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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 11 November 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 11 November 2022:
-Research Finds Organisations Lack Tools and Teams to Address Cyber Security Threats
-Some 98% of Global Firms Suffer Supply Chain Breach in 2021
-Only 30% of Cyber Insurance Holders Say Ransomware is Covered
-Companies Hit by Ransomware Often Targeted Again, Research Says
-Ransomware Remains Top Cyber Risk for Organisations Globally, Says Allianz
-How Geopolitical Turmoil Changed the Cyber Security Threat Landscape
-Swiss Re Wants Government Bail Out academias Cyber Crime Insurance Costs Spike
-Extortion Economics: Ransomware's New Business Model
-Confidence in Data Recovery Tools Low
-Russia’s Sway Over Criminal Ransomware Gangs Is Coming into Focus
-Insider Risk on the Rise: 12% of Employees Take IP When Leaving Jobs
-Why a Clear Cyber Policy is Critical for Companies
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
Research Finds Organisations Lack Tools and Teams to Address Cyber Security Threats
In research conducted in the summer of 2022 by BlackBerry, the findings describe the situation facing organisations regardless of size or vertical.
The survey of 405 senior IT, networking, and security decision-makers in the US, Canada, and the UK revealed 83% of organisations agreed building cyber security programs is expensive due to required tools, licenses, and personnel, and 80% agreed it’s challenging to fill specialised security roles. Most organisations (78%) have an incident management process, but about half (49%) agree they lack the teams and tools to be effective 24x7x365. Evolving security threats (53%) and the task of integrating new technology (53%) are cited as top challenges in maintaining security posture.
While it’s likely these findings surprise no one, they do reveal the challenges facing organisations who are caught between limited resources and increased risk. The urgency increases if we look at the critical infrastructure that keeps things running–like utilities, banks, transportation, key suppliers, industrial controls, and more.
Some 98% of Global Firms Suffer Supply Chain Breach in 2021
Just 2% of global organisations didn’t suffer a supply chain breach last year, with visibility into cyber risk getting harder as these ecosystems expand, according to BlueVoyant.
The security firm polled 2100 C-level execs with responsibility for supply chain and cyber risk management from companies with 1000+ employees to compile its study, The State of Supply Chain Defense: Annual Global Insights Report 2022.
It found the top challenges listed by respondents were:
Awareness internally that third-party suppliers are part of their cyber security posture
Meeting regulatory requirements and ensuring third-party cyber security compliance
Working with third-party suppliers to improve their posture.
Supply chains are growing: the number of firms with over 1000 suppliers increased from 38% in 2021’s report to 50%. Although 53% of organisations audited or reported on supplier security more than twice annually, 40% still rely on suppliers to ensure security levels are sufficient. That means they have no way of knowing if an issue arises with a supplier.
Worse, 42% admitted that if they do discover an issue in their supply chain and inform their supplier, they cannot verify that the issue was resolved. Just 3% monitor their supply chain daily, although the number of respondents using security ratings services to enhance visibility and reduce cyber risk increased from 36% last year to 39% in this year’s report.
With the escalating threat landscape and number of high-profile incidents being reported, firms should focus more strategically on addressing supply chain cyber security risk. In the current volatile economic climate, the last thing any business needs is any further disruption to their operations, any unexpected costs, or negative impact on their brand.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/98-global-firms-supply-chain/
Only 30% of Cyber Insurance Holders Say Ransomware is Covered
Cyber insurance providers appear to be limiting policy coverage due to surging costs from claimants, according to a new study from Delinea.
The security vendor polled 300 US-based IT decision makers to compile its latest report, Cyber insurance: if you get it be ready to use it.
Although 93% were approved for specialised cyber insurance cover by their provider, just 30% said their policy covered “critical risks” including ransomware, ransom negotiations and payments. Around half (48%) said their policy covers data recovery, while just a third indicated it covers incident response, regulatory fines and third-party damages.
That may be because many organisations are regularly being breached and look to their providers for pay-outs, driving up costs for carriers. Some 80% of those surveyed said they’ve had to call on their insurance, and half of these have submitted claims multiple times, the study noted.
As a result, many insurers are demanding that prospective policyholders implement more comprehensive security controls before they’re allowed to sign up.
Half (51%) of respondents said that security awareness training was a requirement, while (47%) said the same about malware protection, AV software, multi-factor authentication (MFA) and data backups.
However, high-level checks may not be enough to protect insurers from surging losses, as they can’t guarantee customers are properly deploying security controls.
Cyber insurance providers need to start advancing beyond simple checklists for security controls. They must require their customers to validate that their security controls work as designed and expected. They need their customers to simulate their adversaries to ensure that when they are attacked, the attack will not result in a breach. In fact, we're already starting to see government regulations and guidance that includes adversary simulation as part of their proactive response to threats.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cyberinsurance-ransomware-cover/
Companies Hit by Ransomware Often Targeted Again, Research Says
It has been reported that more than a third of companies who paid a ransom to cyber criminals after being hit by a ransomware attack went on to be targeted for a second time, according to a new report.
The Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report found that 36% of companies that made the ransom payment were hit again, while 41% who paid failed to recover all of their data.
The head of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), Lindy Cameron, said last year that ransomware attacks were the “most immediate danger” to the UK and urged companies to take more steps to protect themselves and their data.
The NCSC urges firms not to pay ransoms as it not only helps fund further crime but offers no guarantee that criminals will return the stolen or locked data. The Hiscox report appeared to back up the NCSC’s warnings, with 43% of the businesses who paid a ransom saying they still had to rebuild their systems while 29% said that despite making the payment their stolen data was still leaked. A further 26% said a ransomware attack had had a significant financial impact on their business.
