Threat Intelligence Blog
Contact us to discuss any insights from our Blog, and how we can support you in a tailored threat intelligence report.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 22 September 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 22 September 2023:
-New Ransomware Victims Surge by 47% as Small Businesses Targeted
-MGM Resorts Lost Millions of Dollars a Day in What Should be a Wakeup Call for Corporate Boards
-SMEs Overestimate Their Cyber Security Preparedness
-China’s Hacking Power Bigger Than Rest of World Combined
-Cyber Insurance Claims for Ransomware Reach Record High
-Cyber Security Still Remains the Greatest Concern for Many C-Suite Executives
-Bad Torts: Law Firms Feel the Heat from Rising Cyber Threats
-Attacker Deepfakes IT Employees’ Voice in Phone Call to Breach Company
-Insider Risks are Getting Increasingly Costly as Organisations Fail to Proactively Address Them
-Half of Executives Expect Supply Chain Challenges
-How Social Engineering Takes Advantage of Your Kindness
-Employers Blame Employees as 54% of Firms Face Cyber Attacks Annually
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
New Ransomware Victims Surge by 47% as Small Businesses Targeted
Ransomware attackers are shifting away from “big game” targets and towards easier, less defended organisations, a new report from Trend Micro has found. The report observed a 47% increase in the number of new victims of this vector from the second half of 2022, many of which were small organisations with less mature cyber postures. In fact, 57% of victims of the infamous ransomware gang LockBit, were of organisations up to 200 employees.
Small businesses can be attractive targets; they don’t have the budget of a large organisation and therefore they are more likely to have gaps that can be exploited. To combat this, small businesses need to prioritise their security budgets effectively, to allow themselves the most protection that their budget allows.
Source [Infosecurity Magazine]
MGM Resorts Lost Millions of Dollars a Day in What Should be a Wakeup Call for Corporate Boards
The recent ransomware attack on MGM Resorts has resulted in the loss of millions of dollars daily, not accounting for ransomware fees and reputational damage. MGM Resorts are a client of Okta, who noted that Caesars entertainment and three (not named) other organisations have been hit. Although the other victims have not yet been named, it has been revealed that they are in the manufacturing, retail and technology sectors. As a result of the attacks, Beazley and AIG, who provide cyber insurance, are likely to face significant losses.
The attack should act as wakeup call for corporate boards, as it once again highlights how anyone can be a victim, and if the right controls are not in place, an attack won’t be stopped. Cyber incidents are a matter of when, not if, and boards need to ensure they are prepared, and prepared to handle the fallout when an attack happens.
Sources: [Proactive Investors] [Reuters] [Insurance Insider] [OODA Loop] [Claims Journal]
SMEs Overestimate Their Cyber Security Preparedness
According to a recent report, 57% of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have experienced a cyber security breach, with 31% facing such an incident in the past year. Despite the increasing threat, 70% are confident in their defences, though 44% solely rely on their antivirus solutions, and a quarter don't regularly train employees on cyber security best practices or never have.
The report also found that many SMEs either underestimate the importance of robust security, believing they’re too small to be targeted, or put too much trust in their current defences. The increasing number of evolving cyber threats poses a significant risk to SMEs. Rising patterns show frequent and sophisticated attacks, highlighting the urgent need for effective security measures. Understandably, not all small business owners have the resources to obtain in-house cyber security experts. 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: [Helpnet Security] [Security Magazine]
China’s Hacking Power Bigger Than Rest of World Combined
In a recent conference the director of the FBI highlighted the magnitude of China’s cyber power, most notably explaining that China has a bigger hacking program than the competition combined.
This comes as recent attacks have seen malicious USB drives used to spread malware and now, something we’ve not seen much before, financially motivated hacks by Chinese-speaking actors through a piece of malware known as “ValleyRAT”.
Sources: [Reuters] [Infosecurity Magazine] [WIRED] [Inforisk Today] [TechRadar]
Cyber Insurance Claims for Ransomware Reach Record High
A new report from cyber insurance provider Coalition shows a 12% increase in cyber claims over the first six months of this year, driven by the notable spikes in ransomware (19%), business email compromise (BEC) attacks (26%) and funds transfer fraud (FTF) (31%). The report found that claims severity also increased 61% from the previous six months and 117% over the last year. The average ransom demand was $1.62 million, a 47% increase over the previous six months and a 74% increase over the past year.
The report comes as the FBI and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a joint advisory warning that ransomware gangs are increasingly evolving their tactics while targeting critical infrastructure sectors, including Information Technology, and Food and Agriculture. The advisory strongly discourages organisations from paying ransoms and encourages victims to report ransomware incidents to a local agency’s reporting channel. Similar advisories were released earlier in the year warning of ransomware groups such as Cl0p who exploited the vulnerability in MOVEit earlier this year.
Sources: [NextGov] [BetanNews] [Security Magazine] [CSO Online]
Cyber Security Still Remains the Greatest Concern for Many C-Suite Executives
Almost three-quarters (73%) of nearly 700 board members surveyed in a new study, believe their organisations are at risk of cyber attack, including targeted attacks; a sizable increase from the 65% last year, according to a recently released Proofpoint report. Worryingly, with the high number believing they are at risk from an attack, 53% still believed they would be unprepared for such an attack. When it came to their main concerns, malware was the top concern (40%), followed by insider threat (36%) and cloud account compromise (36%).
C-suite concern has propelled budgets, with a third of businesses increasing cyber security spending by a significant margin. As IT has become less centralised with a move towards cloud-based systems, combined with a shortage of skilled cyber security workers, businesses are having to rely more heavily on third party security according to a recent report.
This investment, along with improved security communications to executives, should enhance IT upskilling and employee awareness of cyber security.
Sources: [MSSP Alert] [Tech Radar]
Bad Torts: Law Firms Feel the Heat from Rising Cyber Threats
Publicly available reports of ransomware attacks on law firms have accelerated this year, with massive amounts of sensitive client data now in the hands of threat actors, highlighting a growing trend of cyber incidents afflicting the legal business.
One of the reasons law firms are increasingly targeted is due to the amount of sensitive data that they hold. This data can be used for extortion, insider training and general ransom purposes. In addition, many law firms utilise third parties to handle their data, increasing their risk of becoming a victim through their supply chain.
Source: [Synack]
Attacker Deepfakes IT Employees’ Voice in Phone Call to Breach Company
A recent cyber attack used AI to deepfake an IT employee’s voice. The attack started off with a phishing mail, which the unsuspecting victim employee clicked. The attacker then hit a challenge: multi-factor authentication (MFA). That was until they decided to use artificial intelligence to clone the voice of an IT employee. The attacker, now speaking as if they were the IT employee, was then able to convince the victim employee to provide the needed MFA code. As a result, the attack was successful.
The attack highlights the increase in AI for attacks, whilst also demonstrating that cyber security is more than just technology: it is people and operations too. Think about voice cloning, how would your organisation prepare for this?
Sources [PC Mag]
Insider Risks are Getting Increasingly Costly as Organisations Fail to Proactively Address Them
With the cost of insider risk the highest it has ever been (£13.25m per incident), organisations need to effectively budget and find ways to proactively address insider risk. A report found that 55% of money spent on insider incident response went toward problems caused by negligence or mistakes, and 25% for those were caused by actively malicious insiders, with the remaining 20% being attacks that out-smarted employees.
The cost and damage is acknowledged by organisations, with a separate report finding 46% of organisations self-reported that they were actively planning to spend more on proactively addressing insider risk in 2024. Budgets are not infinite however, and organisations need to effectively allocate their spending to ensure they are getting the most protection for their spend.
Sources: [Computer Weekly] [CSO Online]
Half of Executives Expect Supply Chain Challenges
With the surge in the number of attacks taking place through the software supply chain, it is no wonder almost half of executives expect supply chain challenges in the year ahead according to a survey by Deloitte. When asked about their experience, 34% of respondents self-reported that their organisation has experienced one or more supply chain cyber security events during the past year.
One of the ways to improve organisations’ supply chain security is to conduct assessments on the third parties they use, yet 21% of respondents did not do this at all. Potentially, one of the reasons for this is not knowing the correct questions to ask. Black Arrow can support you through a structured approach to asking a suite of targeted questions to your third parties, and assessing the responses for indicators of risk to your business.
Sources [PRnewswire] [SiliconANGLE]
How Social Engineering Takes Advantage of Your Kindness
Last week, MGM Resorts disclosed a massive systems issue that reportedly rendered slot machines, room keys and other critical devices inoperable. What elaborate methods were required to crack a nearly $34 billion casino and hotel empire? According to the hackers themselves, all it took was a ten minute phone call, allowing them to gain access through a simple social engineering attack. Social engineering psychologically manipulates a target into doing what the attacker wants, or giving up information that they shouldn’t. The consequences range from taking down global corporations to devastating the personal finances of unfortunate individual victims.
Extroverted, agreeable, and open individuals are often cyber victims; fear is an attack vector and so is helpfulness. As comfort increases, so too does vulnerability to being hacked. Social engineering attacks target both corporations and individuals. A person’s positive traits can be weaknesses against such threats. Balancing kindness with scepticism is essential.
Source: [Engadget]
Employers Blame Employees as 54% of Firms Face Cyber Attacks Annually
A survey found that despite the percentage of companies that have encountered a cyber security incident in the last 12 months, a worrying 24% of employees have never had any cyber security training. The survey further found that alarmingly 42% of respondents used the same password for both home and work accounts, increasing the risk of exposing their organisational passwords. This risk was furthered by 40% of the total number of respondents keeping their password in an open file or physical notebook.
Organisations, including those already providing training, should look to ensure they implement training from experts that covers such areas; by effectively training employees, organisations will increase their cyber resilience and reduce their risk of suffering a cyber attack. 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 are secure employee engagement and build a cyber security culture to protect the organisation.
Source: [Information Security Buzz]
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Cyber security still remains the greatest concern for many executives | TechRadar
Cyber attacks are constant and test even the best | Newsroom
Companies Struggling With Cyber security: Big Players In Bad Situations (forbes.com)
SMEs overestimate their cyber security preparedness - Help Net Security
Almost Half of Executives Expect Supply Chain Security Challenges in Year Ahead (prnewswire.com)
Organisations failing to proactively address insider cyber risk | Computer Weekly
Expensive Investigations Drive Surging Data Breach Costs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Most Global Board Members Unprepared for “Targeted” Cyber attack, Report Finds | MSSP Alert
Changing Role of the CISO: A Holistic Approach Drives the Future (darkreading.com)
How to Get Your Board on Board With Cyber security (darkreading.com)
Regulatory activity forces compliance leaders to spend more on GRC tools - Help Net Security
Going Up! How to Handle Rising Cyber security Costs (securityintelligence.com)
Balancing budget and system security: Approaches to risk tolerance - Help Net Security
Is Director Liability For Cyber security Failure An Immediate Risk? (forbes.com)
83% of IT Security Professionals Say Burnout Causes Data Breaches (prnewswire.com)
Why Cyber security Compliance Standards Still Have A Long Way To Go (forbes.com)
Bot Attack Costs Double to $86m Annually - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Adapting to new rule changes in cyber risk management: How the SEC changed the game - SiliconANGLE
Poor digital experience a blocker for cyber resilience | Computer Weekly
What is Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC)? | TechTarget Definition
How to prevent and prepare for a cyber catastrophe (securityintelligence.com)
2023 Cyber Risk and Resiliency Report: How CIOs Are Dueling Disaster (informationweek.com)
Why more security doesn’t mean more effective compliance - Help Net Security
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Digesting the Digits - 2023 ‘record year’ for ransomware attacks - PaymentExpert.com
Attacks on Casino Giants Heralds Resurgence in Ransomware Attacks (claimsjournal.com)
Beazley and AIG likely to face cyber attack losses on casinos (insuranceinsider.com)
LockBit Is Using RMMs to Spread Its Ransomware (darkreading.com)
‘Top’ ransomware gangs favour smaller businesses | Computer Weekly
US cyber insurance claims spike amid ransomware, funds transfer fraud, BEC attacks | CSO Online
Ransomware group's evolving tactics pose growing threat - Nextgov/FCW
Malware distributor Storm-0324 facilitates ransomware access | Microsoft Security Blog
Who is behind the latest wave of UK ransomware attacks? | Cyber crime | The Guardian
NCSC: Why Cyber Extortion Attacks No Longer Require Ransomware (darkreading.com)
Scattered Spider, Alphv, and the MGM hack, explained - The Hustle
Quadruple extortion ransomware maximising monetisation (securitybrief.co.nz)
What is Extortionware? How is it Different from Ransomware? (techtarget.com)
Ransomware cyber insurance claims rose by 27% | Security Magazine
Cyber insurance claims for ransomware reach record high (betanews.com)
Ransomware gang targeting defence firms, FBI warns - Defence One
Scattered Spider snares 100+ victims, moves into ransomware • The Register
BlackCat ransomware hits Azure Storage with Sphynx encryptor (bleepingcomputer.com)
FBI, CISA Issue Joint Warning on 'Snatch' Ransomware-as-a-Service (darkreading.com)
Critical Infrastructure Organisations Warned of Snatch Ransomware Attacks - Security Week
Healthcare's ransomware defences need more preventative action (securitybrief.co.nz)
Ransomware vs. resources: A higher education dilemma - eCampus News
Ransomware Victims
Hackers who breached casino giants MGM, Caesars also hit 3 other firms, Okta says | Reuters
Okta Agent Involved in MGM Resorts Breach, Attackers Claim (darkreading.com)
Hackers claim it only took a 10-minute phone call to shut down MGM Resorts (engadget.com)
MGM, Caesars Face Regulatory, Legal Maze After Cyber Incidents (darkreading.com)
Beazley and AIG likely to face cyber attack losses on casinos (insuranceinsider.com)
Greater Manchester Police Hack Follows Third-Party Supplier Fumble (darkreading.com)k
Clorox products in short supply after cyber attack disrupts operations | CNN Business
Psychiatric hospital near Jerusalem hit by suspected cyber attack | The Times of Israel
UMass Medical School Sued Over MOVEit File-Transfer Data Breach (bloomberglaw.com)
UK IT services provider Agilitas hit by Donut ransomware attack? (techmonitor.ai)
Cyber attack blamed for outages at hospitals in Illinois, Wisconsin (scrippsnews.com)
Major trucking software provider confirms ransomware incident (therecord.media)
Handbag maker Radley London hit by RansomHouse cyber attack? (techmonitor.ai)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
HR phishing: self-evaluation questionnaire | Kaspersky official blog
Phishing victim sends eye-watering $4.5M in USDT to scammer (cointelegraph.com)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Hackers claim it only took a 10-minute phone call to shut down MGM Resorts (engadget.com)
How social engineering takes advantage of your kindness (engadget.com)
Artificial Intelligence
Hacker Deepfakes Employee's Voice in Phone Call to Breach IT Company | PCMag
NSA Report: Deepfakes Threaten National Security | MSSP Alert
Microsoft AI Researchers Accidentally Expose 38 Terabytes of Confidential Data (thehackernews.com)
Artificial Intelligence Making Cyber Crime Harder to Fight (govtech.com)
Companies still don’t know how to handle generative AI risks - Help Net Security
85% of cyber leaders believe AI will outpace cyber defences (electronicspecifier.com)
McAfee CEO Greg Johnson on the Cyber security Threat From Generative AI (businessinsider.com)
Companies Rely on Multiple Methods to Secure Generative AI Tools (darkreading.com)
2FA/MFA
Malware
NodeStealer Malware Now Targets Facebook Business Accounts on Multiple Browsers (thehackernews.com)
Malware distributor Storm-0324 facilitates ransomware access | Microsoft Security Blog
macOS MetaStealer attacks take aim at business Mac users (appleinsider.com)
Earth Lusca Employs New Linux Backdoor, Uses Cobalt Strike for Lateral Movement (trendmicro.com)
A mysterious new Chinese malware strain is targeting large firms across the globe | TechRadar
New SprySOCKS Linux malware used in cyber espionage attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Bumblebee malware returns in new attacks abusing WebDAV folders (bleepingcomputer.com)
Fake WinRAR exploit PoC drops VenomRAT malware | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
P2PInfect botnet activity surges 600x with stealthier malware variants (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ukrainian Hacker Suspected to be Behind "Free Download Manager" Malware Attack (thehackernews.com)
‘Sandman’ hackers backdoor telcos with new LuaDream malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Kaspersky uncovers 3-year old supply chain attack campaign (securitybrief.co.nz)
Mobile
Dangerous permissions detected in top Android health apps (securityaffairs.com)
Android security updates: Everything you need to know | Android Central
