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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 24 November 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 24 November 2023:
-The Human Element- Cyber Security’s Great Challenge
-Good Cyber Hygiene is a Strategic Imperative for SMEs, Report Shows
-Despite Increasing Ransomware Attacks, Some Companies in Denial
-A Single Supply Chain Related Ransomware Incident Spurred UK Decision Makers to Spend Big on Cyber as Latest Victim Count exceeds 2.6K Organisations and 77M People
-The True Cost of a Ransomware Attack
-Largest Study of Its Kind Shows Outdated Password Practices Are Putting Millions at Risk
-Cyber Security Investment Involves More Than Just Technology
-Questions Leaders Must Ask Themselves on Security Culture
-There’s a Crossover Between Organised Crime, Financial Crime, and Nation-State Crime
-Cyber Attack on British Library Highlights Lack of UK Resilience
-Organisations Rethink Cyber Security Investments to Meet NIS2 and DORA Directive Requirements
-The Cyber Security Lawsuit Boards are Talking About
-UK and Republic of Korea Issue Warning About North Korea State-Linked Cyber Actors Attacking Software Supply Chains
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.
The Human Element- Cyber Security’s Great Challenge
According to Verizon’s 2023 Data Breach Investigations Report, 74% of all breaches involved a human element. It is important for organisations to understand that it is not simply malicious employees or employees falling for social engineering attacks; it includes things such as negligent, or intentional but not malicious actions. In fact, a recent separate report by Kaspersky found that 26% of incidents over the past two years involved the result of intentional security protocol violations; in comparison, external hacking attempts made up 20%.
Further, Kaspersky found 25% of incidents occurred due to neglecting system software or application updates, followed by 22% resulting from deliberate use of weak passwords or failing to change them promptly, and 18% from staff visiting unsecured websites. One potential cause for these incidents is a lack of training on why such protocols need to be followed.
Black Arrow provides live in person and online instructor lead cyber security training including Cyber Risk and Governance Workshops for Senior Leadership, and Awareness, Behaviour and Culture Training for employees and contractors.
Sources [Beta News] [ Infosecurity Magazine] [The Economic Times (indiatimes.com)]
Good Cyber Hygiene is a Strategic Imperative for SMEs, Report Shows
Small or large, no company is immune to a cyber attack and therefore good cyber hygiene is an imperative for all. Whilst large firms may already have more mature defences in place, smaller firms are definitely catching on to this, with 47% of respondents to a recent survey stating they were more worried about their organisation’s security posture now than compared to six months ago.
The survey found that ransomware (35%), software vulnerability exploits (28%) and using the same password across different applications (25%) were amongst the largest concerns. Interestingly, in a separate report, 44% of incidents were found to lack any element of malware, indicating that attackers are moving beyond traditional methods. The same report found 65% of cases included remote monitoring and management tools as the vector for initial access, something a number of organisations do not secure.
Business email compromise (BEC) attacks are also a key concern for businesses of all sizes but can be especially damaging to smaller organisations for whom the financial loss can be devastating.
Sources [Computer Weekly] [Beta News] [Beta News]
Despite Increasing Ransomware Attacks, Some Companies are in Denial
A recent study has highlighted a contradiction in the way organisations perceive ransomware threats. Although many do not consider themselves likely targets, they are, nevertheless, bolstering their security measures, expanding their teams, and fortifying cyber defences, acknowledging the risks despite their assumed invulnerability.
Simultaneously, ransomware tactics are undergoing significant changes. The past three quarters have seen a marked increase in double-extortion attacks, with data leaks from these incidents rising by 50% compared to the previous year. This trend is predominantly driven by a few active groups, some newly emerged this year, amplifying the threat landscape.
In a tactical shift, the ransomware group ALPHV, also known as Blackcat, has lodged a formal complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against a victim for failing to comply with new disclosure regulations. Meanwhile, LockBit, infamous for attacks on high-profile targets, is modifying its extortion tactics due to lower-than-anticipated ransom returns. These developments point to an evolving and adaptive ransomware environment.
Sources: [Dark Reading] [SC Media] [Insurance Journal] [MSSP Alert] [Security Brief]
A Single Supply Chain Related Ransomware Incident Spurred UK Decision Makers to Spend Big on Cyber as Latest Victim Count exceeds 2.6K Organisations and 77M People
It is reported that 2,620 organisations and more than 77 million individuals have been impacted to date by the MOVEit supply chain ransomware attack, with millions in the past week alone having received notifications that their information had either been accessed, leaked, or both.
In a survey involving directors of UK companies with over 500 seats that had suffered a ransomware or extortion attack in the past 18 months, it was found that 24% had become significantly more anxious about ransomware attacks as a direct result of the MOVEit breach, and 66% were slightly more anxious. This anxiety translated into action, with 42% of respondents investing more into backup and recovery, and 29% tweaking existing cyber strategies. 29% had taken the decision to amend their existing cyber strategies. Staff training was also found to rise, with 42% looking to spend on skills development and 40% upping their investment in training.
Sources: [The Register] [Computer Weekly]
The True Cost of a Ransomware Attack
While the demand is often financial, the impact and reach of ransomware goes far beyond the ransomware demand. Alongside the financial impact, comes the reputational impact, loss of customers, resources in returning to business as normal and time lost in recovery. For some companies, it can take months to return to where they were before and for others, it marks the end of their organisation.
For an attacker, it doesn’t matter. Their goal is not limited by the size or sector of an organisation and it is therefore imperative that every organisation is prepared for the event of an incident. Black Arrow works with organisations of all sizes and sectors to design and prepare for managing a cyber security incident; this can include an Incident Response Plan and an educational tabletop exercise for the leadership team that highlights the proportionate controls to help the organisation prevent and mitigate an incident.
Source: [ITPro]
Largest Study of Its Kind Shows Outdated Password Practices Are Putting Millions at Risk
A recent study has exposed serious flaws in passwords on the internet, revealing that three out of four popular websites are compromising user security by not meeting basic password standards. The study examined 20,000 websites, finding many allowed simple passwords, didn’t block common ones and adhered to outdated complexity requirements. It was found that over half the websites accept passwords of six characters or fewer, with 75% not requiring the advised minimum of eight characters, and 30% not supporting spaces or special characters. The study showcases the gap in security measures implementation across the web and emphasises the importance of ongoing improvement in web security standards.
The problem is further exacerbated by employees using work email for non-work approved websites and reusing the same passwords, meaning any breach of a compromised site hands the user’s credentials to an attacker. Further, many organisations are not even aware this is going on.
Source: [TechXplore]
Cyber Security Investment Involves More Than Just Technology
C-suite business leaders and senior IT professionals within large organisations, found that the top five cyber security investment areas were technologies (49%), threat intelligence (46%), risk assessment (42%), cyber insurance (42%), and third-party risk management (40%). Fewer organisations highlighted technology as good value for money in 2023 (49%) than in 2022 (58%). suggesting an awareness that technology investments go hand-in-hand with investing in governance and personnel to effectively enable and manage the technology.
Black Arrow supports business leaders in organisations of all sizes to demonstrate governance of their cyber security by owning their cyber security strategy and leveraging their existing internal and external resources to build resilience against a cyber security incident.
Source: [Dark Reading]
Questions Leaders Must Ask Themselves on Security Culture
In today's corporate landscape, there's a growing emphasis on the human aspect of cyber security, with Stanford University research indicating that about 88% of data breaches result from employee errors. Companies are now focusing on enhancing security awareness through marketing campaigns and integrating cyber security performance into job reviews. This shift acknowledges that as technological defences evolve, cyber attackers increasingly exploit human vulnerabilities, as evidenced by major ransomware incidents like those impacting Colonial Pipeline and JBS Foods.
Developing a strong security culture is essential, by complementing robust policies with ingraining security-minded beliefs and behaviours in employees. Key to this is the role of leadership in embedding and continuously assessing this culture. This involves evaluating training effectiveness, reporting mechanisms, proactive security approaches, and the impact of security initiatives, while also considering the complexity of human behaviour and the example set by top management. Emphasising these aspects is crucial for maintaining a secure and resilient organisational environment, and in so doing protecting an organisation's reputation and financial integrity.
Source: [AT&T]
There’s a Crossover Between Organised Crime, Financial Crime, and Nation-State Crime
The convergence of organised crime, financial crime, and nation-state crime is a growing concern in today’s interconnected world. This crossover, driven by the digital revolution, globalisation, economic factors, and state fragility, is reshaping the global criminal landscape. Organised crime syndicates, traditionally involved in activities like drug trafficking and extortion, are now branching out into financial crimes, offering higher profits with lower risks.
Financial crime, once the domain of individual fraudsters and white-collar criminals, has become a lucrative venture for organised crime groups. They exploit the global financial system to launder proceeds of crime, finance their operations, and evade law enforcement. Nation-state crime, involving state-sponsored or state-condoned criminal activities, often overlaps with organised and financial crime. Some governments turn a blind eye to these activities, while others actively support them for political, economic, or strategic reasons.
Sources: [The Currency]
Cyber Attack on British Library Highlights Lack of UK Resilience
A recent ransomware attack on the British Library has spotlighted the vulnerabilities in the UK's public sector IT infrastructure, amid rising state-backed cyber attacks. This major incident, which caused a significant technical outage at the library, underscores the concerns of cyber intelligence experts about the government's inadequate investment in cyber resilience in critical areas like education, healthcare, and local government. The hacking group Rhysida, targeting essential infrastructure, claimed responsibility and auctioned stolen data, including British Library employees’ passports, for 20 bitcoin (approximately £600,000).
The attack on the British Library, a key public service institution, highlights the escalating threat of ransomware attacks and their potential exploitation by state actors. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has reported a significant increase in cyber attacks in 2023, with incidents more than doubling compared to the previous year. In response, the UK government, which had already allocated £2.6bn for cyber security improvements and IT system updates, is actively assessing the situation with the support of the National Protective Security Authority.
Source: [FT]
Organisations Rethink Cyber Security Investments to Meet NIS2 and DORA Directive Requirements
The European Union (EU) is seeking to improve cyber resilience across all member states by bringing in two new regulations: the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which focuses on financial services companies, and its counterpart the Network and Information Systems Directive (NIS2). The effects of the two regulations are likely to be wider reaching, bringing in more stringent processes and controls and redefining service provision to organisations.
With NIS2 coming into effect in October 2024, the mandatory directive will have teeth, with strict penalties for non-compliance for both the business and senior board personnel, who can be held directly accountable and prevented from holding similar positions in the future. It also aims to increase intelligence sharing between member states and enhance supply chain security. This latter measure will see the directive have a global impact.
Many organisations supplying services to firms that fall under DORA and NIS2 will themselves be subject to the full force of the regulations, with many of these suppliers, including IT providers, unaware that this will have far reaching ramifications for them and their ability to continue to provide these services.
Sources: [Help Net Security] [Help Net Security]
The Cyber Security Lawsuit Boards are Talking About
For the last month, an under-the-radar lawsuit has privately been a hot topic of conversation in boardrooms and corporate security departments alike. The lawsuit involved the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accusing SolarWinds and their CISO of fraud. SolarWinds, like many organisations, had disclosed some facts, however what was reported was not sufficient to satisfy the regulator. The lawsuit is the first in which the SEC has charged a company with intentional fraud related to cyber security disclosures and it paints a picture for the wider movement of the cyber landscape. Whilst the SEC is US based you can expect regulatory counterparts in other jurisdictions globally to follow suit.
