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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 09 February 2024

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 09 February 2024:

-Over Half of Companies Experienced Cyber Security Incidents Last Year

-Deepfake Video Conference Costs Business $25 Million

-Watershed Year for Ransomware as Victims Rose by Almost 50% and Payments Hit $1 Billion All-Time High

-Malware-as-a-Service Now the Top Threat to Organisations

-Over 9 in 10 UK Firms Who Fell Victim to Ransomware Paid the Ransom, Despite Alleged “No Pay” Stances

-Chinese State Hackers Hid in National Infrastructure for at Least 5 Years

-Email Attacks on Businesses Tripled and AI is a Huge Contributing Factor

-Security Leaders, C-Suite Unite to Tackle Cyber Threats

-UN Experts Investigate Cyber Attacks by North Korea that Raked in $3 Billion to Build Nuclear Weapons

-What Does a ‘Cyber Security Culture’ Actually Entail?

-Beyond Checkboxes: Security Compliance as a Business Enabler

-No One in Cyber Security Is Ready for the SolarWinds Prosecution

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

Over Half of Companies Experienced Cyber Security Incidents Last Year

According to a recent global survey, over half of the participating companies faced major security incidents in the past year, necessitating additional resources to tackle these challenges. Despite these incidents, many organisations claim improved performance on key cyber security indicators and express confidence in their threat detection capabilities. The research highlights a concerning discrepancy between perceived security measures and the actual state of security operations, underscoring a lack of comprehensive visibility and effective response mechanisms within companies. Particularly concerning is the finding that organisations can typically monitor only two-thirds of their IT environments, exposing significant vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the study points to a greater need for greater automation and third-party assistance in threat detection and response, suggesting that while companies are aware of their shortcomings, the path to enhanced security involves embracing AI-driven solutions to close these gaps. This insight highlights to leadership the importance of investing in advanced cyber security technologies and expertise to safeguard the organisation’s digital assets effectively.

Sources: [Beta News] [Verdict]

Deepfake Video Conference Costs Business $25 Million

There has been a surge in the number of artificial intelligence deepfake attacks where technology is being used to impersonate individuals. In one case, a finance professional at a multinational was reportedly swindled out of $25 million (HK$200 million) of company money when scammers created a deepfake of his London-based chief financial officer in a video conference call, faking both the CFO’s look and voice. The scam involved the fake CFO making increasingly urgent demands to execute money transfers, resulting in 15 transfers from the victim employee. The reality of the attack was only discovered by the victim after he had contacted the company’s corporate head office.

Sources: [The Register] [Help Net Security] [TechCentral ] [Tripwire]

Watershed Year for Ransomware as Victims Rose by Almost 50% And Payments Hit $1 Billion All-Time High

Even with enforcers shutting down some ransomware gangs, the business of ransomware is booming. A recent report from Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 found a 49% increase in the number of victims reported on ransomware leak sites; this does not include those who were victims but did not appear on sites. This comes as ransomware hit an all time high, with over $1b made in ransomware payments. Of note, this is just ransom payments; this does not take in to account reputational damage, recovery costs and loss in share value. The real effects of a ransomware attack may take months or even years to materialise. As ransomware remains a constant threat, it is important for organisations to be prepared.

Sources: [The Verge ] [Malwarebytes] [Infosecurity Magazine] [CSO Online] [ITPro] [TechRadar]

Malware-as-a-Service Now the Top Threat to Organisations

Recent studies have underscored a significant shift in the cyber threat landscape, with Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) and Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) now dominating. These ‘as-a-service’ tools are particularly concerning as they lower the barrier to entry for cyber criminals, enabling even those with limited technical knowledge to launch sophisticated attacks. The report found that the most common as-a-Service tools were Malware loaders (77% of investigated threats), crypto-miners (52% of investigated threats) and botnets (39% of investigated threats). These findings underscore the adaptability of these threats, with malware strains being developed with multiple functions to maximise damage. Despite these trends, traditional methods like phishing continue to pose significant challenges for security teams. It’s clear that staying ahead of these evolving threats requires a proactive and comprehensive approach to cyber security.

Sources:[Infosecurity Magazine] [Beta News] [Help Net Security]

Over 9 in 10 UK Firms Who Fell Victim to Ransomware Paid the Ransom, Despite Alleged “No Pay” Stances

A recent report has found that over 97% of UK firms have paid a ransom in the last two years, finding even more reason to operate in a when-not-if environment. When asked about their recovery in an event, 38% said they could recover in four to six days, and 34% need one to two weeks to recover; almost one in four (24%) need over three weeks to recover data and restore business processes. Only 12% said their company had stress-tested their data security, data management, and data recovery processes or solutions in the six months prior to being surveyed, and 46% had not tested their processes or solutions in over 12 months.

Sources: [The FinTech Times] [ Help Net Security]

Chinese State Hackers Hid in National Infrastructure for at Least 5 Years

US cyber officials have said that they discovered China-sponsored hackers lurking in American computer networks, positioning themselves to disrupt communications, energy, transportation and water systems; and this had been going on for at least 5 years. This has led to a joint warning from the US FBI, National Security Agency and Cyber Infrastructure and Security Agency, which has been cosigned by Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. This dwell time isn’t just something that is encountered in critical infrastructure networks; attackers lurk on networks, undiscovered often for years, allowing them to see everything going on in the corporate environment.

Sources: [NTD] [Washington Times]

Email Attacks on Businesses Tripled and AI is a Huge Contributing Factor

Email attacks against businesses have increased dramatically as hackers continually use generative AI tools to optimise their content and streamline malicious campaigns, new research has claimed.

The report from Acronis is based on data collected from more than a million unique endpoints across 15 countries, and found AI-powered phishing affected more than 90% of organisations last year. AI helped has email attacks grow by 222% since the second half of 2023.

Sources: [New Electronics] [TechRadar]

Security Leaders, C-Suite Unite to Tackle Cyber Threats

A recent survey found that CEOs are taking a more hands-on approach and prioritising cyber resilience in 2024, leading to the breakdown of traditional silos between IT operations and security teams. The survey polled over 200 C-Suite and senior-level IT executives globally, and revealed a growing recognition of the importance of collaboration in combating sophisticated cyber threats, with 99% of respondents observing increased connectivity between the teams over the past year. While progress has been made, challenges remain, with only 48% of organisations establishing joint protocols for incident mitigation or recovery. Looking ahead, respondents anticipate a significant role for artificial intelligence (AI) in enhancing security efforts, with 68% expecting AI to streamline threat detection and response. Despite advancements, fragmented data protection solutions persist as a challenge, impacting over 90% of organisations' cyber resiliency. This underscores the need for a top-down approach to cyber security, with CEOs and boards driving collaboration between IT operations and security teams to optimise cyber preparedness initiatives and mitigate cyber risks effectively.

Source: [Security Boulevard]

UN Experts Investigate Cyber Attacks by North Korea that Raked in $3 Billion to Build Nuclear Weapons

UN sanction monitors are investigating dozens of suspected cyber attacks by North Korea that have raked in $3 billion to help North Korea further its nuclear weapons programme, according to excerpts of an unpublished UN report. “The panel is investigating 58 suspected DPRK cyber attacks on cryptocurrency-related companies between 2017 and 2023, valued at approximately $3 billion, which reportedly help fund DPRK’s WMD development,” according to the monitors, who report twice a year to the 15-member security council.

Source: [The Guardian]

What Does a ‘Cyber Security Culture’ Actually Entail?

Fostering a robust cyber security culture emerges as a critical imperative for organisations in 2023, as revealed by ITPro Today's "State of Cybersecurity in 2023" study. Despite this recognition, organisations grapple with various challenges, including budget constraints, staffing shortages, and the failure to implement fundamental security practices like the principle of least privilege and zero trust. Insufficient staffing and constrained budgets elevate the risk of breaches, emphasising the need for a collective effort to bolster security measures.

Cultivating a cyber security culture entails educating every employee on security risks and holding them accountable for risk reduction efforts. While security teams play a pivotal role in setting expectations and providing guidance, a culture of cyber security necessitates continuous training, integration of security into everyday work, and clear delineation of risk ownership throughout the organisation. By prioritising proactive measures and fostering individual responsibility, organisations can fortify their defences against evolving cyber threats and mitigate risks effectively.

Source: [ITPro Today]

Beyond Checkboxes: Security Compliance as a Business Enabler

In today's complex business landscape, regulatory requirements are increasingly intricate, especially concerning cyber security compliance. While compliance might evoke images of stringent regulations and time-consuming audits, reframing our perspective reveals its potential as a vital business enabler. Security leaders, in collaboration with senior management, must cultivate a culture where commitment to cyber security compliance permeates the organisation, emphasising its role in fostering trust, facilitating global market access, and even serving as a competitive advantage. Moreover, robust compliance programs drive operational efficiency, innovation, and cost savings in the long run. Embracing cyber security compliance as a strategic enabler, rather than a regulatory burden, positions businesses for success, innovation, and resilience in an ever-evolving digital landscape.

Source: [Forbes]

No One in Cyber Security Is Ready for the SolarWinds Prosecution

The concept of "materiality" has taken centre stage for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) in light of new SEC regulations, requiring US public companies to disclose "material cyber security incidents" within four days. The SolarWinds breach and subsequent SEC charges against the company and its CISO highlight the seriousness of these regulations. This shift necessitates a deeper understanding of what constitutes "material" risk in cyber security and a more transparent approach to risk communication. However, many CISOs face challenges in quantifying and communicating cyber risks effectively to boards and executives, who often lack familiarity with cyber security terminology. This regulatory change underscores the need for CISOs to bridge the gap between cyber security and financial reporting, ensuring accurate and precise risk communication at the C-Suite level. Additionally, policymakers should incentivise C-Suite accountability for cyber risk management, fostering a culture where cyber risks are addressed proactively and transparently.

Source:[Council on Foreign Relations]

Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Ransomware Victims

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Artificial Intelligence

Malware

Mobile

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Cloud/SaaS

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

Linux and Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda

Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare, Cyber Espionage and Geopolitical Threats/Activity

Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage

Nation State Actors

China

Russia

Iran

North Korea

Other Nation State Actors, Hacktivism, Extremism, Terrorism and Other Geopolitical Threat Intelligence

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.

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Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 22 December 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 22 December 2023:

-Majority of 2023’s Critical Cyber Attacks Stemmed from Fewer Than 1% of Vulnerabilities, with 1 in 4 High Risk Vulnerabilities Exploited Within 24 Hours of Going Public

-Ransomware Gangs Are Increasingly Turning to Remote Access Tools for Attacks, As UK Honeypots Attacked 17 Million Times Per Day

-Why Employees Are a Bigger Security Risk than Hackers

-77% of Financial Services Firms Detected a Cyber Attack in the Last Year, as Finance and Healthcare Continue to Suffer the Most Cyber Attacks

-New Report Data Shows 75% Increase in Suspicious Emails Hitting Inboxes

-Threat Actors Still Exploiting Old Unpatched Vulnerabilities

-Many Organisations Still Lack Formal Cyber Security Training

-Addressing the Growing Threat of Supply Chain Cyber Attacks

-Cyber Incident Costs Surge 11% as Budgets Remain Muted

-Attacks on Critical Infrastructure are Harbingers of War: Are We Prepared?

-UK Data Centres to be Classed as Critical Infrastructure Under New Gov Proposals

-Data Exfiltration and Extortion is the New Ransomware Threat, as 65% of Organisations Say Ransomware Concerns Impact Risk Management

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

Majority of 2023’s Critical Cyber Attacks Stemmed from Fewer Than 1% of Vulnerabilities, with 1 in 4 High Risk Vulnerabilities Exploited Within 24 Hours of Going Public

A new Qualys report reveals that less than 1% of vulnerabilities are responsible for the greatest damage, and a quarter of high-risk vulnerabilities are now being exploited within a day of disclosure. In 2023, a record-breaking 26,000 vulnerabilities have been identified so far, emphasising the need for organisations to accelerate their response times. High-risk vulnerabilities, particularly in network devices and web applications, are the main targets for attackers seeking unauthorised access or privilege escalation. This situation underscores the critical need for organisations to implement a multi-layered defence strategy, automate patching where appropriate especially in areas of critical infrastructure, and adopt zero-trust principles to safeguard against such swift and potent cyber threats.

Sources: [SiliconANGLE] [SC Media]

Ransomware Gangs Are Increasingly Turning to Remote Access Tools for Attacks, As UK Honeypots Attacked 17 million Times Per Day

Nearly three quarters of cyber-attacks across the UK in 2023 targeted technology frequently used for remote working, new data from Coalition has revealed.

Attackers frequently target Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), a tool that lets users access office computers from home, as it grants the attacker quick access to devices and allows them to execute further attacks.

Honeypot sensors maintained by Coalition have recorded 5.8 billion attacks so far in 2023, averaging around 17 million attacks per day. Of these it was found that 76% of attacks targeted RDP.

Attackers exploit RDP vulnerabilities that often stem from simple configuration mistakes. By taking steps like disabling unnecessary remote access or tightening controls, companies can help shield themselves from these pervasive threats.

Sources: [Insurance Times] [TechRadar] [Infosecurity Magazine]

Why Employees Are a Bigger Security Risk than Hackers

In today's interconnected world, the spotlight is often on cyber criminals attacking from outside, but a worrying trend points inward. A recent study by Imperva reveals that insiders pose a significant threat, being behind 58% of security incidents. The incidents are a mixture of deliberate misuse and accidents, however the majority of organisations lack a strategy to combat these risks. Even when strategies exist, they may be undermined by employees bypassing IT protocols or due to the pressures of adapting to new technologies. With insider incidents on the rise by 47% in two years, the costs are too great to ignore.

Source: [Raconteur]

77% of Financial Services Firms Detected a Cyber Attack in the Last Year, as Finance and Healthcare Continue to Suffer the Most Cyber Attacks

Cyber attacks are more prevalent in the financial services sector than in any other industry. Last year, 77% of financial institutions were targeted, primarily through phishing and ransomware attacks. After financial services the second most targeted sector is healthcare. Both types of institutions are attractive targets not only because of their wealth of sensitive data but also because disruptions to their operations can lead to substantial ransom payments. They face increasingly sophisticated threats and the financial impact is significant, with approximately a quarter of these institutions estimating damages of at least $50,000. To mitigate these risks organisations are turning to cyber insurance, which necessitates further tightening of security practices, including identity and access management, to meet insurers’ stringent standards.

The healthcare sector reported over 179,000 cyber attacks in a single quarter, affecting entities globally. The primary threats were infostealers and ransomware. There have been scores of notable incidents where hospitals have been shut down or otherwise unable to operate. In many cases, this resulted in closing emergency departments, interfering with planned or emergency surgeries and forcing ambulances to divert to other hospitals, potentially causing life threatening delays. Further, a recent report analysing the enterprise risk management for the financial sector found that the two biggest concerns were rising interest rates at 74% and ransomware attacks at 65%.

Sources: [Security Magazine] [MSSP Alert] [PR NewsWire] [Security Magazine]

New Report Data Shows 75% Increase in Suspicious Emails Hitting Inboxes

A new report has unveiled the escalating threat posed by phishing emails, as detected by DMARC software. In the past year, there's been a 70% rise in emails flagged as fraudulent, with almost 18% of total email traffic in the first half of 2023 being intercepted as potential phishing attempts. This surge underscores a pressing need for robust email security measures. Simple yet effective tools like DMARC, which automatically weeds out emails impersonating legitimate domains, are becoming critical in the fight against these sophisticated scams. With the average cost of a cyber attack now well into the millions, and given the high click rates on phishing emails, it is clear that taking proactive steps to strengthen an organisations digital defence is not just sensible, it is essential for safeguarding the businesses in the digital age.

Source: [Dark Reading]

Threat Actors Still Exploiting Old Unpatched Vulnerabilities

A report by Cisco has found that the most targeted vulnerabilities this year, same as previous years, were old unpatched vulnerabilities which should have been fixed a long time ago. Some of these security gaps in widely-used applications like Microsoft Office and or within versions of Windows itself are over a decade old. Unpatched vulnerabilities can leave systems open to exploitation, potentially leading to unauthorised access, data breaches, and widespread security incidents, including being a key enabler of ransomware attacks. This highlights an urgent call to action for organisations to patch known vulnerabilities and secure user accounts to fortify their defences against cyber threats.

Source: [IT Business]

Many Organisations Still Lack Formal Cyber Security Training

As we navigate into 2024, a new report by the SANS Institute found that more than 30% of organisations do not regularly perform cyber readiness exercises, while 40% have yet to establish formal training for cyber security. These findings underline a gap between the need for robust security measures and actual preparedness. On a positive note, most organisations are adopting frameworks like the NIST CSF to shape their security posture, and two-thirds are actively using metrics to gauge the effectiveness of their security operations. Yet, there’s a call to action here: for real progress, intentional investment and commitment to comprehensive training and stringent security operations are non-negotiable. This is the path to mature security operations that can withstand the complexities of today’s cyber threats.

Source: [Security Brief]

Addressing the Growing Threat of Supply Chain Cyber Attacks

As businesses become more interconnected through digital supply chains, supply chain cyber attacks are becoming more of a pressing issue for organisations. The attackers tend to exploit weaknesses in third-party suppliers, often with less guarded entry points, to access larger networks. With companies increasingly outsourcing and using cloud adoption, the need for stringent third-party cyber risk assessments is vital. However, complexities arise with the shared responsibility model for cloud security, where setting out the division of security duties between cloud service providers and clients can blur lines of defence. To tackle these challenges, integration of cyber security into procurement and supply chain processes is essential. This means enforcing collaboration between procurement and cyber security teams, mandating security standards in vendor contracts, and utilising automated tools for continuous risk assessments. Safeguarding modern supply chains is no longer a siloed task but a strategic, organisation wide imperative.

Source: [HackerNoon]

Cyber Incident Costs Surge 11% as Budgets Remain Muted

A new report found an 11% jump in the direct costs of a significant cyber incident, now averaging $1.7 million. The burden is even heavier for those without cyber insurance, with costs escalating to $2.7 million per incident. Cyber risks like fraud, third-party breaches, and data theft remain prevalent. Despite these increasing threats, cyber security budgets have grown modestly and are not keeping pace with the increased level of threat. The report also highlights a concerning gap in understanding cyber threats and a lack of internal training, emphasising the critical need for not just financial investment, but also a deeper engagement with cyber security training and awareness within organisations.

Source: [Infosecurity Magazine]

Attacks on Critical Infrastructure are Harbingers of War: Are We Prepared?

The escalating cyber threats against critical infrastructure, like recent attacks on water authorities, highlight an urgent security concern. These attacks, which are often state-sponsored, are not just targeting financial or data assets but are striking at essential services vital to human survival. The tactics used in these attacks, known as Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB), are aimed at weakening a nation by disrupting services like power and water, key to both civil stability and military operations. Nations like Russia, China, and Iran employ these strategies for different purposes, ranging from strategic military advantages to ideological victories. The use of ransomware, as seen in the increasing incidents reported by the FBI, is a tool for both financial gain and geopolitical disruption. As we face these multifaceted threats, the need for robust cyber security measures to protect our critical infrastructure has never been more pressing. It is a call to action for nations and organisations alike to fortify their defences against these evolving and serious cyber threats.

Source: [SC Media]

UK Data Centres to be Classed as Critical Infrastructure Under New Gov Proposals

The UK government is considering new regulations aimed at enhancing the security and resilience of data centres. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) recognises the vital role of these data hubs and is examining the adequacy of current safety practices. With the identification of varying levels of security across the sector, the prospect of legislating minimum security standards is on the table. This may include establishing a regulatory body to oversee incident reporting and risk mitigation strategies, particularly for third-party service providers. These measures underscore the government's commitment to safeguarding data centres, which are increasingly integral to the UK's economic vitality and national security. As part of a broader initiative, the sector could be designated as critical national infrastructure, aligning it with international best practices and ensuring comprehensive protection from cyber threats and other risks.

Source: [ITPro]

Data Exfiltration and Extortion is the New Ransomware Threat, as 65% of Organisations Say Ransomware Concerns Impact Risk Management

Cyber criminals are escalating their tactics and becoming more aggressive in their effort to maximise disruption and compel the payment of ransom demands. Earlier this year, the ransomware group ALPHV exploited the new US data breach disclosure rules by filing a complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against a victim company for not reporting an alleged significant data breach. This marks a strategic evolution from traditional ransomware attacks, where data is encrypted and held hostage, to more nuanced extortion schemes. Such tactics are becoming more sophisticated, with triple extortion attacks threatening not just the target company but also their partners and clients. This shift from encryption to pure extortion requires a fresh understanding of cyber threats and a re-evaluation of defence strategies. It highlights the urgent need for businesses to protect not just their own data but also to consider the security of their entire data supply chain.

Source: [TechCrunch]

Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Ransomware Victims

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Artificial Intelligence

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Insurance

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Cloud/SaaS

Encryption

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Malvertising

Training, Education and Awareness

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare, Cyber Espionage and Geopolitical Threats/Activity

Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage

Nation State Actors

China

Russia

Iran

Other Nation State Actors, Hacktivism, Extremism, Terrorism and Other Geopolitical Threat Intelligence

Vulnerability Management

Vulnerabilities

Other News

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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 21 October 2022

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 21 October 2022:

-Gen Z, Millennials Really Doesn't Care About Workplace Cyber Security

-Supply Chain Attacks Increased Over 600% This Year and Companies Are Falling Behind

-Cyber-Enabled Crimes Are Biggest Police Concerns

-List of Common Passwords Accounts for Nearly All Cyber Attacks

-Shared Responsibility or Shared Fate? Decentralized IT Means We Are All Cyber Defenders

-Ukraine War Cuts Ransomware as Kremlin Co-Opts Hackers

-96% Of Companies Report Insufficient Security for Sensitive Cloud Data

-Your Microsoft Exchange Server Is a Security Liability

-Are Cyber Security Vendors Pushing Snake Oil?

-Ransomware Preparedness, What Are You Doing Wrong?

-NSA Cybersecurity Director's Six Takeaways from the War in Ukraine

-Microsoft Confirms Server Misconfiguration Led to 65,000+ Companies' Data Leak

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

  • Gen Z, Millennials Really Don’t Care About Workplace Cyber Security

When it comes to cyber security in the workplace, younger employees don’t really seem to care that much, which is putting their organisations in serious harm’s way, new research has claimed.

Surveying approximately 1,000 workers using devices issued by their employers, professional services firm EY found Gen Z enterprise employees were more apathetic about cyber security than their Boomer counterparts in adhering to their employer's safety policies.

This is despite the fact that four in five (83%) of all those surveyed claimed to understand their employer’s security protocol.

When it comes to implementing mandatory IT updates, for example, 58% of Gen Z’ers and 42% of millennials would disregard them for as long as possible. Less than a third (31%) of Gen X’ers, and just 15% of baby boomers said they do the same.

Apathy in the young extends to password reuse between private and business accounts. A third of Gen Z and millennial workers surveyed admitted to this, compared to less than a quarter of all Gen X’ers and baby boomers.

Some say the apathy of young people towards technology is down to their over-familiarity with technology, and never having been without it. Being too comfortable with tech undoubtedly makes an enterprise's younger employees a major target for cyber criminals looking to exploit any hole in security. 

If an organisation's cyber security practices aren't upheld strongly, threat actors can compromise huge networks with simple social engineering attacks.

https://www.techradar.com/news/younger-workers-dont-care-about-workplace-cybersecurity

  • Supply Chain Attacks Increased Over 600% This Year and Companies Are Falling Behind

The number of documented supply chain attacks involving malicious third-party components has increased 633% over the past year, now sitting at over 88,000 known instances, according to a new report from software supply chain management company Sonatype. Meanwhile, instances of transitive vulnerabilities that software components inherit from their own dependencies have also reached unprecedented levels and plague two-thirds of open-source libraries.

“The networked nature of dependencies highlights the importance of having visibility and awareness about these complex supply chains” Sonatype said in its newly released State of the Software Supply Chain report. “These dependencies impact our software, so having an understanding of their origins is critical to vulnerability response. Many organisations did not have the needed visibility and continued their incident response procedures for Log4Shell well beyond the summer of 2022 as a result.”

