Threat Intelligence Blog
Contact us to discuss any insights from our Blog, and how we can support you in a tailored threat intelligence report.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 20 October 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 20 October 2023:
-Cyber Insecurity: Many Businesses Scared They May be Hit by a Cyber Attack at Any Moment
-Cyber Security Investments Show Mature Business Mindset
-SMBs Struggle to Keep Pace as Cyber Threats Reach All Time High
-Phishing Attacks Reach Record Highs as Banks, Financial Services Remain Top Targets with HR Remaining the Most Effective Phishing Lure
-Cyber Attacks are a Matter of When not if, The Best Time to Deal With Them is Before They Happen
-Lloyd's Of London Warns Of Worst-Case-Scenario Cyber Attack
-20,000 Britons Approached By Chinese Agents On LinkedIn, Says MI5 Head
-Ransomware - All it Takes is One Employee Mistake, Criminals are Aiming at Third-Party Vendors
-39% of Individuals Use the Same Password for Multiple Accounts
-Why Fourth-Party Risk Management Is a Must-Have
-AI Adoption Surges But Security Awareness Lags Behind
-UK watchdog fines Equifax £11 million for role in cyber breach
-Why Boards Must Understand and Govern Cyber Security Risk
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
Cyber Insecurity: Many Businesses Scared They May be Hit by a Cyber Attack at Any Moment
A report from the Commvault and the International Data Corporation (IDC) found that 61% of respondents believe that a data loss within the next 12 months is "likely" or "highly likely" to occur due to increasingly sophisticated attacks. Unfortunately, most businesses do not have an unlimited budget; cyber security related spending must therefore be effective, taking an informed risk based approach to prioritise the biggest threats to businesses. To understand these threats, businesses must know the current threat landscape and how that relates to their business specifically. In order to be able to apply any threat intelligence, organisations must first ascertain what they need to protect through a documented asset register; after all you cannot protect something you do not know exists.
Sources: [PR Newswire] [TechRadar]
Cyber Security Investments Show Mature Business Mindset
Companies need to start embracing cyber security as a business enabler, rather than being viewed as a pure cost or as a regulatory burden. Good cyber security is a strong indicator of a mature business mindset, giving customers, employees, and suppliers confidence that you are running a mature, responsible operation that takes the value of its data and IP very seriously. With the perception of customers changing to be more security-based, having a high level of cyber security can establish trust and therefore distinguish a business in the marketplace.
Source: [Insider Media] [Compare the Cloud]
SMBs Struggle to Keep Pace as Cyber Threats Reach All Time High
Research conducted by Sage has found UK small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) are particularly struggling with cyber security preparedness, with 57% asking for more support with education and training and 45% not understanding what security is needed for their business. The report found that globally, 70% of SMBs highlighted cyber threats as a major concern, with 51% struggling to keep on top of new threats and 48% experiencing a cyber incident in the past year.
SMBs globally, found that their struggle related to making sure employees know what is expected of them in protecting the organisation (45%), providing education and awareness training (44%) and cost (43%).
Source: (IT Security Guru)
Phishing Attacks Hit Record Highs in Q2 2023, with Emails from HR still the Most Effective Lure
Research has found in the third quarter of this year, phishing attacks soared by 173% compared with the previous three months, and malware was up 110% over the same period, with 233.9 million malicious emails detected. Banks and financial services organisations remained a top target, with a 121% rise in phishing attacks.
In a separate report, human resource topics were found to account for more than half of the top-clicked phishing email subjects. This included emails that related to a change in dress code and updates on annual leave. It’s important for organisations to take this into account when training employees.
Sources: [SiliconANGLE1] [Beta News] [SiliconANGLE2] [TechRadar] [Security Brief]
Cyber Attacks Are a Matter of When, Not If; The Best Time to Deal with Them Is Before They Happen
Another week brings more companies added to the list of victims of cyber attacks. Just this week, UK based social care provider CareTech’s childcare subsidiary Cambian was criticised for keeping a cyber attack quiet, with individuals who had data stolen having to chase Cambian for details.
Cyber attacks happen, and companies need to admit when they have happened and inform relevant people. Honesty and clarity are key. After an attack, there are a number of things going on at once such as finding out what has happened, identifying stolen or encrypted data, fulfilling legal and regulatory requirements and communicating both internally and externally. Unfortunately, many companies do not expect to be attacked and therefore do not have anything in place to respond to an attack. In addition to having the necessary defences in place, organisations must be prepared for the event of an attack. This can be outlined in an incident response plan (IRP).
Black Arrow works with organisations of all sizes and sectors to design and prepare for managing a cyber security incident; this can include an Incident Response Plan and an educational tabletop exercise for the leadership team that highlights the proportionate controls to help the organisation prevent and mitigate an incident.
Sources: [Euronews] [The Times] [AI-CIO]
Lloyd's Of London Warns of Worst-Case-Scenario Cyber Attack
In recent modelling by a Lloyds of London researcher, a worst-case-scenario was found to have the potential to cause $3.5 trillion of economic damage within 5 years. While this may seem implausible, with the increased number of cyber attacks, especially to the financial sector, this figure is not as incredulous as it may seem.
The FBI has also stated that the average annual cost of cyber crime worldwide is expected to soar from $8.4 trillion in 2022 to more than $23 trillion in 2027.
Sources: [Reinsurance News] [ABS-CBN News] [The Motley Fool] [City AM]
20,000 Britons Approached by Chinese Agents on LinkedIn, Says MI5 Head
An estimated 20,000 Britons have been approached by Chinese state actors on LinkedIn in the hope of stealing industrial or technological secrets, the head of MI5 stated ahead of the Five Eyes agencies summit. This summit is a meeting of the heads of security from the Five Eyes nations – UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The summit discussed how industrial espionage was happening at “real scale”, with 10,000 UK businesses being at risk, particularly in artificial intelligence, quantum computing or synthetic biology where China was trying to gain a march.
A 'secure innovation' guideline has been released to assist small to medium-sized enterprises, especially tech start-ups, in bolstering their defences against threats from foreign states, criminals, and competitors. This guideline offers basic security advice on areas like investments, supply chains, IT networks, and cloud computing to safeguard emerging technologies.
Sources: [Computer Weekly] [Tech Monitor] [Guardian]
Ransomware - All it Takes is One Employee Mistake, As Criminals are Aiming Third-Party Vendors
According to a report, human error is the root cause of more than 80% of all cyber breaches. The solution in this case, is for organisations to provide effective training to employees to reduce the risk of such an error happening. However, this does not have any impact on third parties that the organisations use. A separate report found that nearly a third of ransomware claims involved a third-party vendor as a point of failure.
Whilst organisations often focus on improving their own cyber security, third parties can become an easily overlooked area. You don’t want to invest a significant amount into your organisation’s cyber security, only for it to fail due to a third party. This is why it is important for organisations to have an effective way of measuring supply chain risk, to ensure that they know what data their third parties have access to and what is being done by the third parties to protect it.
Black Arrow have helped many clients carry out third party risk assessments on a large number of suppliers and this can be done as a standalone offering or as part of a fractional CISO engagement.
Sources: [Security Affairs] [Claims Journal]
39% of Individuals Use the Same Password for Multiple Accounts
According to a recent survey by Yubico, 80% of respondents are concerned about the security of their online accounts. Additionally, 39% admitted to using the same passwords for multiple accounts. The report found that Boomer-generation users are the least likely to reuse passwords at 20%. In comparison, Millennials are twice as likely to reuse passwords for multiple accounts at 47%. This survey highlights that whilst younger generations may be more tech savvy, having grown up with this technology, it also brings with it a more relaxed and complacent attitude when it comes to cyber security hygiene.
Source: [Security Magazine]
Why Fourth-Party Risk Management Is a Must-Have
Most organisations today are acutely aware of the risks that third-party relationships pose, and many employ some form of third-party risk management to understand and monitor these alliances. Another danger also needs to be borne in mind: the threats organisations face from their third parties’ third parties. These ‘fourth parties’, the vendors of an organisation's vendor, are becoming an increasing concern among regulators, particularly those in the banking and financial services sector. Attackers exploit fourth parties just the same as they do third parties to indirectly target an organisation. As a result, these fourth parties greatly increase an IT environment's attack surface.
Fourth parties pose reputational, operational and regulatory risks, and with new regulations such as the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) in Europe coming into place, organisations need to implement a comprehensive third-party risk management program that extends to cover fourth-party risk management. This is the only way to ensure fourth parties are vetted appropriately.
Source: [Tech Target]
AI Adoption Surges but Security Awareness Lags Behind
A new survey found that security is reportedly not the primary concern for organisations when using tools such as ChatGPT and Google Bard. Respondents are more worried about inaccurate responses than the exposure of customer and employee personally identifiable information (PII), disclosure of trade secrets (33%) and financial loss (25%). Basic security practices are lacking, however, with 82% of respondents confident in their security stacks but less than half investing in technology to monitor generative AI use, exposing them to data loss risks. Only 46% have established security policies for data sharing.
Organisations need to rigorously assess and control how large language models (LLMs) handle data, ensuring alignment with regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA. This involves employing strong encryption, consent mechanisms and data anonymisation techniques, and ensuring control over how the organisation’s data is used, alongside regular audits and updates to ensure data handling practices remain compliant.
Source: [Infosecurity Magazine]
UK Watchdog Fines Equifax £11 Million For Role in Cyber Breach
Britain's financial watchdog has fined the consumer credit rating body Equifax £11 million ($13.4 million) for its role in "one of the largest" cyber security breaches in history. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) stated that "The cyber attack and unauthorised access to data was entirely preventable", identifying that the UK arm of Equifax did not find out data had been accessed until six weeks after their parent company discover the hack.
Source: [Reuters]
Why Boards Must Understand and Govern Cyber Security Risk
The boardroom is a critical control in every company’s system of cyber security risk management. An ineffective approach to cyber security governance creates an overall system of cyber security that is weaker than it needs to be. Boards have typically viewed cyber security as something that it left to IT and have not been able to challenge or interpret the reports that they receive, if any, from their IT departments or IT providers. Governing bodies such as the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) have identified this and have started bringing in regulations that force the board of directors to fully understand digital cyber security risk and have a more vital role as part of the system.
Black Arrow supports business leaders in organisations of all sizes to demonstrate governance of their cyber security, by owning their cyber security strategy and leveraging their existing internal and external resources to build resilience against a cyber security incident.
