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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 03 March 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Briefing 03 March 2023:

-It’s Time to Evaluate Your Security Education Plan Amongst the Rise in Social Engineering Attacks

-Mobile Users are More Susceptible to Phishing Attacks

-Phishing as a Service Stimulates Cyber Crime

-Attacker Breakout Time Drops to Just 84 Minutes

-Attackers are Developing and Deploying Exploits Faster Than Ever

-Old Vulnerabilities are Haunting Organisations and Aiding Attackers

-Scams Drive Nearly $9bn Fraud Surge in 2022

-Economic Pressure are Increasing Cyber Security Risks and a Recession Would Only Further This

-Cyber Security in This Era of Polycrisis

-Russian Ransomware Projects Rebranded to Avoid Western Sanctions

-Ransomware Attacks Ravaged Big Names in February

-Firms Who Pay Ransom Subsidise New Attacks

-How the Ukraine War Opened a Fault Line in Cyber Crime

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

  • It’s Time to Evaluate Your Security Education Plan with the Rise in Social Engineering Attacks

Security provider Purplesec found 98% of attacks in 2022 involved an element of social engineering. Social engineering attacks can take many forms including phishing, smishing, vishing and quishing and it’s vital to educate your organisation on how to best prepare for these. Education plans should focusing on educating all levels of users, including those at the top. These plans should also be tested to allow organisations to assess where they are at and identify where they can improve.

https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/as-social-engineering-attacks-skyrocket-evaluate-your-security-education-plan

  • Mobile Users are More Susceptible to Phishing Attacks

A report conducted by mobile security provider Lookout focused on the impact of mobile phishing. Some of the key findings from the report included that more than 50% of personal devices were exposed to a mobile phishing attack every quarter, the percentage of users falling for multiple mobile phishing links increasing and an increased targeting of highly regulated industries such as insurance, banking and financial services. It is likely that this has resulted from the increase in relaxed bring your own device (BYOD) policies.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/mobile-users-more-susceptible-to-phishing-attacks-than-two-years-ago/

  • Phishing as a Service Stimulates Cyber Crime

Phishing attacks are at an all-time high and the usage of Phishing as a Service (PaaS) opens this attack technique to virtually anyone. The sale of “phishing kits” and usage of artificial intelligence has further increased the availability of this attack technique. In response, organisations should look to improve their email security, cloud security and education programs for employees.

https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/ciso/23/c/phishing-as-a-service-phaas.html

  • Attacker Breakout Time Drops to Just 84 Minutes

The average time it takes for a threat actor to move laterally from a compromised host within an organisation dropped 14% between 2012 and 2022 down to 84 minutes, according to a report by security provider Crowdstrike. With the reduction in time it takes a threat actor to move across systems, organisations have even less time to enact their incident response plans and contain breaches effectively, putting further pressure on the incident response team. By responding quickly, organisations can minimise the cost and damage of a breach. The report from Crowdstrike found that organisations were facing increasing difficulty in detecting suspicious activity as attackers are choosing to use valid organisation credentials rather than malware, to gain access to an organisation’s systems.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/attacker-breakout-time-drops-just/

  • Attackers are Developing and Deploying Exploits Faster Than Ever

A report from security provider Rapid7 found that over 56% of vulnerabilities were exploited within seven days of public disclosure. Worryingly, the median time for exploitation in 2022 was just one day. The finding from the report highlights the need for organisations to not only conduct threat intelligence to be aware of vulnerabilities but to also look to employ patches where possible in a timely manner.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/03/03/attackers-developing-deploying-exploits/

  • Old Vulnerabilities are Haunting Organisations and Aiding Attackers

Known vulnerabilities, vulnerabilities for which patches have already been made available, are one of the primary attack vectors for threat actors. Vulnerability management vendor Tenable found that the top exploited vulnerabilities were originally disclosed as far back as 2017 and organisations that had not applied these patches were at increased risks of attack.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/03/03/known-exploitable-vulnerabilities/