Log4Shell is a critical vulnerability discovered in November 2021 in Log4j, a widely popular open-source Java library used for logging and bundled in millions of enterprise applications and software products, often as an indirect dependency. According to Sonatype’s monitoring, as of August 2022, the adoption rate for fixed versions of Log4j sits at around 65%. Moreover, this doesn’t even account for the fact that the Log4Shell vulnerability originated in a Java class called JndiManager that is part of Log4j-core, but which has also been borrowed by 783 other projects and is now found in over 19,000 software components.

Log4Shell served as a watershed moment, highlighting the inherent risks that exist in the open-source software ecosystem – which sits at the core of modern software development – and the need to manage them properly. It also led to several initiatives to secure the software supply chain by private organisations, software repository managers, the Linux Foundation, and government bodies. Yet, most organisations are far from where they need to be in terms of open-source supply chain management.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3677228/supply-chain-attacks-increased-over-600-this-year-and-companies-are-falling-behind.html#tk.rss_news

  • Cyber-Enabled Crimes Are Biggest Police Concerns

Cyber-related crimes such as money laundering, ransomware and phishing pose the biggest threat to society, according to the first ever Interpol Global Crime Trend report.

The inaugural study was compiled from data received from the policing organisation’s 195 member countries, as well as information and analysis from external sources.

Money laundering was ranked the number one threat, with 67% of respondents claiming it to be a “high” or “very high” risk. Ransomware came second (66%) but was the crime type that most (72%) expected to increase in the next 3–5 years.

Of the nine top crime trends identified in the report, six are directly cyber-enabled, including money laundering, ransomware, phishing, financial fraud, computer intrusion and child sexual exploitation.

Interpol warned that the pandemic had fomented new underground offerings like “financial crime-as-a-service,” including digital money laundering tools which help to lower the barrier to entry for criminal gangs. It also claimed that demand for online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA) content surged during the pandemic. Some 62% of respondents expect it to increase or significantly increase in the coming years.

The findings represent something of a turnaround from pre-pandemic times, when drug trafficking regularly topped the list of police concerns. Thanks to a surge in corporate digitalisation, home working and online shopping, there are now rich pickings to be had from targeting consumers and business users with cyber-scams and attacks, Interpol claimed.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cyberenabled-crimes-are-biggest/

  • List of Common Passwords Accounts for Nearly All Cyber Attacks

Half of a million passwords from the RockYou2021 list account for 99.997% of all credential attacks against a variety of honeypots, suggesting attackers are just taking the easy road.

Tens of millions of credential-based attacks targeting two common types of servers boiled down to a small fraction of the passwords that formed a list of leaked credentials, known as the RockYou2021 list.

Vulnerability management firm Rapid7, via its network of honeypots, recorded every attempt to compromise those servers over a 12-month period, finding that the attempted credential attacks resulted in 512,000 permutations. Almost all of those passwords (99.997%) are included in a common password list — the RockYou2021 file, which has 8.4 billion entries — suggesting that attackers, or the subset of threat actors attacking Rapid7's honeypots, are sticking to a common playbook.

The overlap in all the attacks also suggest attackers are taking the easy road, said Rapid7. "We know now, in a provable and demonstrable way, that nobody — 0% of attackers — is trying to be creative when it comes to unfocused, untargeted attacks across the Internet," they said. "Therefore, it's very easy to avoid this kind of opportunistic attack, and it takes very little effort to take this threat off the table entirely, with modern password managers and configuration controls."

Every year, security firms present research suggesting users are continuing to pick bad passwords. In 2019, an evaluation of passwords leaked to the Internet found that the top password was "123456," followed by "123456789" and "qwerty," and unfortunately things have not got much better since then.

https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/a-common-password-list-accounts-for-nearly-all-cyberattacks

  • Shared Responsibility or Shared Fate? Decentralised IT Means We Are All Cyber Defenders

Does your organisation truly understand the shared responsibility model? Shared responsibility emerged from the early days of cloud computing as a way to delineate responsibilities between cloud providers and their customers, but often there's a gap between what shared responsibility means and how it is interpreted. With the decentralisation of IT, this gap is getting worse.

Applications, servers, and overall technology used to be under the purview and control of the IT department, yet with the shift to cloud, and specifically software-as-a-service (SaaS), this dynamic has changed. Whether it's the sales team bringing in a customer relationship management (CRM) system like Salesforce, or the HR department operating a human resources information system (HRIS) like Workday, there's a clear "expanding universe" of IT that no longer sits where it used to. Critical business workflows exist in separate business units far from IT and security and are managed as such. Our corporate IT footprints have become decentralised.

This is not some minor, temporary trend. With the ease and speed of adopting new SaaS applications and the desire to "lift and shift" code into cloud-based environments, this is the future. The future is decentralised.

The shift to business-owned and -operated applications puts security teams in a position where risk management is their responsibility; they are not even able to log into some of these critical systems. It's like asking your doctor to keep you healthy but not giving her access to your information or having regular check-ups. It doesn't work that way.

Beyond the challenging human skills gap, there's technical entropy and diversity everywhere, with different configuration settings, event logs, threat vectors, and data sensitivities. On the access side, there are different admins, users, integrations, and APIs. If you think managing security on Windows and Mac is a lot, try it across many huge applications.

With this reality, how can the security team be expected to combat a growing amount of decentralised business technology risk?

We must operate our technology with the understanding that shared responsibility is the vertical view between cloud provider and customer, but that enterprise-owned piece of shared responsibility is the burden of multiple teams horizontally across an organisation. Too often the mentality is us versus them, availability versus security, too busy to care about risk, too concerned with risk to understand "the business."

https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/shared-responsibility-or-shared-fate-decentralized-it-means-we-are-all-cyber-defenders

  • Ukraine War Cuts Ransomware as Kremlin Co-Opts Hackers

The Ukraine war has helped reduce global ransomware attacks by 10pc in the last few months, a British cyber security company has said.

Criminal hacking gangs, usually engaged in corporate ransomware activities, are increasingly being co-opted by the Russian military to launch cyber attacks on Ukraine, according to Digital Shadows. “The war is likely to continue to motivate ransomware actors to target government and critical infrastructure entities,” according to the firm. Such attacks partly contributed to a 10pc drop in the number of ransomware threats launched during the three months to September, said the London-based company.

The drop in ransomware may also partly be caused by tit-for-tat digital attacks between rival hacking gangs. Researchers said the Lockbit gang, who recently targeted LSE-listed car retailer Pendragon with a $60m (£53.85m) ransom demand, were the target of attacks from their underworld rivals. The group is increasingly inviting resentment from competing threat groups and possibly former members.

Some cyber criminals’ servers went offline in September after what appeared to be an attack from competitors. In the world of cyber criminality, it is not uncommon for tensions to flare among rival groups.

Officials from GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre have said ransomware is one of the biggest cyber threats facing the UK. Figures published by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport this year revealed the average costs to businesses caused by ransomware attacks is around £19,000 per incident.

US-based cyber security company Palo Alto Networks, however, warned that the average ransom payment it saw in the early part of this year was $925,000 (£829,000).

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/10/23/ukraine-war-cuts-ransomware-kremlin-co-opts-hackers/

  • 96% Of Companies Report Insufficient Security for Sensitive Cloud Data

The vast majority of organisations lack confidence in securing their data in cloud, while many companies acknowledge they lack sufficient security even for their most sensitive data, according to a new report by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA).

The CSA report surveyed 1,663 IT and security professionals from organisations of various sizes and in various locations. "Only 4% report sufficient security for 100% of their data in the cloud. This means that 96% of organisations have insufficient security for at least some of their sensitive data," according to the report, which was sponsored by data intelligence firm BigID.

Apart from struggling with securing sensitive data, organisations are also having trouble tracking data in the cloud. Over a quarter of organisations polled aren’t tracking regulated data, nearly a third aren’t tracking confidential or internal data, and 45% aren’t tracking unclassified data, the report said.

“This suggests that organisations’ current methods of classifying data aren’t sufficient for their needs. However, if the tracking is this low, it could be a contributing factor to the issue of dark data. Organisations need to utilise data discovery and classification tools to properly understand the data they have and how to protect it,” the CSA study noted.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3677491/96-of-companies-report-insufficient-security-for-sensitive-cloud-data.html#tk.rss_news

  • Your Microsoft Exchange Server Is a Security Liability

With endless vulnerabilities, widespread hacking campaigns, slow and technically tough patching, it's time to say goodbye to on-premise Exchange.

Once, reasonable people who cared about security, privacy, and reliability ran their own email servers. Today, the vast majority host their personal email in the cloud, handing off that substantial burden to the capable security and engineering teams at companies like Google and Microsoft. Now, cyber security experts argue that a similar switch is due - or long overdue - for corporate and government networks. For enterprises that use on-premise Microsoft Exchange, still running their own email machine somewhere in a closet or data centre, the time has come to move to a cloud service, if only to avoid the years-long plague of bugs in Exchange servers that has made it nearly impossible to keep determined hackers out.

The latest reminder of that struggle arrived earlier this week, when Taiwanese security researcher Orange Tsai published a blog post laying out the details of a security vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange. Tsai warned Microsoft about this vulnerability as early as June of 2021, and while the company responded by releasing some partial fixes, it took Microsoft 14 months to fully resolve the underlying security problem. Tsai had earlier reported a related vulnerability in Exchange that was massively exploited by a group of Chinese state-sponsored hackers known as Hafnium, which last year penetrated more than 30,000 targets by some counts. Yet according to the timeline described in Tsai’s post this week, Microsoft repeatedly delayed fixing the newer variation of that same vulnerability, assuring Tsai no fewer than four times that it would patch the bug before pushing off a full patch for months longer. When Microsoft finally released a fix, Tsai wrote, it still required manual activation and lacked any documentation for four more months.

Meanwhile, another pair of actively exploited vulnerabilities in Exchange that were revealed last month still remain unpatched after researchers showed that Microsoft’s initial attempts to fix the flaws had failed. Those vulnerabilities were just the latest in a years-long pattern of security bugs in Exchange’s code. And even when Microsoft does release Exchange patches, they’re often not widely implemented, due to the time-consuming technical process of installing them.

The result of those compounding problems, for many who have watched the hacker-induced headaches of running an Exchange server pile up, is a clear message: An Exchange server is itself a security vulnerability, and the fix is to get rid of it.

“You need to move off of on-premise Exchange forever. That’s the bottom line,” says Dustin Childs, the head of threat awareness at security firm Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative (ZDI), which pays researchers for finding and reporting vulnerabilities in commonly used software and runs the Pwn2Own hacking competition. “You’re not getting the support, as far as security fixes, that you would expect from a really mission-critical component of your infrastructure.”

https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-exchange-server-vulnerabilities/

  • Are Cyber Security Vendors Pushing Snake Oil?

Survey: 96 percent of cyber security decision makers confused by vendor marketing.

The availability of new security products increases, the amount of budget spent on cyber security grows, and the number of security breaches seems to outpace both. This basic lack of correlation between increasing cyber security spend and any clear increase in cyber security effectiveness is the subject of a new analytical survey from Egress.

With 52 million data breaches in Q2 2022 alone (Statista), Egress questioned 800 cyber security and IT leaders on why vendor claims and reality aren’t aligned. The headline response in the survey is that 91% of decision makers have difficulty in selecting cyber security vendors due to unclear marketing about their specific offerings.

The financial investment cycle doesn’t help in this. For many investors, the strength of the management team is more important than the product. The argument is not whether this product is a cyber security silver bullet, but whether this management can take the company to a point where it can exit with serious profits.

If investment is achieved, much of it will go into marketing. That marketing must compete against existing, established vendors – so it tends to be louder, more aggressive, and replete with hyperbole. Marketing noise can lead to increased valuation, which can lead to a successful and profitable exit by the investors.

Of course, this is an oversimplification and doesn’t always happen. The point, however, is that it does happen and has no relevance to the real effectiveness of the product in question. Without any doubt, there are many products that have been over-hyped by marketing funds provided by profit-driven investors.

https://www.securityweek.com/are-cybersecurity-vendors-pushing-snake-oil

  • Ransomware Preparedness: What Are You Doing Wrong?

Axio released its 2022 State of Ransomware Preparedness research report, revealing that although notable improvements have been made since Axio’s 2021 report, organisational ransomware preparedness continues to be insufficient to keep pace with new attack vectors.

The report reveals that the lack of fundamental cyber security practices and controls, including critical vulnerability patching and employee cyber security training, continues to undermine organisational attempts to improve ransomware defences.

“Ransomware continues to wreak havoc on global organisations, regardless of size or industry,” remarked the report’s co-author David White, President of Axio. “As the number of attacks will most likely continue on an exponential trajectory, it’s more important than ever for companies to re-evaluate their cyber security practices and make the needed improvements to help combat these attacks.”

The report identifies several emerging patterns that yield insights into why organisations are increasingly susceptible to ransomware attacks. In 2021, seven key areas where organisations were deficient in implementing and sustaining basic cyber security practices were identified, and these patterns dominated the 2022 study results as well:

  • Managing privileged access

  • Improving basic cyber hygiene

  • Reducing exposure to supply chain and third-party risk

  • Monitoring and defending networks

  • Managing ransomware incidents

  • Identifying and addressing vulnerabilities in a timely manner

  • Improving cyber security training and awareness

Overall, most organisations surveyed are not adequately prepared to manage the risk associated with a ransomware attack. Key data findings include:

  • The number of organisations with a functional privileged access management solution in place increased by 10% but remains low at 33% overall.

  • Limitations on the use of service and local administrator accounts remain average overall, with nearly 50% of organisations reporting implementing these practices.

  • Approximately 40% of organisations monitor third-party network access, evaluate third-party cyber security posture, and limit the use of third-party software.

  • Less than 50% of respondents implement basic network segmentation and only 40% monitor for anomalous connections.

  • Critical vulnerability patching within 24 hours was reported by only 24% of organisations.

  • A ransomware-specific playbook for incident management is in place for only 30% of organisations.

  • Active phishing training has improved but is still not practiced by 40% of organisations.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/10/20/insufficient-ransomware-preparedness/

  • NSA Cybersecurity Director's Six Takeaways from the War in Ukraine

From the warning banner ‘Be afraid and expect the worst’ that was shown on several Ukrainian government websites on January 13, 2022, after a cyber-attack took them down, the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) cybersecurity director, Rob Joyce, knew that something was going to be different, and very aggressive, between Ukraine and Russia, and that it would be happening in the cyber space as well.

Ten months on, he was invited to speak at one of Mandiant Worldwide Information Security Exchange's (mWISE) opening keynotes on October 18, 2022. Joyce shared six takeaways from the Russia-Ukraine cyber-conflict in terms of what we learned from it and its impact on how nations should protect their organisations.

  1. Both espionage and destructive attacks will occur in conflict

  2. The cyber security industry has unique insight into these conflicts

  3. Sensitive intelligence can make a decisive difference

  4. You can develop resiliency skills

  5. Don’t try to go it alone

  6. You have not planned enough yet for the contingencies

Toward the end of the keynote, Joyce suggested the audience simulate a scenario based on what happened in Ukraine with the China-Taiwan conflict escalating and see what they should put in place to better prepare for such an event.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/nsa-6-takeaways-war-ukraine/

  • Microsoft Confirms Server Misconfiguration Led to 65,000+ Companies' Data Leak

Microsoft this week confirmed that it inadvertently exposed information related to thousands of customers following a security lapse that left an endpoint publicly accessible over the internet sans any authentication.

"This misconfiguration resulted in the potential for unauthenticated access to some business transaction data corresponding to interactions between Microsoft and prospective customers, such as the planning or potential implementation and provisioning of Microsoft services," Microsoft said in an alert.

Microsoft also emphasised that the B2B leak was "caused by an unintentional misconfiguration on an endpoint that is not in use across the Microsoft ecosystem and was not the result of a security vulnerability."

The misconfiguration of the Azure Blob Storage was spotted on September 24, 2022, by cyber security company SOCRadar, which termed the leak BlueBleed. Microsoft said it's in the process of directly notifying impacted customers.

The Windows maker did not reveal the scale of the data leak, but according to SOCRadar, it affects more than 65,000 entities in 111 countries. The exposure amounts to 2.4 terabytes of data that consists of invoices, product orders, signed customer documents, partner ecosystem details, among others.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/10/microsoft-confirms-server.html

Threats

Ransomware and Extortion

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

Malware

Mobile

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Deepfakes

Insurance

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Software Supply Chain

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

Cloud/SaaS

Attack Surface Management

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

API

Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Training, Education and Awareness

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

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

Vulnerabilities

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.

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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:

  1. View cyber security as a broad business concern and not just an IT issue.

  2. Build cyber security and data privacy into agendas across the C-suite and board.

  3. Increase investment to improve security.

  4. Educate employees on effective cyber security practices.

  5. For each new business initiative or transformation, make sure there’s a cyber plan in place.

  6. Use data and intelligence to regularly measure cyber risks. Proactively look for blind spots in third-party relationships and supply chains.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/cybersecurity-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

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.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/apathy-is-your-company-s-biggest-cybersecurity-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 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.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3670575/sophisticated-bec-scammers-bypass-microsoft-365-multi-factor-authentication.html

  • 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

BEC – Business Email Compromise

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

Malware

Mobile

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

 Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Insurance

Software Supply Chain

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

Cloud/SaaS

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

API

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Privacy

Travel

Models, Frameworks and Standards

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

Vulnerability Management

Vulnerabilities

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.

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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 12 August 2022

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 12 August 2022

-Three Ransomware Gangs Consecutively Attacked the Same Network

-As The Cost of Cyber Insurance Rises, The Number of Organisations Who Can’t Afford It Is Set to Double

-Identity Cyber Attacks, Microsoft 365 Dominate Cybersecurity Incidents, Expel Research Finds

-Exploit Activity Surges 150% in Q2 Thanks to Log4Shell

-Ransomware Is Not Going Anywhere: Attacks Are Up 24%

-Email Is the Single Biggest Threat to Businesses, And Here’s What You Can Do About It

-Realtek SDK Vulnerability Exposes Routers from Many Vendors to Remote Attacks

-Most Companies Are at An Entry-Level When It Comes to Cloud Security

-The Impact of Exploitable Misconfigurations on Network Security

-Industrial Spy Ransomware: New Threat Group Emerges to Exfiltrate Data, Extort Victims

-UK NHS Service Recovery May Take a Month After MSP Ransomware Attack

-A Single Flaw Broke Every Layer of Security in MacOS

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

  • Three Ransomware Gangs Consecutively Attacked the Same Network

Hive, LockBit and BlackCat, three prominent ransomware gangs, consecutively attacked the same network, according to Sophos. The first two attacks took place within two hours, and the third attack took place two weeks later. Each ransomware gang left its own ransom demand, and some of the files were triple encrypted.

It’s bad enough to get one ransomware note, let alone three. Multiple attackers create a whole new level of complexity for recovery, particularly when network files are triple encrypted. Cyber security that includes prevention, detection and response is critical for organisations of any size and type—no business is immune.

The “Multiple Attackers: A Clear and Present Danger” whitepaper further outlines additional cases of overlapping cyber attacks, including cryptominers, remote access trojans (RATs) and bots. In the past, when multiple attackers have targeted the same system, the attacks usually occurred across many months or multiple years. The attacks described in Sophos’ whitepaper took place within days or weeks of each other—and, in one case, simultaneously—often with the different attackers accessing a target’s network through the same vulnerable entry point.

Typically, criminal groups compete for resources, making it more difficult for multiple attackers to operate simultaneously. Cryptominers normally kill their competitors on the same system, and today’s RATs often highlight bot killing as a feature on criminal forums. However, in the attack involving the three ransomware groups, for example, BlackCat—the last ransomware group on the system—not only deleted traces of its own activity, but also deleted the activity of LockBit and Hive.

In another case, a system was infected by LockBit ransomware. Then, about three months later, members of Karakurt Team, a group with reported ties to Conti, was able to leverage the backdoor LockBit created to steal data and hold it for ransom.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/08/09/ransomware-gangs-attacks/

  • As The Cost of Cyber Insurance Rises, The Number of Organisations Who Can’t Afford It Is Set to Double

The number of organisations that will be either unable to afford cyber insurance, be declined cover, or experience significant coverage limitations is set to double in 2023, according to Huntsman Security.

Even for those insured, the perfect storm of ongoing attacks, tightening regulations and growing financial pressures is making it more likely that any attack on an organisation will leave it exposed.

Factors like the supply chain crisis, inflation and skill shortages are all adding to the difficulty for organisations trying to execute on their cyber security strategy. At the same time, increases in insurance premiums, limits on coverage, increasing underwriting rigour, and capacity constraints are all limiting the accessibility of cyber insurance, for many.

Loss ratios will not improve until premium incomes better match the current level of pay-outs. With this reduced insurance access alongside increasing cyber threats and tightening regulations, many organisations are losing cyber insurance as an important risk management tool. Even those who can still get insurance are paying a prohibitively high cost.

With a third of UK firms subject to cyber attacks at least once a week, cyber insurance as part of overall risk management is crucial. To bridge this accessibility gap insurers are seeking to improve the quality of risk information, so premiums better reflect the true cost of that risk. Unless organisations can demonstrate they have insurers’ specified controls in place to manage their security risks, insurers will continue to have difficulty quantifying that risk. It’s for these reasons that insurers have changed the basis upon which their products are offered to reflect the risk being underwritten more accurately.

In this environment, improving and demonstrating the effectiveness of security controls will now be essential: both for organisations looking to improve their cyber resilience and oversight while enhancing their eligibility for insurers, and for insurers who need to minimise their own exposure by ensuring the accuracy of their risk pricing process.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/08/11/afford-cyber-insurance/

  • Identity Cyber Attacks, Microsoft 365 Dominate Cyber Security Incidents, Expel Research Finds

Identity-based cyber attacks (including credential theft, credential abuse and long-term access key theft) accounted for 56% of all incidents in Q2 of 2022, and Microsoft 365 remained the prime target for SaaS attacks, according to Expel’s Quarterly Threat Report.

Among the key findings:

  • Business email compromise (BEC) and business application compromise (BAC) access to application data represented 51% of all incidents.

  • Identity-based attacks in popular cloud environments like Amazon Web Services (AWS) accounted for 5%.

  • Ransomware groups change tactics, with threat groups and their affiliates all but abandoning the use of Visual Basic for Application (VBA) macros and Excel 4.0 macros to gain initial entry to Windows-based environments. In Q1, a macro-enabled Microsoft Word document (VBA macro) or Excel 4.0 macro was the initial attack vector in 55% of all pre-ransomware incidents. In Q2, that figure fell sharply to 9%. Instead, ransomware operators opted to use disk image (ISO), short-cut (LNK) and HTML application (HTA) files to gain initial entry.

  • Cloud attacks are becoming more sophisticated, with 14% of identity attacks against cloud identity providers tackling the multi-factor authentication (MFA) requirement by continuously sending push notifications.

  • Microsoft 365 is a common threat target, with BEC in Microsoft Office 365 (O365) remaining the top threat to organisations in Q2. 45% of all Q2 incidents were BEC attempts in O365. No BEC attempts were identified in Google Workspaces. 19% of BEC attempts bypassed MFA in O365 using legacy protocols, a 16% increase of compared to Q1.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/identity-cyberattacks-targeting-microsoft-365-dominate-cybersecurity-incidents-expel-research-finds/

  • Exploit Activity Surges 150% in Q2 Thanks to Log4Shell

Detections of malware events, botnet activity and exploits all increased significantly in the second quarter of 2022, according to new data from Nuspire.

The managed security services provider (MSSP) gathered the data from its endpoint detection and response (EDR) and managed detection and response (MDR) tools to produce its Q2 2022 Quarterly Threat Report.

The company recorded an increase in malware events of over 25%, a doubling of botnet detections and a rise in exploit activity of 150% versus the first quarter.

Botnet activity in particular surged towards the end of Q2, thanks to the Torpig Mebroot botnet – a banking trojan designed to scrape credit card and payment information from infected devices, the report revealed. Nuspire claimed it is particularly difficult to detect and remove, because it targets a machine’s master boot record.

It attributed much of the surge in exploit activity to the persistent threat posed by the Log4j bugs discovered at the end of December 2021. At the time, experts warned that the ubiquity of the utility, and the difficulty many organisations have in finding all instances of the CVE due to complex Java dependencies, means it may be exploited for years.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/exploit-activity-150-q2-log4shell/

  • Ransomware Is Not Going Anywhere: Attacks Are Up 24%

Avast released a report revealing a significant increase in global ransomware attacks, up 24% from Q1/2022. Researchers also uncovered a new zero-day exploit in Chrome, as well as signals of how cyber criminals are preparing to move away from macros as an infection vector.