Ransomware Remains Top Cyber Risk for Organisations Globally, Says Allianz
According to an Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty cyber report, ransomware remains a top cyber risk for organisations globally, while the threat of state-sponsored cyber attacks grows.
There were a record 623 million attacks in 2021, which was double that of 2020, says Allianz.
It also notes that despite the frequency reducing 23% globally during H1 of 2022, the year-to-date total still exceeds that of the full years of 2017, 2018 and 2019, while Europe saw attacks surge over this period. Allianz suggests that ransomware is forecast to cause $30bn in damages to organisations globally by 2023.
It adds that from an Allianz perspective, the value of ransomware claims the company was involved in together with other insurers, accounted for well over 50% of all cyber claims costs during 2020 and 2021.
The cyber risk landscape doesn’t allow for any resting on laurels. Ransomware and phishing scams are as active as ever and on top of that there is the prospect of a hybrid cyber war.
Most companies will not be able to evade a cyber threat. However, it is clear that organisations with good cyber maturity are better equipped to deal with incidents. Even when they are attacked, losses are typically less severe due to established identification and response mechanisms.
Many companies still need to strengthen their cyber controls, particularly around IT security trainings, better network segmentation for critical environments and cyber incident response plans and security governance.
Allianz observes that geopolitical tensions, such as the war in Ukraine, are a major factor reshaping the cyber threat landscape as the risks of espionage, sabotage, and destructive cyber-attacks against companies with ties to Russia and Ukraine increase, as well as allies and those in neighbouring countries.
How Geopolitical Turmoil Changed the Cyber Security Threat Landscape
ENISA, EU’s Agency for Cybersecurity, released its annual Threat Landscape report, covering the period from July 2021 up to July 2022.
With more than 10 terabytes of data stolen monthly, ransomware still fares as one of the prime threats in the new report with phishing now identified as the most common initial vector of such attacks. The other threats to rank highest along ransomware are attacks against availability also called Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
However, the geopolitical situations particularly the Russian invasion of Ukraine have acted as a game changer over the reporting period for the global cyber domain. While we still observe an increase of the number of threats, we also see a wider range of vectors emerge such as zero-day exploits and AI-enabled disinformation and deepfakes. As a result, more malicious and widespread attacks emerge having more damaging impact.
EU Agency for Cybersecurity Executive Director, Juhan Lepassaar stated that “Today’s global context is inevitably driving major changes in the cyber security threat landscape. The new paradigm is shaped by the growing range of threat actors. We enter a phase which will need appropriate mitigation strategies to protect all our critical sectors, our industry partners and therefore all EU citizens.”
State sponsored, cyber crime, hacker-for-hire actors and hacktivists remain the prominent threat actors during the reporting period of July 2021 to July 2022.
ENISA sorted threats into 8 groups. Frequency and impact determine how prominent all of these threats still are.
Ransomware: 60% of affected organisations may have paid ransom demands
Malware: 66 disclosures of zero-day vulnerabilities observed in 2021
Social engineering: Phishing remains a popular technique but we see new forms of phishing arising such as spear-phishing, whaling, smishing and vishing
Threats against data: Increasing in proportionally to the total of data produced
Disinformation – misinformation: Escalating AI-enabled disinformation, deepfakes and disinformation-as-a-service
Supply chain targeting: Third-party incidents account for 17% of the intrusions in 2021 compared to less than 1% in 2020
Threats against availability:
Largest denial of service (DDoS) attack ever was launched in Europe in July 2022
Internet: destruction of infrastructure, outages and rerouting of internet traffic.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/11/08/cybersecurity-threat-landscape-2022/
Swiss Re Wants Government Bail Out as Cyber Crime Insurance Costs Spike
As insurance companies struggle to stay afloat amid rising cyber claims, Swiss Re has recommended a public-private partnership insurance scheme with one option being a government-backed fund to help fill the coverage gap.
Global cyber insurance premiums hit $10 billion in 2021, according to Swiss Re's estimates. In a study published this week, the insurance giant forecasted 20 percent annual growth to 2025, with premiums rising to $23 billion over the next few years.
Meanwhile, annual cyber attack-related losses total about $945 billion globally, and about 90% of that risk remains uninsured, according to insurance researchers at the Geneva Association.
While Forrester estimates a typical data breach costs an average $2.4 million for investigation and recovery, only 55 percent of companies currently have cyber insurance policies. Additionally, less than 20 percent have coverage limits in excess of $600,000, which the analyst firm cites as the median ransomware demand in 2021.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/08/government_cyber_insurance/
Extortion Economics: Ransomware's New Business Model
Ransomware-as-a-service lowers the barriers to entry, hides attackers’ identities, and creates multitier, specialised roles in service of ill-gotten gains.
Did you know that more than 80% of ransomware attacks can be traced to common configuration errors in software and devices? This ease of access is one of many reasons why cyber criminals have become emboldened by the underground ransomware economy.
And yet many threat actors work within a relatively small and interconnected ecosystem of players. This pool of cyber criminals has created specialised roles and consolidated the cyber crime economy, fuelling ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) to become the dominant business model. In doing so, they've enabled a wider range of criminals to deploy ransomware regardless of their technical expertise and forced all of us to become cyber security defenders in the process.
Ransomware takes advantage of existing security compromises to gain access to internal networks. In the same way businesses hire gig workers to cut costs, cyber criminals have turned to renting or selling their ransomware tools for a portion of the profits rather than performing the attacks themselves.
