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Black Arrow Admin 03/07/2021 Black Arrow Admin 03/07/2021

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.

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

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

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptojacking

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

USB Threats Could Critically Impact Business Operations

Nation State Actors

Cloud

Privacy

Data Collected To Promote Public Health Must Never Be Surrendered To Police

Vulnerabilities

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.

Black Arrow Admin 07/05/2021 Black Arrow Admin 07/05/2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 07 May 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 07 May 2021: New Technology Has Enabled Cyber-Crime On An Industrial Scale; Cyber Security Control Failures Listed As Top Emerging Risk; Third Parties Caused Data Breaches At 51% Of Organisations; Apple Devices Under Attack, Update Now; Ransomware Reality Shock - 92% Who Pay Do Not Get Their Data Back; New Vulnerabilities Impact 60% Of Email Servers; Big Rise In Double Extortion Ransomware; Millions At Security Risk From Old Routers; 30% Of All Smartphones Vulnerable To New Bug

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

New Technology Has Enabled Cyber-Crime On An Industrial Scale

Nobody likes a call from the taxman. Donald Rumsfeld, who as America’s defence secretary oversaw a budget bigger than the economy of a typical country, nonetheless finds the rules so confusing that he writes to the Internal Revenue Service each year complaining that he has “no idea” whether he has filed his taxes correctly. So, it is hardly surprising that, when the phone rings and an official-sounding voice says you have underpaid your taxes and will be connected to an adviser to pay the balance, ordinary folk tremble.

https://www.economist.com/international/2021/05/06/new-technology-has-enabled-cyber-crime-on-an-industrial-scale

Cyber Security Control Failures Listed As Top Emerging Risk

Despite a myriad of risks resulting from the pandemic, such as the new work environment and environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns, cyber security risk was singled out with notable consistency across all geographic regions and most industries, cited by 67% of respondents. The next highest cited risk, “the new working model” was cited by 43% of respondents. “Many organisations were forced to implement quick fixes to serious operational gaps as a result of their initial pandemic responses.”

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/05/03/cybersecurity-control-failures/

Third Parties Caused Data Breaches At 51% Of Organisations

Remote access is becoming an organisation's weakest attack surface, according to new research published. The new report, titled “A Crisis in Third-party Remote Access Security,” reveals a disparity between an organisation's perceived third-party access security threat and the protective measures it puts in place. Researchers found that organisations are exposing their networks to non-compliance and security risks by not taking action to reduce third-party access risk.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/third-parties-breaches-at-51-of/

Apple Devices Under Attack — Update Your Mac, iPhone, iPad And Apple Watch Now

Apple on Monday (May 3) pushed out emergency patches to macOS, iPadOS, watchOS and two different versions of iOS to fix four flaws in WebKit, the rendering engine that underlies the Safari web browser. Install these updates when you receive them, because for each flaw, the company states that "Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited." In each case, Apple says, "processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution." In plain English, that means web pages could be built to remotely hack your Mac, iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch.

https://www.tomsguide.com/uk/news/apple-urgent-updates-2105

Enforcing KYC, AML Laws Is Key To Reducing Ransomware Attacks: Task Force

Better enforcement of crypto currency regulations can help address an increasing number of ransomware attacks; a public-private task force claimed Thursday. The Ransomware Task Force, led by the Institute for Security and Technology with support from Microsoft, McAfee and various government agencies, published a report proposing a host of government and company responses to the growing threat of ransomware attacks, including recommendations to disrupt payments to the developers who develop this form of malware. A ransomware attack is one where a malicious actor hijacks a computer or network, locking it until the victim pays a ransom, often in crypto currency (ransomware victims paid close to $350 million in crypto to attackers last year). Paying the ransom is not necessarily a guarantee the perpetrator will share a decryption tool to unlock the computer.

https://www.coindesk.com/enforcing-kyc-aml-laws-is-key-to-reducing-ransomware-attacks-report-says

Ransomware Reality Shock: 92% Who Pay Do Not Get Their Data Back

As Apple gets caught up in an apparent $50 million ransomware extortion attempt by a significant cyber criminal gang, new research reveals just how unlikely it is that organisations will get all their data back if they pay up. On April 23, I reported how the notorious cyber criminal gang behind the REvil ransomware operation had attempted to get Apple to pay the ransom for another business that it had targeted. That business, REvil said, was Apple original design manufacturer Quanta Computer and the gang said it had stolen the schematics for several new Apple products. Several blueprints were published to the REvil dark web site, including one that 9to5Mac determined was related to the 2021 MacBook Pro.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2021/05/02/ransomware-reality-shock-92-who-pay-dont-get-their-data-back/?sh=4c38f3d5e0c7

New Vulnerabilities Impact 60% Of The Internet’s Email Servers

The maintainers of the Exim email server software have released updates today to patch a collection of 21 vulnerabilities that can allow threat actors to take over servers using both local and remote attack vectors. Known as 21Nails, the vulnerabilities were discovered by the security firm Qualys. The bugs impact Exim, a type of email server known as a mail transfer agent (MTA) that helps email traffic travel across the internet and reach its intended destinations. While there are different MTA clients available, an April 2021 survey shows that Exim has a market share of nearly 60% among all MTA solutions, being widely adopted around the internet.

