Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 03 February 2023

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

• Business Leaders Need a Hands-on Approach to Stop Cyber Crime, Says Spy Chief

Business leaders must not see cyber crime as “just a technical issue” that can be left up to IT departments, said Lindy Cameron, chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).  Ms Cameron later commented that “In the world of cyber security, the new year has brought with it some sadly familiar themes - a continuation of cyber incidents affecting organisations large and small as well as the British public”.

Along with this, came the urge for business leaders to step up their efforts in combating cyber crime by taking an active interest and educating themselves on the subject.  When commenting upon board members’ level of understanding, Ms Cameron said “I’d also encourage board members to develop a basic understanding of cyber security, which can help when seeking assurances from IT teams about the resilience of an organisation - in a similar way that leaders have a certain level of understanding of finance to assess financial health”.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/28/business-leaders-need-hands-on-approach-stop-cyber-crime-says/

• Rising ‘Firebrick Ostrich’ BEC Group Launches Industrial Scale Cyber Attacks

Business email compromise (BEC) has become one of the most popular methods of financially motivated hacking. And over the past year, one group in particular has demonstrated just how quick, easy, and lucrative it really is.

"Firebrick Ostrich" is a threat actor that's been performing BEC at a near-industrial scale. Since April 2021, the group has carried out more than 350 BEC campaigns, impersonating 151 organisations and utilising 212 malicious domains in the process. This volume of attacks is made possible by the group's wholesale gunslinging approach. Firebrick Ostrich doesn't discriminate much when it comes to targets, or gather exceptional intelligence in order to craft the perfect phishing bait. It throws darts at a wall because, evidently, when it comes to BEC at scale, that's enough.

BEC is attractive to bad actors due to the lower barriers to entry than malware, less risk, faster scaling opportunities, and way more profit potential to higher echelons than other methods of attack. These factors may explain why such attacks are absolutely the emerging trend, potentially even leaving even ransomware in the dust. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of these groups out there.

https://www.darkreading.com/remote-workforce/rising-firebrick-ostrich-bec-group-launches-industrial-scale-cyberattacks

• The Corporate World is Losing its Grip on Cyber Risk

Lloyd's of London’s insurance market prides itself on being able to put a price on anything, from Tina Turner’s legs or Bruce Springsteen’s vocal cords, to the risk that a bounty hunter might claim the reward from Cutty Sark Whisky in the 1970s for capturing the Loch Ness monster.

But from the end of March, there will be something it won’t price: systemic cyber risk, or the type of major, catastrophic disruption caused by state-backed cyber warfare. In one sense, this isn’t surprising. Insurance policies typically exclude acts of war. Russia’s NotPetya attack on Ukraine in 2017 showed how state-backed cyber assaults can surpass traditional definitions of armed conflict and overspill their sovereign target to hit global businesses. It caused an estimated $10bn in damages and years of wrangling between companies like pharma group Merck and snack maker Mondelez and their insurers.

But the move is prompting broader questions about the growing pains in this corner of the insurance world. “Cyber insurance isn’t working anywhere at the moment as a public good for society,” says Ciaran Martin, former head of the UK National Cyber Security Centre. “It has a huge role to play in improving defences in a market-based economy and it has been a huge disappointment in that sense so far.”

The Lloyd’s move is designed, say insurers, to clarify rather than restrict coverage. Whether it succeeds is another matter: this is a murky world, where cyber crime groups operate with impunity in certain jurisdictions.

https://www.ft.com/content/78bfdf29-1e20-4c12-a348-06e98d5ae906

• Microsoft Reveals Over 100 Threat Actors are Deploying Ransomware in Attacks

Microsoft revealed this week that its security teams are tracking over 100 threat actors deploying ransomware during attacks. In all, the company says it monitors over 50 unique ransomware families, with some of the most prominent ransomware payloads in recent campaigns including Lockbit, BlackCat (aka ALPHV), Play, Vice Society, Black Basta, and Royal.

Microsoft said that defence strategies should focus less on payloads themselves but more on the chain of activities that lead to their deployment, since ransomware gangs are still targeting servers and devices not yet patched against common or recently addressed vulnerabilities.

Furthermore, while new ransomware families launch all the time, most threat actors utilise the same tactics when breaching and spreading through networks, making the effort of detecting such behaviour even more helpful in thwarting their attacks.

Attackers are increasingly relying on tactics beyond phishing to conduct their attacks, with threat actors for example capitalising on recently patched Exchange Server vulnerabilities to hack vulnerable servers and deploy Cuba and Play ransomware.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/microsoft-over-100-threat-actors-deploy-ransomware-in-attacks/

• Ransomware Conversations: Why the CFO is Pivotal to Discussing and Preparing for Risk

With the amount of cyber attacks in all industries, organisations are beginning to grasp the significance of cyber risk and how it is integral to protecting and maintaining an efficient business. In fact, the first half of 2022 alone saw 236.1 million cases of ransomware.

Whilst the expectation for responsibility has typically fallen on Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) are just as vital in managing cyber risk, which is now inherently also business risk.  The CFO plays an important part in determining whether cyber security incidents will become material and affect the business more seriously. Their insight is critical across many areas which include ransomware, cyber insurance, regulatory compliance and budget management.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2023/02/02/ransomware-conversations-why-the-cfo-is-pivotal-to-discussing-and-preparing-for-risk

• Greater Incident Complexity, a Shift in How Threat Actors Use Stolen Data Will Drive the Cyber Threat Landscape in 2023

Insurance provider Beazley released their Cyber Services Snapshot Report which claims the cyber security landscape will be influenced by greater complexity and the way threat actors use stolen data. The report also found that as a category, fraudulent instruction experienced a growth as a cause of loss in 2022, up 13% year-over year. 

In response to vulnerabilities such as fraudulent instructions, the report suggests organisations must get smarter about educating users to spot things such as spoofed emails or domain names. The report also cautions organisations to watch for social engineering, spear phishing, bypassing of multi-factor authentication (MFA), targeting of managed service providers (MSP) and the compromise of cloud environments as areas of vulnerability.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/greater-incident-complexity-a-shift-in-the-way-threat-actors-use-stolen-data-and-a-rise-in-us-class-actions-will-drive-the-cyber-threat-landscape-in-2023-according-to-beazley-report

• The Threat from Within: 71% of Business Leaders Surveyed Think Next Cyber Security Breach Will Come from the Inside

A survey conducted by IT provider EisnerAmper found that 71% of business executives worry about accidental internal staff error as one of the top threats facing their organisation and 23% of these worried about malicious intent by an employee. In comparison, 75% of business executives had concerns about external hackers. The survey also asked about current safety measures, with 51% responding that they were “somewhat prepared”. Despite this, only 50% of respondents reported conducting regular cyber security training. 

https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/the-threat-from-within-71-of-business-leaders-surveyed-think-next-cybersecurity-breach-will-come-from-the-inside

• 98% of Organisations Have a Supply Chain Relationship That Has Been Breached

A report from SecurityScorecard found that 98% of organisations have a relationship with at least one third party that has experienced a breach in the last two years, while more than 50% have an indirect relationship with more than 200 fourth parties that have been breached. Of course, this is keeping in mind that not all organisations disclose or even know they have been breached.

https://www.securityweek.com/98-of-firms-have-a-supply-chain-relationship-that-has-been-breached-analysis/

• New Survey Reveals 40% of Companies Experienced a Data Leak in the Past Year

Software provider SysKit has published a report on the effects of digital transformation on IT administrators and the current governance landscape. The report found that 40% of organisations experienced a data leak in the previous year. A data leak can have severe consequences on an organisation's efficiency and the impact can lead to large fines, downtime, and loss of business-critical certifications and customers.

