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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 03 May 2024
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 03 May 2024:
-Most Attacks Impacting SMB’s Target Older, Unpatched Vulnerabilities
-91% of Ransomware Victims Paid At least One Ransom in the Past Year, as 1 in 5 Ransomware Attacks Triggers Lawsuit
-BEC and Fund Transfer Fraud Top Insurance Claims
-Correlating Cyber Investments with Business Outcomes
-Vulnerability Exploitation up 180%, 68% of Breaches involved Humans and Supply Chain Weak Link
-MOVEit & Change Healthcare Attacks Designated as Cyber Catastrophe Loss Events by Insurer
-Securing Your Organisation’s Supply Chain: Reducing the Risks of Third Parties
-Why Remote Desktop Tools are Facing an Onslaught of Cyber Threats
-95% of Organisations Revamped Cyber Security Strategies in the Last Year: Make Sure Yours is Right
-Human Factor a Significant Risk for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses.
-Microsoft CEO Says it is Putting Security Above All Else in Major Refocus
-Ending the Culture of Silence in Cyber Security; Three Ways to Empower Teams
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
Most Attacks Impacting SMB’s Target Older, Unpatched Vulnerabilities
Attackers continue to aggressively target small and mid-size businesses using specific high-profile vulnerabilities dating back a decade or more, network telemetry shows. Findings have shown that this is due to these vulnerabilities featuring in a wide range of products. Due to their prevalence, they can often become missed by organisations conducting patch management and therefore leave the organisation open.
For this reason it is critical that all organisations, including smaller organisations, have internal as well as external vulnerability scanning. You might believe your systems are patched up to date but there is no way to confirm without scanning , or to know which patches might have been missed.
Sources: [Infosecurity Magazine]
91% of Ransomware Victims Paid At least One Ransom in the Past Year, as 1 in 5 Ransomware Attacks Triggers Lawsuit
Ransomware attacks saw a significant surge in 2023, following a dip in 2022. The number of victims increased by 66% from 2022 to 2023, with 91% of those affected paying at least one ransom. 58% of organisations have been targeted six times or more.
The Sophos State of Ransomware 2023 report highlighted ransom payments rose by 500%; nearly two-thirds exceeded $1m or more, with an average payment of $2m. Furthermore, 30% of the demands were for over $5m.
In the US, 18% of incidents led to litigation, with 123 lawsuits filed in 2023 and 355 over five years. Data breaches, affecting 283.3 million records, primarily triggered these lawsuits, especially in healthcare and finance sectors. The resolution rate is 59%, with the highest settlement at $8.7m. Regulatory fines added nearly $10m to the financial impact. These figures underscore the significant financial implications of ransomware attacks and the urgent need for robust cyber security measures.
Sources: [ZD Net] [Infosecurity Magazine] [Security Magazine] [PrNewsWire] [Infosecurity Magazine]
BEC and Fund Transfer Fraud Top Insurance Claims
Cyber Insurer Coalition's 2024 Cyber Claims Report highlights a significant trend in cyber security threats, identifying email-based fraud as the predominant cause of insurance claims in 2023, accounting for 53% of all claims. Business email compromise (BEC) and funds transfer fraud (FTF) topped the list, contributing to 28% of claims and increasing claim amounts by 24% to an average loss exceeding $278,000. In contrast, ransomware, while less frequent at 19% of claims, also saw a rise in both frequency and severity, with average losses climbing to over $263,000. The report also notes a 13% year-on-year surge in overall claims, with substantial losses tied to compromised network security devices and a notable vulnerability in organisations using exposed remote desktop protocols.
Source: [Infosecurity Magazine]
Correlating Cyber Investments with Business Outcomes
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has implemented stringent new rules compelling organisations to report significant cyber incidents within four days and to annually disclose details concerning their cyber security risk management, strategy, and governance. These mandates are seen as giving “more teeth to the idea that cyber security is a business problem” and “bringing an element of cyber security to the boardroom” according to cyber security solutions provider SecurityGate. Highlighted in the "Cybersecurity Insights" podcast, experts argue for simplifying cyber security strategies, advocating sustained resource allocation over reactive measures, and emphasising the importance of training over expensive solutions. These steps are deemed crucial for enhancing organisational resilience and security in a landscape where cyber threats are increasingly sophisticated and pervasive.
Source: [InfoRisk Today]
Verizon: Vulnerability Exploitation up 180%, 68% of Breaches involved Humans and Supply Chain Weak Link
Verizon has released the findings of its 17th Annual Data Breach Investigations Report, which showed security incidents doubled year over year in 2023 to a record high 30,458 security events and 10,626 confirmed breaches. Some of the key takeaways from the 100-page report include zero-day attacks on unpatched systems and devices rising 180% in 2023, most breaches (68%) involving a non-malicious human element and the median time for users to fall for phishing emails falling just south of 60 seconds. In its first inclusion as a separate metric, supply chain attacks were found to contribute to 15% of all attacks.
Sources: [MSSP Alert] [Verizon]
MOVEit & Change Healthcare Attacks Designated as Cyber Catastrophe Loss Events by Insurer
Verisk’s Property Claim Services (PCS) has recently identified the MOVEit and Change Healthcare cyber attacks as significant Cyber Catastrophe Loss Events. These designations are part of PCS’s Global Cyber solution, which tracks cyber incidents and their potential impact on the insurance market. The designation indicates that each attack is anticipated to result in insurance industry losses exceeding USD 250 million.
The MOVEit attack, linked to the Russian-affiliated group Cl0p, compromised over 2,700 organisations globally, affecting up to 90 million individuals. The Change Healthcare attack, attributed to the ALPHV/Blackcat gang, notably disrupted UnitedHealth Group’s operations, with projected costs and lost revenue totalling up to USD 1.6 billion. These designations highlight the escalating scale and financial impact of cyber incidents on global markets.
Source: [Reinsurance News]
Securing Your Organisation’s Supply Chain: Reducing the Risks of Third Parties
Nearly every organisation is part of a supply chain, where a significant amount of data is transferred. When data leaves your infrastructure, its security depends on the third party. The risks of a cyber incident increases as the supply chain increases.
Organisations need to mitigate the risks that their third party brings. This requires an understanding of the supply chain actors, and performing cyber security assessments of the most critical ones. The objective is to ensure that your organisation is satisfied with the third party’s security controls, or to work together to remediate any gaps.
Source: [Help Net Security]
Why Remote Desktop Tools are Facing an Onslaught of Cyber Threats
In the era of hybrid work, remote desktop tools have become crucial yet vulnerable points within corporate networks, attracting significant cyber criminal attention. A study by Barracuda Networks underscores the challenges of securing these tools. Virtual Network Computing (VNC) is particularly susceptible; it is targeted in 98% of these types of attacks due to its use of multiple, sometimes unsecured ports. VNC attacks predominantly exploit weak password practices, notably through brute force methods. Conversely, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) accounts for about 1.6% of these attacks but is favoured for more extensive network breaches, often involving ransomware or crypto mining. The study highlights a pressing need for robust endpoint management and heightened security measures to mitigate these threats.
Source: [ITPro]
95% of Organisations Revamped Cyber Security Strategies in the Last Year: Make Sure Yours is Right
A recent report found that 95% of companies have altered their cyber security strategies in the last twelve months. This was driven by keeping pace with the shifting regulatory landscape (98%), the need to meet customer expectations for data protection and privacy (89%), and the rise of AI-driven threats and solutions (65%). Almost half (44%) of non-security executives do not understand the regulatory requirements their organisation must adhere to.
When it came to reporting, the study found that security teams aren’t reporting on key operational metrics that define whether their security investments and strategy changes have a measurable impact. It is evident that there is a disconnect between security and non-security professionals when it comes to the business strategy.
Sources: [Business Wire] [Security Magazine]
Human Factor a Significant Risk for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses.
A survey of business and IT security in small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) conducted by LastPass found that roughly one in five business leaders admits to circumventing security policies, as do one in 10 IT security leaders. The survey found that password management is critically important to cyber security, with nearly half (47%) reporting recent breaches due to compromised passwords.
Sources: [Beta News] [Business Wire]
Microsoft CEO Says it is Putting Security Above All Else in Major Refocus
Following a series of high-profile attacks in recent months and a report by the US Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB), Microsoft’s CEO has revealed it will now focus its efforts on an increase in the commitment to security. Investigating a summer 2023 attack, Microsoft was deemed to have made a series of “avoidable errors”, including the failure to detect several compromises, the CSRB said.
Sources: [TechRadar]
Ending the Culture of Silence in Cyber Security; Three Ways to Empower Teams
A recent discussion on workplace errors highlights the significant repercussions of cyber breaches compared to typical office mistakes. In the UK, nearly a third of businesses face cyber attacks weekly, with each breach costing approximately £4,000. However, a concerning trend is that 41% of these breaches are not reported to internal leadership, often due to fears among staff about the consequences of admitting faults. A three-pronged approach has been suggested to foster a blame-free culture: providing tailored and evolving cyber training, establishing safe zones for admitting mistakes, and implementing robust recovery plans. This approach not only prepares employees to handle potential breaches more effectively but also encourages them to report incidents promptly, reducing the overall impact and aiding quicker recovery. Such strategies are essential for maintaining resilience against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.
Source: [Minute Hack]
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Verizon 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report: 5 Takeaways | MSSP Alert
Verizon DBIR: Vulnerability exploitation in breaches up 180% | TechTarget
Verizon DBIR: Basic Security Gaffes Cause Breach Surge (darkreading.com)
95% of Organisations Revamped Their Cyber Security Strategies in the Last Year | Business Wire
95% of organisations adjusted cyber security strategies this past year | Security Magazine
1 in 5 US Ransomware Attacks Triggers Lawsuit - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Are Enterprises Overconfident About Cyber Security Readiness? (govinfosecurity.com)
How CISOs Can Contend with Increasing Scrutiny from Regulators (informationweek.com)
Correlating Cyber Investments with Business Outcomes (inforisktoday.com)
Ending The Culture of Silence In Cyber Security – 3 Ways To Empower Teams - Minutehack
97% of security leaders have increased SaaS security budgets - Help Net Security
The rise in CISO job dissatisfaction – what’s wrong and how can it be fixed? | CSO Online
Should Cyber Security Leadership Finally be Professionalized? - SecurityWeek
What needs to change to overcome nonchalant security approaches | TechRadar
Agile by Design: Cyber Security at the Heart of Transformation (noeticcyber.com)
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Q1 2024 Ransomware Report: 21% Increase in Q1 2023 Ransomware Activity (corvusinsurance.com)
91% of ransomware victims paid at least one ransom in the past year, survey finds | ZDNET
1 in 5 US Ransomware Attacks Triggers Lawsuit - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
There was an 81% year-over-year increase in ransomware attacks | Security Magazine
Ransom recovery costs reach $2.73 million - Help Net Security
Cactus Ransomware Group Targets Qlik Sense Servers | Decipher (duo.com)
How AI and data protection intersect in today's threat era - SiliconANGLE
Better hygiene may mitigate the need to ban ransomware payments | Computer Weekly
Ukrainian REvil Hacker Sentenced to 13 Years and Ordered to Pay $16 Million (thehackernews.com)
How Businesses Should Grapple With Ransomware Threats (eetimes.eu)
Cyber security consultant arrested after allegedly extorting IT firm (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware Victims
Change Healthcare breached via Citrix portal with no MFA | TechTarget
Almost all US hospitals took financial hit from Change hack, AHA says | Reuters
Another major pharmacy chain shuts following possible cyber attack | TechRadar
Hack That Paralyzed US Health Care Turns Up Scrutiny on Insurer (claimsjournal.com)
Cyber attack to cost Western Isles Council half a million pounds (holyrood.com)
LockBit publishes confidential data stolen from Cannes hospital in France (therecord.media)
French hospital CHC-SV refuses to pay LockBit extortion demand (bleepingcomputer.com)
'Cybersecurity incident' closes London Drugs' pharmacies • The Register
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
AI-driven phishing attacks deceive even the most aware users - Help Net Security
US Post Office phishing sites get as much traffic as the real one (bleepingcomputer.com)
If you receive a Shein mystery box, do not open it | TechRadar
Why the automotive sector is a target for email-based cyber attacks - Help Net Security
BEC
BEC and Fund Transfer Fraud Top Insurance Claims - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Other Social Engineering
FBI warns of fake verification schemes targeting dating app users (bleepingcomputer.com)
A Lot of People Are Falling for Those 'Your Package Cannot Be Delivered' Texts | PCMag
Artificial Intelligence
AI-driven phishing attacks deceive even the most aware users - Help Net Security
AI is creating a new generation of cyber attacks - Help Net Security
Combating the Rising Tide of AI-Driven Cyber Crime (cryptopolitan.com)
Businesses turn to generative AI but many don't have policies on it (betanews.com)
How AI and data protection intersect in today's threat era - SiliconANGLE
Understanding emerging AI and data privacy regulations - Help Net Security
To understand the risks posed by AI, follow the money – O’Reilly (oreilly.com)
From Risk to Resilience: Managing Data Security in AI-Driven Enterprises | Inc.com
Cyber security experts face AI risks, deepfakes, burnout | Fortune
US Government Releases New AI Security Guidelines for Critical Infrastructure (thehackernews.com)
Why Using Microsoft Copilot Could Amplify Existing Data Quality and Privacy Issues - SecurityWeek
2FA/MFA
Malware
New "Goldoon" Botnet Targets D-Link Routers With Decade-Old Flaw (thehackernews.com)
New SOHO router malware aims for cloud accounts, internal company resources - Help Net Security
Guarding the Gates: The Growing Abundance of Linux Malware - VMRay
Bogus npm Packages Used to Trick Software Developers into Installing Malware (thehackernews.com)
Millions of Malicious 'Imageless' Containers Planted on Docker Hub Over 5 Years (thehackernews.com)
ZLoader Malware Evolves with Anti-Analysis Trick from Zeus Banking Trojan (thehackernews.com)
New Cuttlefish malware infects routers to monitor traffic for credentials (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mobile
Powerful 'Brokewell' Android Trojan Allows Attackers to Takeover Devices - SecurityWeek
Google Prevented 2.28 Million Malicious Apps from Reaching Play Store in 2023 (thehackernews.com)
New Wpeeper Android malware hides behind hacked WordPress sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft warns of "Dirty Stream" attack impacting Android apps (bleepingcomputer.com)
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Internet of Things – IoT
NCSC: New UK law bans default passwords on smart devices (securityaffairs.com)
A glaring Android TV security flaw might put your Gmail at risk | Android Central
Data Breaches/Leaks
PSNI data breach: Almost 5,000 officers and staff in legal action - BBC News
Kaiser Permanente data breach may have impacted 13.4 million patients (securityaffairs.com)
FBCS data breach impacted 2M individuals (securityaffairs.com)
States shares health debt data of 5,000 in an email | Guernsey Press
Qantas app exposed sensitive traveller details to random users (bleepingcomputer.com)
Philadelphia Inquirer: Data of over 25,000 people stolen in 2023 breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
Australian pubgoers' personal info posted to leak site • The Register
Monash Health data breach exposes sexual assault and family violence claims (smh.com.au)
Panda Restaurant Group disclosed a data breach (securityaffairs.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
AI is creating a new generation of cyber attacks - Help Net Security
Combating the Rising Tide of AI-Driven Cyber Crime (cryptopolitan.com)
Router Roulette: Cyber Criminals and Nation-States Sharing Compromised Networks | Trend Micro (US)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
How insider threats can cause serious security breaches - Help Net Security
Ex-NSA Employee Sentenced to 22 Years for Trying to Sell U.S. Secrets to Russia (thehackernews.com)
Insurance
Cyber facility in capacity raise as risk severity grows (emergingrisks.co.uk)
Hack That Paralyzed US Health Care Turns Up Scrutiny on Insurer (claimsjournal.com)
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Cloud/SaaS
New SOHO router malware aims for cloud accounts, internal company resources - Help Net Security
97% of security leaders have increased SaaS security budgets - Help Net Security
Encryption
UK's Investigatory Powers Bill approved to become law • The Register
Ten years of Heartbleed: Lessons learned | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Linux and Open Source
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Change Healthcare breached via Citrix portal with no MFA | TechTarget
Okta warns of "unprecedented" credential stuffing attacks on customers (bleepingcomputer.com)
NCSC: New UK law bans default passwords on smart devices (securityaffairs.com)
New Cuttlefish malware infects routers to monitor traffic for credentials (bleepingcomputer.com)
How to use a YubiKey to log into Windows and macOS (xda-developers.com)
Social Media
How TikTok Grew From a Fun App for Teens Into a Potential National Security Threat - SecurityWeek
Facebook at 20: Contemplating the Cost of Privacy (darkreading.com)
Training, Education and Awareness
Ending The Culture Of Silence In Cyber Security – 3 Ways To Empower Teams - Minutehack
Everyone's an Expert: How to Empower Your Employees for Cyber Security Success (thehackernews.com)
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
UK's Investigatory Powers Bill approved to become law • The Register
UK rolls out new consumer safeguards for smart devices (betanews.com)
FCC fines major wireless carriers over illegal location data sharing - Help Net Security
Understanding emerging AI and data privacy regulations - Help Net Security
CISA's incident reporting requirements go too far, trade groups and lawmakers say | CyberScoop
Data Protection
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Cyber security experts face AI risks, deepfakes, burnout | Fortune
The rise in CISO job dissatisfaction – what’s wrong and how can it be fixed? | CSO Online
Agencies to turn toward ‘skill-based hiring’ for cyber and tech jobs, ONCD says | CyberScoop
Cyber Security Degrees, Are They Really Worth It? | HackerNoon
Beyond the Buzz: Rethinking Alcohol as a Cyber Security Bonding Ritual - SecurityWeek
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Ukrainian REvil Hacker Sentenced to 13 Years and Ordered to Pay $16 Million (thehackernews.com)
Police shuts down 12 fraud call centres, arrests 21 suspects (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyber security consultant arrested after allegedly extorting IT firm (bleepingcomputer.com)
CEO who sold fake Cisco devices to US military gets 6 years in prison (bleepingcomputer.com)
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare, Cyber Espionage and Geopolitical Threats/Activity
Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage
Nation State Actors
China
‘Honeypots’ and influence operations: China’s spies turn to Europe (ft.com)
Philippines Pummelled by Cyber Attacks & Misinformation Tied to China (darkreading.com)
Germany grapples with wave of spying threats from Russia and China - BBC News
How TikTok Grew From a Fun App for Teens Into a Potential National Security Threat - SecurityWeek
Think tank: Tech companies spread China's propaganda • The Register
China's attacks on critical infrastructure ‘tip of the iceberg' | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Chinese Hackers Have Been Probing DNS Networks Globally for Years: Report - SecurityWeek
Muddling Meerkat hackers manipulate DNS using China’s Great Firewall (bleepingcomputer.com)
Chinese government website security has big problems • The Register
Espionage breaches account for 25% in APAC, report reveals (securitybrief.co.nz)
Russia
Router Roulette: Cyber Criminals and Nation-States Sharing Compromised Networks | Trend Micro (US)
Russian Hackers Target Industrial Systems in North America, Europe - SecurityWeek
Pro-Russia hacktivists attacking vital tech in water and other sectors, agencies say | CyberScoop
Germany grapples with wave of spying threats from Russia and China - BBC News
Ukraine Targeted in Cyber Attack Exploiting 7-Year-Old Microsoft Office Flaw (thehackernews.com)
Germany Warns Of Consequences For Alleged Russian Cyber Attack (rferl.org)
Hackers Claim to Have Infiltrated Belarus’ Main Security Service - SecurityWeek
Military Tank Manual, 2017 Zero-Day Anchor Latest Ukraine Cyber Attack (darkreading.com)
Sweden prepares for Eurovision amidst fears of protests, cyber attacks and unrest | Euronews
Ex-NSA Employee Sentenced to 22 Years for Trying to Sell U.S. Secrets to Russia (thehackernews.com)
Two British men charged with helping Russian intelligence - BBC News
Two hackers in Ukraine accused of spreading Russian propaganda (therecord.media)
Iran
North Korea
Other Nation State Actors, Hacktivism, Extremism, Terrorism and Other Geopolitical Threat Intelligence
Vulnerability Management
When is One Vulnerability Scanner Not Enough? (thehackernews.com)
Vulnerability exploitation nearly tripled in 2023 (telecoms.com)
Vulnerabilities
Cisco devices again targeted by state-linked threat campaign - TechCentral.ie
Okta warns of "unprecedented" credential stuffing attacks on customers (bleepingcomputer.com)
1,200+ Vulnerabilities Detected In Microsoft Products In 2023 (gbhackers.com)
Most attacks affecting SMBs target five older vulnerabilities | CSO Online
Severe Flaws Disclosed in Brocade SANnav SAN Management Software (thehackernews.com)
UnitedHealth hackers took advantage of Citrix vulnerability to break in, CEO says (yahoo.com)
Palo Alto Updates Remediation for Max-Critical Firewall Bug (darkreading.com)
WordPress plugin vulnerability poses severe security risk, allows for site takeovers | TechSpot
Ukraine Targeted in Cyber Attack Exploiting 7-Year-Old Microsoft Office Flaw (thehackernews.com)
New R Programming Vulnerability Exposes Projects to Supply Chain Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Grafana Tool Vulnerability Let Attackers Inject SQL Queries (gbhackers.com)
Microsoft says April Windows updates break VPN connections (bleepingcomputer.com)
NTLM auth traffic spikes after Windows Server patch • The Register
New "Goldoon" Botnet Targets D-Link Routers With Decade-Old Flaw (thehackernews.com)
Four Critical Vulnerabilities Expose HPE Aruba Devices to RCE Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Ten years of Heartbleed: Lessons learned | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
1,400 GitLab Servers Impacted by Exploited Vulnerability - SecurityWeek
Tools and Controls
Why remote desktop tools are facing an onslaught of cyber threats | ITPro
Correlating Cyber Investments With Business Outcomes (inforisktoday.com)
When is One Vulnerability Scanner Not Enough? (thehackernews.com)
Microsoft CEO says it is "putting security above all else" in major refocus | TechRadar
Can automating security relieve CISO pressure? (techinformed.com)
10 Critical Endpoint Security Tips You Should Know (thehackernews.com)
Businesses turn to generative AI but many don't have policies on it (betanews.com)
Ending The Culture Of Silence In Cyber Security – 3 Ways To Empower Teams - Minutehack
Organisations Struggle with Zero Trust: Gartner | MSSP Alert
Tech Tip: Why Haven't You Set Up DMARC Yet? (darkreading.com)
97% of security leaders have increased SaaS security budgets - Help Net Security
DPRK's Kimsuky APT Abuses Weak DMARC Policies, Feds Warn (darkreading.com)
How to Red Team GenAI: Challenges, Best Practices, and Learnings (darkreading.com)
Chinese Hackers Have Been Probing DNS Networks Globally for Years: Report - SecurityWeek
Muddling Meerkat hackers manipulate DNS using China’s Great Firewall (bleepingcomputer.com)
Why LLMs are predicting the future of compliance and risk management | VentureBeat
Other News
Microsoft CEO says it is "putting security above all else" in major refocus | TechRadar
A Season Of Health Breaches, A Season Of Changes (forbes.com)
Bank of England tells payment firms to step up disruption mitigation plans (yahoo.com)
NCSC updates warning over hacktivist threat to CNI | Computer Weekly
The EU's Strategy for a Cyber Secure Digital Single Market | UpGuard
To Damage OT Systems, Hackers Tap USBs, Old Bugs & Malware (darkreading.com)
During National Small Business Week, Take Steps to Secure Your Business | CISA
At Microsoft, years of security debt come crashing down | Cybersecurity Dive
Sweden prepares for Eurovision amidst fears of protests, cyber attacks and unrest | Euronews
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 12 April 2024
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 12 April 2024:
-UK Cyber Breaches Survey Finds Business Falling Short on Cyber, as Half Suffer Breach and Many Fail to Report
-The Cyber Attack Stopped by a Microsoft Engineer Was Scarier Than We Realise
-UK Government Urged to Get on ‘Front Foot’ with Ransomware Instead of ‘Absorbing the Punches’
-74% of Employees Falling Victim to Phishing Attacks Hit with Disciplinary Actions; Egress Reveals
-Why Are Many Businesses Turning to Third-Party Security Partners?
