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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 24 February 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Briefing 24 February 2023:

-Employees Bypass Cyber Security Guidance to Achieve Business Objectives

-Three Quarters of Businesses Braced for Serious Email Attack this Year

-The Cost of Living Crisis is Triggering a Wave of Workplace Crime

-Fighting Ransomware with Cyber Security Audits

-Record Levels of Fraud Impacting 90% of Payment Compliance Teams

-CISOs Struggle with Stress and Limited Resources

-Cyber Threats and Regulations Mount for Financial Industry

-HardBit Ransomware Wants Insurance Details to Set the Perfect Price

-Social Engineering is Becoming Increasingly Sophisticated

-A Fifth of Brits Have Fallen Victim to Online Scammers

-Cyber Attacks Hit Data Centres to Steal Information From Companies

-Phishing Fears Ramp Up on Email, Collaboration Platforms

-The War in Ukraine has Shaken up the Cyber Criminal Eco-system

-Police Bust €41m Email Scam Gang

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

  • Employees Bypass Cyber Security Guidance to Achieve Business Objectives

Researcher Gartner predicts that by 2025, lack of talent or human failure will be responsible for over half of significant cyber incidents. In a survey conducted by Gartner it was found that 69% of employees had bypassed their organisations cyber security guidance in the previous 12 months and 74% said they would bypass cyber security guidance if it helped them or their team achieve a business objective.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/02/24/bypass-cybersecurity-guidance/

  • Three Quarters of Businesses Braced for Serious Email Attack this Year

According to a survey conducted by security provider Vanson Bourne, 76% of cyber security professionals predict that an email related attack will have serious consequences for their organisation in the coming year. The survey found that 82% of companies reported a higher volume of email in 2022 compared with 2021 and 2020 and 74% had said email-based threats had risen over the last 12 months. In addition, a worrying 91% had seen attempts to steal or use their email domain in an attack.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3688573/three-quarters-of-businesses-braced-for-serious-email-attack-this-year.html#tk.rss_news

  • The Cost of Living Crisis is Triggering a Wave of Workplace Crime

Almost 6,000 people were caught stealing from their employer in 2022 according to insurance provider Zurich with the firms facing an average loss of £140,000.  Zurich have said “As cost of living pressures mount, employee theft has significantly increased, suggesting some workers could be turning to desperate measures to make ends meet”.

https://news.sky.com/story/the-cost-of-living-crisis-is-triggering-a-wave-of-workplace-crime-heres-how-12817082

  • Fighting Ransomware with Cyber Security Audits

With the ever increasing number of devices and distributed environments, it’s easy for organisations to lose track of open IP addresses, administrator accounts and infrastructure configurations; all of this creates an increase in opportunities for threat actors to deploy ransomware. By conducting audits of IT assets, organisations can identify the data they hold and reduce the risk of forgotten devices. The need for auditing of an organisations assets is reinforced where a survey conducted by research provider Enterprise Strategy Group found that nearly 70% of respondents had suffered at least one exploit that started with an unknown, unmanaged, or poorly managed Internet-facing IT asset.

https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/ciso/23/b/cybersecurity-audit.html

  • Record Levels of Fraud Impacting 90% of Payment Compliance Teams

New research from research provider VIXIO has found that 90% of payment company compliance teams are frequently overwhelmed and increased fraud was a particular concern for teams in the UK.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2023/02/17/overwhelm-impacts-90-of-payment-compliance-teams-as-they-combat-record-levels-of-fraud/

  • CISOs Struggle with Stress and Limited Resources

A survey from security provider Cynet has found that 94% of CISOs report being stressed at work, with 65% admitting that this work stress has compromised their ability to protect their organisation. Furthermore, the survey found all respondents said they needed additional resources to adequately cope with current cyber challenges. Amongst some of the key findings were 77% of CISOs believing that a lack of resources had led to important security initiatives falling to the wayside.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/02/23/cisos-work-related-stress/

  • Cyber Threats and Regulations Mount for Financial Industry

Nation-state adversaries, new reporting regulations, and a fast-paced threat landscape mean that financial services and technology firms need to bolster their security posture. For example, last year a report conducted by the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) and security provider Akamai found that distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) attacks rose 73% more for European financial institutions compared to the previous year. This combination of attacks is followed by an increase in regulations such as the requirement to report breaches to the European Authorities to satisfy the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Such increase has caused financial institutions to bolster their security, with a survey conducted by security provider Contrast finding 72% of financial organisations plan to increase their investment in the security of their applications and 64% mandated cyber security requirements for their vendors.