In addition, the Survey found that the biggest challenge for IT administrators was a lack of understanding from superiors, huge workloads and misalignment of IT and business strategies.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/new-survey-reveals-40-of-companies-experienced-a-data-leak-in-the-past-year

• Russian Hackers Launch Cyber Attack on Germany in Leopard Tank Retaliation

The websites of key German administrations, including companies and airports, have been targeted by cyber attacks, the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) stated.

The BSI commented they had been informed of DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks “currently in progress against targets in Germany". This was followed by the statement that “Individual targets in the financial sector” and federal government sites were also attacked, with some websites becoming temporarily unavailable.  It is believed that this is due to the approved deployment of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, with Russian hacker site Killnet taking credit.

https://www.euronews.com/2023/01/26/russian-hackers-launch-cyberattack-on-germany-in-leopard-retaliation

• Financial Services Targeted in 28% of UK Cyber Attacks Last Year

Based on data from security provider Imperva, security researchers have identified that over a quarter (28%) of all cyber attacks in the UK hit the financial services and insurance (FSI) industry in the last 12 months. The data also found that Application Programme Interface (API) attacks, malicious automated software and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks were the most challenging for the industry. In addition, the data found that roughly 40% of all account takeover attempts were targeted at the FSI industry.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/quarter-cyber-attacks-uk-financial/

• Phishing Attacks are Getting Scarily Sophisticated. Here’s What to Watch Out For

Hackers are going to great lengths, including mimicking real people and creating and updating fake social media profiles, to trick victims into clicking phishing links and handing over usernames and passwords. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) warns that these phishing attacks are targeting a range of sectors.

The NCSC has also released mitigation advice to help organisations and individuals protect themselves online. The mitigation advice included the use of strong passwords, separate to other accounts; enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA); and applying the latest security updates.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/phishing-attacks-are-getting-scarily-sophisticated-heres-what-to-watch-out-for/

• City of London on High Alert After Ransomware Attack

A suspected ransomware attack on a key supplier of trading software to the City of London this week appears to have disrupted activity in the derivatives market. The company impacted, Ion Cleared Derivatives, is investigating. It is reported that 42 clients were impacted by the attack.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/city-of-london-high-alert/

• JD Sports Warns of 10 Million Customers Put at Risk in Cyber Attack

Sportswear retailer JD Sports said it was the victim of a cyber attack that exposed the data of 10 million customers, in the latest spate of hacks on UK companies.

JD Sports explained that the attack involved unauthorised access to a system that contained “the name, billing address, delivery address, phone number, order details and the final four digits of payment cards”. The data related to customers’ orders made between November 2018 and October 2020, with outdoor gear companies Millets and Blacks also impacted. A full review with cyber security and external specialists is underway.

https://www.ft.com/content/afe00f2f-afcd-478f-9e4d-1cf9c943fa79

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Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

• City Of London Traders Hit By Russia-Linked Cyber Attack (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• New Nevada Ransomware targets Windows and VMware ESXi systems (bleepingcomputer.com)

• City of London on High Alert After Ransomware Attack - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Ransomware conversations: Why the CFO is pivotal to discussing and preparing for risk - IT Security Guru

• US puts a $10m bounty on Hive while Russia shuts down access • The Register

• Copycat Criminals mimicking Lockbit gang in northern Europe security affairs

• Ransom-what? Learning from Hacked Hackers (secureworld.io)

• Most criminal cryptocurrency is funneled through just 5 exchanges | Ars Technica

• Council leader 'put her foot down' and refused to pay multi-million pound ransom demand from hackers - Teesside Live (gazettelive.co.uk)

• 6 Ransomware Trends & Evolutions For 2023 (trendmicro.com)

• Cyber Attack Hits Derivatives Unit of Trading Software Firm ION - Bloomberg

• Regulators weigh in on ION attack as LockBit takes credit • The Register

• New Mimic Ransomware Abuses Windows Search Engine (cyber securitynews.com)

• Stratford University discloses ransomware attack — but which ransomware attack? (databreaches.net)

• Schools don't pay, but ransomware attacks still increasing | TechTarget

• Poser Hackers Impersonate LockBit in SMB Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)

• Risk & Repeat: The FBI's Hive ransomware takedown | TechTarget

• Nevada Ransomware Has Released Upgraded Locker security affairs

• LockBit Green ransomware variant borrows code from Conti one security affairs

• Arnold Clark customer data stolen in attack claimed by Play ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ransomware attacks on public sector persist in January | TechTarget

• Ransomware attack on data firm ION could take days to fix -sources | Reuters

• APT groups use ransomware TTPs as cover for intelligence gathering and sabotage | CSO Online

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Phishing attacks are getting scarily sophisticated. Here's what to watch out for | ZDNET

• BEC Group Uses Open Source Tactics in Hundreds of Attacks - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Rising ‘Firebrick Ostrich’ BEC Group Launches Industrial-Scale Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)

• Porsche halts NFT launch, phishing sites fill the void (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Phishers Trick Microsoft Into Granting Them 'Verified' Cloud Partner Status (darkreading.com)

• DocuSign Brand Impersonation Attack Bypasses Security Measures, Targets Over 10,000 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

BEC – Business Email Compromise

• BEC Group Uses Open Source Tactics in Hundreds of Attacks - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Rising ‘Firebrick Ostrich’ BEC Group Launches Industrial-Scale Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

• New 'Pig Butchering' Scam in West Africa Impersonates US Financial Advisors - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Long Con Impersonates Financial Advisers to Target Victims (darkreading.com)

2FA/MFA

• Facebook Bug Allows 2FA Bypass Via Instagram (darkreading.com)

Malware

• How Can Disrupting DNS Communications Thwart a Malware Attack? (darkreading.com)

• Hackers use new IceBreaker malware to breach gaming companies (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New Threat: Stealthy HeadCrab Malware Compromised Over 1,200 Redis Servers (thehackernews.com)

• PoS malware can block contactless payments to steal credit cards (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Experts Uncover the Identity of Mastermind Behind Golden Chickens Malware Service (thehackernews.com)

• New APT34 Malware Targets The Middle East (trendmicro.com)

• HeadCrab malware targets Redis to mine cryptocurrency | TechTarget

• Malvertising attacks are distributing .NET malware loaders • The Register

• Hackers weaponize Microsoft Visual Studio add-ins to push malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

