Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 20 May 2022

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

• Fifth of Businesses Say Cyber Attack Nearly Broke Them

A fifth of US and European businesses have warned that a serious cyber attack nearly rendered them insolvent, with most (87%) viewing compromise as a bigger threat than an economic downturn, according to Hiscox.

The insurer polled over 5000 businesses in the US, UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium to compile its annual Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report.

It revealed the potentially catastrophic financial damage that a serious cyber-attack can wreak. The number claiming to have nearly been brought down by a breach increased 24% compared to the previous year.

Nearly half (48%) of respondents said they suffered an attack over the past 12 months, a 12% increase from the previous report’s findings. Perhaps unsurprisingly, businesses in seven out of eight countries see cyber as their biggest threat.

Yet perception appears to vary greatly depending on whether an organisation has suffered a serious compromise or not. While over half (55%) of total respondents said they view cyber as a high-risk area, the figure among companies that have not yet suffered an attack is just 36%.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/fifth-of-businesses-cyber-attack/

• Weak Security Controls and Practices Routinely Exploited for Initial Access

Cyber actors routinely exploit poor security configurations (either misconfigured or left unsecured), weak controls, and other poor cyber hygiene practices to gain initial access or as part of other tactics to compromise a victim’s system. A joint Cybersecurity Advisory by the cyber security authorities of the United States, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom identifies commonly exploited controls and practices and includes best practices to mitigate the issues.

Malicious cyber actors often exploit the following common weak security controls, poor configurations, and poor security practices to employ the initial access techniques.

• Multifactor authentication (MFA) is not enforced

• Incorrectly applied privileges or permissions and errors within access control lists

• Software is not up to date

• Use of vendor-supplied default configurations or default login usernames and passwords

• Remote services, such as a virtual private network (VPN), lack sufficient controls to prevent unauthorised access

• Strong password policies are not implemented

• Cloud services are unprotected

• Open ports and misconfigured services are exposed to the internet

• Failure to detect or block phishing attempts

• Poor endpoint detection and response.

https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ncas/alerts/aa22-137a

• How Do Ransomware Attacks Impact Victim Organisations’ Stock?

Ransomware has developed into an extremely lucrative business model with little risk involved for the threat actors. Couple this with the willingness of most victim organisations to pay the ransom demand under the assumption it will return business operations to normal - ultimately encouraging more attacks - and we have a big problem with no easy remedies.

Back in 2021, Cybereason published a report titled Ransomware Attacks and the True Cost to Business that revealed the various costs that organisations face after falling victim to a ransomware attack. Here are some of the most significant findings that stood out:

• Two-thirds of ransomware victims said that they endured a significant loss of revenue following the attack

• More than half (53%) of organisations suffered damage to their brand and reputation after a ransomware infection

• A third of those who fell to ransomware lost C-level talent in the attack’s aftermath

• Three in 10 organisations had no choice but to lay off employees due to the financial pressures resulting from a ransomware incident

• A quarter of ransomware victims said that they needed to suspend operations.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-guests/how-do-ransomware-attacks-impact-victim-organizations-stock/

• Prioritise Patching Vulnerabilities Associated with Ransomware

In the last quarter, ransomware attacks have made mainstream headlines on a near-daily basis, with groups like Lapsus$ and Conti’s names splashed across the page. Major organisations like Okta, Globant and Kitchenware maker Meyer Corporation have all fallen victim, and they are very much not alone. The data indicates that increasing vulnerabilities, new advanced persistent threat (APT) groups and new ransomware families are contributing to ransomware’s continued prevalence and profitability.

The top stats include:

• 22 new vulnerabilities and nine new weaknesses have been associated with ransomware since January 2022; of the 22, a whopping 21 are considered of critical or high risk severity

• 19 (out of 22) of the newly-added vulnerabilities are associated with the Conti ransomware gang

• Three new APT groups (Exotic Lily, APT 35, DEV-0401) and four new ransomware families (AvosLocker, Karma, BlackCat, Night Sky) are deploying ransomware to attack their targets

• 141 of CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEVs) are being used by ransomware operators – including 18 newly identified this quarter

• 11 vulnerabilities tied to ransomware remain undetected by popular scanners

• 624 unique vulnerabilities were found within the 846 healthcare products analysed.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/19/increase-ransomware-vulnerabilities/

• Researchers Warn of Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Data Leaks as Serious Threats Against UK Financial Sector

Researchers say that geopolitical tension, ransomware, and cyber attacks using stolen credentials threaten the UK's financial sector.

KELA's security team published a report examining the cyber security issues and attacks that surfaced in 2021 and early 2022, specifically focused on the United Kingdom's banks and other financial services.

The UK was one of the first countries to stand with Ukraine after the invasion by Russia. This could make UK organisations a tempting target for threat actors siding with Russia - whether by state-sponsored advanced persistent threat (APT) groups or hacktivists. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) previously warned businesses to shore up their cyber security following Russia's assault.

APTs are often responsible for attacking the financial sector: account credentials, card numbers, and the personally identifiable information (PII) of customers are useful not only in social engineering and identity theft but also to make fraudulent purchases or for card cloning.

APTs target organisations worldwide, and those located in the UK are no exception. Over the past few years, APTs, including the Chinese APT40 and APT31, have utilised vulnerabilities, including ProxyLogon, to compromise UK businesses.

"In general, APTs may target the financial sector to commit fraud, burglarise ATMs, execute transactions, and penetrate organisations' internal financial systems," KELA says. "Although specific threats to the UK financial sector have not been identified, there is no doubt that the UK has occasionally been a target of APT groups during 2021."

Exposed corporate information and leaked credentials are also of note. After browsing Dark Web forums, the researchers found that UK data is "in demand" by cyber criminals who are seeking PII, access credentials, and internal data.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/researchers-warn-of-apts-data-leaks-as-serious-threats-against-uk-financial-sector/

• Remote Work Hazards: Attackers Exploit Weak WiFi, Endpoints, and the Cloud

Infoblox unveils a global report examining the state of security concerns, costs, and remedies. As the pandemic and uneven shutdowns stretch into a third year, organisations are accelerating digital transformation projects to support remote work. Meanwhile, attackers have seized on vulnerabilities in these environments, creating more work and larger budgets for security teams.

1,100 respondents in IT and cyber security roles in 11 countries – United States, Mexico, Brazil, United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Australia, and Singapore – participated in the survey.

