Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 07 October 2022

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

• Russian Sanctions Instigator Lloyd's Possibly Hit by Cyber Attack

Lloyd’s of London, the London-based insurance market heavily involved in implementing sanctions against Russia, may have been hit by a cyber-attack. On Wednesday, October 5, 2022, the British insurance market revealed it had detected “unusual activity” on its systems and has turned off all external connectivity “as a precautionary measure.”

“We have informed market participants and relevant parties, and we will provide more information once our investigations have concluded,” said a Lloyd’s spokesperson.

The company did not comment on whether or not it has been contacted by hackers, if a ransom demand has been issued, or on the possible source of the attack.

However, the insurance market has been closely involved with the design and implementation of sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine – a potential motive for the attack. Lloyd’s itself has confirmed it was working closely with British and international governments to implement such sanctions.

Around 100 insurance syndicates operate at Lloyd's.

Earlier in 2022, Lloyd’s instructed its 76 insurance syndicates to remove “nation-state-backed cyber attacks” from insurance policies by March 2023, as well as losses “arising from a war.”

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/lloyds-possibly-hit-by-cyberattack/

• Former Uber Security Chief Convicted of Covering Up Data Breach

Uber’s former head of security has been convicted of covering up a 2016 data breach at the rideshare giant, hiding details from US regulators and paying off a pair of hackers in return for their discretion.

The trial, closely watched in cyber security circles, is believed to be the first criminal prosecution of a company executive over the handling of a data breach.

Joe Sullivan, who was fired in 2017 over the incident, was found guilty by a San Francisco jury of obstructing an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. At the time of the 2016 breach, the regulator had been investigating the car-booking service over a different cyber security lapse that had occurred two years earlier.

Jurors also convicted Sullivan of a second count related to having knowledge of but failing to report the 2016 breach to the appropriate government authorities. The incident eventually became public in 2017 when Dara Khosrowshahi, who had just taken over as chief executive, disclosed details of the attack.

Prosecutors said Sullivan had taken steps to make sure data compromised in the attack would not be revealed. According to court documents, two hackers approached Sullivan’s team to notify Uber of a security flaw that exposed the personal information of almost 60mn drivers and riders on the platform.

https://www.ft.com/content/051af6a1-41d1-4a6c-9e5a-d23d46b2a9c9

• First 72 Hours of Incident Response Critical to Taming Cyber Attack Chaos

Cyber security professionals tasked with responding to attacks experience stress, burnout, and mental health issues that are exacerbated by a lack of breach preparedness and sufficient incident response practice in their organisations.

A new IBM Security-sponsored survey published this week found that two-thirds (67%) of incident responders suffer stress and anxiety during at least some of their engagements, while 44% have sacrificed the well-being of their relationships, and 42% have suffered burnout, according to the survey conducted by Morning Consult. In addition, 68% of incidents responders often have to work on two or more incidents at the same time, increasing their stress, according to the survey's results.

Companies that plan and practice responding to a variety of incidents can lower the stress levels of their incident responders, employees, and executives, says John Dwyer, head of research for IBM Security's X-Force response team.

"Organisations are not effectively establishing their response strategies with the responders in mind — it does not need to be as stressful as it is," he says. "There is a lot of time when the responders are managing organisations during an incident, because those organisations were not prepared for the crisis that occurs. These attacks happen every day."

The IBM Security-funded study underscores why the cyber security community has focused increasingly on the mental health of its members. About half (51%) of cyber security defenders have suffered burnout or extreme stress in the past year, according to a VMware survey released in August 2021. Cyber security executives have also spotlighted the issue as one that affects the community and companies' ability to retain skilled workers.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/incident-response-s-first-72-hours-critical-to-taming-chaos

• Email Defences Under Siege: Phishing Attacks Dramatically Improve

This week's report that cyber attackers are laser-focused on crafting attacks specialised to bypass Microsoft's default security showcases an alarming evolution in phishing tactics, security experts said this week.

Threat actors are getting better at slipping phishing attacks through the weak spots in platform email defences, using a variety of techniques, such as zero-point font obfuscation, hiding behind cloud-messaging services, and delaying payload activation, for instance. They're also doing more targeting and research on victims.

As a result, nearly 1 in 5 phishing emails (18.8%) bypassed Microsoft's platform defences and landed in workers' inboxes in 2022, a rate that increased 74% compared to 2020, according to research published by cyber security firm Check Point Software. Attackers increasingly used techniques to pass security checks, such as Sender Policy Framework (SPF), and obfuscate functional components of an e-mail, such as using zero-size fonts or hiding malicious URLs from analysis.

The increasing capabilities of attackers is due to the better understanding of current defences, says Avanan, an email security firm acquired by Check Point in August 2021.

"It is a family of 10 to 20 techniques, but they all lead to the objective of deceiving a company's security layers," he says. "The end result is always an email that looks genuine to the recipient but looks different to the algorithm that analyses the content."

Microsoft declined to comment on the research. However, the company has warned of advanced techniques, such as adversary-in-the-middle phishing (AiTM), which uses a custom URL to place a proxy server between a victim and their desired site, allowing the attacker to capture sensitive data, such as usernames and passwords. In July, the company warned that more than 10,000 organisations had been targeted during one AiTM campaign.

https://www.darkreading.com/remote-workforce/email-defenses-under-siege-phishing-attacks-dramatically-improve

• Remote Services Are Becoming an Attractive Target for Ransomware

Stolen credentials are no longer the number one initial access vector for ransomware operators looking to infect a target network and its endpoints - instead, they’ve become more interested in exploiting vulnerabilities found in internet-facing systems.

A report from Secureworks claims ransomware-as-a-service developers are quick to add newly discovered vulnerabilities into their arsenals, allowing even less competent hackers to exploit them swiftly, and with relative ease.

In fact, the company's annual State of the Threat Report reveals that flaw exploitation in remote services accounted for 52% of all ransomware incidents the company analysed over the last 12 months.

Besides remote services, Secureworks also spotted a 150% increase in the use of infostealers, which became a “key precursor” to ransomware. Both these factors, the report stresses, kept ransomware as the number one threat for businesses of all sizes, “who must fight to stay abreast of the demands of new vulnerability prioritisation and patching”.

All things considered, ransomware is still the biggest threat for businesses. It takes up almost a quarter of all attacks that were reported in the last 12 months, Secureworks says, and despite law enforcement being actively involved, operators remained highly active.

https://www.techradar.com/news/remote-services-are-becoming-an-attractive-target-for-ransomware

• Growing Reliance on Cloud Brings New Security Challenges

There was a time when cloud was just a small subset of IT infrastructure, and cloud security referred to a very specific set of tasks. The current reality is very different, organisations are heavily dependent on cloud technologies and cloud security has become a much more complex endeavour.

Organisations increasingly rely on the cloud to deliver new applications, reduce costs, and support business operations. One in every four organisations already have majority workloads in the cloud, and 44% of workloads currently run in some form of public cloud, says Omdia, a research and advisory group.

Practically every midsize and large organisation now operates in some kind of a hybrid cloud environment, with a mix of cloud and on-premises systems. For most organisations, software-as-a-service constitute the bulk (80%) of their cloud environments, followed by infrastructure-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service deployments.

In the past, cloud security conversations tended to focus on making sure cloud environments are being configured properly, but cloud security nowadays goes far beyond just configuration management. The sprawling cloud environment means security management has to be centralised, Omdia said. Security functions also need to be integrated into existing application deployment workflows.

On top of all of this, multicloud is becoming more common among organisations as they shift their workloads to avoid being dependent on a single platform. The three major cloud providers – Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform – account for 65% of the cloud market.

https://www.darkreading.com/dr-tech/growing-reliance-on-cloud-brings-new-security-challenges

• Many IT Pros Don’t Think a Ransomware Attack Can Impact Microsoft 365 Data

The 2022 Ransomware Report, which surveyed over 2,000 IT leaders, revealed that 24% have been victims of a ransomware attack, with 20% of attacks happening in the last year.

Cyber attacks are happening more frequently. Last year’s ransomware survey revealed that 21% of companies experienced an attack. This year it rose by three percent to 24%.

“Attacks on businesses are increasing, and there is a shocking lack of awareness and preparation by IT pros. Our survey shows that many in the IT community have a false sense of security. As bad actors develop new techniques, companies like ours have to do what it takes to come out ahead and protect businesses around the world,” said Hornetsecurity.

The report highlighted a lack of knowledge on the security available to businesses. 25% of IT professionals either don’t know or don’t think that Microsoft 365 data can be impacted by a ransomware attack.

Just as worryingly, 40% of IT professionals that use Microsoft 365 in their organisation admitted they do not have a recovery plan in case their Microsoft 365 data was compromised by a ransomware attack.

“Microsoft 365 is vulnerable to phishing attacks and ransomware attacks, but with the help of third-party tools, IT admins can backup their Microsoft 365 data securely and protect themselves from such attacks,” said Hofmann.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/10/03/ransomware-attack-impact-microsoft-365-data/

• Ransomware Group Bypasses "Enormous" Range of EDR Tools

A notorious ransomware group has been spotted leveraging sophisticated techniques to bypass endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools.

BlackByte, which the US government has said poses a serious threat to critical infrastructure, used a “Bring Your Own Driver” technique to circumvent over 1000 drivers used by commercially available EDR products, according to Sophos. The UK cyber security vendor explained in a new report that the group had exploited a known vulnerability, CVE-2019-16098, in Windows graphics utility driver RTCorec6.sys. This enabled it to communicate directly with a victim system’s kernel and issue commands to disable callback routines used by EDR tools.

The group also used EDR bypass techniques borrowed from open source tool EDRSandblast to deactivate the Microsoft-Windows-Threat-Intelligence ETW (Event Tracing for Windows) provider. This is a Windows feature “that provides logs about the use of commonly maliciously abused API calls such as NtReadVirtualMemory to inject into another process’s memory,” explained Sophos. Neutralising it in this way renders any security tool relying on the feature also useless, the firm argued.

“If you think of computers as a fortress, for many EDR providers, ETW is the guard at the front gate,” said Sophos. “If the guard goes down, then that leaves the rest of the system extremely vulnerable. And, because ETW is used by so many different providers, BlackByte’s pool of potential targets for deploying this EDR bypass is enormous.”

