Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 30 June 2023

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

• Zurich Insurance Group Secures Data Leak After Leaving Sensitive Data Publicly Accessible

Zurich Insurance Group is a major player in the insurance game, with over 55 million clients. They have recently just fixed a sensitive file that they had left publicly accessible. The file in question contained a range of credentials including database credentials, admin credentials, credentials for the actively exploited MOVEit software, credentials for their HR system and more. All of which could be utilised by threat actors to inflict serious damage. This was not the only vulnerability stemming from the insurance group; researchers found that Zurich were also running an outdated website, which contained a large number of vulnerabilities.

The case is alarming as Zurich Insurance Group provides cyber insurance and the instance above reinforces the need for organisations to be proactive in identifying cyber risks in their environment; it is simply not enough to rely on having insurance or meeting insurance requirements.

https://cybernews.com/zurich-insurance-data-leak/

• Employees Worry Less About Cyber Security Best Practices in the Summer

IT teams are struggling to monitor and enforce BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies during summer months according to a new report. The report found that 55% of employees admitted to relying solely on their mobile devices while working remotely in the summer. 25% of all respondents claim that they aren’t concerned about ensuring network connections are secure when accessing their company’s data.

In the same report, 45% of employees in the US and UK said no specific measures to educate and remind employees on security best practices are taken during the summer, with only 24% of UK respondents receiving access to online cyber security training and guides and even less (17%) in the US. This comes as a separate report found that the number of phishing sites targeting mobile devices increased from 75% to 80% year-on-year in 2022, and this is likely to continue rising. Worryingly, it was also found that the average user is between six and ten times more likely to fall for an SMS phishing attack than email.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/06/30/summer-byod-policies/

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/mobile-malware-and-phishing-surge/

• Businesses are Ignoring Third-Party Security Risks

With 58% of companies managing over 100 vendors, 8% of which manage over 1,000, the need for a robust Third-Party Security Risk Management process becomes abundantly clear. Despite this, only 13% of organisations continuously monitor the security risks of their third parties. This is worrying, when considering the knock-on effects of third party breaches from the likes of Capita, SolarWinds and 3CX, and the recent MOVEit attack, impacting organisations whose only relationship with MOVEit was that their supplier used it.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/06/30/third-party-relationships-risks/

• Fear Trumps Anger When It Comes to Data Breaches – Angry Customers Vent, But Fearful Customers Don’t Come Back

When a person is notified of a data breach involving their personal information, if they react with a feeling of fear, as opposed to anger, they’re more likely to stop using the site. A report found that positive attitudes toward the website before the breach did not meaningfully affect whether consumers reengaged with the website after the breach, as some prior research has indicated. Instead, the emotional response of fear weighed heavily on customers and outweighed any earlier positive sentiment towards the organisation.

When a company has been breached in the past they have dealt with angry customers and negative press. To do so, companies may engage crisis managers to contain the damage, partner with identity protection services, pay fines or settlements, or try to lure back customers with free services. However, the study shows that companies need to address fearful customers differently after a data breach has occurred if they want to avoid customer loss. To do this, companies can work with their IT departments to identify customers who are no longer active after a breach and then reach out to them directly to assuage their fears.

https://theconversation.com/fear-trumps-anger-when-it-comes-to-data-breaches-angry-customers-vent-but-fearful-customers-dont-come-back-203109

• Over 130 Organisations and Millions of Individuals Believed to be Impacted by MOVEit Hack, it Keeps Growing

The dramatic fallout continues in the mass exploitation of a critical vulnerability in a widely used file-transfer program, with at least three new victims coming to light in the past few days. They include the New York City Department of Education and energy companies Schneider Electric and Siemens Electric. These join others, including PwC, Sony and EY. If the attack has shown us one thing, it’s that any organisation can be a victim.

https://www.securityweek.com/over-130-organizations-millions-of-individuals-believed-to-be-impacted-by-moveit-hack/

https://arstechnica.com/security/2023/06/casualties-keep-growing-in-this-months-mass-exploitation-of-moveit-0-day/

• Widespread BEC Attacks Threaten European Organisations

Based on an analysis of email attack trends between June 2022 and May 2023, total email attacks in Europe increased by 7 times and the US 5 times. For business email compromise (BEC) specifically, Europe saw an alarming 10 times the amount it had previously and the US saw a 2 times increase.

BEC continues to remain a high priority threat for many organisations and if someone already has a legitimate business email which they have compromised to use for BEC attacks on your organisation, it is very likely that your technical processes will be ineffective, leaving your people and operational processes to stop an attack. Is your organisation cyber aware? Are they undergoing regular awareness training?

This is one of many areas that Black Arrow can help improve your organisation’s security through robust employee cyber security Awareness Behaviour and Culture training.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/06/27/bec-attacks-frequency/

• Lloyd’s Syndicates Sued Over Cyber Insurance

The University of California (UCLA) is suing a number of insurance firms for refusing to pay out on cyber policies nearly 10 years after hackers breached data on millions of patients at its health system. The dispute is over a cyber attack from 2014 through 2015 that exposed personal information of patients at UCLA Health.

UCLA Health allege that the syndicates refused to engage in dispute resolution by asserting that the statue of limitations applying to the claims had expired. The insurers, who could not be named, are said to have refused every claim saying that UCLA Health failed to satisfy cyber security requirements under the contract terms. It’s important for organisations with cyber insurance to understand their insurance in detail and to know where they stand in the event of a cyber incident.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/university-of-california-sues-lloyds-syndicates-over-cyber-insurance-da4675f5

• 95% Fear Inadequate Cloud Security Detection and Response

A recent report found 95% of respondents expressed concern in their organisation’s ability to detect and respond to a security event in their cloud environment. The same study also found that 50% of total respondents had reported a data breach due to unauthorised access to their cloud environment.

It is often the case that issues in the cloud come from the perception of the responsibility of the cloud environment. Organisations must realise that they share responsibility for securing their cloud environment, including its configuration. The report found that, despite the number of breaches and concerns in their organisation’s ability, more than 80% of respondents still felt their existing tooling and configuration would sufficiently cover their organisation from an attack. Organisations must ask themselves what they are doing to protect their cloud environment.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/06/27/cloud-environment-security/

• The Growing Use of Generative AI and the Security Risks They Pose

A recent survey by Malwarebytes revealed 81% of people are concerned about the security risks posed by ChatGPT and generative AI, and 52% of respondents are calling for a pause on ChatGPT for regulations to catch up, while 7% think it will improve internet security. A key concern about the data produced by generative AI platforms is the risk of "hallucinations" whereby machine learning models produce untruths. This becomes a serious issue for organisations if its content is heavily relied upon to make decisions, particularly those relating to threat detection and response.