Mobile

• Google Fi data breach let hackers carry out SIM swap attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Over 1,800 Android phishing forms for sale on cyber crime market (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Mobile phone fraud: 'They stole £22,500 using my banking app' - BBC News

Botnets

• New Threat: Stealthy HeadCrab Malware Compromised Over 1,200 Redis Servers (thehackernews.com)

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

• Killnet Attackers DDoS US and Dutch Hospitals - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• New DDoS-as-a-Service platform used in recent attacks on hospitals (bleepingcomputer.com)

Internet of Things – IoT

• IoT, connected devices biggest contributors to expanding application attack surface | CSO Online

• European IoT Manufacturers Lag in Vulnerability Disclosure (databreachtoday.co.uk)

• Realtek Vulnerability Under Attack: Over 134 Million Attempts to Hack IoT Devices (thehackernews.com)

• Anker finally comes clean about its Eufy security cameras - The Verge

Data Breaches/Leaks

• JD Sports warns data of 10mn customers put at risk in cyber attack | Financial Times (ft.com)

• New Survey Reveals 40% of Companies Experienced a Data Leak in the Past Year (darkreading.com)

• Planet Ice hacked! 240,000 skating fans' details stolen (bitdefender.com)

• If a locked filing cabinet is stolen along with its key, can you still say it’s locked? GoTo thinks you can • Graham Cluley

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Cyber crime job ads on the dark web pay up to $20k per month (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Most criminal cryptocurrency is funneled through just 5 exchanges | Ars Technica

• How $6 Can Buy Hacked Social Media & Streaming Accounts From the Dark Web, Whizcase Study Reveals (darkreading.com)

• Cyber crime Ecosystem Spawns Lucrative Underground Gig Economy (darkreading.com)

• Cyber crime job ads on the dark web pay up to $20k per month (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Developers, Attackers Top List of Most In Demand Dark Web Jobs, Kaspersky Reports - MSSP Alert

• Report on hackers' salaries shows poor wages for developers • The Register

• 6 Examples of the Evolution of a Scam Site (darkreading.com)

• Cyber Insights 2023: Criminal Gangs - SecurityWeek

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• ‘Everything is fake’: how global crime gangs are using UK shell companies in multi-million pound crypto scams | Organised crime | The Guardian

• Most criminal cryptocurrency is funneled through just 5 exchanges | Ars Technica

• FBI: North Korea’s Lazarus Group behind $100m crypto attack • The Register

• Oxford student jailed for £2m crypto theft after PhD blunder | News | The Times

• Porsche halts NFT launch, phishing sites fill the void (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Crypto theft: North Korea-linked hackers stole $1.7b in 2022 - BBC News

• HeadCrab malware targets Redis to mine cryptocurrency | TechTarget

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Insider attacks becoming more frequent, more difficult to detect - Help Net Security

• The Threat from Within: 71% of Business Leaders Surveyed Think Next Cyber security Breach Will Come from the Inside (darkreading.com)

• Are Your Employees Thinking Critically About Their Online Behaviours? (darkreading.com)

• The next cyber threat may come from within - Help Net Security

• Insider threats: The cyber risks lurking in the dark (betanews.com)

• Executives Worry Equally About Insider Cyber Errors, Outsider Threats: How MSSPs Can Help - MSSP Alert

• Former Ubiquiti dev pleads guilty to data theft, extortion • The Register

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• ‘Everything is fake’: how global crime gangs are using UK shell companies in multi-million pound crypto scams | Organised crime | The Guardian

• New 'Pig Butchering' Scam in West Africa Impersonates US Financial Advisors - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• FBI: North Korea’s Lazarus Group behind $100m crypto attack • The Register

• Oxford student jailed for £2m crypto theft after PhD blunder | News | The Times

• Porsche halts NFT launch, phishing sites fill the void (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Russian Millionaire on Trial in Hack, Insider Trade Scheme - SecurityWeek

• 6 Examples of the Evolution of a Scam Site (darkreading.com)

• Mobile phone fraud: 'They stole £22,500 using my banking app' - BBC News

• Crypto theft: North Korea-linked hackers stole $1.7b in 2022 - BBC News

• Romance fraud losses rose 91% during the pandemic, claims UK's TSB bank | Tripwire

• Romance Fraudsters Have Stolen £65m From Brits Since 2020 (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

Impersonation Attacks

• DocuSign Brand Impersonation Attack Bypasses Security Measures, Targets Over 10,000 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Why CISOs Should Care About Brand Impersonation Scam Sites (darkreading.com)

AML/CFT/Sanctions

• As the anti-money laundering perimeter expands, who needs to be compliant, and how? - Help Net Security

Insurance

• 4 Cyber Insurance Requirement Predictions for 2023 (trendmicro.com)

Dark Web

• There’s a Wild Scramble for Control of the Dark Web Taking Place in Russia (vice.com)

• How $6 Can Buy Hacked Social Media & Streaming Accounts From the Dark Web, Whizcase Study Reveals (darkreading.com)

• Cyber crime job ads on the dark web pay up to $20k per month (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Developers, Attackers Top List of Most In Demand Dark Web Jobs, Kaspersky Reports - MSSP Alert

• Report on hackers' salaries shows poor wages for developers • The Register

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• 98% of Firms Have a Supply Chain Relationship That Has Been Breached: Analysis - SecurityWeek

• Almost all Organisations are Working with Recently Breached Vendors - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• 50% of organisations have indirect relationships with 200+ breached fourth-party vendors - Help Net Security

• Cyber attack Impact “Catastrophic” for Third Parties, New Study Finds MSSPs at Risk? - MSSP Alert

• New “MITRE ATT&CK-like” framework outlines software supply chain attack TTPs | CSO Online

• CISA to Open Supply Chain Risk Management Office (darkreading.com)

• Cyber Insights 2023 | Supply Chain Security - SecurityWeek

Cloud/SaaS

• Misconfiguration and vulnerabilities biggest risks in cloud security: Report | CSO Online

• Hybrid cloud storage security challenges - Help Net Security

• Short-staffed SOCs struggle to gain visibility into cloud activities - Help Net Security

Containers

• Researchers Claim High-Risk Vulnerabilities Found in 87% of All Container Images - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Encryption

• Serious Security: The Samba logon bug caused by outdated crypto – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Encryption Explained: At Rest, In Transit & End-To-End Encryption | Splunk

• Cyber Insights 2023 | Quantum Computing and the Coming Cryptopocalypse - SecurityWeek

API

• The emergence of trinity attacks on APIs - Help Net Security

• API management (APIM): What It Is and Where It’s Going security affairs

Open Source

• Microsoft upgrades Defender to lock down Linux devices • The Register

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

• Bitwarden Password Manager users are being targeted by phishing ads on Google- gHacks Tech News

• KeePass disputes vulnerability allowing stealthy password theft (bleepingcomputer.com)

Social Media

• Inside TikTok’s proposal to address US national security concerns | CyberScoop

• Facebook Bug Allows 2FA Bypass Via Instagram (darkreading.com)