Source: [The New York Times]
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Why boards must prioritize cyber security expertise - Help Net Security4 data loss examples keeping backup admins up at night | TechTarget
Companies step up investment in ransomware protection (betanews.com)
CISOs can marry security and business success - Help Net Security
7 must-ask questions for leaders on security culture (att.com)
The human element -- cyber security's greatest challenge (betanews.com)
Why good cyber hygiene is a strategic imperative for UK SMEs (betanews.com)
MOVEit incident spurred UK decision makers to spend big on cyber | Computer Weekly
Cyber security Investment Involves More Than Just Technology (darkreading.com)
Hackers Weaponize SEC Disclosure Rules Against Corporate Targets (darkreading.com)
The Cyber security Lawsuit That Boards Are Talking About - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Only 9% of IT budgets are dedicated to security - Help Net Security
Why transparency and accountability are important in cyber security | Computer Weekly
SolarWinds lawsuit puts corporate security chiefs on high alert By Investing.com
Internal audit leaders are wary of key tech investments - Help Net Security
Maximize Cyber security Returns: 5 Key Steps to Enhancing ROI (darkreading.com)
Stressed staff put enterprises at risk of cyber attack (betanews.com)
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
2023 ransomware statistics: Number of double-extortion attacks skyrocket | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
More than money: The true cost of a ransomware attack | ITPro
Despite Increasing Ransomware Attacks, Some Companies In Denial | MSSP Alert
Ransomware attacks doubIe in two years says Akamai Technologies report (securitybrief.co.nz)
Hackers Weaponize SEC Disclosure Rules Against Corporate Targets (darkreading.com)
Logs missing in 42% cyber attacks; small business most vulnerable: Report (business-standard.com)
Companies step up investment in ransomware protection (betanews.com)
Understanding the Ransomware Attack Fallout on China’s ICBC (informationweek.com)
Ransomware Gang LockBit Revises Its Tactics to Get More Blackmail Money (insurancejournal.com)
The shifting sands of the war against cyber extortion - Help Net Security
Ransomware Crews Develop GenAI Tools for Cyber attacks | MSSP Alert
Play Ransomware Goes Commercial - Now Offered as a Service to Cyber criminals (thehackernews.com)
Scattered Spider Hops Nimbly from Cloud to On-Prem in Complex Attack (darkreading.com)
Ransomware groups rack up victims among corporate America | CyberScoop
Scattered Spider Casino Hackers Evade Arrest in Plain Sight (darkreading.com)
Paying ransom for data stolen in cyber attack bankrolls further crime, experts caution | CBC Radio
UK signs joint statement against ransomware payments - “New norm” or status quo? - Lexology
Capita to axe up to 900 jobs as it battles to recover from Russian cyber attack (telegraph.co.uk)
Schools Look to Improve Cyber security, but Many Vulnerable to Ransomware (insurancejournal.com)
4 Ways Fintech Companies Can Protect Themselves from Ransomware (financemagnates.com)
Cyber security should not be a gamble: Latest data breach hits major casino - Digital Journal
Ransomware Victims
Royal Mail spent £10 million recovering from LockBit breach - Tech Monitor
British Library staff passports leaked online as hackers demand £600,000 (telegraph.co.uk)
Hackers Weaponize SEC Disclosure Rules Against Corporate Targets (darkreading.com)
Understanding the Ransomware Attack Fallout on China’s ICBC (informationweek.com)
MOVEit victim count latest: 2.6K+ orgs, 77M+ people • The Register
Allen & Overy Given 5 Days to Meet Hackers’ Demands: Expert Q&A | Law.com International
London & Zurich ransomware attack causes customer chaos • The Register
CitrixBleed Vulnerability Exploitation Suspected in Toyota Ransomware Attack - SecurityWeek
Lockbit Gang Behind ICBC Attack Hacks Into Chicago Trading Company - Bloomberg
Russian hackers claim attack on Ukraine fighter jet supplier (telegraph.co.uk)
Clorox Scapegoats Cyber Chief, Rewards Board After Crisis (forbes.com)
Fortune 500 insurance and mortgage firm FNF shuts down network following cyber attack | TechRadar
Yamaha Motor confirms ransomware attack on Philippines subsidiary (bleepingcomputer.com)
St Helens Council suspected cyber attack caused significant disruption - BBC News
Western Isles Council backup systems 'inaccessible' following cyber attack | STV News
Auto parts giant AutoZone warns of MOVEit data breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
BlackCat claims attack on Fidelity National Financial • The Register
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Phishing Simulations Boost Cyber Awareness and Defences | Mimecast
How to combat AI-produced phishing attacks | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
More Than 50% of Online Retailers Not Blocking Fraudulent Emails | MSSP Alert
How Multi-Stage Phishing Attacks Exploit QRs, CAPTCHAs, and Steganography (thehackernews.com)
DarkGate and PikaBot Malware Resurrect QakBot's Tactics in New Phishing Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Bloomberg Twitter account hijacked to send users to phishing malware | TechRadar
The Most Common Indicators of a Phishing Attempt (With Screenshots) | HackerNoon
Artificial Intelligence
Cyber threats reached a new high this year, with AI playing a major role | TechRadar
How to combat AI-produced phishing attacks | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
IT Pros Worry That Generative AI Will Be a Major Driver of Cyber security Threats (darkreading.com)
Smaller businesses embrace GenAI, overlook security measures - Help Net Security
The Good, The Bad And The Reality: The Impact Of AI On Cyber security (forbes.com)
Ransomware Crews Develop GenAI Tools for Cyber attacks | MSSP Alert
Over a Dozen Exploitable Vulnerabilities Found in AI/ML Tools - SecurityWeek
AI threats prompt Virgin Money to invest $250 million in cyber security (proactiveinvestors.com.au)
OII | Large Language Models pose risk to science with false answers, says Oxford study
Malware
5 Of The Most Common Ways Malware Is Spread (And How To Stay Protected) (slashgear.com)
Report finds malware is no longer the biggest cyberthreat to smaller businesses - SiliconANGLE
Over half of SME cyber incidents now ‘malware-free’ | Computer Weekly
Bloomberg Twitter account hijacked to send users to phishing malware | TechRadar
Mirai malware infects routers and cameras for new botnet • The Register
Beware: Malicious Google Ads Trick WinSCP Users into Installing Malware (thehackernews.com)
DarkGate and PikaBot Malware Resurrect QakBot's Tactics in New Phishing Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Gamaredon's LittleDrifter USB malware spreads beyond Ukraine (bleepingcomputer.com)
Malware Uses Trigonometry to Track Mouse Strokes (darkreading.com)
Atomic Stealer Malware is tricking Mac users with fake browser updates - gHacks Tech News
USB worm unleashed by Russian state hackers spreads worldwide | Ars Technica
DarkGate and Pikabot malware emerge as Qakbot’s successors (bleepingcomputer.com)
How Ducktail steals Facebook accounts | Kaspersky official blog
Cyber criminals turn to ready-made bots for quick attacks - Help Net Security
3 Ways to Stop Unauthorized Code From Running in Your Network (darkreading.com)
New botnet malware exploits two zero-days to infect NVRs and routers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mobile
FCC Tightens Telco Rules to Combat SIM-Swapping - SecurityWeek
Inside Apple’s Secretive War to Protect iPhones from Hacking • iPhone in Canada Blog
Cyber criminals Are Targeting App Beta-Testing, and This Is What to Look Out For (makeuseof.com)
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Internet of Things – IoT
Data Breaches/Leaks
4 data loss examples keeping backup admins up at night | TechTarget
Morgan Stanley Fined $6.5 Million for Exposing Customer Information - SecurityWeek
Canadian government discloses data breach after contractor hacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
US Cyber security Lab Suffers Major Data Breach - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Hacktivists breach US nuclear research lab, steal employee data (bleepingcomputer.com)
Welltok data breach exposes data of 8.5 million US patients (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyber attackers leaked data of 27,000 NYC Bar Association membersers (therecord.media)
Enterprise software provider TmaxSoft leaks 2TB of data (securityaffairs.com)
Sumo Logic says customer data untouched during breach • The Register
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Indian Hack-for-Hire Group Targeted US, China, and More for Over 10 Years (thehackernews.com)
Shadowy Hack-for-Hire Group Behind Sprawling Web of Global Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)
Police Professional | Five-year plan launched to tackle fraud, economic and cyber crime
Outsmarting cyber criminals is becoming a hard thing to do - Help Net Security
Cyber security firm executive pleads guilty to hacking hospitals (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Microsoft: Lazarus hackers breach CyberLink in supply chain attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Three Questions To Ask Third-Party Vendors About Cyber security Risk (forbes.com)
Cloud/SaaS
Scattered Spider Hops Nimbly from Cloud to On-Prem in Complex Attack (darkreading.com)
Navigating the complexities of cyber security in a SaaS-dominated era (securitybrief.co.nz)
Encryption
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Your password hygiene remains atrocious, says NordPass • The Register
US Teen Pleads Guilty to Credential Stuffing Attack on Fantasy Sports Website - SecurityWeek
Social Media
Malvertising
Training, Education and Awareness
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Hackers Weaponize SEC Disclosure Rules Against Corporate Targets (darkreading.com)
The Cyber security Lawsuit That Boards Are Talking About - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
SolarWinds lawsuit puts corporate security chiefs on high alert By Investing.com
Morgan Stanley Fined $6.5 Million for Exposing Customer Information - SecurityWeek
UK watchdog threatens enforcement action over ad cookies • The Register
Models, Frameworks and Standards
DORA Set to Drive Significant Change in Sell-Side Third Party Risk Management | Financial IT
Understanding the UK government’s new cyber security regime, GovAssure - IT Security Guru
Data Protection
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
US Teen Pleads Guilty to Credential Stuffing Attack on Fantasy Sports Website - SecurityWeek
Scattered Spider Casino Hackers Evade Arrest in Plain Sight (darkreading.com)
US cyber cops trace and return nearly $9M stolen by scammers • The Register
Police Professional | Five-year plan launched to tackle fraud, economic and cyber crime
Cyber security firm executive pleads guilty to hacking hospitals (bleepingcomputer.com)
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare, Cyber Espionage and Geopolitical Threats/Activity
Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage
Why cyber war readiness is critical for democracies - Help Net Security
Fog of War | How the Ukraine Conflict Transformed the Cyber Threat Landscape (inforisktoday.com)
Nation State Actors
China
Russia
USB worm unleashed by Russian state hackers spreads worldwide | Ars Technica
Almost 4,000 cyber attacks on Ukraine detected – US Treasury Department | Ukrainska Pravda
Russian hackers use Ngrok feature and WinRAR exploit to attack embassies (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russian hackers claim attack on Ukraine fighter jet supplier (telegraph.co.uk)
Potential cyberespionage campaign against Ukraine involves Remcos tool | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Iran
Possible Iranian Group Behind 'Flood' of New Cyber attacks in Israel - Bloomberg
Cyber attacks on Israel intensify as the war against Hamas rages: Check Point | CSO Online
North Korea
Microsoft: Lazarus hackers breach CyberLink in supply chain attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
DPRK Hackers Masquerade as Tech Recruiters, Job Seekers (darkreading.com)
Hackers pose as officials to steal secrets and cryptocurrency for North Korea (bitdefender.com)
Other Nation State Actors, Hacktivism, Extremism, Terrorism and Other Geopolitical Threat Intelligence
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerabilities
MOVEit victim count latest: 2.6K+ orgs, 77M+ people • The Register
Citrix Bleed WFH Hack and Exploit: News on Data Loss Flaw - Bloomberg
Citrix warns admins to kill NetScaler user sessions to block hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers Exploiting Windows SmartScreen Zero-day Vulnerability (cybersecuritynews.com)
Security researchers bypass Windows Hello fingerprint authentication - gHacks Tech News
CISA warns of actively exploited Windows, Sophos, and Oracle bugs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Sophos Web Appliance vulnerability exploited in the wild (CVE-2023-1671) - Help Net Security
Over a Dozen Exploitable Vulnerabilities Found in AI/ML Tools - SecurityWeek
A critical OS command injection flaw affects Fortinet FortiSIEM (securityaffairs.com)
Russian hackers use Ngrok feature and WinRAR exploit to attack embassies (bleepingcomputer.com)
Splunk RCE Vulnerability Let Attackers Upload Malicious File (cybersecuritynews.com)
Tools and Controls
Only 9% of IT budgets are dedicated to security - Help Net Security
MOVEit incident spurred UK decision makers to spend big on cyber | Computer Weekly
Phishing Simulations Boost Cyber Awareness and Defences | Mimecast
Logs missing in 42% cyber attacks; small business most vulnerable: Report (business-standard.com)
Cyber attack on British Library raises concerns over lack of UK resilience (ft.com)
Companies step up investment in ransomware protection (betanews.com)
DORA Set to Drive Significant Change in Sell-Side Third Party Risk Management | Financial IT
The 7 Deadly Sins of Security Awareness Training (darkreading.com)
Identity And Access Management: 18 Important Trends And Considerations
The Good, The Bad And The Reality: The Impact Of AI On Cyber security (forbes.com)
MFA under fire, attackers undermine trust in security measures - Help Net Security
AI threats prompt Virgin Money to invest $250 million in cyber security (proactiveinvestors.com.au)
New Flaws in Fingerprint Sensors Let Attackers Bypass Windows Hello Login (thehackernews.com)
Security researchers bypass Windows Hello fingerprint authentication - gHacks Tech News
Detection & Response That Scales: A 4-Pronged Approach (darkreading.com)
Maximize Cyber security Returns: 5 Key Steps to Enhancing ROI (darkreading.com)
6 Steps to Accelerate Cyber security Incident Response (thehackernews.com)
The CISO view: Navigating the promise and pitfalls of cyber security automation (betanews.com)
Other News
Why Defenders Should Embrace a Hacker Mindset (thehackernews.com)
Hackers are taking over planes’ GPS — experts are lost on how to fix it (nypost.com)
UK proposes 'super-complaints' to help keep internet safe • The Register
Consumers plan to be more consistent with their security in 2024 - Help Net Security
Security trends public sector leaders are watching | CyberScoop
Even gas pumps aren't safe from cyber attacks at the moment | TechRadar
Scottish cyber security organisation calls for greater awareness of rising threat - Business Insider
The US government wants to offer better cyber security to major infrastructure firms | TechRadar
The retail sector is under threat from… Gmail, WhatsApp and Google Drive? | TechRadar
Sekoia: Latest in the Financial Sector Cyber Threat Landscape (techrepublic.com)
Shields Ready: Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience
Crimeware and financial cyberthreat predictions for 2024 | Securelist
Terrorism, cyber attacks main Paris 2024 threats as security plan finalised | Reuters
Read again: Decoding cyber security, safeguarding educational institutions | Edexec
What direction for the EU Cyber security Competence Centre? – EURACTIV.com
Unveiling the Most Common Cyber Threats in Retail – International Supermarket News
Mideast Oil & Gas Facilities Could Face Cyber Related Energy Disruptions (darkreading.com)
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 27 October 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 27 October 2023:
-More Companies Adopt Board-Level Cyber Security Committees
-Ransomware Attacks Rise by More Than 95% Over 2022, to All Time High
-Security Still Not a Priority for a Third of SMBs Despite 73% Suffering Cyber Attack Last Year
-More Than 46 Million Potential Cyber Attacks Logged Every Day
-Fighting Cyber Attacks Requires Top-Down Approach
-Email Security Threats are More Dangerous This Year as Over 200 Million Malicious Emails Detected in Q3 2023
-98% of Security Leaders Worry About Risks of Generative AI as Fears Drive Spending
-48% of Organisations Predict Cyber Attack Recovery Could Take Weeks
-Cyber Security Awareness Doesn't Cut It; It's Time to Focus on Behaviour
-How Cyber Security Has Evolved in The Past 20 Years
-Rising Global Tensions Could Portend Destructive Hacks
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
More Companies Adopt Board-Level Cyber Security Committees
In a recent CISO Report by Splunk, 78% of CISOs and other security leaders reported a dedicated board-level cyber security committee at their organisations. These committees may be made up of qualified individuals or potentially even third parties - not necessarily company employees - that give guidance to the board around matters like risk assessment and cyber security strategy. These board-level cyber security committees can potentially bridge communication barriers between IT, security teams and boards. Black Arrow supports business leaders in organisations of all sizes to demonstrate governance of their cyber risks, by participating in board meetings to upskill and guide the board in requesting and challenging the appropriate information from their internal and external sources.