Source: [Forbes]
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Many cyber bosses just aren't confident in their company's defences | TechRadar
SMBs seek help as cyber threats reach an all-time high - Help Net Security
SMBs seek cyber training, support as attack risk surges | CIO Dive
The real impact of the cyber security poverty line on small organisations - Help Net Security
Cyber security investments show mature business mindset, says IT expert | Insider Media
Is Cyber security Finally Becoming a Business Enabler? - Compare the Cloud
The best time to deal with cyber attacks is before they happen (thetimes.co.uk)
Preparations Are Key to Weathering Cyber security Incidents | Chief Investment Officer (ai-cio.com)
Over 70% of firms hit by cyber attack in last 12 months (rte.ie)
The future of cyber security regulation: what to look out for with NIS2 | TechRadar
Getting ready for NIS2 with strong identity controls | ITPro
10 Ways Boards Are Setting Their Companies Up For Cyber security Failure (forbes.com)
NIST Cyber security Framework for Small Businesses: Key Benefits (smallbiztrends.com)
AI and the Imperative to Take Cyber security Precautions (inforisktoday.com)
Cyber attacks to cost $23 trillion in 2027: US official | ABS-CBN News
How Cyber security Provides the Green Light for Business Innovation (govinfosecurity.com)
Essential cyber hygiene: Making cyber defence cost effective - Help Net Security
The Need for a Cyber security-Centric Business Culture (darkreading.com)
The double-edged sword of heightened regulation for financial services - Help Net Security
Report: Cyber attacks No. 1 cause of downtime and data loss | Security Magazine
Will CISOs Become Personally Liable for Breach Response? (inforisktoday.com)
Keeping control in complex regulatory environments - Help Net Security
Generative AI an Emerging Risk as CISOs Shift Cyber Resilience Strategies (informationweek.com)
7 risk mitigation strategies to protect business operations | TechTarget
How to go from collecting risk data to actually reducing risk? - Help Net Security
SEC’s New Cyber Disclosure Rule: Challenges, Consequences, And Compliance | K2 Integrity - JDSupra
Regulations are still necessary to compel adoption of cyber security measures | ZDNET
CISOs and board members are finding a common language - Help Net Security
IT Disaster Recovery Best Practices: Preparing For The Worst (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
When And How To Hire A vCISO For Your Company's Cyber security Program (forbes.com)
18 Factors And Metrics To Show The Value Of Cyber security Initiatives (forbes.com)
Improve your cyber threat understanding with geopolitical context | CSO Online
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Ransomware Attacks Double: Are Companies Prepared for 2024's Cyber Threats? (thehackernews.com)
Ransomware realities in 2023: one employee mistake can cost a company millions (securityaffairs.com)
Ransomware Criminals Aiming at Third-Party Vendors in Hunt for ‘Big Game’ (claimsjournal.com)
Feds: Beware AvosLocker Ransomware Attacks on Critical Infrastructure (darkreading.com)
Giant health insurer struck by ransomware didn't have antivirus protection (malwarebytes.com)
CISA shares vulnerabilities, misconfigs used by ransomware gangs (bleepingcomputer.com)
What Are the Legal Implications of Paying Ransomware Demands? | HackerNoon
63% of organisations restore data after a ransomware attack | Security Magazine
Black Basta ransomware is out and about, again. (thecyberwire.com)
Ukrainian activists hack Trigona ransomware gang, wipe servers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Elastic Global Threat Report 2023 Reveals Dominance of Ransomware | Business Wire
Scammers are targeting plastic surgery clinics with extortion scams | TechRadar
BlackCat ransomware uses new ‘Munchkin’ Linux VM in stealthy attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Law enforcement operation seized Ragnar Locker group's infrastructure (securityaffairs.com)
Ransomware Victims
Lockbit ransomware gang demanded an 80 million ransom to CDW (securityaffairs.com)
Alphv gang stole 5TB of data from Morrison Community Hospital (securityaffairs.com)
Kansas Supreme Court Probes Potential Ransomware Attack (govinfosecurity.com)
KwikTrip all but says IT outage was caused by a cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
More than 95 per cent of phishing attacks target the banking and finance sectors (bizhub.vn)
Phishing attacks hit record high in third quarter, with malware not far behind - SiliconANGLE
VIPRE finds 233.9 million malicious emails detected in Q3 2023 (securitybrief.co.nz)
Make sure that email from HR is legit - it could be another phishing scam | TechRadar
Human resources emails remain top phishing targets - SiliconANGLE
D-Link Confirms Data Breach: Employee Falls Victim to Phishing Attack (thehackernews.com)
Artificial Intelligence
AI and the Imperative to Take Cyber security Precautions (inforisktoday.com)
Generative AI an Emerging Risk as CISOs Shift Cyber Resilience Strategies (informationweek.com)
Exploring the Realm of Malicious Generative AI: A New Digital Security Challenge (thehackernews.com)
AI-generated cyber attacks pose new risk to key UK infrastructure, experts warn | The Independent
North Korea has got its hands on AI - and is testing its ability to commit cyberwarfare | TechRadar
Generative AI is scaring CISOs – but adoption isn’t slowing down | CSO Online
Cyber criminals register .AI domains of trusted brands for malicious activity | CSO Online
2FA/MFA
Malware
Phishing attacks hit record high in third quarter, with malware not far behind - SiliconANGLE
DarkGate malware spreads through compromised Skype accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)
BLOODALCHEMY provides backdoor to ASEAN secrets • The Register
Discord still a hotbed of malware activity — Now APTs join the fun (bleepingcomputer.com)
Researchers warn of increased malware delivery via fake browser updates - Help Net Security
Malicious Notepad++ Google ads evade detection for months (bleepingcomputer.com)
Google-hosted malvertising leads to fake Keepass site that looks genuine | Ars Technica
Russian Hackers Bypass EDR to Deliver Weaponized TeamViewer (gbhackers.com)
Beware - that Google Chrome update alert might actually just be malware | TechRadar
Mobile
SpyNote: Beware of This Android Trojan that Records Audio and Phone Calls (thehackernews.com)
The top 9 mobile security threats and how you can avoid them | ZDNET
Hackers exploit security flaw to target iOS 17 iPhones with 'notification attack' | Macworld
Google Play Protect adds real-time scanning to fight Android malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Fake 'RedAlert' rocket alert app for Israel installs Android spyware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Internet of Things – IoT
Inadequate IoT protection can be a costly mistake - Help Net Security
Israelis told to secure their home security cameras against hackers • Graham Cluley
Logistics Matters - Alert: How hackers use printers to gain access
Data Breaches/Leaks
UK watchdog fines Equifax $13.4 million for role in cyber breach | Reuters
Casio discloses data breach impacting customers in 149 countries (bleepingcomputer.com)
530K people's info stolen from cloud PC gaming's Shadow • The Register
D-Link Confirms Data Breach: Employee Falls Victim to Phishing Attack (thehackernews.com)
Hackers stole a million people's DNA. But what will they do with it? | Tech News | Metro News
23AndMe Hacker Leaks New Tranche of Stolen Data (darkreading.com)
Healthcare breach costs soar requiring new thinking for safeguarding data (securityintelligence.com)
Lost and Stolen Devices: A Gateway to Data Breaches and Leaks - SecurityWeek
Twitter glitch allows CIA informant channel to be hijacked - BBC News
Care provider under fire over response to cyber attack (thetimes.co.uk)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cyber attacks -- where they come from and the tactics they use (betanews.com)
Cyber criminals register .AI domains of trusted brands for malicious activity | CSO Online
Highest percentage of cyber crime activity originates in Russia (securitybrief.co.nz)
Single Sign On and the Cyber crime Ecosystem (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Employees leaving businesses open to cyber attack – QBE research - CIR Magazine
Why disaffected employees are your greatest cyber security risk | Federal News Network
Ex-Navy IT head gets 5 years for selling people’s data on darkweb (bleepingcomputer.com)
Insurance
How MOVEit Is Likely to Shift Cyber Insurance Calculus (darkreading.com)
How Data Changes the Cyber Insurance Market Outlook (darkreading.com)
What to Look for in Cyber Insurance Coverage | Proofpoint US
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Identity and Access Management
Encryption
Linux and Open Source
Open To Attack: The Risks Of Open-Source Software Attacks (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Can open source be saved from the EU's Cyber Resilience Act? • The Register
Report Finds Few Open Source Projects are Actively Maintained - Slashdot
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
IT Admins Are Just as Guilty For Weak Password Use- IT Security Guru
Over 40,000 admin portal accounts use 'admin' as a password (bleepingcomputer.com)
39% of individuals use the same password for multiple accounts | Security Magazine
Fighting off cyber attacks? Make sure user credentials aren’t compromised (bleepingcomputer.com)
Passkeys Are Cool, But They Aren't Enterprise-Ready (darkreading.com)
A worrying amount of corporate IDs still aren't properly protected | TechRadar
Social Media
Hamas Hijacked Victims’ Social Media Accounts to Spread Terror - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Twitter glitch allows CIA informant channel to be hijacked - BBC News
Malvertising
Malicious Notepad++ Google ads evade detection for months (bleepingcomputer.com)
Google-hosted malvertising leads to fake Keepass site that looks genuine | Ars Technica
Clever malvertising attack uses Punycode to look like KeePass's official website (malwarebytes.com)
Training, Education and Awareness
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
UK watchdog fines Equifax $13.4 million for role in cyber breach | Reuters
One year left for companies to implement NIS2 cyber security directive (wbj.pl)
The future of cyber security regulation: what to look out for with NIS2 | TechRadar
NIS2: Why organisations need a unified cyber security standard | Microscope (computerweekly.com)
Can open source be saved from the EU's Cyber Resilience Act? • The Register
Security Pros Warn That EU's Vulnerability Disclosure Rule Is Risky (darkreading.com)
The double-edged sword of heightened regulation for financial services - Help Net Security
Top US Cyber Agency Pushing Toward First Hack Reporting Rule (bloomberglaw.com)
Keeping control in complex regulatory environments - Help Net Security
UN cyber crime treaty: A menace in the making – EURACTIV.com
SEC’s New Cyber Disclosure Rule: Challenges, Consequences, And Compliance | K2 Integrity - JDSupra
Models, Frameworks and Standards
One year left for companies to implement NIS2 cyber security directive (wbj.pl)
The future of cyber security regulation: what to look out for with NIS2 | TechRadar
NIST Cyber security Framework for Small Businesses: Key Benefits (smallbiztrends.com)
NIS2: Why organisations need a unified cyber security standard | Microscope (computerweekly.com)
Backup and Recovery
Principles for ransomware-resistant cloud backups - NCSC.GOV.UK
63% of organisations restore data after a ransomware attack | Security Magazine
Data Protection
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Over half of cyber security pros say they want to switch jobs (betanews.com)
Compelling Reasons Why You Should Study Cyber Security - Minutehack
Your guide to landing a job in cyber security (fastcompany.com)
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare, Cyber Espionage and Geopolitical Threats
Misc Nation State/Cyber Warfare
‘Only a matter of time’ before cyber attacks are viewed as acts of war: Ex-NSA chief
Five Eyes issues five tips on thwarting nation state threats | Computer Weekly
Discord: A Playground for Nation-State Hackers Targeting Critical Infrastructure (thehackernews.com)
TetrisPhantom: Cyber Espionage via Secure USBs Targets APAC Governments (thehackernews.com)
Pro-Russian Hackers Exploiting Recent WinRAR Vulnerability in New Campaign (thehackernews.com)
The evolution of deception tactics from traditional to cyber warfare - Help Net Security
Exclusive: Ukraine says joint mission with US derailed Moscow’s cyber attacks (therecord.media)
Government officials debate effectiveness of multilateral relations in cyber security | ZDNET
Defence leaders recognise need to adapt to win in ‘information battlespace’ | BAE Systems
Geopolitical Threats/Activity
How Cyber attacks Could Affect the Israel-Hamas War (govinfosecurity.com)
Israelis told to secure their home security cameras against hackers • Graham Cluley
Gaza Conflict Paves Way for Pro-Hamas Information Operations (darkreading.com)
Pro-Israeli Hacktivist Group Predatory Sparrow Reappears (darkreading.com)
AI-Powered Israeli 'Cyber Dome' Defence Operation Comes to Life (darkreading.com)
Fake 'RedAlert' rocket alert app for Israel installs Android spyware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hamas Hijacked Victims’ Social Media Accounts to Spread Terror - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Pro-Iranian Hacktivists Set Sights on Israeli Industrial Control Systems (darkreading.com)
China
Mandia: China replaces Russia as top cyber threat | CyberScoop
FBI boss slams ‘unprecedented’ Chinese cyberespionage and IP theft | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Five Eyes warn of growing threat of IP 'theft' by China's hackers (techmonitor.ai)
20,000 Britons approached by Chinese agents on LinkedIn, says MI5 head | MI5 | The Guardian
Researchers Unveil ToddyCat's New Set of Tools for Data Exfiltration (thehackernews.com)
BLOODALCHEMY provides backdoor to ASEAN secrets • The Register
TetrisPhantom: Cyber Espionage via Secure USBs Targets APAC Governments (thehackernews.com)
Huawei wants to know why EU labelled it high security risk • The Register
Google TAG Detects State-Backed Threat Actors Exploiting WinRAR Flaw (thehackernews.com)
Russia
Mandia: China replaces Russia as top cyber threat | CyberScoop
Russia-based Wizard Spider is Top Threat Group: Netskope Report | MSSP Alert
Pro-Russian Hackers Exploiting Recent WinRAR Vulnerability in New Campaign (thehackernews.com)
Russian Sandworm hackers breached 11 Ukrainian telcos since May (bleepingcomputer.com)
Exclusive: Ukraine says joint mission with US derailed Moscow’s cyber attacks (therecord.media)
Russian Hackers Bypass EDR to Deliver Weaponized TeamViewer (gbhackers.com)
Highest percentage of cyber crime activity originates in Russia (securitybrief.co.nz)
Iran
Iranian hackers lurked in Middle Eastern govt network for 8 months (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hamas-linked app offers window into cyber infrastructure, possible links to Iran | CyberScoop
North Korea
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerability Scanning: How Often Should I Scan? (thehackernews.com)
Microsoft Needs to Get Serious About Its Windows 10 Upgrade Problem (pcmag.com)
Vulnerabilities
Number of Cisco Devices Hacked via Unpatched Vulnerability Increases to 40,000 - SecurityWeek
Cisco working on fix for critical IOS XE zero-day | TechTarget
Oracle Patches 185 Vulnerabilities With October 2023 CPU - SecurityWeek
Critical Citrix NetScaler Flaw Exploited to Target from Government, Tech Firms (thehackernews.com)
Juniper Networks Patches Over 30 Vulnerabilities in Junos OS - SecurityWeek
Hackers exploit critical flaw in WordPress Royal Elementor plugin (bleepingcomputer.com)
Critical Vulnerabilities Uncovered in Open Source CasaOS Cloud Software (thehackernews.com)
Zoom, Investors Reach $150 Million Deal Over Security Flaws Suit (bloomberglaw.com)
Pro-Russian Hackers Exploiting Recent WinRAR Vulnerability in New Campaign (thehackernews.com)
Tools and Controls
Well-informed employees act as 1st line of defence against cyber threats
SMBs seek cyber training, support as attack risk surges | CIO Dive
Vulnerability Scanning: How Often Should I Scan? (thehackernews.com)
Essential cyber hygiene: Making cyber defence cost effective - Help Net Security
Preparations Are Key to Weathering Cyber security Incidents | Chief Investment Officer (ai-cio.com)
Improve your cyber threat understanding with geopolitical context | CSO Online
Why Zero Trust Is the Cloud Security Imperative (darkreading.com)
3 Essential Steps to Strengthen SaaS Security (darkreading.com)
Google Authenticator synchronization raises MFA concerns | TechTarget
Email Security Best Practices for Phishing Prevention (trendmicro.com)
What to Look for in Cyber Insurance Coverage | Proofpoint US
How to go from collecting risk data to actually reducing risk? - Help Net Security
Generative AI an Emerging Risk as CISOs Shift Cyber Resilience Strategies (informationweek.com)
OSINT isn't immediate ground truth--it's the result of analysis. (thecyberwire.com)
How Data Changes the Cyber Insurance Market Outlook (darkreading.com)
What is Structured Threat Information eXpression (STIX)? (techtarget.com)
Other News
SMBs Struggle to Keep Pace with Cyber Security Threats - IT Security Guru
Many SMBs really don't know exactly what security tools they need | TechRadar
Hackers Hit The IT Industry: 12 Companies Targeted In 2023 | CRN
What the Hollywood Writers Strike Resolution Means for Cyber security (darkreading.com)
Progress gets SEC subpoena over MOVEit breach – and more! • The Register
Cyber attacks on healthcare organisations affect patient care - Help Net Security
Zoom, Investors Reach $150 Million Deal Over Security Flaws Suit (bloomberglaw.com)
Thinking about the phrase 'cyber security' | Microscope (computerweekly.com)
Space industry group turns up volume on satellite vulnerabilities - SpaceNews
5 Tips for Improving Security in Public Sector (govinfosecurity.com)
Marketers Must Make Cyber security A Priority Every Day (forbes.com)
UK at risk of massive security breach from national HMRC IT meltdown | The Independent
UK warns nuclear power plant operator of cyber security failings (therecord.media)
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 September 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 08 September 2023:
-More Than Half of UK Organisations Know They Aren’t Well Protected
-Generative AI Considered a Security Risk by 60% of Board Members: How Organisations Can Prepare
-Businesses Ignore Incident Response at Their Peril
-Blame Culture: An Organisation’s Ticking Time Bomb
-Spend to Save: CFO’s and Cyber Security Investment
-Cyber Security Tools Are New Targets for Attackers, including Nation-State Actors
-Attackers Access UK Military Data Through Third Party Supplier as Relentless Russian Cyber Attacks Raise Spectre of WW3
-Common Tactics Used by Threat Actors to Weaponise PDFs
-Years-old Microsoft Security Holes Still Hot Targets for Cyber Criminals
-Popular ‘As-a-Service’ Operations Have Earned Cyber Criminals over $64m
-71% of Organisations are Impacted by Cyber Security Skills Shortage
-Multiple Schools Hit by Cyber Attacks Before Term Begins
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
More Than Half of UK Organisations Know They Aren’t Well Protected
According to a recent report, just 49% of business leaders report their organisation is well or very well protected. Cyber security featured as the third highest-rated business priority, with increasing revenues and reducing costs forming the top two. One of the ways an organisation can reduce cost is to outsource, and 63% of respondents agreed, reporting that they wanted to work with an external cyber security partner to improve their security.