After months of decline, global ransomware attacks increased significantly in Q2/2022, up 24% from the previous quarter. The highest quarter-on-quarter increases in ransomware risk ratio occurred in Argentina (+56%), UK (+55%), Brazil (+50%), France (+42%), and India (+37%).

Businesses and consumers should be on guard and prepared for encounters with ransomware, as the threat is not going anywhere anytime soon.

The decline in ransomware attacks observed in Q4/2021 and Q1/2022 were thanks to law enforcement agencies busting ransomware group members, and caused by the war in Ukraine, which also led to disagreements within the Conti ransomware group, halting their operations. Things dramatically changed in Q2/2022. Conti members have now branched off to create new ransomware groups, like Black Basta and Karakurt, or may join other existing groups, like Hive, BlackCat, or Quantum, causing an uptick in activity.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/08/12/increase-ransomware-attacks/

  • Email Is the Single Biggest Threat to Businesses, And Here’s What You Can Do About It

Email remains one of the most popular methods of communication, particularly for business communications. There were 316.9 billion emails sent and received every day in 2021, and this is set to increase to 376.4 billion by 2025. But despite the scale of its use and how much people exchange confidential information over email, it is not a secure system by design.

Consequently, email is a major attack vector for organisations of all sizes. Deloitte found that 91% of all cyber attacks originate from a phishing email (an email that attempts to steal money, identity or personal information through a spoof website link that looks legitimate). The cost to organisations can be catastrophic with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) reporting in August 2021 that phishing email attacks had cost UK organisations more than £5 million in the past 13 months.

It’s not enough for individuals to create complex passwords or rely on the security services of their email provider. Spam filters are not enough to stop malicious emails creeping into inboxes. Fortunately, safeguarding your emails with enterprise-grade email security doesn’t have to cost the earth or be hard to integrate so businesses of any size can protect themselves.

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/articles/email-is-the-single-biggest-threat-to-businesses-and-heres-what-you-can-do-about-it/

  • Realtek SDK Vulnerability Exposes Routers from Many Vendors to Remote Attacks

A serious vulnerability affecting the embedded Configurable Operating System (eCos) software development kit (SDK) made by Taiwanese semiconductor company Realtek could expose the networking devices of many vendors to remote attacks.

The security hole, tracked as CVE-2022-27255 and rated ‘high severity’, has been described as a stack-based buffer overflow that can allow a remote attacker to cause a crash or achieve arbitrary code execution on devices that use the SDK. An attack can be carried out through the wide area network (WAN) interface using specially crafted session initiation protocol (SIP) packets.

The Realtek eCos SDK is provided to companies that manufacture routers, access points and repeaters powered by RTL819x family SoCs. The SDK implements the base functionalities of the router, including the web administration interface and the networking stack. Vendors can build on top of this SDK to add custom functionality and their branding to the device.

Realtek informed customers about the eCos SDK vulnerability in March, when it announced the availability of a patch. However, it’s up to the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) using the SDK to ensure that the patch is distributed to end-user devices.

The vulnerability can be exploited remotely — directly from the internet — to hack affected routers running with default settings. No user interaction is required for successful exploitation.

https://www.securityweek.com/realtek-sdk-vulnerability-exposes-routers-many-vendors-remote-attacks

  • Most Companies Are at An Entry-Level When It Comes to Cloud Security

Ermetic released a study by Osterman Research that found 84% of respondents were at an entry-level (one or two rating, with four being the highest) in terms of their cloud security capabilities.

The study found that only 16% ranked on the Ermetic Cloud Security Model at the top two levels, and 80% of companies said they lack a dedicated security team responsible for protecting cloud resources from threats.

“One of the most unexpected findings that emerged from this study was the lack of cloud security maturity among the largest enterprises surveyed,” said the author of the report. “Less than 10% of companies with more than 10,000 employees reported being at the top two maturity levels, while nearly 20% of smaller enterprises have achieved repeatable or automated & integrated cloud security capabilities.”

The report shows why new cloud data breaches are being reported all the time. Multi-cloud deployments, plus low investment in security, does not make for a good combination.

The new frontiers of cyber security, such as cloud security or internet of things (IoT) security are often at early stages of maturity. Organisations that are mature in their IT and data centre security are already overwhelmed and stretched thin and that’s why automation and simplification will help organisations accelerate their maturity in areas like cloud security.

There’s a mistaken belief that cloud computing environments inherently have security built-in — they don’t.

https://www.scmagazine.com/news/cloud-security/most-companies-are-at-an-entry-level-when-it-comes-to-cloud-security

  • The Impact of Exploitable Misconfigurations on Network Security

Network professionals feel confident with their security and compliance practices but data suggests that they also leave their organisations open to risk, which is costing a significant amount of revenue, according to Titania.

In addition, some businesses are not minimising their attack surface effectively. Companies are prioritising firewall security and chronicle a fast time to respond to misconfigurations when detected in annual audits. However, switches and routers are only included in 4% of audits and these devices play a vital role in reducing an organisation’s attack surface and preventing lateral movement across the network.

Respondents also indicated that financial resources allocated to mitigating network configuration, which currently stands around 3.4% of the total IT budget, and a lack of accurate automation are limiting factors in misconfiguration risk management.

The study, which surveyed 160 senior cyber security decision-makers revealed:

  • Misconfigurations cost organisations millions, up to 9% of their annual revenue but the true cost is likely to be higher.

  • Compliance is a top priority, with 75% of organisations across all sectors saying their business relies on compliance to deliver security. Whilst almost every organisation reported that it is meeting its security and compliance requirements, this is at odds with a number of the other findings from the survey and other reports that show a decline in organisations maintaining full compliance with regulated data security standards.

  • Remediation prioritisation is a challenge. 75% said their network security tools meant they could categorise and prioritise compliance risks ‘very effectively’. However, 70% report difficulties prioritising remediation based on risk and also claim inaccurate automation as the top challenges when meeting security and compliance requirements.

  • Routers and switches are mostly overlooked. 96% of organisations prioritise the configuration and auditing of firewalls, but not routers or switches. This leaves these devices exposed to potentially significant and unidentified risks.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/08/12/impact-exploitable-misconfigurations-network-security/

  • Industrial Spy Ransomware: New Threat Group Emerges to Exfiltrate Data, Extort Victims

A new ransomware group dubbed Industrial Spy that first emerged in April 2022 is specialising in exfiltration and double extortion tactics and has the potential to do significant damage, Zscaler’s threat tracking team said.

The threat crew has shown that it possesses the capability to breach organisations and have been “actively adding unencrypted data from two or three victims every month,” Zscaler said. In some instances, the threat group appears to only exfiltrate and ransom data. In other cases, they encrypt, exfiltrate and ransom the data, the cloud security provider said.

At this point, it’s not clear who’s behind the threat entry or if it’s nation-state affiliated. The group started as a data extortion marketplace where criminals could buy large companies’ internal data, promoting the marketplace through Readme.txt files downloaded using malware downloaders.

In May, 2022, the threat group introduced their own ransomware to create double extortion attacks that combine data theft with file encryption.

What you need to know:

  • Industrial Spy started by ransoming stolen data and more recently has combined these attacks with ransomware.

  • The threat group exfiltrates and sells data on their dark web marketplace, but does not always encrypt a victim’s files.

  • The ransomware utilises a combination of RSA and 3DES to encrypt files.

  • Industrial Spy lacks many common features present in modern ransomware families.

  • The Industrial Spy ransomware family is relatively basic, and parts of the code appear to be in development.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-breaches-and-attacks/ransomware/new-ransomware-family-industrial-spy-emerges-to-exfiltrate-data-extort-victims/

  • UK NHS Service Recovery May Take a Month After MSP Ransomware Attack

Managed service provider (MSP) Advanced confirmed that a ransomware attack on its systems disrupted emergency services (111) from the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS). Customers of seven solutions from the British MSP have been impacted either directly or indirectly, the company said. The first has stated it could take a month to recover systems to full service.

The ransomware attack started to disrupt Advanced systems on Thursday, August 4 and was identified around 7 AM. It caused a major outage to NHS emergency services across the UK.

Advanced did not disclose the ransomware group behind the attack but said that it took immediate action to mitigate the risk and isolated Health and Care environments where the incident was detected. The company is working with forensic experts from Microsoft (DART) and Mandiant, who are also helping bring the affected systems back online securely and with added defences:

  • Implementing additional blocking rules and further restricting privileged accounts for Advanced staff

  • Scanning all impacted systems and ensuring they are fully patched

  • Resetting credentials

  • Deploying additional endpoint detection and response agents

  • Conducting 24/7 monitoring

After implementing the security measures above, Advanced said it would restore connectivity to its environments and assist customers to gradually reconnect safely and securely.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/uk-nhs-service-recovery-may-take-a-month-after-msp-ransomware-attack/

  • A Single Flaw Broke Every Layer of Security in MacOS

Every time you shut down your Mac, a pop-up appears: “Are you sure you want to shut down your computer now?” Nestled under the prompt is another option most of us likely overlook: the choice to reopen the apps and windows you have open now when your machine is turned back on. Researchers have now found a way to exploit a vulnerability in this “saved state” feature—and it can be used to break the key layers of Apple’s security protections.

The vulnerability, which is susceptible to a process injection attack to break macOS security, could allow an attacker to read every file on a Mac or take control of the webcam. It's basically one vulnerability that could be applied to three different locations.

https://www.wired.com/story/a-single-flaw-broke-every-layer-of-security-in-macos/

Threats

Ransomware

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Other Social Engineering; SMishing, Vishing, etc

Malware

Mobile

Internet of Things – IoT

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

AML/CFT/Sanctions

Insurance

Cloud/SaaS

Open Source

Social Media

Training, Education and Awareness

Privacy

Travel

Parental Controls and Child Safety

Models, Frameworks and Standards

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

Vulnerabilities

Sector Specific

Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.

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

·       Automotive

·       Construction

·       Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

·       Defence & Space

·       Education & Academia

·       Energy & Utilities

·       Estate Agencies

·       Financial Services

·       FinTech

·       Food & Agriculture

·       Gaming & Gambling

·       Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)

·       Health/Medical/Pharma

·       Hotels & Hospitality

·       Insurance

·       Legal

·       Manufacturing

·       Maritime

·       Oil, Gas & Mining

·       OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems

·       Retail & eCommerce

·       Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)

·       Startups

·       Telecoms

·       Third Sector & Charities

·       Transport & Aviation

·       Web3

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Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 29 July 2022

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 29 July 2022

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

-As Companies Calculate Cyber Risk, The Right Data Makes a Big Difference

-Only 25% Of Organizations Consider Their Biggest Threat to Be from Inside the Business

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

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

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

-Phishers Targeted Financial Services Most During H1 2022

-HR Emails Dupe Employees the Most – KnowBe4 research reveals

-84% Of Organizations Experienced an Identity-Related Breach In The Past 18 Months

-Economic Downturn Raises Risk of Insiders Going Rogue

-5 Trends Making Cyber Security Threats Riskier and More Expensive

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

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Phishers Targeted Financial Services Most During H1 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • HR Emails Dupe Employees the Most – KnowBe4 research reveals

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Economic Downturn Raises Risk of Insiders Going Rogue

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

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

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

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

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

  • 5 Trends Making Cyber Security Threats Riskier and More Expensive

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

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

  1. Everything becomes digital

  2. Organisations become ecosystems

  3. Physical and digital worlds collide

  4. New technologies bring new risks

  5. Regulations become more complex

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

  • Identify, prioritise, and implement controls around risks.

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

  • Develop human-layered cyber security.

  • Fortify your supply chain.

  • Avoid using too many tools.

  • Prioritise protection of critical assets.

  • Automate where you can.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

At least 47 unique ransomware threat actors were found.

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

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

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

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

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

Threats

Ransomware

BEC – Business Email Compromise

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Other Social Engineering; SMishing, Vishing, etc

Malware

Mobile

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

 Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

AML/CFT/Sanctions

Insurance

Dark Web

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Software Supply Chain

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

Cloud/SaaS

Attack Surface Management

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Training, Education and Awareness

Privacy

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

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

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.

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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 01 July 2022

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 01 July 2022:

-Ransomware Is the Biggest Global Cyber Threat. And The Attacks Are Still Evolving

-Study Reveals Traditional Data Security Tools Have a 60% Failure Rate Against Ransomware and Extortion

-Patchable and Preventable Security Issues Lead Causes of Q1 Attacks

-Three in Four Vulnerability Management Programs Ineffective, NopSec Research Finds

-EMEA Continues to Be a Hotspot for Malware Threats

-A New, Remarkably Sophisticated Malware Is Attacking Home and Small Office Routers

-What Are Shadow IDs, and How Are They Crucial in 2022?

-Zero-Days Aren't Going Away Anytime Soon & What Leaders Need to Know

-Half of 2022's Zero-Days Are Variants of Previous Vulnerabilities

-Human Error Remains the Top Security Issue

-Carnival Cruises Torpedoed by US States, Agrees to Pay $6m After Wave of Cyber Attacks

-Uber Ex-Security Chief Accused of Hacking Coverup Must Face Fraud Charges, Judge Rules

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

  • Ransomware Is the Biggest Global Cyber Threat. And The Attacks Are Still Evolving

Ransomware is the biggest cyber security threat facing the world today, with the potential to significantly affect whole societies and economies – and the attacks are unrelenting, the head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has warned.

"Even with a war raging in Ukraine – the biggest global cyber threat we still face is ransomware. That tells you something of the scale of the problem. Ransomware attacks strike hard and fast. They are evolving rapidly, they are all-pervasive, they're increasingly offered by gangs as a service, lowering the bar for entry into cyber crime," said Lindy Cameron, CEO of the NCSC in a speech at Tel Aviv Cyber Week.

She added that the NCSC has dealt with "nationally significant incidents" along with hundreds of general cyber incidents that "affect the UK more widely every year".

While she didn't detail any specific instances of responding to ransomware incidents, Cameron warned that "these complex attacks have the potential to affect our societies and economies significantly", and implied that if it weren't for the work of NCSC incident responders, alongside their counterparts in the industry and international counterparts, the attacks could have had a major impact.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-attacks-are-the-biggest-global-cyber-threat-and-still-evolving-warns-cybersecurity-chief/

  • Study Reveals Traditional Data Security Tools Have a 60% Failure Rate Against Ransomware and Extortion

Titaniam, Inc., the data security platform, announced the ‘State of Data Exfiltration & Extortion Report.’ The survey revealed that while over 70% of organisations have an existing set of prevention, detection, and backup solutions, nearly 40% of organisations have been hit with ransomware attacks in the last year, and more than 70% have experienced one in the previous five years, proving existing solutions to be woefully inadequate in managing the risks and impacts from these attacks.

Data exfiltration during ransomware attacks is up 106% relative to where it was five years ago. We are seeing the emergence of a new trend where cyber criminals are no longer limiting themselves to just encrypting entire systems—they are making sure to steal data ahead of the encryption so that they can have additional leverage on the victim. The survey found that 65% of those who have experienced a ransomware attack have also experienced data theft or exfiltration due to the incident. Of those victims, 60% say the hackers used the data theft to extort them further, known as double extortion. Most of them, i.e., 59% of victims, paid the hackers, implying that they were not helped by their backup or data security tools to prevent this fate.

Data is being exposed for theft and extortion in other ways too. Nearly half (47%) uncovered publicly exposed data in their systems in the last 24 months. It was found that respondents have a mix of data security & protection (78%), prevention & detection (75%), and backup and recovery (73%) in their cyber security stacks. Still, exposure and extortion numbers imply a missing puzzle piece regarding attacks.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/study-reveals-traditional-data-security-tools-have-a-60-failure-rate-against-ransomware-and-extortion

  • Patchable and Preventable Security Issues Lead Causes of Q1 Attacks

Attacks against companies spiked in Q1 2022 with patchable and preventable external vulnerabilities responsible for the bulk of attacks.

Eighty-two percent of attacks on organisations in Q1 2022 were caused by the external exposure of known vulnerabilities in the victim’s external-facing perimeter or attack surface. Those unpatched bugs overshadowed breach-related financial losses tied to human error, which accounted for 18 percent.

The numbers come from Tetra Defense and its quarterly report that sheds light on a notable uptick in cyber attacks against United States organisations between January and March 2022.

The report did not let employee security hygiene, or a lack thereof, off the hook. Tetra revealed that a lack of multi-factor authentication (MFA) mechanisms adopted by firms and compromised credentials are still major factors in attacks against organisations.

https://threatpost.com/lead-causes-of-q1-attacks/180096/

  • Three in Four Vulnerability Management Programs Ineffective

How at risk are organisations to unsecured vulnerabilities in their networks? NopSec, a threat and exposure management provider, gives us the answers in a new study of some 430 cyber security professionals.

Are security teams finding successful approaches to their vulnerability management, or are “open doors around their attack surface” leaving them susceptible to disaster in their organisation? The answer, as it turns out, is that some organisations are better at detection, response and remediation of their vulnerabilities.

Perhaps more importantly, others are not as locked down as they believe, according to the report. Keeping track of known vulnerabilities and responding quickly is one thing, but locating flaws they did not previously know existed is quite another.

Seventy percent of respondent say their vulnerability management program (VMP) is only somewhat effective or worse, blind spots and shadow IT remain top challenges, and vulnerabilities take too long to patch.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/three-in-four-vulnerability-management-programs-ineffective-study-finds/

  • EMEA Continues to Be a Hotspot for Malware Threats

Ransomware detections in the first quarter of this year doubled the total volume reported for 2021, according to the latest quarterly Internet Security Report from the WatchGuard Threat Lab. Researchers also found that the Emotet botnet came back in a big way, the infamous Log4Shell vulnerability tripled its attack efforts and malicious cryptomining activity increased.

Although findings from the Threat Lab’s Q4 2021 report showed ransomware attacks trending down year over year, that all changed in Q1 2022 with a massive explosion in ransomware detections. While Q4 2021 saw the downfall of the infamous REvil cybergang, WatchGuard analysis suggests that this opened the door for the LAPSUS$ extortion group to emerge, which along with many new ransomware variants such as BlackCat – the first known ransomware written in the Rust programming language – could be contributing factors to an ever-increasing ransomware and cyber-extortion threat landscape.

The report also shows that EMEA continues to be a hotspot for malware threats. Overall regional detections of basic and evasive malware show WatchGuard Fireboxes in EMEA were hit harder than those in North, Central and South America (AMER) at 57% and 22%, respectively, followed by Asia-Pacific (APAC) at 21%.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/30/emea-malware-threats/

  • A New, Remarkably Sophisticated Malware Is Attacking Home and Small Office Routers

An unusually advanced hacking group has spent almost two years infecting a wide range of routers in North America and Europe with malware that takes full control of connected devices running Windows, macOS, and Linux, researchers reported on June 28.

So far, researchers from Lumen Technologies' Black Lotus Labs say they've identified at least 80 targets infected by the stealthy malware, including routers made by Cisco, Netgear, Asus, and DrayTek. Dubbed ZuoRAT, the remote access Trojan is part of a broader hacking campaign that has existed since at least the fourth quarter of 2020 and continues to operate.

The discovery of custom-built malware written for the MIPS architecture and compiled for small-office and home-office routers is significant, particularly given its range of capabilities. Its ability to enumerate all devices connected to an infected router and collect the DNS lookups and network traffic they send and receive, and remain undetected, is the hallmark of a highly sophisticated threat actor.

"While compromising small office/home office (SOHO) routers as a vector to gain access to an adjacent LAN is not a novel technique, it has seldom been reported," Black Lotus Labs researchers wrote. "Similarly, reports of person-in-the-middle style attacks, such as DNS and HTTP hijacking, are even rarer and a mark of a complex and targeted operation. The use of these two techniques congruently demonstrated a high level of sophistication by a threat actor, indicating that this campaign was possibly performed by a state-sponsored organisation."

The campaign comprises at least four pieces of malware, three of them written from scratch by the threat actor. The first piece is the MIPS-based ZuoRAT, which closely resembles the Mirai internet-of-things malware that achieved record-breaking distributed denial-of-service attacks that crippled some Internet services for days. ZuoRAT often gets installed by exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities in SOHO devices.

https://www.wired.com/story/zuorat-trojan-malware-hacking-routers/

  • What Are Shadow IDs, and How Are They Crucial in 2022?

Just before last Christmas, in a first-of-a-kind case, JPMorgan was fined $200M for employees using non-sanctioned applications for communicating about financial strategy. No mention of insider trading, naked shorting, or any malevolence. Just employees circumventing regulation using, well, Shadow IT. Not because they tried to obfuscate or hide anything, simply because it was a convenient tool that they preferred over any other sanctioned products (which JPMorgan certainly has quite a few of.)

Visibility into unknown and unsanctioned applications has been required by regulators and also recommended by the Center for Internet Security community for a long time. Yet it seems that new and better approaches are still in demand. Gartner has identified External Attack Surface Management, Digital Supply Chain Risk, and Identity Threat Detection as the top three trends to focus on in 2022, all of which are closely intertwined with Shadow IT.

"Shadow IDs," or in other words, unmanaged employee identities and accounts in third-party services, are often created using a simple email-and-password-based registration. Cloud access security broker (CASB) and corporate single-sign-on (SSO) solutions are limited to a few sanctioned applications, and are not widely adopted on most websites and services either. This means, that a large part of an organisation's external surface - as well as its user identities - may be completely invisible.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/06/what-are-shadow-ids-and-how-are-they.html

  • Zero-Days Aren't Going Away Anytime Soon, and What Leaders Need to Know

Few security exploits are the source of more sleepless nights for security professionals than zero-day attacks. Just recently, researchers discovered a new vulnerability enabling hackers to achieve remote code execution within Microsoft Office. Dubbing the evolving threat the Follina exploit, researchers say all versions of Office are at risk. And because the internal security teams have no time to prepare or patch their systems to defend against these software vulnerabilities, crafty threat actors can take advantage, taking their time after they've accessed an organisation's environment to observe and exfiltrate data while remaining completely unseen.

And though sophisticated threat actors and nations have exploited zero-days for nearly two decades, last year saw a historic rise in the number of vulnerabilities detected. Both Google and Mandiant tracked a record number of zero-days last year, with the caveat that more zero-days are being discovered because security companies are getting better at finding them — not necessarily because hackers are coming up with new vulnerabilities. Not all zero-days are created equal, though. Some require sophisticated and novel techniques, like the attack on SolarWinds, and others exploit simple vulnerabilities in commonly used programs like Windows. Thankfully, there's some basic cyber hygiene strategies that can keep your organisation sufficiently prepared to mitigate zero-day exploits.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/zero-days-aren-t-going-away-anytime-soon-and-what-leaders-need-to-know

  • Half of 2022's Zero-Days Are Variants of Previous Vulnerabilities

Google Project Zero has observed a total of 18 exploited zero-day vulnerabilities in the first half of 2022, at least half of which exist because previous bugs were not properly addressed.

According to Google Project Zero researcher Maddie Stone, nine of the in-the-wild zero-days seen so far this year could have been prevented had organisations applied more comprehensive patching.

“On top of that, four of the 2022 zero-days are variants of 2021 in-the-wild zero-days. Just 12 months from the original in-the-wild zero-day being patched, attackers came back with a variant of the original bug,” Stone says.

The most recent of these issues is the Follina vulnerability in the Windows platform. Tracked as CVE-2022-30190, it is a variant of an MSHTML zero-day tracked as CVE-2021-40444.

CVE-2022-21882 is another Windows vulnerability that is a variant of an in-the-wild zero-day that was improperly resolved last year, namely CVE-2021-1732.

An iOS IOMobileFrameBuffer bug (CVE-2022-22587) and a type confusion flaw in Chrome’s V8 engine (CVE-2022-1096) are two other zero-days that are variants of exploited security flaws found last year – CVE-2021-30983 and CVE-2021-30551, respectively.

Other 2022 zero-days that are variants of improperly addressed security defects are CVE-2022-1364 (Chrome), CVE-2022-22620 (WebKit), CVE-2021-39793 (Google Pixel), CVE-2022-26134 (Atlassian Confluence), and CVE-2022-26925 (Windows flaw called PetitPotam).

https://www.securityweek.com/google-half-2022s-zero-days-are-variants-previous-vulnerabilities

  • Human Error Remains the Top Security Issue

Human error remains the most effective vector for conducting network infiltrations and data breaches.