  • Scams Drive Nearly $9bn Fraud Surge in 2022

Americans lost $8.8 billion to fraud last year, with imposter scams responsible for $2.8 billion of that amount, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Losses to business imposters were particularly damaging, climbing to $660 million from the previous year. Interestingly, the FTC found that younger people reported losing money to fraud the most often.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/investment-scams-drive-9bn-in/

  • Economic Pressure are Increasing Cyber Security Risks and a Recession Would Only Further This

The World Economic Forum’s recent report found that 93% of cyber security leaders and 86% of business leaders think it is moderately or very likely that global geopolitical instability will lead to a catastrophic cyber event in the next two years. Reinforcing this, a report from (ISC)² found that 80% of business executives believe a weakening economy will increase cyber threats and a recession will only amplify this.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3689008/economic-pressures-are-increasing-cybersecurity-risks-a-recession-would-amp-them-up-more.html

  • Cyber Security in this Era of Polycrisis

A year since Russia invaded Ukraine, the geopolitical context is increasingly tense and volatile. The world faces several major crises in what has been coined a 'polycrisis,' a cluster of global shocks with compounding effects. This, along with increasing geopolitical tensions causes a rise in risk from cyber attacks. In fact, the European Union Agency for Cyber Security (ENISA) recently issued an alert regarding actors conducting malicious cyber activities against businesses and governments in the European Union and findings from Google show a 300% increase in state-sponsored cyber attacks targeting users in NATO countries.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/02/cybersecurity-in-an-era-of-polycrisis/

  • Russian Ransomware Projects Rebranded to Avoid Western Sanctions

Research provider TRM labs found that some major Russian-linked ransomware crime gangs have rebranded their activities in 2022 to avoid sanctions. To strengthen their anonymity, two major ransomware crime gangs LockBit and Conti restructured their activities. Conti is reported to have restructured into three smaller groups named Black Besta, BlackByte, Karakurt. LockBit on the other hand launched LockBit 3.0, which is focused on monetary gain. Additionally, the report found that Russian-speaking darknet markets had amassed over $130 million in sales.

https://cryptopotato.com/russian-ransomware-projects-rebranded-to-avoid-western-sanctions-report/

  • Ransomware Attacks Ravaged Big Names in February

Despite the apparent slight drop in ransomware activity last month, several high profile targets of various industries were hit; this ranges from the likes of the US Marshal Service, retailer WH Smith, satellite provider Dish and many more. These attacks reinforce the concept that any organisation can be a victim, regardless of industry.

https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/365532056/Ransomware-attacks-ravaged-big-names-in-February

  • Firms Who Pay Ransoms Subsidise New Attacks

A report from security provider Trend Micro found that whilst only a relatively small number of ransomware victims pay their extorters, those that do pay are effectively funding 6-10 new attacks. The report also found that attackers are aware of which industries and countries pay ransoms more often, so organisations belonging to those industries and countries may find themselves an even more attractive target.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/firms-pay-ransom-subsidise-10/

  • How the Ukraine War Opened a Fault Line in Cyber Crime

A report from threat intelligence provider Recorded Future has highlighted the impact that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has had on cyber. Recorded Future explain how a number of threat actor groups fled during the war and in addition to differing political views between groups, there has been a disruption to the cyber environment. In fact, Recorded Future found that Russian-language dark web marketplaces have taken a major hit and the prediction is that the epicentre of cyber crime may shift to English-speaking dark web forums, shops and marketplaces.

https://www.darkreading.com/analytics/ukraine-war-fault-line-cybercrime-forever

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

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

AML/CFT/Sanctions

Insurance

Dark Web

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Software Supply Chain

Cloud/SaaS

Containers

Hybrid/Remote Working

Encryption

API

Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Training, Education and Awareness

Parental Controls and Child Safety

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Governance, Risk and Compliance

Models, Frameworks and Standards

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

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 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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 26 November 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 26 November 2021

