Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 19 April 2024

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

94% of Ransomware Victims Have Their Backups Targeted by Attackers

Organisations that have backed up sensitive data may believe they are safe from the effects of ransomware attacks; however a new study by Sophos reported that cyber criminals attempted to compromise the backups of 94% of companies hit by ransomware in the past year. The research found that criminals can demand a higher ransom when they compromise an organisation’s backup data, and those victims are twice as likely to pay. The median ransom demand is $2.3 million when backups are compromised, compared to $1 million otherwise.

Additionally, sectors like state and local governments, along with media and entertainment, are particularly vulnerable with nearly all affected organisations experiencing backup compromises.

Source: [Tech Republic]

Sharing IT Providers Is a Risk for Financial Services, Says IMF, as Rising Cyber Threats Pose Serious Concerns for Financial Stability

The International Monetary Fund has found that with greater digitalisation and heightened geopolitical tensions comes a greater risk of cyber attack with systemic consequences. The IMF noted that losses more than quadrupled since 2017 to $2.5 billion.

The push for technology has led to a number of financial services institutions relying on third-party IT firms, increasing their susceptibility to cyber disruption on a wider scale and a potential ripple effect were a third party to be hit. Whilst such third parties can increase the cyber resilience of a financial services institution, they also expose the industry to systemwide shocks, the IMF reports.

The IMF recommend institutions should identify potential systematic risks in their third-party IT firms. If the organisation is unable to perform such risk assessments, they should seek the expert support of an independent cyber security specialist.

Sources: [The Banker] [IMF]

Hackers are Threatening to Publish a Huge Stolen Sanctions and Financial Crimes Watchlist

A cyber crime group named GhostR has claimed responsibility for stealing 5.3 million records from the World-Check database, which companies use for "know your customer" (KYC) checks to screen potential clients for financial crime risks. The data theft occurred in March and originated from a Singapore-based firm with access to World-Check. The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), which owns World-Check, confirmed that the breach involved a third-party's dataset and not their systems directly. The stolen data includes sensitive information on individuals identified as high-risk, such as government-sanctioned figures and those linked to organised crime. LSEG is coordinating with the affected third party and authorities to protect the compromised data and prevent its dissemination.

Source: [TechCrunch]

Your Annual Cyber Security Is Not Working, But There is a Solution

Most organisations utilise annual security training in an attempt to ensure every department develops their cyber awareness skills and is able to spot and report a threat. However, this training is often out of date. Additionally, often training has limited interactivity, failing to capture and maintain employees’ attention and retention. On top of this, many training courses fail to connect employees to real-world scenarios that could occur in their specific job.

To get the most return on investment, organisations need to have more regular education, with the aim of long-term behavioural shifts in the work place, nudging employees towards greater cyber hygiene.

Source: [TechRadar]

73% of Security Professionals Say They’ve Missed, Ignored or Failed to Act on a High Priority Security Alert

A new survey from Coro, targeting small medium enterprises (SME) cyber security professionals, reveals that 73% have missed or ignored high priority security alerts due to overwhelming workloads and managing multiple security tools. The 2024 SME Security Workload Impact Report highlights that SMEs are inundated with alerts and responsibilities, which dilute their focus from critical security threats. On average, these professionals manage over 11 security tools and spend nearly five hours daily on tasks like monitoring and patching vulnerabilities. Respondents handle an average of over 2,000 endpoint security agents across 656 devices, more than half dealing with frequent vendor updates.

Source: [Business Wire]

Russia and Ukraine Top Inaugural World Cyber Crime Index

The inaugural World Cybercrime Index (WCI) identifies Russia, Ukraine, and China as the top sources of global cyber crime. This index, the first of its kind, was developed over four years by an international team from the University of Oxford and the University of New South Wales, with input from 92 cyber crime experts. These experts ranked countries based on the impact, professionalism, and technical skills of their cyber criminals across five cyber crime categories, including data theft, scams, and money laundering. Russia topped the list, followed by Ukraine and China, highlighting their significant roles in high-tech cyber criminal activities. The index, expected to be updated regularly, aims to provide a clearer understanding of cyber crime's global geography and its correlation with national characteristics like internet penetration and GDP. Of note the UK and US also made the top ten list, so it is not just other countries we need to worry about.

Top ten Countries in full:

1.       Russia

2.       Ukraine

3.       China

4.       United States

5.       Nigeria

6.       Romania

7.       North Korea

8.       United Kingdom

9.       Brazil

10.   India

Source: [Infosecurity Magazine]

Police Takedown Major Cyber Fraud Superstore: Will the Cyber Crime Industry Become More Fragmented?

The London Metropolitan Police takedown of online fraud service LabHost serves as a reminder of the industrial scale on which cyber crimes are being performed, with the service amassing 480,000 debit or credit card numbers and 64,000 PINs: all for the subscription price of £300 a month. The site even included tutorial videos on how to commit crime and offered customer service.

Such takedowns can lead to fragmentation. The 2,000 individuals subscribed to LabHost may have lost access but where there is demand, supply will be found. The takedown of one service allows other, small services to fill the gap. As the saying goes ‘nature abhors a vacuum’ and it is especially true when it comes to cyber crime; there is too much business for empty spaces not to be filled.

Sources: [ITPro] [The Guardian]

Small Businesses See Stable Business Climate; Cite Cyber Security as Top Threat

Small businesses are experiencing a stable business climate, as reflected by the Small Business Index, indicating an increasing optimism about the economy. However, the recent surge in cyber attacks, including major assaults on UnitedHealth Group and MGM Resorts, has underscored the growing vulnerability of these businesses to cyber crime. Despite 80% of small to medium-sized enterprises feeling well-protected by their IT defences, a Devolutions survey reveals that 69% of them still fell victim to cyber attacks last year. This has led to cyber security being viewed as the greatest threat by 60% of small businesses, even surpassing concerns over supply chain disruptions and the potential for another pandemic.

The average cost of these attacks ranges from $120,000 to $1.24 million, leading to 60% of affected businesses closing within six months. This vulnerability is further compounded by a common underestimation of the ransomware threat. While 71% of businesses feel prepared for future threats, the depth of this preparedness varies, with only 23% feeling very prepared for cyber security challenges.

Sources: [Claims Journal] [Inc.com]

The Threat from Inside: Insider Threats Surge 14% Annually as Cost-of-Living Crisis Bites

Employee fraud grew significantly last year thanks to the opportunities afforded by remote working and the pressures of a cost-of-living crisis in the UK, according to Cifas, an anti-fraud non-profit. The number of individuals recorded in its cross-sector Insider Threat Database (ITD) increased 14% year-on-year (YoY) in 2023, with the most common reason being “dishonest action to obtain benefit by theft or deception” (49%).

Insider threats – both by accident or with malicious intent – by their own employees are overlooked, despite accounting for 58% of cybersecurity breaches in recent years. As a result, a large proportion of businesses may lack any strategy to address insider risks, leaving them vulnerable to financial, operational and reputational harm.

Source: [Infosecurity Magazine] [TechRadar]

Dark Web Sales Driving Major Rise in Credential Attacks as Attackers Pummel Networks with Millions of Login Attempts

Dark web sales are driving a major rise in credential attacks, with a surge in infostealer malware attacks over the last three years significantly heightening the cyber crime landscape. Kaspersky reports a sevenfold increase in data theft attacks, leading to the compromise of over 26 million devices since 2022. Cyber criminals stole roughly 400 million login credentials last year alone, often sold on dark web markets for as low as $10 per log file. These stolen credentials have become a lucrative commodity, fostering a complex economy of initial access brokers who facilitate broader corporate network infiltrations. The Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions have been particularly affected, with millions of credentials stolen annually.

