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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 15 October 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 15 October 2021

-The Human Element Is the Weakest Link

-Ransomware is the Biggest Cyber Threat to Business: Most Firms Still Aren't Ready for It

-Most Known Ransomware Targets Windows Devices

-67% of Organisations Have Been Hit by Ransomware at Least Once

-Russian Cyber Crime Gang Targets Finance Firms With Stealthy Macros

-70% of Businesses Can’t Ensure the Same Level of Protection for Every Endpoint

-Over 90% of Firms Suffered Supply Chain Breaches Last Year

-Ransomware Attacks Preparedness Lagging, Despite Organisations Being Aware of The Risks

-6 Things to Know About 'Killware,' Cyber Security's Next Big Threat

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 Human Element Is the Weakest Link

Within the last week, Facebook has become the subject of a whistleblowing campaign featuring thousands of documents alleging malpractice. Despite their size and expected security controls, these documents have been exfiltrated without detection, lending credence to the idea of the insider threat. https://www.darkreading.com/risk/the-human-element-is-the-weakest-link

Ransomware is the Biggest Cyber Threat to Business But Most Firms Still Aren't Ready for It

Ransomware is still the most significant cyber security threat facing organisations – ranging from critical national infrastructure providers and large enterprises to schools and local businesses – but it's a threat that can be countered. https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-is-now-the-most-urgent-cyber-threat-to-business-but-most-firms-arent-ready-for-it/

Most Known Ransomware Targets Windows Devices

Recently conducted research shows that 95% of identified ransomware is targeting Windows machines. Furthermore, the stats show that Israel are submitting by far the most ransomware samples, followed by South Korea, Vietnam, and China, with the UK in 10th place. https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/14/googles_virustotal_malware/

67% of Organisations Have Been Hit by Ransomware at Least Once

A recent report found that two-thirds of surveyed organizations have suffered a ransomware attack, with about half having been hit multiple times, and 16% having been hit three or more times. https://threatpost.com/podcast-67-percent-orgs-ransomware/175339/

Russian Cyber Crime Gang Targets Finance Firms With Stealthy Macros

A new phishing campaign dubbed MirrorBlast is deploying weaponized Excel documents that are extremely difficult to detect to compromise financial service organizations. The most notable feature of MirrorBlast is the low detection rates of the campaign's malicious Excel documents by security software, putting firms that rely solely upon detection tools at high risk. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/russian-cybercrime-gang-targets-finance-firms-with-stealthy-macros/  

70% of Businesses Can’t Ensure the Same Level of Protection for Every Endpoint

Recent research found that 86% of UK respondents believe it is not possible to fully prevent ransomware and malware attacks from compromising their organisations. It also found that the rise in the number of endpoints that businesses need to protect continues to be a key source of risk exposure. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/10/15/endpoint-protection-level/

Over 90% of Firms Suffered Supply Chain Breaches Last Year

A recent survey polled 1200 IT and procurement leaders responsible for supply chain and cyber risk management. Those polled came from global companies with 1,000+ employees and were used to compile its report: Managing Cyber Risk Across the Extended Vendor Ecosystem. The report revealed the average number of breaches experienced in the past 12 months grew from 2.7 in 2020 to 3.7 in 2021 – a 37% year-on-year increase. https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/90-firms-supply-chain-breaches/

Cyber Security Shortcomings Exposed By The Pandemic

According to a survey by SecureAge, 48% of businesses have experienced a cyber breach during the COVID-19 pandemic and another 8% ‘were not sure’. In addition, 16% of employees said they personally had to deal with a cyber security incident during the same period. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/10/13/cybersecurity-shortcomings/

6 Things to Know About 'Killware,' Cyber Security's Next Big Threat

Threat actors are adopting a “killware” cyber model, which launches attacks on critical infrastructure with the intent to cause harm. Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary for Homeland Security, told USA Today he is worried about killware because it has the potential to kill. Hackers breached a water system in February this year, which was considered an unsuccessful attempt to distribute contaminated water to residents of Florida. "[The] attack was not for financial gain but rather purely to do harm,” he said. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/cybersecurity/6-things-to-know-about-killware-cybersecurity-s-next-big-threat.html