Source: [Decipher]
Ransomware Attacks Rise by More Than 95% Over 2022, to All Time High
A recent report by Corvus has found that ransomware attacks continued at a record-breaking pace, with Q3 frequency up 11% over Q2 and 95% year-over-year. Even if there were no more ransomware attacks this year, the victim account has already surpassed what was observed for 2021 and 2022. In a separate report, analysis conducted by Sophos has found that dwell times, which is the length of time an attacker is in a victim’s system before they are discovered, has fallen, leaving less time for organisations to detect attacks.
Sources: [Dark Reading] [SC Magazine] [Reinsurance News]
Security Still Not a Priority for a Third of SMBs Despite 73% Suffering Cyber Attack Last Year
Multiple reports highlighting different aspects of small and medium businesses (SMBs) all have one thing in common: the lack of priority that is given to cyber security. One example is a survey conducted by Amazon Web Services (AWS) which found that cyber security is not even a strategic priority for 35% of SMBs when considering moving to the cloud. This comes as a report by Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) found that 73% of US SMBs reported a cyber attack last year, with employee and customer data being the target in data breaches. Despite the rise in SMB attacks, relatively few organisations are following cyber security best practices to help prevent a breach in the first place. Every business, regardless of size, should do everything it reasonably can to protect its data and ensure connectivity, and smaller organisations may be more likely to be a victim of a cyber attack. Security is an enabler for the wider IT and business strategy to help users build the organisation in greater security. It should be hard-baked from the outset; seeking expert advice can help ensure the right proportionate security decisions are being made.
Sources: [Insider Media] [Infosecurity Magazine] [IT Reseller Magazine] [Infosecurity Magazine]
More Than 46 Million Potential Cyber Attacks Logged Every Day
New data released by the UK’s BT Group has found that more than 500 potential cyber attacks are logged every second. The BT data showed that over the last 12 months the most targeted sectors by cyber criminals were IT, defence, banking and insurance sectors; this was followed by the retail, hospitality and education industries. According to the figures 785,000 charities fell victim to cyber attacks. The data found that hackers are relentlessly scanning devices for vulnerabilities by using automation, and artificial intelligence is now being included by attackers to identify weaknesses in an organisation’s cyber defences.
Sources: [Evening Standard] [Proactive] [The Independent]
Fighting Cyber Attacks Requires Top-Down Approach
Organisations must move away from the posture that their IT division owns responsibility for safeguarding against cyber attacks. Instead, what we really need is for cyber security to come down from the top of the organisation, into the departments so that we have an enterprise-wide culture of security. It is the board’s responsibility to work with the executive team to ensure it is not just an IT-centric issue. By aligning cyber risk management with business needs, creating a cyber security strategy as a business enabler, and incorporating cyber security expertise into board and governance, the organisation will create a solid foundation for this top-down approach.
Source: [Chief Investment Officer]
Email Security Threats are More Dangerous This Year as Over 200 million Malicious Emails Detected in Q3 2023
The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT has made spam and phishing emails infinitely more dangerous, with over 200 million sent in Q3 2023. A recent report found that link-based malware delivery made up 58% of all malicious emails for the quarter, while attachments made up the remaining 42%. Worryingly, 33% of these were delivered through legitimate but compromised websites.
Phishing does not come through emails alone however, there is also phishing via SMS, QR codes, calls and genuine, but compromised accounts. Black Arrow supports organisations of all sizes in designing and delivering proportionate user education and awareness programmes, including in-person and online training as well as simulated phishing campaigns. Our programmes help secure employee engagement and build a cyber security culture to protect the organisation.
Sources: [Security Magazine] [MSSP Alert] [TechRadar]
98% of Security Leaders Worry About Risks of Generative AI as Fears Drive Spending
Generative AI is playing a significant role in reshaping the phishing email threat landscape, according to a recent report from Abnormal Security. The report found that 98% of security leaders are highly concerned about generative AI's potential to create more sophisticated email attacks, with four-fifths (80.3%) of respondents confirming that their organisation had already received AI-generated email attacks or strongly suspecting that this was the case. A separate report by IBM found that attackers only needed five simple prompts to get the AI to develop a highly convincing phishing email. In a separate report, Gartner stated that AI has created a new scare, which contributed to 80% of CIO’s reporting that they plan to increase spending on cyber security, including AI.
Sources: [Infosecurity Magazine] [CSO Online] [Business Wire] [Help Net Security]
48% of Organisations Predict Cyber Attack Recovery Could Take Weeks
A recent report has found that 48% of respondents predicted that it would take days or weeks for their company to recover from cyber attacks, representing a potentially devastating risk to their business. Attacks are a matter of when, not if. Organisations should have plans and procedures in place to be able to recover from an attack; this includes having an incident response plan and regularly testing the organisation’s ability to backup and recover.
Black Arrow works with organisations of all sizes and sectors to design and prepare for managing a cyber security incident; this can include an incident response plan and an educational tabletop exercise for the leadership team that highlights the proportionate controls to help the organisation prevent and mitigate an incident.
Sources: [Security Magazine]
Cyber Security Awareness Doesn't Cut It; It's Time to Focus on Behaviour
The human element remains a significant vulnerability in cyber security, as reinforced by recent analysis. Repeated studies show that knowledge alone does not change behaviour, and that simply giving people more training is unlikely to change outcomes. The study underscores that even with heightened cyber security awareness, there has not been a notable decline in successful cyber attacks that exploit human errors.
We need to draw parallels to real-world skills. The report suggests that cyber security education should be as continuous and context-driven as learning to drive: no one learnt to drive by having a single lesson once a year. For instance, rather than educating employees on using multifactor authentication (MFA) in isolation, it's more impactful to provide an explanation of the additional security that that control provides and the reasons why it is being used to protect the organisation. This contextual approach, accentuated with insights on the advantages of these controls, is poised to foster the right behaviours and bolster security outcomes. However, the challenges persist, with many employees still bypassing recommended security protocols, underscoring the need for a more hands-on, real-time approach to cyber security education.
Source: [Dark Reading]
How Cyber Security Has Evolved in The Past 20 Years
Twenty years ago, the cloud as we know it didn’t exist. There were no Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, not even Gmail was around. Cyber threats have evolved significantly since then, but so too have the solutions. We’ve transitioned from manual, on-site vulnerability scanning and lengthy breach investigations, to automated tools and remote work capabilities that have reduced investigation times from months to weeks. Alongside technological advancements, laws and regulations surrounding cyber security have also tightened, imposing stricter rules on organisations to protect customer data and penalties for attackers.
The bigger picture is staying a step ahead of threat actors in the automation race. Whether that’s accomplished with AI or some other yet-to-be-discovered technology remains to be seen. In the meantime, as is always the case in this industry, regardless of the latest innovation, everyone needs to stay vigilant for threat actors’ attacks and remember that what was adequate to protect technology 20 years ago will not be sufficient to defend against the threat landscape today, and certainly not against the threats of tomorrow.
Source: [Forbes]
Rising Global Tensions Could Portend Destructive Hacks
Governments in the West are warning public and private sector organisations to "remain on heightened alert" for disruptive cyber attacks targeting critical infrastructure and key sectors amid a series of escalating global conflicts.
Source: [Info Risk Today]
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Cyber security Awareness Doesn't Cut It; It's Time to Focus on Behaviour (darkreading.com)
How Cyber Security Training Lowers Risk Among Employees (forbes.com)
How to establish a great security awareness culture (att.com)
More Companies Adopt Board-Level Cyber Security Committees | Decipher (duo.com)
Fighting Cyber Attacks Requires Top-Down Approach | Chief Investment Officer (ai-cio.com)
SMBs Need to Balance Cyber Security Needs and Resources (darkreading.com)
48% of organisations predict cyber attack recovery to take weeks | Security Magazine
Cyber Security Litigation: Five Trends Unpacked | Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP - JDSupra
Cyber attacks now biggest cause of downtime and data loss – report - CIR Magazine
The Need for a Cyber Security-Centric Business Culture (darkreading.com)
From Snooze to Enthuse: Making Security Awareness Training 'Sticky' (darkreading.com)
Awaken From Cyber Slumber: 3 Steps To Stronger Cyber security (forbes.com)
AI-related security fears drive 2024 IT spending - Help Net Security
Cyber Resilience And Risk Management: Forces Against Cyber Threats (forbes.com)
The Cyber Security Resilience Quotient: Measuring Security Effectiveness - Security Week
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
SonicWall Data Confirms That Ransomware Is Still the Enterprise's Biggest Fear (darkreading.com)
Ransomware is threatening more businesses than ever before | TechRadar
Ransomware isn’t going away – the problem is only getting worse (bleepingcomputer.com)
Known Ransomware Attack Volume Breaks Monthly Record, Again (govinfosecurity.com)
Microsoft Warns as Scattered Spider Expands from SIM Swaps to Ransomware (thehackernews.com)
Concerns grow as LockBit knockoffs increasingly target popular vulnerabilities (therecord.media)
The Rise of S3 Ransomware: How to Identify and Combat It (thehackernews.com)
Meet Rhysida, a New Ransomware Strain That Deletes Itself (darkreading.com)
Kaspersky crimeware report: GoPIX, Lumar, and Rhysida. | Securelist
Five things organisations don’t consider before a ransomware attack | TechRadar
Ransomware incidents are on the rise as latest data reveals alarming trend | TechSpot
MGM Resorts hackers 'one of the most dangerous financial criminal groups’ (therecord.media)
Ransomware attacks against hospitals put patients' lives at risk, researchers say : NPR
Ragnar Locker Ransomware Boss Arrested in Paris (darkreading.com)
BlackCat Climbs the Summit With a New Tactic (paloaltonetworks.com)
Ransomware Soars as Myriad Efforts to Stop It Fall Short - Bloomberg
Hackers Using Remote Admin Tools AvosLocker Ransomware (gbhackers.com)
Resilience notes uptick in data exfiltration as cyber criminals change tactics - Reinsurance News
Healthcare Ransomware Attacks Cost US $78bn - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Bracing for AI-enabled ransomware and cyber extortion attacks - Help Net Security
Security Patch Management Strengthens Ransomware Defence (trendmicro.com)
Ransomware Victims
MGM Resorts hackers 'one of the most dangerous financial criminal groups’ (therecord.media)
Ambulances diverted as 3 New York hospitals grapple with cyber attacks | Fox News
Operations of Healthcare Solutions Giant Henry Schein Disrupted by Cyber attack - Security Week
US energy firm shares how Akira ransomware hacked its systems (bleepingcomputer.com)
Seiko says ransomware attack exposed sensitive customer data (bleepingcomputer.com)
American Family Insurance confirms cyber attack is behind IT outages (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyber Attack Causing Service Interruptions At Ontario Hospitals (databreaches.net)
Cyber crims leak patient pics in low blow bid to win ransom • The Register
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Over 200 million malicious emails were detected in Q3 2023 | Security Magazine
Watch out - that QR code could just be a phishing scam | TechRadar
Booking.com customers targeted by scam ‘confirmation’ emails | Scams | The Guardian
New Hotel Phishing Scam — Be Careful If You're Offered a Discounted Rate | GOBankingRates
Email security threats are more dangerous than ever - here's what you need to know | TechRadar
What is Phishing? 5 Types of Phishing Attacks You Need to Know | MSSP Alert
The US released popular phishing techniques | Inquirer Technology
Akamai research finds more sophisticated phishing threats in hospitality industry - SiliconANGLE
Don’t Get Spooked Into Falling For These Phishing Scams - IT Security Guru
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Artificial Intelligence
AI-related security fears drive 2024 IT spending - Help Net Security
Boardrooms losing control in generative AI takeover, says Kaspersky | Computer Weekly
Governments, firms should spend more on AI safety, top researchers say | Reuters
Cyber-defence systems seek to outduel criminals in AI race (techxplore.com)
Report warns AI could worsen cyber threat, but government will not ‘rush to regulate’ - CIR Magazine
Businesses fear generative AI will cause ‘catastrophic’ cyber attacks (siliconrepublic.com)
Don't use AI-based apps, Philippine defence ordered its personnel (securityaffairs.com)
Businesses ignorant to gen AI security threats suggests research (ship-technology.com)
Deepfakes: Navigating Data Privacy and Cyber Security Risks | DRI - JDSupra
Artificial Intelligence Bad News For Cyber Threats, Report Warns - TechRound
Bracing for AI-enabled ransomware and cyber extortion attacks - Help Net Security
Oops! When tech innovations create new security threats | CSO Online
2FA/MFA
Malware
Hackers are using an incredibly sneaky trick to hide malware | Digital Trends
Vietnamese Hackers Target UK, US, and India with DarkGate Malware (thehackernews.com)
Quasar RAT Leverages DLL Side-Loading to Fly Under the Radar (thehackernews.com)
Dangerous new malware can crack encrypted USB drives | TechRadar
'Grandoreiro' Trojan Targets Global Banking Customers (darkreading.com)
Powerful Malware Disguised as Crypto Miner Infects 1M+ Windows, Linux PCs (pcmag.com)
The Changing Threat Landscape: Infostealers and the MacOS goldmine - F-Secure Blog
Mobile
Android trojan spotted in the wild can record audio and phone calls | ZDNET
Samsung Galaxy S23 hacked twice in one day at Pwn2Own contest (androidauthority.com)
iLeakage attack exploits Safari to steal data from Apple devices (securityaffairs.com)