BlackByte is not the only ransomware group using these advanced techniques to get around existing detection tools, illustrating the continued arms race between attackers and defenders. AvosLocker used a similar method in May, Sophos said. “Anecdotally, from what we’re seeing in the field, it does appear that EDR bypass is becoming a more popular technique for ransomware threat groups,” the firm confirmed. “This is not surprising. Threat actors often leverage tools and techniques developed by the ‘offensive security’ industry to launch attacks faster and with minimal effort.”

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ransomware-bypasses-enormous-range/

• MS Exchange Zero-Days: The Calm Before the Storm?

Two exploited MS Exchange zero-days that still have no official fix, have been added to CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog.

But mitigating the risk of exploitation until patches are ready will require patience and doggedness, as Microsoft is still revising its advice to admins and network defenders, and still working on the patches.

The two vulnerabilities were publicly documented last Wednesday, by researchers with Vietnamese company GTSC, and Microsoft soon after sprung into (discernible) action by offering customer guidance, followed by an analysis of the attacks exploiting the two vulnerabilities. Several changes have been made to the documents since then, after the company found and other researchers pointed out several shortcomings.

Microsoft says its threat analysts observed “activity related to a single activity group in August 2022 that achieved initial access and compromised Exchange servers by chaining CVE-2022-41040 and CVE-2022-41082 in a small number of targeted attacks,” and that the attackers breached fewer than 10 organisations globally. “MSTIC assesses with medium confidence that the single activity group is likely to be a state-sponsored organisation,” they added.

The other good news is there are still no public exploits for the two vulnerabilities. But, Microsoft says, “Prior Exchange vulnerabilities that require authentication have been adopted into the toolkits of attackers who deploy ransomware, and these vulnerabilities are likely to be included in similar attacks due to the highly privileged access Exchange systems confer onto an attacker.”

Enterprise defenders should expect trouble via this attack path in the near future, it seems, so keeping abreast of the changing situation and springing into action as quickly as possible once the patches are made available is advised. Scammers have since started impersonating security researchers and offering non-existing PoC exploits for CVE-2022-41082 for sale via GitHub

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/10/03/ms-exchange-cve-2022-41040-cve-2022-41082/

• Average Company with Data in the Cloud Faces $28 Million in Data-Breach Risk

Hard-to-control collaboration, complex SaaS permissions, and risky misconfigurations — such as admin accounts without multi-factor authentication (MFA) — have left a dangerous amount of cloud data exposed to insider threats and cyber attacks, according to Varonis.

For the report, researchers analysed nearly 10 billion cloud objects (more than 15 petabytes of data) across a random sample of data risk assessments performed at more than 700 companies worldwide. In the average company, 157,000 sensitive records are exposed to everyone on the internet by SaaS sharing features, representing $28 million in data-breach risk, Varonis researchers have found.

One out of every 10 records in the cloud is exposed to all employees — creating an impossibly large internal blast radius, which maximises damage during a ransomware attack. The average company has 4,468 user accounts without MFA enabled, making it easier for attackers to compromise internally exposed data.

Out of 33 super admin accounts in the average organisation, more than half did not have MFA enabled. This makes it easier for attackers to compromise these powerful accounts, steal more data, and create backdoors. Companies have more than 40 million unique permissions across SaaS applications, creating a nightmare for IT and security teams responsible for managing and reducing cloud data risk.

“Cloud security shouldn’t be taken for granted. When security teams lack critical visibility to manage and protect SaaS and IaaS apps and services, it’s nearly impossible to ensure your data isn’t walking out the door,” said Varonis. “This report is a true-to-life picture of over 700 real-world risk assessments of production SaaS environments. The results underscore the urgent need for CISOs to uncover and remediate their cloud risk as quickly as possible.”

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/10/05/company-data-breach-risk/

• Secureworks Finds Network Intruders See Little Resistance

Attackers who break into networks only need to take a few basic measures in order to avoid detection.

Security vendor Secureworks said in its annual State of the Threat report that it observed several data breaches between June 2021 and June 2022 and found that, by and large, once network intruders gained a foothold on the targets' environment, they had to do relatively little to stay concealed.

"One thing that is notable about them is that none of these techniques are particularly sophisticated," the vendor said. "That is because threat actors do not need them to be; the adversary will only innovate enough to achieve their objectives. So there is a direct relationship between the maturity of the controls in a target environment and the techniques they employ to bypass those controls."

Among the more basic measures taken by the attackers was coding their tools in newer languages such as Go or Rust. This tweak created enough of a difference in the software to evade signature-checking tools, according to Secureworks' report. In other cases, the network intruders hid their activity by packing their malware within a trusted Windows installer or by sneaking it into the Authenticode signature of a trusted DLL. In another case, a malware infection was seen moving data out of the victim's network via TOR nodes. While effective, Secureworks said the techniques are hardly innovative. Rather, they indicate that threat actors find themselves only needing to do the bare minimum to conceal themselves from detection.

https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/252525696/Secureworks-finds-network-intruders-see-little-resistance

• Regulations, Laws and Accountability are Changing the Cyber Security Landscape

As cyber criminals continue to develop new ways to wreak havoc, regulators have been working to catch up. They aim to protect data and consumers while avoiding nation-state attacks that are a risk to national and economic security. But some of these regulations may provide an opportunity for MSSPs.

Some of these regulations are a response to what’s generally been a hands-off approach to telling organisations what to do. Unfortunately, cyber security isn’t always prioritised when budgets and resources are allocated. The result is a steadily rising tide of breaches and exploits that have held organisations hostage and made private information available on the dark web.

The new regulations are coming from all directions: at the state and federal levels in the US and around the world. While many of these regulations aren’t yet final, there’s no reason not to start aligning with where trends will ease the impact of changing rules. At the same time, many organisations want to hold the government responsible for some kinds of attacks. It will be interesting to see how regulating works, as most politicians and bureaucrats aren’t known for their technological savvy.

In the US, for example, new regulations are in development in the Federal Trade Commission, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, Department of Energy, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Thirty-six states have enacted cyber security legislation, and the count increases as other countries join.

One of the motivating factors for all these new regulations is that most cyber attacks aren’t reported. Lawmakers realise cyber security threats continue to be one of the top national security and economic risks. In the last year and a half (2020-2022), there have been attacks on America’s gas supply, meat supply, and various other companies, courts, and government agencies. One FBI cyber security official estimated the government only learns about 20% to 25% of intrusions at US business and academic institutions.

In March, Congress passed legislation requiring critical infrastructure operators to report significant cyber attacks to CISA within 72 hours of learning about the attack. It also required them to report a ransomware payment within 24 hours. These regulations will also consider reporting “near misses” so that this data can also be studied and tracked. The problem is, how does one define a “near miss”?

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-guests/regulations-laws-and-accountability-are-changing-the-cybersecurity-landscape/

• This Year’s Biggest Cyber Threats

OpenText announced the Nastiest Malware of 2022, a ranking of the year’s biggest cyber threats. For the fifth year running, experts combed through the data, analysed different behaviours, and determined which malicious payloads are the nastiest.

Emotet regained its place at the top, reminding the world that while affiliates may be taken down, the masterminds are resilient. LockBit evolved its tactics into something never seen before: triple extortion. Analysis also revealed an almost 1100% increase in phishing during the first four months of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, indicating a possible end to the “hacker holiday,” a hacker rest period following the busy holiday season.

“The key takeaway from this year’s findings is that malware remains centre stage in the threats posed towards individuals, businesses, and governments,” said OpenText.

“Cyber criminals continue to evolve their tactics, leaving the infosec community in a constant state of catch-up. With the mainstream adoption of ransomware payloads and cryptocurrency facilitating payments, the battle will continue. No person, no business—regardless of size—is immune to these threats.”

While this year’s list may designate payloads into different categories of malware, it’s important to note many of these bad actor groups contract work from others. This allows each group to specialise in their respective payload and perfect it.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/10/06/2022-nastiest-malware/

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Threats

Ransomware and Extortion

• Ransomware Attacks On The Rise, Secureworks Reveals in its State of the Threat Report - MSSP Alert

• Ransomware: This is how half of attacks begin, and this is how you can stop them | ZDNET

• Fake adult sites push data wipers disguised as ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ferrari Hit By Ransomware Attack: 7 GB Of Data Published Online – Expert (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• BlackByte Ransomware Abuses Vulnerable Windows Driver to Disable Security Solutions (thehackernews.com)

• BlackByte ransomware abuses legit driver to disable security products (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ransomware attacks ravage schools, municipal governments (techtarget.com)

• Ransomware 3.0: The Next Frontier (darkreading.com)

• More and more ransomware is just data theft, no encryption • The Register

• Netwalker ransomware affiliate sentenced to 20 years in prison (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Cheerscrypt ransomware is linked to Chinese DEV-0401 APT group - Security Affairs

• ADATA denies RansomHouse cyber attack, says leaked data from 2021 breach (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Avast releases a free decryptor for some Hades ransomware variants - Security Affairs

• Cyber criminals Leak LA School Data After It Refuses to Ransom (vice.com)

• How Ransomware Is Causing Chaos in American Schools (vice.com)

• Ransomware hunters: the self-taught tech geniuses fighting cyber crime | Cyber crime | The Guardian

BEC – Business Email Compromise

• BEC fraudster and romance scammer sent to prison for 25 years – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Hackers Target Homebuyers’ Life Savings in Real Estate Scam - Bloomberg

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Hackers Can Use 'App Mode' in Chromium Browsers' for Stealth Phishing Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Phishing Campaigns Target KFC, McDonald's in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Singapore - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

• Callback phishing attacks evolve their social engineering tactics (bleepingcomputer.com)

• 3 ways enterprises can mitigate social engineering risks - Help Net Security

Malware

• OpenText Releases List Of The Year’s “Nastiest” Malware - MSSP Alert

• This devious malware is able to disable your antivirus | TechRadar

• Bumblebee Malware Loader's Payloads Significantly Vary by Victim System (darkreading.com)

• Eternity Group Hackers Offering New LilithBot Malware-as-a-Service to Cyber criminals (thehackernews.com)

• Live support service hacked to spread malware in supply chain attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• NullMixer Dropper Delivers a Multimalware Code Bomb (darkreading.com)

• Maggie malware already infected over 250 Microsoft SQL servers - Security Affairs

Mobile

• Android Spyware 'RatMilad' Targets Enterprise Devices in Iran - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Internet of Things – IoT

• 7 IoT Devices That Make Security Pros Cringe (darkreading.com)

• Ikea Smart Light System Flaw Lets Attackers Turn Bulbs on Full Blast (darkreading.com)

