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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 17 November 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 17 November 2023:
-Cyber Resilience Requires Maturity, Persistence & Board Engagement
-Security is a Process, Not a Tool
-46% of SMBs and Enterprises Have Experienced a Ransomware Attack
-Cyber Threat Intelligence: Getting on the Front Foot Against Adversaries
-67% of Workers Put Businesses at Risk by Downloading Applications and Software Without Permission
-The Persistent Menace: Understanding And Combating Ransomware, as New Ransomware Groups Account for Quarter of All Leaks in 2023
-Financial Services still Stubbornly Vulnerable to Cyber Disruption
-Worlds Biggest Bank Hit by Ransomware, Workers Forced to Trade With USB Sticks
-NCSC Warns UK Over Significant Threat to Critical Infrastructure
-Ransomware Gang Files SEC Complaint Over Victim’s Undisclosed Breach
-Businesses are Losing Huge Chunks of Their Revenue to Cyber Attacks
-Phishing Emails Are More Believable Than Ever. Here's What to Do About It.
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
Cyber Resilience Requires Maturity, Persistence & Board Engagement
Cyber resilience is more important than ever, particularly with the added dimensions of deepening geopolitical threats and risks coming from new technology like AI. In cyber security, it is commonly accepted that it is a matter of when, not if, an organisation will experience an attack. It is imperative to ensure there is an ability across the organisation to bounce back.
Source: [Dark Reading]
Security is a Process, not a Tool
The cyber security industry is constantly seeing tools that claim to make organisations 100% secure, despite this never being achievable. A recent report found 55% of all security tools are not put into operation or are not actively managed. Additionally, the report found that 33% of all security incidents are identifiably traced to process errors. The findings are further evidence that cyber security is more than just technology tools: it requires a mindset that aligns controls across people, operations and technology.
Source: [Dark Reading]
46% of SMBs and Enterprises Have Experienced a Ransomware Attack
A recent report found that 46% of small and medium businesses (SMBs) and enterprises have experienced ransomware attacks. In addition, 90% of SMBs and 87% of enterprises are extremely or somewhat concerned about ransomware attacks, and 64% of SMBs and 70% of enterprises don’t believe in paying a ransom.
Despite the fact that nearly 50% of the firms have suffered ransomware, too many businesses still seem to think this is something that will not happen to them and is something only other businesses need to worry about.
Source: [Security Magazine] [IT Business]
Cyber Threat Intelligence: Getting on the Front Foot Against Adversaries
In the realm of cyber security, threat intelligence (TI) is a crucial yet often underused asset for countering sophisticated cyber attacks. TI involves gathering, analysing, and contextualising information about potential cyber threats, including advanced ones, thus enabling organisations to identify, assess, and mitigate cyber risks effectively. The TI market, expected to exceed $44 billion by 2033, offers four main types: Strategic, Tactical, Technical, and Operational.
Each type serves different organisational needs, from informing senior leadership to aiding security operations teams. When thinking about TI, organisations should focus on completeness, accuracy, relevance, timeliness, scalability, vendor reputation, and integration capabilities. The rapidly evolving nature of TI demands a careful, long-term approach to choosing the right services, considering an organisation's maturity and specific needs. Effective TI not only aids in countering immediate threats but also builds long-term resilience. With 80% of the top 2000 global companies projected to increase their TI investment in 2024, it's crucial for organisations to find a trusted vendor to ensure their cyber security success.
Black Arrow conducts daily threat intelligence analyses from trusted specialist sources, and interprets the TI in the context of our client organisations to support them in proactively addressing risks. In addition to our weekly Threat Briefing and subscription email, we offer tailored briefings for organisations in various sectors and geographies.
Source: [welivesecurity]
67% of Workers Put Businesses at Risk by Downloading Applications and Software Without Permission
New research has found that 67% of UK employees are endangering their business by downloading applications and software without the knowledge of IT or security teams.
Other key findings included 39% of respondent organisations lacked total visibility of applications and software on company owned assets, and 77% lacked visibility over employee owned assets connected to the corporate environment. Of total respondents, 69% acknowledged their organisations required better policies and procedures in order to deal with security vulnerabilities, with 39% of total respondents feeling challenged by UK and other jurisdictions’ increasingly complicated regulations and governance requirements.
Black Arrow help organisations of all sizes to design and deliver comprehensive asset visibility programmes that lay the foundation for proportionate and credible cyber security controls to protect the organisation. We enable organisations to adhere to regulatory and governance requirements, by providing expert cyber security resources on a flexible basis for technical, governance and transformational positions.
Sources: [Tech Radar] [the HR Director]
The Persistent Menace: Understanding and Combating Ransomware, as New Ransomware Groups Account for Quarter of All Leaks in 2023
In 2023, the landscape of cyber threats, particularly ransomware, has significantly evolved, remaining a primary concern for businesses.
This change has been further facilitated by the emergence of Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) and the increased sophistication of phishing attacks, supported by advancements in AI. This has led at least in part to almost half (29) of the ransomware groups tracked by WithSecure in 2023 having begun operations this year. These groups accounted for 25% of data leaks in this period, helping to drive a 50% year-on-year increase in data leaks.
Businesses face not only the immediate costs of ransom demands but also indirect impacts such as operational downtime and damage to reputation. Key trends include the exploitation of basic security vulnerabilities, the role of access brokers in facilitating attacks, and innovative evasion techniques used by ransomware groups. Ransomware is not going away, and organisations need to ensure they are prepared given the realistic probability of an attack.
Black Arrow works with organisations of all sizes and sectors to design and prepare for managing a cyber security incident such as ransomware; 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: [Forbes] [Infosecurity Magazine] [ITPro]
Financial Services Still Stubbornly Vulnerable to Cyber Disruption
A recent report found the UK financial system remains stubbornly vulnerable to disruption caused by cyber and IT-related incidents, and that regulated firms are not acting quickly enough to affect required changes designed to ensure firms’ systems are resilient against significant operational shocks.
According to the UK FCA’s records, the total number of cyber incidents reported between January 2018 to May 2023 was 4,192. In general terms, incidents are reportable where they are of a certain level of materiality; for instance, where there has been a “significant failure in the firm's systems or controls.
Source: [FTAdviser]
World’s Biggest Bank Hit by Ransomware; Workers Forced to Trade with USB Sticks
The US subsidiary of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) experienced a ransomware attack earlier this month, which reportedly forced the bank (ICBC Financial Services) to handle trades through messengers carrying USB thumb drives. This attack has sent shockwaves through financial services and banking and has prompted an increase in vigilance within the financial sector. The US Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) has urged financial services organisations to ensure their systems are protected and vulnerabilities are immediately resolved.
Sources: [SC Media] [Bit Defender]
NCSC Warns UK Over Significant Threat to Critical Infrastructure
The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has once again sounded its concern over the rising threat level to the nation's critical national infrastructure (CNI), with its annual review admitting the level of cyber security resilience in the UK’s most critical areas is not in a satisfactory place.
The NCSC stated that CNI in the UK faces an “enduring and significant” threat from state-aligned threat actors aggressively ramping up activity, and the UK must therefore work more closely with allies and industry in countering “epoch-defining” cyber challenges.
They noted a 64% increase on last year’s voluntary report figures; to note, this refers to organisations voluntarily self-reporting suffering a cyber incident.
For wider context, the Russian cyber attacks on Ukraine began a month and a half before the invasion. In 2022 Ukraine’s national incident response team dealt with 2,194 cyber incidents, followed by another 2,054 attacks in the first 10 months of this year and Ukraine’s defence chief warns that Russia will soon attack companies that provide services to Ukraine as part of their larger cyber efforts.
This comes as Russian hackers were linked to what is being described as the largest ever cyber attack on Danish critical infrastructure. The attack involved 22 companies associated with the operation of Denmark’s energy sector.
Sources: [Computer Weekly] [The Register] [The Record Media] [The Irish Times] [The Hacker News]
Ransomware Gang Files SEC Complaint Over Victim’s Undisclosed Breach
The ALPHV ransomware group, also known as BlackCat, has taken extortion to a new level by filing a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) complaint against one of their alleged victims, MeridianLink, for not complying with the four-day rule to disclose a cyber attack. The ransomware group said it compromised the digital lending solutions provider on November 7 and told the SEC the victim suffered a “significant breach and did not disclose it as required in Form 8-k”. While many ransomware and extortion gangs have threatened to report breaches and data theft to the SEC, this may be the first public confirmation that they have done so. Previously, ransomware actors exerted pressure on victims by contacting customers to let them know of the intrusion. Sometimes, they would also try to intimidate the victim by contacting them directly over the phone.
Sources: [Infosecurity Magazine] [Bleeping Computer]
Businesses are Losing Huge Chunks of Their Revenue to Cyber Attacks
A new report has found that businesses are paying a huge price for not properly securing their digital assets. The report found that businesses on average suffered 46 attacks (successful and unsuccessful) over the last year, resulting in the loss of 9% of their annual income. Cyber attacks are hurting their businesses in other ways such as network outages (34%), data loss (29%), web apps going offline (24%) and customer account compromises (22%).
Firms are reevaluating their cyber security approaches, with 76% planning increased spending despite concerns about current investment efficiency, as 35% feel they've overspent and only 55% of tools are fully utilised. A significant talent gap is also a challenge, with 30% attributing recent issues to a shortage of skilled personnel, and 33% expecting this trend to continue. Nearly half are seeking to address this by boosting recruitment budgets. Additionally, 51% of respondents are focusing on investing in Generative AI tools for cyber security in the next two years.
Source: [TechRadar]
Phishing Emails Are More Believable Than Ever. Here's What to Do About It.
Phishing is not new. This social engineering tactic has existed in the attack toolbox for decades, with threat actors posing as trusted contacts and then targeting unsuspecting victims through email or text messages to steal sensitive data. According to a recent report by Fortinet, phishing is the top tactic (56%) malicious actors use to infiltrate a network and launch ransomware successfully. With the turn of AI-driven content tools, cyber criminals are using them to make their phishing emails and texts appear more realistic than ever before.
It is crucial to focus on employee education to protect organisations. Customised training programs are essential. Security awareness training is fundamental in creating a cyber-aware culture, keeping employees informed about current security threats and meeting compliance requirements.
Black Arrow supports organisations of all sizes in designing and delivering proportionate user education and awareness programmes, including in-person and online training as well as simulated phishing campaigns. Our programmes help secure employee engagement and build a cyber security culture to protect the organisation.
Source: [CSO Online]
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
Governance, Risk and Compliance
29% of organisations cite data loss as top security breach result | Security Magazine
Financial services still 'stubbornly vulnerable' to cyber disruption - FTAdviser
Cyber Resilience Requires Maturity, Persistence & Board Engagement (darkreading.com)
Businesses are losing huge chunks of their revenue to cyber attacks | TechRadar
6% of companies have not had a digital risk cyber attack since 2020 | Security Magazine
Cyber threat intelligence: Getting on the front foot against adversaries (welivesecurity.com)
Should cyber security overconfidence be on your threat radar? | TechRadar
Insiders and outsiders: Why cyber security strategies need to look all ways - Digital Journal
Navigating the complex role of the CISO under SEC disclosure rules (betanews.com)
Every Business Owner Should Be Thinking About Improving Online Security | Inc.com
The Role of Cyber Wellness in Safeguarding Businesses - IT Security Guru
The cultural shift that’s needed to see greater ROI in cyber | Federal News Network
Business urged to increase cyber resilience as 2024 set to deliver new threats (emergingrisks.co.uk)
How to withstand the onslaught of cyber security threats - Help Net Security
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Financial services still 'stubbornly vulnerable' to cyber disruption - FTAdviser
Law practices and government agencies experience the largest ransomware spikes - Digital Journal
Orgs still losing logs, powerless to speedy ransomware • The Register
Ransomware gang files SEC complaint over victim’s undisclosed breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
46% of SMBs and enterprises have experienced a ransomware attack | Security Magazine
Many organisations don’t believe they are targets of ransomware gangs: OpenText | IT Business
LockBit ransomware exploits Citrix Bleed in attacks, 10K servers exposed (bleepingcomputer.com)
The Persistent Menace: Understanding And Combating Ransomware (forbes.com)
Phishing emails are more believable than ever. Here’s what to do about it. | CSO Online
Ransomware tracker: The latest figures [November 2023] (therecord.media)
Nuclear and Oil & Gas are Major Targets of Ransomware Groups in 2024 (securityaffairs.com)
Ransomware Gang LockBit Revises Its Tactics as Payouts Slip (bloomberglaw.com)
Fast-acting cyber gangs increasingly disabling telemetry logs | Computer Weekly
Uncovering the ransomware threat from global supply chains | ITPro
Business leaders need help in getting off the ransomware merry-go-round (thetimes.co.uk)
Hackers Could Exploit Google Workspace and Cloud Platform for Ransomware Attacks (thehackernews.com)
BlackCat affiliate seen using malvertising to spread ransomware | Computer Weekly
The Rise of Ransomware in Healthcare: What IT Leaders Need to Know (bleepingcomputer.com)
What Do You Do When You’re Hit by Russian Ransomware? - Bloomberg
Success eludes the International Counter Ransomware Initiative - Help Net Security
New Ransomware Group Emerges with Hive's Source Code and Infrastructure (thehackernews.com)
How to combat ransomware in the face of tight security staffing | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Ransomware attacks: Cyber criminals tout their ‘honesty’ in negotiating ransoms (afr.com)
New approaches to fighting ransomware are emerging | Mimecast
FBI 'Knows Identities' Of MGM, Caesars Hacking Gang | Silicon UK
FBI and CISA warn of opportunistic Rhysida ransomware attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
FBI pumping 'significant' resources into Scattered Spider • The Register
New BiBi-Windows Wiper Targets Windows Systems in Pro-Hamas Attacks (thehackernews.com)
It ain’t what you store, it’s the way you restore it. • The Register
Ransomware Victims
Ransomware gang files SEC complaint over victim’s undisclosed breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
How a cyber attack crippled the world's largest bank for hours | Euronews
ICBC -- China's biggest bank -- paid ransom: Lockbit hackers (nypost.com)
FBI: Royal ransomware asked 350 victims to pay $275 million (bleepingcomputer.com)
Rackspace Ransomware Costs Soar to Nearly $12M (darkreading.com)
Tri-City Medical Center cyber attack impacting patient care (10news.com)
Maine govt notifies 1.3 million people of MOVEit data breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
LockBit leaks Boeing files after failed ransom negotiations • The Register
'CitrixBleed' Linked to Ransomware Hit on China's State-Owned Bank (darkreading.com)
World's biggest bank hit by ransomware, forced to trade via USB stick (bitdefender.com)
Mortgage giant Mr. Cooper says customer data exposed in breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
British Library’s Halloween cyber scare was ransomware | Computer Weekly
Royal Mail ransomware recovery to cost at least $12 million • The Register
9 million patients had data stolen after US medical transcription firm hacked | TechCrunch
Clorox CISO flushes self after multimillion-dollar attack • The Register
Toyota confirms breach after Medusa ransomware threatens to leak data (bleepingcomputer.com)
Government doesn't know details behind cyber hack that shut down port operator DP World - ABC News
Lorenz ransomware gang hit Texas-based Cogdell Memorial Hospital (securityaffairs.com)
Dragos Says No Evidence of Breach After Ransomware Gang Claims Hack via Third Party - Security Week
Long Beach, California turns off IT systems after cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Stellantis production affected by cyber attack at auto supplier - The Columbian
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Phishing emails are more believable than ever. Here’s what to do about it. | CSO Online
From Scanning to Scamming: The Rise of QR Codes in Phishing - VMRay
Zero-Day Flaw in Zimbra Email Software Exploited by Four Hacker Groups (thehackernews.com)
APTs Swarm Zimbra Zero-Day to Steal Government Info Worldwide (darkreading.com)
FBI Warns: Five Weeks In, Gaza Email Scams Still Thriving (darkreading.com)
Police takes down BulletProftLink large-scale phishing provider (bleepingcomputer.com)
Artificial Intelligence
UK told of significant threat as state actors seek to use AI attack systems (emergingrisks.co.uk)
UK NCSC Warns Of Threat To Critical Infrastructure | Silicon UK
AI disinformation campaigns pose major threat to 2024 elections - Help Net Security
Microsoft blocks internal access to ChatGPT over security • The Register
This new ChatGPT-powered infostealer is targeting cloud platforms | TechRadar
The US and 30 Other Nations Agree to Set Guardrails for Military AI | WIRED
Mitigating Deepfake Threats in the Corporate World | MSSP Alert
A Closer Look at ChatGPT's Role in Automated Malware Creation (trendmicro.com)
Organisations Rush to Use Generative AI Tools Despite Risks (globenewswire.com)
How scammers' use of AI is affecting fintech investment | PaymentsSource | American Banker
Malware
This new ChatGPT-powered infostealer is targeting cloud platforms | TechRadar
Infostealers and the high value of stolen data - Help Net Security
Malware was downloaded over 600 million times in 2023 from the Google Play Store - PhoneArena
This fake Windows news site is spreading malware via hacked Google ads | TechRadar
A Closer Look at ChatGPT's Role in Automated Malware Creation (trendmicro.com)
Russian-Moldovan National Admits to Infecting 23,000 Devices with Botnet Malware (occrp.org)
Children’s tablet has malware and exposes kids’ data, researcher finds | TechCrunch
Ducktail Malware Targets the Fashion Industry (darkreading.com)
Mobile
Malware was downloaded over 600 million times in 2023 from the Google Play Store - PhoneArena
Temu Sued in Class Action for Risking User Data to Chinese Government Control | Law.com
Children’s tablet has malware and exposes kids’ data, researcher finds | TechCrunch
How to spot a fake data blocker that could hack your computer in seconds | ZDNET
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Misconfigured Docker API endpoints allow attackers to deliver DDoS botnet agent | CSO Online
How DDoS attacks are taking down even the largest tech companies (bleepingcomputer.com)
Internet of Things – IoT
How to protect your organisation from IoT malware | TechTarget
Defending Against Attacks on Vulnerable IoT Devices (darkreading.com)
Data Breaches/Leaks
Infostealers and the high value of stolen data - Help Net Security
29% of organisations cite data loss as top security breach result | Security Magazine
McLaren Health Care revealed that a data breach impacted 2.2 million people (securityaffairs.com)
Hacker Leaks 800,000 Scraped Chess.com User Records (hackread.com)
Hacker Leaks 35 Million Scraped LinkedIn User Records (hackread.com)
Fourth time unlucky: Okta hit by new cyber attack - Digital Journal
Maine govt notifies 1.3 million people of MOVEit data breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
The real cost of healthcare cyber security breaches - Help Net Security
Mortgage giant Mr. Cooper says customer data exposed in breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
Pharmacy provider Truepill data breach hits 2.3 million customers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Samsung warns some customers their data may have been stolen by hackers | TechRadar
Hackers Claim Major Data Breach at Smart WiFi Provider Plume (hackread.com)
Vietnam Post exposes 1.2TB of data, including email addresses (securityaffairs.com)
Morgan Stanley fined over computers with personal data (cnbc.com)
Samsung says hackers accessed customer data during year-long breach | TechCrunch
A Spy Agency Leaked People's Data Online—Then the Data Was Stolen | WIRED
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Russian admits building now-dismantled IPStorm proxy botnet • The Register
Australian Intelligence Report Identifies China as Major Backer of Cyber Crime (voanews.com)
'AlphaLock' Hackers Launch 'Pen-Testing Training' Group (darkreading.com)
Cyber crime Victims Can Turn to New Nonprofit, Intelligence for Good | MSSP Alert
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Ethereum hacked to steal millions from users across the world | TechRadar
Fraudsters make $50,000 a day by spoofing crypto researchers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Insiders and outsiders: Why cyber security strategies need to look all ways - Digital Journal
The Role of Cyber Wellness in Safeguarding Businesses - IT Security Guru
3 Ways Behavioural Economics Obstructs Cyber security (darkreading.com)
Insurance
Bridging the Gap: The Vital Role of Skilled Brokers in Cyber Insurance
Aon president warns insurers against ‘walking away’ from major risks (ft.com)
Cyber insurance market attractive despite ransomware uptick: JP Morgan - Reinsurance News
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Uncovering the ransomware threat from global supply chains | ITPro
How top CISOs are transforming third-party risk management | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Cloud/SaaS
This new ChatGPT-powered infostealer is targeting cloud platforms | TechRadar
Hackers Could Exploit Google Workspace and Cloud Platform for Ransomware Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Traditional cloud security isn't up to the task - Help Net Security
Transforming cyber security from reactive to proactive with attack path analysis - Help Net Security
Identity and Access Management
Encryption
The new frontier in online security: Quantum-safe cryptography (techxplore.com)
In a first, cryptographic keys protecting SSH connections stolen in new attack | Ars Technica
TETRA encryption algorithms entering the public domain • The Register
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
70% of passwords can be cracked in less than a second, shows NordPass study (business-standard.com)
Google Workspace security flaws could see hackers easily snaffle your password | TechRadar
Stop using weak passwords for streaming services - it's riskier than you think | ZDNET
The worst passwords of 2023 are also the most common, "123456" comes in first | TechSpot
Social Media
Meta and YouTube face criminal surveillance complaints • The Register
How Much Your Social Media Profile Data Is Worth on the Dark Web (makeuseof.com)
Malvertising
BlackCat affiliate seen using malvertising to spread ransomware | Computer Weekly
This fake Windows news site is spreading malware via hacked Google ads | TechRadar
Training, Education and Awareness
Phishing emails are more believable than ever. Here’s what to do about it. | CSO Online
The Role of Cyber Wellness in Safeguarding Businesses - IT Security Guru
3 Ways Behavioural Economics Obstructs Cyber security (darkreading.com)
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
EU Tightens Cyber security Requirements for Critical Infrastructure and Services (darkreading.com)
Meta and YouTube face criminal surveillance complaints • The Register
SEC Suit Ushers in New Era of Cyber Enforcement (darkreading.com)
Make Changes to be Ready for the New SEC Cyber security Disclosure Rule (darkreading.com)
Navigating the complex role of the CISO under SEC disclosure rules (betanews.com)
Clorox CISO flushes self after multimillion-dollar attack • The Register
Morgan Stanley fined over computers with personal data (cnbc.com)
White House is ‘working on version 2.0’ of cyber implementation plan | CyberScoop
Models, Frameworks and Standards
What You Need to Know About NIST CSF 2.0 | Accelerynt, Inc. - JDSupra
Modelling organisations' defensive mechanisms with MITRE D3FEND - Help Net Security
Backup and Recovery
Data Protection
Web browsing data collected in more detail than previously known, report finds (ft.com)
Online ad auction data harms national security – claim • The Register
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
The challenges and opportunities of working in cyber security | TechRadar
How US SEC legal actions put CISOs at risk and what to do about it | CSO Online
Is ‘overwork’ culture a problem for cyber security professionals? (siliconrepublic.com)
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Serbian pleads guilty to running ‘Monopoly’ dark web drug market (securityaffairs.com)
Russian admits building now-dismantled IPStorm proxy botnet • The Register
European Police Take Down $9m Vishing Gang - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Russian-Moldovan National Admits to Infecting 23,000 Devices with Botnet Malware (occrp.org)
Private Investigator Aviram Azar Gets Almost 7 Years for Hedge Fund Hacking Ring - Bloomberg
Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare, Cyber Espionage and Geopolitical Activity
Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage
NCSC Annual Review on 'state-aligned actors' | Professional Security
Zero-Days in Edge Devices Become China's Cyber Warfare Tactic of Choice (darkreading.com)
Cyber espionage operation on embassies linked to Russia’s Cozy Bear hackers (therecord.media)
New NATO cyber forum to support collective response to cyber attacks – EURACTIV.com
Nation State Actors
China
China's Lending Giant Paid Ransom To Russia-Linked Group After It Got Hacked Last Week - Benzinga
ICBC/ransomware: China’s cyber security industry moves out of the shadows
Cyber attack shines light on role of China’s largest lender in US Treasury market (ft.com)
Australian Intelligence Report Identifies China as Major Backer of Cyber Crime (voanews.com)
Zero-Days in Edge Devices Become China's Cyber Warfare Tactic of Choice (darkreading.com)
Labour warns against watering down of UK’s takeover screening powers
Russia
China's Lending Giant Paid Ransom To Russia-Linked Group After It Got Hacked Last Week - Benzinga
Cyber attack shines light on role of China’s largest lender in US Treasury market (ft.com)
Danish Energy Attacks Portend Targeting More Critical Infrastructure (darkreading.com)
Could Russia’s Ukraine Cyber attacks Clue Global Threat? | MSSP Alert
EU Formalizes Cyber security Support For Ukraine - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Meet the Unique New "Hacking" Group: AlphaLock (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyber espionage operation on embassies linked to Russia’s Cozy Bear hackers (therecord.media)
What Do You Do When You’re Hit by Russian Ransomware? - Bloomberg
Ukraine at D+670: GRU may be expanding its targeting. (thecyberwire.com)
Iran
North Korea
Microsoft Warns of Fake Skills Assessment Portals Targeting IT Job Seekers (thehackernews.com)
Novel social engineering attack infrastructure established by BlueNoroff | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Other Nation State Actors, Hacktivism, Extremism, Terrorism and Other Geopolitical Threat Intelligence
Vulnerabilities
'CitrixBleed' Linked to Ransomware Hit on China's State-Owned Bank (darkreading.com)
LockBit ransomware exploits Citrix Bleed in attacks, 10K servers exposed (bleepingcomputer.com)
Zero-Day Flaw in Zimbra Email Software Exploited by Four Hacker Groups (thehackernews.com)
APTs Swarm Zimbra Zero-Day to Steal Government Info Worldwide (darkreading.com)
CISA warns of actively exploited Juniper pre-auth RCE exploit chain (bleepingcomputer.com)
WP Fastest Cache plugin bug exposes 600K WordPress sites to attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft November 2023 Patch Tuesday fixes 5 zero-days, 58 flaws (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft fixes critical Azure CLI flaw that leaked credentials in logs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Adobe Releases Security Updates for Multiple Products | CISA
ICS Patch Tuesday: 90 Vulnerabilities Addressed by Siemens and Schneider Electric - Security Week
Chipmaker Patch Tuesday: Intel, AMD Address Over 130 Vulnerabilities - Security Week
Fortinet Releases Security Updates for FortiClient and FortiGate | CISA
Urgent: VMware Warns of Unpatched Critical Cloud Director Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
New PoC Exploit for Apache ActiveMQ Flaw Could Let Attackers Fly Under the Radar (thehackernews.com)
SAP Patches Critical Vulnerability in Business One Product - Security Week
Critical flaw fixed in SAP Business One product (securityaffairs.com)
Citrix Releases Security Updates for Citrix Hypervisor | CISA
Fortinet warns of critical command injection bug in FortiSIEM (bleepingcomputer.com)
An email vulnerability let hackers steal data from governments around the world (engadget.com)
Experts Uncover DarkCasino: New Emerging APT Threat Exploiting WinRAR Flaw (thehackernews.com)
Some AMD EPYC server CPUs have a serious security flaw, so patch now | TechRadr
Microsoft Extends Windows Server 2012 ESUs Until 2026 (petri.com)
Tools and Controls
Building resilience to shield your digital transformation from cyber threats - Help Net Security
Against the Clock: Cyber Incident Response Plan (trendmicro.com)
Fast-acting cyber gangs increasingly disabling telemetry logs | Computer Weekly
Cyber threat intelligence: Getting on the front foot against adversaries (welivesecurity.com)
The New 80/20 Rule for SecOps: Customize Where it Matters, Automate the Rest (thehackernews.com)
Phishing emails are more believable than ever. Here’s what to do about it. | CSO Online
Web Application Attacks | Types of Web Application Attacks | Mimecast
Traditional cloud security isn't up to the task - Help Net Security
National security at risk from web browsing data collection, report finds (ft.com)Zero-Days in Edge Devices Become China's Cyber Warfare Tactic of Choice (darkreading.com)
The cultural shift that’s needed to see greater ROI in cyber | Federal News Network
NCSC backs use of security.txt for cyber resilience | UKAuthority
New approaches to fighting ransomware are emerging | Mimecast
Telemetry gaps leave networks vulnerable as attackers move faster - Help Net Security
The new imperative in API security strategy - Help Net Security
How to Automate the Hardest Parts of Employee Offboarding (thehackernews.com)
Steps CISOs Should Take Before, During & After a Cyber attack (darkreading.com)
Threat Intel: To Share or Not to Share is Not the Question - Security Week
As perimeter defences fall, the identify-first approach steps into the breach | CSO Online
The Role of Cyber Wellness in Safeguarding Businesses - IT Security Guru
OODA Loop - A Model for Cyber security Threat Sharing: Embracing the USA PATRIOT Act & FinCEN
How to speak the board's language with cyber security ROI so it makes sense | Fierce Electronics
Three Ways Generative AI Can Bolster Cyber security | NVIDIA Blogs
Hackers breach healthcare orgs via ScreenConnect remote access (bleepingcomputer.com)
Kubernetes adoption creates new cyber security challenges - Help Net Security
Aon president warns insurers against ‘walking away’ from major risks (ft.com)
CISOs vs. developers: A battle over security priorities - Help Net Security
Hundreds of websites cloned to run ads for Chinese gambling • The Register
AI helps leaders optimize costs and mitigate risks - Help Net Security
It ain’t what you store, it’s the way you restore it. • The Register
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
'Alarming': big gaps in organisations' cyber security | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT
National security at risk from web browsing data collection, report finds (ft.com)
CISOs vs. developers: A battle over security priorities - Help Net Security
Collaborative strategies are key to enhanced ICS security - Help Net Security
Web Application Attacks | Types of Web Application Attacks | Mimecast
Telemetry gaps leave networks vulnerable as attackers move faster - Help Net Security
Cyber crime Victims Can Turn to New Nonprofit, Intelligence for Good | MSSP Alert
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
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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 01 September 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 01 September 2023:
-66 Percent of Businesses Don't Understand Their Cyber Risks
-Massive Supplier Cyber Breach Puts London’s Metropolitan Police on Red Alert After Officer and Staff Details Hacked
-Pay our Ransom Instead of a GDPR Fine, Cyber Crime Gang Tells Targets, as Attacks Against Small Businesses Ramp Up
-Survey Finds In-house Counsel Cyber Anxiety Skyrocketing
-58% of Malicious Emails Contained Spoofed Content
-Cyber Attacks Remain a Top Concern for Organisations Across All Industries
-BYOD Security Gap: Survey Finds 49% of European Firms Unprotected
-13% of Employees Admit to Falling for Phishing Attacks Working at Home, 9% Would Wait to Report After the Weekend
-Numbers Don't Lie: Exposing the Harsh Truths of Cyber Attacks in New Report
-Kroll’s Breach Highlights SIM-Swapping Risk
-Reducing The Risk of AI, What Can You Do?
-Debunking Popular Cyber Security Myths
-3 Malware Loaders Responsible for 80% of Intrusions
-MOVEit Hack Shows Attackers Still Use Old Tricks
-Barracuda Thought it Drove 0-day Hackers out of Customers’ Networks. It was Wrong
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
66 Percent of Businesses Don't Understand Their Cyber Risks
A survey has found that 67% of organisations have experienced a breach requiring attention within the last two years, despite having traditional security measures in place. Worryingly, 66% self-reported having limited visibility and insight into their cyber risk profiles.
83% of organisations agreed that a comprehensive cyber risk reduction strategy would yield a reduction in the likelihood of a significant cyber incident occurring, yet a number of organisations are finding it difficult to implement this and as a result are looking for outside assistance too. The report found that 93 percent of organisations plan to offload specific segments of cyber risk reduction workstreams or projects to security service providers within the next two years.
Source: [Beta News]
Massive Supplier Cyber Breach Puts London’s Metropolitan Police on Red Alert After Officer and Staff Details Hacked
All 47,000 personnel working for the Met Police were warned of the risk their photos, names and ranks having been stolen when cyber crooks penetrated the IT systems of a contractor printing warrant cards and staff passes. The supplier had access to names, ranks, photos, vetting levels and pay numbers of officers and staff, but did not hold information such as addresses, phone numbers or financial details.