2021 Nastiest Malware: Here to Stay and Ever Evolving

This year was yet another year with COVID-19 and malware running rampant in the headlines. Be it in person or online, the world is still struggling in the fight against viruses. This year took another turn for the worse when attacks on critical infrastructure and supply chains became a hot trend. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/10/12/nastiest-malware-2021/


Threats

Ransomware

BEC

Phishing

Malware

Vulnerabilities

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptojacking

Dark Web

Supply Chain

DoS/DDoS

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

Nation State Actors

Privacy

Other News


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.

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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 11 June 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 11 June 2021: World’s Biggest Meat Producer JBS Pays $11m Ransom; New Type Of Ransomware Could Be 10 Times As Dangerous; Lewd Phishing Lures Aimed At Business Explode; UK Schools Forced To Shut Following Ransomware; COVID-19 Has Transformed Work, But Cyber Security Is Not Keeping Pace; Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack Stemmed From Old VPN Password; Evil Corp Rebrands Ransomware To Escape Sanctions; Billions Of Passwords Leaked Online From Past Data Breaches

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

World’s Biggest Meat Producer JBS Pays $11m Cyber Crime Ransom

JBS, the world’s biggest meat processor, has paid an $11m (£7.8m) ransom after a cyber attack shut down operations, including abattoirs in the US, Australia and Canada. While most of its operations have been restored, the Brazilian-headquartered company said it hoped the payment would head off any further complications including data theft. JBS, which supplies more than a fifth of all beef in the US, reportedly made the payment in bitcoin.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/10/worlds-biggest-meat-producer-jbs-pays-11m-cybercrime-ransom

Jackware: A New Type Of Ransomware Could Be 10 Times As Dangerous

Between the attacks on Colonial Pipeline and JBS, which disrupted nearly half of the East Coast’s gasoline supply for a week and threatened 20% of the U.S. meat market, respectively, consumers are finally experiencing the first physical impacts to their daily lives from cyber attacks. As bad as these attacks are, they could get a lot worse. Cyber criminals are constantly evolving, and what is keeping many security professionals up at night is the growing risk of “jackware” — a new type of ransomware that could be 10 times more dangerous because instead of encrypting Windows computers and servers. Jackware hijacks the actual physical devices and machines that make modern life possible. It’s only a matter of when we will see these attacks happen

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ransomware-jackware-115229732.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw&tsrc=twtr

Lewd Phishing Lures Aimed At Business Explode

Attackers have amped up their use of X-rated phishing lures in business email compromise (BEC) attacks. A new report found a stunning 974-percent spike in social-engineering scams involving suggestive materials, usually aimed at male-sounding names within a company. The Threat Intelligence team with GreatHorn made the discovery and explained it’s not simply libido driving users to click on these suggestive scams. Instead, these emails popping up on people’s screens at work are intended to shock the user, opening the door for them to make a reckless decision to click. It’s a tactic GreatHorn called “dynamite phishing.”

https://threatpost.com/lewd-phishing-lures-business-explode/166734/

UK Schools Forced To Shut Following Critical Ransomware Attack

Two schools in the south of England have been forced to temporarily close their doors after a ransomware attack that encrypted and stole sensitive data. The Skinners' Kent Academy and Skinners' Kent Primary School were attacked on June 2, according to a statement on the trust’s website which said it is currently working with third-party security experts, the police, and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). It revealed that on-premises servers were targeted at the Tunbridge Well-based schools. As student and staff emergency contact details, medical records, timetables, and registers were encrypted by the attackers, the decision was taken to close on Monday.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/schools-shut-ransomware-attacl/