The SANS Institute security centre issued its annual security awareness report Wednesday, which was based on data from 1,000 infosec professionals and found that employees and their lack of security training remain common points of failure for data breaches and network attacks. The report also tracked the maturity level of respondents' security awareness programs and their effectiveness in reducing human risk.

"This year's report once again identifies what we have seen over the past three years: that the most mature security awareness programs are those that have the most people dedicated to managing and supporting it," the cyber security training and education organisation said.

"These larger teams are more effective at working with the security team to identify, track, and prioritise their top human risks, and at engaging, motivating, and training their workforce to manage those risks."

The SANS Institute study ranked maturity by five levels, from lowest to highest: nonexistent, compliance-focused, promoting awareness and behaviour change, long-term sustainment and culture change, and metrics framework. The report found that while approximately 400 respondents said their programs promote awareness and behaviour change - the highest such response for any maturity level - the number represented a 10% decrease from the previous year's report.

https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/252522226/SANS-Institute-Human-error-remains-the-top-security-issue

  • Carnival Cruises Torpedoed by US States, Agrees to Pay $6m After Wave of Cyber Attacks

Carnival Cruise Lines will cough up more than $6 million to end two separate lawsuits filed by 46 states in the US after sensitive, personal information on customers and employees was accessed in a string of cyber attacks.

A couple of years ago, as the coronavirus pandemic was taking hold, the Miami-based business revealed intruders had not only encrypted some of its data but also downloaded a collection of names and addresses; Social Security info, driver's license, and passport numbers; and health and payment information of thousands of people in almost every American state.

It all started to go wrong more than a year prior, as the cruise line became aware of suspicious activity in May 2019. This apparently wasn't disclosed until 10 months later, in March 2020.

Back in 2019, the security operations team spotted an internal email account sending spam to other addresses. It turned out miscreants had hijacked 124 employee Microsoft Office 365 email accounts, and were using them to send phishing emails to harvest more credentials. This, we're told, gave the intruders access to personal data on 180,000 Carnival employees and customers. It's likely the miscreants first broke in using phishing mails or brute-forcing passwords; either way, there was no multi-factor authentication.

Then in August 2020, the company said it was hit with the aforementioned ransomware, and copies of its files were siphoned. In January 2021, it was infected again with malware, and again sensitive information – specifically, customer passport numbers and dates of birth, and employee credit card numbers – were downloaded. And in March that year, a staffer's work email account was compromised again to send out a phishing email; more sensitive information was exposed.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/28/carnival-cybersecurity-fines/

  • Uber Ex-Security Chief Accused of Hacking Coverup Must Face Fraud Charges, Judge Rules

A federal judge on Tuesday said a former Uber Technologies Inc. security chief must face wire fraud charges over his alleged role in trying to cover up a 2016 hacking that exposed personal information of 57 million passengers and drivers.

The US Department of Justice had in December added the three charges against Joseph Sullivan to an earlier indictment, saying he arranged to pay money to two hackers in exchange for their silence, while trying to conceal the hacking from passengers, drivers and the US Federal Trade Commission.

https://www.reuters.com/business/uber-ex-security-chief-accused-hacking-coverup-must-face-fraud-charges-judge-2022-06-28/

Threats

Ransomware

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Malware

Mobile

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Insurance

Software Supply Chain

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

Attack Surface Management

Shadow IT

Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Training, Education and Awareness

Privacy

Parental Controls and Child Safety

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

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

Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

Nation State Actors – China

Nation State Actors – North Korea

Vulnerability Management

Vulnerabilities

Sector Specific

Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

Financial Services Sector

FinTech

Telecoms

OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA and Cyber-Physical Systems

Energy & Utilities

Oil, Gas and Mining

Chinese Threat Actor Targets Rare Earth Mining Companies in North America, Australia | SecurityWeek.Com

Food and Agriculture

Education and Academia

Web3

Reports Published in the Last Week

Other News

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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 13 May 2022

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 13 May 2022

-UK, US Intelligence Agencies Warn Managed Service Providers, including External IT Providers, Are Now Prime Targets for Cyber Attacks

-Wannacry – 5 Years On, 68% Of Enterprises Are Still At Risk

-You Can’t Eliminate Cyber Attacks, So Focus on Reducing the Blast Radius

-Just In Time? Bosses Are Finally Waking Up to The Cyber Security Threat

-Most Organisations Hit by Ransomware Would Pay Up If Hit Again

-31,000 FTSE 100 Logins Found on Dark Web

-Ransomware: How Executives Should Prepare Given the Current Threat Landscape

-What Your Cyber Insurance Application Form Can Tell You About Ransomware Readiness

-NCSC Shut Down 2.7 Million Scams in 2021

-Top 6 Security Threats Targeting Remote Workers

-Password Reuse Is Rampant Among Employees in All Sectors

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

  • UK, US Intelligence Agencies Warn Managed Service Providers, including External IT Providers, Are Now Prime Targets for Cyber Attacks

The Five Eyes coalition of international cyber security authorities, this week issued an advisory to warn managed service providers (MSPs), including external IT providers, of an escalating threat of attack from both everyday cyber criminals and state-sponsored threat actors.

MSPs provide or operate information and communications technology services.

With input from cyber security leaders from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US, the NSA provided recommendations to help bolster their cyber defences, including:

  • Finding and disabling dormant accounts.

  • Implementing and enforcing multifactor authentication on accounts.

  • Ensuring contracts clearly map out who owns and is responsible for securing data.

Malicious actors are targeting MSPs to break into their customers' networks and deploy ransomware, steal data, and spy on them, the Five Eyes authorities have formally warned in a joint security alert.

"The UK, Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, and US cyber security authorities expect malicious cyber actors — including state-sponsored advanced persistent threat (APT) groups — to step up their targeting of MSPs in their efforts to exploit provider-customer network trust relationships," the alert warned.

These types of supply-chain or "island-hopping" attacks can prove very lucrative for cyber criminals because once they break into an MSP, they gain access to all of the customers' networks and data being managed, and in turn commit computer crimes and fraud against those customers' customers.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/nsa-warns-managed-service-providers-are-now-prime-targets-for-cyberattacks

  • Wannacry – 5 Years On, 68% Of Enterprises Are Still at Risk

5 years on from one of the world’s most damaging ransomware attacks, research from network detection and response leader ExtraHop has found that 68% of enterprises are still running insecure protocol that were exploited by the North Korean ransomware.

The events of 12 May 2017 live on in cyber security lore. WannaCry revealed just how extensive the damage caused by ransomware can be if deployed in large scale – from downtime to ransom paid to reputational damage. Yet despite the danger, huge numbers of organisations are still running SMBv1, the protocol exploited in the WannaCry attacks that has been publicly deprecated since 2014.

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/expert-comments/wannacry-5-years-on-68-of-enterprises-are-still-at-risk/

  • You Can’t Eliminate Cyber Attacks, So Focus on Reducing the Blast Radius

Given it is impossible to prevent all cyber attacks, many organisations should look to reduce the size of the company’s attack surface and the limit the “blast radius” of a potential attack.

There is a danger that the biggest risk concerning cyber attacks is that we’re becoming desensitised to them. After all, businesses experience a ransomware attack every 11 seconds—the majority of which the public never hears about. Faced with this reality, it may seem like efforts to safeguard the enterprise are futile. But that’s all the more reason to strengthen your resolve—and switch up your cyber defence strategy.

The core of this strategy should be the concept of “reducing the blast radius” of an attack, and since you can’t completely eliminate cyber attacks, you need to take steps to contain the impact.

This strategy should contain basic blocking and also consider things such as Zero Trust for remote access, traffic inspection, software-based micro-segmentation and other practical measures to reduce your attack surface.

https://threatpost.com/cyberattacks-blast-radius/179612/

  • Just In Time? Bosses Are Finally Waking Up to The Cyber Security Threat

Boardrooms have a reputation for not paying much attention to cyber security, but it could be that executives are finally keen to take more interest in securing the systems and networks their businesses rely on.

Senior figures from American, British and Australian cyber security agencies have said that business execs are now more aware of cyber threats and are actively engaging with their chief information security officer (CISO) and information security teams.

Chief execs are starting to ask their CISOs the right questions, rather than leaving them to it because they don't have to understand complex technology. It does feel like a much more engaging strategic conversation, but there can still be a disconnect between knowing what needs to happen, then actually budgeting for and implementing a cyber security strategy.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/just-in-time-bosses-are-finally-waking-up-to-the-cybersecurity-threat/

  • Most Organisations Hit by Ransomware Would Pay Up If Hit Again

Almost nine in 10 organisations that have suffered a ransomware attack would choose to pay the ransom if hit again, according to a new report, compared with two-thirds of those that have not experienced an attack.

The findings come from a report titled "How business executives perceive ransomware threat" by security company Kaspersky, which states that ransomware has become an ever-present threat, with 64 percent of companies surveyed already having suffered an attack, but more worryingly, that executives seem to believe that paying the ransom is a reliable way of addressing the issue.

The report is based on research involving 900 respondents across North America, South America, Africa, Russia, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. The respondents were in senior non-IT management roles at companies between 50 and 1,000 employees.

Kaspersky claims that in 88 percent of organisations that have had to deal with a ransomware incident, business leaders said they would choose to pay the money if faced with another attack. In contrast, among those that have not so far suffered a ransomware attack, only 67 percent would be willing to pay, and they would be less inclined to do so immediately.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/13/organizations_pay_ransomware/

  • 31,000 FTSE 100 Logins Found on Dark Web

Researchers with Outpost24 are reporting over 31,000 corporate credentials for many of the UK’s leading FTSE 100 firms on the dark web. These are the 100 biggest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange by market capitalisation. The researchers used their threat monitoring and auditing tool Blueliv to search dark web sites for the breached credentials.

Key findings from stolen and leaked credentials study:

  • The majority (81%) of the companies within the FTSE 100 had at least one credential compromised and exposed on the dark web

  • 31,135 total stolen and leaked credentials detected for FTSE 100 companies, with 38% disclosed on the underground in the past 12 months

  • Nearly half (42%) of FTSE 100 companies have more than 500 compromised credentials exposed on the dark web

  • Up to 20% of credentials are stolen via malware infection and stealers

  • 11% disclosed in the last 3 months (21% in the last 6 months and over 68% have been exposed for over 12 months)

  • Over 60% of stolen credentials came from 3 industries – IT/Telecom (23%), Energy and Utility (22%) and Finance (21%)

  • IT/Telecoms industry is the most at risk with the highest total amount (7,303) and average stolen credentials per company (730), they are most affected by malware infection and have the most amount of stolen credentials disclosed in the last 3 months

  • On average, healthcare has the highest number of stolen credentials per company (485) from data breach as they found themselves increasingly in the cyber criminals’ crosshairs since the pandemic.

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/expert-comments/31000-ftse-100-logins-found-on-dark-web/

  • Ransomware: How Executives Should Prepare Given the Current Threat Landscape

As the number of ransomware attacks continue to increase, the response at C-level must be swift and decisive.

Top executives are increasingly dreading the phone call from their fellow employee notifying them that their company has been hit by a cyber attack. Nearly every week in 2021 and early 2022, a prominent organisation has been in the media spotlight as their public relations team struggles to explain how they were attacked and how they can regain consumer confidence. A recent survey showed that 37 percent of organisations surveyed had been affected by ransomware attacks in the last year.

Worse, the days when executive leadership teams could fully delegate responsibility to a CISO are over. Regardless of reality, surveys have shown that about 40 percent of the public perception of fault for a ransomware attack lands squarely on the CEO’s shoulders, and that 36 percent of attacks result in the loss of C-level talent. While executive involvement in the security program does not guarantee a successful defence, it does give the executive leadership team (ELT) a degree of ownership of the final product, as well as the ability to speak confidently and knowledgeably to the public.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/ransomware-how-executives-should-prepare-given-the-current-threat-landscape/

  • What Your Cyber Insurance Application Form Can Tell You About Ransomware Readiness

The annual cyber insurance application form shows what the carriers think you should be doing to best prevent and recover from ransomware attacks. Pay attention.

If it’s the time of year for you to fill out the annual cyber insurance policy application, you will see how the focus for insurance firms is changing. Each year you can get an insight into what insurance vendors are using to rate the risks and threats to your business and what they are stressing firms should have in place as best practice or what they are expecting you should have in place as a baseline set of controls. Not having them in place could affect insurance rates, whether you are able to get cyber coverage at all, or crucially whether they would pay out in the event of you having to make a claim.

This year you might find more questions specifically around ransomware prevention techniques and protections, from Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) to Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), and email filtering protections to the robustness of your backups.

Make sure to review your cyber insurance policy and its related questionnaire. And ask whether you are doing everything you can to protect your firm and tailoring your actions to align with what your insurance provider has deemed as a best practice.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3659831/what-your-cyber-insurance-application-form-can-tell-you-about-ransomware-readiness.html#tk.rss_news

  • NCSC Shut Down 2.7 Million Scams in 2021

The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) removed 2.7 million online scams last year, it was revealed this week, four times as many scams compared to 2020.

The announcement comes as the security agency shared the most recent data from its Active Cyber Defence initiative at the CYBERUK summit earlier in the week.

According to the NCSC, neutralised scams included fake celebrity endorsements and spoof extortion emails.

It has also been revealed that fraud campaigns used common themes, with NHS vaccines and vaccine passports being particularly popular.

Some cyber criminals even posed as NCSC CEO Lindy Cameron – victims received an email claiming the NCSC had prevented £5m of their money from being stolen, and were urged to supply personal information to retrieve the funds.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/05/10/ncsc-shut-down-2-7-million-scams-in-2021/

  • Security Threats Targeting Remote Workers

Remote work offers great benefits, like reduced commute time, increased freedom, and more time to spend with loved ones. But there can be security downsides if sufficient controls are not in place to protect remote workers against the digital threats that come with working via unsecured connections.

Being on a home network lacks the layered network security of the company environment. Remote work itself is not new, but the dramatic shift to working from home over the past two years means there are more security-naive people who are not in the office.

Not all security threats are the fault of technology. Much of it also comes from human error.

Remote work greatly exacerbates human-activated risk, and people are working in more distracting environments where they may have to answer the door for deliveries or might multitask with household chores. That means mistakes are more likely to happen, like sending an email to the wrong recipient or falling for a malicious email attack.

Recent research by Egress found that 77% of IT leaders said they have seen an increase in security compromises since going remote two years ago.

https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/top-6-security-threats-targeting-remote-workers

  • Password Reuse Is Rampant Among Employees in All Sectors

SpyCloud published an annual analysis of identity exposure among employees of Fortune 1000 companies in key sectors such as technology, finance, retail and telecommunications.

Drawing on a database of over 200 billion recaptured assets, researchers identified over 687 million exposed credentials and PII tied to Fortune 1000 employees, a 26% increase from last year’s analysis.

Analysis of this data showed a 64% password reuse rate, widespread use of easy-to-guess passwords, and a spike in malware-infected devices –– all sources of cyber risk for both employers and consumers who rely on businesses to safeguard their personal data. With remote work blurring the lines between work and personal device use, a larger attack surface compounds the risk of cyber attacks proliferating beyond compromised employee and consumer identities to penetrate corporate networks.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/11/fortune-1000-identity-exposure/

Threats

Ransomware

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Malware

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Insurance

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

Cloud

Open Source

Travel

Parental Controls and Child Safety

Cyber Bullying and Cyber Stalking

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

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

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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 29 April 2022

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 29 April 2022

-Ransomware Attacks Surged to New Highs in 2021

-NCSC and Allies Publish Advisory on The Most Commonly Exploited Vulnerabilities In 2021

-Network Attacks Increased to a 3-Year High

-World War Three Is Far More Likely Than Anyone Is Prepared to Admit

-The Ransomware Crisis Deepens, While Data Recovery Stalls

-Ransoms Only Make Up 15% of Ransomware Costs

-Defending Your Business Against Russian Cyber Warfare

-5-Year Vulnerability Trends Are Both Surprising and Sadly Predictable

-Cisco Talos Observes 'Novel Increase' in APT Activity in Q1

-Deepfakes Set to Be Used in Organised Crime

-Smart Contract Developers Not Really Focused on Security. Who Knew?

-Tractor-Trailer Brake Controllers Vulnerable to Remote Hacker Attacks

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

  • Ransomware Attacks Surged to New Highs in 2021

Ransomware attacks are getting more frequent, more successful and more expensive.

Sixty-six percent of the organisations surveyed by Sophos for its annual State of Ransomware report admitted that they were hit with a ransomware attack last year, up from 37% in 2020. And 65 percent of those attacks were successful in encrypting their victims' data, up from 54 percent the year before.

On top of that, the average ransom paid by organisations for their most significant ransomware attack grew by nearly five times, to just over $800,000, while the number of organisations that paid ransoms of $1 million or more tripled to 11%, the UK-based cybersecurity company said. For its annual report, Sophos surveyed 5,600 organisations from 31 countries. A total of 965 of those polled shared details of their ransomware attacks.

The numbers aren't a huge surprise after a year of epic ransomware attacks that shut down everything from a major oil pipeline to one of the largest meat processors in the US. While both Colonial Pipeline and JBS US Holdings paid millions in ransom, the attacks paused their operations long enough to spark panic buying and drive prices up for consumers.

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/ransomware-attacks-surged-to-new-highs-in-2021/#ftag=CAD-09-10aai5b

  • NCSC and Allies Publish Advisory on The Most Commonly Exploited Vulnerabilities In 2021

The UK and international partners have published an advisory for public and private sector organisations on the 15 most commonly exploited vulnerabilities in 2021.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a part of GCHQ, has jointly published an advisory with agencies in the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, showing that malicious cyber actors aggressively targeted newly disclosed critical software vulnerabilities across the public and private sectors worldwide.

Threat actors often geared their efforts towards targeting internet-facing systems, such as email and virtual private network (VPN) servers.

It also indicates that, to a lesser extent, actors continue to exploit publicly known – and often dated – vulnerabilities, some of which were routinely exploited in 2020 or earlier.

The advisory directs organisations to follow specific mitigation advice to protect against exploitation, which includes applying timely patches, using a centralised patch management system and replacing any software no longer supported by the vendor.

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/news/ncsc-and-allies-publish-advisory-on-the-most-commonly-exploited-vulnerabilities-in-2021

  •  Network Attacks Increased to a 3-Year High

WatchGuard Technologies’ Internet Security Report for Q4 2021 revealed all threats were up, whether they’re network attacks or malware.

When the pandemic started, their research team saw a big drop in malware being detected by network security devices. In this period, tech based jobs moved to remote work, which meant a lot of users were no longer browsing the internet and encountering bad things through the network security control at the office. That’s probably why network detection for malware dropped quite a bit at the beginning of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, network attacks continued to rise even through the pandemic, since the servers still lived at the offices and the cloud, and network security still protected those.

The big takeaway in Q4 2021 is that malware rose significantly, returning to normal levels. The reason might be the holiday season, but it’s most probably the fact that, at the end of last year, a lot of tech-based offices started reopening and offering employees to come back in, and thus there’s a bigger chance for network security controls to catch malware.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/04/25/network-attacks-q4-2021-video/

  • World War Three Is Far More Likely Than Anyone Is Prepared to Admit

A Telegraph article looks at the Russia-Ukraine conflict and considers risks posed by new weapons and how the West’s failure to understand our enemies are raising the chances of a horrific conflict.

The fact is the world is becoming more, rather than less, dangerous: there are plenty of other wannabe Putins, and they are better equipped to sow death and destruction. Not only traditional and nuclear threats but bioterrorism is a growing worry and a major cyber attack or assault on transatlantic cables could be so devastating to an internet-based economy as to be seen as a declaration of war.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/04/27/world-war-three-far-likely-anyone-prepared-admit/

  • The Ransomware Crisis Deepens, While Data Recovery Stalls

Higher probabilities of attack, soaring ransoms, and less chance of getting data back — the ransomware plague gets worse, and cyber insurance fails to be a panacea.

When it comes to ransomware, more companies are seeing attacks and have had data encrypted, according to research out this week. And even though more companies are backing up or paying ransom demands, less data was recovered in 2021 compared with the previous year.

For instance, in its "State of Ransomware 2022" report, cybersecurity firm Sophos found that 66% of surveyed companies had encountered ransomware in 2021, with two-thirds of those firms — or 43% overall — suffering from an actual attack that encrypted data. In its previous report covering 2020, the frequency of successful attacks was much smaller, with about 20% overall resulting in encryption.

The deteriorating cyberthreat landscape is largely due to the evolution of ransomware groups and their techniques, says Sean Gallagher, senior threat researcher with Sophos.

"Over the past couple of years, there has been a massive transition from ransomware to ransomware-as-a-service," he says. "There are very well-established [groups] that are doing these attacks, and as a result, the number of attacks companies are seeing has gone up."

Ransomware continues to plague companies with business-disrupting attacks and defy efforts by cybersecurity experts to rein in the operators behind the criminals’ campaigns. Not only did the portion of companies affected by ransomware more than double last year, but the mean ransomware payment more than quadrupled to $812,000, according to the Sophos report.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/ransomware-crisis-deepens-data-recovery-stalls

  • Ransoms Only Make Up 15% of Ransomware Costs

New research suggests that paying ransoms is only the tip of the cost iceberg when it comes to ransomware attacks.

Researchers at Check Point have revealed that the collateral damage of ransomware attacks make up costs roughly seven times higher than the ransom demanded by threat actors.

The costs include financial implications caused by incident response efforts, system restoration, legal fees, monitoring costs and the overall impact of business disruption.

Ransomware attacks are an increasingly popular attack method, typically involving stealing data from the victim, encrypting data and forcing them to pay for decryption and avoiding a data leak.

Check Point said in the report:

“Most other losses, including response and restoration costs, legal fees, monitoring costs, etc., are applied whether the extortion demand was paid or not. The year 2020 showed that the average total cost of a ransomware attack was more than seven times higher than the average ransom paid.”

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/04/28/ransoms-only-make-up-15-of-ransomware-costs/

  • Defending Your Business Against Russian Cyber Warfare

We are likely to see Russian state sponsored attacks escalate as the West continues to increase sanctions and support Ukraine.

The eyes of the world are focused on the war in Ukraine. As expected, Russia has targeted Ukraine with cyber attacks first, and much of the West is wondering when Russia will also retaliate against countries supporting Ukraine. Most agree that some attacks are already in progress, and the attacks against western entities are sure to escalate as the war continues and more sanctions are put in place. 

The first wave of companies targeted by the Russian state, and threat actors it supports, will be those that suspend Russian operations or take direct action to support Ukraine. Information operations and subversion against these companies will likely ensue. In the event of Russian cyberwarfare, reviewing the industries, styles, and objectives of their attacks can help organisations to prepare and implement more robust defences. These defences include actions both inside and outside an enterprise's perimeter.

https://www.securityweek.com/defending-your-business-against-russian-cyberwarfare

  • 5-Year Vulnerability Trends Are Both Surprising and Sadly Predictable

What 5,800+ pentests show us: Companies have been struggling with the same known and preventable security bugs year over year. Bandwidth stands at the heart of the problem.

Cyber crime can cause major disruption when it comes to the sustainability and long-term success of companies. Teams want to have robust security but often struggle to meet that objective. It's crucial for security professionals to leverage insights into emerging trends in cybersecurity to pinpoint which vulnerabilities put organisations at the greatest risk, and Cobalt's "State of Pentesting" reports explore how to achieve efficiency to strengthen security.

The "State of Pentesting 2022" surveyed 602 cybersecurity and software development professionals and analysed data from 2,380 pentests conducted over the course of 2021 to pull key insights that are relevant to security and development teams when it comes to fixing vulnerabilities.

As a result of the data collected, the top five most common vulnerability categories outlined in this year's "State of Pentesting" report include:

·       Server Security Misconfigurations

·       Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

·       Broken Access Control

·       Sensitive Data Exposure

·       Authentication and Sessions

Surprisingly — yet predictably — these vulnerability categories have stayed at the top of the list for at least the last five years in a row. They're also recognisable to those who are familiar with OWASP Top 10 list for Web Application Security Risks.

The majority of these findings are connected to missing configurations, outdated software, and a lack of access management controls — all common and easily preventable security flaws. So, what's holding companies back from preventing well-known security flaws? Why does this come as a surprise?

https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/5-year-vulnerability-trends-are-both-surprising-and-sadly-predictable

  • Cisco Talos Observes 'Novel Increase' in APT Activity in Q1

Advanced persistent threat actors have been busy over the past few months, according to Cisco Talos.