The attack shows the importance of understanding the supply chain, and what access your supplier has access to. Without knowing who has your data, and what data, you will be left clueless if a breach on a supplier occurs.
Sources [Data Breaches] [UKAuthority]
Pay our Ransom Instead of a GDPR Fine, Cyber Crime Gang Tells Targets, as Attacks Against Small Businesses Ramp Up
Ransomware actors are always evolving their tactics, with gangs now telling victims if they don’t pay, then they will face fines under data protection laws. Additionally, small businesses are on the radar, partially due to them being easier targets for actors; some gangs have shifted from asking for millions from a large organisation, to requesting small ransoms from multiple small businesses.
As a result in both the number and sophistication of ransomware attacks, 80% of organisations expect their spending to increase. Not every organisation has an unlimited budget and so it is important that organisations are able to prioritise and allocate their budget effectively, to give them the most protection that their budget allows, especially small to medium-sized businesses.
Sources [Dark Reading] [The Record] [Security Magazine]
Survey Finds In-house Counsel Cyber Anxiety Skyrocketing
In a recent report, only 25% of legal professionals said they felt fully prepared to deal with a cyber attack, with 78% ranking the task of shielding their organisation from cyber attacks as the greatest regulatory concern over the next 12 months; previously, this figure was only 30% in 2021.
There has been a growing number of attacks, due to the sensitive data that is held and the number of attacks will continue to rise. With regulatory concerns adding to this, in-house counsel should be looking to have their concerns heard and drive the organisation to bolster their defences, and this may include outsourcing expert advice to make sure it is done correctly.
Source: [Law.com]
58% of Malicious Emails Contained Spoofed Content
According to a recent report, 58% of malicious emails contained spoof content and spam emails had increased by 30% from Q1 to Q2 2023. The report identified a surge in the number of uses of QR codes as a primary attack method, showing that attack methods are evolving, and in some cases, choosing not to use traditional methods.
The report reinforces the need for constant user education training, to reduce the risk of an employee falling for a phishing email. With this training, new evolving techniques such as that with QR codes, should also be addressed.
Source: [Security Magazine]
Cyber Attacks Remain a Top Concern for Organisations Across All Industries
Cyber attacks remain a top threat to organisations’ ability to do business across all industries. When asked in a recent report, 18% of respondents reported that cyber attacks threatened or disrupted their business.
With cyber attacks being a huge concern, many organisations have an incident response plan in place; yet despite this, nearly one quarter (23%) of companies surveyed have either never conducted tests or are unsure if their teams have tested. Cyber incidents are a matter of when, not if, and a strong incident response plan is always needed and can prevent a bad situation from being made worse by doing the wrong things in the immediate aftermath of an attack.
Source: [Business Wire]
BYOD Security Gap: Survey Finds 49% of European Firms Unprotected
A recent survey found that a concerning 49% of European businesses are operating without having a formal bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy, highlighting a lack of visibility and control over such devices. The report found that organisations are concerned about compliance-based issues, with 43% noting increased worries.
The benefits of BYOD are clear, allowing organisations to save money and eliminate the need for multiple devices. But without a formal BYOD policy, organisations are risking having employees bring in devices that are effectively invisible to IT. This means that the vulnerabilities that come with it, and the risks it can bring, also go unnoticed. To mitigate the risk, a formalised BYOD policy is required.
Source: [Infosecurity Magazine]
13% of Employees Admit to Falling for Phishing Attacks Working at Home, 9% Would Wait to Report After the Weekend
In a recent report, it was found that 13% of employees admitted they had fallen for a phishing attack whilst working from home. Rather worryingly, 21% said they would continue working business as usual in the event of falling victim to a phishing attack whilst working remotely on a Friday, with 9% indicating they’d wait until after the weekend to report it, effectively, giving the attacker a 48 hour period in which they go unnoticed, if the employee even remembers to report it on the Monday.
It is important that users are educated, both on spotting phishing attacks and the reporting process, so that organisations can be best protected. By providing regular and effective user training, employees will be at less risk of falling victim to a phishing attack, even from home. Additionally, by understanding the reporting process and why there is a need to report as soon as possible, organisations will shorten their detection time.
Source: [Security Magazine]
Numbers Don't Lie: Exposing the Harsh Truths of Cyber Attacks in New Report
In their most recent quarterly report, BlackBerry focused on a 90-day window, identifying over 1.5 million malware-based attacks, over 200,000 unique attacks, 17,000 attacks per day and 12 per minute to name a few. The report found that financial institutions were amongst the most targeted.
Source: [The Hacker News]
Kroll’s Breach Highlights SIM-Swapping Risk
A recent supply chain breach at Kroll, the risk and financial advisory firm, affected downstream customers and exposed personal information on hundreds of claimants in bankruptcy proceedings. The breach occurred when a threat actor had transferred an employee’s phone number to a device in the attackers possession, which was then subsequently used to access sensitive information.
In this attack, the actor had convinced T-Mobile to port the employee’s number over, allowing the actor to access files containing bankruptcy details. A mitigation recommended for this is to ask your network provider if they offer port freeze or number lock, to protect it from unauthorised transfer.
Source [Dark Reading]
Reducing The Risk of AI, What Can You Do?
Threat actors' use of generative AI has fuelled a significant rise in attacks worldwide during the last 12 months according to a recent report. Yet despite this, AI is still seen as a positive thing for organisations, with the power of generative AI quickly realised.
Certainly, AI can be used in the organisation to increase efficiency and automate tasks, but it must be used with vigilance. Organisations implementing AI should have governance over the usage of AI to eliminate the chance of data leaking. This governance may include policies, procedures and approved AI software.
Sources: [CSO Online] [UKTech News]
Debunking Popular Cyber Security Myths
At a time when cyber security is a constant feature in the news and our daily lives, it is important to debunk a few myths surrounding it. One of the biggest, is the assumption that cyber defence is all about the technical controls; in fact, 89% of cyber attacks involved social engineering. The prevalence of social engineering further shows that strong passwords, firewalls and antivirus are not enough; what’s the use in having a password that takes years to crack if you hand it over to someone?
When we think cyber security, we often think of external threat actors, but insider risk is a real threat: whether by malicious actions, negligence or misunderstanding, those inside your organisation can be a real risk to your organisation.
So what’s the take home? Cyber is more than just technology, and it is not just an outside attacker. Organisations’ cyber efforts should focus on more than just the technical requirements; by having things such as user education training, organisations can mitigate their cyber risk.
Sources: [Forbes] [Trend Micro]
3 Malware Loaders Responsible for 80% of Intrusions
Three malware loaders, QBot, SocGholish, and Raspberry Robin, are responsible for 80 percent of observed attacks on computers and networks so far this year. The malware are all distributed differently; Qbot is typically deployed through a phishing email, SocGholish is downloaded without user interaction, and Raspberry Robin is through USB devices.
Sources: [The Register] [Infosecurity Magazine]
MOVEit Hack Shows Attackers Still Use Old Tricks
SQL injection has been around for a quarter of a century, yet it still features amongst the top 10 list of security vulnerabilities. In fact, SQL injection was the method of attack for the infamous MOVEit hacks, which has impacted over 700 organisations, with the number still growing.
The MOVEit attack highlights just how easily old, over-looked vulnerabilities can be used to target an organisation. Consider your organisation now: are there any legacy systems or software in place?
Source: [Dark Reading]
Barracuda Thought it Drove 0-day Hackers out of Customers’ Networks. It was Wrong.
In late May, security vendor Barracuda had released a patch for their email security gateway (ESG), which was being actively exploited. Having already accounted for this, the threat actors utilised a new attack, which meant infected devices would reinfect themselves, effectively negating Barracuda’s patch. Unfortunately, this meant that for a while, Barracuda thought it was in the clear, when it was still under attack.
Upon realising this, Barracuda’s security advisory changed from recommending a patch to requiring an immediate replacement of compromised ESG appliances, regardless of the patch level. This shows the need for organisations to keep up to date with the latest threat intelligence, as missing the second update could mean infected devices are still in the wild, with organisations under the false perception that they were safe.
Source: [Ars Technica]
Governance, Risk and Compliance
66 percent of businesses don't understand their cyber risks (betanews.com)
Survey of In-House Counsel Finds Cyber Anxiety Skyrocketing | Law.com
Numbers Don't Lie: Exposing the Harsh Truths of Cyber Attacks in New Report (thehackernews.com)
Cyber Security Enters Conversation About Executive Pay - WSJ
Cyber defence makes up majority of cyber security budgets | Security Magazine
How international cyber security frameworks can help CISOs | CSO Online
Balancing risk and compliance: implications of the SEC’s new cyber security regulations | CSO Online
SEC cyber attack regulations prompt 10 questions for CISOs | TechTarget
Should Senior IT Professionals Be Accountable for Professional Decisions? (darkreading.com)
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
80% of organisations expect ransomware spending to increase | Security Magazine
Akira Ransomware gang targets Cisco ASA without Multi-Factor Auth (securityaffairs.com)
Citrix NetScaler Alert: Ransomware Hackers Exploiting Critical Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
MOVEit Was a SQL Injection Accident Waiting to Happen (darkreading.com)
Nearly 1,000 Organisations, 60 Million Individuals Impacted by MOVEit Hack - SecurityWeek
Ransomware With an Identity Crisis Targets Small Businesses, Individuals (darkreading.com)
Pay our ransom instead of a GDPR fine, cyber crime gang tells its targets (therecord.media)
Ransomware Attack Cleanup Costs: $11M So Far for Rackspace (govinfosecurity.com)
LogicMonitor customers who didn’t change default passwords were hit by hackers (databreaches.net)
LockBit 3.0 Ransomware Builder Leak Gives Rise to Hundreds of New Variants (thehackernews.com)
Deconstructing ransomware, cyber criminals and their modus operandi | TechRadar
Ransomware Evolution: Smaller Actors, Bigger Impact (govinfosecurity.com)
Ransomware hackers dwell time drops to 5 days, RDP still widely used (bleepingcomputer.com)
Financial Firms Breached in MOVEit Cyber Attacks Now Face Lawsuits (darkreading.com)
Should Companies Pay After Ransomware Attacks? Is It Illegal? (techtarget.com)
How Ransomware Groups Respond to External Pressure (inforisktoday.com)
Decoding the DNA of Ransomware Attacks: Unveiling the Anatomy Behind the Threat (trellix.com)
Rackspace Faces Massive Cleanup Costs After Ransomware Attack (darkreading.com)
8 Types of Ransomware: Examples of Past and Current Attacks (techtarget.com)
Black Basta Besting Your Network? (securityintelligence.com)
Ransomware Victims
Financial Firms Breached in MOVEit Cyber Attacks Now Face Lawsuits (darkreading.com)
Ransomware Attack Cleanup Costs: $11M So Far for Rackspace (govinfosecurity.com)
St Helens Council still dealing with suspected cyber-attack - BBC News
Rhysida claims ransomware attack on Prospect Medical, threatens to sell data (bleepingcomputer.com)
University of Michigan shuts down network after cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Social Security Numbers leaked in ransomware attack on Ohio History Connection (malwarebytes.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Phishing as a service continues to plague business users - SiliconANGLE
58% of malicious emails contained spoof content | Security Magazine
13% of employees admit to falling for phishing attacks working at home | Security Magazine
New phishing attacks target FTX users following Kroll data breach – Cryptopolitan
Phishing-as-a-Service Gets Smarter: Microsoft Sounds Alarm on AiTM Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Spain warns of LockBit Locker ransomware phishing attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
US govt email servers hacked in Barracuda zero-day attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Rising Phishing Scams Impact Small Businesses Relying on Social Media (smallbiztrends.com)
Can You Spot Phishing Emails? Test Your Awareness With These Quizzes (makeuseof.com)
How to Spot Phishing Emails & Tips to Avoid Them | Proofpoint US
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Kroll Suffers Data Breach: Employee Falls Victim to SIM Swapping Attack (thehackernews.com)
New phishing attacks target FTX users following Kroll data breach – Cryptopolitan
3 Cryptocurrency Firms Suffer Data Breach After Kroll SIM Swapping Attack - SecurityWeek
Artificial Intelligence
Cyber security agency gives AI chatbot warning (uktech.news)
Why generative AI is a double-edged sword for the cyber security sector | VentureBeat
IT leaders alarmed by generative AI's SaaS security implications - Help Net Security
Is Bias in AI Algorithms a Threat to Cloud Security? (darkreading.com)
Shifting Cyber Security: The Impact and Implications of LLMs (inforisktoday.com)
Vendors Training AI With Customer Data is an Enterprise Risk (darkreading.com)
Advanced Malware: Why AI Can't Help All Hackers (inforisktoday.com)
Hacking the future: Notes from DEF CON’s Generative Red Team Challenge | CSO Online
How to minimize data risk for generative AI and LLMs in the enterprise | VentureBeat
Google launches tool to identify AI-generated images - Help Net Security
2FA/MFA
AITM/MITM
Malware
These 3 loaders were behind 80% of intrusions this year • The Register
20+ Malware Statistics You Need to Know in 2023 (techreport.com)
'Whiffy Recon' Malware Transmits Device Location Every 60 Seconds (darkreading.com)
Top 3 Malware Threatening Businesses in Q2 2023 (cybersecuritynews.com)
Malware Unleashed: Public Sector Hit in Sudden Surge, Reveals New Research (darkreading.com)
Japan's JPCERT warns of new 'MalDoc in PDF' attack technique (securityaffairs.com)
Advanced Malware: Why AI Can't Help All Hackers (inforisktoday.com)
DarkGate Malware Activity Spikes as Developer Rents Out Malware to Affiliates (thehackernews.com)
DreamBus malware exploits RocketMQ flaw to infect servers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft is using malware-like pop-ups in Windows 11 to get people to ditch Google - The Verge
APT Attacks From 'Earth Estries' Hit Gov't, Tech With Custom Malware (darkreading.com)
SapphireStealer Malware: A Gateway to Espionage and Ransomware Operations (thehackernews.com)
Mobile
Kroll's Crypto Breach Highlights SIM-Swapping Risk (darkreading.com)
Is Mobile Hacking Still a Big Threat in 2023? (makeuseof.com)
New Android MMRat malware uses Protobuf protocol to steal your data (bleepingcomputer.com)
What Are Overlay Attacks? How Do You Protect Against Them? (makeuseof.com)
New Android Banking Trojan Targets Southeast Asia Region (inforisktoday.com)
China-Linked BadBazaar Android Spyware Targeting Signal and Telegram Users (thehackernews.com)
Five Eyes Report: New Russian Malware Targeting Ukrainian Military Android Devices - Security Week
Chinese APT Uses Fake Messenger Apps to Spy on Android Users (inforisktoday.com)
8 Ways To Boost Your Android Phone's Security (slashgear.com)
Botnets
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
BYOD
Internet of Things – IoT
Data Breaches/Leaks
Metropolitan Police reports supplier cyber breach | UKAuthority
Kroll Suffers Data Breach: Employee Falls Victim to SIM Swapping Attack (thehackernews.com)
American Express admits APAC employees' data leak, blames a third-party payroll service
Leaseweb is restoring ‘critical’ systems after security breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
French employment agency Pôle emploi data breach impacted 10M peopleSecurity Affairs
Mom’s Meals discloses data breach impacting 1.2 million people (bleepingcomputer.com)
3 Cryptocurrency Firms Suffer Data Breach After Kroll SIM Swapping Attack - Security Week
Paramount discloses data breach following security incident (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cost of a data breach 2023: Financial industry impacts (securityintelligence.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Moscow helping cyber criminals operate with 'near impunity': report | The Province
Hacking gangs launch cyber crime syndicate the Five Families (techmonitor.ai)
Microsoft weighs in on Russian-led UN cyber crime treaty • The Register
‘Billion Dollar Heist’: The Wild Story That Should Have Us All Petrified (thedailybeast.com)
Microsoft: UN treaty creates 'ideal conditions' for cyber crime (telecomstechnews.com)
Cyber Criminals use research contests to create new attack methods - Help Net Security
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Impersonation Attacks
Deepfakes
Insurance
Insurers End Tussle Over Ransomware Attack Coverage - Law360 UK
Delinea Research Reveals a Cyber Insurance Gap (darkreading.com)
Understand the fine print of your cyber insurance policies - Help Net Security
Supply Chain and Third Parties
American Express admits APAC employees' data leak, blames a third-party payroll service
Met should thoroughly investigate cyber security practices, say experts | Evening Standard
Cloud/SaaS
CrowdStrike CTO: 'Rookie mistakes' are hurting cloud security | TechTarget
Better SaaS Security Goes Beyond Procurement (darkreading.com)
Considerations for Reducing Risk When Migrating to the Cloud (darkreading.com)
Hybrid/Remote Working
Identity and Access Management
Encryption
Quantum threats loom in Gartner's 2023 Hype Cycle for data security | VentureBeat
How Quantum Computing Will Impact Cyber Security - Security Week
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Four common password mistakes hackers love to exploit (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers Launch Brute-Force Attack Cisco ASA SSL VPNs (cybersecuritynews.com)
LogicMonitor customers who didn’t change default passwords were hit by hackers (databreaches.net)
Biometrics
Police Scotland digital strategy seeks real-time biometrics within 5 years | Biometric Update
Elon Musk's X to collect biometric data, work and school history - The Japan Times
Home Office and MoD seeking new facial-recognition tech | Computer Weekly
Social Media
ICO calls social media firms to protect people's data from scraping (bleepingcomputer.com)
EU safety laws start to bite for TikTok, Instagram and others - BBC News
Rising Phishing Scams Impact Small Businesses Relying on Social Media (smallbiztrends.com)
X Plans to Collect Biometric Data, Job and School History (1) (bloomberglaw.com)
Anonymous Sudan hacks X to put pressure on Elon Musk over Starlink - BBC News
Training, Education and Awareness
Can You Spot Phishing Emails? Test Your Awareness With These Quizzes (makeuseof.com)
Cyber awareness education is a change-management initiative | CSO Online
Cyber Bullying, Cyber Stalking and Sextortion
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Pay our ransom instead of a GDPR fine, cyber crime gang tells its targets (therecord.media)
New law could turn UK into a hacker's playground | Computerworld
Changes to UK Surveillance Regime May Violate International Law (justsecurity.org)
EU safety laws start to bite for TikTok, Instagram and others - BBC News
Draft Cyber Security Audit and Risk Assessment Regulations Issued by CPPA | Mintz - JDSupra
Balancing risk and compliance: implications of the SEC’s new cyber security regulations | CSO Online
Legal Liability for Insecure Software Might Work, but It's Dangerous (darkreading.com)
Models, Frameworks and Standards
What are the Cyber Security Standards of Basel III? | UpGuard
Best practices for MITRE ATT&CK(R) mapping. (thecyberwire.com)
Is the new OWASP API Top 10 helpful to defenders? - Help Net Security
How international cyber security frameworks can help CISOs | CSO Online
Data Protection
ICO calls social media firms to protect people's data from scraping (bleepingcomputer.com)
Are you properly protecting your employees' personal information? | Burr & Forman - JDSupra
Data Protection: One of These Incidents Is Not Like the Other | Troutman Pepper - JDSupra
Draft Cyber Security Audit and Risk Assessment Regulations Issued by CPPA | Mintz - JDSupra
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Addressing Cyber Security's Talent Shortage & Its Impact on CISOs (darkreading.com)
Unfilled Cyber Security Positions Threaten the Future of Businesses Everywhere | Inc.com
How the Talent Shortage Impacts Cyber Security Leadership (securityintelligence.com)
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Police Scotland digital strategy seeks real-time biometrics within 5 years | Biometric Update
Expert shares stark safety warning over Twitter updates | Tech News | Metro News
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage
Russia
'Five Eyes' nations release technical details of Sandworm malware 'Infamous Chisel' | CyberScoop
New York Times Spoofed to Hide Russian Disinformation Campaign (darkreading.com)
NCSC, SBU reveal overt Russian cyber campaign as cyber war continues to evolve | ITPro
Russian 'hybrid' war threatens NATO's eastern flank, Poles warn - Washington Times
Microsoft weighs in on Russian-led UN cyber crime treaty • The Register
Five Eyes Report: New Russian Malware Targeting Ukrainian Military Android Devices - Security Week
Anonymous Sudan hacks X to put pressure on Elon Musk over Starlink - BBC News
China
Microsoft signing keys keep getting hijacked, to the delight of Chinese threat actors | Ars Technica
China-Based APT Flies Under Radar in Espionage Attacks | Decipher (duo.com)
China-Linked Flax Typhoon Cyber Espionage Targets Taiwan's Key Sectors (thehackernews.com)
Barracuda flaw: FBI warns customers over ineffective patch | ITPro
Almost a third of compromised Barracuda ESGs were govt owned • The Register
James Cleverly's China cyber security talks unlikely to spur change (techmonitor.ai)
Japan’s cyber security agency suffers months-long breach | Financial Times (ft.com)
China-Linked BadBazaar Android Spyware Targeting Signal and Telegram Users (thehackernews.com)
APT Attacks From 'Earth Estries' Hit Gov't, Tech With Custom Malware (darkreading.com)
Chinese APT Uses Fake Messenger Apps to Spy on Android Users (inforisktoday.com)
North Korea
North Korea’s Lazarus Group hits organisations with two new RATs | CSO Online
Lazarus Group Debuts Tiny Trojan for Espionage Attacks (databreachtoday.co.uk)
Cyber Scams Keep North Korean Missiles Flying – Analysis – Eurasia Review
North Korea’s Lazarus hackers behind recent crypto heists: FBI (therecord.media)
North Korean hackers behind malicious VMConnect PyPI campaign (bleepingcomputer.com)
Vulnerability Management
New law could turn UK into a hacker's playground | Computerworld
40% of Log4j Downloads Still Vulnerable (securityintelligence.com)
How did Clop get its hands on the MOVEit zero day? (therecord.media)
Vulnerabilities
Cisco fixes 3 high-severity DoS flaws in NX-OS and FXOS software (securityaffairs.com)
Citrix NetScaler Alert: Ransomware Hackers Exploiting Critical Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
Microsoft Teams attack exposes collab platform security gaps | TechTarget
Barracuda flaw: FBI warns customers over ineffective patch | ITPro
Barracuda thought it drove 0-day hackers out of customers’ networks. It was wrong. | Ars Technica
CISA Adds Two Known Exploited Vulnerabilities to Catalog | CISA
Exploit released for Juniper firewall bugs allowing RCE attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Google Chrome 116's second point update addresses a security issue - gHacks Tech News
Forminator WordPress Plugin Vulnerability Affects Up To 400,000+ Websites (searchenginejournal.com)
Threat actors started exploiting Juniper flaws shortly after PoC release (securityaffairs.com)
Hackers Launch Brute-Force Attack Cisco ASA SSL VPNs (cybersecuritynews.com)
Splunk Patches High-Severity Flaws in Enterprise, IT Service Intelligence - Security Week
This WordPress plugin with 5 million users could have a serious security flaw | TechRadar
Cyber Attackers Swarm OpenFire Cloud Servers With Takeover Barrage (darkreading.com)
Tools and Controls
Why generative AI is a double-edged sword for the cyber security sector | VentureBeat
Cyber defence makes up majority of cyber security budgets | Security Magazine
Ransomware hackers dwell time drops to 5 days, RDP still widely used (bleepingcomputer.com)
Think twice before accepting notifications on Chrome: threats on the rise | Cybernews
Considerations for Reducing Risk When Migrating to the Cloud (darkreading.com)
Enterprise dark web monitoring: Why it's worth the investment | TechTarget
Phishing Simulations Boost Cyber Awareness and Defences | Mimecast
Is the new OWASP API Top 10 helpful to defenders? - Help Net Security
Here's What Your Breach Response Plan Might Be Missing (darkreading.com)
Why Traditional Firewalls Are Not Adequate for Your Network Security (makeuseof.com)
Combining EPP and EDR tools can boost your endpoint security (securityintelligence.com)
Automated Threat Hunting: AI Helps Spot Shady Network Activity (readwrite.com)
Detecting the Undetected: The Risk to Your Info (securityintelligence.com)
National Grid plots ‘honeypots’ to catch hackers as cyber attacks ramp up (telegraph.co.uk)
Other News
Cyber attacks reveal threat to democracy (ukdefencejournal.org.uk)
Hackers Use $30 Gear To Bring Poland's Railways To A Grinding Halt
When lives rely on equipment, cyber security is essential | Healthcare IT News
Think twice before accepting notifications on Chrome: threats on the rise | Cybernews
Rising cyber incidents challenge healthcare organisations - Help Net Security
Updated Best Practice Playbook for Healthcare Cyber Threats (inforisktoday.com)
Navigating Legacy Infrastructure: A CISO's Actionable Strategy for Success (thehackernews.com)
Legal Liability for Insecure Software Might Work, but It's Dangerous (darkreading.com)
69% of educational organisations suffered cyber attack in the past year - Netwrix survey
Out-Of-Office: How To Ensure Cyber Security During Vulnerable Periods (forbes.com)
Manufacturing firms hit by the worst encryption rate in three years (manufacturing-today.com)
Cyber Attacks Targeting E-commerce Applications (thehackernews.com)
Industrial networks need better security as attacks gain scale | ZDNET
National Grid plots ‘honeypots’ to catch hackers as cyber attacks ramp up (telegraph.co.uk)
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
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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 02 June 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 02 June 2023:
-How to Keep Cyber Attacks from Tanking Your Balance Sheet
-Company Size Doesn’t Matter When It Comes to Cyber Attacks
-‘Exceptional’ Cyber Attacks Now Normal, says BT Security Chief
-How State-Sponsored/Advanced Persistent Threat Groups (APTs) Target SMBs
-Phishing Campaigns Thrive as Evasive Tactics Outsmart Conventional Detection
-Don't be Polite When you Get a Text from a Wrong Number
-Capita Cyber Attack: 90 Downstream Organisations Reported Data Breaches
-Travel-Themed Phishing, BEC Campaigns Get Smarter as Summer Season Arrives
-Organisations Spend 100 Hours Battling Post-Delivery Email Threats
-Ransomware Gangs Adopting Business-like Practices to Boost Profits
-The Sobering Truth About Ransomware—For The 80% Who Paid Up
-The Great CISO Resignation: Why Security Leaders are Quitting in Droves
-When is it Time for a Cyber Hygiene Audit?
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
How to Keep Cyber Attacks from Tanking Your Balance Sheet
According to a recent Forrester report, last year saw 1 billion records exposed in the top 35 breaches, $2.6 billion stolen in the top nine cryptocurrency breaches, and $2.7 billion in fines levied to the top 35 violators.
The average cost of a data breach reached $4.35 million in 2022, according to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report for that year, which represents a 2.6% increase over the prior year, and a 12.7% increase from 2020. For ransomware, a report found the average payment in 2021 was approximately $1.85 million, more than double the $760,000 figure from 2020. These are just direct costs; indirect costs are far greater and can include lost business, lost customers, reputational loss and regulatory fines.
When it comes to managing cyber risk, corporate boards should look to understand cyber security as a strategic business enabler, understand the impacts, align risk-management with business needs, ensure the organisation supports cyber security, incorporate cyber security expertise into governance and encourage systemic resilience.
https://hbr.org/2023/06/how-to-keep-cyberattacks-from-tanking-your-balance-sheet
Company Size Doesn’t Matter When It Comes to Cyber Attacks
65% of large organisations suffered a cyber attack within the last 12 months, which is similar to the results among companies of all sizes (68%), according to a recent report. The most common security incidents were the same for all companies; these were phishing, ransomware and user account compromise, also known as business email compromise (BEC).
Smaller companies often underestimate their risk, with the reasoning that cyber criminals want the biggest targets as they will likely have more intellectual property, however all businesses have valuable data and are therefore a target. Additionally, smaller organisations can sometimes be seen as a way into larger organisations that use their services.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/05/29/larger-organizations-cyberattacks/
‘Exceptional’ Cyber Attacks Now Normal, says BT Security Chief
The threat of cyber attacks is growing at an “unprecedented” pace, according to the chief security officer at multinational teleco BT, Howard Watson, but it is not just large organisations such as BT who will be impacted by this increase.
Watson highlighted that the increase in sophisticated technology poses the biggest threat in the long run: “Technological advancement, as ever, is a double-edged sword in security. Quantum and AI have great potential for benefits in the right hands, or to cause massive damage in the wrong hands. But we know that cyber criminals will utilise these technologies, so we have to be able to respond in kind.” Adding to this, the chief security officer highlighted that events that were previously considered as ‘exceptional’ need to be assessed and planned for as a probability, rather than a possibility.
How State-Sponsored/Advanced Persistent Threat Groups (APTs) Target SMBs
Small and medium businesses (SMBs) are not exempt from being targeted by advanced persistent threat (APT) actors, according to Proofpoint researchers who collected data from over 200,000 SMB customers. Proofpoint identified a rise in phishing campaigns originating from such state-sponsored APT groups, who are highly skilled and typically state-sponsored groups with distinct strategic goals. These goals range from espionage and intellectual property theft to destructive attacks, state-sponsored financial theft, and disinformation campaigns.
Unfortunately, SMBs often lack adequate cyber security measures, making them vulnerable to all kinds of cyber threats. APT actors exploit this weakness by targeting SMBs as a stepping stone towards achieving their larger goals.
Alongside phishing campaigns, it was identified that APTs are increasingly targeting regional outsourced IT providers/Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to mount supply chain attacks. By compromising regional MSPs within geographies that align with the strategic collection requirements of APT actors, threat actors can gain access to multiple SMBs to extract sensitive information or execute further attacks.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/05/31/apt-targeting-smbs/
Phishing Campaigns Thrive as Evasive Tactics Outsmart Conventional Detection
According to research, 2022 saw a 25% increase in the use of phishing kits. These phishing kits are a set of tools that enable cyber criminals to effortlessly create and maintain large scale sophisticated phishing campaigns. It is this sophistication that allows cyber criminals to circumnavigate conventional detections; in fact, the research found a 40% increase in the use of anti-bot technologies designed to prevent automated scanners from identifying content as phishing.
In some cases (11% of observed phishing kits) malicious links would not be detected when tested by anti-phishing controls because those controls do not use the exact device parameters, geolocation and referrer of the intended target victim’s profile; therefore the malicious link is allowed to be delivered to the intended target.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/06/01/advanced-detection-evasion-techniques/
Don't be Polite When you Get a Text from a Wrong Number
You should immediately be suspicious of any text you get from a number not in your contacts, even if it may be innocent looking. Your first reaction may be to be polite and let them know they have the wrong number, but this person is a stranger. Strangely, despite teaching our children not to talk to strangers, many are comfortable with divulging information to them. Although letting them know they made a mistake seems harmless, responding opens you up to being scammed and you’ve just let them know you’re a real person. Every bit of helpful information you provide has the potential to be leveraged by an attacker.
Capita Cyber Attack: 90 Downstream Organisations Reported Data Breaches
90 organisations have reported breaches of personal information held by Capita after the outsourcing group had suffered a cyber attack, according to Britain’s data watchdog. The attack on Capita, which occurred in March, is still impacting businesses, with the UK Information Commissioners Office (ICO) making enquiries. Organisations must notify the ICO within 72 hours of becoming aware of a personal data breach.
The impact of the attack, and its knock-on effect, highlights the need for organisations to consider their third party security, no matter the size of the third party they use.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/30/capita-cyber-attack-data-breaches-ico
Travel-Themed Phishing, BEC Campaigns Get Smarter as Summer Season Arrives
A recent survey from McAfee found that nearly a third (30%) of adults have fallen victim or know someone who has fallen victim to an online scam when bargain hunting for travel deals during the summer season, with a full two-thirds of victims losing up to $1,000.
This has extended to the corporate environment, with threat actors impersonating the HR department and exploiting the trust users place in their employers, a report has found. The attack leverages regular HR procedures associated with holiday requests and taps into the anticipation and excitement surrounding the summer travel season, to capitalise on exploiting the user.
https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/travel-themed-phishing-bec-campaigns-smarter-summer-season
Organisations Spend 100 Hours Battling Post-Delivery Email Threats
Nearly every victim of a spear-phishing attack in the last 12 months saw impacts on their organisation, including malware infections, stolen data, and reputational damage, according to Barracuda Networks. The research shows that cyber criminals continue to barrage organisations with targeted email attacks, and many companies are struggling to keep up.