Even if you’re in the 49% of organisations that believes it is well protected, this can be a dangerous self-assessment based on a lack of experience and impartiality. Business leaders need independent assurance to ensure their security controls are appropriate and in line with the organisation’s risk appetite. It is essential to dispel assumptions, by investigating your security before an attacker does.
Black Arrow Cyber Consulting offers a free, no-obligation, introductory consultation to help you gain an unbiased perspective on how your current security approach could withstand an attacker. We help our clients to know the questions to ask of their external or internal IT provider, and how to leverage other security controls from existing resources.
Sources: [IT Security Guru][Beta News]
Generative AI Considered a Security Risk by 60% of Board Members. How Organisations Can Prepare
A recent report conducted by Proofpoint found that 60% of board members consider generative AI a security risk.
The rapid development and adoption of AI is double-edged in nature. Whilst it can yield positive benefits if used safely and responsibility within organisations, AI is also being used to great effect by malicious actors with AI abuse growing beyond phishing to increasing the efficacy of multistage attacks, being used to generated malware, and carrying out different types of social engineering attacks.
For this reason Boards and senior leaders are right to be concerned and should ensure appropriate measures are being taken.
Sources: [TheNationalNews] [SCMagazine] [CyberSecurityNews]
Further reading: [BusinessCloud.co.uk] [WIRED UK] [Help Net Security]
Businesses Ignore Incident Response at Their Peril
According to a UK Government report, a quarter of businesses don’t regard cyber incident response skills as essential and almost half said they weren’t confident they could put together an incident response plan. This led to 41% saying they were not very or not at all confident that they would be able to deal with a cyber security breach or attack.
Unfortunately, this leaves many organisations in a situation where they will have to learn the hard way about the implications of not having an incident response plan. A separate government report found that 37% of those hit by a cyber attack said it impacted operations and a quarter experienced negative consequences such as loss of money or data.
One of the ways organisations can circumnavigate their lack of confidence in their ability to construct an incident response plan is to use cyber security experts to construct it.
Source: [Infosecurity Magazine]
Blame Culture: An Organisation’s Ticking Time Bomb
An organisation’s attitude and responses to cyber security are almost as important as the actions taken to prevent cyber attacks. “Lessons learnt” are a common feature within mature and cyber resilient organisations. Incidents are a matter of when not if, and it is important that organisations know how to react.
Taking the example of a phishing attack, it is easy to blame the employee who opened it, potentially firing them. With phishing simulations, it is equally easy to discipline an employee who fell for it. The problem is, neither of these focus on what can be learned, such as why the employee fell for it in the first place. Additionally, there is the potential that employees become reserved or reticent about reporting potential events, due to the fear of being disciplined. This can be the difference between an organisation having an early detection of an incident and being able to invoke incident response plans sooner, or leaving the attacker in the system doing damage for longer before being reported.
Source: [ IT Security Guru]
Spend to Save: CFOs and Cyber Security Investment
For chief financial officers (CFOs), the increasing impact of data breaches creates a paradox. While more spending is necessary to combat these challenges, this spending isn’t directly tied to profit. Instead, cyber security spending is all about return on investment.
When looking at spending, CFOs need to keep in mind that the total cost of a breach is more than the initial currency loss: there is the knock-on effect of reputation and losses in customers. But it is not a case of spending more to protect more; spending must be tailored to the organisation and prioritise in terms of business needs.
Source: [Security Intelligence]
Cyber Security Tools Are New Targets for Attackers, Including Nation-State Actors
An increasing number of attacks by nation-state attackers are targeting cyber security tools in their campaigns. This includes the recent attacks on US officials which attacked and gained access through the firewalls of the victim. Security vendors, just like anyone, will have flaws in their software: there will be vulnerabilities. As such, organisations need to be aware of these vulnerabilities and when support runs out for their cyber security tools, to better protect themselves.
Source: [News Week]
Attackers Access UK Military Data Through Third Party Supplier as Relentless Russian Cyber Attacks Raise Spectre of WW3
Top secret military data from the UK’s Ministry of Defence was stolen and then sold by the ransomware gang LockBit. How, you might ask? Through a rogue Windows 7 PC that belonged to their fencing supplier, Zaun. The LockBit Ransom group conducted the attack on the supplier’s network, and Zaun admitted the group may have exfiltrated 10GB of data.
Many attackers have realised that if you cannot directly attack an organisation, then the supplier can present a way in. Organisations need to be sure of their suppliers’ security, and conduct third party security assessments to identify the risk the supplier may present to the organisation itself.
Black Arrow have helped many clients carry out third party risk assessments on a large number of suppliers and this can be done as a standalone offering or as part of a fractional CISO engagement.
Source: [The Register] [Tech Monitor]
Common Tactics Used by Threat Actors to Weaponise PDFs
PDFs are often seen as safe, something that cannot be used by an attacker, but that’s wrong. Actors are using this trustworthiness, as well as the difficulty in detection and ubiquity of PDFs, to weaponise them. Common tactics involve malicious hyperlinks within PDFs and macros that run when a PDF is opened, and in some cases attackers are disguising a malicious Word document as a PDF to evade detection.
Source: [Cyber Security News]
Years-old Microsoft Security Holes Still Hot Targets for Cyber Criminals
A recent report has found that Microsoft vulnerabilities as old as 6 years are still being exploited, with one recorded as being exploited as recently as 31 August. In fact, since this particular vulnerability was fixed, it has been used to deploy 467 different malware types. This is not the number of attacks, but the number of different types of malware used in attacks.
The concept isn’t just for Microsoft. Many organisations do not employ effective patching strategies, and as such leave the doors open to attackers. Sometimes, these doors are open for years.
Source: [The Register]
Popular ‘As-a-Service’ Operations Have Earned Cyber Criminals over $64m
As-a-service operations allow attackers to employ sophisticated attacks without the need for extensive knowledge; they simply just purchase the ability. Take phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS), where an attacker with very limited cyber knowledge simply needs to purchase a phishing kit and they are then well-equipped to target organisations. This availability in tools creates a significant surge in the number of cyber criminals, with one scheme alone raking in $64.5 billion in illegal gains.
Source: [IT Security Guru]
71% of Organisations are Impacted by Cyber Security Skills Shortage
Most organisations (71%) report that they’ve been impacted by the cyber security skills shortage, leading to an increased workload for the cyber security team (61%), unfilled open job requisitions (49%) and high burnout among staff (43%). Further, 95% respondents state the cyber security skills shortage and its associated impacts have not improved over the past few years and 54% (up 10% from 2021) say it has got worse.
Organisations need to continue maintaining and improving their security while their cyber security positions remain unfilled. Black Arrow supports firms to achieve this by providing expert resources on a flexible basis for technical, governance and transformational positions.
Source: [Security Magazine] [Digital Journal]
Multiple Schools Hit by Cyber Attacks Before Term Begins
Ahead of the new school term, a number of schools have become the victim of serious cyber attacks. The education sector isn’t a new target, with previous ransomware reports finding the education sector to account for 16% of victims.
The education sector remains a target due to the valuable data they hold, large attack surfaces and frequently a lack of resources and budgets, something many small and medium-sized business may share.