Another recent report on the risks brought by Large Language Model AIs showed that the rise in opensource AI adoption is developed insecurely; this results in an increased threat with substantial security risks to organisation.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/643516/survey-reveals-mass-concern-over-generative-ai-security-risks.html

https://www.darkreading.com/operations/malwarebytes-chatgpt-survey-reveals-81-are-concerned-by-generative-ai-security-risks

https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/generative-ai-projects-cybersecurity-risks-enterprises

• The CISO’s Toolkit Must Include Political Capital Within The C-Suite

Over the past 18 months, there has been a sea change in the chief information security officer (CISO) role. Fundamentally, the CISO is responsible for the protection of an entity's information. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a proposed rule change on cyber security risk management, strategy, governance, and incident response disclosure by public companies that requires publicly traded companies to provide evidence of the board's oversight of cyber security risk. Couple this with the former CISO of Uber being found guilty on charges of "obstruction of the proceedings of the Federal Trade Commission" and it is clear that the hand at the helm must be able to navigate all types of seas in their entity's political milieu. In this regard, the CISO needs to acquire political capital. CISO’s should have the capability to talk in understandable terms and clearly demonstrate value to the other board members.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/643199/the-cisos-toolkit-must-include-political-capital-within-the-c-suite.html

• Microsoft Warns of Widescale Credential Stealing Attacks by Russian Hackers as War Ministers Reliant on Cyber Crime

Russia's diminishing position on the world stage has limited its physical options on the ground, leaving Putin's regime increasingly reliant on cyber crime to carry out its oppositional activities against Ukraine and Europe. Microsoft has disclosed that it has detected a spike in credential-stealing attacks conducted by the Russian state-affiliated hacker group known as Midnight Blizzard.

This comes as Switzerland's Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) released its 2023 security assessment, predicting that Russia will increasingly launch cyber attacks as part of its war strategy not just in Ukraine, but against NATO member states as well.

https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/russia-reliant-on-cybercrime-as-international-pariah

https://thehackernews.com/2023/06/microsoft-warns-of-widescale-credential.html

• SMB’s Plagued as Cyber Attackers Still Rely on Decades Old Security Weaknesses and Tactics

Despite best cyber security efforts, small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) continue to struggle to thwart attacks and harden defences in response to remote working and other newer challenges.

This future focus can lead to a neglection of older weaknesses. Cyber attackers are typically relying on tried-and-tested tactics and old security weaknesses to target organisations, a recent Barracuda threat spotlight found. Hackers are returning to proven methods to gain remote control of systems, install malware, steal information and disrupt or disable business operations through denial-of-service attacks, Barracuda reports. The report found that between February to April 2023, the top malicious tactics found to be used were vulnerabilities from 2008.

The report highlights the fact that there are no cutoff dates for vulnerabilities and attackers will use whatever is at their disposal to try and infiltrate your organisation. This can be protected by having strong policies and controls in place alongside frequent penetration testing to ensure these vulnerabilities are being patched.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/cyberattackers-still-rely-on-decades-old-security-weaknesses-tactics-barracuda-reports/

https://www.scmagazine.com/news/malware/smbs-plagued-by-exploits-trojans-and-backdoors

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Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Businesses are ignoring third-party security risks - Help Net Security

• Employees worry less about cyber security best practices in the summer - Help Net Security

• Digital-First Economy Has Transformed Role of CISO- IT Security Guru

• SEC Alleges SolarWinds CFO, CISO Violated US Securities Laws (bankinfosecurity.com)

• Companies Call for Changes to UK’s Cyber Essentials Scheme - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Fear trumps anger when it comes to data breaches – angry customers vent, but fearful customers don't come back (theconversation.com)

• The CISO’s toolkit must include political capital within the C-suite | CSO Online

• NCSC Launches Cyber Risk Management Toolbox - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

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Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

• Over 130 Organisations, Millions of Individuals Believed to Be Impacted by MOVEit Hack - SecurityWeek

• MOVEit hackers may have found simpler business model beyond ransomware | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Dozens of Businesses Hit Recently by '8Base' Ransomware Gang - SecurityWeek

• UK cyber spies warn ransomware criminals targeting law firms • The Register

• How Dangerous Is Smartphone Ransomware? (makeuseof.com)

• Cl0p in Your Network? Here's How to Find Out (darkreading.com)

• Sixth anniversary of NotPetya - IT Security Guru

• July is Ransomware Month: Reminder to Prepare, Defend Against Hijackers - MSSP Alert

• LockBit Dominates Ransomware World, New Report Finds - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• The Trickbot/Conti Crypters: Where Are They Now? (securityintelligence.com)

• Linux version of Akira ransomware targets VMware ESXi servers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• 'Wagner' Ransomware Targets Computers in Russia | PCMag

Ransomware Victims

• Casualties keep growing in this month’s mass exploitation of MOVEit 0-day | Ars Technica

• Manchester University Breach Victims Hit with Triple Extortion - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• 8 Tech And IT Companies Targeted In The MOVEit Attacks | CRN

• MOVEIt breach impacts Genworth, CalPERS as data for 3.2 million exposed (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Clop names PWC, Ernst & Young, and Sony in MOVEit hack | Cybernews

• UCLA, Siemens Among Latest Victims of Relentless MOVEit Attacks (darkreading.com)

• Siemens Energy, Schneider Electric Targeted by Ransomware Group in MOVEit Attack - SecurityWeek

• Clop ransomware gang obtained personal data of 45,000 New York City students in MOVEit hack | Engadget

• 10 banks alleged victims of ransomware attacks on file transfer software | American Banker

• Almost 770,000 Calpers members hit by cyber attack | Financial Times (ft.com)

• Ransomware and phishing attacks continue to plague businesses in Singapore | ZDNET

• K-12 schools are revisiting their cyber strategies after year of ransomware attacks (axios.com)

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Mobile Malware and Phishing Surge in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• How a Layered Security Approach Can Minimise Email Threats - MSSP Alert

• Less than half of UK banks implement most secure DMARC level | CSO Online

• Over Half of UK Banks Are Exposing Customers to Email Fraud - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

BEC – Business Email Compromise

• Widespread BEC attacks threaten European organisations - Help Net Security

• The Current State of Business Email Compromise Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

• Cyber Crime Group 'Muddled Libra' Targets BPO Sector with Advanced Social Engineering (thehackernews.com)

• How scammers use psychology to create some of the most convincing internet cons – and what to watch out for (theconversation.com)

• Unmasking Pig-Butchering Scams and Protecting Your Financial Future - Security News (trendmicro.com)

Artificial Intelligence

• Malwarebytes ChatGPT Survey Reveals 81% are Concerned by Generative AI Security Risks (darkreading.com)

