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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 20 May 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 20 May 2022
-Fifth of Businesses Say Cyber Attack Nearly Broke Them
-Weak Security Controls and Practices Routinely Exploited for Initial Access
-How Do Ransomware Attacks Impact Victim Organisations’ Stock?
-Prioritise Patching Vulnerabilities Associated with Ransomware
-Researchers Warn of Advanced Persistent Threats/Nation State Actors (APTs), Data Leaks as Serious Threats Against UK Financial Sector
-Remote Work Hazards: Attackers Exploit Weak WiFi, Endpoints, and the Cloud
-Small Businesses Under Fire from Password Stealers
-Email Is the Riskiest Channel for Data Security
-Phishing Attacks for Initial Access Surged 54% in Q1
-State of Internet Crime in Q1 2022: Bot Traffic on The Rise, And More
-Fears Grow for Smaller Nations After Ransomware Attack on Costa Rica Escalates
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
Fifth of Businesses Say Cyber Attack Nearly Broke Them
A fifth of US and European businesses have warned that a serious cyber attack nearly rendered them insolvent, with most (87%) viewing compromise as a bigger threat than an economic downturn, according to Hiscox.
The insurer polled over 5000 businesses in the US, UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium to compile its annual Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report.
It revealed the potentially catastrophic financial damage that a serious cyber-attack can wreak. The number claiming to have nearly been brought down by a breach increased 24% compared to the previous year.
Nearly half (48%) of respondents said they suffered an attack over the past 12 months, a 12% increase from the previous report’s findings. Perhaps unsurprisingly, businesses in seven out of eight countries see cyber as their biggest threat.
Yet perception appears to vary greatly depending on whether an organisation has suffered a serious compromise or not. While over half (55%) of total respondents said they view cyber as a high-risk area, the figure among companies that have not yet suffered an attack is just 36%.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/fifth-of-businesses-cyber-attack/
Weak Security Controls and Practices Routinely Exploited for Initial Access
Cyber actors routinely exploit poor security configurations (either misconfigured or left unsecured), weak controls, and other poor cyber hygiene practices to gain initial access or as part of other tactics to compromise a victim’s system. A joint Cybersecurity Advisory by the cyber security authorities of the United States, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom identifies commonly exploited controls and practices and includes best practices to mitigate the issues.
Malicious cyber actors often exploit the following common weak security controls, poor configurations, and poor security practices to employ the initial access techniques.
Multifactor authentication (MFA) is not enforced
Incorrectly applied privileges or permissions and errors within access control lists
Software is not up to date
Use of vendor-supplied default configurations or default login usernames and passwords
Remote services, such as a virtual private network (VPN), lack sufficient controls to prevent unauthorised access
Strong password policies are not implemented
Cloud services are unprotected
Open ports and misconfigured services are exposed to the internet
Failure to detect or block phishing attempts
Poor endpoint detection and response.
https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ncas/alerts/aa22-137a
How Do Ransomware Attacks Impact Victim Organisations’ Stock?
Ransomware has developed into an extremely lucrative business model with little risk involved for the threat actors. Couple this with the willingness of most victim organisations to pay the ransom demand under the assumption it will return business operations to normal - ultimately encouraging more attacks - and we have a big problem with no easy remedies.
Back in 2021, Cybereason published a report titled Ransomware Attacks and the True Cost to Business that revealed the various costs that organisations face after falling victim to a ransomware attack. Here are some of the most significant findings that stood out:
Two-thirds of ransomware victims said that they endured a significant loss of revenue following the attack
More than half (53%) of organisations suffered damage to their brand and reputation after a ransomware infection
A third of those who fell to ransomware lost C-level talent in the attack’s aftermath
Three in 10 organisations had no choice but to lay off employees due to the financial pressures resulting from a ransomware incident
A quarter of ransomware victims said that they needed to suspend operations.