-70% Of IT Pros Say Security Hygiene Has Gotten Harder Over Past Two Years

-As Digital Shopping Surges, Researchers Predict 8 Million Daily Attacks

-More Ransomware Attacks Up to September Than Whole of 2020

-Ransomware Warning: Hackers See Holidays And Weekends As A Great Time To Attack

-Suspect Arrested In 'Ransom Your Employer' Criminal Scheme

-The Newer Cyber Crime Triad: Trickbot-Emotet-Conti

-Threat Actors Find And Compromise Exposed Services In 24 Hours

-Does Your Company Employ A CISO? Many Are Operating Without Security Leadership

-New Malware Is Capable Of Evading Almost All Antivirus Products

-Interpol Arrests Over 1,000 Suspects Linked To Cyber Crime

-Researchers Warn Of Severe Risks From ‘Printjack’ Printer 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

70% Of IT Pros Say Security Hygiene Has Got Harder Over Past Two Years

A new report from Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) and JupiterOne warns of inadequate security hygiene and posture management practices at many organizations. The research found that 86% of organizations believe they follow best practices for security hygiene and posture management. However, 70% of organizations said they use more than ten security tools to manage security hygiene and posture management, which raises concerns about data management and operations overhead.

In addition, 73% of security professionals admitted that they still depend on spreadsheets to manage security hygiene and posture at their organizations. As a result, 70% of respondents said that security hygiene and posture management had become more difficult over the past two years as their attack surfaces have grown.

https://venturebeat.com/2021/11/19/report-70-of-it-pros-say-security-hygiene-has-gotten-harder-over-past-two-years/

As Digital Shopping Surges, Researchers Predict 8 Million Daily Attacks

Arkose Labs released new data on the latest fraud trends, revealing increased threats during the holidays, rising bot attacks, and a resurgence in attacks on travel companies. As shoppers fill their online carts, account takeover (ATO) attacks and gift-card fraud remain persistent.

The report shares the top six fraud-fighting trends from the previous 3 months and provides data highlighting that no digital business is immune from attack. Financial industries saw 32 percent more attacks than in the first half of 2021.

Retail and travel attacks increased 63 percent in Q3, and gaming saw a spate of fake new accounts being set up for fraudulent purposes. Media and streaming businesses saw 60 percent of malicious activity targeting logins, and 20 percent of these attacks originating from human fraud farms.

Technology platforms see 91 percent of all attacks powered by bots. Overall, attacks are increasing in every industry, and they are growing more sophisticated.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/11/22/threats-during-holidays/

More Ransomware Attacks Up to September Than Whole of 2020

Most UK business leaders expect cyber-threats to surge next year, with ransomware, business email compromise (BEC), cloud and supply chain attacks all predicted to increase, according to PwC.

The findings come from the consulting giant’s 2022 Global Digital Trust Insights Survey and were distilled from interviews with 257 business and technology executives in the UK.

Although most (63%) respondents said they expect security budgets to increase next year, even more (66%) predicted cyber-threats would rise. Ransomware (61%), BEC (61%), malware via software updates (63%), and cloud compromise (64%) were among the most notable.

Bobbie Ramsden-Knowles, crisis and resilience partner at PwC UK, claimed the firm’s threat intelligence team has tracked more ransomware incidents globally up to September this year than for the whole of 2020.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/more-ransomware-attacks-september/

Ransomware Warning: Hackers See Holidays And Weekends As A Great Time To Attack

Just because you're taking a break, that doesn't mean hackers will be too.

Ahead of the holidays cyber agencies have released a warning to stay vigilant on holidays and weekends, because hackers don't plan on taking a holiday break.

Warnings remind organisations that ransomware attackers often choose to launch attacks on holidays and weekends, specifically when businesses are likely to be closed.

Recent history tells us that this could be a time when these persistent cyber actors halfway across the world are looking for ways—big and small—to disrupt the critical networks and systems belonging to organizations, businesses, and critical infrastructure.