• Acronis founder is afraid of his own vacuum cleaner • The Register

Data Breaches/Leaks

• “Egypt Leaks” – Hacktivists are Leaking Financial Data - Security Affairs

• No Shangri-La for you: Top hotel chain confirms data leak • The Register

• Home Office reprimanded after sensitive counter-terror documents left at London venue | The Independent

• NSA: Someone hacked military contractor and stole data • The Register

• City of Tucson discloses data breach affecting over 123,000 people (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Optus Says ID Numbers of 2.1 Million Compromised in Data Breach | SecurityWeek.Com

• Aussie Telco Telstra Breached, Reportedly Exposing 30,000 Employees' Data (darkreading.com)

• 2K warns users their info has been stolen following breach of its help desk | Ars Technica

• Russian retail chain 'DNS' confirms hack after data leaked online (bleepingcomputer.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• Breaking: Scams Linked To Crypto Soared By 335% (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Hacker steals $566 million worth of crypto from Binance Bridge (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Hackers are breaching scam sites to hijack crypto transactions (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Binance Says $100 Million Stolen in Latest Crypto Hack (gizmodo.com)

• Hackers are breaching scam sites to hijack crypto transactions (bleepingcomputer.com)

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Why Don't CISOs Trust Their Employees? (darkreading.com)

• Meta sues app dev for stealing over 1 million WhatsApp accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)

• To avoid insider threats, try empathy - Help Net Security

• Microsoft publishes report on holistic insider risk management - Microsoft Security Blog

• Unearth offboarding risks before your employees say goodbye - Help Net Security

• Splunk alleges source code theft by former employee • The Register

• Ex-NSA Employee Arrested for Trying to Sell U.S. Secrets to a Foreign Government (thehackernews.com)

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• ICO Fines Four "Predatory" Privacy-Invading Firms - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Consumers Feel Hopeless in Protecting Themselves Against Cyber crime, ISACA Reports - MSSP Alert

• BEC fraudster and romance scammer sent to prison for 25 years – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Hackers Target Homebuyers’ Life Savings in Real Estate Scam - Bloomberg

• Russians dodging mobilization behind flourishing scam market (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Scammers and rogue callers – can anything ever stop them? – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Healthcare Company Owners Get Jail Time for $7m Fraud Scheme - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Online romance scam boss netted $9.5m, jailed for 25 years • The Register

Deepfakes

• How a deepfake Mark Ruffalo scammed half a million dollars from a lonely heart • Graham Cluley

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• Live support service hacked to spread malware in supply chain attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Supply Chain Attack Targets Customer Engagement Firm Comm100 | SecurityWeek.Com

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

• DDoS Attacks Spike in First Half of 2022 to Highest Levels in Four Years - MSSP Alert

Cloud/SaaS

• How Will the Metaverse Affect Cloud Security? (trendmicro.com)

• Hardening data security in the cloud • The Register

• Monitoring Your Cloud And Hybrid IT Infrastructure: How To Find The Right Monitoring Solution (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

Encryption

• Loads of connected PostgreSQL systems do not use SSL • The Register

API

• More Than 30% of All Malicious Attacks Target Shadow APIs (darkreading.com)

• APIs are quickly becoming the most popular attack vector - Help Net Security

• The Problem of API Security and How To Fix It (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• API authentication failures demonstrate the need for zero trust - Help Net Security

• Shadow APIs hit with 5 billion malicious requests - Help Net Security

Open Source

• When transparency is also obscurity: The conundrum that is open-source security - Help Net Security

• How Secure is Using Open Source Components? - IT Security Guru

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

• Microsoft warns Basic Auth users over password spray attacks • The Register

• Is mandatory password expiration helping or hurting your password security? - Help Net Security

• Detecting and preventing LSASS credential dumping attacks - Microsoft Security Blog

• Meta Says It Has Busted More Than 400 Login-Stealing Apps This Year | WIRED

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

• The gap between security and privacy, and what it will take to bridge it - Help Net Security

• ICO Fines Four "Predatory" Privacy-Invading Firms - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• New Telecoms Security Framework Comes Into Force (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

Models, Frameworks and Standards

• CIS Controls v8: Safeguards to mitigate the most prevalent cyber-attacks - Help Net Security

Secure Disposal

• The astronomical costs of an asset disposal program gone wrong | CSO Online

• New forensic analysis of electronical devices unveils dangers of inadequate data disposal for individuals and businesses - Business in the News

Backup and Recovery

• Giving Away the Keys to Your Backups? Here’s How to Keep Out Hackers (darkreading.com)

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

• Police arrest teen for using leaked Optus data to extort victims (bleepingcomputer.com)

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

• Relentless Russian Cyber attacks on Ukraine Raise Important Policy Questions (darkreading.com)

• Finnish intelligence warns of Russia's cyber espionage activities - Security Affairs

• Kazakhstan Pins Wave Of Cyber attacks On Foreign Actors | OilPrice.com

• Albania weighed invoking NATO’s Article 5 over Iranian cyber attack - POLITICO

• Russian Hackers Take Aim at Kremlin Targets: Report - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• We breached Russian satellite network, say pro-Ukraine partisans | Cybernews

• Ukrainian forces report Starlink outages during push against Russia | Financial Times (ft.com)

• Android Spyware 'RatMilad' Targets Enterprise Devices in Iran - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Report: Mexico Continued to Use Spyware Against Activists | SecurityWeek.Com

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – China

• US authorities name China's 20 favourite vulns to exploit • The Register

• Cheerscrypt ransomware is linked to Chinese DEV-0401 APT group - Security Affairs

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• Lazarus employed an exploit in a Dell firmware driver in recent attacks - Security Affairs

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Vulnerability Management

• CISA mandates vulnerability detection and reporting rules • The Register

• The Zero Day Dilemma | SecurityWeek.Com

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Vulnerabilities

• Microsoft Issues Improved Mitigations for Unpatched Exchange Server Vulnerabilities (thehackernews.com)

• Fortinet warns admins to patch critical auth bypass bug immediately (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Cisco Patches High-Severity Vulnerabilities in Communications, Networking Products | SecurityWeek.Com

• Atlassian, Microsoft bugs make CISA’s must-patch list • The Register

• US authorities name China's 20 favourite vulns to exploit • The Register

• October 2022 Patch Tuesday forecast: Looking for treats, not more tricks - Help Net Security

• Fake Microsoft Exchange ProxyNotShell exploits for sale on GitHub (bleepingcomputer.com)

• CISA Warns of Attacks Exploiting Recent Atlassian Bitbucket Vulnerability | SecurityWeek.Com

• No fix in sight for mile-wide loophole plaguing a key Windows defence for years | Ars Technica

• Hackers Exploiting Unpatched RCE Flaw in Zimbra Collaboration Suite (thehackernews.com)

• Lazarus employed an exploit in a Dell firmware driver in recent attacks - Security Affairs

• Unpatched Zimbra flaw under attack is letting hackers backdoor servers | Ars Technica

• macOS Archive Utility Bug Lets Malicious Apps Bypass Security Checks (darkreading.com)

• Fortinet Warns of New Auth Bypass Flaw Affecting FortiGate and FortiProxy (thehackernews.com)

• VMware fixed a high-severity bug in vCenter Server - Security Affairs

• BlackByte Ransomware Abuses Vulnerable Windows Driver to Disable Security Solutions (thehackernews.com)

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• 2022 State of the Threat Report | Secureworks

• Building a Holistic Insider Risk Management Program

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Other News

• Guilty verdict in the Uber breach case makes personal liability real for CISOs | CSO Online

• Cyber attackers view smaller organisations as easier targets - Help Net Security

• Moody's turns up the heat on 'riskiest' sectors for attacks • The Register

• 5 reasons why security operations are getting harder | CSO Online

• Former NSA Employee Faces Death Penalty for Selling Secrets (darkreading.com)

• Fast Company Is Back From the Dead After Being Hacked (gizmodo.com)

• Ready Or Not, Web 3 Is Coming And With It Comes Cybersquatting 2.0 (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Cyber Hygiene: 5 Best Practices for Company Buy-In (trendmicro.com)

• School Is in Session: 5 Lessons for Future Cyber Security Pros (darkreading.com)

• Want More Secure Software? Start Recognizing Security-Skilled Developers (thehackernews.com)

• Incident responders increasingly seek out mental health assistance - Help Net Security

• You Are Not Alone If You're Unclear About Extended Detection and Response (XDR) - MSSP Alert

• Why digital trust is the bedrock of business relationships - Help Net Security

• Incident Responders Driven by Sense of Duty, Handcuffed by Volume of Cyber attacks, IBM Reports - MSSP Alert

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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

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 05 August 2022

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

• Average Cost of Data Breaches Hits Record High of $4.35 Million: IBM

The global average cost of data breaches reached an all-time high of $4.35 million in 2022 compared with $4.24 million in 2021, according to a new IBM Security report. About 60% of the breached organisations raised product and services prices due to the breaches.

The annual report, conducted by Ponemon Institute and analysed and sponsored by IBM Security, is based on the analysis of real-world data breaches experienced by 550 organisations globally between March 2021 and March 2022.

According to the report, about 83% of the organisations have experienced more than one breach in their lifetime, with nearly half of the costs reported to be incurred more than a year after the breach.

The report revealed that ransomware and destructive attacks represented 28% of breaches among the critical infrastructure organisations studied, indicating that threat actors are specifically targeting the sector to disrupt global supply chains. The critical infrastructure sector includes financial services, industrial, transportation, and healthcare companies.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3668655/average-cost-of-data-breaches-hits-record-high-of-435-million-ibm.html#tk.rss_news

• Researchers Warns of Large-Scale Adversary-in-the-Middle (AiTM) Attacks Targeting Enterprise Users

A new, large-scale phishing campaign has been observed using adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) techniques to get around security protections and compromise enterprise email accounts.

It uses a technique capable of bypassing multi-factor authentication. The campaign is specifically designed to reach end users in enterprises that use Microsoft's email services.

Prominent targets include fintech, lending, insurance, energy, manufacturing, and federal credit union verticals located in the US, UK, New Zealand, and Australia.

This is not the first time such a phishing attack has come to light. Last month, Microsoft disclosed that over 10,000 organisations had been targeted since September 2021 by means of AitM techniques to breach accounts secured with multi-factor authentication (MFA).

The ongoing campaign, effective June 2022, commences with an invoice-themed email sent to targets containing an HTML attachment, which includes a phishing URL embedded within it.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/08/researchers-warns-of-large-scale-aitm.html

• UK NHS Suffers Outage After Cyber Attack on Managed Service Provider

The UK National Health Service (NHS) 111 emergency services were affected by a significant and ongoing outage triggered by a cyber attack that hit the systems of British managed service provider (MSP) Advanced.

