office are at risk. And because the internal security teams have no time to prepare or patch their systems to defend against these software vulnerabilities, crafty threat actors can take advantage, taking their time after they've accessed an organisation's environment to observe and exfiltrate data while remaining completely unseen.
And though sophisticated threat actors and nations have exploited zero-days for nearly two decades, last year saw a historic rise in the number of vulnerabilities detected. Both Google and Mandiant tracked a record number of zero-days last year, with the caveat that more zero-days are being discovered because security companies are getting better at finding them — not necessarily because hackers are coming up with new vulnerabilities. Not all zero-days are created equal, though. Some require sophisticated and novel techniques, like the attack on SolarWinds, and others exploit simple vulnerabilities in commonly used programs like Windows. Thankfully, there's some basic cyber hygiene strategies that can keep your organisation sufficiently prepared to mitigate zero-day exploits.
Half of 2022's Zero-Days Are Variants of Previous Vulnerabilities
Google Project Zero has observed a total of 18 exploited zero-day vulnerabilities in the first half of 2022, at least half of which exist because previous bugs were not properly addressed.
According to Google Project Zero researcher Maddie Stone, nine of the in-the-wild zero-days seen so far this year could have been prevented had organisations applied more comprehensive patching.
“On top of that, four of the 2022 zero-days are variants of 2021 in-the-wild zero-days. Just 12 months from the original in-the-wild zero-day being patched, attackers came back with a variant of the original bug,” Stone says.
The most recent of these issues is the Follina vulnerability in the Windows platform. Tracked as CVE-2022-30190, it is a variant of an MSHTML zero-day tracked as CVE-2021-40444.
CVE-2022-21882 is another Windows vulnerability that is a variant of an in-the-wild zero-day that was improperly resolved last year, namely CVE-2021-1732.
An iOS IOMobileFrameBuffer bug (CVE-2022-22587) and a type confusion flaw in Chrome’s V8 engine (CVE-2022-1096) are two other zero-days that are variants of exploited security flaws found last year – CVE-2021-30983 and CVE-2021-30551, respectively.
Other 2022 zero-days that are variants of improperly addressed security defects are CVE-2022-1364 (Chrome), CVE-2022-22620 (WebKit), CVE-2021-39793 (Google Pixel), CVE-2022-26134 (Atlassian Confluence), and CVE-2022-26925 (Windows flaw called PetitPotam).
https://www.securityweek.com/google-half-2022s-zero-days-are-variants-previous-vulnerabilities
Human Error Remains the Top Security Issue
Human error remains the most effective vector for conducting network infiltrations and data breaches.
The SANS Institute security centre issued its annual security awareness report Wednesday, which was based on data from 1,000 infosec professionals and found that employees and their lack of security training remain common points of failure for data breaches and network attacks. The report also tracked the maturity level of respondents' security awareness programs and their effectiveness in reducing human risk.
"This year's report once again identifies what we have seen over the past three years: that the most mature security awareness programs are those that have the most people dedicated to managing and supporting it," the cyber security training and education organisation said.
"These larger teams are more effective at working with the security team to identify, track, and prioritise their top human risks, and at engaging, motivating, and training their workforce to manage those risks."
The SANS Institute study ranked maturity by five levels, from lowest to highest: nonexistent, compliance-focused, promoting awareness and behaviour change, long-term sustainment and culture change, and metrics framework. The report found that while approximately 400 respondents said their programs promote awareness and behaviour change - the highest such response for any maturity level - the number represented a 10% decrease from the previous year's report.
Carnival Cruises Torpedoed by US States, Agrees to Pay $6m After Wave of Cyber Attacks
Carnival Cruise Lines will cough up more than $6 million to end two separate lawsuits filed by 46 states in the US after sensitive, personal information on customers and employees was accessed in a string of cyber attacks.
A couple of years ago, as the coronavirus pandemic was taking hold, the Miami-based business revealed intruders had not only encrypted some of its data but also downloaded a collection of names and addresses; Social Security info, driver's license, and passport numbers; and health and payment information of thousands of people in almost every American state.
It all started to go wrong more than a year prior, as the cruise line became aware of suspicious activity in May 2019. This apparently wasn't disclosed until 10 months later, in March 2020.
Back in 2019, the security operations team spotted an internal email account sending spam to other addresses. It turned out miscreants had hijacked 124 employee Microsoft Office 365 email accounts, and were using them to send phishing emails to harvest more credentials. This, we're told, gave the intruders access to personal data on 180,000 Carnival employees and customers. It's likely the miscreants first broke in using phishing mails or brute-forcing passwords; either way, there was no multi-factor authentication.
Then in August 2020, the company said it was hit with the aforementioned ransomware, and copies of its files were siphoned. In January 2021, it was infected again with malware, and again sensitive information – specifically, customer passport numbers and dates of birth, and employee credit card numbers – were downloaded. And in March that year, a staffer's work email account was compromised again to send out a phishing email; more sensitive information was exposed.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/28/carnival-cybersecurity-fines/
Uber Ex-Security Chief Accused of Hacking Coverup Must Face Fraud Charges, Judge Rules
A federal judge on Tuesday said a former Uber Technologies Inc. security chief must face wire fraud charges over his alleged role in trying to cover up a 2016 hacking that exposed personal information of 57 million passengers and drivers.
The US Department of Justice had in December added the three charges against Joseph Sullivan to an earlier indictment, saying he arranged to pay money to two hackers in exchange for their silence, while trying to conceal the hacking from passengers, drivers and the US Federal Trade Commission.
Threats
Ransomware
Record-Breaking Year for Ransomware Attacks, WatchGuard Research Predicts - MSSP Alert
Cyber Security Experts Warn of Emerging Threat of "Black Basta" Ransomware (thehackernews.com)
AstraLocker 2.0 infects users directly from Word attachments (bleepingcomputer.com)
Black Basta Ransomware Gang Attacks 50 Companies, Cybereason Reports - MSSP Alert
How Dangerous Is BlackBasta Ransomware? (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
LockBit 3.0 Debuts With Ransomware Bug Bounty Program (darkreading.com)
Son of Conti: Ransomware tries its hand at politics - The Record by Recorded Future
Kaseya Ransomware - Cyber Leader’s Thoughts & Learnings One Year Later (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Are Protection Payments the Future of Ransomware? (tripwire.com)
Conti vs. LockBit: A Comparative Analysis of Ransomware Groups (trendmicro.com)
This new malware is at the heart of the ransomware ecosystem | ZDNet
Macmillan Publishing shuts down systems after likely ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Walmart denies being hit by Yanluowang ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Fake copyright infringement emails install LockBit ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cisco Talos techniques uncover ransomware sites on dark web (techtarget.com)
RansomHouse gang claims to have some stolen AMD data • The Register
'Prolific' NetWalker extortionist pleads guilty • The Register
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Google Warns About Hacker-for-Hire Services Trying to Phish Users (pcmag.com)
Clever phishing method bypasses MFA using Microsoft WebView2 apps (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyber Attacks via Unpatched Systems Cost Orgs More Than Phishing (darkreading.com)
How phishing attacks are becoming more sophisticated - Help Net Security
How Evilnum Cyber Attacks Target Microsoft Office Files - MSSP Alert
New Matanbuchus Campaign drops Cobalt Strike beacons - Security Affairs
Kaspersky Reveals Phishing Emails That Employees Find Most Confusing (darkreading.com)
Ukraine arrests cyber crime gang operating over 400 phishing sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Malware
Microsoft finds Raspberry Robin worm in hundreds of Windows networks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft Exchange servers worldwide backdoored with new malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft warning: This malware that targets Linux just got a big update | ZDNet
ZuoRAT Hijacks SOHO Routers From Cisco, Netgear (darkreading.com)
XFiles info-stealing malware adds support for Follina delivery (bleepingcomputer.com)
Raccoon Stealer is back with a new version to steal your passwords (bleepingcomputer.com)
PyPi python packages caught sending stolen AWS keys to unsecured sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mobile
Android Spyware 'Revive' Upgraded to Banking Trojan - Infosecurity Magazine
Phone Hackers: 9 Ways To Tell If You Have Fallen Victim (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Google Warns of New Spyware Targeting iOS and Android Users - IT Security Guru
Internet of Things – IoT
Data Breaches/Leaks
Leaky Access Tokens Exposed Amazon Photos of Users | Threatpost
California gun dashboards expose 10 years of personal data • The Register
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Russia-China cyber criminal collaboration could “destabilize” international order | CSO Online
Canadian admits to hacking spree with Russian cyber-gang - BBC News
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Pentagon finds concerning vulnerabilities on blockchain | TechRepublic
Hackers steal $100m from another breached crypto bridge | TechRadar
Santander Warns of 87% Surge in UK Crypto Scams - Infosecurity Magazine
Dozens of cryptography libraries vulnerable to private key theft | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)
Missing Cryptoqueen: FBI adds Ruja Ignatova to top ten most wanted - BBC News
Singapore warns of ‘brutal, unrelentingly hard’ crypto regs • The Register
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Rogue HackerOne employee steals bug reports to sell on the side (bleepingcomputer.com)
Japanese worker loses city's personal data in USB fail • The Register
How you handle independent contractors may determine your insider threat risk | CSO Online
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Threat actors increasingly use third parties to run their scams - Help Net Security
Santander Warns of 87% Surge in UK Crypto Scams - Infosecurity Magazine
Evolving online habits have paved the way for fraud. What can we do about it? - Help Net Security
Insurance
Software Supply Chain
It's a Race to Secure the Software Supply Chain — Have You Already Stumbled? (darkreading.com)
Over a Decade in Software Security: What Have We learned? - IT Security Guru
Denial of Service DoS/DDoS
Attack Surface Management
Shadow IT
Open Source
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
RansomHouse Hackers Claim to Breach AMD With Bad Passwords (gizmodo.com)
Breaking Down the Zola Hack and Why Password Reuse is so Dangerous (bleepingcomputer.com)
Raccoon Stealer is back with a new version to steal your passwords (bleepingcomputer.com)
Social Media
Verified Twitter accounts hacked to send fake suspension notices (bleepingcomputer.com)
Facebook Business Pages Targeted via Chatbot in Data-Harvesting Campaign (darkreading.com)
New YTStealer malware steals accounts from YouTube Creators (bleepingcomputer.com)
Facebook 2FA phish arrives just 28 minutes after scam domain created – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Training, Education and Awareness
Privacy
‘Supercookies’ Have Privacy Experts Sounding the Alarm | WIRED
UK should immediately ban use of live facial recognition, warns report | Financial Times (ft.com)
Snoopers’ Charter Ruled Partially Unlawful - Infosecurity Magazine
We must stop sleepwalking towards a surveillance state | Financial Times (ft.com)
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Manx government department fined over data breach - BBC News
Clearview fine: The unacceptable face of modern surveillance - Help Net Security
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
NATO to create cyber rapid response force, increase cyber defence aid to Ukraine - CyberScoop
Evilnum hackers return in new operation targeting migration orgs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Commercial cyber products must be used responsibly, says NCSC CEO (computerweekly.com)
G7 to tackle cyber threats and disinformation from Russia: communique | Reuters
Google Warns of New Spyware Targeting iOS and Android Users - IT Security Guru
China lured graduate jobseekers into digital espionage | Ars Technica
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Ukraine targeted by almost 800 cyber attacks since the war started (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russian Hacker Group Says Cyber Attacks Continue On Lithuania (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Russian hacktivists take down Norway govt sites in DDoS attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russia's Killnet hacker group says it attacked Lithuania | Reuters
Nation State Actors – China
Chinese Hackers Target Building Management Systems | SecurityWeek.Com
China lured graduate jobseekers into digital espionage | Ars Technica