This flourishing RaaS economy allows cyber criminals to purchase access to ransomware payloads and data leakage, as well as payment infrastructure. What we think of as ransomware gangs are actually RaaS programs like Conti or REvil, used by the many different actors who switch between RaaS programs and payloads.
RaaS lowers the barrier to entry and obfuscates the identity of the attackers behind the ransoming. Some programs can have 50 or more "affiliates," as they refer to their users, with varying tools, tradecraft, and objectives. Anyone with a laptop and credit card who is willing to search the Dark Web for penetration-testing tools or out-of-the-box malware can join this maximum efficiency economy.
https://www.darkreading.com/microsoft/extortion-economics-ransomware-s-new-business-model
Confidence in Data Recovery Tools Low
A recent IDC and Druva survey asked 505 respondents across 10 industries about their ransomware experiences and found that many organisations struggle to recover after an attack. In the survey, 85% of the respondents said their organisations had a ransomware recovery plan. The challenge seems to lie in effectively executing that plan.
"A majority of organisations suffered significant consequences from ransomware attacks including long recoveries and unrecoverable data despite paying a ransom," states the "You Think Ransomware Is Your Only Problem? Think Again" report.
Data resiliency is such an important element of cyber security that 96% of respondents considered it a top priority for their organisations, with a full 77% placing it in the top 3. What's striking about the survey results is that only 14% of respondents said they were "extremely confident" in their tools, even though 92% called their data resiliency tools "efficient" or "highly efficient."
When data is spread across hybrid, cloud, and edge environments, data resiliency becomes much more complicated. A plan might seem to cover everything, but then you realise that you lost your backup or can't find the latest restore point.
The ability to recover from an attack is vital, since the growth in ransomware makes it likely that your organisation will get hit. This is why agencies like NIST recommend preparing for when an attacker pierces your defences rather than trying to keep out every intruder. That mindset also shifts the priority to preparation and planning; you need to create a disaster recovery plan that includes policy on restore points and recovery tools — and you need to practice implementing that plan before disaster strikes.
The report lists three key performance indicators that reveal the success of an organisation's recovery from a cyber attack:
The ability to fully recover encrypted or deleted data without paying a ransom.
Zero data loss in the process of recovering the data.
Rapid recovery as defined by applicable service-level requirements.
When a recovery fails to meet these criteria, then the organisation may suffer financial loss, loss of reputation, permanently lost customers, and reduced employee productivity.
https://www.darkreading.com/tech-trends/confidence-in-data-recovery-tools-low
Russia’s Sway Over Criminal Ransomware Gangs Is Coming into Focus
Russia-based ransomware gangs are some of the most prolific and aggressive, in part thanks to an apparent safe harbour the Russian government extends to them. The Kremlin doesn't cooperate with international ransomware investigations and typically declines to prosecute cyber criminals operating in the country so long as they don't attack domestic targets. A long-standing question, though, is whether these financially motivated hackers ever receive directives from the Russian government and to what extent the gangs are connected to the Kremlin's offensive hacking. The answer is starting to become clearer.
New research presented at the Cyberwarcon security conference in Arlington, Virginia, this week looked at the frequency and targeting of ransomware attacks against organisations based in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and France in the lead-up to these countries' national elections. The findings suggest a loose but visible alignment between Russian government priorities and activities and ransomware attacks leading up to elections in the six countries.
The project analysed a data set of over 4,000 ransomware attacks perpetrated against victims in 102 countries between May 2019 and May 2022. The analysis showed a statistically significant increase in ransomware attacks from Russia-based gangs against organisations in the six victim countries ahead of their national elections. These nations suffered the most total ransomware attacks per year in the data set, about three-quarters of all the attacks.
The data was used to compare the timing of attacks for groups believed to be based out of Russia and groups based everywhere else. They looked at the number of attacks on any given day, and what they found was an interesting relationship where for these Russia-based groups, there was an increase in the number of attacks starting four months before an election and moving three, two, one month in, up to the event.
The findings showed broadly that non-Russian ransomware gangs didn't have a statistically significant increase in attacks in the lead-up to elections. Whereas two months out from a national election, for example, the researchers found that organisations in the six top victim countries were at a 41 percent greater chance of having a ransomware attack from a Russia-based gang on a given day, compared to the baseline.
https://www.wired.com/story/russia-ransomware-gang-connections/
Insider Risk on the Rise: 12% of Employees Take IP When Leaving Jobs
Twelve percent of all employees take sensitive intellectual property (IP) with them when they leave an organisation.
The data comes from workforce cyber intelligence and security company Dtex, which published a report about top insider risk trends for 2022. “Customer data, employee data, health records, sales contacts, and the list goes on,” reads the document. “More and more applications are providing new features that make data exfiltration easier. For example, many now provide the ability to maintain clipboard history and sync across multiple devices.”
Case in point, the report also suggests a 55% increase in unsanctioned application usage, including those making data exfiltration easier by allowing users to maintain clipboard history and sync IP across multiple devices. “Bring Your Own Applications (BYOA) or Shadow IT can be a source of intelligence for business innovation,” Dtex wrote. “Still, they pose a major risk if the security team has not tested these tools thoroughly.”
Further, the new data highlight a 20% increase in resignation letter research and creation from employees taking advantage of the tight labour market to switch positions for higher wages.
“In most cases, an individual planning to leave the business is not pleased with the company’s product, co-workers, work environment, or compensation,” reads the report. “Disgruntled employees are usually jaded by a business that has not shown any steps to alleviate concerns, even after communication attempts.”