Hook: New Android Banking Trojan That Expands on ERMAC's Legacy (thehackernews.com)
APT36 state hackers infect Android devices using YouTube app clones (bleepingcomputer.com)
Botnets
Bot Attack Costs Double to $86m Annually - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
P2PInfect botnet activity surges 600x with stealthier malware variants (bleepingcomputer.com)
Vast majority of bot attacks emanate from China and Russia | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Internet of Things – IoT
Hikvision Intercoms Allow Snooping on Neighbors (darkreading.com)
No dedicated hardware security for 66% IoT modules: IoT Analytics (securitybrief.co.nz)
Data Breaches/Leaks
Pirated Software Likely Cause of Airbus Breach - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Microsoft AI Researchers Accidentally Expose 38 Terabytes of Confidential Data (thehackernews.com)
Police data breach: 20,000 data points 'at risk' (computing.co.uk)
CardX released a data leak notification impacting their customers in Thailand (securityaffairs.com)
Pizza Hut Australia hack: data breach exposes customer information and order details | Australia
Air Canada says unauthorized group breached employee data, hacked internal system (databreaches.net)
83% of IT Security Professionals Say Burnout Causes Data Breaches (prnewswire.com)
T-Mobile app glitch let users see other people's account info (bleepingcomputer.com)
T-Mobile Racks Up Third Consumer Data Exposure of 2023 (darkreading.com)Over a Third of UK
TransUnion says dump of customer data came from third party • The Register
US govt IT worker accused of leaking top secrets • The Register
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Europol lifts the lid on cyber crime tactics (malwarebytes.com)
One of the FBI’s most wanted hackers is trolling the US government | TechCrunch
India's biggest tech centres named as cyber crime hotspots • The Register
Scattered Spider snares 100+ victims, moves into ransomware • The Register
Financially Motivated Hacks by Chinese-Speaking Actors Surge (inforisktoday.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Multiple crypto raids net Lazarus Group $290M in 15 weeks | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
TikTok flooded by 'Elon Musk' cryptocurrency giveaway scams (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishing victim sends eye-watering $4.5M in USDT to scammer (cointelegraph.com)
Mark Cuban loses $870k to a crypto scam: ‘They must have been watching’ – DL News
How Sam Bankman-Fried's parents enabled his criminal empire | Fortune Crypto
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Organisations failing to proactively address insider cyber risk | Computer Weekly
HR’s role in cyber security and insider threat mitigation - Hindustan Times
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Brits Lose $9.3bn to Scams in a Year - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
US cyber insurance claims spike amid ransomware, funds transfer fraud, BEC attacks | CSO Online
TikTok flooded by 'Elon Musk' cryptocurrency giveaway scams (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mark Cuban loses $870k to a crypto scam: ‘They must have been watching’ – DL News
How Sam Bankman-Fried's parents enabled his criminal empire | Fortune Crypto
Payment Card-Skimming Campaign Now Targeting Websites in North America (darkreading.com)
Court sentences pair for India-based robocall scam • The Register
Shift from UK Analogue to Digital Phone Lines Breeds New SCAMs - ISPreview UK
Singapore to detail fraud liability split for bank & victim • The Register
Deepfakes
Insurance
Cyber insurance claims for ransomware reach record high (betanews.com)
US cyber insurance claims spike amid ransomware, funds transfer fraud, BEC attacks | CSO Online
Beazley and AIG likely to face cyber attack losses on casinos (insuranceinsider.com)
Ransomware cyber insurance claims rose by 27% | Security Magazine
Dark Web
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Almost Half of Executives Expect Supply Chain Security Challenges in Year Ahead (prnewswire.com)
Okta Agent Involved in MGM Resorts Breach, Attackers Claim (darkreading.com)
Greater Manchester Police Hack Follows Third-Party Supplier Fumble (darkreading.com)
Kaspersky uncovers 3-year old supply chain attack campaign (securitybrief.co.nz)
Evaluating New Partners and Vendors from an Identity Security Perspective (darkreading.com)
How cyber attacks on Taiwan are hurting global business - Raconteur
Software Supply Chain
Cloud/SaaS
Why Shared Fate is a Better Way to Manage Cloud Risk (darkreading.com)
IBM X-Force: Use of compromised credentials darkens cloud security picture | Network World
Retool blames breach on Google Authenticator MFA cloud sync feature (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mastering Defence-In-Depth and Data Security in the Cloud Era (darkreading.com)
Understanding the Differences Between On-Premises and Cloud Cyber security (darkreading.com)
Hybrid/Remote Working
Shadow IT
Identity and Access Management
Encryption
EU's quest to fix the internet could become a privacy nightmare | TechRadar
UK Minister Warns Meta Over End-to-End Encryption - Security Week
Signal Messenger Introduces PQXDH Quantum-Resistant Encryption (thehackernews.com)
Open Source
Kaspersky uncovers 3-year old supply chain attack campaign (securitybrief.co.nz)
Chinese hackers have unleashed a never-before-seen Linux backdoor | Ars Technica
New SprySOCKS Linux malware used in cyber espionage attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ukrainian Hacker Suspected to be Behind "Free Download Manager" Malware Attack (thehackernews.com)
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Are your end-users' passwords compromised? Here's how to check. (bleepingcomputer.com)
Why employee login credentials are 'the weakest link in security' (siliconrepublic.com)
Social Media
TikTok fined 345m euro by watchdog over how it processed children’s data | The Independent
NodeStealer Malware Now Targets Facebook Business Accounts on Multiple Browsers (thehackernews.com)
APT36 state hackers infect Android devices using YouTube app clones (bleepingcomputer.com)
Donald Trump Jr.'s X Account Appears To Have Been Hacked (dailydot.com)
UK Minister Warns Meta Over End-to-End Encryption - Security Week
TikTok flooded by 'Elon Musk' cryptocurrency giveaway scams (bleepingcomputer.com)
Malvertising
Training, Education and Awareness
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
UK Minister Warns Meta Over End-to-End Encryption - Security Week
EU's quest to fix the internet could become a privacy nightmare | TechRadar
TikTok Is Hit With $368 Million Fine Under Europe's Strict Data Privacy Rules - Security Week
MGM, Caesars Face Regulatory, Legal Maze After Cyber Incidents (darkreading.com)
California Settles With Google Over Location Privacy Practices for $93 Million - Security Week
Why Cyber security Compliance Standards Still Have A Long Way To Go (forbes.com)
Adapting to new rule changes in cyber risk management: How the SEC changed the game - SiliconANGLE
Models, Frameworks and Standards
How to Interpret the 2023 MITRE ATT&CK Evaluation Results (darkreading.com)
How NIST Cyber security Framework 2.0 Tackles Risk Management (securityintelligence.com)
Data Protection
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Expert: Three Skills Cyber security Professionals Should Have in 2024 (newswise.com)
83% of IT Security Professionals Say Burnout Causes Data Breaches (prnewswire.com)
IT pros told to accept burnout as normal part of their job - Help Net Security
Wanted: another 3mn cyber professionals | Financial Times (ft.com)
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
How the FBI Fights Back Against Worldwide Cyber attacks (securityintelligence.com)
Court sentences pair for India-based robocall scam • The Register
Finnish Authorities Dismantle Notorious PIILOPUOTI Dark Web Drug Marketplace (thehackernews.com)
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
California Settles With Google Over Location Privacy Practices for $93 Million - Security Week
TikTok fined 345m euro by watchdog over how it processed children’s data | The Independent
EU's quest to fix the internet could become a privacy nightmare | TechRadar
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage
Russia
China, Russia ‘Prepared’ to Use Cyber If War Breaks Out, US Warns (thedefencepost.com)
International Criminal Court hacked amid Russia probe • The Register
Portuguese company detects 961 pro-Russian cyber attacks in Western Europe – EURACTIV.com
Vast majority of bot attacks emanate from China and Russia | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
One of the FBI’s most wanted hackers is trolling the US government | TechCrunch
Senators want clarity from Pentagon on Ukraine Starlink access fiasco | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Russian allegedly smuggled US weapons electronics to Moscow • The Register
China
China, Russia ‘Prepared’ to Use Cyber If War Breaks Out, US Warns (thedefencepost.com)
FBI chief says China has bigger hacking program than the competition combined | Reuters
EU warns China on Ukraine disinformation and cyber attacks – POLITICO
Chinese Spies Infected Dozens of Networks With Thumb Drive Malware | WIRED
Chinese hackers have unleashed a never-before-seen Linux backdoor | Ars Technica
Trouble brews after embassy worker finds spy bug in China teapot (thetimes.co.uk)
Vast majority of bot attacks emanate from China and Russia | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
A mysterious new Chinese malware strain is targeting large firms across the globe | TechRadar
Financially Motivated Hacks by Chinese-Speaking Actors Surge (inforisktoday.com)
Growing Chinese Tech Influence in Africa Spurs 'Soft Power' Concerns (darkreading.com)
How cyber attacks on Taiwan are hurting global business - Raconteur
DoD: China's ICS Cyber Onslaught Aimed at Gaining Kinetic Warfare Advantage (darkreading.com)
Iran
Microsoft: 'Peach Sandstorm' Cyber attacks Target Defence, Pharmaceutical Orgs (darkreading.com)
Pro-Iranian Attackers Target Israeli Railroad Network (darkreading.com)
North Korea
Multiple crypto raids net Lazarus Group $290M in 15 weeks | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
How a North Korean cyber group impersonated a Washington D.C. analyst (cnbc.com)
Misc Nation State/Cyber Warfare
Vulnerability Management
KEV Catalog Reaches 1000, What Does That Mean and What Have We Learned | CISA
Vulnerability management, its impact and threat modeling methodologies (securityintelligence.com)
How SBOMs Help Uncover Vulnerabilities In Enterprise Applications (forbes.com)
Vulnerabilities
Fortinet Releases Security Updates for Multiple Products | CISA
Critical Trend Micro vulnerability exploited in the wild (CVE-2023-41179) - Help Net Security
iOS 17.0.1 re-patches 3 actively exploited security flaws - 9to5Mac
If you're still using WinRAR, watch out for this dangerous exploit - and please stop | TechRadar
GitLab Releases Urgent Security Patches for Critical Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
Microsoft releases firmware update for all Surface devices | TechSpot
Tools and Controls
Expensive Investigations Drive Surging Data Breach Costs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Enterprise networks are evolving; your security architecture needs to evolve, too (betanews.com)
Think Your MFA and PAM Solutions Protect You? Think Again (thehackernews.com)
Do You Really Trust Your Web Application Supply Chain? (thehackernews.com)
Regulatory activity forces compliance leaders to spend more on GRC tools - Help Net Security
Going Up! How to Handle Rising Cyber security Costs (securityintelligence.com)
Shadow IT: Security policies may be a problem - Help Net Security
Balancing budget and system security: Approaches to risk tolerance - Help Net Security
How NIST Cyber security Framework 2.0 Tackles Risk Management (securityintelligence.com)
How Choosing Authentication Is a Business-Critical Decision (darkreading.com)
Understanding the Differences Between On-Premises and Cloud Cyber security (darkreading.com)
Adapting to new rule changes in cyber risk management: How the SEC changed the game - SiliconANGLE
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
Why automakers are worried your car is the next target for cyber attacks - CityAM
Consumers are being bombarded with billions of threats every year | TechRadar
Bad torts: Law firms feel the heat from rising cyber threats (synack.com)
SME Cyber Security – Time for a New Approach? - IT Security Guru
Time to Demand IT Security by Design and Default - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Australia’s new cyber security strategy: Build “cyber shields” around the country | CSO Online
Home Office sets up cyber security for Emergency Services Network | UKAuthority
Cyber security Tops Business Risks Challenging European Auditors (bloomberglaw.com)
Energy Is the Most-Targeted Sector for Cyber attacks: Here’s What to Do (powermag.com)
Cyber on the battlefield is about more than IT - Nextgov/FCW
Every Network Is Now an OT Network. Can Your Security Keep Up? - Security Week
Pentagon's 2023 Cyber Strategy Focuses on Helping Allies - Security Week
Singapore's retail banks take steps to enhance cyber security (finextra.com)
Experts fret over fate of CISA cyber programs as shutdown clouds loom | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Strong compliance management is crucial for fintech-bank partnerships - Help Net Security
Rail Travel Free in Estonia as Cyber Attack Disrupts Ticketing (eturbonews.com)
Dairy industry teams with cyber security group to beef up defences | Food Dive
Securing Eurovision’s online voting system against cyber attacks (computerweekly.com)
GCHQ chief takes job in private security company | The Independent
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 Threat Briefing 08 September 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 08 September 2023:
-More Than Half of UK Organisations Know They Aren’t Well Protected
-Generative AI Considered a Security Risk by 60% of Board Members: How Organisations Can Prepare
-Businesses Ignore Incident Response at Their Peril
-Blame Culture: An Organisation’s Ticking Time Bomb
-Spend to Save: CFO’s and Cyber Security Investment
-Cyber Security Tools Are New Targets for Attackers, including Nation-State Actors
-Attackers Access UK Military Data Through Third Party Supplier as Relentless Russian Cyber Attacks Raise Spectre of WW3
-Common Tactics Used by Threat Actors to Weaponise PDFs
-Years-old Microsoft Security Holes Still Hot Targets for Cyber Criminals
-Popular ‘As-a-Service’ Operations Have Earned Cyber Criminals over $64m
-71% of Organisations are Impacted by Cyber Security Skills Shortage
-Multiple Schools Hit by Cyber Attacks Before Term Begins
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 Than Half of UK Organisations Know They Aren’t Well Protected
According to a recent report, just 49% of business leaders report their organisation is well or very well protected. Cyber security featured as the third highest-rated business priority, with increasing revenues and reducing costs forming the top two. One of the ways an organisation can reduce cost is to outsource, and 63% of respondents agreed, reporting that they wanted to work with an external cyber security partner to improve their security.
Even if you’re in the 49% of organisations that believes it is well protected, this can be a dangerous self-assessment based on a lack of experience and impartiality. Business leaders need independent assurance to ensure their security controls are appropriate and in line with the organisation’s risk appetite. It is essential to dispel assumptions, by investigating your security before an attacker does.
Black Arrow Cyber Consulting offers a free, no-obligation, introductory consultation to help you gain an unbiased perspective on how your current security approach could withstand an attacker. We help our clients to know the questions to ask of their external or internal IT provider, and how to leverage other security controls from existing resources.
Sources: [IT Security Guru][Beta News]
Generative AI Considered a Security Risk by 60% of Board Members. How Organisations Can Prepare
A recent report conducted by Proofpoint found that 60% of board members consider generative AI a security risk.
The rapid development and adoption of AI is double-edged in nature. Whilst it can yield positive benefits if used safely and responsibility within organisations, AI is also being used to great effect by malicious actors with AI abuse growing beyond phishing to increasing the efficacy of multistage attacks, being used to generated malware, and carrying out different types of social engineering attacks.
For this reason Boards and senior leaders are right to be concerned and should ensure appropriate measures are being taken.
Sources: [TheNationalNews] [SCMagazine] [CyberSecurityNews]
Further reading: [BusinessCloud.co.uk] [WIRED UK] [Help Net Security]
Businesses Ignore Incident Response at Their Peril
According to a UK Government report, a quarter of businesses don’t regard cyber incident response skills as essential and almost half said they weren’t confident they could put together an incident response plan. This led to 41% saying they were not very or not at all confident that they would be able to deal with a cyber security breach or attack.
Unfortunately, this leaves many organisations in a situation where they will have to learn the hard way about the implications of not having an incident response plan. A separate government report found that 37% of those hit by a cyber attack said it impacted operations and a quarter experienced negative consequences such as loss of money or data.
One of the ways organisations can circumnavigate their lack of confidence in their ability to construct an incident response plan is to use cyber security experts to construct it.
Source: [Infosecurity Magazine]
Blame Culture: An Organisation’s Ticking Time Bomb
An organisation’s attitude and responses to cyber security are almost as important as the actions taken to prevent cyber attacks. “Lessons learnt” are a common feature within mature and cyber resilient organisations. Incidents are a matter of when not if, and it is important that organisations know how to react.
Taking the example of a phishing attack, it is easy to blame the employee who opened it, potentially firing them. With phishing simulations, it is equally easy to discipline an employee who fell for it. The problem is, neither of these focus on what can be learned, such as why the employee fell for it in the first place. Additionally, there is the potential that employees become reserved or reticent about reporting potential events, due to the fear of being disciplined. This can be the difference between an organisation having an early detection of an incident and being able to invoke incident response plans sooner, or leaving the attacker in the system doing damage for longer before being reported.
Source: [ IT Security Guru]
Spend to Save: CFOs and Cyber Security Investment
For chief financial officers (CFOs), the increasing impact of data breaches creates a paradox. While more spending is necessary to combat these challenges, this spending isn’t directly tied to profit. Instead, cyber security spending is all about return on investment.
When looking at spending, CFOs need to keep in mind that the total cost of a breach is more than the initial currency loss: there is the knock-on effect of reputation and losses in customers. But it is not a case of spending more to protect more; spending must be tailored to the organisation and prioritise in terms of business needs.