While spear-phishing attacks are low-volume, they are widespread and highly successful compared to other types of email attacks. On average, organisations take nearly 100 hours to identify, respond to, and remediate a post-deliver email threat: 43 hours to detect the attack and 56 hours to respond and remediate after the attack is detected.
Users at companies with more than a 50% remote workforce report higher levels of suspicious emails: 12 per day on average, compared to 9 per day for those with less than a 50% remote workforce. Companies with more than a 50% remote workforce also reported that it takes longer to both detect and respond to email security incidents: 55 hours to detect and 63 hours to respond and mitigate, compared to an average of 36 hours and 51 hours respectively for organisations with fewer remote workers.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/05/30/2023-spear-phishing-trends/
Ransomware Gangs Adopting Business-like Practices to Boost Profits
Ransomware gangs are using a variety of business-like practices to boost profits, making it more difficult for defenders to differentiate various groups, a new report by WithSecure has surmised. This move towards mirroring legitimate businesses practices means that tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) are blurring.
The underground marketplace now includes entities including ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) groups, Initial Access Brokers (IAB), crypter-as-a-service (CaaS), cryptojackers, malware-as-a-service (MaaS) groups and nation-state actors. This allows nation-states to use tools available on the underground market to gain access to networks and systems without being detected. Ultimately, this trend towards professionalisation makes the expertise and resources to attack organisations accessible to lesser-skilled or poorly resourced threat actors.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ransomware-gangs-business-practices/
The Sobering Truth about Ransomware—for the 80% Who Paid Up
Newly published research of 1,200 organisations impacted by ransomware reveals a sobering truth that awaits many of those who decide to pay the ransom. According to research, 80% of the organisations surveyed decided to pay the demanded ransom in order to both end the ongoing cyber attack and recover otherwise lost data. This is despite 41% of those organisations having a “do not pay” policy in place, which only goes to reinforce the cold hard fact that cyber crime isn’t an easy landscape to navigate. This is something that’s especially true when your business is facing the real-world impact of dealing with a ransomware attack.
Of the 960 organisations that paid a ransom, 201 of them (21%) were still unable to recover their lost data. The same number also reported that ransomware attacks were now excluded from their insurance policies. Of those organisations with cyber insurance cover, 74% reported a rise in premiums. Another report, published by Sophos, revealed that 32% of those surveyed opted to pay the ransom but a shocking 92% failed to recover all their data and 29% were unable to recover more than half of the encrypted data.
Some groups have switched to stealing sensitive customer or corporate data instead, with the ransom demanded in return for them not selling it to the highest bidder or publishing it online. Many groups combine the two for a double extortion ransomware attack.
The Great CISO Resignation: Why Security Leaders are Quitting in Droves
With the rise in AI tools such as ChatGPT broadening an attacker’s arsenal, this places greater and greater pressure on security leaders who are already dealing with shrinking budgets, skeleton crew staff and a conglomeration of security tools and protocols — so much so that they are increasingly quitting. A recent report found that nearly a third (32%) of CISOs in the US and UK were considering leaving their current organisation and 9 out of 10 reported themselves as “moderately” or “tremendously” stressed.
This so-called Great CISO Resignation is concerning, because what happens when there’s nobody guarding the gate and rallying the troops?
When is it Time for a Cyber Hygiene Audit?
Effective cyber hygiene practices limit threats against your systems, devices and users, preventing breaches that could compromise sensitive business information, database information, and personal data. But cyber hygiene isn’t a static or one-off process. It requires routine execution and, occasionally, a full audit. This audit typically covers a range of aspects including encryption, documentation, authentication, patches, security and ongoing cyber hygiene.
Good cyber hygiene is a necessary part of maintaining IT security. Setting up processes and procedures within your organisation’s regular operating procedures is an effective way to maintain cyber hygiene. Although the responsibilities may differ by position, everyone in the organisation plays a role.
An audit provides important information on where and where you need to improve. It also provides a baseline for measuring improvement and effectiveness. The key to success is to integrate hygiene into routine process starting top down from policies into every part of the business and making use of third party experts to help aid in the process.
https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/devops/23/e/cyber-hygiene-audit-best-practices.html
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Company size doesn't matter when it comes to cyber attacks - Help Net Security
How to Keep Cyber attacks from Tanking Your Balance Sheet (hbr.org)
The great CISO resignation: Why security leaders are quitting in droves - SDxCentral
‘Exceptional’ cyber attacks now normal, says BT security chief (thetimes.co.uk)
HowTo: Improve Your Cyber Resilience - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
The strategic importance of digital trust for modern businesses - Help Net Security
Vendors: Threat actor taxonomies are confusing but essential | TechTarget
Experts Not Willing To Wager A Candy Bar On Their Security (forbes.com)
Breaking Enterprise Silos and Improving Protection – Security Week
Zero-Day Vulnerabilities: 17 Consequences And Complications (forbes.com)
Insider risk management: Where your program resides shapes its focus | CSO Online
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Attackers leave organisations with no recovery option - Help Net Security
The Sobering Truth About Ransomware—For The 80% Who Paid Up (forbes.com)
Rogue IT security worker failed to cover his tracks | Tripwire
Organisations Worldwide Targeted in Rapidly Evolving Buhti Ransomware Operation – Security Week
The Week in Ransomware - May 26th 2023 - Cities Under Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyble — Obsidian ORB Ransomware Demands Gift Cards as Payment
AceCryptor: Cyber criminals' Powerful Weapon, Detected in 240K+ Attacks (thehackernews.com)
BlackCat (ALPHV) Ransomware Levels Up for Stealth, Speed and Exfiltration (securityintelligence.com)
Investigating BlackSuit Ransomware’s Similarities to Royal (trendmicro.com)
Fighting ransomware: Perspectives from cyber security professionals - Help Net Security
Ransomware Victims
New York county still dealing with ransomware 8 months later • The Register
ABB confirms data stolen in Black Basta ransomware attack | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
SAS Airlines hit by $3 million ransom demand following DDoS attacks (bitdefender.com)
Industrial Giant ABB Confirms Ransomware Attack, Data Theft – Security Week
MCNA Dental data breach impacts 8.9 million people after ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care ransomware attack hits 2.5 million people (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyble — Bl00dy Ransomware Targets Indian University: Actively Exploiting PaperCut Vulnerability
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Phishing campaigns thrive as evasive tactics outsmart conventional detection - Help Net Security
Organisations spend 100 hours battling post-delivery email threats - Help Net Security
Phishing remained the top identity abuser in 2022: IDSA report | CSO Online
New phishing technique poses as a browser-based file archiver | CSO Online
Sustained 'Red Deer' Phishing Attacks Impersonate Israel Post, Drop RATs (darkreading.com)
North Korean phishing gang stole rocket tech info • The Register
Artificial Intelligence
AI: War crimes evidence erased by social media platforms - BBC News
Artificial Intelligence's Risks and Rewards in Cyber security (analyticsinsight.net)
ChatGPT Plugins Open Security Holes From PDFs, Websites and More | Tom's Hardware (tomshardware.com)
What not to share with ChatGPT if you use it for work | Mashable
Is ChatGPT a cyber security disaster? We asked the experts | Digital Trends
Generative AI: The new attack vector for trust and safety - Help Net Security
2FA/MFA
Malware
QBot malware abuses Windows WordPad EXE to infect devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
New Stealthy Bandit Stealer Targeting Web Browsers and Cryptocurrency Wallets (thehackernews.com)
Raspberry Pi Malware Infects Using Default Username and Password | Tom's Hardware (tomshardware.com)
Tracking down a trojan: An inside look at threat hunting in a corporate network (malwarebytes.com)
RomCom malware spread via Google Ads for ChatGPT, GIMP, more (bleepingcomputer.com)
Stealthy SeroXen RAT malware increasingly used to target gamers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Terminator antivirus killer is a vulnerable Windows driver in disguise (bleepingcomputer.com)
Top macOS Malware Threats: Here Are 6 to Watch (darkreading.com)
PyPI malware ramps up the threat to the code repository • The Register
Evasive QBot Malware Leverages Short-lived Residential IPs for Dynamic Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Cyber criminals use legitimate websites to obfuscate malicious payloads - Help Net Security
North Korean ScarCruft Hackers Exploit LNK Files to Spread RokRAT (thehackernews.com)
Mobile
Don't be polite when you get a text from a wrong number | kens5.com
Predator Android Spyware: Researchers Uncover New Data Theft Capabilities (thehackernews.com)
Android threat: 'Guerrilla' virus sneakily snuck onto 8.9m phones (citizen.co.za)
Operation Triangulation: previously undetected malware targets iOS devices - Security Affairs
Russian government accuses Apple of colluding with NSA in iPhone spy operation | CyberScoop
Android apps with spyware installed 421 million times from Google Play (bleepingcomputer.com)
Botnets
Active Mirai Botnet Variant Exploiting Zyxel Devices for DDoS Attacks (thehackernews.com)
What Are Botnet Attacks & Explained Prevention Techniques | EC-Council (eccouncil.org)
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
SAS Airlines hit by $3 million ransom demand following DDoS attacks (bitdefender.com)
Active Mirai Botnet Variant Exploiting Zyxel Devices for DDoS Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Internet of Things – IoT
Active Mirai Botnet Variant Exploiting Zyxel Devices for DDoS Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Home routers helped Chinese hackers breach US Navy networks (mybroadband.co.za)
Hackers Win $105,000 for Reporting Critical Security Flaws in Sonos One Speakers (thehackernews.com)
Solar panels vulnerable to hackers, concern for network security - DutchNews.nl
Data Breaches/Leaks
Tesla Whistleblower Leaks 100GB of Data, Revealing Safety Complaints (darkreading.com)
Dutch watchdog looking into alleged Tesla data breach | Reuters
NHS data breach: trusts shared patient details with Facebook without consent | Health | The Guardian
The root causes of API incidents and data breaches - Help Net Security
Pentagon Leaks Emphasise the Need for a Trusted Workforce (darkreading.com)
Yet Another Toyota Cloud Data Breach Jeopardises Thousands of Customers (darkreading.com)
Hacking forum hacked, user database leaked online • Graham Cluley
Risk & Repeat: A troubling trend of poor breach disclosures | TechTarget
New MOVEit Transfer zero-day mass-exploited in data theft attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Workforce platform Prosperix leaks drivers licenses and medical records - Security Affairs
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
US intelligence research agency examines cyber psychology to outwit criminal hackers | CyberScoop
What is the Cyber Crime Atlas? How it can help disrupt cyber crime | CSO Online
New hacking forum leaks data of 478,000 RaidForums members (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hacking forum hacked, user database leaked online • Graham Cluley
Tricks of the trade: How a cyber crime ring operated a multi‑level fraud scheme | WeLiveSecurity
3 signs your kids may be hackers and what to do about it | Euronews
“I was a teenage hacker”: Two child hackers share their stories | Euronews
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
New Stealthy Bandit Stealer Targeting Web Browsers and Cryptocurrency Wallets (thehackernews.com)
Hacked DJ's Twitter account costs cryptocurrency investors $170,000 (bitdefender.com)
Cyber criminals Targeting Apache NiFi Instances for Cryptocurrency Mining (thehackernews.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Rogue IT security worker failed to cover his tracks | Tripwire
Pentagon Leaks Emphasise the Need for a Trusted Workforce (darkreading.com)
Insider risk management: Where your program resides shapes its focus | CSO Online
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Don't be polite when you get a text from a wrong number | kens5.comTricks of the trade: How a cyber crime ring operated a multi‑level fraud scheme | WeLiveSecurity
HMRC in New Tax Credits Scam Warning - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
AML/CFT/Sanctions
Insurance
Why You Need Cyber Insurance and How to Obtain It - Arctic Wolf
Cyber Insurance: A Growth Market for Insurers With Some Caveats (carriermanagement.com)
Dark Web
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Software Supply Chain
Cloud/SaaS
One of Microsoft Azure's top tools has a serious security flaw | TechRadar
Top public cloud security concerns for the media and entertainment industry - Help Net Security
Cloud Security: Don’t Confuse Vendor and Tool Consolidation - The New Stack
Why organisations should adopt a cloud cyber security framework - Help Net Security
Can Cloud Services Encourage Better Login Security? Netflix's Accidental Model (darkreading.com)
Hybrid/Remote Working
Shadow IT
Identity and Access Management
Encryption
API
Open Source
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Raspberry Pi Malware Infects Using Default Username and Password | Tom's Hardware (tomshardware.com)
Swiss real estate agency Neho fails to put a password on its systems - Security Affairs
Can Cloud Services Encourage Better Login Security? Netflix's Accidental Model (darkreading.com)
Social Media
NHS data breach: trusts shared patient details with Facebook without consent | Health | The Guardian
Twitter pulls out of voluntary EU disinformation code - BBC News
AI: War crimes evidence erased by social media platforms - BBC News
Malvertising
Training, Education and Awareness
Travel
Travel-Themed Phishing, BEC Campaigns Get Smarter as Summer Season Arrives (darkreading.com)
US court finds that border phone searches need a warrant • The Register
Parental Controls and Child Safety
3 signs your kids may be hackers and what to do about it | Euronews
“I was a teenage hacker”: Two child hackers share their stories | Euronews
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
OneMain pays $4.5M after ignored security flaws caused data breaches | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Netflix warns it may remove content from UK catalogue over government media bill | The Independent
Models, Frameworks and Standards
Data Protection
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Ways to Help Cyber security's Essential Workers Avoid Burnout (darkreading.com)
Managing mental health in cyber security - Help Net Security
ISACA pledges to help grow cyber security workforce in Europe | CSO Online
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Ukraine war blurs lines between cyber crims and state hacks • The Register
Pegasus Spyware Is Detected in a War Zone for the First Time | WIRED
Russian government accuses Apple of colluding with NSA in iPhone spy operation | CyberScoop
How giant pieces of spyware are shaping our views and our world | Evening Standard
Predator may have more spyware capabilities than we know • The Register
Cyberweapon manufacturers plot to stay on the right side of US | Financial Times (ft.com)
Suspected Russia-trained spy whale reappears off Sweden’s coast | Sweden | The Guardian
AI: War crimes evidence erased by social media platforms - BBC News
Nation State Actors
China hacking Guam: Can the US stop foreign cyber attacks? | The Week
Russian government accuses Apple of colluding with NSA in iPhone spy operation | CyberScoop
US sanctions orgs behind North Korea’s ‘illicit’ IT worker army (bleepingcomputer.com)
Home routers helped Chinese hackers breach US Navy networks (mybroadband.co.za)
Investigation Launched After London City Airport Website Hacked (simpleflying.com)
Taiwan rushes to prevent China from cutting off internet and phones | The Japan Times
North Korea says spy satellite launch crashed into sea - BBC News
Dark Pink hackers continue to target govt and military organisations (bleepingcomputer.com)
The next Chinese tech threat is already here | The Spectator
North Korean phishing gang stole rocket tech info • The Register
North Korea's Kimsuky Group Mimics Key Figures in Targeted Cyber Attacks (thehackernews.com)
North Korean ScarCruft Hackers Exploit LNK Files to Spread RokRAT (thehackernews.com)
Vulnerability Management
Zero-Day Vulnerabilities: 17 Consequences And Complications (forbes.com)
Implementing Risk-Based Vulnerability Discovery and Remediation (thehackernews.com)
Focus Security Efforts on Choke Points, Not Visibility (darkreading.com)
Vulnerabilities
New MOVEit Transfer zero-day mass-exploited in data theft attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Zero-day vulnerability in MoveIt Transfer under attack | TechTarget
Alert: Hackers Exploit Barracuda Email Security Gateway 0-Day Flaw for 7 Months (thehackernews.com)
WordPress plugin ‘Gravity Forms’ vulnerable to PHP object injection (bleepingcomputer.com)
WordPress force installs critical Jetpack patch on 5 million sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft finds macOS bug that lets hackers bypass SIP root restrictions (bleepingcomputer.com)
Zyxel patches vulnerability in NAS devices (CVE-2023-27988) - Help Net Security
Critical Firmware Vulnerability in Gigabyte Systems Exposes ~7 Million Devices (thehackernews.com)
Millions of Gigabyte Motherboards Were Sold With a Firmware Backdoor | WIRED
Barracuda Email Security Gateway under active attack • The Register
MacOS 'Migraine' Bug: Big Headache for Device System Integrity (darkreading.com)
FTC accuses Amazon of nightmare IoT security fails • The Register
Critical Vulnerabilities Found in Faronics Education Software – Security Week
Tools and Controls
HowTo: Improve Your Cyber Resilience - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
The strategic importance of digital trust for modern businesses - Help Net Security
Vendors: Threat actor taxonomies are confusing but essential | TechTarget
Artificial Intelligence's Risks and Rewards in Cyber security (analyticsinsight.net)
Digital nomads drive changes in identity verification - Help Net Security
Tracking down a trojan: An inside look at threat hunting in a corporate network (malwarebytes.com)
The Top 10 endpoint security challenges and how to overcome them | VentureBeat
Why You Need Cyber Insurance and How to Obtain It - Arctic Wolf
Cloud Security: Don’t Confuse Vendor and Tool Consolidation - The New Stack
Disaster recovery challenges enterprise CISOs face - Help Net Security
Implementing Risk-Based Vulnerability Discovery and Remediation (thehackernews.com)
Research Reveals UK Firms Plan to Embrace New Era of Digital Identity- IT Security Guru
Reports Published in the Last Week
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
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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 26 May 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 26 May 2023:
-50% of UK CEOs See Cyber as a Bigger Business Risk than the Economy
-Report Finds 78% of Organisations Felt Prepared for Ransomware Attacks, Yet Half Still Fell Victim
-SMBs and Regional MSPs are Increasingly Targeted by State-Sponsored APT Groups
-IT Employee Piggybacked on Cyber Attack for Personal Gain
-Ransomware Threats Are Growing, and Targeting Microsoft Devices More and More
-Microsoft Reports Jump in Business Email Compromise (BEC) Activity
-Forrester Predicts 2023’s Top Cyber security Threats: From Generative AI to Geopolitical Tensions
-Advanced Phishing Attacks Surge 356% in 2022
-Today’s Cyber Defence Challenges: Complexity and a False Sense of Security
-Almost All Ransomware Attacks Target Backups, Says Veeam
-NCSC Warns Against Chinese Cyber Attacks on Critical Infrastructure
-Half of all Companies were Impacted by Spearphishing in 2022
-Google's .zip, .mov Domains Give Social Engineers a Shiny New Tool
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
50% of UK CEOs see Cyber as a Bigger Business Risk than the Economy
Half of UK CEOs consider cyber security as a bigger risk to their organisation than economic uncertainty, a new study by Palo Alto Networks has found. The findings came from a survey of 2500 CEOs from the UK, Germany, France, Brazil and the UAE at large organisations (500+ employees).
Despite the recognition of the business threats posed by cyber attacks, UK CEOs have a lower level of understanding of cyber security risks than their international counterparts, with just 16% saying they have a complete understanding. This compares to 21% in Brazil, 21% in the UAE, 22% in France and 39% in Germany. Additionally, many UK CEOs feel detached from responsibility for cyber security at their organisations, instead leaving it to the responsibility of IT, although IT is only part of the solution.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/uk-ceo-cyber-risk-economy/
Report Finds 78% of Organisations Felt Prepared for Ransomware Attacks, Yet Half Still Fell Victim
Fortinet has unveiled its 2023 Global Ransomware Report based on a recent global survey and explores cyber security leaders’ perspectives on ransomware, particularly how it impacted their organisations in the last year and their strategies to mitigate an attack. The report found that the global threat of ransomware remains at peak levels, with half of organisations across all sizes, regions and industries falling victim in the last year.
The top challenges to stopping a ransomware attack were people and process related, with many organisations lacking clarity on how to secure against the threat. Specifically, four out of the five top challenges to stopping ransomware were people or process related. The second largest challenge was a lack of clarity on how to secure against the threat as a result of a lack of user awareness and training and no clear chain-of-command strategy to deal with attacks.
Despite the global macroeconomic environment, security budgets will have to increase in the next year with a focus on AI/ML technologies to speed detection, centralised monitoring tools to speed response and better preparation of people and processes.
https://www.itweb.co.za/content/mYZRX79g8gRqOgA8
SMBs and Regional MSPs are Increasingly Targeted by State-Sponsored APT Groups
Advanced persistent threat (APT) attacks were once mainly a concern for large corporations in industries that presented cyber espionage interest. That's no longer the case and over the past year in particular, the number of such state-sponsored attacks against small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) has increased significantly.
Cyber security firm Proofpoint analysed its telemetry data more than 200,000 SMB customers over the past year and saw a rise in phishing campaigns originating from APT groups, particularly those serving Russian, Iranian, and North Korean interests.
SMBs are also targeted by APT groups indirectly, through the managed services providers (MSPs) that maintain their infrastructure. Proofpoint has seen an increase in attacks against regional MSPs because their cyber security defences could be weaker than larger MSPs yet they still serve hundreds of SMBs in local geographies.
IT Employee Piggybacked on Cyber Attack for Personal Gain
A 28-year-old former IT employee of an Oxford-based company has been convicted of blackmailing his employer and unauthorised access to a computer with intent to commit other offences.
The convicted employee was the one who began to investigate the incident and, along with colleagues and the police, tried to mitigate it and its fallout. But he also realized that he could take advantage of the breach to line his own pockets.
“He accessed a board member’s private emails over 300 times as well as altering the original blackmail email and changing the payment address provided by the original attacker. This was in the hope that if payment was made, it would be made to him rather than the original attacker,” the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) revealed. He went as far as creating an almost identical email address to that of the original attacker, using it to pressure his employer into making the payment.
While some insider threats may stem from negligence or ignorance, this case highlights a more sinister scenario involving a malicious, opportunistic individual. Malicious insiders exploit their authorized access and privileges to engage in harmful, unethical, or illegal activities.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/05/24/it-employee-blackmailing-company/
Ransomware Threats Are Growing, and Targeting Microsoft Devices More and More
Ransomware attacks have never been this popular, a new report from cyber security researchers Securin, Ivanti, and Cyware has stated. New ransomware groups are emerging constantly, and new vulnerabilities being exploited are being discovered almost daily, but out of all the different hardware and software, Microsoft’s products are being targeted the most.
Attackers are now targeting more than 7,000 products built by 121 vendors, all used by businesses in their day-to-day operations. Most products belong to Microsoft, which has 135 vulnerabilities associated with ransomware. In just March 2023, there had been more breaches reported, than in all three previous years combined. Even though most cyber security incidents never get reported, too. In the first quarter of the year, the researchers discovered 12 new vulnerabilities used in ransomware attacks, three-quarters of which (73%) were trending in the dark web.
Microsoft Reports Jump in Business Email Compromise (BEC) Activity
Thirty-five million business email compromise (BEC) attempts were detected in the last year, according to the latest Microsoft Cyber Signals report. Activity around BEC spiked between April 2022 and April 2023, with over 150,000 daily attempts, on average, detected by Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit.
Rather than targeting unpatched devices for vulnerabilities, BEC operators focus on leveraging the vast volume of daily email and other message traffic to trick victims into sharing financial information or unknowingly transferring funds to money mule accounts. Their goal is to exploit the constant flow of communication to carry out fraudulent money transfers.
Using secure email applications, securing identities to block lateral movement, adopting a secure payment platform and training employees are a few effective methods, according to the report.
Forrester Predicts 2023’s Top Cyber security Threats: From Generative AI to Geopolitical Tensions
The nature of cyber attacks is changing fast. Generative AI, cloud complexity and geopolitical tensions are among the latest weapons and facilitators in attackers’ arsenals. Three-quarters (74%) of security decision-makers say their organisations’ sensitive data was “potentially compromised or breached in the past 12 months” alone. Forrester’s Top Cyber security Threats in 2023 report provides a stark warning about the top cyber security threats this year, along with prescriptive advice to CISOs and their teams on countering them. By weaponising generative AI and using ChatGPT, attackers are fine-tuning their ransomware and social engineering techniques.
Perimeter-based legacy systems not designed with an AI-based upgrade path are the most vulnerable. With a new wave of cyber attacks coming that seek to capitalise on any given business’ weakest links, including complex cloud configurations, the gap between reported and actual breaches will grow.
Forrester cites Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its relentless cyber attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure as examples of geopolitical cyber attacks with immediate global implications. Forrester advises that nation-state actors continue to use cyber attacks on private companies for geopolitical purposes like espionage, negotiation leverage, resource control and intellectual property theft to gain technological superiority.
Advanced Phishing Attacks Surge 356% in 2022
A new report published this week observed a 356% growth in the number of advanced phishing attacks attempted by threat actors in 2022, with the total number of attacks having increased by 87%. Among the reasons behind this growth is the fact that malicious actors continue to gain widespread access to new tools, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)-powered tools. These have automated the process of generating sophisticated attacks, including those characterized by social engineering as well as evasion techniques.
The global threat landscape continues to evolve with a meteoric rise in the number of attacks, combined with increasingly sophisticated attack techniques designed to breach and damage organisations.
Additionally, the report highlighted that the changing threat landscape has resulted from the swift adoption of new cloud collaboration apps, cloud storage and productivity services for external collaboration.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/advanced-phishing-attacks-surge/
Today’s Cyber Defence Challenges: Complexity and a False Sense of Security
Organisations can mistakenly believe that deploying more security solutions will result in greater protection against threats. However, the truth of the matter can be very different. Gartner estimates that global spending on IT security and risk management solutions will exceed $189.7 billion annually in 2023, yet the breaches keep on coming. Blindly purchasing more security tools can add to complexity in enterprise environments and creates a false sense of security that contributes to today’s cyber security challenges.
To add to the dilemma, the new work-from-anywhere model is putting a strain on IT and security teams. Employees shifting between corporate and off-corporate networks are creating visibility and control challenges, which are impacting those teams’ ability to diagnose and remediate end user issues and minimize cyber security risks. In addition, they have to deal with a broad mix of networks, hardware, business and security applications, operating system (OS) versions, and patches.
Almost All Ransomware Attacks Target Backups
Data stored in backups is the most common target for ransomware attackers. Almost all intrusions (93%) target backups and in 75% of cases succeed in taking out victims’ ability to recover. In addition, 85% of global organisations suffered at least one cyber attack in the past year according to the Veeam 2023 Ransomware trends report. Only 16% of organisations avoided paying ransom because they were able to recover from backups, down from 19% in last year’s survey.
According to the survey, criminals attempt to attack backup repositories in almost all (93%) cyber events in EMEA, with 75% losing at least some of their backups and more than one-third (39%) of backup repositories being completely lost.
Other key findings included that 21% said ransomware is now specifically excluded from insurance policies; and of those with cyber insurance, 74% saw increased premiums since their last policy renewal.
With most ransomware actors moving to double and triple extortion the days of a backup being all you need to keep you safe are far behind and firms should do more to prevent being the victim of ransomware in the first place.
NCSC Warns Against Chinese Cyber Attacks on Critical Infrastructure
The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and several other international security agencies have issued a new advisory warning the public against Chinese cyber activity targeting critical national infrastructure networks. According to the document, the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s associated threat actors employed sophisticated tactics to evade detection while conducting malicious activities against targets in the US and Guam. These tactics are expected to be used on critical infrastructure targets outside the US, including the UK.
The document further added that the threat actors mainly focused on credential access theft via brute force and password spraying techniques. The NCSC advisory provides network defenders with technical indicators and examples of techniques used by the attacker to help identify any malicious activity.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ncsc-warns-chinese-cyber-attacks/
Half of All Companies were Impacted by Spearphishing in 2022
Spearphishing is a sliver of all email exploits but the extent to which it succeeds is revealed in a new study from cyber security firm Barracuda Networks, which analysed 50 billion emails across 3.5 million mailboxes in 2022, unearthing around 30 million spearphishing emails and affecting 50% of all companies.
The report identified the top prevalent spearphishing emails were Scamming (47%) used to trick victims into disclosing sensitive information and the other being brand impersonation (42%) attacks mimicking a brand familiar with the victim to harvest credentials.
The report found that remote work is increasing risks. Users at companies with more than a 50% remote workforce report higher levels of suspicious emails — 12 per day on average, compared to 9 per day for those with less than a 50% remote workforce.
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/barracuda-networks-spearphishing-study/
Google's .zip, .mov Domains Give Social Engineers a Shiny New Tool
Two new top-level domain names (.zip and .mov) have caused concern among security researchers, who say they allow for the construction of malicious URLs that even tech-savvy users are likely to miss. While a top-level domain (TLD) that mimics a file extension is only one component in the lookalike attack, the overall combination is much more effective with the .zip or .mov extension.