Finally, the Dtex report says the industry has witnessed a 200% increase in unsanctioned third-party work on corporate devices from a high prevalence of employees engaged in side gigs.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/12-of-employees-take-ip-when/
Why a Clear Cyber Policy is Critical for Companies
In October, Joe Sullivan, Uber’s former head of security, was convicted of covering up a 2016 data breach at the ride hailing giant by hiding details from US regulators and then paying off the hackers.
It was a trial followed nervously by cyber security professionals around the world — coming eight years after an incident that had compromised the personal information of more than 57mn people.
“Any news about another company dealing with a data security incident can strike a bit of fear across industries,” notes Mary Pothos, chief privacy officer at digital travel company Booking.com. She adds that incidents like these cause “many companies to pause, rethink or revisit their internal processes to make sure that they are operating effectively”.
These incidents, and threats, are growing at lightning speed, too. War in Ukraine is now being played out as much in cyber space as on the battlefield. The Covid pandemic has forced businesses to rethink where their employees work, and handle or access data. At the same time, the sheer number of web-connected devices is multiplying.
“We need to be people who can predict what is coming along the line, predict the future, almost” said Victor Shadare, head of cyber security at media company Condé Nast, at a recent FT event on cyber security.
Palo Alto Networks, a specialist security company, found that cyber extortion grew rapidly in 2021. Some 35 new ransomware gangs emerged, the average ransom demand increasing 144 per cent that year to $2.2mn, and the average payment rose by 78 per cent to $541,010.
Meanwhile, cyber security personnel have found themselves hemmed in by increasingly onerous regulations. These include threats of legal action if the right people are not informed about breaches, or if products come to market that are not safe enough. On September 15, for example, the European Commission presented a proposal for a new Cyber Resilience Act to protect consumers from products with inadequate security features.
“New domains of security have sprung up over the past years, so it’s not just an information technology problem any more, it’s really a full company risk issue,” says Kevin Tierney, vice-president of global cyber security at automotive group General Motors. He warns that automated and connected vehicles have thrown up additional threats to be addressed.
“You have to start out with the right governance structure and the right policies and procedures — that’s step one of really getting the company to understand what it needs to do,” he says. These include clear rules on how to disable access to tech equipment, on data protection and storage, on transferring and disposing of data, on using corporate networks, and on reporting any data breaches.
Security experts also tend to agree that there need to be robust systems of governance and accountability, to prevent the sort of trouble that befell Sullivan at Uber. Perhaps most crucially, staff across the organisation, from C-suite to assistants, need to know how to spot and manage a threat.
https://www.ft.com/content/0bb6df09-7d77-4605-aac3-89443ed65a18
Threats
Ransomware and Extortion
Medibank: Hackers release abortion data after stealing Australian medical records - BBC News
Medical data hacked from 10m Australians begins to appear on dark web | World news | The Guardian
How ransomware gangs and malware campaigns are changing - Help Net Security
Thales confirms hackers have released its data on the dark web | Reuters
Most SMBs Fear Ransomware Attack Amid Heightened Geopolitical Tensions - MSSP Alert
Australia to consider banning paying of ransoms to cyber criminals | Reuters
LockBit gang claims to have stolen data from Kearney & Company - Security Affairs
Azov Ransomware is a wiper, destroying data 666 bytes at a time (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware Gang Offers to Sell Files Stolen From Continental for $50 Million | SecurityWeek.Com
Canadian food retail giant Sobeys hit by Black Basta ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)
LockBit affiliate uses Amadey Bot malware to deploy ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russia-linked IRIDIUM APT linked to Prestige ransomware attacks against Ukraine - Security Affairs
US Health Dept warns of Venus ransomware targeting healthcare orgs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware attacks on hospitals take toll on patients (nbcnews.com)
Hackers post Hereford schoolchildren's data records on dark web | Hereford Times
CISA and Spain Partnership to Develop Tool to Help Countries Combat Ransomware - MSSP Alert
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Phishing threats are increasingly convincing and evasive - Help Net Security
Robin Banks phishing-as-a-service platform continues to evolve - Security Affairs
Phishing drops IceXLoader malware on thousands of home, corporate devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
Massive Phishing Campaigns Target India Banks’ Clients (trendmicro.com)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Malware
Phishing drops IceXLoader malware on thousands of home, corporate devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cloud9 Malware Offers a Paradise of Cyber attack Methods (darkreading.com)
More malware is being hidden in PNG images, so watch out | TechRadar
Attackers Using IPFS for Distributed, Bulletproof Malware Hosting | SecurityWeek.Com
Malicious extension lets attackers control Google Chrome remotely (bleepingcomputer.com)
New hacking group uses custom 'Symatic' Cobalt Strike loaders (bleepingcomputer.com)
New StrelaStealer malware steals your Outlook, Thunderbird accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mobile
5 Common Smartphone Security Myths, Debunked (makeuseof.com)
Oh, look: More malware in the Google Play store • The Register
Malicious app in the Play Store spotted distributing Xenomorph Banking Trojan - Security Affairs
Malicious droppers on Google Play deliver banking malware to victims - Help Net Security
Samsung phones are being targeted by some seriously shady zero-days | TechRadar
New BadBazaar Android malware linked to Chinese cyber spies (bleepingcomputer.com)