Advanced's Adastra client patient management solution, which is used by 85% of NHS 111 services, was hit by a major outage together with several other services provided by the MSP, according to a status page.

"There was a major outage of a computer system that is used to refer patients from NHS 111 Wales to out-of-hours GP providers," the Welsh Ambulance Services said. "This system is used by Local Health Boards to coordinate these services for patients. The ongoing outage is significant and has been far-reaching, impacting each of the four nations in the UK."

The UK public was advised to access the NHS 111 emergency services using the online platform until the incident is resolved.

While no details were provided regarding the nature of the cyber attack, based on the wording, it is likely that this was a ransomware or data extortion attack.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/uk-nhs-suffers-outage-after-cyberattack-on-managed-service-provider/

• A Third of Organisations Experience a Ransomware Attack Once a Week

Ransomware attacks show no sign of slowing. According to new research published by Menlo Security, a third of organisations experience a ransomware attack at least once a week, with one in 10 experiencing them more than once a day.

The research, conducted among 500+ IT security decision makers at US and UK organisations with more than 1,000 employees, highlights the impact this is having on security professionals’ own wellbeing. When asked what keeps them awake at night, 41% of respondents say they worry about ransomware attacks evolving beyond their team’s knowledge and skillset, while 39% worry about them evolving beyond their company’s security capabilities.

Their biggest concern, however, is the risk of employees ignoring corporate security advice and clicking on links or attachments containing malware (46%). Respondents worry more about this than they do their own job security, with just a quarter (26%) of respondents worried about losing their job.

According to the report, around half of organisations (61% US and 44% UK) have been the victim of a successful ransomware attack in the last 18 months, with customers and prospects the most likely entry point for an attack.

Partners/suppliers and employees/contractors are also seen as serious security risks, although one in 10 admit they are unable to identify how the attacks got in. The top three ransomware attack vectors are email (54%), web browsers via a desktop or laptop (49%) and mobile devices (39%).

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/08/04/organizations-experience-ransomware-attack/

• Ransomware Products and Services Ads on Dark Web Show Clues to Danger

Why is ransomware’s destructive potential so daunting? Some clues are in the “for sale” ads. In an examination of some 35 million dark web URLs, a provider of machine identity management and a forensic specialist found some 475 web pages peddling sophisticated ransomware products and services with a number of high profile crews hawking ransomware-as-a-service.

The work is a joint effort between the Salt Lake City-based Venafi and Forensic Pathways, which took place between November 2021 and March 2022. Researchers used Forensic’s Dark Search Engine to carry out the investigation.

Here are some of the research findings:

• 87% of the ransomware found on the dark web has been delivered via malicious macros to infect targeted systems.

• 30 different “brands” of ransomware were identified within marketplace listings and forum discussions.

• Many strains of ransomware being sold — such as Babuk, GoldenEye, Darkside/BlackCat, Egregor, HiddenTear and WannaCry — have been successfully used in high-profile attacks.

• Ransomware strains used in high-profile attacks command a higher price for associated services. For example, the most expensive listing was $1,262 for a customised version of Darkside ransomware, which was used in the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack.

• Source code listings for well-known ransomware generally command higher price points. For example, Babuk source code is listed for $950 and Paradise source code is selling for $593.

Ransomware Sold for as Little as $1: In addition to a variety of ransomware at various price points, a wide range of services and tools that help make it easier for attackers with minimal technical skills to launch ransomware attacks are for sale on the dark web, Venafi said. Services with the greatest number of listings include those offering source code, build services, custom development services and ransomware packages that include step-by-step tutorials.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-breaches-and-attacks/ransomware/ransomware-products-services-ads-on-dark-web-show-clues-to-danger/

• Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing: How Malware Tricks Users and Antivirus

One of the primary methods used by malware distributors to infect devices is by deceiving people into downloading and running malicious files, and to achieve this deception, malware authors are using a variety of tricks.

Some of these tricks include masquerading malware executables as legitimate applications, signing them with valid certificates, or compromising trustworthy sites to use them as distribution points.

According to VirusTotal, a security platform for scanning uploaded files for malware, some of these tricks are happening on a much larger scale than initially thought.

The platform has compiled a report presenting stats from January 2021 until July 2022, based on the submission of two million files daily, illustrating trends in how malware is distributed.

• Abusing legitimate domains: Distributing malware through legitimate, popular, and high-ranking websites allows threat actors to evade IP-based blocklists, enjoy high availability, and provide a greater level of trust.

• Using stolen code-signing certificates: Signing malware samples with valid certificates stolen from companies is a reliable way to evade AV detection and security warnings on the host. Of all the malicious samples uploaded to VirusTotal between January 2021 and April 2022, over a million were signed, and 87% used a valid certificate.

• Disguised as popular software: Masquerading a malware executable as a legitimate, popular application has seen an upward trend in 2022. Victims download these files thinking they’re getting the applications they need, but upon running the installers, they infect their systems with malware. The most mimicked applications are Skype, Adobe Acrobat, VLC, and 7zip.

• Lacing legitimate installers - Finally, there’s the trick of hiding malware inside legitimate application installers and running the infection process in the background while the real apps execute in the foreground. Based on VirusTotal stats, this practice also appears to be on the rise this year, using Google Chrome, Malwarebytes, Windows Updates, Zoom, Brave, Firefox, ProtonVPN, and Telegram as lures.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/wolf-in-sheep-s-clothing-how-malware-tricks-users-and-antivirus/

• Microsoft Accounts Targeted with New MFA-Bypassing Phishing Kit

A new large-scale phishing campaign targeting credentials for Microsoft email services use a custom proxy-based phishing kit to bypass multi-factor authentication.

Researchers believe the campaign's goal is to breach corporate accounts to conduct BEC (business email compromise) attacks, diverting payments to bank accounts under their control using falsified documents.

The phishing campaign's targets include fin-tech, lending, accounting, insurance, and Federal Credit Union organisations in the US, UK, New Zealand, and Australia.

The campaign was discovered by Zscaler's ThreatLabz researchers, who report that the operation is still ongoing, and the phishing actors register new phishing domains almost daily.

Starting in June 2022, Zscaler's analysts noticed a spike in sophisticated phishing attempts against specific sectors and users of Microsoft email services.

Some of the newly registered domains used in the campaign are typo-squatted versions of legitimate domains.

Notably, many phishing emails originated from the accounts of executives working in these organisations, whom the threat actors most likely compromised earlier.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/microsoft-accounts-targeted-with-new-mfa-bypassing-phishing-kit/

• Cyber Attack Prevention Is Cost-Effective, So Why Aren’t Businesses Investing to Protect?

Cyber attacks like ransomware, BEC scams and data breaches are some of the key issues businesses are facing today, but despite the number of high-profile incidents, many boardrooms are reluctant to free up budget to invest in the cyber security measures necessary to avoid becoming the next victim.

In a Help Net Security interview, Former Pentagon Chief Strategy Officer Jonathan Reiber, VP Cyber security Strategy and Policy, AttackIQ, discusses how now, more than ever, companies need to protect themselves from cyber threat actors. He offers insight for CISOs, from talking to the Board to proper budget allocation.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/08/01/cyberattack-prevention-investing/

• Securing Your Move to the Hybrid Cloud

The combination of private and public cloud infrastructure, which most organisations are already using, poses unique security challenges. There are many reasons why organisations adopt the public cloud, from enabling rapid growth without the burden of capacity planning to leveraging flexibility and agility in delivering customer-centric services. However, this use can leave companies open to threats.

Since regulatory requirements or other preferences dictate that certain applications remain on private (on-prem) infrastructure, many organisations choose to maintain a mix of private and public infrastructure. Additionally, organisations typically use multiple cloud providers simultaneously or preserve the option to move between providers. However, this hybrid approach presents unique and diverse security challenges. Different cloud providers and private cloud platforms may offer similar capabilities but different ways of implementing security controls, along with disparate management tools.

The question then becomes: How can an organisation maintain consistent governance, policy enforcement and controls across different clouds? And how can it ensure that it maintains its security posture when moving between them? Fortunately, there are steps professionals can take to ensure that applications are continuously secure, starting from the early stages of development and extending throughout the lifecycle.

https://threatpost.com/secure-move-cloud/180335/

• Lessons from the Russian Cyber Warfare Attacks

Cyber warfare tactics may not involve tanks and bombs, but they often go hand-in-hand with real combat.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a prime example. Before Russian troops crossed the border, Russian hackers had already taken down Ukrainian government websites. And after the conflict started, the hacktivist group Anonymous turned the tables by hacking Russian media to shut down propaganda about the war.

In these unprecedented times of targeted attacks against governments and financial institutions, every organisation should be on heightened alert about protecting their critical infrastructure and digital attack surface.

With the Russia-Ukraine conflict as a backdrop, two Trend Micro security experts recently discussed cyber warfare techniques and how they’re an important reminder for every business to proactively manage cyber risk.

https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/ciso/22/h/russian-cyber-warfare-attacks.html

• Four Sneaky Attacker Evasion Techniques You Should Know About

Remember those portrayals of hackers in the 80s and 90s where you just knew when you got pwned? A blue screen of death, a scary message, a back-and-forth text exchange with a hacker—if you got pwned in a movie in the 80s and 90s, you knew it right off the bat.

What a shame that today’s hackers have learned to be quiet when infiltrating an environment. Sure, “loud” attacks like ransomware still exist, but threat actors have learned that if they keep themselves hidden, they can usually do far more damage. For hackers, a little stealth can go a long way. Some attack tactics are inherently quiet, making them arguably more dangerous as they can be harder to detect. Here are four of these attack tactics you should know about.

1. Trusted Application Abuse: Attackers know that many people have applications that they inherently trust, making those trusted applications the perfect launchpad for cyber attacks. Threat actors know that defenders and the tools they use are often on the hunt for new malware presenting itself in environments. What isn’t so easy to detect is when the malware masquerades under legitimate applications.

2. Trusted Infrastructure Abuse: Much like trusted application abuse, trusted infrastructure abuse is the act of using legitimate, publicly hosted services and toolsets (such as Dropbox or Google Drive) as part of the attack infrastructure. Threat actors know that people tend to trust Dropbox and Google Drive. As a result, this makes these tools a prime means for threat actors to carry out malicious activity. Threat actors often find trusted infrastructure abuse easy because these services aren’t usually blocked at an enterprise’s gateway. In turn, outbound communications can hide in plain sight.