Malvertising

• Malvertising attacks are distributing .NET malware loaders • The Register

Training, Education and Awareness

• Are Your Employees Thinking Critically About Their Online Behaviours? (darkreading.com)

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• Regulators weigh in on ION attack as LockBit takes credit • The Register

• New UN cyber crime convention has a long way to go in a tight timeframe | CSO Online

Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Business leaders need hands-on approach to stop cyber crime, says spy chief (telegraph.co.uk)

• New Survey Reveals 40% of Companies Experienced a Data Leak in the Past Year (darkreading.com)

• Financial Services Targeted in 28% of UK Cyber-Attacks Last Year - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• 70% of CIOs anticipate their involvement in cyber security to increase - Help Net Security

• Cyber security Budgets Are Going Up. So Why Aren't Breaches Going Down? (thehackernews.com)

• Ransomware conversations: Why the CFO is pivotal to discussing and preparing for risk - IT Security Guru

• You Don't Know Where Your Secrets Are (thehackernews.com)

• Inability to prevent bad things from happening seen as the worst part of a security job - Help Net Security

• The corporate world is losing its grip on cyber risk | Financial Times (ft.com)

• IT and Security Professionals Spend an Average of 4,300 Hours Annually Achieving or Maintaining Compliance (darkreading.com)

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

• Inability to prevent bad things from happening seen as the worst part of a security job - Help Net Security

• Thriving Dark Web Trade in Fake Security Certifications - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• The Effect of Cyber security Layoffs on Cyber security Recruitment - SecurityWeek

• Economic headwinds could deepen the cyber security skills shortage | CSO Online

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

• 7 Ways Hive Ransomware Gang Caused Chaos Before FBI Hacked It (gizmodo.com)

• US puts a $10m bounty on Hive while Russia shuts down access • The Register

• Hacker accused of having stolen personal data of all Austrians security affairs

• Alleged ShinyHunters gang member in US court • The Register

• Risk & Repeat: The FBI's Hive ransomware takedown | TechTarget

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

• On Data Privacy Day, Organisations Fail Data Privacy Expectations (darkreading.com)

• Hacker accused of having stolen personal data of all Austrians security affairs

• Enterprises Need to Do More to Assure Consumers About Privacy (darkreading.com)

Artificial Intelligence

• Foreign states already using ChatGPT maliciously, UK IT leaders believe | CSO Online

• OpenAI releases tool to detect AI-written text (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Reality check: Is ChatGPT really the next big cyber security threat? | CyberScoop

• Cyber Insights 2023: Artificial Intelligence - SecurityWeek

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda

• Google deletes 50,000 pro-China fake-news vids and blogs • The Register

• Google: Influence Operator Dragonbridge Floods Social Media in Sprawling Cyber Campaign (darkreading.com)

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

• Iranian APT Leaks Data From Saudi Arabia Government Under New Persona - SecurityWeek

• Ukraine Links Media Centre Attack to Russian Intelligence (govinfosecurity.com)

• Latvia confirms phishing attack on Ministry of Defence, linking it to Russian hacking group - The Record from Recorded Future News

• British Cyber Agency Warns of Russian and Iranian Hackers Targeting Key Industries (thehackernews.com)

• Russia-Linked APT29 Uses New Malware in Embassy Attacks - SecurityWeek

• Russia's Sandworm APT Launches Swarm of Wiper Attacks in Ukraine (darkreading.com)

• Russia-linked Hackers Launch DDoS Attacks on Germany and US. Hospitals, Threaten Canada - MSSP Alert

• Latvia says Russian hackers tried to phish its Ministry of Defence (bitdefender.com)

• Inside Killnet: Pro-Russia Hacktivist Group's Support and Influence Grows (darkreading.com)

• New APT34 Malware Targets The Middle East (trendmicro.com)

• Lazarus Group Attack Identified After Operational Security Fail - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Crypto theft: North Korea-linked hackers stole $1.7b in 2022 - BBC News

• North Korean hackers stole research data in two-month-long breach (bleepingcomputer.com)

• APT groups use ransomware TTPs as cover for intelligence gathering and sabotage | CSO Online

• Cyber Insights 2023: The Geopolitical Effect - SecurityWeek

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Russian Nuisance Hacking Group KillNet Targets Germany (govinfosecurity.com)

• Russian hackers launch cyber attack on Germany in Leopard retaliation | Euronews

• Ukraine Links Media Centre Attack to Russian Intelligence (govinfosecurity.com)

• Latvia confirms phishing attack on Ministry of Defence, linking it to Russian hacking group - The Record from Recorded Future News

• A Link to News Site Meduza Can (Technically) Land You in Russian Prison | WIRED

• British Cyber Agency Warns of Russian and Iranian Hackers Targeting Key Industries (thehackernews.com)

• Russia-Linked APT29 Uses New Malware in Embassy Attacks - SecurityWeek

• Russia's Sandworm APT Launches Swarm of Wiper Attacks in Ukraine (darkreading.com)

• Russia-linked Hackers Launch DDoS Attacks on Germany and US. Hospitals, Threaten Canada - MSSP Alert

• Latvia says Russian hackers tried to phish its Ministry of Defence (bitdefender.com)

• Killnet Attackers DDoS US and Dutch Hospitals - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• IT Army of Ukraine gained access to 1.5GB archive from Gazprom security affairs

• There’s a Wild Scramble for Control of the Dark Web Taking Place in Russia (vice.com)

• Inside Killnet: Pro-Russia Hacktivist Group's Support and Influence Grows (darkreading.com)

Nation State Actors – China

• Google deletes 50,000 pro-China fake-news vids and blogs • The Register

• Google: Influence Operator Dragonbridge Floods Social Media in Sprawling Cyber Campaign (darkreading.com)

• TikTok CEO to testify before US. Congress over security concerns | Reuters

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• FBI: North Korea’s Lazarus Group behind $100m crypto attack • The Register

• Lazarus Group Attack Identified After Operational Security Fail - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Crypto theft: North Korea-linked hackers stole $1.7b in 2022 - BBC News

• North Korean hackers stole research data in two-month-long breach (bleepingcomputer.com)

Nation State Actors – Iran

• Iranian APT Leaks Data From Saudi Arabia Government Under New Persona - SecurityWeek

• British Cyber Agency Warns of Russian and Iranian Hackers Targeting Key Industries (thehackernews.com)

Nation State Actors – Misc

• Foreign states already using ChatGPT maliciously, UK IT leaders believe | CSO Online

• New APT34 Malware Targets The Middle East (trendmicro.com)

• APT groups use ransomware TTPs as cover for intelligence gathering and sabotage | CSO Online

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Vulnerability Management

• The future of vulnerability management and patch compliance - Help Net Security

• What is the CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System)? (techtarget.com)

Vulnerabilities

• Researchers to release VMware vRealize Log RCE exploit, patch now (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Patch management is crucial to protect Exchange servers, Microsoft warns security affairs