Prioritise Patching Vulnerabilities Associated with Ransomware
In the last quarter, ransomware attacks have made mainstream headlines on a near-daily basis, with groups like Lapsus$ and Conti’s names splashed across the page. Major organisations like Okta, Globant and Kitchenware maker Meyer Corporation have all fallen victim, and they are very much not alone. The data indicates that increasing vulnerabilities, new advanced persistent threat (APT) groups and new ransomware families are contributing to ransomware’s continued prevalence and profitability.
The top stats include:
22 new vulnerabilities and nine new weaknesses have been associated with ransomware since January 2022; of the 22, a whopping 21 are considered of critical or high risk severity
19 (out of 22) of the newly-added vulnerabilities are associated with the Conti ransomware gang
Three new APT groups (Exotic Lily, APT 35, DEV-0401) and four new ransomware families (AvosLocker, Karma, BlackCat, Night Sky) are deploying ransomware to attack their targets
141 of CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEVs) are being used by ransomware operators – including 18 newly identified this quarter
11 vulnerabilities tied to ransomware remain undetected by popular scanners
624 unique vulnerabilities were found within the 846 healthcare products analysed.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/19/increase-ransomware-vulnerabilities/
Researchers Warn of Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Data Leaks as Serious Threats Against UK Financial Sector
Researchers say that geopolitical tension, ransomware, and cyber attacks using stolen credentials threaten the UK's financial sector.
KELA's security team published a report examining the cyber security issues and attacks that surfaced in 2021 and early 2022, specifically focused on the United Kingdom's banks and other financial services.
The UK was one of the first countries to stand with Ukraine after the invasion by Russia. This could make UK organisations a tempting target for threat actors siding with Russia - whether by state-sponsored advanced persistent threat (APT) groups or hacktivists. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) previously warned businesses to shore up their cyber security following Russia's assault.
APTs are often responsible for attacking the financial sector: account credentials, card numbers, and the personally identifiable information (PII) of customers are useful not only in social engineering and identity theft but also to make fraudulent purchases or for card cloning.
APTs target organisations worldwide, and those located in the UK are no exception. Over the past few years, APTs, including the Chinese APT40 and APT31, have utilised vulnerabilities, including ProxyLogon, to compromise UK businesses.
"In general, APTs may target the financial sector to commit fraud, burglarise ATMs, execute transactions, and penetrate organisations' internal financial systems," KELA says. "Although specific threats to the UK financial sector have not been identified, there is no doubt that the UK has occasionally been a target of APT groups during 2021."
Exposed corporate information and leaked credentials are also of note. After browsing Dark Web forums, the researchers found that UK data is "in demand" by cyber criminals who are seeking PII, access credentials, and internal data.
Remote Work Hazards: Attackers Exploit Weak WiFi, Endpoints, and the Cloud
Infoblox unveils a global report examining the state of security concerns, costs, and remedies. As the pandemic and uneven shutdowns stretch into a third year, organisations are accelerating digital transformation projects to support remote work. Meanwhile, attackers have seized on vulnerabilities in these environments, creating more work and larger budgets for security teams.
1,100 respondents in IT and cyber security roles in 11 countries – United States, Mexico, Brazil, United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Australia, and Singapore – participated in the survey.
The surge in remote work has changed the corporate landscape significantly – and permanently. 52% of respondents accelerated digital transformation projects, 42% increased customer portal support for remote engagement, 30% moved apps to third party cloud providers, and 26% shuttered physical offices for good. These changes led to the additions of VPNs and firewalls, a mix of corporate and employee owned devices as well as cloud and on-premises DDI servers to manage data traffic across the expanded network.
The hybrid workforce reality is causing greater concerns with data leakage, ransomware and attacks through remote access tools and cloud services. Respondents indicate concerns about their abilities to counter increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks with limited control over employees, work-from-home technologies, and vulnerable supply chain partners. The sophistication of state-sponsored malware also is a source of worry for many.