The surge in remote work has changed the corporate landscape significantly – and permanently. 52% of respondents accelerated digital transformation projects, 42% increased customer portal support for remote engagement, 30% moved apps to third party cloud providers, and 26% shuttered physical offices for good. These changes led to the additions of VPNs and firewalls, a mix of corporate and employee owned devices as well as cloud and on-premises DDI servers to manage data traffic across the expanded network.

The hybrid workforce reality is causing greater concerns with data leakage, ransomware and attacks through remote access tools and cloud services. Respondents indicate concerns about their abilities to counter increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks with limited control over employees, work-from-home technologies, and vulnerable supply chain partners. The sophistication of state-sponsored malware also is a source of worry for many.

Organisations have good reason to worry: 53% of respondents experienced up to five security incidents that led to at least one breach.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/17/state-of-security/

• Small Businesses Under Fire from Password Stealers

Password-stealing malware and other cyber attacks have increased significantly against small businesses over the past year, according to Kaspersky researchers.

An assessment released this week detailed the number of Trojan Password Stealing Ware (PSW) detections, internet attacks and attacks on Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) between January and April 2022, compared with the same time frame from 2021. Kaspersky's research showed a jump in the detection of password stealers within small business environments, as well as increases in other types of cyber attacks.

According to Kaspersky, the biggest increase in threats against small businesses was password stealers, specifically Trojan PSWs. There were nearly 1 million more detected Trojan PSWs targeting small and medium-sized businesses in the first trimester of 2022 than the first of 2021, increasing from 3,029,903 to 4,003,323.

https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/252518442/Small-businesses-under-fire-from-password-stealers

• Email Is the Riskiest Channel for Data Security

Research from Tessian and the Ponemon Institute reveals that nearly 60% of organisations experienced data loss or exfiltration caused by an employee mistake on email in the last 12 months.

Email was revealed as the riskiest channel for data loss in organisations, as stated by 65% of IT security practitioners. This was closely followed by cloud file-sharing services (62%) and instant messaging platforms (57%).

The research surveyed 614 IT security practitioners across the globe to also reveal that:

• Employee negligence, because of not following policies, is the leading cause of data loss incidents (40%)

• 27% of data loss incidents are caused by malicious insiders

• It takes up to three days for security and risk management teams to detect and remediate a data loss and exfiltration incident caused by a malicious insider on email

• 23% of organisations experience up to 30 security incidents involving employees’ use of email every month (for example, email was sent to an unintended recipient).

The most common types of confidential and sensitive information lost or intentionally stolen include: customer information (61%); intellectual property (56%); and consumer information (47%). User-created data (sensitive email content, text files, M&A documents), regulated data (credit card data, Social Security numbers, national ID numbers, employee data), and intellectual property were identified as the three types of data that are most difficult to protect from data loss.

The top two consequences for data loss incidents were revealed as non-compliance with data protection regulations (57%) and damage to an organisation’s reputation (52%). Furthermore, a previous study from Tessian found that 29% of businesses lost a client or customer because of an employee sending an email to the wrong person.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/20/data-loss-email/

• Phishing Attacks for Initial Access Surged 54% in Q1

Threat actors doubled down on their use of phishing emails as an initial attack vector during the first quarter of 2022 — and in many cases then used that access to drop ransomware or to extort organisations in other ways.

Researchers from Kroll recently analysed data gathered from security incidents they responded to in the first three months of this year. The analysis showed a 54% increase in incidents of phishing for initial access compared with the same period last year.

For the first time since Microsoft disclosed the so-called ProxyLogon set of vulnerabilities in Exchange Server in the first quarter of 2021, incidents tied to email compromises surpassed those related to ransomware. Kroll described the sharp increase in phishing activity as likely the result of a surge in activity tied to Emotet and IceID malware — threat actors have been using both to drop other malware.

https://www.darkreading.com/risk/phishing-attacks-for-initial-access-surged-q1

• Fears Grow for Smaller Nations After Ransomware Attack on Costa Rica Escalates

Conti demanded $20M in ransom — and the overthrow of the government.

It’s been a rough start for the newly elected Costa Rica president Rodrigo Chaves, who less than a week into office declared his country “at war” with the Conti ransomware gang.

“We’re at war and this is not an exaggeration,” Chaves told local media. “The war is against an international terrorist group, which apparently has operatives in Costa Rica. There are very clear indications that people inside the country are collaborating with Conti.”

Conti’s assault on the Costa Rican government began in April. The country’s Finance Ministry was the first hit by the Russia-linked hacking group, and in a statement on May 16, Chaves said the number of institutions impacted had since grown to 27. This, he admitted, means civil servants wouldn’t be paid on time and will impact the country’s foreign trade.

In a message posted to its dark web leaks blog, Conti urged the citizens of Costa Rica to pressure their government to pay the ransom, which the group doubled from an initial $10 million to $20 million. In a separate statement, the group warned: “We are determined to overthrow the government by means of a cyber attack, we have already shown you all the strength and power.”

Conti is among the most prolific hacking groups. The FBI warned earlier this year that the gang was among “the three top variants” that targeted businesses in the United States, and it has been blamed for ransomware attacks targeting dozens of businesses, including Fat Face, Shutterfly and the Irish healthcare service.

But Conti has picked up its pace in recent months: In January and February it published 31 victims on its leaks blog. In March and April, it posted 133 victims.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/20/costa-rica-ransomware-attack/

---

Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware Gangs Rely More on Weaponizing Vulnerabilities (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ransomware Gang Extorted 725 BTC in One Attack, On-Chain Sleuths Find (coindesk.com)

• 5 Critical Questions to Test Your Ransomware Preparedness - Help Net Security

• “Alarming” Surge in Conti Group Activity This Year - Infosecurity Magazine

• Why AI-Powered Ransomware Cyber Attacks Could Be Coming Soon - Protocol

• Nikkei Says Customer Data Likely Impacted in Ransomware Attack | SecurityWeek.Com

• Wizard Spider Hackers Hire Cold Callers to Scare Ransomware Victims Into Paying Up | ZDNet

• Greenland Hit by Cyber Attack, Finds Its Health Service Crippled (bitdefender.com)

• Conti Ransomware Shuts Down Operation, Rebrands into Smaller Units (bleepingcomputer.com)

• No One Is Slowing Down BlackByte Ransomware Gang • The Register

• President Rodrigo Chaves says Costa Rica is at war with Conti hackers - BBC News