• Sharing Your Business’ Data With ChatGPT: How Risky Is It? - MSSP Alert

• ChatGPT users at risk for credential theft | TechTarget

• OpenAI lawsuit: Maker of ChatGPT sued over alleged data usage | CNN Business

• Lawyers who cited fake cases invented by ChatGPT must pay • The Register

• Generative AI Projects Pose Major Cyber security Risk to Enterprises (darkreading.com)

• How to Deploy Generative AI Safely and Responsibly (trendmicro.com)

• Generative-AI apps & ChatGPT: Potential risks and mitigation strategies (thehackernews.com)

• Does the world need an arms control treaty for AI? | CyberScoop

• When It Comes to Secure Coding, ChatGPT Is Quintessentially Human (darkreading.com)

• AI-Enabled Voice Cloning Anchors Deepfaked Kidnapping (darkreading.com)

2FA/MFA

• LastPass users furious after being locked out due to MFA resets (bleepingcomputer.com)

Malware

• SMBs plagued by exploits, trojans and backdoors | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• OpenSSH Trojan Campaign Targets IoT and Linux Systems - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Hackers Use Weaponized PDF Files to Attack Organisations (cybersecuritynews.com)

• New Mockingjay Process Injection Technique Could Let Malware Evade Detection (thehackernews.com)

• Fileless attacks surge as cyber Criminals evade cloud security defences | CSO Online

• NSA warns of ‘false sense of security’ against BlackLotus malware (therecord.media)

• Chinese state-backed hackers accidentally infected a European hospital with malware (therecord.media)

• Trojanized Super Mario Bros game spreads malware- - Security Affairs

• New PindOS JavaScript dropper deploys Bumblebee, IcedID malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• NPM Plagued with ‘Manifest Confusion’ Malware-Hiding Weakness (darkreading.com)

• Newly Uncovered ThirdEye Windows-Based Malware Steals Sensitive Data (thehackernews.com)

• North Korean Andariel APT used a new malware named EarlyRat - Security Affairs

Mobile

• Mobile Malware and Phishing Surge in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Apple says proposed UK law ‘poses a serious threat’ to end-to-end encryption - The Verge

• Anatsa Android trojan now steals banking info from users in US, UK (bleepingcomputer.com)

• How Dangerous Is Smartphone Ransomware? (makeuseof.com)

• Aussie PM says, “Shut down your phone every 24 hours for 5 mins” – but that’s not enough on its own – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Fluhorse: Flutter-Based Android Malware Targets Credit Cards and 2FA Codes (thehackernews.com)

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

• Global rise in DDoS attacks threatens digital infrastructure - Help Net Security

• Pro-Russia DDoSia hacktivist project sees 2,400% membership increase (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Diablo IV video game hit by DDoS attacks • Graham Cluley

Internet of Things – IoT

• OpenSSH Trojan Campaign Targets IoT and Linux Systems - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Someone sent mysterious smartwatches to US Military personnel - Security Affairs

• The tech flaw that lets hackers control surveillance cameras - BBC News

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Fear trumps anger when it comes to data breaches – angry customers vent, but fearful customers don't come back (theconversation.com)

• Latitude hit with $1 million lawsuit over data breach (9news.com.au)

• Recruitment portal exposes data of US pilot candidates • The Register

• Genworth Financial Reports Data Breach Leaking SSNs Belonging to 2.7M Policyholders and Customers (darkreading.com)

• 3 Steps to Successfully & Ethically Navigate a Data Breach (darkreading.com)

• Sensitive Information Stolen in LetMeSpy Stalkerware Hack - SecurityWeek

• US Patent Office Data Spill Exposes Trademark Applications (darkreading.com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• 2,700 People Tricked Into Working for Cyber Crime Syndicates Rescued in Philippines - SecurityWeek

• Security analyst wanted by both Russia and the US • The Register

• Former Group-IB manager has been arrested in Kazahstan - Security Affairs

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• Twitter Hacker Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for $120,000 Crypto Scam (thehackernews.com)

• JOKERSPY used to target a cryptocurrency exchange in Japan - Security Affairs

• Japanese Cryptocurrency Exchange Falls Victim to JokerSpy macOS Backdoor Attack (thehackernews.com)

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Employees worry less about cyber security best practices in the summer - Help Net Security

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• How scammers use psychology to create some of the most convincing internet cons – and what to watch out for (theconversation.com)

• Twitter Hacker Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for $120,000 Crypto Scam (thehackernews.com)

• Unmasking Pig-Butchering Scams and Protecting Your Financial Future - Security News (trendmicro.com)

• Safety checks run down and boom time for criminals: this is why the UK is becoming the ‘dustbin of Europe’ | Polly Toynbee | The Guardian

• This Chatbot Gives Phone Call Scammers a Taste of Their Own Medicine (pcmag.com)

• The robotic falcon maker who was targeted by cyber criminals - BBC News

Deepfakes

• AI-Enabled Voice Cloning Anchors Deepfaked Kidnapping (darkreading.com)

Insurance

• University of California Sues Lloyd’s Syndicates Over Cyber Insurance - WSJ

• Second Wave of Cyber Insurance | Arctic Wolf

• Insurance companies using AI for underwriting and due diligence amid cyber threats | Fox Business

• How Big Is the Cyber Insurance Market? Can It Keep Growing? | Lawfare (lawfaremedia.org)

Dark Web

• Citizen of Croatia charged with running the Monopoly Market drug marketplace - Security Affairs

• Inside Threat Actors: Dark Web Forums vs. Illicit Telegram Communities (bleepingcomputer.com)

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• Businesses are ignoring third-party security risks - Help Net Security

Cloud/SaaS

• 95% fear inadequate cloud security detection and response - Help Net Security

• The unhappy reality of cloud security in 2023 | InfoWorld

• Fileless attacks surge as cyber Criminals evade cloud security defences | CSO Online

• 5 Pitfalls in Cloud Cyber security’s Shared Responsibility Model - MSSP Alert

• Uncovering attacker tactics through cloud honeypots - Help Net Security

• How hardening Microsoft 365 tenants mitigates potential cloud attacks - Help Net Security

• Outlook for the web outage impacts users across America (bleepingcomputer.com)

• 3 Tips to Increase Hybrid and Multicloud Security (darkreading.com)

Identity and Access Management

• 10 things every CISO needs to know about identity and access management (IAM) | VentureBeat

• Human vs Machine Identity Risk Management (trendmicro.com)

Encryption

• Apple says proposed UK law ‘poses a serious threat’ to end-to-end encryption - The Verge

• Iran finally admits its 'quantum processor' was in fact not quantum at all | PC Gamer

• How to stop quantum computers from breaking the internet’s encryption (sciencenews.org)