The security vendor released its Quarterly Trends report, which examined incident response trends from engagements in the first quarter of 2022. While ransomware remained the top threat, as it has for the past two years now, Cisco observed a new trend of increased APT activity. The Cisco Talos Incident Response (CTIR) team attributed some of the increase to groups like Iranian state-sponsored Muddywater and China-based Mustang Panda.

One suspected Chinese APT, dubbed "Deep Panda," was connected to exploitation of the Log4j flaw that was discovered last year in the widely used Java logging tool. Log4j exploitation was the second most common threat for Q1 behind ransomware, indicating the bug is a growing threat despite a patch being available.

https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/252516380/Cisco-Talos-observes-novel-increase-in-APT-activity-in-Q1

  • Deepfakes Set to Be Used in Organised Crime

New research from Europol suggests that deepfakes will be used extensively in organised crime operations.

Europol has warned of a projected rise in the use of deepfake technology by organised crime organisations.

Deepfakes involve the use of artificial intelligence to create realistic audio and audio-visual content “that convincingly shows people saying or doing things they never did, or create personas that never existed in the first place.”

Law enforcement and the challenge of deepfakes is the first published analysis of the Europol Innovation Lab’s Observatory function, warning that law enforcement agencies must rapidly improve skills and technologies utilised by officers in order to keep up with criminal deepfake use.

The analysis report highlighted how deepfakes are used primarily in disinformation, non-consensual pornography and document fraud campaigns, which will grow more realistic in years to come.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/04/29/deepfakes-set-to-be-used-in-organised-crime/

  • Smart Contract Developers Not Really Focused on Security. Who Knew?

"Smart contracts," which consist of self-executing code on a blockchain, are not nearly as smart as the label suggests.

They are at least as error-prone as any other software, where historically the error rate has been about one bug per hundred lines of code.

And they may be shoddier still due to disinterest in security among smart contract developers, and perhaps inadequate technical resources.

Multi-million dollar losses attributed to smart contract bugs – around $31m stolen from MonoX via smart contract exploit and ~$34m locked into a contract forever due to bad increment math, to name a few – illustrate the consequences.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/26/smart_contract_losses/

  • Tractor-Trailer Brake Controllers Vulnerable to Remote Hacker Attacks

We’ve been predicting this for a while now and the move to more and more connected systems, autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles, how long until someone is subject to threats to disconnect a vehicle’s brakes as they are driving along a motorway? Who wouldn’t pay the ransom demand in that scenario?

A report this week is related to articulated lorries but this is something that will be affecting all vehicles unless safeguards are put in place.

Researchers have analysed the cyber security of heavy vehicles and discovered that the brake controllers found on many tractor-trailers in North America are susceptible to remote hacker attacks.

The research was conducted by the US National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA), which is a non-profit organisation that represents roughly 500 motor freight carriers, in collaboration with Assured Information Security, Inc.

NMFTA has been analysing the cyber security of heavy vehicles since 2015 and it has periodically disclosed its findings. The latest report from the organisation came in early March, when the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) also issued an advisory to describe two vulnerabilities affecting trailer brake controllers.

The flaws described in the CISA advisory are related to the power line communications (PLC) between tractors and trailers, specifically the PLC4TRUCKS technology, which uses a standard named J2497 for bidirectional communications between the tractor and trailer without adding new wires.

https://www.securityweek.com/tractor-trailer-brake-controllers-vulnerable-remote-hacker-attacks

Threats

Ransomware

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Malware

Mobile

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

AML/CFT

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

Cloud

Travel

Parental Controls and Child Safety

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

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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 01 April 2022

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 01 April 2022

-One Tenth of UK Staff Bypass Corporate Security

-Majority Of Data Security Incidents Caused by Insiders

-One-Third of UK Firms Suffer A Cyber Attack Every Week

-Russia's Cyber Criminals Fear Sanctions Will Erase Their Wealth

-86% Of Organisations Believe They Have Suffered a Nation-State Cyber Attack

-Multiple Hacking Groups Are Using the War in Ukraine As A Lure In Phishing Attempts

-4 Ways Attackers Target Humans to Gain Network Access

-Security Incidents Reported to FCA Surge 52% in 2021

-NCSC Suggests Rethinking Russian Supply Chain Risks

-25% Of Workers Lost Their Jobs In The Past 12 Months After Making Cyber Security Mistakes: Report

-Attackers Compromise 94% Of Critical Assets Within Four Steps Of Initial Breach

-UK Spy Chief Warns Russia Looking for Cyber Targets

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

  • One Tenth of UK Staff Bypass Corporate Security

A new study from Cisco has found that a tenth of UK employees actively circumvent their organisation’s security measures.

The network technology company polled over 1000 UK professionals working for organisations that allow hybrid working, in order to better understand the potential security risks of the modern, flexible workplace.

The research has revealed that many hybrid workers do not see cyber security as their responsibility, with many actively finding workarounds or engaging in risky behaviours such as password reuse.

19% of employees said they reuse passwords for multiple accounts and applications, with only 15% using password managers.

The problem seems to stem from user friction in existing security measures. Only 44% of survey participants said they found it easy to securely access their IT equipment.

A majority said they would be willing to use biometric authentication, a reflection of how enterprise security is still catching up to consumer functionality.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/03/28/one-tenth-of-uk-staff-bypass-corporate-security/

  • Majority Of Data Security Incidents Caused by Insiders

New research from Imperva has revealed that 70% of EMEA organisations have no insider risk strategy, despite 59% of data security incidents being caused by employees.

The shocking revelation comes as part of a wider study carried out by Forrester: Insider Threats Drive Data Protection Improvements. The study involved interviewing 150 security and IT professionals in EMEA.

An insider threat is defined by Imperva as originating from “inappropriate use of legitimate authorised user accounts” by either their rightful owner or a threat actor who has managed to compromise them.

The study found that insider threats were responsible for 59% of incidents impacting sensitive data in the past 12 months. This supports a previous Imperva analysis of the most significant breaches of the past five years, revealing that 24% were caused by either human error or compromised credentials.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/04/01/majority-of-data-security-incidents-caused-by-insiders/

  • One-Third of UK Firms Suffer a Cyber Attack Every Week

Cyber attacks and related incidents at UK organisations continue their seemingly unstoppable upward trajectory, with new statistics from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) revealing that 31% of businesses and 26% of charity organisations now experience incidents on a weekly basis.

The data, contained in the annual cyber security breaches survey report, paints a stark picture of the scale of the threat facing the average organisation, and the urgent need to boost standards and defences.

It is vital that every organisation takes cyber security seriously as more and more business is done online and we live in a time of increasing cyber risk.  No matter how big or small your organisation is, you need to take steps to improve digital resilience.

Some 20% of businesses and 19% of charities said they had experienced a negative outcome as a direct consequence of an attack. The average cost of an attack, spread out across all organisations, now works out at £4,200, or £19,400 if only medium and large businesses are considered, although there is probably a vast amount of under-reporting, so the true figures are certainly higher.

Meanwhile, 35% of businesses and 38% of charities said they had experienced some kind of negative impact during the incident, such as service downtime.

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252515288/One-third-of-UK-firms-suffer-a-cyber-attack-every-week

  • Russia's Cyber Criminals Fear Sanctions Will Erase Their Wealth

Punitive economic sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine had crooks discussing the best ways to adapt to the new reality.

Members of Russian-language underground forums are not immune to the latest news. Russia's invasion of Ukraine and subsequent economic sanctions against Moscow got forum users to discuss how to live in this new world they find themselves in.

According to a report by the Digital Shadows Photon team, dark web forums are teeming with questions on how to ensure the safety of funds held in Russia-based accounts.

One user sought advice on what to do with dollars held in a Russian bank, with others suggesting converting dollars to rubles for a few months.

"I hope you were joking about [holding the funds in rubles for] half a year? After half a year, your rubles will only be good for lighting a fire, they will not be good for anything else," a forum user responded.

https://cybernews.com/news/russias-cybercriminals-fear-sanctions-will-erase-their-wealth/

  • 86% Of Organisations Believe They Have Suffered a Nation-State Cyber Attack

A new study by Trellix and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has revealed that 86% of organisations believe they have fallen victim to a nation-state cyber attack.

The research surveyed 800 IT decision-makers in Australia, France, Germany, India, Japan, the UK and US.

It has also been revealed that 92% of respondents have faced, or suspect they have faced, a nation-state backed cyber attack in the past 18 months, or anticipate one in the future.

Russia and China were identified as the most likely suspects behind said attacks. 39% of organisations that believe they have been hit with a nation-state cyber attack believe Russia were the perpetrators.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/03/29/86-of-organisations-believe-they-have-suffered-a-nation-state-cyberattack/

  • Multiple Hacking Groups Are Using the War in Ukraine as A Lure in Phishing Attempts

Hostile hacking groups are exploiting Russia's invasion of Ukraine to carry out cyber attacks designed to steal login credentials, sensitive information, money and more from victims around the world.

According to cyber security researchers at Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG), government-backed hackers from Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, as well as various unattributed groups and cyber criminal gangs, are using various themes related to the war in Ukraine to lure people into becoming victims of cyber attacks.

In just the last two weeks alone, Google has seen several hacking groups looking to take advantage of the war to fulfil their malicious aims, whether that's stealing information, stealing money, or something else.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-multiple-hacking-groups-are-using-the-war-in-ukraine-as-a-lure-in-phishing-attempts/

  • 4 Ways Attackers Target Humans to Gain Network Access

Since the day we started receiving email, we hope that our antivirus or endpoint protection software alerts us to problems. In reality, it often does not. When technology fails, it’s likely because the attacker made an end run around it by targeting humans. Here are four ways they do it:

1. The targeted human attack

2. Fraudulent wire transfer email

3. Tricking users into handing over credentials

4. Bypassing multi-factor authentication

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3654850/4-ways-attackers-target-humans-to-gain-network-access.html#tk.rss_news

  • Security Incidents Reported to FCA Surge 52% in 2021

The number of cyber security incidents reported to the UK’s financial regulator surged by over 50% last year after a significant increase in cyber-attacks, according to new figures from Picus Security.

The security vendor submitted Freedom of Information (FoI) requests to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to compile its latest report, Cyber Security Incidents in the UK Financial Sector.

The 52% year-on-year increase in “material” security incidents reported to the FCA seems to have been driven by cyber-attacks, which comprised nearly two-thirds (65%) of these reports.

Picus Security claimed that the rest are likely explained by “system and process failures and employee errors.”

In addition, a third of incident reports were about corporate or personal data breaches, and a fifth involved ransomware.

Picus Security explained that to qualify as a material incident, there needs to have been a significant loss of data, operational IT outages, unauthorized IT access, and/or an impact on a large number of customers.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/security-incidents-reported-fca/

  • NCSC Suggests Rethinking Russian Supply Chain Risks

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) of the UK has urged organisations to reconsider the risks associated with “Russian-controlled” parts of their supply chains.

Ian Levy, technical director of the NCSC argued that “Russian law already contains legal obligations on companies to assist the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), and the pressure to do so may increase in a time of war. We also have hacktivists on each side, further complicating matters, so the overall risk has materially changed.”

Levy has suggested that while there is currently nothing to suggest that the Russian state intends to force commercial providers to sabotage UK interests, that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/03/30/ncsc-suggests-rethinking-russian-supply-chain-risks/

  • 25% Of Workers Lost Their Jobs in The Past 12 Months After Making Cyber Security Mistakes: Report

For business leaders, there is never a good time for their employees to make mistakes on the job. This is especially true now for workers who have anything to do with the cyber security of their companies and organisations. Given the growing risks of cyber attacks across the world and the increased threats posed by Russia in the aftermath of their invasion of Ukraine, these are certainly perilous times.

Indeed, a new study released by email security company Tessian found that one in four employees (26%) lost their job in the last 12 months after making a mistake that compromised their company’s security.

According to the second edition of Tessian’s Psychology of Human Error report, people are falling for more advanced phishing scams—and the business stakes for mistakes are much higher.

The study also found that:

  • Two-fifths (40%) of employees sent an email to the wrong person, with almost one-third (29%) saying their business lost a client or customer because of the error

  • Over one-third (36%) of employees have made a mistake at work that compromised security and fewer are reporting their mistakes to IT.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsegal/2022/03/29/25-of-workers-lost-their-jobs-in-the-past-12-months-after-making-cybersecurity-mistakes-report/?sh=d47cdfa49b26

  • Attackers Compromise 94% of Critical Assets Within Four Steps of Initial Breach

New research from XM Cyber analysing the methods, attack paths, and impacts of cyber attacks has discovered that attackers can compromise 94% of critical assets within just four steps of initial breach points. The hybrid cloud security company’s Attack Path Management Impact Report incorporates insights from nearly two million endpoints, files, folders, and cloud resources throughout 2021, highlighting key findings on attack trends and techniques impacting critical assets across on-prem, multi-cloud, and hybrid environments.

The findings showed that 75% of an organisation’s critical assets are open to compromise in their current security state, while 73% of the top attack techniques used last year involved mismanaged or stolen credentials. Just over a quarter (27%) of most common attack techniques exploited a vulnerability or misconfiguration.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3655633/attackers-compromise-94-of-critical-assets-within-four-steps-of-initial-breach.html

  • UK Spy Chief Warns Russia Looking for Cyber Targets

A UK intelligence chief warned that the Kremlin is hunting for cyber targets and bringing in mercenaries to shore up its stalled military campaign in Ukraine.

Jeremy Fleming, who heads the GCHQ electronic spy agency, praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “information operation” for being highly effective at countering Russia’s massive disinformation drive spreading propaganda about the war.

While there were expectations that Russia would launch a major cyber attack as part of its military campaign, Fleming said such a move was never a central part of Moscow’s standard playbook for war.

“That’s not to say that we haven’t seen cyber in this conflict. We have — and lots of it,” Fleming said in a speech in Canberra, Australia, according to a transcript released in London on Wednesday.

He said GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre has picked up signs of “sustained intent” by Russia to disrupt Ukrainian government and military systems.

“We’ve seen what looks like some spillover of activity affecting surrounding countries,” Fleming said. “And we’ve certainly seen indicators which suggest Russia’s cyber actors are looking for targets in the countries that oppose their actions.”

He provided no further details. He said the UK and other Western allies will continue to support Ukraine in beefing up its cyber security defences.

https://www.securityweek.com/uk-spy-chief-warns-russia-looking-cyber-targets

Threats

Ransomware

BEC – Business Email Compromise

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Other Social Engineering

Malware

Mobile

IoT

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Supply Chain

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare

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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 11 March 2022

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 11 March 2022

-Sharp Rise in SMB Cyberattacks By Russia And China

-We're Seeing An 800% Increase in Cyber Attacks, Says One MSP

-Internet Warfare: How The Russians Could Paralyse Britain

-Just 3% Of Employees Cause 92% Of Malware Events

-70% Of Breached Passwords Are Still in Use

-Organisations Taking Nearly Two Months To Remediate Critical Risk Vulnerabilities

-Android Malware Escobar Steals Your Google Authenticator MFA Codes

-Smartphone Malware Is On The Rise - Here's How To Stay Safe

-Russia May Use Ransomware Payouts to Avoid Sanctions’ Financial Harm

-How An 8-Character Password Could Be Cracked in Less Than An Hour

-Cyber Insurance and Business Risk: How the Relationship Is Changing Reinsurance & Policy Guidance

-Security Teams Prep Too Slowly for Cyber Attacks

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Sharp Rise in SMB Cyber Attacks by Russia and China

SaaS Alerts, a cloud security company, unveiled the findings of its latest report which analysed approximately 136 million security events across 2,100 small and medium businesses (SMBs) globally and identified cyber trends negatively impacting businesses.

The findings of the report take into account security events occurring across more than 120,000 user accounts during the period of January 1st to December 31st, 2021 and shows that the vast majority of attacks on top SaaS platforms such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack and Dropbox are originating from Russia and China. The data set is statistically significant and enables solution providers managing a portfolio of SaaS applications with pertinent data and trends to support defensive IT security re-alignments as required.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/09/saas-security-events-smbs/

We're Seeing An 800% Increase in Cyber Attacks, Says One Managed Service Provider

Revenge and inflation are believed to be key drivers behind an 800 percent increase in cyber attacks seen by a single managed services provider since the days before the onset of Russia's invasion of Ukraine last month.

The attacks are coming not only from groups inside of Russia but also from elsewhere within the region as well from Russia allies like North Korea and Iran, historically sources of global cyber-threats.

The MSP serves about 2,400 companies around the world, most of them small businesses and midsize enterprises and most in North America. The MSP said it has seen the spike in cyber attacks throughout its customer base.

The sharp rise has been attributed to pro-Russian cyber criminal groups linked to nation states lashing out at countries – first Ukraine and then Western countries – angry at the sanctions being levelled against Russia. At the same time, the sharp inflation that is spreading around the world is also hitting hackers, who need to make money to keep up with rising costs.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/11/russia-invasion-cyber-war-rages/

Internet Warfare: How the Russians Could Paralyse Britain

The collapse of critical national infrastructure is a science fiction staple. Fifty years ago, actively switching off a country’s water and power networks would have required huge physical damage to power stations and the sources of those services. Today, however, many of the tools we use every day are connected to the internet.

All of those things now have remote access — and therefore, all of them could be vulnerable.

Ukraine has been blitzed by cyber attacks since the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and they have increased in the lead-up to the invasion. As Russia marched into Ukraine, British officials were concerned about “spillover” from any cyber offensives targeted thousands of miles away.

In today’s interconnected digital world, the reality is that distance from the conflict zone makes no difference.

As the West fears a cyber-reprisal, what would a successful attack look like in Britain — and how likely is a complete “network failure”?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russia-cyberattack-uk-what-would-happen-l3dt98dmb

Just 3% Of Employees Cause 92% Of Malware Events

A small group of employees is typically responsible for most of the digital risk in an organisation, according to new research.

The report, from cybersecurity company Elevate Security and cyber security research organisation Cyentia, also found that those putting their companies at risk from phishing, malware, and insecure browsing are often repeat offenders.

The research found that 4% of employees clicked 80% of phishing links, and 3% were responsible for 92% of malware events.

Four in five employees have never clicked on a phishing email, according to the research. In fact, it asserts that half of them never see one, highlighting the need to focus anti-phishing efforts on at-risk workers.

The malware that phishing and other attack vectors deliver also affects a small group of employees. The research found that 96% of users have never suffered from a malware event. Most malware events revolve around the 3% of users who suffered from two malware events or more, reinforcing the notion that security awareness messages just aren't getting through to some.

https://www.itpro.co.uk/security/malware/366011/just-3-of-employees-cause-92-of-malware-events

70% Of Breached Passwords Are Still in Use

A new report examines trends related to exposed data. Researchers identified 1.7 billion exposed credentials, a 15% increase from 2020, and 13.8 billion recaptured Personally Identifiable Information (PII) records obtained from breaches in 2021.

Through its analysis of this data, it was found that despite increasingly sophisticated and targeted cyber attacks, consumers continue to engage in poor cyber practices regarding passwords, including the use of similar passwords for multiple accounts, weak or common passwords and passwords containing easy-to-guess words or phrases connected to pop culture.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/08/exposed-data-trends/

Organisations Taking Nearly Two Months to Remediate Critical Risk Vulnerabilities

Edgescan announces the findings of a report which offers a comprehensive view of the state of vulnerability management globally. This year’s report takes a more granular look at the trends by industry, and provides details on which of the known, patchable vulnerabilities are currently being exploited by threat actors.

The report reveals that organisations are still taking nearly two months to remediate critical risk vulnerabilities, with the average mean time to remediate (MTTR) across the full stack set at 60 days.

High rates of “known” (i.e. patchable) vulnerabilities which have working exploits in the wild, used by known nation state and cybercriminal groups are not uncommon.

Crucially, 57% of all observed vulnerabilities are more than two years old, with as many as 17% being more than five years old. These are all vulnerabilities that have working exploits in the wild, used by known nation state and cybercriminal groups. Edgescan also observed a concerning 1.5% of known, unpatched vulnerabilities that are over 20 years old, dating back to 1999.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/10/state-of-vulnerability-management/

Android Malware Escobar Steals Your Google Authenticator MFA Codes

The Aberebot Android banking trojan has returned under the name 'Escobar' with new features, including stealing Google Authenticator multi-factor authentication codes.

The new features in the latest Aberebot version also include taking control of the infected Android devices using VNC, recording audio, and taking photos, while also expanding the set of targeted apps for credential theft.

The main goal of the trojan is to steal enough information to allow the threat actors to take over victims' bank accounts, siphon available balances, and perform unauthorised transactions.

Like most banking trojans, Escobar displays overlay login forms to hijack user interactions with e-banking apps and websites and steal credentials from victims.

The malware also packs several other features that make it potent against any Android version, even if the overlay injections are blocked in some manner.

The authors have expanded the set of targeted banks and financial institutions to a whopping 190 entities from 18 countries in the latest version.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/android-malware-escobar-steals-your-google-authenticator-mfa-codes/

Smartphone Malware Is on The Rise - Here's How to Stay Safe

The volume of malware attacks targeting mobile devices has skyrocketed so far this year, cyber security researchers are saying.

A new report from security company Proofpoint claims that the number of detected mobile malware attacks has spiked 500% in the first few months of 2022, with peaks at the beginning and end of February.

Much of this malware aims to steal usernames and passwords from mobile banking applications, Proofpoint says. But some strains are even more sinister, recording audio and video from infected devices, tracking the victim's location, or exfiltrating and deleting data.

https://www.techradar.com/nz/news/smartphone-malware-is-coming-for-more-and-more-of-us

Russia May Use Ransomware Payouts to Avoid Sanctions’ Financial Harm

FinCEN warns financial institutions to be wary of unusual cryptocurrency payments or illegal transactions Russia may use to ease financial hurt from Ukraine-linked sanctions.

Russia may ramp up ransomware attacks against the United States as a way to ease the financial hurt it’s under due to sanctions, U.S. federal authorities are warning. Those sanctions have been levied against the nation and Vladimir Putin’s government due to its invasion of Ukraine.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a FinCEN Alert (PDF) on Wednesday advising all financial institutions to remain vigilant against potential efforts to evade the expansive sanctions and other U.S.-imposed restrictions related to the current conflict. One way this may be done is to move cryptocurrency funds through ransomware payments collected after Russian state-sponsored actors carry out cyberattacks.

“In the face of mounting economic pressure on Russia, it is vitally important for financial institutions to be vigilant about potential Russian sanctions evasion, including by both state actors and oligarchs,” said FinCEN Acting Director Him Das in a press statement.

https://threatpost.com/russia-ransomware-payouts-avoid-sanctions/178854/

How An 8-Character Password Could Be Cracked in Less Than an Hour

Security experts keep advising us to create strong and complex passwords to protect our online accounts and data from savvy cybercriminals. And “complex” typically means using lowercase and uppercase characters, numbers and even special symbols. But complexity by itself can still open your password to cracking if it doesn’t contain enough characters, according to research by security firm Hive Systems.

As described in a recent report, Hive found that an 8-character complex password could be cracked in just 39 minutes if the attacker were to take advantage of the latest graphics processing technology. A seven-character complex password could be cracked in 31 seconds, while one with six or fewer characters could be cracked instantly. Shorter passwords with only one or two character types, such as only numbers or lowercase letters, or only numbers and letters, would take just minutes to crack.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-an-8-character-password-could-be-cracked-in-less-than-an-hour/

Cyber Insurance and Business Risk: How the Relationship Is Changing Reinsurance & Policy Guidance

Cyber insurance is a significant industry and growing fast — according to GlobalData, it was worth $7 billion in gross written premiums in 2020. The cyber-insurance market is expected to reach $20.6 billion by 2025. Over the past few years, the cyber-insurance market was competitive, so premiums were low and policies were comprehensive. Over the past year, that has changed — the volume of claims has gone up and led to more payouts, which affected the insurance companies' profitability.

The recent Log4j issue will affect how insurance and reinsurance companies write their policies in future. Already, we're seeing discussions about Log4j-related issues being excluded from reinsurance policies in 2022, as many policies came up for renewal on Dec. 31, 2021. This will affect the policies that insurance companies can offer to their customers.