• Engineering Firm Parker Discloses Data Breach After Ransomware Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• US links Thanos and Jigsaw ransomware to 55-year-old doctor (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Russian Conti Ransomware Gang Threatens to Overthrow New Costa Rican Government (thehackernews.com)

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• This Phishing Attack Delivers Three Forms of Malware. And They All Want to Steal Your Data | ZDNet

• HTML Attachments Remain Popular Among Phishing Actors In 2022 (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Chatbot Army Deployed in Latest DHL Shipping Phish (darkreading.com)

• Phishing Gang That Stole Over 400,000 Euros Busted in Spain (tripwire.com)

• Long Lost @ Symbol Gets New Life Obscuring Malicious URLs | Malwarebytes Labs

• Spanish Police Dismantle Phishing Gang That Emptied Bank Accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)

Malware

• Emotet is the Most Common Malware - Help Net Security

• Microsoft Identifies Botnet Variant Targeting Windows and Linux Systems - Infosecurity Magazine

• Activity of the Linux XorDdos bot increased by 254% over the last 6 monthsSecurity Affairs

• Fake Domains Offer Windows 11 Installers - But Deliver Malware Instead | ZDNet

• Bruised but Not Broken: The Resurgence of the Emotet Botnet Malware (trendmicro.com)

• Malicious PyPI Pymafka Package Opens Backdoors On Windows, Linux, and Macs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• April VMware Bugs Abused to Deliver Mirai Malware, Exploit Log4Shell | Threatpost

Mobile

• 6 Scary Tactics Used in Mobile App Attacks (darkreading.com)

• Researchers Find Potential Way to Run Malware on iPhone Even When it's OFF (thehackernews.com)

• Google TAG: Cytrox's Predator Spyware Used to Target Android Users | WIRED

IoT

• New Bluetooth Hack Could Let Attackers Remotely Unlock Smart Locks and Cars (thehackernews.com)

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Cornwall Council Data Breach - Information Security Buzz

• Pharmacy Giant Hit By Data Breach Affecting 3.6 Million Customers - Infosecurity Magazine

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Ukrainian Hacker Jailed for 4-Years in U.S. for Selling Access to Hacked Servers (thehackernews.com)

• US Recovers a Record $15m from the 3ve Ad-Fraud Crew • The Register

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs

• How Cryptocurrencies Enable Attackers and Defenders (techtarget.com)

• Monero-Mining Sysrv Botnet Targets Windows, Linux Web Servers • The Register

• US Brings First-Of-Its-Kind Bitcoin Sanctions-Busting Case • The Register

• Fake Pixelmon NFT Site Infects You with Password-Stealing Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Hackers Compromise a String of NFT Discord Channels (vice.com)

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Popularity Of Online Payment Goes Hand-In-Hand with Fraud - Help Net Security

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• MITRE Creates Framework for Supply Chain Security (darkreading.com)

• The Four Horsemen of Software Supply Chain Attacks - MSSP Alert

• Recovering From a Cyber Security Earthquake: The Lessons Organisations Must Learn - Help Net Security

Cloud/SaaS

• 7 Key Findings from the 2022 SaaS Security Survey Report (thehackernews.com)

• New Research Identifies Poor IAM Policies as The Greatest Cloud Vulnerability - CyberScoop

• Are You Investing in Securing Your Data in the Cloud? (thehackernews.com)

• 380K Kubernetes API Servers Exposed to Public Internet | Threatpost

Open Source

• The Industry Must Better Secure Open Source Code From Threat Actors (darkreading.com)

Privacy

• How To Ensure That the Smart Home Doesn’t Jeopardize Data Privacy? - Help Net Security

• Privacy. Ad Bidders Haven't Heard of It, Report Reveals • The Register

• Third-Party Web Trackers Log What You Type Before Submitting (bleepingcomputer.com)

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• The Most Insecure and Easily Hackable Passwords - Help Net Security

• Half of IT Leaders Store Passwords in Shared Docs - Infosecurity Magazine

Cyber Bullying and Cyber Stalking

• UK Sextortion Cases Doubled in 2021 - Infosecurity Magazine

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• Europe Moves Closer to Stricter Cyber Security Standards • The Register

• EU's NIS 2 Directive to Strengthen Cyber Security Requirements For Companies - Help Net Security

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

• Google TAG: Cytrox's Predator Spyware Used to Target Android Users | WIRED

• Britain can legally launch cyber attacks against hostile states, says Attorney General (telegraph.co.uk)

• How Mobile Networks Have Become a Front in the Battle for Ukraine (darkreading.com)

• China-linked Twisted Panda Caught Spying on Russian R&D Orgs • The Register

• Pro-Russian Hackers Spread Hoaxes to Divide Ukraine, Allies | SecurityWeek.Com

• A custom PowerShell RAT Targets Germany Using Crisis in Ukraine as Bait - Security Affairs

---

Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Putin Promises to Bolster Russia's IT Security in Face of Cyber Attacks | Reuters

• Russian Hackers Declare War On 10 Countries After Failed Eurovision DDoS attack | IT PRO

• Pro-Russian Information Operations Escalate in Ukraine War (darkreading.com)

• Russian Undersea Cable Threat Shifts Tech Business to UK (telegraph.co.uk)

• Russians Allegedly Storm Ukrainian ISP, Blackmail It to Switch To Russian Networks - CyberScoop

• Russia-linked Sandworm Continues to Conduct Attacks Against Ukraine - Security Affairs

• Russian Cyber Attack on Eurovision Foiled By Italian Authorities (bitdefender.com)

• This Russian Botnet Does Far More Than DDoS Attacks - And on A Massive Scale | ZDNet

Nation State Actors – China

• Chinese ‘Space Pirates’ are Hacking Russian Aerospace Firms (bleepingcomputer.com)

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• FBI Warns of North Korean Spies Posing as Foreign IT Workers • The Register

Nation State Actors – Iran

• US Charges Venezuelan Doctor with Selling Ransomware Used By Iranian Group | Reuters

---

Vulnerability Management

• APTs Overwhelmingly Share Known Vulnerabilities Rather Than Attack O-Days | Threatpost

• How Micropatching Could Help Close the Security Update Gap (techtarget.com)

• Partial Patching Still Provides Strong Protection Against APTs (darkreading.com)

---

Vulnerabilities

• QNAP Urges Users to Update NAS Devices to Prevent Deadbolt Ransomware Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Cisco Fixes an IOS XR Flaw Actively Exploited in The Wild - Security Affairs