Emerging Ransomware Targets Dozens Of Businesses Worldwide

An emerging ransomware strain in the threat landscape claims to have breached 30 organisations in just four months since it went operational by riding on the coattails of a notorious ransomware syndicate. First observed in February 2021, "Prometheus" is an offshoot of another well-known ransomware variant called Thanos, which was previously deployed against state-run organisations in the Middle East and North Africa last year. The affected entities are believed to be government, financial services, manufacturing, logistics, consulting, agriculture, healthcare services, insurance agencies, energy and law firms in the U.S., U.K., and a dozen more countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America.

https://thehackernews.com/2021/06/emerging-ransomware-targets-dozens-of.html

COVID-19 Has Transformed Work, But Cyber Security Is Not Keeping Pace, Report Finds

An international survey of tech professionals from the Thales Group finds some bleak news for the current state of data security: the COVID-19 pandemic has upended cyber security norms, and security teams are struggling to keep up. The problems appear to be snowballing; lack of preparation has led to a scramble resulting in poor data protection practices, outdated security infrastructure not receiving needed overhauls, a jumble of new systems that only make matters worse and priority misalignment between security teams and leadership.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/covid-19-has-transformed-work-but-cybersecurity-isnt-keeping-pace-report-finds/

Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack Was The Result Of An Old VPN Password

It took only one dusty, no-longer-used password for the DarkSide cyber criminals to breach the network of Colonial Pipeline Co. last month, resulting in a ransomware attack that caused significant disruption and remains under investigation by the U.S. government and cyber security experts. Attackers used the password to a VPN account that was no longer in use but still allowed them to remotely access Colonial Pipeline’s network, Charles Carmakal, senior vice president at FireEye’s cyber security consulting firm Mandiant, told Bloomberg in an interview, according to a published report on the news outlet’s website.

https://threatpost.com/darkside-pwned-colonial-with-old-vpn-password/166743/

Evil Corp Rebrands Ransomware To Escape Sanctions

Threat actors behind a notorious Russian cyber crime group appear to have rebranded their ransomware once again in a bid to escape US sanctions prohibiting victims from paying them. Experts took to Twitter to point out that a leak site previously run by the Babuk group, which famously attacked Washington DC’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), had rebranded to “PayloadBin.” The Babuk group claimed that it was shutting down its affiliate model for encrypting victims and moving to a new model back in April. A ‘new’ ransomware variant with the same name has also been doing the rounds of late, but according to CTO of Emsisoft, Fabian Wosar, it’s nothing more than a copycat effort by Evil Corp.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/evil-corp-rebrands-ransomware/

Billions Of Passwords Leaked Online From Past Data Breaches

A list of leaked passwords discovered on a hacker forum may be one of the largest such collections of all time. A 100GB text file leaked by a user on a popular hacker forum contains 8.4 billion passwords, likely gathered from past data breaches.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/billions-of-passwords-leaked-online-from-past-data-breaches/


Threats

Ransomware

Phishing

Other Social Engineering

Malware

Mobile

Vulnerabilities

Data Breaches

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency

Nation State Actors

Denial of Service

Charities



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 22 January 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 22 January 2021: Ransomware Biggest Cyber Concern; Ransomware Payments Grew 311% In 2020; Cyber Security Spending To Soar In 2021; Ransomware Provides The Perfect Cover For Other Attacks; Gdpr Fines Skyrocket As Eu Gets Tough On Data Breaches; Popular Pdf Reader Has Database Of 77 Miliion Users Leaked Online; Malware Incidents On Remote Devices Increase

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 Headlines of the Week

Ransomware is now the biggest Cyber Security concern for CISOs

Ransomware is the biggest cyber security concern facing businesses, according to those responsible for keeping organisations safe from hacking and cyberattacks. A survey of chief information security officers (CISOs) and chief security officers (CISOs found that ransomware is now viewed as the main cyber security threat to their organisation over the course of the next year. Almost half – 46% – of CISOs and CISOs surveyed said that ransomware or other forms of extortion by outsiders represents the biggest cyber security threat.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-is-now-the-biggest-cybersecurity-concern-for-cisos/