Some of the worst ransomware attacks happened on holidays and weekends.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/security-warning-ransomware-attackers-are-working-on-the-holidays-even-if-you-arent/

Suspect Arrested In 'Ransom Your Employer' Criminal Scheme

A Nigerian man has been arrested in connection to a scheme attempting to lure insiders to deploy ransomware on employer systems.

On November 22, security expert Brian Krebs reported that the man, Oluwaseun Medayedupin, was arrested by Nigerian authorities on Friday.

The suspect is allegedly linked to a 'ransom your employer' scheme investigated by Abnormal Security in August.

Customers of the cybersecurity firm were sent emails with the subject "Partnership affiliate offer," requesting that the recipient considered becoming an accomplice in a cyberattack.

The emails offered a 40% cut of an anticipated $2.5 million ransomware payment in Bitcoin (BTC), made after the recipients installed the DemonWare ransomware on their employer's systems.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/suspect-arrested-in-ransom-your-employer-criminal-scheme/

The Newer Cyber Crime Triad: Trickbot-Emotet-Conti

Advanced Intelligence researchers argue that the restarting of the Emotet botnet was driven by Conti ransomware gang.

Early this year, law enforcement and judicial authorities worldwide conducted a joint operation, named Operation Ladybird, which disrupted the EMOTET botnet. At the time the investigators have taken control of its infrastructure in an international coordinated action.

This operation was the result of a joint effort between authorities in the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Lithuania, Canada and Ukraine, with international activity coordinated by Europol and Eurojust.

The law enforcement agency was able to take over at least 700 servers used as part of the Emotet botnet’s infrastructure. The FBI collected millions of email addresses used by Emotet operators in their malware campaigns as part of the cleanup operation.

The Emotet banking trojan has been active at least since 2014, the botnet is operated by a threat actor tracked as TA542. The infamous banking trojan was also used to deliver other malicious code, such as Trickbot and QBot trojans, or ransomware such as Conti, ProLock, Ryuk, and Egregor.

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/124807/cyber-crime/trickbot-emotet-conti-triad.html

Threat Actors Find And Compromise Exposed Services In 24 Hours

Researchers set up 320 honeypots to see how quickly threat actors would target exposed cloud services and report that 80% of them were compromised in under 24 hours.

Malicious actors are constantly scanning the Internet for exposed services that could be exploited to access internal networks or perform other malicious activity.

To track what software and services are targeted by threat actors, researchers create publicly accessible honeypots. Honeypots are servers configured to appear as if they are running various software as lures to monitor threat actors' tactics.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/threat-actors-find-and-compromise-exposed-services-in-24-hours/

Does Your Company Employ A CISO? Many Are Operating Without Security Leadership

45% of companies do not employ a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), a Navisite research found. Of this group, 58% think their company should hire a CISO.

Only 40% of respondents stated their cybersecurity strategy was developed by a CISO or member of the security team, with 60% relying on other parts of their organization, including IT, executive leadership and compliance.

130 security, IT and compliance professionals were polled in the US to determine their perceptions on the state of cybersecurity leadership and readiness within their organizations. More than 80% of respondents described their job title as either executive leadership or management, with more than 60% of respondents coming from mid-sized organizations between 100-5,000 employees.

Why you should employ a CISO?

·       21% of respondents admit their company does not have a dedicated person or staff whose sole responsibility is security/cybersecurity.

·       75% of respondents said their company experienced an increase in overall cybersecurity threat volume in the last year.

·       80% of respondents felt their company exhibited strong cybersecurity leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.

·       70% of respondents expressed confidence in the effectiveness of their cybersecurity program—but that confidence dropped to 58% for companies without a CISO.

·       47% of survey takers believe their company spends too little on cybersecurity.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/11/23/employ-ciso/

New Malware Is Capable Of Evading Almost All Antivirus Products

There’s a new JavaScript downloader on the prowl that not only distributes eight different Remote Access Trojans (RATs), keyloggers and information stealers, but is also able to bypass detection by a majority of security tools, experts have warned.