Source: [Security Intelligence]
Cyber Security Tools Are New Targets for Attackers, Including Nation-State Actors
An increasing number of attacks by nation-state attackers are targeting cyber security tools in their campaigns. This includes the recent attacks on US officials which attacked and gained access through the firewalls of the victim. Security vendors, just like anyone, will have flaws in their software: there will be vulnerabilities. As such, organisations need to be aware of these vulnerabilities and when support runs out for their cyber security tools, to better protect themselves.
Source: [News Week]
Attackers Access UK Military Data Through Third Party Supplier as Relentless Russian Cyber Attacks Raise Spectre of WW3
Top secret military data from the UK’s Ministry of Defence was stolen and then sold by the ransomware gang LockBit. How, you might ask? Through a rogue Windows 7 PC that belonged to their fencing supplier, Zaun. The LockBit Ransom group conducted the attack on the supplier’s network, and Zaun admitted the group may have exfiltrated 10GB of data.
Many attackers have realised that if you cannot directly attack an organisation, then the supplier can present a way in. Organisations need to be sure of their suppliers’ security, and conduct third party security assessments to identify the risk the supplier may present to the organisation itself.
Black Arrow have helped many clients carry out third party risk assessments on a large number of suppliers and this can be done as a standalone offering or as part of a fractional CISO engagement.
Source: [The Register] [Tech Monitor]
Common Tactics Used by Threat Actors to Weaponise PDFs
PDFs are often seen as safe, something that cannot be used by an attacker, but that’s wrong. Actors are using this trustworthiness, as well as the difficulty in detection and ubiquity of PDFs, to weaponise them. Common tactics involve malicious hyperlinks within PDFs and macros that run when a PDF is opened, and in some cases attackers are disguising a malicious Word document as a PDF to evade detection.
Source: [Cyber Security News]
Years-old Microsoft Security Holes Still Hot Targets for Cyber Criminals
A recent report has found that Microsoft vulnerabilities as old as 6 years are still being exploited, with one recorded as being exploited as recently as 31 August. In fact, since this particular vulnerability was fixed, it has been used to deploy 467 different malware types. This is not the number of attacks, but the number of different types of malware used in attacks.
The concept isn’t just for Microsoft. Many organisations do not employ effective patching strategies, and as such leave the doors open to attackers. Sometimes, these doors are open for years.
Source: [The Register]
Popular ‘As-a-Service’ Operations Have Earned Cyber Criminals over $64m
As-a-service operations allow attackers to employ sophisticated attacks without the need for extensive knowledge; they simply just purchase the ability. Take phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS), where an attacker with very limited cyber knowledge simply needs to purchase a phishing kit and they are then well-equipped to target organisations. This availability in tools creates a significant surge in the number of cyber criminals, with one scheme alone raking in $64.5 billion in illegal gains.
Source: [IT Security Guru]
71% of Organisations are Impacted by Cyber Security Skills Shortage
Most organisations (71%) report that they’ve been impacted by the cyber security skills shortage, leading to an increased workload for the cyber security team (61%), unfilled open job requisitions (49%) and high burnout among staff (43%). Further, 95% respondents state the cyber security skills shortage and its associated impacts have not improved over the past few years and 54% (up 10% from 2021) say it has got worse.
Organisations need to continue maintaining and improving their security while their cyber security positions remain unfilled. Black Arrow supports firms to achieve this by providing expert resources on a flexible basis for technical, governance and transformational positions.
Source: [Security Magazine] [Digital Journal]
Multiple Schools Hit by Cyber Attacks Before Term Begins
Ahead of the new school term, a number of schools have become the victim of serious cyber attacks. The education sector isn’t a new target, with previous ransomware reports finding the education sector to account for 16% of victims.
The education sector remains a target due to the valuable data they hold, large attack surfaces and frequently a lack of resources and budgets, something many small and medium-sized business may share.
Source: [Infosecurity Magazine]
Governance, Risk and Compliance
The importance of CISOs is not recognised by senior leadership - IT Security Guru
Blame Culture: An Organisation's Ticking Time Bomb - IT Security Guru
Spend to save: The CFO’s guide to cyber security investment (securityintelligence.com)
SEC tells companies to “show their work” on cyber security - Red Canary
Cyber security: a life cycle, not a destination | Hydrocarbon Engineering
Rising Physical Incidents Should Drive C-Level Investment & Action (forbes.com)
Compliance budgets under strain as inflation and workload grow - Help Net Security
Cyber Security pros battle discontent amid skills shortage - Help Net Security
CISOs weigh in on building security-focused culture | Healthcare IT News
How Do Some Companies Get Compromised Again and Again? (securityintelligence.com)
IAM, cloud security to drive new cyber security spending | CSO Online
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Ministry of Defence documents leaked by LockBit (techmonitor.ai)
Attackers access military data through fencing supplier • The Register
Ransomware attackers are targeting exposed Microsoft SQL databases, report says (therecord.media)
Ransomware and Data Breaches: Impacts Continue to Grow Louder (govtech.com)
Education Sector Heavily Targeted as the School Year Begins (databreaches.net)
Killware vs. Ransomware: What's the Difference? (makeuseof.com)
Is this the next target for international ransomware attacks? | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
To Pay or Not to Pay? The Ransomware Dilemma (informationweek.com)
Snake Ransomware Endangers Your Data: How Can You Stop It? (makeuseof.com)
How to Prevent Ransomware: 6 Key Steps to Safeguard Assets (techtarget.com)
Ransomware Victims
LockBit Leaks Documents Filched From UK Defence Contractor (darkreading.com)
Ministry of Defence documents leaked in cyber attack (civilserviceworld.com)
Debenham High School IT system hit by cyber attack - BBC News
Highgate Wood School delays term by 6 days after cyber attack | This Is Local London
Cyber attack hits Wokingham's Maiden Erlegh School | Reading Chronicle
Ransomware gang claims credit for Sabre data breach | TechCrunch
Hackers claim to publish prominent Israeli hospital’s patient data (therecord.media)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
AI abuse grows beyond phishing to multistage cyber attacks | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Google is enabling Chrome real-time phishing protection for everyone (bleepingcomputer.com)New phishing tool hijacked thousands of Microsoft business email accounts (therecord.media)
Beware of New Fileless Malware that Propagates Via Spam Mail (cybersecuritynews.com)
Spam is up, QR codes emerge as a significant threat vector - Help Net Security
From unsuspecting click to data compromise - Help Net Security
Alert: Phishing Campaigns Deliver New SideTwist Backdoor and Agent Tesla Variant (thehackernews.com)
Getting off the hook: 10 steps to take after clicking on a phishing link (welivesecurity.com)
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Emerging threat: AI-powered social engineering - Help Net Security
Hackers Using ChatGPT to Generate Malware & Social Engineering Threats (cybersecuritynews.com)
How cyber criminals use look-alike domains to impersonate brands - Help Net Security
Artificial Intelligence
Generative AI considered a security risk by 60% of board members, survey finds (thenationalnews.com)
AI ‘triggers DeepTech anxiety for senior leaders’ (businesscloud.co.uk)
Emerging threat: AI-powered social engineering - Help Net Security
AI abuse grows beyond phishing to multistage cyber attacks | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Hackers Using ChatGPT to Generate Malware & Social Engineering Threats (cybersecuritynews.com)
UK tech tsar warns of AI cyber threat to NHS | Financial Times (ft.com)
It's the summer of adversarial chatbots. Here's how to defend against them - SiliconANGLE
Will the AI Arms Race Lead to the Pollution of the Internet? (darkreading.com)
UK cyber chief urges ‘Security by Design’ in AI development (ukdefencejournal.org.uk)
Generative AI’s Biggest Security Flaw Is Not Easy to Fix | WIRED UK
Developers have security, other generative AI concerns but use it anyway - ARN (arnnet.com.au)
How Companies Can Cope With the Risks of Generative AI Tools (darkreading.com)
3 ways to strike the right balance with generative AI - Help Net Security
Peril vs. Promise: Companies, Developers Worry Over Generative AI Risk (darkreading.com)
Experts Probe AI Risks Around Malicious Use, China Influence (govinfosecurity.com)
Beware: Deepfake Scams Could Target Your Next Zoom Meeting | Entrepreneur
Malware
Common Tactics Used by Threat Actors to Weaponise PDFs (cybersecuritynews.com)
'Atomic macOS Stealer' Malware Delivered via Malvertising Campaign - SecurityWeek
Hackers Using ChatGPT to Generate Malware & Social Engineering Threats (cybersecuritynews.com)
UNRAVELING EternalBlue: inside the WannaCry’s enabler (securityaffairs.com)
Malware configurations How to find and use them? (govinfosecurity.com)
Beware of New Fileless Malware that Propagates Via Spam Mail (cybersecuritynews.com)
New Python Variant of Chaes Malware Targets Banking and Logistics Industries (thehackernews.com)
New BLISTER Malware Update Fuelling Stealthy Network Infiltration (thehackernews.com)
Alert: Phishing Campaigns Deliver New SideTwist Backdoor and Agent Tesla Variant (thehackernews.com)
Mobile
Hacking device Flipper Zero can spam nearby iPhones with Bluetooth pop-ups | TechCrunch
September Android updates fix zero-day exploited in attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hacker exploits security flaw to target iPhone users with 'notification attack' | Macworld
Botnets
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
DDoS attack took down the site of German financial agency BaFin (securityaffairs.com)
Mirai variant infects low-cost Android TV boxes for DDoS attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
CISA Releases Capacity Enhancement Guide to Strengthen Agency Resilience to DDoS Attack | CISA
BYOD
Internet of Things – IoT
Securing The IoT From The Threat China Poses To US Infrastructure (forbes.com)
Connected cars and cyber crime: A primer - Help Net Security
Hacking device Flipper Zero can spam nearby iPhones with Bluetooth pop-ups | TechCrunch
Mirai variant infects low-cost Android TV boxes for DDoS attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Why consumer drones represent a special cyber security risk (securityintelligence.com)
Like privacy? Then smart devices are a dumb idea • The Register
Maker of ‘smart’ chastity cage left users’ emails, passwords, and locations exposed | TechCrunch
Data Breaches/Leaks
Electoral Commission failed basic security test before hack - BBC News
Insurer fined $3M for exposing data of 650k clients for two years (bleepingcomputer.com)
Golf gear giant Callaway data breach exposes info of 1.1 million (bleepingcomputer.com)
Freecycle confirms massive data breach impacting 7 million users (bleepingcomputer.com)
Thousands of Popular Websites Leaking Secrets - SecurityWeek
Johnson & Johnson discloses IBM data breach impacting patients (bleepingcomputer.com)
Northern Ireland police chief quits in wake of data breach • The Register
Lawsuit blames Tesla for data breach it sued ex-staff over • The Register
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Popular 'As-a-Service' Operations Have Earned Cyber Criminals over $64m - IT Security Guru
Cyber Crime Tremors: Experts Forecast Qakbot Resurgence (govinfosecurity.com)
It might be too soon to claim victory against Qakbot | Computer Weekly
Cyber crime to cost Germany 206 billion euros in 2023, survey finds | Reuters
Cyber criminals coercing children in their own bedrooms | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
YouTuber Loses $60K Worth of Crypto After Showing Seed Phrases on Stream - Decrypt
Who Pulled Off a $41M Online Casino Heist? North Korea, FBI Says (vice.com)
Is this the next target for international ransomware attacks? | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
Bitcoin exchange exec admits he ignored anti-laundering laws • The Register
Cyber criminals target graphic designers with GPU miners (talosintelligence.com)
LastPass under fire again as users report stolen crypto keys and losses | Cybernews
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Popular 'As-a-Service' Operations Have Earned Cyber criminals over $64m - IT Security Guru
Fake YouPorn extortion scam threatens to leak your sex tape (bleepingcomputer.com)
Four Convicted in $18m Investment Fraud Scheme - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Global roaming fraud losses to surpass $8 billion by 2028 - Help Net Security
Airlines Battle Surge in Loyalty Program Fraud - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
How We Track Crypto Money Laundering for Off-Chain Crime (chainalysis.com)
See Tickets Alerts 300,000 Customers After Another Web Skimmer Attack - SecurityWeek
Beware: Deepfake Scams Could Target Your Next Zoom Meeting | Entrepreneur
Impersonation Attacks
'Smishing Triad' Targeted USPS and US Citizens for Data Theft (securityaffairs.com)
How cyber criminals use look-alike domains to impersonate brands - Help Net Security
Deepfakes
Emerging threat: AI-powered social engineering - Help Net Security
Beware: Deepfake Scams Could Target Your Next Zoom Meeting | Entrepreneur
AML/CFT/Sanctions
How We Track Crypto Money Laundering for Off-Chain Crime (chainalysis.com)
Four Convicted in $18m Investment Fraud Scheme - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Bitcoin exchange exec admits he ignored anti-laundering laws • The Register
Insurance
Insights Into the Changing Landscape of Cyber Insurance - Frost Brown Todd | Full-Service Law Firm
Time and effort to obtain cyber insurance increasing for US businesses | CSO Online
Beazley expects to sponsor more cyber catastrophe bonds in 2024 - Artemis.bm
Lloyd’s categorises cyber war wordings in aggregation clarity push (insuranceinsider.com)
Dark Web
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Attackers access military data through fencing supplier • The Register
Ministry of Defence documents leaked by LockBit (techmonitor.ai)
Supply chain related security risks, and how to protect against them (malwarebytes.com)
5 ways to improve your supply chain security posture | IT Reseller Magazine (itrportal.com)
Overcoming Open Source Vulnerabilities in the Software Supply Chain (darkreading.com)
Creating a more cyber secure supply chain requires group effort - FreightWaves
Facing Third-Party Threats With Non-Employee Risk Management (darkreading.com)
Software Supply Chain
Cloud/SaaS
Step Up Your Defence Against Cloud-loving Cyber Criminals (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
IAM, cloud security to drive new cyber security spending | CSO Online
Hybrid/Remote Working
Attack Surface Management
What OSINT is, and why it’s dangerous | Kaspersky official blog
Armis report sheds light on top 10 targeted assets by cyber attackers - SiliconANGLE
Top 10 riskiest assets threatening global business - IT Security Guru
Encryption
Government denies U-turn on encrypted messaging row - BBC News
UK lawmakers back down on encryption-busting 'spy clause' | CyberScoop
API
Open Source
Software industry urged to assume risk on open source security | CIO Dive
Overcoming Open Source Vulnerabilities in the Software Supply Chain (darkreading.com)
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
It's a Zero-day? It's Malware? No! It's Username and Password (thehackernews.com)
Chrome extensions can steal plaintext passwords from websites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hacker gains admin control of Sourcegraph and gives free access to the masses | Ars Technica
Passwords From The November 2022 LastPass Breach Being Cracked? - PC Perspective
LastPass under fire again as users report stolen crypto keys and losses | Cybernews
Maker of ‘smart’ chastity cage left users’ emails, passwords, and locations exposed | TechCrunch
75% of education sector attacks linked to compromised accounts - Help Net Security
Social Media
Malvertising
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Children's snack recalled after its website caught serving porn (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyber criminals coercing children in their own bedrooms | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
An Overview of ENISA’s Risk Management Standards Report | UpGuard
SEC tells companies to “show their work” on cyber security - Red Canary
Verizon to pay feds $4M over cyber security lapse | Light Reading
Government denies U-turn on encrypted messaging row - BBC News
UK drops 'spy clause' for scanning encrypted messages • The Register
Models, Frameworks and Standards
An Overview of ENISA’s Risk Management Standards Report | UpGuard
CIS Benchmarks Communities: Where configurations meet consensus - Help Net Security
Explaining The New NIST Cyber Security Framework to the C-Suite
Backup and Recovery
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
71% of organisations are impacted by cyber security skills shortage | Security Magazine
Cyber Security Skills Gap set to cost UK £120 billion by 2023 - Essex-TV
6 free resources for getting started in cyber security - Help Net Security
Cyber professionals say industry urgently needs to confront mental health crisis | CyberScoop
Cyber security pros battle discontent amid skills shortage - Help Net Security
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
It might be too soon to claim victory against Qakbot | Computer Weekly
Cops drill into chat apps to thwart coke-smuggling ring • The Register
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage
Russia
Russia-linked attackers hit UK Ministry of Defence, leak stolen data | CSO Online
Meet the man leading the front-line effort in Ukraine's cyber war with Russia : NPR
China and Russia are pushing the boundaries of cyber attacks to harm other states - CityAM
Ukraine's CERT Thwarts APT28's Cyber Attack on Critical Energy Infrastructure (thehackernews.com)
Attackers access military data through fencing supplier • The Register
Russia-linked hack on Trident base sparks 'World War Three' warning from expert (yahoo.com)
Russia, China behind majority of cyber attacks targeting German businesses (aa.com.tr)
Elon Musk's Father Fears Possible Assassination Attempt on His Son (businessinsider.com)
Big Tech failed to police Russian disinformation: EU study • The Register