Nation State Actors – North Korea
Vulnerability Management
Why more zero-day vulnerabilities are being found in the wild | CSO Online
Cyber Attacks via Unpatched Systems Cost Orgs More Than Phishing (darkreading.com)
Microsoft's quiet mishandling of vulnerabilities is becoming a public mess - OnMSFT.com
Vulnerabilities
MITRE shares this year's list of most dangerous software bugs (bleepingcomputer.com)
How and why threat actors target Microsoft Active Directory | CSO Online
Atlassian Confluence Exploits Peak at 100K Daily (darkreading.com)
Patch Now: Linux Container-Escape Flaw in Azure Service Fabric (darkreading.com)
Zoho ManageEngine ADAudit Plus bug gets public RCE exploit (bleepingcomputer.com)
OpenSSL 3.0.5 awaits release to fix potential security flaw • The Register
CISA: Adopt Modern Auth now for Exchange Online • The Register
CISA Warns of Active Exploitation of 'PwnKit' Linux Vulnerability in the Wild (thehackernews.com)
CISA orders agencies to patch Windows LSA bug exploited in the wild (bleepingcomputer.com)
Log4Shell Vulnerability in VMware Leads to Data Exfiltration and Ransomware (trendmicro.com)
Jenkins discloses dozens of zero-day bugs in multiple plugins (bleepingcomputer.com)
New UnRAR Vulnerability Could Let Attackers Hack Zimbra Webmail Servers (thehackernews.com)
Sector Specific
Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
Financial Services Sector
FinTech
A Fintech Horror Story: How One Company Prioritizes Cyber Security (darkreading.com)
Security and compliance concerns limit ‘open finance’ expansion, say executives (scmagazine.com)
Telecoms
OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA and Cyber-Physical Systems
APT Hackers Targeting Industrial Control Systems with ShadowPad Backdoor (thehackernews.com)
Cyber-Physical Security: Benchmarking to Advance Your Journey | SecurityWeek.Com
Critical Security Flaws Identified in CODESYS ICS Automation Software (thehackernews.com)
Microsoft Exchange bug abused to hack building automation systems (bleepingcomputer.com)
5 Cyber Security Tips for Smart Buildings - IT Security Guru
Chinese Hackers Target Building Management Systems | SecurityWeek.Com
OT security: Helping under-resourced critical infrastructure organisations - Help Net Security
Energy & Utilities
Oil, Gas and Mining
Food and Agriculture
Education and Academia
Web3
Reports Published in the Last Week
Q1 2022 Incident Response Insights from Tetra Defense | Arctic Wolf
Defending Ukraine: Early Lessons from the Cyber War - Microsoft On the Issues
Other News
Cyber Attacks Gain Steam in Early '22: Tetra Defense Report - MSSP Alert
FBI warns crooks are using deepfake videos in job interviews • The Register
Destructive firmware attacks pose a significant threat to businesses - Help Net Security
48% of security practitioners seeing 3x increase in alerts per day - Help Net Security
Adversarial machine learning explained: How attackers disrupt AI and ML systems | CSO Online
82% Cyber Breaches In Verizon’s Report Preventable, Says MyCena (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
SolarWinds hack explained: Everything you need to know (techtarget.com)
Properly securing APIs is becoming increasingly urgent - Help Net Security
97% Of UK Business Leaders Expect Quantum Computing to Disrupt Their Sectors - Infosecurity Magazine
LGBTQ+ folks warned of dating app extortion scams • The Register
What is Zero Trust and why would you want it? • The Register
Tencent admits to poisoned QR code attack on QQ accounts • The Register
Exploring the insecurity of readily available Wi-Fi networks - Help Net Security
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 24 June 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 24 June 2022:
-The NCSC Sets Out the UK’s Cyber Threat Landscape
-We're Now Truly in The Era of Ransomware as Pure Extortion Without the Encryption
-5 Social Engineering Assumptions That Are Wrong
-Gartner: Regulation, Human Costs Will Create Stormy Cyber Security Weather Ahead
-Ransomware Attacks - This Is the Data That Cyber Criminals Really Want to Steal
-Cloud Email Threats Soar 101% in a Year
-80% of Firms Suffered Identity-Related Breaches in Last 12 Months
-After Being Breached Once, Many Companies Are Likely to Be Hit Again
-Do You Have Ransomware Insurance? Look at the Fine Print
-The Price of Stolen Info: Everything on Sale On The Dark Web
-How Companies Are Prioritizing Infosec and Compliance
-Businesses Risk ‘Catastrophic Financial Loss’ from Cyber Attacks, US Watchdog Warns
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
The NCSC Sets Out the UK’s Cyber Threat Landscape
The current state of the UK’s cyber threat landscape was outlined by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), during a keynote address on the final day of Infosecurity Europe 2022.
They described the cyber threats posed by nation-states, particularly Russia and China. Russia remains “one of the world’s most prolific cyber actors and dedicates significant resources to conducting cyber operations across the globe.” The NCSC and international partner organisations have attributed a number of high-profile attacks related to the conflict to Russian state actors, including the Viasat incident on the eve of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Therefore, the NCSC recommends that organisations prepare for a dynamic situation that is liable to change rapidly.
The NCSC emphasised that a more significant long-term threat comes from China, citing GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming’s assertion that “Russia is affecting the weather, but China is shaping the climate.” She described the nation’s “highly sophisticated” activities in cyberspace, born out of its “increasing ambitions to project its influence beyond its borders.” This includes a keen interest in the UK’s commercial secrets.
In addition to nation-state attacks, the NCSC noted that cyber crime is continuing to rise, with ransomware a continuing concern. Attacks are expected to grow in scale, with threat actors likely to increasingly target managed service providers (MSPs) to gain access to a wider range of targets. More generally, cyber capabilities will become more commoditised over the next few years, meaning they are increasingly available to a larger group of would-be attackers who are willing to pay.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ncsc-uk-cyber-threat-landscape/
We're Now Truly in The Era of Ransomware as Pure Extortion Without the Encryption
Increasingly cyber crime rings tracked as ransomware operators are turning toward primarily data theft and extortion – and skipping the encryption step altogether. Rather than scramble files and demand payment for the decryption keys, and all the faff in between in facilitating that, simply exfiltrating the data and demanding a fee to not leak it all is just as effective. This shift has been ongoing for many months, and is now virtually unavoidable.
The FBI and CISA this month warned about a lesser-known extortion gang called Karakurt, which demands ransoms as high as $13 million. Karakurt doesn't target any specific sectors or industries, and the gang's victims haven't had any of their documents encrypted and held to ransom. Instead, the crooks claim to have stolen data, with screenshots or copies of exfiltrated files as proof, and they threaten to sell it or leak it publicly if they don't receive a payment.
Some of these thieves offer discounted ransoms to corporations to encourage them to pay sooner, with the demanded payment getting larger the longer it takes to cough up the cash (or Bitcoin, as the case may be).
Additionally, some crime groups offer sliding-scale payment systems. So you pay for what you get, and depending on the amount of ransom paid you get a control panel, you get customer support, you get all of the tools you need."
https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/25/ransomware_gangs_extortion_feature/
5 Social Engineering Assumptions That Are Wrong
Social engineering is involved in the vast majority of cyber attacks, but a new report from Proofpoint has revealed five common social engineering assumptions that are not only wrong but are repeatedly subverted by malicious actors in their attacks.
Threat actors don’t have conversations with targets.
Legitimate services are safe from social engineering abuse.
Attackers only use computers, not telephones.
Replying to existing email conversations is safe.
Fraudsters only use business-related content as lures.
Commenting on the report’s findings, Sherrod DeGrippo, Proofpoint’s Vice-President Threat Research and Detection, stated that the vendor has attempted to debunk faulty assumptions made by organisations and security teams so they can better protect employees against cyber crime. “Despite defenders’ best efforts, cyber criminals continue to defraud, extort and ransom companies for billions of dollars annually. Security-focused decision makers have prioritised bolstering defences around physical and cloud-based infrastructure, which has led to human beings becoming the most relied upon entry point for compromise. As a result, a wide array of content and techniques continue to be developed to exploit human behaviours and interests.”
Indeed, cyber criminals will go to creative and occasionally unusual lengths to carry out social engineering campaigns, making it more difficult for users to avoid falling victim to them.
Gartner: Regulation, Human Costs Will Create Stormy Cyber Security Weather Ahead
Security teams should prepare for what researchers say will be a challenging environment through 2023, with increased pressure from government regulators, partners, and threat actors.
Gartner kicked off its Security & Risk Management Summit with the release of its analysts' assessments of the work ahead, which Richard Addiscott, the company's senior director analyst, discussed during his opening keynote address.
“We can’t fall into old habits and try to treat everything the same as we did in the past,” Addiscott said. “Most security and risk leaders now recognise that major disruption is only one crisis away. We can’t control it, but we can evolve our thinking, our philosophy, our program, and our architecture.”
Topping Gartner's list of eight predictions is a rise in the government regulation of consumer privacy rights and ransomware response, a widespread shift by enterprises to unify security platforms, more zero trust, and, troublingly, the prediction that by 2025 threat actors will likely have figured out how to "weaponise operational technology environments successfully to cause human casualties”, the cyber security report said.
Ransomware Attacks - This Is the Data That Cyber Criminals Really Want to Steal
There are certain types of data that criminals target the most, according to an analysis of attacks.
Data theft and extortion has become a common – and unfortunately effective – part of ransomware attacks, where in addition to encrypting data and demanding a ransom payment for the decryption key, gangs steal information and threaten to publish it if a payment isn't received.
These so-called double extortion attacks have become an effective tool in the arsenal of ransomware gangs, who leverage them to force victims to pay up, even in cases where data could be restored from offline backups, because the threat of sensitive information being published is too great.
Any stolen data is potentially useful to ransomware gangs, but according to analysis by researchers at cyber security company Rapid7, of 161 disclosed ransomware incidents where data was published, some data is seen as more valuable than others.
According to the report, financial services is the sector that is most likely to have customer data exposed, with 82% of incidents involving ransomware gangs accessing and making threats to release this data. Stealing and publishing sensitive customer information would undermine consumer trust in financial services organisations: while being hacked in the first place would be damaging enough, some business leaders might view paying a ransom to avoid further damage caused by data leaks to be worth it.
The second most-leaked type of file in ransomware attacks against financial services firms, featuring in 59% of disclosures from victims, is employee personally identifiable information (PII) and data related to human resources.
Cloud Email Threats Soar 101% in a Year
The number of email-borne cyber-threats blocked by Trend Micro surged by triple digits last year, highlighting the continued risk from conventional attack vectors.
The vendor stopped over 33.6 million such threats reaching customers via cloud-based email in 2021, a 101% increase. This included 16.5 million phishing emails, a 138% year-on-year increase, of which 6.5 million were credential phishing attempts.
Trend Micro also blocked 3.3 million malicious files in cloud-based emails, including a 134% increase in known threats and a 221% increase in unknown malware.
The news comes as Proofpoint warned in a new report of the continued dangers posed by social engineering, and the mistaken assumptions many users make.
Many users don’t realise that threat actors may spend considerable time and effort building a rapport over email with their victims, especially if they’re trying to conduct a business email compromise (BEC) attack, it said.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cloud-email-threats-soar-101-in-a/
80% of Firms Suffered Identity-Related Breaches in Last 12 Months
Rapidly growing employee identities, third-party partners, and machine nodes have companies scrambling to secure credential information, software secrets, and cloud identities, according to researchers.
In a survey of IT and identity professionals from Dimensional Research, almost every organisation — 98% — experienced rapid growth in the number of identities that have to be managed, with that growth driven by expanding cloud usage, more third-party partners, and machine identities. Furthermore, businesses are also seeing an increase in breaches because of this, with 84% of firms suffering an identity-related breach in the past 12 months, compared with 79% in a previous study covering two years.