Cyber security researchers at HP Wolf Security named the malware RATDispenser, noting that while JavaScript downloaders typically have a lower detection rate than other downloaders, this particular malware is more dangerous since it employs several techniques to evade detection.

“It’s particularly concerning to see RATDispenser only being detected by about 11% of antivirus systems, resulting in this stealthy malware successfully deploying on victims’ endpoints in most cases,” noted Patrick Schlapfer, Malware Analyst at HP.

https://www.techradar.com/news/new-malware-is-capable-of-evading-almost-all-antivirus-products

Interpol Arrests Over 1,000 Suspects Linked To Cyber Crime

Interpol has coordinated the arrest of 1,003 individuals linked to various cyber-crimes such as romance scams, investment frauds, online money laundering, and illegal online gambling.

This crackdown results from a four-month action codenamed ‘Operation HAEICHI-II,’ which took place in twenty countries between June and September 2021.

These were Angola, Brunei, Cambodia, Colombia, China, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Korea (Rep. of), Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Thailand, and Vietnam.

On the financial aspect of the operation, the authorities have also intercepted nearly $27,000,000 and froze 2,350 banking accounts linked to various online crimes.

As the Interpol announcement details, at least ten new criminal modus operandi were identified in HAEICHI-II, indicative of the evolving nature of cyber-crime.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/legal/interpol-arrests-over-1-000-suspects-linked-to-cyber-crime/

Researchers Warn Of Severe Risks From ‘Printjack’ Printer Attacks

A team of Italian researchers has compiled a set of three attacks called 'Printjack,' warning users of the significant consequences of over-trusting their printer.

The attacks include recruiting the printers in DDoS swarms, imposing a paper DoS state, and performing privacy breaches.

As the researchers point out, modern printers are still vulnerable to elementary flaws and lag behind other IoT and electronic devices that are starting to conform with cybersecurity and data privacy requirements.

By evaluating the attack potential and the risk levels, the researchers found non-compliance with GDPR requirements and the ISO/IEC 27005:2018 (framework for managing cyber-risks).

This lack of in-built security is particularly problematic when considering how omnipresent printers are, being deployed in critical environments, companies, and organizations of all sizes.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/researchers-warn-of-severe-risks-from-printjack-printer-attacks/

Threats

Ransomware

BEC – Business Email Compromise

Phishing

Malware

Mobile

IOT

Vulnerabilities

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptojacking

Fraud & Financial Crime

Insurance

Nation State Actors

Cloud

Passwords

Parental Controls

 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 27 November 2020

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 27 November 2020: Hundreds of C-level executives’ credentials available for $100 to $1500; Bluetooth Attack Can Steal a Tesla Model X in Minutes; Three members of TMT cybercrime group arrested in Nigeria; Cyber criminals make £2.5m raid on law firms in lockdown; Hackers post athletes’ naked photos online

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

Hundreds of C-level executives’ credentials available for $100 to $1500 per account

A credible threat actor is offering access to the email accounts of hundreds of C-level executives for $100 to $1500 per account.

The availability of access to the email accounts of C-level executives could allow threat actors to carry out multiple malicious activities, from cyber espionage to BEC scams.

The threat actor is selling login credentials for Office 365 and Microsoft accounts and the price depends on the size of the C-level executives’ companies and the internal role of the executive.

The threat actor claims its database includes login credentials of high-level executives such as:

CEO, CTO, COO, CFO, CMO. President, Vice President, Executive Assistant, Finance Manager, Accountant, Director, Finance Director, Financial Controller and Accounts Payables

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/111588/cyber-crime/executives-credentials-dark-web.html

This Bluetooth Attack Can Steal a Tesla Model X in Minutes

Tesla has always prided itself on its so-called over-the-air updates, pushing out new code automatically to fix bugs and add features. But one security researcher has shown how vulnerabilities in the Tesla Model X's keyless entry system allow a different sort of update:

A hacker could rewrite the firmware of a key fob via Bluetooth connection, lift an unlock code from the fob, and use it to steal a Model X in just a matter of minutes.

https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-model-x-hack-bluetooth/

Three members of TMT cybercrime group arrested in Nigeria

Three Nigerians suspected of being part of a cybercrime group that has made tens of thousands of victims around the world have been arrested today in Lagos, Nigeria, Interpol reported.