Simultaneously, Cisco’s Talos team warns of a current credential compromise campaign targeting networks via mass login attempts to VPN, SSH, and web apps. Attackers use a mix of generic and specific usernames with nearly 100 passwords from about 4,000 IP addresses, likely routed through anonymising services (such as TOR). These attacks pose risks like unauthorised access, account lockouts, and potential denial-of-service. The attack volume has increased since 18 March this year mirroring a previous alert by Cisco about a similar campaign affecting VPNs. Despite method and infrastructure similarities, a direct link between these campaigns is yet to be confirmed.

Sources: [Ars Technica] [Data Breach Today]

Large Enterprises Experience Breaches, Despite Large Security Stacks; Report Finds 93% of Breaches Lead to Downtime and Data Loss

93% of enterprises admitting to having had a breach have suffered significant consequences, ranging from unplanned downtime to data exposure or financial loss, according to a recent report. 73% of organisations made changes to their IT environment at least quarterly, however only 40% tested their security at the same frequency. Unfortunately, this means that many organisations are facing a significant gap in which changes in the IT environment are untested, and therefore their risk unknown.

Security tools can aid this, however as the report finds, despite having a large number of security stacks, 51% still reported a breach in the past 24 months. Organisations must keep in mind that security extends beyond the technical realm, and it needs to include people and operations.

Sources: [Infosecurity Magazine] [Help Net Security]

Charities Doing Worse than Private Sector in Staving off Cyber Attacks

Recent UK Government data reveals a significant cyber security challenge for charities, with about a third experiencing breaches this past year, equating to nearly 924,000 cyber crimes. Notably, 83% of these incidents involved phishing, with other prevalent threats including fraud emails and malware. The data found that 63% of charities said cyber security was a high priority for senior management, however, charities lag behind the private sector in adopting security monitoring tools and conducting risk assessments.

Additionally, while half of the charities implement basic cyber hygiene defences like malware protection and password policies, only about 40% seek external cyber security guidance.

Source: [TFN]

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Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Cyber attack volumes peak in first quarter | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Annual cyber security training isn’t working, so what’s the alternative? | TechRadar

• Russia and Ukraine Top Inaugural World Cyber Crime Index - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Insider Threats Surge 14% Annually as Cost-of-Living Crisis Bites - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Security breaches are causing more damage than ever before | TechRadar

• 73% of Security Professionals Say They’ve Missed, Ignored or Failed to Act on a High Priority Security Alert | Business Wire

• Small Businesses See Stable Business Climate; Cite Cyber Security as Top Threat (claimsjournal.com)

• Where Are You on the Cyber Security Readiness Index? Cisco Thinks You’re Probably Overconfident | Network Computing

• Experts say shocking level of cyber security breaches revealed in new government report “are avoidable” | LawNews.co.uk

• Report Suggests 93% of Breaches Lead to Downtime and Data Loss - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Hackers are threatening to publish a huge stolen sanctions and financial crimes watchlist | TechCrunch

• 51% of enterprises experienced a breach despite large security stacks - Help Net Security

• Rising Cyber Threats Pose Serious Concerns for Financial Stability (imf.org)

• Ex-Uber security exec Joe Sullivan is advising CISOs on how to avoid his legal fate (axios.com)

• Cyber Security Tips for Small Businesses Now Considered Big Hacking Targets | Inc.com

• The Five Main Steps In A Compliance Risk Assessment Plan (forbes.com)

• Pentesting accounts for an average of 13% of total IT security budgets | Security Magazine

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Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

• Sophos Study: 94% of Ransomware Victims Have Their Backups Targeted (techrepublic.com)

• New LockBit Variant Exploits Self-Spreading Features - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Cheap ransomware for sale on dark web marketplaces is changing the way hackers operate - Help Net Security

• FBI: Akira ransomware raked in $42 million from 250+ victims (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Infiltrating ransomware gangs on the dark web - CBS News

• What if we made ransomware payments illegal? | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Critical Atlassian Flaw Exploited to Deploy Linux Variant of Cerber Ransomware (thehackernews.com)

• Moldovan charged for operating botnet used to push ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Report Reveals Healthcare Industry is Disillusioned in its Preparedness for Cyber Attacks - IT Security Guru

• Ransomware, meet DRaaS: The future of disaster mitigation (betanews.com)

• A whole new generation of ransomware makers are attempting to shake up the market | TechRadar

• Security Think Tank: Approaches to ransomware need a course correction | Computer Weekly

• Ransomware Victims Who Pay a Ransom Drops to Record Low (databreachtoday.co.uk)

Ransomware Victims

• Change Healthcare’s ransomware attack costs reach nearly $1B • The Register

• Ransomware group Dark Angels claims the theft of 1TB of data from chipmaker Nexperia  (securityaffairs.com)

• Ransomware attacks against food, agriculture industry examined | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Ransomware attack compromises UN agency data | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• 840-bed hospital in France postpones procedures after cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• US think tank Heritage Foundation hit by cyber attack | TechCrunch

• Daixin ransomware gang claims attack on Omni Hotels (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ransomware feared as Octapharma Plasma closes 150+ centers • The Register

• Cyber Attack Takes Frontier Communications Offline (darkreading.com)

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Students turning to cyberfraud as huge phishing site infiltrated, police reveal | Cybercrime | The Guardian

• Microsoft Most Impersonated Brand in Phishing Scams - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• North Korean Group Kimsuky Exploits DMARC and Web Beacons - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• FBI warns of massive wave of road toll SMS phishing attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• FIN7 targets American automaker’s IT staff in phishing attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

Other Social Engineering

• Quishing: The New Cyber Threat to the Cleared Workplace - ClearanceJobs

• FBI warns of massive wave of road toll SMS phishing attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Countering Voice Fraud in the Age of AI (darkreading.com)

• Cyber criminals pose as LastPass staff to hack password vaults (bleepingcomputer.com)

Artificial Intelligence

• CISOs not changing priorities in response to AI threats (betanews.com)

• 92% of enterprises unprepared for AI security challenges - Help Net Security

• AI Copilot: Launching Innovation Rockets, But Beware of the Darkness Ahead (thehackernews.com)

• Enterprise Endpoints Aren't Ready for AI (darkreading.com)

• Best Practices & Guidance For AI Security Deployment 2024 (gbhackers.com)

• Countering Voice Fraud in the Age of AI (darkreading.com)

• C-suite weighs in on generative AI and security (securityintelligence.com)

2FA/MFA

• Cisco Duo warns third-party data breach exposed SMS MFA logs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Roku Mandates 2FA for Customers After Credential-Stuffing Compromise (darkreading.com)

Malware

• LockBit 3.0 Variant Generates Custom, Self-Propagating Malware (darkreading.com)

• TA558 Hackers Weaponize Images for Wide-Scale Malware Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• A sneaky new steganography malware is exploiting Microsoft Word — hundreds of firms around the world hit by attack | TechRadar

• Evil XDR: Researcher Turns Palo Alto Software Into Perfect Malware (darkreading.com)

• Firebird RAT creator and seller arrested in the US and Australia (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Destructive ICS Malware 'Fuxnet' Used by Ukraine Against Russian Infrastructure - Security Week

• New SteganoAmor attacks use steganography to target 320 orgs globally (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Russian APT Deploys New 'Kapeka' Backdoor in Eastern European Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Malicious Google Ads Pushing Fake IP Scanner Software with Hidden Backdoor (thehackernews.com)