Worok hackers hide new malware in PNGs using steganography (bleepingcomputer.com)
Internet of Things – IoT
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
An initial access broker claims to have hacked Deutsche Bank - Security Affairs
Cyber crime costs to hit $10.5tn by 2025 hears Saudi forum - Arabian Business
Cyber crime Group OPERA1ER Stole $11M From 16 African Businesses (darkreading.com)
Instagram star gets 11 years for $300m BEC conspiracy • The Register
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
FTX says it is probing ‘abnormal transactions’ after potential hack | Financial Times
Kraken's CSO Claims To Have Identified The $600 Million FTX Hacker (coingape.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Fifth Of 18 To 34-year-olds Have Fallen Victim To Financial Scams – Information Security Buzz
Ukrainian Cyber Cops Bust $200m Fraud Ring - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Retail Sector Prepares for Annual Holiday Cyber crime Onslaught (darkreading.com)
US seized 18 web domains used for recruiting money mules (bleepingcomputer.com)
Insurance
Rising cost of cyber attacks sends insurance policy charges soaring | Financial Times (ft.com)
Just 25% of businesses are insured against cyber attacks. Here's why (theconversation.com)
Re-Focusing Cyber Insurance with Security Validation (thehackernews.com)
Swiss Re: Cyber-Insurance Industry Must Reform - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Dark Web
DoJ seizes $3.36B Bitcoin from Silk Road hacker - Security Affairs
Silk Road drugs market hacker pleads guilty, faces 20 years inside – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Hybrid Working
Attack Surface Management
Identity and Access Management
API
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Microsoft Password Hacking Increase – Information Security Buzz
False sense of safety undermines good password hygiene - Help Net Security
Password-hacking attacks are on the rise. Here's how to stop your accounts from being stolen | ZDNET
Social Media
Twitter blue check unavailable after impostor accounts erupt on platform | Twitter | The Guardian
Twitter chief information security officer Lea Kissner departs | TechCrunch
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
World Cup apps pose a data security and privacy nightmare • The Register
Surveillance 'Existential' Danger of Tech: Signal Boss | SecurityWeek.Com
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Three million empty seats: What can we do about the cyber skills shortage? (computerweekly.com)
Cyber security, cloud and coding: Why these three skills will lead demand in 2023 | ZDNET
Cyber security leaders want to quit. Here's what is pushing them to leave | ZDNET
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Red Cross seeks digital equivalent of its emblems • The Register
Russia’s New Cyberwarfare in Ukraine Is Fast, Dirty, and Relentless | WIRED
EU calls for joint cyber defence in response to Russia • The Register
Nation-State Hacker Attacks on Critical Infrastructure Soar: Microsoft | SecurityWeek.Com
What Ukraine’s cyber defence tactics can teach other nations | Financial Times (ft.com)
Russia-linked IRIDIUM APT linked to Prestige ransomware attacks against Ukraine - Security Affairs
APT29 abused Windows Credential Roaming in attacks - Security Affairs
Dutch MEP says illegal spyware ‘a grave threat to democracy’ | European Commission | The Guardian
Greece Is Banning Spyware After Predator Phone-Tapping Scandal (gizmodo.com)
British embassy security guard David Smith admits spying for Russia - BBC News
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
EU calls for joint cyber defence in response to Russia • The Register
Ukraine war: Russians kept in the dark by internet search - BBC News
Microsoft links Russia’s military to cyber attacks in Poland and Ukraine | Ars Technica
Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin admits interfering in US elections | Russia | The Guardian
Russia-linked IRIDIUM APT linked to Prestige ransomware attacks against Ukraine - Security Affairs
Nation State Actors – China
Nation State Actors – Misc
Vulnerability Management
Why CVE Management as a Primary Strategy Doesn't Work (darkreading.com)
Why it's time to review your Microsoft patch management options | CSO Online
Risk-Based Vulnerability Management: Understanding the RBVM Trend (darkreading.com)
How can CISOs catch up with the security demands of their ever-growing networks? - Help Net Security
Microsoft: Nation-state threats, zero-day attacks increasing (techtarget.com)
Types of vulnerability scanning and when to use each (techtarget.com)
Vulnerabilities
Microsoft November 2022 Patch Tuesday fixes 6 exploited zero-days, 68 flaws (bleepingcomputer.com)
VMware fixes three critical auth bypass bugs in remote access tool (bleepingcomputer.com)
Citrix ADC and Citrix Gateway are affected by a critical auth bypass - Security Affairs
Cisco Patches 33 Vulnerabilities in Enterprise Firewall Products | SecurityWeek.Com
Microsoft Patches MotW Zero-Day Exploited for Malware Delivery | SecurityWeek.Com
Apple out-of-band patches fix RCE bugs in iOS and macOS - Security Affairs
Microsoft fixes ProxyNotShell Exchange zero-days exploited in attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
SAP Patches Critical Vulnerabilities in BusinessObjects, SAPUI5 | SecurityWeek.Com
Lenovo driver goof poses security risk for users of 25 notebook models | Ars Technica
Foxit Patches Several Code Execution Vulnerabilities in PDF Reader | SecurityWeek.Com
LiteSpeed Vulnerabilities Can Lead to Complete Web Server Takeover | SecurityWeek.Com
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
What Is Threat Hunting? A Definition for MSPs and Channel Partners - MSSP Alert
Cyber security: These are the new things to worry about in 2023 | ZDNET
What We Really Mean When We Talk About ‘Cyber security’ (darkreading.com)
Personal cyber security is now a company problem - Help Net Security
History of Computer Viruses & Malware | What Was Their Impact? (esecurityplanet.com)
5 Reasons to Consolidate Your Tech Stack (thehackernews.com)
Cookies for MFA Bypass Gain Traction Among Cyber attackers (darkreading.com)
Common lateral movement techniques and how to prevent them (techtarget.com)
Beyond the Pen Test: How to Protect Against Sophisticated Cyber criminals (darkreading.com)
5 ways to overcome multifactor authentication vulnerabilities (techtarget.com)
15,000 sites hacked for massive Google SEO poisoning campaign (bleepingcomputer.com)