There's no question that phishing links that involve these TLDs can be used to lure unsuspecting users into accidentally downloading malware. Unlike other kinds of phishing URLs that are intended to lure the user to enter credentials into a phony login page, the lures with the .zip or .mov domains are more suited to drive-by download types of attacks.
https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/google-zip-mov-domains-social-engineers-shiny-new-tool
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Security Pros: Before You Do Anything, Understand Your Threat Landscape - SecurityWeek
The Rising Threat of Secrets Sprawl and the Need for Action (thehackernews.com)
Mass resignations, layoffs seen as major threat to corporate cyber security - The Korea Times
Improving Cyber security Requires Building Better Public-Private Cooperation (darkreading.com)
5 Cyber security Woes That Threaten Digital Growth (analyticsinsight.net)
Cyber Warfare Lessons From the Russia-Ukraine Conflict (darkreading.com)
What Security Professionals Need to Know About Aggregate Cyber Risk (darkreading.com)
Where to Focus Your Company’s Limited Cyber security Budget (hbr.org)
Former Uber CSO Joe Sullivan and lessons learned from the infamous 2016 Uber breach | CSO Online
CISO Criminalization, Vague Cyber Disclosure Rules Create Angst for Security Teams (darkreading.com)
Today’s Cyber Defence Challenges: Complexity and a False Sense of Security - SecurityWeek
The biggest threats are always those we fail to predict - Big Think
How continuous security monitoring is changing the compliance game - Help Net Security
Defining CISOs, CTOs, and CIOs' Roles in Cyber security (analyticsinsight.net)
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
3 Common Initial Attack Vectors Account for Most Ransomware Campaigns (darkreading.com)
12 vulnerabilities newly associated with ransomware - Help Net Security
IT employee impersonates ransomware gang to extort employer (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware threats are growing, and targeting Microsoft devices more and more | TechRadar
Microsoft: Notorious FIN7 hackers return in Clop ransomware attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
FIN7 gang returned and was spotted delivering Clop ransomware - Security Affairs
Bridgestone CISO: Lessons From Ransomware Attack Include Acting, Not Thinking (darkreading.com)
Cyble — New Ransomware Wave Engulfs over 200 Corporate Victims
Updated 'StopRansomware Guide' warns of shifting tactics | TechTarget
The Week in Ransomware - May 19th 2023 - A Shifting Landscape (bleepingcomputer.com)
US saw 45% fewer ransomware victims posted on the dark web | Security Magazine
Judge Throws Out Ransomware Class-Action Suit Against Rackspace - MSSP Alert
Ransomware tales: The MitM attack that really had a Man in the Middle – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Here's another great reason to make sure your enterprises is safeguarded from ransomware | TechRadar
Inside Qilin Ransomware: Affiliates Take Home 85% of Ransom Payouts (thehackernews.com)
Buhti Ransomware Gang Switches Tactics, Utilizes Leaked LockBit and Babuk Code (thehackernews.com)
Ransomware Victims
Food Distributor Sysco Says Cyber Attack Exposed 126,000 Individuals - SecurityWeek
Suzuki motorcycle plant shut down by cyber attack (bitdefender.com)
Iowa hospital discloses breach following Royal ransomware leak | TechTarget
Arms maker Rheinmetall confirms BlackBasta ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Dish Network says February ransomware attack impacted +300K - Security Affairs
Philly Inquirer disputes Cuba ransomware gang's leak claims • The Register
Dorchester school IT system held to ransom in cyber attack - BBC News
BlackByte lists city of Augusta after cyber 'incident' • The Register
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Advanced Phishing Attacks Surge 356% in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
50% of companies had spearphishing puncture wounds in 2022 (techrepublic.com)
Microsoft 365 phishing attacks use encrypted RPMSG messages (bleepingcomputer.com)
Threat actors exploit new channels for advanced phishing attacks - Help Net Security
Malicious links and misaddressed emails slip past security controls - Help Net Security
CopperStealer Malware Crew Resurfaces with New Rootkit and Phishing Kit Modules (thehackernews.com)
Crypto phishing service Inferno Drainer defrauds thousands of victims (bleepingcomputer.com)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Cyber Signals: Shifting tactics show surge in business email compromise | Microsoft Security Blog
Microsoft reports jump in business email compromise activity | CSO Online
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Artificial Intelligence
Employees are banned from using ChatGPT at these companies | Fortune
BatLoader campaign impersonates ChatGPT and Midjourney to deliver Redline Stealer - Security Affairs
6 ChatGPT risks for legal and compliance leaders - Help Net Security
5 Ways Hackers Will Use ChatGPT For Cyber attacks (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Simple OSINT techniques to spot AI-fueled disinformation, fake reviews - Help Net Security
Microsoft urges lawmakers to adopt new guidelines for responsible AI | CyberScoop
AI Used to Create Malware, WithSecure Observes - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
The Security Hole at the Heart of ChatGPT and Bing | WIRED UK
2FA/MFA
Malware
New PowerExchange malware backdoors Microsoft Exchange servers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers Use Weaponised DOCX File to Deploy Stealthy Malware (gbhackers.com)
Meet 'Jack' from Romania! Mastermind Behind Golden Chickens Malware (thehackernews.com)
Developer Alert: NPM Packages for Node.js Hiding Dangerous TurkoRat Malware (thehackernews.com)
CopperStealer Malware Crew Resurfaces with New Rootkit and Phishing Kit Modules (thehackernews.com)
Threat actors leverage kernel drivers in new attacks | TechTarget
BatLoader campaign impersonates ChatGPT and Midjourney to deliver Redline Stealer - Security Affairs
Malicious links and misaddressed emails slip past security controls - Help Net Security
Potentially millions of Android TVs and phones come with malware preinstalled | Ars Technica
New AhRat Android malware hidden in app with 50,000 installs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Malware turns home routers into proxies for Chinese state-sponsored hackers | Ars Technica
PyPI open-source code repository deals with manic malware maelstrom – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Legion Malware Upgraded to Target SSH Servers and AWS Credentials (thehackernews.com)
AI Used to Create Malware, WithSecure Observes - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Mobile
Warning: Samsung Devices Under Attack! New Security Flaw Exposed (thehackernews.com)
Android phones are vulnerable to fingerprint brute-force attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
New AhRat Android malware hidden in app with 50,000 installs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Predator: Looking under the hood of Intellexa’s Android spyware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Botnets
How smart bots are infecting and exploiting the internet - Help Net Security
The Dark Frost Enigma: An Unexpectedly Prevalent Botnet Author Profile | Akamai
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Internet of Things – IoT
Potentially millions of Android TVs and phones come with malware preinstalled | Ars Technica
Malware turns home routers into proxies for Chinese state-sponsored hackers | Ars Technica
Data Breaches/Leaks
Capita under fire after ‘confidential’ files published online (thetimes.co.uk)
Luxottica confirms 2021 data breach after info of 70M leaks online (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers steal the SSN of nearly 6 million people (pandasecurity.com)
Food Distributor Sysco Says Cyber attack Exposed 126,000 Individuals - SecurityWeek
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
IT employee piggybacked on cyber attack for personal gain - Help Net Security
Child hackers: How are kids becoming sophisticated cyber criminals? | Euronews
UK Fraudster Behind iSpoof Scam Receives 13-Year Jail Term for Cyber Crimes (thehackernews.com)
The Strange Story of the Teens Behind the Mirai Botnet - IEEE Spectrum
FBI: Human Trafficking Rings Force Job Seekers Into Cryptojacking Schemes (darkreading.com)
'Operation Magalenha' Attacks Gives Window Into Brazil's Cyber crime Ecosystem (darkreading.com)
Cyber criminals masquerading as MFA vendors - Help Net Security
The Dark Frost Enigma: An Unexpectedly Prevalent Botnet Author Profile | Akamai
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Crypto phishing service Inferno Drainer defrauds thousands of victims (bleepingcomputer.com)
Forex boss Anthony Constantinou guilty of £70m ‘Ponzi’ fraud (thetimes.co.uk)
FBI: Human Trafficking Rings Force Job Seekers Into Cryptojacking Schemes (darkreading.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
How to prevent against the 5 main types of insider threats - IT Security Guru
IT employee impersonates ransomware gang to extort employer (bleepingcomputer.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Get-rich-quick schemes, pyramids and ponzis: five signs you're being scammed (theconversation.com)
Scammers Using ChatGPT "Fleeceware" Apps to Cash In on AI Hype, Sophos Report - MSSP Alert
Online scams target bargain-hunting holiday travelers - Help Net Security
Ads for lucrative jobs in Asia may be tech slavery scams • The Register
Crypto phishing service Inferno Drainer defrauds thousands of victims (bleepingcomputer.com)
79-year-old woman tricks German scammers into getting arrested (iamexpat.de)
Forex boss Anthony Constantinou guilty of £70m ‘Ponzi’ fraud (thetimes.co.uk)
IT employee impersonates ransomware gang to extort employer (bleepingcomputer.com)
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Capita under fire after ‘confidential’ files published online (thetimes.co.uk)
UK councils caught in Capita unsecured AWS bucket data leak • The Register
New Cyber Security Training Packages Launched to Manage Supply Chain Risk - NCSC
Software Supply Chain
GUAC 0.1 Beta: Google's Breakthrough Framework for Secure Software Supply Chains (thehackernews.com)
Cloud/SaaS
UK councils caught in Capita unsecured AWS bucket data leak • The Register
CISO-level tips for securing corporate data in the cloud - Help Net Security
Google Cloud Bug Allows Server Takeover From CloudSQL Service (darkreading.com)
Attack Surface Management
Identity and Access Management
7 access management challenges during M&A - Help Net Security
Think security first when switching from traditional Active Directory to Azure AD | CSO Online
Encryption
API
API bug in OAuth dev tool opened websites, apps to account hijacking | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
The fragmented nature of API security ownership - Help Net Security
Open Source
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Inactive accounts pose significant account takeover security risks | CSO Online
What’s a Double-Blind Password Strategy and When Should It Be Used (bleepingcomputer.com)
Netflix's Password-Sharing Ban Offers Security Upsides (darkreading.com)
Biometrics
Social Media
Meta Hit With $1.3B Record-Breaking Fine for GDPR Violations (darkreading.com)
Pentagon explosion hoax goes viral after verified Twitter accounts push (bleepingcomputer.com)
Training, Education and Awareness
Travel
Online scams target bargain-hunting holiday travelers - Help Net Security
Four ways your devices can be hacked in hotels and how to stay safe | This is Money
Tips to Protect Against Holiday and Airline Scams - IT Security Guru
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Meta Hit With $1.3B Record-Breaking Fine for GDPR Violations (darkreading.com)
Microsoft urges lawmakers to adopt new guidelines for responsible AI | CyberScoop
Models, Frameworks and Standards
NIST Launches Cyber security Initiative for Small Businesses (securityintelligence.com)
New security model launched to eliminate 95% of cyber breaches - IT Security Guru
Backup and Recovery
Almost all ransomware attacks target backups, says Veeam | Computer Weekly
'Operation Magalenha' Attacks Gives Window Into Brazil's Cyber crime Ecosystem (darkreading.com)
Here's another great reason to make sure your enterprises is safeguarded from ransomware | TechRadar
Data Protection
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
UK Fraudster Behind iSpoof Scam Receives 13-Year Jail Term for Cyber Crimes (thehackernews.com)
79-year-old woman tricks German scammers into getting arrested (iamexpat.de)
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
UK police to 'embed' facial recog but oversight is at risk • The Register
Abuse of government spying powers: What's to worry about? • The Register
Reflections on Ten Years Past The Snowden Revelations (ietf.org)
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Cyber Warfare Lessons From the Russia-Ukraine Conflict (darkreading.com)
Russia's War in Ukraine Shows Cyber attacks Can Be War Crimes (darkreading.com)
The Underground History of Turla, Russia's Most Ingenious Hacker Group | WIRED
Bad Magic's Extended Reign in Cyber Espionage Goes Back Over a Decade (thehackernews.com)
North Korean Kimsuky Hackers Strike Again with Advanced Reconnaissance Malware (thehackernews.com)
Cyber Attacks Strike Ukraine's State Bodies in Espionage Operation (thehackernews.com)
Mysterious malware designed to cripple industrial systems linked to Russia | CyberScoop
New Russian-linked CosmicEnergy malware targets industrial systems (bleepingcomputer.com)
United Nations official and others in Armenia hacked by NSO Group spyware | Hacking | The Guardian
Predator: Looking under the hood of Intellexa’s Android spyware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nation State Actors
APT attacks: Exploring Advanced Persistent Threats and their evasive techniques (malwarebytes.com)
SMBs and regional MSPs are increasingly targeted by state-sponsored APT groups | CSO Online
The Underground History of Turla, Russia's Most Ingenious Hacker Group | WIRED
Malware turns home routers into proxies for Chinese state-sponsored hackers | Ars Technica
North Korean Kimsuky Hackers Strike Again with Advanced Reconnaissance Malware (thehackernews.com)
Five Eyes and Microsoft accuse China US infrastructure raids • The Register
Iranian hackers use new Moneybird ransomware to attack Israeli orgs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mysterious malware designed to cripple industrial systems linked to Russia | CyberScoop
GCHQ warns of fresh threat from Chinese state-sponsored hackers | Hacking | The Guardian
New Russian-linked CosmicEnergy malware targets industrial systems (bleepingcomputer.com)
Five Eyes agencies detail how Chinese hackers breached US infrastructure - Help Net Security
Lazarus Group Striking Vulnerable Windows IIS Web Servers (darkreading.com)
'Volt Typhoon' Breaks Fresh Ground for China-Backed Cyber Campaigns (darkreading.com)
Vulnerability Management
12 vulnerabilities newly associated with ransomware - Help Net Security
Fresh perspectives needed to manage growing vulnerabilities - Help Net Security
Judge Throws Out Ransomware Class-Action Suit Against Rackspace - MSSP Alert
How to check for new exploits in real time? VulnCheck has an answer | CSO Online
Vulnerabilities
12 vulnerabilities newly associated with ransomware - Help Net Security
Hackers target 1.5M WordPress sites with cookie consent plugin exploit (bleepingcomputer.com)
Barracuda Alerts Of Breaches In Email Gateways From Zero-Day Flaws (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Threat Actors Compromise Barracuda Email Security Appliances (darkreading.com)
Microsoft: Windows issue causes file copying, saving failures (bleepingcomputer.com)
GitLab 'strongly recommends' patching max severity flaw ASAP (bleepingcomputer.com)
83C0000B: The error code that means a software update bricked your HP printer (bitdefender.com)
CISA adds iPhone bugs to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog - Security Affairs
Vulnerability in Zyxel firewalls may soon be widely exploited (CVE-2023-28771) - Help Net Security
Zyxel warns of critical vulnerabilities in firewall and VPN devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
Warning: Samsung Devices Under Attack! New Security Flaw Exposed (thehackernews.com)
Tools and Controls
Security Pros: Before You Do Anything, Understand Your Threat Landscape - SecurityWeek
Malicious links and misaddressed emails slip past security controls - Help Net Security
Making The Most Of A Penetration Test: The Organisational Perspective (forbes.com)
Against the Clock: Cyber Incident Response Plan (trendmicro.com)
Investigating Risks Through Threat Hunting Capability Guide (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Almost all ransomware attacks target backups, says Veeam | Computer Weekly
How continuous security monitoring is changing the compliance game - Help Net Security
Blacklist untrustworthy apps that peek behind your firewall - Help Net Security
How generative AI is reshaping the identity verification landscape - Help Net Security
The fragmented nature of API security ownership - Help Net Security
Enterprises Must Prepare Now for Shorter TLS Certificate Lifespans (darkreading.com)
Cutting Through the Noise: What is Zero Trust Security? - SecurityWeek
CISO-level tips for securing corporate data in the cloud - Help Net Security
6 ways generative AI chatbots and LLMs can enhance cyber security | CSO Online
'Operation Magalenha' Attacks Gives Window Into Brazil's Cyber crime Ecosystem (darkreading.com)
Here's another great reason to make sure your enterprises is safeguarded from ransomware | TechRadar
Attributes of a mature cyber-threat intelligence program | CSO Online
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
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· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
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· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 10 March 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 10 March 2023:
-Business Email Compromise Attacks Can Take Just Hours
-Research Reveals ‘Password’ is Still the Most Common Term used by Hackers to Breach Enterprise Networks
-Just 10% of Firms Can Resolve Cloud Threats in an Hour
-MSPs in the Crosshair of Ransomware Gangs
-Stolen Credentials Increasingly Empower the Cyber Crime Underground
-It’s Time to Assess the Potential Dangers of an Increasingly Connected World
-Mounting Cyber Threats Mean Financial Firms Urgently Need Better Safeguards
-Developers Leaked 10m Credentials Including Passwords in 2022
-Cyber Threat Detections Surges 55% In 2022
-European Central Bank Tells Banks to Run Cyber Stress Tests after Rise in Hacker Attacks
-Employees Are Feeding Sensitive Business Data to ChatGPT
-Is Ransomware Declining? Not So Fast Experts Say
-Preventing Corporate Data Breaches Starts With Remembering That Leaks Have Real Victims
-Faced With Likelihood of Ransomware Attacks, Businesses Still Choosing to Pay Up
-Experts See Growing Need for Cyber Security Workers as One in Six Jobs go Unfilled
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber threat intelligence 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
Business Email Compromise Attacks Can Take Just Hours
Microsoft’s security intelligence team found that Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks are moving rapidly, with some taking mere minutes. Microsoft found the whole process, from signing in using compromised credentials to registering typo squatting domains and hijacking an email thread, took threat actors only a couple of hours. Such a rapid attack leaves minimal time for organisations to identify and take preventative action. This is worrying when considering the cost of BEC is predicted to more than tens of billions.
Research Reveals ‘Password’ is Still the Most Common Term used by Hackers to Breach Enterprise Networks
In a report of over 800 million breached passwords, vendor Specops identified some worrying results. Some of the key findings from the report include 88% of passwords used in successful attacks consisting of 12 characters or less and the most common base terms used in passwords involving ‘password’, ‘admin’, ‘welcome’ and ‘p@ssw0rd’. The report found that 83% of the compromised passwords satisfied both the length and complexity requirements of cyber security compliance standards such as NIST, GDPR, HIPAA and Cyber Essentials.
Just 10% of Firms Can Resolve Cloud Threats in an Hour
Two-thirds (39%) of global organisations reported a surge in breaches over the past year, with IT complexity increasing and detection and response capabilities worsening, according to Palo Alto Networks. It found that as enterprises move more of their data and workloads to the cloud, they’re finding it increasingly difficult to discover and remediate incidents quickly. Over two-fifths (42%) reported an increase in mean time to remediate, while 90% said they are unable to detect, contain and resolve cyber-threats within an hour. Nearly a third (30%) reported a major increase in intrusion attempts and unplanned downtime. Part of the challenge appears to be the complexity of their cloud security environments – partly caused by tool bloat.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/10-firms-resolve-cloud-threats-hour/
MSPs in the Crosshairs of Ransomware Gangs
Many attacks have heightened attention around third-party risk and the security obligations of MSPs in meeting multiple customers’ IT needs. Attacks such as the ones on RackSpace and LastPass show that some ransomware actors are now intentionally targeting MSPs to access sensitive customer data. It is now believed that some advanced persistent threat (APT) groups could be stepping up their attacks on MSP’s in order to gain sensitive customer data.
https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/msps-in-the-crosshairs-of-ransomware-gangs/
Stolen Credentials Increasingly Empower the Cyber Crime Underground
Threat Intelligence provider Flashpoint found that last year threat actors exposed or stole 22.62 billion credentials and personal records, which often make their way to underground forums and cyber criminal markets. This follows a significant increase in market activity; just last year Flashpoint recorded 190 new illicit markets emerge and the continual rise in attacks focused on stealing credentials only further empowers cyber crime underground.
It’s Time to Assess the Potential Dangers of an Increasingly Connected World
As global conflicts continue, cyber has become the fifth front of warfare. The world is approaching 50 billion connected devices, controlling everything from our traffic lights to our nuclear arsenal and we have already seen large-scale cyber attacks. Adding to this, a multitude of infrastructure runs on services ran by a handful of companies; Palo Alto Networks, Cisco and Fortinet control more than 50% of the market for security appliances. As such, an attack on one of these companies could cause a huge ripple effect on their customers.
Mounting Cyber Threats Mean Financial Firms Urgently Need Better Safeguards
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) 64% of banks and supervisory authorities do not mandate testing and exercising cyber security and 54% lack dedicated a cyber incident reporting regime. This increases the risk of experiencing a cyber attack. Regularly testing and exercising security will aid any organisation in its cyber resilience.
Insider Threat: Developers Leaked 10m Credentials Including Passwords in 2022
Security provider GitGuardian found that the rate at which developers leaked critical software secrets jumped by 0.5 to reach 5.5 out of every 1,000 commits to GitHub repositories; overall, this amounted to at least 10 million instances of secrets leaking to a public repository. Generic passwords accounted for the majority of leaked secrets (56%) and more than a third (38%) of leaks involved API keys, random number generator seeds and other sensitive strings. These leaks can have worrying consequences for organisations.
Cyber Threat Detections Surges 55% In 2022
Security Provider Trend Micro has said that it stopped 146 billion cyber threats in 2022, a 55% increase on the previous year and evidence of the increase of attacks ramping up. Trend Micro also found a 242% increase in the number of blocked malicious files and an 86% increase in backdoor malware detections with the latter showing an increase in attackers gaining initial access. Furthermore, the number of critical vulnerabilities in 2022 doubled compared to the previous year. Trend Micro noted that this is all likely due to an ever expanding attack surface of organisations.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cyberthreat-detections-surge-55/
European Central Bank Tells Banks to Run Cyber Stress Tests after Rise in Hacker Attacks
The European Central Bank (ECB) will ask all major lenders in the Eurozone to detail by next year, how they would respond to and recover from a successful cyber attack. The ECB is in the process of designing a scenario involving a theoretical breach of the financial system’s cyber defences, which will be sent to all of the 111 banks it assesses to see how they would react. The stress test stems from the increasing amount of cyber attacks. If cyber has shown us anything, it’s that anyone can be a target and performing a stress test would help any organisation prepare for the worst.
https://www.ft.com/content/f03d68a4-fdb9-4312-bda3-3157d369a4a6
Employees Are Feeding Sensitive Business Data to ChatGPT
1 in 20 employees have put sensitive corporate data into popular AI tool ChatGPT, raising concerns that this could result in massive leaks of proprietary information. In some cases, this has involved employees cutting and pasting strategic documents and asking ChatGPT to make a PowerPoint.
Is Ransomware Declining? Not So Fast Experts Say
Security provider CrowdStrike have explained that the perceived decline in ransomware reflects the abilities of threat actors to adapt, splinter and regroup against defensive measures. CrowdStrike expand on this, stating that whilst ransom payments dipped slightly in 2022, there was an uprise in data extortion and ransomware as a service (RaaS).
Preventing Corporate Data Breaches Starts with Remembering that Leaks have Real Victims
The impact a data breach can have on an individual is devastating and ultimately there’s not much an individual can do themselves if the organisation that holds their data isn’t taking the right steps. To best protect themselves and their clients’ data, organisations should look to have appropriate defence in depth controls, including effective asset management, an open security culture, close monitoring of access, utilising strong authentication and maintaining an awareness of the ever changing threat landscape.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/03/07/preventing-corporate-data-breaches/
Faced With Likelihood of Ransomware Attacks, Businesses Still Choosing to Pay Up
In a recent report Proofpoint found that globally 76% of organisations experienced ransomware attempts, with 64% eventually infected. Amongst those that had a cyber insurance policy, 82% of insurers stepped up to pay the ransom either in full or partially. The report found that with the rise in number and sophistication of attacks it is more important than ever for proper security training and awareness in organisations.
Experts See Growing Need for Cyber Security Workers as One in Six Jobs go Unfilled
A report by the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) found that 1 in 6 cyber security jobs are unfulfilled and this is only expected to grow in the coming years. The ICTC stated that “This is not just about education or government funding, but about companies willing to provide hands-on training and experience to the next generation of cyber security experts”.
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Faced with likelihood of ransomware attacks, businesses still choosing to pay up | ZDNET
Is ransomware declining? Not so fast, experts say | TechTarget
FBI and CISA warn of increasing Royal ransomware attack risks (bleepingcomputer.com)
City of Oakland Faces Major Data Leak - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Indigo Books Refuses LockBit Ransomware Demand (darkreading.com)
Core Members of DoppelPaymer Ransomware Gang Targeted in Germany and Ukraine (thehackernews.com)
Ransom House ransomware attack hit Hospital Clinic de Barcelona- - Security Affairs
Security Patch Management Strengthens Ransomware Defence (trendmicro.com)
Ransomware gang posts video of data stolen from Minneapolis schools (bleepingcomputer.com)
IceFire ransomware now encrypts both Linux and Windows systems (bleepingcomputer.com)
Examining Ransomware Payments From a Data-Science Lens (trendmicro.com)
Cyble — BlackSnake Ransomware Emerges from Chaos Ransomware's Shadow
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
AI is taking phishing attacks to a whole new level of sophistication - Help Net Security
Catches of the Month: Phishing Scams for March 2023 - IT Governance UK Blog
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Experts Warn of "SMS Pumping" Fraud Epidemic - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Vishing attacks increasing, but AI's role still unclear | TechTarget
2FA/MFA
NCSC: Twitter Users Should Find MFA Alternatives - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Malware
DrayTek VPN routers hacked with new malware to steal data, evade detection (bleepingcomputer.com)
Malicious PyPI package signals direction of cyber crime • The Register
How to prevent Microsoft OneNote files from infecting Windows with malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Stealthy UEFI malware bypassing Secure Boot enabled by unpatchable Windows flaw | Ars Technica
New malware infects business routers for data theft, surveillance (bleepingcomputer.com)
Old Windows ‘Mock Folders’ UAC bypass used to drop malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Emotet malware attacks return after three-month break (bleepingcomputer.com)
AI-Powered 'BlackMamba' Keylogging Attack Evades Modern EDR Security (darkreading.com)
New ScrubCrypt Crypter Used in Cryptojacking Attacks Targeting Oracle WebLogic (thehackernews.com)
Hackers Exploiting Remote Desktop Software Flaws to Deploy PlugX Malware (thehackernews.com)
Custom Chinese Malware Found on SonicWall Appliance - SecurityWeek
FBI and international cops catch a NetWire RAT • The Register
Mobile
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Internet of Things – IoT
Data Breaches/Leaks
Credential Stuffing attack on Chick-fil-A impacted +71K users- Security Affairs
Popular fintech apps expose valuable, exploitable secrets - Help Net Security
PayPal Sued Over Data Breach that Impacted 35,000 users (hackread.com)
Acer Data Breach? Hacker Claims to Sell 160GB Trove of Stolen Data (hackread.com)
Data breach exposed millions of Verizon customers' account info (androidpolice.com)
Congress’ Social Security Numbers Leaked in DC Health Link Hack (gizmodo.com)
Data protection vendor Acronis admits to data leak • The Register
AT&T confirms 9m wireless accounts exposed by third part • The Register
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
BidenCash leaks 2.1M stolen credit/debit cards- Security Affairs
Malicious PyPI package signals direction of cyber crime • The Register
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
FTX Confirms $9 Billion in Customer Funds Vanished (gizmodo.com)
Russia-Ukraine war: How both sides of the conflict have used crypto to win (cointelegraph.com)
New ScrubCrypt Crypter Used in Cryptojacking Attacks Targeting Oracle WebLogic (thehackernews.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
FTX Confirms $9 Billion in Customer Funds Vanished (gizmodo.com)
Experts Warn of "SMS Pumping" Fraud Epidemic - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Scammers using voice-cloning A.I. to mimic relatives | Fortune
Alleged security breach leaves millions of dollars missing from Flutterwave accounts | TechCrunch
New Rise In ChatGPT Scams Reported By Fraudsters (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Deepfakes
Insurance
Dark Web
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Snap CISO talks risky supply chain security business • The Register
SolarWinds IR lead: supply-chain attacks 'getting bigger' • The Register
AT&T confirms 9m wireless accounts exposed by third part • The Register
Software Supply Chain
Cloud/SaaS
Experts Reveal Google Cloud Platform's Blind Spot for Data Exfiltration Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Hackers are quickly learning how to target cloud systems (axios.com)
Attack Surface Management
Asset Management
Encryption
New TPM 2.0 flaws could let hackers steal cryptographic keys (bleepingcomputer.com)
New Steganography Breakthrough Enables “Perfectly Secure” Digital Communications (scitechdaily.com)
API
Open Source
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Stolen credentials increasingly empower the cyber crime underground | CSO Online
Credential Stuffing attack on Chick-fil-A impacted +71K users- Security Affairs
The Role of Verifiable Credentials In Preventing Account Compromise (darkreading.com)
Young government workers show poor password management habits - Help Net Security
Social Media
NCSC: Twitter Users Should Find MFA Alternatives - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Training, Education and Awareness
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Inadequate patches and advisories increase cyber risk - Help Net Security
Why do Businesses Need to Focus More on Cyber security (hackread.com)
Flashpoint: Threat vectors converging, increasing damage | TechTarget
How to achieve and shore up cyber resilience in a recession - Help Net Security
The cyber security landscape in the era of economic instability – Help Net Security
Models, Frameworks and Standards
Open letter demands OWASP overhaul, warns of mass project exodus | CSO Online
NIST Retooling Cyber security Framework to Reflect Changing Cyber scape – MSSP Alert
Data Protection
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Core Members of DoppelPaymer Ransomware Gang Targeted in Germany and Ukraine (thehackernews.com)
FBI and international cops catch a NetWire RAT • The Register
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Secret Service and ICE break the law with fake phone towers • The Register
Thought you'd opted out of online tracking? Think again • The Register
Artificial Intelligence
AI is taking phishing attacks to a whole new level of sophistication - Help Net Security
Employees Are Feeding Sensitive Business Data to ChatGPT (darkreading.com)
You can poison AI datasets for just $60, a new study shows (fastcompany.com)
Thousands scammed by AI voices mimicking loved ones in emergencies | Ars Technica
Vishing attacks increasing, but AI's role still unclear | TechTarget
AI-Powered 'BlackMamba' Keylogging Attack Evades Modern EDR Security (darkreading.com)
Criminals will use ChatGPT to unleash wave of fraud, warns Darktrace (telegraph.co.uk)
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
What can security teams learn from a year of cyber warfare? | Computer Weekly
Pegasus spyware used to spy on a Polish mayor- Security Affairs
Russia-Ukraine war: How both sides of the conflict have used crypto to win (cointelegraph.com)
Sharp Panda targets government entities in Southeast Asia- Security Affairs
Managed Service Provider Identifies Potential Chinese Spy Ring - MSSP Alert
Chinese cyber spies target unpatched SonicWall gear • The Register
Nation State Actors
What can security teams learn from a year of cyber warfare? | Computer Weekly
Russia Bans Messengers, Including WhatsApp, Telegram, And More (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Russia-Ukraine war: How both sides of the conflict have used crypto to win (cointelegraph.com)
China-aligned APT is exploring new technology stacks for malicious tools - Help Net Security
Sharp Panda targets government entities in Southeast Asia- Security Affairs
Managed Service Provider Identifies Potential Chinese Spy Ring - MSSP Alert
Chinese cyber spies target unpatched SonicWall gear • The Register
Lazarus group infiltrated South Korean finance firm twice last year | CSO Online
New Chinese regulatory body expected to streamline data governance rules | CSO Online
Vulnerability Management
Inadequate patches and advisories increase cyber risk - Help Net Security
Build Cyber Resiliency With These Security Threat-Mitigation Considerations
Zero Day Threat Protection for Your Network (trendmicro.com)
557 CVEs Added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog in 2022 - SecurityWeek
Machine Learning Improves Prediction of Exploited Vulnerabilities (darkreading.com)
Security Patch Management Strengthens Ransomware Defense (trendmicro.com)
VulnCheck: CISA's KEV missing 42 vulnerabilities from 2022 | TechTarget
Vulnerabilities
Researchers discover 'kill switch' in Starlink terminals - Security - iTnews
PoC exploit for recently patched Microsoft Word RCE is public (CVE-2023-21716) - Help Net Security
CISA's KEV Catalog Updated with 3 New Flaws Threatening IT Management Systems (thehackernews.com)
Exploitation of Critical Vulnerability in End-of-Life VMware Product Ongoing - SecurityWeek
Fortinet warns of new critical unauthenticated RCE vulnerability (bleepingcomputer.com)
Chinese cyber spies target unpatched SonicWall gear • The Register
Bitwarden flaw can let hackers steal passwords using iframes (bleepingcomputer.com)
Veeam warns to install patches to fix a bug in Backup & Replication- Security Affairs
Hackers Exploiting Remote Desktop Software Flaws to Deploy PlugX Malware (thehackernews.com)
Vulnerability Exposes Cisco Enterprise Routers to Disruptive Attacks - SecurityWeek
Jenkins Server Vulnerabilities Chained for Remote Code Execution - SecurityWeek
Other News
Biden Administration's Cyber security Strategy Takes Aim at Hackers (gizmodo.com)
Tracking device technology: A double-edged sword for CISOs | CSO Online
From Disinformation to Deep Fakes: How Threat Actors Manipulate Reality (thehackernews.com)
What CISOs need to understand about document signing - Help Net Security
Thousands of websites hacked as part of redirection campaign- Security Affairs
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 13 January 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 13 January 2023:
-Quarter of UK SMBs Hit by Ransomware in 2022
-Global Cyber Attack Volume Surges 38% in 2022
-1 in 3 Organisations Do Not Provide Any Cyber Security Training to Remote Workers Despite the Majority of Employees Having Access to Critical Data
-AI-Generated Phishing Attacks Are Becoming More Convincing
-Customer and Employee Data the Top Prize for Hackers
-Royal Mail hit by Ransomware Attack, Causes ‘Severe Disruption’ to Services
-The Guardian Confirms Personal Information Compromised in Ransomware Attack
-Ransomware Gang Releases Info Stolen from 14 UK Schools, Including Passport Scans
-The Dark Web’s Criminal Minds See Internet of Things as Next Big Hacking Prize
-Corrupted File to Blame for Computer Glitch which Grounded Every US Flight
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
Quarter of UK SMBs Hit by Ransomware in 2022
Over one in four (26%) British SMBs have been targeted by ransomware over the past year, with half (47%) of those compromised paying their extorters, according to new data from anti-virus provider Avast. The security vendor polled 1000 IT decision makers from UK SMBs back in October, to better understand the risk landscape over the previous 12 months.
More than two-thirds (68%) of respondents said they are more concerned about being attacked since the start of the war in Ukraine, fuelling concerns that have led to half (50%) investing in cyber-insurance. They’re wise to do so, considering that 41% of those hit by ransomware lost data, while 34% lost access to devices, according to Avast.
Given that SMBs comprise over 99% of private sector businesses in the country, it’s reassuring that cyber is now being viewed as a major business risk. Nearly half (48%) ranked it as one of the biggest threats they currently face, versus 66% who cited financial risk stemming from surging operational cost. More respondents cited cyber as a top threat than did physical security (35%) and supply chain disruption (33%).
Avast argued that SMBs are among the groups most vulnerable to cyber-threats as they often have very limited budget and resources, and many don’t have somebody on staff managing security holistically. As a result, not only are SMB’s lacking in their defence, but they’re also slower and less able to react to incidents.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/quarter-of-uk-smbs-hit-ransomware/
Global Cyber Attack Volume Surges 38% in 2022
The number of cyber attacks recorded last year was nearly two-fifths (38%) greater than the total volume observed in 2021, according to Check Point.