North Korea hackers going after Russian targets, Microsoft says, World News - AsiaOne
China
How China gets free intel on tech companies’ vulnerabilities | Ars Technica
Experts Probe AI Risks Around Malicious Use, China Influence (govinfosecurity.com)
How Microsoft's highly secure environment was breached (malwarebytes.com)
Securing The IoT From The Threat China Poses To US Infrastructure (forbes.com)
China and Russia are pushing the boundaries of cyber attacks to harm other states - CityAM
Russia, China behind majority of cyber attacks targeting German businesses (aa.com.tr)
German companies report more cyber attacks from Russia, China | Meta.mk
Microsoft finally explains cause of Azure breach: An engineer’s account was hacked | Ars Technica
South Korean Cyber Security Concerns Over Chinese-Made Cranes, Meteorological Gear | The Epoch Times
Huawei hits back in Portugal over 5G 'ban' with lawsuit - DCD (datacenterdynamics.com)
Iran
Hackers push anti-Iranian government messages to millions via breached app | CyberScoop
Iranian hackers breach US aviation org via Zoho, Fortinet bugs (bleepingcomputer.com)
North Korea
Lazarus hackers deploy fake VMware PyPI packages in VMConnect attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Researchers Warn of Cyber Weapons Used by Lazarus Group's Andariel Cluster (thehackernews.com)
Meet the man leading the front-line effort in Ukraine's cyber war with Russia : NPR
North Korean hackers target security researchers with new zero-day (therecord.media)
North Korea hackers going after Russian targets, Microsoft says, World News - AsiaOne
Who Pulled Off a $41M Online Casino Heist? North Korea, FBI Says (vice.com)
Misc Nation State/Cyber Warfare
Nation-state 'hot zones' offer view of the future of cyber war – report - CIR Magazine
Lloyd’s categorises cyber war wordings in aggregation clarity push (insuranceinsider.com)
Cyber Security Tools Are New Targets For Nation-State Hackers (newsweek.com)
Multiple Nation-State Threat Actors Exploit CVE-2022-47966 and CVE-2022-42475 | CISA
Vulnerability Management
Years-old Microsoft bugs are still hot targets for criminals • The Register
Old vulnerabilities are still a big problem - Help Net Security
Overcoming Open Source Vulnerabilities in the Software Supply Chain (darkreading.com)
How China gets free intel on tech companies’ vulnerabilities | Ars Technica
Vulnerabilities
Apple discloses 2 actively exploited zero-days in iPhones, Macs (securityaffairs.com)
Google patches 4 high-rated security issues in latest Chrome 116 update - gHacks Tech News
Two flaws in Apache SuperSet allow to remotely hack servers (securityaffairs.com)
Cisco Patches Critical Vulnerability in BroadWorks Platform - SecurityWeek
Multiple Notepad++ Flaws Let Attackers Execute Arbitrary Code (cybersecuritynews.com)
Hackers exploit MinIO storage system to breach corporate networks (bleepingcomputer.com)
ASUS routers vulnerable to critical remote code execution flaws (bleepingcomputer.com)
September Android updates fix zero-day exploited in attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cisco SSO authentication bug patched - Security - Networking - iTnews
Multiple Nation-State Threat Actors Exploit CVE-2022-47966 and CVE-2022-42475 | CISA
Security or performance? Zenbleed forces you to choose | Digital Trends
Tools and Controls
Many businesses still aren't using BYOD protection | TechRadar
Insights Into the Changing Landscape of Cyber Insurance - Frost Brown Todd | Full-Service Law Firm
Spend to save: The CFO’s guide to cyber security investment (securityintelligence.com)
An Overview of ENISA’s Risk Management Standards Report | UpGuard
IOCs vs Artifacts How to Filter Out the Noise (govinfosecurity.com)
Time and effort to obtain cyber insurance increasing for US businesses | CSO Online
Chrome extensions can steal plaintext passwords from websites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Dangling DNS Used to Hijack Subdomains of Major Organisations - SecurityWeek
Why DNS Security Can Be Your Most Problematic Blind Spot (hyas.com)
Cyber Security Tools Are New Targets For Nation-State Hackers (newsweek.com)
Rising Physical Incidents Should Drive C-Level Investment & Action (forbes.com)
Why Cyber Security Risk Assessment Matters in the Banking Industry (securityintelligence.com)
Cut through cyber security vendor hype with these 6 tips | TechTarget
IAM, cloud security to drive new cyber security spending | CSO Online
Best practices for implementing a proper backup strategy - Help Net Security
Other News
Education Sector Heavily Targeted as the School Year Begins (databreaches.net)
Schools warned of cyberattack threat as new year begins | Science & Tech News | Sky News
Ways to protect WordPress sites and blogs from hacking | Kaspersky official blog
Insecure by design: What you need to know about defending critical infrastructure | CSO Online
Half of Switzerland's large companies have been the victim of a cyber attack | Euronews
Dangling DNS Used to Hijack Subdomains of Major Organizations - SecurityWeek
Securing the future: Safeguarding cyber-physical systems | CSO Online
25 Major Car Brands Get Failing Marks From Mozilla for Security and Privacy - SecurityWeek
Cyber security In Focus Ahead Of Berlin NATO Conference | OilPrice.com
10 old-school security principles that (still) rule | CSO Online
Surge in Hospital Hacks Endangers Patients, Cyber Official Says - WSJ
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 Threat Briefing 14 April 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 14 April 2023:
-Almost Half of Former Employees Say Their Passwords Still Work
-Efficient Risk Based Patch Management Means Eliminating Just 2% of Exposures Could Protect 90% of Critical Assets
-Printers Pose Persistent Yet Overlooked Threat
-Employees Are as Likely as Cyber Criminals to Cause Cyber Incidents
-Over 90% of Organisations Find Threat Hunting a Challenge
-75% of Organisations Have Suffered a Cyber Security Breach
-Leak Shows Evolving Russian Cyber War Capabilities
-Outsourced Payroll and HR Services Firm Forced to Shut Down After Cyber Attack
-When a Cyber Criminal Steals Personal Data from Your Organisation What Do You Do and Who Do You Need to Inform?
-Insider Threat and Ransomware: A Growing Issue
-How LockBit Changed Cyber Security Forever
-Hybrid Work Environments Are Stressing CISOs
-Protect Your Data with a USB Condom
-Strategising Cyber Security: Why a Risk-based Approach is Key
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
Almost Half of Former Employees Say Their Passwords Still Work
An alarming number of organisations are not properly offboarding employees when they leave, especially in regard to passwords. In a new survey of 1,000 workers who had access to company passwords at their previous jobs, 47% admitted to using them after leaving the company.
According to the survey one in three respondents said they had been using the passwords for upwards of two years, which is a distressingly long time for organisations not to be aware of who is accessing those accounts and services.
When asked what they use the passwords for, 64% said to access their former email accounts and 44% to access company data. A concerning 10% of respondents said they were trying to disrupt company activities.
Efficient Risk Based Patch Management Means Eliminating Just 2% of Exposures Could Protect 90% of Critical Assets
A recent cyber security report analysed over 60 million security exposures, or weaknesses that could give an attacker access to systems. The report found that only 2% enabled attackers access to critical assets, while 75% of exposures along attack paths lead to “dead ends”. Further, the report shows that average organisations have 11,000 exploitable security exposures monthly, with techniques targeting credentials and permissions affecting 82% of organisations and exploits accounting for over 70% of all identified security exposures.
The report found that most security alerts were benign and did not lead to critical assets. By applying efficient risk based patch management and reducing unnecessary access to critical assets, organisations can mitigate a significant amount of risk. This isn’t a simple task however, for an organisation to be able to employ efficient risk based patch management it must have a sufficient level of cyber maturity and internal vulnerability scanning accompanied by a dynamic threat intelligence component.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/eliminating-2-exposures-protect-90/
Printers Pose Persistent Yet Overlooked Threat
A rash of printer-related vulnerabilities in 2023 have punctuated security expert warnings that printers continue to be a significant vulnerability within companies — especially as remote workers require printing resources or access to corporate printers. So far in 2023, Lexmark advised that a publicly available remote exploit had already targeted a code execution flaw in its printers, HP warned of a vulnerable firmware version on some of its enterprise printers, and Microsoft fixed three remote code execution vulnerabilities in its printer drivers.
Printers remain a likely soft spot in most companies’ attack surface area, particularly because they are not always part of a company’s asset management process and are often left out of security assessments and risk registers. Many organisations don’t know where their printers are, their security status, configuration, monitoring or logging activity. Research has shown that 67% of companies are worried about the risk home printers may pose and only 26% of information technology and cyber security professionals are confident in their organisation’s printing infrastructure security.
https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/printers-pose-persistent-yet-overlooked-threat
Employees Are as Likely as Cyber Criminals to Cause Cyber Incidents
Employees and cyber criminals cause similar numbers of data leakages. Kaspersky’s 2022 IT Security Economics survey found cyber-attacks caused 23% of data leakages, while employees caused a similar proportion, at 22%. The rise in employees causing leakages may be linked with more remote working since the pandemic, with new staff laptops, tablets, and virtual private networks (VPNs) featuring among the extra endpoints and systems needing security. Although innocent mistakes or ignoring cyber-security policy were behind most leakages, security managers reported 36% of employee-triggered leakages were deliberate acts of sabotage or espionage. The high number of cyber-incidents stemming from employee action shows all organisations need thorough cyber-security awareness training to teach all staff how to avoid common security mistakes.
Over 90% of Organisations Find Threat Hunting a Challenge
Executing essential cyber security operations tasks during the threat hunting process is an increasingly challenging proposition to the vast majority of organisations, with 93% of those polled for a Sophos report saying they find basic security operations a chore.
In the report, “The state of cybersecurity 2023: The business impact of adversaries on defenders”, Sophos said these findings were likely the result of the ongoing cyber security skills shortage, which is creating a domino effect in security operations: a lack of skilled personnel makes investigating alerts take longer, which reduces the security team’s capacity and increases the organisation’s exposure to higher levels of risk.
Organisations that suffer the most are those with revenues of less than $10m (£8m), which are more likely to lack the necessary skillsets, followed by organisations with revenues of more than $5bn, where organisational and system complexity likely play a more prominent role.
75% of Organisations Have Suffered a Cyber Security Breach
Most organisations need stronger security controls to stop cyber security breaches and cyber attacks, according to “The Data Dilemma: Cloud Adoption and Risk Report” from security service edge (SSE) company Skyhigh Security. Key takeaways from the report include:
97% of organisations indicated they are experiencing private cloud problems.
75% have experienced a cyber security breach, threat and/or theft of data.
75% said shadow IT “impairs their ability to keep data secure.”
60% allow employees to download sensitive data to their personal devices.
52% noted their employees are using SaaS services that are commissioned by departments outside of IT and without direct involvement of their IT department.
37% said they do not trust the public cloud to secure their sensitive data.
Leak Shows Evolving Russian Cyber War Capabilities
The leak of thousands of pages of secret documentation related to the development of Moscow’s cyber and information operations capabilities paint a picture of a government obsessed with social control and committed to scaling their capacity for non-kinetic interference.
The leaked documents detail methods and training simulations intended to prepare an operator workforce for offensive operations against critical infrastructure targets. Tools revealed by these recent leaks suggest a desire and an ability to extensively map foreign vulnerabilities and make the job of Russia’s cyber conflict operators as accessible and scalable as possible.
This leak reinforces the significant concern regarding the threat posed by Russian cyber forces to firms across the globe.
Outsourced Payroll and HR Services Firm Forced to Shut Down After Cyber Attack
Belgian headquartered HR and payroll giant SD Worx has suffered a cyber attack causing them to shut down all IT systems for their UK and Ireland services. While the login portals for other European countries are working correctly, the company's UK customer portal was not accessible. As a full-service human resources and payroll company, SD Worx manages a large amount of sensitive data for their client's employees.
According to the company's general conditions agreement, this data may include tax information, government ID numbers, addresses, full names, birth dates, phone numbers, bank account numbers, employee evaluations, and more.
When a Cyber Criminal Steals Personal Data from Your Organisation What Do You Do and Who Do You Need to Inform?
If that happens it might be time for your management to clear their desks. The prospect of financial penalties and reputational damage is very real. You need to know your obligations — for instance, reporting the breach to applicable authorities and regulators within strict timeframes — understand the breach, and prioritise. Then you communicate and remedy. If you haven’t planned well, it’s going to be tough.
You need to understand the data breach. Who is affected — is it staff or customer data? What exactly have the cyber criminals accessed? Consider the type of information: salary details and passport copies, or customer payment information.
If personal data has been lost or compromised, you will likely have an obligation under data protection regulations to report the breach to your applicable data protection authority within 72 hours, and if you are a regulated business there will likely be similar requirements to report to your regulator within a similar timeframe. Knowing your obligations — ideally before any hack takes place — will guide how well you respond.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/who-should-i-inform-after-a-data-hack-dcrzvgp2x
Insider Threat and Ransomware: A Growing Issue
Ransomware is a growing epidemic. 2022 saw a slew of high-profile attacks leading to massive paydays for cyber criminals. Cyber criminals work just as hard to conceal their identities and location as they do to exploit weaknesses and capture valuable data to hold hostage. Organisations not only stand to lose money in this scenario, but the damage to their reputation and trustworthiness in the market can be challenging to recover from. Customers place high trust in the safety of their personal information, and it’s the company they hold accountable – not the thieves – if it slips into the wrong hands.
Even if you have good technical controls, the low-hanging fruit is capitalising on the human element and gaining entrance through a person within your organisation. Insider threats come in all shapes and sizes and roles, including employees, executives, former employees, board members, contractors, and service providers. Insider threats, by their very nature, pose a unique challenge for organisations.
https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/insider-threat-and-ransomware-a-growing-issue/
How LockBit Changed Cyber Security Forever
LockBit are one of the most prolific ransomware gangs globally, accounting for almost half of ransomware attacks in 2022. They not only maintain a high profile, but they’ve also turned ransom monetisation upside down. Thanks to their innovative approach, the group has claimed 44% of total ransomware attacks launched in 2022. LockBit made history by launching the industry’s first bug bounty program initiated by a ransomware group. The operation invites security experts to uncover vulnerabilities and report them for rewards ranging from $1,000 to a staggering $1 million. This has since been expanded and now offers bounties for creative ways to enhance ransomware operations.
https://securityintelligence.com/articles/how-lockbit-changed-cybersecurity/
Hybrid Work Environments Are Stressing CISOs
The impact of the hybrid workforce on security posture, as well as the risks introduced by this way of working, are posing concerns for CISOs and driving them to develop new strategies for hybrid work security, according to a new report.
Among the report’s most critical findings is the revelation that browsing-based threats ranked as CISOs’ number one concern, regardless of whether their organisation was operating primarily in an in-office, hybrid, or remote setting.
And as for the risks posed by hybrid and remote workers specifically, insecure browsing also topped the list of CISOs’ concerns.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/04/12/hybrid-work-environments-stressing-cisos/
Protect Your Data with a USB Condom
USB isn't just a charging protocol, it also allows data to flow back and forth, and while most of the time this data flow is safe, it is possible to create a malicious charging port that can do bad things, such as plant malware on your device or steal your data. Equally, an employee plugging their personal phone into a corporate USB port may present a danger to the corporate network through the phone. A USB condom is a small dongle that adds a layer of protection between your device and the charging point you're attaching it to by blocking the data being transferred through the port. If you must use a charger, cable, or charging port that isn't under your control, it makes sense to use a USB condom.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/protect-your-data-with-a-usb-condom/
Strategising Cyber Security: Why a Risk-based Approach is Key
By 2027, cyber crime could cost the global economy nearly $24 trillion. Businesses often find themselves at the sharp end of this challenge, and, as such, cyber security is a critical aspect of the modern business landscape. Cyber threats are multiplying and pose serious financial, legal and reputational challenges to organisations.