https://www.darkreading.com/risk/cyberthreats-regulations-mount-for-financial-industry

  • HardBit Ransomware Wants Insurance Details to Set the Perfect Price

Operators of a ransomware threat known as Hardbit are trying to negotiate ransom payments so that they would be covered by victim’s insurance companies. Typically, the threat actor tries to convince the victim that it is in their interest to disclose their insurance details so that the threat actor can adjust their demands so that insurance would cover it.

 https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hardbit-ransomware-wants-insurance-details-to-set-the-perfect-price/ 

  • Social Engineering is Becoming Increasingly Sophisticated

The rapid development of deepfake technology is providing an increase in the sophistication of social engineering attacks. Deepfake technology refers to products created through artificial intelligence, which could allow an individual to impersonate another with likeness and voice during a video conversation. The accessibility of such technology has allowed threat actors to conduct more sophisticated campaigns, including the replication of the voice of a company executive.

https://securityaffairs.com/142487/hacking/social-engineering-increasingly-sophisticated.html

  • A Fifth of Brits Have Fallen Victim to Online Scammers

Security founder F-Secure have found that a fifth of Brits had fallen victim to digital scammers in the past, yet a quarter had no security controls to protect themselves. When providing a reason for the lack of security, 60% said they found cyber security too complex. This is worrying for organisations who need to ensure these low levels of security awareness are not displayed in the corporate environment.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/fifth-brits-have-victim-online/

  • Cyber Attacks Hit Data Centres to Steal Information from Companies

Cyber attacks targeting multiple data centres globally have resulted in the exfiltration of information relating to companies who used them. In addition, attackers have been seen to publish access credentials relating to these attacks on the dark web. This malicious activity reinforces the need for organisations to be aware of and properly manage their supply chain.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3688909/cyberattacks-hit-data-centers-to-steal-information-from-global-companies.html#tk.rss_news  

  • Phishing Fears Ramp Up on Email, Collaboration Platforms

Three quarters of organisations are expecting a serious impact from an email-based attack and with the rapid growth and expansion of collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams, it’s expected that these will also be used as a vector for threat actors. Combined with the emergence of Chat-GPT, the landscape provides an increasing amount of opportunities for threat actors.

https://www.darkreading.com/remote-workforce/phishing-fears-ramp-up-on-e-mail-collaboration-platforms

  • The War in Ukraine has Shaken up the Cyber Criminal Eco-System

One year after Russia invaded Ukraine, the war continues -- including an ever-evolving digital component that has implications for the future of cyber security around the world. Among other things, the war in Ukraine has upended the Eastern European cyber criminal ecosystem, according to cyber security experts from Google, shaking up the way ransomware attacks are playing out. Google later explained that “Lines are blurring between financially motivated and government-backed attackers in Eastern Europe”.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-war-in-ukraine-has-shaken-up-the-cybercriminal-ecosystem-google-says/

  • Police Bust €41m Email Scam Gang

A coordinated police operation spanning multiple countries led to the dismantling of a criminal network which was responsible for tens of millions in Business Email Compromise (BEC) losses. In one of the attacks the gang used social engineering to target the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of a real estate developer, defrauding them of 38 million euros.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/police-bust-41m-bec-gang/

Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

BEC – Business Email Compromise

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Insurance

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Software Supply Chain

Cloud/SaaS

Containers

Encryption

API

Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Malvertising

Training, Education and Awareness

Parental Controls and Child Safety

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Governance, Risk and Compliance

Data Protection

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

Artificial Intelligence

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda

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

Nation State Actors

Vulnerability Management

Vulnerabilities

Sector Specific

Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.

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

·       Automotive

·       Construction

·       Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

·       Defence & Space

·       Education & Academia

·       Energy & Utilities

·       Estate Agencies

·       Financial Services

·       FinTech

·       Food & Agriculture

·       Gaming & Gambling

·       Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)

·       Health/Medical/Pharma

·       Hotels & Hospitality

·       Insurance

·       Legal

·       Manufacturing

·       Maritime

·       Oil, Gas & Mining

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

·       Retail & eCommerce

·       Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)

·       Startups

·       Telecoms

·       Third Sector & Charities

·       Transport & Aviation

·       Web3

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

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

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

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

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Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 20 August 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 20 August 2021:

-Third of Global Companies Have Experienced Ransomware Attack, Survey Finds

-Company Size Is A Nonissue With Automated Cyberattack Tools

-60% Of Employees Reuse Passwords Across Business And Personal Accounts

-LockBit 2.0 Ransomware Proliferates Globally

-Secret Terrorist Watchlist With 2 Million Records Exposed Online

-Phishing Costs Quadruple Over 6 Years

-Security Teams Report Rise In Cyber Risk

-Phishing Attacks Increase In H1 2021, Sharp Jump In Crypto 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

A Third of Global Companies Have Experienced Ransomware Attack, Survey Finds

Roughly a third of large international companies have faced a ransomware attack or other data breach in the last 12 months, according to a new survey.