The number and complexity of identities organisations are having to manage and secure is increasing. Whenever there is an increase in identities, there is a corresponding heightened risk of identity-related breaches due to them not being properly managed and secured, and with the attack surfaces also growing exponentially, these breaches can occur on multiple fronts.
For the most part, organisations focus on employee identities, which 70% consider to be the most likely to be breached and 58% believe to have the greatest impact, according to the 2022 "Trends in Securing Digital Identities" report based on the survey. Yet third-party partners and business customers are significant sources of risk as well, with 35% and 25% of respondents considering those to be a major source of breaches, respectively.
https://www.darkreading.com/operations/identity-related-breaches-last-12-months
After Being Breached Once, Many Companies Are Likely to Be Hit Again
Cymulate announced the results of a survey, revealing that two-thirds of companies who have been hit by cyber crime in the past year have been hit more than once, with almost 10% experiencing 10 or so more attacks a year.
Research taken from 858 security professionals surveyed across North America, EMEA, APAC and LATAM across a wide range of industries including technology, banking, finance and government, also highlighted larger companies hit by cyber crime are experiencing shorter disruption time and damage to business with 40% reported low damage compared with medium-size businesses (less than 2,500 employees) which had longer recovery times and more business affecting damage.
Other highlights
40% of respondents admitted to being breached over the past 12 months.
After being breached once, statistics showed they were more likely to be hit again than not (66%).
Malware (55%), and more specifically ransomware (40%) and DDoS (32%) were the main forms of cyber attacks experienced by those surveyed.
Attacks primarily occurred via end-user phishing (56%), via third parties connected to the enterprise (37%) or direct attacks on enterprise networks (34%).
22% of companies publicly disclosed cyber attacks in the worst-case breaches, with 35% needing to hire security consultants, 12% dismissing their current security professionals and 12% hiring public relations consultants to deal with the repercussions to their reputations. Top three best practices for cyber attack prevention, mitigation and remediation include multi-factor authentication (67%), proactive corporate phishing and awareness campaigns (53%), and well-planned and practiced incident response plans (44%). Least privilege also ranked highly, at 43%.
29% of attacks come from insider threats – intentionally or unintentionally.
Leadership and cyber security teams who meet regularly to discuss risk reduction are more cyber security-ready – those who met 15 times a year incurred zero breaches whereas those who suffered six or more breaches met under nine times on average.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/21/companies-hit-by-cybercrime/
Do You Have Ransomware Insurance? Look at the Fine Print
Insurance exists to protect the insured party against catastrophe, but the insurer needs protection so that its policies are not abused – and that's where the fine print comes in. However, in the case of ransomware insurance, the fine print is becoming contentious and arguably undermining the usefulness of ransomware insurance.
In recent years, ransomware insurance has grown as a product field because organisations are trying to buy protection against the catastrophic effects of a successful ransomware attack. Why try to buy insurance? Well, a single, successful attack can just about wipe out a large organisation, or lead to crippling costs – NotPetya alone led to a total of $10bn in damages.
Ransomware attacks are notoriously difficult to protect against completely. Like any other potentially catastrophic event, insurers stepped in to offer an insurance product. In exchange for a premium, insurers promise to cover many of the damages resulting from a ransomware attack.
Depending on the policy, a ransomware policy could cover loss of income if the attack disrupts operations, or loss of valuable data, if data is erased due to the ransomware event. A policy may also cover you for extortion – in others, it will refund the ransom demanded by the criminal.
The exact payout and terms will of course be defined in the policy document, also called the "fine print." Critically, fine print also contains exclusions, in other words circumstances under which the policy won't pay out. And therein lies the problem.
https://thehackernews.com/2022/06/do-you-have-ransomware-insurance-look.html
The Price of Stolen Info: Everything on Sale on The Dark Web
What is the price for personal information, including credit cards and bank accounts, on the dark web?
Privacy Affairs researchers concluded that criminals using the dark web need only spend $1,115 for a complete set of a person’s account details, enabling them to create fake IDs and forge private documents, such as passports and driver’s licenses.
Access to other information is becoming even cheaper. The Dark Web Price Index 2022 – based on data scanning dark web marketplaces, forums, and websites, revealed:
Credit card details and associated information cost between $17-$120
Online banking login information costs $45
Hacked Facebook accounts cost $45
Cloned VISA with PIN cost $20
Stolen PayPal account details, with minimum $1000 balances, cost $20.
In December 2021, about 4.5 million credit cards went up for sale on the dark web, the study found. The average price ranged from $1-$20.
Scammers can buy full credit card details, including CVV number, card number, associated dates, and even the email, physical address and phone number. This enables them to penetrate the credit card processing chain, overriding any security countermeasures.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/22/stolen-info-sale-dark-web/
How Companies Are Prioritising Infosec and Compliance
New research conducted by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), examines the impact of the compliance budget on security strategy and priorities. It describes areas for which companies prioritise information security and compliance, which leaders control information security spending, how compliance has shifted the overall security strategy of the organisation, and the solutions and tools on which organisations are focusing their technology spending.
The findings cover three critical areas of an organisation’s security and compliance posture: information security and IT audit and compliance, data security and data privacy, and security and compliance spending.
One key takeaway is that merging security and compliance priorities addresses regulatory control gaps while improving the organisation’s security posture. Respondents revealed insights on how they handle compliance, who is responsible for compliance and security responsibilities, and what compliance-related security challenges organisations face.
Additional findings:
Companies found the need to shift their information security strategy to address compliance priorities (93%).
Information security and IT compliance priorities are generally aligned (89%).
Existing security tools have to address data privacy considerations going forward (76%).
Managing an organisation’s multiple IT environments and the controls that govern those environments is the greatest challenge in the IT audit and compliance space (39%).
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/24/companies-infosec-compliance-priorities/
Businesses Risk ‘Catastrophic Financial Loss’ from Cyber Attacks, US Watchdog Warns
A US Government watchdog has warned that private insurance companies are increasingly backing out of covering damages from major cyber attacks — leaving businesses facing “catastrophic financial loss” unless another insurance model can be found.
The growing challenge of covering cyber risk is outlined in a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which calls for a government assessment of whether a federal cyber insurance option is needed.
The report draws on threat assessments from the National Security Agency (NSA), Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Department of Justice, to quantify the risk of cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, identifying vulnerable technologies that might be attacked and a range of threat actors capable of exploiting them.
Citing an annual threat assessment released by the ODNI, the report finds that hacking groups linked to Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea pose the greatest threat to US infrastructure — along with certain non-state actors like organised cyber criminal gangs.
Given the wide and increasingly skilled range of actors willing to target US entities, the number of cyber incidents is rising at an alarming rate.
Threats
Ransomware
Attackers exploited a Mitel VOIP zero-day to compromise a network Security Affairs
Chinese hackers use ransomware as decoy for cyber espionage (bleepingcomputer.com)
If you don't store valuable data, ransomware is impotent • The Register
Ransomware-as-a-Service: Learn to Enhance Cyber security Approaches (analyticsinsight.net)
Mitigate Ransomware in a Remote-First World (thehackernews.com)
Delivery Firm Yodel Scrambling to Restore Operations Following Cyber attack | SecurityWeek.Com
Black Basta Ransomware Becomes Major Threat in Two Months | SecurityWeek.Com
These hackers are spreading ransomware as a distraction - to hide their cyber spying | ZDNet
Conti ransomware hacking spree breaches over 40 orgs in a month (bleepingcomputer.com)
Conti effectively created an extortion-oriented IT company, says Group-IB - Help Net Security
Conti ransomware finally shuts down data leak, negotiation sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Conti ransomware group's pulse stops, but did it fake its own death? | Malwarebytes Labs
Without Conti on the Scene, LockBit 2.0 Leads Ransomware Attacks (darkreading.com)
Cyber attack: Gloucester council services still not back to normal - BBC News
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Your email is a major source of security risks and it's getting worse | ZDNet
New Phishing Attack Infects Devices with Cobalt Strike- IT Security Guru
Voicemail phishing emails steal Microsoft credentials • The Register
The Risk of Multichannel Phishing Is on the Horizon (darkreading.com)
Cops arrests nine suspected of stealing millions via email • The Register
Cyber criminals Use Azure Front Door in Phishing Attacks - Security Affairs
Microsoft Exchange servers hacked by new ToddyCat APT gang (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyber attackers Abuse QuickBooks Cloud Service in 'Double-Spear' Campaign (darkreading.com)
Other Social Engineering
Proofpoint: Social engineering attacks slipping past users (techtarget.com)
Inside a large-scale phishing campaign targeting millions of Facebook users - Help Net Security
Malware
RIG Exploit Kit Now Infects Victims' PCs With Dridex Instead of Raccoon Stealer (thehackernews.com)
Organisations Battling Phishing Malware, Viruses the Most (darkreading.com)
This Linux botnet has found a novel way of spreading to new devices | ZDNet
New 'Quantum' Builder Lets Attackers Easily Create Malicious Windows Shortcuts (thehackernews.com)
NSA warns against silly mistake in the fight against Windows malware | TechRadar
Mobile
This Android malware is so dangerous, even Google is worried | TechRadar
Google is notifying Android users targeted by Hermit government-grade spyware | TechCrunch
This phone-wiping Android banking trojan is getting nastier | ZDNet
BRATA Android Malware Group Now Classified As Advanced Persistent Threat - Infosecurity Magazine
Spurred by Roe overturn, senators seek FTC probe of iOS and Android tracking | Ars Technica
Internet of Things – IoT
Data Breaches/Leaks
US Bank Data Breach Impacts Over 1.5 Million Customers - Infosecurity Magazine
CafePress fined $500,000 for breach affecting 23 million users (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Hackers steal $100 million from California cryptocurrency firm - CNN
DARPA study finds blockchain not as decentralised as assumed • The Register
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Cloud/SaaS
Microsoft 365 Users in US Face Raging Spate of Attacks (darkreading.com)
Getting a Better Handle on Identity Management in the Cloud (darkreading.com)
Researchers Uncover Ways to Break the Encryption of 'MEGA' Cloud Storage Service (thehackernews.com)
Identity and Access Management
Risky behaviour reduced when executives put focus on identity security - Help Net Security
Access management issues may create security holes (techtarget.com)
IAM Research: Inadequate Programs Leave Organisations Open to Cyber Attacks - MSSP Alert
Why 84% Of US Firms Hit With Identity-Related Breaches In 2021 – Information Security Buzz
Open Source
Open-source software risks persist, according to new reports | CSO Online
Less Than Half of Organisations Have Open Source Security Policy - Infosecurity Magazine
Blind trust in open source security is hurting us: Report | ZDNet
Training, Education and Awareness
Privacy
Privacy-focused Brave Search grew by 5,000% in a year (bleepingcomputer.com)
Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade reversal sparks calls for strengthening privacy - CyberScoop
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Do Privacy and Data Protection Regulations Create as Many Problems as They Solve? | SecurityWeek.Com
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Phishing gang behind millions in losses dismantled by police (bleepingcomputer.com)
Euro Police Target Crime Groups Grooming Ukrainian Refugees Online - Infosecurity Magazine
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Microsoft: Russian Cyber Spying Targets 42 Ukraine Allies | SecurityWeek.Com
Italian spyware firm is hacking into iOS and Android devices, Google says | Computerworld
NSO claims 'more than 5' EU states used its Pegasus spyware • The Register
#InfosecurityEurope2022: Geopolitical Tensions a “Danger” to Cyber security - Infosecurity Magazine
Examples of Cyber Warfare #TrendTalksBizSec (trendmicro.com)
Ukraine deploys a DDoS protection service to survive the cyberwar | VentureBeat
Lithuania warns of rise in DDoS attacks against government sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russia's APT28 Launches Nuke-Themed Follina Exploit Campaign (darkreading.com)