-60% of SMBs and 74% of Businesses with up to 500 Employees are Concerned About Cyber Security as Attacks Rise
-Cyber Attacks Cost Financial Firms $12bn Says IMF
-LastPass: Hackers Targeted Employee in Failed Deepfake CEO Call
-Most Cyber Criminal Threats are Concentrated in Just a Few Countries
-Why Incident Response is the Best Cyber Security ROI
-Ransomware Attacks are the Canaries in the Cyber Coal Mine
-Cyber Security is Crucial, but What is Risk and How do You Assess 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
UK Cyber Breaches Survey Finds Business Falling Short on Cyber, as Half Suffer Breach and Many Fail to Report
Half of UK businesses experienced a cyber breach last year, according to a survey by the UK Government. The figure could be much higher however, as the survey found only 34% report breaches externally.
It is said that a cyber incident is a matter of when, not if. Nonetheless, 78% of organisations lack a dedicated response plan outlining actions to be taken in the event of a cyber incident and only 11% review their immediate suppliers for risks. To improve cyber resilience, there needs to be a paradigm shift.
Sources: [Computer Weekly] [Computing] [Infosecurity Magazine] [Info Risk Today]
Cyber Attacks Cost Financial Firms $12bn Says IMF
A recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report has highlighted significant financial losses in the financial services sector, totalling $12 billion over the last two decades due to cyber attacks, with losses accelerating post-pandemic. The number of incidents and the scale of extreme losses have sharply increased, prompting the IMF to urge enhanced cross-border cooperation to uphold the stability of the global financial system.
The report underscores the critical threat that cyber attacks pose to financial stability, particularly for banks in advanced economies which are more exposed to such risks. With major institutions like JP Morgan facing up to 45 billion cyber threats daily, the IMF emphasises the need for international collaboration to effectively manage and mitigate these risks.
Source: [Finextra]
The Cyber Attack Stopped by a Microsoft Engineer Was Scarier Than We Realise
A critical security breach was narrowly avoided when a Microsoft developer detected suspicious activity in XZ Utils, an open-source library crucial to internet infrastructure. This discovery revealed that a new developer had implanted a sophisticated backdoor in the software, potentially giving unauthorised access to millions of servers worldwide. This incident has intensified scrutiny on the vulnerabilities of open-source software, which is largely maintained by unpaid or underfunded volunteers and serves as a backbone for the internet economy. The situation has prompted discussions among government officials and cyber security experts about enhancing the protection of open-source environments. This close call, described by some as a moment of "unreasonable luck," underscores the pressing need for sustainable support and rigorous security measures in the open-source community.
Source: [Inc.com]
UK Government Urged to Get on ‘Front Foot’ with Ransomware Instead of ‘Absorbing the Punches’
Amidst a rising tide of ransomware attacks affecting wide range of UK services, officials in Westminster are being pressured to enhance funding for operations aimed at disrupting ransomware gangs. The current strategy focuses on bolstering organisational cyber security and recovery preparedness, a stance under the second pillar of the UK's National Cyber Strategy known as resilience. However, this approach has not curbed the frequency of incidents, which have steadily increased over the past five years, impacting sectors including the NHS and local governments. In contrast to the proactive disruption efforts seen in the US, the UK has yet to allocate new funds for such measures, despite successful disruptions like the recent takedown of the LockBit gang by the US National Crime Agency, which underscored the potential benefits of increased resources for cyber crime disruption.
Source: [The Record Media]
74% of Employees Falling Victim to Phishing Attacks Hit with Disciplinary Actions
The Egress 'Email Threat Landscape 2024' report reveals a surge in phishing attacks, with 94% of companies falling victim to this type of crime in this past year alone, leading to increasingly complex cyber security challenges. According to the report, 96% of these companies suffered significant repercussions, including operational disruption and data breaches, with common attack vectors being malicious URLs, and malware or ransomware attachments.
The human cost is also notable, with 74 per cent of employees involved in attacks having faced disciplinary actions, dismissals, or voluntary departures, underscoring the severity of the issue and the heightened vigilance among companies in addressing the phishing threat. Financial losses primarily stem from customer churn, which accounts for nearly half of the total impact. Amidst rising attacks through compromised third-party accounts, Egress advocates for stronger monitoring and defence strategies to protect critical data and reduce organisational and individual hardships.
Source: [The Fintech Times]
Why Are Many Businesses Turning to Third-Party Security Partners?
In 2023, 71% of organisations reported being impacted by a cyber security skills shortage, leading many to scale back their cyber security initiatives amid escalating threats. To bridge the gap, businesses are increasingly turning to third-party security partnerships, reflecting a shift towards outsourcing crucial cyber security operations to handle complex challenges more efficiently. This approach is driven by the need to fill technical and resource gaps in the face of a severe workforce shortfall, with an estimated 600,000 unfilled security positions in the US alone. Moreover, these strategic partnerships allow organisations to leverage external expertise for scalable and effective security solutions, alleviating the burden of staying updated with the rapidly evolving threat landscape.
Source: [Help Net Security]
74% of Businesses with up to 500 Employees are Concerned About Cyber Security as Attacks Rise
According to a recent poll by the US Chamber of Commerce, 60% of small businesses expressed concerns about threats, with 58% concerned about a supply chain breakdown. The highest concern came from businesses with 20-500 employees (74%). Despite such concern, only 49% had trained staff on cyber security. When it came to the impact of a cyber event, 27% of respondents say they are one disaster or threat away from shutting down their business.
Sources: [Malwcv arebytes][Marketplace] [US Chamber]
LastPass: Hackers Targeted Employee in Failed Deepfake CEO Call
LastPass recently reported a thwarted voice phishing attack targeting one of its employees using deepfake audio technology to impersonate CEO Karim Toubba. The attack, conducted via WhatsApp, was identified by the employee as suspicious due to the unusual communication channel and clear signs of social engineering, such as forced urgency. Despite the failure of this particular attempt, LastPass has shared the incident publicly to highlight the growing use of AI-generated deepfakes in executive impersonation schemes. This incident underscores a broader trend, as indicated by alerts from both the US Department of Health and Human Services and the FBI, pointing to an increase in sophisticated cyber attacks employing deepfake technology for fraud, social engineering, and potential influence operations.
Source: [Bleepingcomputer]
Most Cyber Criminal Threats are Concentrated in Just a Few Countries
Oxford researchers have developed the world's first cyber crime index to identify global hotspots of cyber criminal activity, ranking countries based on the prevalence and sophistication of cyber threats. The index reveals that a significant portion of cyber threats is concentrated in a few countries, with Russia and Ukraine positioned at the top, with the USA and the UK also ranking prominently. The results indicate that countries like China, Russia, Ukraine, the US, Romania, and Nigeria are among the top hubs for activities ranging from technical services to money laundering. This tool aims to refine the focus for cyber crime research and prevention efforts, although the study acknowledges the need for a broader and more representative sample of expert opinions to enhance the accuracy and applicability of the findings. The index underscores that while cyber crime may appear globally fluid, it has pronounced local concentrations.
Sources: [ThisisOxfordshire] [Phys Org]
Why Incident Response is the Best Cyber Security ROI
The Microsoft Incident Response Reference Guide predicts that most organisations will encounter one or more major security incidents where attackers gain administrative control over crucial IT systems and data. While complete prevention of cyber attacks may not be feasible, prompt and effective incident response is essential to mitigate damage and protect reputations. However, many organisations may not be adequately budgeting for incident response, and the recent UK Government report found that 78% of organisations do not have formalised incident response plans, risking prolonged recovery and increased costs. Cyber crime damages hit $23b in 2023, but the true costs of incidents includes non-financial damage such as reputational harm. If a cyber incident is a matter of when, not if, then a prepared incident response plan is the best cyber security ROI.
Black Arrow works with organisations of all sizes and sectors to design and prepare for managing a cyber security incident; this can include an Incident Response Plan and an educational tabletop exercise for the leadership team that highlights the proportionate controls to help the organisation prevent and mitigate an incident.
Source: [CSO Online]
Ransomware Attacks are the Canaries in the Cyber Coal Mine
A recent report has found that ransomware attacks were up 110% compared to the prior month, stating that unreported attacks were up to 6 times higher. The report found that tactics are increasingly using data extortion, with 92% of attacks utilising this method.
Sources: [Silicon Republic] [The Hill]
Cyber Security is Crucial, but What is Risk and How do You Assess it?
Cyber security is an increasingly sophisticated game of cat and mouse, where the landscape is constantly shifting. Your cyber risk is the probability of negative impacts stemming from a cyber incident, but how do you assess risk?
One thing to understand is that there are a multitude of risks: risks from phishing, risks from insiders, risks from network attacks, risks of supply chain compromise, and of course, nation states. To understand risk, an organisation must first identify the information that it needs to protect, to avoid only learning of the information asset’s existence from a successful attacker. Once all assets are identified, then organisations should conduct risk assessments to identify threats and an evaluation the potential damage that can be done.