Intellexa: Irish-linked spyware used in 'brazen attacks' - report - BBC News
Longer Support Periods Raise the Bar for Mobile Security (darkreading.com)
Android adware apps on Google Play amass two million installs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
This DDoS attack is the biggest in internet history. | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
Disinformation and its often overlooked potential for denial-of-services. (thecyberwire.com)
Record-Breaking 100 Million RPS DDoS Attack Exploits HTTP/2 Rapid Reset Flaw (thehackernews.com)
Internet of Things – IoT
Data Breaches/Leaks
Okta says hackers breached its support system and viewed customer files | Ars Technica
Okta support system breach highlights need for strong MFA policies | CSO Online
1Password suffers cyber security incident after latest Okta breach - Tech Monitor
Okta stock falls after company says client files accessed by hackers via support system (cnbc.com)
Hacker accused of breaching Finnish psychotherapy centre facing 30,000 counts (therecord.media)
City of Philadelphia discloses data breach after five months (bleepingcomputer.com)
500k Irish National Police records exposed by third party • The Register
The 23andMe data breach reveals the vulnerabilities of our interconnected data (theconversation.com)
iLeakage attack exploits Safari to steal data from Apple devices (securityaffairs.com)
DC Board of Elections: Hackers may have breached entire voter roll (bleepingcomputer.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
More than 500 potential cyber attacks logged every second, BT says | The Independent
Spain arrests 34 cyber criminals who stole data of 4 million people (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nigerian Police dismantle cyber crime recruitment, mentoring hub (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Cryptojacking campaign Qubitstrike targets exposed Jupyter Notebook instances | CSO Online
Powerful Malware Disguised as Crypto Miner Infects 1M+ Windows, Linux PCs (pcmag.com)
70% of Crypto Companies Report Deepfake Fraud Rise (darkreading.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Forget the outside hacker, the bigger threat is inside • The Register
Human-centric Security Design Reduces Threats by Changing User Behavior (prweb.com)
How to establish a great security awareness culture (att.com)
How Cyber Security Training Lowers Risk Among Employees (forbes.com)
The Need for a Cyber Security-Centric Business Culture (darkreading.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
New Hotel Phishing Scam — Be Careful If You're Offered a Discounted Rate | GOBankingRates
Booking.com customers targeted by scam ‘confirmation’ emails | Scams | The Guardian
Purchase Scams Surge as Fraud Losses Hit £580m - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Online scammers target desperate loan seekers using online fraud | TechRadar
Christmas scams to watch out for this festive season (nationalworld.com)
Cyber criminals exploit the Israeli-Hamas conflict through scam emails and websites (iol.co.za)
70% of Crypto Companies Report Deepfake Fraud Rise (darkreading.com)
Deepfakes
Deepfakes: Navigating Data Privacy and Cyber Security Risks | DRI - JDSupra
70% of Crypto Companies Report Deepfake Fraud Rise (darkreading.com)
Insurance
Telling Small Businesses to Buy Cyber Insurance Isn't Enough (darkreading.com)
Stemming Losses That Go Uncovered by Cyber Insurance | Esquire Deposition Solutions, LLC - JDSupra
Aviva: SMEs ‘woefully underserved’ for cyber cover - Insurance Post (postonline.co.uk)
Dark Web
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Software Supply Chain
Cloud/SaaS
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Okta Reveals Breach Via Stolen Credential - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
'Log in With...' Feature Allows Full Online Account Takeover for Millions (darkreading.com)
Social Media
Malvertising
Training, Education and Awareness
Cyber Security Awareness Doesn't Cut It; It's Time to Focus on Behaviour (darkreading.com)
This Cyber Security Awareness Month, Don't Lose Sight of Human Risk (darkreading.com)
How to establish a great security awareness culture (att.com)
How Cyber Security Training Lowers Risk Among Employees (forbes.com)
The Need for a Cyber Security-Centric Business Culture (darkreading.com)
Cyber Security Awareness Month: What's Still Needed After Twenty Years (forbes.com)
From Snooze to Enthuse: Making Security Awareness Training 'Sticky' (darkreading.com)
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Managed security services [EU Legislation in Progress] | Epthinktank | European Parliament
Report warns AI could worsen cyber threat, but government will not ‘rush to regulate’ - CIR Magazine
UK government finalises IoT cyber security requirements - Lexology
Models, Frameworks and Standards
Backup and Recovery
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Hacker accused of breaching Finnish psychotherapy center facing 30,000 counts (therecord.media)
Alleged developer of the Ragnar Locker ransomware was arrested (securityaffairs.com)
Spain arrests 34 cyber criminals who stole data of 4 million people (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nigerian Police dismantle cyber crime recruitment, mentoring hub (bleepingcomputer.com)
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
‘I’m looking for fewer ways to be traceable, not more’ | Financial Times
Google Chrome's new "IP Protection" will hide users' IP addresses (bleepingcomputer.com)
ShadowDragon: Australian spies monitor PornHub, Tinder, Fortnite (crikey.com.au)
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare, Cyber Espionage and Geopolitical Threats/Activity
Misc Nation State/Cyber Warfare/Cyber Espionage
ICC: September Breach Was Espionage Raid - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
International Criminal Court attack was targeted and sophisticated (securityaffairs.com)
Governments and hackers agree: the laws of war must apply in cyber space (theconversation.com)
It's Time to Establish the NATO of Cyber Security (darkreading.com)
War Crimes Court Flags Cyber Attack That Targeted Its Work - Law360
International Criminal Court systems breached for cyber espionage (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyber attack a ‘serious attempt to undermine’ International Criminal Court - Lawyers Weekly
Rising Global Tensions Could Portend Destructive Hacks (inforisktoday.com)
Geopolitical Threats/Activity
Cyber criminals exploit the Israeli-Hamas conflict through scam emails and websites (iol.co.za)
Cyber operations linked to Israel-Hamas fighting gain momentum | CyberScoop
Rising Global Tensions Could Portend Destructive Hacks (inforisktoday.com)
China
MI5 chief warns of Chinese cyber espionage reached an unprecedented scale (securityaffairs.com)
Glasgow universities on red alert over Chinese spies as they join security scheme - Glasgow Live
Navy ends tradition of Chinese laundrymen on warships over spying fears (telegraph.co.uk)
Russia
Russia Cyber attacks Becoming More Sophisticated, Ukraine Official Says - Bloomberg
European govt email servers hacked using Roundcube zero-day (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ministry, police and Crimea summit websites victims of cyber attack | Radio Prague International
Major Russian bank reportedly hacked by Ukraine | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Hackers backdoor Russian state, industrial orgs for data theft (bleepingcomputer.com)
Who is sabotaging underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea? (economist.com)
Pro-Russia hackers target inboxes with 0-day in webmail app used by millions | Ars Technica
Russia-Ukraine War: Cyber Attack and Kinetic Warfare Timeline - | MSSP Alert
France says Russian state hackers breached numerous critical networks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyber attack a ‘serious attempt to undermine’ International Criminal Court - Lawyers Weekly
Ex-NSA techie admits to selling state secrets to Russia • The Register
Iran
North Korea
Vulnerability Management
Concerns grow as LockBit knockoffs increasingly target popular vulnerabilities (therecord.media)
Why Do We Need Real-World Context to Prioritise CVEs? (darkreading.com)
Security Patch Management Strengthens Ransomware Defence (trendmicro.com)
Vulnerabilities
Citrix Bleed exploit lets hackers hijack NetScaler accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)
Exploitation of Citrix NetScaler vulns reaching dangerous levels | Computer Weekly
Critical SolarWinds RCE Bugs Enable Unauthorised Network Takeover (darkreading.com)
CISA adds second Cisco IOS XE flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog - Security Affairs
Cisco hackers likely taking steps to avoid identification | Computer Weekly
F5 Issues Warning: BIG-IP Vulnerability Allows Remote Code Execution (thehackernews.com)
European govt email servers hacked using Roundcube zero-day (bleepingcomputer.com)
VMware vCenter Flaw So Critical, Patches Released for End-of-Life Products - Security Week
Critical OAuth Flaws Uncovered in Grammarly, Vidio, and Bukalapak Platforms (thehackernews.com)
Firefox, Chrome Updates Patch High-Severity Vulnerabilities - Security Week
The Forbidden Fruit Of Cyber Security: Hackers Take A Bite Out Of Apple (forbes.com)
Pro-Russia hackers target inboxes with 0-day in webmail app used by millions | Ars Technica
Apple Ships Major iOS, macOS Security Updates - Security Week
Hackers can force iOS and macOS browsers to divulge passwords and much more | Ars Technica
ServiceNow quietly fixes 8-year-old data exposure flaw • The Register
Tools and Controls
48% of organisations predict cyber attack recovery to take weeks | Security Magazine
Cyber attack response plans need to be in place to avoid chaos - FreightWaves
NIST provides solid guidance on software supply chain security in DevSecOps | CSO Online
What is Network Segmentation? Virtual & Physical Segmentation | UpGuard
AI-related security fears drive 2024 IT spending - Help Net Security
Businesses fear generative AI will cause ‘catastrophic’ cyber attacks (siliconrepublic.com)
Is it wise to put all your security solutions in one cyber basket? (securitybrief.co.nz)
Cyber attacks are inevitable, so a focus on resilience is vital - James McGachie (scotsman.com)
Cyber Resilience And Risk Management: Forces Against Cyber Threats (forbes.com)
Are Backup Files the Missing Link in Your Cyber Security? (finextra.com)
Unveiling the power of emerging technologies to empower cyber resilience (techuk.org)
Cyber security concerns grow among physical security professionals | Security Magazine
The Cyber Security Resilience Quotient: Measuring Security Effectiveness - Security Week
Other News
MPs to examine cyber resilience of UK’s critical national infrastructure | CSO Online
Strategies to overcome cyber security misconceptions - Help Net Security
UK NCSC, NPSA launch Secure Innovation campaign to protect tech startups | CSO Online
5 important cyber security takeaways for law firms - Lawyers Weekly
How Cyber Security Has Evolved In The Past 20 Years (forbes.com)
Oops! When tech innovations create new security threats | CSO Online
Spooky Cyber Statistics And Trends You Need To Know (forbes.com)
The Changing Threat Landscape: Infostealers and the MacOS goldmine - F-Secure Blog
Proactively preventing your company from becoming the next cyber attack headline (betanews.com)
Demystifying Cyber Security: Shakespeare To The Rescue | HackerNoon
Cyber Threat: Aviation’s Clear and Present Danger? | Aerospace Tech Review
OT cyber attacks proliferating despite growing cyber security spend - Help Net Security
Cost of a Data Breach: Retail Costs, Risks and Prevention Strategies (securityintelligence.com)
What Would a US Government Shutdown Mean for Cyber Security? (darkreading.com)
Weapons Systems Provide Valuable Lessons for ICS/OT Security - Security Week
Cyber attacks now biggest cause of downtime and data loss – report - CIR Magazine
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.
Black Arrow Cyber Advisory 26 October 2023 – Citrix Bleed Vulnerability Actively Exploited, Patch Now
Black Arrow Cyber Advisory 26 October 2023 – Citrix Bleed Vulnerability Actively Exploited, Patch Now
Executive summary
A high-serverity vulnerability in NetScaler ADC (formerly Citrix ADC) and NetScaler Gateway (formerly Citrix Gateway) is being actively exploited in the wild. The vulnerability, labelled “Citrix Bleed” allows attackers to retrieve authentication tokens, which can then be used to gain unauthorised access to the user accounts. Following a release of a proof-of-concept, there has been a further rise in attackers exploiting the vulnerability, which has now been added to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. A second vulnerability, which causes a denial of service has also been addressed.
What’s the risk to me or my business?
Successful exploitation of the critical vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker to gain access to sensitive information which can then be used to access user accounts, impacting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data. The second vulnerability can cause a denial of services, impacting the availability of data.
The following customer-managed versions are affected:
NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway 14.1 before 14.1-8.50
NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway 13.1 before 13.1-49.15
NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway 13.0 before 13.0-92.19
NetScaler ADC 13.1-FIPS before 13.1-37.164
NetScaler ADC 12.1-FIPS before 12.1-55.300
NetScaler ADC 12.1-NDcPP before 12.1-55.300
Note: NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway version 12.1 is now End-of-Life (EOL) and a patch has not been released for these affected products.
What can I do?
Patches are available for impacted versions of NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway. Due to the severity of the vulnerability Black Arrow recommends applying the patches for the critical vulnerability immediately. In addition, NetScaler have also provided a list of commands which can be used to kill active and persistent sessions, these can be found at the bottom of our advisory. These patches will also address the second vulnerability. NetScaler have noted that If you are a Citrix-managed cloud service or Citrix-managed Adaptive Authentication customer, no action is required.
Technical Summary
CVE-2023-4966 – This vulnerability if exploited allows an attacker to retrieve the authentication session cookies by performing an unauthenticated buffer related exploit which can allow the attacker to use the stolen session top log into the users ID.
CVE-2023-4967 – a vulnerability which if exploited, allows an attacker to cause a denial of service.
Further information on the Citrix patches can be found here:
Further information on the proof-of-concept can be found here:
https://www.assetnote.io/resources/research/citrix-bleed-leaking-session-tokens-with-cve-2023-4966
Need help understanding your gaps, or just want some advice? Get in touch with us.
#threatadvisory #threatintelligence #cybersecurity
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 13 October 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 13 October 2023:
-Small Businesses Hit by Frequent Cyber Attacks as 90% of CISOs Faced at least One Attack Last Year
-The Most Effective Cyber Attacks Never Touch Your Organisation's Firewall, HR’s Role in Defending the Organisation
-Ransomware Infection Times Fall from 5 Days to 5 Hours
-80% of Security Leaders See AI as the Biggest Threat to Business
-Is Your Board Cyber-Ready?