• 2 Vulnerabilities With 9.8 Severity Ratings Are Under Exploit. A 3rd Looms | Ars Technica

• Microsoft Rushes a Fix After May Patch Tuesday Breaks Authentication (darkreading.com)

• Microsoft Fixes New PetitPotam Windows NTLM Relay Attack Vector (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Apple Patches Zero-Day Kernel Hole and Much More – Update Now! – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Two Business-Grade Netgear VPN Routers Have Security Vulnerabilities That Can't Be Fixed - Help Net Security

• SharePoint RCE Bug Resurfaces Three Months After Being Patched by Microsoft | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)

• High-Severity Bug Reported in Google's OAuth Client Library for Java (thehackernews.com)

• Over 20,000 Zyxel Firewalls Still Exposed to Critical Bug - Infosecurity Magazine

• Apple Fixes the Sixth Zero-Day Since The Beginning of 2022 - Security Affairs

• Apache Releases Security Advisory for Tomcat | CISA

• Mozilla Patches Wednesday’s Pwn2Own Double-Exploit… on Friday! – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Critical Vulnerability in Premium WordPress Themes Allows for Site Takeover | Threatpost

• Critical Jupiter WordPress Plugin Flaws Let Hackers Take Over Sites (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Apple Finally Patches Exploited Vulnerabilities in macOS Big Sur, Catalina | SecurityWeek.Com

• NVIDIA Fixes Ten Vulnerabilities in Windows GPU Display Drivers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Gmail-Linked Facebook Accounts Vulnerable to Attack Using A Chain Of Bugs—Now Fixed | Malwarebytes Labs

• New Brute Force Attacks Against SQL Servers Use PowerShell Wrapper | SecurityWeek.Com

---

Sector Specific

Retail/eCommerce

• How Crooks Backdoor Sites and Scrape Credit Card Info • The Register

• Digital Skimming is Now the Preserve of Non-Magecart Groups - Infosecurity Magazine

Energy & Utilities

• Water Companies Are Increasingly Uninsurable Due To Ransomware, Industry Execs Say - CyberScoop

• UK Announces Nuclear Cyber Security Strategy - IT Security Guru

Education and Academia

• Ransomware Attack Exposes Data of 500,000 Chicago Students (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Higher Education Institutions Being Targeted for Ransomware Attacks | TechRepublic

• “Incompetent” Council Leaks Details of Students With Special Educational Needs • Graham Cluley

• Researchers Find Backdoor in School Management Plugin for WordPress (thehackernews.com)

---

Reports Published in the Last Week

• Q2 2022 State of Fraud & Account Security Report - Arkose Labs

• 2022 SaaS Security Survey Report (adaptive-shield.com)

• 2021-2022 UK Financial Sector Dark Web Threat Landscape Report - Kela (ke-la.com)

---

Other News

• UK Government: Lack of Skills the Number One Issue in Cyber Security - Infosecurity Magazine

• Malicious Hackers Are Finding It Too Easy to Achieve Their Initial Access (tripwire.com)

• NIST’s Cyber Security Framework Has Become The Common Language For International Cyber Security (scmagazine.com)

• How Threat Actors Are a Click Away From Becoming Quasi-APTs (darkreading.com)

• Cyber Security: Global Food Supply Chain at Risk From Malicious Hackers - BBC News

• Cyber Security Agencies Reveal Top Initial Access Attack Vectors (bleepingcomputer.com)

• 50% of Orgs Rely on Email to Manage Security (darkreading.com)

---

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.

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 14 January 2022

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

---

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Businesses Suffered 50% More Cyber Attack Attempts per Week in 2021

Cyberattack attempts reached an all-time high in the fourth quarter of 2021, jumping to 925 a week per organisation, partly due to attempts stemming from the Log4j vulnerability, according to new data.

Check Point Research on Monday reported that it found 50% more attack attempts per week on corporate networks globally in calendar year 2021 compared with 2020.

The researchers define a cyberattack attempt as a single isolated cyber occurrence that could be at any point in the attack chain — scanning/exploiting vulnerabilities, sending phishing emails, malicious website access, malicious file downloads (from Web/email), second-stage downloads, and command-and-control communications.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/corporate-networks-saw-50-more-attacks-per-week-in-2021-

Cyber Attacks Against MSPs Jump 67%

Cyber attacks spiked by 50 percent in 2021 as compared to 2020, aided by millions of attacks in December by hackers attempting to exploit the Log4J vulnerability, according to a Check Point Software Technologies research report.

In terming 2021 a “record breaking year,” the security provider pointed to a worldwide peak of 925 cyber attacks per organisation weekly and an October 2021 measure that showed a 40 percent increase in cyberattacks, with one out of every 61 entities hit by ransomware each week. The number of cyberattacks on managed service providers (MSPs) and internet service providers (ISPs) rose by nearly 70 percent year over year.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-news/cyberattacks-vs-msps-skyrocket/

SMEs Still An Easy Target For Cyber Criminals

Cyber crime continues to be a major concern, with 51% of SMEs experiencing a cyber security breach, a Markel Direct survey reveals.

In this survey that polled 1000 respondents, Markel Direct explored the issue of cybercrime and its impact on the self-employed and SMEs. The survey found the most common cybersecurity attacks were malware/virus related (24%) followed by a data breach (16%) and phishing attack (15%), with 68% reporting the cost of their breach was up to £5,000.

This comes after the latest Quarterly Fraud and Cyber Crime Report revealed that Britons lost over £1 billion in the first six months of 2021, due to the considerable increase in fraudulent activity.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/12/smes-cybersecurity-breach/

World Economic Forum: Cyber Security Failures an Increasing Global Threat

Cybersecurity was once again identified as a major short and medium-term threat to the world in this year’s World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) The Global Risk Report. The analysis was based on insights from nearly 1000 global experts and leaders who responded to the WEF’s Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, environmental issues like climate action failure and extreme weather ranked highest on the risks facing the world over the short (0-2 years), medium (2-5 years) and long-term (5-10 years). In addition, a number of challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, such as livelihood crises, infectious diseases and mental health deterioration, also scored highly. Overall, this added up to a pessimistic assessment, with 84.2% of respondents stating they were either “worried” or “concerned” about the global outlook.