Organisations have good reason to worry: 53% of respondents experienced up to five security incidents that led to at least one breach.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/17/state-of-security/
Small Businesses Under Fire from Password Stealers
Password-stealing malware and other cyber attacks have increased significantly against small businesses over the past year, according to Kaspersky researchers.
An assessment released this week detailed the number of Trojan Password Stealing Ware (PSW) detections, internet attacks and attacks on Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) between January and April 2022, compared with the same time frame from 2021. Kaspersky's research showed a jump in the detection of password stealers within small business environments, as well as increases in other types of cyber attacks.
According to Kaspersky, the biggest increase in threats against small businesses was password stealers, specifically Trojan PSWs. There were nearly 1 million more detected Trojan PSWs targeting small and medium-sized businesses in the first trimester of 2022 than the first of 2021, increasing from 3,029,903 to 4,003,323.
Email Is the Riskiest Channel for Data Security
Research from Tessian and the Ponemon Institute reveals that nearly 60% of organisations experienced data loss or exfiltration caused by an employee mistake on email in the last 12 months.
Email was revealed as the riskiest channel for data loss in organisations, as stated by 65% of IT security practitioners. This was closely followed by cloud file-sharing services (62%) and instant messaging platforms (57%).
The research surveyed 614 IT security practitioners across the globe to also reveal that:
Employee negligence, because of not following policies, is the leading cause of data loss incidents (40%)
27% of data loss incidents are caused by malicious insiders
It takes up to three days for security and risk management teams to detect and remediate a data loss and exfiltration incident caused by a malicious insider on email
23% of organisations experience up to 30 security incidents involving employees’ use of email every month (for example, email was sent to an unintended recipient).
The most common types of confidential and sensitive information lost or intentionally stolen include: customer information (61%); intellectual property (56%); and consumer information (47%). User-created data (sensitive email content, text files, M&A documents), regulated data (credit card data, Social Security numbers, national ID numbers, employee data), and intellectual property were identified as the three types of data that are most difficult to protect from data loss.
The top two consequences for data loss incidents were revealed as non-compliance with data protection regulations (57%) and damage to an organisation’s reputation (52%). Furthermore, a previous study from Tessian found that 29% of businesses lost a client or customer because of an employee sending an email to the wrong person.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/20/data-loss-email/
Phishing Attacks for Initial Access Surged 54% in Q1
Threat actors doubled down on their use of phishing emails as an initial attack vector during the first quarter of 2022 — and in many cases then used that access to drop ransomware or to extort organisations in other ways.
Researchers from Kroll recently analysed data gathered from security incidents they responded to in the first three months of this year. The analysis showed a 54% increase in incidents of phishing for initial access compared with the same period last year.
For the first time since Microsoft disclosed the so-called ProxyLogon set of vulnerabilities in Exchange Server in the first quarter of 2021, incidents tied to email compromises surpassed those related to ransomware. Kroll described the sharp increase in phishing activity as likely the result of a surge in activity tied to Emotet and IceID malware — threat actors have been using both to drop other malware.
https://www.darkreading.com/risk/phishing-attacks-for-initial-access-surged-q1
Fears Grow for Smaller Nations After Ransomware Attack on Costa Rica Escalates
Conti demanded $20M in ransom — and the overthrow of the government.
It’s been a rough start for the newly elected Costa Rica president Rodrigo Chaves, who less than a week into office declared his country “at war” with the Conti ransomware gang.
“We’re at war and this is not an exaggeration,” Chaves told local media. “The war is against an international terrorist group, which apparently has operatives in Costa Rica. There are very clear indications that people inside the country are collaborating with Conti.”
Conti’s assault on the Costa Rican government began in April. The country’s Finance Ministry was the first hit by the Russia-linked hacking group, and in a statement on May 16, Chaves said the number of institutions impacted had since grown to 27. This, he admitted, means civil servants wouldn’t be paid on time and will impact the country’s foreign trade.