• Realtek Vulnerability Under Attack: Over 134 Million Attempts to Hack IoT Devices (thehackernews.com)

• QNAP Fixes Critical Vulnerability in NAS Devices with Latest Security Updates (thehackernews.com)

• Over 29,000 QNAP devices unpatched against new critical flaw (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Firmware Flaws Could Spell 'Lights Out' for Servers (darkreading.com)

• Why you might not be done with your January Microsoft security patches | CSO Online

• Researcher drops Lexmark RCE zero-day rather than sell vuln ‘for peanuts’ | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)

• HPE, NetApp warn of critical open-source bug | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• High-severity bug in F5 BIG-IP can lead to code execution and DoS security affairs

• Cisco fixes bug allowing backdoor persistence between reboots (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Atlassian's Jira Software Found Vulnerable to Critical Authentication Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)

• CISA Alert: Oracle E-Business Suite and SugarCRM Vulnerabilities Under Attack (thehackernews.com)

• Threat activity increasing around Fortinet VPN vulnerability | TechTarget

• Remote code execution exploit chain available for VMware vRealize Log Insight | CSO Online

Tools and Controls

• Gartner report shows zero trust isn’t a silver bullet | VentureBeat

Other News

• We can't rely on goodwill to protect our critical infrastructure - Help Net Security

• Playing Military Sim War Thunder May Get You Classed as a National Security Risk

• Cyber attacks in space: How safe are our satellites? | Metro News

• Threat Actors Use ClickFunnels to Bypass Security Services - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Massive Microsoft 365 outage caused by WAN router IP change (bleepingcomputer.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

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 08 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

• Businesses Urged Not to Give In To Ransomware Cyber Criminals As Authorities See Increase In Payouts

While there have been arguments made for criminalising the payment of ransoms, it poses a number of additional risks such as providing the criminals with an additional factor they could use to extort their victims.

Businesses are being urged not to pay cyber extortionists as authorities say they are seeing evidence of a rise in ransomware payments.

In a joint letter to the Law Society, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Information Commissioner's Office are warning solicitors who may have been advising their clients to pay.

It follows warnings earlier this year by cyber security experts from the UK, US, and Australia of a "growing wave of increasingly sophisticated ransomware attacks" which could have "devastating consequences".

The joint letter states that while ransomware payments are "not unusually unlawful" those who pay them "should be mindful of how relevant sanctions regimes (particularly those related to Russia)" when considering making the payment.

The US sanctioned in December 2019 any financial dealings with a Russian cyber crime group that was accused of working with Russian intelligence to steal classified government documents.

Despite the spillover from the Russian war in Ukraine - in one case knocking 5,800 wind turbines in Germany offline - the NCSC says it has not detected any increase in hostile activity targeting Britain during the conflict.

Businesses however had been warned that there is a heightened threat level when it comes to cyber attacks due to the conflict which is likely to be here "for the long-haul".

https://news.sky.com/story/businesses-urged-not-to-give-in-to-ransomware-cyber-criminals-as-authorities-see-increase-in-payouts-12648253

• People Are the Primary Attack Vector Around the World

With an unprecedented number of employees now working in hybrid or fully remote environments, compounded by an increase in cyber threats and a more overwhelmed, COVID-19 information fatigued workforce, there has never been a more critical time to effectively create and maintain a cyber secure workforce and an engaged security culture.

People have become the primary attack vector for cyber-attackers around the world. Humans, rather than technology, represent the greatest risk to organisations and the professionals who oversee security awareness programs are the key to effectively managing that risk.

Awareness programs enable security teams to effectively manage their human risk by changing how people think about cyber security and help them exhibit secure behaviours, from the Board of Directors on down.

Effective and mature security awareness programs not only change their workforce’s behaviour and culture but also measure and demonstrate their value to leadership via a metrics framework. Organisations can no longer justify an annual training to tick the compliance box, and it remains critical for organisations to dedicate enough personnel, resources, and tools to manage their human risk effectively.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/05/people-primary-attack-vector/

• Early Detection Crucial in Stopping Business Email Compromise (BEC) Scams

Cofense Intelligence studied hundreds of business email compromise attacks and found that most scams attempt to establish trust with targeted employees over multiple emails.

Avoiding a costly social engineering attack often requires employees to spot suspicious emails before threat actors request sensitive information or access.

Cofense Intelligence published new research Thursday that showed most business email compromise (BEC) scams can be thwarted in their initial stages when the attackers are not asking for money or a transfer of funds. The cyber security vendor analysed hundreds of BEC emails sent to customers during March and April, and engaged with the threat actors in approximately half the cases.

The company found that only 36% of attackers looking to conduct fraud attacks opened with a cordial greeting and request for cash, gift cards or confidential payment information. Most BEC scams, Cofense found, attempt to slowly build up trust over the course of multiple email exchanges with the target and ingratiate them with common phrases like "sorry to bother you."

Once they realise they can get money out of you, they will do everything they can to drain you dry. For many of the scammers, this becomes a literal hustle, where they will quickly pivot to other cash-out methods. Just because something starts as a wire transfer doesn't mean they won't ask you to send cryptocurrency, gift cards, a cheque, or use your personal Venmo or PayPal to wire them money.

https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/252522493/Early-detection-crucial-in-stopping-BEC-scams

• 54% of SMBs Do Not Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

SMB owners across the globe are still relying only on usernames and passwords to secure critical employee, customer, and partner data, according to the Global Small Business Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Study released by the Cyber Readiness Institute (CRI).

Services that enforce MFA require users to present more than one piece of evidence whenever they log in to a business account (e.g., company email, payroll, human resources, etc.).

MFA has been in use for decades and is widely recommended by cyber security experts, yet 55% of SMBs surveyed are not “very aware” of MFA and its security benefits, and 54% do not use it for their business. Of the businesses that have not implemented MFA, 47% noted they either didn’t understand MFA or didn’t see its value. In addition, nearly 60% of small business and medium-sized owners have not discussed MFA with their employees.

Nearly all account compromise attacks can be stopped outright, just by using MFA. It’s a proven, effective way to thwart bad actors.

Of the companies that have implemented some form of MFA, many still seem to have done so haphazardly. Only 39% of those who offer MFA have a process for prioritising critical hardware, software, and data, with 49% merely “encouraging the use of MFA when it is available.”

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/08/smb-implement-mfa/

• New Cyber Threat Emerges from the Inside, Research Report Finds

In its 2022 Insider Risk Intelligence & Research Report, DTEX Systems, a workforce cyber intelligence and security company, identifies a new cyber threat: the “Super Malicious Insider.”

Just what is a Super Malicious Insider and where does it come from? Well, it comes from inside your own organisation or someone who recently worked for you — a threat actor who may be truly of your own making.

“It was the year (2021) we all came to realise the Work-from-Anywhere (WFA) movement was here to stay,” DTEX reports. “For security and risk professionals, this hastened the end of corporate perimeter-centric security, and a requirement to protect hundreds of thousands of ‘remote offices’ outside of traditional corporate controls. To make matters worse, a measurable increase in employee attrition toward the end of 2021 created the perfect storm for insider threats.”