Modern and effective cyber security management entails more than managing technology risk; it encompasses managing business risk. Organisations must recognise cyber security as a strategic imperative integrated into their overall risk management framework — and this starts at the board level. In some cases, board members may find it beneficial to seek help in assessing appropriate levels of control.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/04/strategizing-cybersecurity-why-a-risk-based-approach-is-key/
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Microsoft Issues Patches for 97 Flaws, Including Active Ransomware Exploit (thehackernews.com)
Microsoft patches vulnerability used in Nokoyawa ransomware attacks | CSO Online
How LockBit Changed Cyber security Forever (securityintelligence.com)
Insider Threat And Ransomware: A Growing Issue (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Rorschach ransomware deployed by misusing a security tool - Help Net Security
Medusa ransomware claims attack on Open University of Cyprus (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyble — New Cylance Ransomware with Power-Packed CommandLine Options
Taiwanese PC Company MSI Falls Victim to Ransomware Attack (thehackernews.com)
KFC, Pizza Hut owner discloses data breach after ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
7 Things Your Ransomware Response Playbook Is Likely Missing (darkreading.com)
Cyber crime group exploits Windows zero-day in ransomware attacks-Security Affairs
Windows zero-day vulnerability exploited in ransomware attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware gangs increasingly deploy zero-days to maximize attacks | CyberScoop
Latitude Financial Refuses to Pay Ransom - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Superyacht-Maker Hit by Easter Ransomware Attack - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Microsoft: Phishing attack targets accountants as Tax Day approaches (bleepingcomputer.com)
Researchers Uncover Thriving Phishing Kit Market on Telegram Channels (thehackernews.com)
Phishing Campaign Targeting YouTube Content Creators, Malware Hitting Charging Stations - MSSP Alert
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
2FA/MFA
Comparing enabled and enforced MFA in Microsoft 365 | TechTarget
Rilide browser extension steals MFA codes - Help Net Security
Malware
New Mirai Variant Employs Uncommon Tactics to Distribute Malware (darkreading.com)
Typhon Reborn Stealer Malware Resurfaces with Advanced Evasion Techniques (thehackernews.com)
BlackGuard Stealer Extends its Capabilities in New Variant - MSSP Alert
Check Point Software Technologies: Qbot Top Malware in March 2023 - MSSP Alert
Cryptocurrency Stealer Malware Distributed via 13 NuGet Packages (thehackernews.com)
Attackers Hide RedLine Stealer Behind ChatGPT, Google Bard Facebook Ads (darkreading.com)
Microsoft shares guidance to detect BlackLotus UEFI bootkit attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft, Fortra Gains Legal Rights Against Cobalt Strike Abuse (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Legion Malware Marches onto Web Servers to Steal Credentials, Spam Mobile Users (darkreading.com)
WhatsApp boosts defence against account takeover via malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mobile
FBI warns about dangers of public USB charging ports | Popular Science (popsci.com)
Researchers Uncover Thriving Phishing Kit Market on Telegram Channels (thehackernews.com)
Android phones vulnerable to remote hacking — update right now | Tom's Guide (tomsguide.com)
Burglars tunnel through Apple Store’s neighbour, allegedly steal $500K in iPhones | Ars Technica
5G connections set to rise past 5.9 billion by 2027 - Help Net Security
Cyber criminals To Add Android Malware On Google Play Up To $20,000 (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
WhatsApp boosts defence against account takeover via malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Hackers Flood NPM with Bogus Packages Causing a DoS Attack (thehackernews.com)
DDoS attacks shifting to VPS infrastructure for increased power (bleepingcomputer.com)
DDoS alert traffic reaches record-breaking level of 436 petabits in one day - Help Net Security
DDoS attacks rise as pro-Russia groups attack Finland, Israel (techrepublic.com)
Internet of Things – IoT
Printers Pose Persistent Yet Overlooked Threat (darkreading.com)
There’s a new form of keyless car theft that works in under 2 minutes | Ars Technica
Special Report: Tesla workers shared sensitive images recorded by customer cars | Reuters
Default static key in ThingsBoard IoT platform can give attackers admin access | CSO Online
5G connections set to rise past 5.9 billion by 2027 - Help Net Security
Zigbee PRO 2023 introduces new security mechanisms, feature enhancements - Help Net Security
Critical Vulnerability in Hikvision Storage Solutions Exposes Video Security Data - SecurityWeek
Data Breaches/Leaks
Samsung employees unwittingly leaked company secret data by using ChatGPT-Security Affairs
Cloud accounting firm in a pickle after researchers find admin login data | TechRadar
Service NSW breach exposes personal data affecting thousands of customers | 7NEWS
Military Intel Leak Investigated By US Officials (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Hyundai data breach exposes owner details in France and Italy (bleepingcomputer.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Criminal businesses adopt corporate behaviour as they grow - Help Net Security
Seized Genesis malware market's infostealers infected 1.5 million computers | CSO Online
Breached shutdown sparks migration to ARES data leak forums (bleepingcomputer.com)
FBI: Crooks posing as PRC agents prey on Chinese in the US • The Register
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Sentiment DeFi Hacker Makes Amends by Returning 90% of Funds (beincrypto.com)
Cryptocurrency Stealer Malware Distributed via 13 NuGet Packages (thehackernews.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Employees are as likely as cyber-criminals to cause cyber-incidents | The Independent
Cyber criminals use simple trick to obtain personal data - Help Net Security
Insider Threat And Ransomware: A Growing Issue (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
FBI warns of companies exploiting sextortion victims for profit (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cambodia deports 19 Japanese cyber crime scam suspects | News | Al Jazeera
‘Overemployed’ Hustlers Exploit ChatGPT To Take On Even More Full-Time Jobs (vice.com)
When Banking Laws Don't Protect Consumers From Cybertheft (darkreading.com)
AI clones child’s voice in fake kidnapping scam | The Independent
Five arrested after 33,000 victims lose $98M to online investment fraud (bleepingcomputer.com)
Stolen Card Numbers Plummet 94% Globally - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Supply Chain and Third Parties
3CX confirms North Korean hackers behind supply chain attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Capita: IT outsourcer reels from being locked out of its own IT (thetimes.co.uk)
Cloud/SaaS
Western Digital struggles to fix massive My Cloud outage, offers workaround (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft Azure Users Warned of Potential Shared Key Authorization Abuse - SecurityWeek
Iranian APT group launches destructive attacks in hybrid Azure AD environments | CSO Online
Cloud accounting firm in a pickle after researchers find admin login data | TechRadar
Securing the Chaos – Harnessing Dispersed Multi-Cloud, Hybrid Environments - SecurityWeek
Hybrid/Remote Working
Hybrid work environments are stressing CISOs - Help Net Security
‘Overemployed’ Hustlers Exploit ChatGPT To Take On Even More Full-Time Jobs (vice.com)
Attack Surface Management
How to Secure Web Applications in a Growing Digital Attack Surface (bleepingcomputer.com)
The new weakest link in the cyber security chain - Help Net Security
Shadow IT
Identity and Access Management
Identity Management Day: 3 Things MSSPs Need to Know - MSSP Alert
Centralized vs. decentralized identity management explained | TechTarget
The Service Accounts Challenge: Can't See or Secure Them Until It's Too Late (thehackernews.com)
Encryption
API
Google launches dependency API and curated package repository with security metadata | CSO Online
Why Shadow APIs are More Dangerous than You Think (thehackernews.com)
Open Source
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Almost Half of Former Employees Say Their Passwords Still Work (darkreading.com)
Why it's time to move towards a passwordless future - Help Net Security
AI can crack most password in less than a minute | TechRadar
How an AI tool could crack your passwords in seconds | ZDNET
Meet PassGAN, the supposedly “terrifying” AI password cracker that’s mostly hype | Ars Technica
Social Media
Malvertising
Training, Education and Awareness
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Lagging regulations frustrate protecting data from cyber attacks (themandarin.com.au)
Battle could be brewing over new FCC data breach reporting rules | CSO Online
When Banking Laws Don't Protect Consumers From Cyber Theft (darkreading.com)
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Employees are as likely as cyber-criminals to cause cyber-incidents | The Independent
Skyhigh Security Report: 75% of Organizations Have Suffered a Cyber security Breach - MSSP Alert
Strategising cyber security: Why a risk-based approach is key | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
Outcome-based cyber security paves way for organizational goals - Help Net Security
Why reporting an incident only makes the cyber security community stronger | CSO Online
6 common challenges facing cyber security teams and how to overcome them | TechCrunch
Top 10 Cyber security Trends for 2023: From Zero Trust to Cyber Insurance (thehackernews.com)
Most Security Exposures Do Not Put Organizations' Critical Assets At Risk, Study Shows - MSSP Alert
Threat hunting programs can save organizations from costly security breaches - Help Net Security
Gartner: Human-Centric Design Is Top Cyber Security Trend for 2023 (darkreading.com)
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Seized Genesis malware market's infostealers infected 1.5 million computers | CSO Online
Spanish cops arrest teenage 'Robin Hood hacker' • The Register
Australia Is Scouring the Earth for Cyber criminals — the US Should Too (darkreading.com)
Cambodia deports 19 Japanese cyber crime scam suspects | News | Al Jazeera
Dutch Police mails RaidForums members to warn they’re being watched (bleepingcomputer.com)
Five arrested after 33,000 victims lose $98M to online investment fraud (bleepingcomputer.com)
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Tesla Sued Over Workers' Alleged Access to Car Video Imagery - SecurityWeek
Consumers take data control into their own hands amid rising privacy concerns - Help Net Security
Artificial Intelligence
Samsung employees unwittingly leaked company secret data by using ChatGPT - Security Affairs
Cyber crime: be careful what you tell your chatbot helper… | Chatbots | The Guardian
US cyber chiefs warn of threats from China and AI • The Register
When you're talking to a chatbot, who's listening? | CNN Business
Bad Actors Will Use Large Language Models — but Defenders Can, Too (darkreading.com)
AI can crack most password in less than a minute | TechRadar
‘Overemployed’ Hustlers Exploit ChatGPT To Take On Even More Full-Time Jobs (vice.com)
AI clones child’s voice in fake kidnapping scam | The Independent
European privacy watchdog creates ChatGPT task force | Reuters
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Russian hackers linked to widespread attacks targeting NATO and EU (bleepingcomputer.com)
NTC Vulkan leak shows evolving Russian cyberwar capabilities | CSO Online
The Discord servers at the center of a massive US intelligence leak | CyberScoop
Cisco trashed offices and destroyed spares as it quit Russia • The Register
Another zero-click Apple spyware biz shows up in town again • The Register
Ukrainian hackers spend $25,000 of pro-Russian blogger's money on sex toys (bitdefender.com)
DDoS attacks rise as pro-Russia groups attack Finland, Israel (techrepublic.com)
Russian Hacker Group Zarya Hit Canadian Pipeline—Leaked Docs (gizmodo.com)
Russia's Joker DPR Claims Access to Ukraine Troop Movement Data (darkreading.com)
Spyware Offered to Cyber attackers via PyPI Python Repository (darkreading.com)
Russian hackers ‘target security cameras inside Ukraine coffee shops’ | Ukraine | The Guardian
Nation State Actors
Russia-linked APT29 is behind recent attacks targeting NATO and EU-Security Affairs
North Korean Hackers Uncovered as Mastermind in 3CX Supply Chain Attack (thehackernews.com)
US cyber chiefs warn of threats from China and AI • The Register
Ukrainian hackers spend $25,000 of pro-Russian blogger's money on sex toys (bitdefender.com)
Google is on a crusade against cyber security threats from North Korea | TechRadar
Russian Hacker Group Zarya Hit Canadian Pipeline—Leaked Docs (gizmodo.com)
Iranian APT group launches destructive attacks in hybrid Azure AD environments | CSO Online
FBI: Crooks posing as PRC agents prey on Chinese in the US • The Register
Vulnerability Management
Most Security Exposures Do Not Put Organizations' Critical Assets At Risk, Study Shows - MSSP Alert
Ransomware gangs increasingly deploy zero-days to maximize attacks | CyberScoop
Vulnerabilities
Microsoft Issues Patches for 97 Flaws, Including Active Ransomware Exploit (thehackernews.com)
Windows admins warned to patch critical MSMQ QueueJumper bug (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nokoyawa ransomware attacks with Windows zero-day | Securelist
Thousands at risk from critical RCE bug in legacy MS service | Computer Weekly
1M+ WordPress Sites Hacked via Zero-Day Plug-in Bugs (darkreading.com)
Sophos Patches Critical Code Execution Vulnerability in Web Security Appliance - SecurityWeek
Cisco Patches Code and Command Execution Vulnerabilities in Several Products - SecurityWeek
CISA orders agencies to patch Backup Exec bugs used by ransomware gang (bleepingcomputer.com)
CISA Adds Two Known Exploited Vulnerabilities to Catalog | CISA
Data-leak flaw in Qualcomm, HiSilicon-based Wi-Fi AP chips • The Register
Twitter 'Shadow Ban' Bug Gets Official CVE (darkreading.com)
Exploit available for critical bug in VM2 JavaScript sandbox library (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft finally gets around to fixing half-decade-old Firefox CPU bug | TechRadar
SAP releases security updates for two critical-severity flaws (bleepingcomputer.com)
Adobe Plugs Gaping Security Holes in Reader, Acrobat - SecurityWeek
Limit Login Attempts Plugin Patches Severe Unauthenticated Stored XSS Vulnerability – WP Tavern
Fortinet Patches Critical Vulnerability in Data Analytics Solution - SecurityWeek
How Microsoft’s Shared Key authorization can be abused and how to fix it | CSO Online
Microsoft shares fix for Outlook issue blocking access to emails (bleepingcomputer.com)
Critical Vulnerability in Hikvision Storage Solutions Exposes Video Security Data - SecurityWeek
Tools and Controls
Threat hunting programs can save organizations from costly security breaches - Help Net Security
Stopping criminals from abusing security tools - Microsoft On the Issues
Most Security Exposures Do Not Put Organizations' Critical Assets At Risk, Study Shows - MSSP Alert
The Pope's Security Gets a Boost With Vatican's MDM Move (darkreading.com)
Bad Actors Will Use Large Language Models — but Defenders Can, Too (darkreading.com)
Cyber crime: be careful what you tell your chatbot helper… | Chatbots | The Guardian
Detailed Analysis Of The Best Password Managers In 2023 (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
How CIEM Can Improve Identity, Permissions Management for Multicloud Deployments (darkreading.com)
Centralized vs. decentralized identity management explained | TechTarget
The Service Accounts Challenge: Can't See or Secure Them Until It's Too Late (thehackernews.com)
What is an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)? (techtarget.com)
Securing the Chaos – Harnessing Dispersed Multi-Cloud, Hybrid Environments - SecurityWeek
How to Secure Web Applications in a Growing Digital Attack Surface (bleepingcomputer.com)
4 strategies to help reduce the risk of DNS tunnelling | CSO Online
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
MSI Confirms Cyber Attack, Issues Firmware Download Guidance - SecurityWeek
1M+ WordPress Sites Hacked via Zero-Day Plug-in Bugs (darkreading.com)
Western Digital restores service; attack details remain unclear | TechTarget
Rapid7 Has Good News for UK Security Posture - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.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.
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 27 January 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 27 January 2023:
-Supply Chain Attacks Caused More Data Compromises Than Malware
-What Makes Small and Medium-Sized Businesses Vulnerable to BEC Attacks
-Understanding Your Attack Surface Makes It Easier to Prioritise Technologies and Systems
-Cyber Security Pros Sound Alarm Over Insider Threats
-Ransomware Attack Hit KFC and Pizza Hut Stores in the UK
-Forthcoming SEC Rules Will Trigger ‘Tectonic Shift’ in How Corporate Boards Treat Cyber Security
-Why CISOs Make Great Board Members
-View From Davos: The Changing Economics of Cyber Crime
-Cloud Based Networks Under Increasing Attack, Report Finds
-GoTo Admits: Customer Cloud Backups Stolen Together with Decryption Key
-State-Linked Hackers in Russia and Iran are Targeting UK Groups, NCSC Warns
-3.7 Million Customers’ Data of Hilton Hotels Put Up For Sale
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
Supply Chain Attacks Caused More Data Compromises Than Malware
According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, data compromises steadily increased in the second half of 2022 and cyber attacks remained the primary source of data breaches.
The number of data breaches resulting from supply chain attacks exceeded malware related compromises in 2022 by 40%. According to the report, more than 10 million people were impacted by supply chain attacks targeting 1,743 entities. By comparison, 70 malware-based cyber attacks affected 4.3 million people.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/01/26/data-compromises-2022/
What Makes Small and Medium-Sized Businesses Vulnerable to BEC Attacks
According to the United States’ FBI’s 2021 Internet Crime Report, business email compromise (BEC) accounted for almost a third of the country’s $6.9 billion in cyber losses that year – around $2.4 billion. In surprisingly sharp contrast, ransomware attacks accounted for only $50 million of those losses.
Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are especially vulnerable to this form of attack and BEC’s contribution to annual cyber losses not only makes sense but is also likely underreported.
In stark contrast to highly disruptive ransomware attacks, BEC is subversive and is neither technically complicated nor expensive to deploy. In the case of large organisations, the financial fallout of BEC is almost negligible. That’s not the case for small and medium-sized businesses, which often lack the means to absorb similar financial losses.
BEC’s simplicity gives more credence for attackers to target smaller organisations, and because of that, it’s doubly essential for SMBs to be vigilant.
Understanding Your Attack Surface Makes It Easier to Prioritise Technologies and Systems
It has been observed that attackers will attempt to start exploiting vulnerabilities within the first fifteen minutes of their disclosure. As the time to patch gets shorter, organisations need to be more pragmatic when it comes to remediating vulnerabilities, particularly when it comes to prioritisation.