In a report disclosing its involvement in the investigation, security firm Group-IB said the three suspects are members of a cybercrime group they have been tracking since 2019 and which they have been tracking under the codename of TMT.

Group-IB said the group primarily operated by sending out mass email spam campaigns containing files laced with malware.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/three-members-of-tmt-cybercrime-group-arrested-in-nigeria/

Cyber criminals make £2.5m raid on law firms in lockdown

The large number of lawyers working from home has become a magnet for cyber criminals, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said, revealing a 300% increase in phishing scams in the first two months of lockdown alone.

In the first half of 2020, firms reported that nearly £2.5m held by them had been stolen by cybercriminals, more than three times the amount reported in the same period in 2019.

Law firm staff working remotely on less secure devices than the office network and those without dedicated office space finding it hard to keep information confidential. Those using video meetings also need to make sure that unauthorised parties cannot overhear or see a confidential meeting.

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/cyber-criminals-make-25m-raid-on-law-firms-in-lockdown/5106526.article

Hackers post athletes’ naked photos online

Four British athletes are among hundreds of female sports stars and celebrities whose intimate photographs and videos have been posted online in a targeted cyberattack.

The hack, which the athletes became aware of this week, has caused panic and one leading sports agency has advised its clients to take extra measures to protect their private data.

The athletes, who had photographs and videos stolen from their phones, were considering steps last night to have the material removed from the dark net.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hackers-post-athletes-naked-photos-online-86sq27hgl

Threats

Ransomware

Manchester United hackers 'demanding million-pound ransom'

Manchester United are still suffering the effects of a significant cyberattack that targeted the club earlier this week.

Following last weekend's 'sophisticated' attack, the club has revealed it is still suffering severe disruption to its internal systems, several of which had to be shut down following the incident.

Reports have also claimed that the hackers are demanding "millions of pounds" before they let the club regain full control.

https://www.techradar.com/sg/news/manchester-united-hackers-demanding-million-pound-ransom

Egregor Ransomware Attack Hijacks Printers to Spit Out Ransom Notes

The South American retail giant Cencosud was hit with ransomware last week? The retailer was infected by an Egregor ransomware attack which, in time honoured fashion, stole sensitive files that it found on the compromised network, and encrypted data on Cencosud’s drives to lock workers out of the company’s data.

A text file was left on infected Windows computers, telling the store that private data would be shared with the media if it was not prepared to begin negotiating with the hackers within three days.

That’s nothing unusual, but Egregor’s novel twist is that it can also tell businesses that their computer systems are well and truly breached by sending its ransom note to attached printers.

https://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/featured/egregor-ransomware-attack-hijacks-printers-spit-out-ransom-notes/

Sopra Steria: Adding up outages and ransomware clean-up, Ryuk attack will cost us up to €50m

Sopra Steria has said a previously announced Ryuk ransomware infection will not only cost it "between €40m and €50m" but will also deepen expected financial losses by several percentage points.

The admission comes weeks after the French-headquartered IT outsourcing firm's Active Directory infrastructure was compromised by malicious people who deployed the Ryuk ransomware, using what the company called "a previously unknown strain."

https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/25/sopra_steria_ransomware_damage_50m_euros/

Phishing

GoDaddy scam shows how voice phishing can be more deceptive than email schemes

Companies can protect employees from phishing schemes through a combination of training, secure email gateways and filtering technologies. But what protects workers from phone-based voice phishing (vishing) scams, like the kind that recently targeted GoDaddy and a group of cryptocurrency platforms that use the Internet domain registrar service?