3. Obfuscation: Although cyber security has more than its fair share of tedious acronyms, the good news is that many terms can be broken down by their generic dictionary definitions. According to dictionary.com, this is what obfuscate means: “To make something unclear, obscure or difficult to understand.” And that’s exactly what it means in cyber security: finding ways to conceal malicious behaviour. In turn, this makes it more difficult for analysts and the tools they use to flag suspicious or malicious activity.

4. Persistence: Imagine writing up documentation using your computer, something you may well do in your role. You’ve spent a ton of time doing the research required, finding the right sources and compiling all your information into a document. Now, imagine not hitting save on that document and losing it as soon as you reboot your computer. Sound like a nightmare—or perhaps a real anxiety-inducing experience you’ve been through before? Threat actors agree. And that’s why they establish persistence. They don’t want all of their hard work to get into your systems in the first place to be in vain just because you restart your computer. They establish persistence to make sure they can still hang around even after you reboot.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-guests/four-sneaky-attacker-evasion-techniques-you-should-know-about/

• Zero-Day Defence: Tips for Defusing the Threat

Because they leave so little time to patch and defuse, zero-day threats require a proactive, multi-layered approach based on zero trust.

The recent Atlassian Confluence remote code execution bug is just the latest example of zero-day threats targeting critical vulnerabilities within major infrastructure providers. The specific threat, an Object-Graph Navigation Language (OGNL) injection, has been around for years but took on new significance given the scope of the Atlassian exploit. And OGNL attacks are on the rise.

Once bad actors find such a vulnerability, proof-of-concept exploits start knocking at the door, seeking unauthenticated access to create new admin accounts, execute remote commands, and take over servers. In the Atlassian case, Akamai's threat research team identified that the number of unique IP addresses attempting these exploits grew to more than 200 within just 24 hours.

Defending against these exploits becomes a race against time worthy of a 007 movie. The clock is ticking and you don't have much time to implement a patch and "defuse" the threat before it's too late. But first you need to know that an exploit is underway. That requires a proactive, multi-layered approach to online security based on zero trust.

What do these layers look like? There are a number of different practices that security teams — and their third-party Web application and infrastructure partners — should be aware of.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/zero-day-defense-tips-for-defusing-the-threat

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Threats

Ransomware

• Reported ransomware attacks are just the tip of the iceberg. That's a problem for everyone | ZDNet

• Initial Access Brokers - Key to Rise In Ransomware Attacks (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Ransomware gangs are hitting roadblocks, but aren't stopping (yet) - Help Net Security

• SonicWall: Ransomware Global Cyber Attack Volume Shrinks, Still Exceeds Totals for 2017-2019 - MSSP Alert

• 87% of the ransomware found on the dark web has been delivered via malicious macros - Help Net Security

• LockBit Ransomware Abuses Windows Defender for Payload Loading | SecurityWeek.Com

• German Chambers of Industry and Commerce hit by 'massive' cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Brand-New HavanaCrypt Ransomware Poses as Google Software Update App Uses Microsoft Hosting Service IP Address as C&C Server (trendmicro.com)

• Ransomware Task Force releases SMB blueprint for defence and mitigation (scmagazine.com)

• Prepare for ransomware before you're hit • The Register

• German semiconductor giant Semikron says hackers encrypted its network | TechCrunch

• Ransomware Hit on European Pipeline & Energy Supplier Encevo Linked to BlackCat (darkreading.com)

• Luxembourg Energy Company Hit by Ransomware | SecurityWeek.Com

• Spanish research agency still recovering after ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Countdown Clock Puts Pressure on Phishing Targets - Infosecurity Magazine

• The most impersonated brand in phishing attacks? Microsoft - Help Net Security

• Open Redirect Flaw Snags Amex, Snapchat User Data | Threatpost

• American Express, Snapchat Open-Redirect Vulnerabilities Exploited in Phishing Scheme (darkreading.com)

• A new malware threat is spying on users' Gmail inbox — do this before you're next | Laptop Mag

• Massive New Phishing Campaign Targets Microsoft Email Service Users (darkreading.com)

• North Korean Hackers Use Browser Extension to Spy on Gmail and AOL Accounts - Infosecurity Magazine

Other Social Engineering; SMishing, Vishing, etc

• US FCC warns of the rise of smishing attacks - Security Affairs

Malware

• VirusTotal Reveals Most Impersonated Software in Malware Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Gootkit Loader Resurfaces with Updated Tactic to Compromise Targeted Computers (thehackernews.com)

• Woody RAT: A new feature-rich malware spotted in the wild | Malwarebytes Labs

• VirusTotal: Threat Actors Mimic Legitimate Apps, Use Stolen Certs to Spread Malware (darkreading.com)

• New IoT RapperBot Malware Targeting Linux Servers via SSH Brute-Forcing Attack (thehackernews.com)

• New Linux malware brute-forces SSH servers to breach networks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Credential Stealer Malware Raccoon Updated to Obtain Passwords More Efficiently - Infosecurity Magazine

• Attackers cause Discord discord with malicious npm packages • The Register

• Gootkit AaaS malware is still active and uses updated tactics - Security Affairs

Mobile

• Facebook finds new Android malware used by APT hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Google Patches Critical Android Bluetooth Flaw in August Security Bulletin - Infosecurity Magazine

• Banking trojan finds new routes to accounts by infiltrating Google Play Store (scmagazine.com)

Internet of Things – IoT

• A Digital Home Has Many Open Doors (darkreading.com)

• All the Data Amazon's Ring Cameras Collect About You | WIRED

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Thousands of hackers flock to 'Dark Utilities' C2-as-a-Service (bleepingcomputer.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• Phishing campaign targets Coinbase wallet holders to steal cryptocurrency in real-time - Help Net Security

• Nearly $200 Million Stolen from Cryptocurrency Bridge Nomad | SecurityWeek.Com

• Crypto firm that promised security loses $200 million in 'frenzied free-for-all' hack | PC Gamer

• Nomad to crooks: Keep 10% as a bounty, return the rest • The Register

• Cyber attackers Drain Nearly $6M From Solana Crypto Wallets (darkreading.com)

• Man robbed of $800,000 in cryptocurrency sues Google • The Register

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• T-Mobile Store Owner Made $25M Using Stolen Employee Credentials (darkreading.com)

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• UK Branded Europe’s “Capital of Card Fraud” - Infosecurity Magazine

• Huge network of 11,000 fake investment sites targets Europe (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Online payment fraud losses accelerate at an alarming rate - Help Net Security

• COMMENT: 'Hi Mum, Hi Dad' Scams On The Rise - Britons Already (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Increase in Fake Tickets Being Sold by Cyber criminals on Social Media - IT Security Guru

AML/CFT/Sanctions

• Robinhood Crypto Penalized $30M for Violating NY Cybersecurity Regulations | SecurityWeek.Com

Dark Web

• A Ransomware Explosion Fosters Thriving Dark Web Ecosystem (darkreading.com)

• The popularity of Dark Utilities 'C2-as-a-Service' rapidly increases - Security Affairs

Software Supply Chain

• Now is the time to focus on software supply chain security improvements - Help Net Security

Cloud/SaaS

• Cyber attackers Increasingly Target Cloud IAM as a Weak Link (darkreading.com)

• What Worries Security Teams About the Cloud? (darkreading.com)

• Who Has Control: The SaaS App Admin Paradox (thehackernews.com)

• Enterprises face a multitude of barriers to securing diverse cloud environments - Help Net Security

Open Source

• New Linux malware brute-forces SSH servers to breach networks (bleepingcomputer.com)

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

• Hackers stole passwords for accessing 140,000 payment terminals | TechCrunch

• Credential Canaries Create Minefield for Attackers (darkreading.com)

• 5 reasons why businesses should never use consumer-grade password managers | TechRadar

Social Media

• Hackers Exploit Twitter Vulnerability to Exposes 5.4 Million Accounts (thehackernews.com)

• Parliament shuts down TikTok account over China data security concerns (telegraph.co.uk)

• Over 3,200 Apps Leak Twitter API Keys, Some Allowing Account Hijacks (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Increase in Fake Tickets Being Sold by Cyber criminals on Social Media - IT Security Guru

Privacy

• DuckDuckGo browser now blocks all Microsoft trackers, most of the time (bleepingcomputer.com)

Cyber Bullying and Cyber Stalking

• Australia charges dev of Imminent Monitor RAT used by domestic abusers (bleepingcomputer.com)

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• Most companies are unprepared for CCPA and GDPR compliance - Help Net Security

• Data privacy: Collect what you need, protect what you collect | CSO Online

• India scraps data protection law, promises better successor • The Register

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

• Austrian Investigation Reveals Spyware Targeting Law Firms, Finance Institutions - Infosecurity Magazine

• Ukraine takes down 1,000,000 bots used for disinformation (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Nancy Pelosi ties Chinese cyber-attacks to Taiwan visit • The Register

• Spanish Research Center Suffers Cyber attack Linked to Russia | SecurityWeek.Com

• Russian organisations attacked with new Woody RAT malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Greek intelligence spied on journalist with a surveillance spyware - Security Affairs

• Rare Pegasus screenshots depict NSO Group's spyware capabilities | AppleInsider

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Double Whammy: Russian Hackers Launch Cyber Attacks On Lockheed Martin; Armed Forces Hack Into HIMARS -- Reports (eurasiantimes.com)

• Ukraine Shutters Major Russian Bot Farm - Infosecurity Magazine

Nation State Actors – China

• Chinese hackers use new Cobalt Strike-like attack framework (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Massive China-Linked Disinformation Campaign Taps PR Firm for Help (darkreading.com)

• Parliament shuts down TikTok account over China data security concerns (telegraph.co.uk)

• China, Huawei, and the eavesdropping threat | CSO Online

• Global network of fake news sites push Chinese propaganda, researchers find - CyberScoop

• Taiwanese military reports DDoS in wake of US Speaker visit • The Register

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• Cyber crime a Key Revenue Stream For North Korea's Weapons Program - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• North Korean Hackers Use Browser Extension to Spy on Gmail and AOL Accounts - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Nation State Actors – Iran

• Iranian Hackers Likely Behind Disruptive Cyber attacks Against Albanian Government (thehackernews.com)

• Disruptive Cyber attacks on NATO Member Albania Linked to Iran | SecurityWeek.Com