Ukrainian cyber security officials disclose two new hacking campaigns - IT Security Guru
Scalper bots out of control in Israel, selling state appointments (bleepingcomputer.com)
Research questions potentially dangerous implications of Ukraine's IT Army - CyberScoop
Lithuania under cyber-attack after ban on Russian railway goodsSecurity Affairs
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Russia Steps Up Cyber-Espionage Against Ukraine Allies - Infosecurity Magazine
Fancy Bear Uses Nuke Threat Lure to Exploit 1-Click Bug | Threatpost
Russian APT28 hacker accused of the NATO think tank hack in Germany - Security Affairs
Russia fines Google for spreading ‘unreliable’ info defaming its army (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nation State Actors – China
Chinese APT 'Bronze Starlight' Uses Ransomware to Disguise Cyberespionage | SecurityWeek.Com
Chinese Tropic Trooper APT spreads a hacking tool laced with a backdoor - Security Affairs
Chinese hackers target script kiddies with info-stealer trojan (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nation State Actors – Iran
Nation State Actors – Misc APT
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerabilities
Cisco warns of security holes in its security appliances • The Register
Google Patches 14 Vulnerabilities With Release of Chrome 103 | SecurityWeek.Com
Cisco will not address critical RCE in end-of-life Small Business RV routers - Security Affairs
Google expert detailed a 5-Year-Old flaw in Apple Safari exploited in the wild - Security Affairs
Oracle spent 6 months to fix 'Mega' flaws in the Fusion Middleware - Security Affairs
Researchers criticize Oracle's vulnerability disclosure process (techtarget.com)
Critical PHP Vulnerability Exposes QNAP NAS Devices to Remote Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Sector Specific
Financial Services Sector
Flagstar Bank discloses data breach impacting 1.5 million customers (bleepingcomputer.com)
7 Cyber security Best Practices for Financial Services Firms - MSSP Alert
Why Financial Institutions Must Double Down on Open Source Investments (darkreading.com)
SMBs – Small and Medium Businesses
How tool sprawl is becoming a common issue for SMEs - Help Net Security
Middle market companies under attack: Threats coming from all directions - Help Net Security
#InfosecurityEurope2022: How Should SMEs Defend Against Cyber-Risks? - Infosecurity Magazine
Legal
Health/Medical/Pharma Sector
Retail/eCommerce
Magecart attacks are still around. And they are becoming more stealthy | ZDNet
Newly Discovered Magecart Infrastructure Reveals the Scale of Ongoing Campaign- IT Security Guru
Manufacturing
CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
Threat Intelligence Services Are Universally Valued by IT Staff (darkreading.com)
Security pros increasingly plan to adopt MDR services in the next 12 months - Help Net Security
Board members and the C-suite need secure communication tools - Help Net Security
Adobe Acrobat may block antivirus tools from monitoring PDF files (bleepingcomputer.com)
7 Ways to Avoid Worst-Case Cyber Scenarios (darkreading.com)
3 threats dirty data poses to the enterprise (techtarget.com)
Data recovery depends on how good your backup strategy is - Help Net Security
Unsecured APIs Could Be Costing Firms $75bn Per Year - Infosecurity Magazine
The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of the Presumption of Compromise (darkreading.com)
#InfosecurityEurope2022: Are You Prepared For The Next Big Crisis? - Infosecurity Magazine
Ongoing PowerShell security threats prompt a call to action (techtarget.com)
Despite known security issues, VPN usage continues to thrive - Help Net Security
Space-based assets aren’t immune to cyber attacks | CSO Online
Cyber security expert on how $13K of fuel was stolen from station (wtvr.com)
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 17 June 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 17 June 2022
-How Organisations Can Protect Themselves in The Emerging Risk Landscape
-Phishing Reaches All-Time High in Early 2022
-Ransomware Attacks Are Surging, with More Dangerous Hybrid Attacks to Come. Is Your Cyber Security Up to Date?
-The Challenges of Managing Increased Complexity As Hybrid IT Accelerates
-72% Of Middle Market Companies Expect to Experience a Cyber Attack
-Malware's Destruction Trajectory and How to Defeat It
-Which Stolen Data Are Ransomware Gangs Most Likely to Disclose?
-Threat Actors Becoming More Creative Exploiting the Human Factor
-66% Of Organisations Store 21%-60% Of Their Sensitive Data in The Cloud
-Travel-related Cyber Crime Takes Off as Industry Rebounds
-How Should You Think About Security When Considering Digital Transformation Projects?
-Internet Explorer Now Retired but Still an Attacker Target
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
How Organisations Can Protect Themselves in The Emerging Risk Landscape
ThoughtLab’s 2022 cyber security benchmarking study ‘Cyber Security Solutions for a Riskier World’ revealed that the pandemic has brought cyber security to a critical inflection point. The number of material breaches that respondents suffered rose 20.5% from 2020 to 2021, and cyber security budgets as a percentage of firms’ total revenue jumped 51%, from 0.53% to 0.80%.
During that time, cyber security has become a strategic business imperative, requiring CEOs and their management teams to work together to meet the higher expectations of regulators, shareholders, and the board.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/13/cybersecurity-strategic-business-imperative-video/
Phishing Reaches All-Time High in Early 2022
The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) Phishing Activity Trends Report reveals that in the first quarter of 2022 there were 1,025,968 total phishing attacks—the worst quarter for phishing observed to date. This quarter was the first time the three-month total has exceeded one million. There were 384,291 attacks in March 2022, which was a record monthly total.
In the first quarter of 2022, OpSec Security reported that phishing attacks against the financial sector, which includes banks, remained the largest set of attacks, accounting for 23.6 percent of all phishing. Attacks against webmail and software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers remained prevalent as well, while attacks against retail/ecommerce sites fell from 17.3 to 14.6 percent after the holiday shopping season.
Phishing against social media services rose markedly, from 8.5 percent of all attacks in 4Q2021 to 12.5 percent in 1Q2022. Phishing against cryptocurrency targets—such as cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet providers—inched up from 6.5 in the previous quarter to 6.6 percent of attacks.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/15/2022-total-phishing-attacks/
Ransomware Attacks Are Surging, with More Dangerous Hybrid Attacks to Come. Is Your Cyber Security Up to Date?
Time to reassess your cyber security strategies. Again.
Ransomware attacks on businesses have increased by one-third in the past year, according to a recent report by the Boston-based cyber security company Cybereason.
Most (73 percent of businesses) were hit by at least one ransomware attack in the past year, and 68 percent of businesses that paid a ransom were hit again in less than a month for a higher ransom, according to the survey, which polled 1,456 cyber security professionals at global companies with 700 or more employees.
These attacks have big implications: Thirty-seven percent of companies were forced to lay off employees after paying ransoms, and 33 percent were forced to temporarily suspend business.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, cyber security experts have insisted businesses improve their lines of defence to protect against an increased risk of ransomware attacks from Russia. Ransomware attacks have also increased since the start of the pandemic--the rise of remote work increased vulnerability for many businesses, which hackers have taken advantage of, a 2020 FBI memo noted. So, enterprises of all sizes are at risk from many more points of attack.
https://www.inc.com/rebecca-deczynski/ransomware-attacks-increasing-cyber-security-advice.html
The Challenges of Managing Increased Complexity as Hybrid IT Accelerates
SolarWinds released the findings of its ninth annual IT Trends Report which examines the acceleration of digital transformation efforts and its impact on IT departments. The report found the acceleration of hybrid IT has increased network complexity for most organisations and caused several worrisome challenges for IT professionals.
Hybrid and remote work have amplified the impact of distributed and complex IT environments. Running workloads and applications across both cloud and on-premises infrastructure can be challenging, and many organisations are increasingly experiencing—and ultimately hindered by—these pain points.
As more and more mission-critical workloads move to connected cloud architectures that span public, private, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments, enterprises recognise they need to invest in the tools that will help them ensure consistent policies and performance across all platforms and end users. However, they simultaneously face challenges such as budget, time constraints, and barriers to implementing observability as a strategy to keep pace with hybrid IT realities.
However professionals feel less confident in their organisation’s ability to manage IT. While 54% of respondents state they leverage monitoring strategies to manage this complexity, 49% revealed they lack visibility into the majority of their organisation’s apps and infrastructure. This lack of visibility impacts their ability to conduct anomaly detection, easy root-cause analysis, and other critical processes to ensure the availability, performance, and security of business-critical applications.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/16/hybrid-it-acceleration-challenges/
72% Of Middle Market Companies Expect to Experience a Cyber Attack
Middle market companies face an increasingly volatile cyber security environment, with threats coming from more directions than ever before and more skilled criminals targeting the segment, according to an RSM US and US Chamber of Commerce report.
However, there is good news as the number of breaches reported in the last year among middle market companies slightly decreased with protections becoming more available and executives understanding the consequences related to potential incidents. Twenty-two percent of middle market leaders claimed that their company experienced a data breach in the last year, representing a drop from 28% in last year’s survey, suggesting that even with enhanced protections in place and the decrease in attacks, companies cannot afford to let their guard down.
The middle market encountered a roller coaster of risks in the last year, from lingering threats related to the COVID-19 pandemic to geopolitical conflicts and economic uncertainty.
The small drop in reported breaches is encouraging, and largely attributed to middle market companies beginning to implement better identity and access management controls. Yet, even with the decline in reported attacks, companies recognise the risks posed by the current dynamic threat environment, with 72% of executives anticipating that unauthorised users will attempt to access data or systems in 2022, a sharp rise from 64% last year and the highest number since RSM began tracking data in 2015.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/16/middle-market-companies-cybersecurity/
Malware's Destruction Trajectory and How to Defeat It
Malware and targeted attacks on operating systems and firmware have become increasingly destructive in nature, and these more nefarious attack methods are rising in prevalence. And just to add insult to injury, there are more of them. Today’s attacks are hitting more often, and they are hitting harder.
In the first three decades of its existence, malware was primarily restricted to mischief and attempts by virus creators to discover if their creations would work. But now the threat landscape has changed from simple vandalism to lucrative cyber crime and state-sponsored attacks.
Wiper malware, in particular, has gained traction in recent months. The FortiGuard Labs research team has seen at least seven different malware attacks targeting Ukrainian infrastructure or Ukrainian companies so far this year. The primary reason for using Wiper malware is its sheer destructiveness – the intent is to cripple infrastructure. What does the increased presence of Wiper malware strains indicate? And what do security leaders need to know and do to keep their organisation safe? Read more…
https://www.securityweek.com/malwares-destruction-trajectory-and-how-defeat-it
Which Stolen Data Are Ransomware Gangs Most Likely to Disclose?
If your organisation gets hit by a ransomware gang that has also managed to steal company data before hitting the “encrypt” button, which types of data are more likely to end up being disclosed as you debate internally on whether you should pay the ransomware gang off?
Rapid7 analysed 161 data disclosures performed by ransomware gangs using the double extortion approach between April 2020 and February 2022, and found that:
The most commonly leaked data is financial (63%), followed by customer/patient data (48%)
Files containing intellectual property (e.g., trade secrets, research data, etc.) are rarely disclosed (12%) by ransomware gangs, but if the organisation is part of the pharmaceutical industry, the risk of IP data being disclosed is considerably higher (43%), “likely due to the high value placed on research and development within this industry.”
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/17/ransomware-data-disclosed/
Threat Actors Becoming More Creative Exploiting the Human Factor
Threat actors exhibited "ceaseless creativity" last year when attacking the Achilles heel of every organisation—its human capital—according to Proofpoint's annual The Human Factor 2022 report. The report, released June 2, draws on a multi-trillion datapoint graph created from the company's deployments to identify the latest attack trends by malicious players.
"Last year, attackers demonstrated just how unscrupulous they really are, making protecting people from cyber threats an ongoing—and often eye-opening—challenge for organisations,” Proofpoint said in a statement.