Source: [Infosecurity Magazine]
Governance, Risk and Compliance
The importance of CISOs is not recognised by senior leadership - IT Security Guru
Blame Culture: An Organisation's Ticking Time Bomb - IT Security Guru
Spend to save: The CFO’s guide to cyber security investment (securityintelligence.com)
SEC tells companies to “show their work” on cyber security - Red Canary
Cyber security: a life cycle, not a destination | Hydrocarbon Engineering
Rising Physical Incidents Should Drive C-Level Investment & Action (forbes.com)
Compliance budgets under strain as inflation and workload grow - Help Net Security
Cyber Security pros battle discontent amid skills shortage - Help Net Security
CISOs weigh in on building security-focused culture | Healthcare IT News
How Do Some Companies Get Compromised Again and Again? (securityintelligence.com)
IAM, cloud security to drive new cyber security spending | CSO Online
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Ministry of Defence documents leaked by LockBit (techmonitor.ai)
Attackers access military data through fencing supplier • The Register
Ransomware attackers are targeting exposed Microsoft SQL databases, report says (therecord.media)
Ransomware and Data Breaches: Impacts Continue to Grow Louder (govtech.com)
Education Sector Heavily Targeted as the School Year Begins (databreaches.net)
Killware vs. Ransomware: What's the Difference? (makeuseof.com)
Is this the next target for international ransomware attacks? | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
To Pay or Not to Pay? The Ransomware Dilemma (informationweek.com)
Snake Ransomware Endangers Your Data: How Can You Stop It? (makeuseof.com)
How to Prevent Ransomware: 6 Key Steps to Safeguard Assets (techtarget.com)
Ransomware Victims
LockBit Leaks Documents Filched From UK Defence Contractor (darkreading.com)
Ministry of Defence documents leaked in cyber attack (civilserviceworld.com)
Debenham High School IT system hit by cyber attack - BBC News
Highgate Wood School delays term by 6 days after cyber attack | This Is Local London
Cyber attack hits Wokingham's Maiden Erlegh School | Reading Chronicle
Ransomware gang claims credit for Sabre data breach | TechCrunch
Hackers claim to publish prominent Israeli hospital’s patient data (therecord.media)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
AI abuse grows beyond phishing to multistage cyber attacks | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Google is enabling Chrome real-time phishing protection for everyone (bleepingcomputer.com)New phishing tool hijacked thousands of Microsoft business email accounts (therecord.media)
Beware of New Fileless Malware that Propagates Via Spam Mail (cybersecuritynews.com)
Spam is up, QR codes emerge as a significant threat vector - Help Net Security
From unsuspecting click to data compromise - Help Net Security
Alert: Phishing Campaigns Deliver New SideTwist Backdoor and Agent Tesla Variant (thehackernews.com)
Getting off the hook: 10 steps to take after clicking on a phishing link (welivesecurity.com)
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Emerging threat: AI-powered social engineering - Help Net Security
Hackers Using ChatGPT to Generate Malware & Social Engineering Threats (cybersecuritynews.com)
How cyber criminals use look-alike domains to impersonate brands - Help Net Security
Artificial Intelligence
Generative AI considered a security risk by 60% of board members, survey finds (thenationalnews.com)
AI ‘triggers DeepTech anxiety for senior leaders’ (businesscloud.co.uk)
Emerging threat: AI-powered social engineering - Help Net Security
AI abuse grows beyond phishing to multistage cyber attacks | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Hackers Using ChatGPT to Generate Malware & Social Engineering Threats (cybersecuritynews.com)
UK tech tsar warns of AI cyber threat to NHS | Financial Times (ft.com)
It's the summer of adversarial chatbots. Here's how to defend against them - SiliconANGLE
Will the AI Arms Race Lead to the Pollution of the Internet? (darkreading.com)
UK cyber chief urges ‘Security by Design’ in AI development (ukdefencejournal.org.uk)
Generative AI’s Biggest Security Flaw Is Not Easy to Fix | WIRED UK
Developers have security, other generative AI concerns but use it anyway - ARN (arnnet.com.au)
How Companies Can Cope With the Risks of Generative AI Tools (darkreading.com)
3 ways to strike the right balance with generative AI - Help Net Security
Peril vs. Promise: Companies, Developers Worry Over Generative AI Risk (darkreading.com)
Experts Probe AI Risks Around Malicious Use, China Influence (govinfosecurity.com)
Beware: Deepfake Scams Could Target Your Next Zoom Meeting | Entrepreneur
Malware
Common Tactics Used by Threat Actors to Weaponise PDFs (cybersecuritynews.com)
'Atomic macOS Stealer' Malware Delivered via Malvertising Campaign - SecurityWeek
Hackers Using ChatGPT to Generate Malware & Social Engineering Threats (cybersecuritynews.com)
UNRAVELING EternalBlue: inside the WannaCry’s enabler (securityaffairs.com)
Malware configurations How to find and use them? (govinfosecurity.com)
Beware of New Fileless Malware that Propagates Via Spam Mail (cybersecuritynews.com)
New Python Variant of Chaes Malware Targets Banking and Logistics Industries (thehackernews.com)
New BLISTER Malware Update Fuelling Stealthy Network Infiltration (thehackernews.com)
Alert: Phishing Campaigns Deliver New SideTwist Backdoor and Agent Tesla Variant (thehackernews.com)
Mobile
Hacking device Flipper Zero can spam nearby iPhones with Bluetooth pop-ups | TechCrunch
September Android updates fix zero-day exploited in attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hacker exploits security flaw to target iPhone users with 'notification attack' | Macworld
Botnets
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
DDoS attack took down the site of German financial agency BaFin (securityaffairs.com)
Mirai variant infects low-cost Android TV boxes for DDoS attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
CISA Releases Capacity Enhancement Guide to Strengthen Agency Resilience to DDoS Attack | CISA
BYOD
Internet of Things – IoT
Securing The IoT From The Threat China Poses To US Infrastructure (forbes.com)
Connected cars and cyber crime: A primer - Help Net Security
Hacking device Flipper Zero can spam nearby iPhones with Bluetooth pop-ups | TechCrunch
Mirai variant infects low-cost Android TV boxes for DDoS attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Why consumer drones represent a special cyber security risk (securityintelligence.com)
Like privacy? Then smart devices are a dumb idea • The Register
Maker of ‘smart’ chastity cage left users’ emails, passwords, and locations exposed | TechCrunch
Data Breaches/Leaks
Electoral Commission failed basic security test before hack - BBC News
Insurer fined $3M for exposing data of 650k clients for two years (bleepingcomputer.com)
Golf gear giant Callaway data breach exposes info of 1.1 million (bleepingcomputer.com)
Freecycle confirms massive data breach impacting 7 million users (bleepingcomputer.com)
Thousands of Popular Websites Leaking Secrets - SecurityWeek
Johnson & Johnson discloses IBM data breach impacting patients (bleepingcomputer.com)
Northern Ireland police chief quits in wake of data breach • The Register
Lawsuit blames Tesla for data breach it sued ex-staff over • The Register
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Popular 'As-a-Service' Operations Have Earned Cyber Criminals over $64m - IT Security Guru
Cyber Crime Tremors: Experts Forecast Qakbot Resurgence (govinfosecurity.com)
It might be too soon to claim victory against Qakbot | Computer Weekly
Cyber crime to cost Germany 206 billion euros in 2023, survey finds | Reuters
Cyber criminals coercing children in their own bedrooms | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
YouTuber Loses $60K Worth of Crypto After Showing Seed Phrases on Stream - Decrypt
Who Pulled Off a $41M Online Casino Heist? North Korea, FBI Says (vice.com)
Is this the next target for international ransomware attacks? | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
Bitcoin exchange exec admits he ignored anti-laundering laws • The Register
Cyber criminals target graphic designers with GPU miners (talosintelligence.com)
LastPass under fire again as users report stolen crypto keys and losses | Cybernews
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Popular 'As-a-Service' Operations Have Earned Cyber criminals over $64m - IT Security Guru
Fake YouPorn extortion scam threatens to leak your sex tape (bleepingcomputer.com)
Four Convicted in $18m Investment Fraud Scheme - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Global roaming fraud losses to surpass $8 billion by 2028 - Help Net Security
Airlines Battle Surge in Loyalty Program Fraud - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
How We Track Crypto Money Laundering for Off-Chain Crime (chainalysis.com)
See Tickets Alerts 300,000 Customers After Another Web Skimmer Attack - SecurityWeek
Beware: Deepfake Scams Could Target Your Next Zoom Meeting | Entrepreneur
Impersonation Attacks
'Smishing Triad' Targeted USPS and US Citizens for Data Theft (securityaffairs.com)
How cyber criminals use look-alike domains to impersonate brands - Help Net Security
Deepfakes
Emerging threat: AI-powered social engineering - Help Net Security
Beware: Deepfake Scams Could Target Your Next Zoom Meeting | Entrepreneur
AML/CFT/Sanctions
How We Track Crypto Money Laundering for Off-Chain Crime (chainalysis.com)
Four Convicted in $18m Investment Fraud Scheme - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Bitcoin exchange exec admits he ignored anti-laundering laws • The Register
Insurance
Insights Into the Changing Landscape of Cyber Insurance - Frost Brown Todd | Full-Service Law Firm
Time and effort to obtain cyber insurance increasing for US businesses | CSO Online
Beazley expects to sponsor more cyber catastrophe bonds in 2024 - Artemis.bm
Lloyd’s categorises cyber war wordings in aggregation clarity push (insuranceinsider.com)
Dark Web
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Attackers access military data through fencing supplier • The Register
Ministry of Defence documents leaked by LockBit (techmonitor.ai)
Supply chain related security risks, and how to protect against them (malwarebytes.com)
5 ways to improve your supply chain security posture | IT Reseller Magazine (itrportal.com)
Overcoming Open Source Vulnerabilities in the Software Supply Chain (darkreading.com)
Creating a more cyber secure supply chain requires group effort - FreightWaves
Facing Third-Party Threats With Non-Employee Risk Management (darkreading.com)
Software Supply Chain
Cloud/SaaS
Step Up Your Defence Against Cloud-loving Cyber Criminals (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
IAM, cloud security to drive new cyber security spending | CSO Online
Hybrid/Remote Working
Attack Surface Management
What OSINT is, and why it’s dangerous | Kaspersky official blog
Armis report sheds light on top 10 targeted assets by cyber attackers - SiliconANGLE
Top 10 riskiest assets threatening global business - IT Security Guru
Encryption
Government denies U-turn on encrypted messaging row - BBC News
UK lawmakers back down on encryption-busting 'spy clause' | CyberScoop
API
Open Source
Software industry urged to assume risk on open source security | CIO Dive
Overcoming Open Source Vulnerabilities in the Software Supply Chain (darkreading.com)
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
It's a Zero-day? It's Malware? No! It's Username and Password (thehackernews.com)
Chrome extensions can steal plaintext passwords from websites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hacker gains admin control of Sourcegraph and gives free access to the masses | Ars Technica
Passwords From The November 2022 LastPass Breach Being Cracked? - PC Perspective
LastPass under fire again as users report stolen crypto keys and losses | Cybernews
Maker of ‘smart’ chastity cage left users’ emails, passwords, and locations exposed | TechCrunch
75% of education sector attacks linked to compromised accounts - Help Net Security
Social Media
Malvertising
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Children's snack recalled after its website caught serving porn (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyber criminals coercing children in their own bedrooms | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
An Overview of ENISA’s Risk Management Standards Report | UpGuard
SEC tells companies to “show their work” on cyber security - Red Canary
Verizon to pay feds $4M over cyber security lapse | Light Reading
Government denies U-turn on encrypted messaging row - BBC News
UK drops 'spy clause' for scanning encrypted messages • The Register
Models, Frameworks and Standards
An Overview of ENISA’s Risk Management Standards Report | UpGuard
CIS Benchmarks Communities: Where configurations meet consensus - Help Net Security
Explaining The New NIST Cyber Security Framework to the C-Suite
Backup and Recovery
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
71% of organisations are impacted by cyber security skills shortage | Security Magazine
Cyber Security Skills Gap set to cost UK £120 billion by 2023 - Essex-TV
6 free resources for getting started in cyber security - Help Net Security
Cyber professionals say industry urgently needs to confront mental health crisis | CyberScoop
Cyber security pros battle discontent amid skills shortage - Help Net Security
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
It might be too soon to claim victory against Qakbot | Computer Weekly
Cops drill into chat apps to thwart coke-smuggling ring • The Register
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage
Russia
Russia-linked attackers hit UK Ministry of Defence, leak stolen data | CSO Online
Meet the man leading the front-line effort in Ukraine's cyber war with Russia : NPR
China and Russia are pushing the boundaries of cyber attacks to harm other states - CityAM
Ukraine's CERT Thwarts APT28's Cyber Attack on Critical Energy Infrastructure (thehackernews.com)
Attackers access military data through fencing supplier • The Register
Russia-linked hack on Trident base sparks 'World War Three' warning from expert (yahoo.com)
Russia, China behind majority of cyber attacks targeting German businesses (aa.com.tr)
Elon Musk's Father Fears Possible Assassination Attempt on His Son (businessinsider.com)
Big Tech failed to police Russian disinformation: EU study • The Register
North Korea hackers going after Russian targets, Microsoft says, World News - AsiaOne
China
How China gets free intel on tech companies’ vulnerabilities | Ars Technica
Experts Probe AI Risks Around Malicious Use, China Influence (govinfosecurity.com)
How Microsoft's highly secure environment was breached (malwarebytes.com)
Securing The IoT From The Threat China Poses To US Infrastructure (forbes.com)
China and Russia are pushing the boundaries of cyber attacks to harm other states - CityAM
Russia, China behind majority of cyber attacks targeting German businesses (aa.com.tr)
German companies report more cyber attacks from Russia, China | Meta.mk
Microsoft finally explains cause of Azure breach: An engineer’s account was hacked | Ars Technica
South Korean Cyber Security Concerns Over Chinese-Made Cranes, Meteorological Gear | The Epoch Times
Huawei hits back in Portugal over 5G 'ban' with lawsuit - DCD (datacenterdynamics.com)
Iran
Hackers push anti-Iranian government messages to millions via breached app | CyberScoop
Iranian hackers breach US aviation org via Zoho, Fortinet bugs (bleepingcomputer.com)
North Korea
Lazarus hackers deploy fake VMware PyPI packages in VMConnect attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Researchers Warn of Cyber Weapons Used by Lazarus Group's Andariel Cluster (thehackernews.com)
Meet the man leading the front-line effort in Ukraine's cyber war with Russia : NPR
North Korean hackers target security researchers with new zero-day (therecord.media)
North Korea hackers going after Russian targets, Microsoft says, World News - AsiaOne
Who Pulled Off a $41M Online Casino Heist? North Korea, FBI Says (vice.com)
Misc Nation State/Cyber Warfare
Nation-state 'hot zones' offer view of the future of cyber war – report - CIR Magazine
Lloyd’s categorises cyber war wordings in aggregation clarity push (insuranceinsider.com)
Cyber Security Tools Are New Targets For Nation-State Hackers (newsweek.com)
Multiple Nation-State Threat Actors Exploit CVE-2022-47966 and CVE-2022-42475 | CISA
Vulnerability Management
Years-old Microsoft bugs are still hot targets for criminals • The Register
Old vulnerabilities are still a big problem - Help Net Security
Overcoming Open Source Vulnerabilities in the Software Supply Chain (darkreading.com)
How China gets free intel on tech companies’ vulnerabilities | Ars Technica
Vulnerabilities
Apple discloses 2 actively exploited zero-days in iPhones, Macs (securityaffairs.com)
Google patches 4 high-rated security issues in latest Chrome 116 update - gHacks Tech News
Two flaws in Apache SuperSet allow to remotely hack servers (securityaffairs.com)
Cisco Patches Critical Vulnerability in BroadWorks Platform - SecurityWeek
Multiple Notepad++ Flaws Let Attackers Execute Arbitrary Code (cybersecuritynews.com)
Hackers exploit MinIO storage system to breach corporate networks (bleepingcomputer.com)