Nation State Actors – Misc APT

• Twitter breach exposes anonymous accounts to nation state hackers - CyberScoop

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Vulnerabilities

• VMware urges admins to patch critical auth bypass bug immediately (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Critical RCE Bug in DrayTek Routers Opens SMBs to Zero-Click Attacks (darkreading.com)

• Cisco fixes critical remote code execution bug in VPN routers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• F5 Fixes 21 Vulnerabilities With Quarterly Security Patches | SecurityWeek.Com

• High-Severity Bug in Kaspersky VPN Client Opens Door to PC Takeover (darkreading.com)

• Hackers Exploit Atlassian Confluence Vulnerability to Deploy New 'Ljl' Backdoor - Infosecurity Magazine

• Slack Resets Passwords After a Bug Exposed Hashed Passwords for Some Users (thehackernews.com)

• VMware Releases Patches for Several New Flaws Affecting Multiple Products (thehackernews.com)

• Hackers are actively exploiting password-stealing flaw in Zimbra (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Google fixed Critical Remote Code Execution flaw in Android - Security Affairs

• CISA adds Zimbra bug to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalogue - Security Affairs

• Warning! Critical flaws found in US Emergency Alert System • The Register

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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

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Other News

• APIs attacked in 94% of companies in past year - IT Security Guru

• Over 60% of Organisations Expose SSH to the Internet - Infosecurity Magazine

• How IT and security teams can work together to improve endpoint security - Microsoft Security Blog

• Burnout and attrition impact tech teams sustaining modern digital systems - Help Net Security

• Machine learning creates a new attack surface requiring specialized defences - Help Net Security

• Cyber security lessons learned from COVID-19 pandemic (techtarget.com)

• 10 enterprise database security best practices (techtarget.com)

• Resolving Availability vs. Security, a Constant Conflict in IT (thehackernews.com)

• Tips to prevent RDP and other remote attacks on Microsoft networks | CSO Online

• 5 ways to unite security and compliance | CSO Online

• The Myth of Protection Online — and What Comes Next (darkreading.com)

• The Importance of Data Security in the Enterprise (techtarget.com)

• Who Needs Macros? | Threat Actors Pivot to Abusing Explorer and Other LOLBins via Windows Shortcuts - SentinelOne

• How IT Teams Can Use 'Harm Reduction' for Better Cyber security Outcomes (darkreading.com)

• Businesses lack visibility into run-time threats against mobile apps and APIs - Help Net Security

• Browser synchronization abuse: Bookmarks as a covert data exfiltration channel - Help Net Security

• Threats emanating from digital ecosystems can be a blind spot for businesses - Help Net Security

• Busting the Myths of Hardware Based Security - Security Affairs

• New Traffic Light Protocol standard released after five years (bleepingcomputer.com)

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 29 July 2022

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

• 1 in 3 Employees Don’t Understand Why Cyber Security Is Important

According to a new Tessian report, 30% of employees do not think they personally play a role in maintaining their company’s cyber security posture.

What’s more, only 39% of employees say they’re very likely to report a security incident, making investigation and remediation even more challenging and time-consuming for security teams. When asked why, 42% of employees said they wouldn’t know if they had caused an incident in the first place, and 25% say they just don’t care enough about cyber security to mention it.

Virtually all IT and security leaders agreed that a strong security culture is important in maintaining a strong security posture. Yet, despite rating their organisation’s security 8 out 10, on average, three-quarters of organisations experienced a security incident in the last 12 months.

The report suggests this could stem from a reliance on traditional training programs: 48% of security leaders say training is one of the most important influences on building a positive security posture. But the reality is that employees aren’t engaged; just 28% of UK and US workers say security awareness training is engaging and only 36% say they’re paying full attention. Of those who are, only half say it’s helpful, while another 50% have had a negative experience with a phishing simulation. With recent headlines depicting how phishing simulations can go awry, negative experiences like these further alienate employees and decrease engagement.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/28/employees-dont-understand-why-cybersecurity-is-important/

• As Companies Calculate Cyber Risk, the Right Data Makes a Big Difference

The proposed US Securities and Exchange Commission’s stronger rules for reporting cyber attacks will have ramifications beyond increased disclosure of attacks to the public. By requiring not just quick reporting of incidents, but also disclosure of cyber policies and risk management, such regulation will ultimately bring more accountability for cyber security to the highest levels of corporate leadership. Other jurisdictions will very likely follow the US in requiring more stringent cyber controls and governance.

This means that boards and executives everywhere will need to increase their understanding of cyber security, not only from a tech point of view, but from a risk and business exposure point of view. The CFO, CMO and the rest of the C-suite and board will want and need to know what financial exposure the business faces from a data breach, and how likely it is that breaches will happen. This is the only way they will be able to develop cyber policies and plans and react properly to the proposed regulations.

Companies will therefore need to be able to calculate and put a dollar value on their exposure to cyber risk. This is the starting point for the ability to make cyber security decisions not in a vacuum, but as part of overall business decisions. To accurately quantify cyber security exposure, companies need to understand what the threats are and which data and business assets are at risk, and they then need to multiply the cost of a breach by the probability that such an event will take place in order to put a dollar figure on their exposure.

While there are many automated tools, including those that use artificial intelligence (AI), that can help with this, the key to doing this well is to make sure calculations are rooted in real and relevant data – which is different for each company or organisation.

https://venturebeat.com/2022/07/22/as-companies-calculate-cyber-risk-the-right-data-makes-a-big-difference/

• Only 25% Of Organisations Consider Their Biggest Threat to Be from Inside the Business

A worrying 73.5% of organisations feel they have wasted the majority of their cyber security budget on failing to remediate threats, despite having an over-abundance of security tools at their disposal, according to Gurucul.

Only 25% of organisations consider their biggest threat to be from inside the business, despite insider threats increasing by 47% over the past two years. With only a quarter of businesses seeing their biggest threat emanating from inside their organisation, it seems over 70% saw the biggest cyber security challenges emanating from external threats such as ransomware. In fact, although external threats account for many security incidents, we must never forget to look beyond those external malicious and bad actors to insider threats to effectively secure corporate data and IP.

The survey also found 33% of respondents said they are able to detect threats within hours, while 27.07% even claimed they can detect threats in real-time. However, challenges persist with 33% of respondents stating that it still takes their organisation days and weeks to detect threats, with 6% not being able to detect them at all.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/28/biggest-threat-inside-the-business/

• The Global Average Cost of a Data Breach Reaches an All-Time High of $4.35 Million

IBM Security released the 2022 Cost of a Data Breach Report, revealing costlier and higher-impact data breaches than ever before, with the global average cost of a data breach reaching an all-time high of $4.35 million for studied organisations.

With breach costs increasing nearly 13% over the last two years of the report, the findings suggest these incidents may also be contributing to rising costs of goods and services. In fact, 60% of studied organisations raised their product or services prices due to the breach, when the cost of goods is already soaring worldwide amid inflation and supply chain issues.

The perpetuality of cyber attacks is also shedding light on the “haunting effect” data breaches are having on businesses, with the IBM report finding 83% of studied organisations have experienced more than one data breach in their lifetime. Another factor rising over time is the after-effects of breaches on these organisations, which linger long after they occur, as nearly 50% of breach costs are incurred more than a year after the breach.

The 2022 Cost of a Data Breach Report is based on in-depth analysis of real-world data breaches experienced by 550 organisations globally between March 2021 and March 2022. The research, which was sponsored and analysed by IBM Security, was conducted by the Ponemon Institute.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/27/2022-cost-of-a-data-breach-report/

• Race Against Time: Hackers Start Hunting for Victims Just 15 Minutes After a Bug Is Disclosed

Attackers are becoming faster at exploiting previously undisclosed zero-day flaws, according to Palo Alto Networks.  This means that the amount of time that system admins have to patch systems before exploitation happens is shrinking fast..

The company warns in its 2022 report covering 600 incident response (IR) cases that attackers typically start scanning for vulnerabilities within 15 minutes of one being announced.

Among this group are 2021's most significant flaws, including the Exchange Server ProxyShell and ProxyLogon sets of flaws, the persistent Apache Log4j flaws aka Log4Shell, the SonicWall zero-day flaws, and Zoho ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus.

While phishing remains the biggest method for initial access, accounting for 37% of IR cases, software vulnerabilities accounted of 31%. Brute-force credential attacks (like password spraying) accounted for 9%, while smaller categories included previously compromised credentials (6%), insider threat (5%), social engineering (5%), and abuse of trusted relationships/tools (4%).    

Over 87% of the flaws identified as the source of initial access fell into one of six vulnerability categories.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/race-against-time-hackers-start-hunting-for-victims-just-15-minutes-after-a-bug-is-disclosed/

• Ransomware-as-a-Service Groups Forced to Change Tack as Payments Decline

Ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operators are evolving their tactics yet again in response to more aggressive law enforcement efforts, in a move that is reducing their profits but also making affiliates harder to track, according to Coveware.

The security vendor’s Q2 2022 ransomware report revealed that concerted efforts to crack down on groups like Conti and DarkSide have forced threat actors to adapt yet again.

It identified three characteristics of RaaS operations that used to be beneficial, but are increasingly seen as a hinderance.

The first is RaaS branding, which has helped to cement the reputation of some groups and improve the chances of victims paying, according to Coveware. However, branding also makes attribution easier and can draw the unwanted attention of law enforcement, it said.

“RaaS groups are keeping a lower profile and vetting affiliates and their victims more thoroughly,” Coveware explained.

“More RaaS groups have formed, resulting in less concentration among the top few variants. Affiliates are frequently shifting between RaaS variants on different attacks, making attribution beyond the variant more challenging.”

In some cases, affiliates are also using “unbranded” malware to make attribution more difficult, it added.

The second evolution in RaaS involves back-end infrastructure, which used to enable scale and increase profitability. However, it also means a larger attack surface and a digital footprint that’s more expensive and challenging to maintain.

As a result, RaaS developers are being forced to invest more in obfuscation and redundancy, which is hitting profits and reducing the amount of resources available for expansion, Coveware claimed.

Finally, RaaS shared services used to help affiliates with initial access, stolen data storage, negotiation management and leak site support.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/raas-groups-forced-change-payments/

• Phishers Targeted Financial Services Most During H1 2022

Banks received the lion’s share of phishing attacks during the first half of 2022, according to figures published by cyber security company Vade.

The analysis also found that attackers were most likely to send their phishing emails on weekdays, with most arriving between Monday and Wednesday. Attacks tapered off towards the end of the week, Vade said.