Sources: [Security Boulevard] [International Banker]
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Cyber attacks cost financial firms $12bn says IMF (finextra.com)
UK business falling short on cybersecurity warns government report (computing.co.uk)
60% of small businesses are concerned about cyber security threats | Malwarebytes
Cyber attacks on small businesses are on the rise - Marketplace
What is cyber security risk & how to assess - Security Boulevard
Cyber Security Regulations Aren’t Static—Your Practices Can’t Be Either (forbes.com)
Why Cyber Security Is More Crucial Today Than Ever Before (internationalbanker.com)
Why are many businesses turning to third-party security partners? - Help Net Security
CISO Perspectives on Complying with Cyber Security Regulations (thehackernews.com)
Why incident response is the best cyber security ROI | CSO Online
Privacy Versus Cyber – What is the Bigger Risk? | Jackson Lewis P.C. - JDSupra
Large businesses struggle to tackle cyber threats (betanews.com)
Resilience And Antifragility Are The Best Strategies For 2024 (forbes.com)
The state of secrets security: 7 action items for better managing risk - Security Boulevard
Former Uber CSO Joe Sullivan and lessons learned from the infamous 2016 Uber breach | CSO Online
Why cyberpsychology is such an important part of effective cyber security | CSO Online
Cyber Security in the Evolving Threat Landscape (securityaffairs.com)
How CISOs can make themselves ready to serve on the board | CSO Online
CISOs Need A Data-Driven Approach To Offensive Security (forbes.com)
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Ransomware surged 110pc last month, report claims (siliconrepublic.com)
Ransomware attacks are the canaries in the cyber coal mine | The Hill
Ransomware gang’s new extortion trick? Calling the front desk | TechCrunch
Frameworks, Guidelines & Bounties Alone Won't Defeat Ransomware (darkreading.com)
Ransomware group maturity should influence ransom payment decision - Help Net Security
Proactive and Reactive Ransomware Protection Strategies - Security Boulevard
How can the energy sector bolster its resilience to ransomware attacks? - Help Net Security
CL0P's Ransomware Rampage - Security Measures for 2024 (thehackernews.com)
LockBit copycat DarkVault spurs rebranding rumour | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Ransomware payouts hit all-time high, but that’s not the whole story (securityintelligence.com)
Ransomware Victims
Second ransomware gang says it’s extorting Change Healthcare • The Register
Targus says it is facing major cyber attack, global operations hit | TechRadar
Optics giant Hoya hit with $10 million ransomware demand (bleepingcomputer.com)
Panera Bread week-long IT outage caused by ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Honeytrap sext scandal MP William Wragg will keep Tory whip (thetimes.co.uk)
How malicious email campaigns continue to slip through the cracks - Help Net Security
TA547 Phishing Attack Hits German Firms with Rhadamanthys Stealer (thehackernews.com)
Cyber Criminals Invade Inboxes: What Small Businesses Can Do (pymnts.com)
Phishing Detection and Response: What You Need to Know - Security Boulevard
Other Social Engineering
Cyber Criminals Target Victims Using Social Engineering Techniques (ic3.gov)
Honeytrap sext scandal MP William Wragg will keep Tory whip (thetimes.co.uk)
LastPass: Hackers targeted employee in failed deepfake CEO call (bleepingcomputer.com)
Artificial Intelligence
China is using generative AI to carry out influence operations (securityaffairs.com)
What Lies Ahead for Cyber Security in the Era of Generative AI? - IT Security Guru
AI risks under the auditor's lens more than ever - Help Net Security
Speed of AI development is outpacing risk assessment | Ars Technica
Malicious PowerShell script pushing malware looks AI-written (bleepingcomputer.com)
LastPass: Hackers targeted employee in failed deepfake CEO call (bleepingcomputer.com)
AI-as-a-Service Providers Vulnerable to PrivEsc and Cross-Tenant Attacks (thehackernews.com)
How Artificial Intelligence Is Fuelling Incel Communities (yahoo.com)
2FA/MFA
Malware
Urgent Security Alert! Hackers Hijacked Notepad++ Plugin (gbhackers.com)
Sophisticated Latrodectus Malware Linked to 2017 Strain (inforisktoday.com)
Critical Flaws Leave 92,000 D-Link NAS Devices Vulnerable to Malware Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Bing ad posing as NordVPN aims to spread SecTopRAT malware | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
ScrubCrypt used to drop VenomRAT along with many malicious plugins (securityaffairs.com)
Unit 42: Malware-initiated scanning attacks on the rise | TechTarget
RUBYCARP hackers linked to 10-year-old cryptomining botnet (bleepingcomputer.com)
Raspberry Robin Returns: New Malware Campaign Spreading Through WSF Files (thehackernews.com)
Malicious PowerShell script pushing malware looks AI-written (bleepingcomputer.com)
TA547 Phishing Attack Hits German Firms with Rhadamanthys Stealer (thehackernews.com)
Mobile
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
How Nation-State DDoS Attacks Impact Us All (darkreading.com)
DDoS Protection Needs Detective and Preventive Controls (darkreading.com)
French cities knocked offline by 'large-scale cyber attack' • The Register
Internet of Things – IoT
Amazon Removes a Feature From Fire TVs Over Security Concerns | Cord Cutters News
Over 90,000 LG Smart TVs may be exposed to remote attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
EV Charging Stations Still Riddled With Cyber Security Vulnerabilities (darkreading.com)
UK town halls given green light to use Chinese CCTV — despite Westminster ban – POLITICO
Hotel check-in terminal leaks rafts of guests' room codes • The Register
Data Breaches/Leaks
Many of the world's biggest companies reported data breaches last year | TechRadar
US Data Breach Reports Surge 90% Annually in Q1 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
37% of publicly shared files expose personal information - Help Net Security
Acuity confirms hackers stole non-sensitive govt data from GitHub repos (bleepingcomputer.com)
Home Depot confirms third-party data breach exposed employee info (bleepingcomputer.com)
AT&T now says data breach impacted 51 million customers (bleepingcomputer.com)
DOJ data on 340,000 individuals stolen in consulting firm hack | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Taxi software vendor exposes personal details of nearly 300K • The Register
Employee credentials leaked in Microsoft security lapse (techmonitor.ai)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Russia ranked biggest cyber crime threat to rest of the world | Tech News | Metro News
Oxford research uncovers world cyber crime hotspots | thisisoxfordshire
Cyber crooks poison GitHub search to fool developers | Computer Weekly
Zambia Busts 77 People in China-Backed Cyber Crime Op (darkreading.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Hackers deploy crypto drainers on thousands of WordPress sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
RUBYCARP hackers linked to 10-year-old cryptomining botnet (bleepingcomputer.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Microsoft employees exposed internal passwords in security lapse | TechCrunch
Insider Threats Surge Amid Growing Foreign Interference - Security Boulevard
Insurance
US insurers using drones to deny home insurance policies • The Register
Cyber Insurance: Sexy? No. Important? Critically yes. - Security Boulevard
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Why a near-miss cyber attack put US officials and the tech industry on edge - The Japan Times
DOJ data on 340,000 individuals stolen in consulting firm hack | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Encryption
Linux and Open Source
The Cyber Attack Stopped by a Microsoft Engineer Was Scarier Than We Realize | Inc.com
Supply chain attack sends shockwaves through open-source community | CyberScoop
German state ditches Microsoft for Linux and LibreOffice | ZDNET
Open source foundations unite on common standards for EU’s Cyber Resilience Act | TechCrunch
Who’s the bigger cyber security risk – Microsoft or open source? (reason.com)
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Reusing passwords: The hidden cost of convenience (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft employees exposed internal passwords in security lapse | TechCrunch
CISA says Sisense hack impacts critical infrastructure orgs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Social Media
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Cyber Security Regulations Aren’t Static—Your Practices Can’t Be Either (forbes.com)
Open source foundations unite on common standards for EU’s Cyber Resilience Act | TechCrunch
Spy Law Needs Fixing Now to Stop Overreach—Not a Backdoor Boost (bloomberglaw.com)
CISA: 300,000+ Small Entities Covered By Proposed Cyber Reporting Regs | MSSP Alert
CISO Perspectives on Complying with Cyber Security Regulations (thehackernews.com)
Models, Frameworks and Standards
HIPAA Fundamentals for Providers | Tucker Arensberg, P.C. - JDSupra
Process and Control Today | NIS2 – cyber security directive from the EU. Get ready! (pandct.com)
Backup and Recovery
Data Protection
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare, Cyber Espionage and Geopolitical Threats/Activity
Nation State Actors
China
A TikTok Whistleblower Got DC’s Attention. Do His Claims Add Up? | WIRED
China is using generative AI to carry out influence operations (securityaffairs.com)
Zambia Busts 77 People in China-Backed Cyber Crime Op (darkreading.com)
Honeytrap sext scandal MP William Wragg will keep Tory whip (thetimes.co.uk)
UK town halls given green light to use Chinese CCTV — despite Westminster ban – POLITICO
China flooding Britain with fake stamps in act of 'economic warfare' (telegraph.co.uk)
Russia
Germany to launch cyber military branch to combat Russian threats (therecord.media)
US says Russian hackers stole federal government emails during Microsoft cyber attack | TechCrunch
Macron: Russia will target Paris Olympics (insidethegames.biz)
Cyber attack on TV channel BabyTV: Toddlers suddenly exposed to Russian propaganda | NL Times
Cyber security in 2023: Estonia's year of advanced threats (e-estonia.com)
Oxford research uncovers world cyber crime hotspots | thisisoxfordshire
Most cyber criminal threats are concentrated in just a few countries, new index shows (phys.org)
Extensive Russian criminal record leak conducted by hacktivist group | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Other Nation State Actors, Hacktivism, Extremism, Terrorism and Other Geopolitical Threat Intelligence
Top Israeli spy chief exposes his true identity in online security lapse | Israel | The Guardian
Extensive Russian criminal record leak conducted by hacktivist group | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Apple Updates Spyware Alert System to Warn Victims of Mercenary Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Apple Warns of iPhone "Mercenary Attack" Across 92 Countries (cnet.com)
Vulnerability Management
Zero-Day Attacks on the Rise: Google Reports 50% Increase in 2023 - Security Boulevard
How exposure management elevates cyber resilience - Help Net Security
Company Offering $30 Million for Android, iOS, Browser Zero-Day Exploits - Security Week
Unit 42: Malware-initiated scanning attacks on the rise | TechTarget
Vulnerabilities
Microsoft Fixes 149 Flaws in Huge April Patch Release, Zero-Days Included (thehackernews.com)
Patch Tuesday: Code Execution Flaws in Multiple Adobe Software Products - Security Week
SAP's April 2024 Updates Patch High-Severity Vulnerabilities - Security Week
Microsoft Plugs Gaping Hole in Azure Kubernetes Service Confidential Containers - Security Week
Two new bugs can bypass detection and steal SharePoint data | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
New SharePoint flaws help hackers evade detection when stealing files (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers Claiming of Working Windows 0-Day LPE Exploit (cybersecuritynews.com)
Microsoft fixes five security vulnerabilities in Edge 123 - Neowin
Cisco Warns of Vulnerability in Discontinued Small Business Routers - Security Week
Urgent Security Alert! Hackers Hijacked Notepad++ Plugin (gbhackers.com)
+16K Ivanti VPN gateways still vulnerable to RCE CVE-2024-21894 (securityaffairs.com)
Over 92,000 exposed D-Link NAS devices have a backdoor account (bleepingcomputer.com)
Company Offering $30 Million for Android, iOS, Browser Zero-Day Exploits - Security Week
Critical 'BatBadBut' Rust Vulnerability Exposes Windows Systems to Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Intel and Lenovo servers impacted by 6-year-old BMC flaw (bleepingcomputer.com)
Critical Flaws Leave 92,000 D-Link NAS Devices Vulnerable to Malware Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Fortinet Patches Critical RCE Vulnerability in FortiClientLinux - Security Week
Researchers Resurrect Spectre v2 Attack Against Intel CPUs - Security Week
AI-as-a-Service Providers Vulnerable to PrivEsc and Cross-Tenant Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Severe Vulnerabilities Discovered in Software to Protect Internet Routing (prleap.com)
Tools and Controls
Seven ways to be sure you can restore from backup | Computer Weekly
Why incident response is the best cyber security ROI | CSO Online
Improving Dark Web Investigations with Threat Intelligence | Recorded Future
What Lies Ahead for Cyber Security in the Era of Generative AI? - IT Security Guru
What is cyber security risk & how to assess - Security Boulevard
Your Guide to Threat Detection and Response - Security Boulevard
Report finds 90% of cyber attacks in 2023 exploited RDP (securitybrief.co.nz)
How exposure management elevates cyber resilience - Help Net Security
Phishing Detection and Response: What You Need to Know - Security Boulevard
The state of secrets security: 7 action items for better managing risk - Security Boulevard
How Red Team Exercises Increases Your Cyber Health | Trend Micro (US)
How Google’s 90-day TLS certificate validity proposal will affect enterprises - Help Net Security
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
Third of charities experienced a cyber breach last year, government reports (civilsociety.co.uk)
Hackers Exploit Magento Bug to Steal Payment Data from E-commerce Websites (thehackernews.com)
OODA Loop - The Water Sector Is Being Threatened. That Should Worry Everyone
France Bracing for Cyber Attacks During Summer Olympics - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Risk & Repeat: Cyber Safety Review Board takes Microsoft to task | TechTarget
The Baltimore Bridge Collapse Is a Warning | Proceedings - April 2024 Vol. 150/4/1,454 (usni.org)
Report finds 90% of cyber attacks in 2023 exploited RDP (securitybrief.co.nz)
Financial sector cyber security at the helm of investor protection | Mint (livemint.com)
US Health Dept warns hospitals of hackers targeting IT help desks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Former Uber CSO Joe Sullivan and lessons learned from the infamous 2016 Uber breach | CSO Online
Software-Defined Vehicle Fleets Face a Twisty Road on Cyber Security (darkreading.com)
Independent Pharmacies Must Prioritize Cyber Security (drugtopics.com)
Devious 'man in the middle' hacks on the rise: How to stay safe | PCWorld
Top 10 Attacker Techniques: What do They Mean for MSSPs? | 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
· 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 21 July 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 21 July 2023:
-Cyber Attacks Reach Two-Year High Amid Ransomware Resurgence as Financial Service Firms Lose $32 Billion in 5 Years
-MOVEit Body Count Closes in on 400 orgs, 20M+ Individuals
-IT Worker Jailed for Impersonating Ransomware Gang to Extort Employer
-Stabilising the Cyber Security Landscape: The CISO Exodus and the Rise of vCISOs
-Risk is Driving Medium-Sized Business Decisions
-Talent and Governance, Not Technology, are Key to Drive Change around Cyber Security
-Hybrid Work, Digital Transformation can Exploit Security Gaps
-Human Cyber-Risk Can Be Demonstrably Mitigated by Behaviour Changing Training
-AI Tool WormGPT Enables Convincing Fake Emails For BEC Attacks
-Pro-Russian Hacktivists Increase Focus on Western Targets
-Infosec Doesn't Know What AI Tools Orgs Are Using
-Google Restricting Internet Access to Some Employees to Reduce Cyber Attack Risk
-Unlocking Business Potential: How CISOs are Transforming Cyber Security into a Strategic Asset
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 Reach Two-Year High Amid Ransomware Resurgence as Financial Service Firms Lose $32 Billion in 5 Years
The average weekly volume of cyber attacks reached a two-year high in the second quarter of 2023 amid a spike in activity among ransomware groups according to Check Point Research, with healthcare in particular facing a significant year-on-year increase. The impact of ransomware hits every organisation, with separate research finding global financial services organisations having lost over $32bn in downtime since 2018 due to ransomware breaches.
A recent report found that the ransomware gangs LockBit and Cl0p alone accounted for nearly 40% of all recorded ransomware attacks across June 2023. The impact from Cl0p’s MOVEit attack alone has been felt by over 400 organisations since May 2023. One of the key takeaways from the MOVEit attack is that no matter the sector, any organisation can be a victim and as such it is essential to have effective controls in place, incorporating defence-in-depth. It’s worth considering how many organisations are still running vulnerable instances of MOVEit, or have someone in their supply chain who is.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ransomware-costs-financial-32bn/
MOVEit Body Count Closes in on 400 Organisations, 20M+ Individuals
The number of victims and the costs tied to the MOVEit file transfer hack continues to climb as the fallout from the massive supply chain attack enters week seven. In late May 2023, Russian ransomware gang Cl0p exploited a security hole in Progress Software's MOVEit product suite to steal documents from vulnerable networks. As of last week, the number of affected organisations was closing in on 400 and individual victims exceed 20 million.
The attack highlights the need for organisations to have policies and procedures in place for third parties, and to be aware of the data which a third party supplier has on them. It will be the organisation who will need to let their customers know in the event of a breach.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/20/moveit_victim_count/
IT Worker Jailed for Impersonating Ransomware Gang to Extort Employer
28-year-old Ashley Liles, a former IT employee, has been sentenced to over three years in prison for attempting to blackmail his employer during a ransomware attack. Liles, an IT security analyst at an Oxford-based company in the UK, exploited his position to intercept a ransomware payment following an attack suffered by his employer. To deceive the company, he impersonated the ransomware gang extorting them. He tried to redirect the ransomware payments by switching the cyber criminals' cryptocurrency wallet to one under his control. He also accessed a board member's private emails over 300 times.
Insider threat is a risk that organisations need to be aware of and, although it was malicious in this case, it can also come from employee negligence. Organisations looking to achieve a strong level of cyber resilience should incorporate insider risk into their training and controls.
Stabilising the Cyber Security Landscape: The CISO Exodus and the Rise of vCISOs
In today's evolving digital landscape, the role of a chief information security officer (CISO) is critical. These professionals defend against the rising tide of daily cyber threats. Yet many CISOs are leaving or considering leaving their jobs; this trend seems to reflect the intense pressure CISOs endure. They face a constant stream of complex cyber threats, manage compliance issues and struggle with a talent deficit in cyber security. Paired with high expectations, many reconsider their roles which can lead to a leadership gap.
A virtual CISO (vCISO) is an outsourced security practitioner who offers their expertise to businesses on a part-time or contractual basis. These professionals provide many of the same services as a traditional CISO, such as developing and implementing security strategies, ensuring compliance with regulations, training staff and managing a company's cyber security posture. vCISOs, such as from Black Arrow, are often part of a larger team and can bring a wide range of experiences and skills. They are exposed to diverse security landscapes across industries, and can provide a fresh perspective and innovative solutions to your security challenges. The vCISO model may not replace the need for a full-time CISO in all cases, but it can certainly add a flexible and cost-effective tool to the arsenal of businesses looking to bolster their cyber security posture.
Risk is Driving Medium-Sized Business Decisions
Small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) have long lacked the tools, expertise, staff and budget to make major cyber security investments. However, as threats become more mainstream and more advanced, the focus is shifting, so SMBs need to take the threats seriously and evaluate their cyber security controls.
In a survey of 140 SMBs, it was found that 40% of respondents believe they are very likely or extremely likely to experience a cyber security attack target in the next 12 months. That fear is founded, as 34% of organisations stated they experienced a malware attack in the past year, and 29% experienced a phishing or spear phishing incident. SMBs are putting their time, energy, and budget toward risk management. When it came to budgeting, 67% list their primary budgeting method as “risk-based”, and only 32% as “ad hoc/following an attack or breach”. It was found that over two-thirds of businesses would rather spend money now than pay a ransom later.
Talent and Governance, Not Technology, are Key to Drive Change Around Cyber Security
For the last 20 years, large organisations have been spending significant amounts of money on cyber security products and solutions, on managed services, or with consultancies large and small. Yet maturity levels remain elusive: a report found that 70% of firms surveyed had yet to fully advance to a mature-based approach. Cyber security good practices have been well established for the best part of the last 20 years and continue to provide, in most industries, an acceptable level of protection against most threats and an acceptable level of compliance against most regulations.
However cyber security is often viewed as something external to the business. This perspective leads to talent alienation and execution failures because the employees who should be invested in maintaining and improving cyber security may feel disconnected from these efforts. To make genuine progress, cyber security needs to be intrinsically linked to business values as a visible priority, owned and directed from the highest levels of an organisation.
This approach underlines the importance of governance in setting effective cyber security policies and procedures. It also highlights the crucial role of nurturing talent within the organisation to ensure active involvement in maintaining and improving cyber security measures. While technology is undoubtedly an essential element of cyber security, prioritising talent and governance can lead to lasting progress.
Hybrid Work, Digital Transformation can Exploit Security Gaps
A new study showed that larger organisations generally recognise malware threats but they lack protection against malicious actors and ways to properly remediate infections. The report revealed security leaders are concerned about attacks that leverage malware-exfiltrated authentication data. 53% say they are extremely concerned about attacks, with 1% of security leaders saying they weren’t concerned at all. 98% said that better visibility into at-risk applications would significantly improve their security posture.
The most overlooked entry points for malware include 57% of organisations allowing employees to sync browser data between personal and corporate devices. 54% of organisations struggle with shadow IT, due to employees’ unsanctioned adoption of applications and systems, creating gaps not only in visibility but also in basic security controls and corporate policies.
Human Cyber Risk Can Be Demonstrably Mitigated by Behaviour Changing Training
The process of encouraging secure cyber habits in end users is evolving from traditional awareness training toward changing end user behaviour. It reflects a growing acceptance that traditional methods haven’t worked. While traditional security awareness teaches users how to recognise social engineering, new behaviour changing trains the brain – almost pre-programs it – on the correct recognition and response to phishing.
What is considered a standard phishing email today may not be tomorrow, and changes in user behaviour will help to combat this. It is simply not enough to be shown one phishing email and be told to follow procedures. Training should instead be focused on going beyond; this should look to change how the user approaches things such as phishing, and gamifying the recognition and reporting of it.
AI Tool WormGPT Enables Convincing Fake Emails For BEC Attacks
A generative AI tool, WormGPT, has emerged as a powerful weapon in the hands of cyber criminals, specifically for launching business email compromise (BEC) attacks, according to new findings. The tool is designed for malicious purposes and has no restrictions on what a user can request. Such a tool allows for impeccable grammar in emails to reduce suspicion and allows sophistication with no restrictions on prompts. The lowered entry threshold enables cyber criminals with limited skills to execute sophisticated attacks, democratising the use of this technology.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/wormgpt-fake-emails-bec-attacks/
https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/chatgpt-dark-web-wormgpt-hack-b2376627.html
Pro-Russian Hacktivists Increase Focus on Western Targets
‘Anonymous Sudan’, apparent pro-Russian hacktivists, claimed a one-hour distributed denial of service attack on the social platform OnlyFans last week. This was the latest in a string of operations aimed at targets in the US and Europe. The group’s digital assaults coincide with attacks coming from a broader network of hackers aligned with Moscow that seek attention by taking down high-profile victims and strategic targets; many of the targets support Ukraine in its ongoing war against Russia.
The pro-Russian group appears to be affiliated with Killnet, a pro-Russian hacktivist group that emerged in late 2021 or early 2022 and has claimed distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, data theft and leaks on perceived adversaries of the Russian government, according to an analysis from Google’s Mandiant released earlier this week. The collective’s apparent significant growth in capabilities, demonstrated by Microsoft’s confirmation that Anonymous Sudan was responsible for the outages they experienced, potentially indicates a significant increase in outside investment in the collective, further suggesting a potential tie to the Russian state.
https://cyberscoop.com/anonymous-sudan-killnet-russia-onlyfans/
Infosec Doesn't Know What AI Tools Organisations Are Using
With the marketplace awash in new artificial intelligence (AI) tools and new AI features being added to existing tools, organisations are finding themselves lacking visibility into what AI tools are in use, how they are used, who has access, and what data is being shared. As businesses try, adopt, and abandon new generative AI tools, it falls on enterprise IT, risk, and security leaders to govern and secure their use without hindering innovation. While developing security policies to govern AI use is important, it is not possible without knowing what tools are being used in the first place.
Enterprise security teams have to consider how to handle discovery, learning which generative AI tools have been introduced into the environment and by whom, as well as risk assessment.
https://www.darkreading.com/tech-trends/infosec-doesnt-know-what-ai-tools-orgs-are-using
Google Restricting Internet Access to Some Employees to Reduce Cyber Attack Risk
In a bid to shrink the attack surface of its employees, and thus boost security, Google is taking an experimental, and some might say extreme, approach: cutting some of their workstations off from the internet. The company originally selected more than 2,500 employees to participate and will disable internet access on the selected desktops, except for internal web-based tools and Google owned websites like Google Drive and Gmail. Some workers who need the internet to do their job will get exceptions, the company stated in materials.