ASUS routers vulnerable to critical remote code execution flaws (bleepingcomputer.com)
September Android updates fix zero-day exploited in attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cisco SSO authentication bug patched - Security - Networking - iTnews
Multiple Nation-State Threat Actors Exploit CVE-2022-47966 and CVE-2022-42475 | CISA
Security or performance? Zenbleed forces you to choose | Digital Trends
Tools and Controls
Many businesses still aren't using BYOD protection | TechRadar
Insights Into the Changing Landscape of Cyber Insurance - Frost Brown Todd | Full-Service Law Firm
Spend to save: The CFO’s guide to cyber security investment (securityintelligence.com)
An Overview of ENISA’s Risk Management Standards Report | UpGuard
IOCs vs Artifacts How to Filter Out the Noise (govinfosecurity.com)
Time and effort to obtain cyber insurance increasing for US businesses | CSO Online
Chrome extensions can steal plaintext passwords from websites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Dangling DNS Used to Hijack Subdomains of Major Organisations - SecurityWeek
Why DNS Security Can Be Your Most Problematic Blind Spot (hyas.com)
Cyber Security Tools Are New Targets For Nation-State Hackers (newsweek.com)
Rising Physical Incidents Should Drive C-Level Investment & Action (forbes.com)
Why Cyber Security Risk Assessment Matters in the Banking Industry (securityintelligence.com)
Cut through cyber security vendor hype with these 6 tips | TechTarget
IAM, cloud security to drive new cyber security spending | CSO Online
Best practices for implementing a proper backup strategy - Help Net Security
Other News
Education Sector Heavily Targeted as the School Year Begins (databreaches.net)
Schools warned of cyberattack threat as new year begins | Science & Tech News | Sky News
Ways to protect WordPress sites and blogs from hacking | Kaspersky official blog
Insecure by design: What you need to know about defending critical infrastructure | CSO Online
Half of Switzerland's large companies have been the victim of a cyber attack | Euronews
Dangling DNS Used to Hijack Subdomains of Major Organizations - SecurityWeek
Securing the future: Safeguarding cyber-physical systems | CSO Online
25 Major Car Brands Get Failing Marks From Mozilla for Security and Privacy - SecurityWeek
Cyber security In Focus Ahead Of Berlin NATO Conference | OilPrice.com
10 old-school security principles that (still) rule | CSO Online
Surge in Hospital Hacks Endangers Patients, Cyber Official Says - WSJ
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 03 February 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 03 February 2023:
-Business Leaders Need a Hands-on Approach to Stop Cyber Crime, Says Spy Chief
-Rising ‘Firebrick Ostrich’ BEC Group Launches Industrial Scale Cyber Attacks
-The Corporate World is Losing its Grip on Cyber Risk
-Microsoft Reveals Over 100 Threat Actors are Deploying Ransomware in Attacks
-Greater Incident Complexity, a Shift in How Threat Actors Use Stolen Data Will Drive the Cyber Threat Landscape in 2023
-The Threat from Within: 71% of Business Leaders Surveyed Think Next Cyber Security Breach Will come from the Inside
-98% of Organisations Have a Supply Chain Relationship That Has Been Breached
-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
-Financial Services Targeted in 28% of UK Cyber Attacks Last Year
-Phishing Attacks are Getting Scarily Sophisticated. Here’s what to Watch Out For
-City of London on High Alert After Ransomware Attack
-Ransomware Conversations: Why the CFO is Pivotal to Discussing and Preparing for Risk
-JD Sports Warns of 10 Million Customers Put at Risk in Cyber Attack
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”.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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)
US puts a $10m bounty on Hive while Russia shuts down access • The Register
Copycat Criminals mimicking Lockbit gang in northern Europe security affairs
Most criminal cryptocurrency is funneled through just 5 exchanges | Ars Technica
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
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)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
2FA/MFA
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)
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
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)
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)
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
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)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
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
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)
Former Ubiquiti dev pleads guilty to data theft, extortion • The Register
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
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
AML/CFT/Sanctions
Insurance
Dark Web
There’s a Wild Scramble for Control of the Dark Web Taking Place in Russia (vice.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
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)
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
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
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
Training, Education and Awareness
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)
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)
The corporate world is losing its grip on cyber risk | Financial Times (ft.com)
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
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
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
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
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)
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)
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
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)
A Link to News Site Meduza Can (Technically) Land You in Russian Prison | WIRED
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
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
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
Nation State Actors – Misc
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
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
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)
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
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
Massive Microsoft 365 outage caused by WAN router IP change (bleepingcomputer.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.
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 09 September 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 09 September 2022
-Why It’s Mission-critical That All-sized Businesses Stay Cyber Secure
-Half of Firms Report Supply Chain Ransomware Compromise
-Vulnerability Exploits, Not Phishing, Are the Top Cyber Attack Vector for Initial Compromise
-Uber’s Ex-Security Chief Faces Landmark Trial Over Data Breach That Hit 57m Users
-Over 10% of Enterprise IT Assets Found Missing Endpoint Protection
-Some Employees Aren't Just Leaving Companies — They're Defrauding Them
-Ransomware Gangs Switching to New Intermittent Encryption Tactic
-How Posting Personal and Business Photos Can Be a Security Risk
-Your Vendors Are Likely Your Biggest Cyber Security Risk
-A Recent Chinese Hack Is a Wake-up Call for the Security of the World’s Software Supply Chain
-Massive Hotels Group IHG Struck by Cyber Attack Which Disrupts Booking Systems
-London's Biggest Bus Operator Hit by Cyber "Incident"
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
Why It’s Mission-Critical That All-Sized Businesses Stay Cyber Secure
A study analysing millions of emails across thousands of companies found that on average, employees of small businesses with less than 100 employees experience 350% more social engineering attacks than employees of larger enterprises. 57% of these are phishing attacks – the most prevalent social engineering attack of 2021.
Add to the mix that the global average cost of a data breach for businesses has skyrocketed. According to IBM Security’s annual Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average global cost is now a phenomenal $4.35 million.
Generally, larger corporations tend to have bigger security budgets, making them less of a target than smaller businesses with lesser budgets, and as such, more attractive to cyber criminals. This means that for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – with fewer resources and money – protection from cyber-attacks is now a matter of survival.
Ease of attack is not the only reason why criminals attack SMEs either. SMEs are often an entry point to target bigger organisations within the same supply chain. These larger corporations can either be crucial partners, suppliers, or customers, making SMEs prime targets.
But with efficient cyber security measures, every business regardless of size can keep themselves and their network safe.
Half of Firms Report Supply Chain Ransomware Compromise
Over half (52%) of global organisations know a partner that has been compromised by ransomware, yet few are doing anything to improve the security of their supply chain, according to Trend Micro.
The security vendor polled nearly 3,000 IT decision makers across 26 countries to produce its latest report, ‘Everything is connected: Uncovering the ransomware threat from global supply chains’.
It revealed that 90% of global IT leaders believe their partners and customers are making their own organisation a more attractive ransomware target.
That might be down in part to the fact that SMBs comprise a significant chunk of the supply chain for 52% of respondents. The security of SMBs is generally thought to be less effective than protection in larger, better resourced companies.
However, despite their concerns, less than half (47%) of respondents said they share knowledge about ransomware attacks with their suppliers, while a quarter (25%) claimed they don’t share potentially useful threat information with partners.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/half-firms-supply-chain-ransomware/
Vulnerability Exploits, Not Phishing, Are the Top Cyber Attack Vector for Initial Compromise
Breaches involving phishing and credential compromise have received a lot of attention in recent years because of how frequently threat actors have employed the tactics in executing both targeted and opportunistic attacks. But that doesn't mean that enterprise organisations can afford to lessen their focus on vulnerability patching one bit.
A report from Kaspersky this week identified more initial intrusions last year resulting from exploitation of vulnerabilities in Internet-facing applications than breaches involving malicious emails and compromised accounts combined. And data that the company has collected through the second quarter of 2022 suggests the same trend might be playing out this year as well.
Kaspersky's analysis of its 2021 incident-response data showed that breaches involving vulnerability exploits surged from 31.5% of all incidents in 2020 to 53.6% in 2021. Over the same period, attacks associated with the use of compromised accounts to gain initial access declined from 31.6% in 2020 to 17.9% last year. Initial intrusions resulting from phishing emails decreased from 23.7% to 14.3% during the same period.
Uber’s Ex-Security Chief Faces Landmark Trial Over Data Breach That Hit 57m Users
Uber’s former security officer, Joe Sullivan, is standing trial this week in what is believed to be the first case of an executive facing criminal charges in relation to a data breach.
The US district court in San Francisco will start hearing arguments on whether Sullivan, the former head of security at the ride-share giant, failed to properly disclose a 2016 data breach affecting 57 million Uber riders and drivers around the world.
At a time when reports of ransomware attacks have surged and cyber security insurance premiums have risen, the case could set an important precedent regarding the culpability of US security staffers and executives for the way the companies they work for handle cyber security incidents.
The breach first came to light in November 2017, when Uber’s chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, revealed that hackers had gained access to the driver’s licence numbers of 600,000 US Uber drivers as well as the names, email addresses and phone numbers of as many as 57 million Uber riders and drivers.
Public disclosures like Khosrowshahi’s are required by law in many US states, with most regulations mandating that the notification be made “in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay”.
But Khosrowshahi’s announcement came with an admission: a whole year had passed since the information had been breached.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/sep/06/uber-joe-sullivan-trial-security-data-breach
Over 10% of Enterprise IT Assets Found With Missing Endpoint Protection
More than 10% of enterprise IT assets are missing endpoint protection and roughly 5% are not covered by enterprise patch management solutions.
The figures come from new research by Sevco Security, which the company has compiled in the State of the Cybersecurity Attack Surface report.
"Attackers are very adept at exploiting enterprise vulnerabilities. Security and IT teams already have their hands full mitigating the vulnerabilities that they know about, and our data confirms that this is just the tip of the iceberg," Sevco told Infosecurity Magazine.
The document analyses data aggregated from visibility into more than 500,000 IT assets, and underlines existential and underreported cyber security issues in relation to securing enterprises’ assets.
“The uncertainty of enterprise inventory – the elements that make up an organisation’s cyber security attack surface – upends the foundation of every major security framework and presents a challenge to security teams: it’s impossible to protect what you can’t see,” they said.
For instance, the data found that roughly 3% of all IT assets are “stale” in endpoint protection, while 1% are stale from the perspective of patch management coverage.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/enterprise-assets-miss-endpoint/
Some Employees Aren't Just Leaving Companies — They're Defrauding Them
Since the Great Resignation in 2021, millions of employees have left their roles with current employers in search of better ones. According to Microsoft, 40% of employees reported they are considering leaving their current roles by the end of 2022. With many still working in remote or hybrid positions due to the pandemic, larger businesses have started implementing measures to gain a better understanding of employee morale and sentiment to prevent turnover.
While most employees leave companies on good terms, some may become extremely unhappy or disgruntled prior to their departure and are more likely to defraud the company either before leaving or on their way out the door. The unfortunate reality is that no business is immune to fraud, but luckily, there are several steps you can take to prevent it from happening.
According to the Cressey Fraud Triangle, fraudulent behaviour often occurs due to three contributing factors. These include pressure or motive to commit a fraud (usually a personal financial problem), perceived opportunity within the organisation to commit a fraud (poor oversight or internal controls), and rationalisation (the ability to justify the crime to make it seem acceptable).
Very often, a fraudster needs all three sides of the triangle to successfully commit a crime. Therefore, it is extremely important for organisations to do their best to create controls and understand the risk associated with each of these areas. For example, an employee may be disgruntled and also have personal financial issues. However, if internal controls are robust and the employee doesn't have access to financial instruments, valuable assets or software systems, their ability to defraud the company is extremely limited or will get identified immediately.
Ransomware Gangs Switching to New Intermittent Encryption Tactic
A growing number of ransomware groups are adopting a new tactic that helps them encrypt their victims' systems faster while reducing the chances of being detected and stopped.
This tactic is called intermittent encryption, and it consists of encrypting only parts of the targeted files' content, which would still render the data unrecoverable without using a valid decryption key.
For example, by skipping every other 16 bytes of a file, the encryption process takes almost half of the time required for full encryption but still locks the contents for good.
Additionally, because the encryption is milder, automated detection tools that rely on detecting signs of trouble in the form of intense file IO operations are more likely to fail.
SentinelLabs has posted a report examining a trend started by LockFile in mid-2021 and now adopted by the likes of Black Basta, ALPHV (BlackCat), PLAY, Agenda, and Qyick.
These groups actively promote the presence of intermittent encryption features in their ransomware family to entice affiliates to join the RaaS operation.
"Notably, Qyick features intermittent encryption, which is what the cool kids are using as you read this. Combined with the fact that is written in Go, the speed is unmatched," describes a Qyick advertisement on hacking forums.