The security vendor claimed the increase was largely due to a surge in attacks on healthcare organisations, which saw the largest year-on-year (YoY) increase (74%), and the activities of smaller, more agile hacking groups.
Overall, attacks reached an all-time high in Q4 with an average of 1168 weekly attacks per organisation. The average weekly figures for the year were highest for education sector organisations (2314), government and military (1661) and healthcare (1463).
Threat actors appear to have capitalised on gaps in security created by the shift to remote working. The ransomware ecosystem is continuing to evolve and grow with smaller, more agile criminal groups that form to evade law enforcement. Hackers are also now increasingly widening their aim to target business collaboration tools such as Slack, Teams, OneDrive and Google Drive with phishing exploits. These make for a rich source of sensitive data given that most organisations’ employees continue to work remotely.
It is predicted that AI tools like ChatGPT would help to fuel a continued surge in attacks in 2023 by making it quicker and easier for bad actors to generate malicious code and emails.
Recorded cyber-attacks on US organisations grew 57% YoY in 2022, while the figure was even higher in the UK (77%). This chimes with data from UK ISP Beaming, which found that 2022 was the busiest year on record for attacks. It recorded 687,489 attempts to breach UK businesses in 2022 – the equivalent of one attack every 46 seconds.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/global-cyberattack-volume-surges/
1 in 3 Organisations Do Not Provide Any Cyber Security Training to Remote Workers Despite the Majority of Employees Having Access to Critical Data
New research from cyber security provider Hornetsecurity has found that 33% of companies are not providing any cyber security awareness training to users who work remotely.
The study also revealed nearly three-quarters (74%) of remote staff have access to critical data, which is creating more risk for companies in the new hybrid working world.
Despite the current lack of training and employees feeling ill-equipped, almost half (44%) of respondents said their organisation plans to increase the percentage of employees that work remotely. The popularity of hybrid work, and the associated risks, means that companies must prioritise training and education to make remote working safe.
Traditional methods of controlling and securing company data aren't as effective when employees are working in remote locations and greater responsibility falls on the individual. Companies must acknowledge the unique risks associated with remote work and activate relevant security management systems, as well as empower employees to deal with a certain level of risk.
The independent survey, which quizzed 925 IT professionals from a range of business types and sizes globally, highlighted the security management challenges and employee cyber security risk when working remotely. The research revealed two core problems causing risk: employees having access to critical data, and not enough training being provided on how to manage cyber security or how to reduce the risk of a cyber-attack or breach.
AI-Generated Phishing Attacks Are Becoming More Convincing
It's time for you and your colleagues to become more sceptical about what you read.
That's a takeaway from a series of experiments undertaken using GPT-3 AI text-generating interfaces to create malicious messages designed to spear-phish, scam, harass, and spread fake news.
Experts at WithSecure have described their investigations into just how easy it is to automate the creation of credible yet malicious content at incredible speed. Amongst the use cases explored by the research were the use of GPT-3 models to create:
Phishing content – emails or messages designed to trick a user into opening a malicious attachment or visiting a malicious link
Social opposition – social media messages designed to troll and harass individuals or to cause brand damage
Social validation – social media messages designed to advertise or sell, or to legitimise a scam
Fake news – research into how well GPT-3 can generate convincing fake news articles of events that weren’t part of its training set
All of these could, of course, be useful to cyber criminals hell-bent on scamming the unwary or spreading unrest.
Customer and Employee Data the Top Prize for Hackers
The theft of customer and employee data accounts for almost half (45%) of all stolen data between July 2021 and June 2022, according to a new report from cyber security solution provider Imperva.
The data is part of a 12-month analysis by Imperva Threat Research on the trends and threats related to data security in its report “More Lessons Learned from Analysing 100 Data Breaches”.
Their analysis found that theft of credit card information and password details dropped by 64% compared to 2021. The decline in stolen credit card and password data pointing to the uptake of basic security tactics like multi-factor authentication (MFA). However, in the long term, PII data is the most valuable data to cyber-criminals. With enough stolen PII, they can engage in full-on identity theft which is hugely profitable and very difficult to prevent. Credit cards and passwords can be changed the second there is a breach, but when PII is stolen, it can be years before it is weaponised by hackers.
The research also revealed the root causes of data breaches, with social engineering (17%) and unsecured databases (15%) two of the biggest culprits. Misconfigured applications were only responsible for 2% of data breaches, but Imperva said that businesses should expect this figure to rise in the near future, particularly with cloud-managed infrastructure where configuring for security requires significant expertise.
It’s really concerning that a third (32%) of data breaches are down to unsecured databases and social engineering attacks, since they’re both straightforward to mitigate. A publicly open database dramatically increases the risk of a breach and, all too often, they are left like this not out of a failure of security practices but rather the total absence of any security posture at all.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/customer-employee-data-hackers/
Royal Mail hit by Ransomware Attack, Causes ‘Severe Disruption’ to Services
Royal Mail experienced “severe service disruption” to its international export services following a ransomware attack, the company has announced. A statement said it was temporarily unable to despatch export items including letters and parcels to overseas destinations.
Royal Mail said: “We have asked customers temporarily to stop submitting any export items into the network while we work hard to resolve the issue” and advising that “Some customers may experience delay or disruption to items already shipped for export.”
The attack was later attributed to LockBit, a prolific ransomware gang with close ties to Russia. Both the NCSC and the NCA were involved in responding to the incident.
https://www.independent.co.uk/business/royal-mail-cyber-attack-exports-b2260308.html
The Guardian Confirms Personal Information Compromised in Ransomware Attack
British news organisation The Guardian has confirmed that personal information was compromised in a ransomware attack in December 2022.
The company fell victim to the attack just days before Christmas, when it instructed staff to work from home, announcing network disruptions that mostly impacted the print newspaper.
Right from the start, the Guardian said it suspected ransomware to have been involved in the incident, and this week the company confirmed that this was indeed the case. In an email to staff on Wednesday, The Guardian Media Group’s chief executive and the Guardian’s editor-in-chief said that the sophisticated cyber attack was likely the result of phishing.
They also announced that the personal information of UK staff members was compromised in the attack, but said that reader data and the information of US and Australia staff was not impacted. “We have seen no evidence that any data has been exposed online thus far and we continue to monitor this very closely,” the Guardian representatives said. While the attack forced the Guardian staff to work from home, online publishing has been unaffected, and production of daily newspapers has continued as well.
“We believe this was a criminal ransomware attack, and not the specific targeting of the Guardian as a media organisation,” the Guardian said.
The company continues to work on recovery and estimates that critical systems would be restored in the next two weeks. Staff, however, will continue to work from home until at least early February. “These attacks have become more frequent and sophisticated in the past three years, against organisations of all sizes, and kinds, in all countries,” the Guardian said.
https://www.securityweek.com/guardian-confirms-personal-information-compromised-ransomware-attack
Ransomware Gang Releases Info Stolen from 14 UK Schools, Including Passport Scans
Another month, another release of personal information stolen from a school system. This time, it's a group of 14 schools in the United Kingdom.
Once again, the perpetrator appears to be Vice Society, which is well known for targeting educational systems in the US. As the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) pointed out in a bulletin from Sept. 6, "K-12 institutions may be seen as particularly lucrative targets due to the amount of sensitive student data accessible through school systems or their managed service providers."
The UK hack may have turned up even more confidential information than the Los Angeles school system breach last year. As the BBC reported on Jan. 6, "One folder marked 'passports' contains passport scans for pupils and parents on school trips going back to 2011, whereas another marked 'contract' contains contractual offers made to staff alongside teaching documents on muscle contractions."
Some prominent school cyber attacks in the US include public school districts in Chicago, Baltimore, and Los Angeles. A new study from digital learning platform Clever claims that one in four schools experienced a cyber-incident over the past year, and according to a new report from security software vendor Emsisoft, at least 45 school districts and 44 higher learning institutions suffered ransomware attacks in 2022.
Schools are an attractive target as they are typically data-rich and resource-poor. Without proper resources in terms of dedicated staffing and the necessary tools and training to protect against cyber-attacks, schools can be a soft target. Many of the 14 schools hit by this latest leak are colleges and universities, but primary and secondary schools were also hit, according to the BBC's list.
The Dark Web’s Criminal Minds See Internet of Things as Next Big Hacking Prize
Cyber security experts say 2022 may have marked an inflection point due to the rapid proliferation of IoT (Internet of Things) devices.
Criminal groups buy and sell services, and one hot idea — a business model for a crime — can take off quickly when they realise that it works to do damage or to get people to pay. Attacks are evolving from those that shut down computers or stole data, to include those that could more directly wreak havoc on everyday life. IoT devices can be the entry points for attacks on parts of countries’ critical infrastructure, like electrical grids or pipelines, or they can be the specific targets of criminals, as in the case of cars or medical devices that contain software.
For the past decade, manufacturers, software companies and consumers have been rushing to the promise of Internet of Things devices. Now there are an estimated 17 billion in the world, from printers to garage door openers, each one packed with software (some of it open-source software) that can be easily hacked.
What many experts are anticipating is the day enterprising criminals or hackers affiliated with a nation-state figure out an easy-to-replicate scheme using IoT devices at scale. A group of criminals, perhaps connected to a foreign government, could figure out how to take control of many things at once – like cars, or medical devices. There have already been large-scale attacks using IoT, in the form of IoT botnets. In that case, actors leveraging unpatched vulnerabilities in IoT devices used control of those devices to carry out denial of service attacks against many targets. Those vulnerabilities are found regularly in ubiquitous products that are rarely updated.
In other words, the possibility already exists. It’s only a question of when a criminal or a nation decides to act in a way that targets the physical world at a large scale. There are a handful of companies, new regulatory approaches, a growing focus on cars as a particularly important area, and a new movement within the software engineering world to do a better job of incorporating cyber security from the beginning.
Corrupted File to Blame for Computer Glitch which Grounded Every US Flight
A corrupted file has been blamed for a glitch on the Federal Aviation Administration's computer system which saw every flight grounded across the US.
All outbound flights were grounded until around 9am Eastern Time (2pm GMT) on Wednesday as the FAA worked to restore its Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system, which alerts pilots of potential hazards along a flight route.
On Wednesday 4,948 flights within, into or out of the US had been delayed, according to flight tracker FlightAware.com, while 868 had been cancelled. Most delays were concentrated along the East Coast. Normal air traffic operations resumed gradually across the US following the outage to the NOTAM system that provides safety information to flight crews.
A corrupted file affected both the primary and the backup systems, a senior government official told NBC News on Wednesday night, adding that officials continue to investigate. Whilst Government officials said there was no evidence of a cyber attack, it shows the real world impacts that an outage or corrupted file can cause.
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Royal Mail unable to despatch items abroad after 'cyber incident' | UK News | Sky News
Lorenz ransomware gang plants backdoors to use months later (bleepingcomputer.com)
Quarter of UK SMBs Hit by Ransomware in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Worldwide Ransomware Attacks Trend (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
LastPass Faces Class-Action Lawsuit Over Password Vault Breach (pcmag.com)
Rackspace: Ransomware actor accessed 27 customers' data | TechTarget
Rackspace Ransomware Incident Highlights Risks of Relying on Mitigation Alone (darkreading.com)
Risk & Repeat: Analysing the Rackspace ransomware attack | TechTarget
Guardian confirms it was hit by ransomware attack | The Guardian | The Guardian
Post-ransomware attack, The Guardian warns staff their personal data was accessed • Graham Cluley
The Guardian Confirms Personal Information Compromised in Ransomware Attack | SecurityWeek.Com
Royal Mail cyber attack linked to LockBit ransomware operation (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hive Ransomware leaked 550 GB stolen from Consulate Health Care - Security Affairs
Iowa’s largest school district cancels classes after cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers leak sensitive files after attack on San Francisco transit police (nbcnews.com)
Vice Society ransomware claims attack on Australian firefighting service (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware attack at Hope Sentamu Learning Trust in York | York Press
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
AI-generated phishing emails just got much more convincing • The Register
Better Phishing, Easy Malicious Implants: How AI Could Change Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)
AI-generated phishing attacks are becoming more convincing | Tripwire
Twitter Data Leak: What the Exposure of 200 Million User Emails Means for You | WIRED
Phishing campaign targets government institution in Moldova - Security Affairs
Malware
Better Phishing, Easy Malicious Implants: How AI Could Change Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)
Turla, a Russian Espionage Group, Piggybacked on Other Hackers' USB Infections | WIRED
ChatGPT Used to Develop New Malicious Tools - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Russia’s Turla falls back on old malware C2 domains to avoid detection | Computer Weekly
Many of 13 New Mac Malware Families Discovered in 2022 Linked to China | SecurityWeek.Com
Dridex Malware Now Attacking macOS Systems with Novel Infection Method (thehackernews.com)
Over 1,300 fake AnyDesk sites push Vidar info-stealing malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Attackers abuse business-critical cloud apps to deliver malware - Help Net Security
New Analysis Reveals Raspberry Robin Can be Repurposed by Other Threat Actors (thehackernews.com)
6 PyPI Packages Detour Firewall Using Cloudflare Tunnels (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Microsoft: Kubernetes clusters hacked in malware campaign via PostgreSQL (bleepingcomputer.com)
Malicious PyPi packages create CloudFlare Tunnels to bypass firewalls (bleepingcomputer.com)
Gootkit Loader Actively Targets Australian Healthcare Industry (trendmicro.com)
Android TV box on Amazon came pre-installed with malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
VLC media player is being hiajcked to send out malware | TechRadar
RAT malware campaign tries to evade detection using polyglot files (bleepingcomputer.com)
Italian Users Warned of Malware Attack Targeting Sensitive Information (thehackernews.com)
Hackers push fake Pokemon NFT game to take over Windows devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
How to protect yourself from bot-driven account fraud - Help Net Security
Mobile
Android spyware strikes again targeting financial institutions and your money | Fox News
Messenger billed as better than Signal is riddled with vulnerabilities | Ars Technica
StrongPity hackers target Android users via trojanized Telegram app (bleepingcomputer.com)
Threema claims encryption flaws never had a real-world impact (bleepingcomputer.com)
Latest Firmware Flaws in Qualcomm Snapdragon Need Attention (darkreading.com)
Threat actors claim access to Telegram servers through insiders - Security Affairs
$20K Buys Insider Access to Telegram Servers, Dark Web Ad Claims (darkreading.com)
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
The most significant DDoS attacks in the past year - Help Net Security
Big Prizes, Cash on Offer for Joining 'DDosia' Anti-Ukraine Cyber attack Project (darkreading.com)
Internet of Things – IoT
The dark web's criminal minds see IoT as the next big hacking prize (cnbc.com)
Android TV box on Amazon came pre-installed with malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers can trick Wi-Fi devices into draining their own batteries | New Scientist
Data Breaches/Leaks
Twitter Data Leak: What the Exposure of 200 Million User Emails Means for You | WIRED
14 UK schools hit by cyber attack and documents leaked - BBC News
Air France and KLM notify customers of account hacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Vice Society Releases Info Stolen From 14 UK Schools, Including Passport Scans (darkreading.com)
Twitter's mushrooming data breach crisis could prove costly | CSO Online
Twitter Denies Hacking Claims, Assures Leaked User Data Not from its System (thehackernews.com)
CircleCI – code-building service suffers total credential compromise – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Aflac's Japan says US partner leaked cancer customer info • The Register
Data leak exposes information of 10,000 French social security beneficiaries | CSO Online
Chick-fil-A investigates reports of hacked customer accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
JP Morgan must face suit over $272m cybertheft • The Register
Cyber criminals are already using ChatGPT to own you | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Russian Cyber Crew Targets Ukraine Financial Sector Via Infected USB Drives - MSSP Alert
2022 Was the Biggest Year Yet for Crypto, if You're a Crook (gizmodo.com)
Researchers Find 'Digital Crime Haven' While Investigating Magecart Activity (darkreading.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
2022 Was the Biggest Year Yet for Crypto, if You're a Crook (gizmodo.com)
European police takes down call centres behind cryptocurrency scams (bleepingcomputer.com)
European cops shut down fake crypto call centres • The Register
Kinsing Crypto Malware Hits Kubernetes Clusters via Misconfigured PostgreSQL (thehackernews.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
European police takes down call centres behind cryptocurrency scams (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nationwide warns ‘checking is important’ as thousands targeted in online scam | Personal Finance |
How to protect yourself from bot-driven account fraud - Help Net Security
Insurance
Insurance Co. Beazley Launches $45M 'Cyber Catastrophe Bond' (gizmodo.com)
Insurer Beazley launches first catastrophe bond for cyber threats | Financial Times (ft.com)
4 Cyber Insurance Requirement Predictions for 2023 (trendmicro.com)
Dark Web
Threat actors claim access to Telegram servers through insiders - Security Affairs
$20K Buys Insider Access to Telegram Servers, Dark Web Ad Claims (darkreading.com)
Pakistan tells government agencies to avoid the dark web • The Register
Software Supply Chain
Cloud/SaaS
Attackers abuse business-critical cloud apps to deliver malware - Help Net Security
Top SaaS Cyber security Threats in 2023: Are You Ready? (thehackernews.com)
Why Do User Permissions Matter for SaaS Security? (thehackernews.com)
Attack Surface Management
Why the atomized network is growing, and how to protect it - Help Net Security
Web 3.0 Shifts Attack Surface and Highlights Need for Continuous Security (darkreading.com)
Identity and Access Management
Encryption
RSA crypto cracked? Or perhaps not! – Naked Security (sophos.com)
What is Triple DES and why is it being disallowed? | TechTarget
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
A fifth of passwords used by federal agency cracked in security audit | Ars Technica
Why FIDO and passwordless authentication is the future - Help Net Security
'Copyright Infringement' Lure Used for Facebook Credential Harvesting (darkreading.com)
Why it might be time to consider using FIDO-based authentication devices | CSO Online
Social Media
Twitter Data Leak: What the Exposure of 200 Million User Emails Means for You | WIRED
Twitter's mushrooming data breach crisis could prove costly | CSO Online
Twitter Denies Hacking Claims, Assures Leaked User Data Not from its System (thehackernews.com)
If governments are banning TikTok, why is it still on your corporate devices? | CSO Online
'Copyright Infringement' Lure Used for Facebook Credential Harvesting (darkreading.com)
Training, Education and Awareness
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Governance, Risk and Compliance
US cyber security director: The tech ecosystem has ‘become really unsafe’ (yahoo.com)
Global Cyber-Attack Volume Surges 38% in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Global Risks Report: Understand the risk landscape in 2023 and beyond - Help Net Security
Why Analysing Past Incidents Helps Teams More Than Usual Security Metrics (darkreading.com)
Cyber security spending and economic headwinds in 2023 | CSO Online
Practical Risk Management - Beyond Certification (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Vulnerable software, low incident reporting raises risks | TechTarget
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
European cops shut down fake crypto call centres • The Register
European police takes down call centres behind cryptocurrency scams (bleepingcomputer.com)
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Artificial Intelligence
AI-generated phishing emails just got much more convincing • The Register
ChatGPT: The infosec assistant that is jack of all trades, master of none - Help Net Security
Better Phishing, Easy Malicious Implants: How AI Could Change Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)
VALL-E AI can mimic a person’s voice from a 3-second snippet • The Register
ChatGPT Artificial Intelligence: An Upcoming Cyber security Threat? (darkreading.com)
Hackers Exploiting OpenAI’s ChatGPT to Deploy Malware (hackread.com)
Cyber criminals are already using ChatGPT to own you | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Trojan Puzzle attack trains AI assistants into suggesting malicious code (bleepingcomputer.com)
ChatGPT Used to Develop New Malicious Tools - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
DHS, CISA plan AI-based cyber security analytics sandbox • The Register
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Turla, a Russian Espionage Group, Piggybacked on Other Hackers' USB Infections | WIRED
Russia’s Turla falls back on old malware C2 domains to avoid detection | Computer Weekly
Exclusive: Russian hackers targeted U.S. nuclear scientists | Reuters
Russian cyber attacks on Ukraine halved with help from Amazon and Microsoft (telegraph.co.uk)
New Dark Pink APT group targets govt and military with custom malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Big Prizes, Cash on Offer for Joining 'DDosia' Anti-Ukraine Cyber attack Project (darkreading.com)
Phishing campaign targets government institution in Moldova - Security Affairs
Russian and Belarusian men charged with spying for Russian GRU - Security Affairs
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Turla, a Russian Espionage Group, Piggybacked on Other Hackers' USB Infections | WIRED
Russia’s Turla falls back on old malware C2 domains to avoid detection | Computer Weekly
Exclusive: Russian hackers targeted U.S. nuclear scientists | Reuters
Russian cyber attacks on Ukraine halved with help from Amazon and Microsoft (telegraph.co.uk)
How Elon Musk’s Starlink has changed warfare | The Economist
Big Prizes, Cash on Offer for Joining 'DDosia' Anti-Ukraine Cyber attack Project (darkreading.com)
Phishing campaign targets government institution in Moldova - Security Affairs
Russian and Belarusian men charged with spying for Russian GRU - Security Affairs
Musk's Starlink Satellite's Role In Ukraine War Inspires Taiwan To Thwart Potential China Attack
Nation State Actors – China
Many of 13 New Mac Malware Families Discovered in 2022 Linked to China | SecurityWeek.Com
If governments are banning TikTok, why is it still on your corporate devices? | CSO Online
Musk's Starlink Satellite's Role In Ukraine War Inspires Taiwan To Thwart Potential China Attack
Nation State Actors – Iran
Nation State Actors – Misc
Vulnerability Management
Patch Where it Hurts: Effective Vulnerability Management in 2023 (thehackernews.com)
70% of apps contain at least one security flaw after 5 years in production - Help Net Security
Rackspace Ransomware Incident Highlights Risks of Relying on Mitigation Alone (darkreading.com)
Does a hybrid model for vulnerability management make sense? • Graham Cluley
Vulnerabilities
Microsoft Patch Tuesday: 97 Windows Vulns, 1 Exploited Zero-Day | SecurityWeek.Com
Microsoft plugs actively exploited zero-day hole (CVE-2023-21674) - Help Net Security
The Roadmap to Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) - MSSP Alert
Hundreds of SugarCRM servers infected with critical in-the-wild exploit | Ars Technica
Cyber criminals bypass Windows security with driver-vulnerability exploit | CSO Online
Attackers target govt networks exploiting Fortinet SSL-VPN CVE-2022-42475 - Security Affairs
Adobe Plugs Security Holes in Acrobat, Reader Software | SecurityWeek.Com
Zoom Patches High Risk Flaws on Windows, MacOS Platforms | SecurityWeek.Com
Cisco warns of auth bypass bug with public exploit in EoL routers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Swiss Threema messaging app found to have vulnerabilities • The Register
Fortinet says hackers exploited critical vulnerability to infect VPN customers | Ars Technica
Critical bug in Cisco Small Business Routers will receive no patch - Security Affairs
Severe Vulnerabilities Allow Hacking of Asus Gaming Router | SecurityWeek.Com
JsonWebToken Security Bug Opens Servers to RCE (darkreading.com)
Latest Firmware Flaws in Qualcomm Snapdragon Need Attention (darkreading.com)
Tools and Controls
How to prevent and detect lateral movement attacks | TechTarget
Data Loss Prevention Capability Guide (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
4 key shifts in the breach and attack simulation (BAS) market - Help Net Security
How to prioritize effectively with threat modeling • The Register
XDR and the Age-old Problem of Alert Fatigue | SecurityWeek.Com
Why FIDO and passwordless authentication is the future - Help Net Security
Why it might be time to consider using FIDO-based authentication devices | CSO Online
DHS, CISA plan AI-based cyber security analytics sandbox • The Register
ChatGPT: The infosec assistant that is jack of all trades, master of none - Help Net Security
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
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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 06 January 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 06 January 2023:
-Cyber War in Ukraine, Ransomware Fears Drive Surge in Demand for Threat Intelligence Tools
-Cyber Premiums Holding Firms to Ransom
-Ransomware Ecosystem Becoming More Diverse For 2023
-Attackers Evolve Strategies to Outmanoeuvre Security Teams
-Building a Security-First Culture: The Key to Cyber Success
-Adobe, Apple, Cisco, Microsoft Flaws Make Up Half of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalogue
-First LastPass, Now Slack and CircleCI. The Hacks Go On (and will likely worsen)
-Data of 235 Million Twitter Users Leaked Online
-16 Car Makers, including BMW, Ferrari, Ford, Honda, Kia, Land Rover, Mercedes and Toyota, and Their Vehicles Hacked via Telematics, APIs, Infrastructure
-Ransomware Gang Apologizes, Gives SickKids Hospital Free Decryptor
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
Cyber War in Ukraine, Ransomware Fears Drive 2022 Surge in Demand for Threat Intelligence Tools
Amid the heightened fear of ransomware in 2022, threat intelligence emerged as a core requirement of doing business in a world gone mad.
A sizable amount of interest in the historically tech-centric discipline was fuelled in part by fear of cyber attacks tied to the war between Russia and Ukraine. In one example, the Ukrainian government warned the world that the Russian military was planning for multi-pronged attacks targeting the energy sector. Other nation-state cyber attack operations also contributed to the demand, including one June 2022 incident were Iran’s Cobalt Mirage exploited PowerShell vulnerabilities to launch ransomware attacks.
And of course, headlines of data breaches tied to vulnerabilities that organisations did not even know existed within their networks caught the attention not just of security teams, but the C-Suite and corporate board. A misconfigured Microsoft server, for example, wound up exposing years of sensitive data for tens of thousands of its customers, including personally identifiable information, user data, product and project details and intellectual property.
Indeed, according to 183 security pros surveyed by CyberRisk Alliance Business Intelligence in June 2022, threat intelligence has become critical in arming their security operations centres (SOCs) and incident response teams with operational data to help them make timely, informed decisions to prevent system downtime, thwart the theft of confidential data, and protect intellectual property.
Threat intelligence has emerged as a useful tool for educating executives. Many also credited threat intelligence for helping them protect their company and customer data — and potentially saving their organisation's reputation.
Cyber Premiums Holding Firms to Ransom
Soaring premiums for cyber security insurance are leaving businesses struggling to pay other bills, a key industry player has warned.
Mactavish, which buys insurance policies on behalf of companies, said that more than half of big businesses that had bought cyber security insurance had been forced to make cuts elsewhere to pay for it.
In a survey of 200 companies with a turnover above £10 million, Mactavish found that businesses were reducing office costs and staff bonuses and were cutting other types of insurance to meet the higher payments.
Last month Marsh, an insurance broker, revealed that costs for cyber insurance had increased by an average of 66 per cent in the third quarter compared with last year.
Meanwhile, the risk to businesses from hackers continues to rise. A government report on digital threats, published this month, showed the proportion of businesses experiencing cyber security incidents at least monthly had increased from 53 per cent to 60 per cent in the past year. Uber, Cisco and InterContinental Hotels Group were among high-profile targets this year.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cyber-safety-premiums-hold-firms-to-ransom-tnrsz3vs2
Ransomware Ecosystem Becoming More Diverse for 2023
The ransomware ecosystem has changed significantly in 2022, with attackers shifting from large groups that dominated the landscape toward smaller ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operations in search of more flexibility and drawing less attention from law enforcement. This democratisation of ransomware is bad news for organisations because it also brought in a diversification of tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), more indicators of compromise (IOCs) to track, and potentially more hurdles to jump through when trying to negotiate or pay ransoms.
Since 2019 the ransomware landscape has been dominated by big and professionalised ransomware operations that constantly made the news headlines and even looked for media attention to gain legitimacy with potential victims. We've seen ransomware groups with spokespeople who offered interviews to journalists or issued "press releases" on Twitter and their data leak websites in response to big breaches.
The DarkSide attack against Colonial Pipeline that led to a major fuel supply disruption along the US East Coast in 2021 highlighted the risk that ransomware attacks can have against critical infrastructure and led to increased efforts to combat this threat at the highest levels of government. This heightened attention from law enforcement made the owners of underground cyber crime forums reconsider their relationship with ransomware groups, with some forums banning the advertising of such threats. DarkSide ceased operations soon thereafter and was followed later in the year by REvil, also known as Sodinokibi, whose creators were indicted and one was even arrested. REvil was one of the most successful ransomware groups since 2019.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 quickly put a strain on the relationship between many ransomware groups who had members and affiliates in both Russia and Ukraine, or other former USSR countries. Some groups, such as Conti, rushed to take sides in the war, threatening to attack Western infrastructure in support of Russia. This was a departure from the usual business-like apolitical approach in which ransomware gangs had run their operations and drew criticism from other competing groups.
This was also followed by a leak of internal communications that exposed many of Conti's operational secrets and caused uneasiness with its affiliates. Following a major attack against the Costa Rican government the US State Department put up a reward of $10 million for information related to the identity or location of Conti's leaders, which likely contributed to the group's decision to shut down operations in May.
Conti's disappearance led to a drop in ransomware activity for a couple of months, but it didn't last long as the void was quickly filled by other groups, some of them newly set up and suspected to be the creation of former members of Conti, REvil and other groups that ceased operations over the past two years.
Attackers Evolve Strategies to Outmanoeuvre Security Teams
Attackers are expected to broaden their targeting strategy beyond regulated verticals such as financial services and healthcare. Large corporations (41%) will be the top targeted sector for cyber attacks in 2023, favoured over financial institutions (36%), government (14%), healthcare (9%), and education (8%), according to cyber security solution provider Titaniam.
The fast pace of change has introduced new vulnerabilities into corporate networks, making them an increasingly attractive target for cyber attackers. To compete in the digital marketplace, large companies are adopting more cloud services, aggregating data, pushing code into production faster, and connecting applications and systems via APIs.
As a result, misconfigured services, unprotected databases, little-tested applications, and unknown and unsecured APIs abound, all of which can be exploited by attackers.
The top four threats in 2022 were malware (30%), ransomware and extortion (27%), insider threats (26%), and phishing (17%).
The study found that enterprises expected malware (40%) to be their biggest challenge in 2023, followed by insider threats (26%), ransomware and related extortion (21%), and phishing (16%).
Malware, however, has more enterprises worried for 2023 than it did for 2022. It is important to note that these threats can overlap, where insiders can have a hand in ransomware attacks, phishing can be a source of malware, etc.
Attackers are evolving their strategies to surprise and outmanoeuvre security teams, which have hardened ransomware defences and improved phishing detection. They’re using new malware, such as loaders, infostealers, and wipers to accelerate attacks, steal sensitive data and create mayhem.
They’re also buying and stealing employee credentials to walk in through the front door of corporate networks.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/01/04/attackers-evolve-strategies-outmaneuver-security-teams/
Building a Security-First Culture: The Key to Cyber Success
Everyone has heard a car alarm go off in the middle of the night, but how often does that notification actually lead to action? Most people will hear the alarm, glance in its direction and then hope the owner will quickly remedy the situation.
Cars alarms often fail because they go off too often, leading to apathy and annoyance instead of being a cause for emergency. For many, cyber security has also become this way. While we see an increase in the noise surrounding the need for organisations to improve the security skillset and knowledge base of employees, there continues to be little proactive action on this front. Most organisations only provide employees with elementary-grade security training, often during their initial onboarding process or as part of a standard training requirement.
At the same time, many organisations also make the grave mistake of leaving all of their security responsibilities and obligations in the hands of IT and security teams. Time and time again, this approach has proven to be highly ineffective, especially as cyber criminals refine their social engineering tactics and target user accounts to execute their attacks.
Alarmingly, recent research found that 30% of employees do not think that they play a role in maintaining their company’s cyber security posture. The same report also revealed that only 39% of employees say they are likely to report a security incident.
As traditional boundaries of access disintegrate and more employees obtain permissions to sensitive company data and systems to carry out their tasks, business leaders must change the mindset of their employees when it comes to the role they play in keeping the organisation safe from cyber crime. The key is developing an integrated cyber security strategy that incorporates all aspects—including all stakeholders—of the organisation. This should be a strategy that breaks down departmental barriers and creates a culture of security responsibility where every team member plays a part.