• New Cyber Threat MadMxShell Exploits Typosquatting and Google Ads - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Fake cheat lures gamers into spreading infostealer malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

Mobile

• Government spyware is another reason to use an ad blocker | TechCrunch

• iPhone users warned to disable iMessage temporarily to avoid getting hacked - PhoneArena

• Enterprises face significant losses from mobile fraud - Help Net Security

• SoumniBot malware exploits Android bugs to evade detection (bleepingcomputer.com)

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

• DDoS attacks saw a huge surge in the first part of 2024, with one particular country badly hit | TechRadar

• 68% of Companies are More Vulnerable to DDoS Than They Think - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• DDoS attacks are still growing and there are new threats on the horizon | ITPro

Internet of Things – IoT

• How to protect IP surveillance cameras from Wi-Fi jamming - Help Net Security

• CISA warns of critical vulnerability in Chirp smart locks • The Register

• New rules for security of connected products in the UK and EU - Lexology

Data Breaches/Leaks

• CISA orders agencies impacted by Microsoft hack to mitigate risks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• US Government on High Alert as Russian Hackers Steal Critical Correspondence From Microsoft - Security Week

• Report Suggests 93% of Breaches Lead to Downtime and Data Loss - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Microsoft's 'cascade of security failures' allowed hackers to access US government employee emails | Windows Central

• Hackers are threatening to publish a huge stolen sanctions and financial crimes watchlist | TechCrunch

• Panama Papers: Money laundering trial of 27 defendants begins

• Over half a million Roku subscribers are the victims of the latest cyber security attack - PhoneArena

• Giant Tiger data breach may have impacted millions of customers (securityaffairs.com)

• Wells Fargo Says It Has Suffered Data Breach, Blames Employee for Exposing Personal Information on Pair of Customers - The Daily Hodl

• 5 Ways Your Personal Information May End Up On The Dark Web (slashgear.com)

• Law Firm to Pay $8M to Settle Health Data Hack Lawsuit (databreachtoday.co.uk)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• After a string of high profile cyber gang takedowns, is the cyber crime industry about to get a lot more fragmented? | ITPro

• Students turning to cyberfraud as huge phishing site infiltrated, police reveal | Cybercrime | The Guardian

• Russia and Ukraine Top Inaugural World Cyber Crime Index - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• Chinese fraud victims seek return of £3bn in bitcoin seized in UK (ft.com)

• Ex-Amazon engineer gets 3 years for hacking crypto exchanges (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Security engineer jailed for 3 years for $12M crypto hacks | TechCrunch

• Hackers hijack OpenMetadata apps in Kubernetes cryptomining attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Insider Threats Surge 14% Annually as Cost-of-Living Crisis Bites - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Underestimating the dangers within: mitigating the insider cyber threat | TechRadar

Insurance

• Cyber threats increase as insurance costs fall - report (emergingrisks.co.uk)

Cloud/SaaS

• Exposing the top cloud security threats - Help Net Security

• What Is Microsoft's Role in the Shared Responsibility Model for Data Security? (prweb.com)

• For Service Accounts, Accountability Is Key to Security (darkreading.com)

• The cloud is benefiting IT, but not business | InfoWorld

Identity and Access Management

• Identity in the Shadows: Shedding Light on Cyber Security's Unseen Threats (thehackernews.com)

Linux and Open Source

• Open source groups say more software projects may have been targeted for sabotage (yahoo.com)

• Critical Atlassian Flaw Exploited to Deploy Linux Variant of Cerber Ransomware (thehackernews.com)

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

• Attackers are pummelling networks around the world with millions of login attempts | Ars Technica

• Roku Mandates 2FA for Customers After Credential-Stuffing Compromise (darkreading.com)

• Threat actors look to stolen credentials | Computer Weekly

• Cisco warns of large-scale brute-force attacks against VPN and SSH services (securityaffairs.com)

• Bad Bots Drive 10% Annual Surge in Account Takeover Attacks - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• For Service Accounts, Accountability Is Key to Security (darkreading.com)

• Dark Web Sales Driving Major Rise in Credential Attacks (databreachtoday.co.uk)

Social Media

• Pro-Russian Campaign Exploits Meta’s Failure to Moderate Political Ads - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• EU tells Meta it can't paywall privacy • The Register

• Google to crack down on third-party YouTube apps that block ads (bleepingcomputer.com)

Malvertising

• Government spyware is another reason to use an ad blocker | TechCrunch

• New Cyber Threat MadMxShell Exploits Typosquatting and Google Ads - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Google to crack down on third-party YouTube apps that block ads (bleepingcomputer.com)

Training, Education and Awareness

• Annual cyber security training isn’t working, so what’s the alternative? | TechRadar

• Cyber security training: How to make it more motivating (hrexecutive.com)

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• US Supreme Court ruling suggests change in cyber security disclosure process | CSO Online

• New rules for security of connected products in the UK and EU - Lexology

• Congress votes to kick Uncle Sam’s data broker habit • The Register

• Cops can force suspect to unlock phone with thumbprint, US court rules | Ars Technica

Models, Frameworks and Standards

• Rebalancing NIST: Why 'Recovery' Can't Stand Alone (darkreading.com)

Backup and Recovery

• Sophos Study: 94% of Ransomware Victims Have Their Backups Targeted (techrepublic.com)

Data Protection

• 5 Common Data Protection Challenges That Businesses Face (techtarget.com)

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

• IT and security professionals demand more workplace flexibility - Help Net Security

• National Security at Risk as Essential Cyber Security Roles Face Sharp Decline (prnewswire.com)

• Break Security Burnout: Combining Leadership With Neuroscience (darkreading.com)

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

• UK Police Lead Disruption of £1m Phishing-as-a-Service Site LabHost - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• After a string of high profile cyber gang takedowns, is the cyber crime industry about to get a lot more fragmented? | ITPro

• Firebird RAT creator and seller arrested in the US and Australia (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Moldovan charged for operating botnet used to push ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda

• Pro-Russian Campaign Exploits Meta’s Failure to Moderate Political Ads - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• US Election Officials Told to Prepare for Nation-State Influence Campa - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

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

Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage

• Preparing for Cyber Warfare: 6 Key Lessons From Ukraine (darkreading.com)

• State-sponsored cyber attacks: The new frontier | ITPro

China

• Chinese, Russian Hackers Keep Getting Past Microsoft's Security (businessinsider.com)

• Leaked FBI document shows MPs were kept in dark over China hack for two years (inews.co.uk)

• US Election Officials Told to Prepare for Nation-State Influence Campa - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Risks are higher than ever for US- China cyber war | Responsible Statecraft

• State-Sponsored Hackers Exploit Zero-Day to Backdoor Palo Alto Networks Firewalls - Security Week

• Singapore infosec boss: splinternet hinders interoperability • The Register

• FBI says Chinese hackers preparing to attack US infrastructure | Reuters

• Chinese fraud victims seek return of £3bn in bitcoin seized in UK (ft.com)

Russia

• Chinese, Russian Hackers Keep Getting Past Microsoft's Security (businessinsider.com)

• CISA orders agencies impacted by Microsoft hack to mitigate risks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft's 'cascade of security failures' allowed hackers to access US government employee emails | Windows Central

• US Government on High Alert as Russian Hackers Steal Critical Correspondence From Microsoft - Security Week