Experts indicate that there are few easy answers, but organizations intent on putting a stop to such activity may have to push for more secure forms of verification, escalation procedures for sensitive requests, and better security awareness of account support staffers and other lower-level employees.

https://www.scmagazine.com/home/security-news/phishing/godaddy-scam-shows-how-voice-phishing-can-be-more-deceptive-than-email-schemes/

Google Services Weaponized to Bypass Security in Phishing, BEC Campaigns

A spike in recent phishing and business email compromise (BEC) attacks can be traced back to criminals learning how to exploit Google Services, according to research from Armorblox.

Social distancing has driven entire businesses into the arms of the Google ecosystem looking for a reliable, simple way to digitize the traditional office. A report detailing how now-ubiquitous services like Google Forms, Google Docs and others are being used by malicious actors to give their spoofing attempts a false veneer of legitimacy, both to security filters and victims.

https://threatpost.com/google-services-weaponized-to-bypass-security-in-phishing-bec-campaigns/161467/

Malware

Malware creates scam online stores on top of hacked WordPress sites

A new cybercrime gang has been seen taking over vulnerable WordPress sites to install hidden e-commerce stores with the purpose of hijacking the original site's search engine ranking and reputation and promote online scams.

The attacks were discovered earlier this month targeting a WordPress honeypot which was set up and managed.

The attackers leveraged brute-force attacks to gain access to the site's admin account, after which they overwrote the WordPress site's main index file and appended malicious code.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/malware-creates-online-stores-on-top-of-hacked-wordpress-sites/

Enter WAPDropper – An Android Malware Subscribing Victims to Premium Services by Telecom Companies

WAPDropper, a new malware which downloads and executes an additional payload. In the current campaign, it drops a WAP premium dialler which subscribes its victims to premium services without their knowledge or consent.

The malware, which belongs to a newly discovered family, consists of two different modules: the dropper module, which is responsible for downloading the 2nd stage malware, and a premium dialler module that subscribes the victims to premium services offered by legitimate sources – In this campaign, telecommunication providers in Thailand and Malaysia.
https://research.checkpoint.com/2020/enter-wapdropper-subscribe-users-to-premium-services-by-telecom-companies/

LightBot: TrickBot’s new reconnaissance malware for high-value targets

The notorious TrickBot gang has released a new lightweight reconnaissance tool used to scope out an infected victim's network for high-value targets.

Over the past week, security researchers began to see a phishing campaign normally used to distribute TrickBot's BazarLoader malware switch to installing a new malicious PowerShell script.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/lightbot-trickbot-s-new-reconnaissance-malware-for-high-value-targets/

IoT

The smart video doorbells letting hackers into your home

Smart doorbells with cameras let you see who’s at the door without getting up off the sofa, but in-depth security testing has found some are leaving your home wide open to uninvited guests.

With internet-connected smart tech on the rise, smart doorbells are a common sight on UK streets. Popular models, such as Ring and Nest doorbells, are expensive, but scores of similar looking devices have popped up on Amazon, eBay and Wish at a fraction of the price.

https://www.which.co.uk/news/2020/11/the-smart-video-doorbells-letting-hackers-into-your-home/

Password Attacks

Up to 350,000 Spotify accounts hacked in credential stuffing attacks

An unsecured internet-facing database containing over 380 million individual records, including login credentials that were leveraged for breaking into 300,000 to 350,000 Spotify accounts. The exposed records included a variety of sensitive information such as people’s usernames and passwords, email addresses, and countries of residence.

The treasure trove of data was stored on an unsecured Elasticsearch server that was uncovered. Both the origin and owners of the database remain unknown. However, the researchers were able to validate the veracity of the data as Spotify confirmed that the information had been used to defraud both the company and its users.

https://www.welivesecurity.com/2020/11/24/350000-spotify-accounts-hacked-credential-stuffing-attacks/

Passwords exposed for almost 50,000 vulnerable Fortinet VPNs

A hacker has now leaked the credentials for almost 50,000 vulnerable Fortinet VPNs.

Over the weekend a hacker had posted a list of one-line exploits to steal VPN credentials from these devices.