In a message posted to its dark web leaks blog, Conti urged the citizens of Costa Rica to pressure their government to pay the ransom, which the group doubled from an initial $10 million to $20 million. In a separate statement, the group warned: “We are determined to overthrow the government by means of a cyber attack, we have already shown you all the strength and power.”
Conti is among the most prolific hacking groups. The FBI warned earlier this year that the gang was among “the three top variants” that targeted businesses in the United States, and it has been blamed for ransomware attacks targeting dozens of businesses, including Fat Face, Shutterfly and the Irish healthcare service.
But Conti has picked up its pace in recent months: In January and February it published 31 victims on its leaks blog. In March and April, it posted 133 victims.
https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/20/costa-rica-ransomware-attack/
Threats
Ransomware
Ransomware Gangs Rely More on Weaponizing Vulnerabilities (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware Gang Extorted 725 BTC in One Attack, On-Chain Sleuths Find (coindesk.com)
5 Critical Questions to Test Your Ransomware Preparedness - Help Net Security
“Alarming” Surge in Conti Group Activity This Year - Infosecurity Magazine
Why AI-Powered Ransomware Cyber Attacks Could Be Coming Soon - Protocol
Nikkei Says Customer Data Likely Impacted in Ransomware Attack | SecurityWeek.Com
Wizard Spider Hackers Hire Cold Callers to Scare Ransomware Victims Into Paying Up | ZDNet
Greenland Hit by Cyber Attack, Finds Its Health Service Crippled (bitdefender.com)
Conti Ransomware Shuts Down Operation, Rebrands into Smaller Units (bleepingcomputer.com)
No One Is Slowing Down BlackByte Ransomware Gang • The Register
President Rodrigo Chaves says Costa Rica is at war with Conti hackers - BBC News
Engineering Firm Parker Discloses Data Breach After Ransomware Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
US links Thanos and Jigsaw ransomware to 55-year-old doctor (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russian Conti Ransomware Gang Threatens to Overthrow New Costa Rican Government (thehackernews.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
This Phishing Attack Delivers Three Forms of Malware. And They All Want to Steal Your Data | ZDNet
HTML Attachments Remain Popular Among Phishing Actors In 2022 (bleepingcomputer.com)
Chatbot Army Deployed in Latest DHL Shipping Phish (darkreading.com)
Phishing Gang That Stole Over 400,000 Euros Busted in Spain (tripwire.com)
Long Lost @ Symbol Gets New Life Obscuring Malicious URLs | Malwarebytes Labs
Spanish Police Dismantle Phishing Gang That Emptied Bank Accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)
Malware
Microsoft Identifies Botnet Variant Targeting Windows and Linux Systems - Infosecurity Magazine
Activity of the Linux XorDdos bot increased by 254% over the last 6 monthsSecurity Affairs
Fake Domains Offer Windows 11 Installers - But Deliver Malware Instead | ZDNet
Bruised but Not Broken: The Resurgence of the Emotet Botnet Malware (trendmicro.com)
Malicious PyPI Pymafka Package Opens Backdoors On Windows, Linux, and Macs (bleepingcomputer.com)
April VMware Bugs Abused to Deliver Mirai Malware, Exploit Log4Shell | Threatpost
Mobile
6 Scary Tactics Used in Mobile App Attacks (darkreading.com)
Researchers Find Potential Way to Run Malware on iPhone Even When it's OFF (thehackernews.com)
Google TAG: Cytrox's Predator Spyware Used to Target Android Users | WIRED
IoT
Data Breaches/Leaks
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Ukrainian Hacker Jailed for 4-Years in U.S. for Selling Access to Hacked Servers (thehackernews.com)
US Recovers a Record $15m from the 3ve Ad-Fraud Crew • The Register
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs
How Cryptocurrencies Enable Attackers and Defenders (techtarget.com)