Adobe, Apple, Cisco, Microsoft Flaws Make Up Half of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalogue
Back in November 2021, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) published the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalogue to help federal agencies and critical infrastructure organisations identify and remediate vulnerabilities that are actively being exploited. CISA added 548 new vulnerabilities to the catalogue across 58 updates from January to end of November 2022, according to cyber security solution provider Grey Noise in its first-ever "GreyNoise Mass Exploits Report."
Including the approximately 300 vulnerabilities added in November and December 2021, CISA listed approximately 850 vulnerabilities in the first year of the catalogue's existence.
Actively exploited vulnerabilities in Microsoft, Adobe, Cisco, and Apple products accounted for over half of the updates to the KEV catalogue in 2022, Grey Noise found. Seventy-seven percent of the updates to the KEV catalogue were older vulnerabilities dating back to before 2022. Many of these vulnerabilities have been around for two decades.
Several of the vulnerabilities in the KEV catalogue are from products that have already entered end-of-life (EOL) and end-of-service-life (EOSL), according to an analysis by a team from cyber security solution provider Cyber Security Works. Even though Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7 are EOSL products, the KEV catalogue lists 127 Server 2008 vulnerabilities and 117 Windows 7 vulnerabilities.
Even though the catalogue was originally intended for critical infrastructure and public-sector organisations, it has become the authoritative source on which vulnerabilities are – or have been – exploited by attackers. This is key because the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) assigned Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) identifiers for over 12,000 vulnerabilities in 2022, and it would be unwieldy for enterprise defenders to assess every single one to identify the ones relevant to their environments. Enterprise teams can use the catalogue's curated list of CVEs under active attack to create their priority lists.
First LastPass, Now Slack and CircleCI. The Hacks Go On (and will likely worsen)
In the past week, the world has learned of serious breaches hitting chat service Slack and software testing and delivery company CircleCI, though giving the companies' opaque wording—“security issue” and “security incident,” respectively—you'd be forgiven for thinking these events were minor.
The compromises—in Slack’s case, the theft of employee token credentials and for CircleCI, the possible exposure of all customer secrets it stores—come two weeks after password manager LastPass disclosed its own security failure: the theft of customers’ password vaults containing sensitive data in both encrypted and clear text form. It’s not clear if all three breaches are related, but that’s certainly a possibility.
The most concerning of the two new breaches is the one hitting CircleCI. The company reported a “security incident” that prompted it to advise customers to rotate “all secrets” they store on the service. The alert also informed customers that it had invalidated their Project API tokens, an event requiring them to go through the hassle of replacing them.
CircleCI says it’s used by more than 1 million developers in support of 30,000 organisations and runs nearly 1 million daily jobs. The potential exposure of all those secrets—which could be login credentials, access tokens, and who knows what else—could prove disastrous for the security of the entire Internet.
It’s possible that some or all of these breaches are related. The Internet relies on a massive ecosystem of content delivery networks, authentication services, software development tool makers, and other companies. Threat actors frequently hack one company and use the data or access they obtain to breach that company's customers or partners. That was the case with the August breach of security provider Twilio. The same threat actor targeted 136 other companies. Something similar played out in the last days of 2020 when hackers compromised Solar Winds, gained control of its software build system, and used it to infect roughly 40 Solar Winds customers.
For now, people should brace themselves for additional disclosures from companies they rely on. Checking internal system logs for suspicious entries, turning on multifactor authentication, and patching network systems are always good ideas, but given the current events, those precautions should be expedited. It’s also worth checking logs for any contact with the IP address 54.145.167.181, which one security practitioner said was connected to the CircleCI breach.
Data of 235 Million Twitter Users Leaked Online
A data leak containing email addresses for 235 million Twitter users has been published on a popular hacker forum. Many experts have immediately analysed it and confirmed the authenticity of many of the entries in the huge leaked archive.
In January 2022, a report claimed the discovery of a vulnerability that can be exploited by an attacker to find a Twitter account by the associated phone number/email, even if the user has opted to prevent this in the privacy options. The vulnerability was exploited by multiple threat actors to scrape Twitter user profiles containing both private (phone numbers and email addresses) and public data, and was present within the social media platforms application programming interface (API) from June 2021 until January 2022.
At the end of July 2022, a threat actor leaked data of 5.4 million Twitter accounts that were obtained by exploiting the forementioned, now-fixed vulnerability in the popular social media platform. The scraped data was then put up for sale on various online cyber crime marketplaces. In August, Twitter confirmed that the data breach was caused by a now-patched zero-day flaw.
In December another Twitter data leak made the headlines, a threat actor obtained data of 400,000,000 Twitter users and attempted to sell it. The seller claimed the database is private, and he provided a sample of 1,000 accounts as proof of claims which included the private information of prominent users such as Donald Trump JR, Brian Krebs, and many more. The seller, who is a member of a popular data breach forum, claimed the data was scraped via a vulnerability. The database includes emails and phone numbers of celebrities, politicians, companies, normal users, and a lot of special usernames.
https://securityaffairs.com/140352/data-breach/twitter-data-leak-235m-users.html
16 Car Makers, including BMW, Ferrari, Ford, Honda, Kia, Land Rover, Mercedes and Toyota, and Their Vehicles Hacked via Telematics, APIs, and Infrastructure
A group of seven security researchers have discovered numerous vulnerabilities in vehicles from 16 car makers, including bugs that allowed them to control car functions and start or stop the engine.
Multiple other security defects, the researchers say, allowed them to access a car maker’s internal applications and systems, leading to the exposure of personally identifiable information (PII) belonging to customers and employees, and account takeover, among others. The hacks targeted telematic systems, automotive APIs, and infrastructure.
Impacted car models include Acura, BMW, Ferrari, Ford, Genesis, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Jaguar, Kia, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Porsche, Rolls Royce, and Toyota. The vulnerabilities were identified over the course of 2022. Car manufacturers were informed about the security holes and they released patches.
According to the researchers, they were able to send commands to Acura, Genesis, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Infiniti, Nissan, and Porsche vehicles.
Using only the VIN (vehicle identification number), which is typically visible on the windshield, the researchers were able to start/stop the engine, remotely lock/unlock the vehicle, flash headlights, honk vehicles, and retrieve the precise location of Acura, Honda, Kia, Infiniti, and Nissan cars.
They could also lock users out of remote vehicle management and could change car ownership.
https://www.securityweek.com/16-car-makers-and-their-vehicles-hacked-telematics-apis-infrastructure
Ransomware Gang Apologises, and Gives SickKids Hospital Free Decrypter
The LockBit ransomware gang has released a free decrypter for the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), saying one of its members violated rules by attacking the healthcare organisation. SickKids is a teaching and research hospital in Toronto that focuses on providing healthcare to sick children.
On December 18th, the hospital suffered a ransomware attack that impacted internal and corporate systems, hospital phone lines, and the website. While the attack only encrypted a few systems, SickKids stated that the incident caused delays in receiving lab and imaging results and resulted in longer patient wait times.
On December 29th, SickKids announced that it had restored 50% of its priority systems, including those causing diagnostic or treatment delays. Two days after SickKids' latest announcement, the LockBit ransomware gang apologised for the attack on the hospital and released a decrypter for free.
“We formally apologise for the attack on sikkids.ca and give back the decrypter for free, the partner who attacked this hospital violated our rules, is blocked and is no longer in our affiliate programme," stated the ransomware gang.
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Rackspace: Ransomware Attack Bypassed ProxyNotShell Mitigations (darkreading.com)
Rackspace: Customer email data accessed in ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware gang cloned victim’s website to leak stolen data (bleepingcomputer.com)
Rackspace identifies hacking group responsible for early December ransomware attack | TPR
Ransomware ecosystem becoming more diverse for 2023 | CSO Online
Rackspace Sunsets Email Service Downed in Ransomware Attack (darkreading.com)
December ransomware disclosures reveal high-profile victims | TechTarget
The Guardian ransomware attack hits week two as staff WFH • The Register
Unraveling the techniques of Mac ransomware - Microsoft Security Blog
Bitdefender releases free MegaCortex ransomware decryptor (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware Research: More than 200 US Infrastructure Organisations Attacked in 2022 - MSSP Alert
Ransomware impacts over 200 govt, edu, healthcare orgs in 2022 (bleepingcomputer.com)
Guardian ransomware attack: Staff told work from home to 23 Jan (pressgazette.co.uk)
Rail giant Wabtec discloses data breach after Lockbit ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Christmas Eve 'cyber attack' forced Arnold Clark's network down | STV News
Royal ransomware claims attack on Queensland University of Technology (bleepingcomputer.com)
LockBit: Sorry for SickKids, but not housing authority • The Register
Canadian mining firm shuts down mill after ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Data of 235 million Twitter users leaked online - Security Affairs
Is NHS The Most Impersonated UK Government "Brand"? (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
The Evolving Tactics of Vidar Stealer: From Phishing Emails to Social Media (thehackernews.com)
Ongoing Flipper Zero phishing attacks target infosec community (bleepingcomputer.com)
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Malware
Raspberry Robin Worm Evolves to Attack Financial and Insurance Sectors in Europe (thehackernews.com)
Hackers abuse Windows error reporting tool to deploy malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
New SHC-compiled Linux malware installs cryptominers, DDoS bots (bleepingcomputer.com)
Bluebottle hackers used signed Windows driver in attacks on banks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Dridex Returns, Targets MacOS Using New Entry Method (trendmicro.com)
New Linux malware uses 30 plugin exploits to backdoor WordPress sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
PyTorch discloses malicious dependency chain compromise over holidays (bleepingcomputer.com)
WordPress Sites Under Attack from Newly Found Linux Trojan (darkreading.com)
Blind Eagle Hackers Return with Refined Tools and Sophisticated Infection Chain (thehackernews.com)
Raspberry Robin Worm Hatches a Highly Complex Upgrade (darkreading.com)
The Evolving Tactics of Vidar Stealer: From Phishing Emails to Social Media (thehackernews.com)
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Internet of Things – IoT
Data Breaches/Leaks
Data of over 200 million Deezer users stolen, leaks on hacking forum • Graham Cluley
Five Guys Data Breach Puts HR Data Under a Heat Lamp (darkreading.com)
Analysis Of Top 10 Countries Mostly Targeted By Data Breaches (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
I bought a $15 router at Goodwill — and found a millionaire's dirty secrets (nypost.com)
Critical flaws found in Ferrari, BMW, Porsche, and other carmakers - Security Affairs
Toyota, Mercedes, BMW API flaws exposed owners’ personal info (bleepingcomputer.com)
Threat actors stole Slack private source code repositories - Security Affairs
Data of over 200 million Deezer users stolen, leaks on hacking forum • Graham Cluley
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Threat Actors Evade Detection Through Geofencing & Fingerprinting (darkreading.com)
Attackers create 130K fake accounts to abuse limited-time cloud computing resources | CSO Online
Ukrainian Cops Bust Prolific Fraud Call Centre - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Software engineer busted after being inspired by Office Space scam | PC Gamer
Are Meta and Twitter Ushering in a New Age of Insider Threats? (darkreading.com)
Ex-GE engineer sentenced for stealing turbine tech for China • The Register
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Avast: Expect Cyber crime "Scamdemic" to Continue in 2023 - MSSP Alert
Software engineer busted after being inspired by Office Space scam | PC Gamer
US regulators warn banks over cryptocurrency risks - BBC News
RedZei Chinese Scammers Targeting Chinese Students in the UK (thehackernews.com)
Ukrainian Cops Bust Prolific Fraud Call Centre - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Impersonation Attacks
AML/CFT/Sanctions
Insurance
Cyber safety premiums holding firms to ransom | Business | The Times
How can businesses decrease cyber insurance premiums while maintaining coverage? - Help Net Security
Dark Web
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Software Supply Chain
Cloud/SaaS
Encryption
API
Car companies massively exposed to web vulnerabilities | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)
16 Car Makers and Their Vehicles Hacked via Telematics, APIs, Infrastructure | SecurityWeek.Com
What Are Some Ways to Make APIs More Secure? (darkreading.com)
Critical flaws found in Ferrari, BMW, Porsche, and other carmakers - Security Affairs
Open Source
New SHC-compiled Linux malware installs cryptominers, DDoS bots (bleepingcomputer.com)
New Linux malware uses 30 plugin exploits to backdoor WordPress sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Social Media
Data of 235 million Twitter users leaked online - Security Affairs
The Evolving Tactics of Vidar Stealer: From Phishing Emails to Social Media (thehackernews.com)
Are Meta and Twitter Ushering in a New Age of Insider Threats? (darkreading.com)
Meta fined €390m over use of data for targeted ads - BBC News
More Political Storms for TikTok After US Government Ban | SecurityWeek.Com
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Cyber safety premiums holding firms to ransom | Business | The Times
Attackers never let a critical vulnerability go to waste - Help Net Security
Attackers evolve strategies to outmanoeuvre security teams - Help Net Security
How to start planning for disaster recovery - Help Net Security
Building A Security-First Culture: The Key To Cyber Success (forbes.com)
Data backup is no longer just about operational fallback - Help Net Security
Threat Actors Evade Detection Through Geofencing & Fingerprinting (darkreading.com)
How can businesses decrease cyber insurance premiums while maintaining coverage? - Help Net Security
Secure Disposal
Backup and Recovery
Data Protection
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
National security fears over police using Chinese tech | News | The Times
Meta fined €390m over use of data for targeted ads - BBC News
Artificial Intelligence
ChatGPT: An Easy Cyber crime Target For Cyber attacks (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
OpenAI's ChatGPT previews how AI can help hackers breach more networks (axios.com)
NATO tests AI’s ability to protect critical infrastructure against cyber attacks | CSO Online
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
War and Geopolitical Conflict: The New Battleground for DDoS Attacks (darkreading.com)
Cyber attacks against governments jumped 95% in last half of 2022, CloudSek says | CSO Online
It's time to focus on information warfare's hard questions (cyberscoop.com)
National security fears over police using Chinese tech | News | The Times
Ex-GE engineer sentenced for stealing turbine tech for China • The Register
Pro-Russia cyber attacks aim at destabilizing Poland - Security Affairs
Poland warns of attacks by Russia-linked Ghostwriter hacking group (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Nation State Actors – China
National security fears over police using Chinese tech | News | The Times
Ex-GE engineer sentenced for stealing turbine tech for China • The Register
Nation State Actors – Iran
Nation State Actors – Misc
Vulnerability Management
Adobe, Apple, Cisco, Microsoft Flaws Make Up Half of KEV Catalog (darkreading.com)
Attackers never let a critical vulnerability go to waste - Help Net Security
Vulnerabilities
Over 60,000 Exchange servers vulnerable to ProxyNotShell attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Adobe, Apple, Cisco, Microsoft Flaws Make Up Half of KEV Catalog (darkreading.com)
Rackspace: Ransomware Attack Bypassed ProxyNotShell Mitigations (darkreading.com)
Zoho urges admins to patch severe ManageEngine bug immediately (bleepingcomputer.com)
Android's First Security Updates for 2023 Patch 60 Vulnerabilities | SecurityWeek.Com
Fortinet and Zoho Urge Customers to Patch Enterprise Software Vulnerabilities (thehackernews.com)
Qualcomm, Lenovo flag multiple high impact firmware vulnerabilities | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Netgear Wi-Fi routers need to be patched immediately | TechRadar
Other News
The cyber security industry will undergo significant changes in 2023 - Help Net Security
SecurityAffairs Top 10 cybersecurity posts of 2022 - Security Affairs
BleepingComputer's most popular cybersecurity stories of 2022
WordPress Security: 22 Ways To Protect Your Website (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Cyber attacks against governments jumped 95% in last half of 2022, CloudSek says | CSO Online
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 30 December 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 30 December 2022:
-Cyber Attacks Set to Become ‘Uninsurable’, Says Zurich Chief
-Your Business Should Compensate for Modern Ransomware Capabilities Right Now
-Reported Phishing Attacks Have Quintupled
-Ransomware, DDoS See Major Upsurge Led by Upstart Hacker Group
-Videoconferencing Worries Grow, With SMBs in Cyber Attack Crosshairs
-Will the Crypto Crash Impact Cyber Security in 2023? Maybe.
-The Worst Hacks of 2022
-Geopolitical Tensions Expected to Further Impact Cyber Security in 2023
-Fraudsters’ Working Patterns Have Changed in Recent Years
-Hacktivism is Back and Messier Than Ever
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
Cyber Attacks Set to Become ‘Uninsurable’, Says Zurich Chief
The chief executive of one of Europe’s biggest insurance companies has warned that cyber attacks, rather than natural catastrophes, will become “uninsurable” as the disruption from hacks continues to grow.
Insurance executives have been increasingly vocal in recent years about systemic risks, such as pandemics and climate change, that test the sector’s ability to provide coverage. For the second year in a row, natural catastrophe-related claims are expected to top $100bn.
But Mario Greco, chief executive at insurer Zurich, told the Financial Times that cyber was the risk to watch. “What will become uninsurable is going to be cyber,” he said. “What if someone takes control of vital parts of our infrastructure, the consequences of that?” Recent attacks that have disrupted hospitals, shut down pipelines and targeted government departments have all fed concern about this expanding risk among industry executives. Focusing on the privacy risk to individuals was missing the bigger picture, Greco added: “First off, there must be a perception that this is not just data . . . this is about civilisation. These people can severely disrupt our lives.”
Spiralling cyber losses in recent years have prompted emergency measures by the sector’s underwriters to limit their exposure. As well as pushing up prices, some insurers have responded by tweaking policies so clients retain more losses. There are exemptions written into policies for certain types of attacks. In 2019, Zurich initially denied a $100mn claim from food company Mondelez, arising from the NotPetya attack, on the basis that the policy excluded a “warlike action”. The two sides later settled. In September, Lloyd’s of London defended a move to limit systemic risk from cyber attacks by requesting that insurance policies written in the market have an exemption for state-backed attacks.
https://www.ft.com/content/63ea94fa-c6fc-449f-b2b8-ea29cc83637d
Your Business Should Compensate for Modern Ransomware Capabilities Right Now
The “if, not when” mentality surrounding ransomware may be the biggest modern threat to business longevity. Companies of all sizes and across all industries are increasingly common targets for ransomware attacks, and we know that 94% of organisations experienced a cyber security incident last year alone. Yet, many enterprises continue to operate with decades-old security protocols that are unequipped to combat modern ransomware. Leaders have prioritised improving physical security measures in light of the pandemic — so why haven’t ransomware protections improved?
Maybe it’s the mistaken notion that ransomware attacks are declining. In reality, Q1 of 2022 saw a 200% YoY increase in ransomware incidents. Meanwhile, the rise in Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) offerings suggests that cyber threats have become a commodity for bad actors.
The RaaS market presents a new and troubling trend for business leaders and IT professionals. With RaaS — a subscription ransomware model that allows affiliates to deploy malware for a fee — the barrier to entry for hackers is lower than ever. The relatively unskilled nature of RaaS hackers may explain why the average ransomware downtime has plummeted to just 3.85 days (compared to an average attack duration of over two months in 2019).
While the decrease in attack duration is promising, the rise of RaaS still suggests an inconvenient truth for business leaders: All organisations are at risk. And in time, all organisations will become a target, which is why it’s time for IT and business leaders to implement tough cyber security protocols.
Reported Phishing Attacks Have Quintupled
In the third quarter of 2022, the international Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) consortium observed 1,270,883 total phishing attacks; the worst quarter for phishing that APWG has ever observed. The total for August 2022 was 430,141 phishing sites, the highest monthly total ever reported to APWG.
Over recent years, reported phishing attacks submitted to APWG have more than quintupled since the first quarter of 2020, when APWG observed 230,554 attacks. The rise in Q3 2022 was attributable, in part, to increasing numbers of attacks reported against several specific targeted brands. These target companies and their customers suffered from large numbers of attacks from persistent phishers.
Threat researchers at the cyber security solution provider Fortra noted a 488 percent increase in response-based email attacks in Q3 2022 compared to the prior quarter. While every subtype of these attacks increased compared to Q2, the largest increase was in Advance Fee Fraud schemes, which rose by a staggering 1,074 percent.
In the third quarter of 2022, APWG founding member OpSec Security found that phishing attacks against the financial sector, which includes banks, remained the largest set of attacks, accounting for 23.2 percent of all phishing. Attacks against webmail and software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers remained prevalent as well. Phishing against social media services fell to 11 percent of the total, down from 15.3 percent.
Phishing against cryptocurrency targets — such as cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet providers — fell from 4.5 percent of all phishing attacks in Q2 2022 to 2 percent in Q3. This mirrored the fall in value of many cryptocurrencies since mid-year.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/12/28/reported-phishing-attacks-quintupled/
Ransomware, DDoS See Major Upsurge Led by Upstart Hacker Group
Cyber threat actors Cuba and Royal are driving a 41% boom in ransomware and other attacks hitting industry and consumer goods and services.
According to the Global Threat Intelligence team of information assurance firm NCC Group, November saw a 41% increase in ransomware attacks from 188 incidents to 265. In its most recent Monthly Threat Pulse, the group reported that the month was the most active for ransomware attacks since April this year.
Key takeaways from the study:
Ransomware attacks rose by 41% in November.
Threat group Royal (16%) was the most active, replacing LockBit as the worst offender for the first time since September 2021.
Industrials (32%) and consumer cyclicals (44%) remain the top two most targeted sectors, but technology experienced a large 75% increase over the last month.
Regional data remains consistent with last month — North America (45%), Europe (25%) and Asia (14%)
DDoS attacks continue to increase.
Recent examples in the services sector include the Play ransomware group’s claimed attack of the German H-Hotels chain, resulting in communications outages. This attack reportedly uses a vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange called ProxyNotShell, which as the name implies, has similarities to the ProxyShell zero-day vulnerability revealed in 2021.
Also, back on the scene is the TrueBot malware downloader (a.k.a., the silence.downloader), which is showing up in an increasing number of devices. TrueBot Windows malware, designed by a Russian-speaking hacking group identified as Silence, has resurfaced bearing Ransom.Clop, which first appeared in 2019. Clop ransomware encrypts systems and exfiltrates data with the threat that if no ransom is forthcoming, the data will show up on a leak site.
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/ransomware-ddos-major-upsurge-led-upstart-hacker-group/
Videoconferencing Worries Grow, With SMBs in Cyber Attack Crosshairs
Securing videoconferencing solutions is just one of many IT security challenges small businesses are facing, often with limited financial and human resources.
It's no secret that the acceleration of work-from-home and distributed workforce trends — infamously spurred on by the pandemic — has occurred in tandem with the rise of video communications and collaboration platforms, led by Zoom, Microsoft, and Cisco.
But given that videoconferencing now plays a critical role in how businesses interact with their employees, customers, clients, vendors, and others, these platforms carry significant potential security risks, researchers say.
Organisations use videoconferencing to discuss M&A, legal, military, healthcare, intellectual property and other topics, and even corporate strategies. A loss of that data could be catastrophic for a company, its employees, its clients, and its customers.
However, a recent report on videoconferencing security showed that 93% of IT professionals surveyed acknowledged security vulnerabilities and gaping risks in their videoconferencing solutions.
Among the most relevant risks is the lack of controlled access to conversations that could result in disruption, sabotage, compromise, or exposure of sensitive information, while use of nonsecure, outdated, or unpatched videoconferencing applications can expose security flaws.
The risks include the potential for interruptions, unauthorised access, and perhaps most concerning, the opportunity for a bad actor to acquire sensitive information.
Will the Crypto Crash Impact Cyber Security in 2023? Maybe.
With the implosion of the FTX exchange putting a punctuation mark on the cryptocurrency crash of 2022, one of the natural questions for those in the cyber security world is, how will this rapid decline of cryptocurrency valuations change the cyber crime economy?
Throughout the most recent crypto boom, and even before then, cyber criminals have used and abused cryptocurrency to build up their empires. The cryptocurrency market provides the extortionary medium for ransomware; it's a hotbed of scams against consumers to steal their wallets and accounts. Traditionally, it's provided a ton of anonymous cover for money laundering on the back end of a range of cyber criminal enterprises.
Even so, according to cyber security experts and intelligence analysts, while there certainly have been some shifts in trends and tactics that they believe are loosely tied to the crypto crash, the jury's still out on long-term impacts.
Regardless of crypto values, cyber criminals this year have definitely become more sophisticated in how they use cryptocurrencies to monetise their attacks including the use by some ransomware groups taking advantage of yield farming within decentralised finance (DeFi), as an example.
The concept of yield farming is the same as lending money, with a contract in place that clearly shows how much interest will need to be paid. The advantage for ransomware groups is that the 'interest' will be legitimate proceeds, so there will be no need to launder or hide it.
Threat actors are increasingly turning toward 'stablecoins,' which are usually tied to fiat currencies or gold to stem their volatility. In many ways, the downturn in crypto values has increased the risk appetite of cyber criminals and is spurring them into more investment fraud and cryptocurrency scams.
https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/crypto-crash-impact-cybersecurity-2023-maybe
The Worst Hacks of 2022
The year was marked by sinister new twists on cyber security classics, including phishing, breaches, and ransomware attacks.
With the pandemic evolving into an amorphous new phase and political polarisation on the rise around the world, 2022 was an uneasy and often perplexing year in digital security. And while hackers frequently leaned on old chestnuts like phishing and ransomware attacks, they still found vicious new variations to subvert defences.
Technology magazine Wired looked back on the year's worst breaches, leaks, ransomware attacks, state-sponsored hacking campaigns, and digital takeovers. If the first years of the 2020s are any indication, the digital security field in 2023 will be more bizarre and unpredictable than ever. Stay alert, and stay safe out there.
Russia Hacking Ukraine
For years, Russia has pummelled Ukraine with brutal digital attacks causing blackouts, stealing and destroying data, meddling in elections, and releasing destructive malware to ravage the country's networks. Since invading Ukraine in February, though, times have changed for some of Russia's most prominent and most dangerous military hackers. Shrewd long-term campaigns and grimly ingenious hacks have largely given way to a stricter and more regimented clip of quick intrusions into Ukrainian institutions, reconnaissance, and widespread destruction on the network—and then repeated access over and over again, whether through a new breach or by maintaining the old access.
Twilio and the 0ktapus Phishing Spree
Over the summer, a group of researchers dubbed 0ktapus went on a massive phishing bender, compromising nearly 10,000 accounts within more than 130 organisations. The majority of the victim institutions were US-based, but there were dozens in other countries as well.
Ransomware Still Hitting the Most Vulnerable Targets
In recent years, countries around the world and the cyber security industry have increasingly focused on countering ransomware attacks. While there has been some progress on deterrence, ransomware gangs were still on a rampage in 2022 and continued to target vulnerable and vital social institutions, including health care providers and schools. The Russian-speaking group Vice Society, for example, has long specialised in targeting both categories, and it focused its attacks on the education sector this year.
The Lapsus$ Rampage Continues
The digital extortion gang Lapsus$ was on an intense hacking spree at the beginning of 2022, stealing source code and other sensitive information from companies like Nvidia, Samsung, Ubisoft, and Microsoft and then leaking samples as part of apparent extortion attempts. Lapsus$ has a sinister talent for phishing, and in March, it compromised a contractor with access to the ubiquitous authentication service Okta.
LastPass
The beleaguered password manager giant LastPass, which has repeatedly dealt with data breaches and security incidents over the years, said at the end of December that a breach of its cloud storage in August led to a further incident in which hackers targeted a LastPass employee to compromise credentials and cloud storage keys.
Vanuatu
At the beginning of November, Vanuatu, an island nation in the Pacific, was hit by a cyber attack that took down virtually all of the government's digital networks. Agencies had to move to conducting their work on paper because emergency systems, medical records, vehicle registrations, driver's license databases, and tax systems were all down.
Honourable Mention: Twitter-Related Bedlam
Twitter has been in chaos mode for months following Elon Musk's acquisition of the company earlier this year. Amidst the tumult, reports surfaced in July and then again in November of a trove of 5.4 million Twitter users' data that has been circulating on criminal forums since at least July, if not earlier. The data was stolen by exploiting a vulnerability in a Twitter application programming interface, or API.
https://www.wired.com/story/worst-hacks-2022/
Geopolitical Tensions Expected to Further Impact Cyber Security in 2023
Geopolitics will continue to have an impact on cyber security and the security posture of organisations long into 2023.
The impact of global conflicts on cyber security was thrust into the spotlight when Russia made moves to invade Ukraine in February 2022. Ukraine’s Western allies were quick to recognise that with this came the threat of Russian-backed cyber-attacks against critical national infrastructure (CNI), especially in retaliation to hefty sanctions. While this may not have materialised in the way many expected, geopolitics is still front of mind for many cyber security experts looking to 2023.
Russia has always been among a handful of states recognised for their cyber prowess and being the source of many cyber criminal gangs. As previously mentioned, we have failed to see a significant cyber-attack, at least one comparable to the Colonial Pipeline incident, in 2022. However the cyber security services provider, e2e-assure, warned: “We have underestimated Russia’s cyber capability. There is a wide view that Russian cyber activity leading up to and during their invasion of Ukraine indicated that they aren’t the cyber power we once thought. Patterns and evidence will emerge in 2023 that shows this wasn’t the case, instead Russia was directing its cyber efforts elsewhere, with non-military goals (financial and political).”
NordVPN, the virtual private network (VPN) provider, warns that the cyber-war is only just starting: “With China’s leader securing his third term and Russia’s war in Ukraine, many experts predict an increase in state-sponsored cyber-attacks. China may increase cyber-attacks on Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other countries opposing the regime. Meanwhile, Russia is predicted to sponsor attacks on countries supporting Ukraine.”
We are used to seeing cyber-attacks that encrypt data and ask for ransom, but it is likely in this era of nation-state sponsored attacks we could experience attacks for the sake of disruption.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/geopolitical-tensions-impact/
Fraudsters’ Working Patterns Have Changed in Recent Years
Less sophisticated fraud — in which doctored identity documents are readily spotted — has jumped 37% in 2022, according to the identify verfication provider Onfido. Fraudsters can scale these attacks on an organisation’s systems around the clock.
It is estimated that the current global financial cost of fraud is $5.38 trillion (£4.37 trillion), which is 6.4% of the world’s GDP. With most fraud now happening online (80% of reported fraud is cyber-enabled), Onfido’s Identity Fraud Report uncovers patterns of fraudster behaviour, attack techniques, and emerging tactics.
Over the last four years, fraudsters’ working patterns have dramatically changed. In 2019, attacks mirrored a typical working week, peaking Monday to Friday and dropping off during the weekends. Yet over the last three years, fraudulent activity started to shift so that levels of fraud span every day of the week.
In 2022, fraud levels were consistent across 24 hours, seven days a week. With technology, fraudsters are more connected across the globe and are able to traverse regions and time zones, and can easily take advantage of businesses’ closed hours when staff are likely offline. This hyperconnectivity means there are no more ‘business hours’ for fraudsters and sophisticated fraud rings — they will scam and defraud 24/7.
“As criminals look to take advantage of digitisation processes, they’re able to commit financial crimes with increasing efficiency and sophistication, to the extent that financial crime and cyber crime are now invariably linked,” said Interpol. “A significant amount of financial fraud takes place through digital technologies, and the pandemic has only hastened the emergence of digital money laundering tools and other cyber-enabled financial crimes.”
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/12/29/less-sophisticated-fraud/
Hacktivism is Back and Messier Than Ever
Throughout 2022, geopolitics has given rise to a new wave of politically motivated attacks with an undercurrent of state-sponsored meddling.
During its brutal war in Ukraine, Russian troops have burnt cities to the ground, raped and tortured civilians, and committed scores of potential war crimes. On November 23, lawmakers across Europe overwhelmingly labelled Russia a “state sponsor” of terrorism and called for ties with the country to be reduced further. The response to the declaration was instant. The European Parliament’s website was knocked offline by a DDoS attack.
The unsophisticated attack—which involves flooding a website with traffic to make it inaccessible—disrupted the Parliament’s website offline for several hours. Pro-Russian hacktivist group Killnet claimed responsibility for the attack. The hacktivist group has targeted hundreds of organisations around the world this year, having some limited small-scale successes knocking websites offline for short periods of time. It’s been one player in a bigger hacktivism surge.