Google is running the programme to reduce the risk of cyber attacks, according to internal materials. If a Google employee’s device is compromised, the attackers may have access to user data and infrastructure code, which could result in a major incident and undermine user trust. The program comes as companies face increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks. Just last week, Microsoft said Chinese intelligence hacked into company email accounts belonging to two dozen government agencies in the US and Western Europe, including the US State Department, in a “significant” breach.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/19/google_cuts_internet/
Unlocking Business Potential: How CISOs are Transforming Cyber Security into a Strategic Asset
Enterprises are responding to growing cyber security threats by working to make the best use of tools and services to ensure business resilience, according to a recent report. Chief information security officers (CISOs) and virtual CISOs (vCISOS) in particular, want more solutions and services that help them align security measures with enterprise objectives and C-level executives have become more aware of the need for cyber resilience. As a result, security investments have expanded beyond detection and response to include rapid recovery and business continuity.
The report found that amongst other things, enterprises are investing in risk assessments and outsourcing more services. In some cases, where a CISO cannot be hired, organisations may look to hire a vCISO. It is important that the vCISO is able to understand cyber in context to the business and help to align security objectives with the organisations objectives. Black Arrow supports clients as their vCISO with specialist experience in cyber security risk management in a business context.
https://www.blackarrowcyber.com/blog/threat-briefing-14-july-2023
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Risk is Driving Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMB) Decisions - MSSP Alert
Stabilising The Cyber security Landscape: The Rise Of vCISOs (forbes.com)
Talent and Governance, not Technology, are Key to Drive Change around Cyber Security - TechNative
Hybrid Work, Digital Transformation Can Exploit Security Gaps, Study Finds - MSSP Alert
Stress, data privacy, zero trust to shape cyber security trends | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Network, IAM, cloud are 2023's top cyber security spend priorities | VentureBeat
CISOs are making cyber security a business problem - Help Net Security
Top Information Security Threats for Businesses 2023 (cybersecuritynews.com)
Best practices for an effective cyber security strategy | CSO Online
Exploring the macro shifts in enterprise security - Help Net Security
Google Cloud CISO Phil Venables On Cyber security, Cloud Adoption And The Boardroom (forbes.com)
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
MOVEit victim count closes in on 400 orgs, 20M+ individuals • The Register
Weekly cyber attacks reach two-year high amid ransomware resurgence | ITPro
Ransomware attacks are on the rise—and so are ransom payments (fastcompany.com)
IT worker jailed for impersonating ransomware gang to extort employer (bleepingcomputer.com)
Security Patch Management Strengthens Ransomware Defence (trendmicro.com)
The rise in ransomware attacks this year may be related to Russia's war in Ukraine : NPR
Cyber security firm Sophos impersonated by new SophosEncrypt ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Trends in ransomware-as-a-service and cryptocurrency to monitor - Help Net SecurityFIN8 deploys ALPHV ransomware using Sardonic malware variant (bleepingcomputer.com)
Linux Ransomware Poses Significant Threat to Critical Infrastructure (darkreading.com)
Financial cyber crime syndicate deploys reworked backdoor malware | CyberScoop
Ransomware attackers getting more sophisticated: Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (yahoo.com)
SophosEncrypt Ransomware Fools Security Researchers (darkreading.com)
Mallox Ransomware Exploits Weak MS-SQL Servers to Breach Networks (thehackernews.com)
New Ransomware With RAT Capabilities Impersonating Sophos - SecurityWeek
Google’s Bard poses ransomware risk, say researchers | Cybernews
FIN8 Group spotted delivering the BlackCat Ransomware - Security Affairs
Cyber insurers adapting to data-centric ransomware threats | TechTarget
Shutterfly says Clop ransomware attack did not impact customer data (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware Victims
MOVEit victim count closes in on 400 orgs, 20M+ individuals • The Register
Ofcom says it won’t pay ransom, as new MOVEit hack victims come forward | TechCrunch
MOVEit Transfer vulnerability: New Cl0p 'victims' include Discovery (techmonitor.ai)
BlackCat and Clop gangs both claim cyber attack on Estée Lauder | Computer Weekly
Iron ore giant Fortescue Metals targeted by Russian ransomware group | Cybercrime | The Guardian
Russian medical lab suspends some services after ransomware attack (therecord.media)
Recycling Giant Tomra Takes Systems Offline Following Cyber attack - SecurityWeek
Shutterfly says Clop ransomware attack did not impact customer data (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Typo leaks millions of US military emails to Mali web operator | Financial Times (ft.com)
Microsoft Exchange servers compromised by Turla APT - Help Net Security
Microsoft takes pains to obscure role in 0-days that caused email breach | Ars Technica
Analysis of Storm-0558 techniques for unauthorised email access | Microsoft Security Blog
Only a handful of hackers are responsible for all email extortion attacks | TechRadar
Microsoft Tops List of the Most Impersonated Brand for Phishing Scams in Q2 2023 - MSSP Alert
Enhanced Monitoring to Detect APT Activity Targeting Outlook Online | CISA
Gmail encouraging users to enable Enhanced Safe Browsing (9to5google.com)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Only a handful of hackers are responsible for all email extortion attacks | TechRadar
Nigerian Man Sentenced to 8 Years in US Prison for $8 Million BEC Scheme - SecurityWeek
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Artificial Intelligence
ChatGPT rival WormGPT with ‘no ethical boundaries’ sold to hackers on dark web | The Independent
Infosec Doesn't Know What AI Tools Orgs Are Using (darkreading.com)
AI models must be reconciled with data protection laws • The Register
1 in 4 Brits play with generative AI and some believe it too • The Register
OpenAI credentials stolen by the thousands for sale on the dark web (bleepingcomputer.com)
AI must have better security, says top cyber official - BBC News
Google Categorises 6 Real-World AI Attacks to Prepare for Now (darkreading.com)
How to Use Generative AI Tools While Still Protecting Your Privacy | WIRED
Google’s Bard poses ransomware risk, say researchers | Cybernews
Malware
Microsoft: Hackers turn Exchange servers into malware control centers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Malicious USB Drives Targeting Global Targets with SOGU and SNOWYDRIVE Malware (thehackernews.com)
Financial cyber crime syndicate deploys reworked backdoor malware | CyberScoop
New SOHO Router Botnet AVrecon Spreads to 70,000 Devices Across 20 Countries (thehackernews.com)
Hackers Target Gamers With Microsoft-Signed Rootkit (darkreading.com)
Source code of the BlackLotus UEFI Bootkit was leaked on GitHub - Security Affairs
Are Viruses Still a Threat to Cyber security? (makeuseof.com)
Black Hat Hacker Exposes Real Identity After Infecting Own Computer With Malware - SecurityWeek
Pernicious Rootkits Pose Growing Blight On Threat Landscape (darkreading.com)
Mobile
Hackers Exploit WebAPK to Deceive Android Users into Installing Malicious Apps (thehackernews.com)
Meta confirms WhatsApp is down worldwide (bleepingcomputer.com)
Botnets
New SOHO Router Botnet AVrecon Spreads to 70,000 Devices Across 20 Countries (thehackernews.com)
Ukraine's cyber police dismantled a massive bot farm - Security Affairs
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Cloudflare reports 'alarming surge' in DDoS sophistication, escalation in recent months | CyberScoop
Attackers intensify DDoS attacks with new tactics - Help Net Security
Internet of Things – IoT
How your internet-connected domestic devices can be a critical tool of cyber attack (mid-day.com)
US preparing Cyber Trust Mark for more secure smart devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
Seven new gadgets added to riskiest connected devices list | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Data Breaches/Leaks
MOVEit Hack: Number of Impacted Organisations Exceeds 340 - SecurityWeek
Data compromises on track to set a new record - Help Net Security
Virustotal data leak exposed data of some registered customers - Security Affairs
What to do (and what not to do) after a data breach - Help Net Security
Thousands of images on Docker Hub leak auth secrets, private keys (bleepingcomputer.com)
Met Police ‘passed victims’ data to Facebook via online tracking tool’ | Evening Standard
LastPass: The lessons we learnt from our devastating breach | TechRadar
JumpCloud, an IT firm serving 200,000 orgs, says it was hacked by nation-state | Ars Technica
Rogue Azure AD Guests Can Steal Data via Power Apps (darkreading.com)
FIA World Endurance Championship driver passports leaked - Security Affairs
Typo leaks millions of US military emails to Mali web operator | Financial Times (ft.com)
Colorado State University says data breach impacts students, staff (bleepingcomputer.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Only a handful of hackers are responsible for all email extortion attacks | TechRadar
Nigerian Man Sentenced to 8 Years in US Prison for $8 Million BEC Scheme - SecurityWeek
Owner of BreachForums Pleads Guilty to Cyber crime and Child Pornography Charges (thehackernews.com)
Genesis Market infrastructure and inventory sold on hacker forum (bleepingcomputer.com)
Black Hat Hacker Exposes Real Identity After Infecting Own Computer With Malware - SecurityWeek
Police arrests Ukrainian scareware developer after 10-year hunt (bleepingcomputer.com)
Extremist-friendly tech company closes after fine for securities fraud | Technology | The Guardian
Hacker Conversations: Inside the Mind of Daniel Kelley, ex-Blackhat - SecurityWeek
Go Beyond the Headlines for Deeper Dives into the Cyber criminal Underground (thehackernews.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
IT worker jailed for impersonating ransomware gang to extort employer (bleepingcomputer.com)
Former contractor accused of remotely accessing town's water treatment facility | Tripwire
Insider Risk Management Starts With SaaS Security (darkreading.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Growing scam activity linked to social media and automation - Help Net Security
A fresh look at the current state of financial fraud - Help Net Security
Tech support scammers now accepting cash via snail mail • The Register
Extremist-friendly tech company closes after fine for securities fraud | Technology | The Guardian
The cruel new holiday scams you need to know about | This is Money
Airbnb-Related Scams Surge: Beware Of ‘Too Good To Be True’ Offers (forbes.com)
AML/CFT/Sanctions
Insurance
Cyber insurers adapting to data-centric ransomware threats | TechTarget
Strengthening Password Security may Lower Cyber Insurance Premiums (bleepingcomputer.com)
Dark Web
Genesis Market infrastructure and inventory sold on hacker forum (bleepingcomputer.com)
OpenAI credentials stolen by the thousands for sale on the dark web (bleepingcomputer.com)
Supply Chain and Third Parties
JumpCloud, an IT firm serving 200,000 orgs, says it was hacked by nation-state | Ars Technica
Google Cloud Build bug lets hackers launch supply chain attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Supply chain executives unaware of growing customer trust issues - Help Net Security
Possible Supply Chain Attack Targeting Pakistani Government Delivers Shadowpad (trendmicro.com)
Cloud/SaaS
Microsoft makes cloud security logs available for free • The Register
Microsoft Expands Cloud Logging to Counter Rising Nation-State Cyber Threats (thehackernews.com)
Network, IAM, cloud are 2023's top cyber security spend priorities | VentureBeat
Google Cloud Build bug lets hackers launch supply chain attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Three key unanswered questions about the Chinese breach of Microsoft cloud services | CyberScoop
TeamTNT's Cloud Credential Stealing Campaign Now Targets Azure and Google Cloud (thehackernews.com)
Hybrid/Remote Working
Hybrid Work, Digital Transformation Can Exploit Security Gaps, Study Finds - MSSP Alert
Securing The Hybrid Workforce Begins With Browsing (forbes.com)
Attack Surface Management
Identity and Access Management
Network, IAM, cloud are 2023's top cyber security spend priorities | VentureBeat
The rise of hassle-free and secure authentication | CyberScoop
Encryption
Real-world examples of quantum-based attacks - Help Net Security
EU Urged to Prepare for Quantum Cyber Attacks - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Signal president rejects ‘mass surveillance’ UK law | Fortune
API
Docker Leaks API Secrets & Private Keys, as Cyber criminals Pounce (darkreading.com)
API keys: Weaknesses and security best practices | TechTarget
Open Source
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
LastPass: The lessons we learnt from our devastating breach | TechRadar
Millions of Keyboard Walk Patterns Found in Compromised Passwords - IT Security Guru
TeamTNT's Cloud Credential Stealing Campaign Now Targets Azure and Google Cloud (thehackernews.com)
Strengthening Password Security may Lower Cyber Insurance Premiums (bleepingcomputer.com)
Social Media
Growing scam activity linked to social media and automation - Help Net Security
Met Police ‘passed victims’ data to Facebook via online tracking tool’ | Evening Standard
Training, Education and Awareness
Security Awareness Training Isn’t Working - How Can We Improve It? - SecurityWeek
Companywide Cyber security Training: 20 Tips To Make It ‘Stick’ (forbes.com)
Digital Transformation
Travel
The cruel new holiday scams you need to know about | This is Money
Airbnb-Related Scams Surge: Beware Of ‘Too Good To Be True’ Offers (forbes.com)
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
AI models must be reconciled with data protection laws • The Register
Online Safety Bill Last chance for Lords to stop surveillance | Evening Standard
Models, Frameworks and Standards
Data Protection
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
Career Benefits of Learning Ethical Hacking (analyticsinsight.net)
Should You Be Using a Cyber security Careers Framework? (darkreading.com)
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Nigerian Man Sentenced to 8 Years in US Prison for $8 Million BEC Scheme - SecurityWeek
Owner of BreachForums Pleads Guilty to Cyber crime and Child Pornography Charges (thehackernews.com)
Police arrests Ukrainian scareware developer after 10-year hunt (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ukraine's cyber police dismantled a massive bot farm - Security Affairs
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Online Safety Bill Last chance for Lords to stop surveillance | Evening Standard
Stress, data privacy, zero trust to shape cyber security trends | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
How to Use Generative AI Tools While Still Protecting Your Privacy | WIRED
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage
Russia
The rise in ransomware attacks this year may be related to Russia's war in Ukraine : NPR
Gamaredon hackers start stealing data 30 minutes after a breach (bleepingcomputer.com)
Analysis of Storm-0558 techniques for unauthorised email access | Microsoft Security Blog
Microsoft Exchange servers compromised by Turla APT - Help Net Security
Pro-Russian hacktivists increase focus on Western targets. The latest is OnlyFans. | CyberScoop
Elon Musk’s Starlink is putting our soldiers at risk, Ukraine warns (telegraph.co.uk)
Thousands of Russian officials to give up iPhones over US spying fears | Financial Times (ft.com)
Ukraine innovates on cyber defence | Financial Times (ft.com)
China
Three key unanswered questions about the Chinese breach of Microsoft cloud services | CyberScoop
China Espionage Operatives Left Empty Handed in Email Heist, White House Official Says - MSSP Alert
Xi wants to make the Great Firewall of China even greater • The Register
North Korea
JumpCloud breach traced back to North Korean state hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)
North Korean hackers breached a US tech company to steal crypto | Reuters
Misc/Other/Unknown
JumpCloud, an IT firm serving 200,000 orgs, says it was hacked by nation-state | Ars Technica
APT Protection: The Key to Safeguarding Your Business (ts2.space)
How to Secure Your OT Network Against Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) (ts2.space)
Microsoft Expands Cloud Logging to Counter Rising Nation-State Cyber Threats (thehackernews.com)
Vulnerability Management
CVSS 4.0 released, to help assess real-time threat and impact of vulnerabilities - Help Net Security
Security Patch Management Strengthens Ransomware Defence (trendmicro.com)
What is Vulnerability Assessment In Cyber security? (gbhackers.com)
Vulnerabilities
Windows Users Urged To Update As Microsoft Confirms New Zero-Day Exploits (forbes.com)
Microsoft still unsure how hackers stole Azure AD signing key (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft takes pains to obscure role in 0-days that caused email breach | Ars Technica
CVE-2023-38408: Remote Code Execution in OpenSSH’s forwarded ssh-agent | Qualys Security Blog
New critical Citrix ADC and Gateway flaw exploited as zero-day (bleepingcomputer.com)
OpenSSH Addresses Remote Code Execution Vulnerability: CVE-2023-38408 - VULNERA
Adobe Rolls Out New Patches for Actively Exploited ColdFusion Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
Cisco fixed a critical flaw in SD-WAN vManage - Security Affairs
Hacking campaign targets sites using WordPress WooCommerce Payments Plugin - Security Affairs
Microsoft hit by Storm season – a tale of two semi-zero days – Naked Security (sophos.com)
5 Major Takeaways From Microsoft's July Patch Tuesday (darkreading.com)
Two Jira Plugin Vulnerabilities in Attacker Crosshairs - SecurityWeek
Google says Apple employee found a zero-day but did not report it | TechCrunch
Tools and Controls
Network, IAM, cloud are 2023's top cyber security spend priorities | VentureBeat
Stress, data privacy, zero trust to shape cyber security trends | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Leverage Threat Intelligence, AI, and Data at Scale to Boost Cyber Defences (darkreading.com)
A Few More Reasons Why RDP is Insecure (Surprise!) (thehackernews.com)
Enterprise communication security a growing risk, priority | TechTarget
MIT’s Cyber security Metior: A Secret Weapon Against Side-Channel Attacks (scitechdaily.com)
NCSC Shares Alternatives to Using a SOC - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Microsoft's security roadmap: Protect Azure DevOps secrets • The Register
CISA shares free tools to help secure data in the cloud (bleepingcomputer.com)
What is the new Enhanced Safe Browsing for Gmail (and should you enable it)? | ZDNET
Insider Risk Management Starts With SaaS Security (darkreading.com)
67% of daily security alerts overwhelm SOC analysts - Help Net Security
Gmail encouraging users to enable Enhanced Safe Browsing (9to5google.com)
Microsoft Expands Cloud Logging to Counter Rising Nation-State Cyber Threats (thehackernews.com)
Microsoft makes cloud security logs available for free • The Register
Security Awareness Training Isn’t Working - How Can We Improve It? - SecurityWeek
API keys: Weaknesses and security best practices | TechTarget
Other News
Google restricting internet access to some employees for security (cnbc.com)
Enterprise communication security a growing risk, priority | TechTarget
Healthcare organisations in the crosshairs of cyber attackers - Help Net Security
Broadband consumers demand security and sustainability - Help Net Security
Microsoft Exchange Online hit by new outage blocking emails (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyber security measures SMBs should implement - 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 21 October 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 21 October 2022:
-Gen Z, Millennials Really Doesn't Care About Workplace Cyber Security
-Supply Chain Attacks Increased Over 600% This Year and Companies Are Falling Behind
-Cyber-Enabled Crimes Are Biggest Police Concerns
-List of Common Passwords Accounts for Nearly All Cyber Attacks
-Shared Responsibility or Shared Fate? Decentralized IT Means We Are All Cyber Defenders
-Ukraine War Cuts Ransomware as Kremlin Co-Opts Hackers
-96% Of Companies Report Insufficient Security for Sensitive Cloud Data
-Your Microsoft Exchange Server Is a Security Liability
-Are Cyber Security Vendors Pushing Snake Oil?
-Ransomware Preparedness, What Are You Doing Wrong?