• Microsoft breach allowed Russia to steal Feds' emails • The Register

• State-Sponsored Hackers Exploit Zero-Day to Backdoor Palo Alto Networks Firewalls - Security Week

• How Ukraine’s cyber police fights back against Russia’s hackers | TechCrunch

• Russian 'Cyber Sabotage' A Global Threat: Security Firm | IBTimes

• Mandiant upgrades Sandworm to APT44 due to increasing threat | TechTarget

• Russia's Sandworm 'cyber attacked US, EU water utilities' • The Register

• Sandworm Group Shifts to Espionage Attacks, Hacktivist Personas | Decipher (duo.com)

• Russia and Ukraine Top Inaugural World Cyber Crime Index - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Russia is trying to sabotage European railways, Czech minister said (securityaffairs.com)

• Pro-Russian Campaign Exploits Meta’s Failure to Moderate Political Ads - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Singapore infosec boss: splinternet hinders interoperability • The Register

• US Election Officials Told to Prepare for Nation-State Influence Campa - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Russian APT Deploys New 'Kapeka' Backdoor in Eastern European Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Destructive ICS Malware 'Fuxnet' Used by Ukraine Against Russian Infrastructure - Security Week

Iran

• Iranian MuddyWater Hackers Adopt New C2 Tool 'DarkBeatC2' in Latest Campaign (thehackernews.com)

• Middle East Cyber Ops Intensify, With Israel the Main Target (darkreading.com)

• Iran-Backed Hackers Blast Out Threatening Texts to Israelis (darkreading.com)

• Israel Holds Hybrid Cyber & Military Readiness Drills (darkreading.com)

North Korea

• DPRK Exploits 2 MITRE Sub-Techniques: Phantom DLL Hijacking, TCC Abuse (darkreading.com)

• North Korean Group Kimsuky Exploits DMARC and Web Beacons - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

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

• Geopolitical tensions escalate OT cyber attacks - Help Net Security

• “There are no borders in cyber space. We have to fight global terrorism together.” | Ctech (calcalistech.com)

• Furry Hackers Target Far-Right Outlet 'Real America's Voice' (dailydot.com)

• Government spyware is another reason to use an ad blocker | TechCrunch

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Vulnerability Management

• Cyber Security Pros Urge US Congress to Help NIST Restore NVD Operation - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• How to conduct security patch validation and verification | TechTarget

• Zero-Day Vulnerabilities: A Beginner’s Guide - The New Stack

• The importance of the Vulnerability Operations Centre for cyber security | TechRadar

Vulnerabilities

• State-Sponsored Hackers Exploit Zero-Day to Backdoor Palo Alto Networks Firewalls - Security Week

• “Highly capable” hackers root corporate networks by exploiting firewall 0-day | Ars Technica

• Cisco discloses root escalation flaw with public exploit code (bleepingcomputer.com)

• PuTTY SSH client flaw allows recovery of cryptographic private keys (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Citrix Releases Security Updates for XenServer and Citrix Hypervisor | CISA

• Yubico Issues YubiKey Security Alert For Windows Users (forbes.com)

• Samsung Issues Update Now Warning For Millions Of Galaxy Users (forbes.com)

• Juniper Networks Publishes Dozens of New Security Advisories - Security Week

• Ivanti warns of critical flaws in its Avalanche MDM solution (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Oracle Patches 230 Vulnerabilities With April 2024 CPU - Security Week

• iPhone users warned to disable iMessage temporarily to avoid getting hacked - PhoneArena

• Delinea Fixes Flaw After Analyst Goes Public With Disclosure First (darkreading.com)

• Critical Atlassian Flaw Exploited to Deploy Linux Variant of Cerber Ransomware (thehackernews.com)

• Telegram fixes Windows app zero-day used to launch Python scripts (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Critical RCE Vulnerability in 92,000 D-Link NAS Devices - Security Boulevard

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Tools and Controls

• Sophos Study: 94% of Ransomware Victims Have Their Backups Targeted (techrepublic.com)

• Evil XDR: Researcher Turns Palo Alto Software Into Perfect Malware (darkreading.com)

• CISA's Malware Analysis Platform Could Foster Better Threat Intel (darkreading.com)

• Pentesting accounts for an average of 13% of total IT security budgets | Security Magazine

• Annual cyber security training isn’t working, so what’s the alternative? | TechRadar

• 6 Ways Businesses Can Boost Their Cloud Security Resilience - Compare the Cloud

• North Korean Group Kimsuky Exploits DMARC and Web Beacons - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Dark Web Monitoring: What's the Value? (bleepingcomputer.com)

• 5 Steps Toward Military-Grade API Security - The New Stack

• Ransomware, meet DRaaS: The future of disaster mitigation (betanews.com)

• Cyber security training: How to make it more motivating (hrexecutive.com)

• The Five Main Steps In A Compliance Risk Assessment Plan (forbes.com)

• AI set to enhance cyber security roles, not replace them - Help Net Security

• Why You Still Shouldn't Trust Zero Trust (forbes.com)

• Stateful vs. stateless firewalls: Understanding the differences | TechTarget

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• Rising Cyber Threats Pose Serious Concerns for Financial Stability (imf.org)

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Other News

• Why home cyber security is important (xda-developers.com)

• Microsoft remains in the US government's good graces despite its high susceptibility to attacks | Windows Central

• Charities doing worse than private sector in staving off cyber attacks - TFN

• Private companies operating critical infrastructure are not taking cyber security threats seriously enough. | USAPP (lse.ac.uk)

• The US counterintelligence head says the list of threats is long and getting longer (cfpublic.org)

• Critical Infrastructure Security: Observations From the Front Lines (darkreading.com)

• Geopolitical tensions escalate OT cyber attacks - Help Net Security

• Microsoft, Beset by Hacks, Grapples With Problem Years in the Making - BNN Bloomberg

• The invisible seafaring industry that keeps the internet afloat (theverge.com)

• Do we have a plan on how to deal with subsea cables sabotage? | Euronews

• Ex-GCHQ chief: Cyber attacks could target fragile trust in utilities - Utility Week

• Trust in Cyber Takes a Knock as CNI Budgets Flatline - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• University chiefs to get security service Cobra briefing on hostile states | The Argus

• SAP Applications Increasingly in Attacker Crosshairs, Report Shows - Security Week

• Emergency services a likely target for cyber attacks, warns DHS - ABC News (go.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 13 January 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

• Quarter of UK SMBs Hit by Ransomware in 2022

Over one in four (26%) British SMBs have been targeted by ransomware over the past year, with half (47%) of those compromised paying their extorters, according to new data from anti-virus provider Avast. The security vendor polled 1000 IT decision makers from UK SMBs back in October, to better understand the risk landscape over the previous 12 months.

More than two-thirds (68%) of respondents said they are more concerned about being attacked since the start of the war in Ukraine, fuelling concerns that have led to half (50%) investing in cyber-insurance. They’re wise to do so, considering that 41% of those hit by ransomware lost data, while 34% lost access to devices, according to Avast.

Given that SMBs comprise over 99% of private sector businesses in the country, it’s reassuring that cyber is now being viewed as a major business risk. Nearly half (48%) ranked it as one of the biggest threats they currently face, versus 66% who cited financial risk stemming from surging operational cost. More respondents cited cyber as a top threat than did physical security (35%) and supply chain disruption (33%).