Open Source

• Linux version of Akira ransomware targets VMware ESXi servers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• OpenSSH Trojan Campaign Targets IoT and Linux Systems - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Exploring The Anatomy Of A Linux Kernel Exploit | Hackaday

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

• A New Era Of Security: Are Passwords No Longer Fit For Purpose? (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

Social Media

• Twitter Hacker Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for $120,000 Crypto Scam (thehackernews.com)

Travel

• Employees worry less about cyber security best practices in the summer - Help Net Security

Cyber Bullying, Cyber Stalking and Sextortion

• Sensitive Information Stolen in LetMeSpy Stalkerware Hack - SecurityWeek

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• SEC Alleges SolarWinds CFO, CISO Violated US Securities Laws (bankinfosecurity.com)

• US firm 'breached GDPR' by reputation-scoring EU citizens • The Register

• JP Morgan accidentally deletes 47 million comms records • The Register

Models, Frameworks and Standards

• Companies Call for Changes to UK’s Cyber Essentials Scheme - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• How to Reach Compliance with HIPAA (trendmicro.com)

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

• SEC notice to SolarWinds CISO and CFO roils cyber security industry | CSO Online

• Skill gap plagues cyber security industry as jobs go unfilled | Mint (livemint.com)

• Experts Unconvinced by Upskill in UK Cyber Program - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

• Hacker responsible for 2020 Twitter breach sentenced to prison | TechCrunch

• Citizen of Croatia charged with running the Monopoly Market drug marketplace - Security Affairs

• 2,700 People Tricked Into Working for Cyber Crime Syndicates Rescued in Philippines - SecurityWeek

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

• Someone sent mysterious smartwatches to US Military personnel - Security Affairs

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

Russia

• Microsoft Warns of Widescale Credential Stealing Attacks by Russian Hackers (thehackernews.com)

• Russian Spies, War Ministers Reliant on Cyber Crime in Pariah State (darkreading.com)

• What is Cyberwar? - SecurityWeek

• Pro-Russia DDoSia hacktivist project sees 2,400% membership increase (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Sachkov's Revenge: Jailed On Treason Charges, A Russian Cyber security Exec Goes On The Offensive (rferl.org)

• Microsoft hackers say they work for Sudan, not Russia | Fortune

• 'Chinese spy balloon' was 'crammed' with US hardware • The Register

• 'Wagner' Ransomware Targets Computers in Russia | PCMag

• Hackers attack Russian satellite telecom provider, claim affiliation with Wagner Group | CyberScoop

China

• Chinese Hackers Using Never-Before-Seen Tactics for Critical Infrastructure Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• China's 'Volt Typhoon' APT Now Exploits Zoho ManageEngine (darkreading.com)

• Ministers accused of ‘letting Huawei off the hook’ after scrapping release of security report (telegraph.co.uk)

• Chinese state-backed hackers accidentally infected a European hospital with malware (therecord.media)

• 'Chinese spy balloon' was 'crammed' with US hardware • The Register

Iran

• The potent cyber adversary threatening to further inflame Iranian politics | CyberScoop

• From MuddyC3 to PhonyC2: Iran's MuddyWater Evolves with a New Cyber Weapon (thehackernews.com)

• Charming Kitten’s PowerStar Malware Evolves with Advanced Techniques - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Iran finally admits its 'quantum processor' was in fact not quantum at all | PC Gamer

North Korea

• New EarlyRAT malware linked to North Korean Andariel hacking group (bleepingcomputer.com)

Misc/Other/Unknown

• Someone sent mysterious smartwatches to US Military personnel - Security Affairs

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Vulnerability Management

• SMBs plagued by exploits, trojans and backdoors | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Cyber attackers Still Rely on Decades-Old Security Weaknesses & Tactics, Barracuda Reports - MSSP Alert

• Remediation Ballet Is a Pas de Deux of Patch and Performance (darkreading.com)

• Micropatches: What they are and how they work - Help Net Security

• MITRE Unveils Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses of 2023: Are You at Risk? (thehackernews.com)

• When It Comes to Secure Coding, ChatGPT Is Quintessentially Human (darkreading.com)

• It's 2023 and out-of-bounds write bugs are still number one • The Register

Vulnerabilities

• VMware fixed five memory corruption issues in vCenter Server - Security Affairs

• US Cyber security Agency Adds 6 Flaws to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog (thehackernews.com)

• CISA Says Critical Zyxel NAS Vulnerability Exploited in Attacks - SecurityWeek

• Serious IDOR Vulnerability Found In Microsoft Teams (latesthackingnews.com)

• Fortinet fixes critical FortiNAC RCE, install updates asap - Security Affairs

• Details Disclosed for Critical SAP Vulnerabilities, Including Wormable Exploit Chain - SecurityWeek

• Critical flaw in VMware Aria Operations for Networks sees mass exploitation | CSO Online

• Internet Systems Consortium (ISC) fixed three DoS flaw in BIND - Security Affairs

• Chrome 114 Update Patches High-Severity Vulnerabilities - SecurityWeek

• Critical Security Flaw in Social Login Plugin for WordPress Exposes Users' Accounts (thehackernews.com)

• Grafana warns of critical auth bypass due to Azure AD integration (bleepingcomputer.com)

• The tech flaw that lets hackers control surveillance cameras - BBC News

• Exploit released for new Arcserve UDP auth bypass vulnerability (bleepingcomputer.com)

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Tools and Controls

• 95% fear inadequate cloud security detection and response - Help Net Security

• How a Layered Security Approach Can Minimize Email Threats - MSSP Alert

• ITDR Combines and Refines Familiar Cyber security Approaches (darkreading.com)

• How API gateways improve API security | TechTarget

• Uncovering attacker tactics through cloud honeypots - Help Net Security

• How Active Directory Bridging Extends Security Automation to Hybrid IT Environments (darkreading.com)

• Are GPT-Based Models the Right Fit for AI-Powered Cyber security? - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• 10 things every CISO needs to know about identity and access management (IAM) | VentureBeat

• FIDO Alliance Publishes Guidance for Deploying Passkeys in the Enterprise (darkreading.com)

• 3 Tips to Increase Hybrid and Multicloud Security (darkreading.com)

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Other News

• Submarine Cables at Growing Risk of Cyber-Attacks - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Businesses count the cost of network downtime - Help Net Security

• Exploring the persistent threat of cyber attacks on healthcare - Help Net Security

• How Can Manufacturers Stop Being The Top Target For Cyber Crime? (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Ex-FBI employee jailed for mishandling classified material • The Register

• Rapid7: Japan Threat Landscape Takes on Global Significance - SecurityWeek

• Over 1500 gas stations disrupted in Canada, after energy giant hacked (bitdefender.com)

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Sector Specific

Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.