-Cyber Security Should Be a Business Priority for CEOs
-The Looming Threat of a Single Phishing Click to Your Business
-40% of Organisations Leave Ransomware to IT
-Auditors Growing Concern About Cyber Security
-The Cyber Villains Are Getting Bolder: Businesses Need to Up Their Game
-Preparing for the Unexpected: A Proactive Approach to Operational Resilience
-Staggering Losses to Social Media and Social Engineering Since 21, as Victims Take $2.7 Billion Hit in US Alone
-Organisations Grapple with Detection and Response Despite Rising Security Budgets
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
Small Businesses Hit by Frequent Cyber Attacks, as 90% of CISOs of Larger Firms Faced at least One Attack Last Year
A survey by Payroll provider Sage found that nearly 48% of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have experienced at least one cyber incident in the past year; of note, this is only based on SMEs self-reporting, and requires SMEs to have both the ability to detect an incident and to have actually identified an incident and then self-report it. The survey found that cyber security was a priority with 68% of respondents reporting that they would use a more expensive security control if it demonstrated better security.
In a separate report by Splunk, it was found that 90% of CISOs reported experiencing at least one disruptive attack in the past year. The difference in numbers could be because organisations who have a CISO are more likely to have tools in place to detect an incident.
Regardless, cyber criminals are showing that any size of organisation can be a victim of a cyber incident and in some cases, smaller organisations may not have the necessary budget and controls to prevent an attack.
Sources: [Security Magazine] [Insurance Times] [Infosecurity Magazine]
The Most Effective Cyber Attacks Never Touch Your Organisation’s Firewall, and HR’s Role in Defending the Organisation
In 2022, total spending on cyber security technologies increased to 71.1 billion USD, illustrating just how much effort goes into protecting companies, their data, and their customers. Regardless of all this spending, there remains a popular attack which can bypass this all: social engineering. Attackers know how much technology protection is placed in organisations, so they often try to bypass this and go straight through the employees.
Cyber security will never work if organisations do not go beyond IT; it is a business-wide issue and requires the engagement and input from across the business, including functions like Human Resources. Having effectively trained employees is a crucial part of creating a culture of security within an organisation, and this starts with HR. Employees will often have training as part of their onboarding and then regular training to ensure competencies; as part of HR’s role, this should include commissioning training on cyber security that is delivered by cyber security experts that understand what attackers are doing.
Source: [News Week] [Beta News]
Ransomware Infection Times Fall from 5 Days to 5 Hours
The amount of time it takes an attacker to infect a system with ransomware has fallen drastically over the last 12 months according to a recent report. The median dwell time (the time that an attacker spends in a victim’s network before being detected) was 5.5 days in 2021, reducing to 4.5 days in 2022, and this year it fell to less than 24 hours with, in 10% of cases, the time taken to deploy ransomware being within 5 hours. As threat actors continue to leverage Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) to execute attacks, dwell times will continue to decrease and the number of attacks will increase.
This coincides with a recent survey by Hornetsecurity that revealed that almost 60% of businesses are concerned about ransomware attacks. 92% of businesses are reported to be aware of ransomware’s potential negative impact, but just 54% of respondents say their leadership is actively involved in conversations and decision making to help prevent attacks.
The report highlights that ransomware is still at large, with the first half of 2023 seeing more ransomware victims than in the whole of 2022. Having good cyber security protection and hygiene is the key to ongoing success. Organisations cannot afford to become victims. Ongoing security awareness training and multi-layered ransomware protection are critical to help avoid insurmountable losses.
Sources: [Cision] [PC Mag] [Security Magazine]
80% of Security Leaders See AI as the Biggest Threat to Business
A report has found that a large majority of security leaders (80%) believe Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the biggest cyber threat to their business, and that the risks of AI outweigh the many advantages.
In a separate report, 58% agreed that AI is increasing the number of cyber attacks. The benefits of AI were also recognised however, with 73% reporting AI to be an increasingly important tool for security operations.
With AI finding itself both sides of the coin, it is important for organisations to effectively implement their AI solutions, so that they can improve their security whilst reducing the risk that AI presents to their organisation.
Sources: [Diginomica] [Infosecurity Magazine]
Is Your Board Cyber-Ready?
With the recent US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requirements entering effect, and the impending Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) requirements for Europe, there is yet another layer added to the complicated issues of managing cyber security risks. However, it is clear that strong corporate governance equips companies to address them efficiently and accurately.
Governance starts with the board, as it is responsible for the oversight of the organisation’s cyber security programs. For a board to do this effectively, the leadership team must be able to understand cyber security; yet despite this, a study found that only 12% of boards had a cyber expert. Black Arrow supports business leaders in organisations of all sizes to gain a strong practical understanding of the fundamentals of cyber security risk management, and to demonstrate governance in implementing their cyber security strategy by leveraging their existing internal and external resources.
Sources: [Harvard.edu] [JDSupra]
Cyber Security Should Be a Business Priority for CEOs
A recent report found that despite 96% of CEOs saying that cyber security is critical to organisational growth and stability, 74% of CEOs are concerned about their organisation’s ability to avert or minimise damage arising from a cyber attack. The report also highlighted that 60% of CEOs don’t incorporate cyber security into their business strategies, products or services from the beginning. 44% believe that cyber security requires episodic intervention rather than ongoing attention.
Adding to this reactive stance is the incorrect assumption by 54% of CEOs that the cost of implementing cyber security is higher than the cost of suffering a cyber attack, despite history showing otherwise. For instance, the report notes that a global shipping and logistics company breach resulted in a 20% drop in business volume, with losses hitting $300 million. In addition, despite 90% of CEOs saying cyber security is a differentiating factor for their products or services to help them build customer trust, only 15% have dedicated board meetings to discuss cyber security issues. This disconnect might be explained by the fact that 91% of CEOs said cyber security is a technical function that is the responsibility of the CIO or CISO.
Source: [HelpNet Security]
The Looming Threat of a Single Phishing Click to Your Business
A single click could be all it takes to get the ball rolling and allow an attacker entry into your organisation. From there, the possibilities are endless. Phishing impacts any employee within the organisation with an email account, phone number or access to the web.
Organisations can mitigate this risk however, by conducting training and awareness programmes, aimed at improving employees’ abilities to identify, report and avoid falling victim to phishing incidents. Such training should be held regularly to maintain their knowledge as well as adapting to the ever-changing landscape of cyber crime. Black Arrow supports organisations of all sizes in designing and delivering proportionate user education and awareness programmes, including in-person and online training as well as simulated phishing campaigns. Our programmes help secure employee engagement and build a cyber security culture to protect the organisation.
Source: [CMS-lawnow]
40% of Organisations Leave Ransomware to IT
A report found that 93% of respondents said they believe ransomware protection is “very” to “extremely” important in terms of IT priorities for their organisation, yet only 54% reported that the leadership were actively involved in conversations and decision-making around ransomware attacks, and 40% of total respondents were happy to leave the IT team to deal with ransomware attacks.
By only involving the IT team and excluding the leadership, organisations are at risk of not addressing regulatory requirements, or failing to manage such cyber incidents within a business context. This would also suggest a lack of an effective Incident Response Plan to ensure that considerations such as legal, communications, customers, employees and other stakeholders are not forgotten. Black Arrow works with organisations of all sizes and sectors to design and prepare for managing a cyber security incident; this can include an Incident Response Plan and an educational tabletop exercise for the leadership team that highlights the proportionate controls to help the organisation prevent and mitigate an incident.
Source: [MSSP Alert]
Auditors’ Growing Concern About Cyber Security
The majority of chief audit executives and information technology audit leaders consider cyber security to be a top risk over the next year. The survey found that found that nearly 75% of respondents, and an even higher percentage (82%) of technology audit leaders, consider cyber security to be a high-risk area over the next 12 months.
Source: [Accounting Today]
Preparing for the Unexpected: A Proactive Approach to Operational Resilience
Recent insights highlight a pressing need: ensuring operational resilience in financial firms. As the financial sector remains a prime target for cyber threats, the increasing interconnectedness presents evolving challenges. While cyber security aims to defend against attacks, operational resilience ensures the continuity of operations even when incidents occur.
Notably, the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) stresses preparedness, providing a framework for the industry. Although business continuity practices exist, operational resilience offers a more proactive stance, ensuring system reliability that is crucial for global financial trust. Achieving this requires a comprehensive risk assessment, laying the groundwork for a resilient strategy tailored to a firm’s unique position in the financial landscape.
Source: [Dark Reading]
Staggering Losses to Social Media and Social Engineering Since 2021, as Victims Take $2.7 Billion Hit in US Alone
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reports that Americans alone, have lost $2.7 billion to social media and social engineering scams since 2021. The losses were incurred through websites, phone calls and email.
It is important for organisations to consider that such scams could very well find themselves in the corporate environment. Already, there has been a significant rise in attacks on employees through LinkedIn. As such, it is important for organisations to provide education and awareness training to users.
Sources: [Bleeping Computer] [Infosecurity Magazine]
Organisations Grapple with Detection and Response Despite Rising Security Budgets
A study by EY found that only a fifth of cyber security leaders today are confident about their organisation’s cyber security approach, with only half trusting the training they provide in-house. CISO respondents reported an average annual spend of $35 million on cyber security, with the median cost of a breach jumping 12% to $2.5 million. The leaders said they anticipate the cost per breach to reach $4 million by the end of the year.
The report found that the biggest internal challenges to the organisation's cyber security approach were "too many potential attack surfaces" at 52%, and "difficulty balancing security and innovation speed" at 50%. The study also noted big discrepancies between the CISOs and other C-suite leaders when it came to their organisation's cyber security preparedness. While 60% of CISOs were confident about the C-suite integration of cyber security into key business decisions, only over half of other C-suite officers believed they were effective. There was also a significant gap (12%) between their satisfaction with the overall cyber security preparedness.