Avast argued that SMBs are among the groups most vulnerable to cyber-threats as they often have very limited budget and resources, and many don’t have somebody on staff managing security holistically. As a result, not only are SMB’s lacking in their defence, but they’re also slower and less able to react to incidents.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/quarter-of-uk-smbs-hit-ransomware/

• Global Cyber Attack Volume Surges 38% in 2022

The number of cyber attacks recorded last year was nearly two-fifths (38%) greater than the total volume observed in 2021, according to Check Point.

The security vendor claimed the increase was largely due to a surge in attacks on healthcare organisations, which saw the largest year-on-year (YoY) increase (74%), and the activities of smaller, more agile hacking groups.

Overall, attacks reached an all-time high in Q4 with an average of 1168 weekly attacks per organisation. The average weekly figures for the year were highest for education sector organisations (2314), government and military (1661) and healthcare (1463).

Threat actors appear to have capitalised on gaps in security created by the shift to remote working. The ransomware ecosystem is continuing to evolve and grow with smaller, more agile criminal groups that form to evade law enforcement. Hackers are also now increasingly widening their aim to target business collaboration tools such as Slack, Teams, OneDrive and Google Drive with phishing exploits. These make for a rich source of sensitive data given that most organisations’ employees continue to work remotely.

It is predicted that AI tools like ChatGPT would help to fuel a continued surge in attacks in 2023 by making it quicker and easier for bad actors to generate malicious code and emails.

Recorded cyber-attacks on US organisations grew 57% YoY in 2022, while the figure was even higher in the UK (77%). This chimes with data from UK ISP Beaming, which found that 2022 was the busiest year on record for attacks. It recorded 687,489 attempts to breach UK businesses in 2022 – the equivalent of one attack every 46 seconds.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/global-cyberattack-volume-surges/

• 1 in 3 Organisations Do Not Provide Any Cyber Security Training to Remote Workers Despite the Majority of Employees Having Access to Critical Data

New research from cyber security provider Hornetsecurity has found that 33% of companies are not providing any cyber security awareness training to users who work remotely.

The study also revealed nearly three-quarters (74%) of remote staff have access to critical data, which is creating more risk for companies in the new hybrid working world.

Despite the current lack of training and employees feeling ill-equipped, almost half (44%) of respondents said their organisation plans to increase the percentage of employees that work remotely. The popularity of hybrid work, and the associated risks, means that companies must prioritise training and education to make remote working safe.

Traditional methods of controlling and securing company data aren't as effective when employees are working in remote locations and greater responsibility falls on the individual. Companies must acknowledge the unique risks associated with remote work and activate relevant security management systems, as well as empower employees to deal with a certain level of risk.

The independent survey, which quizzed 925 IT professionals from a range of business types and sizes globally, highlighted the security management challenges and employee cyber security risk when working remotely. The research revealed two core problems causing risk: employees having access to critical data, and not enough training being provided on how to manage cyber security or how to reduce the risk of a cyber-attack or breach.

https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/1-in-3-organizations-do-not-provide-any-cybersecurity-training-to-remote-workers-despite-a-majority-of-employees-having-access-to-critical-data

• AI-Generated Phishing Attacks Are Becoming More Convincing

It's time for you and your colleagues to become more sceptical about what you read.

That's a takeaway from a series of experiments undertaken using GPT-3 AI text-generating interfaces to create malicious messages designed to spear-phish, scam, harass, and spread fake news.

Experts at WithSecure have described their investigations into just how easy it is to automate the creation of credible yet malicious content at incredible speed. Amongst the use cases explored by the research were the use of GPT-3 models to create:

• Phishing content – emails or messages designed to trick a user into opening a malicious attachment or visiting a malicious link

• Social opposition – social media messages designed to troll and harass individuals or to cause brand damage

• Social validation – social media messages designed to advertise or sell, or to legitimise a scam

• Fake news – research into how well GPT-3 can generate convincing fake news articles of events that weren’t part of its training set

All of these could, of course, be useful to cyber criminals hell-bent on scamming the unwary or spreading unrest.

https://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/ai-generated-phishing-attacks-are-becoming-more-convincing

• Customer and Employee Data the Top Prize for Hackers

The theft of customer and employee data accounts for almost half (45%) of all stolen data between July 2021 and June 2022, according to a new report from cyber security solution provider Imperva.

The data is part of a 12-month analysis by Imperva Threat Research on the trends and threats related to data security in its report “More Lessons Learned from Analysing 100 Data Breaches”.

Their analysis found that theft of credit card information and password details dropped by 64% compared to 2021. The decline in stolen credit card and password data pointing to the uptake of basic security tactics like multi-factor authentication (MFA). However, in the long term, PII data is the most valuable data to cyber-criminals. With enough stolen PII, they can engage in full-on identity theft which is hugely profitable and very difficult to prevent. Credit cards and passwords can be changed the second there is a breach, but when PII is stolen, it can be years before it is weaponised by hackers.

The research also revealed the root causes of data breaches, with social engineering (17%) and unsecured databases (15%) two of the biggest culprits. Misconfigured applications were only responsible for 2% of data breaches, but Imperva said that businesses should expect this figure to rise in the near future, particularly with cloud-managed infrastructure where configuring for security requires significant expertise.

It’s really concerning that a third (32%) of data breaches are down to unsecured databases and social engineering attacks, since they’re both straightforward to mitigate. A publicly open database dramatically increases the risk of a breach and, all too often, they are left like this not out of a failure of security practices but rather the total absence of any security posture at all.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/customer-employee-data-hackers/

• Royal Mail hit by Ransomware Attack, Causes ‘Severe Disruption’ to Services

Royal Mail experienced “severe service disruption” to its international export services following a ransomware attack, the company has announced. A statement said it was temporarily unable to despatch export items including letters and parcels to overseas destinations.

Royal Mail said: “We have asked customers temporarily to stop submitting any export items into the network while we work hard to resolve the issue” and advising that “Some customers may experience delay or disruption to items already shipped for export.”

The attack was later attributed to LockBit, a prolific ransomware gang with close ties to Russia. Both the NCSC and the NCA were involved in responding to the incident.

https://www.independent.co.uk/business/royal-mail-cyber-attack-exports-b2260308.html

• The Guardian Confirms Personal Information Compromised in Ransomware Attack

British news organisation The Guardian has confirmed that personal information was compromised in a ransomware attack in December 2022.

The company fell victim to the attack just days before Christmas, when it instructed staff to work from home, announcing network disruptions that mostly impacted the print newspaper.

Right from the start, the Guardian said it suspected ransomware to have been involved in the incident, and this week the company confirmed that this was indeed the case. In an email to staff on Wednesday, The Guardian Media Group’s chief executive and the Guardian’s editor-in-chief said that the sophisticated cyber attack was likely the result of phishing.

They also announced that the personal information of UK staff members was compromised in the attack, but said that reader data and the information of US and Australia staff was not impacted. “We have seen no evidence that any data has been exposed online thus far and we continue to monitor this very closely,” the Guardian representatives said. While the attack forced the Guardian staff to work from home, online publishing has been unaffected, and production of daily newspapers has continued as well.

“We believe this was a criminal ransomware attack, and not the specific targeting of the Guardian as a media organisation,” the Guardian said.

The company continues to work on recovery and estimates that critical systems would be restored in the next two weeks. Staff, however, will continue to work from home until at least early February. “These attacks have become more frequent and sophisticated in the past three years, against organisations of all sizes, and kinds, in all countries,” the Guardian said.

https://www.securityweek.com/guardian-confirms-personal-information-compromised-ransomware-attack

• Ransomware Gang Releases Info Stolen from 14 UK Schools, Including Passport Scans

Another month, another release of personal information stolen from a school system. This time, it's a group of 14 schools in the United Kingdom.