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

·       Automotive

·       Construction

·       Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

·       Defence & Space

·       Education & Academia

·       Energy & Utilities

·       Estate Agencies

·       Financial Services

·       FinTech

·       Food & Agriculture

·       Gaming & Gambling

·       Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)

·       Health/Medical/Pharma

·       Hotels & Hospitality

·       Insurance

·       Legal

·       Manufacturing

·       Maritime

·       Oil, Gas & Mining

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

·       Retail & eCommerce

·       Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)

·       Startups

·       Telecoms

·       Third Sector & Charities

·       Transport & Aviation

·       Web3

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As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.

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Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 05 August 2022

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

• Average Cost of Data Breaches Hits Record High of $4.35 Million: IBM

The global average cost of data breaches reached an all-time high of $4.35 million in 2022 compared with $4.24 million in 2021, according to a new IBM Security report. About 60% of the breached organisations raised product and services prices due to the breaches.

The annual report, conducted by Ponemon Institute and analysed and sponsored by IBM Security, is based on the analysis of real-world data breaches experienced by 550 organisations globally between March 2021 and March 2022.

According to the report, about 83% of the organisations have experienced more than one breach in their lifetime, with nearly half of the costs reported to be incurred more than a year after the breach.

The report revealed that ransomware and destructive attacks represented 28% of breaches among the critical infrastructure organisations studied, indicating that threat actors are specifically targeting the sector to disrupt global supply chains. The critical infrastructure sector includes financial services, industrial, transportation, and healthcare companies.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3668655/average-cost-of-data-breaches-hits-record-high-of-435-million-ibm.html#tk.rss_news

• Researchers Warns of Large-Scale Adversary-in-the-Middle (AiTM) Attacks Targeting Enterprise Users

A new, large-scale phishing campaign has been observed using adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) techniques to get around security protections and compromise enterprise email accounts.

It uses a technique capable of bypassing multi-factor authentication. The campaign is specifically designed to reach end users in enterprises that use Microsoft's email services.

Prominent targets include fintech, lending, insurance, energy, manufacturing, and federal credit union verticals located in the US, UK, New Zealand, and Australia.

This is not the first time such a phishing attack has come to light. Last month, Microsoft disclosed that over 10,000 organisations had been targeted since September 2021 by means of AitM techniques to breach accounts secured with multi-factor authentication (MFA).

The ongoing campaign, effective June 2022, commences with an invoice-themed email sent to targets containing an HTML attachment, which includes a phishing URL embedded within it.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/08/researchers-warns-of-large-scale-aitm.html

• UK NHS Suffers Outage After Cyber Attack on Managed Service Provider

The UK National Health Service (NHS) 111 emergency services were affected by a significant and ongoing outage triggered by a cyber attack that hit the systems of British managed service provider (MSP) Advanced.

Advanced's Adastra client patient management solution, which is used by 85% of NHS 111 services, was hit by a major outage together with several other services provided by the MSP, according to a status page.

"There was a major outage of a computer system that is used to refer patients from NHS 111 Wales to out-of-hours GP providers," the Welsh Ambulance Services said. "This system is used by Local Health Boards to coordinate these services for patients. The ongoing outage is significant and has been far-reaching, impacting each of the four nations in the UK."

The UK public was advised to access the NHS 111 emergency services using the online platform until the incident is resolved.

While no details were provided regarding the nature of the cyber attack, based on the wording, it is likely that this was a ransomware or data extortion attack.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/uk-nhs-suffers-outage-after-cyberattack-on-managed-service-provider/

• A Third of Organisations Experience a Ransomware Attack Once a Week

Ransomware attacks show no sign of slowing. According to new research published by Menlo Security, a third of organisations experience a ransomware attack at least once a week, with one in 10 experiencing them more than once a day.

The research, conducted among 500+ IT security decision makers at US and UK organisations with more than 1,000 employees, highlights the impact this is having on security professionals’ own wellbeing. When asked what keeps them awake at night, 41% of respondents say they worry about ransomware attacks evolving beyond their team’s knowledge and skillset, while 39% worry about them evolving beyond their company’s security capabilities.

Their biggest concern, however, is the risk of employees ignoring corporate security advice and clicking on links or attachments containing malware (46%). Respondents worry more about this than they do their own job security, with just a quarter (26%) of respondents worried about losing their job.

According to the report, around half of organisations (61% US and 44% UK) have been the victim of a successful ransomware attack in the last 18 months, with customers and prospects the most likely entry point for an attack.

Partners/suppliers and employees/contractors are also seen as serious security risks, although one in 10 admit they are unable to identify how the attacks got in. The top three ransomware attack vectors are email (54%), web browsers via a desktop or laptop (49%) and mobile devices (39%).

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/08/04/organizations-experience-ransomware-attack/

• Ransomware Products and Services Ads on Dark Web Show Clues to Danger

Why is ransomware’s destructive potential so daunting? Some clues are in the “for sale” ads. In an examination of some 35 million dark web URLs, a provider of machine identity management and a forensic specialist found some 475 web pages peddling sophisticated ransomware products and services with a number of high profile crews hawking ransomware-as-a-service.

The work is a joint effort between the Salt Lake City-based Venafi and Forensic Pathways, which took place between November 2021 and March 2022. Researchers used Forensic’s Dark Search Engine to carry out the investigation.

Here are some of the research findings:

• 87% of the ransomware found on the dark web has been delivered via malicious macros to infect targeted systems.

• 30 different “brands” of ransomware were identified within marketplace listings and forum discussions.

• Many strains of ransomware being sold — such as Babuk, GoldenEye, Darkside/BlackCat, Egregor, HiddenTear and WannaCry — have been successfully used in high-profile attacks.

• Ransomware strains used in high-profile attacks command a higher price for associated services. For example, the most expensive listing was $1,262 for a customised version of Darkside ransomware, which was used in the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack.

• Source code listings for well-known ransomware generally command higher price points. For example, Babuk source code is listed for $950 and Paradise source code is selling for $593.

Ransomware Sold for as Little as $1: In addition to a variety of ransomware at various price points, a wide range of services and tools that help make it easier for attackers with minimal technical skills to launch ransomware attacks are for sale on the dark web, Venafi said. Services with the greatest number of listings include those offering source code, build services, custom development services and ransomware packages that include step-by-step tutorials.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-breaches-and-attacks/ransomware/ransomware-products-services-ads-on-dark-web-show-clues-to-danger/

• Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing: How Malware Tricks Users and Antivirus

One of the primary methods used by malware distributors to infect devices is by deceiving people into downloading and running malicious files, and to achieve this deception, malware authors are using a variety of tricks.

Some of these tricks include masquerading malware executables as legitimate applications, signing them with valid certificates, or compromising trustworthy sites to use them as distribution points.

According to VirusTotal, a security platform for scanning uploaded files for malware, some of these tricks are happening on a much larger scale than initially thought.