-NSA Cybersecurity Director's Six Takeaways from the War in Ukraine
-Microsoft Confirms Server Misconfiguration Led to 65,000+ Companies' Data Leak
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
Gen Z, Millennials Really Don’t Care About Workplace Cyber Security
When it comes to cyber security in the workplace, younger employees don’t really seem to care that much, which is putting their organisations in serious harm’s way, new research has claimed.
Surveying approximately 1,000 workers using devices issued by their employers, professional services firm EY found Gen Z enterprise employees were more apathetic about cyber security than their Boomer counterparts in adhering to their employer's safety policies.
This is despite the fact that four in five (83%) of all those surveyed claimed to understand their employer’s security protocol.
When it comes to implementing mandatory IT updates, for example, 58% of Gen Z’ers and 42% of millennials would disregard them for as long as possible. Less than a third (31%) of Gen X’ers, and just 15% of baby boomers said they do the same.
Apathy in the young extends to password reuse between private and business accounts. A third of Gen Z and millennial workers surveyed admitted to this, compared to less than a quarter of all Gen X’ers and baby boomers.
Some say the apathy of young people towards technology is down to their over-familiarity with technology, and never having been without it. Being too comfortable with tech undoubtedly makes an enterprise's younger employees a major target for cyber criminals looking to exploit any hole in security.
If an organisation's cyber security practices aren't upheld strongly, threat actors can compromise huge networks with simple social engineering attacks.
https://www.techradar.com/news/younger-workers-dont-care-about-workplace-cybersecurity
Supply Chain Attacks Increased Over 600% This Year and Companies Are Falling Behind
The number of documented supply chain attacks involving malicious third-party components has increased 633% over the past year, now sitting at over 88,000 known instances, according to a new report from software supply chain management company Sonatype. Meanwhile, instances of transitive vulnerabilities that software components inherit from their own dependencies have also reached unprecedented levels and plague two-thirds of open-source libraries.
“The networked nature of dependencies highlights the importance of having visibility and awareness about these complex supply chains” Sonatype said in its newly released State of the Software Supply Chain report. “These dependencies impact our software, so having an understanding of their origins is critical to vulnerability response. Many organisations did not have the needed visibility and continued their incident response procedures for Log4Shell well beyond the summer of 2022 as a result.”
Log4Shell is a critical vulnerability discovered in November 2021 in Log4j, a widely popular open-source Java library used for logging and bundled in millions of enterprise applications and software products, often as an indirect dependency. According to Sonatype’s monitoring, as of August 2022, the adoption rate for fixed versions of Log4j sits at around 65%. Moreover, this doesn’t even account for the fact that the Log4Shell vulnerability originated in a Java class called JndiManager that is part of Log4j-core, but which has also been borrowed by 783 other projects and is now found in over 19,000 software components.
Log4Shell served as a watershed moment, highlighting the inherent risks that exist in the open-source software ecosystem – which sits at the core of modern software development – and the need to manage them properly. It also led to several initiatives to secure the software supply chain by private organisations, software repository managers, the Linux Foundation, and government bodies. Yet, most organisations are far from where they need to be in terms of open-source supply chain management.
Cyber-Enabled Crimes Are Biggest Police Concerns
Cyber-related crimes such as money laundering, ransomware and phishing pose the biggest threat to society, according to the first ever Interpol Global Crime Trend report.
The inaugural study was compiled from data received from the policing organisation’s 195 member countries, as well as information and analysis from external sources.
Money laundering was ranked the number one threat, with 67% of respondents claiming it to be a “high” or “very high” risk. Ransomware came second (66%) but was the crime type that most (72%) expected to increase in the next 3–5 years.
Of the nine top crime trends identified in the report, six are directly cyber-enabled, including money laundering, ransomware, phishing, financial fraud, computer intrusion and child sexual exploitation.
Interpol warned that the pandemic had fomented new underground offerings like “financial crime-as-a-service,” including digital money laundering tools which help to lower the barrier to entry for criminal gangs. It also claimed that demand for online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA) content surged during the pandemic. Some 62% of respondents expect it to increase or significantly increase in the coming years.
The findings represent something of a turnaround from pre-pandemic times, when drug trafficking regularly topped the list of police concerns. Thanks to a surge in corporate digitalisation, home working and online shopping, there are now rich pickings to be had from targeting consumers and business users with cyber-scams and attacks, Interpol claimed.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cyberenabled-crimes-are-biggest/
List of Common Passwords Accounts for Nearly All Cyber Attacks
Half of a million passwords from the RockYou2021 list account for 99.997% of all credential attacks against a variety of honeypots, suggesting attackers are just taking the easy road.
Tens of millions of credential-based attacks targeting two common types of servers boiled down to a small fraction of the passwords that formed a list of leaked credentials, known as the RockYou2021 list.
Vulnerability management firm Rapid7, via its network of honeypots, recorded every attempt to compromise those servers over a 12-month period, finding that the attempted credential attacks resulted in 512,000 permutations. Almost all of those passwords (99.997%) are included in a common password list — the RockYou2021 file, which has 8.4 billion entries — suggesting that attackers, or the subset of threat actors attacking Rapid7's honeypots, are sticking to a common playbook.
The overlap in all the attacks also suggest attackers are taking the easy road, said Rapid7. "We know now, in a provable and demonstrable way, that nobody — 0% of attackers — is trying to be creative when it comes to unfocused, untargeted attacks across the Internet," they said. "Therefore, it's very easy to avoid this kind of opportunistic attack, and it takes very little effort to take this threat off the table entirely, with modern password managers and configuration controls."
Every year, security firms present research suggesting users are continuing to pick bad passwords. In 2019, an evaluation of passwords leaked to the Internet found that the top password was "123456," followed by "123456789" and "qwerty," and unfortunately things have not got much better since then.
https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/a-common-password-list-accounts-for-nearly-all-cyberattacks
Shared Responsibility or Shared Fate? Decentralised IT Means We Are All Cyber Defenders
Does your organisation truly understand the shared responsibility model? Shared responsibility emerged from the early days of cloud computing as a way to delineate responsibilities between cloud providers and their customers, but often there's a gap between what shared responsibility means and how it is interpreted. With the decentralisation of IT, this gap is getting worse.
Applications, servers, and overall technology used to be under the purview and control of the IT department, yet with the shift to cloud, and specifically software-as-a-service (SaaS), this dynamic has changed. Whether it's the sales team bringing in a customer relationship management (CRM) system like Salesforce, or the HR department operating a human resources information system (HRIS) like Workday, there's a clear "expanding universe" of IT that no longer sits where it used to. Critical business workflows exist in separate business units far from IT and security and are managed as such. Our corporate IT footprints have become decentralised.
This is not some minor, temporary trend. With the ease and speed of adopting new SaaS applications and the desire to "lift and shift" code into cloud-based environments, this is the future. The future is decentralised.
The shift to business-owned and -operated applications puts security teams in a position where risk management is their responsibility; they are not even able to log into some of these critical systems. It's like asking your doctor to keep you healthy but not giving her access to your information or having regular check-ups. It doesn't work that way.
Beyond the challenging human skills gap, there's technical entropy and diversity everywhere, with different configuration settings, event logs, threat vectors, and data sensitivities. On the access side, there are different admins, users, integrations, and APIs. If you think managing security on Windows and Mac is a lot, try it across many huge applications.
With this reality, how can the security team be expected to combat a growing amount of decentralised business technology risk?
We must operate our technology with the understanding that shared responsibility is the vertical view between cloud provider and customer, but that enterprise-owned piece of shared responsibility is the burden of multiple teams horizontally across an organisation. Too often the mentality is us versus them, availability versus security, too busy to care about risk, too concerned with risk to understand "the business."
Ukraine War Cuts Ransomware as Kremlin Co-Opts Hackers
The Ukraine war has helped reduce global ransomware attacks by 10pc in the last few months, a British cyber security company has said.
Criminal hacking gangs, usually engaged in corporate ransomware activities, are increasingly being co-opted by the Russian military to launch cyber attacks on Ukraine, according to Digital Shadows. “The war is likely to continue to motivate ransomware actors to target government and critical infrastructure entities,” according to the firm. Such attacks partly contributed to a 10pc drop in the number of ransomware threats launched during the three months to September, said the London-based company.
The drop in ransomware may also partly be caused by tit-for-tat digital attacks between rival hacking gangs. Researchers said the Lockbit gang, who recently targeted LSE-listed car retailer Pendragon with a $60m (£53.85m) ransom demand, were the target of attacks from their underworld rivals. The group is increasingly inviting resentment from competing threat groups and possibly former members.
Some cyber criminals’ servers went offline in September after what appeared to be an attack from competitors. In the world of cyber criminality, it is not uncommon for tensions to flare among rival groups.
Officials from GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre have said ransomware is one of the biggest cyber threats facing the UK. Figures published by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport this year revealed the average costs to businesses caused by ransomware attacks is around £19,000 per incident.
US-based cyber security company Palo Alto Networks, however, warned that the average ransom payment it saw in the early part of this year was $925,000 (£829,000).
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/10/23/ukraine-war-cuts-ransomware-kremlin-co-opts-hackers/
96% Of Companies Report Insufficient Security for Sensitive Cloud Data
The vast majority of organisations lack confidence in securing their data in cloud, while many companies acknowledge they lack sufficient security even for their most sensitive data, according to a new report by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA).
The CSA report surveyed 1,663 IT and security professionals from organisations of various sizes and in various locations. "Only 4% report sufficient security for 100% of their data in the cloud. This means that 96% of organisations have insufficient security for at least some of their sensitive data," according to the report, which was sponsored by data intelligence firm BigID.
Apart from struggling with securing sensitive data, organisations are also having trouble tracking data in the cloud. Over a quarter of organisations polled aren’t tracking regulated data, nearly a third aren’t tracking confidential or internal data, and 45% aren’t tracking unclassified data, the report said.
“This suggests that organisations’ current methods of classifying data aren’t sufficient for their needs. However, if the tracking is this low, it could be a contributing factor to the issue of dark data. Organisations need to utilise data discovery and classification tools to properly understand the data they have and how to protect it,” the CSA study noted.
Your Microsoft Exchange Server Is a Security Liability
With endless vulnerabilities, widespread hacking campaigns, slow and technically tough patching, it's time to say goodbye to on-premise Exchange.
Once, reasonable people who cared about security, privacy, and reliability ran their own email servers. Today, the vast majority host their personal email in the cloud, handing off that substantial burden to the capable security and engineering teams at companies like Google and Microsoft. Now, cyber security experts argue that a similar switch is due - or long overdue - for corporate and government networks. For enterprises that use on-premise Microsoft Exchange, still running their own email machine somewhere in a closet or data centre, the time has come to move to a cloud service, if only to avoid the years-long plague of bugs in Exchange servers that has made it nearly impossible to keep determined hackers out.
The latest reminder of that struggle arrived earlier this week, when Taiwanese security researcher Orange Tsai published a blog post laying out the details of a security vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange. Tsai warned Microsoft about this vulnerability as early as June of 2021, and while the company responded by releasing some partial fixes, it took Microsoft 14 months to fully resolve the underlying security problem. Tsai had earlier reported a related vulnerability in Exchange that was massively exploited by a group of Chinese state-sponsored hackers known as Hafnium, which last year penetrated more than 30,000 targets by some counts. Yet according to the timeline described in Tsai’s post this week, Microsoft repeatedly delayed fixing the newer variation of that same vulnerability, assuring Tsai no fewer than four times that it would patch the bug before pushing off a full patch for months longer. When Microsoft finally released a fix, Tsai wrote, it still required manual activation and lacked any documentation for four more months.
Meanwhile, another pair of actively exploited vulnerabilities in Exchange that were revealed last month still remain unpatched after researchers showed that Microsoft’s initial attempts to fix the flaws had failed. Those vulnerabilities were just the latest in a years-long pattern of security bugs in Exchange’s code. And even when Microsoft does release Exchange patches, they’re often not widely implemented, due to the time-consuming technical process of installing them.
The result of those compounding problems, for many who have watched the hacker-induced headaches of running an Exchange server pile up, is a clear message: An Exchange server is itself a security vulnerability, and the fix is to get rid of it.
“You need to move off of on-premise Exchange forever. That’s the bottom line,” says Dustin Childs, the head of threat awareness at security firm Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative (ZDI), which pays researchers for finding and reporting vulnerabilities in commonly used software and runs the Pwn2Own hacking competition. “You’re not getting the support, as far as security fixes, that you would expect from a really mission-critical component of your infrastructure.”
https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-exchange-server-vulnerabilities/
Are Cyber Security Vendors Pushing Snake Oil?
Survey: 96 percent of cyber security decision makers confused by vendor marketing.
The availability of new security products increases, the amount of budget spent on cyber security grows, and the number of security breaches seems to outpace both. This basic lack of correlation between increasing cyber security spend and any clear increase in cyber security effectiveness is the subject of a new analytical survey from Egress.
With 52 million data breaches in Q2 2022 alone (Statista), Egress questioned 800 cyber security and IT leaders on why vendor claims and reality aren’t aligned. The headline response in the survey is that 91% of decision makers have difficulty in selecting cyber security vendors due to unclear marketing about their specific offerings.
The financial investment cycle doesn’t help in this. For many investors, the strength of the management team is more important than the product. The argument is not whether this product is a cyber security silver bullet, but whether this management can take the company to a point where it can exit with serious profits.
If investment is achieved, much of it will go into marketing. That marketing must compete against existing, established vendors – so it tends to be louder, more aggressive, and replete with hyperbole. Marketing noise can lead to increased valuation, which can lead to a successful and profitable exit by the investors.
Of course, this is an oversimplification and doesn’t always happen. The point, however, is that it does happen and has no relevance to the real effectiveness of the product in question. Without any doubt, there are many products that have been over-hyped by marketing funds provided by profit-driven investors.
https://www.securityweek.com/are-cybersecurity-vendors-pushing-snake-oil
Ransomware Preparedness: What Are You Doing Wrong?
Axio released its 2022 State of Ransomware Preparedness research report, revealing that although notable improvements have been made since Axio’s 2021 report, organisational ransomware preparedness continues to be insufficient to keep pace with new attack vectors.
The report reveals that the lack of fundamental cyber security practices and controls, including critical vulnerability patching and employee cyber security training, continues to undermine organisational attempts to improve ransomware defences.
“Ransomware continues to wreak havoc on global organisations, regardless of size or industry,” remarked the report’s co-author David White, President of Axio. “As the number of attacks will most likely continue on an exponential trajectory, it’s more important than ever for companies to re-evaluate their cyber security practices and make the needed improvements to help combat these attacks.”
The report identifies several emerging patterns that yield insights into why organisations are increasingly susceptible to ransomware attacks. In 2021, seven key areas where organisations were deficient in implementing and sustaining basic cyber security practices were identified, and these patterns dominated the 2022 study results as well:
Managing privileged access
Improving basic cyber hygiene
Reducing exposure to supply chain and third-party risk
Monitoring and defending networks
Managing ransomware incidents
Identifying and addressing vulnerabilities in a timely manner
Improving cyber security training and awareness
Overall, most organisations surveyed are not adequately prepared to manage the risk associated with a ransomware attack. Key data findings include:
The number of organisations with a functional privileged access management solution in place increased by 10% but remains low at 33% overall.
Limitations on the use of service and local administrator accounts remain average overall, with nearly 50% of organisations reporting implementing these practices.
Approximately 40% of organisations monitor third-party network access, evaluate third-party cyber security posture, and limit the use of third-party software.
Less than 50% of respondents implement basic network segmentation and only 40% monitor for anomalous connections.
Critical vulnerability patching within 24 hours was reported by only 24% of organisations.
A ransomware-specific playbook for incident management is in place for only 30% of organisations.
Active phishing training has improved but is still not practiced by 40% of organisations.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/10/20/insufficient-ransomware-preparedness/
NSA Cybersecurity Director's Six Takeaways from the War in Ukraine
From the warning banner ‘Be afraid and expect the worst’ that was shown on several Ukrainian government websites on January 13, 2022, after a cyber-attack took them down, the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) cybersecurity director, Rob Joyce, knew that something was going to be different, and very aggressive, between Ukraine and Russia, and that it would be happening in the cyber space as well.
Ten months on, he was invited to speak at one of Mandiant Worldwide Information Security Exchange's (mWISE) opening keynotes on October 18, 2022. Joyce shared six takeaways from the Russia-Ukraine cyber-conflict in terms of what we learned from it and its impact on how nations should protect their organisations.
Both espionage and destructive attacks will occur in conflict
The cyber security industry has unique insight into these conflicts
Sensitive intelligence can make a decisive difference
You can develop resiliency skills
Don’t try to go it alone
You have not planned enough yet for the contingencies
Toward the end of the keynote, Joyce suggested the audience simulate a scenario based on what happened in Ukraine with the China-Taiwan conflict escalating and see what they should put in place to better prepare for such an event.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/nsa-6-takeaways-war-ukraine/
Microsoft Confirms Server Misconfiguration Led to 65,000+ Companies' Data Leak
Microsoft this week confirmed that it inadvertently exposed information related to thousands of customers following a security lapse that left an endpoint publicly accessible over the internet sans any authentication.
"This misconfiguration resulted in the potential for unauthenticated access to some business transaction data corresponding to interactions between Microsoft and prospective customers, such as the planning or potential implementation and provisioning of Microsoft services," Microsoft said in an alert.
Microsoft also emphasised that the B2B leak was "caused by an unintentional misconfiguration on an endpoint that is not in use across the Microsoft ecosystem and was not the result of a security vulnerability."
The misconfiguration of the Azure Blob Storage was spotted on September 24, 2022, by cyber security company SOCRadar, which termed the leak BlueBleed. Microsoft said it's in the process of directly notifying impacted customers.