How Posting Personal and Business Photos Can Be a Security Risk
Image geotags, metadata, and location information can allow competitors, cyber criminals, and even nation-state threat actors to gain knowledge they can use against organisations.
Marketers in every industry enjoy evidencing their reach to their superiors and providing tangible examples of their width and breadth of influence via social networks, media, and other means of engagement. Photos of both customers and employees engaging at hosted social events, trade shows, conferences, and direct one-on-one encounters are often viewed as gold. Couple this with the individual employee’s or customer’s photos working their way onto social network platforms for others to see and admire, and the value of that gold increases, success being quantified by impressions, views and individual engagements.
The value of that gold doubles when not only does the company harvest data and call it a success, but their competitors also analyse such photos capturing a plethora of useful data points, including geotagged data, metadata of the photo, and identity of the individuals caught in the frame. They, too, call it a success. Yes, the digital engagement involving location data and or location hints within photos is a double-edged sword.
It isn’t just competitors who harvest the data. Criminal elements and nation-state intelligence and security elements do as well. Francis Bacon’s adage, “Knowledge itself is power,” applies. With location, time and place, and identity, competitors, criminals, and nation-states are given their initial tidbits of openly acquired information from which to begin to build their mosaic.
Your Vendors Are Likely Your Biggest Cyber Security Risk
As speed of business increases, more and more organisations are looking to either buy companies or outsource more services to gain market advantage. With organisations expanding their vendor base, there is a critical need for holistic third-party risk management (TPRM) and comprehensive cyber security measures to assess how much risk vendors pose.
While organisations assess and manage risk on a multitude of layers, none present bigger threats to business resiliency than third-party risk and a lack of robust cyber security controls. Breaches and service interruptions tied to these risk areas have brought down critical systems of major organisations. In 2021, 53% of CISOs surveyed by Black Kite reported being hit by at least one ransomware attack.
It bears repeating: Cyber security and third-party risk are the two biggest problems facing your long-term viability. Businesses need to be able to tackle these risk vectors individually to gain a complete view of their risk profile. A cross-functional process is essential to managing the overlap between these risk areas to better protect your organisation and increase workflow efficiency.
Ensuring that the cyber security practices of your vendors align with your organisation’s standards is critical to safeguarding your systems and data. In fact, it is just as important as how stable the business is or how well it delivers products and services.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/09/05/vendors-cybersecurity-risk/
A Recent Chinese Hack Is a Wake-up Call for the Security of the World’s Software Supply Chain
It’s perhaps only a coincidence that there’s a famous Chinese saying ‘No one knows, not even the ghosts’ that neatly summarises a recent hack on MiMi, a Chinese messaging app. According to recent reports, a Chinese state-backed hacking group inserted malicious code into this messaging app, essentially pulling off the equivalent of the infamous SolarWinds hack. Users of MiMi were served a version of the app with malicious code added, thanks to attackers taking control of the servers that delivered the app. In short, this was a software supply chain attack in which the software delivery pipeline was compromised.
Observers could be forgiven for thinking that this is just another hack. Chinese hacking groups, and those of Western countries too, have developed a reputation over the past two decades for spying, surveillance, and sabotage. But this attack is different than typical hacking fare because the attackers rode in on the back of a trusted piece of software. This is a software supply chain attack, where the attackers tamper with either source code, the software build system, or the software publishing pipeline, all of which have become essential to the functioning of the world’s digital economy.
Software supply chain attacks have been rapidly growing in frequency. Twenty years ago, there might have been one or two a year. These days, depending on the methodology, there are either hundreds or thousands a year, and that’s only counting the reported attacks. And increasingly anybody who depends upon software (read: everybody) is or shortly will be a victim: the U.S. government, Microsoft, thousands of other companies and, apparently in this MiMi attack, individuals.
Massive Hotels Group IHG Struck by Cyber Attack Which Disrupts Booking Systems
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), which owns brands such as InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, and many others, has had its IT systems breached by malicious hackers.
In a filing with the London Stock Exchange, the multinational hospitality company reported that "parts of the company's technology systems have been subject to unauthorised activity."
As a result, the company said, "IHG's booking channels and other applications have been significantly disrupted since [Monday], and this is ongoing."
The first indication that the company was experiencing problems appeared early on Monday morning UK time, when anyone who tried to book a hotel room via the company's website or app, or access their IHG One Rewards account was greeted by a maintenance message.
Although it has made no declaration regarding the nature of the security breach, in its filing with the London Stock Exchange, IHG mentioned they were "working to fully restore all systems". This would fit into the scenario of IHG having hit been hit with ransomware, which may not only have encrypted data - locking the company out of its systems and demanding a ransom be paid - but could have also caused even more problems.
London's Biggest Bus Operator Hit by Cyber "Incident"
Travellers in London were braced for more delays last week after the city’s largest bus operator revealed it has been hit by a “cyber security incident,” according to reports.
Newcastle-based transportation group Go-Ahead shared a statement with the London Stock Exchange indicating “unauthorised activity” had been discovered on its network yesterday.
“Upon becoming aware of the incident, Go-Ahead immediately engaged external forensic specialists and has taken precautionary measures with its IT infrastructure whilst it continues to investigate the nature and extent of the incident and implement its incident response plans,” it stated. “Go-Ahead will continue to assess the potential impact of the incident but confirms that there is no impact on UK or International rail services which are operating normally.”
However, the same may not be true of its bus services. Sky News reported that bus and driver rosters may have been impacted by the attack, which could disrupt operations.
Go-Ahead operates multiple services in the South, South West, London, North West, East Anglia, East Yorkshire and its native North East. It is London’s largest bus company, operating over 2400 buses in the capital and employing more than 7000 staff.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/londons-biggest-bus-operator-hit/
Threats
Ransomware and Extortion
Interpol dismantles sextortion ring, warns of increased attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Play Ransomware Attack Playbook Similar to that of Hive, Nokoyawa (trendmicro.com)
Some Members of Conti Group Targeting Ukraine in Financially Motivated Attacks (thehackernews.com)
How to Improve Mean Time to Detect for Ransomware | SecurityWeek.Com
Google: Former Conti ransomware members attacking Ukraine (techtarget.com)
Hackers Are Using NASA Telescope Images To Push Ransomware (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Ransomware gang's Cobalt Strike servers DDoSed with anti-Russia messages (bleepingcomputer.com)
Everything You Need To Know About BlackCat (AlphaV) (darkreading.com)
Microsoft: Iranian hackers encrypt Windows systems using BitLocker (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft Warns of Ransomware Attacks by Iranian Phosphorus Hacker Group (thehackernews.com)
Clarion Housing: Anger over landlord silence since cyber attack - BBC News
New Ransomware Hits Windows, Linux Servers Of Chile Govt Agency (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
QNAP warns new Deadbolt ransomware attacks exploiting 0day - Security Affairs
Second largest U.S. school district LAUSD hit by ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Windows Defender identified Chromium, Electron apps as Hive Ransomware - Security Affairs
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
EvilProxy Commodifies Reverse-Proxy Tactic for Phishing, Bypassing 2FA (darkreading.com)
Criminals harvest users' PI by impersonating popular brands - Help Net Security
Lampion malware returns in phishing attacks abusing WeTransfer (bleepingcomputer.com)
A new phishing scam targets American Express cardholders - Security Affairs
EvilProxy phishing-as-a-service with MFA bypass emerged on the dark web - Help Net Security
GIFShell attack creates reverse shell using Microsoft Teams GIFs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Malware
Cyber criminals targeting Minecraft fans with malware • The Register
Next-Gen Linux Malware Takes Over Devices With Unique Tool Set (darkreading.com)
TeslaGun Primed to Blast a New Wave of Backdoor Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)
New Linux malware evades detection using multi-stage deployment (bleepingcomputer.com)
Bumblebee malware adds post-exploitation tool for stealthy infections (bleepingcomputer.com)
North Korean Hackers Deploying New MagicRAT Malware in Targeted Campaigns (thehackernews.com)
Mobile
Internet of Things – IoT
Data Breaches/Leaks
NATO docs sold on darkweb after they were stolen from Portugal - Security Affairs
Criminals claim they've stolen NATO missile plans • The Register
TikTok denies data breach following leak of user data - Security Affairs
IRS mistakenly published confidential info for roughly 120K taxpayers - Security Affairs
Samsung US Says Customer Data Compromised in July Data Breach | SecurityWeek.Com
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Scammers live-streamed on YouTube a fake Apple crypto event - Security Affairs
FBI: Crooks are using these DeFi flaws to steal your money | ZDNET
Feds freeze $30m in cryptocurrency stolen from Axie Infinity • The Register
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
62% of consumers see fraud as an inevitable risk of online shopping - Help Net Security
Islanders in Jersey lose nearly £400,000 to romance fraud | ITV News Channel
The Advantages of Threat Intelligence for Combating Fraud | SecurityWeek.Com
AML/CFT/Sanctions
UK forces crypto exchanges to report suspected sanction breaches | Cryptocurrencies | The Guardian
US Treasury sanctioned Iran ’s Ministry of Intelligence over Albania cyber attack - Security Affairs
Insurance
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Supply chain risk is a top security priority as confidence in partners wanes - Help Net Security
KeyBank: Hackers of third-party provider stole customer data | The Seattle Times
Government guide for supply chain security: The good, the bad and the ugly - Help Net Security
Software Supply Chain
Denial of Service DoS/DDoS
Cloud/SaaS
Defenders Be Prepared: Cyber attacks Surge Against Linux Amid Cloud Migration (darkreading.com)
Hybrid Cloud Security Challenges & Solutions (trendmicro.com)
Identity and Access Management
Encryption
API
Open Source
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Are Default Passwords Hiding in Your Active Directory? Here's how to check (bleepingcomputer.com)
200,000 North Face accounts hacked in credential stuffing attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Social Media
TikTok denies security breach after hackers leak user data, source code (bleepingcomputer.com)
Facebook Engineers Admit They Don’t Know What They Do With Your Data (vice.com)
Privacy
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Cyber Bullying and Cyber Stalking
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Google Details Recent Ukraine Cyber attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Ukraine dismantles more bot farms spreading Russian disinformation (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ukraine is under attack by hacking tools repurposed from Conti cyber crime group | Ars Technica
Newly discovered cyber spy group targets Asia • The Register
New Iranian hacking group APT42 deploys custom Android spyware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Israeli Defence Minister's Cleaner Sentenced for Spying Attempt | SecurityWeek.Com
Researchers Find New Android Spyware Campaign Targeting Uyghur Community (thehackernews.com)
Anonymous hacked Yandex taxi causing a traffic jam in Moscow - Security Affairs
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Nation State Actors – China
Nation State Actors – North Korea
North Korean Hackers Deploying New MagicRAT Malware in Targeted Campaigns (thehackernews.com)
North Korea's Lazarus Targets Energy Firms With Three RATs | SecurityWeek.Com
Nation State Actors – Iran
Microsoft: Iranian hackers encrypt Windows systems using BitLocker (bleepingcomputer.com)
UK condemns Iran for reckless cyber attack against Albania - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
US Treasury sanctioned Iran ’s Ministry of Intelligence over Albania cyber attack - Security Affairs
NATO Condemns Alleged Iranian Cyber attack on Albania | SecurityWeek.Com
New Iranian hacking group APT42 deploys custom Android spyware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft investigates Iranian attacks against the Albanian government - Microsoft Security Blog
Microsoft Warns of Ransomware Attacks by Iranian Phosphorus Hacker Group (thehackernews.com)
Nation State Actors – Misc
Vulnerabilities
CISA adds 12 new flaws to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog - Security Affairs
September 2022 Patch Tuesday forecast: No sign of cooling off - Help Net Security
High-risk ConnectWise Automate vulnerability fixed, admins urged to patch ASAP - Help Net Security
Hackers Exploit Zero-Day in WordPress BackupBuddy Plugin in ~5 Million Attempts (thehackernews.com)
Mirai Variant MooBot Botnet Exploiting D-Link Router Vulnerabilities (thehackernews.com)
Cisco won’t fix authentication bypass zero-day in EoL routers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Critical RCE Vulnerability Affects Zyxel NAS Devices — Firmware Patch Released (thehackernews.com)
Chrome and Edge fix zero-day security hole – update now! – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Google Patches Sixth Chrome Zero-Day of 2022 | SecurityWeek.Com
QNAP patches zero-day used in new Deadbolt ransomware attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
HP fixes severe bug in pre-installed Support Assistant tool (bleepingcomputer.com)
Other News
The Heartbleed bug: How a flaw in OpenSSL caused a security crisis | CSO Online
Cyber Security - the More Things Change, the More They Are The Same | SecurityWeek.Com
CISOs say stress and burnout are their top personal risks (cnbc.com)
How to deal with unprecedented levels of regulatory change - Help Net Security
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 26 August 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 26 August 2022:
-Lloyd's to Exclude Certain Nation-State Attacks from Cyber Insurance Policies
-Cyber Security Top Risk for Enterprise C-Suite Leaders, PwC Study Says
-Apathy Is Your Company's Biggest Cyber Security Vulnerability — Here's How to Combat It
-The World’s Largest Sovereign Wealth Fund Warns Cyber Security Is Top Concern as Attacks on Banks and Financial Services Double
-Configuration Errors to Blame for 80% of Ransomware
-Ransomware Surges to 1.2 Million Attacks Per Month
-A Massive Hacking Campaign Stole 10,000 Login Credentials From 130 Different Organisations
-This Company Paid a Ransom Demand. Hackers Leaked Its Data Anyway
-Sophisticated BEC Scammers Bypass Microsoft 365 Multi-Factor Authentication
-77% Of Security Leaders Fear We’re in Perpetual Cyber War from Now On
-Cyber Security Governance: A Path to Cyber Maturity
-The Rise of Data Exfiltration and Why It Is a Greater Risk Than Ransomware
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
Lloyd's to Exclude Certain Nation-State Attacks from Cyber Insurance Policies
Lloyd's of London insurance policies will stop covering losses from certain nation-state cyber attacks and those that happen during wars, beginning in seven months' time.