The platform has compiled a report presenting stats from January 2021 until July 2022, based on the submission of two million files daily, illustrating trends in how malware is distributed.

• Abusing legitimate domains: Distributing malware through legitimate, popular, and high-ranking websites allows threat actors to evade IP-based blocklists, enjoy high availability, and provide a greater level of trust.

• Using stolen code-signing certificates: Signing malware samples with valid certificates stolen from companies is a reliable way to evade AV detection and security warnings on the host. Of all the malicious samples uploaded to VirusTotal between January 2021 and April 2022, over a million were signed, and 87% used a valid certificate.

• Disguised as popular software: Masquerading a malware executable as a legitimate, popular application has seen an upward trend in 2022. Victims download these files thinking they’re getting the applications they need, but upon running the installers, they infect their systems with malware. The most mimicked applications are Skype, Adobe Acrobat, VLC, and 7zip.

• Lacing legitimate installers - Finally, there’s the trick of hiding malware inside legitimate application installers and running the infection process in the background while the real apps execute in the foreground. Based on VirusTotal stats, this practice also appears to be on the rise this year, using Google Chrome, Malwarebytes, Windows Updates, Zoom, Brave, Firefox, ProtonVPN, and Telegram as lures.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/wolf-in-sheep-s-clothing-how-malware-tricks-users-and-antivirus/

• Microsoft Accounts Targeted with New MFA-Bypassing Phishing Kit

A new large-scale phishing campaign targeting credentials for Microsoft email services use a custom proxy-based phishing kit to bypass multi-factor authentication.

Researchers believe the campaign's goal is to breach corporate accounts to conduct BEC (business email compromise) attacks, diverting payments to bank accounts under their control using falsified documents.

The phishing campaign's targets include fin-tech, lending, accounting, insurance, and Federal Credit Union organisations in the US, UK, New Zealand, and Australia.

The campaign was discovered by Zscaler's ThreatLabz researchers, who report that the operation is still ongoing, and the phishing actors register new phishing domains almost daily.

Starting in June 2022, Zscaler's analysts noticed a spike in sophisticated phishing attempts against specific sectors and users of Microsoft email services.

Some of the newly registered domains used in the campaign are typo-squatted versions of legitimate domains.

Notably, many phishing emails originated from the accounts of executives working in these organisations, whom the threat actors most likely compromised earlier.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/microsoft-accounts-targeted-with-new-mfa-bypassing-phishing-kit/

• Cyber Attack Prevention Is Cost-Effective, So Why Aren’t Businesses Investing to Protect?

Cyber attacks like ransomware, BEC scams and data breaches are some of the key issues businesses are facing today, but despite the number of high-profile incidents, many boardrooms are reluctant to free up budget to invest in the cyber security measures necessary to avoid becoming the next victim.

In a Help Net Security interview, Former Pentagon Chief Strategy Officer Jonathan Reiber, VP Cyber security Strategy and Policy, AttackIQ, discusses how now, more than ever, companies need to protect themselves from cyber threat actors. He offers insight for CISOs, from talking to the Board to proper budget allocation.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/08/01/cyberattack-prevention-investing/

• Securing Your Move to the Hybrid Cloud

The combination of private and public cloud infrastructure, which most organisations are already using, poses unique security challenges. There are many reasons why organisations adopt the public cloud, from enabling rapid growth without the burden of capacity planning to leveraging flexibility and agility in delivering customer-centric services. However, this use can leave companies open to threats.

Since regulatory requirements or other preferences dictate that certain applications remain on private (on-prem) infrastructure, many organisations choose to maintain a mix of private and public infrastructure. Additionally, organisations typically use multiple cloud providers simultaneously or preserve the option to move between providers. However, this hybrid approach presents unique and diverse security challenges. Different cloud providers and private cloud platforms may offer similar capabilities but different ways of implementing security controls, along with disparate management tools.

The question then becomes: How can an organisation maintain consistent governance, policy enforcement and controls across different clouds? And how can it ensure that it maintains its security posture when moving between them? Fortunately, there are steps professionals can take to ensure that applications are continuously secure, starting from the early stages of development and extending throughout the lifecycle.

https://threatpost.com/secure-move-cloud/180335/

• Lessons from the Russian Cyber Warfare Attacks

Cyber warfare tactics may not involve tanks and bombs, but they often go hand-in-hand with real combat.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a prime example. Before Russian troops crossed the border, Russian hackers had already taken down Ukrainian government websites. And after the conflict started, the hacktivist group Anonymous turned the tables by hacking Russian media to shut down propaganda about the war.

In these unprecedented times of targeted attacks against governments and financial institutions, every organisation should be on heightened alert about protecting their critical infrastructure and digital attack surface.

With the Russia-Ukraine conflict as a backdrop, two Trend Micro security experts recently discussed cyber warfare techniques and how they’re an important reminder for every business to proactively manage cyber risk.

https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/ciso/22/h/russian-cyber-warfare-attacks.html

• Four Sneaky Attacker Evasion Techniques You Should Know About

Remember those portrayals of hackers in the 80s and 90s where you just knew when you got pwned? A blue screen of death, a scary message, a back-and-forth text exchange with a hacker—if you got pwned in a movie in the 80s and 90s, you knew it right off the bat.

What a shame that today’s hackers have learned to be quiet when infiltrating an environment. Sure, “loud” attacks like ransomware still exist, but threat actors have learned that if they keep themselves hidden, they can usually do far more damage. For hackers, a little stealth can go a long way. Some attack tactics are inherently quiet, making them arguably more dangerous as they can be harder to detect. Here are four of these attack tactics you should know about.

1. Trusted Application Abuse: Attackers know that many people have applications that they inherently trust, making those trusted applications the perfect launchpad for cyber attacks. Threat actors know that defenders and the tools they use are often on the hunt for new malware presenting itself in environments. What isn’t so easy to detect is when the malware masquerades under legitimate applications.

2. Trusted Infrastructure Abuse: Much like trusted application abuse, trusted infrastructure abuse is the act of using legitimate, publicly hosted services and toolsets (such as Dropbox or Google Drive) as part of the attack infrastructure. Threat actors know that people tend to trust Dropbox and Google Drive. As a result, this makes these tools a prime means for threat actors to carry out malicious activity. Threat actors often find trusted infrastructure abuse easy because these services aren’t usually blocked at an enterprise’s gateway. In turn, outbound communications can hide in plain sight.

3. Obfuscation: Although cyber security has more than its fair share of tedious acronyms, the good news is that many terms can be broken down by their generic dictionary definitions. According to dictionary.com, this is what obfuscate means: “To make something unclear, obscure or difficult to understand.” And that’s exactly what it means in cyber security: finding ways to conceal malicious behaviour. In turn, this makes it more difficult for analysts and the tools they use to flag suspicious or malicious activity.