So, if your organisation didn’t observe a proportional increase in attempted or actual data loss, then you were likely not looking, DTEX asserts.

Critically your insiders know your vulnerabilities and can exploit them, for example, when an employee quits to join a competitor, it is often tempting to take proprietary information with them. This can include customer lists, product plans, financial data and other intellectual property.

The Super Malicious Insider is better able to hide their activities, obfuscate data and exfiltrate sensitive information without detection. Importantly, in numerous insider incidents reviewed in 2021, the Super Malicious Insider had made significant efforts to appear normal by not straying outside of their day-to-day routine, DTEX reports.

Here are some key statistics from the report:

• Industrial espionage is at an all-time high. In 2021, 72% of respondents saw an increase in actionable insider threat incidents. IP or data theft led the list at 42% of incidents, followed by unauthorised or accidental disclosure (23%), sabotage (19%), fraud (%) and other (7%). In fact, 42% of all DTEX i3 investigations involved theft of IP or customer data.

• The technology industry (38%), followed by pharma/life sciences (21%), accounted for the most IP theft incidents. In addition, technology (33%) had the most super malicious incidents, followed by critical infrastructure (24%) and government (11%).

• Investigations that led to criminal prosecution occurred within someone’s home 75% of the time. More telling, 32% of malicious incident incidents included sophisticated insider techniques.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/new-cyberthreat-emerges-from-the-inside-research-report-finds/

• Ransomware: Why It's Still A Big Threat, And Where The Gangs Are Going Next

Ransomware attacks are still lucrative for cyber criminals because victims pay ransoms - and the threat is still evolving.

Ransomware has been a cyber security issue for a long time, but last year it went mainstream. Security threats like malware, ransomware and hacking gangs are always evolving.

Major ransomware attacks like those on Colonial Pipeline, the Irish Healthcare Executive and many others demonstrated how significant the problem had become as cyber attacks disrupted people's lives.

What was once a small cyber-criminal industry based around encrypting files on personal computers and demanding a ransom of a few hundred dollars for a decryption key had evolved into a massive ecosystem designed around holding critical services and infrastructure to ransom - and making extortion demands of millions of dollars.

No wonder Lindy Cameron, head of the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), has described ransomware as "the biggest global cyber threat".

Ransomware is continually evolving, with new variants appearing, new ransomware groups emerging, and new techniques and tactics designed to make the most money from attacks.

And as the recent Conti ransomware leaks showed, the most successful ransomware gangs are organised as if they were any other group of software developers.

They are really acting like a business. Aside from the fact they're not legitimately registered, they really are. They're functioning like a real business and sometimes the number of people within these organisations is bigger than some startups. They have shown a lot of resilience and a lot of agility in adapting to what's new.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-why-its-still-a-big-threat-and-where-the-gangs-are-going-next/

• NCSC: Prepare for Protracted Period of Heightened Cyber Risk

The UK’s leading cyber security agency has urged organisations to follow best practices and take care of their infosecurity staff in order to weather an extended period of elevated cyber risk due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) guide, Maintaining A Sustainable Strengthened Cyber Security Posture, comes on the back of warnings that organisations must “prepare for the long haul” as the conflict enters its fifth month.

Alongside basic hygiene controls, the strengthening of cyber-resilience and revisiting of risk-based decisions made in the earlier acute phase of the war, organisations should pay special attention to their security staff, the NCSC said.

“Increased workloads for cyber security staff over an extended period can harm their wellbeing and lead to lower productivity, with a potential rise in unsafe behaviours or errors,” it said.

With this in mind, the guide highlighted several steps IT security managers should consider:

• Empower staff to make decisions in order to improve agility and free-up leaders to focus on medium-term priorities

• Spread workloads evenly across a wider pool of staff to reduce the risk of burnout and enable less experienced employees to benefit from development opportunities

• Provide opportunities for staff to recharge through more frequent breaks and time away from the office, as well as work on less pressured tasks

• Look after each other by watching for signs that colleagues are struggling and ensuring they always have the right resources to hand

• Engage the entire workforce with the right internal communications processes, and support so that all staff are able to identify and report suspicious behaviour

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ncsc-prepare-cyber-risk/

• 69% Of Employees Need to Deal with More Security Measures In A Hybrid Work Environment

Security firm Ivanti worked with global digital transformation experts and surveyed 10,000 office workers, IT professionals, and the C-Suite to evaluate the level of prioritisation and adoption of digital employee experience in organisations and how it shapes the daily working experiences for employees. The report revealed that 49% of employees are frustrated by the tech and tools their organisation provides and 64% believe that the way they interact with technology directly impacts morale.

One of the biggest challenges facing IT leaders today is the need to enable a seamless end user experience while maintaining robust security. The challenge becomes more complex when there is pressure from the top to bypass security measures, with 49% of C-level executives reporting they have requested to bypass one or more security measures in the last year.

Maintaining a secure environment and focusing on the digital employee experience are two inseparable elements of any digital transformation. In the war for talent a key differentiator for organisations is providing an exceptional and secure digital experience. Ivanti, a cyber security software provider, says “We believe that organisations not prioritising how their employees experience technology is a contributing factor for the Great Resignation”.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/04/security-measures-hybrid-work-environment/

• FBI and MI5 Leaders Give Unprecedented Joint Warning on Chinese Spying

The head of the FBI and the leader of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency have delivered an unprecedented joint address, raising fresh alarm about the Chinese government, warning business leaders that Beijing is determined to steal their technology for competitive gain.

In a speech at MI5’s London headquarters intended as a show of western solidarity, Christopher Wray, the FBI director, stood alongside the MI5 director general, Ken McCallum. Wray reaffirmed longstanding concerns about economic espionage and hacking operations by China, as well as the Chinese government’s efforts to stifle dissent abroad.

“We consistently see that it’s the Chinese government that poses the biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security, and by ‘our’, I mean both of our nations, along with our allies in Europe and elsewhere,” Wray said.

He told the audience the Chinese government was “set on stealing your technology, whatever it is that makes your industry tick, and using it to undercut your business and dominate your market”.

Ken McCallum said MI5 was running seven times as many investigations into China as it had been four years ago and planned to “grow as much again” to tackle the widespread attempts at inference which pervade “so many aspects of our national life”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/06/fbi-mi5-china-spying-cyberattacks-business-economy

• As Cyber Criminals Recycle Ransomware, They're Getting Faster

Like history, ransomware repeats itself. Researchers recently encountered a new variant of a ransomware campaign and observed that it has been improving itself by reusing code from publicly available sources.

Nokoyawa is a new ransomware for Windows that first appeared at the beginning of this year. The first samples found by researchers were gathered in February 2022 and contain significant coding similarities with other older ransomware strains, some going back to 2019.