Monero-Mining Sysrv Botnet Targets Windows, Linux Web Servers • The Register
US Brings First-Of-Its-Kind Bitcoin Sanctions-Busting Case • The Register
Fake Pixelmon NFT Site Infects You with Password-Stealing Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers Compromise a String of NFT Discord Channels (vice.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Supply Chain and Third Parties
MITRE Creates Framework for Supply Chain Security (darkreading.com)
The Four Horsemen of Software Supply Chain Attacks - MSSP Alert
Cloud/SaaS
7 Key Findings from the 2022 SaaS Security Survey Report (thehackernews.com)
New Research Identifies Poor IAM Policies as The Greatest Cloud Vulnerability - CyberScoop
Are You Investing in Securing Your Data in the Cloud? (thehackernews.com)
380K Kubernetes API Servers Exposed to Public Internet | Threatpost
Open Source
Privacy
How To Ensure That the Smart Home Doesn’t Jeopardize Data Privacy? - Help Net Security
Privacy. Ad Bidders Haven't Heard of It, Report Reveals • The Register
Third-Party Web Trackers Log What You Type Before Submitting (bleepingcomputer.com)
Passwords & Credential Stuffing
The Most Insecure and Easily Hackable Passwords - Help Net Security
Half of IT Leaders Store Passwords in Shared Docs - Infosecurity Magazine
Cyber Bullying and Cyber Stalking
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Europe Moves Closer to Stricter Cyber Security Standards • The Register
EU's NIS 2 Directive to Strengthen Cyber Security Requirements For Companies - Help Net Security
Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Google TAG: Cytrox's Predator Spyware Used to Target Android Users | WIRED
How Mobile Networks Have Become a Front in the Battle for Ukraine (darkreading.com)
China-linked Twisted Panda Caught Spying on Russian R&D Orgs • The Register
Pro-Russian Hackers Spread Hoaxes to Divide Ukraine, Allies | SecurityWeek.Com
A custom PowerShell RAT Targets Germany Using Crisis in Ukraine as Bait - Security Affairs
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Putin Promises to Bolster Russia's IT Security in Face of Cyber Attacks | Reuters
Russian Hackers Declare War On 10 Countries After Failed Eurovision DDoS attack | IT PRO
Pro-Russian Information Operations Escalate in Ukraine War (darkreading.com)
Russian Undersea Cable Threat Shifts Tech Business to UK (telegraph.co.uk)
Russians Allegedly Storm Ukrainian ISP, Blackmail It to Switch To Russian Networks - CyberScoop
Russia-linked Sandworm Continues to Conduct Attacks Against Ukraine - Security Affairs
Russian Cyber Attack on Eurovision Foiled By Italian Authorities (bitdefender.com)
This Russian Botnet Does Far More Than DDoS Attacks - And on A Massive Scale | ZDNet
Nation State Actors – China
Nation State Actors – North Korea
Nation State Actors – Iran
Vulnerabilities
QNAP Urges Users to Update NAS Devices to Prevent Deadbolt Ransomware Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Cisco Fixes an IOS XR Flaw Actively Exploited in The Wild - Security Affairs
2 Vulnerabilities With 9.8 Severity Ratings Are Under Exploit. A 3rd Looms | Ars Technica
Microsoft Rushes a Fix After May Patch Tuesday Breaks Authentication (darkreading.com)
Microsoft Fixes New PetitPotam Windows NTLM Relay Attack Vector (bleepingcomputer.com)
Apple Patches Zero-Day Kernel Hole and Much More – Update Now! – Naked Security (sophos.com)
High-Severity Bug Reported in Google's OAuth Client Library for Java (thehackernews.com)
Over 20,000 Zyxel Firewalls Still Exposed to Critical Bug - Infosecurity Magazine
Apple Fixes the Sixth Zero-Day Since The Beginning of 2022 - Security Affairs
Mozilla Patches Wednesday’s Pwn2Own Double-Exploit… on Friday! – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Critical Vulnerability in Premium WordPress Themes Allows for Site Takeover | Threatpost