Unencrypted Traffic Still Undermining Wi-Fi Security (darkreading.com)
Researchers Devise Wi-Peep Drone That Can 'See Through Walls' (gizmodo.com)
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
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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 25 February 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 25 February 2022
-Britain Warns of Cyber Attacks as Russia-Ukraine Crisis Escalates
-Ransomware Extortion Doesn't Stop After Paying The Ransom
-Ukraine Calls For Volunteer Hackers To Protect Its Critical Infrastructure And Spy On Russian Forces
-Study: UK Firms Most Likely To Pay Ransomware Hackers
-Conti Ransomware Group Announces Support of Russia, Threatens Retaliatory Attacks
-91% of UK Organisations Compromised by an Email Phishing Attack in 2021
-Almost 100,000 New Mobile Banking Trojan Strains Detected In 2021
-Anonymous Collective Has Hacked The Russian Defence Ministry And Leaked The Data Of Its Employees In Response To The Ukraine Invasion
-Email Remains Go-To Method for Cyber Attacks, Phishing Research Report Finds
-The Future of Cyber Insurance
-Businesses Are at Significant Risk of Cyber Security Breaches Due to Immature Security Hygiene and Posture Management Practices
-Microsoft Teams Is The New Frontier For Phishing 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
Britain Warns of Cyber Attacks as Russia-Ukraine Crisis Escalates
Britain warned of potential cyber attacks with "international consequences" this week after Russian President Vladimir Puitin ordered troops to two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.
Britain's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a part of the GCHQ eavesdropping intelligence agency, called on British organisations to "bolster their online defences" following the developments.
"While the NCSC is not aware of any current specific threats to UK organisations in relation to events in and around Ukraine, there has been an historical pattern of cyber attacks on Ukraine with international consequences," it said in a statement.
Last week, Ukranian banking and government websites were briefly knocked offline by a spate of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks which the United States and Britain said were carried out by Russian military hackers.
Ransomware Extortion Doesn't Stop After Paying The Ransom
A global survey that looked into the experience of ransomware victims highlights the lack of trustworthiness of ransomware actors, as in most cases of paying the ransom, the extortion simply continues.
This is not a surprising or new discovery, but when seeing it reflected in actual statistics, one can appreciate the scale of the problem in full.
The survey was conducted by cyber security specialist Venafi, and the most important findings that emerge from the respondents are the following:
18% of victims who paid the ransom still had their data exposed on the dark web.
8% refused to pay the ransom, and the attackers tried to extort their customers.
35% of victims paid the ransom but were still unable to retrieve their data.
As for the ransomware actor extortion tactics, these are summarized as follows:
83% of all successful ransomware attacks featured double and triple extortion.
38% of ransomware attacks threatened to use stolen data to extort customers.
35% of ransomware attacks threatened to expose stolen data on the dark web.
32% of attacks threatened to directly inform the victim's customers of the data breach incident.
Ukraine Calls For Volunteer Hackers To Protect Its Critical Infrastructure And Spy On Russian Forces
The government of Ukraine is calling on the hacking community to volunteer its expertise and capabilities, following the invasion of the country by Russian forces.
Reuters reports that Yegor Aushev, the CEO of Kyiv-based Cyber Unit Technologies which has worked with Ukraine's government on the defence of critical infrastructure, claims to have been asked to post a digital call-to-arms after being asked by "a senior Defence Ministry official."
The message, which was posted on hacking forums by Aushev on Thursday, begins "Ukrainian cybercommunity! It’s time to get involved in the cyber defense of our country," and calls for cybersecurity experts and hackers to apply as a volunteer via a Google Docs link. The page volunteers are directed to asks applicants to list their specialities, such as if they have developed malware, and professional references.
According to Aushev, volunteers will be divided into two groups - tasked with offensive and defensive cyber operations.
Study: UK Firms Most Likely To Pay Ransomware Hackers
Some 82% of British firms which have been victims of ransomware attacks paid the hackers in order to get back their data, a new report suggests.
The global average was 58%, making the UK the most likely country to pay cyber-criminals.
Security firm Proofpoint's research also found that more than three-quarters of UK businesses were affected by ransomware in 2021.
Phishing attacks remain the key way criminals access networks, it found.
Phishing happens when someone in a firm is lured into clicking on a link in an email that contains malware, which in turn can help cyber-criminals access company networks.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60478725
Conti Ransomware Group Announces Support of Russia, Threatens Retaliatory Attacks
An infamous ransomware group with potential ties to Russian intelligence and known for attacking health care providers and hundreds of other targets posted a warning Friday saying it was “officially announcing a full support of Russian government.”
The gang said that it would use “all possible resources to strike back at the critical infrastructures” of any entity that organises a cyberattack “or any war activities against Russia.” The message appeared Friday on the dark-web site used by ransomware group Conti to post threats and its victims’ data. Security researchers believe the gang to be Russia-based.
Conti ransomware was part of more than 400 attacks against mostly U.S. targets between spring 2020 and spring 2021, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI reported in September.
https://www.cyberscoop.com/conti-ransomware-russia-ukraine-critical-infrastructure/
91% of UK Organisations Compromised by an Email Phishing Attack in 2021
More than nine in 10 (91%) UK organizations were successfully compromised by an email phishing attack last year, according to Proofpoint’s 2022 State of the Phish report.