Digital challenges, such as “cyber security failures,” were also viewed as a significant and growing problem to the world. Nearly one in five (19.5%) respondents believe cybersecurity failures will be a critical threat to the world in just the next 0-2 years, and 14.6% said it would be in 2-5 years

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/world-economic-forum-cybersecurity/

Microsoft Faces Wormable, Critical RCE Bug & 6 Zero-Days

Microsoft started 2022 with a large January Patch Tuesday update covering nine critical CVEs, including a self-propagator with a 9.8 CVSS score.

Microsoft has addressed a total of 97 security vulnerabilities in its January 2022 Patch Tuesday update – nine of them rated critical – including six that are listed as publicly known zero-days.

The fixes cover a swath of the computing giant’s portfolio, including: Microsoft Windows and Windows Components, Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based), Exchange Server, Microsoft Office and Office Components, SharePoint Server, .NET Framework, Microsoft Dynamics, Open-Source Software, Windows Hyper-V, Windows Defender, and Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

https://threatpost.com/microsoft-wormable-critical-rce-bug-zero-day/177564/

Russia Arrests REvil Ransomware Gang Responsible for High-Profile Cyber Attacks

In an unprecedented move, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the country's principal security agency, on Friday disclosed that it arrested several members belonging to the notorious REvil ransomware gang and neutralized its operations.

The surprise takedown, which it said was carried out at the request of the US authorities, saw the law enforcement agency conduct raids at 25 addresses in the cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Leningrad and Lipetsk regions that belonged to 14 suspected members of the organised cyber crime syndicate.

"In order to implement the criminal plan, these persons developed malicious software, organised the theft of funds from the bank accounts of foreign citizens and their cashing, including through the purchase of expensive goods on the Internet," the FSB said in a statement.

In addition, the FSB seized over 426 million rubles, including in cryptocurrency, $600,000, €500,000, as well as computer equipment, crypto wallets used to commit crimes, and 20 luxury cars that were purchased with money obtained by illicit means.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/01/russia-arrests-revil-ransomware-gang.html

North Korea Hackers Stole $400m Of Cryptocurrency In 2021, Report Says

North Korean hackers stole almost $400m (£291m) worth of digital assets in at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms last year, a report claims.

Blockchain analysis company Chainalysis said it was one of most successful years on record for cyber-criminals in the closed east Asian state.

The attacks mainly targeted investment firms and centralised exchanges.

North Korea has routinely denied being involved in hack attacks attributed to them.

"From 2020 to 2021, the number of North Korean-linked hacks jumped from four to seven, and the value extracted from these hacks grew by 40%," Chainalysis said in a report.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59990477

No Lights, No Heat, No Money - That's Life In Ukraine During Cyber Warfare

Hackers who defaced and interrupted access to numerous Ukrainian government websites on Friday could be setting the stage for more serious cyberattacks that would disrupt the lives of ordinary Ukrainians, experts said.

"As tensions grow, we can expect more aggressive cyber activity in Ukraine and potentially elsewhere," said John Hultquist, an intelligence analyst at US cyber security company Mandiant, possibly including "destructive attacks that target critical infrastructure."

"Organisations need to begin preparing," Hultquist added.

Intrusions by hackers on hospitals, power utility companies, and the financial system were until recently rare. But organised cyber criminals, many of them living in Russia, have gone after institutions aggressively in the past two years with ransomware, freezing data and computerized equipment needed to care for hospital patients.

In some cases, those extortion attacks have led to patient deaths, according to litigation, media reports and medical professionals.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/no-lights-no-heat-no-money-thats-life-ukraine-during-cyber-warfare-2022-01-14/

Ukrainian Police Arrest Five Members Of Ransomware Affiliate

Ukrainian police announced the arrest of five members of a ransomware affiliate on Thursday, noting that the group was behind attacks on more than 50 companies across Europe and the US.

In a statement, both the Ukrainian Security Service and Ukrainian Cyber Police said the group made at least $1 million through their attacks on the companies.

US and UK law enforcement officials worked with Ukrainian officials on the operation.

Officials said the leader of the group was a 36-year-old who worked with his wife and three other people out of Kyiv. The five are facing a variety of charges in Ukraine related to money laundering, hacking, and selling malware.

One of the people charged is wanted by law enforcement agencies in UK after "using a virus to obtain bank card details of the customers of British banks," according to the police statement.

The bank card details were used to buy things online that were then resold.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ukrainian-police-arrest-members-of-ransomware-affiliate/

Fingers Point To Lazarus, Cobalt, Fin7 As Key Hacking Groups Attacking Finance Industry

The Lazarus, Cobalt, and FIN7 hacking groups have been labeled as the most prevalent threat actors striking financial organisations today.

According to "Follow the Money," a new report (.PDF) published on the financial sector by Outpost24's Blueliv on Thursday, members of these groups are the major culprits of theft and fraud in the industry today.

The financial sector has always been, and possibly always will be, a key target for cybercriminal groups. Organisations in this area are often custodians of sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) belonging to customers and clients, financial accounts, and cash.

They also often underpin the economy: if a payment processor or bank's systems go down due to malware, this can cause irreparable harm not only to the victim company in question, but this can also have severe financial and operational consequences for customers.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/fingers-point-to-lazarus-cobalt-fin7-as-key-hacking-groups-focused-on-finance-industry/

Ransomware, Supply Chain, And Deepfakes: The Top Threats The Finance Industry Needs To Prepare For

The finance industry is constantly targeted by numerous threat actors, and they are always innovating and trying new techniques (such as deepfakes) to outsmart security teams and breach an organisation’s network.

In addition to that, there is currently a huge demand for data and new tools on the dark web. In fact, users are selling access to point-of-sale (PoS) terminals and login details to the websites of financial services organisations all the time.

How can financial organisations protect themselves from existing threats and combat new ones at the same time?