4. Persistence: Imagine writing up documentation using your computer, something you may well do in your role. You’ve spent a ton of time doing the research required, finding the right sources and compiling all your information into a document. Now, imagine not hitting save on that document and losing it as soon as you reboot your computer. Sound like a nightmare—or perhaps a real anxiety-inducing experience you’ve been through before? Threat actors agree. And that’s why they establish persistence. They don’t want all of their hard work to get into your systems in the first place to be in vain just because you restart your computer. They establish persistence to make sure they can still hang around even after you reboot.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-guests/four-sneaky-attacker-evasion-techniques-you-should-know-about/

• Zero-Day Defence: Tips for Defusing the Threat

Because they leave so little time to patch and defuse, zero-day threats require a proactive, multi-layered approach based on zero trust.

The recent Atlassian Confluence remote code execution bug is just the latest example of zero-day threats targeting critical vulnerabilities within major infrastructure providers. The specific threat, an Object-Graph Navigation Language (OGNL) injection, has been around for years but took on new significance given the scope of the Atlassian exploit. And OGNL attacks are on the rise.

Once bad actors find such a vulnerability, proof-of-concept exploits start knocking at the door, seeking unauthenticated access to create new admin accounts, execute remote commands, and take over servers. In the Atlassian case, Akamai's threat research team identified that the number of unique IP addresses attempting these exploits grew to more than 200 within just 24 hours.

Defending against these exploits becomes a race against time worthy of a 007 movie. The clock is ticking and you don't have much time to implement a patch and "defuse" the threat before it's too late. But first you need to know that an exploit is underway. That requires a proactive, multi-layered approach to online security based on zero trust.

What do these layers look like? There are a number of different practices that security teams — and their third-party Web application and infrastructure partners — should be aware of.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/zero-day-defense-tips-for-defusing-the-threat

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Threats

Ransomware

• Reported ransomware attacks are just the tip of the iceberg. That's a problem for everyone | ZDNet

• Initial Access Brokers - Key to Rise In Ransomware Attacks (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Ransomware gangs are hitting roadblocks, but aren't stopping (yet) - Help Net Security

• SonicWall: Ransomware Global Cyber Attack Volume Shrinks, Still Exceeds Totals for 2017-2019 - MSSP Alert

• 87% of the ransomware found on the dark web has been delivered via malicious macros - Help Net Security

• LockBit Ransomware Abuses Windows Defender for Payload Loading | SecurityWeek.Com

• German Chambers of Industry and Commerce hit by 'massive' cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Brand-New HavanaCrypt Ransomware Poses as Google Software Update App Uses Microsoft Hosting Service IP Address as C&C Server (trendmicro.com)

• Ransomware Task Force releases SMB blueprint for defence and mitigation (scmagazine.com)

• Prepare for ransomware before you're hit • The Register

• German semiconductor giant Semikron says hackers encrypted its network | TechCrunch

• Ransomware Hit on European Pipeline & Energy Supplier Encevo Linked to BlackCat (darkreading.com)

• Luxembourg Energy Company Hit by Ransomware | SecurityWeek.Com

• Spanish research agency still recovering after ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Countdown Clock Puts Pressure on Phishing Targets - Infosecurity Magazine

• The most impersonated brand in phishing attacks? Microsoft - Help Net Security

• Open Redirect Flaw Snags Amex, Snapchat User Data | Threatpost

• American Express, Snapchat Open-Redirect Vulnerabilities Exploited in Phishing Scheme (darkreading.com)

• A new malware threat is spying on users' Gmail inbox — do this before you're next | Laptop Mag

• Massive New Phishing Campaign Targets Microsoft Email Service Users (darkreading.com)

• North Korean Hackers Use Browser Extension to Spy on Gmail and AOL Accounts - Infosecurity Magazine

Other Social Engineering; SMishing, Vishing, etc

• US FCC warns of the rise of smishing attacks - Security Affairs

Malware

• VirusTotal Reveals Most Impersonated Software in Malware Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Gootkit Loader Resurfaces with Updated Tactic to Compromise Targeted Computers (thehackernews.com)

• Woody RAT: A new feature-rich malware spotted in the wild | Malwarebytes Labs

• VirusTotal: Threat Actors Mimic Legitimate Apps, Use Stolen Certs to Spread Malware (darkreading.com)

• New IoT RapperBot Malware Targeting Linux Servers via SSH Brute-Forcing Attack (thehackernews.com)

• New Linux malware brute-forces SSH servers to breach networks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Credential Stealer Malware Raccoon Updated to Obtain Passwords More Efficiently - Infosecurity Magazine

• Attackers cause Discord discord with malicious npm packages • The Register

• Gootkit AaaS malware is still active and uses updated tactics - Security Affairs

Mobile

• Facebook finds new Android malware used by APT hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Google Patches Critical Android Bluetooth Flaw in August Security Bulletin - Infosecurity Magazine

• Banking trojan finds new routes to accounts by infiltrating Google Play Store (scmagazine.com)

Internet of Things – IoT

• A Digital Home Has Many Open Doors (darkreading.com)

• All the Data Amazon's Ring Cameras Collect About You | WIRED

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Thousands of hackers flock to 'Dark Utilities' C2-as-a-Service (bleepingcomputer.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• Phishing campaign targets Coinbase wallet holders to steal cryptocurrency in real-time - Help Net Security

• Nearly $200 Million Stolen from Cryptocurrency Bridge Nomad | SecurityWeek.Com

• Crypto firm that promised security loses $200 million in 'frenzied free-for-all' hack | PC Gamer

• Nomad to crooks: Keep 10% as a bounty, return the rest • The Register

• Cyber attackers Drain Nearly $6M From Solana Crypto Wallets (darkreading.com)

• Man robbed of $800,000 in cryptocurrency sues Google • The Register

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• T-Mobile Store Owner Made $25M Using Stolen Employee Credentials (darkreading.com)

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• UK Branded Europe’s “Capital of Card Fraud” - Infosecurity Magazine

• Huge network of 11,000 fake investment sites targets Europe (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Online payment fraud losses accelerate at an alarming rate - Help Net Security

• COMMENT: 'Hi Mum, Hi Dad' Scams On The Rise - Britons Already (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Increase in Fake Tickets Being Sold by Cyber criminals on Social Media - IT Security Guru

AML/CFT/Sanctions

• Robinhood Crypto Penalized $30M for Violating NY Cybersecurity Regulations | SecurityWeek.Com

Dark Web

• A Ransomware Explosion Fosters Thriving Dark Web Ecosystem (darkreading.com)

• The popularity of Dark Utilities 'C2-as-a-Service' rapidly increases - Security Affairs