Analysts surveyed almost 800 companies and found 37% of international companies experienced ransomware attacks this past year. The survey focused on companies with more than 500 employees.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/jg84q3/a-third-of-global-companies-have-experienced-ransomware-attack-survey-finds

Company Size Is A Nonissue With Automated Cyber Attack Tools

Even with plenty of old problems to contend with, firms need to get ready for new and more powerful automated ransomware tools.

Cyber criminals are constantly looking for the best return on their investment and solutions that lower the chance of being caught. Sadly, that appears to mean small businesses are their current target of opportunity.

Tech media and cyber pundits have been sounding the alarm and offering small businesses specific cybersecurity solutions for a few years now, but it seems to no avail.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/company-size-is-a-nonissue-with-automated-cyberattack-tools/

Over 60% Of Employees Reuse Passwords Across Business And Personal Accounts

Nearly two thirds of employees are using personal passwords to protect corporate data, and vice versa, with even more business leaders concerned about this very issue. Surprisingly, 97% of employees know what constitutes a strong password, yet over half (53%) admit to not always using one.

http://hrnews.co.uk/over-60-of-employees-reuse-passwords-across-business-and-personal/

LockBit 2.0 Ransomware Proliferates Globally 

Fresh attacks target companies’ employees, promising millions of dollars in exchange for valid account credentials for initial access.

The LockBit ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) gang has ramped up its targeted attacks, researchers said, with attempts against organizations in Chile, Italy, Taiwan and the U.K. using version 2.0 of its malware.

https://threatpost.com/lockbit-ransomware-proliferates-globally/168746/

Secret Terrorist Watchlist With 2 Million Records Exposed Online

A secret terrorist watchlist with 1.9 million records, including classified "no-fly" records was exposed on the internet.

The list was left accessible on an Elasticsearch cluster that had no password on it.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/secret-terrorist-watchlist-with-2-million-records-exposed-online/

Phishing Costs Nearly Quadrupled Over 6 Years

Lost productivity & mopping up after the costly attacks that follow phishing – BEC & ransomware in particular – eat up most costs, not pay-outs to crooks.

Research shows that the cost of phishing attacks has nearly quadrupled over the past six years: Large US companies are now losing, on average, $14.8 million annually, or $1,500 per employee.

That’s up sharply from 2015’s figure of $3.8 million, according to a new study from Ponemon Institute that was sponsored by Proofpoint.

According to the study, released Tuesday, phishing leads to some of the costliest cyber attacks.

https://threatpost.com/phishing-costs-quadrupled/168716/

Security Teams Report Rise In Cyber Risk

A recent report shows declining confidence in many organisations’ security function to address today’s threats.

80% of respondents to the Trend Micro’s biannual Cyber Risk Index (CRI) report said they expect to experience a data breach that compromises customer data in the next 12 months.

The report surveyed more than 3,600 businesses of all sizes and industries across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America for their thoughts on cyber risk. Despite an increased focus on security due to high-profile ransomware and other attacks in the past year, respondents reported a rise in risk due to inadequate security processes like backing up key assets.

Organisations are overwhelmed as they pivot from traditional to distributed networks. Pandemic-driven work-from-home growth is potentially how businesses will be run going forward. That distributed network means that it’s harder for IT staff to know what assets are under their control and what security controls should be in place. With the line blurring between corporate and personal assets, organizations are overwhelmed with the pace of change.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3629477/security-teams-report-rise-in-cyber-risk.html

Organisations Aware Of The Importance Of Zero Trust, Yet Still Relying On Passwords

Organisations have become more security conscious over the course of the pandemic, leading them to invest heavily in zero trust, according to a new study.

The report surveyed over 600 global security leaders about their initiatives and found that remote work has led to a change in how organizations view the importance of zero trust, with financial services, healthcare organisations and the software industry seeing the most significant progress.

78% of companies globally say that zero trust has increased in priority and nearly 90% are currently working on a zero trust initiative, up from just 41% a year ago.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/08/11/importance-of-zero-trust/

Reliance On Third Party Workers Making Companies More Vulnerable To Cyber Attacks

A new survey revealed 83% of respondents agree that because organisations increasingly rely on contractors, freelancers, and other third party workers, their data systems have become more vulnerable to cyber attacks.