In a memo sent to the company's 76-plus insurance syndicates, underwriting director Tony Chaudhry said Lloyd's remains "strongly supportive" of cyber attack coverage. However, as these threats continue to grow, they may "expose the market to systemic risks that syndicates could struggle to manage," he added, noting that nation-state-sponsored attacks are particularly costly to cover.
Because of this, all standalone cyber attack policies must include "a suitable clause excluding liability for losses arising from any state-backed cyber attack," Chaudhry wrote. These changes will take effect beginning March 31, 2023 at the inception or renewal of each policy.
At a minimum (key word: minimum) these policies must exclude losses arising from a war, whether declared or not, if the policy doesn't already have a separate war exclusion. They must also at least exclude losses from nation-state cyber attacks that "significantly impair the ability of a state to function or that significantly impair the security capabilities of a state."
Policies must also "set out a robust basis" on which to attribute state-sponsored cyber attacks, according to Chaudhry – and therein lies the rub.
Attributing a cyber attack to a particular crime group or nation-state with 100 percent confidence "is absolutely hard," NSA director of cybersecurity Rob Joyce said at this year's RSA Conference.
Threat analysts typically attribute an attack to a nation-state from its level of sophistication, but as advanced persistent crime groups become more sophisticated – and have more resources at their disposal to buy zero-day exploits and employ specialists for each stage of an attack – differentiating between nation-states and cyber crime gangs becomes increasingly difficult, he explained.
There are times when nation-states will act like criminals, using their tools and infrastructure, and sometimes vice versa. The clear line of sophistication and stealth that many have used as a common sense delineation has blurred. Yet, If you are going to pay out money you are likely going to look for something that is more ironclad and likely related to forensic evidence.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/24/lloyds_cybersecurity_insurance/
Cyber Security Top Risk for Enterprise C-Suite Leaders, PwC Study Says
Cyber security is now firmly on the agenda of the entire C-suite, consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) reports in a new survey of more than 700 business leaders across a variety of industries.
Of key enterprise issues, cyber security ranks at the top of business risks, with nearly 80% of the respondents considering it a moderate to serious risk. The warning isn’t confined to just chief information security officers, but ranges from chief executives to chief financial officers, chief operating officers, chief technology officers, chief marketing officers and includes corporate board members. Virtually all roles ranked cyber attacks high on their list of risks, PwC said.
Overall, 40% of business leaders ranked cyber security as the top serious risk facing their companies, and 38% ranked it a moderate risk.
Here are six steps businesses can take to address cyber security concerns:
View cyber security as a broad business concern and not just an IT issue.
Build cyber security and data privacy into agendas across the C-suite and board.
Increase investment to improve security.
Educate employees on effective cyber security practices.
For each new business initiative or transformation, make sure there’s a cyber plan in place.
Use data and intelligence to regularly measure cyber risks. Proactively look for blind spots in third-party relationships and supply chains.
Apathy Is Your Company's Biggest Cyber Security Vulnerability — Here's How to Combat It
Human error continues to be the leading cause of a cyber security breach. Nearly 60% of organisations experienced a data loss due to an employee's mistake on email in the last year, while one in four employees fell for a phishing attack.
Employee apathy, while it may not seem like a major cyber security issue, can leave an organisation vulnerable to both malicious attacks and accidental data loss. Equipping employees with the tools and knowledge they need to prevent these risks has never been more important to keep organisations safe.
A new report from Tessian sheds light on the full extent of employee apathy and its impact on cyber security posture. The report found that a significant number of employees aren't engaged in their organisation's cyber security efforts and don't understand the role they play. One in three employees say they don't understand the importance of cyber security at work. What's more, only 39% say they're very likely to report a cyber security incident. Why? A quarter of employees say they don't care enough about cyber security to mention it.
This is a serious problem. IT and security teams can't investigate or remediate a threat they don't know about.
Employees play an important role in flagging incidents or suspicious activity early on to prevent them from escalating to a costly breach. Building a strong cyber security culture can mitigate apathy by engaging employees as part of the solution and providing the tools and training they need to work productively and securely.
The World’s Largest Sovereign Wealth Fund Warns Cyber Security Is Top Concern, as Attacks on Banks and Financial Service Double
Cyber security has eclipsed tumultuous financial markets as the biggest concern for the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, as it faces an average of three “serious” cyber attacks each day.
The number of significant hacking attempts against Norway’s $1.2tn oil fund, Norges Bank Investment Management, has doubled in the past two to three years.
The fund, which reported its biggest half-year dollar loss last week after inflation and recession fears shook markets, suffers about 100,000 cyber attacks a year, of which it classifies more than 1,000 as serious, according to its top executives.
“I’m worried about cyber more than I am about markets,” their CEO told the Financial Times. “We’re seeing many more attempts, more attacks [that are] increasingly sophisticated.”
The fund’s top executives are even concerned that concerted cyber attacks are becoming a systemic financial risk as markets become increasingly digitised.
Their deputy CEO pointed to the 2020 attack on SolarWinds, a software provider, by Russian state-backed hackers that allowed them to breach several US government agencies, including the Treasury and Pentagon, and a number of Fortune 500 companies including Microsoft, Intel and Deloitte.
“They estimate there were 1,000 Russians [involved] in that one attack, working in a co-ordinated fashion. I mean, Jesus, that’s our whole building on one attack, so you’re up against some formidable forces there,” he said.
Cyber attacks targeting the financial industry have risen sharply in recent months. Malware attacks globally rose 11 per cent in the first half of 2022, but they doubled at banks and financial institutions, according to cyber security specialist SonicWall. Ransomware attacks dropped 23 per cent worldwide, but increased 243 per cent against financial targets in the same period.
https://www.ft.com/content/1aa6f92a-078b-4e1a-81ca-65298b8310b2
Configuration Errors to Blame for 80% of Ransomware
The vast majority (80%) of ransomware attacks can be traced back to common configuration errors in software and devices, according to Microsoft.
The tech giant’s latest Cyber Signals report focuses on the ransomware as a service (RaaS) model, which it claims has democratised the ability to launch attacks to groups “without sophistication or advanced skills.” Some RaaS programs now have over 50 affiliate groups on their books.
For defenders, a key challenge is ensuring they don’t leave systems misconfigured, it added.
“Ransomware attacks involve decisions based on configurations of networks and differ for each victim even if the ransomware payload is the same,” the report argued. “Ransomware culminates an attack that can include data exfiltration and other impacts. Because of the interconnected nature of the cyber-criminal economy, seemingly unrelated intrusions can build upon each other.”
Although each attack is different, Microsoft pointed to missing or misconfigured security products and legacy configurations in enterprise apps as two key areas of risk exposure.
“Like smoke alarms, security products must be installed in the correct spaces and tested frequently. Verify that security tools are operating in their most secure configuration, and that no part of a network is unprotected,” it urged. “Consider deleting duplicative or unused apps to eliminate risky, unused services. Be mindful of where you permit remote helpdesk apps like TeamViewer. These are notoriously targeted by threat actors to gain express access to laptops.”
Although not named in the report, another system regularly misconfigured and hijacked by ransomware actors is the remote desktop protocol (RDP), which often is not protected by a strong password or two-factor authentication. It’s widely believed to be one of the top three vectors for attack.
The bad news for network defenders is they don’t have much time after initial compromise to contain an attack. Microsoft claimed the median time for an attacker to begin moving laterally inside the network after device compromise is one hour, 42 minutes. The median time for an attacker to access private data following a phishing email is one hour, 12 minutes, the firm added.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/configuration-errors-blame-80/
Ransomware Surges to 1.2 Million Attacks Per Month
Ransomware threat detections have risen to over one million per month this year, with a French hospital the latest to suffer a major outage.
The 1000-bed Center Hospitalier Sud Francilien (CHSF) near Paris revealed it was hit on Sunday morning, in an attack which has knocked out all the hospital's business software, storage systems including medical imaging, and patient admissions. This has led to all but the most urgent emergency patients being diverted to other facilities in the region.
France24 cited figures claiming cyber-attacks against French hospitals surged 70% year-on-year in 2021. "Each day we need to rewrite patients' medications, all the prescriptions, the discharge prescriptions," Valerie Caudwell, president of the medical commission at CHSF hospital, reportedly said. "For the nurses, instead of putting in all the patients' data on the computer, they now need to file it manually from scratch."
Reports suggest Lockbit 3.0 may be to blame for the $10m ransom demand, which the hospital is refusing to pay.
Barracuda Networks claimed in a new report out today that education, municipalities, healthcare, infrastructure and finance have remained the top five targets for ransomware over the past 12 months. However, while attacks on local government increased only slightly, those targeting educational institutions more than doubled, and attacks on the healthcare and financial verticals tripled. Overall, Barracuda claimed that ransomware detections between January and June of this year climbed to more than 1.2 million per month.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ransomware-surges-to-12-million/
A Massive Hacking Campaign Stole 10,000 Login Credentials From 130 Different Organisations
A phishing campaign targeted Okta users at multiple companies, successfully swiping passwords from staffers and then using them to steal company secrets.
Researchers say that a mysterious “threat actor” (a fancy term for a hacker or hacker group) has managed to steal nearly 10,000 login credentials from the employees of 130 organisations, in the latest far-reaching supply chain attack on corporate America. Many of the victims are prominent software companies, including firms like Twilio, MailChimp, and Cloudflare, among many others.
The news comes from research conducted by cyber security firm Group-IB, which began looking into the hacking campaign after a client was phished and reached out for help. The research shows that the threat actor behind the campaign, which researchers have dubbed “0ktapus,” used basic tactics to target staff from droves of well-known companies. The hacker(s) would use stolen login information to gain access to corporate networks before going on to steal data and then break into another company’s network.
“This case is of interest because despite using low-skill methods it was able to compromise a large number of well-known organisations,” researchers wrote in their blog. “Furthermore, once the attackers compromised an organisation they were quickly able to pivot and launch subsequent supply chain attacks, indicating that the attack was planned carefully in advance.”
https://gizmodo.com/oktapus-okta-hack-twilio-10000-logins-130-companies-1849457420
This Company Paid a Ransom Demand. Hackers Leaked Its Data Anyway
A victim of a ransomware attack paid to restore access to their network – but the cyber criminals didn't hold up their end of the deal.
The real-life incident, as detailed by cyber security researchers at Barracuda Networks, took place in August 2021, when hackers from BlackMatter ransomware group used a phishing email to compromise the account of a single victim at an undisclosed company.
From that initial entry point, the attackers were able to expand their access to the network by moving laterally around the infrastructure, ultimately leading to the point where they were able to install hacking tools and steal sensitive data. Stealing sensitive data has become a common part of ransomware attacks. Criminals leverage it as part of their extortion attempts, threatening to release it if a ransom isn't received.
The attackers appear to have had access to the network for at least a few weeks, seemingly going undetected before systems were encrypted and a ransom was demanded, to be paid in Bitcoin.
Cyber security agencies warn that despite networks being encrypted, victims shouldn't pay ransom demands for a decryption key because this only shows hackers that such attacks are effective.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-company-paid-a-ransom-demand-hackers-leaked-its-data-anyway/
Sophisticated BEC Scammers Bypass Microsoft 365 Multi-Factor Authentication
A Business Email Compromise (BEC) attack recently analysed by cloud incident response company Mitiga used an adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) phishing attack to bypass Microsoft Office 365 MFA and gain access to a business executive's account, and then managed to add a second authenticator device to the account for persistent access. According to the researchers, the campaign they analysed is widespread and targets large transactions of up to several million dollars each.
The attack started with a well-crafted phishing email masquerading as a notification from DocuSign, a widely used cloud-based electronic document signing service. The email was crafted to the targeted business executive, suggesting that attackers have done reconnaissance work. The link in the phishing email led to an attacker-controlled website which then redirects to a Microsoft 365 single sign-on login page.
This fake login page uses an AitM technique, where the attackers run a reverse proxy to authentication requests back and forth between the victim and the real Microsoft 365 website. The victim has the same experience as they would have on the real Microsoft login page, complete with the legitimate MFA request that they must complete using their authenticator app. Once the authentication process is completed successfully, the Microsoft service creates a session token which gets flagged in its systems that it fulfilled MFA. The difference is that since the attackers acted as a proxy, they now have this session token too and can use it to access the account.