The combination of remote work and the blurring of work and personal life on smartphones have influenced attacker techniques, the report notes. During the year, SMS phishing, or smishing, attempts more than doubled in the United States, while in the UK, 50% of phishing lures focused on delivery notifications. An expectation that more people were likely working from home even drove good, old-fashioned voice scams, with more than 100,000 telephone attacks a day being launched by cyber criminals.
66% Of Organisations Store 21%-60% Of Their Sensitive Data in The Cloud
A Thales report, conducted by 451 Research, reveals that 45% of businesses have experienced a cloud-based data breach or failed audit in the past 12 months, up 5% from the previous year, raising even greater concerns regarding the protection of sensitive data from cyber criminals.
Globally, cloud adoption and notably multicloud adoption, remains on the rise. In 2021, organisations worldwide were using an average amount of 110 software as a service (SaaS) applications, compared with just eight in 2015, showcasing a startlingly rapid increase.
With increasing complexity of multicloud environments comes an even greater need for robust cyber security. When asked what percentage of their sensitive data is stored in the cloud, 66% said between 21-60%. However, only 25% said they could fully classify all data.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/16/cloud-based-data-breach-video/
Travel-related Cyber Crime Takes Off as Industry Rebounds
An upsurge in the tourism industry after the COVID-19 pandemic grabs the attention of cyber criminals to scam the tourists.
Researchers are warning a post-COVID upsurge in travel has painted a bullseye on the travel industry and has spurred related cyber crimes.
Criminal activity includes an uptick in adversaries targeting the theft of airline mileage reward points, website credentials for travel websites and travel-related databases breaches, according to a report by Intel 471.
The impact of the attacks are hacked accounts stripped of value. But also, researchers say the consequences of recent attacks can also include flight delays and cancelations as airlines grapple with mitigating hacks.
https://threatpost.com/travel-related-cybercrime-takes-off/179962/
How Should You Think About Security When Considering Digital Transformation Projects?
Digital transformation helps businesses keep operating and stay competitive. Here are the ways to think about security so that businesses reap the benefits without taking on associated risks.
Multiple factors contribute to the sheer number of digital transformation projects underway today: the proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT), expanding artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, the sudden shift to a remote workforce prompted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the rapid rate of cloud migration. Digital transformation is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have in order to survive and thrive in today’s business world.
CISOs and their security teams need to think about security in the digital age from both an internal and an external perspective. For the former, security teams should introduce and adopt digital enablers to transform the information security organisation. Digital enablers include the cloud, IoT, AI/machine learning (ML), and automation to transform the information security organisation.
For the latter, they should address potential risks as new digital enablers are introduced by the business to drive growth.
Here are five specific areas security teams should prioritise to achieve security-first digital transformation:
Security operations modernisation
Developer-centric security
Cloud strategy and execution
Connected devices
Big data and analytics
As important as it is to keep the business operating and competitive, organisations must transform securely. Keeping security at the forefront gives the business the benefits of digital transformation without the associated risks.
Internet Explorer Now Retired but Still an Attacker Target
Microsoft's official end-of-support for the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application on June 15 relegated to history a browser that's been around for almost 27 years. Even so, IE still likely will provide a juicy target for attackers.
That's because some organisations are still using Internet Explorer (IE) despite Microsoft's long-known plans to deprecate the technology. Microsoft meanwhile has retained the MSHTML (aka Trident) IE browser engine as part of Windows 11 until 2029, allowing organisations to run in IE mode while they transition to the Microsoft Edge browser. In other words, IE isn't dead just yet, nor are threats to it.
Though IE has a negligible share of the browser market worldwide these days (0.52%), many enterprises still run it or have legacy applications tied to IE. This appears to be the case in countries such as Japan and Korea. Stories in Nikkei Asia and Japan Times this week quoted a survey by Keyman's Net showing that nearly 49% of 350 Japanese companies surveyed are still using IE. Another report in South Korea's MBN pointed to several large organisations still running IE.
Threats
Ransomware
Ransomware attacks are increasing with more dangerous hybrids ahead | CSO Online
Why do organisations need to prioritize ransomware preparedness? - Help Net Security
Ransomware and Phishing Remain IT's Biggest Concerns (darkreading.com)
The attacker’s toolkit: Ransomware-as-a-service | VentureBeat
Ransomware gang publishes stolen victim data on the public Internet - Help Net Security
Researchers Discover Way to Attack SharePoint and OneDrive Files with Ransomware | SecurityWeek.Com
ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware gang starts publishing victims' data on the clear web - Security Affairs
Ransomware gang creates site for employees to search for their stolen data (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft: Exchange servers hacked to deploy BlackCat ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Conti's Attack Against Costa Rica Sparks a New Ransomware Era | WIRED UK
Hello XD ransomware now drops a backdoor while encrypting (bleepingcomputer.com)
Alphv ransomware gang ups pressure with new extortion scheme (techtarget.com)
Costa Rica Chaos a Warning That Ransomware Threat Remains | SecurityWeek.Com
DeadBolt ransomware takes another shot at QNAP storage • The Register
The many lives of BlackCat ransomware - Microsoft Security Blog
Atlassian Confluence Flaw Being Used to Deploy Ransomware and Crypto Miners (thehackernews.com)
BlackCat Ransomware affiliates target unpatched Microsoft Exchange servers - Security Affairs
Ransomware gangs target Japan as a feeding ground | Financial Times (ft.com)
Africa's biggest supermarket hit by ransomware attacks | TechRadar
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
NakedPages Phishing Toolkit is Now Available on Cyber crime Forums - Infosecurity Magazine
New phishing attack infects devices with Cobalt Strike (bleepingcomputer.com)
Other Social Engineering
How social engineering attacks are evolving beyond email - Help Net Security
2,000 People Arrested Worldwide for Social Engineering Schemes | SecurityWeek.Com
Heineken giving away free beer for Father's Day? It's a WhatsApp scam (bitdefender.com)
Malware
Businesses are leaving bot attacks unchallenged for almost four months - Help Net Security
New Syslogk Linux rootkit uses magic packets to trigger backdoor (bleepingcomputer.com)
Linux Malware Deemed ‘Nearly Impossible’ to Detect | Threatpost
Authorities Shut Down Russian RSOCKS Botnet That Hacked Millions of Devices (thehackernews.com)
Akamai Warns Of "Panchan" Linux Botnet That Leverages Golang Concurrency, Systemd - Phoronix
Websites Hosting Fake Cracks Spread Updated CopperStealer Malware (trendmicro.com)
Mobile
Over a billion Google Play Store app downloads could be infected by malware | TechRadar
Android malware on the Google Play Store gets 2 million downloads (bleepingcomputer.com)
MaliBot: A New Android Banking Trojan Spotted in the Wild (thehackernews.com)
Chinese Hackers Distribute Backdoored Web3 Wallets for iOS and Android Users (thehackernews.com)
Android Spyware 'Hermit' Discovered in Targeted Attacks (darkreading.com)
Internet of Things - IoT
Anker Eufy smart home hubs exposed to RCE attacks by critical flaw (bleepingcomputer.com)
Researcher Shows How Tesla Key Card Feature Can Be Abused to Steal Cars | SecurityWeek.Com
Data Breaches/Leaks
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cyber Criminals Smuggle Ukrainian Men Across Border - Infosecurity Magazine
iCloud hacker gets 9 years in prison for stealing nude photos (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
INTERPOL raids hundreds of scammy call centers in sweep - CyberScoop
Fraud trends and scam tactics consumers should be aware of - Help Net Security
Dark Web
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Denial of Service DoS/DDoS
A tiny botnet launched the largest DDoS attack on record | ZDNet
DDoS Subscription Service Operator Gets 2 Years in Prison (darkreading.com)
Cloud/SaaS
Increased cloud complexity needs stronger cyber security - Help Net Security
Beware the 'Secret Agent' Cloud Middleware (darkreading.com)
SaaS security: How to avoid “death by 1000 apps” - Help Net Security
Quantifying the SaaS Supply Chain and Its Risks (darkreading.com)
83% of IT pros are using either hybrid or multi-cloud - Help Net Security
Privacy
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
24+ Billion Credentials Circulating on the Dark Web in 2022 — So Far (darkreading.com)
Strong passwords still a priority strategy for enterprises - Help Net Security
The future is passwordless. What's slowing it down? - Help Net Security
Brute-Force Attacks: How to Defend Against Them - MSSP Alert
Staffing Firm Robert Half Says Hackers Targeted Over 1,000 Customer Accounts | SecurityWeek.Com
Travel
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Privacy Watchdog Set to Keep Millions in Fines for Legal Costs - Infosecurity Magazine
Canada wants companies to report cyber attacks and hacking incidents | Reuters
A closer look at the US SEC Cyber Security Disclosure rule - Help Net Security
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Sophisticated Android Spyware 'Hermit' Used by Governments | SecurityWeek.Com
Chinese 'Gallium' Hackers Using New PingPull Malware in Cyberespionage Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Vladimir Putin forced by cyber attack in Russia to delay keynote speech | The Independent
Iranian hacking campaign that included former US ambassador exposed - CyberScoop
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Russian hackers start targeting Ukraine with Follina exploits (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mixed results for Russia's aggressive Ukraine information war, experts say - CyberScoop
Nation State Actors – China
Nation State Actors – Iran
Vulnerabilities
Microsoft fixes Follina and 55 other CVEs - Help Net Security
Details of Twice-Patched Windows RDP Vulnerability Disclosed | SecurityWeek.Com
New Hertzbleed side-channel attack affects Intel, AMD CPUs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Time to throw out those older, vulnerable Cisco SMB routers • The Register
Critical Citrix Bugs Impact All ADM Servers, Agents (darkreading.com)
Time to update: Google patches seven Chrome browser bugs, four rated 'high' risk | ZDNet
Why Log4j Is Still The Problem When The Patch Is Released 6 Months Ago? – Information Security Buzz
Atlassian Confluence Flaw Being Used to Deploy Ransomware and Crypto Miners (thehackernews.com)
Sophos Firewall zero-day bug exploited weeks before fix (bleepingcomputer.com)
Researchers Disclose Rooting Backdoor in Mitel IP Phones for Businesses (thehackernews.com)
How to mitigate Active Directory attacks that use the KrbRelayUp toolset | CSO Online
Hertzbleed disclosure raises questions for Intel (techtarget.com)
Critical Atlassian Confluence flaw remains under attack (techtarget.com)
Hackers exploit three-year-old Telerik flaws to deploy Cobalt Strike (bleepingcomputer.com)
Zimbra bug allows stealing email logins with no user interaction (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft takes months to fix critical Azure Synapse bug (techtarget.com)
PACMAN, a new attack technique against Apple M1 CPUs - Security Affairs
Critical Code Execution Vulnerability Patched in Splunk Enterprise | SecurityWeek.Com
High-Severity RCE Vulnerability Reported in Popular Fastjson Library (thehackernews.com)
This Security Exploit Could Have Major PS5 And PS4 Implications (slashgear.com)
Sector Specific
Financial Services Sector
Telecoms
Government
Health/Medical/Pharma Sector
Ransomware Risk in Healthcare Endangers Patients | Threatpost
Kaiser Permanente Says Data Breach Hit 69,000 Patients (gizmodo.com)
Transport and Aviation
CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA
Tackling 5 Challenges Facing Critical National Infrastructure Today (darkreading.com)
State of OT Security in 2022: Big Survey Key Insights (trendmicro.com)
Over a Dozen Flaws Found in Siemens' Industrial Network Management System (thehackernews.com)
Eight ICS Zero Days Could Open Doors for Hackers - Infosecurity Magazine
Web3
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
Why We Need Security Knowledge and Not Just Threat Intel (darkreading.com)
Once is never enough: The need for continuous penetration testing - Help Net Security
CISOs Gain False Confidence in the Calm After the Storm of the Pandemic (darkreading.com)
9 ways hackers will use machine learning to launch attacks | CSO Online
API security warrants its own specific solution - Help Net Security
Cyber Security Courses Ramp Up Amid Shortage of Professionals | SecurityWeek.Com
How Russian sanctions may be helping US cyber security (techtarget.com)
UK Security Practitioners Lack The Confidence To Stop Attacks – Information Security Buzz
How Can Security Partnerships Help to Mitigate the Increasing Cyber Threat? (darkreading.com)
45% of cyber security pros are considering quitting the industry due to stress - Help Net Security
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 10 June 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 10 June 2022
-Business Email Compromise (BEC) Attacks Have Risen 53% Year-Over-Year
-Ransomware Attacks Setting New Records
-Hackers Are Now Hiding Inside Networks for Longer. That's Not a Good Sign
-Paying Ransomware Paints Bigger Bullseye on Target’s Back
-Organisations Fix Only 1 in 10 Vulnerabilities Monthly
-Cyber Attack Surface "Spiralling Out of Control"
-Phishing Hits All-Time High in Q1 2022
-Ransomware's ROI Retreat Will Drive More BEC Attacks
-The Real Cost of Cyber Attacks: What Organisations Should Be Prepared For
-Why Smishing and Vishing Attempts Surged In 2021?