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/12/finance-industry-threats/

---

Threats

Ransomware

• Night Sky Ransomware Is Attacking Corporate Networks For 800k Ransom - The Cybersecurity Times

• One Of The REvil Members Arrested Was Behind Colonial Pipeline Attack - Security Affairs

• Ransomware Is Being Rewritten In Go For Joint Attacks On Windows, Linux Users | IT PRO

• Inside a Ransomware Hit at Nordic Choice Hotels - WSJ

• Watch Out, That Microsoft Edge Update Is Actually Ransomware | TechRadar

• Qlocker Ransomware Returns To Target QNAP NAS Devices Worldwide (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Trends That Shaped Ransomware – And Why It’s Not Slowing Down - CyberScoop

Phishing

• Check Your SPF Records: Wide IP Ranges Undo Email Security And Make For Tasty Phishes | ZDNet

• Phishers Are Targeting Office 365 Users By Exploiting Adobe Cloud - Help Net Security

• Hackers Exploiting Microsoft Exchange Server Vulnerabilities in Enterprise Phishing Campaigns - MSSP Alert

• Real Big Phish: Mobile Phishing & Managing User Fallibility | Threatpost

Malware

• Microsoft Defender Weakness Lets Hackers Bypass Malware Detection (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New RedLine Malware Version Spread As Fake Omicron Stat Counter (bleepingcomputer.com)

• ‘Fully Undetected’ SysJoker Backdoor Malware Targets Windows, Linux & macOS | Threatpost

• FluBot Malware Continues To Evolve. What's New In Ver 5.0 And Beyond? Security Affairs

• Oops: Cyberspies Infect Themselves With Their Own Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

Mobile

• Android Users Can Now Disable 2G to Block Stingray Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• EFF Praises Android’s New 2G Kill Switch, Wants Apple To Follow Suit | Ars Technica

• How To Protect Yourself Against Sim-Swapping Scams With Mobile Phone Fraud On The Rise (inews.co.uk)

IoT

• How a Hacker Controlled Dozens of Teslas Using a Flaw in Third-Party App (vice.com)

• Better Smart Home Security In 5 Easy Steps - CNET

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Cyber Attacks On Corporations Hit Record Breaking Highs - IT Security Guru

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

• Abcbot Botnet Is Linked To Xanthe Cryptojacking Group | ZDNet

• North Korean Hackers Impersonate Major Crypto Investment Firm to Scam Startups (vice.com)

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Insider Threat Does Not Have To Be Malicious, So How Do You Protect Your Organisation? - Help Net Security

• Data Security In The Age Of Insider Threats: A Primer - Help Net Security

• Former DHS Official Charged With Stealing Govt Employees' PII (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Forensics Expert Kept Murder Snaps on PC - Infosecurity Magazine

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• £92m Lost To Romance Scammers In 2021 - IT Security Guru

• ‘It Felt Like Losing A Husband’: The Fraudsters Breaking Hearts – And Emptying Bank Accounts | Relationships | The Guardian

DoS/DDoS

• Extortion DDoS Attacks Grow Stronger And More Common (Bleepingcomputer.Com)

• DDoS Attacks That Come Combined With Extortion Demands Are On The Rise | ZDNet

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Manufacturers Are Starting To Realize The Importance Of OT Security - Help Net Security

• FBI, NSA and CISA Warns of Russian Hackers Targeting Critical Infrastructure (thehackernews.com)

• Critical Infrastructure Falls Short on Ransomware Readiness, Mitigation, Recovery - MSSP Alert

Nation State Actors

• Ukraine Hacks Add to Worries of Cyber Conflict With Russia | SecurityWeek.Com

• Destructive Malware Targeting Ukrainian Organisations - Microsoft Security Blog

• US Olympic Athletes Urged to Leave Phones Behind (gizmodo.com)

• Suspected Chinese Hackers Use Log4j Flaw To Deploy Night Sky Ransomware, Microsoft Warns - CyberScoop

• Russian Submarines Threatening Undersea Cables, UK Defence Chief Warns - Security Affairs

• Iranian Hackers Exploit Log4j Vulnerability to Deploy PowerShell Backdoor (thehackernews.com)

• US Cyber Command Links 'MuddyWater' Hacking Group to Iranian Intelligence (thehackernews.com)

Cloud

• The Rising Threat Of Cyber Criminals Targeting Cloud Infrastructure In 2022 - Help Net Security

• 5 Top Hybrid Cloud Security Challenges | CSO Online

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• 4 Ways Cyber Criminals Hide Credential Stuffing Attacks | CSO Online

Parental Controls and Child Safety

• UK Hacker Jailed for Spying on Children and Downloading Indecent Images (thehackernews.com)

---

Vulnerabilities

• CISA Adds 15 Exploited Vulnerabilities From Google, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle And More To Catalog | ZDNet

• Threat Actors Can Bypass Malware Detection Due To Microsoft Defender Weakness - Security Affairs

• noPac Exploit: Microsoft AD Flaw May Lead to Total Domain Compromise | CrowdStrike

• Adobe Fixes 4 Critical Reader Bugs That Were Demonstrated At Tianfu Cup - Security Affairs

• WordPress 5.8.3 Security Update Fixes SQL Injection, XSS Flaws (bleepingcomputer.com)

• WordPress Bugs Exploded in 2021, Most Exploitable | Threatpost

• Sonicwall SMA 100 VPN Box Security Hole Exploit Info Shared • The Register

• Cisco Patches Critical Vulnerability in Contact Center Products | SecurityWeek.Com

• Millions of Routers Exposed to RCE by USB Kernel Bug | Threatpost

• MacOS Bug Could Let Creeps Snoop On You | Threatpost

• Mozilla Patches High-Risk Firefox, Thunderbird Security Flaws | SecurityWeek.Com

---

Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

• When It Comes To Banking Security, There's No Silver Bullet - Help Net Security

SMBs – Small and Medium Businesses

• Over Half of SMEs Have Experienced a Cyber Security Breach - Infosecurity Magazine

---

Reports Published in the Last Week

• Finance Whitepaper. Digital risk management for FSIs. (blueliv.com)

---

Other News

• Hackers Penetrate 93% of Local Company Networks, Cyber Simulation Finds - MSSP Alert

• URL Parsing: A Ticking Time Bomb Of Security Exploits - TechRepublic

• Europol Told to Delete Vast Trove of Personal Information - Infosecurity Magazine

• The Race Towards Renewable Energy Is Creating New Cyber Security Risks | ZDNet

• What Is Clipboard Hijacking? How to Avoid Becoming a Victim (makeuseof.com)

• White House Reminds Tech Giants Open Source Is A National Security Issue (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Want To Improve Corporate Security? Prioritize Personal Security | ZDNet

---

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

Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 07 January 2022

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

---

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Microsoft Sees Rampant Log4j Exploit Attempts, Testing

Microsoft says it’s only going to get worse: It’s seen state-sponsored and cyber-criminal attackers probing systems for the Log4Shell flaw through the end of December.

No surprise here: The holidays bought no Log4Shell relief.

Threat actors vigorously launched exploit attempts and testing during the last weeks of December, Microsoft said on Monday, in the latest update to its landing page and guidance around the flaws in Apache’s Log4j logging library.