Source: [CSO Online]
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Auditors more worried about cyber security than AI risks | Accounting Today
Cyber Security Survey: 40% of Orgs “Leave” Ransomware to IT | MSSP Alert
Cyber attacks are only getting worse for business, so what are CISOs doing about it? | TechRadar
Warning as more businesses fall victim to cyber attacks | Insurance Times
PwC survey reveals rising concerns over cyber security and generative AI in 2024 - Reinsurance News
The Role of HR in Engaging the Workforce for Holistic Cyber Security (newsweek.com)
90% firms experienced cyber attacks; 83% opted to pay attackers: Report (business-standard.com)
The world was already horrifying — technology is making it more so - The Hustle
Cyber security is a mindset, not just a set of tools and technologies. (techuk.org)
Cyber security should be a business priority for CEOs - Help Net Security
Organisations grapple with detection and response despite rising security budgets | CSO Online
The undeniable benefits of making cyber resiliency the new standard | CSO Online
Preparing for the Unexpected: A Proactive Approach to Operational Resilience (darkreading.com)
Cyber insurance costs pressure business budgets - Help Net Security
C-suite weighs in on generative AI and security (securityintelligence.com)
Cyber security overtakes cloud as top area of investment - The Recycler - 10/10/2023
New Wave of Cyber Threats Challenges In-House Legal Departments (bloomberglaw.com)
Should businesses follow Google’s footsteps in cyber security? | TechRadar
Cyber security is booming but it comes at a human cost (betanews.com)
A Primer on Cyber Risk Acceptance and What it Means to Your Business (bleepingcomputer.com)
A Cyber security Risk Assessment Guide for Leaders (trendmicro.com)
Addressing a Breach Starts With Getting Everyone on the Same Page (darkreading.com)
Uber's Ex-CISO Appeals Conviction Over 2016 Data Breach (darkreading.com)
6 steps to getting the board on board with your cyber security program (welivesecurity.com)
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
First half of 2023 sees more ransomware victims than all of 2022 | Security Magazine
Cyber security Survey: 40% of Orgs “Leave” Ransomware to IT | MSSP Alert
Cyber criminals can go from click to compromise in less than a day - Help Net Security
Ransomware Infection Times Fall From 5 Days to 5 Hours (pcmag.com)
Ransomwared health insurer wasn't using anti-virus software • The Register
Everest searching for corporate insiders amid rare pivot • The Register
HelloKitty ransomware source code leaked on hacking forum (bleepingcomputer.com)
How to Prevent Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) Attacks (trendmicro.com)
SEC Investigating Progress Software Over MOVEit Hack - Security Week
Ransomware attacks now target unpatched WS_FTP servers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware Attack on Hospitals Highlights Need to Ensure Continuity of Patient Care (fdd.org)
Ransomware Victims
Cyber attack victim Estes making ‘steady progress’ - FreightWaves
Caesars Offers Two Years of IDX Services to Compromised Data Victims - GamblingNews
Ransomwared health insurer wasn't using anti-virus software • The Register
BianLian extortion group claims recent Air Canada breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
The looming threat of a single phishing click to your business (cms-lawnow.com)
What to do if you’ve clicked on a phishing link or talked to scammers | Kaspersky official blog
LinkedIn Smart Links attacks return to target Microsoft accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishing, the campaigns that are affecting Italy (securityaffairs.com)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Artificial Intelligence
PwC survey reveals rising concerns over cyber security and generative AI in 2024 - Reinsurance News
'Really frightening': IT leaders on cyber security in the age of AI (computing.co.uk)
Cyber security pros predict rise of malicious AI - Help Net Security
Why 80% of CISOs see AI as the biggest threat to their business (diginomica.com)
C-suite weighs in on generative AI and security (securityintelligence.com)
68 percent of IT decision makers are worried about the rise of deepfakes (betanews.com)
US Space Force Pauses Generative AI Based on Security Concerns (bloomberglaw.com)
Generative AI Security: Preventing Microsoft Copilot Data Exposure (bleepingcomputer.com)
How to Guard Your Data from Exposure in ChatGPT (thehackernews.com)
2FA/MFA
Malware
Mirai DDoS malware variant expands targets with 13 router exploits (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft to kill off VBScript in Windows to block malware delivery (bleepingcomputer.com)
How Keyloggers Have Evolved From the Cold War to Today (darkreading.com)
Endpoint malware attacks decline as campaigns spread wider - Help Net Security
Mobile
Beware - GoldDigger malware will drain your bank accounts without you even realizing | TechRadar
China-based Supply Chain Cyber Attacks Hit Thousands of Android Devices | MSSP Alert
Android devices shipped with backdoored firmware as part of the BADBOX network (securityaffairs.com)
Operation Behind Predator Mobile Spyware Is 'Industrial Scale' (darkreading.com)
Hacktivists send fake nuclear attack warning via Israeli Red Alert app (bitdefender.com)
5 quick tips to strengthen your Android phone security today | ZDNET
Botnets
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
HTTP/2 Zero-Day Vulnerability Results in Record-Breaking DDoS Attacks (cloudflare.com)
Google, Amazon Face Massive Denial-of-Service Attack | MSSP Alert
Internet of Things – IoT
Automotive cyber security: A decade of progress and challenges - Help Net Security
Android TV malware case worsens: Tens of millions of devices infected - FlatpanelsHD
Have You Changed the Default Passwords on Your IoT Devices? (makeuseof.com)
Android devices shipped with backdoored firmware as part of the BADBOX network (securityaffairs.com)
Mirai Variant IZ1H9 Adds 13 Exploits to Arsenal - Security Week
Exposed security cameras in Israel and Palestine pose significant risks (securityaffairs.com)
Data Breaches/Leaks
3.81 billion records compromised by cyber security incidents in September 2023 (itsecuritywire.com)
23andMe Cyberbreach Exposes DNA Data, Potential Family Ties (darkreading.com)
DC Board of Elections confirms voter data stolen in site hack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Lyca Mobile says customer data was stolen during cyber attack | TechCrunch
Third Flagstar Bank data breach since 2021 affects 800,000 customers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Caesars Offers Two Years of IDX Services to Compromised Data Victims - GamblingNews
Air Europa customers urged to cancel cards following hack on payment system (therecord.media)
Dymocks breach happened while changing providers | Information Age | ACS
Shadow PC warns of data breach as hacker tries to sell gamers' info (bleepingcomputer.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
The cyber villains are getting bolder. Businesses need to up their game - Raconteur
Protecting your business against the cyber criminal enterprise (techuk.org)
Cyber attackers are combining attacks to bypass detection (siliconrepublic.com)
Hackers 'don't break in anymore, they log in,' expert explains (yahoo.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
‘I felt powerless’: how a crypto scam cost a finance boss £300,000 | Scams | The Guardian
Inside FTX’s All-Night Race to Stop a $1 Billion Crypto Heist | WIRED
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Everest searching for corporate insiders amid rare pivot • The Register
Former US soldier accused of trying to pass secrets to China • The Register
Understanding the human factor of digital safety | TechRadar
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Fooled by cyber criminals: The humanitarian CEO scammed by hackers - GZERO Media
Global job scam to cause $100 mn in losses for over 1,000 companies: Report (odishatv.in)
FTC warns of ‘staggering’ losses to social media scams since 2021 (bleepingcomputer.com)
The dark side of solar panels – how crooks are exploiting net zero (telegraph.co.uk)
Chinese Criminals Backdoor Android Devices for Ad Fraud (govinfosecurity.com)
‘I felt powerless’: how a crypto scam cost a finance boss £300,000 | Scams | The Guardian
Inside FTX’s All-Night Race to Stop a $1 Billion Crypto Heist | WIRED
What to do if you’ve clicked on a phishing link or talked to scammers | Kaspersky official blog
Never click on bank-draining words if message pops up, expert warns (ladbible.com)
Boss of world’s largest cinema chain victim of catfish blackmail plot | Business | The Guardian
Deepfakes
AML/CFT/Sanctions
Insurance
Cyber insurance costs pressure business budgets - Help Net Security
Insurance industry faces growing concerns over cyber cat risk: Gallagher Re - Reinsurance News
Cyber Insurance Lessens the Sting of Corporate Cyber Attacks (bloomberglaw.com)
Keeping up with the demands of the cyber insurance market - Help Net Security
Insurance cover ‘sufficient’ for $100mn cyber attack hit: MGM (insuranceinsider.com)
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Software Supply Chain
Why open-source software supply chain attacks have tripled in a year | CSO Online
New One-Click Exploit Is a Supply Chain Risk for Linux OSes (darkreading.com)
Cloud/SaaS
The Need for Speed: When Cloud Attacks Take Only 10 Minutes (darkreading.com)
Microsoft and Cabinet Office issue government-wide security guidelines for M365 – PublicTechnology
Securely Moving Financial Services to the Cloud (darkreading.com)
Identity and Access Management
Encryption
New cryptographic protocol aims to bolster open-source software security | ZDNET
Linux Foundation Announces OpenPubkey Open Source Cryptographic Protocol - Security Week
API
Open Source and Linux
New cryptographic protocol aims to bolster open-source software security | ZDNET
Why open-source software supply chain attacks have tripled in a year | CSO Online
Linux Foundation Announces OpenPubkey Open Source Cryptographic Protocol - Security Week
Security Patch for Two New Flaws in Curl Library Arriving on October 11 (thehackernews.com)
Maintainers warn of vulnerability affecting foundational open-source tool (therecord.media)
New One-Click Exploit Is a Supply Chain Risk for Linux OSes (darkreading.com)
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
CISA publishes top 10 most common security misconfigurations • The Register
Have You Changed the Default Passwords on Your IoT Devices? (makeuseof.com)
Social Media
FTC warns of ‘staggering’ losses to social media scams since 2021 (bleepingcomputer.com)
LinkedIn Smart Links attacks return to target Microsoft accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)
Brands Beware: X's New Badge System Is a Ripe Cyber-Target (darkreading.com)
What should you do if your Facebook is hacked? (pocket-lint.com)
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Models, Frameworks and Standards
Data Protection
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Work-related stress “keeps cyber professionals up at night” | ITPro
Cyber security is booming but it comes at a human cost (betanews.com)
eBook: Cyber security career hacks for newcomers - Help Net Security
Turning military veterans into cyber security experts - Help Net Security
CISO Pay Increases Are Slowing – a Look Behind the Figures - Security Week
Skills-based Hiring Can Address Cyber Workforce Shortfalls (fdd.org)
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
European Police Hackathon Hunts Down Traffickers - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage
Misc Nation State/Cyber Warfare
Hacking Groups, Including Some Tied to Russia, Are Attacking Israeli Websites (insurancejournal.com)
Cyber Metamorphosis: Ukraine Conflict's Impact on the Threat Landscape (govinfosecurity.com)
Hackers For Hire Hit Both Sides in Israel-Hamas Conflict (darkreading.com)
Beyond the Front Lines: How the Israel-Hamas War Impacts the Cyber security Industry - Security Week
Hamas 'using social engineering attacks' in conflict with Israel (techmonitor.ai)
Could Middle Eastern Cyberwarfare Spill Into Health Sector? (inforisktoday.com)
The Cyberwar Between the East and the West Goes Through Africa (darkreading.com)
Hamas 'using social engineering attacks' in conflict with Israel (techmonitor.ai)
Russia
Dark Horse Ukraine Proves Resistant to Onslaught of Russian Cyber Attacks (kyivpost.com)
Kremlin-Linked Hacker Group Launches Cyber-Attack Against Israel (kyivpost.com)
Russian hacker group "Killnet" declares cyberwar on Israel | Al Bawaba
Gaza-linked hackers and Pro-Russia groups are targeting Israel (securityaffairs.com)
Hacking Groups, Including Some Tied to Russia, Are Attacking Israeli Websites (insurancejournal.com)
Cyber Metamorphosis: Ukraine Conflict's Impact on the Threat Landscape (govinfosecurity.com)
China
A Frontline Report of Chinese Threat Actor Tactics and Techniques (darkreading.com)
Why One Of The Largest Cyber-Attacks Is Still A Mystery (slashgear.com)
Chinese Hackers Target Semiconductor Firms in East Asia with Cobalt Strike (thehackernews.com)
Chinese Criminals Backdoor Android Devices for Ad Fraud (govinfosecurity.com)
China-based Supply Chain Cyber Attacks Hit Thousands of Android Devices | MSSP Alert
Former US soldier accused of trying to pass secrets to China • The Register
Researchers Uncover Grayling APT's Ongoing Attack Campaign Across Industries (thehackernews.com)
Microsoft: China's Behind Atlassian Confluence Attacks; PoCs Available (darkreading.com)
Iran
Escalation In Iranian Cyber Operations: A Shift Toward Espionage | Iran International (iranintl.com)
North Korea
Vulnerability Management
Developers take as long as one month to patch security flaws, Synopsys finds (axios.com)
Vulnerability Behind “Largest Attack in Internet History” Found | MSSP Alert
Vulnerabilities
Patch Now: Massive RCE Campaign Wrangles Routers Into Botnet (darkreading.com)
Patch Tuesday: Code Execution Flaws in Adobe Commerce, Photoshop - Security Week
Google Chrome 118 is a massive security update - gHacks Tech News
Security Patch for Two New Flaws in Curl Library Arriving on October 11 (thehackernews.com)
Adobe Acrobat Reader Vuln Now Under Attack (darkreading.com)
Ransomware attacks now target unpatched WS_FTP servers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Critical Zero-Day Bug in Atlassian Confluence Under Active Exploit (informationweek.com)
WhatsApp exploits commanding multi-million prices (computing.co.uk)
High-Severity Vulnerabilities Discovered in WebM Project’s Libraries (paloaltonetworks.com)
Credential Harvesting Campaign Targets Unpatched NetScaler Instances - Security Week
Over 17,000 WordPress sites hacked in Balada Injector attacks last month (bleepingcomputer.com)
Thousands of WordPress sites have been hacked through tagDiv plugin vulnerability | Ars Technica
New WordPress backdoor creates rogue admin to hijack websites (bleepingcomputer.com)
libcue Library Flaw Opens GNOME Linux Systems Vulnerable to RCE Attacks (thehackernews.com)
D-Link WiFi range extender vulnerable to command injection attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Maintainers warn of vulnerability affecting foundational open-source tool (therecord.media)
Apple releases iOS 16.7.1 to plug critical security holes | Macworld
The SEC is said to be investigating a Twitter security flaw from the pre-Musk era (engadget.com)
Microsoft: China's Behind Atlassian Confluence Attacks; PoCs Available (darkreading.com)
35 Squid proxy bugs still unpatched after 2 years • The Register
Fortinet Releases Security Updates for Multiple Products | CISA
Tools and Controls
Organisations grapple with detection and response despite rising security budgets | CSO Online
Preparing for the Unexpected: A Proactive Approach to Operational Resilience (darkreading.com)
A Primer on Cyber Risk Acceptance and What it Means to Your Business (bleepingcomputer.com)
Reassessing the Impacts of Risk Management With NIST Framework 2.0 (darkreading.com)
16 Essential Factors To Cover In A Disaster Recovery Plan (forbes.com)
A Cyber Security Risk Assessment Guide for Leaders (trendmicro.com)
Addressing a Breach Starts With Getting Everyone on the Same Page (darkreading.com)
Google, Yahoo Push DMARC, Forcing Companies to Catch Up (darkreading.com)
You can't avoid APIs, so you need to secure them (betanews.com)
What is External Attack Surface Management (EASM)? | UpGuard
Why You Should Phish In Your Own (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Why zero trust delivers even more resilience than you think - Help Net Security
Unmasking the limitations of yearly penetration tests - Help Net Security
Keeping up with the demands of the cyber insurance market - Help Net Security
Cyber attackers are combining attacks to bypass detection (siliconrepublic.com)
Keep on keeping your organisation informed to stay cyber secure (techuk.org)
Why identity infrastructure is the new cyberattack surface (siliconrepublic.com)
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
Cyber security is a mindset, not just a set of tools and technologies. (techuk.org)
Large law firms experiencing two 'cyber incidents' a month - Legal Futures
Small businesses growing target for cyber criminals (planetradio.co.uk)
The world was already horrifying — technology is making it more so - The Hustle
Legions of Critical Infrastructure Devices Subject to Cyber Targeting (darkreading.com)
Subsea cable business seeks to plug its security holes (lightreading.com)
Old-School Attacks Are Still a Danger, Despite Newer Techniques (darkreading.com)
Protect Critical Infrastructure With Same Rigor as Classified Networks (darkreading.com)
Drug dealers hijack NHS, police and Crimestoppers websites to sell coke in plain sight - Daily Star
Proactive not reactive: adjusting the approach to cyber crime in education
Magecart Campaign Hijacks 404 Pages to Steal Data (darkreading.com)
As biohacking evolves, how vulnerable are we to cyber threats? - Help Net Security
Electric Power System Cyber Security Vulnerabilities (trendmicro.com)
Securing the Food Pipeline from Cyber Attacks (newswise.com)
US construction giant reports cyber security incident • The Register
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 28th July 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 28 July 2023:
-Half of UK businesses Struggle to Fill Cyber Security Skills Gap as Companies Encounter Months-long Delays in Filling Critical Security Positions
-Deloitte Joins fellow Big Four MOVEit victims PWC, EY as MOVEit Victims Exceeds 500
-Why Cyber Security Should Be Part of Your ESG Strategy
-Lawyers Take Frontline Role in Business Response to Cyber Attacks
-Organisations Face Record $4.5M Per Data Breach Incident
-Cryptojacking Soars as Cyber Attacks Diversify
-Ransomware Attacks Skyrocket in 2023
-Blocking Access to ChatGPT is a Short-Term Solution to Mitigate AI Risk
-Protect Your Data Like Your Reputation Depends on It (Because it Does)
-Why CISOs Should Get Involved with Cyber Insurance Negotiation
-Companies Must Have Corporate Cyber Security Experts, SEC Says
-Over 400,000 Corporate Credentials Stolen by Info-stealing Malware
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
Half of UK Businesses Struggle to Fill Cyber Security Skills Gap
Half of UK businesses have a cyber security skills gap that they are struggling to fill amid a challenging labour market, according to data published by the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), which found that there were more than 160,000 cyber security job postings in the last year – a 30% increase on the previous period. In all, the UK requires an additional 11,200 people with suitable cyber skills to meet the demands of the market, the report estimates.