-Know Your Enemy! Learn How Cyber Crime Adversaries Get In…
-Small Businesses Struggle with an Increase in Cyber 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
Business Email Compromise (BEC) Attacks Have Risen 53% Year-Over-Year
Armorblox released a report which highlights the use of language-based attacks that bypass existing email security controls. The report uncovers how the continued increase in remote working has made critical business workflows even more vulnerable to new forms of email-based attacks, often resulting in financial fraud or credential theft.
Language-based attacks have become the new normal for business email compromise (BEC) with 74% of these attacks using language as the main attack vector.
Security teams spend a massive amount of time configuring rules and exceptions in their email security solutions to block impersonation emails – both for executives and other employees. Despite all of that manual work and rule writing, 70% of impersonation emails evaded email security controls.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/06/language-based-attacks-email-video/
Ransomware Attacks Setting New Records
Zscaler released the findings of its annual ThreatLabz Ransomware Report, which revealed an 80 percent increase in ransomware attacks year-over-year.
In 2022, the most prevalent ransomware trends include double-extortion, supply chain attacks, ransomware-as-a-service, ransomware rebranding, and geo-political incited ransomware attacks. The report details which industries are being targeted the most by cyber criminals, explains the damage caused by double-extortion and supply chain attacks, and catalogues the most active ransomware groups operating today.
Modern ransomware attacks require a single successful asset compromise to gain initial entry, move laterally, and breach the entire environment, making legacy VPN and flat networks extremely vulnerable. Attackers are finding success exploiting weaknesses across businesses’ supply chains as well as critical vulnerabilities like Log4Shell, PrintNightmare, and others. And with ransomware-as-a-service available on the darkweb, more and more criminals are turning to ransomware, realising that the odds of receiving a big payday are high.
The tactics and scope of ransomware attacks have been steadily evolving, but the end goal continues to be a disruption of the target organisation and theft of sensitive information for the purposes of ransom. The size of the ransom often depends on the number of systems infected and the value of the data stolen: the higher the stakes, the higher the payment. In 2019, many ransomware groups updated their tactics to include data exfiltration, commonly referred to as a ‘double extortion’ ransomware.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/07/ransomware-attacks-increase/
Hackers Are Now Hiding Inside Networks for Longer. That's Not a Good Sign
Cyber criminals are spending more time inside networks before they're discovered, and that's allowing them to do more damage.
The amount of time cyber criminal intruders are spending inside victims' networks is increasing, providing them with the ability to carry out higher complexity campaigns and more damaging cyber attacks.
According to analysis by cyber security researchers at Sophos, who examined incidents targeting organisations around the world and across a wide range of industry sectors, the median dwell time that cyber criminals spend inside compromised networks is now 15 days, up from 11 days the previous year.
Dwell time is the amount of time hackers are inside the network before they're discovered or before they leave – and being able to spend an increased amount of time inside a compromised network undetected means they're able to more carefully conduct malicious activity, such as monitoring users, stealing data or laying the foundations for a malware or ransomware attack.
Paying Ransomware Paints Bigger Bullseye on Target’s Back
Ransomware attackers often strike targets twice, regardless of whether the ransom was paid.
Paying ransomware attackers doesn’t pay off and often paints a bigger target on a victim’s back. Eighty percent of ransomware victims that paid their attackers were hit a second time by the malware scourge.
New ransomware numbers come from a Cybereason’s April ransomware survey of 1,456 cyber security professionals. According to the gated report (registration required), victims that were successfully extorted were not only targeted a second time, but frequently data encrypted by criminals later became unusable during the decryption process because of corruption issues.
The fact that ransomware gangs strike so quickly a second and third time isn’t surprising, because they will try to profit in any possible way so why not hit the same company, demand a higher ransom, and get paid again?
https://threatpost.com/paying-ransomware-bullseye-back/179915/
Organisations Fix Only 1 in 10 Vulnerabilities Monthly
New research from SecurityScorecard features a couple of eye-popping “only” findings: Only 10 percent of vulnerabilities are remediated each month, and only 60 percent of companies have improved their security profile despite a 15-fold increase in the number of cyber incidents in the last three years.
That’s not good. The research, which sought to measure how long it took the 1.6 million organisations assessed to remediate vulnerabilities in the three-year period from 2019 to 2022, also found the following:
· 53% had at least one exposed vulnerability to the internet, while 22% of organisations amassed more than 1,000 vulnerabilities each, confirming more progress is required to protect organisations’ critical assets.
· The financial sector is among the slowest remediation rates (median to fix 50% = 426 days), while utilities ranked among the fastest (median = 270 days).
· Despite a 15-fold increase in exploitation activity for vulnerabilities with published exploit code, there was little evidence that organisations in the financial sector fixed exploited flaws faster.
· The IT sector (62.6%) and public sector (61.6%) had the highest prevalence of open vulnerabilities.
· The financial sector (48.6%) exhibited the lowest proportion of open vulnerabilities; however, there is less than a 10% difference between this and other sectors in terms of industries with the most open vulnerabilities.
· It typically takes organisations 12 months to remediate half of the vulnerabilities in their internet-facing infrastructure.
· When firms have fewer than 10 open vulnerabilities, it can take about a month to close just half of them, but when the list grows into the hundreds, it takes up to a year to reach the halfway point.
Cyber Attack Surface "Spiralling Out of Control"
Global organisations are still beset with cyber visibility and control challenges, with two-fifths (43%) admitting their digital attack surface is out of control as a result, according to new Trend Micro research.
The security vendor polled over 6200 IT and business decision-makers to compile its new study, ‘Mapping the digital attack surface: Why global organisations are struggling to manage cyber risk’.
It revealed that nearly three-quarters (73%) are concerned about the increasing size of their attack surface. Over a third (37%) said it is “constantly evolving and messy,” and just half (51%) thought they were able to fully define its extent.
These visibility challenges are greatest in cloud environments, although problems persist across the board. The report highlights complex supply chains, tool bloat and home working-driven shadow IT as additional contributory factors.
On average, respondents estimated having just 62% visibility of their attack surface.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cyberattack-surface-out-of-control/
Phishing Hits All-Time High in Q1 2022
The first quarter of 2022 saw phishing attacks hit a record high, topping one million for the first time, according to data from the Anti Phishing Working Group (APWG).
The industry, law enforcement and government coalition’s new Phishing Activity Trends Report also revealed that March was the worst month on record for phishing, with 384,291 attacks detected.
The financial sector was the worst hit, accounting for 24% of all detected attacks, although webmail and SaaS providers were also popular targets.
Attacks spoofing retailers dropped 17% from the previous quarter to 15% following the busy holiday shopping season, while those against social media services rose significantly, from nearly 9% percent of all attacks to 13% over the same period.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/phishing-hits-all-time-high-q1/
Ransomware's ROI Retreat Will Drive More BEC Attacks
Law enforcement crackdowns, tighter cryptocurrency regulations, and ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operator shutdowns are driving down the return on investment for ransomware operations across the globe.
A presentation at the RSA Conference last week laid out analysis of the ransomware threat landscape, predicting that there will be a pivot from ransomware toward renewed interest in basic business email compromise (BEC) attacks in the next 6 to 12 months.
Ransomware attacks grab headlines and have been supercharged by a few prolific RaaS operators, but crackdowns on just one group can make an enormous dent.
Ransomware is a centralised ecosystem with small numbers of operators responsible for the majority of attacks.
The recent disappearance of Pysa, left just two groups, Conti and Lockbit, with more than 50% of the share of the total ransomware attacks in the first half of 2022. BEC groups, on the other hand, are diffuse and scattered, making them much harder to eradicate.
Although they're not as quick to make the headlines, BEC attacks have cost business more than $43 billion since 2016, according to the FBI, and make up $1 out of every $3 lost to cyber attacks, far outpacing ransomware losses.
Ransomware has had a moment over the past couple of years, in part because once threat actors were able to abandon arcane wire transfers to collect ransoms and rely on cryptocurrency, caps on transactions were lifted and it became simple to collect much larger amounts. But new crypto regulations are chilling the ability of these cyber criminals to rely on its infrastructure to do business, adding "friction" to the transactions.
BEC attacks, by comparison, rely on social engineering to corrupt a business's financial supply chain to get employees to willingly part with the cash, making them exponentially harder to track and stop.
The Real Cost of Cyber Attacks: What Organisations Should Be Prepared For
With each passing year, hackers and cyber criminals of all kinds are becoming more sophisticated, malicious, and greedy conducting brazen and often destructive cyber-attacks that can severely disrupt a company’s business operations. And this is a big problem, because, first and foremost, customers rely on a company’s ability to deliver services or products in a timely manner. Cyber attacks not only can affect customers’ data, but they can impact service delivery.
Data breaches and costs associated with them have been on the rise for the past few years, but, according to a 2021 report, the average cost per breach increased from $3.86 million in 2020 to $4.24 million in 2021. The report also identified four categories contributing most global data breach costs – Lost business cost (38%), Detection and escalation (29%), Post breach response (27%), and Notification (6%).
Ransomware attacks cost an average of $4.62 million (the cost of a ransom is not included), and destructive wiper-style attacks cost an average of $4.69 million, the report said.
For a business, a data breach is not just a loss of data, it can also have a long-lasting impact on operations and undermine customers’ trust in the company. In fact, a survey revealed that 87% of consumers are willing to take their business elsewhere if they don’t trust a company is handling their data responsibly. Therefore, the reputational damage might be detrimental to a business’ ability to attract new customers.
Why Smishing and Vishing Attempts Surged In 2021
In The Human Factor Report 2022, security vendor Proofpoint found that SMS phishing (smishing) attacks more than doubled year-on-year in 2021. The report is based on their analysis of over 2.6 billion email messages, 49 billion URLs, 1.9 billion attachments, 28 million cloud accounts and 1.7 billion mobile messages.
The study details the most common attack surfaces and methods including categories of risk, vulnerabilities, attacks, Russian Aligned APT’s, and Privilege as a vector.
Key Findings:
Managers and executives make up only 10% of users, but almost 50% of the most severe attack risk
Attackers attempt to initiate more than 100,000 telephone-oriented attacks every day.
Malicious URLS are 3-4x more common than malicious attachments.
Smishing attempts more than doubled in the US over the year, while in the UK over 50% of lures are themed around delivery notification.
More than 20 million messages attempted to deliver malware linked to eventual ransomware attack
Data loss prevention alerts have stabilised as businesses adopt permanent hybrid work models.
80% of businesses are attacked by a compromised supplier account in any given month.
35% of cloud tenants that received a suspicious login also saw suspicious post-access activity.
Know Your Enemy! Learn How Cyber Crime Adversaries Get In…
Cyber security vendor Sophos dug into the incident reports of 144 real-life cyber attacks investigated by its Rapid Response team during 2021.