“We have observed many existing attackers adding exploits of these vulnerabilities in their existing malware kits and tactics, from coin miners to hands-on-keyboard attacks,” according to Microsoft.

https://threatpost.com/microsoft-rampant-log4j-exploits-testing/177358/

Warning: Log4j Still Lurks Where Dependency Analysis Can’t Find It

The best programming practice to include a third-party library in source code is to use the import command. It is the easiest way to do it, and it is also the way that most dependency analysis programs work to determine if a vulnerable library is in play. But any time code is included without calling it as an external package, traditional dependency analysis might not be enough to find it — including when Java coders use a common trick to resolve conflicting dependencies during the design process.

A new study by jFrog found that 400 packages on repository Maven Central used Log4j code without calling it as an external package. Around a third of that came from fat jars — jar files that include all external dependencies to make a more efficient product. The remainder came from directly inserting Log4j code into the source code, including shading, a work-around used when two or more dependencies call different versions of the same library in a way that might conflict.

While 400 may not seem like a lot for Maven Central, where Google found 17,000 packages implementing the vulnerable Log4j library, some of the 400 packages unearthed by JFrog are widely used.

https://www.scmagazine.com/analysis/devops/warning-log4j-still-lurks-where-dependency-analysis-cant-find-it

Hackers Sending Malware-Filled USB Sticks to Companies Disguised as Presents

The "malicious USB stick" trick is old but apparently it's still wildly popular with the crooks.

Word to the wise: If a stranger ever offers you a random USB stick as a gift, best not to take it.

On Thursday, the FBI warned that a hacker group has been using the US mail to send malware-laden USB drives to companies in the defence, transportation and insurance industries. The criminals’ hope is that employees will be gullible enough to stick them into their computers, thus creating the opportunity for ransomware attacks or the deployment of other malicious software, The Record reports.

The hacker group behind this bad behaviour—a group called FIN7—has gone to great lengths to make their parcels appear innocuous. In some cases, packages were dressed up as if they were sent by the US Department of Health and Human Services, with notes explaining that the drives contained important information about COVID-19 guidelines. In other cases, they were delivered as if they had been sent via Amazon, along with a “decorative gift box containing a fraudulent thank you letter, counterfeit gift card, and a USB,” according to the FBI warning.

https://gizmodo.com/hackers-have-been-sending-malware-filled-usb-sticks-to-1848323578

Patch Systems Vulnerable To Critical Log4j Flaws, UK And US Officials Warn

One of the highest-severity vulnerabilities in years, Log4Shell remains under attack.

Criminals are actively exploiting the high-severity Log4Shell vulnerability on servers running VMware Horizon in an attempt to install malware that allows them to gain full control of affected systems, the UK’s publicly funded healthcare system is warning.

CVE-2021-44228 is one of the most severe vulnerabilities to come to light in the past few years. It resides in Log4J, a system-logging code library used in thousands if not millions of third-party applications and websites. That means there is a huge base of vulnerable systems. Additionally, the vulnerability is extremely easy to exploit and allows attackers to install Web shells, which provide a command window for executing highly privileged commands on hacked servers.

The remote-code execution flaw in Log4J came to light in December after exploit code was released before a patch was available. Malicious hackers quickly began actively exploiting CVE-2021-44228 to compromise sensitive systems.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/01/patch-systems-vulnerable-to-critical-log4j-flaws-uk-and-us-officials-warn/

‘Elephant Beetle’ Lurks For Months In Networks

The group blends into an environment before loading up trivial, thickly stacked, fraudulent financial transactions too tiny to be noticed but adding up to millions of dollars.

Researchers have identified a threat group that’s been quietly siphoning off millions of dollars from financial- and commerce-sector companies, spending months patiently studying their targets’ financial systems and slipping in fraudulent transactions amongst regular activity.

The Sygnia Incident Response team has been tracking the group, which it named Elephant Beetle, aka TG2003, for two years.

In a Wednesday report, the researchers called Elephant Beetle’s attack relentless, as the group has hidden “in plain sight” without the need to develop exploits.

https://threatpost.com/elephant-beetle-months-networks-financial/177393/

Sonicwall: Y2k22 Bug Hits Email Security, Firewall Products

SonicWall has confirmed today that some of its Email Security and firewall products have been hit by the Y2K22 bug, causing message log updates and junk box failures starting with January 1st, 2022.

The company says that email users and administrators will no longer be able to access the junk box or un-junk newly received emails on affected systems.

They will also no longer be able to trace incoming/outgoing emails using the message logs because they're no longer updated.

On January 2nd, SonicWall deployed updates to North American and European instances of Hosted Email Security, the company's cloud email security service.

It also released fixes for its on-premises Email Security Appliance (ES 10.0.15) and customers using firewalls with the Anti-Spam Junk Store functionality toggled on (Junk Store 7.6.9).

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/sonicwall-y2k22-bug-hits-email-security-firewall-products/

Hackers Use Video Player To Steal Credit Cards From Over 100 Sites

Hackers used a cloud video hosting service to perform a supply chain attack on over one hundred real estate sites that injected malicious scripts to steal information inputted in website forms.

These scripts are known as skimmers or formjackers and are commonly injected into hacked websites to steal sensitive information entered into forms. Skimmers are commonly used on checkout pages for online stores to steal payment information.

In a new supply chain attack discovered by Palo Alto Networks Unit42, threat actors abused a cloud video hosting feature to inject skimmer code into a video player. When a website embeds that player, it embeds the malicious script, causing the site to become infected.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-use-video-player-to-steal-credit-cards-from-over-100-sites/

Cyber World Is Starting 2022 In Crisis Mode With The Log4j Bug

The cyber security world is starting off 2022 in crisis mode.

The newest culprit is the log4j software bug, which cyber security and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly called “the most serious vulnerability I have seen in my decades-long career.” It forced many cyber security pros to work through the holidays to protect computer systems at Big Tech firms, large and small companies and government agencies.

But crises like log4j have become the norm rather than the exception during the past few years.

Last year kicked off with the SolarWinds hack — a Russian government operation that compromised reams of sensitive information from U.S. government agencies and corporations.

Digital threats of all sorts are growing far faster than the capability to defend against them. If past is prologue, 2022 is likely to be a year of big hacks, big threats and plenty more crises.

“We’re always in crisis is the long and short of it,” Jake Williams, a former National Security Agency (NSA) cyber operator and founder of the firm Rendition Infosec, told me. “Anyone looking for calm rather than the storm in cyber is in the wrong field.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/03/cyber-world-is-starting-2022-crisis-mode-with-log4j-bug/

Everything You Need To Know About Ransomware Attacks and Gangs In 2022

Ransomware is a lucrative business for criminals. It is paying off, and it is working.