Further, 88% of people say organisations and government entities must have better data security systems in place to protect them from the increase in third party remote attacks.

Recent high-profile breaches, including SolarWinds, Colonial Pipeline, and JBS Foods, have exposed how vulnerable organisations are to cyber crime and in particular ransomware attacks. Of note with recent attacks is how data breaches can quickly affect aspects of everyday life, such as the ability to fill a car with petrol or buy meat at the supermarket.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/08/16/reliance-on-third-party-workers/

The Cyber Security Skills Gap Persists For The Fifth Year Running

Most organisations are still lacking talent, according to a new report, but experts think expanding the definition of a cybersecurity professional can help.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/the-cybersecurity-skills-gap-persists-for-the-fifth-year-running/

T-Mobile Hack Is A Return To The Roots Of Cyber Crime

In the world of cyber crime, ransomware attacks might be the sophisticated bank heists. The hack of T-Mobile is more akin to smashing a window, grabbing merchandise, and running.

The attack that exposed the personal information of millions of T-Mobile customers spotlights a common type of cyber threat that can inflict significant damage to consumers, much like the recent rash of ransomware attacks hitting companies.

The breach exposed the data of more than 40 million people, T-Mobile confirmed Wednesday, including customer’s full names and driver’s license information. A hacker posted about the stolen information on a cyber crime forum late last week, offering to sell the information to buyers for the price of six bitcoin, or about $270,000.

This type of attack, in which hackers worm their way into companies’ systems, steal data and try to sell it online, has been a common tactic for years, cyber security experts say. Unlike the high-profile ransomware attacks that have disrupted fuel supplies, hospital systems and food production in recent months, these data exfiltration hacks do not lock down computer systems.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/19/tmobile-breach-data-hacks/

Phishing Attacks Increase In H1 2021, Sharp Jump In Crypto Attacks

The first half of 2021 shows a 22 percent increase in the volume of phishing attacks over the same time period last year, a new report reveals. Notably, however, phishing volume in June dipped dramatically for the first time in six months, immediately following a very high-volume in May.

Bad actors continue to utilise phishing to fleece proprietary information, and are developing more sophisticated ways to do so based on growth in areas such as cryptocurrency and sites that use single-sign-on.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/08/19/phishing-attacks-h1-2021/

Connected Devices Increasingly At Risk As New Ransomware Attacks Are Reported Almost Daily

A new report has shined a light on the state of connected devices. The number of agentless and un-agentable devices increased to 42% in this year’s report (compared to 32% of agentless or un-agentable devices in 2020). These devices include medical and manufacturing devices that are critical to business operations along with network devices, IP phones, video surveillance cameras and facility devices (such as badge readers) that are not designed with security in mind, cannot be patched, and cannot support endpoint security agents.

With almost half of devices in the network that are either agentless or un-agentable, organisations need to complement their endpoint security strategy with a network-based security approach to discover and secure these devices.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/08/12/connected-devices-risks/

 

Threats

Ransomware

BEC

Phishing

Other Social Engineering

Malware

Mobile

IOT

Vulnerabilities

Data Breaches/Leaks

Dark Web

Supply Chain

DoS/DDoS

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

Nation State Actors

Cloud

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

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

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

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

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 02 July 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 02 July 2021: Russian Hackers Target IT Supply Chain In Ransomware Attack Leading To Hundreds Of Firms Being Hit; 71% Of Orgs Experienced BEC Attacks Over The Past Year; Cyber Insurance Making Ransomware Crisis Worse; Breach Exposes 92% Of LinkedIn Users; Users Clueless About Cyber Security Risks; Paying Ransoms Make You A Bigger Target; Cyber Crime Never Sleeps; Classified MOD Docs Found At Bus Stop; Don’t Leave Your Cyber IR Plan To IT, It’s An Organisational Risk

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

71% Of Organisations Experienced BEC Attacks Over The Past Year

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Users Clueless About Cyber Security Risks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cyber Crime Never Sleeps

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

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

IT, Healthcare And Manufacturing Facing Most Phishing Attacks

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

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

Classified Ministry Of Defence Documents Found At Bus Stop

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

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

Cabinet Office Increases Cyber Security Training Budget By Almost 500%

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

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

Threats

Ransomware

Phishing

Malware

Mobile

IoT

Data Breaches

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

 Cryptocurrency/Cryptojacking

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

Nation State Actors

Cloud

Privacy

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

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

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

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

Read More