The Windows maker did not reveal the scale of the data leak, but according to SOCRadar, it affects more than 65,000 entities in 111 countries. The exposure amounts to 2.4 terabytes of data that consists of invoices, product orders, signed customer documents, partner ecosystem details, among others.
https://thehackernews.com/2022/10/microsoft-confirms-server.html
Threats
Ransomware and Extortion
Сryptocurrency and Ransomware — The Ultimate Friendship (thehackernews.com)
Venus Ransomware targets publicly exposed Remote Desktop services (bleepingcomputer.com)
Pendragon being held to $60m ransom by dark web hackers – Car Dealer Magazine
Magniber Ransomware Is Targeting Home PC (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Hackers exploit critical VMware flaw to drop ransomware, miners (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware Now Deployed as a Precursor to Physical War - MSSP Alert
TommyLeaks and SchoolBoys: Two sides of the same ransomware gang (bleepingcomputer.com)
With Conti gone, LockBit takes lead of the ransomware threat landscape | CSO Online
Tactics Tie Ransom Cartel Group to Defunct REvil Ransomware (darkreading.com)
Wholesale giant METRO hit by IT outage after cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
The link between Ransom Cartel and REvil ransomware gangs - Security Affairs
How Vice Society Got Away With a Global Ransomware Spree | WIRED
Defenders beware: A case for post-ransomware investigations - Microsoft Security Blog
Ransomware crews regrouping as LockBit rise continues (computerweekly.com)
Ransom Cartel linked to notorious REvil ransomware operation (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackney Council Ransomware Attack £12m+ Recovery - IT Security Guru
Microsoft Warns of Novel Ransomware Attacking Ukraine, Poland - MSSP Alert
Prestige ransomware hits victims of HermeticWiper • The Register
New ransomware targets transportation sectors in Ukraine, Poland | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Japanese tech firm Oomiya hit by LockBit 3.0 - Security Affairs
Ransomware attack halts circulation of some German newspapers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware Insurance Security Requirement Strategies (trendmicro.com)
Australian insurance firm Medibank confirms ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
BlackByte ransomware uses new data theft tool for double-extortion (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Phishing works so well crims won't use deepfakes: Sophos • The Register
Phishing Mitigation Can Cost Businesses More Than $1M Annually (darkreading.com)
Securing your organisation against phishing can cost up to $85 per email | CSO Online
How phishing campaigns abuse Google Ad click tracking redirects - Help Net Security
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Malware
VMware bug with 9.8 severity rating exploited to install witch’s brew of malware | Ars Technica
Microsoft’s out-of-date driver list left Windows PCs open to malware attacks for years - The Verge
Ursnif malware switches from bank account theft to initial access (bleepingcomputer.com)
Experts spotted a new undetectable PowerShell Backdoor - Security Affairs
Typosquat campaign mimics 27 brands to push Windows, Android malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Thousands of GitHub repositories deliver fake PoC exploits with malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers use new stealthy PowerShell backdoor to target 60+ victims (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hijacking of Popular Minecraft Launcher by Rogue Developer Raises Malware Fears - IGN
URSNIF (aka Gozi) banking trojan morphs into backdoor • The Register
What is a RAT (Remote Access Trojan)? | Definition from TechTarget
Mobile
Internet of Things – IoT
Riskiest IoT Devices - Cameras, VoIP And Video Conferencing (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Securing IoT devices against attacks that target critical infrastructure - Microsoft Security Blog
74% say connected cars and EV chargers need cyber security ratings | Ars Technica
Data Breaches/Leaks
The companies most likely to lose your data - Help Net Security
Fines are not enough! Data breach victims want better security - Help Net Security
Medibank hack turned into a data breach: The attackers are demanding money - Help Net Security
Mormon Church Hit By Cyber attack, Personal Data Exposed (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Keystone Health Data Breach Impacts 235,000 Patients | SecurityWeek.Com
Fashion brand SHEIN fined $1.9m for lying about data breach – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Client Data Exfiltrated In Advanced NHS cyber Attack (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Australian Wine Dealer Suffers Data Breach, 500,000 Customers May Be (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Advocate Aurora Health in potential 3 million patient leak • The Register
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Why Crypto Winter is No Excuse to Let Your Cyber Defences Falter (thehackernews.com)
North Korea’s Lazarus Group Attacks Japanese Crypto Firms - Decrypt
Coinbase users scammed out of $21M in crypto sue company for negligence | Ars Technica
SIM Swappers Sentenced to Prison for Hacking Accounts, Stealing Cryptocurrency | SecurityWeek.Com
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Financial losses to synthetic identity-based fraud to double by 2024 | CSO Online
AI is Key to Tackling Money Mules and Disrupting Fraud: Industry Group | SecurityWeek.Com
Deepfakes
Deepfakes: What they are and how to spot them - Help Net Security
Phishing works so well crims won't use deepfakes: Sophos • The Register
Insurance
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Software Supply Chain
Software Supply Chain Attacks Soar 742% In Three Years (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
SBOMs: An Overhyped Concept That Won't Secure Your Software Supply Chain (darkreading.com)
Denial of Service DoS/DDoS
Cloud/SaaS
Microsoft Data-Exposure Incident Highlights Risk of Cloud Storage Misconfiguration (darkreading.com)
3 cloud security posture questions CISOs should answer (techtarget.com)
Attack Surface Management
Identity and Access Management
Encryption
API
Open Source
New security concerns for the open-source software supply chain - Help Net Security
Python vulnerability highlights open source security woes (techtarget.com)
3 Ways to Help Customers Defend Against Linux-Based Cyber attacks - MSSP Alert
OldGremlin hackers use Linux ransomware to attack Russian orgs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Most People Still Reuse Their Passwords Despite Years Of Hacking (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Password Report: Honeypot Data Shows Bot Attack Trends Against RDP, SSH | SecurityWeek.Com
Eight RTX 4090s Can Break Passwords in Under an Hour | Tom's Hardware (tomshardware.com)
Training, Education and Awareness
Security Awareness Urged to Grow Beyond Compliance (darkreading.com)
Raising cyber security awareness is good for everyone - but it needs to be done better | ZDNET
Millennials, Gen Z blamed for poor company security • The Register
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Fines are not enough! Data breach victims want better security - Help Net Security
Fashion brand SHEIN fined $1.9m for lying about data breach – Naked Security (sophos.com)
New York fines EyeMed $4.5 million for 2020 email hack, data breach | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Health insurer pays out $4.5m over bungled data security • The Register
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
INTERPOL-led Operation Takes Down 'Black Axe' Cyber Crime Organisation (thehackernews.com)
Law enforcement arrested 31 suspects for stealing cars by hacking key fobs - Security Affairs
Interpol is setting up its own metaverse to learn how to police the virtual world | Euronews
Brazilian Police Nab Suspected Member of Lapsus$ Group (darkreading.com)
Interpol Report: "Financial Crime-as-a-Service" an Emerging Threat - MSSP Alert
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Ransomware Now Deployed as a Precursor to Physical War - MSSP Alert
US, China, Russia, more meet at Singapore infosec event • The Register
NSA cyber chief says Ukraine war is compelling more intelligence sharing with industry - CyberScoop
China-Linked Cyber-Espionage Team Homes In on Hong Kong Government Orgs (darkreading.com)
Microsoft Warns of Novel Ransomware Attacking Ukraine, Poland - MSSP Alert
Hackers target Asian casinos in lengthy cyber espionage campaign (bleepingcomputer.com)
Prestige ransomware hits victims of HermeticWiper • The Register
Pro-Russia Hackers DDoS Bulgarian Government - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Ukraine's cyber chief calls for global anti-fake news fight • The Register
German Cyber security Boss Sacked Over Kremlin Connection (darkreading.com)
New ransomware targets transportation sectors in Ukraine, Poland | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Bulgaria hit by a cyber attack originating from Russia - Security Affairs
Nation State Actors – China
As China-Taiwan tensions mount, how's your cyber defence? • The Register
Chinese 'Spyder Loader' Malware Spotted Targeting Organisations in Hong Kong (thehackernews.com)
Hackers compromised Hong Kong govt agency network for a year (bleepingcomputer.com)
WIP19 Threat Group Cyber attacks Target IT Service Providers, Telcos - MSSP Alert
Nation State Actors – North Korea
Nation State Actors – Iran
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerabilities
45,654 VMware ESXi servers reached End of Life on Oct. 15 - Security Affairs
VMware bug with 9.8 severity rating exploited to install witch’s brew of malware | Ars Technica
Text message verification flaws in your Windows Active Directory (bleepingcomputer.com)
Apache Commons Vulnerability: Patch but Don't Panic (darkreading.com)
Zoom for Mac patches sneaky “spy-on-me” bug – update now! – Naked Security (sophos.com)
ProxyLogon researcher details new Exchange Server flaws (techtarget.com)
Exploited Windows zero-day lets JavaScript files bypass security warnings (bleepingcomputer.com)
Dozen High-Severity Vulnerabilities Patched in F5 Products | SecurityWeek.Com
Oracle Releases 370 New Security Patches With October 2022 CPU | SecurityWeek.Com
Palo Alto Networks fixed a high-severity flaw in PAN-OS - Security Affairs
Hackers exploit critical VMware flaw to drop ransomware, miners (bleepingcomputer.com)
Zimbra Patches Under-Attack Code Execution Bug | SecurityWeek.Com
WordPress Security Update 6.0.3 Patches 16 Vulnerabilities | SecurityWeek.Com
Python vulnerability highlights open source security woes (techtarget.com)
Other News
Zero trust is misused in security, say Cloudflare, Zscaler - Protocol
Cyber professional shortfall hits 3.4 million (computerweekly.com)
VPN use prevails despite interest in VPN alternatives (techtarget.com)
JP Morgan Bans Staff From Working Remotely In Hotels and Coffee Shops-But Not Airbnbs | Inc.com
Experts discovered millions of .git folders exposed to public - Security Affairs
Microsoft Defender is lacking in offline detection capabilities, says AV-Comparatives | TechSpot
Internet connectivity worldwide impacted by severed fiber cables in France (bleepingcomputer.com)
UK's Remote Shetland Mysteriously Lose Phone, Internet After Cable Cut (businessinsider.com)
CISOs, rejoice! Security spending is increasing - Help Net Security
Equifax surveilled 1,000 remote workers, fired 24 found juggling two jobs | Ars Technica
NATO Just Deployed Its First Killer Ground Robot (futurism.com)
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 22 April 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 22 April 2022:
-Why Ransomware Attacks Prefer Small Business Targets Rather Than Rich Enterprises
-Ransomware Plagues Finance Sector as Cyber Attacks Get More Complex
-76% of Organisations Worldwide Expect to Suffer a Cyber Attack This Year
-Most Email Security Approaches Fail to Block Common Threats
-Financial Leaders Grappling with More Aggressive and Sophisticated Attack Methods
-Hackers Sneak Malware into Resumes Sent to Corporate Hiring Managers
-West Warns of Russian Cyber-Attacks As Concerns Rise Over Putin’s Nuclear Rhetoric
-Criminals Adopting New Methods To Bypass Improved Defences, Says Zscaler
-Cyber Criminals Are ‘Drinking the Tears’ Of Ukrainians
-Hackers For Hire Attempt to Destroy Hedge Fund Manager's Reputation
-New Threat Groups and Malware Families Emerging
-Economic Warfare: Attacks on Critical Infrastructure Part of Geopolitical Conflict
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
Why Ransomware Attacks Prefer Small Business Targets Rather Than Rich Enterprises
Enterprise businesses with 25,000 employees+ are less likely to get hit by a ransomware attack than smaller businesses — even though big companies typically can afford to pay higher ransoms, the 2022 CyberEdge Cyberthreat Defense Report concluded.
What explains hackers taking aim at small businesses more frequently than enterprise giants? The answer: Damaging a critical infrastructure facility or similar disruptions are certain to catch the eye of federal law enforcement, or national governments — something that no hacker wants, CyberEdge said. Smaller to medium-sized firms, as it turns out, get hit more frequently by ransomware attacks, on average at roughly 70 percent, the report said.
Overall, some 71 percent of organisations have been bitten by ransomware in 2022, up a point and a half from last year and by 8.5 points in 2020. It’s companies of 10,000 to 24,999 employees that are the sweet spot for ransomware hackers, nearly 75 percent of which are victimised by cyber extortionists.
The extensive study, which surveyed 1,200 security decision makers and practitioners employed by companies of greater than 500 people in 17 countries across 19 industries, is geared to helping gauge their internal practices and investments against those of their counterparts in other parts of the world.
Ransomware Plagues Finance Sector as Cyber Attacks Get More Complex
Cyber criminals have evolved from hacking wire transfers to targeting market data, as ransomware continues to hit financial firms, says a new VMware report. Here's what to do about it.
Ransomware plagues financial institutions as they face increasingly complex threats over previous years owing to the changing behaviour of cyber criminal cartels, according to VMware's latest Modern Bank Heists report.
This has happened as the cyber crime cartels have evolved beyond wire transfer frauds to target market strategies, take over brokerage accounts, and island-hop into banks, according to the report.
For the report, VMware surveyed 130 financial sector CISOs and security leaders from across different regions including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Central and South America, and Africa.
Report findings were consistent with observations by other security experts. "The Secret Service, in its investigative capacity to protect the nation's financial payment systems and financial infrastructure, has seen an evolution and increase in complex cyber-enabled fraud," says Jeremy Sheridan, former assistant director at the US Secret Service. "The persistent, inadequate security of systems connected to the internet provides opportunity and methodology."
76% of Organisations Worldwide Expect to Suffer a Cyber Attack This Year
Ransomware, phishing/social engineering, denial of service (DoS) attacks, and the business fallout of a data breach rank as the top concerns of global organisations, a new study shows.
The newly published Cyber Risk Index, a study by Trend Micro and the Ponemon Institute, shows that more than three-quarters of global organisations expect to suffer a cyber attack in the next 12 months — 25% of which say an attack is "very likely."
More than 80% of the 3,400 CISO and IT professionals and managers surveyed say their organisations were hit with one or more successful cyber attacks in the past 12 months, and 35% suffered seven or more attacks, according to the report, which covers the second half of 2021.
Most Email Security Approaches Fail to Block Common Threats
A full 89 percent of organisations experienced one or more successful email breaches during the previous 12 months, translating into big-time costs.
On overwhelming number of security teams believe their email security systems to be ineffective against the most serious inbound threats, including ransomware.
That’s according to a survey of business customers using Microsoft 365 for email commissioned by Cyren and conducted by Osterman Research, which examined concerns with phishing, business email compromise (BEC), and ransomware threats, attacks that became costly incidents, and preparedness to deal with attacks and incidents.
“Security team managers are most concerned that current email security solutions do not block serious inbound threats (particularly ransomware), which requires time for response and remediation by the security team before dangerous threats are triggered by users,” according to the report, released Wednesday.
Less than half of those surveyed said that their organisations can block delivery of email threats. And, correspondingly, less than half of organisations rank their currently deployed email security solutions as effective.
https://threatpost.com/email-security-fail-block-threats/179370/
Financial Leaders Grappling with More Aggressive and Sophisticated Attack Methods
VMware released a report which takes the pulse of the financial industry’s top CISOs and security leaders on the changing behaviour of cyber criminal cartels and the defensive shift of the financial sector.
The report found that financial institutions are facing increased destructive attacks and falling victim to ransomware more than in years past, as sophisticated cyber crime cartels evolve beyond wire transfer fraud to now target market strategies, take over brokerage accounts and island hop into banks.
In the Modern Bank Heists report, 63% of financial institutions admitted experiencing an increase in destructive attacks, with cyber criminals leveraging this method as a means to burn evidence as part of a counter incident response.
Additionally, 74% experienced at least one ransomware attack over the past year, with 63% paying the ransom. When asked about the nation-state actors behind these attacks, the majority of financial instructions stated that Russia posed the greatest concern, as geopolitical tension continues to escalate in cyberspace.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/04/21/cybercriminal-cartels-financial-sector/
Hackers Sneak Malware into Resumes Sent to Corporate Hiring Managers
A new set of phishing attacks delivering the ‘more_eggs’ malware has been observed striking corporate hiring managers with bogus resumes as an infection vector, a year after potential candidates looking for work on LinkedIn were lured with weaponised job offers.
"This year the more_eggs operation has flipped the social engineering script, targeting hiring managers with fake resumes instead of targeting jobseekers with fake job offers," eSentire's research and reporting lead, Keegan Keplinger, said in a statement.
The Canadian cyber security company said it identified and disrupted four separate security incidents, three of which occurred at the end of March. Targeted entities include a US-based aerospace company, an accounting business located in the UK, a law firm, and a staffing agency, both based out of Canada.
The malware, suspected to be the handiwork of a threat actor called Golden Chickens (aka Venom Spider), is a stealthy, modular backdoor suite capable of stealing valuable information and conducting lateral movement across the compromised network.
"More_eggs achieves execution by passing malicious code to legitimate windows processes and letting those windows processes do the work for them," Keplinger said. The goal is to leverage the resumes as a decoy to launch the malware and sidestep detection.
https://thehackernews.com/2022/04/hackers-sneak-moreeggs-malware-into.html
West Warns of Russian Cyber Attacks as Concerns Rise Over Putin’s Nuclear Rhetoric
Cyber crime groups have publicly pledged support for Russia, western officials worry about Putin’s reliance on nuclear threats and the battle for Mariupol in Ukraine grinds on.
The US and four of its closest allies have warned that “evolving intelligence” shows that Russia is contemplating cyber attacks on countries backing Ukraine, as the Kremlin’s frustration grows at its failure to make military gains.
Vladimir Putin used the launch on Wednesday of a powerful new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), capable of carrying ten or more warheads, to make nuclear threats against western countries.
The Sarmat has long been in development and test flights were initially due to start in 2017. The Pentagon confirmed that the US had been given notice of the test and was not alarmed. Western officials are more concerned by the increasing emphasis Moscow puts on its nuclear arsenal as its conventional forces have faltered in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian army continued to put up resistance in the besieged and devastated city of Mariupol, but Putin’s Chechen ally, Ramzan Kadyrov, predicted that the last stand of the port’s defenders at the Azovstal steel works would fall on Thursday.
The Kremlin has made repeated threats against the many countries that have been supplying Ukraine’s army with modern weapons, and members of the “Five Eyes” intelligence sharing network – the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – predicted Moscow could also work with cyber crime groups to launch attacks on governments, institutions and businesses.
Criminals Adopting New Methods To Bypass Improved Defences, Says Zscaler
The number of phishing attacks worldwide jumped 29 percent last year as threat actors countered stronger enterprise defences with newer methods, according to researchers with Zscaler's ThreatLabz research team.
Cyber criminals have adapted to multi-factor authentication (MFA), employee security awareness training, and security controls by broadening who and where they will attack.
While the United States remained the country with the most phishing attempts, others are seeing faster growth in the number of incidents – exploiting new vectors like SMS and lowering the barrier of entry for launching attacks through pre-built tools made available on the market.
"Phishing attacks continue to remain one of the most prevalent attack vectors, often serving as a starting point for more advanced next stage attacks that may result in a large-scale breach," Deepen Desai, CISO and vice president of security research and operations at Zscaler, told The Register.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/20/phishing-attempts-on-rise-zscaler/
Cyber Criminals Are ‘Drinking the Tears’ of Ukrainians
In biology, when an insect drinks the tears of a large creature, it is called lachryphagy. And in cyberspace, malicious actors are likewise “drinking tears” by exploiting humanitarian concerns about the war in Ukraine for profit. Different forms of deception include tricking people into donating to bogus charities, clicking on Ukraine-themed malicious links and attachments, and even impersonating officials to extort payment for rescuing loved ones.
It is an unfortunate reality that cyber opportunists are engaging in lachryphagy to exploit humanitarian concerns about the war for profit or data collection. To date, one of the largest cryptocurrency scams involving fraudulent Ukrainian relief payments totalled $50 million in March, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Immediately following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, cybersecurity companies warned the public that criminals were preying on Ukrainian relief fundraising efforts with cryptocurrency scams. Bitdefender Labs reports that cyber criminals have impersonated Ukrainian government entities and charitable organisations such as UNICEF, and the Australian humanitarian agency, Act for Peace. “Some [scammers] are even pretending to be Wladimir Klitschko, whose brother Vitali is mayor of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv,” according to the BBC.
Hackers For Hire Attempt to Destroy Hedge Fund Manager's Reputation
Hackers bombarded a British hedge fund manager with 3,000 emails and fake news stories about his mortgage in an effort to destroy his reputation after being hired by a corporate rival.
Criminals even sought to gain personal information about Matthew Earl by pretending to be his sister in a three-year campaign when he raised concerns over the controversial German payments company Wirecard.