Following years of sporadic hacktivist activity, 2022 has seen the re-emergence of hacktivism on a large scale. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine spawned scores of hacktivist groups on both sides of the conflict, while in Iran and Israel, so-called hacktivist groups are launching increasingly destructive attacks. This new wave of hacktivism, which varies between groups and countries, comes with new tactics and approaches and, increasingly, is blurring lines between hacktivism and government-sponsored attacks.
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Jersey school locked out of systems as hackers demand "ransom" | Bailiwick Express Jersey
Vice Society Ransomware Attackers Adopt Robust Encryption Methods (thehackernews.com)
Global counter-ransomware task force to become active in January - CyberScoop
Fool Me Thrice? How to Avoid Double and Triple Ransomware Extortion (darkreading.com)
Rackspace criticized for PR response to ransomware attack (expressnews.com)
Ransomware, DDoS see major upsurge led by upstart hacker group (techrepublic.com)
6 Ways to Protect Your Organisation Against LAPSUS$ (darkreading.com)
Your business should compensate for modern ransomware capabilities right now | VentureBeat
Vice Society Adds Custom-branded Payload PolyVice to its Arsenal | Cyware Alerts - Hacker News
Hackers stole data from multiple electric utilities in recent ransomware attack | CNN Politics
Ransomware attack at Louisiana hospital impacts 270,000 patients (bleepingcomputer.com)
The mounting death toll of hospital cyber attacks - POLITICO
Royal ransomware claims attack on Intrado telecom provider (bleepingcomputer.com)
Healthcare Providers and Hospitals Under Ransomware's Siege (darkreading.com)
Guardian Australia staff sent home after cyber attack takes out systems (theage.com.au)
Dumfries Arnold Clark garages hit by company-wide cyber attack - Daily Record
Ransom Deadline Given By LockBit In Port Of Lisbon Attack (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Reported phishing attacks have quintupled - Help Net Security
6 Ways to Protect Your Organisation Against LAPSUS$ (darkreading.com)
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Malware
GuLoader implements new evasion techniques - Security Affairs
PrivateLoader PPI Service Found Distributing Info-Stealing RisePro Malware (thehackernews.com)
2022 sees over 5000 times new Windows malware vs macOS, over 60 times vs Linux - Neowin
APT Hackers Turn to Malicious Excel Add-ins as Initial Intrusion Vector (thehackernews.com)
New information-stealing malware is being spread by fake pirate sites | TechSpot
Mobile
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Internet of Things – IoT
Smart Home Cyber security Hubs: Protecting Endpoints in Your Smarthome (compuquip.com)
Google Home speakers allowed hackers to snoop on conversations (bleepingcomputer.com)
Data Breaches/Leaks
BetMGM discloses security breach impacting 1.5 Million customers - Security Affairs
Massive Twitter data leak investigated by EU privacy watchdog (bleepingcomputer.com)
Massive EDiscovery Provider Shut Down Over 'Unauthorized Access' - Above the LawAbove the Law
Data of 400 Million Twitter users up for sale - Security Affairs
It’s all in the (lack of) details: 2022’s badly handled data breaches | TechCrunch
Military device with biometric database of 2K people sold on eBay for $68 | Ars Technica
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
How ‘brazen’ multibillion-dollar crypto fraud fell to pieces | Business | The Times
BTC.com lost $3 million worth of cryptocurrency in cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers steal $8 million from users running trojanized BitKeep apps (bleepingcomputer.com)
Bitcoin Mining Pool Btc.com Suffers $3 Million Cyber attack – Mining Bitcoin News
Crypto wallet BitKeep lost over $9M over a cyber attack - Security Affairs
Case for blockchain in financial services dented by failures | Financial Times (ft.com)
Digital Assets Of $9.9 Million Stolen In BitKeep Cyber Attack (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Crypto platform 3Commas admits hackers stole API keys (bleepingcomputer.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Linkedin Is Full Of Job Scams – Be Careful Out There (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Scam complaints from Revolut users more than double since 2020 (telegraph.co.uk)
Fraudsters’ working patterns have changed in recent years - Help Net Security
Experts warn of attacks exploiting WordPress gift card plugin - Security Affairs
North Korean Hackers Created 70 Fake Bank, Venture Capital Firm Domains | SecurityWeek.Com
Ukraine shuts down fraudulent call center claiming 18,000 victims (bleepingcomputer.com)
Insurance
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Software Supply Chain
Why Attackers Target GitHub, and How You Can Secure It (darkreading.com)
Improving Software Supply Chain Cyber security (trendmicro.com)
Cloud/SaaS
Identity and Access Management
Enterprises waste money on identity tools they don't use - Help Net Security
Steps To Planning And Implementation Of PAM Solutions (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Encryption
API
Crypto platform 3Commas admits hackers stole API keys (bleepingcomputer.com)
Google: With Cloud Comes APIs & Security Headaches (darkreading.com)
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Biometrics
Social Media
TikTok User Data Has Been Compromised (giantfreakinrobot.com)
Elon Musk ‘orders Twitter to remove suicide prevention feature’ | Twitter | The Guardian
Massive Twitter data leak investigated by EU privacy watchdog (bleepingcomputer.com)
Meta settles Cambridge Analytica scandal case for $725m - BBC News
TikTok bans haven't really banned much of anything - The Washington Post
Twitter restores suicide prevention feature | Twitter | The Guardian
Data of 400 Million Twitter users up for sale - Security Affairs
Hacker claims to be selling Twitter data of 400 million users (bleepingcomputer.com)
Malvertising
Privacy
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Governance, Risk and Compliance
IBM and 70 Global Banks Co-Create New Cyber security, Risk Framework (accelerationeconomy.com)
Economic uncertainty compels IT leaders to rethink their strategy - Help Net Security
3 important changes in how data will be used and treated - Help Net Security
2022 Top Five Immediate Threats in Geopolitical Context (thehackernews.com)
Secure Disposal
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
IT Jobs: How To Become An Information Security Analyst (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
‘There's a career in cyber security for everyone,’ Microsoft Security CVP says | Fortune
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Google Home speakers allowed hackers to snoop on conversations (bleepingcomputer.com)
Police in China can track protests by enabling ‘alarms’ on Hikvision software | China | The Guardian
The Threat of Predictive Policing to Data Privacy and Personal Liberty (darkreading.com)
Meta settles Cambridge Analytica scandal case for $725m - BBC News
78% of Employers Are Using Remote Work Tools to Spy on You (entrepreneur.com)
Germany: Police surveillance software a legal headache – DW – 12/22/2022
Artificial Intelligence
Code-generating AI can introduce security vulnerabilities, study finds | TechCrunch
AI cyber attacks are a ‘critical threat’. This is how NATO is countering them | Euronews
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
2022 Top Five Immediate Threats in Geopolitical Context (thehackernews.com)
Russia’s Cyberwar Foreshadowed Deadly Attacks on Civilians | WIRED
Hundreds of Russian cyber attacks on CHPPs, regional power plants prevented - SBU
Ukrainian Hackers Gather Data on Russian Soldiers, Minister Says - Bloomberg
North Korean hackers targeted nearly 1,000 South Korean foreign policy experts
German double agent ‘passed Ukraine intelligence to Russia’ (telegraph.co.uk)
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Hundreds of Russian cyber attacks on CHPPs, regional power plants prevented - SBU
Russian mobile calls, internet seen deteriorating after Nokia, Ericsson leave – EURACTIV.com
Nation State Actors – China
Police in China can track protests by enabling ‘alarms’ on Hikvision software | China | The Guardian
Nation State Actors – North Korea
BlueNoroff APT Hackers Using New Ways to Bypass Windows MotW Protection (thehackernews.com)
North Korean Hackers Created 70 Fake Bank, Venture Capital Firm Domains | SecurityWeek.Com
North Korean hacking outfit impersonating venture capital firms | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
North Korean hackers targeted nearly 1,000 South Korean foreign policy experts
Nation State Actors – Iran
Nation State Actors – Misc
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerabilities
Patch now: Serious Linux kernel security hole uncovered | ZDNET
Microsoft Patches Azure Cross-Tenant Data Access Flaw | SecurityWeek.Com
Critical Linux Kernel flaw affects SMB servers with ksmbd enabled - Security Affairs
Critical “10-out-of-10” Linux kernel SMB hole – should you worry? – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Log4Shell remains a big threat and a common cause for security breaches | CSO Online
Thousands of Citrix servers vulnerable to patched critical flaws (bleepingcomputer.com)
Netgear warns users to patch recently fixed WiFi router bug (bleepingcomputer.com)
CISA Warns of Active exploitation of JasperReports Vulnerabilities (thehackernews.com)
Tools and Controls
Other News
AI cyber attacks are a ‘critical threat’. This is how NATO is countering them | Euronews
Review: 10 Biggest Hacks And Cyber Security Threats Of 2022 (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
New information-stealing malware is being spread by fake pirate sites | TechSpot
Trend Micro: Expect 2023 to Bring Uncertainty to Cyber Attackers and Defenders - MSSP Alert
After the Uber Breach: 3 Questions All CISOs Should Ask Themselves (darkreading.com)
Top 10 Cyber Security Predictions For 2023 Based On Expert Responses (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
The Five Stories That Shaped Cyber security in 2022 | SecurityWeek.Com
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 16 December 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 16 December 2022:
-Executives Take More Cyber Security Risks Than Office Workers
-CISO Role is Diversifying from Technology to Leadership & Communication Skills
-How Emerging AIs, Like ChatGPT, Can Turn Anyone into a Ransomware and Malware Threat Actor
-Cyber Security Drives Improvements in Business Goals
-Incoming FCA Chair Says Crypto Firms Facilitate Money Laundering
-Managing Cyber Risk in 2023: The People Element
-What We Can't See Can Hurt Us
-Uber Suffers New Data Breach After Attack on Vendor, Info Leaked Online
-When Companies Compensate the Hackers, We All Foot the Bill
-HSE Cyber-Attack Costs Ireland $83m So Far
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
Executives Take More Cyber Security Risks Than Office Workers
IT software company Ivanti worked with cyber security experts and surveyed 6,500 executive leaders, cybersecurity professionals, and office workers to understand the perception of today’s cybersecurity threats and to find out how companies are preparing for yet-unknown future threats.
The report revealed that despite 97% of leaders and security professionals reporting their organisation is as prepared, or more prepared, to defend against cybersecurity attacks than they were a year ago, one in five wouldn’t bet a chocolate bar that they could prevent a damaging breach.
In fact, the study finds that organisations are racing to fortify against cyber attacks, but the industry still struggles with a reactive, checklist mentality. This is most pronounced in how security teams are prioritising patches. While 92% of security professionals reported they have a method to prioritise patches, they also indicated that all types of patches rank high – meaning none do.
“Patching is not nearly as simple as it sounds,” said Ivanti. “Even well-staffed, well-funded IT and security teams experience prioritisation challenges amidst other pressing demands. To reduce risk without increasing workload, organisations must implement a risk-based patch management solution and leverage automation to identify, prioritise, and even address vulnerabilities without excess manual intervention”.
Cyber security insiders view phishing, ransomware, and software vulnerabilities as top industry-level threats for 2023. Approximately half of respondents indicated they are “very prepared” to meet the growing threat landscape including ransomware, poor encryption, and malicious employees, but the expected safeguards such as deprovisioning credentials is ignored a third of a time and nearly half of those surveyed say they suspect a former employee or contractor still has active access to company systems and files.
The report also revealed that leaders engage in more dangerous behaviour and are four times more likely to be victims of phishing compared to office workers.
Additionally:
More than 1 in 3 leaders have clicked on a phishing link
Nearly 1 in 4 use easy-to-remember birthdays as part of their password
They are much more likely to hang on to passwords for years
And they are 5x more likely to share their password with people outside the company.
One survey taker shared, “We’ve experienced a few advanced phishing attempts and the employees were totally unaware they were being targeted. These types of attacks have become so much more sophisticated over the last two years – even our most experienced staff are falling prey to it.”
To cope with a rapidly expanding threat landscape, organisations must move beyond a reactive, rules-based approach.
CISO Role is Diversifying from Technology to Leadership & Communication Skills
The role of chief information security officer (CISO), a relatively new executive position, is undergoing some significant changes and an archetype has yet to emerge, a new global report from Marlin Hawk, an executive recruiting and leadership consultant, said.
CISOs are still more likely to serve on advisory boards or industry bodies than on the board of directors. Only 13% of the global CISOs analysed are women; approximately 20% are non-white. Each diversity dimension analysed is down one percentage point year-on-year.
According to James Larkin, managing partner at Marlin Hawk, “Today’s CISOs are taking up the mantle of responsibilities that have traditionally fallen solely to the chief information officer (CIO), which is to act as the primary gateway from the tech department into the wider business and the outside marketplace. This widening scope requires CISOs to be adept communicators to the board, the broader business, as well as the marketplace of shareholders and customers. By thriving in the ‘softer’ skill sets of communication, leadership, and strategy, CISOs are now setting the new industry standards of today and, I predict, will be progressing into the board directors of tomorrow.”
The job does not come without its downsides. For one, according to the search firm, many CISOs change roles and leave their jobs. Their skillset may not be adequate or new leaders get appointed to the job, they lack the necessary internal support, or their company may not have the required commitment to cyber security to make the job effective.
Key findings from the report include:
45% of global CISOs have been in their current role for two years or less, down from 53% in 2021, with 18% turnover year-on-year. While there is still a lot of movement in the CISO seat, there is potentially some stabilisation emerging.
Approximately 62% of global CISOs were hired from another company, indicating a slight increase in the number of CISOs hired internally (38% were hired internally compared to 36% in 2021) but a large gap remains in appropriate successors.
36% of CISOs analysed with a graduate degree received a higher degree in business administration or management. This is down 10% from last year (46% in 2021). Conversely, there has been an increase to 61% of CISOs receiving a higher degree in STEM subjects (up from 46% in 2021).
How Emerging AIs, Like ChatGPT, Can Turn Anyone into a Ransomware and Malware Threat Actor
Ever since OpenAI launched ChatGPT at the end of November, commentators on all sides have been concerned about the impact AI-driven content-creation will have, particularly in the realm of cybersecurity. In fact, many researchers are concerned that generative AI solutions will democratise cyber crime.
With ChatGPT, any user can enter a query and generate malicious code and convincing phishing emails without any technical expertise or coding knowledge.
While security teams can also leverage ChatGPT for defensive purposes such as testing code, by lowering the barrier for entry for cyber attacks, the solution has complicated the threat landscape significantly. From a cyber security perspective, the central challenge created by OpenAI’s creation is that anyone, regardless of technical expertise, can create code to generate malware and ransomware on-demand.
Whilst it can be used for good to assist developers in writing code for good, it can (and already has) been used for malicious purposes. Examples including asking the bot to create convincing phishing emails or assist in reverse engineering code to find zero-day exploits that could be used maliciously instead of reporting them to a vendor.
ChatGPT does have inbuilt guardrails designed to prevent the solution from being used for criminal activity. For instance, it will decline to create shell code or provide specific instructions on how to create shellcode or establish a reverse shell and flag malicious keywords like phishing to block the requests.
The problem with these protections is that they’re reliant on the AI recognising that the user is attempting to write malicious code (which users can obfuscate by rephrasing queries), while there’s no immediate consequences for violating OpenAI’s content policy.
https://venturebeat.com/security/chatgpt-ransomware-malware/
Cyber Security Drives Improvements in Business Goals
Cyber threats should no longer be viewed as just an IT problem, but also a business problem, Deloitte said in its latest Future of Cyber study. Operational disruption, loss of revenue, and loss of customer trust are the top three significant impacts of cyber incidents. More than half, or 56%, of respondents told Deloitte they suffered related consequences to a moderate or large extent.
In 2021, the top three negative consequences from cyber incidents and breaches were operational disruption, which includes supply chain and the partner ecosystem, intellectual property theft, and a drop in share price. While operational disruption remained the top concern in 2022, loss of revenue and loss of customer trust and negative brand impact moved up in importance. Intellectual property theft and drop in share price dropped to eighth and ninth (out of ten) in ranking. Losing funding for a strategic initiative, loss of confidence in the integrity of the technology, and impact on employee recruitment and retention moved up in ranking in 2022. Respondents were also asked to mark two consequences they felt would be most important in 2023: Operational disruption and loss of revenue topped the list.
"Today, cyber means business, and it is difficult to overstate the importance of cyber as a foundational and integral business imperative," Deloitte noted in its report. "It [cyber] should be included in every functional area, as an essential ingredient for success—to drive continuous business value, not simply mitigate risks to IT."
Deloitte categorised organisations' cyber security maturity based on their adoption of cyber planning, risk management, and board engagement. Risk management included activities such as industry benchmarking, incident response, scenario planning, and qualitative and quantitative risk assessment.
Whether or not the organisation adopted any of these three practices hinged on stakeholders recognising the importance of cyber responsibility and engagement across the whole organisation, Deloitte said in its report. Examples included having a governing body that comprises IT and senior business leaders to oversee the cyber program, conducting incident-response scenario planning and simulation at the organisational and/or board level, regularly providing cyber updates to the board to secure funding, and conducting regular cyber awareness training for all employees.
https://www.darkreading.com/edge-threat-monitor/cybersecurity-drives-improvements-in-business-goals
Incoming FCA Chair Says Crypto Firms Facilitate Money Laundering
The man who will lead UK efforts to regulate cryptocurrency firms issued a stark condemnation of the sector on Wednesday, telling MPs that in his experience crypto platforms were “deliberately evasive”, facilitated money laundering at scale and created “massively untoward risk”.
The comments from Ashley Alder, the incoming chair of the Financial Conduct Authority, suggest that crypto firms hoping to build businesses in the UK will face an uphill battle when the FCA assumes new powers to regulate broad swaths of the sector.
They also put Alder, who will become FCA chair in February, on a potential collision course with the government’s aspiration to create a high quality crypto hub that fosters innovation, a vision ministers have remained loyal to even as the global crypto market lurches from crisis to crisis, epitomised by the collapse of FTX. The FCA declined to comment on whether their incoming chair’s views were at odds with those of the government.
Alder comments came during a sometimes terse appointment hearing with the cross-party Treasury select committee, where he faced sustained criticism for appearing virtually from Hong Kong and for his lack of familiarity with some parts of the UK market place and its accountability structures.
https://www.ft.com/content/7bf0a760-5fb5-4146-b757-1acc5fc1dee5
Managing Cyber Risk in 2023: The People Element
2022 has had many challenges from cyber war between Russia and Ukraine, continuing ransomware attacks, and a number of high-profile vulnerabilities and zero day attacks. With the attack surface constantly expanding, CISOs and security leaders are acutely aware of the need to minimise risk across people, processes, and technology.
Top infrastructure risk: people
It’s common knowledge that it’s not if, but when, your organisation will be the target of a cyber attack. CISOs and security leaders seem to share the same opinion—according to Trend Micro’s latest Cyber Risk Index (CRI) (1H’2022), 85% of 4,100 respondents across four global regions said its somewhat to very likely they will experience a cyber attack in the next 12 months. More concerning was 90% of respondents had at least one successful cyber attack in the past 12 months.
The CRI (1H’2022) also found that CISOs, IT practitioners, and managers identified that most organisations’ IT security objectives are not aligned with the business objectives, which could cause challenges when trying to implement a sound cyber security strategy.
It’s important to note that while ideal, avoiding a cyber attack isn’t the main goal—companies need to address critical challenges across their growing digital attack surface to enable faster detection and response, therefore minimising cyber risk.
While it's commonly assumed that security efforts should be largely focused on protecting critical servers and infrastructure, the human attack vector shouldn’t be so quickly forgotten.
https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/ciso/22/e/managing-cyber-risk.html
What We Can't See Can Hurt Us
In speaking with security and fraud professionals, visibility remains a top priority. This is no surprise, since visibility into the network, application, and user layers is one of the fundamental building blocks of both successful security programs and successful fraud programs. This visibility is required across all environments — whether on-premises, private cloud, public cloud, multicloud, hybrid, or otherwise.
Given this, it is perhaps a bit surprising that visibility in the cloud has lagged behind the move to those environments. This occurred partially because few options for decent visibility were available to businesses as they moved to the cloud. But it also partially happened because higher priority was placed on deploying to the cloud than on protecting those deployments from security and fraud threats.
This is unfortunate, since what we can't see can hurt us. That being said, cloud visibility is becoming a top priority for many businesses. There are a few areas where many businesses are looking for visibility to play a key role, including Compliance, Monitoring, Investigation, Response, API Discovery, Application Breaches, and Malicious User Detection.
Organisation have been a bit behind in terms of ensuring the requisite visibility into cloud environments. Whilst time has been lost, it does seem that gaining visibility into the network, application, and user layers is now a priority for many businesses. This is a positive development, as it enables those businesses to better mitigate the risks that operating blindly creates.
https://www.darkreading.com/edge-articles/what-we-can-t-see-can-hurt-us
Uber Suffers New Data Breach After Attack on Vendor, Info Leaked Online
Uber has suffered a new data breach after a threat actor leaked employee email addresses, corporate reports, and IT asset information stolen from a third-party vendor in a cyber security incident.
On Saturday last week, a threat actor named 'UberLeaks' began leaking data they claimed was stolen from Uber and Uber Eats on a hacking forum known for publishing data breaches. The leaked data includes numerous archives claiming to be source code associated with mobile device management platforms (MDM) used by Uber and Uber Eats and third-party vendor services.
The threat actor created four separate topics, allegedly for Uber MDM at uberhub.uberinternal.com and Uber Eats MDM, and the third-party Teqtivity MDM and TripActions MDM platforms. Each post refers to a member of the Lapsus$ hacking group who is believed to be responsible for numerous high-profile attacks, including a September cyber attack on Uber where threat actors gained access to the internal network and the company's Slack server.
News outlet BleepingComputer has been told that the newly leaked data consists of source code, IT asset management reports, data destruction reports, Windows domain login names and email addresses, and other corporate information. One of the documents seen by BleepingComputer includes email addresses and Windows Active Directory information for over 77,000 Uber employees.
While BleepingComputer initially thought this data was stolen during the September attack, Uber told BleepingComputer it believes it is related to a security breach on a third-party vendor.
When Companies Compensate the Hackers, We All Foot the Bill
Companies are always absorbing costs that are seen as par for the course of budget planning: maintenance, upgrades, office supplies, wastage, shrinkage, etc. These costs ratchet up the price of a company's products and are then passed on to the consumer. Breaches in cyber security and paying out ransoms to hackers should be outside of this remit, and yet more than half of all companies admit to transferring the costs of data breaches on to consumers. Careless or ill-informed employees and other weaknesses in a company's protections lead to catastrophic losses to businesses of around $1,797,945 per minute — and the consumers are paying it off.
If a company estimates the recovery costs from a ransomware attack to exceed the requested payment from the hacker, then it feels like a no-brainer — they're better off just cutting their losses and giving in to the cyber criminal's demands. The issue is that this creates an unvirtuous circle of paying the hacker, which enforces nefarious behaviour and empowers hackers to increase the number and volume of ransoms.
When it comes to ransomware, 32% of companies pay off hackers, and, of that percentage, the average company only retrieves about 65% of its data. Giving in to hackers is counterintuitive. On an even more disturbing note, one study found that 80% of companies that paid a ransom were targeted a second time, with about 40% paying again and a majority of that 40% paying a higher ransom the second time round. This is ludicrous. With 33% of companies suspending operations following an attack, and nearly 40% resorting to laying off staff, it comes as no surprise that the downstream costs are picked up to some extent by the consumer.
As for smaller companies, about 50% of US small businesses don't have a cyber security plan in place, despite the fact that small businesses are three times more likely to be targeted by cyber criminals than larger companies. An average breach costs these companies around $200,000 and has put many out of business. It isn't simply the cost passed on to consumers, it's also the intangible assets, such as brand reputation.
When data is leaked and a site goes down, customers become rightly anxious when their information is sold to the highest bidder on the Dark Web. To safeguard against this, companies of all sizes should exploit automated solutions while training every single member of staff to recognise and report online threats. Paying a ransom does not guarantee the return of data, and for a smaller business, losing valuable customer information could cause long-term damage way beyond the initial attack.
Cyber security professionals, governments, and law enforcement agencies all advise companies to avoid paying the hackers' ransoms. This strategy is affirmed by the success businesses have had in retrieving the stolen data and turning the lights back on — 78% of organisations who say they did not pay a ransom were able to fully restore systems and data without the decryption key. This evidently is not enough to reassure companies who, at the click of a dangerous email being opened, have lost sensitive information and access to their systems and are desperate to get back online. There are many preventative techniques businesses can take advantage of before it even gets to that stage.
HSE Cyber-Attack Costs Ireland $83m So Far
The cost of the cyber-attack that hit the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) last year has officially reached €80m ($83.75m).
The figures come from a letter from HSE’s chief information officer, seen by The Irish Times. This comes months after the Department of Health suggested in February the attack could end up costing up to €100m ($104m). The letter confirmed that the costs reached €42m ($43.97m) in 2021 and almost €39m ($40.83m) until October of this year.
Ireland has a very capable national cyber security centre and a well-oiled CSIRT team that engages the public/private sector. If the cost does continue to escalate to €100m, that is the equivalent to everyone in the Republic of Ireland having been defrauded by €20. According to The Irish Times, the costs were said to be “enormous,” and the government has been asked to complete a comprehensive assessment of the impact caused by the breach.
The cyber-attack, believed to have been conducted by Russia-based state actors, was reportedly caused by a malicious Microsoft Excel file delivered via a phishing email. According to a December 2021 report, the file was opened at an HSE workstation in March 2021. The malware would have been latent for two months before the breach, which was reportedly discovered in May, two months later. A total of roughly 100,000 people had their personal data stolen during the cyber-attack.