These new variants had been improving themselves by reusing code from publicly available sources. The April 2022 samples include three new features that increase the number of files that Nokoyawa can encrypt. These features already existed in recent ransomware families, and their addition just indicates that Nokoyawa developers are trying to match pace with other operators in terms of technological capability.

https://www.securityweek.com/cybercriminals-recycle-ransomware-theyre-getting-faster

• UK Military Investigates Hacks on Army Social Media Accounts

British military authorities are trying to find out who hacked the army’s social media accounts over the weekend, flooding them with cryptocurrency videos and posts related to collectible electronic art.

The investigation was launched after authorised content on the army’s YouTube account was replaced with a video feed promoting cryptocurrencies that included images of billionaire Elon Musk. The Army’s Twitter account retweeted a number of posts about non-fungible tokens, unique digital images that can be bought and sold but have no physical counterpart.

“Apologies for the temporary interruption to our feed,” the Army said in a tweet posted after the Twitter account was restored on Sunday. “We will conduct a full investigation and learn from this incident. Thanks for following us, and normal service will now resume.”

The Ministry of Defence said late Sunday that both breaches had been “resolved.”

While internet users were unable to access the Army’s YouTube site on Monday, a spokesperson said the site was down for standard maintenance. The Twitter feed was operating normally.

Although U.K. officials have previously raised concerns about state-sponsored Russian hacking, the military did not speculate on who was responsible for Sunday’s breaches.

“The Army takes information security extremely seriously, and until their investigation is complete it would be inappropriate to comment further,” the Ministry of Defence said.

https://www.securityweek.com/uk-military-investigates-hacks-army-social-media-accounts

Campaign Targeting SOHO Routers Highlights Risks to Remote Workers

A targeted attack campaign has been compromising small office/home office (SOHO) routers since late 2020, with the goal of hijacking network communications and infecting local computers with stealthy and sophisticated backdoors. Attacks against home routers are not new, but the implants used by attackers in this case were designed for local network reconnaissance and lateral movement instead of just abusing the router itself.

"The rapid shift to remote work in spring of 2020 presented a fresh opportunity for threat actors to subvert traditional defence-in-depth protections by targeting the weakest points of the new network perimeter - devices that are routinely purchased by consumers but rarely monitored or patched - small office/home office (SOHO) routers," researchers from Black Lotus Labs, the threat intelligence arm of telecommunications company Lumen Technologies said in a recent report.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3665912/apt-campaign-targeting-soho-routers-highlights-risks-to-remote-workers.html#tk.rss_news

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Threats

Ransomware

• Lawyers Urged to Stop Advising Clients to Pay Ransomware Demands - Infosecurity Magazine

• Ransomware in 2022: Evolving threats, slow progress (techtarget.com)

• AstraLocker ransomware closes doors to pursue cryptojacking • The Register

• Ransomware gangs are feeling the crypto winter's impact | TechSpot

• LockBit explained: How it has become the most popular ransomware | CSO Online

• Hive ransomware gang turns to Rust, more complex encryption • The Register

• New RedAlert Ransomware targets Windows, Linux VMware ESXi servers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ransomware, hacking groups move from Cobalt Strike to Brute Ratel (bleepingcomputer.com)

• North Korean ransomware dubbed Maui active since May 2021 • The Register

• Hive Ransomware Upgrades to Rust for More Sophisticated Encryption Method (thehackernews.com)

• Ransomware, hacking groups move from Cobalt Strike to Brute Ratel (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New 'HavanaCrypt' Ransomware Distributed as Fake Google Software Update | SecurityWeek.Com

• As New Clues Emerges, Experts Wonder: Is REvil Back? (thehackernews.com)

• Researchers Detail Techniques LockBit Ransomware Using to Infect its Targets (thehackernews.com)

• New 0mega ransomware targets businesses in double-extortion attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Feds wave red flag over Maui ransomware | CSO Online

• Evolution of the LockBit Ransomware operation relies on new techniques - Security Affairs

• AstraLocker ransomware shuts down and releases decryptors (bleepingcomputer.com)

• QNAP warns of new Checkmate ransomware targeting NAS devices (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Quantum ransomware attack affects 657 healthcare orgs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• How Conti ransomware group crippled Costa Rica — then fell apart | Financial Times (ft.com)

• Researchers Detail Techniques LockBit Ransomware Using to Infect its Targets (thehackernews.com)

• EternalBlue 5 years after WannaCry and NotPetya - SANS Internet Storm Center

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Fake copyright complaints push IcedID malware using Yandex Forms (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Spear Phishing Fake Job Offer Likely Behind Axie Infinity's Lazarus $600m Hack - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Malware

• Hackers Exploiting Follina Bug to Deploy Rozena Backdoor (thehackernews.com)

• Dangerous new malware dances past more than 50 antivirus services | TechRadar

• Raspberry Robin campaign leverages compromised QNAP devicesSecurity Affairs

• Malware knocks IT services vendor SHI offline • The Register

• Near-undetectable malware linked to Russia's Cozy Bear • The Register

• New stealthy OrBit malware steals data from Linux devices (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Hackers are using YouTube videos to trick people into installing malware | TechRadar

Mobile

• This WhatsApp scam promises big, but just sends you into a spiral | ZDNet

• Android malware subscribes you to premium services without you knowing - GSMArena.com news

• Free smartphone stalkerware detection tool gets dedicated hub (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Four more apps that infected thousands of Android devices with malware removed from Google Play store | ZDNet

• Apple Debuts Spyware Protection for State-Sponsored Cyber Attacks (darkreading.com)

Internet of Things – IoT

• Vulnerability allows hackers to unlock and start Honda cars remotely | TechSpot

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Marriott Data Breach Exposes PII, Credit Cards (darkreading.com)

• Aon Hack Exposed Sensitive Information of 146,000 Customers - Infosecurity Magazine

• Hackers Claim to Have Stolen Police Data in China’s Largest Cyber Security Breach - Bloomberg

• Human Error Blamed for Leak of 1 Billion Records of Chinese Citizens | Threatpost

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• Ransomware gangs are feeling the crypto winter's impact | TechSpot

• AstraLocker ransomware closes doors to pursue cryptojacking • The Register

• Hackers are using YouTube videos to trick people into installing malware | TechRadar

• PennyWise crypto-stealing malware spreads through YouTube (cointelegraph.com)

• US urges Japan to step up pressure on crypto miners with links to Russia | Financial Times (ft.com)

• Large-scale cryptomining campaign is targeting the NPM repositorySecurity Affairs

• ECB to warn eurozone countries over crypto regulation | Financial Times (ft.com)

• Microsoft Issue Updated Warning Against Known Cloud Threat Actor Group - IT Security Guru

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Human Error Blamed for Leak of 1 Billion Records of Chinese Citizens | Threatpost

• HackerOne incident raises concerns for insider threats (techtarget.com)

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Ukrainian police takes down phishing gang behind payments scam | ZDNet

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• Applying Shift Left principles to third party risk management - Help Net Security

Software Supply Chain

• NPM supply-chain attack impacts hundreds of websites and apps (bleepingcomputer.com)