Once again, the perpetrator appears to be Vice Society, which is well known for targeting educational systems in the US. As the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) pointed out in a bulletin from Sept. 6, "K-12 institutions may be seen as particularly lucrative targets due to the amount of sensitive student data accessible through school systems or their managed service providers."

The UK hack may have turned up even more confidential information than the Los Angeles school system breach last year. As the BBC reported on Jan. 6, "One folder marked 'passports' contains passport scans for pupils and parents on school trips going back to 2011, whereas another marked 'contract' contains contractual offers made to staff alongside teaching documents on muscle contractions."

Some prominent school cyber attacks in the US include public school districts in Chicago, Baltimore, and Los Angeles. A new study from digital learning platform Clever claims that one in four schools experienced a cyber-incident over the past year, and according to a new report from security software vendor Emsisoft, at least 45 school districts and 44 higher learning institutions suffered ransomware attacks in 2022.

Schools are an attractive target as they are typically data-rich and resource-poor. Without proper resources in terms of dedicated staffing and the necessary tools and training to protect against cyber-attacks, schools can be a soft target. Many of the 14 schools hit by this latest leak are colleges and universities, but primary and secondary schools were also hit, according to the BBC's list.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/vice-society-releases-info-stolen-uk-schools-passport-scans

• The Dark Web’s Criminal Minds See Internet of Things as Next Big Hacking Prize

Cyber security experts say 2022 may have marked an inflection point due to the rapid proliferation of IoT (Internet of Things) devices.

Criminal groups buy and sell services, and one hot idea — a business model for a crime — can take off quickly when they realise that it works to do damage or to get people to pay. Attacks are evolving from those that shut down computers or stole data, to include those that could more directly wreak havoc on everyday life. IoT devices can be the entry points for attacks on parts of countries’ critical infrastructure, like electrical grids or pipelines, or they can be the specific targets of criminals, as in the case of cars or medical devices that contain software.

For the past decade, manufacturers, software companies and consumers have been rushing to the promise of Internet of Things devices. Now there are an estimated 17 billion in the world, from printers to garage door openers, each one packed with software (some of it open-source software) that can be easily hacked.

What many experts are anticipating is the day enterprising criminals or hackers affiliated with a nation-state figure out an easy-to-replicate scheme using IoT devices at scale. A group of criminals, perhaps connected to a foreign government, could figure out how to take control of many things at once – like cars, or medical devices. There have already been large-scale attacks using IoT, in the form of IoT botnets. In that case, actors leveraging unpatched vulnerabilities in IoT devices used control of those devices to carry out denial of service attacks against many targets. Those vulnerabilities are found regularly in ubiquitous products that are rarely updated.

In other words, the possibility already exists. It’s only a question of when a criminal or a nation decides to act in a way that targets the physical world at a large scale. There are a handful of companies, new regulatory approaches, a growing focus on cars as a particularly important area, and a new movement within the software engineering world to do a better job of incorporating cyber security from the beginning.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/09/the-dark-webs-criminal-minds-see-iot-as-the-next-big-hacking-prize.html

• Corrupted File to Blame for Computer Glitch which Grounded Every US Flight

A corrupted file has been blamed for a glitch on the Federal Aviation Administration's computer system which saw every flight grounded across the US.

All outbound flights were grounded until around 9am Eastern Time (2pm GMT) on Wednesday as the FAA worked to restore its Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system, which alerts pilots of potential hazards along a flight route.

On Wednesday 4,948 flights within, into or out of the US had been delayed, according to flight tracker FlightAware.com, while 868 had been cancelled. Most delays were concentrated along the East Coast. Normal air traffic operations resumed gradually across the US following the outage to the NOTAM system that provides safety information to flight crews.

A corrupted file affected both the primary and the backup systems, a senior government official told NBC News on Wednesday night, adding that officials continue to investigate. Whilst Government officials said there was no evidence of a cyber attack, it shows the real world impacts that an outage or corrupted file can cause.

https://news.sky.com/story/all-flights-across-us-grounded-due-to-faa-computer-system-glitch-us-media-12784252

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Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

• Royal Mail unable to despatch items abroad after 'cyber incident' | UK News | Sky News

• Lorenz ransomware gang plants backdoors to use months later (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Quarter of UK SMBs Hit by Ransomware in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Worldwide Ransomware Attacks Trend (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• LastPass Faces Class-Action Lawsuit Over Password Vault Breach (pcmag.com)

• 10 of the biggest ransomware attacks of 2022 | TechTarget

• Rackspace: Ransomware actor accessed 27 customers' data | TechTarget

• Hackers demand £15 million ransom from Hull and Yorkshire schools after cyber attack - Hull Live (hulldailymail.co.uk)

• Rackspace Ransomware Incident Highlights Risks of Relying on Mitigation Alone (darkreading.com)

• Risk & Repeat: Analysing the Rackspace ransomware attack | TechTarget

• Guardian confirms it was hit by ransomware attack | The Guardian | The Guardian

• Post-ransomware attack, The Guardian warns staff their personal data was accessed • Graham Cluley

• The Guardian Confirms Personal Information Compromised in Ransomware Attack | SecurityWeek.Com

• Royal Mail cyber attack linked to LockBit ransomware operation (bleepingcomputer.com)

• The Guardian Confirms UK Members' Data Was Accessed in Ransomware Attack - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Hive Ransomware leaked 550 GB stolen from Consulate Health Care - Security Affairs

• Iowa’s largest school district cancels classes after cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Hackers leak sensitive files after attack on San Francisco transit police (nbcnews.com)

• Vice Society ransomware claims attack on Australian firefighting service (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ransomware attack at Hope Sentamu Learning Trust in York | York Press

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• AI-generated phishing emails just got much more convincing • The Register

• Better Phishing, Easy Malicious Implants: How AI Could Change Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)

• AI-generated phishing attacks are becoming more convincing | Tripwire

• Twitter Data Leak: What the Exposure of 200 Million User Emails Means for You | WIRED

• New APT Dark Pink Hits Asia-Pacific, Europe With Spear Phishing Tactics - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Telegram Bot Abuse For Phishing Increased By 800% in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Phishing campaign targets government institution in Moldova - Security Affairs

Malware

• Better Phishing, Easy Malicious Implants: How AI Could Change Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)

• Turla, a Russian Espionage Group, Piggybacked on Other Hackers' USB Infections | WIRED

• ChatGPT Used to Develop New Malicious Tools - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Russia’s Turla falls back on old malware C2 domains to avoid detection | Computer Weekly

• Many of 13 New Mac Malware Families Discovered in 2022 Linked to China | SecurityWeek.Com

• Dridex Malware Now Attacking macOS Systems with Novel Infection Method (thehackernews.com)

• New Spyware Variant with RAT Capabilities Targeting Financial Institutions, Social Media - MSSP Alert

• Over 1,300 fake AnyDesk sites push Vidar info-stealing malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Attackers abuse business-critical cloud apps to deliver malware - Help Net Security

• New Analysis Reveals Raspberry Robin Can be Repurposed by Other Threat Actors (thehackernews.com)

• 6 PyPI Packages Detour Firewall Using Cloudflare Tunnels (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Microsoft: Kubernetes clusters hacked in malware campaign via PostgreSQL (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Malicious PyPi packages create CloudFlare Tunnels to bypass firewalls (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Gootkit Loader Actively Targets Australian Healthcare Industry (trendmicro.com)