While financial services scored highest on a per-sector basis, Microsoft was the most impersonated brand overall. The company’s Microsoft 365 cloud productivity services are a huge draw for cyber-criminals hoping to access accounts using phishing attacks.

Phishing attacks on Microsoft customers have become more creative, according to Vade, which identified several phone-based attacks. It highlighted a campaign impersonating Microsoft’s Defender anti-malware product, fraudulently warning that the company had debited a subscription fee. It encouraged victims to fix the problem by phone.

Facebook came a close second, followed by financial services company Crédit Agricole, WhatsApp and Orange.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/phishers-financial-services-h1-2022/

• HR Emails Dupe Employees the Most – KnowBe4 research reveals

In phishing tests conducted on business emails, more than half of the subject lines clicked imitated Human Resources communications.

New research has revealed the top email subjects clicked on in phishing tests were those related to or from Human Resources, according to the latest ‘most clicked phishing tests‘ conducted by KnowBe4. In fact, half of those that were clicked on had subject lines related to Human Resources, including vacation policy updates, dress code changes, and upcoming performance reviews. The second most clicked category were those send from IT, which include requests or actions of password verifications that were needed immediately.

KnowBe4’s CEO commented “More than 80% of company data breaches globally come from human error, so security awareness training for your staff is one of the least costly and most effective methods to thwart social engineering attacks. Training gives employees the ability to rapidly recognise a suspicious email, even if it appears to come from an internal source, causing them to pause before clicking. That moment where they stop and question the email is a critical and often overlooked element of security culture that could significantly reduce your risk surface.”

This research comes hot off the heels of the recent KnowBe4 industry benchmarking report which found one in three untrained employees will click on a phishing link. The worst performing industries were Energy & Utilities, Insurance and Consulting, with all labelled the most at risk for social engineering in the large enterprise category.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/07/27/hr-emails-dupe-employees-the-most-knowbe4-research-reveals/

• 84% Of Organisations Experienced an Identity-Related Breach in the Past 18 Months

60% of IT security decision makers believe their overall security strategy does not keep pace with the threat landscape, and that they are either lagging behind (20%), treading water (13%), or merely running to keep up (27%), according to a survey by Sapio Research.

The report also highlights differences between the perceived and actual effectiveness of security strategies. While 40% of respondents believe they have the right strategy in place, 84% of organisations reported that they have experienced an identity-related breach or an attack using stolen credentials during the previous year and a half.

Promisingly, many organisations are hungry to make a change, particularly when it comes to protecting identities. In fact, 90% of respondents state that their organisations fully recognise the importance of identity security in enabling them to achieve their business goals, and 87% say that it is one of the most important security priorities for the next 12 months.

However, 75% of IT and security professionals also believe that they’ll fall short of protecting privileged identities because they won’t get the support they need. This is largely due to a lack of budget and executive alignment, with 63% of respondents saying that their company’s board still doesn’t fully understand identity security and the role it plays in enabling better business operations.

While the importance of identity security is acknowledged by business leaders, most security teams will not receive the backing and budget they need to put vital security controls and solutions in place to reduce major risks. This means that the majority of organisations will continue to fall short of protecting privileges, leaving them vulnerable to cyber criminals looking to discover privileged accounts and abuse them.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/28/identity-related-breach/

• Economic Downturn Raises Risk of Insiders Going Rogue

Declining economic conditions could make insiders more susceptible to recruitment offers from threat actors looking for allies to assist them in carrying out various attacks.

Enterprise security teams need to be aware of the heightened risk and strengthen measures for protecting against, detecting, and responding to insider threats, researchers from Palo Alto Network's Unit 42 threat intelligence team recommended in a report this week.

The security vendor's report highlighted several other important takeaways for security operations teams, including the fact that ransomware and business email compromise attacks continue to dominate incident response cases and vulnerability exploits — accounting for nearly one-third of all breaches.

Unit 42 researchers analysed data from a sampling of over 600 incident response engagements between April 2021 and May 2022 and determined that difficult economic times could lure more actors to cyber crime. This could include both people with technical skills looking to make a fast buck, as well as financially stressed insiders with legitimate access to valuable enterprise data and IT assets. The prevalence of remote and hybrid work models has created an environment where it's easier for workers to steal intellectual property or carry out other malicious activity, the researchers found.

https://www.darkreading.com/risk/economic-downturn-raises-the-risk-of-insiders-going-rogue

• 5 Trends Making Cyber Security Threats Riskier and More Expensive

Since the pandemic the cyber world has become a far riskier place. According to the Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report 2022, almost half (48%) of organisations across the US and Europe experienced a cyber attack in the past 12 months. Even more alarming is that these attacks are happening despite businesses doubling down on their cyber security spend.

Cyber security is at a critical inflection point where five megatrends are making the threat landscape riskier, more complicated, and costlier to manage than previously reported. To better understand the evolution of this threat landscape, let’s examine these trends in more detail.

1. Everything becomes digital

2. Organisations become ecosystems

3. Physical and digital worlds collide

4. New technologies bring new risks

5. Regulations become more complex

Organisations can follow these best practices to elevate cyber security performance:

• Identify, prioritise, and implement controls around risks.

• Adopt a framework such as ISO 27001 or NIST Cyber Security Framework.

• Develop human-layered cyber security.

• Fortify your supply chain.

• Avoid using too many tools.

• Prioritise protection of critical assets.

• Automate where you can.

• Monitor security metrics regularly to help business leaders get insight into security effectiveness, regulatory compliance, and levels of security awareness in the organisation.

Cyber security will always be a work in progress. The key to effective risk management is having proactive visibility and context across the entire attack surface. This helps to understand which vulnerabilities, if exploited, can cause the greatest harm to the business. Not all risks can be mitigated; some risks will have to be accepted and trade-offs will have to be negotiated.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3667442/5-trends-making-cybersecurity-threats-riskier-and-more-expensive.html#tk.rss_news

• Ransomware: Publicly Reported Incidents Are Only the Tip of the Iceberg

The threat landscape report on ransomware attacks published this week by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) uncovers the shortcomings of the current reporting mechanisms across the EU.

As one of the most devastating types of cyber security attacks over the last decade, ransomware, has grown to impact organisations of all sizes across the globe.

This threat landscape report analysed a total of 623 ransomware incidents across the EU, the United Kingdom and the United States for a reporting period from May 2021 to June 2022. The data was gathered from governments' and security companies' reports, from the press, verified blogs and in some cases using related sources from the dark web.

Between May 2021 and June 2022 about 10 terabytes of data were stolen each month by ransomware threat actors. 58.2% of the data stolen included employees' personal data.

At least 47 unique ransomware threat actors were found.

For 94.2% of incidents, we do not know whether the company paid the ransom or not. However, when the negotiation fails, the attackers usually expose and make the data available on their webpages. This is what happens in general and is a reality for 37.88% of incidents.

We can therefore conclude that the remaining 62.12% of companies either came to an agreement with the attackers or found another solution.

The study also shows that companies of every size and from all sectors are affected.

The figures in the report can however only portray a part of the overall picture. In reality, the study reveals that the total number of ransomware attacks is much larger. At present this total is impossible to capture since too many organisations still do not make their incidents public or do not report on them to the relevant authorities.

https://www.enisa.europa.eu/news/ransomware-publicly-reported-incidents-are-only-the-tip-of-the-iceberg

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Threats

Ransomware

• LockBit 3.0: Significantly Improved Ransomware Helps the Gang Stay on Top (darkreading.com)

• Ransomware looms large over the cyber insurance industry - Help Net Security

• 800,000 businesses fall victim to ransomware each year (komando.com)

• Business services top target of ransomware attacks (securitybrief.co.nz)

• How Crypto is Driving the Ransomware Epidemic | Cryptoland Roundtable - YouTube

• On security researcher's newsletter, exposing cyber criminals behind ransomware - CyberScoop

• LockBit ransomware abuses Windows Defender to load Cobalt Strike (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Mailing List Provider WordFly Scrambling to Recover Following Ransomware Attack | SecurityWeek.Com

• No More Ransom helps millions of ransomware victims in 6 years (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Lockbit ransomware gang claims to have breached the Italian Revenue Agency - Security Affairs

• Lockbit Ramps Up Attacks on Public Sector - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• A ‘Top Tier’ Hacking Gang Is Likely To Be Behind Entrust Ransomware (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• No More Ransom Helped More Than 1.5 Million People Decrypt Their Devices (darkreading.com)

• Ransomware caused American Dental Association outage, led to stolen data (scmagazine.com)

• The road to ransomware recovery starts before an attack • The Register

• LockBit Ransomware Group Augments Its Latest Variant, LockBit 3.0, With BlackMatter Capabilities (trendmicro.com)

BEC – Business Email Compromise

• Crackdown on BEC Schemes: 100 Arrested in Europe, Man Charged in US | SecurityWeek.Com

• European Police Arrest 100 Suspects in BEC Crackdown - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Phishing Attacks Skyrocket with Microsoft and Facebook as Most Abused Brands | Threatpost

• Three of the world's most expensive phishing attacks and how they could have been prevented (betanews.com)

• Threat Actors Respond To Microsoft Blocking Macros with New Email Tactics (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Phishing scam targeting Bank of America, Citi and Wells Fargo customers (komando.com)

• APT-Like Phishing Threat Mirrors Landing Pages (darkreading.com)

• New Callback Malware Campaign Impersonates Legitimate Cyber Security Providers - MSSP Alert

• Microsoft Tops Brands Phishers Prefer (darkreading.com)

• Phishing Attacks: Microsoft Leads Top 25 of Impersonated Brands - MSSP Alert

• Researchers Warns of Increase in Phishing Attacks Using Decentralized IPFS Network (thehackernews.com)

• 1,000s of Phishing Attacks Blast Off From InterPlanetary File System (darkreading.com)

• New ‘Robin Banks’ phishing service targets BofA, Citi, and Wells Fargo (bleepingcomputer.com)

Other Social Engineering; SMishing, Vishing, etc

• US govt warns Americans of escalating SMS phishing attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

Malware

• Cisco Incident Response Report: Commodity Malware Top Threat in Q2 - MSSP Alert

• Discovery of new UEFI rootkit exposes an ugly truth: The attacks are invisible to us | Ars Technica

• As Microsoft blocks Office macros, hackers find new attack vectors (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft Links Raspberry Robin USB Worm to Russian Evil Corp Hackers (thehackernews.com)

• Microsoft links Raspberry Robin malware to Evil Corp attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Malware-laced npm packages used to target Discord users - Security Affairs