The study observed a significant rise in email-based attacks globally in 2021 compared to 2020. Over three-quarters (78%) of organizations were targeted by email-based ransomware attacks last year and 77% faced business email compromise (BEC) attacks, the latter an 18% year-on-year increase from 2020.
The survey of 600 information and IT security professionals and 3500 workers in the US, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Spain and the UK also found that attacks in 2021 were more likely to be successful than in 2020. More than four in five (83%) respondents said their organization experienced at least one successful email-based phishing attack last year, up from 57% in 2020. In addition, 68% of organizations admitted they had to deal with at least one ransomware infection stemming from a direct email payload, second-stage malware delivery or other exploit.
Worryingly, 60% of organizations infected with ransomware admitted to paying a ransom, with around a third (32%) paying additional sums to regain access to data and systems.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/uk-organizations-email-phishing/
Almost 100,000 New Mobile Banking Trojan Strains Detected In 2021
Researchers have found almost 100,000 new variants of mobile banking Trojans in just a year.
As our digital lives have begun to centre more on handsets rather than just desktop PCs, many malware developers have shifted part of their focus to the creation of mobile threats.
Many of the traditional infection routes are still workable -- including phishing and the download and execution of suspicious software -- but cyber attackers are also known to infiltrate official app stores, including Google Play, to lure handset owners into downloading software that appears to be trustworthy.
This technique is often associated with the distribution of Remote Access Trojans (RATs). While Google maintains security barriers to stop malicious apps from being hosted in its store, there are methods to circumvent these controls quietly.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/almost-100000-new-mobile-banking-trojans-detected-in-2021/
Anonymous Collective Has Hacked The Russian Defence Ministry And Leaked The Data Of Its Employees In Response To The Ukraine Invasion
A few hours after the Anonymous collective has called to action against Russia following the illegitimate invasion of Ukraine its members have taken down the website of the Russian propaganda station RT News and news of the day is the attack against the servers of the Russian Defense Ministry.
“Anonymous, a group of hacktivists, successfully hacked and leaked the database of the website of the Ministry of Defense of Russia.” reported the Pravda agency.
The website of the Kremlin (Kremlin.ru) is also unreachable, but it is unclear if it is the result of the Anonymous attack or if the government has taken offline it to prevent disruptive attacks.
The Russian Government’s portal, and the websites of other ministries are running very slow.
The collective is also threatening the Russian Federation and private organizations of attacks, it is a retaliation against Putin’s tyranny.
Anonymous pointed out that it is not targeting Russian citizens, but only their government.
“We want the Russian people to understand that we know it’s hard for them to speak out against their dictator for fear of reprisals.”
https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/128428/hacking/anonymous-russian-defense-ministry.html
Email Remains Go-To Method for Cyber Attacks, Phishing Research Report Finds
If you don’t know what it is, if you can’t identify it and if you can’t make sure you don’t topple into its traps, then you can’t fight it, suggests a new report by security provider Proofpoint in its eighth annual State of the Phish report.
The “it” is email-based malware attacks, the kingpin of all hacking methods, that victims often fall for out of a lack of awareness, inadequate training or risky behaviours, such as using a company mobile device for home use.
Proofpoint’s report takes an in-depth look at user phishing awareness, vulnerability and resilience and comes away with some startling numbers: More than three-quarters of organizations associated with the 4,100 IT security professionals and staffers in the worldwide study were hit by email-based ransomware attacks in 2021 and an equal number were victimized by business email compromise attacks, an 18 percent spike from 2020.
What explains the year-over-year climb? Answer: Cyber criminals continue to focus on compromising people, not necessarily systems, Proofpoint said. Email remains cyber criminals’ go-to attack strategy, said Alan Lefort, Proofpoint security awareness training senior vice president and general manager. “Infosec and IT survey participants experienced an increase in targeted attacks in 2021 compared to 2020, yet our analysis showed the recognition of key security terminology such as phishing, malware, smishing (text-based ruse), and vishing (telephone trickery) dropped significantly,” said Lefort. “The awareness gaps and lax security behaviors demonstrated by workers creates substantial risk for organizations and their bottom line.”
The Future of Cyber Insurance
In 2016, just 26% of insurance clients had cyber coverage. That number rose to 47% in 2020, according to a US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. But the demand for cyber coverage isn't the only thing soaring.
At the end of 2020, insurance prices jumped anywhere from 10% to 30%. In the third quarter of 2021, the average cost of cyber insurance premiums climbed a record 27.6%.
If the rates continue to rise, companies might decide it's not worth the cost. That is, if insurers continue to cover their industry.
https://www.darkreading.com/risk/the-future-of-cyber-insurance
Businesses Are at Significant Risk of Cyber Security Breaches Due to Immature Security Hygiene and Posture Management Practices
Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), a leading IT analyst, research, and strategy firm, and a division of TechTarget, Inc., today announced new research into security hygiene and posture management – a foundational part of a strong security program. The study reveals that many aspects of cyber security are managed independently and with antiquated tools, leaving organisations with limited visibility and weak defenses against an ever-evolving threat landscape. Since strong cybersecurity starts with the basics, like knowing about all IT assets deployed, this situation makes organisations vulnerable to advanced threats among strategic, yet often hurried, cloud and digital transformation initiatives.