What does this mean for IT security teams? For practitioners, it will make their work more important than before, as preventing possible issues would be more valuable to the business. Carrying out standard security practices like asset inventory and vulnerability management will be needed, while examining software bills of materials for those same issues will help on the software supply chain security side. These practices will also need to be highly automated, as business must be able to gain accurate insights within hours, not months, to deal with future threats while reducing the cost impact.

For those responsible for wider business risk, these developments around cyber insurance will present a more significant problem. Cyber-insurance policies will still be available — and necessary where needed — but the policies themselves will cover less ground. While the past few years had pretty wide-ranging policies that would pay out on a range of issues, future policies will deliver less coverage.

https://www.darkreading.com/risk/cyber-insurance-and-business-risk-how-the-relationship-is-changing-reinsurance-policy-guidance-

Security Teams Prep Too Slowly for Cyber Attacks

Attackers typically take days or weeks to exploit new vulnerabilities, but defenders are slow to learn about critical issues and take action, requiring 96 days on average to learn to identify and block current cyber threats, according to a new report analysing training and crisis scenarios.

The report, Cyber Workforce Benchmark 2022, found that cybersecurity professionals are much more likely to focus on vulnerabilities that have garnered media attention, such as Log4j, than more understated issues, and that different industries develop their security capabilities at widely different rates. Security professionals in some of the most crucial industries, such as transport and critical infrastructure, are twice as slow to learn skills compare to their colleagues in the leisure, entertainment, and retail sectors.

The amount of time it takes for security professionals to get up to speed on new threats matters. CISA says that patches should be applied within 15 days, sooner than that if the vulnerability is being exploited, says Kevin Breen, director of cyber threat research at Immersive Labs.

https://www.darkreading.com/risk/security-teams-prep-too-slowly-for-cyberattacks

Threats

Ransomware

Phishing & Email

Malware

Mobile

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Insurance

Supply Chain

DoS/DDoS

Parental Controls and Child Safety

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare

Vulnerabilities

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.

Read More
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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 04 March 2022

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 04 March 2022

-Cyber Criminals Exploit Invasion of Ukraine

-UK Data Watchdog Urges Vigilance Amid Heightened Cyber Threat

-Phishing - Still a Problem, Despite All The Work

-Phishing Attacks Hit All-Time High In December 2021

-Ransomware Infections Top List Of The Most Common Results Of Phishing Attacks

-Social Media Phishing Attacks Are at An All Time High

-Insurance Giant AON Hit by a Cyber Attack

-How Prepared Are Organisations To Face Email-Based Ransomware Attacks?

-The Most Impersonated Brands in Phishing Attacks

-As War Escalates In Europe, It’s ‘Shields Up’ For The Cyber Security Industry

-2022 May Be The Year Cyber Crime Returns Its Focus To Consumers

-Kaspersky Neutral Stance In Doubt As It Shields Kremlin

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 Criminals Exploit Invasion of Ukraine

Cyber criminals are exploiting Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine to commit digital fraud.

In a blog, researchers at Bitdefender Labs said they had witnessed “waves of fraudulent and malicious emails,” some of which were engineered to exploit the charitable intentions of global citizens towards the people of Ukraine.

Since March 1, researchers have been tracking two specific phishing campaigns designed to infect victims with Agent Tesla and Remcos remote access Trojans.

Agent Tesla is a malware-as-a-service (MaaS) Remote Access Trojan (RAT) and data stealer that can be used to exfiltrate sensitive information, including credentials, keystrokes and clipboard data from victims.

Remcos RAT is typically deployed via malicious documents or archives to give the attacker full control over their victims’ systems. Once inside, attackers can capture keystrokes, screenshots, credentials and other sensitive system data and exfiltrate it.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cyber-criminals-invasion-ukraine/

UK Data Watchdog Urges Vigilance Amid Heightened Cyber Threat

The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) reports a ‘steady and significant’ increase in cyber-attacks against UK firms over the past two years.

Employees should report any suspicious emails rather than delete them and firms must step up their vigilance against cyber-attacks in the face of a heightened threat from Russian hackers, the UK’s data watchdog has said.

John Edwards, the Information Commissioner, said a new era of security had begun where instead of blacking out windows, people needed to maintain vigilance over their inboxes.

Experts including the UK’s cyber security agency have said Russian hackers could target Britain, and the imposition of sanctions by London on Moscow has increased those fears.

Asked about the potential for a Russia-Ukraine cyber conflict spreading to the UK, Edwards said: “We have picked up on that heightened threat environment and we think it’s really important to take the opportunity to remind businesses of the importance of security over the data that they hold. This is a different era from blacking out the windows and keeping the lights off. The threats are going to come in through your inbox.”

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/mar/04/uk-data-watchdog-urges-vigilance-amid-heightened-cyber-threat

Phishing - Still a Problem, Despite All The Work

Phishing is a threat that most people know about. Emails designed to trick you into clicking a malicious link or divulge passwords and other credentials have become an everyday occurrence. Despite this familiarity, and the multitude of tools and techniques which purport to stop it, phishing remains the number one initial attack vector affecting organisations and individuals.

Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet. Phishing can only be dealt with using multiple complementary measures. This fact leads to some questions: Which measures are most (cost) effective? How should they be implemented? Can they be automated?

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/phishing-still-a-problem-despite-the-work

Phishing Attacks Hit All-Time High in December 2021

The Anti-Phishing Working Group international consortium (APWG) saw 316,747 phishing attacks in December 2021 — the highest monthly total observed since it began its reporting program in 2004. Overall, the number of phishing attacks has tripled from early 2020.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, the financial sector, which includes banks, became the most frequently attacked cohort, accounting for 23.2 percent of all phishing. Attacks against webmail and software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers remained prevalent as well. Phishing against cryptocurrency targets — such as cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet providers — inched up to represent 6.5 percent of attacks.

Overall, the number of brands that were attacked in 4Q descended from a record 715 in September 2021, cresting at 682 in November for the Q4 period.

The solution provider Abnormal Security observed 4,200 companies, organisations, and government institutions falling victim to ransomware in Q4 2021, some 36 percent higher than in Q3 2021 and the highest number the company has witnessed over the past two years.

“The overall distribution of ransomware victims indicates that ransomware attacks are industry-agnostic,” said Crane Hassold, Director of Threat Intelligence at Abnormal Security.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/03/phishing-attacks-december-2021/

Ransomware Infections Top List of The Most Common Results of Phishing Attacks

A report from insider threat management software company Egress found some startling conclusions when it spoke to IT leadership: Despite the pervasive and very serious threat of ransomware, very few boards of directors consider it a top priority.

Eighty-four percent of organisations reported falling victim to a phishing attack last year, Egress said, and of those 59% were infected with ransomware as a result. If you add in the 14% of businesses that said they weren’t hit with a phishing attack, and you still end up at around 50% of all organisations having been hit with ransomware in 2021.

Egress said that its data shows there has been a 15% increase in successful phishing attacks over the past 12 months, with the bulk of the attacks utilising malicious links and attachments. Those methods aren’t new, but a 15% increase in successful attacks means that something isn’t working.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/ransomware-infections-top-list-of-the-most-common-results-of-phishing-attacks/

Social Media Phishing Attacks Are at An All Time High

Phishing campaigns continue to focus on social media, ramping up efforts to target users for the third consecutive year as the medium becomes increasingly used worldwide for communication, news, and entertainment.

The targeting of social media is the highlighted finding in the 2021 Phishing report by cybersecurity firm Vade, who analysed phishing attack patterns that unfolded throughout 2021.

As part of their report, Vade analysed 184,977 phishing pages to create stats based on a billion corporate and consumer mailboxes that the cyber security firm protects.

Vade also recorded a rise in the sophistication of phishing attacks, especially those targeting Microsoft 365 credentials, an evolution in the tech support scams, and the inevitable dominance of COVID-19 and item shipping lures.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/social-media-phishing-attacks-are-at-an-all-time-high/

Insurance Giant AON Hit by a Cyber Attack

Professional services and insurance giant AON has suffered a cyberattack that impacted a "limited" number of systems.

AON is a multinational professional services firm offering a wide array of solutions, including business insurance, reinsurance, cyber security consulting, risk solutions, healthcare insurance, and wealth management products.

AON generated $12.2 billion of revenue in 2021 and has approximately 50,000 employees spread throughout 120 countries.

In a filing with the US SEC, AON has disclosed that they suffered a cyberattack on February 25th, 2022.

AON has not provided any details of the attack other than that it occurred and affected a limited number of systems.

The company stated that although in the early stages of assessing the incident, based on the information currently known, the company did not expect the incident to have a material impact on its business, operations or financial condition.

In addition to being an insurance broker, AON is also a leading reinsurance company, meaning that they insure the insurance companies.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/insurance-giant-aon-hit-by-a-cyberattack-over-the-weekend/

How Prepared Are Organisations to Face Email-Based Ransomware Attacks?

Proofpoint released a report which provides an in-depth look at user phishing awareness, vulnerability, and resilience. The report reveals that attackers were more active in 2021 than 2020, with findings uncovering that 78% of organisations saw email-based ransomware attacks in 2021, while 77% faced business email compromise attacks (BEC) (18% YoY increase of BEC attacks from 2020), reflecting cyber criminals’ continued focus on compromising people, as opposed to gaining access to systems through technical vulnerabilities

This year’s report examines responses from commissioned surveys of 600 information and IT security professionals and 3,500 workers in the U.S., Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, and the UK. The report also analyses data from nearly 100 million simulated phishing attacks sent by customers to their employees over a one-year period, along with more than 15 million emails reported via the user-activated PhishAlarm reporting button.

Attacks in 2021 also had a much wider impact than in 2020, with 83% of survey respondents revealing their organisation experienced at least one successful email-based phishing attack, up from 57% in 2020. In line with this, 68% of organisations said they dealt with at least one ransomware infection stemming from a direct email payload, second-stage malware delivery, or other exploit. The year-over-year increase remains steady but representative of the challenges organisations faced as ransomware attacks surged in 2021.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/02/28/email-based-ransomware-attacks/

The Most Impersonated Brands in Phishing Attacks

Vade announced its annual ranking of the top 20 most impersonated brands in phishing. Facebook, which was in the second spot in 2020, rose to the top spot for 2021, representing 14% of phishing pages, followed by Microsoft, with 13%.

The report analysed 184,977 phishing pages linked from unique phishing emails between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021.

Key findings:

·         Financial services is the most impersonated industry

·         Microsoft is the most impersonated cloud brand and the top corporate brand

·         Facebook dominates social media phishing

·         35% of all phishing pages impersonated financial services brands

·         Mondays and Tuesdays are the top days for phishing

·         78% of phishing attacks occur on weekdays

·         Monday and Thursday are the top days for Facebook phishing

·         Thursday and Friday are the top days for Microsoft phishing

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/04/most-impersonated-brands-phishing/

As War Escalates in Europe, It’s ‘Shields Up’ For The Cyber Security Industry

In unprecedented times, even government bureaucracy moves quickly. As a result of the heightened likelihood of cyberthreat from Russian malactor groups, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) — part of the Department of Homeland Security — issued an unprecedented warning recommending that “all organisations — regardless of size — adopt a heightened posture when it comes to cyber security and protecting their most critical assets.”

The blanket warning is for all industries to take notice. Indeed, it’s a juxtaposition of sorts to think the cyber security industry is vulnerable to cyber attack, but for many nation state groups, this is their first port of call.

Inspired by the spike in attacks on cyber security agencies globally, a report from Reposify assessed the state of the cyber security industry’s external attack surface (EAS). It coincides with CISA’s warning, and highlights critical areas of concern for the sector and how they mirror trends amongst pharmaceutical and financial companies, providing vital insight into where organisations can focus their efforts, and reinforce the digital perimeter.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/02/as-war-escalates-in-europe-its-shields-up-for-the-cybersecurity-industry/

2022 May Be The Year Cyber Crime Returns Its Focus to Consumers

Threat analysts expect 2022 to be the tipping point for a shift in the focus of hackers from large companies back to consumers.

This prediction is the result of several factors that make consumers a lot more lucrative to threat actors today than in previous years.

ReasonLabs has compiled a detailed report on the status of consumer-level cyber security and what trends are most likely to emerge this year.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/2022-may-be-the-year-cybercrime-returns-its-focus-to-consumers/

Kaspersky Neutral Stance in Doubt As It Shields Kremlin

Kaspersky Lab is protecting the resources of the Russian Ministry of Defence and other high-value domains that are instrumental to the Russian propaganda machine – Russia Today, TASS news agency, Gazprom bank.

The company insists that they ‘never provide any law enforcement or government organisation with access to user data or the company's infrastructure.”

Eugene Kaspersky's refusal to condemn the Kremlin for its invasion of Ukraine set the cyber security community on fire. His company has tried to shake ties to the Russian government for years but hasn't succeeded quite yet. And recent events, it seems, only made things worse.

"We welcome the start of negotiations to resolve the current situation in Ukraine and hope that they will lead to a cessation of hostilities and a compromise. We believe that peaceful dialogue is the only possible instrument for resolving conflicts. War isn't good for anyone," Eugene Kaspersky tweeted when Russian and Ukrainian delegations met for peace talks near Ukraine's border with Belarus.

https://cybernews.com/security/kaspersky-neutral-stance-in-doubt-as-it-shields-kremlin/

Threats

Ransomware

Phishing & Email

Other Social Engineering

Malware

Mobile

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

DoS/DDoS

Nation State Actors

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare

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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 14 January 2022

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 14 January 2022

-Businesses Suffered 50% More Cyber Attack Attempts per Week in 2021

-Cyber Attacks Against MSPs Jump 67%

-SMEs Still An Easy Target For Cyber Criminals

-World Economic Forum: Cyber Security Failures an Increasing Global Threat

-Microsoft Faces Wormable, Critical RCE Bug & 6 Zero-Days

-Russia Arrests REvil Ransomware Gang Responsible for High-Profile Cyber Attacks

-North Korea Hackers Stole $400m Of Cryptocurrency In 2021, Report Says

-No Lights, No Heat, No Money - That's Life In Ukraine During Cyber Warfare

-Ukrainian Police Arrest Five Members Of Ransomware Affiliate

-Fingers Point To Lazarus, Cobalt, Fin7 As Key Hacking Groups Attacking Finance Industry

-Ransomware, Supply Chain, And Deepfakes: The Top Threats The Finance Industry Needs To Prepare For

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Businesses Suffered 50% More Cyber Attack Attempts per Week in 2021

Cyberattack attempts reached an all-time high in the fourth quarter of 2021, jumping to 925 a week per organisation, partly due to attempts stemming from the Log4j vulnerability, according to new data.

Check Point Research on Monday reported that it found 50% more attack attempts per week on corporate networks globally in calendar year 2021 compared with 2020.

The researchers define a cyberattack attempt as a single isolated cyber occurrence that could be at any point in the attack chain — scanning/exploiting vulnerabilities, sending phishing emails, malicious website access, malicious file downloads (from Web/email), second-stage downloads, and command-and-control communications.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/corporate-networks-saw-50-more-attacks-per-week-in-2021-

Cyber Attacks Against MSPs Jump 67%

Cyber attacks spiked by 50 percent in 2021 as compared to 2020, aided by millions of attacks in December by hackers attempting to exploit the Log4J vulnerability, according to a Check Point Software Technologies research report.

In terming 2021 a “record breaking year,” the security provider pointed to a worldwide peak of 925 cyber attacks per organisation weekly and an October 2021 measure that showed a 40 percent increase in cyberattacks, with one out of every 61 entities hit by ransomware each week. The number of cyberattacks on managed service providers (MSPs) and internet service providers (ISPs) rose by nearly 70 percent year over year.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-news/cyberattacks-vs-msps-skyrocket/

SMEs Still An Easy Target For Cyber Criminals

Cyber crime continues to be a major concern, with 51% of SMEs experiencing a cyber security breach, a Markel Direct survey reveals.

In this survey that polled 1000 respondents, Markel Direct explored the issue of cybercrime and its impact on the self-employed and SMEs. The survey found the most common cybersecurity attacks were malware/virus related (24%) followed by a data breach (16%) and phishing attack (15%), with 68% reporting the cost of their breach was up to £5,000.

This comes after the latest Quarterly Fraud and Cyber Crime Report revealed that Britons lost over £1 billion in the first six months of 2021, due to the considerable increase in fraudulent activity.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/12/smes-cybersecurity-breach/

World Economic Forum: Cyber Security Failures an Increasing Global Threat

Cybersecurity was once again identified as a major short and medium-term threat to the world in this year’s World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) The Global Risk Report. The analysis was based on insights from nearly 1000 global experts and leaders who responded to the WEF’s Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, environmental issues like climate action failure and extreme weather ranked highest on the risks facing the world over the short (0-2 years), medium (2-5 years) and long-term (5-10 years). In addition, a number of challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, such as livelihood crises, infectious diseases and mental health deterioration, also scored highly. Overall, this added up to a pessimistic assessment, with 84.2% of respondents stating they were either “worried” or “concerned” about the global outlook.

Digital challenges, such as “cyber security failures,” were also viewed as a significant and growing problem to the world. Nearly one in five (19.5%) respondents believe cybersecurity failures will be a critical threat to the world in just the next 0-2 years, and 14.6% said it would be in 2-5 years

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/world-economic-forum-cybersecurity/

Microsoft Faces Wormable, Critical RCE Bug & 6 Zero-Days

Microsoft started 2022 with a large January Patch Tuesday update covering nine critical CVEs, including a self-propagator with a 9.8 CVSS score.

Microsoft has addressed a total of 97 security vulnerabilities in its January 2022 Patch Tuesday update – nine of them rated critical – including six that are listed as publicly known zero-days.

The fixes cover a swath of the computing giant’s portfolio, including: Microsoft Windows and Windows Components, Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based), Exchange Server, Microsoft Office and Office Components, SharePoint Server, .NET Framework, Microsoft Dynamics, Open-Source Software, Windows Hyper-V, Windows Defender, and Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

https://threatpost.com/microsoft-wormable-critical-rce-bug-zero-day/177564/

Russia Arrests REvil Ransomware Gang Responsible for High-Profile Cyber Attacks

In an unprecedented move, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the country's principal security agency, on Friday disclosed that it arrested several members belonging to the notorious REvil ransomware gang and neutralized its operations.

The surprise takedown, which it said was carried out at the request of the US authorities, saw the law enforcement agency conduct raids at 25 addresses in the cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Leningrad and Lipetsk regions that belonged to 14 suspected members of the organised cyber crime syndicate.

"In order to implement the criminal plan, these persons developed malicious software, organised the theft of funds from the bank accounts of foreign citizens and their cashing, including through the purchase of expensive goods on the Internet," the FSB said in a statement.

In addition, the FSB seized over 426 million rubles, including in cryptocurrency, $600,000, €500,000, as well as computer equipment, crypto wallets used to commit crimes, and 20 luxury cars that were purchased with money obtained by illicit means.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/01/russia-arrests-revil-ransomware-gang.html

North Korea Hackers Stole $400m Of Cryptocurrency In 2021, Report Says

North Korean hackers stole almost $400m (£291m) worth of digital assets in at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms last year, a report claims.

Blockchain analysis company Chainalysis said it was one of most successful years on record for cyber-criminals in the closed east Asian state.

The attacks mainly targeted investment firms and centralised exchanges.

North Korea has routinely denied being involved in hack attacks attributed to them.

"From 2020 to 2021, the number of North Korean-linked hacks jumped from four to seven, and the value extracted from these hacks grew by 40%," Chainalysis said in a report.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59990477

No Lights, No Heat, No Money - That's Life In Ukraine During Cyber Warfare

Hackers who defaced and interrupted access to numerous Ukrainian government websites on Friday could be setting the stage for more serious cyberattacks that would disrupt the lives of ordinary Ukrainians, experts said.

"As tensions grow, we can expect more aggressive cyber activity in Ukraine and potentially elsewhere," said John Hultquist, an intelligence analyst at US cyber security company Mandiant, possibly including "destructive attacks that target critical infrastructure."

"Organisations need to begin preparing," Hultquist added.

Intrusions by hackers on hospitals, power utility companies, and the financial system were until recently rare. But organised cyber criminals, many of them living in Russia, have gone after institutions aggressively in the past two years with ransomware, freezing data and computerized equipment needed to care for hospital patients.

In some cases, those extortion attacks have led to patient deaths, according to litigation, media reports and medical professionals.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/no-lights-no-heat-no-money-thats-life-ukraine-during-cyber-warfare-2022-01-14/

Ukrainian Police Arrest Five Members Of Ransomware Affiliate

Ukrainian police announced the arrest of five members of a ransomware affiliate on Thursday, noting that the group was behind attacks on more than 50 companies across Europe and the US.

In a statement, both the Ukrainian Security Service and Ukrainian Cyber Police said the group made at least $1 million through their attacks on the companies.

US and UK law enforcement officials worked with Ukrainian officials on the operation.

Officials said the leader of the group was a 36-year-old who worked with his wife and three other people out of Kyiv. The five are facing a variety of charges in Ukraine related to money laundering, hacking, and selling malware.

One of the people charged is wanted by law enforcement agencies in UK after "using a virus to obtain bank card details of the customers of British banks," according to the police statement.

The bank card details were used to buy things online that were then resold.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ukrainian-police-arrest-members-of-ransomware-affiliate/

Fingers Point To Lazarus, Cobalt, Fin7 As Key Hacking Groups Attacking Finance Industry

The Lazarus, Cobalt, and FIN7 hacking groups have been labeled as the most prevalent threat actors striking financial organisations today.

According to "Follow the Money," a new report (.PDF) published on the financial sector by Outpost24's Blueliv on Thursday, members of these groups are the major culprits of theft and fraud in the industry today.

The financial sector has always been, and possibly always will be, a key target for cybercriminal groups. Organisations in this area are often custodians of sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) belonging to customers and clients, financial accounts, and cash.

They also often underpin the economy: if a payment processor or bank's systems go down due to malware, this can cause irreparable harm not only to the victim company in question, but this can also have severe financial and operational consequences for customers.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/fingers-point-to-lazarus-cobalt-fin7-as-key-hacking-groups-focused-on-finance-industry/

Ransomware, Supply Chain, And Deepfakes: The Top Threats The Finance Industry Needs To Prepare For

The finance industry is constantly targeted by numerous threat actors, and they are always innovating and trying new techniques (such as deepfakes) to outsmart security teams and breach an organisation’s network.

In addition to that, there is currently a huge demand for data and new tools on the dark web. In fact, users are selling access to point-of-sale (PoS) terminals and login details to the websites of financial services organisations all the time.

How can financial organisations protect themselves from existing threats and combat new ones at the same time?

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/12/finance-industry-threats/

Threats

Ransomware

Phishing

Malware

Mobile

IoT

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

DoS/DDoS

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

Nation State Actors

Cloud

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

Parental Controls and Child Safety

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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 07 January 2022

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 07 January 2022:

-Microsoft Sees Rampant Log4j Exploit Attempts, Testing

-Warning: Log4j Still Lurks Where Dependency Analysis Can’t Find It

-Hackers Sending Malware-Filled USB Sticks to Companies Disguised as Presents

-Patch Systems Vulnerable To Critical Log4j Flaws, UK And US Officials Warn

-‘Elephant Beetle’ Lurks For Months In Networks

-Sonicwall: Y2k22 Bug Hits Email Security, Firewall Products

-Hackers Use Video Player To Steal Credit Cards From Over 100 Sites

-Cyber World Is Starting 2022 In Crisis Mode With The Log4j Bug

-Everything You Need To Know About Ransomware Attacks and Gangs In 2022

-Why the Log4j Vulnerability Makes Endpoint Visibility and Zero Trust Security More Important Than Ever

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

Microsoft Sees Rampant Log4j Exploit Attempts, Testing

Microsoft says it’s only going to get worse: It’s seen state-sponsored and cyber-criminal attackers probing systems for the Log4Shell flaw through the end of December.

No surprise here: The holidays bought no Log4Shell relief.

Threat actors vigorously launched exploit attempts and testing during the last weeks of December, Microsoft said on Monday, in the latest update to its landing page and guidance around the flaws in Apache’s Log4j logging library.

“We have observed many existing attackers adding exploits of these vulnerabilities in their existing malware kits and tactics, from coin miners to hands-on-keyboard attacks,” according to Microsoft.

https://threatpost.com/microsoft-rampant-log4j-exploits-testing/177358/

Warning: Log4j Still Lurks Where Dependency Analysis Can’t Find It

The best programming practice to include a third-party library in source code is to use the import command. It is the easiest way to do it, and it is also the way that most dependency analysis programs work to determine if a vulnerable library is in play. But any time code is included without calling it as an external package, traditional dependency analysis might not be enough to find it — including when Java coders use a common trick to resolve conflicting dependencies during the design process.