Mr Earl, a former City analyst who runs the hedge fund ShadowFall, said he was targeted by a group called Dark Basin.
This group has been linked to Aviram Azari, who this week pleaded guilty in New York to a conspiracy to target journalists and critics of Wirecard using phishing emails.
Mr Earl said the hacking attempts started in 2016 after ShadowFall, nicknamed the “dark destroyer” in the City, criticised the financial performance of Wirecard. The German company was later mired in a series of accounting scandals and went bust.
He said: “I was being sent very targeted emails, which were crafted with personal information about my interests, friends and family’s details. They were very specific.”
Mr Earl received news stories that appeared to be from media outlets such as Reuters and Bloomberg. Another email appeared to be sent by his sister, sharing family photographs, he added.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/04/21/reign-terror-hackers-hire-ramp-corporate-espionage/
New Threat Groups and Malware Families Emerging
Mandiant announced the findings of an annual report that provides timely data and insights based on frontline investigations and remediations of high-impact cyber attacks worldwide. The 2022 report––which tracks investigation metrics between October 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021—reveals over 1,100 new threat groups and 733 new malware families.
The report also notes a realignment and retooling of China cyber espionage operations to align with the implementation of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan in 2021. The report warns that the national-level priorities included in the plan “signal an upcoming increase in China-nexus actors conducting intrusion attempts against intellectual property or other strategically important economic concerns, as well as defence industry products and other dual-use technologies over the next few years.”
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/04/22/adversaries-innovating-and-adapting/
Economic Warfare: Attacks on Critical Infrastructure Part of Geopolitical Conflict
We’ve known for years that since at least March of 2016, Russian government threat actors have been targeting multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors including the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), and other agencies have acknowledged this for quite some time in many of their technical alerts and statements.
In the intervening years, with the acceleration of digital transformation, cyber criminals and nation-state actors have increasingly set their sights on these sectors. The convergence of physical and digital assets brings competitive advantage but also inevitable risks. Attacks against hospitals, oil pipelines, food supply chains, and other critical infrastructure, have brought into sharp focus the vulnerability of cyber-physical systems (CPS) and the impact on lives and livelihoods when they are disrupted. Now, overwhelming signs indicate critical infrastructure companies are in the bullseye of geopolitical conflict.
Threats
Ransomware
How Ready Are Organisations to Manage and Recover From A Ransomware Attack? - Help Net Security
FBI: BlackCat Ransomware Breached At Least 60 Entities Worldwide (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware: This Gang Is Getting a Lot Quicker at Encrypting Networks | ZDNet
Hive Hackers Are Exploiting Microsoft Exchange Servers in Ransomware Spree | ZDNet
REvil's TOR Sites Come Alive to Redirect To New Ransomware Operation (bleepingcomputer.com)
PYSA Ransomware Attacks: Here's What MSSPs Need to Know - MSSP Alert
An Investigation of the BlackCat Ransomware via Trend Micro Vision One
REvil Resurrected? Ransomware Crew Appears to Be Back • The Register
FBI Warning: Ransomware Gangs Are Going After This Lucrative but Unexpected Target | ZDNet
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
LinkedIn Brand Takes Lead as Most Impersonated In Phishing Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
FBI Warns of 'Reverse' Instant Payments Phishing Schemes | SecurityWeek.Com
Spreading Malware Through Community Phishing - Help Net Security
Malware
Windows Malware Can Steal Social Media Credentials and Banking Logins (komando.com)
Emotet Botnet Switches to 64-bit Modules, Increases Activity (bleepingcomputer.com)
New SolarMarker Malware Variant Using Updated Techniques to Stay Under the Radar (thehackernews.com)
Emotet Reestablishes Itself at The Top Of The Malware World • The Register
Mobile
BYOD
IoT
How to Secure Smart Home (IOT) Devices | Reviews by Wirecutter (nytimes.com)
New Stealthy BotenaGo Malware Variant Targets DVR Devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Russian Hackers Are Seeking Alternative Money-Laundering Options (bleepingcomputer.com)
How Russia Is Isolating Its Own Cyber Criminals (darkreading.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking
Hackers Hammer SpringShell Vulnerability In Attempt To Install Cryptominers | Ars Technica
Beanstalk DeFi Platform Loses $182 Million In Flash-Loan Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers Steal $655K After Picking MetaMask Seed from iCloud Backup (bleepingcomputer.com)
LemonDuck Botnet Plunders Docker Cloud Instances in Cryptocurrency Crime Wave | ZDNet
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Security Lessons From a Payment Fraud Attack (darkreading.com)
Scammers Snatch Up Expired Domains, Vexing Google | TechCrunch
Insurance
Dark Web
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Cloud
Rethinking Cyber-Defence Strategies in the Public-Cloud Age | Threatpost
Cyber Criminals Are Shifting Their Gaze To Kubernetes - Information Security Buzz
Passwords & Credential Stuffing
Digital Transformation
Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Moving Towards Defence in Depth Under The Grey Skies Of Conflict - Help Net Security
Locked Shields ‘Live Fire’ Cyber Drills to be Held as War in Ukraine Continues - Bloomberg
Russian-Linked Shuckworm Crew Ups Attacks on Ukraine • The Register
Russian Gamaredon APT Continues to Target Ukraine - Security Affairs
Phishing Attacks Using the Topic "Azovstal" Targets Entities in Ukraine - Security Affairs
Hackers Claim to Target Russia with Cyber Attacks and Leaks - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
The Anonymous Collective Hacked Other Russian Organisations - Security Affairs
Spyware Was Used Against Catalan Targets and UK Prime Minister and Foreign Office | CSO Online
Stalkerware Detection Trends: Monitor and Spyware Findings - MSSP Alert
Catalan Chief Accuses Spain's Intelligence Agency of Hacking | SecurityWeek.Com
Anomaly 6 Tracked NSA and CIA Spies as Product Demo: Report (gizmodo.com)
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Five Eyes Nations Warn of Russian Cyber Attacks Against Critical Infrastructure (thehackernews.com)
NATO Locked Shields War Games Prep for Real Russian Cyber Attack (gizmodo.com)
The Russian Cyber Threat Is Here to Stay and NATO Needs To Understand It | Fox News
A Russian Cyber Attack Is Coming —Lawmakers and Citizens Must Prepare | The Hill
US Officials Increase Warnings About Russian Cyber-Attacks - Infosecurity Magazine
Work From Home Software 'At Risk of Russian Cyber Attacks' (telegraph.co.uk)
US Officials Preparing for Potential Russian Cyber Attacks - CBS News
After Foiled Sandworm Attack, US Critical Infrastructure Should Stand Guard | CSO Online
Nation State Actors – China
Nation State Actors – North Korea
North Korea Funds Nuclear Program with Cyber Crime- IT Security Guru
North Korea Aims 'TraderTraitor' Malware at Cryptocurrency Workers (cyberscoop.com)
Blockchain Companies Warned of North Korean Hackers - IT Security Guru
Nation State Actors – Misc
Vulnerabilities
VMware, Chrome Flaws Added to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalogue - Security Affairs
Cisco Releases Security Patches for TelePresence, RoomOS and Umbrella VA (thehackernews.com)
Time to get patching: Oracle's quarterly Critical Patch Update arrives with 520 fixes | ZDNet
7-Zip Zero-Day Vulnerability Grants Privilege Escalation | TechSpot
QNAP Warns of New Bugs in Its Network Attached Storage Devices – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Cisco Umbrella Default SSH Key Allows Theft of Admin Credentials (bleepingcomputer.com)
Researcher Releases PoC for Recent Java Cryptographic Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
Critical Cryptographic Java Security Blunder Patched – Update Now! – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Atlassian Drops Patches for Critical Jira Authentication Bypass Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
Unpatched Bug in RainLoop Webmail Could Give Hackers Access to all Emails (thehackernews.com)
Sector Specific
Financial Services Sector
Modern Bank Heists 5.0: The Escalation from Dwell to Destruction (vmware.com)
Two-Thirds of Global Banks Witness Surge in Destructive Attacks - Infosecurity Magazine
FinTech
Health/Medical/Pharma Sector
The New Cyberthreat To Healthcare: Killware - Information Security Buzz
Many Medical Device Makers Skimp on Security Practices (darkreading.com)
Transport and Aviation
Other News
Why Companies Should Make ERP Security a Top Priority (techtarget.com)
The Evolving Role of The Lawyer in Cyber Security - Help Net Security
Cyber Security Litigation Risks: 4 Top Concerns for CISOs | CSO Online
Ponemon Research - Businesses to Invest $172b On Cyber Security In 2022 - Information Security Buzz
Funkypigeon.com Suspends Orders After 'Cyber Security Incident' | Business News | Sky News
The SEC Is About To Force CISOs Into America’s Boardrooms (forbes.com)
Data Breaches, Ransomware Attacks Leave Security Teams “Exhausted” - MSSP Alert
When Attacks Surge, Turn to Data to Strengthen Detection and Response | SecurityWeek.Com
Attacker Accessed Dozens of Repositories After OAuth Token Theft - Information Security Buzz
7 Best Practices for Web3 Security Risk Mitigation (techtarget.com)
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
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 21 January 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 21 January 2022
-Cyber Risks Top Worldwide Business Concerns In 2022
-Bosses Think That Security Is Taken Care Of: CISOs Aren't So Sure
-Fraud Is On the Rise, and It's Going to Get Worse
-Two-Fifths of Ransomware Victims Still Paying Up
-Less Than a Fifth of Cyber Leaders Feel Confident Their Organisation is Cyber-Resilient
-Endpoint Malware And Ransomware Detections Hit All-Time High
-End Users Remain Organisations' Biggest Security Risk
-Supply Chain Disruptions Rose In 2021
-Red Cross Begs Attackers Not to Leak Stolen Data for 515K People
-DHL Dethrones Microsoft As Most Imitated Brand In Phishing Attacks
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 Risks Top Worldwide Business Concerns In 2022
Cyber perils are the biggest concern for companies globally in 2022, according to the Allianz Risk Barometer. The threat of ransomware attacks, data breaches or major IT outages worries companies even more than business and supply chain disruption, natural disasters or the COVID-19 pandemic, all of which have heavily affected firms in the past year.
Cyber incidents tops the Allianz Risk Barometer for only the second time in the survey’s history (44% of responses), Business interruption drops to a close second (42%) and Natural catastrophes ranks third (25%), up from sixth in 2021. Climate change climbs to its highest-ever ranking of sixth (17%, up from ninth), while Pandemic outbreak drops to fourth (22%).
The annual survey incorporates the views of 2,650 experts in 89 countries and territories, including CEOs, risk managers, brokers and insurance experts. View the full global and country risk rankings.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/20/cyber-concern-2022/
Bosses Think That Security Is Taken Care Of: CISOs Aren't So Sure
The World Economic Forum warns about a significant gap in understanding between C-suites and information security staff - but it's possible to close the gap.
Organisations could find themselves at risk from cyberattacks because of a significant gap between the views of their own security experts and the boardroom.
The World Economic Forum's new report, The Global Cyber Security Outlook 2022, warns there are big discrepancies between bosses and information security personnel when it comes to the state of cyber resilience within organisations.
According to the paper, 92% of business executives surveyed agree that cyber resilience is integrated into enterprise risk management strategies – or in other words, protecting the organisation against falling victim to a cyberattack, or mitigating the incident so it doesn't result in significant disruption.
However, only 55% of security-focused executives believe that cyber resilience is integrated into risk management strategies – indicating a significant divide in attitudes to cyber security.
This gap can leave organisations vulnerable to cyberattacks, because boardrooms believe enough has been done in order to mitigate threats, while in reality there could be unconsidered vulnerabilities or extra measures put in place.
Fraud Is On the Rise, and It's Going to Get Worse
The acceleration of the digital transformation resulted in a surge of online transactions, greater adoption of digital payments, and increased fraud.
As more daily activities — work, education, shopping, and entertainment — shift online, fraud is also on the rise. A trio of recent reports paint a bleak picture, highlighting concerns that companies are experiencing increasing losses from fraud and that the situation will get worse over the coming year.
In KPMG's survey of senior risk executives, 67% say their companies have experienced external fraud in the past 12 months, and 38% expect the risk of fraud committed by external perpetrators to somewhat increase in the next year. External fraud, which includes credit card fraud and identity theft, is specifically referring to incidents perpetuated by individuals outside the company. For most of these respondents, there was a financial impact: Forty-two percent say their organisations experienced 0.5% to 1% of loss as a result of fraud and cybercrime.
https://www.darkreading.com/edge-articles/fraud-is-on-the-rise-and-its-going-to-get-worse
Two-Fifths of Ransomware Victims Still Paying Up
Two-fifths (39%) of ransomware victims paid their extorters over the past three years, with the majority of these spending at least $100,000, according to new Anomali research.
The security vendor hired The Harris Poll to complete its Cyber Resiliency Survey – interviewing 800 security decision-makers in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, the UAE, Mexico and Brazil.
Some 87% said their organisation had been the victim of a successful attack resulting in damage, disruption, or a breach since 2019. However, 83% said they’d experienced more attacks since the start of the pandemic.
Over half (52%) were ransomware victims, with 39% paying up. Of these, 58% gave their attackers between $100,000 and $1m, while 7% handed over more than $1m.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/two-fifths-ransomware-victims/
Less Than a Fifth of Cyber Leaders Feel Confident Their Organisation is Cyber-Resilient
Less than one-fifth (17%) of cyber leaders feel confident that their organisations are cyber-resilient, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s inaugural Global Cyber Security Outlook 2022 report.
The study, written in collaboration with Accenture, revealed there is a wide perception gap between business executives and security leaders on the issue of cyber security. For example, 92% of businesses believe cyber-resilience is integrated into their enterprise risk-management strategies, compared to just 55% of cyber leaders.
This difference in attitude appears to be having worrying consequences. The WEF said that many security leaders feel that they are not consulted in security decisions, and only 68% believe cyber-resilience forms a major part of their organisation’s overall corporate risk management.
In addition, over half (59%) of all cyber leaders admitted they would find it challenging to respond to a cyber security incident due to a shortage of skills within their team.
Supply chain security was another major concern among cyber leaders, with almost nine in 10 (88%) viewing SMEs as a key threat to supply chains.
Interestingly, 59% of cyber leaders said cyber-resilience and cyber security are synonymous, with the differences not well understood.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cyber-leaders-organisation/
Endpoint Malware And Ransomware Detections Hit All-Time High
Endpoint malware and ransomware detections surpassed the total volume seen in 2020 by the end of Q3 2021, according to researchers at the WatchGuard Threat Lab. In its latest report, WatchGuard also highlights that a significant percentage of malware continues to arrive over encrypted connections.
While zero-day malware increased by just 3% to 67.2% in Q3 2021, the percentage of malware that arrived via Transport Layer Security (TLS) jumped from 31.6% to 47%. Data shows that many organisations are not decrypting these connections and therefore have poor visibility into the amount of malware hitting their networks.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/20/endpoint-malware-ransomware-detections-q3-2021/
End Users Remain Organisations' Biggest Security Risk
With the rapid adoption of hybrid working environments and increased attacks, IT and security professionals worry that future data breaches will most likely be the result of end users who are negligent of or break security policy, according to a recent Dark Reading survey. The percentage of respondents in Dark Reading's 2021 Strategic Security Survey who perceive users breaking policy as the biggest risk fell slightly, however, from 51% in 2020 to 48% in 2021. Other potential issues involving end users showed improvements as well, with social engineering falling in concern from 20% to 15% and remote work worries halving from 26% to 13%.
While this trend is positive, it's unclear where the increased confidence comes from, since more people now report ineffective end-user security awareness training (11%, to 2020's 7%).
Respondents shared their heightened concern about well-funded attacks. In 2021, 25% predicted an attack targeted at their organisations (a rise from 2020, when 20% said the same), and fear of a nation-state-sponsored action rose to 16% from 9% the year before. Yet only 16% reported sophisticated, automated malware as a top concern, a 10% drop from 2020, and fear of a gap between security and IT advances only merited 9%. A tiny 3% worried that their security tools wouldn't work well together, dropping from the previous year's 10%.
Supply Chain Disruptions Rose In 2021
56% of businesses experienced more supply chain disruptions in 2021 than 2020, a Hubs report reveals.
Last year was marked by a number of challenges, including computer chip shortages, port congestion, the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, logistics impediments, and energy crises, though with every hurdle faced, solutions are being sought. It is increasingly clear that while certain risks are hard to anticipate and difficult to plan for, it is possible to mitigate the effects of supply chain disruptions by establishing a robust and agile supply chain.
Over 98% of global companies are now planning to boost the resilience of their manufacturing supply chains, however, 37% have yet to implement any measures. As businesses develop long term strategies, over 57% of companies say diversification of their supply chains is the most effective way of building resilience. This report explores last year’s most disruptive events, how disruptions have changed over time, industry trends and strategies for strengthening manufacturing supply chains.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/19/supply-chain-disruptions-2021/
Red Cross Begs Attackers Not to Leak Stolen Data for 515K People
A cyber attack forced the Red Cross to shut down IT systems running the Restoring Family Links system, which reunites families fractured by war, disaster or migration. UPDATE: The ICRC says it’s open to confidentially communicating with the attacker.
The Red Cross is imploring threat actors to show mercy by abstaining from leaking data belonging to 515,000+ “highly vulnerable” people. The data was stolen from a program used to reunite family members split apart by war, disaster or migration.
“While we don’t know who is responsible for this attack, or why they carried it out, we do have this appeal to make to them,” Robert Mardini, the director general of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), said in a release on Wednesday. “Your actions could potentially cause yet more harm and pain to those who have already endured untold suffering. The real people, the real families behind the information you now have are among the world’s least powerful. Please do the right thing. Do not share, sell, leak or otherwise use this data.”
https://threatpost.com/red-cross-begs-attackers-not-to-leak-515k-peoples-stolen-data/177799/
DHL Dethrones Microsoft As Most Imitated Brand In Phishing Attacks
DHL was the most imitated brand in phishing campaigns throughout Q4 2021, pushing Microsoft to second place, and Google to fourth.
This isn't surprising considering that the final quarter of every year includes the Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas shopping season, so phishing lures based on package deliveries naturally increase.
DHL is an international package delivery and express mail service, delivering over 1.6 billion parcels per year.
As such, phishing campaigns impersonating the brand have good chances of reaching people who are waiting for a DHL package to arrive during the holiday season.
The specific lures range from a package that is stuck at customs and requires action for clearance to supposed tracking numbers that hide inside document attachments or embedded links.