Healthcare continues to be a target of attacks given their enormous attack surface across critical applications, cloud environments and IoT devices.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/hse-cyber-attack-ireland-dollar83m/
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
HSE Cyber-Attack Costs Ireland $83m So Far - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Ransomware-hit Rackspace email outage enters 12th day • The Register
The Dark Web is Getting Darker - Ransomware Thrives on Illegal Markets (bleepingcomputer.com)
Rash of New Ransomware Variants Springs Up in the Wild (darkreading.com)
Patch Tuesday: Microsoft Plugs Windows Hole Exploited in Ransomware Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Preventing a ransomware attack with intelligence: Strategies for CISOs - Help Net Security
LockBit ransomware crew claims attack on California Department of Finance - CyberScoop
When Companies Compensate the Hackers, We All Foot the Bill (darkreading.com)
Clop ransomware uses TrueBot malware for access to networks (bleepingcomputer.com)
TrueBot infections were observed in Clop ransomware attacks - Security Affairs
Play ransomware claims attack on Belgium city of Antwerp (bleepingcomputer.com)
Brooklyn hospital network victim of cyber hack crash (msn.com)
Cyber security Experts Uncover Inner Workings of Destructive Azov Ransomware (thehackernews.com)
Cybereason warns of rapid increase in Royal ransomware | TechTarget
New Royal ransomware group evades detection with partial encryption | CSO Online
How ChatGPT can turn anyone into a ransomware and malware threat actor | VentureBeat
Check Point classifies Azov as wiper, not ransomware | TechTarget
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Open-source repositories flooded by 144,000 phishing packages (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishing attack uses Facebook posts to evade email security (bleepingcomputer.com)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Malware
Microsoft digital certificates have once again been abused to sign malware | Ars Technica
Hackers target Japanese politicians with new MirrorStealer malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Zscaler: Nearly 90% of Cyber attacks Now Use Encrypted Channels, Malware Tops - MSSP Alert
Crooks use HTML smuggling to spread QBot malware via SVG files - Security Affairs
A clever trick turns antivirus software into unstoppable data wiping scourges | TechSpot
How ChatGPT can turn anyone into a ransomware and malware threat actor | VentureBeat
Mobile
Android Malware Campaign Leverages Money-Lending Apps to Blackmail Victims (thehackernews.com)
Why You Should Enable Apple’s New iOS 16.2 Security Feature | Reviews by Wirecutter (nytimes.com)
Xnspy stalkerware spied on thousands of iPhones and Android devices | TechCrunch
Internet of Things – IoT
3.5m IP cameras exposed, with US in the lead - Security Affairs
Are robots too insecure for lethal use by law enforcement? | CSO Online
10 Ways Doorbell Cameras Pose a Threat to Privacy and Security - Listverse
Data Breaches/Leaks
Uber suffers new data breach after attack on vendor, info leaked online (bleepingcomputer.com)
Twitter confirms recent user data leak is from 2021 breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
HR platform Sequoia says hackers accessed customer SSNs and COVID-19 data | TechCrunch
Australia's Telstra suffers privacy breach, 132,000 customers impacted | Reuters
Unauthorised server access caused AirAsia data leak: Fahmi | Malaysia | The Vibes
FBI's InfraGard Cyber security Program Breached by Hackers (gizmodo.com)
Aussie Data Breaches Surge 489% in Q4 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Uber staff information leaks after IT supply chain attack • The Register
TPG Telecom joins list of hacked Australian companies, shares slide | Reuters
How companies can avoid costly data breaches - Help Net Security
Hackers leak personal info allegedly stolen from 5.7M Gemini users (bleepingcomputer.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Incoming FCA chair says crypto firms facilitate money laundering | Financial Times (ft.com)
Britons lose life savings to ‘Ali Baba and the cryptocurrency scammers’ | News | The Times
DOJ divided over charging Binance for alleged crypto crimes, report says | Ars Technica
Facebook Asks Lawmakers Not to Regulate Crypto Too Harshly Just Because of All the Fraud (vice.com)
The amateur sleuths who helped to bring down Sam Bankman-Fried - New Statesman
Hackers leak personal info allegedly stolen from 5.7M Gemini users (bleepingcomputer.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Executives take more cyber security risks than office workers - Help Net Security
Managing Cyber Risk in 2023: The People Element (trendmicro.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Britons lose life savings to ‘Ali Baba and the cryptocurrency scammers’ | News | The Times
Restaurant closes after fraudsters posing as officials steal thousands | News | The Times
Woman gets 66 months in prison for role in $3.3 million ID fraud op (bleepingcomputer.com)
Patrick Giblin conned women all over the US. Now he's going to prison for 5 years | CNN
UK arrests five for selling dodgy point of sale software • The Register
The amateur sleuths who helped to bring down Sam Bankman-Fried - New Statesman
8 charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud • The Register
AML/CFT/Sanctions
Insurance
Dark Web
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Uber staff information leaks after IT supply chain attack • The Register
Report highlights serious cyber security issues with US defence contractors | CSO Online
Software Supply Chain
How Naming Can Change the Game in Software Supply Chain Security (darkreading.com)
Microsoft digital certificates have once again been abused to sign malware | Ars Technica
Denial of Service DoS/DDoS
FBI Charges 6, Seizes 48 Domains Linked to DDoS-for-Hire Service Platforms (thehackernews.com)
Prosecutors charge 6 people for allegedly waging massive DDoS attacks | Ars Technica
‘Booter’ sites taken down in global cyber crime bust (gbnews.uk)
Microsoft discovers Windows/Linux botnet used in DDoS attacks | Ars Technica
Cloud/SaaS
Microsoft launches EU 'data boundary' from next year • The Register
HR platform Sequoia says hackers accessed customer SSNs and COVID-19 data | TechCrunch
Lego fixes dangerous API vulnerability in BrickLink service | TechTarget (computerweekly.com)
Data Destruction Policies in the Age of Cloud Computing (darkreading.com)
Hybrid/Remote Working
Encryption
Zscaler: Nearly 90% of Cyber attacks Now Use Encrypted Channels, Malware Tops - MSSP Alert
The FBI Says Apple’s New Encryption Is “Deeply Concerning” (futurism.com)
Over 85% of Attacks Hide in Encrypted Channels - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Privacy advocates are aghast at UK’s anti-encryption plans (thenextweb.com)
API
Open Source
Google Launches OSV-Scanner Tool to Identify Open Source Vulnerabilities (thehackernews.com)
Open-source repositories flooded by 144,000 phishing packages (bleepingcomputer.com)
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Social Media
TikTok may push potentially harmful content to teens within minutes, study finds | CNN Business
Meta warns spyware still being used to target people on social media | Meta | The Guardian
Elon Musk Bans Journalists From Twitter After Reinstating Nazis (gizmodo.com)
Russian disinformation rampant on far-right social media platforms - CyberScoop
HowTo: Fight Cyber-Threats in the Metaverse - Infosecurity Magazine
US politicians propose TikTok ban over China security concerns (telegraph.co.uk)
Training, Education and Awareness
Keep Your Grinch at Bay: Here's How to Stay Safe Online this Holiday Season (thehackernews.com)
Remote Work Cyber security Requires a Change in Mindset (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Parental Controls and Child Safety
TikTok may push potentially harmful content to teens within minutes, study finds | CNN Business
Microsoft Teams is a vector for child sexual abuse material • The Register
Cyber Bullying, Cyber Stalking and Sextortion
Xnspy stalkerware spied on thousands of iPhones and Android devices | TechCrunch
Proposed law offers support to tech-enabled abuse survivors • The Register
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Privacy concerns are limiting data usage abilities - Help Net Security
European Commission takes step toward approving EU-US data privacy pact | Computerworld
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Managing Cyber Risk in 2023: The People Element (trendmicro.com)
Executives take more cyber security risks than office workers - Help Net Security
Cyber security Drives Improvements in Business Goals (darkreading.com)
Compliance Is Not Enough: How to Manage Your Customer Data (darkreading.com)
5 tips for building a culture of cyber security accountability - Help Net Security
Data Destruction Policies in the Age of Cloud Computing (darkreading.com)
What CISOs consider when building up security resilience - Help Net Security
CISO Role is Diversifying From Technology to Leadership & Communication Skills - MSSP Alert
Models, Frameworks and Standards
Why PCI DSS 4.0 Should Be on Your Radar in 2023 (thehackernews.com)
PCI Secure Software Standard version 1.2 sets out new payment security requirements | CSO Online
Backup and Recovery
Why Your MSSP Should Offer Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) - MSSP Alert
CISA Warns Veeam Backup & Replication Vulnerabilities Exploited in Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Data Protection
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
FBI Charges 6, Seizes 48 Domains Linked to DDoS-for-Hire Service Platforms (thehackernews.com)
Prosecutors charge 6 people for allegedly waging massive DDoS attacks | Ars Technica
8 charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud • The Register
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Privacy advocates are aghast at UK’s anti-encryption plans (thenextweb.com)
Apple should pay €6m for tracking users – French official • The Register
European Commission takes step toward approving EU-US data privacy pact | Computerworld
Privacy concerns are limiting data usage abilities - Help Net Security
Artificial Intelligence
Are robots too insecure for lethal use by law enforcement? | CSO Online
How ChatGPT can turn anyone into a ransomware and malware threat actor | VentureBeat
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Trojanized Windows 10 Operating System Installers Targeted Ukrainian Government | Mandiant
Reassessing cyberwarfare. Lessons learned in 2022 | Securelist
As Wiretap Claims Rattle Government, Greece Bans Spyware | SecurityWeek.Com
Ex-Twitter Worker Gets Prison Time in Saudi 'Spy' Case | SecurityWeek.Com
Reassessing cyberwarfare. Lessons learned in 2022 | Securelist
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Seven accused of smuggling out US military tech for Moscow • The Register
Neo-Nazi Russian militia appeals for intelligence on Nato member states | Ukraine | The Guardian
NSA cyber director warns of Russian digital assaults on global energy sector - CyberScoop
Russian disinformation rampant on far-right social media platforms - CyberScoop
Nation State Actors – China
NSA Outs Chinese Hackers Exploiting Citrix Zero-Day | SecurityWeek.Com
US politicians propose TikTok ban over China security concerns (telegraph.co.uk)
Hackers target Japanese politicians with new MirrorStealer malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
US to add Chinese chipmaker to trade blacklist | Financial Times (ft.com)
AIIMS cyber attack suspected to have originated in China, Hong Kong - Rediff.com India News
Spies and Lies by Alex Joske — inside China’s intelligence operation | Financial Times (ft.com)
Nation State Actors – North Korea
Nation State Actors – Iran
Vulnerability Management
Transitive Dependencies Account for 95% of Bugs - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
24% of technology applications contain high-risk security flaws - Help Net Security
Vulnerabilities
Hackers exploit critical Citrix ADC and Gateway zero day, patch now (bleepingcomputer.com)
CISA Warns Veeam Backup & Replication Vulnerabilities Exploited in Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Adobe Patches 38 Flaws in Enterprise Software Products | SecurityWeek.Com
VMware fixed critical VM Escape bug demonstrated at Geekpwn hacking contest - Security Affairs
Samba Issues Security Updates to Patch Multiple High-Severity Vulnerabilities (thehackernews.com)
Fortinet says SSL-VPN pre-auth RCE bug is exploited in attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Transitive Dependencies Account for 95% of Bugs - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Citrix Releases Security Updates for Citrix ADC, Citrix Gateway | CISA
Security Flaw in Atlassian Products Affecting Multiple Companies (darkreading.com)
Patch Tuesday: 0-days, RCE bugs, and a curious tale of signed malware – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Patch Tuesday: Microsoft Plugs Windows Hole Exploited in Ransomware Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
New Actively Exploited Zero-Day Vulnerability Discovered in Apple Products (thehackernews.com)
Apple patches everything, finally reveals mystery of iOS 16.1.2 – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Apple fixed the tenth actively exploited zero-day this year - Security Affairs
High-Severity Memory Safety Bugs Patched With Latest Chrome 108 Update | SecurityWeek.Com
Top 5 Web App Vulnerabilities and How to Find Them (thehackernews.com)
Severe vulnerabilities found in most industrial controllers - The Washington Post
Akamai WAF bypassed via Spring Boot to trigger RCE | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)
Tools and Controls
CISA Warns Veeam Backup & Replication Vulnerabilities Exploited in Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Why Your MSSP Should Offer Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) - MSSP Alert
Data Destruction Policies in the Age of Cloud Computing (darkreading.com)
Other News
Cyber Threats Loom as 5B People Prepare to Watch World Cup Final (darkreading.com)
Tech companies must start sharing intelligence to avert global conflicts | Financial Times (ft.com)
Microsoft Defender, Avast, AVG turned against Windows to permanently delete files - Neowin
Analysis Shows Attackers Favour PowerShell, File Obfuscation (darkreading.com)
Automated Cyber campaign Creates Masses of Bogus Software Building Blocks (darkreading.com)
12 types of wireless network attacks and how to prevent them | TechTarget
FuboTV says World Cup streaming outage caused by a cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
MTTR “not a viable metric” for complex software system reliability and security | CSO Online
Low-code/no-code security risks climb as tools gain traction | TechTarget
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.
Black Arrow Cyber Advisory 07/12/2022 – Rackspace Security Incident
Black Arrow Cyber Advisory 07/12/2022 – Rackspace Security Incident
Executive Summary
Rackspace, a cloud solutions provider, announced on the 02 December that their Hosted Exchange environment was experiencing connectivity issues, and later advised that they had shut the environment down. In an unprecedented move, they then advised clients to migrate to Microsoft 365 to send and receive emails until further notice. Rackspace later confirmed on the 06/12/2022 that the suspicious activity was a ransomware incident, and at current there is no timeline on the restore of the hosted exchange environment. At this stage Rackspace have not confirmed if customer data has been compromised, however the organisation believes that the incident is isolated to only affect their exchange online environment.
Indications are present that the Exchange Servers may not have been up to date on security patching, including updates that address two actively exploited zero-days discovered in October 2022.
What’s the risk to me or my business?
Until Rackspace release more details, it is difficult to ascertain if a malicious party has gained access to customer emails stored within the hosted exchange environment. Customers are advised to follow Rackspace’s procedures for migrating to M365 Exchange Online, in order for email services to be supplied during this outage.
What can I do?
If your email services are hosted with Rackspace, then the organisation should have already been in contact to assist with the transfer to M365 Exchange Online. Rackspace also recommend that an email forwarding redirect is enabled while the migration is taking place to allow for emails to be received by an external email address. While this will allow for email to be received, it is important to highlight the potential security risks of accessing and sending email outside of the corporate email environment, and extra precautionary measures should be taken.
Further information on this security incident be found here: https://status.apps.rackspace.com/index/viewincidents?group=2&_gl=1*1mrlqxb*_ga*MTk4MjM3MTEwNi4xNjcwNDA1Nzkw*_ga_P5J3XFCZLB*MTY3MDQxMDgwNC4yLjAuMTY3MDQxMDgwNC4wLjAuMA..&_ga=2.90554394.1824554204.1670405790-1982371106.1670405790
Need help understanding your gaps, or just want some advice? Get in touch with us.
#threatadvisory #threatintelligence #cybersecurity
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 16 September 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 16 September 2022
-CFOs’ Overconfidence in Cyber Security Can Cost Millions
-Cyber Security Outflanks Inflation, Talent, Logistics in Business Worries
-Attackers Can Compromise Most Cloud Data in Just 3 Steps
-Cyber Insurance Premiums Soar 80% As Claims Surge
-One In 10 Employees Leaks Sensitive Company Data Every 6 Months
-Business Application Compromise & the Evolving Art of Social Engineering
-SMBs Are Hardest-Hit By Ransomware
-65% Say Legacy Backup Solutions Aren’t Up To Ransomware Challenges
-Four-Fifths of Firms Hit by Critical Cloud Security Incident
-Homeworkers Putting Home and Business Cyber Safety at Risk
-Uber Hacked, Internal Systems Breached and Vulnerability Reports Stolen
-IHG hack: 'Vindictive' couple deleted hotel chain data for fun
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
CFOs’ Overconfidence in Cyber Security Can Cost Millions
Kroll announced its report entitled ‘Cyber Risk and CFOs: Over-Confidence is Costly’ which found chief financial officers (CFOs) to be woefully in the dark regarding cyber security, despite confidence in their company’s ability to respond to an incident.
The report, conducted by StudioID of Industry Dive, exposed three key themes among the 180 senior finance executives surveyed worldwide:
Ignorance is bliss. Eighty-seven percent of CFOs are either very or extremely confident in their organisation’s cyber attack response. This is at odds with the level of visibility CFOs have into cyber risk issues, given only four out of 10 surveyed have regular briefings with their cyber teams.
Wide-ranging damages. 71% of the represented organisations suffered more than $5 million in financial losses stemming from cyber incidents in the previous 18 months, and 61% had suffered at least three significant cyber incidents in that time. Eighty-two percent of the executives in the survey said their companies suffered a loss of 5% or more in their valuations following their largest cyber security incident in the previous 18 months.
Increasing investment in cyber security. Forty-five percent of respondents plan to increase the percentage of their overall IT budget dedicated to information security by at least 10%.
According to Kroll: “We often see that CFOs are not aware enough of the financial risk presented by cyber threats until they face an incident. At that point, it’s clear that they need to be involved not only in the recovery, including permitting access to emergency funds and procuring third-party suppliers, but also in the strategy and investment around cyber both pre- and post-incident.”
“Ultimately, cyber attacks represent a financial risk to the business, and incidents can have a significant impact on value. It is, therefore, critical that this is included in wider business risk considerations. A CFO and CISO should work side-by-side, helping the business navigate the operational and financial risk of cyber.”
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/09/14/cfos-cybersecurity-confidence/
Cyber Security Outflanks Inflation, Talent, Logistics in Business Worries
Nearly six in 10 IT leaders in a new study view cyber security as their top business concern, ranking it higher than inflation, retaining talent and supply chain/logistics management.
Less than half of respondents (43%) believe their critical data and assets are protected from cyber threats despite increased cyber security investments by their organisations, greater board visibility and increased collaboration between the security team and the C-suite, Rackspace said in its new survey of 1,420 IT professionals worldwide.
The multi-cloud technology services specialist said that a “large majority” of the survey respondents report being either unprepared or only “somewhat prepared” to respond to major threats, such as identifying and mitigating threats and areas of concern (62%), recovering from cyber attacks (61%) or preventing lapses and breaches (63%).
Cloud native security is where organisations are most likely to rely on an outside partner, such as a managed security service provider, for expertise.
Here are more of the survey’s findings:
The top three cyber security challenges their organisation is facing: migrating and operating apps (45%); shortage of workers with cyber security skills (39%); lack of visibility of vulnerabilities across all infrastructure (38%).
70% of survey respondents report that their cyber security budgets have increased over the past three years.
The leading recipients of new investment are cloud native security (59%); data security (50%), consultative security services (44%); and application security (41%).
Investments align closely with the areas where organisations perceive their greatest concentration of threats, led by network security (58%), closely followed by web application attacks (53%) and cloud architecture attacks (50%).
70% of respondents said there has been an increase in board visibility for cyber security over the past five years, while 69% cite better collaboration between the security team and members of the C-suite.
Only 13% of respondents said there were significant communications gaps between the security team and C-suite, while 69% of IT executives view their counterparts in the C-suite as advocates for their concerns.
The authors stated “We are seeing a major shift in how organisations are allocating resources to address cyber threats, even as budgets increase. The cloud brings with it a new array of security challenges that require new expertise, and often reliance on external partners who can help implement cloud native security tools, automate security, provide cloud native application protection, offer container security solutions and other capabilities”.
Attackers Can Compromise Most Cloud Data in Just 3 Steps
An analysis of cloud services finds that known vulnerabilities typically open the door for attackers, while insecure cloud architectures allow them to gain access to the crown jewels.
Companies and their cloud providers often leave vulnerabilities open in their system and services, gifting attackers with an easy path to gain access to critical data.
According to an Orca Security analysis of data collected from major cloud services, attackers only need on average three steps to gain access to sensitive data, the so-called "crown jewels," starting most often — in 78% of cases — with the exploitation of a known vulnerability.
While much of the security discussion has focused on the misconfigurations of cloud resources by companies, cloud providers have often been slow to plug vulnerabilities.
The key is to fix the root causes, which is the initial vector, and to increase the number of steps that they attacker needs to take. Proper security controls can make sure that even if there is an initial attack vector, you are still not able to reach the crown jewels.
The report analysed data from Orca's security research team using data from a "billions of cloud assets on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud," which the company's customers regularly scan. The data included cloud workload and configuration data, environment data, and information on assets collected in the first half of 2022.
https://www.darkreading.com/cloud/cyberattackers-compromise-most-cloud-data-3-steps
Cyber Insurance Premiums Soar 80% As Claims Surge
Cyber insurance premiums have soared in the past year as claims surged in response to a rise in damaging attacks by hackers.
The cost of taking out cyber cover had doubled on average every year for the past three years, said global insurance broker Marsh. Honan Group, another broker, pointed to an 80 per cent rise in premiums in the past 12 months, following a 20 per cent increase in the cost of cover in each of the previous two years.
Brokers are calling cyber “the new D&O”, referring to sharp rises in directors and officers insurance premiums since 2018. Brokers were hopeful premiums would ease, but have warned insurers would continue to demand companies prove they had strong security systems and policies in place before agreeing to sell them insurance.
There’ll be a number of insurance companies that won’t even look at a business that doesn’t have a bunch of security measures in place. They’ll just turn around and say, ‘we’re not going to insure you’. The chief reason for the price rises is the increase in the number and size of claims relating to ransomware, where criminals use malicious software to block access to an organisation’s computer system until a sum of money is paid. In addition, some insurers left the market, while remaining players attempted to recoup the cost of under-priced contracts written in previous years.
The rise in the premiums is mainly due to ransomware and cyber attacks across the board have risen sharply over the past few years.
One In 10 Employees Leaks Sensitive Company Data Every 6 Months
Departing employees are most likely to leak sensitive information to competitors, criminals or the media in exchange for cash.
Insider threats are an ongoing menace that enterprise security teams need to handle. It's a global problem but especially acute in the US, with 47 million Americans quitting their jobs in 2021. The threat of ex-employees taking sensitive information to competitors, selling it to criminals in exchange for cash, and leaking files to media is making data exfiltration a growing concern.
About 1.4 million people who handle sensitive information in their organisation globally were tracked over the period from January to June 30 this year by cyber security firm Cyberhaven to find out when, how and who is involved in data exfiltration.
On average, 2.5% of employees exfiltrate sensitive information in a month, but over a six-month period, nearly one in 10, or 9.4% of employees, do so, Cyberhaven noted in its report. Data exfiltration incidents occur when data is transferred outside the organisation in unapproved ways.
Among employees that exfiltrated data, the top 1% most prolific “super stealers” were responsible for 7.7% of incidents, and the top 10% were responsible for 34.9% of incidents.
North America accounted for the highest number of incidents at 44%, followed by the Asia Pacific region at 27%. Europe, the Middle East, and Africa accounted for 24% of incidents while 5% of incidents were recorded in South America.
Business Application Compromise and the Evolving Art of Social Engineering
Social engineering is hardly a new concept, even in the world of cyber security. Phishing scams alone have been around for nearly 30 years, with attackers consistently finding new ways to entice victims into clicking a link, downloading a file, or providing sensitive information.
Business email compromise (BEC) attacks iterated on this concept by having the attacker gain access to a legitimate email account and impersonate its owner. Attackers reason that victims won't question an email that comes from a trusted source — and all too often, they're right.
But email isn't the only effective means cyber criminals use to engage in social engineering attacks. Modern businesses rely on a range of digital applications, from cloud services and VPNs to communications tools and financial services. What's more, these applications are interconnected, so an attacker who can compromise one can compromise others, too. Organisations can't afford to focus exclusively on phishing and BEC attacks — not when business application compromise (BAC) is on the rise.
SMBs Are Hardest-Hit By Ransomware
Coalition announced the mid-year update to its 2022 Cyber Claims Report detailing the evolution of cyber trends, revealing that small businesses have become bigger targets, overall incidents are down, and ransomware attacks are declining as demands go unpaid.
During the first half of 2022, the average cost of a claim for a small business owner increased to $139,000, which is 58% higher than levels during the first half of 2021.
“Across industries, we continue to see high-profile attacks targeting organisations with weak or exposed infrastructure — which has become exacerbated by today’s remote working culture and companies’ dependence on third-party vendors,” said Coalition’s Head of Claims.
“Small businesses are especially vulnerable because they often lack resources. For these businesses, avoiding downtime and disruption is essential, and they must understand that Active Insurance is accessible.”
The good news: both Coalition and the broader insurance industry observed a decrease in ransomware attack frequency and the amount of ransom demanded between the second half of 2021 and the first half of 2022. Ransomware demands decreased from $1.37M in H2 2021 to $896,000 in H1 2022.
“Organisations are increasingly aware of the threat ransomware poses. They have started to implement controls such as offline data backups that allow them to refuse to pay the ransom and restore operations through other means,” said Coalition’s Head of Incident Response. “As ransomware is on the decline, attackers are turning to reliable methods. Phishing, for example, has skyrocketed – and only continues to grow.”
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/09/15/small-businesses-ransomware-targets/
65% Say Legacy Backup Solutions Aren’t Up To Ransomware Challenges
HYCU researchers are reporting 65% of respondents lack full confidence in their legacy backup solutions (HYCU is a multi-cloud backup-as-a-service provider).
According to the report, 65% of surveyed enterprise organisations are increasing spending on detection, prevention and recovery, and respondents are beginning to understand that air-gapped or immutable backups are the only ways to ensure that the backups themselves don’t fall prey to encryption worms when ransomware hits.
Key findings include:
52% of ransomware victims suffered data loss
63% of victims suffered an operational disruption
Just 41% air gap their backups
Just 47% routinely test their backups
Only 35% of respondents believe their current backup and recovery tools are sufficient.
Four-Fifths of Firms Hit by Critical Cloud Security Incident
Some 80% of organisations suffered a “severe” cloud security incident over the past year, while a quarter worry they’ve suffered a cloud data breach and aren’t aware of it, according to new research from Snyk.
The developer security specialist polled 400 cloud engineering and security practitioners from organisations of various sizes and sectors, to compile its State of Cloud Security Report.
Among the incidents flagged by respondents over the past 12 months were breaches, leaks, intrusions, crypto-mining, compliance violations, failed audits and system downtime in the cloud.
Startups (89%) and public sector organisations (88%) were the most likely to have suffered such an incident over the period.
The bad news is that 58% of respondents predict they will suffer another severe incident in the cloud over the coming year. Over three-quarters (77%) of those questioned cited poor training and collaboration as a major challenge in this regard.
“Many cloud security failures result from a lack of effective cross-team collaboration and team training. When different teams use different tools or policy frameworks, reconciling work across those teams and ensuring consistent enforcement can be challenging,” the report argued.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/fourfifths-firms-critical-cloud/
Homeworkers Putting Home and Business Cyber Safety at Risk
BlackBerry published a European research report exposing the cyber security risk created by cost-conscious homeworkers who prioritise security behind price, usability and ease of set up in their purchase of domestic smart devices.
32% of European home workers who own a smart device surveyed said security was a top three factor when choosing a smart device, compared to 50% who prioritised price. 28% of businesses aren’t putting adequate security provisions in place to extend cyber protection as far as homes. This heightens the risk of cyber attacks for businesses and their employees, as hybrid and home working become the norm.
The survey of 4,000 home workers in the UK, France, Germany, and the Netherlands revealed that 28% of people say that their employer has not done or communicated anything about protecting their home network or smart devices, or they don’t know if they are protected.
Furthermore, 75% of Europeans say their employers have taken no steps to secure the home internet connection or provide software protection for home devices. This failure to extend network security to home devices increases risk of the vulnerabilities created by hybrid and home working being successfully exploited. These are particularly sobering findings for small and mid-sized businesses who face upwards of eleven cyber attacks per device, per day, according to the research.
Through even the most innocent of devices, bad actors can access home networks with connections to company devices – or company data on consumer devices – and seize the opportunity to steal data and intellectual property worth millions. It’s likely businesses will bear the brunt of cyber attacks caused by unsecured home devices, with knock-on effects to employees themselves.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/09/12/homeworkers-smart-devices-security/
Uber Hacked, Internal Systems Breached and Vulnerability Reports Stolen
Uber suffered a cyber attack Thursday afternoon with an allegedly 18-year-old hacker downloading HackerOne vulnerability reports and sharing screenshots of the company's internal systems, email dashboard, and Slack server.
The screenshots shared by the hacker and seen by BleepingComputer show what appears to be full access to many critical Uber IT systems, including the company's security software and Windows domain.
Other systems accessed by the hacker include the company's Amazon Web Services console, VMware vSphere/ESXi virtual machines, and the Google Workspace admin dashboard for managing the Uber email accounts.
The threat actor also breached the Uber Slack server, which he used to post messages to employees stating that the company was hacked. However, screenshots from Uber's slack indicate that these announcements were first met with memes and jokes as employees had not realised an actual cyber attack was taking place.
Uber has since confirmed the attack, tweeting that they are in touch with law enforcement and will post additional information as it becomes available. "We are currently responding to a cyber security incident. We are in touch with law enforcement and will post additional updates here as they become available," tweeted the Uber Communications account.
The New York Times, which first reported on the breach, said they spoke to the threat actor, who said they breached Uber after performing a social engineering attack on an employee and stealing their password. The threat actor then gained access to the company's internal systems using the stolen credentials.
IHG Hack: 'Vindictive' Couple Deleted Hotel Chain Data for Fun
Hackers have told the BBC they carried out a destructive cyber-attack against Holiday Inn owner Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) "for fun".
Describing themselves as a couple from Vietnam, they say they first tried a ransomware attack, then deleted large amounts of data when they were foiled. They accessed the FTSE 100 firm's databases thanks to an easily found and weak password, Qwerty1234. An expert says the case highlights the vindictive side of criminal hackers.
UK-based IHG operates 6,000 hotels around the world, including the Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Regent brands. On Monday last week, customers reported widespread problems with booking and check-in. For 24 hours IHG responded to complaints on social media by saying that the company was "undergoing system maintenance".
Then on the Tuesday afternoon it told investors that it had been hacked.
Threats
Ransomware and Extortion
How prepared are organisations to tackle ransomware attacks? - Help Net Security
Lorenz ransomware breaches corporate network via phone systems (bleepingcomputer.com)
3 Iranian nationals are accused of ransomware attacks on US victims (cnbc.com)
Emotet botnet now pushes Quantum and BlackCat ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cisco confirms Yanluowang ransomware leaked stolen company data (bleepingcomputer.com)
DEV-0270 Hacker Group Uses Windows BitLocker Feature to Encrypt Systems (gbhackers.com)
New York ambulance service discloses data breach after ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
The ransomware problem won't get better until we change one thing | ZDNET
Iranian Hackers Used Victims’ Printers to Issue Ransom Demands, DOJ Says (vice.com)
Transparency, disclosure key to fighting ransomware (techtarget.com)
Cisco Data Breach Attributed to Lapsus$ Ransomware Group (darkreading.com)
Ransomware Group Leaks Files Stolen From Cisco | SecurityWeek.Com
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Revolut hit by ‘phishing’ cyber attack | Business | The Times
Phishing page embeds keylogger to steal passwords as you type (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers now use ‘sock puppets’ for more realistic phishing attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishers take aim at Facebook page owners - Help Net Security
Real Estate Phish Swallows 1,000s of Microsoft 365 Credentials (darkreading.com)
Death of Queen Elizabeth II exploited to steal Microsoft credentials (bleepingcomputer.com)
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Malware
Hackers Are Using WeTransfer Links To Spread Malware (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
New malware bundle self-spreads through YouTube gaming videos (bleepingcomputer.com)
Linux variant of the SideWalk backdoor discovered - Help Net Security
Malware on Pirated Content Sites a Major WFH Risk for Enterprises (darkreading.com)
How to spot and avoid scams and malware in search results - The Washington Post
Gay hookup site typosquatted to push dodgy Chrome extensions, scams (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mobile
Google Patches Critical Vulnerabilities in Pixel Phones | SecurityWeek.Com
Apple patches iPhone and macOS flaws under active attack • The Register
Internet of Things – IoT
Securing your IoT devices against cyber attacks in 5 steps (bleepingcomputer.com)
EU Wants to Toughen Cyber Security Rules for Smart Devices | SecurityWeek.Com
Data Breaches/Leaks
Uber hacked, internal systems breached and vulnerability reports stolen (bleepingcomputer.com)
LastPass says hackers had internal access for four days (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hacker sells stolen Starbucks data of 219,000 Singapore customers (bleepingcomputer.com)
U-Haul discloses data breach exposing customer driver licenses (bleepingcomputer.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Chinese-linked cyber crims nab $529 million from India • The Register
Cyber Crime Forum Admins Steal from Site Users - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Police arrest man for laundering tens of millions in stolen crypto (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers Targeting WebLogic Servers and Docker APIs for Mining Cryptocurrencies (thehackernews.com)
Fake cryptocurrency giveaway sites have tripled this year (bleepingcomputer.com)
A Post-exploitation Look at Coinminers Abusing WebLogic Vulnerabilities (trendmicro.com)
DOJ drops report on cryptocurrency crime efforts (techtarget.com)
76% Of Financial Institutions Plan On Using Crypto In The Next 3 Years (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
How Can You Tell if a Cryptocurrency is Legitimate? Read Our Guide To Find Out - IT Security Guru
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
5 Ways to Mitigate Your New Insider Threats in the Great Resignation (thehackernews.com)
Ex-Broadcom engineer asks for no prison in trade secret case • The Register
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Microsoft Edge’s News Feed ads abused for tech support scams (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cops Raid Suspected Fraudster Penthouses - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
How to spot and avoid scams and malware in search results - The Washington Post
Tax fraud ring leader jailed for selling children’s stolen identities (bleepingcomputer.com)
AML/CFT/Sanctions
Insurance
Dark Web
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Hackers breach software vendor for Magento supply-chain attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
WordPress sites backdoored after FishPig supply chain attack • The Register
Denial of Service DoS/DDoS
Cloud/SaaS
5 ways to improve your cloud security posture (techtarget.com)
Excess privilege in the cloud is a universal security problem, IBM says | CSO Online
Organisations lack visibility into unauthorised public cloud data access - Help Net Security
One-third of enterprises don’t encrypt sensitive data in the cloud | CSO Online
Attack Surface Management
Cyber attack trends vs. growing IT complexity - Help Net Security
Outdated infrastructure remains a problem against sophisticated cyber attacks - Help Net Security
Shadow IT
Encryption
API
Hackers Targeting WebLogic Servers and Docker APIs for Mining Cryptocurrencies (thehackernews.com)
API security—and even visibility—isn’t getting handled by enterprises | CSO Online
Bad bots are coming at APIs! How to beat the API bot attacks? - Help Net Security
Open Source
When It Comes to Security, Don’t Overlook Your Linux Systems | SecurityWeek.Com
40% of pros scaled back back open source use over security • The Register
You never walk alone: The SideWalk backdoor gets a Linux variant | WeLiveSecurity
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Social Media
Thwarting attackers in their favourite new playground: Social media - Help Net Security
Cyber attackers Abuse Facebook Ad Manager in Savvy Credential-Harvesting Campaign (darkreading.com)
Training, Education and Awareness
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Models, Frameworks and Standards
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Montenegro Wrestles With Massive Cyber Attack, Russia Blamed | SecurityWeek.Com
Russia’s cyber future connected at the waist to Soviet military industrial complex | CSO Online
Nation State Actors – North Korea
Nation State Actors – Iran
Iranian cyber spies use multi-persona impersonation in phishing threads | CSO Online
Albania says Iranian hackers hit the country with another cyber attack - CyberScoop
US, UK, Canada and Australia Link Iranian Government Agency to Ransomware Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Iranian Hackers Used Victims’ Printers to Issue Ransom Demands, DOJ Says (vice.com)
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerabilities
Adobe Patches 63 Security Flaws in Patch Tuesday Bundle | SecurityWeek.Com
CISA orders agencies to patch vulnerability used in Stuxnet attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Chrome 105 Update Patches High-Severity Vulnerabilities | SecurityWeek.Com
Microsoft Teams stores auth tokens as cleartext in Windows, Linux, Macs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft Quashes Actively Exploited Zero-Day, Wormable Critical Bugs (darkreading.com)
Apple fixed the eighth actively exploited zero-day this year - Security Affairs
Cisco Patches High-Severity Vulnerability in SD-WAN vManage | SecurityWeek.Com
Over 280,000 WordPress sites may have been hijacked by zero-day hiding in popular plugin | TechRadar
High-Severity Firmware Security Flaws Left Unpatched in HP Enterprise Devices (thehackernews.com)
CISA added 2 more security flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog - Security Affairs
ManageEngine Password Management Vulnerability and Patch: Details for MSPs, MSSPs - MSSP Alert
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
MSPs and cyber security: The time for turning a blind eye is over - Help Net Security
Organisations should fear misconfigurations more than vulnerabilities - Help Net Security
Companies need data privacy plan before joining metaverse (techtarget.com)
Lens reflections may betray your secrets in Zoom video calls • The Register
US Government Wants Security Guarantees From Software Vendors | SecurityWeek.Com
The Cyber Security Head Game | Psychology Today South Africa
Cyber Security Report: Average Data Breach in US Costs $9.4 Million - MSSP Alert
5 Best Practices for Building Your Data Loss Prevention Strategy (darkreading.com)
Hands-on cyber attacks jump 50%, CrowdStrike reports | CSO Online
Penetration Testing Report: Security Misconfiguration Is "Top Vulnerability" - MSSP Alert
Twitter whistleblower: Lack of access, data controls invite exploitation | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Cost of Living Crisis Impact on Online Activity - IT Security Guru
Attacker Apparently Didn't Have to Breach a Single System to Pwn Uber (darkreading.com)
Zoom outage left users unable to sign in or join meetings (bleepingcomputer.com)
Five ways your data may be at risk — and what to do about it (bleepingcomputer.com)
Twitter's ex-security boss Zatko disses biz as dysfunctional • The Register
Don't Let Your Home Wi-Fi Get Hacked. Here's What to Do - CNET
How serious are organisations about their data sovereignty strategies? - Help Net Security
Undermining Microsoft Teams Security By Mining Tokens (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
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