Critical Jupiter WordPress Plugin Flaws Let Hackers Take Over Sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Apple Finally Patches Exploited Vulnerabilities in macOS Big Sur, Catalina | SecurityWeek.Com
NVIDIA Fixes Ten Vulnerabilities in Windows GPU Display Drivers (bleepingcomputer.com)
New Brute Force Attacks Against SQL Servers Use PowerShell Wrapper | SecurityWeek.Com
Sector Specific
Retail/eCommerce
How Crooks Backdoor Sites and Scrape Credit Card Info • The Register
Digital Skimming is Now the Preserve of Non-Magecart Groups - Infosecurity Magazine
Energy & Utilities
Water Companies Are Increasingly Uninsurable Due To Ransomware, Industry Execs Say - CyberScoop
UK Announces Nuclear Cyber Security Strategy - IT Security Guru
Education and Academia
Ransomware Attack Exposes Data of 500,000 Chicago Students (bleepingcomputer.com)
Higher Education Institutions Being Targeted for Ransomware Attacks | TechRepublic
“Incompetent” Council Leaks Details of Students With Special Educational Needs • Graham Cluley
Researchers Find Backdoor in School Management Plugin for WordPress (thehackernews.com)
Other News
UK Government: Lack of Skills the Number One Issue in Cyber Security - Infosecurity Magazine
Malicious Hackers Are Finding It Too Easy to Achieve Their Initial Access (tripwire.com)
How Threat Actors Are a Click Away From Becoming Quasi-APTs (darkreading.com)
Cyber Security: Global Food Supply Chain at Risk From Malicious Hackers - BBC News
Cyber Security Agencies Reveal Top Initial Access Attack Vectors (bleepingcomputer.com)
50% of Orgs Rely on Email to Manage Security (darkreading.com)
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 20 August 2021
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 20 August 2021:
-Third of Global Companies Have Experienced Ransomware Attack, Survey Finds
-Company Size Is A Nonissue With Automated Cyberattack Tools
-60% Of Employees Reuse Passwords Across Business And Personal Accounts
-LockBit 2.0 Ransomware Proliferates Globally
-Secret Terrorist Watchlist With 2 Million Records Exposed Online
-Phishing Costs Quadruple Over 6 Years
-Security Teams Report Rise In Cyber Risk
-Phishing Attacks Increase In H1 2021, Sharp Jump In Crypto Attacks
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
A Third of Global Companies Have Experienced Ransomware Attack, Survey Finds
Roughly a third of large international companies have faced a ransomware attack or other data breach in the last 12 months, according to a new survey.
Analysts surveyed almost 800 companies and found 37% of international companies experienced ransomware attacks this past year. The survey focused on companies with more than 500 employees.
Company Size Is A Nonissue With Automated Cyber Attack Tools
Even with plenty of old problems to contend with, firms need to get ready for new and more powerful automated ransomware tools.
Cyber criminals are constantly looking for the best return on their investment and solutions that lower the chance of being caught. Sadly, that appears to mean small businesses are their current target of opportunity.
Tech media and cyber pundits have been sounding the alarm and offering small businesses specific cybersecurity solutions for a few years now, but it seems to no avail.
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/company-size-is-a-nonissue-with-automated-cyberattack-tools/
Over 60% Of Employees Reuse Passwords Across Business And Personal Accounts
Nearly two thirds of employees are using personal passwords to protect corporate data, and vice versa, with even more business leaders concerned about this very issue. Surprisingly, 97% of employees know what constitutes a strong password, yet over half (53%) admit to not always using one.
http://hrnews.co.uk/over-60-of-employees-reuse-passwords-across-business-and-personal/
LockBit 2.0 Ransomware Proliferates Globally
Fresh attacks target companies’ employees, promising millions of dollars in exchange for valid account credentials for initial access.