• Raspberry Robin's botnet second life - SEKOIA.IO Blog

• Telegram Bot Abuse For Phishing Increased By 800% in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• IcedID Malware Strikes Again: Active Directory Domain Compromised in Under 24 Hours (thehackernews.com)

• Android TV box on Amazon came pre-installed with malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• VLC media player is being hiajcked to send out malware | TechRadar

• RAT malware campaign tries to evade detection using polyglot files (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Italian Users Warned of Malware Attack Targeting Sensitive Information (thehackernews.com)

• Hackers push fake Pokemon NFT game to take over Windows devices (bleepingcomputer.com)

• How to protect yourself from bot-driven account fraud - Help Net Security

Mobile

• Android spyware strikes again targeting financial institutions and your money | Fox News

• Messenger billed as better than Signal is riddled with vulnerabilities | Ars Technica

• StrongPity hackers target Android users via trojanized Telegram app (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Threema claims encryption flaws never had a real-world impact (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Latest Firmware Flaws in Qualcomm Snapdragon Need Attention (darkreading.com)

• Threat actors claim access to Telegram servers through insiders - Security Affairs

• $20K Buys Insider Access to Telegram Servers, Dark Web Ad Claims (darkreading.com)

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

• How to Defend Against any Type of DNS Attack | A10 Networks

• The most significant DDoS attacks in the past year - Help Net Security

• Multiple Danish Banks Disrupted By DDoS Cyber-Attack - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Big Prizes, Cash on Offer for Joining 'DDosia' Anti-Ukraine Cyber attack Project (darkreading.com)

• New Study Uncovers Text-to-SQL Model Vulnerabilities Allowing Data Theft and DoS Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Serbia Slammed With DDoS Attacks (darkreading.com)

Internet of Things – IoT

• The dark web's criminal minds see IoT as the next big hacking prize (cnbc.com)

• Android TV box on Amazon came pre-installed with malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Hackers can trick Wi-Fi devices into draining their own batteries | New Scientist

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Twitter Data Leak: What the Exposure of 200 Million User Emails Means for You | WIRED

• 14 UK schools hit by cyber attack and documents leaked - BBC News

• Air France and KLM notify customers of account hacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Vice Society Releases Info Stolen From 14 UK Schools, Including Passport Scans (darkreading.com)

• Twitter's mushrooming data breach crisis could prove costly | CSO Online

• Twitter Denies Hacking Claims, Assures Leaked User Data Not from its System (thehackernews.com)

• 6 oversights that enable data breaches - Help Net Security

• CircleCI – code-building service suffers total credential compromise – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Aflac's Japan says US partner leaked cancer customer info • The Register

• Data leak exposes information of 10,000 French social security beneficiaries | CSO Online

• Chick-fil-A investigates reports of hacked customer accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Oxford University dating website for staff and students shut down after ‘huge data breach’ | News | The Times

• SolarWinds shareholders appeal Orion breach lawsuit to Delaware Supreme Court | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• JP Morgan must face suit over $272m cybertheft • The Register

• Cyber criminals are already using ChatGPT to own you | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Russian Cyber Crew Targets Ukraine Financial Sector Via Infected USB Drives - MSSP Alert

• 2022 Was the Biggest Year Yet for Crypto, if You're a Crook (gizmodo.com)

• Researchers Find 'Digital Crime Haven' While Investigating Magecart Activity (darkreading.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• 2022 Was the Biggest Year Yet for Crypto, if You're a Crook (gizmodo.com)

• European police takes down call centres behind cryptocurrency scams (bleepingcomputer.com)

• European cops shut down fake crypto call centres • The Register

• Kinsing Crypto Malware Hits Kubernetes Clusters via Misconfigured PostgreSQL (thehackernews.com)

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• European police takes down call centres behind cryptocurrency scams (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Nationwide warns ‘checking is important’ as thousands targeted in online scam | Personal Finance |

• How to protect yourself from bot-driven account fraud - Help Net Security

Insurance

• Insurance Co. Beazley Launches $45M 'Cyber Catastrophe Bond' (gizmodo.com)

• Insurer Beazley launches first catastrophe bond for cyber threats | Financial Times (ft.com)

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

Dark Web

• Threat actors claim access to Telegram servers through insiders - Security Affairs

• $20K Buys Insider Access to Telegram Servers, Dark Web Ad Claims (darkreading.com)

• Pakistan tells government agencies to avoid the dark web • The Register

Software Supply Chain

• Software Supply Chain Security Needs a Bigger Picture (darkreading.com)

Cloud/SaaS

• Attackers abuse business-critical cloud apps to deliver malware - Help Net Security

• Top SaaS Cyber security Threats in 2023: Are You Ready? (thehackernews.com)

• Why Do User Permissions Matter for SaaS Security? (thehackernews.com)

Attack Surface Management

• Why the atomized network is growing, and how to protect it - Help Net Security

• Web 3.0 Shifts Attack Surface and Highlights Need for Continuous Security (darkreading.com)

Identity and Access Management

• 4 identity security trends to watch in 2023 - Help Net Security

Encryption

• RSA crypto cracked? Or perhaps not! – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• What is Triple DES and why is it being disallowed? | TechTarget

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

• A fifth of passwords used by federal agency cracked in security audit | Ars Technica

• Why FIDO and passwordless authentication is the future - Help Net Security

• 'Copyright Infringement' Lure Used for Facebook Credential Harvesting (darkreading.com)

• Why it might be time to consider using FIDO-based authentication devices | CSO Online

Social Media

• Twitter Data Leak: What the Exposure of 200 Million User Emails Means for You | WIRED

• Twitter's mushrooming data breach crisis could prove costly | CSO Online

• New Spyware Variant with RAT Capabilities Targeting Financial Institutions, Social Media - MSSP Alert

• Twitter Denies Hacking Claims, Assures Leaked User Data Not from its System (thehackernews.com)

• If governments are banning TikTok, why is it still on your corporate devices? | CSO Online

• 'Copyright Infringement' Lure Used for Facebook Credential Harvesting (darkreading.com)

Training, Education and Awareness

• 1 in 3 Organisations Do Not Provide Any Cyber Security Training to Remote Workers Despite a Majority of Employees Having Access to Critical Data (darkreading.com)

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• Technical And Legal Risks Of ChatGPT: How Prepared Are We With Laws On AI? (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

Governance, Risk and Compliance

• US cyber security director: The tech ecosystem has ‘become really unsafe’ (yahoo.com)

• Global Cyber-Attack Volume Surges 38% in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Customer and Employee Data the Top Prize for Hackers – Imperva - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• 1 in 3 Organisations Do Not Provide Any Cyber Security Training to Remote Workers Despite a Majority of Employees Having Access to Critical Data (darkreading.com)

• Global Risks Report: Understand the risk landscape in 2023 and beyond - Help Net Security

• 6 oversights that enable data breaches - Help Net Security

• Why Analysing Past Incidents Helps Teams More Than Usual Security Metrics (darkreading.com)

• Cyber security spending and economic headwinds in 2023 | CSO Online

• How to Ensure Cyber Security Investments Remain a Priority Across Your Organisation (darkreading.com)

• Practical Risk Management - Beyond Certification (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Vulnerable software, low incident reporting raises risks | TechTarget

• How Will a Recession Will Affect CISOs? | SecurityWeek.Com

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

• Cyber security staff are struggling. Here's how to support them better | ZDNET

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

• European cops shut down fake crypto call centres • The Register

• European police takes down call centres behind cryptocurrency scams (bleepingcomputer.com)