Crypto ransomware payments grew 311% in 2020

Crypto payments associated with ransomware grew at least 311% in 2020. “Ransomware” refers to a category of malicious computer programs that force users into paying ransoms. Just 0.34% of all cryptocurrency transactions last year were criminal, down from 2.1% in 2019. But that number is bound to go up, said the firm.

https://decrypt.co/54648/crypto-crime-ransomware-chainalysis-report-2020

The SolarWinds hackers used tactics other groups will copy

One of the most chilling aspects of Russia's recent hacking spree—which breached numerous United States government agencies among other targets—was the successful use of a “supply chain attack” to gain tens of thousands of potential targets from a single compromise at the IT services firm SolarWinds. But this was not the only striking feature of the assault. After that initial foothold, the attackers bored deeper into their victims' networks with simple and elegant strategies. Now researchers are bracing for a surge in those techniques from other attackers.

https://www.wired.com/story/solarwinds-hacker-methods-copycats/

Global Cyber Security spending to soar in 2021

The worldwide cyber security market is set to grow by up to 10% this year to top $60bn, as the global economy slowly recovers from the pandemic. Double-digit growth from $54.7bn in 2020 would be its best-case scenario. However, even in the worst case, cyber security spending would reach 6.6%. That would factor in a deeper-than-anticipated economic impact from lockdowns, although the security market has proven to be remarkably resilient thus far to the pandemic-induced global economic crisis. That said, SMB spending was hit hard last year, along with certain sectors like hospitality, retail and transport.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/global-cybersecurity-spending-to/

Cyber criminals publish more than 4,000 stolen Sepa files

Sepa rejected a ransom demand for the attack, which has been claimed by the international Conti ransomware group. Contracts, strategy documents and databases are among the 4,000 files released. The data has been put on the dark web - a part of the internet associated with criminality and only accessible through specialised software.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-55757884

Ransomware provides the perfect cover for other attacks

Look at any list of security challenges that CISOs are most concerned about and you’ll consistently find ransomware on them. It’s no wonder: ransomware attacks cripple organizations due to the costs of downtime, recovery, regulatory penalties, and lost revenue. Unfortunately, cybercriminals have added an extra sting to these attacks: they are using ransomware as a smokescreen to divert security teams from other clandestine activities behind the scenes

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/01/21/ransomware-cover/

Popular PDF reader has database of 77 million users hacked and leaked online

A threat actor has leaked a 14 GB database online containing over 77 million records relating to thousands of users of the Nitro PDF reader software, with users' email addresses, full names, hashed passwords, company names, IP addresses, and other system-related information.

https://www.techradar.com/au/news/popular-pdf-reader-has-database-of-77-miliion-users-hacked-and-leaked-online

Ransomware victims that have backups are paying ransoms to stop hackers leaking their stolen data

Some organisations that fall victim to ransomware attacks are paying ransoms to cyber-criminal gangs despite being able to restore their own networks from backups, in order to prevent hackers publishing stolen data. Over the course of the past year, many of the most successful ransomware gangs have added an additional technique in an effort to coerce victims into paying ransoms after compromising their networks – publishing stolen data if a payment isn't received.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-victims-that-have-backups-are-paying-ransoms-to-stop-hackers-leaking-their-stolen-data/

GDPR fines skyrocket as EU gets tough on data breaches

Europe’s new privacy protection regime has led to a surge in fines for bad actors, according to research published today. Law firm DLA Piper says that, since January 28th, 2020, the EU has issued around €158.5 million (around $192 million) in financial penalties. That’s a 39-percent increase on the previous 20-month period Piper examined in its report, published this time last year. And as well as the increased fines, the number of breach notifications has shot up by 19 percent across the same 12-month period.

https://www.engadget.com/gdpr-fines-dla-piper-report-144510440.html

Malware incidents on remote devices increase

Devices compromised by malware in 2020, 37% continued accessing corporate emails after being compromised and 11% continued accessing cloud storage, highlighting a need for organizations to better determine how to configure business tools to ensure fast and safe connectivity for all users in 2021.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/01/18/malware-incidents-remote-devices/




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