Software Supply Chain

• Now is the time to focus on software supply chain security improvements - Help Net Security

Cloud/SaaS

• Cyber attackers Increasingly Target Cloud IAM as a Weak Link (darkreading.com)

• What Worries Security Teams About the Cloud? (darkreading.com)

• Who Has Control: The SaaS App Admin Paradox (thehackernews.com)

• Enterprises face a multitude of barriers to securing diverse cloud environments - Help Net Security

Open Source

• New Linux malware brute-forces SSH servers to breach networks (bleepingcomputer.com)

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

• Hackers stole passwords for accessing 140,000 payment terminals | TechCrunch

• Credential Canaries Create Minefield for Attackers (darkreading.com)

• 5 reasons why businesses should never use consumer-grade password managers | TechRadar

Social Media

• Hackers Exploit Twitter Vulnerability to Exposes 5.4 Million Accounts (thehackernews.com)

• Parliament shuts down TikTok account over China data security concerns (telegraph.co.uk)

• Over 3,200 Apps Leak Twitter API Keys, Some Allowing Account Hijacks (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Increase in Fake Tickets Being Sold by Cyber criminals on Social Media - IT Security Guru

Privacy

• DuckDuckGo browser now blocks all Microsoft trackers, most of the time (bleepingcomputer.com)

Cyber Bullying and Cyber Stalking

• Australia charges dev of Imminent Monitor RAT used by domestic abusers (bleepingcomputer.com)

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• Most companies are unprepared for CCPA and GDPR compliance - Help Net Security

• Data privacy: Collect what you need, protect what you collect | CSO Online

• India scraps data protection law, promises better successor • The Register

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

• Austrian Investigation Reveals Spyware Targeting Law Firms, Finance Institutions - Infosecurity Magazine

• Ukraine takes down 1,000,000 bots used for disinformation (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Nancy Pelosi ties Chinese cyber-attacks to Taiwan visit • The Register

• Spanish Research Center Suffers Cyber attack Linked to Russia | SecurityWeek.Com

• Russian organisations attacked with new Woody RAT malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Greek intelligence spied on journalist with a surveillance spyware - Security Affairs

• Rare Pegasus screenshots depict NSO Group's spyware capabilities | AppleInsider

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Double Whammy: Russian Hackers Launch Cyber Attacks On Lockheed Martin; Armed Forces Hack Into HIMARS -- Reports (eurasiantimes.com)

• Ukraine Shutters Major Russian Bot Farm - Infosecurity Magazine

Nation State Actors – China

• Chinese hackers use new Cobalt Strike-like attack framework (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Massive China-Linked Disinformation Campaign Taps PR Firm for Help (darkreading.com)

• Parliament shuts down TikTok account over China data security concerns (telegraph.co.uk)

• China, Huawei, and the eavesdropping threat | CSO Online

• Global network of fake news sites push Chinese propaganda, researchers find - CyberScoop

• Taiwanese military reports DDoS in wake of US Speaker visit • The Register

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• Cyber crime a Key Revenue Stream For North Korea's Weapons Program - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• North Korean Hackers Use Browser Extension to Spy on Gmail and AOL Accounts - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Nation State Actors – Iran

• Iranian Hackers Likely Behind Disruptive Cyber attacks Against Albanian Government (thehackernews.com)

• Disruptive Cyber attacks on NATO Member Albania Linked to Iran | SecurityWeek.Com

Nation State Actors – Misc APT

• Twitter breach exposes anonymous accounts to nation state hackers - CyberScoop

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Vulnerabilities

• VMware urges admins to patch critical auth bypass bug immediately (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Critical RCE Bug in DrayTek Routers Opens SMBs to Zero-Click Attacks (darkreading.com)

• Cisco fixes critical remote code execution bug in VPN routers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• F5 Fixes 21 Vulnerabilities With Quarterly Security Patches | SecurityWeek.Com

• High-Severity Bug in Kaspersky VPN Client Opens Door to PC Takeover (darkreading.com)

• Hackers Exploit Atlassian Confluence Vulnerability to Deploy New 'Ljl' Backdoor - Infosecurity Magazine

• Slack Resets Passwords After a Bug Exposed Hashed Passwords for Some Users (thehackernews.com)

• VMware Releases Patches for Several New Flaws Affecting Multiple Products (thehackernews.com)

• Hackers are actively exploiting password-stealing flaw in Zimbra (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Google fixed Critical Remote Code Execution flaw in Android - Security Affairs

• CISA adds Zimbra bug to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalogue - Security Affairs

• Warning! Critical flaws found in US Emergency Alert System • The Register

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Sector Specific

Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.

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

·       Automotive

·       Construction

·       Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

·       Defence & Space

·       Education & Academia

·       Energy & Utilities

·       Estate Agencies

·       Financial Services

·       FinTech

·       Food & Agriculture

·       Gaming & Gambling

·       Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)

·       Health/Medical/Pharma

·       Hotels & Hospitality

·       Insurance

·       Legal

·       Manufacturing

·       Maritime

·       Oil, Gas & Mining

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

·       Retail & eCommerce

·       Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)

·       Startups

·       Telecoms

·       Third Sector & Charities

·       Transport & Aviation

·       Web3

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Other News

• APIs attacked in 94% of companies in past year - IT Security Guru

• Over 60% of Organisations Expose SSH to the Internet - Infosecurity Magazine

• How IT and security teams can work together to improve endpoint security - Microsoft Security Blog

• Burnout and attrition impact tech teams sustaining modern digital systems - Help Net Security

• Machine learning creates a new attack surface requiring specialized defences - Help Net Security

• Cyber security lessons learned from COVID-19 pandemic (techtarget.com)

• 10 enterprise database security best practices (techtarget.com)

• Resolving Availability vs. Security, a Constant Conflict in IT (thehackernews.com)

• Tips to prevent RDP and other remote attacks on Microsoft networks | CSO Online

• 5 ways to unite security and compliance | CSO Online

• The Myth of Protection Online — and What Comes Next (darkreading.com)

• The Importance of Data Security in the Enterprise (techtarget.com)

• Who Needs Macros? | Threat Actors Pivot to Abusing Explorer and Other LOLBins via Windows Shortcuts - SentinelOne

• How IT Teams Can Use 'Harm Reduction' for Better Cyber security Outcomes (darkreading.com)

• Businesses lack visibility into run-time threats against mobile apps and APIs - Help Net Security

• Browser synchronization abuse: Bookmarks as a covert data exfiltration channel - Help Net Security

• Threats emanating from digital ecosystems can be a blind spot for businesses - Help Net Security

• Busting the Myths of Hardware Based Security - Security Affairs

• New Traffic Light Protocol standard released after five years (bleepingcomputer.com)

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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.