The LockBit ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) gang has ramped up its targeted attacks, researchers said, with attempts against organizations in Chile, Italy, Taiwan and the U.K. using version 2.0 of its malware.
https://threatpost.com/lockbit-ransomware-proliferates-globally/168746/
Secret Terrorist Watchlist With 2 Million Records Exposed Online
A secret terrorist watchlist with 1.9 million records, including classified "no-fly" records was exposed on the internet.
The list was left accessible on an Elasticsearch cluster that had no password on it.
Phishing Costs Nearly Quadrupled Over 6 Years
Lost productivity & mopping up after the costly attacks that follow phishing – BEC & ransomware in particular – eat up most costs, not pay-outs to crooks.
Research shows that the cost of phishing attacks has nearly quadrupled over the past six years: Large US companies are now losing, on average, $14.8 million annually, or $1,500 per employee.
That’s up sharply from 2015’s figure of $3.8 million, according to a new study from Ponemon Institute that was sponsored by Proofpoint.
According to the study, released Tuesday, phishing leads to some of the costliest cyber attacks.
https://threatpost.com/phishing-costs-quadrupled/168716/
Security Teams Report Rise In Cyber Risk
A recent report shows declining confidence in many organisations’ security function to address today’s threats.
80% of respondents to the Trend Micro’s biannual Cyber Risk Index (CRI) report said they expect to experience a data breach that compromises customer data in the next 12 months.
The report surveyed more than 3,600 businesses of all sizes and industries across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America for their thoughts on cyber risk. Despite an increased focus on security due to high-profile ransomware and other attacks in the past year, respondents reported a rise in risk due to inadequate security processes like backing up key assets.
Organisations are overwhelmed as they pivot from traditional to distributed networks. Pandemic-driven work-from-home growth is potentially how businesses will be run going forward. That distributed network means that it’s harder for IT staff to know what assets are under their control and what security controls should be in place. With the line blurring between corporate and personal assets, organizations are overwhelmed with the pace of change.
https://www.csoonline.com/article/3629477/security-teams-report-rise-in-cyber-risk.html
Organisations Aware Of The Importance Of Zero Trust, Yet Still Relying On Passwords
Organisations have become more security conscious over the course of the pandemic, leading them to invest heavily in zero trust, according to a new study.
The report surveyed over 600 global security leaders about their initiatives and found that remote work has led to a change in how organizations view the importance of zero trust, with financial services, healthcare organisations and the software industry seeing the most significant progress.
78% of companies globally say that zero trust has increased in priority and nearly 90% are currently working on a zero trust initiative, up from just 41% a year ago.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/08/11/importance-of-zero-trust/
Reliance On Third Party Workers Making Companies More Vulnerable To Cyber Attacks
A new survey revealed 83% of respondents agree that because organisations increasingly rely on contractors, freelancers, and other third party workers, their data systems have become more vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Further, 88% of people say organisations and government entities must have better data security systems in place to protect them from the increase in third party remote attacks.
Recent high-profile breaches, including SolarWinds, Colonial Pipeline, and JBS Foods, have exposed how vulnerable organisations are to cyber crime and in particular ransomware attacks. Of note with recent attacks is how data breaches can quickly affect aspects of everyday life, such as the ability to fill a car with petrol or buy meat at the supermarket.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/08/16/reliance-on-third-party-workers/
The Cyber Security Skills Gap Persists For The Fifth Year Running
Most organisations are still lacking talent, according to a new report, but experts think expanding the definition of a cybersecurity professional can help.
T-Mobile Hack Is A Return To The Roots Of Cyber Crime
In the world of cyber crime, ransomware attacks might be the sophisticated bank heists. The hack of T-Mobile is more akin to smashing a window, grabbing merchandise, and running.
The attack that exposed the personal information of millions of T-Mobile customers spotlights a common type of cyber threat that can inflict significant damage to consumers, much like the recent rash of ransomware attacks hitting companies.