Attack surfaces constantly evolve and change as new applications are developed, old systems are decommissioned, and new assets are registered. Also, more and more organisations are moving towards cloud-hosted infrastructure, which changes the risk and responsibility for securing those assets. Therefore, it is essential to carry out continuous or regular assessments to understand what systems are at risk, instead of just taking a point-in-time snapshot of how the attack surface looks at that moment.
The first step would be to map “traditional” asset types – those easily associated with an organisation and easy to monitor, such as domains and IP addresses. Ownership of these assets can be easily identified through available information (e.g., WHOIS data). The less traditional asset types (such as GitHub repositories) aren’t directly owned by the organisation but can also provide high-value targets or information for attackers.
It’s also important to understand which technologies are in use to make sound judgements based on the vulnerabilities relevant to the organisation. For example, out of one hundred vulnerabilities released within one month only 20% might affect the organisation’s technologies.
Once organisations have a good understanding of which assets might be at risk, context and prioritisation can be applied to the vulnerabilities affecting those assets. Threat intelligence can be utilised to determine which vulnerabilities are already being exploited in the wild.
What is then the correct answer for this conundrum? The answer is that there is no answer! Instead, organisations should consider a mindset shift and look towards preventing issues whilst adopting a defence-in-depth approach; focus on minimising impact and risk by prioritising assets that matter the most and reducing time spent on addressing those that don’t. This can be achieved by understanding your organisation’s attack surface and prioritising issues based on context and relevance.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/01/24/understanding-your-attack-surface/
Cyber Security Pros Sound Alarm Over Insider Threats
Gurucul, a security information and event management (SIEM) solution provider, and Cyber security Insiders, a 600,000-plus member online community for information security professionals, found in their annual 2023 Insider Threat Report that only 3% of respondents surveyed are not concerned with insider risk.
Among all potential insiders, cyber security professionals are most concerned about IT users and admins with far-reaching access privileges (60%). This is followed by third-party contractors (such as MSPs and MSSPs) and service providers (57%), regular employees (55%), and privileged business users (53%).
The research also found that more than half of organisations in the study had been victimised by an insider threat in the past year. According to the data, 75% of the respondents believe they are moderately to extremely vulnerable to insider threats, an 8% spike from last year. That coincided with a similar percentage who said attacks have become more frequent, with 60% experiencing at least one attack and 25% getting hit by more than six attacks.
Ransomware Attack Hit KFC and Pizza Hut Stores in the UK
Nearly 300 fast food restaurants, including branches of KFC and Pizza Hut, were forced to close following a ransomware attack against parent company Yum! Brands. In a statement dated 18 January 2023, Yum! confirmed that unnamed ransomware had impacted some of its IT infrastructure, and that data had been exfiltrated by hackers from its servers. However, although an investigation into the security breach continues, the company said that it had seen no evidence that customer details had been exposed.
What has not yet been made public, and may not even be known to those investigating the breach, is how long hackers might have had access to the company's IT infrastructure, and how they might have been able to gain access to what should have been a secure system. Yum! has also not shared whether it has received a ransom demand from its attackers, and if it did how much ransom was demanded, and whether it would be prepared to negotiate with its extortionists.
Forthcoming SEC Rules Will Trigger ‘Tectonic Shift’ in How Corporate Boards Treat Cyber Security
Under rules first proposed in 2022 but expected to be finalised as soon as April 2023, publicly traded companies in the US that determine a cyber incident has become “material”, meaning it could have a significant impact on the business, must disclose details to the SEC and investors within four business days. That requirement would also apply “when a series of previously undisclosed, individually immaterial cyber security incidents has become material in the aggregate.
The SEC’s rules will also require the boards of those companies to disclose significant information on their security governance, such as how and when it exercises oversight on cyber risks. That info includes identifying who on the board (or which subcommittee) is responsible for cyber security and their relevant expertise. Required disclosures will also include how often and by which processes board members are informed and discuss cyber risk. The former cyber adviser to the SEC commented that “The problem we have with the current cyber security ecosystem is that it’s very focused on technical mitigation measures and does not contemplate these business, operational, [or] financial factors.”
Whilst this only impacts US firms, we can expect other jurisdictions to follow suit.
Why CISOs Make Great Board Members
Cyber security-related risk is a top concern, so boards need to know they have the proper oversight in place. The past three years created a perfect storm situation with lasting consequences for how we think about cyber security, and as a result cyber security technologies and teams have shifted from being viewed as a cost centre to a business enabler.
Gartner predicts that by 2025, 40% of companies will have a dedicated cyber security committee. Who is better suited than a CISO to lead that conversation? Cyber security-related risk is a top concern, so boards need to know they have the proper oversight in place. CISOs can provide advice on moving forward with digital change initiatives and help companies prepare for the future. They can explain the organisation’s risk posture, including exposure related to geopolitical conflict as well as to new business initiatives and emerging threats, and what can be done to mitigate risk.
Lastly, the role of the CISO has evolved from being a risk metrics presenter to a translator of risk to the business. Therefore, the expertise CISOs have developed in recent years in how to explain risk to the board makes them valuable contributors to these conversations. They can elevate the discussion to ensure deep understanding of the trade-offs between growth and risk, enable more informed decision-making, and serve as guardrails for total business alignment.
https://www.securityweek.com/why-cisos-make-great-board-members/
View From Davos: The Changing Economics of Cyber Crime
Cyber crime is a risk created by humans, driven by the economic conditions of high profit and easy opportunity. Ransomware is the most recent monetisation of these motives and opportunities, and it has evolved from simple malware to advanced exploits and double or triple extortion models.
The motive for cyber crime is clear: to steal money, but the digital nature of cyber crime makes the opportunity uniquely attractive, due to the following:
· Cryptocurrency makes online extortion, trading illicit goods and services, and laundering fraudulent funds highly anonymous and usually beyond the reach of financial regulators or inspection
· There isn't enough fear of getting caught for cyber crime.
· With the explosion in spending on digital transformation, data is the new gold and it is incredibly easy to steal, due to lapses in basic hygiene like encrypting data-at-rest and in-transit or limiting access to only authorised users.
· Paying extortion through extensive cyber insurance policies only feeds the ransomware epidemic by incentivising further crime, as noted by the FBI.
Fighting cyber crime is a team sport, and to succeed, we must adopt this framework of cyber resilience that integrates the technical, policy, behavioural, and economic elements necessary to manage the reality of ever-growing cyber crime as a predictable and manageable cyber risk.
https://www.darkreading.com/edge-articles/view-from-davos-the-changing-economics-of-cybercrime
Cloud Based Networks Under Increasing Attack, Report Finds
As enterprises around the world continue to move to the cloud, cyber criminals are following right behind them. There was a 48 percent year-over-year jump in 2022 in cyber attacks on cloud-based networks, and it comes at a time when 98 percent of global organisations use cloud services, according to Check Point. The increases in cyber attacks were experienced in various regions, including Asia (with a 60 percent jump), Europe (50 percent), and North America (28 percent) according to a report by Checkpoint last week.
Check Point explained that "The rise in attacks on the cloud was driven both by an overall increase in cyber attacks globally (38 percent overall in 2022, compared to 48 percent in the cloud) and also by the fact that it holds much more data and incorporates infrastructure and services from large amounts of potential victims, so when exploited the attacks could have a larger impact,". Later, Checkpoint highlighted that human error is a significant factor in the vulnerability of cloud-based networks.
The report highlighted the need for defence capabilities in the cloud to improve. According to Check Point, this means adopting zero-trust cloud network security controls, incorporating security and compliance earlier in the development lifecycle, avoiding misconfigurations, and using tools such as an intrusion detection and prevention systems and next-generation web application firewalls. As commented by Check Point “it is still up to the network and security admins to make sure all their infrastructure is not vulnerable.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/20/cloud_networks_under_attack/
GoTo Admits: Customer Cloud Backups Stolen Together with Decryption Key
On 2022-11-30, GoTo informed customers that it had suffered “a security incident”, summarising the situation as follows:
“Based on the investigation to date, we have detected unusual activity within our development environment and third-party cloud storage service. The third-party cloud storage service is currently shared by both GoTo and its affiliate, LastPass.”
Two months later, GoTo has come back with an update, and the news isn’t great:
“[A] threat actor exfiltrated encrypted backups from a third-party cloud storage service related to the following products: Central, Pro, join.me, Hamachi, and RemotelyAnywhere. We also have evidence that a threat actor exfiltrated an encryption key for a portion of the encrypted backups. The affected information, which varies by product, may include account usernames, salted and hashed passwords, a portion of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) settings, as well as some product settings and licensing information.”
The company also noted that although MFA settings for some Rescue and GoToMyPC customers were stolen, their encrypted databases were not.
State-Linked Hackers in Russia and Iran are Targeting UK Groups, NCSC Warns
Russian and Iranian state-linked hackers are increasingly targeting British politicians, journalists and researchers with sophisticated campaigns aimed at gaining access to a person’s email, Britain’s online security agency warned on Thursday. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issued an alert about two groups from Russia and Iran, warning those in government, defence, thinktanks and the media against clicking on malicious links from people posing as conference hosts, journalists or even colleagues.
Both groups have been active for some years, but it is understood they have recently stepped up their activities in the UK as the war in Ukraine continues, as well as operating in the US and other NATO countries.
The hackers typically seek to gain confidence of a target by impersonating somebody likely to make contact with them, such as by falsely impersonating a journalist, and ultimately luring them to click on a malicious link, sometimes over the course of several emails and other online interactions.
NCSC encourages people to use strong email passwords. One technique is to use three random words, and not replicate it as a login credential on other websites. It recommends people use two-factor authentication, using a mobile phone as part of the log on process, ideally by using a special authenticator app.
The cyber agency also advises people exercise particular caution when receiving plausible sounding messages from strangers who rely on Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook or other webmail accounts, sometimes impersonating “known contacts” of the target culled from social media.
3.7 Million Customers’ Data of Hilton Hotels Put Up For Sale
A member of a hacker forum going by the name IntelBroker, has offered a database allegedly containing the personal information of 3.7 million people participating in the Hilton Hotels Honors program. According to the actor, the data in question includes personally identifying information such as name, address and Honors IDs. According to the Hilton Hotel, no guest login credentials, contacts, or financial information have been leaked.
https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/3-7-millions-customers-data-hilton-hotel-up-for-sale/
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Rebranded Ransomware Crews Spike Number of Hijacking Incidents in Q4 2022 - MSSP Alert
The Unrelenting Menace of the LockBit Ransomware Gang | WIRED
Ransomware access brokers use Google ads to breach your network (bleepingcomputer.com)
FBI hacked into Hive ransomware gang, disrupted operations | TechTarget
Ransomware victims are refusing to pay, tanking attackers’ profits | Ars Technica
Vice Society Ransomware Group Targets Manufacturing Companies (trendmicro.com)
New Mimic ransomware abuses ‘Everything’ Windows search tool (bleepingcomputer.com)
Contractor error led to Baltimore schools ransomware attack | TechTarget
LAUSD says Vice Society ransomware gang stole contractors’ SSNs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Riot Games receives ransom demand from hackers, refuses to pay (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
State-linked hackers in Russia and Iran are targeting UK groups, NCSC warns | Hacking | The Guardian
ChatGPT is a bigger threat to cyber security than most realize - Help Net Security
Yahoo Most Faked Brand Name in Phishing Attempts by Threat Actors in Q4 2022 - MSSP Alert
SEABORGIUM and TA453 continue their respective... - NCSC.GOV.UK
Bitwarden password vaults targeted in Google ads phishing attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
New 'Blank Image' attack hides phishing scripts in SVG files (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers now use Microsoft OneNote attachments to spread malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Malware
BlackBerry: Threat Actors Launch A Unique Malware Sample Every Minute - MSSP Alert
Consumers Face Greater Risks from Malware but Many are Unprepared and Vulnerable - MSSP Alert
New 'Blank Image' attack hides phishing scripts in SVG files (bleepingcomputer.com)
ChatGPT Could Create Polymorphic Malware Wave, Researchers Warn (darkreading.com)
Hackers now use Microsoft OneNote attachments to spread malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
ChatGPT Can Write Polymorphic Malware to Infect Your Computer (gizmodo.com)
Microsoft plans to kill malware delivery via Excel XLL add-ins (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers use Golang source code interpreter to evade detection (bleepingcomputer.com)
Emotet Malware Makes a Comeback with New Evasion Techniques (thehackernews.com)
'DragonSpark' Malware: East Asian Cyber Attackers Create an OSS Frankenstein (darkreading.com)
Malware exploited critical Realtek SDK bug in millions of attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mobile
Massive Ad Fraud Scheme Targeted Over 11 Million Devices with 1,700 Spoofed Apps (thehackernews.com)
New 'Hook' Android malware lets hackers remotely control your phone (bleepingcomputer.com)
Pair of Galaxy App Store Bugs Offer Cyber Attackers Mobile Device Access (darkreading.com)
Google to phase out legacy apps with Android 14 to improve security - GSMArena.com news
Botnets
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Why a hybrid approach can help mitigate DDoS attacks | SC Media
Russia’s largest ISP says 2022 broke all DDoS attack records (bleepingcomputer.com)
Internet of Things – IoT
Nice smart device – how long does it get software updates? • The Register
Why British homes are at risk from ‘Trojan Horse’ smart devices (telegraph.co.uk)
Why most IoT cyber security strategies give zero hope for zero trust - Help Net Security
Data Breaches/Leaks
Companies impacted by Mailchimp breach warn their customers - Security Affairs
LastPass owner GoTo says hackers stole customers’ backups | TechCrunch
GoTo warns customers of crypto key and backup heist • The Register
3.7 Million Customers Data Of Hilton Hotels Put Up For Sale (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
QUT confirms personal data of thousands of staff compromised in cyber attack - ABC News
Riot Games hacked, now it faces problems to release content - Security Affairs
ICE releases asylum seekers after exposing their data • The Register
Hacker Gets Hands on No-Fly List of Alleged Terrorist Suspects (gizmodo.com)
Risk & Repeat: Breaking down the LastPass breach | TechTarget
T-Mobile Cyber Attack Spurs Law Firm Investigation - MSSP Alert
Risk & Repeat: Another T-Mobile data breach disclosed | TechTarget
Entire US "No Fly List" Exposed Online Via Unsecured Server (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Near-Record Year for US Data Breaches in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Zacks data breach impacted hundreds of thousands of customers - Security Affairs
French rugby club Stade Français leaks source code - Security Affairs
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Inside the crypto ‘prisons’ scamming Britons out of their life savings (telegraph.co.uk)
Hackers Take Over Robinhood Twitter Account To Promote Scam - Decrypt
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Inside the crypto ‘prisons’ scamming Britons out of their life savings (telegraph.co.uk)
P-to-P fraud most concerning cyber threat in 2023: CSI | CSO Online
Hackers Take Over Robinhood Twitter Account To Promote Scam - Decrypt
Insurance
4 tips to find cyber insurance coverage in 2023 | TechTarget
Insurers in talks on adding state-backed cyber to UK reinsurance scheme | Financial Times (ft.com)
Cyber Security Posture & Insurance Outlook with Advisen (trendmicro.com)
Dark Web
Software Supply Chain
Cloud/SaaS
Report: Cloud-based networks under growing attack • The Register
Chinese 8220 Gang Aims For Public Clouds And Vulnerable Apps (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Microsoft Azure-Based Kerberos Attacks Crack Open Cloud Accounts (darkreading.com)
Attack Surface Management
Encryption
API
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Bitwarden password vaults targeted in Google ads phishing attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Bitwarden responds to encryption design flaw criticism | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)
Social Media
Malvertising
Massive Ad Fraud Scheme Targeted Over 11 Million Devices with 1,700 Spoofed Apps (thehackernews.com)
Google Ads invites being abused to push spam, adult sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware access brokers use Google ads to breach your network (bleepingcomputer.com)
Over 4,500 WordPress Sites Hacked to Redirect Visitors to Sketchy Ad Pages (thehackernews.com)
Training, Education and Awareness
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Governance, Risk and Compliance
View from Davos: The Changing Economics of Cyber Crime (darkreading.com)
Awareness Training Must Change | CSA (cloudsecurityalliance.org)
Despite Slowing Economy, Demand for Cyber Security Workers Remains Strong (darkreading.com)
Organisations Must Brace for Privacy Impacts This Year (darkreading.com)
Data Protection
Ireland’s data protection watchdog fines WhatsApp €5.5m • The Register
ICO Offers Data Protection Advice to SMBs - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Despite Slowing Economy, Demand for Cyber Security Workers Remains Strong (darkreading.com)
Can't Fill Open Positions? Rewrite Your Minimum Requirements (darkreading.com)
Veterans bring high-value, real-life experience as potential cyber security employees | CSO Online
Dozens of Cyber Security Companies Announced Layoffs in Past Year - SecurityWeek
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
FBI hacked into Hive ransomware gang, disrupted operations | TechTarget
Dutchman Detained for Dealing Details of Tens of Millions of People (darkreading.com)
Dutch suspect locked up for alleged personal data megathefts – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Organisations Must Brace for Privacy Impacts This Year (darkreading.com)
Scientists use Wi-Fi routers to see humans through walls | ZDNET
Most consumers would share anonymised personal data to improve AI products - Help Net Security
Artificial Intelligence
ChatGPT is a bigger threat to cyber security than most realize - Help Net Security
Learning to Lie: AI Tools Adept at Creating Disinformation - SecurityWeek
FBI Chief Says He's 'Deeply concerned' by China's AI Program | SecurityWeek.Com
ChatGPT Can Write Polymorphic Malware to Infect Your Computer (gizmodo.com)
Chat Cyber Security: AI Promises a Lot, but Can It Deliver? (darkreading.com)
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
State-linked hackers in Russia and Iran are targeting UK groups, NCSC warns | Hacking | The Guardian
UK authorities warn of phishing from Iran, Russia • The Register
Armis State of Cyberwarfare and Trends Report - IT Security Guru
SEABORGIUM and TA453 continue their respective... - NCSC.GOV.UK
Gamaredon Group Launches Cyber Attacks Against Ukraine Using Telegram (thehackernews.com)
Chinese 8220 Gang Aims For Public Clouds And Vulnerable Apps (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
FBI Chief Says He's 'Deeply concerned' by China's AI Program | SecurityWeek.Com
“Pegasus” lifts the lid on a sophisticated piece of spyware | The Economist
North Korea-linked TA444 turns to credential harvesting activity - Security Affairs
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
State-linked hackers in Russia and Iran are targeting UK groups, NCSC warns | Hacking | The Guardian
UK authorities warn of phishing from Iran, Russia • The Register
SEABORGIUM and TA453 continue their respective... - NCSC.GOV.UK
Gamaredon Group Launches Cyber Attacks Against Ukraine Using Telegram (thehackernews.com)
Russia’s largest ISP says 2022 broke all DDoS attack records (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nation State Actors – China
Chinese 8220 Gang Aims For Public Clouds And Vulnerable Apps (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
FBI Chief Says He's 'Deeply concerned' by China's AI Program | SecurityWeek.Com
Nation State Actors – North Korea
Nation State Actors – Iran
Vulnerability Management
Extent of reported CVEs overwhelms critical infrastructure asset owners - Help Net Security
Log4j Vulnerabilities Are Here to Stay — Are You Prepared? (darkreading.com)
Trained developers get rid of more vulnerabilities than code scanning tools - Help Net Security
New Open Source OT Security Tool Helps Address Impact of Upcoming Microsoft Patch - SecurityWeek
Halo Security unveils KEV feature to improve attack surface visibility - Help Net Security
Vulnerabilities
Crims can still exploit this NSA-discovered Microsoft bug • The Register
75k WordPress sites impacted by critical online course plugin flaws (bleepingcomputer.com)
Log4j Vulnerabilities Are Here to Stay — Are You Prepared? (darkreading.com)
Chrome 109 update addresses six security vulnerabilities - Security Affairs
Microsoft urges admins to patch on-premises Exchange servers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Drupal Patches Vulnerabilities Leading to Information Disclosure | SecurityWeek.Com
Critical Vulnerabilities Patched in OpenText Enterprise Content Management System | SecurityWeek.Com
Around 19,500 end-of-life Cisco routers exposed to hack - Security Affairs
In-the-Wild Exploitation of Recent ManageEngine Vulnerability Commences | SecurityWeek.Com
Apple patches are out – old iPhones get an old zero-day fix at last! – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Apple Patches WebKit Code Execution in iPhones, MacBooks - SecurityWeek
Crooks are already exploiting this bug in old iPhones • The Register
Logfile nightmare deepens thanks to critical VMware flaws • The Register
Malware exploited critical Realtek SDK bug in millions of attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Realtek SDK flaw CVE-2021-35394 actively exploited in the wild- Security Affairs
Lexmark warns of RCE bug affecting 100 printer models, PoC released (bleepingcomputer.com)
Crims can still exploit this NSA-discovered Microsoft bug • The Register
Tools and Controls
Is Once-Yearly Pen Testing Enough for Your Organisation? (thehackernews.com)
LastPass owner GoTo says hackers stole customers’ backups | TechCrunch
Bitwarden password vaults targeted in Google ads phishing attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Bitwarden responds to encryption design flaw criticism | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)
Companies Struggle With Zero Trust as Attackers Adapt to Get Around It (darkreading.com)
Federal Agencies Infested by Cyber Attackers via Legit Remote Management Systems (darkreading.com)
Why a hybrid approach can help mitigate DDoS attacks | SC Media
Steps To Planning And Implementation Of Endpoint Protection (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Other News
Hackers can make computers destroy their own chips with electricity | New Scientist
Scientists use Wi-Fi routers to see humans through walls | ZDNET
Microsoft 365 outage takes down Teams, Exchange Online, Outlook (bleepingcomputer.com)
Lessons Learned from the Windows Remote Desktop Honeypot Report (bleepingcomputer.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.
