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Black Arrow Cyber Alert 20 May 2024 – Flaw in Popular PDF Reader Foxit Exploited by Hackers to Deliver Variety of Malware
Black Arrow Cyber Alert 20 May 2024 – Flaw in Popular PDF Reader Foxit Exploited by Hackers to Deliver Variety of Malware
Executive summary
An active campaign has been identified in which a flaw in Foxit, a popular PDF reader, is being exploited by attackers to deploy a variety of malware. Check Point, who have identified the campaign have said that it has been used by multiple threat actors in campaigns ranging “from e-crime to espionage”. The campaign takes advantage of a flaw in which the PDF reader is set to accept a document as trusted by default. Once a user clicks OK on this, a second display pops up which has the default option of allowing the PDF to open additional programs and execute commands.
What’s the risk to me or my business?
There is a risk that organisations using Foxit PDF reader are vulnerable to this exploitation, which has a low detection rate. Additionally, this risk extends to employees who have access to corporate data on their personal device and are using Foxit. In both cases, the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information is at risk.
Reports indicate that the malicious PDF’s are being distributed in traditional manners including email, as well as social media such as Facebook, capitalising on the low-level of detection of this exploit.
What can I do?
Black Arrow recommends organisations evaluate the most suitable risk treatment approach for their environment. This may involve exploring alternative software solutions or uninstalling the affected software altogether. Additionally, disabling non-essential features, such as command prompt and PowerShell execution, for standard users is recommended. Cyber awareness training should also emphasise the importance of not opening unexpected files or granting permissions via pop-up windows to mitigate risks.
#threatadvisory #threatintelligence #cybersecurity
Further information from Check Point can be found here:
https://research.checkpoint.com/2024/foxit-pdf-flawed-design-exploitation/
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 22 January 2021
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 22 January 2021: Ransomware Biggest Cyber Concern; Ransomware Payments Grew 311% In 2020; Cyber Security Spending To Soar In 2021; Ransomware Provides The Perfect Cover For Other Attacks; Gdpr Fines Skyrocket As Eu Gets Tough On Data Breaches; Popular Pdf Reader Has Database Of 77 Miliion Users Leaked Online; Malware Incidents On Remote Devices Increase
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 Headlines of the Week
Ransomware is now the biggest Cyber Security concern for CISOs
Ransomware is the biggest cyber security concern facing businesses, according to those responsible for keeping organisations safe from hacking and cyberattacks. A survey of chief information security officers (CISOs) and chief security officers (CISOs found that ransomware is now viewed as the main cyber security threat to their organisation over the course of the next year. Almost half – 46% – of CISOs and CISOs surveyed said that ransomware or other forms of extortion by outsiders represents the biggest cyber security threat.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-is-now-the-biggest-cybersecurity-concern-for-cisos/
Crypto ransomware payments grew 311% in 2020
Crypto payments associated with ransomware grew at least 311% in 2020. “Ransomware” refers to a category of malicious computer programs that force users into paying ransoms. Just 0.34% of all cryptocurrency transactions last year were criminal, down from 2.1% in 2019. But that number is bound to go up, said the firm.
https://decrypt.co/54648/crypto-crime-ransomware-chainalysis-report-2020
The SolarWinds hackers used tactics other groups will copy
One of the most chilling aspects of Russia's recent hacking spree—which breached numerous United States government agencies among other targets—was the successful use of a “supply chain attack” to gain tens of thousands of potential targets from a single compromise at the IT services firm SolarWinds. But this was not the only striking feature of the assault. After that initial foothold, the attackers bored deeper into their victims' networks with simple and elegant strategies. Now researchers are bracing for a surge in those techniques from other attackers.
https://www.wired.com/story/solarwinds-hacker-methods-copycats/
Global Cyber Security spending to soar in 2021
The worldwide cyber security market is set to grow by up to 10% this year to top $60bn, as the global economy slowly recovers from the pandemic. Double-digit growth from $54.7bn in 2020 would be its best-case scenario. However, even in the worst case, cyber security spending would reach 6.6%. That would factor in a deeper-than-anticipated economic impact from lockdowns, although the security market has proven to be remarkably resilient thus far to the pandemic-induced global economic crisis. That said, SMB spending was hit hard last year, along with certain sectors like hospitality, retail and transport.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/global-cybersecurity-spending-to/
Cyber criminals publish more than 4,000 stolen Sepa files
Sepa rejected a ransom demand for the attack, which has been claimed by the international Conti ransomware group. Contracts, strategy documents and databases are among the 4,000 files released. The data has been put on the dark web - a part of the internet associated with criminality and only accessible through specialised software.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-55757884
Ransomware provides the perfect cover for other attacks
Look at any list of security challenges that CISOs are most concerned about and you’ll consistently find ransomware on them. It’s no wonder: ransomware attacks cripple organizations due to the costs of downtime, recovery, regulatory penalties, and lost revenue. Unfortunately, cybercriminals have added an extra sting to these attacks: they are using ransomware as a smokescreen to divert security teams from other clandestine activities behind the scenes
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/01/21/ransomware-cover/
Popular PDF reader has database of 77 million users hacked and leaked online
A threat actor has leaked a 14 GB database online containing over 77 million records relating to thousands of users of the Nitro PDF reader software, with users' email addresses, full names, hashed passwords, company names, IP addresses, and other system-related information.
Ransomware victims that have backups are paying ransoms to stop hackers leaking their stolen data
Some organisations that fall victim to ransomware attacks are paying ransoms to cyber-criminal gangs despite being able to restore their own networks from backups, in order to prevent hackers publishing stolen data. Over the course of the past year, many of the most successful ransomware gangs have added an additional technique in an effort to coerce victims into paying ransoms after compromising their networks – publishing stolen data if a payment isn't received.
GDPR fines skyrocket as EU gets tough on data breaches
Europe’s new privacy protection regime has led to a surge in fines for bad actors, according to research published today. Law firm DLA Piper says that, since January 28th, 2020, the EU has issued around €158.5 million (around $192 million) in financial penalties. That’s a 39-percent increase on the previous 20-month period Piper examined in its report, published this time last year. And as well as the increased fines, the number of breach notifications has shot up by 19 percent across the same 12-month period.
https://www.engadget.com/gdpr-fines-dla-piper-report-144510440.html
Malware incidents on remote devices increase
Devices compromised by malware in 2020, 37% continued accessing corporate emails after being compromised and 11% continued accessing cloud storage, highlighting a need for organizations to better determine how to configure business tools to ensure fast and safe connectivity for all users in 2021.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/01/18/malware-incidents-remote-devices/
Threats
Phishing
Malware
Vulnerabilities
Signal and other video chat apps found to have some major security flaws
Automated exploit of critical SAP SolMan vulnerability detected in the wild
List of DNSpooq vulnerability advisories, patches, and update
Dnsmasq vulnerabilities open networking devices, Linux distros to DNS cache poisoning
New FreakOut botnet targets Linux systems running unpatched software
Data Breaches
Denial of Service
Cloud
Privacy
Other News
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
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