In a separate report, it was found that a lack of executive understanding and an ever-widening talent gap is placing an unsustainable burden on security teams to prevent business-ending breaches. When asked how long it takes to fill a cyber security role, 82% of organisations report it takes three months or longer, with 34% reporting it takes seven months or more. These challenges have led one-third (33%) of organisations to believe they will never have a fully-staffed security team with the proper skills.
With such a gap, some organisations have turned to outsourcing cyber security roles, such as chief information security officers (CISOs), leading to a rise in virtual CISOs (vCISO). With outsourcing, organisations can ensure that they are easily able to pick up and use cyber security experts, greatly reducing the delay were they to hire. Black Arrow supports clients as their vCISO with specialist experience in cyber security risk management in a business context.
https://www.uktech.news/cybersecurity/uk-cybersecurity-skills-gap-20230725
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/07/26/security-teams-executive-burden/
Deloitte Joins Fellow Big Four MOVEit victims PWC, EY as Victims Exceed 500
The global auditing and accounting firm Deloitte appeared alongside a further 55 MOVEit victims that were recently named by the Cl0p ransomware gang, making them the third Big Four accounting firm to be affected and amongst over 500 organisations in total with that number expected to continue to increase.
Research by Kroll has also uncovered a new exfiltration method used by Cl0p in their the MOVEit attacks, highlighting constant efforts by the ransomware gang. Worryingly, it has been reported that Cl0p have made between $75-100 million from ransom payments and it is expected this, along with the victim count, will rise.
https://cybernews.com/security/deloitte-big-four-moveit-pwc-ey-clop/
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/clop-could-make-100m-moveit/
Why Cyber Security Should Be Part of Your ESG Strategy
Organisations need to consider cyber security risks in their overall environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy amid growing cyber threats and regulatory scrutiny. The ESG programme is, in many ways, a form of risk management to mitigate the risks to businesses, societies and the environment, all of which can be impacted by cyber security. The investment community has been singling out cyber security as one of the major risks that ESG programmes will need to address due to the potential financial losses, reputational damage and business continuity risks posed by a growing number of cyber attacks and data breaches.
Various ESG reporting frameworks have emerged in recent years to provide organisations with guidelines on how they can operate ethically and sustainably, along with metrics that they can use to measure their progress. There are also specific IT security standards and frameworks, including ISO 27001 and government guidelines. Some regulators have gone as far as mandating the adoption of baseline security standards by critical infrastructure operators and firms in industries like financial services, but that does not mean organisations outside of regulated sectors are less pressured to shore up their cyber security posture.
https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366545432/Why-cyber-security-should-be-part-of-your-ESG-strategy
Lawyers Take Frontline Role in Business Response to Cyber Attacks
Cyber security risk has shot to the top of general counsels’ agendas as the sophistication and frequency of attacks has grown. According to security company Sophos’s State of Ransomware 2023 report, 44% of UK businesses surveyed said they had been hit with ransomware in the past year. Of those affected, 33% said their data was encrypted and stolen and a further 6% said that their data was not encrypted but they experienced extortion.
In-house lawyers have a key role around the boardroom table when dealing with a breach including war-gaming and discussing cases in which a company will pay a ransom. The advent of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legislation in Europe, and equivalents elsewhere, demands that businesses hit by a data breach notify a regulator, and the individuals whose data was stolen, or both, depending on certain factors. This has led to far greater exposure of cyber incidents which companies previously could have tried to deal with privately.
https://www.ft.com/content/2af44ae8-78fc-4393-88c3-0d784a850331
Organisations Face Record $4.5M Per Data Breach Incident
In a recent report conducted by IBM, the average cost per data breach for US business in 2023 jumped to $4.45 million, a 15% increase over three years. In the UK, the average cost was found to be £3.4 million, rising to £5.3 million for financial services. It is likely that the cost per breach will maintain a continual rise, with organisations struggling to crack down on cyber crime, something threat groups like Cl0p are taking advantage of.
https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/orgs-record-4.5m-data-breach-incident
Cryptojacking Soars as Cyber Attacks Diversify
According to a recent report, a variety of attacks have increased globally, including cryptojacking (399%), IoT malware (37%) and encrypted threats (22%). This reflects the increase in actors who are changing their methods of attacks. The report found that we can expect more state-sponsored activity targeting a broader set of victims in 2023, including SMBs, government entities and enterprises.
Cryptojacking, sometimes referred to as malicious cryptomining, is where an attacker will use a victim’s device to mine cryptocurrency, giving the attacker free money at the expense of your device, network health and electricity.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/07/27/cryptojacking-attacks-rise/
Ransomware Attacks Skyrocket in 2023
Ransomware attacks surged by 74% in Q2 2023 compared to the first three months of the year, a new report has found. The significant increase in ransomware over April, May and June 2023 suggests that attackers are regrouping. In July 2023, the blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis found that in the first half of 2023, ransomware attackers extorted $176m more than the same period in 2022, reversing a brief downward trend in 2022.
The report also observed an uptick in “pure extortion attacks,” with cyber criminals increasingly relying on the threat of data leaks rather than encrypting data to extort victims. Such schemes may not trigger any ransomware detection capability but could potentially be picked up by a robust Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ransomware-attacks-skyrocket-q2/
Blocking Access to ChatGPT is a Short-Term Solution to Mitigate AI Risk
Despite the mass adoption of generative AI, most companies don’t know how to assess its security, exposing them to risks and disadvantages if they don’t change their approach. A report found that for every 10,000 enterprise users, an enterprise organisation is experiencing approximately 183 incidents of sensitive data being posted to ChatGPT per month. Worryingly, despite the security issues, only 45% have an enterprise-wide strategy to ensure a secure, aligned deployment of AI across the entire organisation.
Blocking access to AI related content and AI applications is a short term solution to mitigate risk, but comes at the expense of the potential benefits that AI apps offer to supplement corporate innovation and employee productivity. The data shows that in financial services and healthcare nearly 1 in 5 organisations have implemented a blanket ban on employee use of ChatGPT, while in the technology sector, only 1 in 20 organisations have done likewise.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/07/28/chatgpt-exposure/
https://www.techradar.com/pro/lots-of-sensitive-data-is-still-being-posted-to-chatgpt
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/07/25/generative-ai-strategy/
Protect Your Data Like Your Reputation Depends on It (Because it Does)
Data breaches can be incredibly costly. Be it lawsuits, regulatory fines, or a fall in stock price, the financial consequences of a breach can bring even the largest organisation to its knees. However, in the face of economic damage, it’s too easy to overlook the vast reputational impacts that often do more harm to a business. After all, it’s relatively easy to recoup monetary losses, less so to regain customer trust.
It’s important to remember that reputational damage isn’t limited to consumer perceptions. Stakeholder, shareholder, and potential buyer perception is also something that needs to be considered. By having effective defence in depth controls including robust data loss prevention (DLP) solutions in place, organisations can reduce the risk of a breach from happening.
Why CISOs Should Get Involved with Cyber Insurance Negotiation
Generally negotiating cyber insurance policies falls to the general counsel, chief financial officer, or chief operations officer. Having the chief information security officer (CISO) at the table when negotiating with insurance brokers or carriers is a best practice for ensuring the insurers understand not only which security controls are in place, but why the controls are configured the way they are and the organisation's strategy. That said, often best practices are ignored for reasons of expediency and lack of acceptance by other C-suite executives.
Sometimes being the CISO can be a no-win position. According to a recent survey more than half of all CISOs report to a technical corporate officer rather than the business side of the organisation. This lack of recognition by the board can diminish the CISO's ability to deliver business-imperative insights and recommendations, leaving operations to have a more commanding influence on the board than cyber security. Too often the CISO gets the responsibility to protect the company without the authority and budget to accomplish their task.
Companies Must Have Corporate Cyber Security Experts, SEC Says
A recent report has found that only five Fortune 100 companies currently list a security professional in the executive leadership pages of their websites. This is largely unchanged from five of the Fortune 100 in 2018. One likely reason why a great many companies still don’t include their security leaders within their highest echelons is that these employees do not report directly to the company’s CEO, board of directors, or chief risk officer.
The chief security officer (CSO) or chief information security officer (CISO) position traditionally has reported to an executive in a technical role, such as the chief technology officer (CTO) or chief information officer (CIO). But workforce experts say placing the CISO/CSO on unequal footing with the organisation’s top leaders makes it more likely that cyber security and risk concerns will take a backseat to initiatives designed to increase productivity and generally grow the business.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently implemented new regulations necessitating publicly traded companies to report cyber attacks within four business days, once they're deemed material incidents. While the SEC is not presently advocating for the need to validate a board cyber security expert's credentials, it continues to insist that cyber security expertise within management be duly reported to them. The increased disclosure should help companies compare practices and may spur improvements in cyber defences, but meeting the new disclosure standards could be a bigger challenge for smaller companies with limited resources.
Over 400,000 Corporate Credentials Stolen by Info-stealing Malware
Information stealers are malware that steal data stored in applications such as web browsers, email clients, instant messengers, cryptocurrency wallets, file transfer protocol (FTP) clients, and gaming services. The stolen information is packaged into archives called 'logs,' which are then uploaded back to the threat actor for use in attacks or sold on cyber crime marketplaces. Worryingly, employees use personal devices for work or access personal stuff from work computers, and this may result in many info-stealer infections stealing business credentials and authentication cookies. A report has found there are over 400,000 corporate credentials stolen, from applications such as Salesforce, Google Cloud and AWS. Additionally, there was a significant increase in the number containing OpenAI credentials; this is alarming as where AI is used without governance, the credentials may leak things such as internal business strategies and source code.
With such an array of valuable information for an attacker, it is no wonder incidents involving info stealers doubled in Q1 2023. Organisations can best protect themselves by utilising password managers, enforcing multi-factor authentication and having strict usage controls. Additionally, user awareness training can help avoid common infection channels such as malicious websites and adverts.