According to a recent Trend Micro report, a staggering 84% of US organisations experienced either a phishing or ransomware attack in the last year. The average ransomware payment was over $500,000.

Bad actors want to keep cashing in. So they’re going as far as creating ransomware kits as a service (Ransomware as a Service) to be sold on the dark web and even setting up fake companies to recruit potential employees.

Many ransomware gangs function like real companies — with marketing teams, websites, software development, user documentation, support forums and media relations.

If the “companies” run by ransomware gangs can operate with minimal expenses and mind-blowing revenues, what’s stopping them from growing in number and size?

https://securityintelligence.com/articles/ransomware-attacks-gangs-2022/

Why the Log4j Vulnerability Makes Endpoint Visibility and Zero Trust Security More Important Than Ever

The Apache Log4j vulnerability is one of the most serious vulnerabilities in recent years—putting millions of devices at risk.

IT organisations worldwide are still reeling from the discovery of a major security vulnerability in Apache Log4j, an open-source logging utility embedded in countless internal and commercial applications.

By submitting a carefully constructed variable string to log4j, attackers can take control of any application that includes log4j. Suddenly, cyber criminals around the world have a blueprint for launching attacks on everything from retail store kiosks to mission-critical applications in hospitals.

If security teams overlook even one instance of log4j in their software, they give attackers an opportunity to issue system commands at will. Attackers can use those commands to install ransomware, exfiltrate data, shut down operations — the list goes on.

How should enterprises respond to this pervasive threat?

https://www.cio.com/article/302868/why-the-log4j-vulnerability-makes-endpoint-visibility-and-zero-trust-security-more-important-than-ever.html

---

Threats

Ransomware

• Night Sky Is The Latest Ransomware Targeting Corporate Networks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Counties In New Mexico, Arkansas Begin 2022 With Ransomware Attacks | ZDNet

• Ransomware Attack Affects The Websites Of 5,000 Schools - CNNPolitics

Phishing

• Google Docs Comments Weaponized in New Phishing Campaign (darkreading.com)

• US Arrests Suspect Who Stole Unpublished Books In Phishing Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

Malware

• FluBot Malware Now Targets Europe Posing As Flash Player App (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New Mac Malware Samples Underscore Growing Threat (darkreading.com)

• Purple Fox Rootkit Now Bundled With Telegram Installer | Malwarebytes Labs

• ‘Malsmoke’ Exploits Microsoft’s E-Signature Verification | Threatpost

Mobile

• Apple iPhone Malware Tactic Causes Fake Shutdowns to Enable Spying | Threatpost

IoT

• IoT's Importance is Growing Rapidly, But Its Security Is Still Weak | SecurityWeek.Com

Data Breaches/Leaks

• List Of Data Breaches And Cyber Attacks In December 2021 | 219M records (itgovernance.co.uk)

• Have I Been Pwned Warns Of DatPiff Data Breach Impacting Millions (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Morgan Stanley To Pay $60 Million To Resolve Data Security Lawsuit (Yahoo.Com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

• Report: $2.2 Billion In Cryptocurrency Stolen From DeFi Platforms In 2021 | ZDNet

• UK Police Seize £322m of Cryptocurrency in Past Five Years - Infosecurity Magazine

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Broker-Dealers Impersonators Stole $50 Million Using Spoofed Sites (bleepingcomputer.com)

• 'Sextortion' Leads To Financial Losses And Psychological Trauma. Here's What To Look Out For On Dating Apps (theconversation.com)

DoS/DDoS

• CDN Cache Poisoning Allows DoS Attacks Against Cloud Apps (darkreading.com)

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Why The UK’s Energy Sector Is Fragile And Ripe To Cyber Attacks - Help Net Security

Nation State Actors

• Should Businesses Be Concerned About APT-Style Attacks? - Help Net Security

• MI6 Chief Thanks China For ‘Free Publicity’ After James Bond Spoof | China | The Guardian

• Log4j Vulnerabilities: New Patches And Nation-State Exploitation. (thecyberwire.com)

• North Korea-Linked Konni APT Targets Russian Diplomatic Bodies - Security Affairs

Privacy

• Swiss Army Bans All Chat Apps But Locally-Developed Threema (bleepingcomputer.com)

• France Fines Google, Facebook €210 Million Over Privacy Violating Tracking Cookies (thehackernews.com)

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• 1.1M Compromised Accounts Found at 17 Major Companies | Threatpost

Spyware and Espionage

• US Counterintelligence Shares Tips To Block Spyware Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

---

Vulnerabilities

• Google Chrome Update Includes 37 Security Fixes | ZDNet

• Emergency Windows Server Update Fixes Remote Desktop Issues (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft Rolled Out Emergency Fix For Y2k22 Bug In Exchange Servers - Security Affairs

• VMware Fixed CVE-2021-22045 Heap-Overflow In Workstation, Fusion and ESXi - Security Affairs

• Latest WordPress Security Release Fixes XSS, SQL Injection Bugs | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)

• Internet Bug Bounty: High Severity Vulnerability In Apache HTTP Server Could Lead To RCE | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)

• QNAP: Get NAS Devices Off the Internet Now | Threatpost

• New Ubuntu Linux Kernel Security Updates Fix 9 Vulnerabilities, Patch Now - 9to5Linux

• JFrog Researchers Find JNDI Vulnerability In H2 Database Consoles Similar To Log4Shell | ZDNet

• Unpatched HomeKit Vulnerability Exposes iPhones, iPads to DoS Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com

---

Sector Specific

Defence

• FBI: Hackers Use BadUSB To Target Defence Firms With Ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• Are Medical Devices at Risk of Ransomware Attacks? (thehackernews.com)

Estate Agents

• Hackers Target Real Estate Websites with Skimmer in Latest Supply Chain Attack (thehackernews.com)

---

Other News

Log4j Flaw Attack Levels Remain High, Microsoft Warns | ZDNet

Cyber Attack Against UK Ministry of Defence Training Academy Revealed | ZDNet

API Security: Understanding The Next Top Attack Vector - Help Net Security

E-Waste Is a Cybersecurity Problem, Too - IEEE Spectrum

The Log4j Debacle Showed Again That Public Disclosure Of 0-Days Only Helps Attackers - Help Net Security

---

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.