The new report, Security Hygiene and Posture Management, summarizes a survey of 398 IT and cyber security professionals responsible for evaluating, purchasing, and utilizing products and services for security hygiene and posture management, including vulnerability management, asset management, attack surface management, and security testing tools. The data reveals that organisations must aim to further assess security posture management processes, examine vendor risk management requirements, and test security tool and processes more frequently.
Microsoft Teams Is The New Frontier For Phishing Attacks
Even with email-based phishing attacks proving to be more successful than ever, cyberattackers are ramping up their efforts to target employees on additional platforms, such as Microsoft Teams and Slack.
One advantage is that in those applications, most employees still assume that they’re actually talking to their boss or coworker when they receive a message.
“The scary part is that we trust these programs implicitly — unlike our email inboxes, where we’ve learned to be suspicious of messages where we don’t recognize the sender’s address,” said anti-fraud technology firm Outseer.
Notably, traditional phishing has seen no slowdown: Proofpoint reported that 83% of organizations experienced a successful email-based phishing attack in 2021 — a massive jump from 57% in 2020. And outside of email, SMS attacks (smishing) and voice-based attacks (vishing) both grew in 2021, as well, according to the email security vendor.
However, it appears that attackers now view widely used collaboration platforms, such as Microsoft Teams and Slack, as another growing opportunity for targeting workers, security researchers and executives say. For some threat actors, it’s also a chance to leverage the additional capabilities of collaboration apps as part of the trickery.
https://venturebeat.com/2022/02/23/microsoft-teams-is-the-new-frontier-for-phishing-attacks/
Threats
Ransomware
Russia-Based Ransomware Group Conti Issues Warning To Kremlin Foes | Reuters
Conti Ransomware 'Acquires' TrickBot as It Thrives Amid Crackdowns | SecurityWeek.Com
Ransomware Is Top Attack Vector On Critical Infrastructure | CSO Online
TrickBot Malware Operation Shuts Down, Devs Move To Stealthier Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft Exchange Servers Hacked To Deploy Cuba Ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Attackers Used Dridex To Deliver Entropy Ransomware, Code Resemblance Uncovered - Help Net Security
Expeditors Shuts Down Global Operations After Likely Ransomware Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Chipmaker Giant Nvidia Hit By A Ransomware Attack - Security Affairs
Backups ‘No Longer Effective’ For Stopping Ransomware Attacks (computerweekly.com)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Phishing & Email
Cyber Attackers Leverage DocuSign to Steal Microsoft Outlook Logins | Threatpost
New Phishing Campaign Targets Monzo Online-Banking Customers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Devious Phishing Method Bypasses MFA Using Remote Access Software (bleepingcomputer.com)
Other Social Engineering
Malware
Over 2.7 Million Cases Of Emotet Malware Detected Globally - Japan Today
Jester Stealer Malware Adds More Capabilities To Entice Hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Beware: New Kraken Botnet Easily Fools Windows Defender And Steals Crypto Wallet Data - Neowin
Threat Actors Target Poorly Protected Microsoft SQL Servers - Security Affairs
New Golang Botnet Empties Windows Users’ Cryptocurrency Wallets (bleepingcomputer.com)
Revamped CryptBot Malware Spread By Pirated Software Sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Social Media Hijacking Malware Spreading Through Gaming Apps on Microsoft Store (thehackernews.com)
Mobile
New Xenomorph Android Malware Targets Customers Of 56 Banks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Gaming, Banking Trojans Dominate Mobile Malware Scene | Threatpost
Samsung Shipped '100m' Android Phones With Flawed Encryption • The Register
Data Breaches/Leaks
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Police Dismantled Gang That Used Phishing Sites To Steal Credit Cards - Security Affairs
Nigerian Hacker Pleads Guilty To Stealing Payroll Deposits (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Employees Are Often Using Devices In Seriously Risky Ways - Help Net Security
Insider Threats Are More Than Just Malicious Employees (darkreading.com)
83% Of Employees Continue Accessing Old Employer's Accounts - Help Net Security
Motorola Case Shows Importance Of Detecting Insider IP Theft Quickly | CSO Online
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Think You Couldn't Be Duped By a Con Artist? Think Again | Psychology Today
French Speakers Blasted By Sextortion Scams With No Text Or Links – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Digital Ad Fraud Set to Hit $68bn in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine
Supply Chain
Nation State Actors
Russia-Backed Hackers Behind Powerful New Malware, UK and US Say | Russia | The Guardian
Ransomware Used as Decoy in Destructive Cyber Attacks on Ukraine | SecurityWeek.Com
Data Wiper Attacks On Ukraine Were Planned At Least In November - Security Affairs
Russia’s Sandworm Hackers Have Built a Botnet of Firewalls | WIRED
China-linked APT10 Target Taiwan's Financial Trading Industry - Security Affairs
US and UK Details a New Python Backdoor Used by MuddyWater APT - Security Affairs
Privacy
Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare
Sector Specific
Financial Services Sector
Defence
Health/Medical/Pharma Sector
Construction
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
War in Ukraine Risks Scrambling the Logic of Cyber Security | Financial Times (ft.com)
Russia-Ukraine War: Phishing, Malware and Hacker Groups Taking Sides (thehackernews.com)
22 Very Bad Stats On The Growth Of Phishing, Ransomware | VentureBeat
Data Leaks And Shadow Assets Greatly Exposing Organisations To Cyber Attacks - Help Net Security
50% of Websites Vulnerable to Hacking All Year in 2021, New Report Says - MSSP Alert
Is Multifactor Authentication Less Effective Than It Used To Be? (slate.com)
How To Keep Pace With Rising Data Protection Demands - Help Net Security
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