https://www.scmagazine.com/news/infostealer-incidents-more-than-doubled-in-q1-2023
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Data Breaches Cost Businesses $4.5M on Average (darkreading.com)
Why CISOs Should Get Involved With Cyber Insurance Negotiation (darkreading.com)
SEC now requires companies to disclose cyber attacks in 4 days (bleepingcomputer.com)
Companies Must Have Corporate Cyber security Experts, SEC Says (darkreading.com)
Companies encounter months-long delays in filling critical security positions - Help Net Security
Enterprises should layer-up security to avoid legal repercussions - Help Net Security
Explaining risk maturity models and how they work | TechTarget
Why cyber security should be part of your ESG strategy | Computer Weekly
The old “trust but verify” adage should be the motto for every CISO | CSO Online
Companies are rushing into generative AI without a cohesive, secure strategy - Help Net Security
Few Fortune 100 Firms List Security Pros in Their Executive Ranks – Krebs on Security
The critical cyber security backup plan too many companies are ignoring (cnbc.com)
Protect Your Data Like Your Reputation Depends On It (Because It Does) (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Why Computer Security Advice Is More Confusing Than It Should Be (darkreading.com)
Why whistleblowers in cyber security are important and need support | CSO Online
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Clop now leaks data stolen in MOVEit attacks on clearweb sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
MOVEit Vulnerability Investigations Uncover Additional Exfiltration Method (kroll.com)
Clop Could Make $100m from MOVEit Campaign - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
The tail of the MOVEit hack may be longer than we realize | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Millions of people's healthcare files accessed by Clop gang • The Register
Ransomware Attacks Skyrocket in Q2 2023 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Local Governments Targeted for Ransomware – How to Prevent Falling Victim (thehackernews.com)
New Nitrogen malware pushed via Google Ads for ransomware attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Dozens of Organisations Targeted by Akira Ransomware - SecurityWeek
The FBI's Cynthia Kaiser on how the bureau fights ransomware | CyberScoop
Risk & Repeat: Are data extortion attacks ransomware? | TechTarget
ALPHV ransomware adds data leak API in new extortion strategy (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware: Sophos says most universities pay | Times Higher Education (THE)
Ransomware Victims
PwC has data leaked on the clear web - Cyber Security Connect
Deloitte joins fellow Big Four MOVEit victims PWC, EY | Cybernews
DHL investigating MOVEit breach as number of victims surpasses 20 million (therecord.media)
Up to 11 Million People Hit by MOVEit Hack at Government Services Firm Maximus - SecurityWeek
Millions of people's healthcare files accessed by Clop gang • The Register
Tampa General Hospital Says Patient Information Stolen in Ransomware Attack - SecurityWeek
Yamaha confirms cyber attack after multiple ransomware gangs claim attacks (therecord.media)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Chinese Hackers Breached Ambassador’s Email - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
China’s Breach of Microsoft Cloud Email May Expose Deeper Problems | WIRED
Stolen Microsoft key may have opened up more than inboxes • The Register
The Email Threat Landscape, Q1 2023: Key Takeaways (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
How to avoid LinkedIn phishing attacks in the enterprise | TechTarget
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Artificial Intelligence
Blocking access to ChatGPT is a short term solution to mitigate risk - Help Net Security
UN Security Council to hold first talks on AI risks | Reuters
Companies are rushing into generative AI without a cohesive, secure strategy - Help Net Security
ChatGPT, Other Generative AI Apps Prone to Compromise, Manipulation (darkreading.com)
Lots of sensitive data is still being posted to ChatGPT | TechRadar
Dark Web Markets Offer New FraudGPT AI Tool - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Top FBI officials warn of 'unparalleled' threat from China and AI | CyberScoop
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Generative AI - SecurityWeek
OpenAI, Meta and other tech firms sign onto White House AI commitments | FedScoop
Intel's deepfake detector tested on real and fake videos - BBC News
How is the Dark Web Reacting to the AI Revolution? (bleepingcomputer.com)
Malware
Over 400,000 corporate credentials stolen by info-stealing malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Infostealer incidents more than doubled in Q1 2023 | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
The Alarming Rise of Infostealers: How to Detect this Silent Threat (thehackernews.com)
Decoy Dog: New Breed of Malware Posing Serious Threats to Enterprise Networks (thehackernews.com)
Rust-based malware used to hack both Windows and Linux servers - Neowin
Lazarus hackers hijack Microsoft IIS servers to spread malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
FIN8 is rewriting its backdoor malware to avoid detection | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
New Nitrogen malware pushed via Google Ads for ransomware attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
New P2PInfect worm malware targets Linux and Windows Redis servers (bleepingcomputer.com)
HotRat: New Variant of AsyncRAT Malware Spreading Through Pirated Software (thehackernews.com)
Who and What is Behind the Malware Proxy Service SocksEscort? – Krebs on Security
Mobile
Chinese-backed Hacking Group Launches Two Bugs Targeting Android Devices - MSSP Alert
Spyhide stalkerware is spying on tens of thousands of phones | TechCrunch
Botnets
Hackers Target Apache Tomcat Servers for Mirai Botnet and Crypto Mining (thehackernews.com)
Multiple DDoS Botnets Exploiting Recent Zyxel Vulnerability - SecurityWeek
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Critical UK Infrastructures in the crosshairs of DDoS attacks (link11.com)
Zyxel users still getting hacked by DDoS botnet emerge as public nuisance No. 1 | Ars Technica
Anonymous Sudan DDoS strikes dominate attacks by KillNet collective | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
BYOD
Internet of Things – IoT
Peloton Bugs Expose Enterprise Networks to IoT Attacks (darkreading.com)
Microsoft previews Defender for IoT firmware analysis service (bleepingcomputer.com)
Axis Door Controller Vulnerability Exposes Facilities to Physical, Cyber Threats - SecurityWeek
Data Breaches/Leaks
Capita breach class action nears 1,000 sign-ups • The Register
VirusTotal: We're sorry for mistake that exposed 5,000 users • The Register
Deloitte joins fellow Big Four MOVEit victims PWC, EY | Cybernews
NATO investigating apparent breach of unclassified information sharing platform | CyberScoop
BreachForums database and private chats for sale in hacker data breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nice Suzuki, sport: shame dealer left your data up for grabs - Security Affairs
Johns Hopkins hit with class action lawsuit connected to data breach - CBS Baltimore (cbsnews.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
The New Summer Vacation Necessity: Cyber Hygiene (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
BreachForums database and private chats for sale in hacker data breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Cryptojacking soars as cyber attacks increase, diversify - Help Net Security
Hackers Target Apache Tomcat Servers for Mirai Botnet and Crypto Mining (thehackernews.com)
Lazarus hackers linked to $60 million Alphapo cryptocurrency heist (bleepingcomputer.com)
New Realst macOS malware steals your cryptocurrency wallets (bleepingcomputer.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Dark Web Markets Offer New FraudGPT AI Tool - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Consumers demand more from businesses when it comes to security - Help Net Security
CISOs gear up to combat the rising threat of B2B fraud - Help Net Security
MPs launch inquiry into prosecution of Norton Motorcycles pension fraud | Crime | The Guardian
Insurance
Why CISOs Should Get Involved With Cyber Insurance Negotiation (darkreading.com)
Brave New World of Cyber Insurance Meets Old-World Contract Principles | New Jersey Law Journal
Dark Web
BreachForums database and private chats for sale in hacker data breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
How is the Dark Web Reacting to the AI Revolution? (bleepingcomputer.com)
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Capita breach class action nears 1,000 sign-ups • The Register
DHL investigating MOVEit breach as number of victims surpasses 20 million (therecord.media)
The tail of the MOVEit hack may be longer than we realize | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Up to 11 Million People Hit by MOVEit Hack at Government Services Firm Maximus - SecurityWeek
Banking Sector Targeted in Open-Source Software Supply Chain Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Strengthening the weakest links in the digital supply chain - Help Net Security
JumpCloud hack linked to North Korea after OPSEC mistake (bleepingcomputer.com)
Supply Chain Attack Hits NHS Ambulance Trusts - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Software Supply Chain
Cloud/SaaS
China’s Breach of Microsoft Cloud Email May Expose Deeper Problems | WIRED
Microsoft 365 Breach Risk Widens to Millions of Azure AD Apps (darkreading.com)
JumpCloud hack linked to North Korea after OPSEC mistake (bleepingcomputer.com)
Wiz Says 62% of AWS Environments Exposed to Zenbleed Exploitation - SecurityWeek
The 4 Keys to Building Cloud Security Programs That Can Actually Shift Left (thehackernews.com)
Ubuntu Linux Cloud Workloads Face Rampant Root Take Takeovers (darkreading.com)
Shadow IT
Encryption
Hacking police radios: 30-year-old crypto flaws in the spotlight – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Researchers Find ‘Backdoor’ in Encrypted Police and Military Radios (vice.com)
API
Open Source
New OpenSSH Vulnerability Exposes Linux Systems to Remote Command Injection (thehackernews.com)
Rust-based malware used to hack both Windows and Linux servers - Neowin
Banking Sector Targeted in Open-Source Software Supply Chain Attacks (thehackernews.com)
New P2PInfect worm malware targets Linux and Windows Redis servers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ubuntu Linux Cloud Workloads Face Rampant Root Take Takeovers (darkreading.com)
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Social Media
How to avoid LinkedIn phishing attacks in the enterprise | TechTarget
Stanford researchers find Mastodon has a massive child abuse material problem - The Verge
Training, Education and Awareness
Travel
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Amazon agrees to $25 million fine for Alexa children privacy violations (bleepingcomputer.com)
Stanford researchers find Mastodon has a massive child abuse material problem - The Verge
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
SEC now requires companies to disclose cyber attacks in 4 days (bleepingcomputer.com)
Companies Must Have Corporate Cyber security Experts, SEC Says (darkreading.com)
Amazon agrees to $25 million fine for Alexa children privacy violations (bleepingcomputer.com)
OpenAI, Meta and other tech firms sign onto White House AI commitments | FedScoop
Data Protection
More US States are ramping up data privacy laws in 2023 (bleepingcomputer.com)
Protect Your Data Like Your Reputation Depends On It (Because It Does) (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Companies encounter months-long delays in filling critical security positions - Help Net Security
Bridging the cyber security skills gap through cyber range training - Help Net Security
Overcoming the cyber security talent shortage with upskilling initiatives - Help Net Security
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
More US States are ramping up data privacy laws in 2023 (bleepingcomputer.com)
Amazon agrees to $25 million fine for Alexa children privacy violations (bleepingcomputer.com)
Companies Need to Prove They Can Be Trusted with Technology (hbr.org)
Ryanair Hit With Lawsuit Over Use of Facial Recognition Technology (darkreading.com)
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage
Russia
Anonymous Sudan DDoS strikes dominate attacks by KillNet collective | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Russian court jails cyber security executive for 14 years in treason case | Reuters
Russia ‘using disinformation’ to imply Sweden supported Qur’an burnings | Sweden | The Guardian
69% of Russian gamers are pirating after Ukraine invasion pushback | Ars Technica
China
Top FBI officials warn of 'unparalleled' threat from China and AI | CyberScoop
China’s Breach of Microsoft Cloud Email May Expose Deeper Problems | WIRED
Stolen Microsoft key may have opened up more than inboxes • The Register
Chinese Hackers Breached Ambassador’s Email - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
The Chinese groups accused of hacking the US and others | Reuters
Industrial Organisations in Eastern Europe Targeted by Chinese Cyber spies - SecurityWeek
Chinese-backed Hacking Group Launches Two Bugs Targeting Android Devices - MSSP Alert
China Propaganda Spreads via US News Sites, Freelancers, Times Square (darkreading.com)
China-backed hackers suspected in NetScaler RCE attacks | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
US Senator Wyden Accuses Microsoft of ‘Cyber security Negligence’ - SecurityWeek
North Korea
North Korean Cyber spies Target GitHub Developers (darkreading.com)
JumpCloud hack linked to North Korea after OPSEC mistake (bleepingcomputer.com)
GitHub warns of Lazarus hackers targeting devs with malicious projects (bleepingcomputer.com)
Lazarus hackers hijack Microsoft IIS servers to spread malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Lazarus hackers linked to $60 million Alphapo cryptocurrency heist (bleepingcomputer.com)
Misc/Other/Unknown
Vulnerability Management
Google: 41 zero-day vulnerabilities exploited in 2022 | TechTarget
CVSS 4.0 Is Here, But Prioritizing Patches Still a Hard Problem (darkreading.com)
Want to live dangerously? Try running Windows XP in 2023 • The Register
A step-by-step guide for patching software vulnerabilities - Help Net Security
Vulnerabilities
Over 20,000 Citrix Appliances Vulnerable to New Exploit - SecurityWeek
A flaw in OpenSSH forwarded ssh-agent allows remote code execution-Security Affairs
Apple fixes new zero-day used in attacks against iPhones, Macs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ivanti patches MobileIron zero-day bug exploited in attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Zyxel users still getting hacked by DDoS botnet emerge as public nuisance No. 1 | Ars Technica
Apache OpenMeetings Wide Open to Account Takeover, Code Execution (darkreading.com)
Super Admin elevation bug puts 900,000 MikroTik devices at risk (bleepingcomputer.com)
Norwegian government IT systems hacked using zero-day flaw (bleepingcomputer.com)
VMware fixes bug exposing CF API admin credentials in audit logs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Major Security Flaw Discovered in Metabase BI Software – Urgent Update Required (thehackernews.com)
Cyber security Agencies Warn Against IDOR Bugs Exploited for Data Breaches (thehackernews.com)
Atlassian RCE Bugs Plague Confluence, Bamboo (darkreading.com)
Zenbleed attack leaks sensitive data from AMD Zen2 processors (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft shares fix for some Outlook hyperlinks not opening (bleepingcomputer.com)
China-backed hackers suspected in NetScaler RCE attacks | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Study reveals silent Python package security fixes • The Register
Windows 10 KB5028244 update released with 19 fixes, improved security (bleepingcomputer.com)
Wiz Says 62% of AWS Environments Exposed to Zenbleed Exploitation - SecurityWeek
Multiple DDoS Botnets Exploiting Recent Zyxel Vulnerability - SecurityWeek
Zimbra patches zero-day vulnerability exploited in XSS attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
WordPress Ninja Forms plugin flaw lets hackers steal submitted data (bleepingcomputer.com)
Two flaws in Linux Ubuntu affect 40% of Ubuntu users - Security Affairs
Tools and Controls
Why cyber security should be part of your ESG strategy | Computer Weekly
Lawyers take frontline role in business response to cyber attacks | Financial Times (ft.com)
Explaining risk maturity models and how they work | TechTarget
Microsoft enhances Windows 11 Phishing Protection with new features (bleepingcomputer.com)
Shadow Coding Is An Intoxicating Shortcut—And A Security Landmine (forbes.com)
Zero trust rated as highly effective by businesses worldwide - Help Net Security
50% of Zero Trust Programs Risk Failure According to PlainID Survey (darkreading.com)
Google Chrome to offer 'Link Previews' when hovering over links (bleepingcomputer.com)
Why are computer security guidelines so confusing? - Help Net Security
Threat Intelligence Is Growing — Here's How SOCs Can Keep Up (darkreading.com)
Designing a Security Strategy for Defending Multicloud Architectures (darkreading.com)
Converging networking and security with SASE - Help Net Security
Artificial Intelligence Continues To Revolutionize Cyber security (forbes.com)
Key factors for effective security automation - Help Net Security
Microsoft previews Defender for IoT firmware analysis service (bleepingcomputer.com)
The 4 Keys to Building Cloud Security Programs That Can Actually Shift Left (thehackernews.com)
CISOs consider zero trust a hot security ticket - Help Net Security
How a Cyber Security Platform Addresses the 3 “S” (trendmicro.com)
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
Maritime Cyber attack Database Launched by Dutch University - SecurityWeek
Google’s new security pilot program will ban employee Internet access | Ars Technica
macOS Under Attack: Examining the Growing Threat and User Perspectives (thehackernews.com)
Why whistleblowers in cyber security are important and need support | CSO Online
World's most internetty firm tries life off the net • The Register
Exam board cyber attack investigation: Teenager arrested (schoolsweek.co.uk)
Companies Need to Prove They Can Be Trusted with Technology (hbr.org)
Heart monitor manufacturer hit by cyber attack, takes systems offline (bitdefender.com)
Cyber security Agencies Warn Against IDOR Bugs Exploited for Data Breaches (thehackernews.com)
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
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· Construction
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· FinTech
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· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
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