What they found might not surprise you, but it’s vital information nevertheless, because it’s what really happened, not merely what might have.
Notably:
Unpatched vulnerabilities were the entry point for close to 50% of the attackers.
Attackers stuck around for more than a month on average when ransomware wasn’t their primary goal.
Attackers were known to have stolen data in about 40% of incidents. (Not all data thefts can be proved, of course, given that there isn’t a gaping hole where your copy of the data used to be, so the true number could be much higher.)
RDP was abused to circumnavigate the network by more than 80% of attackers once they’d broken in.
Intriguingly, if perhaps unsurprisingly, the smaller the organisation, the longer the crooks had generally been in the network before anyone noticed and decided it was time to kick them out.
In businesses with 250 staff and below, the crooks stuck around (in the jargon, this is known by the quaintly archaic automotive metaphor of dwell time) for more than seven weeks on average.
This compared with an average dwell time of just under three weeks for organisations with more than 3000 employees.
As you can imagine, however, ransomware criminals typically stayed hidden for much shorter periods (just under two weeks, instead of just over a month), not least because ransomware attacks are inherently self-limiting.
After all, once ransomware crooks have scrambled all your data, they’re out of hiding and straight into their in-your-face blackmail phase.
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2022/06/07/know-your-enemy-learn-how-cybercrime-adversaries-get-in/
Small Businesses Struggle with an Increase in Cyber Attacks
Part of the problem: They don’t believe they are targets, so they don’t make security a priority. Cyber attacks are becoming more common for small businesses, and many aren’t prepared to deal with an attack.
As small businesses have accelerated their adoption of new technologies for remote work, communication, production and sales during the pandemic, their expanded computer networks have created new vulnerabilities to phishing and ransomware attacks. But many small businesses still don’t expect to be targeted by hackers, so preparing for a cyber attack is well down their list of priorities.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/small-business-cyberattacks-increase-11654540786
Threats
Ransomware
Ransomware attacks have increased by 80% year-over-year - Help Net Security
How the Russia-Ukraine war makes ransomware payments harder | CSO Online
How Poor Communication Opens the Door to Ransomware and Extortion (darkreading.com)
Cuba ransomware returns to extorting victims with updated encryptor (bleepingcomputer.com)
Vice Society gang adds the Italian City of Palermo to its data leak site - Security Affairs
Qbot - known channel for ransomware - delivered via phishing and Follina exploit - Help Net Security
Black Basta Ransomware Targets ESXi Servers in Active Campaign (darkreading.com)
Mandiant: Cyber extortion schemes increasing pressure to pay (techtarget.com)
Roblox Game Pass store used to sell ransomware decryptor (bleepingcomputer.com)
Costa Rican government held up by ransomware … again • The Register
BEEF ALERT: Ransomware Group Very Mad at Being Associated with Lavish Russian Hackers (vice.com)
Ransomware Pressure Forcing UK CISOs to Consider Quitting - Infosecurity Magazine
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Evasive phishing mixes reverse tunnels and URL shortening services (bleepingcomputer.com)
Proofpoint: We Block Up to Two Million Extortion Emails Daily - Infosecurity Magazine
Massive Facebook Messenger phishing operation generates millions (bleepingcomputer.com)
Facebook phishing campaign nets millions in IDs and cash • The Register
Other Social Engineering
Malware
Symantec sees more malware operators exploiting Follina • The Register
Potent Emotet Variant Spreads Via Stolen Email Credentials | Threatpost
Symbiote Malware Poses Stealthy, Linux-Based Threat to Financial Industry (darkreading.com)
This advanced new malware strain leaves you practically defenceless | TechRadar
MacOS malware attacks slipping through the cracks (techtarget.com)
11 infamous malware attacks: The first and the worst | CSO Online
9 types of computer virus and how they do their dirty work | CSO Online
Mobile
IoT
New Privacy Framework for IoT Devices Gives Users Control Over Data Sharing (thehackernews.com)
How to Compromise a Printer in Three Simple Steps | CrowdStrike
Data Breaches/Leaks
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs
Researchers Detail How Cyber Criminals Targeting Cryptocurrency Users (thehackernews.com)
7 NFT Scams That Could Be Targeting Your Brand (darkreading.com)
Hackers stole +$250,000 in Ethereum from Bored Ape Yacht ClubSecurity Affairs
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Pandemic-related identity fraud: How serious is it? - Help Net Security
Apple Release 2021 Fraud Prevention Analysis- IT Security Guru
AML/CFT/Sanctions
Insurance
Dark Web
Software Supply Chain
82% of CIOs believe their software supply chains are vulnerable - Help Net Security
Boards, CEOs demand software supply chain security improvements - Help Net Security
Denial of Service DoS/DDoS
Cloud/SaaS
Cloud Security Tops Ransomware As Primary RSA Conference Attendee Concern - MSSP Alert
Only 13.5% of IT pros have mastered security in the cloud native space - Help Net Security
OMIGOD: Cloud providers still using secret middleware • The Register
Attack Surface Management
Open Source
Privacy
Researchers Find Bluetooth Signals Can be Fingerprinted to Track Smartphones (thehackernews.com)
New Privacy Framework for IoT Devices Gives Users Control Over Data Sharing (thehackernews.com)
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
“Cyber Spetsnaz” is Attacking Government Agencies - Security Affairs
Russian Ministry Website Reportedly Hacked- IT Security Guru
Ordinary Ukrainians wage war with digital tools and drones | Financial Times (ft.com)
Ukraine's secret cyber-defence: Excellent backups • The Register
Major DDoS attacks increasing after invasion of Ukraine (techtarget.com)
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Russia escalates threats against West in response to cyber attacks - CyberScoop
Russia, China, oppose US cyber support of Ukraine • The Register
Nation State Actors – China
Russia, China, oppose US cyber support of Ukraine • The Register
Chinese hacking group Aoqin Dragon quietly spied orgs for a decade (bleepingcomputer.com)
People’s Republic of China State-Sponsored Cyber Actors Exploit Network Providers and Devices | CISA
US: Chinese govt hackers breached telcos to snoop on network traffic (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nation State Actors – Iran
Microsoft seized 41 domains used by Iran-linked Bohrium APT - Security Affairs
Iranian hackers target energy sector with new DNS backdoor (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nation State Actors – Misc APT
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerabilities
Windows zero-day exploited in US local govt phishing attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
DogWalk zero-day Windows bug receives patch - but not from Microsoft (bitdefender.com)
Chrome 102 Update Patches High-Severity Vulnerabilities | SecurityWeek.Com
NSA, FBI warning: Hackers are using these flaws to target VPNs and network devices | ZDNet
Ubuntu Users Get a Massive Linux Kernel Update, 35 Security Vulnerabilities Patched - 9to5Linux
Critical U-Boot Vulnerability Allows Rooting of Embedded Systems | SecurityWeek.Com
Sector Specific
Financial Services Sector
Telecoms
US: Chinese govt hackers breached telcos to snoop on network traffic (bleepingcomputer.com)
People’s Republic of China State-Sponsored Cyber Actors Exploit Network Providers and Devices | CISA
Health/Medical/Pharma Sector
Healthcare-specific cyber security problems and how to address them - Help Net Security
Data for 2 million patients stolen in largest healthcare breach so far of 2022 (scmagazine.com)
Retail/eCommerce
Energy & Utilities
Iranian hackers target energy sector with new DNS backdoor (bleepingcomputer.com)
US Water Utilities Prime Cyber Attack Target, Experts | Threatpost
Education and Academia
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
This hacking group quietly spied on their targets for 10 years | ZDNet
Identity-based Attacks and Living-of-the-land Tactics Represent Top Threats - MSSP Alert
Over Half of CISOs Struggling for Board Investment - Infosecurity Magazine
Cisco EVP: Cyber security poverty line is human-rights issue • The Register
Top three most critical areas of web security - Help Net Security
How the Colonial Pipeline attack has changed cyber security | CSO Online
Five Eyes alliance’s top cop: tech is the future of Policing • The Register
An Emerging Threat: Attacking 5G Via Network Slices (darkreading.com)
How AI Is Useful — and Not Useful — for Cyber security (darkreading.com)
Only 43% of security pros can respond to critical alerts in less than an hour - Help Net Security
Now Is the Time to Plan for Post-Quantum Cryptography (darkreading.com)
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 03 June 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 03 June 2022
-Turbulent Cyber Insurance Market Sees Rising Prices and Sinking Coverage
-Ransomware Attacks Still The #1 Threat to Businesses and Organisations
-Third of UK Firms Have Experienced a Security Breach Since 2020
-There Is No Good Digital Transformation Without Cyber Security
-Ransomware Gang Now Hacks Corporate Websites to Show Ransom Notes
-Attackers Are Leveraging Follina, a Critical Microsoft Windows Vulnerability Affecting Nearly All Versions of Windows and Windows Server. What Can You Do?
-Ransomware Attacks Need Less Than Four Days to Encrypt Systems
-57% Of All Digital Crimes In 2021 Were Scams
-Intelligence Is Key to Strategic Business Decisions
-How Cyber Criminals Are Targeting Executives at Home and Their Families
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
Turbulent Cyber Insurance Market Sees Rising Prices And Sinking Coverage
As insurers and brokers reckon with unexpected losses, they're charging more for policies and setting higher requirements.
Chaos reigns in the cyber insurance market. Brokers and cyber insurance carriers — the companies that actually offer the policies — are tightening requirements on what applicants need to do to obtain policies due to losses the insurers have suffered from ransomware coverage. During the past year, premiums grew 18% in the first quarter of 2021 and were up 34% in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to Jess Burn, senior analyst at Forrester.
Organisations often find they cannot obtain cyber insurance, are not being renewed for coverage they already have, or are faced with soaring prices and shrinking coverage. Despite the value many organisations put on cyber insurance — in some cases, they're required to carry it to comply with regulations — obtaining such policies is getting more difficult.
While raising premiums, some insurers are reducing coverage. If an organisation bought $10 million worth of coverage for a given price in 2021, for example, renewing that policy in 2022 might see the coverage amount fall to $3 million and the premiums for that lower coverage rise. This phenomenon is due, in part, to insurers trying to strike the right balance of customers' risk profile versus their risk-mitigation efforts.
Ransomware Attacks Still The #1 Threat To Businesses And Organisations
In 2021, ransomware attacks continued to be one of the most prominent threats targeting businesses and organisations worldwide.
High-profile attacks disrupted operations of companies in various sectors.
For example, the Colonial Pipeline attack interrupted critical infrastructure, the JBS Foods attack influenced food processing, and the CNA breach disrupted the insurance industry.
Following the attacks, pressure of law enforcement on ransomware gangs intensified, though simultaneously these threat actors continued to evolve.
They are not only becoming more technologically sophisticated but are also extensively leveraging the growing cyber crime ecosystem looking to find new partners, services and tools for their operations.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/30/ransomware-trends-video/
Third Of UK Firms Have Experienced A Security Breach Since 2020
Cyber threats are behind soaring fraud and economic crime in the UK, where rates are now second only globally to South Africa, according to PwC.
The consulting giant’s latest Global Economic Crime Survey revealed that nearly two-thirds (64%) of UK businesses experienced fraud, corruption or other economic/financial crime during the past 24 months, a significant increase on the 56% recorded in 2020, and 50% in 2018.
It’s also much higher than the 2022 global average of 46%, PwC said.
Cyber crime was the most commonly reported fraud type, although figures here dropped from 42% in 2020 to 32% in 2022. Included for the first time in the report, supply chain incidents accounted for 19%.