Present on the list of vulnerable targets are IPs belonging to high street banks, telecoms, and government organizations from around the world.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/passwords-exposed-for-almost-50-000-vulnerable-fortinet-vpns/

Vulnerabilities

UK urges orgs to patch critical MobileIron RCE bug

The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issued an alert yesterday, prompting all organizations to patch the critical CVE-2020-15505 remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in MobileIron mobile device management (MDM) systems.

An MDM is a software platform that allows administrators to remotely manage mobile devices in their organization, including the pushing out of apps, updates, and the ability to change settings. This management is all done from a central location, such as an admin console running on the organization's server, making it a prime target for attackers.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/uk-urges-orgs-to-patch-critical-mobileiron-cve-2020-15505-rce-bug/

Critical Unpatched VMware Flaw Affects Multiple Corporates Products

VMware has released temporary workarounds to address a critical vulnerability in its products that could be exploited by an attacker to take control of an affected system.

"A malicious actor with network access to the administrative configurator on port 8443 and a valid password for the configurator admin account can execute commands with unrestricted privileges on the underlying operating system," the virtualization software and services firm noted in its advisory.

Tracked as CVE-2020-4006, the command injection vulnerability has a CVSS score of 9.1 out of 10 and impacts VMware Workspace One Access, Access Connector, Identity Manager, and Identity Manager Connector.

https://thehackernews.com/2020/11/critical-unpatched-vmware-flaw-affects.html

GitHub fixes 'high severity' security flaw spotted by Google

GitHub has finally fixed a high severity security flaw reported to it by Google Project Zero more than three months ago.

The bug affected GitHub's Actions feature – a developer workflow automation tool was "highly vulnerable to injection attacks".

GitHub's Actions support a feature called workflow commands as a communication channel between the Action runner and the executed action.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/github-fixes-high-severity-security-flaw-spotted-by-google/

Google Chrome users still vulnerable to multiple zero-day attacks

As business users and consumers have moved most of their workloads to the cloud, more and more of their work is being done in web browsers such as Google Chrome as opposed to in applications installed locally on their systems.

This means that the web browser is now an essential yet vulnerable entry point that if compromised, could give cybercriminals access to a user's entire digital life including their email, online banking, social networks and more. However, despite this risk, users are failing to update to the latest version of Google Chrome.

https://www.techradar.com/news/google-chrome-users-still-vulnerable-to-multiple-zero-day-attacks

Microsoft releases patching guidance for Kerberos security bug

Released details on how to fully mitigate a security feature bypass vulnerability in Kerberos KDC (Key Distribution Centre) patched during this month's Patch Tuesday.

The remotely exploitable security bug tracked as CVE-2020-17049 exists in the way KDC decides if service tickets can be used for delegation via Kerberos Constrained Delegation (KCD).

Kerberos is the default authentication protocol for domain connected devices running Windows 2000 or later. Kerberos KDC is a feature that manages service tickets used for encrypting messages between network servers and clients.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-releases-patching-guidance-for-kerberos-security-bug/

Data Breaches

Sophos notifies customers of data exposure after database misconfiguration

UK-based cyber-security vendor Sophos is currently notifying customers via email about a security breach the company suffered earlier this week.

Exposed information included details such as customer first and last names, email addresses, and phone numbers (if provided).

https://www.zdnet.com/article/sophos-notifies-customers-of-data-exposure-after-database-misconfiguration/

Privacy

Microsoft productivity score feature criticised as workplace surveillance

Microsoft has been criticised for enabling “workplace surveillance” after privacy campaigners warned that the company’s “productivity score” feature allows managers to use Microsoft 365 to track their employees’ activity at an individual level.

The tools, first released in 2019, are designed to “provide you visibility into how your organisation works”, according to a Microsoft blogpost, and aggregate information about everything from email use to network connectivity into a headline percentage for office productivity.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/nov/26/microsoft-productivity-score-feature-criticised-workplace-surveillance

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