New vulnerabilities impact 60% of the internet’s email servers

Ransomware: There's Been A Big Rise In Double Extortion Attacks As Gangs Try Out New Tricks

There has been a big rise in the number of ransomware gangs that threaten to release information stolen from the victims if they themselves rather than the firm, do not pay the ransom for the decryption key required to restore their network. The idea behind these 'double extortion' ransomware attacks is that even if the victim organisation believes it can restore its network without giving into the ransom demands of cyber criminals – which regularly cost millions of dollars in Bitcoin – the threat of sensitive information about employees or customers being exposed could still push victims to giving into the blackmail and paying the ransom.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-theres-been-a-big-rise-in-double-extortion-attacks-as-gangs-try-out-new-tricks/

They Told Their Therapists Everything. Hackers Leaked It All

Finnish mental health Clinic Vastaamo suffers catastrophic data breach. A security flaw at the firm’s IT provider not only exposed full names, dates of birth, and social security numbers, but also the actual written notes their therapists had taken. It was the patients themselves, rather than the firm were then left facing a demand for ransom payment to prevent public disclosure of their data.

https://www.wired.com/story/vastaamo-psychotherapy-patients-hack-data-breach/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=wired&utm_social-type=earned

Millions At Security Risk From Old Routers

Millions of people could be using outdated routers that put them at risk of being hacked. The consumer watchdog examined 13 models provided to customers by internet-service companies such as EE, Sky and Virgin Media and found more than two-thirds had flaws. It estimated about six million people could have a device not updated since 2018 or earlier. So, in some cases, they would not have received crucial security updates.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56996717

An Estimated 30% Of All Smartphones Vulnerable To New Qualcomm Bug

Around a third of all smartphones in the world are believed to be affected by a new vulnerability in a Qualcomm modem component that can grant attackers access to the device’s call and SMS history and even audio conversations. First designed in the early 90s, the chip has been updated across the years to support 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G cellular communications and has slowly become one of the world’s most ubiquitous technologies, especially with smartphone vendors. Devices that use Qualcomm MSM chips today include high-end smartphone models sold by Google, Samsung, LG, Xiaomi, and One Plus, just to name a few.

https://therecord.media/an-estimated-30-of-all-smartphones-vulnerable-to-new-qualcomm-bug/

Threats

Ransomware

Phishing

'Phishing' Sites Buying Workplace Login Details Linked to Well-Funded Start-up

Malware

Mobile

Serious Android flaw threatens hundreds of millions of users

Vulnerabilities

Data Breaches

Nation State Actors

Denial of Service

A Massive DDoS Knocked Offline Belgian Government Websites

Privacy

Android Devices Are Leaking Contact Tracing Data All Over The Place

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.

Black Arrow Admin 16/01/2021 Black Arrow Admin 16/01/2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 15 January 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 15 January 2021: Two Thirds of Employees Don’t Consider Security Whilst Working from Home; Ransomware Gangs Targeting Top Execs; Microsoft emits 83 security fixes – and miscreants are already exploiting vulnerabilities in Windows Defender; Android malware gives hackers full control of your smartphone; Massive fraud campaign sees millions vanish from online bank accounts

Top Cyber Headlines of the Week

Two-Thirds of Employees Don’t Consider Security Whilst Home Working

More than two-thirds (68%) of UK workers do not consider the cyber security impact of working from home, according to a new study. The survey of 2043 employees in the UK demonstrated a lack of awareness about how to stay secure whilst working remotely, which is putting businesses at risk of attacks. The shift to home working as a result of COVID-19 means that staff in many organizations are operating across insecure devices and networks, providing opportunities for cyber-criminals.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/two-thirds-employees-security-home/

Ransomware Gangs Scavenge for Sensitive Data by Targeting Top Executives

In their attempt to extort as much money as quickly as possible out of companies, ransomware gangs know some effective techniques to get the full attention of a firm’s management team. And one of them is to specifically target the sensitive information stored on the computers used by a company’s top executives, in the hope of finding valuable data that can best pressure bosses into approving the payment of a sizeable ransom.

https://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/featured/ransomware-gangs-scavenge-sensitive-data-targeting-executives/

Microsoft emits 83 security fixes – and miscreants are already exploiting one of the vulnerabilities in Windows Defender

83 vulnerabilities in its software, which does not include the 13 flaws fixed in its Edge browser last week. That's up from 58 repairs made in December, 2020, a relatively light month by recent standards. Affected applications include: Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based), Microsoft Office and Microsoft Office Services and Web Apps, Microsoft Windows Codecs Library, Visual Studio, SQL Server, Microsoft Malware Protection Engine, .NET Core, .NET Repository, ASP .NET, and Azure.

https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/12/patch_tuesday_fixes/

This Android malware claims to give hackers full control of your smartphone

The 'Rogue' remote administration tool (RAT) infects victims with a keylogger, allowing attackers to easily monitor the use of websites and apps in order to steal usernames and passwords, as well as financial data. The low cost of the malware reflects the increasing sophistication of the criminal ecosystem that is making it possible for wannabe crooks with limited technical skills to acquire the tools to stage attacks.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-android-malware-claims-to-give-hackers-full-control-of-your-smartphone/

Massive fraud campaign sees millions vanish from online bank accounts

Researchers have uncovered an extensive fraud campaign that saw millions of dollars drained from victims’ online bank accounts. The operation was discovered by experts at IBM Trusteer, the IT giant’s security division, who described the attack as unprecedented in scale. To gain access to online banking accounts, the fraudsters are said to have utilized a piece of software known as a mobile emulator, which creates a virtual clone of a smartphone.

https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/massive-fraud-campaign-sees-millions-vanish-from-online-bank-accounts

SolarWinds Hack Followed Years of Warnings of Weak Cyber Security

Congress and federal agencies have been slow or unwilling to address warnings about cyber security, shelving recommendations that are considered high priority while investing in programs that have fallen short. The massive cyber-attack by suspected Russian hackers, disclosed in December, came after years of warnings from a watchdog group and cyber security experts. For instance, the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, which was created by Congress to come up with strategies to thwart sizable cyber-attacks, presented a set of recommendations to Congress in March that included additional safeguards to ensure more trusted supply chains.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-13/solarwinds-hack-followed-years-of-warnings-of-weak-cybersecurity