Most (51%) reported fraud cases in the UK were traced back to external parties, versus just 43% globally. The top three culprits were cited as customers, hackers and vendors/suppliers.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/third-uk-security-breach-2020/
There Is No Good Digital Transformation Without Cyber Security
Network engineers and CIOs agree that cyber security issues represent the biggest risk for organisations that fail to put networks at the heart of digital transformation plans. According to research commissioned by Opengear, 53% of network engineers and 52% of CIOs polled in the US, UK, France, Germany, and Australia rank cyber security among the list of their biggest risks.
The concerns are fuelled by an escalating number of cyber attacks. In fact, 61% of CIOs report an increase in cyber security attacks/breaches from 2020-21 compared to the preceding two years. For digital transformation of networking, 70% of network engineers say security is the most important focus area, and 31% say network security is their biggest networking priority.
Digital transformation is a priority, but cyber security risk remains. CIOs also understand the importance of the issues. 51% of network engineers say their CIOs have consulted them on investments to deliver digital transformation plans, the highest priority in the survey.
What’s more, 41% of CIOs rank cyber security among their organisation’s most important investment priorities over the next year, with 35% stating it is among the biggest over the next five years. In both cases, cyber security ranks higher than any other factor.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/31/digital-transformation-cybersecurity-risk/
Ransomware Gang Now Hacks Corporate Websites To Show Ransom Notes
A ransomware gang is taking extortion to a new level by publicly hacking corporate websites to publicly display ransom notes.
This new extortion strategy is being conducted by Industrial Spy, a data extortion gang that recently began using ransomware. As part of their attacks, Industrial Spy will breach networks, steal data, and deploy ransomware on devices. The threat actors then threaten to sell the stolen data on their Tor marketplace if a ransom is not paid.
When ransomware gangs extort a victim, they typically give them a short window, usually a few weeks, to negotiate and pay a ransom before they start leaking data.
During this negotiation process, the threat actors promise to keep the attack secret, provide a decryption key, and delete all data if a ransom is paid.
After this period, the threat actors will use various methods to increase pressure, including DDoS attacks on corporate websites, emailing customers and business partners, and calling executives with threats.
These tactics are all done privately or with minimal exposure on their data leak sites, which are usually only visited by cyber security researchers and the media.
However, this is the first time we have seen a ransomware gang defacing a website to very publicly display a ransom note.
Attackers Are Leveraging Follina, A Critical Microsoft Windows Vulnerability Affecting Nearly All Versions of Windows and Windows Server. What Can You Do?
As the world is waiting for Microsoft to push out a patch for CVE-2022-30190, aka “Follina”, attackers around the world are exploiting the vulnerability in a variety of campaigns.
Microsoft has described CVE-2022-30190 as a Microsoft Windows Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT) remote code execution vulnerability, confirmed it affects an overwhelming majority of Windows and Windows Server versions, and advised on a workaround to be implemented until a patch is ready.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/03/patch-cve-2022-30190/
Ransomware Attacks Need Less Than Four Days To Encrypt Systems
The duration of ransomware attacks in 2021 averaged 92.5 hours, measured from initial network access to payload deployment. In 2020, ransomware actors spent an average of 230 hours to complete their attacks and 1637.6 hours in 2019.
This change reflects a more streamlined approach that developed gradually over the years to make large-scale operations more profitable.
At the same time, improvements in incident response and threat detection have forced threat actors to move quicker, to leave defenders with a smaller reaction margin.
The data was collected by researchers at IBM's X-Force team from incidents analysed in 2021. They also noticed a closer collaboration between initial access brokers and ransomware operators.
Previously, network access brokers might wait for multiple days or even weeks before they found a buyer for their network access.
In addition, some ransomware gangs now have direct control over the initial infection vector, an example being Conti taking over the TrickBot malware operation.
Malware that breaches corporate networks is quickly leveraged to enable post-exploitation stages of the attack, sometimes completing its objectives in mere minutes.
57% Of All Digital Crimes In 2021Were Scams
Group-IB shares its analysis of the landscape of the most widespread cyber threat in the world: scams. Accounting for 57% of all financially motivated cyber crime, the scam industry is becoming more structured and involves more and more parties divided into hierarchical groups.
The number of such groups jumped to a record high of 390, which is 3.5 times more than last year, when the maximum number of active groups was close to 110. Due to SaaS (Scam-as-a-Service), in 2021 the number of cyber criminals in one scam gang increased 10 times compared to 2020 and now reaches 100.
Traffic has become the circulatory system of scam projects: researchers emphasise that the number of websites used for purchasing and providing “grey” and illegal traffic and that lure victims into fraudulent schemes has increased by 1.5 times. Scammers are going into 2022 on a new level of scam attack automation: no more non-targeted users. Scammers are now attracting specific groups of victims to increase conversion rates. Social media are more often becoming the first point of contact between scammers and their potential victims.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/31/scams-widespread-cyber-threat/
Intelligence Is Key To Strategic Business Decisions
Businesses have a growing need for greater relevance in the intelligence they use to inform critical decision-making. Currently just 18% of professionals responsible for security, risk, or compliance in their organisation feel that the intelligence they receive is “very specific and focused on their business”, a S-RM research reveals.
6 in 10 respondents also say the intelligence they receive takes too much time to analyse, meaning it does not always result in better informed decision making. This was the top reason behind dissatisfaction with external intelligence, identified by over 200 professionals working at companies with revenues of over $250 million.
The second most likely reason was that information was not tailored to business needs (47%), followed by too much information (35%).
Growing demand for the use of strategic intelligence has been prompted by increasing cyber (51%) and regulatory concerns (50%). And while these two factors have been climbing the boardroom agenda for years, geopolitical uncertainty has made the need to respond to these developments more acute. In particular, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has created a complex sanctions regime for businesses to operate.
Additionally, navigating the complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a key challenge for businesses in the past three years, with 40% citing this as a catalyst in driving a growing need for strategic intelligence.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/03/intelligence-decision-making/
How Cyber Criminals Are Targeting Executives At Home And Their Families
Top executives and their families are increasingly being targeted on their personal devices and home networks, as sophisticated threat actors look for new ways to bypass corporate security and get direct access to highly sensitive data.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/01/cybercriminals-targeting-executives-video/
Threats
Ransomware
Cyber criminals Expand Attack Radius and Ransomware Pain Points | Threatpost
FBI, CISA warn: Don't get caught in Karakurt's web • The Register
Conti ransomware targeted Intel firmware for stealthy attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
YourCyanide Ransomware Propagates With PasteBin, Discord, Microsoft Links (darkreading.com)
Conti Leaks Reveal Ransomware Gang's Interest in Firmware-based Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Evil Corp switches to LockBit ransomware to evade sanctions (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware attack sends New Jersey county back to 1977 • The Register
Ransomware roundup: System-locking malware dominates headlines | CSO Online
What if ransomware evolved to hit IoT in the enterprise? • The Register
How Costa Rica found itself at war over ransomware | CSO Online
Experts warn of ransomware attacks on government orgs of small states - Security Affairs
Foxconn confirms ransomware attack disrupted production in Mexico (bleepingcomputer.com)
Why Ransomware Timeline Shrinks By 94%? – Information Security Buzz
Hundreds of Elasticsearch databases targeted in ransom attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Watch out for phishing emails that inject spyware trio • The Register
Telegram’s blogging platform abused in phishing attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Other Social Engineering
Vishing attacks: What they are and how organisations can protect themselves - Help Net Security
Beware the Smish! Home delivery scams with a professional feel… – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Malware
New XLoader Botnet Version Using Probability Theory to Hide its C&C Servers (thehackernews.com)
LuoYu APT delivers WinDealer malware via man-on-the-side attacks - Security Affairs
EnemyBot malware adds enterprise flaws to exploit arsenal • The Register
Researchers Uncover Malware Controlling Thousands of Sites in Parrot TDS Network (thehackernews.com)
Logic bombs explained: Definition, examples, and prevention | CSO Online
Mobile
Top 10 Android banking trojans target apps with 1 billion downloads (bleepingcomputer.com)
WhatsApp accounts hijacked by call forwarding | Malwarebytes Labs
SideWinder Hackers Use Fake Android VPN Apps to Target Pakistani Entities (thehackernews.com)
SMSFactory Android malware sneakily subscribes to premium services (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishers Having a Field Day on WhatsApp, Telegraph (darkreading.com)
Apple blocked 1.6 millions apps from defrauding users in 2021 (bleepingcomputer.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
FBI warns of Ukrainian charities impersonated to steal donations (bleepingcomputer.com)
Euro Cops Bust $47m Money Laundering Operation - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Three Nigerian Users of Agent Tesla RAT Arrested | SecurityWeek.Com
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs
Americans report losing over $1 billion to cryptocurrency scams (bleepingcomputer.com)
Clipminer malware gang stole $1.7M by hijacking crypto payments (bleepingcomputer.com)
Bored Ape Yacht Club, Otherside NFTs stolen in Discord server hack (bleepingcomputer.com)
WatchDog hacking group launches new Docker cryptojacking campaign (bleepingcomputer.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
$39.5 billion lost to phone scams in last year - Help Net Security
Britain's biggest bank issues 'urgent warning' over new scam (telegraph.co.uk)
Scams account for most of all financially motivated cyber crime - Help Net Security
AML/CFT/Sanctions
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Denial of Service DoS/DDoS
Open Source
Linux malware is on the rise—6 types of attacks to look for | CSO Online
The Open Source Software Security Mobilization Plan: Takeaways for security leaders | CSO Online
Privacy
Vodafone plans carrier-level user tracking for targeted ads (bleepingcomputer.com)
Europe's hope to scan devices for unlawful files criticized • The Register
Passwords & Credential Stuffing
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
NSA general confirms US offensive cyber ops in Ukraine war • The Register
Deadly Secret: Electronic Warfare Shapes Russia-Ukraine War | SecurityWeek.Com
Anonymous: Operation Russia after 100 days of war - Security Affairs
Chinese LuoYu hackers deploy cyber-espionage malware via app updates (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Nation State Actors – China
China-linked TA413 group actively exploits Microsoft Follina Zero-Day flawSecurity Affairs
Chinese state media propaganda found in 88% of Google, Bing news searches - CyberScoop
Chinese LuoYu Hackers Using Man-on-the-Side Attacks to Deploy WinDealer Backdoor (thehackernews.com)
How Beijing’s surveillance cameras crept into Britain’s corridors of power (telegraph.co.uk)
Nation State Actors – North Korea
Nation State Actors – Iran
Nation State Actors – Misc APT
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerabilities
CISA adds 75 vulnerabilities to catalogue in 3 days- IT Security Guru
Fighting Follina: Application Vulnerabilities and Detection Possibilities (darkreading.com)
Yet another zero-day (sort of) in Windows “search URL” handling – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Actively Exploited Atlassian Zero-Day Bug Allows Full System Takeover (darkreading.com)
Microsoft Azure vulnerabilities pose new cloud security risk - Protocol
GitLab Issues Security Patch for Critical Account Takeover Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
New Unpatched Horde Webmail Bug Lets Hackers Take Over Server by Sending Email (thehackernews.com)
Sector Specific
Financial Services Sector
Government
Health/Medical/Pharma Sector
Twice as Many Healthcare Organisations Now Pay Ransom - Infosecurity Magazine
Novartis says no sensitive data was compromised in cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Costa Rica’s public health agency hit by Hive ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Transport and Aviation
CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA
Food and Agriculture
Web3
Other News
How Failing to Prioritize Cyber Security can Hurt Your Company (analyticsinsight.net)
Bad news: The cyber security skills crisis is about to get even worse | ZDNet
Nearly Three-Quarters of Firms Suffer Downtime from DNS Attacks - Infosecurity Magazine
CIOs and network engineers rank cyber security among the biggest risks - Help Net Security
How USB Drives Can Be a Danger to Your Computer (howtogeek.com)
Australian digital driver's licenses hackable in minutes • The Register
Over 3.6 million MySQL servers found exposed on the Internet (bleepingcomputer.com)
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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