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 20 January 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 20 January 2023:
-Experts at Davos 2023 Call for a Global Response to the Gathering 'Cyber Storm'
-Cost of Data Breaches to Global Businesses at Five-Year High
-European Data Protection Authorities Issue Record €2.92 Billion In GDPR Fines, an Increase of 168%
-PayPal Accounts Breached in Large-Scale Credential Stuffing Attack
-Royal Mail Boss to Face MPs’ Questions Over Russian Ransomware Attack
-Third-Party Risk Management: Why 2023 Could be the Perfect Time to Overhaul your TPRM Program
-EU Cyber Resilience Regulation Could Translate into Millions in Fines
-Russian Hackers Try to Bypass ChatGPT's Restrictions for Malicious Purposes
-New Report Reveals CISOs Rising Influence
-ChatGPT and its Perilous Use as a "Force Multiplier" for Cyber Attacks
-Mailchimp Discloses a New Security Breach, the Second One in 6 Months
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
Experts at Davos 2023 Call for a Global Response to the Gathering 'Cyber Storm'
As economic and geopolitical instability spills into the new year, experts predict that 2023 will be a consequential year for cyber security. The developments, they say, will include an expanded threat landscape and increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks.
"There's a gathering cyber storm," Sadie Creese, a Professor of Cyber Security at the University of Oxford, said during an interview at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2023 in Davos, Switzerland. "This storm is brewing, and it's really hard to anticipate just how bad that will be."
Already, cyber attacks such as phishing, ransomware and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are on the rise. Cloudflare, a major US cyber security firm that provides protection services for over 30% of Fortune 500 companies, found that DDoS attacks—which entail overwhelming a server with a flood of traffic to disrupt a network or webpage—increased last year by 79% year-over-year.
"There's been an enormous amount of insecurity around the world," Matthew Prince, the CEO of Cloudflare, stated during the Annual Meeting. "I think 2023 is going to be a busy year in terms of cyber attacks."
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/01/cybersecurity-storm-2023-experts-davos23/
Cost of Data Breaches to Global Businesses at Five-Year High
Research from business insurer Hiscox shows that the cost of dealing with cyber events for businesses has more than tripled since 2018. The study, which collated data from the organisation’s previous five annual Cyber Readiness reports, has revealed that:
Since 2018 the median IT budgets for cyber security more than tripled.
Between 2020 and 2022 cyber-attacks increased by over a quarter.
Businesses are increasing their cyber security budgets year-on-year.
In the Hiscox 2022 Cyber Readiness report, the financial toll of cyber incidents, including data breaches, was estimated to be $16,950 (£15,265) on average. As the cost of cyber crime grew, so did organisations’ cyber security budgets – average spending on cyber security tripled from 2018 to 2022, rocketing from $1,470,196 (£1,323,973) to $5,235,162 (£4,714,482).
Hiscox has also revealed that half of all companies surveyed suffered at least one cyber attack in 2022, up 11% from 2020. Financial Services, as well as Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) sectors even reported a minimum of one attack for three consecutive years. Financial Services firms, however, seemed to be hit the hardest, with 66% reporting being impacted by cyber attacks in 2021-2022.
Cyber risk has risen to the same strategic level as traditional financial and operational risks, thanks to a growing realisation by businesses that the impact can be just as severe.
European Data Protection Authorities Issue Record €2.92 Billion in GDPR Fines, an Increase of 168%
European data regulators issued a record €2.92 billion in fines last year, a 168% increase from 2021. That’s according to the latest GDPR and Data Breach survey from international law firm DLA Piper, which covers all 27 Member States of the European Union, plus the UK, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. This year’s biggest fine of €405 million was imposed by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) against Meta Platforms Ireland Limited relating to Instagram for alleged failures to protect children’s personal data. The Irish DPC also fined Meta €265 million for failing to comply with the GDPR obligation for Data Protection by Design and Default. Both fines are currently under appeal.
Despite the overall increase in fines since January 28, 2022, the fine of €746 million that Luxembourg authorities levied against Amazon last year remains the biggest to be issued by an EU-based data regulator to date (though the retail giant is still believed to be appealing).
The report also revealed a notable increase in focus by supervisory authorities on the use of artificial intelligence (AI), while the volume of data breaches reported to regulators decreased slightly against the previous year’s total.
PayPal Accounts Breached in Large-Scale Credential Stuffing Attack
PayPal is sending out data breach notifications to thousands of users who had their accounts accessed through credential stuffing attacks that exposed some personal data.
Credential stuffing are attacks where hackers attempt to access an account by trying out username and password pairs sourced from data leaks on various websites. This type of attack relies on an automated approach with bots running lists of credentials to "stuff" into login portals for various services. Credential stuffing targets users that employ the same password for multiple online accounts, which is known as "password recycling."
PayPal explains that the credential stuffing attack occurred between December 6 and December 8, 2022. The company detected and mitigated it at the time but also started an internal investigation to find out how the hackers obtained access to the accounts. By December 20, 2022, PayPal concluded its investigation, confirming that unauthorised third parties logged into the accounts with valid credentials. The electronic payments platform claims that this was not due to a breach on its systems and has no evidence that the user credentials were obtained directly from them.
According to the data breach reporting from PayPal, 34,942 of its users have been impacted by the incident. During the two days, hackers had access to account holders' full names, dates of birth, postal addresses, social security numbers, and individual tax identification numbers. Transaction histories, connected credit or debit card details, and PayPal invoicing data are also accessible on PayPal accounts.
Royal Mail Boss to Face MPs’ Questions Over Russian Ransomware Attack
Royal Mail’s chief executive faced questions from MPs last week over the Russia-linked ransomware attack that caused international deliveries to grind to a halt.
Simon Thompson, chief executive of Royal Mail, was asked about the recent cyber attack when he appeared before the Commons Business Select Committee to discuss Royal Mail’s response to the cyber attack at the evidence session on Tuesday Jan 17.
A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Royal Mail has been subject to a cyber incident that is affecting our international export service. We are focused on restoring this service as soon as we are able.”
Royal Mail was forced to suspend all outbound international post after machines used for printing customs dockets were disabled by the Russia-linked Lockbit cyber crime gang. Lockbit’s attackers used ransomware, malicious software that scrambles vital computer files before the gang demands payment to unlock them again. The software also took over printers at Royal Mail’s international sorting offices and caused ransom notes to “spout” from them, according to reports.
Cyber security industry sources cautioned that while Lockbit is known to be Russian in origin, it is not known whether a stolen copy of the gang’s signature ransomware had been deployed by rival hackers.
Third-Party Risk Management: Why 2023 Could be the Perfect Time to Overhaul your TPRM Program
Ensuring risk caused by third parties does not occur to your organisation is becoming increasingly difficult. Every business outsources some aspects of its operations, and ensuring these external entities are a strength and not a weakness isn’t always a straightforward process.
In the coming years we’ll see organisations dedicate more time and resources to developing detailed standards and assessments for potential third-party vendors. Not only will this help to mitigate risk within their supply chain network, it will also provide better security.
As demand for third-party risk management (TPRM) grows, there are key reasons why we believe 2023 could be pivotal for the future of your organisation’s TPRM program, cyber risk being principal amongst them.
Forrester predicted that 60% of security incidents in 2022 would stem from third parties. In 2021 there was a 300% increase in supply chain attacks, a trend that has continued to increase over the past 12 months also. For example, Japanese car manufacturer Toyota was forced to completely shut down its operations due to a security breach with a third-party plastics supplier.
It’s not only the frequency of third-party attacks that has increased, but also the methods that cyber criminals are using are becoming increasingly sophisticated. For example, the SolarWinds cyber breach in 2020 was so advanced that Microsoft estimated it took over a thousand engineers to stop the impact of the attack.
As the sophistication and frequency of supply chain attacks increases, the impact they have on businesses reputations and valuations is also becoming apparent. There is a need for organisations to conduct thorough due diligence of the third parties they choose to work with, otherwise the consequences could be disastrous.
Remember always that cyber security should be a non-negotiable feature of all business transactions.
EU Cyber Resilience Regulation Could Translate into Millions in Fines
The EU Commission’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) is intended to close the digital fragmentation problem surrounding devices and systems with network connections – from printers and routers to smart household appliances and industrial control systems. Industrial networks and critical infrastructures require special protection.
According to the European Union, there is currently a ransomware attack every eleven seconds. In the last few weeks alone, among others, a leading German children’s food manufacturer and a global Tier1 automotive supplier headquartered in Germany were hit, with the latter becoming the victim of a massive ransomware attack. Such an attack even led to insolvency at the German manufacturer Prophete in January 2023. To press manufacturers, distributors and importers into action, they face significant penalties if security vulnerabilities in devices are discovered and not properly reported and closed.
“The pressure on the industry – manufacturers, distributors and importers – is growing immensely. The EU will implement this regulation without compromise, even though there are still some work packages to be done, for example regarding local country authorities,” says Jan Wendenburg, CEO, ONEKEY.
The financial fines for affected manufacturers and distributors are therefore severe: up to 15 million euros or 2.5 percent of global annual revenues in the past fiscal year – the larger number counts. “This makes it absolutely clear: there will be substantial penalties on manufacturers if the requirements are not implemented,” Wendenburg continues.
Manufacturers, distributors and importers are required to notify ENISA – the European Union’s cyber security agency – within 24 hours if a security vulnerability in one of their products is exploited. Exceeding the notification deadlines is already subject to sanctions.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/01/19/eu-cyber-resilience-regulation-fines/
Russian Hackers Try to Bypass ChatGPT's Restrictions for Malicious Purposes
Russian cyber-criminals have been observed on dark web forums trying to bypass OpenAI’s API restrictions to gain access to the ChatGPT chatbot for nefarious purposes.
Various individuals have been observed, for instance, discussing how to use stolen payment cards to pay for upgraded users on OpenAI (thus circumventing the limitations of free accounts). Others have created blog posts on how to bypass the geo controls of OpenAI, and others still have created tutorials explaining how to use semi-legal online SMS services to register to ChatGPT.
“Generally, there are a lot of tutorials in Russian semi-legal online SMS services on how to use it to register to ChatGPT, and we have examples that it is already being used,” wrote Check Point Research (CPR). “It is not extremely difficult to bypass OpenAI’s restricting measures for specific countries to access ChatGPT,” said Check Point. “Right now, we are seeing Russian hackers already discussing and checking how to get past the geofencing to use ChatGPT for their malicious purposes.”
They added that they believe these hackers are most likely trying to implement and test ChatGPT in their day-to-day criminal operations. “Cyber-criminals are growing more and more interested in ChatGPT because the AI technology behind it can make a hacker more cost-efficient,” they explained.
Case in point, just last week, Check Point Research published a separate advisory highlighting how threat actors had already created malicious tools using ChatGPT. These included infostealers, multi-layer encryption tools and dark web marketplace scripts.
More generally, the cyber security firm is not the only one believing ChatGPT could democratise cyber crime, with various experts warning that the AI bot could be used by potential cyber-criminals to teach them how to create attacks and even write ransomware.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/russian-hackers-to-bypass-chatgpt/
New Report Reveals CISOs Rising Influence
Cyber security firm Coalfire this week unveiled its second annual State of CISO Influence report, which explores the expanding influence of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and other security leaders.
The report revealed that the CISO role is maturing quickly, and the position is experiencing more equity in the boardroom. In the last year alone, there was a 10-point uptick in CISOs doing monthly reporting to the board. These positive outcomes likely stem from the increasingly metrics-driven reporting CISOs provide, where data is more effectively leveraged to connect security outcomes to business objectives.
An especially promising development in this year's report is how security teams are being looped into corporate projects. Of the security leaders surveyed, 78% say they are consulted early in project development when business objectives are first identified, and two-thirds are now making presentations to the highest levels of enterprise authority. 56% of CISOs present security metrics to their CEOs, up from 43% in 2021.
Cloud migration was universally identified as one of those top business objectives. The move to the cloud saddles CISOs with many challenges. The top priorities listed by CISOs include dealing with an expanding attack surface, staffing, and new compliance requirements — all within constrained budgets. In fact, 43% of security leaders said their budgets remained static or were reduced following business migration to the cloud.