A new study by jFrog found that 400 packages on repository Maven Central used Log4j code without calling it as an external package. Around a third of that came from fat jars — jar files that include all external dependencies to make a more efficient product. The remainder came from directly inserting Log4j code into the source code, including shading, a work-around used when two or more dependencies call different versions of the same library in a way that might conflict.

While 400 may not seem like a lot for Maven Central, where Google found 17,000 packages implementing the vulnerable Log4j library, some of the 400 packages unearthed by JFrog are widely used.

https://www.scmagazine.com/analysis/devops/warning-log4j-still-lurks-where-dependency-analysis-cant-find-it

Hackers Sending Malware-Filled USB Sticks to Companies Disguised as Presents

The "malicious USB stick" trick is old but apparently it's still wildly popular with the crooks.

Word to the wise: If a stranger ever offers you a random USB stick as a gift, best not to take it.

On Thursday, the FBI warned that a hacker group has been using the US mail to send malware-laden USB drives to companies in the defence, transportation and insurance industries. The criminals’ hope is that employees will be gullible enough to stick them into their computers, thus creating the opportunity for ransomware attacks or the deployment of other malicious software, The Record reports.

The hacker group behind this bad behaviour—a group called FIN7—has gone to great lengths to make their parcels appear innocuous. In some cases, packages were dressed up as if they were sent by the US Department of Health and Human Services, with notes explaining that the drives contained important information about COVID-19 guidelines. In other cases, they were delivered as if they had been sent via Amazon, along with a “decorative gift box containing a fraudulent thank you letter, counterfeit gift card, and a USB,” according to the FBI warning.

https://gizmodo.com/hackers-have-been-sending-malware-filled-usb-sticks-to-1848323578

Patch Systems Vulnerable To Critical Log4j Flaws, UK And US Officials Warn

One of the highest-severity vulnerabilities in years, Log4Shell remains under attack.

Criminals are actively exploiting the high-severity Log4Shell vulnerability on servers running VMware Horizon in an attempt to install malware that allows them to gain full control of affected systems, the UK’s publicly funded healthcare system is warning.

CVE-2021-44228 is one of the most severe vulnerabilities to come to light in the past few years. It resides in Log4J, a system-logging code library used in thousands if not millions of third-party applications and websites. That means there is a huge base of vulnerable systems. Additionally, the vulnerability is extremely easy to exploit and allows attackers to install Web shells, which provide a command window for executing highly privileged commands on hacked servers.

The remote-code execution flaw in Log4J came to light in December after exploit code was released before a patch was available. Malicious hackers quickly began actively exploiting CVE-2021-44228 to compromise sensitive systems.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/01/patch-systems-vulnerable-to-critical-log4j-flaws-uk-and-us-officials-warn/

‘Elephant Beetle’ Lurks For Months In Networks

The group blends into an environment before loading up trivial, thickly stacked, fraudulent financial transactions too tiny to be noticed but adding up to millions of dollars.

Researchers have identified a threat group that’s been quietly siphoning off millions of dollars from financial- and commerce-sector companies, spending months patiently studying their targets’ financial systems and slipping in fraudulent transactions amongst regular activity.

The Sygnia Incident Response team has been tracking the group, which it named Elephant Beetle, aka TG2003, for two years.

In a Wednesday report, the researchers called Elephant Beetle’s attack relentless, as the group has hidden “in plain sight” without the need to develop exploits.

https://threatpost.com/elephant-beetle-months-networks-financial/177393/

Sonicwall: Y2k22 Bug Hits Email Security, Firewall Products

SonicWall has confirmed today that some of its Email Security and firewall products have been hit by the Y2K22 bug, causing message log updates and junk box failures starting with January 1st, 2022.

The company says that email users and administrators will no longer be able to access the junk box or un-junk newly received emails on affected systems.

They will also no longer be able to trace incoming/outgoing emails using the message logs because they're no longer updated.

On January 2nd, SonicWall deployed updates to North American and European instances of Hosted Email Security, the company's cloud email security service.

It also released fixes for its on-premises Email Security Appliance (ES 10.0.15) and customers using firewalls with the Anti-Spam Junk Store functionality toggled on (Junk Store 7.6.9).

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/sonicwall-y2k22-bug-hits-email-security-firewall-products/

Hackers Use Video Player To Steal Credit Cards From Over 100 Sites

Hackers used a cloud video hosting service to perform a supply chain attack on over one hundred real estate sites that injected malicious scripts to steal information inputted in website forms.

These scripts are known as skimmers or formjackers and are commonly injected into hacked websites to steal sensitive information entered into forms. Skimmers are commonly used on checkout pages for online stores to steal payment information.

In a new supply chain attack discovered by Palo Alto Networks Unit42, threat actors abused a cloud video hosting feature to inject skimmer code into a video player. When a website embeds that player, it embeds the malicious script, causing the site to become infected.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-use-video-player-to-steal-credit-cards-from-over-100-sites/

Cyber World Is Starting 2022 In Crisis Mode With The Log4j Bug

The cyber security world is starting off 2022 in crisis mode.

The newest culprit is the log4j software bug, which cyber security and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly called “the most serious vulnerability I have seen in my decades-long career.” It forced many cyber security pros to work through the holidays to protect computer systems at Big Tech firms, large and small companies and government agencies.

But crises like log4j have become the norm rather than the exception during the past few years.

Last year kicked off with the SolarWinds hack — a Russian government operation that compromised reams of sensitive information from U.S. government agencies and corporations.

Digital threats of all sorts are growing far faster than the capability to defend against them. If past is prologue, 2022 is likely to be a year of big hacks, big threats and plenty more crises.

“We’re always in crisis is the long and short of it,” Jake Williams, a former National Security Agency (NSA) cyber operator and founder of the firm Rendition Infosec, told me. “Anyone looking for calm rather than the storm in cyber is in the wrong field.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/03/cyber-world-is-starting-2022-crisis-mode-with-log4j-bug/

Everything You Need To Know About Ransomware Attacks and Gangs In 2022

Ransomware is a lucrative business for criminals. It is paying off, and it is working.

According to a recent Trend Micro report, a staggering 84% of US organisations experienced either a phishing or ransomware attack in the last year. The average ransomware payment was over $500,000.

Bad actors want to keep cashing in. So they’re going as far as creating ransomware kits as a service (Ransomware as a Service) to be sold on the dark web and even setting up fake companies to recruit potential employees.

Many ransomware gangs function like real companies — with marketing teams, websites, software development, user documentation, support forums and media relations.

If the “companies” run by ransomware gangs can operate with minimal expenses and mind-blowing revenues, what’s stopping them from growing in number and size?

https://securityintelligence.com/articles/ransomware-attacks-gangs-2022/

Why the Log4j Vulnerability Makes Endpoint Visibility and Zero Trust Security More Important Than Ever

The Apache Log4j vulnerability is one of the most serious vulnerabilities in recent years—putting millions of devices at risk.

IT organisations worldwide are still reeling from the discovery of a major security vulnerability in Apache Log4j, an open-source logging utility embedded in countless internal and commercial applications.

By submitting a carefully constructed variable string to log4j, attackers can take control of any application that includes log4j. Suddenly, cyber criminals around the world have a blueprint for launching attacks on everything from retail store kiosks to mission-critical applications in hospitals.

If security teams overlook even one instance of log4j in their software, they give attackers an opportunity to issue system commands at will. Attackers can use those commands to install ransomware, exfiltrate data, shut down operations — the list goes on.

How should enterprises respond to this pervasive threat?

https://www.cio.com/article/302868/why-the-log4j-vulnerability-makes-endpoint-visibility-and-zero-trust-security-more-important-than-ever.html

Threats

Ransomware

Phishing

Malware

Mobile

IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

DoS/DDoS

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

Nation State Actors

Privacy

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

Spyware and Espionage

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.

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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 31 December 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 31 December 2021

-The Log4j Flaw Will Take Years to be Fully Addressed

-Copycat And Fad Hackers Will Be The Bane Of Supply Chain Security In 2022

-This Nightmare Incident Shows Why You Really Shouldn't Store Passwords In Your Browser

-Kaspersky Research: 47% of Incident Response Requests Linked to Ransomware

-Global Cyber Attacks from Nation-State Actors Posing Greater Threats

-Y2k22 Bug Is Causing Microsoft Exchange Server To Fail Worldwide: FIP-FS Scan Engine Failed To Load

-External Attackers Can Penetrate Most Local Company Networks

-The Have I Been Pwned Service Now Includes 441K Accounts Stolen By RedLine Malware

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

The Log4j Flaw Will Take Years to be Fully Addressed

More than 80% of Java packages affected by the vulnerability in the Apache Log4j library cannot be updated directly, and will require coordination between different project teams to address the flaw.

Shortly after the first vulnerability in the Apache Log4j library (CVE-2021-44228) was disclosed, Google's Open Source Insights Team surveyed all the Java packages in the Maven Central Repository "to determine the scope of the issue in the open source ecosystem of JVM based languages, and to track the ongoing efforts to mitigate the affected packages," say team members James Wetter and Nicky Ringland. The team estimates it could take years before the vulnerability is fully addressed within the Java ecosystem.

A significant part of the problem has to do with indirect dependencies. Direct dependencies, or the cases where package explicitly pulls log4j into the code, are relatively straightforward to fix, as the developer or project owner just has to update log4j to the latest version.

https://www.darkreading.com/tech-trends/the-log4j-flaw-will-take-years-to-be-fully-addressed

Copycat And Fad Hackers Will Be The Bane Of Supply Chain Security In 2022

Replicable attacks and a low barrier to entry will ensure the rate of supply chain attacks increases next year, cyber security researchers have warned.

The supply chain is a consistent attack vector for threat actors today. By compromising a centralized service, platform, or software, attackers can then either conduct widespread infiltration of the customers and clients of the original -- singular -- victim or may choose to cherry-pick from the most valuable potential targets.

This can save cyber criminals time and money, as one successful attack can open the door to potentially thousands of victims at once.

A ransomware attack levied against Kaseya in 2021 highlighted the disruption a supply chain-based attack can cause. Ransomware was deployed by exploiting a vulnerability in Kaseya's VSA software, leading to the compromise of multiple managed service providers (MSP) in Kaseya's customer base.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/copycat-and-fad-hackers-will-be-the-bane-of-supply-chain-security-in-2022/

This Nightmare Incident Shows Why You Really Shouldn't Store Passwords In Your Browser

An infostealer is scooping up passwords stored in browsers, experts warn

An unnamed company was recently breached after an employee stored their corporate account password in their web browser, a new report suggests.

According to research from security company AhnLab, the employee was working from home on a device shared with other household members, which was already infected with Redline Stealer, an infostealing malware.

Although the computer was equipped with antivirus software, the malware was able to evade detection, before stealing the passwords stored in the victim's browser.

https://www.techradar.com/news/this-simple-malware-shows-why-you-really-shouldnt-store-passwords-in-your-browser

Kaspersky Research: 47% of Incident Response Requests Linked to Ransomware

This year — 2021 — marked a “new era of ransomware,” said Vladimir Kuskov, head of threat exploration at Russian cyber security company Kaspersky. This is reflected in security incident requests handled by Kaspersky’s Global Emergency Response Team (GERT) between January and November 2021.

Kaspersky reported 46.7 percent of the security incidents that GERT handled in the first 11 months of 2021 were related to ransomware. Comparatively, Kaspersky attributed ransomware to 37.9 percent of security incidents that GERT handled for all of 2020 and 34 percent for 2019.

In addition, the government and industrial sectors have been the most common targets for ransomware attacks in 2021 to date, Kaspersky indicated. These industries accounted for nearly 50 percent of ransomware-related incident response requests that GERT has handled.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/kaspersky-research-47-of-incident-response-requests-linked-to-ransomware/

Global Cyber Attacks from Nation-State Actors Posing Greater Threats

Casey Ellis, CTO at Bugcrowd, outlines how international relations have deteriorated into a new sort of Cold War, with espionage playing out in the cyber-domain.

The macro-trend I’m most alarmed by today is the fact that attackers don’t seem to care about getting caught anymore. We have seen an increase in temerity of attacks by nation-states, such as the Russian attack on SolarWinds, and seen their attack tactics shift from targeted, stealthy operations into opportunistic hacks for potential future uses, such as the attacks attributed to Hafnium.

Such a brazen approach hasn’t been a common tactic of nation-states in the past, but now seems to be the status quo. In part, this trend may also be due to a destabilization of the international relations climate stemming from COVID-19, as well as work-from-home forcing core business services out onto the internet to facilitate employee access.

Broadly speaking, we should see China as a rising cyber security threat on the international stage. That has been the case for some time in terms of their economic, defense and military posture, but 2021 has quite clearly demonstrated that the relationship has deteriorated into a sort of Cold War, with espionage playing out in the cyber-domain.

https://threatpost.com/global-cyberattacks-nation-state-threats/177253/

Y2k22 Bug Is Causing Microsoft Exchange Server To Fail Worldwide: FIP-FS Scan Engine Failed To Load

Company admins are having their New Year’s celebrations interrupted by reports that their Exchange Servers are failing with the error “FIP-FS Scan Engine failed to load – Can’t Convert “2201010001” to long (2022/01/01 00:00 UTC)“.

The issue appears to be due to Microsoft using the first two numbers of the update version to denote the year of the update, which caused the “long” version of the date to overflow.

At present, it seems the main workaround is to disable the anti-malware scanner on the Exchange Server by using Set-MalwareFilteringServer -BypassFiltering $True -identity <server name> and restarting the Microsoft Exchange Transport service.

It appears Microsoft has not acknowledged the issue yet, but if you are affected some peer support is available at Reddit here.

Update: Microsoft has now acknowledged the issue and is working on a fix

https://mspoweruser.com/y2k22-bug-is-causing-microsoft-exchange-server-to-fail-worldwide/

External Attackers Can Penetrate Most Local Company Networks

In 93% of cases, external attackers can breach the organisation’s network perimeter and gain access to local network resources, and it takes an average of two days to penetrate the company’s internal network. In 100% of companies analysed, an insider can gain full control over the infrastructure.

These are the results of a new research report by Positive Technologies, analyzing results of the company’s penetration testing projects carried out in the second half of 2020 and first half of 2021.

The study was conducted among financial organizations (29%), fuel and energy organizations (18%), government (16%), industrial (16%), IT companies (13%), and other sectors.

During the assessment of protection against external attacks, Positive Technologies experts managed to breach the network perimeter in 93% of cases. According to the company’s researchers, this figure has remained high for many years, confirming that criminals are able to breach almost any corporate infrastructure.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/12/28/external-attackers-local-company-networks/

The Have I Been Pwned Service Now Includes 441K Accounts Stolen By RedLine Malware

The Have I Been Pwned data breach notification service now allows victims of the RedLine malware to check if their credentials have been stolen. The service now includes credentials for 441K accounts stolen by the popular info-stealer.

The RedLine malware allows operators to steal several information, including credentials, credit card data, cookies, autocomplete information stored in browsers, cryptocurrency wallets, credentials stored in VPN clients and FTP clients. The malicious code can also act as a first-stage malware.

Stolen data are stored in an archive (logs) before being uploaded to a server under the control of the attackers.

A few days ago the data breach hunter Bob Diachenko discovered an unsecured server exposing over 6 million RedLine logs containing data harvested between August and September 2021. The server is still accessible, but the researchers pointed out that threat actors abandoned it because the the number of logs is not increasing.

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/126186/malware/redline-malware-hibp.html

Threats

Ransomware

Malware

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Scams, Fraud & Financial Crime

Nation State Actors

Passwords

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

Look out for our weekly ‘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.

Read More
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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 24 December 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 24 December 2021

-Cyber Criminals Shifting Focus: IT Sector Most Targeted In 2021

-Log4j Flaw: Attackers Are 'Actively Scanning Networks' Warns New Guidance, Joint Advisory from Cyber Agencies in US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom

-New Ransomware Variants Flourish Amid Law Enforcement Actions

-93% of Tested Networks Vulnerable to Breach, Pen Testers Find

-Dridex Malware Trolls Employees With Fake Job Termination Emails

-More Than 35,000 Java Packages Impacted By Log4j Flaw, Google Warns

-Conti Ransomware Gang Has Full Log4Shell Attack Chain

-Second Ransomware Family Exploiting Log4j Spotted In US, Europe

-Threat actors steal $80 million per month with fake giveaways, surveys

-Microsoft Teams might have a few serious security issues

-The Future of Work Has Changed, and Your Security Mindset Needs to Follow

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 Criminals Shifting Focus: IT Sector Most Targeted In 2021

Darktrace reported that the IT and communications sector was globally the most targeted industry by cybercriminals in 2021.

Darktrace’s data is developed by ‘early indicator analysis’ that looks at the breadcrumbs of potential cyber-attacks at several stages before they are attributed to any particular actor and before they escalate into a full-blown crisis. Findings show that its artificial intelligence autonomously interrupted an average of 150,000 threats per week against the sector in 2021.

The IT and communications sector includes telecommunications providers, software developers, and managed security service providers, amongst others. There was also a growing trend of hackers targeting backup servers in an attempt to deliberately disable or corrupt backup files by deleting a single index file that would render all backups inaccessible. Attackers could then launch ransomware attacks against the clients of the backup vendor, preventing recovery and forcing payment.

In 2020, the most attacked industry was the financial and insurance sector, showing that cyber-criminals have shifted their focus over the last 12 months.

Over the last 12 months, it is clear that attackers are relentlessly trying to access the networks of trusted suppliers in the IT and communications sector. Quite simply, it is a better return on investment than, for example, going after one company in the financial services sector. SolarWinds and Kaseya are just two well-known and recent examples of this. Sadly, there is likely to be more in the near term.

The findings of this research mark one year since the compromise of US software company SolarWinds rattled the security industry. This landmark supply-chain attack made thousands of organisations vulnerable to infiltration by inserting malicious code into the Orion system. Over the last 12 months, there has been a continued spate of attacks against the IT and communications sector, including the high-profile attacks on Kaseya and Gitlab.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/12/22/cybercriminals-it-sector/

New Ransomware Variants Flourish Amid Law Enforcement Actions

Ransomware groups continue to evolve their tactics and techniques to deploy file-encrypting malware on compromised systems, notwithstanding law enforcement's disruptive actions against the cyber crime gangs to prevent them from victimizing additional companies.

"Be it due to law enforcement, infighting amongst groups or people abandoning variants altogether, the RaaS [ransomware-as-a-service] groups dominating the ecosystem at this point in time are completely different than just a few months ago," Intel 471 researchers said in a report published this month. "Yet, even with the shift in the variants, ransomware incidents as a whole are still on the rise."

Sweeping law enforcement operations undertaken by government agencies in recent months have brought about rapid shifts in the RaaS landscape and turned the tables on ransomware syndicates like Avaddon, BlackMatter, Cl0p, DarkSide, Egregor, and REvil, forcing the actors to slow down or shut down their businesses altogether.

https://thehackernews.com/2021/12/new-ransomware-variants-flourish-amid.html

93% of Tested Networks Vulnerable to Breach, Pen Testers Find

Data from dozens of penetration tests and security assessments suggest nearly every organisation can be infiltrated by cyber attackers.

The vast majority of businesses can be compromised within a month by a motivated attacker using common techniques, such as compromising credential, exploiting known vulnerabilities in software and Web applications, or taking advantage of configuration flaws, according to an analysis of security assessments by Positive Technologies.

In 93% of cases, an external attacker could breach a target company's network and gain access to local devices and systems, the company's security service professionals found. In 71% of cases, the attacker could affect the businesses in a way deemed "unacceptable." For example, every bank tested by the security firm could be attacked in a way that disrupted business processes and reduced the quality of their service.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/93-of-tested-networks-vulnerable-to-breach-pentesters-find

Dridex Malware Trolls Employees With Fake Job Termination Emails

A new Dridex malware phishing campaign is using fake employee termination emails as a lure to open a malicious Excel document, which then trolls the victim with a season's greeting message.

Dridex is a banking malware spread through malicious emails that was initially developed to steal online banking credentials. Over time, the developers evolved the malware to use different modules that provide additional malicious behaviour, such as installing other malware payloads, providing remote access to threat actors, or spreading to other devices on the network.

This malware was created by a hacking group known as Evil Corp, which is behind various ransomware operations, such as BitPaymer, DoppelPaymer, WastedLocker variants, and Grief. Due to this, Dridex infections are known to lead to ransomware attacks on compromised networks.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/dridex-malware-trolls-employees-with-fake-job-termination-emails/

More Than 35,000 Java Packages Impacted By Log4j Flaw, Google Warns

The Google Open Source Team scanned the Maven Central Java package repository and found that 35,863 packages (8% of the total) were using versions of the Apache Log4j library vulnerable to Log4Shell exploit and to the CVE-2021-45046 RCE.

“More than 35,000 Java packages, amounting to over 8% of the Maven Central repository (the most significant Java package repository), have been impacted by the recently disclosed log4j vulnerabilities (1, 2), with widespread fallout across the software industry.” reads the report published by Google. “As far as ecosystem impact goes, 8% is enormous.”

The Google experts used the Open Source Insights, a project used to determine open source dependencies, to assess all versions of all artifacts in the Maven Central Repository.

The experts pointed out that the direct dependencies account for around 7,000 of the affected packages. Most of the affected artifacts are related to indirect dependencies.

Since the vulnerability was disclosed, 13% of all vulnerable packages have been fixed (4,620).

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/125845/security/log4j-java-packages-flaws.html

Log4j Flaw: Attackers Are 'Actively Scanning Networks' Warns New Guidance, Joint Advisory from Cyber Agencies in US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom

A new informational Log4J advisory has been issued by cybersecurity leaders from the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The guide includes technical details, mitigations and resources to address known vulnerabilities in the Apache Log4j software library.

The project is a joint effort by the US' Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), FBI and NSA, as well as the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS), Computer Emergency Response Team New Zealand (CERT NZ), New Zealand National Cyber Secure Centre (NZ NCSC), and the United Kingdom's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-UK).

The organisations said they issued the advisory in response to "active, worldwide exploitation by numerous threat actors, including malicious cyber threat actors." Numerous groups from North Korea, Iran, Turkey and China have been seen exploiting the vulnerability alongside a slate of ransomware groups and cybercriminal organisations.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/cisa-cybersecurity-centers-from-australia-nz-uk-and-canada-release-log4j-advisory/

Conti Ransomware Gang Has Full Log4Shell Attack Chain

The Conti gang was the first professional-grade, sophisticated ransomware group to weaponise Log4j2, now with a full attack chain.

The Conti ransomware gang, which last week became the first professional crimeware outfit to adopt and weaponize the Log4Shell vulnerability, has now built up a holistic attack chain.

The sophisticated Russia-based Conti group – which Palo Alto Networks has called “one of the most ruthless” of dozens of ransomware groups currently known to be active – was in the right place at the right time with the right tools when Log4Shell hit the scene 10 days ago, security firm Advanced Intelligence (AdvIntel) said in a report shared with Threatpost on Thursday.

As of Monday the attack chain has taken the following form, AdvIntel’s Yelisey Boguslavskiy told Threatpost: Emotet -> Cobalt Strike -> Human Exploitation -> (no ADMIN$ share) -> Kerberoast -> vCenter ESXi with log4shell scan for vCenter.

https://threatpost.com/conti-ransomware-gang-has-full-log4shell-attack-chain/177173/

Second Ransomware Family Exploiting Log4j Spotted In US, Europe

This was quickly followed by a second ransomware group when researchers found a second family of ransomware has been growing in usage for attack attempts that exploit the critical vulnerability in Apache Log4j, including in the US and Europe.

A number of researchers, including at cybersecurity giant Sophos, have now said they’ve observed the attempted deployment of a ransomware family known as TellYouThePass. Researchers have described TellYouThePass as an older and largely inactive ransomware family — which has been revived following the discovery of the vulnerability in the widely used Log4j logging software.

https://venturebeat.com/2021/12/21/second-ransomware-family-exploiting-log4j-spotted-in-u-s-europe/

Threat actors steal $80 million per month with fake giveaways, surveys

Scammers are estimated to have made $80 million per month by impersonating popular brands asking people to participate in fake surveys or giveaways.