Cloud/SaaS

• Microsoft Issue Updated Warning Against Known Cloud Threat Actor Group - IT Security Guru

• Cloud Misconfig Exposes 3TB of Sensitive Airport Data in Amazon S3 Bucket: 'Lives at Stake' (darkreading.com)

• What Do All of Those Cloud Cyber Security Acronyms Mean? (darkreading.com)

Identity and Access Management

• 6 signs your IAM strategy is failing, and how to fix it | CSO Online

Asset Management

• How a cyber asset management strategy can help enterprises detect threats - Help Net Security

Encryption

• Encryption is high up on corporate priority lists - Help Net Security

• Quantum-resistant encryption recommended for standardization • The Register

• The threat of quantum computing to sensitive data - Help Net Security

• Inside NIST's 4 Crypto Algorithms for a Post-Quantum World (darkreading.com)

• End-to-end encryption’s central role in modern self-defence | Ars Technica

API

• Why your API gateway is not enough for API security? - Help Net Security

Open Source

• Researchers Warn of New OrBit Linux Malware That Hijacks Execution Flow (thehackernews.com)

Social Media

• British Army Cyber Attack Reminds Businesses That Social Media Accounts Are Prime Targets (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Limp Facebook Policies – Do They Ignore Suffering And Crime! (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

Digital Transformation

• Cyber security is driving digital transformation in alternative investment institutions - Help Net Security

Travel

• Marriott suffered a new data breach, attackers stole 20GB of data - Security Affairs

Cyber Bullying and Cyber Stalking

• Free smartphone stalkerware detection tool gets dedicated hub (bleepingcomputer.com)

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• ICO Set to Scale Back Public Sector Fines - Infosecurity Magazine

• ECB to warn eurozone countries over crypto regulation | Financial Times (ft.com)

• Wegmans hit with $400,000 data-breach penalty (democratandchronicle.com)

Models, Frameworks and Standards

• PCI DSS 4.0 released, addresses emerging threats and technologies - Help Net Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

• Ukrainian police takes down phishing gang behind payments scam | ZDNet

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

• Apple's New "Lockdown Mode" Protects iPhone, iPad, and Mac Against Spyware (thehackernews.com)

• Pro-Kremlin hackers Killnet hit Latvia with biggest cyber attack in its history | World | The Times

• TrickBot Gang Shifted its Focus on "Systematically" Targeting Ukraine (thehackernews.com)

• UK to combat Russia’s ‘hostile online warfare’ by forcing internet firms to remove disinformation | TechCrunch

• NATO Announce Plans to Develop Cyber Rapid Response Capabilities - IT Security Guru

• FBI and MI5 bosses: China cheats and steals at massive scale • The Register

• Hackers linked to the Chinese government increasingly target Russia, analysis suggests - CyberScoop

• In Switch, Trickbot Group Now Attacking Ukrainian Targets (darkreading.com)

• Apple Debuts Spyware Protection for State-Sponsored Cyber Attacks (darkreading.com)

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Russian Info Ops Ramp Up Effort to Divide West on Ukraine - Infosecurity Magazine

• Near-undetectable malware linked to Russia's Cozy Bear • The Register

Nation State Actors – China

• US and UK intelligence chiefs call for vigilance on China’s industrial spies | Financial Times (ft.com)

• China Censors What Could Be Biggest Data Hack in History (gizmodo.com)

• Hackers linked to the Chinese government increasingly target Russia, analysis suggests - CyberScoop

• China’s Cabinet Stresses Cyber Security After Data Leak - Bloomberg

• Security warning after sale of stolen Chinese data - BBC News

• Five accused of trying to silence China critics in US • The Register

• 50 Chinese students leave UK in three years after spy chiefs’ warning | Espionage | The Guardian

• More UK calls for ban of CCTV makers Hikvision, Dahua • The Register

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• Russian information operations focus on dividing Western coalition supporting Ukraine - CyberScoop

• North Korean ransomware dubbed Maui active since May 2021 • The Register

• Feds wave red flag over Maui ransomware | CSO Online

• Spear Phishing Fake Job Offer Likely Behind Axie Infinity's Lazarus $600m Hack - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Nation State Actors – Iran

• Hacktivists claiming attack on Iranian steel facilities dump tranche of 'top secret documents' - CyberScoop

• Latest Cyber Attack Against Iran Part of Ongoing Campaign | Threatpost

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Vulnerability Management

• Google: Half of zero-day exploits linked to poor software fixes | ZDNet

• Why Browser Vulnerabilities Are a Serious Threat — and How to Minimize Your Risk (darkreading.com)

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Vulnerabilities

• Cisco and Fortinet Release Security Patches for Multiple Products (thehackernews.com)

• Google Patches Actively Exploited Chrome Bug | Threatpost

• OpenSSL version 3.0.5 fixes a flaw that could potentially lead to RCE - Security Affairs

• Apache “Commons Configuration” patches Log4Shell-style bug – what you need to know – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Cisco fixed a critical arbitrary File Overwrite flaw in Enterprise Communication solutions - Security Affairs

• Cisco Releases 10 Security Patches For Expressway Series and TelePresence VCS Products - Infosecurity Magazine

• Django fixes SQL Injection vulnerability in new releases (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Google fixes the fourth Chrome zero-day in 2022 - Security Affairs - Security Affairs

• Tens of Jenkins plugins are affected by zero-day vulnerabilities - Security Affairs

• OpenSSL fixes two “one-liner” crypto bugs – what you need to know – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Fortinet addressed multiple vulnerabilities in several products - Security Affairs

• There’s a Nasty Security Hole in the Apache Webserver – The New Stack

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Sector Specific

Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.

We currently provide tailored threat intelligence based on the following sectors, additional sectors by arrangement:

• 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

• These are the cyber security threats of tomorrow that you should be thinking about today | ZDNet

• Rising threats spark scramble for cyber workers | The Hill

• Why Browser Vulnerabilities Are a Serious Threat — and How to Minimize Your Risk (darkreading.com)

• Microsoft rolls back plan to block macros by default • Graham Cluley

• Attacker groups adopt new penetration testing tool Brute Ratel | CSO Online

• Security tester says he broke into datacenter via toilets • The Register

• SQL injection, XSS vulnerabilities continue to plague organisations | CSO Online

• Endless cyber-threat pressure could leave security staff burnt out. Here's what you need to change | ZDNet

• Top 7 types of data security technology (techtarget.com)

• Imagination is key to effective data loss prevention - Help Net Security

• The Age of Collaborative Security: What Tens of Thousands of Machines Witness (thehackernews.com)

• Maintaining a sustainable strengthened cyber security posture - NCSC.GOV.UK

• Hacking the Crypto-Monetized Web (trendmicro.com)

• Reflections Of A Former Hacker: How Leaders Can Protect Their Business From Cyber Threats (forbes.com)

• Zero Trust Bolsters Our National Defence Against Rising Cyber Threats (darkreading.com)

• Security advisory accidentally exposes vulnerable systems (bleepingcomputer.com)

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