The breach exposed the data of more than 40 million people, T-Mobile confirmed Wednesday, including customer’s full names and driver’s license information. A hacker posted about the stolen information on a cyber crime forum late last week, offering to sell the information to buyers for the price of six bitcoin, or about $270,000.
This type of attack, in which hackers worm their way into companies’ systems, steal data and try to sell it online, has been a common tactic for years, cyber security experts say. Unlike the high-profile ransomware attacks that have disrupted fuel supplies, hospital systems and food production in recent months, these data exfiltration hacks do not lock down computer systems.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/19/tmobile-breach-data-hacks/
Phishing Attacks Increase In H1 2021, Sharp Jump In Crypto Attacks
The first half of 2021 shows a 22 percent increase in the volume of phishing attacks over the same time period last year, a new report reveals. Notably, however, phishing volume in June dipped dramatically for the first time in six months, immediately following a very high-volume in May.
Bad actors continue to utilise phishing to fleece proprietary information, and are developing more sophisticated ways to do so based on growth in areas such as cryptocurrency and sites that use single-sign-on.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/08/19/phishing-attacks-h1-2021/
Connected Devices Increasingly At Risk As New Ransomware Attacks Are Reported Almost Daily
A new report has shined a light on the state of connected devices. The number of agentless and un-agentable devices increased to 42% in this year’s report (compared to 32% of agentless or un-agentable devices in 2020). These devices include medical and manufacturing devices that are critical to business operations along with network devices, IP phones, video surveillance cameras and facility devices (such as badge readers) that are not designed with security in mind, cannot be patched, and cannot support endpoint security agents.
With almost half of devices in the network that are either agentless or un-agentable, organisations need to complement their endpoint security strategy with a network-based security approach to discover and secure these devices.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/08/12/connected-devices-risks/
Threats
Ransomware
John Oliver On Ransomware Attacks: ‘It’s In Everyone’s Interest To Tet This Under Control’
Device Complexity Leaving Schools At Heightened Risk Of Ransomware Attacks
This Ransomware Has Returned With New Techniques To Make Attacks More Effective
Diavol Ransomware Sample Shows Stronger Connection To TrickBot Gang
Ransomware Criminals' Demands Rise As Aggressive Tactics Pay Off
BEC
Phishing
Other Social Engineering
Malware
Malware Campaign Uses Clever 'Captcha' To Bypass Browser Warning
Malware Dev Infects Own PC And Data Ends Up On Intel Platform
Researchers Discover New AdLoad Malware Campaigns Targeting Macs And Apple Products
Mobile
IOT
Vulnerabilities
Multiple Flaws Affecting Realtek Wi-Fi SDKs Impact Nearly A Million IoT Devices
Unpatched Remote Hacking Flaw Disclosed In Fortinet's FortiWeb WAF
65 Vendors Affected By Severe Vulnerabilities In Realtek Chips
Eight-Year-Old Bug In Microsoft's 64-Bit VBA Prompts Complaints Of Neglect
Cisco Won’t Fix Zero-Day RCE Vulnerability In End-Of-Life VPN Routers
Data Breaches/Leaks
Chase Bank Accidentally Leaked Customer Info To Other Customers
Colonial Pipeline Reports Data Breach After May Ransomware Attack
Ford Bug Exposed Customer And Employee Records From Internal Systems
Dark Web
Dark Web Blockchain Analysis Tool Suspended After Flurry Of Media Coverage
Dark Web Drug Dealer Indicted For Laundering $137 Million In Bitcoin From Prison
Dark Web Criminals Have Built A Tool That Checks For Dirty Bitcoin
Supply Chain
DoS/DDoS
OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA
Nation State Actors
Cloud
Other News
Threat Actors Hacked US Census Bureau In 2020 By Exploiting A Citrix Flaw
Cyber Security Is Top Priority For Enterprises As They Shift To Digital-First Operating Models
SMEs Awareness Of GDPR Is High, But Few Adhere To Its Legal Requirements
Hacker Finds A Way To Steal Windows 365 User Names And Passwords
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.