Given these challenges, leading CISOs are transforming their approaches. To address multiple cloud compliance requirements, security leaders are focusing on the most onerous set of rules and creating separate environments for different requirements. Risk assessments were identified as the key tool used to secure funding for these and other cyber initiatives and to set top priorities.
"Costs and risks are up, while at the same time, cyber budgets are trending flat or down," said Colefire. "Cyber security has historically been lower in priority for organisations, but we are witnessing a big shift in enterprise cyber expectations. CISOs are rising to meet those expectations, speaking to the business, and as a result, solidifying their role in the C-suite."
https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/new-coalfire-report-reveals-cisos-rising-influence
ChatGPT and its Perilous Use as a "Force Multiplier" for Cyber Attacks
As a form of OpenAI technology, ChatGPT has the ability to mimic natural language and human interaction with remarkable efficiency. However, from a cyber security perspective, this also means it can be used in a variety of ways to lower the bar for threat actors.
One key method is the ability for ChatGPT to draft cunning phishing emails en masse. By feeding ChatGPT with minimal information, it can create content and entire emails that will lure unsuspecting victims to provide their passwords. With the right API setup, thousands of unique, tailored, and sophisticated phishing emails can be sent almost simultaneously.
Another interesting capability of ChatGPT is the ability to write malicious code. While OpenAI has put some controls in place to prevent ChatGPT from creating malware, it is possible to convince ChatGPT to create ransomware and other forms of malware as code that can be copied and pasted into an integrated development environment (IDE) and used to compile actual malware. ChatGPT can also be used to identify vulnerabilities in code segments and reverse engineer applications.
ChatGPT will expedite a trend that is already wreaking havoc across sectors – lowering the bar for less sophisticated threat actors, enabling them to conduct attacks while evading security controls and bypassing advanced detection mechanisms. And currently, there is not much that organisations can do about it. ChatGPT represents a technological marvel that will usher in a new era, not just for the cyber security space.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/sj0lfp11oi
Mailchimp Discloses a New Security Breach, the Second One in 6 Months
The popular email marketing and newsletter platform Mailchimp was hacked twice in the past six months. The news of a new security breach was confirmed by the company; the incident exposed the data of 133 customers.
Threat actors targeted the company’s employees and contractors to gain access to an internal support and account admin tool.
“On January 11, the Mailchimp Security team identified an unauthorised actor accessing one of our tools used by Mailchimp customer-facing teams for customer support and account administration. The unauthorised actor conducted a social engineering attack on Mailchimp employees and contractors, and obtained access to select Mailchimp accounts using employee credentials compromised in that attack.” reads the notice published by the company. “Based on our investigation to date, this targeted incident has been limited to 133 Mailchimp accounts.”
The malicious activity was discovered on January 11, 2023; in response to the intrusion the company temporarily suspended access for impacted accounts. The company also notified the primary contacts for all affected accounts less than 24 hours after the initial discovery.
https://securityaffairs.com/140997/data-breach/mailchimp-security-breach.html
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Yum Brands says nearly 300 restaurants in UK impacted due to cyber attack | Reuters
Royal Mail boss to face MPs’ questions over Russian ransomware attack (telegraph.co.uk)
What is LockBit ransomware and how does it operate? | Royal Mail | The Guardian
How cyber-attack on Royal Mail has left firms in limbo - BBC News
Royal Mail restarts limited overseas post after cyber-attack - BBC News
How Royal Mail’s hacker became the world’s most prolific ransomware group | Financial Times (ft.com)
Ransomware Trends In Q4 2022: Key Findings And Recommendations (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Microsoft: Cuba ransomware hacking Exchange servers via OWASSRF flaw (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft retracts its report on Mac ransomware (techrepublic.com)
Ransomware Dips During 2022: Are Cyber attacks Slowing or Just a Blip? - MSSP Alert
Up to 1,000 ships affected by DNV ransomware attack - Splash247
Avast releases free BianLian ransomware decryptor (bleepingcomputer.com)
Vice Society ransomware leaks University of Duisburg-Essen’s data (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware attack cuts 1,000 ships off from on-shore servers • The Register
Royal Mail promises ‘workarounds’ to restore services after ransomware attack | Computer Weekly
Cyber-crime gangs' earnings slide as victims refuse to pay - BBC News
Ransomware gang steals data from KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut brand owner (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
How AI chatbot ChatGPT changes the phishing game | CSO Online
The big risk in the most-popular, and aging, big tech email programs (cnbc.com)
Why encrypting emails isn't as simple as it sounds - Help Net Security
Fake DHL emails allow hackers to breach Microsoft 365 accounts (msn.com)
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Techniques that attackers use to trick victims into visiting malicious content - Help Net Security
As Social Engineering Tactics Change, So Must Your Security Training (darkreading.com)
2FA/MFA
CircleCI's hack caused by malware stealing engineer's 2FA-backed session (bleepingcomputer.com)
The Importance of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) - MSSP Alert
Malware
New Backdoor Created Using Leaked CIA's Hive Malware Discovered in the Wild (thehackernews.com)
Experts spotted a backdoor that borrows code from CIA's Hive malware - Security Affairs
ChatGPT Creates Polymorphic Malware - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Attackers Crafted Custom Malware for Fortinet Zero-Day (darkreading.com)
New Chinese Malware Spotted Exploiting Recent Fortinet Firewall Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
Malicious ‘Lolip0p’ PyPi packages install info-stealing malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers exploit Cacti critical bug to install malware, open reverse shells (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers can use GitHub Codespaces to host and deliver malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers turn to Google search ads to push info-stealing malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
How to spot a cyberbot – five tips to keep your device safe (theconversation.com)
Mobile
New 'Hook' Android malware lets hackers remotely control your phone (bleepingcomputer.com)
Roaming Mantis’ Android malware adds DNS changer to hack WiFi routers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Botnets
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Internet of Things – IoT
Data Breaches/Leaks
6,000+ Customer Accounts Breached, NortonLifeLock Alert Users (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
1.7 TB of data from digital intelligence firm Cellebrite leaked online - Security Affairs
LastPass faces mounting criticism over recent breach | TechTarget
Mailchimp discloses a new incident, the second one in 6 months - Security Affairs
PayPal Breach Exposed PII of Nearly 35K Accounts (darkreading.com)
T-Mobile US says hacker accessed personal data of 37 million customers • TechCrunch
Twitter says leaked emails not hacked from its systems - BBC News
Hacked! My Twitter user data is out on the dark web -- now what? | ZDNET
Twitter sued over data leak that it denied was caused by a flaw | Business
Nissan North America data breach caused by vendor-exposed database (bleepingcomputer.com)
18k Nissan Customers Affected by Data Breach at Third-Party Software Developer | SecurityWeek.Com
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Crypto exchanges freeze accounts tied to North Korea • The Register
Europol arrested cryptocurrency scammers that stole millions from victims - Security Affairs
FTX Says $415 Million Of Its Crypto Assets Was Hacked (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Google Ads-delivered malware drains NFT influencer’s entire crypto wallet (cointelegraph.com)
Bitcoin is a ‘hyped-up fraud’, says JP Morgan chief (telegraph.co.uk)
International Arrests Over 'Criminal' Crypto Exchange | SecurityWeek.Com
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Hacker stole credit cards from Canada alcohol retailer LCBO - Security Affairs
Europol arrested cryptocurrency scammers that stole millions from victims - Security Affairs
New York man defrauded thousands using credit cards sold on dark web (bleepingcomputer.com)
FTX Says $415 Million Of Its Crypto Assets Was Hacked (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
The US Has a Massive Money Transfer Surveillance Apparatus (gizmodo.com)
The threat of location spoofing and fraud - Help Net Security
HUMAN Security Stops VASTFLUX Digital Ad Fraud Operation - MSSP Alert
International Arrests Over 'Criminal' Crypto Exchange | SecurityWeek.Com
Insurance
Dark Web
New York man defrauded thousands using credit cards sold on dark web (bleepingcomputer.com)
Illegal Solaris darknet market hijacked by competitor Kraken (bleepingcomputer.com)
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Cloud/SaaS
The Dangers of Default Cloud Configurations (darkreading.com)
Report: Cloud-based networks under growing attack • The Register
Data Security in Multicloud: Limit Access, Increase Visibility (darkreading.com)
Hybrid/Remote Working
Encryption
Vulnerabilities in cryptographic libraries found through modern fuzzing - Help Net Security
teiss - Cyber Threats - Managing the treat from quantum computers
Threats Of Quantum: The Solution Lies In Quantum Cryptography (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Why encrypting emails isn't as simple as it sounds - Help Net Security
TLS Connection Cryptographic Protocol Vulnerabilities (trendmicro.com)
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Compromise of employee device, credentials led to CircleCI breach | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
PayPal accounts breached in large-scale credential stuffing attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
NortonLifeLock: threat actors breached Norton Password Manager accounts - Security Affairs
Social Media
Twitter says leaked emails not hacked from its systems - BBC News
Hacked! My Twitter user data is out on the dark web -- now what? | ZDNET
French CNIL fined Tiktok $5.4 Million for violating cookie laws - Security Affairs
Malvertising
Hackers turn to Google search ads to push info-stealing malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Google Ads-delivered malware drains NFT influencer’s entire crypto wallet (cointelegraph.com)
HUMAN Security Stops VASTFLUX Digital Ad Fraud Operation - MSSP Alert
Training, Education and Awareness
Training, endpoint management reduce remote working cyber security risks - Help Net Security
As Social Engineering Tactics Change, So Must Your Security Training (darkreading.com)
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
GDPR Fines Surge 168% in a Year - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
European data protection authorities issue record €2.92 billion in GDPR fines | CSO Online
How data protection is evolving in a digital world - Help Net Security
EU cyber resilience regulation could translate into millions in fines - Help Net Security
Online safety bill: Attempt to jail tech bosses ‘could backfire’ | News | The Times
Culture secretary examines plans to punish tech bosses over online harms | Financial Times (ft.com)
French CNIL fined Tiktok $5.4 Million for violating cookie laws - Security Affairs
State legislators aren't waiting for Congress to regulate children's online privacy - CyberScoop
How Would the FTC Rule on Noncompetes Affect Data Security? (darkreading.com)
The US Has a Massive Money Transfer Surveillance Apparatus (gizmodo.com)
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Technology is a fragile machine that seems to power everything | Android Central
Training, endpoint management reduce remote working cyber security risks - Help Net Security
New Coalfire Report Reveals CISOs Rising Influence (darkreading.com)
Cost of data breaches to global businesses at five-year high- IT Security Guru
Experts at Davos 2023 sound the alarm on cyber security | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
Why Mean Time to Repair Is Not Always A Useful Security Metric (darkreading.com)
Why are there so many cyber attacks lately? An explainer on the rising trend | Globalnews.ca
How To Build A Network Of Security Champions In Your Organisation (forbes.com)
EU cyber resilience regulation could translate into millions in fines - Help Net Security
What is Business Attack Surface Management? (trendmicro.com)
How to build a cyber-resilience culture in the enterprise | TechTarget
Why Businesses Need to Think Like Hackers This Year (darkreading.com)
How to prioritize resilience in the face of cyber-attacks | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
Cyber-attack contributes to major Harrogate district firm posting £4.1m loss - The Stray Ferret
Data Protection
GDPR Fines Surge 168% in a Year - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
European data protection authorities issue record €2.92 billion in GDPR fines | CSO Online
How data protection is evolving in a digital world - Help Net Security
State legislators aren't waiting for Congress to regulate children's online privacy - CyberScoop
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
New Coalfire Report Reveals CISOs Rising Influence (darkreading.com)
IT Burnout may be Putting Your Organisation at Risk (bleepingcomputer.com)
Sophos Joins List of Cyber security Companies Cutting Staff | SecurityWeek.Com
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
UK supermarket uses facial recognition tech to track shoppers - Coda Story
State legislators aren't waiting for Congress to regulate children's online privacy - CyberScoop
Artificial Intelligence
How AI chatbot ChatGPT changes the phishing game | CSO Online
ChatGPT and its perilous use as a "Force Multiplier" for cyber attacks | Ctech (calcalistech.com)
Potential threats and sinister implications of ChatGPT - Help Net Security
Criminals seek OpenAI guardrail bypass, use ChatGPT for evil • The Register
ChatGPT Creates Polymorphic Malware - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Putin’s Russian cyber attacks could target UK’s infrastructure | News | The Times
Industrial espionage: How China sneaks out America's technology secrets - BBC News
Ukraine blames Russia for most of over 2,000 cyber attacks in 2022 | Reuters
Beware: Tainted VPNs Being Used to Spread EyeSpy Surveillanceware (thehackernews.com)
Is Elon Musk’s Starlink winning the war for Ukraine? | World | The Sunday Times (thetimes.co.uk)
Pro-Russia Hacktivist Group NoName057(16) Strikes Again (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Russian hacktivists NoName057 offer cash for DDoS attacks (techmonitor.ai)
Ukraine links data-wiping attack on news agency to Russian hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russian hackers target Ukrainian press briefing about cyber attacks (axios.com)
Chinese hackers targeted Iranian government entities for months: Report | CSO Online
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Putin’s Russian cyber attacks could target UK’s infrastructure | News | The Times
Ukraine blames Russia for most of over 2,000 cyber attacks in 2022 | Reuters
Is Elon Musk’s Starlink winning the war for Ukraine? | World | The Sunday Times (thetimes.co.uk)
Pro-Russia Hacktivist Group NoName057(16) Strikes Again (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Russian hacktivists NoName057 offer cash for DDoS attacks (techmonitor.ai)
Ukraine links data-wiping attack on news agency to Russian hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russian hackers target Ukrainian press briefing about cyber attacks (axios.com)
Russians say they can download software from Intel again • The Register
Nation State Actors – China
Industrial espionage: How China sneaks out America's technology secrets - BBC News
Attackers Crafted Custom Malware for Fortinet Zero-Day (darkreading.com)
New Chinese Malware Spotted Exploiting Recent Fortinet Firewall Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
China wants 30 percent CAGR for its infosec industry • The Register
Chinese hackers targeted Iranian government entities for months: Report | CSO Online
Nation State Actors – North Korea
Nation State Actors – Iran
Nation State Actors – Misc
Vulnerability Management
The Top 10 Vulnerabilities of 2022: Mastering Vulnerability Management - Security Boulevard
3 Lessons Learned in Vulnerability Management (darkreading.com)
Vulnerabilities
Cisco won’t fix critical flaw in small business routers • The Register
Unpatched Zoho ManageEngine Products Under Active Cyber attack (darkreading.com)
Oracle's First Security Update for 2023 Includes 327 New Patches | SecurityWeek.Com
Why it's time to review your on-premises Microsoft Exchange patch status | CSO Online
Attackers Crafted Custom Malware for Fortinet Zero-Day (darkreading.com)
New Chinese Malware Spotted Exploiting Recent Fortinet Firewall Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
Cacti Servers Under Attack as Majority Fail to Patch Critical Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
PoC exploits released for critical bugs in popular WordPress plugins (bleepingcomputer.com)
Vulnerabilities in cryptographic libraries found through modern fuzzing - Help Net Security
Microsoft: Exchange Server 2013 reaches end of support in 90 days (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers are using this old trick to dodge security protections | ZDNET
Attackers deploy sophisticated Linux implant on Fortinet network security devices | CSO Online
Researchers to release PoC exploit for critical Zoho RCE bug, patch now (bleepingcomputer.com)
MSI accidentally breaks Secure Boot for hundreds of motherboards (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft fixes SSRF vulnerabilities found in Azure services | TechTarget
Over 4,000 Sophos Firewall devices vulnerable to RCE attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Critical Security Vulnerabilities Discovered in Netcomm and TP-Link Routers (thehackernews.com)
Exploited Control Web Panel Flaw Added to CISA 'Must-Patch' List | SecurityWeek.Com
Two critical flaws discovered in Git system - Security Affairs
Vendors Actively Bypass Security Patch for Year-Old Magento Vulnerability | SecurityWeek.Com
Cisco Patches High-Severity SQL Injection Vulnerability in Unified CM | SecurityWeek.Com
CVE-2022-47966: Rapid7 Observed Exploitation of Critical ManageEngine Vulnerability | Rapid7 Blog
Critical Microsoft Azure RCE flaw impacted multiple services - Security Affairs
New Microsoft Azure Vulnerability Uncovered — EmojiDeploy for RCE Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Tools and Controls
Training, endpoint management reduce remote working cyber security risks - Help Net Security
Why encrypting emails isn't as simple as it sounds - Help Net Security
As Social Engineering Tactics Change, So Must Your Security Training (darkreading.com)
Zero trust network access for Desktop as a Service - Help Net Security
How to prioritize resilience in the face of cyber-attacks | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
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.