This reverse proxy technique is not new and has been used to bypass MFA for several years. In fact, easy-to-use open-source attack frameworks have been created for this purpose.
77% Of Security Leaders Fear We’re in Perpetual Cyber War from Now On
A survey of cyber security decision makers found 77 percent think the world is now in a perpetual state of cyber warfare.
In addition, 82 percent believe geopolitics and cyber security are "intrinsically linked," and two-thirds of polled organisations reported changing their security posture in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Of those asked, 64 percent believe they may have already been the target of a nation-state-directed cyber attack. Unfortunately, 63 percent of surveyed security leaders also believe that they'd never even know if a nation-state level actor pwned them.
The survey, organised by security shop Venafi, questioned 1,100 security leaders. They said the results show cyber warfare is here, and that it's completely different to many would have imagined. "Any business can be damaged by nation-states," they stated.
It's been common knowledge for some time that government-backed advanced persistent threat (APT) crews are being used to further online geopolitical goals. Unlike conventional warfare, everyone is a target and there's no military or government method for protecting everyone.
Nor is there going to be much financial redress available. Earlier this week Lloyd's of London announced it would no longer recompense policy holders for certain nation-state attacks.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/27/in-brief-security/
Cyber Security Governance: A Path to Cyber Maturity
Organisations need cyber security governance programs that make every employee aware of the cyber security mitigation efforts required to reduce cyber-risks.
In an increasingly challenging threat landscape, many organisations struggle with developing and implementing effective cyber security governance. The "Managing Cybersecurity Risk: A Crisis of Confidence" infographic by the CMMI Institute and ISACA stated: "While enterprise leaders recognise that mature cyber security is essential to thriving in today's digital economy, they often lack the insights and data to have peace of mind that their organisations are efficiently and effectively managing cyber risk."
Indeed, damages from cyber crime are projected to cost the world $7 trillion in 2022, according to the "Boardroom Cybersecurity 2022 Report" from Cybersecurity Ventures. As a result, "board members and chief executives are more interested in cyber security now than ever before," the report stated, adding that the time is ripe for turning awareness into action.
How, then, can board leaders have confidence that their organisations are prepared against cyber attacks? The first order of business for most organisations is to enable a strong cyber security governance program.
Cyber security governance refers to the component of governance that addresses an organisation's dependence on cyber space in the presence of adversaries. The ISO/IEC 27001 standard defines cyber security governance as the following: “The system by which an organisation directs and controls security governance, specifies the accountability framework and provides oversight to ensure that risks are adequately mitigated, while management ensures that controls are implemented to mitigate risks”.
Traditionally, cyber security is viewed through the lens of a technical or operational issue to be handled in the technology space. Cyber security planning needs to fully transition from a back-office operational function to its own area aligned with law, privacy and enterprise risk. The CISO should have a seat at the table alongside the CIO, COO, CFO and CEO. This helps the C-suite understand cyber security as an enterprise-wide risk management issue, along with the legal implications of cyber-risks, and not solely a technology issue.
https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/post/Cybersecurity-governance-A-path-to-cyber-maturity
The Rise of Data Exfiltration and Why It Is a Greater Risk Than Ransomware
Ransomware is the de facto threat organisations have faced over the past few years. Threat actors were making easy money by exploiting the high valuation of cryptocurrencies and their victims' lack of adequate preparation.
Think about bad security policies, untested backups, patch management practices not up-to-par, and so forth. It resulted in easy growth for ransomware extortion, a crime that multiple threat actors around the world perpetrate.
Something's changed, though. Crypto valuations have dropped, reducing the monetary appeal of ransomware attacks due to organisations mounting better defence against ransomware.
Threat actors have been searching for another opportunity – and found one. It's called data exfiltration, or exfil, a type of espionage causing headaches at organisations worldwide.
Information exfiltration is rapidly becoming more prevalent. Earlier this year, incidents at Nvidia, Microsoft, and several other companies have highlighted how big of a problem it's become – and how, for some organisations, it may be a threat that's even bigger than ransomware.
Nvidia, for example, became entangled in a complex tit-for-tat exchange with hacker group Lapsus$. One of the biggest chipmakers in the world was faced with the public exposure of the source code for invaluable technology, as Lapsus$ leaked the source code for the company's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) research.
When it comes to exfil extortion, attackers do not enter with the primary aim of encrypting a system and causing disruption the way that a ransomware attacker does. Though, yes, attackers may still use encryption to cover their tracks.
Instead, attackers on an information exfiltration mission will move vast amounts of proprietary data to systems that they control. And here's the game: attackers will proceed to extort the victim, threatening to release that confidential information into the wild or to sell it to unscrupulous third parties.
https://thehackernews.com/2022/08/the-rise-of-data-exfiltration-and-why.html
Threats
Ransomware
[Whoa] Ransomware Strains Almost Double in Six Months from 5,400 to 10,666 (knowbe4.com)
Ransomware dominates the threat landscape - Help Net Security
We need to think about ransomware differently - Help Net Security
NATO investigates hacker sale of missile firm data - BBC News
Cyber attackers disrupt services at French hospital, demand $10 million ransom (france24.com)
New 'Agenda' Ransomware Customized for Each Victim | SecurityWeek.Com
LockBit gang hit by DDoS attack after Entrust leaks • The Register
New ransomware HavanaCrypt poses as Google software update | CSO Online
LockBit Ransomware Site Hit by DDoS Attack as Hackers Start Leaking Entrust Data | SecurityWeek.Com
New Golang Ransomware Agenda Customizes Attacks (trendmicro.com)
New 'BianLian' Ransomware Variant on the Rise (darkreading.com)
New 'Donut Leaks' extortion gang linked to recent ransomware attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Quantum ransomware attack disrupts govt agency in Dominican Republic (bleepingcomputer.com)
Car Dealership Hit by Major Ransomware Attack - Infosecurity Magazine
Ransomware Gang Leaks Data Allegedly Stolen from Greek Gas Supplier | SecurityWeek.Com
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Phishing attacks abusing SaaS platforms see a massive 1,100% growth (bleepingcomputer.com)
Researchers Warn of AiTM Attack Targeting Google G-Suite Enterprise Users (thehackernews.com)
Hiding a phishing attack behind the AWS cloud • The Register
10 key facts about callback phishing attacks - CyberTalk 2022
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Malware
Threat actor abuses Genshin Impact Anti-Cheat driver to disable antivirus - Security Affairs
Fake DDoS Protection Alerts Distribute Dangerous RAT (darkreading.com)
Meet Borat RAT, a New Unique Triple Threat (thehackernews.com)
Donot Team group updates its Windows malware framework - Security Affairs
How 'Kimsuky' hackers ensure their malware only reach valid targets (bleepingcomputer.com)
Grandoreiro banking malware targets Mexico and Spain - Security Affairs
Fake Chrome extension 'Internet Download Manager' has 200,000 installs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Threat actors are using the Tox P2P messenger as C2 server - Security Affairs
Mobile
Internet of Things – IoT
Cyber criminals Are Selling Access to Chinese Surveillance Cameras | Threatpost
IoT Vulnerability Disclosures Up 57% in Six Months, Claroty Reveals - Infosecurity Magazine
Thousands of Organisations Remain at Risk from Critical Zero-Click IP Camera Bug (darkreading.com)
Data Breaches/Leaks
LastPass data breach: threat actors stole portion of source code - Security Affairs
Plex discloses data breach and urges password reset - Security Affairs
Plex was compromised, exposing usernames, emails, and passwords - The Verge
DoorDash discloses new data breach tied to Twilio hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Data on California Prisons' Visitors, Staff, Inmates Exposed | SecurityWeek.Com
Expert Commentary On The Plex Data Breach (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Textile Company Sferra Discloses Data Breach | SecurityWeek.Com
Novant Health: Oops, we leaked 1.3m patients' info to Meta • The Register
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
RaaS Kits Are Hiding Who The Attackers Really Are – Expert Comments (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Researchers warn of darkverse emerging from the metaverse | CSO Online
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
An anatomy of crypto-enabled cyber crime | Financial Times (ft.com)
Cryptojackers Spread Across Computers Globally- IT Security Guru
Hackers Are Breaking Into and Emptying Cash App Accounts (vice.com)
Threat actors are stealing funds from General Bytes Bitcoin ATMSecurity Affairs
How Economic Changes and Crypto's Rise Are Fuelling the use of "Cyber Mules" | SecurityWeek.Com
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Scammers Create “AI Hologram” of C-Suite Crypto Exec - Infosecurity Magazine
Employee fraud: Beware of deepfake job applicants - Protocol
A closer look at identity crimes committed against individuals - Help Net Security
What type of fraud enables attackers to make a living? - Help Net Security
Insurance
Software Supply Chain
Denial of Service DoS/DDoS
DDoS attacks jump 203%, patriotic hacktivism surges - Help Net Security
Threat Actor Deploys Raven Storm Tool to Perform DDoS Attacks - Infosecurity Magazine
LockBit gang hit by DDoS attack after Entrust leaks • The Register
Cloud/SaaS
Mitiga: Attackers evade Microsoft MFA to lurk inside M365 (techtarget.com)
Phishing attacks abusing SaaS platforms see a massive 1,100% growth (bleepingcomputer.com)
How complicated access management protocols have impacted cloud security - Help Net Security
Identity and Access Management
IT leaders struggling to address identity sprawl - Help Net Security
Identity Security Pain Points and What Can Be Done (darkreading.com)
Thoma Bravo: Securing digital identities has become a major priority - Help Net Security
Encryption
CISA: Action required now to prepare for quantum computing cyber threats | ZDNET
Encrypted Traffic Analysis: Mitigating Against The Risk Of Encryption (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
US Government: Stop Dickering and Prepare for Post-Quantum Encryption Now - CNET
API
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Credential phishing attacks rise and represent a huge threat to businesses - Help Net Security
Twilio hackers breached over 130 organisations during months-long hacking spree | TechCrunch
FBI: Beware Residential IPs Hiding Credential Stuffing - Infosecurity Magazine
Social Media
Privacy
Travel
Hackers target hotel and travel companies with fake reservations (bleepingcomputer.com)
British Airways passengers targeted in baggage scam using Twitter | The Independent
Models, Frameworks and Standards
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Lloyd's of London Introduces New War Exclusion Insurance Clauses | SecurityWeek.Com
EU Outlines Critical Cyber Response to Ukraine War - Infosecurity Magazine
Unprecedented cyber attack hit State Infrastructure of Montenegro - Security Affairs
Suspected Iranian Hackers Targeted Several Israeli Organisations for Espionage (thehackernews.com)
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Microsoft: Russian hackers gain powerful 'MagicWeb' authentication bypass | ZDNET
Microsoft Attributes New Post-Compromise Capability to Nobelium - Infosecurity Magazine
Nation State Actors – Iran
Nation State Actors – Misc APT
Vulnerability Management
Up to 35% more CVEs published so far this year compared to 2021 | CSO Online
Why patching quality, vendor info on vulnerabilities are declining | CSO Online
How fast is the financial industry fixing its software security flaws? - Help Net Security
Highlighting What should be Patched First at the Endpoint (bleepingcomputer.com)
Vulnerabilities
Cisco Patches High-Severity Vulnerabilities in Business Switches | SecurityWeek.Com
CISA Warns of Active Exploitation of Palo Alto Networks' PAN-OS Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
Critical flaw impacts Atlassian Bitbucket Server and Data Center - Security Affairs
VMware fixes privilege escalation vulnerabilities in VMware Tools - Infosecurity Magazine
VMware LPE Bug Allows Cyber attackers to Feast on Virtual Machine Data (darkreading.com)
Critical RCE bug in GitLab patched, update ASAP! (CVE-2022-2884) - Help Net Security
Zoom patches root exploit, patches patch due to root exploit • The Register
US government really hopes you've patched your Zimbra server • The Register
Apple security flaw ‘actively exploited’ by hackers to fully control devices | Apple | The Guardian
Microsoft publicly discloses details on critical ChromeOS flaw - Security Affairs
Mozilla Patches High-Severity Vulnerabilities in Firefox, Thunderbird | SecurityWeek.Com
'DirtyCred' Vulnerability Haunting Linux Kernel for 8 Years | SecurityWeek.Com
Privilege Escalation Flaw Haunts VMware Tools | SecurityWeek.Com
Other News
How attackers use and abuse Microsoft MFA - Help Net Security
There is an urgent need to reduce systemic cyber risks | Financial Times (ft.com)
We Need to Talk About How Good A.I. Is Getting - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
A lack of endpoint security strategy is leaving enterprises open to attack - Help Net Security
Twitter whistleblower report holds security lessons (techtarget.com)
Nearly 3 Years Later, SolarWinds CISO Shares 3 Lessons From the Infamous Attack (darkreading.com)
Data governance: 5 tips for holistic data protection - Microsoft Security Blog
US Government Spending Billions on Cyber security (thehackernews.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.
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.