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

• Hidden Chinese tracking device 'found in UK Government car' sparks national security fears (inews.co.uk)

Artificial Intelligence

• AI-generated phishing emails just got much more convincing • The Register

• ChatGPT: The infosec assistant that is jack of all trades, master of none - Help Net Security

• How hackers might be exploiting ChatGPT | Cybernews

• Better Phishing, Easy Malicious Implants: How AI Could Change Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)

• VALL-E AI can mimic a person’s voice from a 3-second snippet • The Register

• ChatGPT Artificial Intelligence: An Upcoming Cyber security Threat? (darkreading.com)

• Hackers Exploiting OpenAI’s ChatGPT to Deploy Malware (hackread.com)

• Cyber criminals are already using ChatGPT to own you | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Trojan Puzzle attack trains AI assistants into suggesting malicious code (bleepingcomputer.com)

• The ChatGPT bot is causing panic now – but it’ll soon be as mundane a tool as Excel | John Naughton | The Guardian

• How hackers might be exploiting ChatGPT | Cybernews

• ChatGPT Used to Develop New Malicious Tools - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Technical And Legal Risks Of ChatGPT: How Prepared Are We With Laws On AI? (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• DHS, CISA plan AI-based cyber security analytics sandbox • The Register

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

• Turla, a Russian Espionage Group, Piggybacked on Other Hackers' USB Infections | WIRED

• Russia’s Turla falls back on old malware C2 domains to avoid detection | Computer Weekly

• Hidden Chinese tracking device 'found in UK Government car' sparks national security fears (inews.co.uk)

• Ukraine: Russian Cyber-Attacks Should Be Considered War Crimes - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• New APT Dark Pink Hits Asia-Pacific, Europe With Spear Phishing Tactics - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Exclusive: Russian hackers targeted U.S. nuclear scientists | Reuters

• Russian cyber attacks on Ukraine halved with help from Amazon and Microsoft (telegraph.co.uk)

• Dark Pink, a newly discovered hacking campaign, threatens Southeast Asian military, government organisations (cyberscoop.com)

• New Dark Pink APT group targets govt and military with custom malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Big Prizes, Cash on Offer for Joining 'DDosia' Anti-Ukraine Cyber attack Project (darkreading.com)

• Phishing campaign targets government institution in Moldova - Security Affairs

• Serbia Slammed With DDoS Attacks (darkreading.com)

• Russian and Belarusian men charged with spying for Russian GRU - Security Affairs

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Turla, a Russian Espionage Group, Piggybacked on Other Hackers' USB Infections | WIRED

• Russia’s Turla falls back on old malware C2 domains to avoid detection | Computer Weekly

• Ukraine: Russian Cyber-Attacks Should Be Considered War Crimes - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Exclusive: Russian hackers targeted U.S. nuclear scientists | Reuters

• Russian cyber attacks on Ukraine halved with help from Amazon and Microsoft (telegraph.co.uk)

• How Elon Musk’s Starlink has changed warfare | The Economist

• Big Prizes, Cash on Offer for Joining 'DDosia' Anti-Ukraine Cyber attack Project (darkreading.com)

• Phishing campaign targets government institution in Moldova - Security Affairs

• Serbia Slammed With DDoS Attacks (darkreading.com)

• Russian and Belarusian men charged with spying for Russian GRU - Security Affairs

• Musk's Starlink Satellite's Role In Ukraine War Inspires Taiwan To Thwart Potential China Attack

Nation State Actors – China

• Hidden Chinese tracking device 'found in UK Government car' sparks national security fears (inews.co.uk)

• Many of 13 New Mac Malware Families Discovered in 2022 Linked to China | SecurityWeek.Com

• If governments are banning TikTok, why is it still on your corporate devices? | CSO Online

• Musk's Starlink Satellite's Role In Ukraine War Inspires Taiwan To Thwart Potential China Attack

Nation State Actors – Iran

• Iran says it foiled cyber attack on central bank | Reuters

Nation State Actors – Misc

• New APT Dark Pink Hits Asia-Pacific, Europe With Spear Phishing Tactics - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Dark Pink, a newly discovered hacking campaign, threatens Southeast Asian military, government organisations (cyberscoop.com)

• New Dark Pink APT group targets govt and military with custom malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

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Vulnerability Management

Applications Five Years or Older Likely to have Security Flaws - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Patch Where it Hurts: Effective Vulnerability Management in 2023 (thehackernews.com)

70% of apps contain at least one security flaw after 5 years in production - Help Net Security

Rackspace Ransomware Incident Highlights Risks of Relying on Mitigation Alone (darkreading.com)

Does a hybrid model for vulnerability management make sense? • Graham Cluley

Vulnerabilities

• Microsoft Patch Tuesday: 97 Windows Vulns, 1 Exploited Zero-Day | SecurityWeek.Com

• Microsoft plugs actively exploited zero-day hole (CVE-2023-21674) - Help Net Security

• The Roadmap to Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) - MSSP Alert

• Hundreds of SugarCRM servers infected with critical in-the-wild exploit | Ars Technica

• Chrome 109 Patches 17 Vulnerabilities | SecurityWeek.Com

• Cyber criminals bypass Windows security with driver-vulnerability exploit | CSO Online

• Google Chrome 'SymStealer' Vulnerability Could Affect 2.5 Billion Users - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Attackers target govt networks exploiting Fortinet SSL-VPN CVE-2022-42475 - Security Affairs

• Adobe Plugs Security Holes in Acrobat, Reader Software | SecurityWeek.Com

• Zoom Patches High Risk Flaws on Windows, MacOS Platforms | SecurityWeek.Com

• Cisco warns of auth bypass bug with public exploit in EoL routers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Swiss Threema messaging app found to have vulnerabilities • The Register

• Alert: Hackers Actively Exploiting Critical "Control Web Panel" RCE Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)

• Fortinet says hackers exploited critical vulnerability to infect VPN customers | Ars Technica

• Critical bug in Cisco Small Business Routers will receive no patch - Security Affairs

• Severe Vulnerabilities Allow Hacking of Asus Gaming Router | SecurityWeek.Com

• JsonWebToken Security Bug Opens Servers to RCE (darkreading.com)

• Latest Firmware Flaws in Qualcomm Snapdragon Need Attention (darkreading.com)

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Tools and Controls

• How to prevent and detect lateral movement attacks | TechTarget

• 65% of Organisations Plan to Adopt a Security Service Edge Platform in Next 2 Years: Axis Security (darkreading.com)

• How Will a Recession Will Affect CISOs? | SecurityWeek.Com

• What is Red Teaming & How it Benefits Orgs (trendmicro.com)

• Data Loss Prevention Capability Guide (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• 4 key shifts in the breach and attack simulation (BAS) market - Help Net Security

• How to prioritize effectively with threat modeling • The Register

• XDR and the Age-old Problem of Alert Fatigue | SecurityWeek.Com

• 11 top XDR tools and how to evaluate them | CSO Online

• Why FIDO and passwordless authentication is the future - Help Net Security

• Why it might be time to consider using FIDO-based authentication devices | CSO Online

• How to Defend Against any Type of DNS Attack | A10 Networks

• DHS, CISA plan AI-based cyber security analytics sandbox • The Register

• ChatGPT: The infosec assistant that is jack of all trades, master of none - Help Net Security

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Other News

• Better Include Physical Security With Cyber security | T&D World

• 6 oversights that enable data breaches - Help Net Security

• It’s official: Digital trust really matters to everyone online - Help Net Security

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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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