Researchers warn of this new trend in global fraud schemes involving targeted links to make investigation and take-down increasingly challenging.

According to current estimates, these massive campaigns resulted in an estimated $80,000,000 per month, stolen from 10 million people in 91 countries.

The scam themes are the typical and "trustworthy" fake surveys and giveaways from popular brands with the holiday season making targets more susceptible to fraudulent gift offerings.

According to a report by Group-IB, there are currently 60 known scam networks that use targeted links in their campaigns, impersonating 121 brands in false giveaways.

Each network uses an average of 70 different Internet domain names as part of their campaigns, but some find great success with fewer domains, which indicates that quality beats quantity when it comes to scams.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/threat-actors-steal-80-million-per-month-with-fake-giveaways-surveys/

Microsoft Teams might have a few serious security issues

Security researchers have discovered four separate vulnerabilities in Microsoft Teams that could be exploited by an attacker to spoof link previews, leak IP addresses and even access the software giant's internal services.

These discoveries were made by researchers at Positive Security who “stumbled upon” them while looking for a way to bypass the Same-Origin Policy (SOP) in Teams and Electron according to a new blog post. For those unfamiliar, SOP is a security mechanism found in browsers that helps stop websites from attacking one another.

During their investigation into the matter, the researchers found that they could bypass the SOP in Teams by abusing the link preview feature in Microsoft's video conferencing software by allowing the client to generate a link preview for the target page and then using either summary text or optical character recognition (OCR) on the preview image to extract information.

https://www.techradar.com/news/microsoft-teams-might-have-a-few-serious-security-issues

The Future of Work Has Changed, and Your Security Mindset Needs to Follow

VPNs have become a vulnerability that puts organisations at risk of cyber attacks.

When businesses first sent employees to work from home in March 2020 — thinking it'd only be for two weeks — they turned to quick fixes that would enable remote work for large numbers of people as quickly as possible. While these solutions solved the short-term challenge of allowing distributed workforces to connect to a company's network from anywhere, they're now becoming a security vulnerability that is putting organisations at risk of growing cyberattacks.

Now that almost two years have passed and work has fundamentally shifted, with fully or hybrid remote environments here to stay, business and security leaders need solutions that better fit their unique and increasingly complex needs. In fact, a new survey from Menlo Security has found that 75% of organisations are re-evaluating their security strategies for remote employees, exemplifying that accommodating remote work is a top priority for the majority of business leaders.

To successfully manage the risks that distributed workforces entail, leaders must shift their mindset away from the hub-and-spoke approach of providing connectivity to the entire network, instead segmenting access by each individual private application, wherever it is deployed, as threats of cyberattacks loom across all industries. As organisations grapple with the added security challenges that remote and hybrid work environments bring, adopting a zero-trust approach will be critical for end-to-end network and endpoint protection.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/the-future-of-work-has-changed-and-your-security-mindset-needs-to-follow

Threats

Ransomware

Phishing

Malware

IoT

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Scams, Fraud & Financial Crime

Insurance

Dark Web

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

Nation State Actors

Passwords

Parental Controls and Child Safety

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 weekly ‘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.

Read More
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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 17 December 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 17 December 2021:

-Employees Think They’re Safe From Cyber Threats On Company Devices

-Internet Is Scrambling To Fix Log4shell, The Worst Hack In History

-Apache Log4j Flaw: A Fukushima Moment for the Cyber Security Industry

-60% of UK Workers Have Been Victim of a Cyber-Attack, Yet Awareness Remains Low

-Ransomware in 2022: We're All Screwed

-Attacks on UK Firms Increase Five-Fold During Pandemic

-The Log4J Software Flaw Is ‘Christmas Come Early’ for Cyber Criminals

-Why Cloud Storage Isn't Immune to Ransomware

-400 Banks’ Customers Targeted with Anubis Trojan

-Sites Hacked With Credit Card Stealers Undetected For Months

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

Employees Think They’re Safe From Cyber Threats On Company Devices

A research launched by Menlo Security reveals increased cyber security risks posed to employees and organisations during the 2021 holiday shopping season.

The research – which surveyed 2,000 employed people in the United States and the United Kingdom – found that while employees are concerned about threats and are taking some measures to mitigate them, they often have false confidence in their security posture.

There are now more threats to corporate devices and networks than ever as hybrid work models blur the boundaries between work and home. More than half of respondents (56% US; 53% UK) reported performing non-work-related tasks – such as online shopping – on company devices.

Furthermore, the survey found that 65% of people in the US (63% UK) are doing more online holiday shopping in 2021 compared to previous years, and nearly half of respondents (48% US; 45% UK), reported shopping for gifts this holiday season on a work-issued device such as a laptop or mobile phone.

Workers are also noticing a rise in cyber threats this holiday season, with 58% of respondents in the US (48% UK) observing an increase in scams and fraudulent messages, exemplifying that threats are rampant worldwide. This is worrying many people, as the vast majority of respondents (80% US & UK) report being somewhat to very concerned about their personal data being stolen while online shopping.

However, despite workers’ recognition and concern of cyber threats, 60% of people (65% UK) still believe they’re secure from cyberthreats if they’re using a company device.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/12/14/employees-cybersecurity-risks/

Internet Is Scrambling To Fix Log4shell, The Worst Hack In History

Massive data breaches have become so common that we’ve gotten numb to reports detailing another hack or 0-day exploit. That doesn’t reduce the risk of such events happening, as the cat-and-mouse game between security experts and hackers continues. As some vulnerabilities get fixed, others pop up requiring attention from product and service providers. The newest one has a name that will not mean anything to most people. They call the hack Log4Shell in security briefings, which doesn’t sound very scary. But the new 0-day attack is so significant that some people see it as the worst internet hack in history.

Malicious individuals are already exploiting the Log4Shell attack, which allows them to get into computer systems and servers without a password. Security experts have seen Log4Shell in action in Minecraft, the popular game that Microsoft owns. A few lines of text passed around in a chat might be enough to penetrate the defences of a target computer. The same ease of access would allow hackers to go after any computer out there using the Log4J open-sourced java-based logging utility.

https://bgr.com/tech/internet-is-scrambling-to-fix-log4shell-the-worst-hack-in-history/

Apache Log4j Flaw: A Fukushima Moment for the Cyber Security Industry

Organisations around the world will be dealing with the long-tail consequences of this vulnerability, known as Log4Shell, for years to come.

The discovery of a critical flaw in the Apache Log4j software is nothing short of a Fukushima moment for the cybersecurity industry.

Ten years ago, an earthquake and subsequent tidal wave triggered the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant that continues to plague the region today. Similarly, the early exploitation of Log4j, during which attackers will go after the low-hanging fruit exposed by the vulnerability, will evolve over time to take the form of more complex attacks on more sensitive systems that have less exposure to the internet. And, just as Fukushima brought to light significant issues with longstanding processes in place at the plant, so too does the Log4j vulnerability, known as Log4Shell, highlight two crucial practices of concern:

·       How organisations capture and protect their massive troves of log data; and

·       The use of open-source code libraries as the building blocks for major enterprise applications.

The paradox of Log4j: the more you log, the worse it gets

We’re discovering new apps every minute which use Log4j in one way or another. It affects not only the code you build, but also the third-party systems you have in place. Everything from the new printer you’ve bought for the office to the ticketing system you’ve just deployed is potentially affected by this flaw. Some affected systems may be on premises, others may be hosted in the cloud but no matter where they are, the flaw is likely to have an impact.

https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/17/vmware_criticial_uem_flaw/

60% of UK Workers Have Been Victim of a Cyber-Attack, Yet Awareness Remains Low

There is a “dangerous” lack of awareness among UK workers towards cybersecurity, leaving businesses at risk of attacks, according to a new study by Armis. This is despite 60% of workers admitting they have fallen victim to a cyber-attack.

The nationwide survey of 2000 UK employees found that only around a quarter (27%) are aware of the associated cyber risks, while one in 10 (11%) don’t worry about them at all.

Even more worryingly, just one in five people said they paid for online security, putting businesses at high risk of attacks amid the shift to remote working during COVID-19.

The most prevalent types of attacks experienced by workers or their organisations were phishing (27%), data breaches (23%) and malware (20%).

The study also revealed growing concerns about the scale of the cyber-threats facing the UK. A large-scale cyber-attack was ranked as the fourth biggest future concern (21%) among the respondents, equal to the UK going to war. Two-fifths (40%) said they would like to see a minister for cyber security installed to ensure the issue is focused on more at a government level.

Russian-backed cyber-criminals were considered the biggest threat to the UK’s cybersecurity (20%) by the respondents, followed by financially motivated cyber-criminals (17%) and Chinese-backed cyber-criminals (16%).

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/uk-workers-victim-cyber-attack/

Ransomware in 2022: We're All Screwed

Ransomware is now a primary threat for businesses, and with the past year or so considered the "golden era" for operators, cybersecurity experts believe this criminal enterprise will reach new heights in the future.

Kronos. Colonial Pipeline. JBS. Kaseya. These are only a handful of 2021's high-profile victims of threat groups including DarkSide, REvil, and BlackMatter.

According to Kela's analysis of dark web forum activity, the "perfect" prospective ransomware victim in the US will have a minimum annual revenue of $100 million and preferred access purchases include domain admin rights, as well as entry into Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and Virtual Private Network (VPN) services.

Over the past few years, we've seen ransomware operators evolve from disorganised splinter groups and individuals to highly sophisticated operations, with separate teams collaborating to target everything from SMBs to software supply chains.

Ransomware infection is no longer an end goal of a cyberattack. Instead, malware families in this arena -- including WannaCry, NotPetya, Ryuk, Cerber, and Cryptolocker -- can be one component of attacks designed to elicit a blackmail payment from a victim organisation.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-in-2022-were-all-screwed/

Attacks on UK Firms Increase Five-Fold During Pandemic

Attacks on UK firms surged five-fold during the pandemic and now cost way more than the global average, according to Accenture.

The global consultancy polled 500 UK executives to compile its State of Cybersecurity Resilience 2021 study.

It found that large organisations experienced 885 attempted cyber-attacks in 2020 – up from 156 the previous year and more than triple the global average of 270.

They’re also more expensive than elsewhere. Accenture calculated that incidents and breaches cost over £1.3m a year – £350,000 more than the global average.

Over 80% of respondents said the cost of staying ahead of cyber-criminals is unsustainable, a fifth more than the previous year, and a quarter said they’ve been forced to increase cybersecurity budgets by 10% or more.

Worryingly, supply chain attacks accounted for 64% of breaches in the UK last year, up by a quarter (26%) from the previous year.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/attacks-on-uk-firms-increase/

The Log4J Software Flaw Is ‘Christmas Come Early’ for Cyber Criminals

Researchers have just identified a security flaw in a software program called Log4J, widely used by a host of private, commercial and government entities to record details ranging from usernames and passwords to credit card transactions. Since the glitch was found last weekend, the cybersecurity community has been scrambling to protect applications, services, infrastructure and even Internet of Things devices from criminals—who are already taking advantage of the vulnerability.

“For cybercriminals this is Christmas come early, because the sky’s the limit,” says Theresa Payton, a former White House chief information officer and the CEO of Fortalice Solutions, a cybersecurity consulting company. “They’re really only limited by their imagination, their technical know-how and their own ability to exploit this flaw.” Payton spoke with Scientific American about what Log4J does, how criminals can use its newly discovered weakness, and what it will take to repair the problem.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-log4j-software-flaw-is-christmas-come-early-for-cybercriminals/

Why Cloud Storage Isn't Immune to Ransomware

Ransomware is the flavour of the month for cybercriminals. The FBI reports that ransomware attacks rose 20% and losses almost tripled in 2020. And our increased use of the cloud may have played a part in that spike. A survey of CISOs conducted by IDC earlier this year found that 98% of their companies suffered at least one cloud data breach in the previous 18 months as opposed to 79% last year, and numbers got worse the more exposure they had to the cloud.

Organisations now use hundreds of cloud-based apps, which adds thousands of new identities logging in to their systems. This opens almost unlimited possibilities for hackers. Even if cloud vendors have their own identity and access management controls, vulnerabilities will emerge. In fact, recent research into cloud security found that over 70% of organisations had machines open to the public that were linked to identities whose permissions were vulnerable, under the right conditions, to being exploited to launch ransomware attacks.

A number of reasons could explain why security falls through the cracks of many cloud systems, and leaves them more vulnerable to ransomware attacks.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/why-cloud-storage-isn-t-immune-to-ransomware

400 Banks’ Customers Targeted with Anubis Trojan

Customers of Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Capital One, along with nearly 400 other financial institutions, are being targeted by a malicious app disguised to look like the official account management platform for French telecom company Orange S.A.

Researchers say this is just the beginning.

Once downloaded, the malware – a variant of banking trojan Anubis – steals the user’s personal data to rip them off, researchers at Lookout warned in a new report. And it’s not just customers of big banks at risk, the researchers added: Virtual payment platforms and crypto wallets are also being targeted.

“As a banking trojan malware, Anubis’ goal is to collect significant data about the victim from their mobile device for financial gain,” the Lookout report said. “This is done by intercepting SMSs, keylogging, file exfiltration, screen monitoring, GPS data collection and abuse of the device’s accessibility services.”

https://threatpost.com/400-banks-targeted-anubis-trojan/177038/

Sites Hacked With Credit Card Stealers Undetected For Months

Threat actors are gearing up for the holidays with credit card skimming attacks remaining undetected for months as payment information is stolen from customers.

Magecart skimming is an attack that involves the injection of malicious JavaScript code on a target website, which runs when the visitor is at the checkout page.

The code can steal payment details such as credit card number, holder name, addresses, and CVV, and send them to the actor.

Threat actors may then use this information for purchasing goods online or sold to other actors on underground forums and dark web marketplaces known as "carding" sites.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/sites-hacked-with-credit-card-stealers-undetected-for-months/

Threats

Ransomware

BEC – Business Email Compromise

Phishing

Other Social Engineering

Malware

Mobile

IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud & Financial Crime

Nation State Actors

Cloud

Privacy

Spyware and Espionage

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 weekly ‘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.

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Black Arrow Cyber Advisory – Java Log4Shell Vulnerability – The Maximum Severity Christmas Humbug Likely To Affect Businesses

Black Arrow Cyber Advisory – Java Log4Shell Vulnerability – The Maximum Severity Christmas Humbug Like To Affect Every Business

Black Arrow Cyber Advisory – Java Log4Shell Vulnerability – The Maximum Severity Christmas Humbug

Executive Summary

Log4Shell, a critical zero-day actively exploited in the wild, has been found after a series of Minecraft servers fell victim. The bug impacts Java, an almost ubiquitous software that’s found in billions of devices across the globe, from the enterprise to the home. In an extremely rare but warranted move, Log4Shell has been given a 10 out of 10 on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) scale, owing to its ability to be remotely executed and the potential for pandemic level damage. 

What’s the risk to my business?

Java report their use on billions of devices, from computers, printers, routers and mobile phones to cash machines, ticket machines and credit card readers – the list is endless. The likelihood of a device running Java in your environment somewhere is high.

What can I do?

Discuss with your Managed Service Provider (MSP) whether any of your devices or services are impacted, and when they can expect to be patched. Equally, keeping devices at home or elsewhere up to date is an important step to mitigation, both for your professional and private life.

Technical Summary

The bug, tracked as CVE-2021-44228, was first discovered when a remote-code attack compromised a series of Minecraft servers, one of the most popular Java-based games of all time. The source of the bug was Log4J, a logging utility used by millions of applets across billions of devices. Using the vulnerability, threat actors can craft a request to force the applet to interpret a log as a URL, which is then fetched and executed with full privileges. The exploit can be triggered inside text using “${}”, allowing for their injection in commonly logged attributes like user agents.

Need help understanding your gaps, or just want some advice? Get in touch with us.

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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 10 December 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 10 December 2021

-Beware Of Ransomware Attacks Between Christmas and New Year’s!

-Why Holidays Put Your Company at Risk of Cyber Attack (And How to Take Precautions)

-Security Experts Sound Alarm on Zero-Day in Widely Used Log4j Tool

-SolarWinds Attackers Spotted Using New Tactics, Malware

-Cyber Crime Supply Chain: Fueling The Rise In Ransomware

-Weak Passwords Caused 30% Of Security Breaches

-Work-from-Anywhere Requires "Work-from-Anywhere Security"

-Just 3% of UK Firms Escaped a Supply Chain Breach in 2021

-Critical Flaw In ManageEngine Desktop Central MSP Tool Exploited In The Wild

-New Financial Services Industry Report Reveals Major Gaps in Storage and Backup Security

-UK’s Poor Cyber Risk Planning Could “Wreak Havoc”

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

Beware Of Ransomware Attacks Between Christmas And New Year’s!

Darktrace reported that its security researchers discovered a 30% increase in the average number of attempted ransomware attacks globally over the holiday season in every consecutive year from 2018 to 2020 compared to the monthly average.

The researchers also observed a 70% average increase in attempted ransomware attacks in November and December compared to January and February. Following a record number of ransomware attacks this year, the company expects the spike to be higher over the 2021 holiday period.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/12/09/ransomware-attacks-holiday/

Why Holidays Put Your Company at Risk of Cyber Attack (And How to Take Precautions)

It is a time when many are thinking of their families and loved ones, time off work, and gift-giving – the holidays. However, while many have their minds outside the realm of work during the holiday season, often, this is when attackers plan their most sinister attacks.

So how can you take precautions to protect your organisation during these times?

Attackers today do not have a soft spot for businesses and give companies a break at any time of the year, especially not during holidays. On the contrary, any time of the year where companies may be less prepared to fend off a cyberattack is an opportunity for successful compromise. As a result, the holidays put your company at a higher risk of cyberattack.

https://thehackernews.com/2021/12/why-holidays-put-your-company-at-risk.html

Security Experts Sound Alarm on Zero-Day in Widely Used Log4j Tool

Security experts are sounding the equivalent of a five-alarm fire on a critical new zero-day vulnerability in Log4j, a logging framework that is ubiquitously present in Java software.

The flaw (CVE-2021-44228) could allow remote attackers to run arbitrary code on any application that uses Log4j and is already being actively exploited. Some vendors have observed mass scanning activity — presumably by threat actors — for vulnerable applications, and there are some reports of exploit activity against organisations. Attacks against the flaw take little skill to execute and are being fueled by proof-of-concept code in the wild.

https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/security-experts-sound-alarm-on-zero-day-in-widely-used-log4j-tool

SolarWinds Attackers Spotted Using New Tactics, Malware

One year after the disruptive supply-chain attacks, researchers have observed two new clusters of activity from the Russia-based actors that signal a significant threat may be brewing.

One year after the notorious and far-reaching SolarWinds supply-chain attacks, its orchestrators are on the offensive again. Researchers said they’ve seen the threat group – which Microsoft refers to as “Nobelium” and which is linked to Russia’s spy agency – compromising global business and government targets with novel tactics and custom malware, stealing data and moving laterally across networks.

https://threatpost.com/solarwinds-attackers-new-tactics-malware/176818/

Cyber Crime Supply Chain: Fuelling The Rise In Ransomware

Trend Micro released a research detailing the murky cybercrime supply chain behind much of the recent surge in ransomware attacks. Demand has increased so much over the past two years that many cybercriminal markets now have their own “Access-as-a-Service” sections.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/12/06/cybercrime-supply-chain/

Weak Passwords Caused 30% Of Security Breaches

A recent survey assessed the risk factors associated with password management and how to safeguard them from attacks or breaches. The results revealed that 30% of respondents reported password leaks and security breaches as a result of poor password practices. Respondees admitted to making poor password choices, such as sharing them with colleagues, family members or friends; writing them on sticky notes, papers, planners; re-using passwords across multiple sites and only changing them when prompted.

Consequently, researchers revealed some of the best password practices to create unhackable passwords. These practices include using secure VPNs, two-factor authentication, using a password management software and creating unique passwords that aren’t easily deduced .

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2021/12/10/weak-passwords-caused-30-of-security-breaches/

Work-from-Anywhere Requires "Work-from-Anywhere Security"

Securing today's expanding networks often includes adding additional technologies to an already overburdened security environment. With organisations already struggling to manage an average of 45 security tools, with each incident requiring coordination across 19 different devices, adding new technologies to the mix may be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

The most recent example of the rapid expansion of the network's attack surface has been remote work. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for a work-from-anywhere (WFA) strategy. And now, as workers begin to return to the office, a hybrid approach to work has become the new status quo. According to Accenture, 83% of workers prefer a hybrid work model that allows them to work remotely between 25% and 75% of the time. And businesses are listening. 63% of high-revenue growth companies have already enabled productivity anywhere workforce models.

One of the biggest security challenges of a hybrid workforce is that employees need to move seamlessly between the corporate office, their home network, and other remote locations. Applications, whether deployed in the data centre, SaaS, or cloud, not only need to be available from anywhere, but user experience—and security—needs to be consistent from any location as well.

https://www.securityweek.com/work-anywhere-requires-work-anywhere-security

Just 3% of UK Firms Escaped a Supply Chain Breach in 2021

Some 97% of UK organisations suffered a supply chain breach over the past year, up from 82% in 2020 and the second highest figure globally, according to BlueVoyant.

The security firm polled 1200 C-level executives with responsibility for managing risk in supply chains, across the UK, US, Singapore, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands.

UK firms also experienced a higher-than-average percentage of breaches: 59% suffered between two and five supply chain incidents compared to an overall average of 49%. The average number of breaches in the country grew from 2.64 in 2020 to 3.57 in 2021.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given these figures, only a quarter (27%) of UK respondents said they consider third-party cyber risk a key priority versus a 42% global average.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/just-3-uk-firms-escaped-supply/

Critical Flaw In ManageEngine Desktop Central MSP Tool Exploited In The Wild

News of this latest zero-day vulnerability comes after hackers exploited at least two other flaws in ManageEngine products this year. Attacks against MSPs and their tools have seen a rise over the past several years due to hackers realizing that compromising such organisations can provide an easy way into the networks of thousands of businesses that rely on them to manage their IT assets.

News of this latest zero-day vulnerability comes after hackers exploited at least two other flaws in ManageEngine products this year. Attacks against MSPs and their tools have seen a rise over the past several years due to hackers realizing that compromising such organisations can provide an easy way into the networks of thousands of businesses that rely on them to manage their IT assets.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3643928/critical-flaw-in-manageengine-desktop-central-msp-tool-exploited-in-the-wild.html

New Financial Services Industry Report Reveals Major Gaps in Storage and Backup Security

Continuity™, the first dedicated storage and backup security provider, this week announced findings from its Security Intelligence Report: Analysis of Storage and Backup Security in the Financial Services & Banking Sector. This extensive study – the first of its kind – explores the security posture of storage and backup environments in the global financial services industry.

The survey of 200 financial services firms and banks from 45 countries revealed that most of these organisations have not yet reached a satisfactory level of storage and backup maturity. Notably, more than half (52%) of the respondents were not strongly confident about their storage and backup security, and a quarter (25%) noted they were significantly concerned (low or no confidence).

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/new-financial-services-industry-report-reveals-major-gaps-in-storage-and-backup-security

UK’s Poor Cyber Risk Planning Could “Wreak Havoc”

The UK’s long-term risk planning is under-powered and could expose the nation if it is struck by a serious cyber-threat, a new House of Lords (HoL) report has found.

The study, Preparing for Extreme Risks: Building a Resilient Society, was produced by the upper chamber’s Select Committee on Risk Assessment and Risk Planning after interviews with 85 expert witnesses.

It claimed that the government spends too much of its time reacting to crises and emergencies, neglecting the kind of long-term planning which would have prepared the country better for the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The UK’s unpreparedness to manage the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus was and is clear. More broadly, our inquiry has analyzed the UK’s risk assessment process and found that our current system is deficient at assessing and addressing future threats and hazards,” it argued.

“However, pandemics are only one of a number of extreme risks facing the UK. Severe space weather events could render smart technologies on which much of society relies inoperable for weeks or longer; this would include GPS, the internet, communications systems and power supplies. A cyber or physical attack on our critical national infrastructure could wreak havoc.”

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/uks-poor-cyber-risk-planning-could/

Threats

Ransomware

Phishing

Malware

Mobile

IOT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptojacking

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud & Financial Crime

Dark Web

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

Nation State Actors

Cloud

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 weekly ‘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.

Read More