• CosmicStrand UEFI malware found in Gigabyte, ASUS motherboards (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Sophisticated UEFI rootkit of Chinese origin shows up again in the wild after 3 years | CSO Online

• Attackers are slowly abandoning malicious macros - Help Net Security

• One of the most beloved Windows tools could actually be a huge security risk | TechRadar

• QBot phishing uses Windows Calculator DLL hijacking to infect devices (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Gootkit Loader’s Updated Tactics and Fileless Delivery of Cobalt Strike (trendmicro.com)

• Microsoft: Austrian company DSIRF selling Subzero malware (techtarget.com)

• Threat actors leverages DLL-SideLoading to spread Qakbot - Security Affairs

• Rare 'CosmicStrand' UEFI Rootkit Swings into Cyber crime Orbit (darkreading.com)

Mobile

• Here are the top phone security threats in 2022 and how to avoid them | ZDNet

• New Android malware apps installed 10 million times from Google Play (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Roaming Mantis Financial Hackers Targeting Android and iPhone Users in France (thehackernews.com)

• Facebook ads push Android adware with 7 million installs on Google Play (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Millions of Android devices infected with wallet-draining malware | TechRadar

• Over a Dozen Android Apps on Google Play Store Caught Dropping Banking Malware (thehackernews.com)

• These 28+ Android Apps with 10 Million Downloads from the Play Store Contain Malware (thehackernews.com)

Internet of Things – IoT

• IoT Botnets Fuels DDoS Attacks – Are You Prepared? | Threatpost

• Dahua IP Camera Vulnerability Could Let Attackers Take Full Control Over Devices (thehackernews.com)

Data Breaches/Leaks

• US court system suffered ‘incredibly significant attack’ • The Register

• Congress Warns of US Court Records System Breach - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Uber admits covering up massive 2016 data breach in settlement with US prosecutors - The Verge

• T-Mobile to pay $500M for one of the largest data breaches in US history [Updated] | Ars Technica

• Data Stolen in Breach at Security Company Entrust | SecurityWeek.Com

• Fallout from massive Shanghai Police data breach reverberates on dark web - CyberScoop

• Big Questions Remain Around Massive Shanghai Police Data Breach (darkreading.com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Cyber-mercenaries represent shifting criminal business model • The Register

• Messaging Apps Tapped as Platform for Cyber Criminal Activity | Threatpost

• Teenager Jailed for Snapchat Blackmail Cyber Crimes- IT Security Guru

• DUCKTAIL operation targets Facebook’s Business and Ad accounts - Security Affairs

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• Crypto fraud on the rise as consumers fall for fake celebrity endorsements | Cybernews

• Hackers Increasingly Using WebAssembly Coded Cryptominers to Evade Detection (thehackernews.com)

• NFT Hacking Group Attacks On The Rise, Report Finds- IT Security Guru

• Hackers steal $6 million from blockchain music platform Audius (bleepingcomputer.com)

 Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Major shifts and the growing risk of identity fraud - Help Net Security

• Uber's former head of security faces fraud charges after allegedly covering up data breach (bitdefender.com)

• JPMorgan, UBS accused of shoddy identity theft protection • The Register

• Euro Police Bust €3m Internet Fraud Gang - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Romance scammers jailed after tricking Irish OAP out of €250k (bitdefender.com)

• Get a family safeword to make sure you don’t fall for the Mum and Dad scam | Money | The Sunday Times (thetimes.co.uk)

• What the Titanic Can Teach Us About Fraud? | SecurityWeek.Com

AML/CFT/Sanctions

• Russia declares Guernsey an 'unfriendly state' - BBC News

• Crypto exchange Kraken reportedly probed over Iran sanctions • The Register

Insurance

• Ransomware looms large over the cyber insurance industry - Help Net Security

Dark Web

• Cyber crime goods and services are cheap and plentiful - Help Net Security

• Hackers Selling Malware on Dark Web Underground Market (cybersecuritynews.com)

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• Experts warn of hacker claiming access to 50 US companies through breached MSP - The Record by Recorded Future

• Crook calls for help extorting service provider's clients • The Register

• Getting Ahead of Supply Chain Attacks (darkreading.com)

Software Supply Chain

• 8 top SBOM tools to consider | CSO Online

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

• Akamai blocked the largest DDoS attack ever on its European customers - Security Affairs

• DDoS Attack Trends in 2022: Ultrashort, Powerful, Multivector Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

Cloud/SaaS

• Kansas MSP shuts down cloud services to fend off cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Organisations are struggling with SaaS security. Why? - Help Net Security

Attack Surface Management

• 4 Steps the Financial Industry Can Take to Cope With Their Growing Attack Surface (thehackernews.com)

Identity and Access Management

• Why firms need to harness identity management before it spirals into an identity crisis - Help Net Security

• Benefits of modern PAM: Efficiency, security, compliance - Help Net Security

Encryption

• Transport Layer Security (TLS): Issues & Protocol (trendmicro.com)

• SSH2 vs. SSH1 and why SSH versions still matter (techtarget.com)

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

• Inadequate password and authentication requirements found in popular business web apps - Help Net Security

• Using Account Lockout policies to block Windows Brute Force Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Stop Putting Your Accounts At Risk, and Start Using a Password Manager (thehackernews.com)

Social Media

• Facebook security cracked by Malware made in Vietnam • The Register

• Cyber-Criminal Offers 5.4m Twitter Users’ Data - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Social Media Accounts Hijacked to Post Indecent Images - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Training, Education and Awareness

• Poor Training and Communications Hindering Cyber security Efforts - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Privacy

• US, UK law enforcement to implement data sharing law, troubling privacy advocates - CyberScoop

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

• UK Seizes Nearly $27m in Crypto-Assets - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• European Cops Helped 1.5 Million People Decrypt Their Ransomwared Computers (vice.com)

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

• World entering 'dangerous new age' of threats, says UK's top national security adviser | World News | Sky News

• Cyberspies use Google Chrome extension to steal emails undetected (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft says it caught an Austrian spyware group using Windows 0-day exploits - The Verge

• Pegasus spyware: Just 'tip of the iceberg' seen so far • The Register

• Cyber attacks by Iran and Israel now target critical infrastructure. - The Washington Post

• Ukraine Cyber War Fall-out and Ransomware Trends Areas of Focus in New CyberCube Research | Business Wire

• US and Ukraine Sign Agreement to Deepen Cyber security Operational Collaboration - MSSP Alert

• CISA, Ukrainian cyber agency deepen partnership to combat Russian threat - CyberScoop

• How is Anonymous attacking Russia? The top six ways ranked (cnbc.com)

• European Lawmaker Targeted With Cytrox Predator Surveillance Spyware | SecurityWeek.Com

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Russia is quietly ramping up its Internet censorship machine | Ars Technica

• Apple network traffic takes mysterious detour through Russia • The Register

• 'Crippling' Western sanctions are hitting Russia much harder than Putin is letting on, say Yale economists (inews.co.uk)

Nation State Actors – China

• Chinese APTs: Interlinked networks and side hustles – Intrusion Truth (wordpress.com)

• OneWeb sale risks giving China a stake in ‘Five Eyes’ spying tech (telegraph.co.uk)

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• North Korean Hackers Using Malicious Browser Extension to Spy on Email Accounts (thehackernews.com)

• North Korean hackers attack EU targets with Konni RAT malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• US puts $10 million bounty on North Korean threat groups • The Register

• Is APT28 behind the STIFF#BIZON attacks attributed to North Korea-linked APT37? Security Affairs

Nation State Actors – Iran

• Cyber attacks by Iran and Israel now target critical infrastructure. - The Washington Post

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Vulnerability Management

• Hackers scan for vulnerabilities within 15 minutes of disclosure (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Attackers Have 'Favourite' Vulnerabilities to Exploit (darkreading.com)

• Taking the Risk-Based Approach to Vulnerability Patching (thehackernews.com)

• Organisations struggle to manage devices and stay ahead of vulnerabilities - Help Net Security

• 2022 Unit 42 Incident Response Report: How Attackers Exploit Zero-Days (paloaltonetworks.com)

• Security Teams Overwhelmed With Bugs, Bitten by Patch Prioritization (darkreading.com)

• Time between vuln disclosures, exploits is getting smaller • The Register

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Vulnerabilities

• Critical Samba bug could let anyone become Domain Admin – patch now! – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Multiple Windows, Adobe Zero-Days Anchor Knotweed Commercial Spyware (darkreading.com)

• How to Fix CVE-2022-30190 vulnerability using Microsoft Intune - CloudInfra

• CISA releases IOCs for attacks exploiting Log4Shell in VMware Horizon and UAG | CSO Online

• Critical FileWave MDM Flaws Open Organisation-Managed Devices to Remote Hackers (thehackernews.com)

• Hackers are abusing IIS extensions to establish covert backdoors - Security Affairs

• FileWave fixes bugs that left 1,000+ orgs open to ransomware • The Register

• Google Chrome Zero-day Vulnerability Discovered By Avast (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• LibreOffice fixed 3 flaws, including a code execution issue - Security Affairs

• Critical security vulnerability in Grails could lead to remote code execution | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)

• Drupal developers fixed a code execution flaw in the popular CMS - Security Affairs

• LibreOffice Releases Software Update to Patch 3 New Vulnerabilities (thehackernews.com)

• Hackers Exploit PrestaShop Zero-Day to Steal Payment Data from Online Stores (thehackernews.com)

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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

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report 2022

• ENISA Threat Landscape for Ransomware Attacks — ENISA (europa.eu)

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Other News

• A Retrospective on the 2015 Ashley Madison Breach – Krebs on Security

• The Great BizApp Hack: Cyber-Risks in Your Everyday Business Applications (darkreading.com)

• Threat Actors Pivot Around Microsoft’s Macro-Blocking in Office | Threatpost

• Strong Authentication - Robust Identity and Access Management Is a Strategic Choice - Security Affairs

• You Pay More When Companies Get Hacked | WIRED

• Microsoft again reverses course, will block macros by default (scmagazine.com)

• Is Your Home or Small Business Built on Secure Foundations? Think Again… (darkreading.com)

• Untangling KNOTWEED: European private-sector offensive actor using 0-day exploits - Microsoft Security Blog

• Infosec pros want more industry cooperation and support for open standards - Help Net Security

• We pass cyber attack costs onto customers, businesses admit • The Register

• How to Combat the Biggest Security Risks Posed by Machine Identities (thehackernews.com)

• Discord, Telegram Services Hijacked to Launch Array of Cyber Attacks (darkreading.com)

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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.

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