Threats
Ransomware
New White Rabbit Ransomware Linked To FIN8 Hacking Group (bleepingcomputer.com)
Conti Ransomware Gang Started Leaking Files Stolen From Bank Indonesia - Security Affairs
This New Ransomware Comes With A Small But Dangerous Payload | ZDNet
FBI Warning: This New Ransomware Makes Demands Of Up To $500,000 | ZDNet
Experts Warn Of Attacks Using A New Linux Variant Of SFile Ransomware - Security Affairs
SEC Filing Reveals Fortune 500 Firm Targeted in Ransomware Attack | Threatpost
FBI Warns Organisations of Diavol Ransomware Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Marketing Giant RRD Confirms Data Theft In Conti Ransomware Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
After Ransomware Arrests, Some Dark Web Criminals Are Getting Worried | ZDNet
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Phishing
Phishing Impersonates Shipping Giant Maersk To Push STRRAT Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
#COVID19 Phishing Emails Surge 500% on Omicron Concerns - Infosecurity Magazine
Financially Motivated Earth Lusca Threat Actors Targets Orgs Worldwide - Security Affairs
Malware
Microsoft Details Recent Damaging Malware Attacks on Ukrainian Organisations (darkreading.com)
Custom-Written Malware Discovered Across Windows, MacOS, And Linux Systems | TechSpot
Backdoor RAT for Windows, macOS, and Linux went undetected until now | Ars Technica
Ukraine: Wiper Malware Masquerading As Ransomware Hits Government Organisations - Help Net Security
Linux Malware Is On The Rise. Here Are Three Top Threats Right Now | ZDNet
Malware That Can Survive OS Reinstalls Strikes Again, Likely for Cyber Espionage | PCMag
New MoonBounce UEFI Malware Used By Apt41 In Targeted Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Data Breaches/Leaks
Exposed Records Exceeded 40 Billion In 2021 - Help Net Security
European Regulators Hand Out €1.1bn in GDPR Fines - Infosecurity Magazine
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Financially Motivated Earth Lusca Threat Actors Targets Orgs Worldwide - Security Affairs
A Hacker Is Negotiating With Victims on the Blockchain After $1.4M Heist (vice.com)
FBI & European Police Take Down Computer Servers Used In Major Cyberattacks Worldwide - CNNPolitics
Europol Shuts Down VPNLab, Cyber Criminals' Favourite VPN Service (thehackernews.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking
Cyber Criminals Actively Target VMware vSphere with Cryptominers | Threatpost
New BHUNT Password Stealer Malware Targeting Cryptocurrency Wallets (thehackernews.com)
Cheap Malware Is Behind A Rise In Attacks On Cryptocurrency Wallets | ZDNet
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Research: Why Employees Violate Cyber Security Policies (hbr.org)
What CISOs Can Learn About Insider Threats From Iran's Human Espionage Tactics | CSO Online
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
How Buy Now, Pay Later Is Being Targeted By Fraudsters - Help Net Security
Romance Scammer Who Targeted 670 Women Gets 28 Months In Jail – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Insurance
CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA
UK Mulls Making MSPs Subject To Mandatory Security Standards • The Register
‘Anomalous’ Spyware Stealing Credentials In Industrial Firms (bleepingcomputer.com)
European Union Simulated A Cyber Attack On A Fictitious Finnish Power Company - Security Affairs
Nation State Actors
Ukraine Cyber Attack Timeline: Microsoft, CISA, White House and Kyiv Statements - MSSP Alert
Chinese Hackers Spotted Using New UEFI Firmware Implant in Targeted Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Security Scanners Across Europe Tied To China Govt, Military | AP News
Cloud
Privacy
Passwords & Credential Stuffing
Your Keyboard Walking Password Isn’t Complex Or Secure – Review Geek
Box Flaw Allowed To Bypass MFA And Takeover Accounts - Security Affairs
Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare
Vulnerabilities
CISA Adds 13 Exploited Vulnerabilities To List, 9 with Feb. 1 Remediation Date | ZDNet
High-Severity Vulnerabilities Patched in McAfee Enterprise Product | SecurityWeek.Com
Cisco Releases Patch for Critical Bug Affecting Unified CCMP and Unified CCDM (thehackernews.com)
A bug in McAfee Agent allows to run code with SYSTEM privileges - Security Affairs
Zoho Fixes A Critical Vulnerability (CVE-2021-44757) in Desktop Central - Security Affairs
Ubuntu Patch For Heap Buffer Overflow Vulnerability • The Register
Google Details Two Zero-Day Bugs Reported in Zoom Clients and MMR Servers (thehackernews.com)
Hackers Attempt to Exploit New SolarWinds Serv-U Bug in Log4Shell Attacks (thehackernews.com)
F5 Patches Two Dozen Vulnerabilities in BIG-IP | SecurityWeek.Com
McAfee Bug Can Be Exploited to Gain Windows SYSTEM Privileges | Threatpost
Oracle Critical Patch Update for January 2022 will fix 483 new flaws - Security Affairs
20K WordPress Sites Exposed by Insecure Plugin REST-API | Threatpost
Cisco Issues Patch for Critical RCE Vulnerability in RCM for StarOS Software (thehackernews.com)
Critical Bugs in Control Web Panel Expose Linux Servers to RCE Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Critical SAP Vulnerability Allows Supply Chain Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Zoho Plugs Another Critical Security Hole In Desktop Central (bleepingcomputer.com)
Safari Exploit Can Leak Browser Histories And Google Account Info | Engadget
Sector Specific
Financial Services Sector
Health/Medical/Pharma Sector
More Than Half Of Medical Devices Found To Have Critical Vulnerabilities | ZDNet
Additional Healthcare Firms Disclose Impact From Netgain Ransomware Attack | SecurityWeek.Com
Retail
Education and Academia
Other News
Biggest MSP Takeaways From The Apache Log4j Vulnerability - MSSP Alert
The Emotional Stages Of A Data Breach: How To Deal With Panic, Anger, And Guilt | CSO Online
The Log4j Vulnerability Puts Pressure on the Security World | Threatpost
Hackers Planted Secret Backdoor in Dozens of WordPress Plugins and Themes (thehackernews.com)
BadUSB explained: How rogue USBs threaten your organisation | CSO Online
Millions of UK Wi-Fi Routers Vulnerable To Security Threats - IT Security Guru
NATO, Ukraine Sign Deal to 'Deepen' Cyber Cooperation | SecurityWeek.Com
UK Umbrella Company Parasol Group Confirms Cyber Attack • The Register
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 14 January 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 14 January 2022
-Businesses Suffered 50% More Cyber Attack Attempts per Week in 2021
-Cyber Attacks Against MSPs Jump 67%
-SMEs Still An Easy Target For Cyber Criminals
-World Economic Forum: Cyber Security Failures an Increasing Global Threat
-Microsoft Faces Wormable, Critical RCE Bug & 6 Zero-Days
-Russia Arrests REvil Ransomware Gang Responsible for High-Profile Cyber Attacks
-North Korea Hackers Stole $400m Of Cryptocurrency In 2021, Report Says
-No Lights, No Heat, No Money - That's Life In Ukraine During Cyber Warfare
-Ukrainian Police Arrest Five Members Of Ransomware Affiliate
-Fingers Point To Lazarus, Cobalt, Fin7 As Key Hacking Groups Attacking Finance Industry
-Ransomware, Supply Chain, And Deepfakes: The Top Threats The Finance Industry Needs To Prepare For
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
Businesses Suffered 50% More Cyber Attack Attempts per Week in 2021
Cyberattack attempts reached an all-time high in the fourth quarter of 2021, jumping to 925 a week per organisation, partly due to attempts stemming from the Log4j vulnerability, according to new data.
Check Point Research on Monday reported that it found 50% more attack attempts per week on corporate networks globally in calendar year 2021 compared with 2020.
The researchers define a cyberattack attempt as a single isolated cyber occurrence that could be at any point in the attack chain — scanning/exploiting vulnerabilities, sending phishing emails, malicious website access, malicious file downloads (from Web/email), second-stage downloads, and command-and-control communications.
Cyber Attacks Against MSPs Jump 67%
Cyber attacks spiked by 50 percent in 2021 as compared to 2020, aided by millions of attacks in December by hackers attempting to exploit the Log4J vulnerability, according to a Check Point Software Technologies research report.
In terming 2021 a “record breaking year,” the security provider pointed to a worldwide peak of 925 cyber attacks per organisation weekly and an October 2021 measure that showed a 40 percent increase in cyberattacks, with one out of every 61 entities hit by ransomware each week. The number of cyberattacks on managed service providers (MSPs) and internet service providers (ISPs) rose by nearly 70 percent year over year.
https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-news/cyberattacks-vs-msps-skyrocket/
SMEs Still An Easy Target For Cyber Criminals
Cyber crime continues to be a major concern, with 51% of SMEs experiencing a cyber security breach, a Markel Direct survey reveals.
In this survey that polled 1000 respondents, Markel Direct explored the issue of cybercrime and its impact on the self-employed and SMEs. The survey found the most common cybersecurity attacks were malware/virus related (24%) followed by a data breach (16%) and phishing attack (15%), with 68% reporting the cost of their breach was up to £5,000.
This comes after the latest Quarterly Fraud and Cyber Crime Report revealed that Britons lost over £1 billion in the first six months of 2021, due to the considerable increase in fraudulent activity.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/12/smes-cybersecurity-breach/
World Economic Forum: Cyber Security Failures an Increasing Global Threat
Cybersecurity was once again identified as a major short and medium-term threat to the world in this year’s World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) The Global Risk Report. The analysis was based on insights from nearly 1000 global experts and leaders who responded to the WEF’s Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, environmental issues like climate action failure and extreme weather ranked highest on the risks facing the world over the short (0-2 years), medium (2-5 years) and long-term (5-10 years). In addition, a number of challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, such as livelihood crises, infectious diseases and mental health deterioration, also scored highly. Overall, this added up to a pessimistic assessment, with 84.2% of respondents stating they were either “worried” or “concerned” about the global outlook.
Digital challenges, such as “cyber security failures,” were also viewed as a significant and growing problem to the world. Nearly one in five (19.5%) respondents believe cybersecurity failures will be a critical threat to the world in just the next 0-2 years, and 14.6% said it would be in 2-5 years
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/world-economic-forum-cybersecurity/
Microsoft Faces Wormable, Critical RCE Bug & 6 Zero-Days
Microsoft started 2022 with a large January Patch Tuesday update covering nine critical CVEs, including a self-propagator with a 9.8 CVSS score.
Microsoft has addressed a total of 97 security vulnerabilities in its January 2022 Patch Tuesday update – nine of them rated critical – including six that are listed as publicly known zero-days.
The fixes cover a swath of the computing giant’s portfolio, including: Microsoft Windows and Windows Components, Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based), Exchange Server, Microsoft Office and Office Components, SharePoint Server, .NET Framework, Microsoft Dynamics, Open-Source Software, Windows Hyper-V, Windows Defender, and Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).
https://threatpost.com/microsoft-wormable-critical-rce-bug-zero-day/177564/
Russia Arrests REvil Ransomware Gang Responsible for High-Profile Cyber Attacks
In an unprecedented move, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the country's principal security agency, on Friday disclosed that it arrested several members belonging to the notorious REvil ransomware gang and neutralized its operations.
The surprise takedown, which it said was carried out at the request of the US authorities, saw the law enforcement agency conduct raids at 25 addresses in the cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Leningrad and Lipetsk regions that belonged to 14 suspected members of the organised cyber crime syndicate.
"In order to implement the criminal plan, these persons developed malicious software, organised the theft of funds from the bank accounts of foreign citizens and their cashing, including through the purchase of expensive goods on the Internet," the FSB said in a statement.
In addition, the FSB seized over 426 million rubles, including in cryptocurrency, $600,000, €500,000, as well as computer equipment, crypto wallets used to commit crimes, and 20 luxury cars that were purchased with money obtained by illicit means.
https://thehackernews.com/2022/01/russia-arrests-revil-ransomware-gang.html
North Korea Hackers Stole $400m Of Cryptocurrency In 2021, Report Says
North Korean hackers stole almost $400m (£291m) worth of digital assets in at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms last year, a report claims.
Blockchain analysis company Chainalysis said it was one of most successful years on record for cyber-criminals in the closed east Asian state.
The attacks mainly targeted investment firms and centralised exchanges.
North Korea has routinely denied being involved in hack attacks attributed to them.
"From 2020 to 2021, the number of North Korean-linked hacks jumped from four to seven, and the value extracted from these hacks grew by 40%," Chainalysis said in a report.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59990477
No Lights, No Heat, No Money - That's Life In Ukraine During Cyber Warfare
Hackers who defaced and interrupted access to numerous Ukrainian government websites on Friday could be setting the stage for more serious cyberattacks that would disrupt the lives of ordinary Ukrainians, experts said.
"As tensions grow, we can expect more aggressive cyber activity in Ukraine and potentially elsewhere," said John Hultquist, an intelligence analyst at US cyber security company Mandiant, possibly including "destructive attacks that target critical infrastructure."
"Organisations need to begin preparing," Hultquist added.
Intrusions by hackers on hospitals, power utility companies, and the financial system were until recently rare. But organised cyber criminals, many of them living in Russia, have gone after institutions aggressively in the past two years with ransomware, freezing data and computerized equipment needed to care for hospital patients.
In some cases, those extortion attacks have led to patient deaths, according to litigation, media reports and medical professionals.
Ukrainian Police Arrest Five Members Of Ransomware Affiliate
Ukrainian police announced the arrest of five members of a ransomware affiliate on Thursday, noting that the group was behind attacks on more than 50 companies across Europe and the US.
In a statement, both the Ukrainian Security Service and Ukrainian Cyber Police said the group made at least $1 million through their attacks on the companies.
US and UK law enforcement officials worked with Ukrainian officials on the operation.
Officials said the leader of the group was a 36-year-old who worked with his wife and three other people out of Kyiv. The five are facing a variety of charges in Ukraine related to money laundering, hacking, and selling malware.
One of the people charged is wanted by law enforcement agencies in UK after "using a virus to obtain bank card details of the customers of British banks," according to the police statement.
The bank card details were used to buy things online that were then resold.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ukrainian-police-arrest-members-of-ransomware-affiliate/
Fingers Point To Lazarus, Cobalt, Fin7 As Key Hacking Groups Attacking Finance Industry
The Lazarus, Cobalt, and FIN7 hacking groups have been labeled as the most prevalent threat actors striking financial organisations today.
According to "Follow the Money," a new report (.PDF) published on the financial sector by Outpost24's Blueliv on Thursday, members of these groups are the major culprits of theft and fraud in the industry today.
The financial sector has always been, and possibly always will be, a key target for cybercriminal groups. Organisations in this area are often custodians of sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) belonging to customers and clients, financial accounts, and cash.
They also often underpin the economy: if a payment processor or bank's systems go down due to malware, this can cause irreparable harm not only to the victim company in question, but this can also have severe financial and operational consequences for customers.
Ransomware, Supply Chain, And Deepfakes: The Top Threats The Finance Industry Needs To Prepare For
The finance industry is constantly targeted by numerous threat actors, and they are always innovating and trying new techniques (such as deepfakes) to outsmart security teams and breach an organisation’s network.
In addition to that, there is currently a huge demand for data and new tools on the dark web. In fact, users are selling access to point-of-sale (PoS) terminals and login details to the websites of financial services organisations all the time.
How can financial organisations protect themselves from existing threats and combat new ones at the same time?
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/12/finance-industry-threats/
Threats
Ransomware
Night Sky Ransomware Is Attacking Corporate Networks For 800k Ransom - The Cybersecurity Times
One Of The REvil Members Arrested Was Behind Colonial Pipeline Attack - Security Affairs
Ransomware Is Being Rewritten In Go For Joint Attacks On Windows, Linux Users | IT PRO
Watch Out, That Microsoft Edge Update Is Actually Ransomware | TechRadar
Qlocker Ransomware Returns To Target QNAP NAS Devices Worldwide (bleepingcomputer.com)
Trends That Shaped Ransomware – And Why It’s Not Slowing Down - CyberScoop
Phishing
Check Your SPF Records: Wide IP Ranges Undo Email Security And Make For Tasty Phishes | ZDNet
Phishers Are Targeting Office 365 Users By Exploiting Adobe Cloud - Help Net Security
Real Big Phish: Mobile Phishing & Managing User Fallibility | Threatpost
Malware
Microsoft Defender Weakness Lets Hackers Bypass Malware Detection (bleepingcomputer.com)
New RedLine Malware Version Spread As Fake Omicron Stat Counter (bleepingcomputer.com)
‘Fully Undetected’ SysJoker Backdoor Malware Targets Windows, Linux & macOS | Threatpost
FluBot Malware Continues To Evolve. What's New In Ver 5.0 And Beyond? Security Affairs
Oops: Cyberspies Infect Themselves With Their Own Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mobile
Android Users Can Now Disable 2G to Block Stingray Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
EFF Praises Android’s New 2G Kill Switch, Wants Apple To Follow Suit | Ars Technica
How To Protect Yourself Against Sim-Swapping Scams With Mobile Phone Fraud On The Rise (inews.co.uk)
IoT
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking
Abcbot Botnet Is Linked To Xanthe Cryptojacking Group | ZDNet
North Korean Hackers Impersonate Major Crypto Investment Firm to Scam Startups (vice.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Data Security In The Age Of Insider Threats: A Primer - Help Net Security
Former DHS Official Charged With Stealing Govt Employees' PII (bleepingcomputer.com)
Forensics Expert Kept Murder Snaps on PC - Infosecurity Magazine
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
DoS/DDoS
Extortion DDoS Attacks Grow Stronger And More Common (Bleepingcomputer.Com)
DDoS Attacks That Come Combined With Extortion Demands Are On The Rise | ZDNet
CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA
Manufacturers Are Starting To Realize The Importance Of OT Security - Help Net Security
FBI, NSA and CISA Warns of Russian Hackers Targeting Critical Infrastructure (thehackernews.com)
Critical Infrastructure Falls Short on Ransomware Readiness, Mitigation, Recovery - MSSP Alert
Nation State Actors
Ukraine Hacks Add to Worries of Cyber Conflict With Russia | SecurityWeek.Com
Destructive Malware Targeting Ukrainian Organisations - Microsoft Security Blog
US Olympic Athletes Urged to Leave Phones Behind (gizmodo.com)
Russian Submarines Threatening Undersea Cables, UK Defence Chief Warns - Security Affairs
Iranian Hackers Exploit Log4j Vulnerability to Deploy PowerShell Backdoor (thehackernews.com)
US Cyber Command Links 'MuddyWater' Hacking Group to Iranian Intelligence (thehackernews.com)
Cloud
Passwords & Credential Stuffing
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Vulnerabilities
Threat Actors Can Bypass Malware Detection Due To Microsoft Defender Weakness - Security Affairs
noPac Exploit: Microsoft AD Flaw May Lead to Total Domain Compromise | CrowdStrike
Adobe Fixes 4 Critical Reader Bugs That Were Demonstrated At Tianfu Cup - Security Affairs
WordPress 5.8.3 Security Update Fixes SQL Injection, XSS Flaws (bleepingcomputer.com)
WordPress Bugs Exploded in 2021, Most Exploitable | Threatpost
Sonicwall SMA 100 VPN Box Security Hole Exploit Info Shared • The Register
Cisco Patches Critical Vulnerability in Contact Center Products | SecurityWeek.Com
Millions of Routers Exposed to RCE by USB Kernel Bug | Threatpost
Mozilla Patches High-Risk Firefox, Thunderbird Security Flaws | SecurityWeek.Com
Sector Specific
Financial Services Sector
SMBs – Small and Medium Businesses
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
Hackers Penetrate 93% of Local Company Networks, Cyber Simulation Finds - MSSP Alert
URL Parsing: A Ticking Time Bomb Of Security Exploits - TechRepublic
Europol Told to Delete Vast Trove of Personal Information - Infosecurity Magazine
The Race Towards Renewable Energy Is Creating New Cyber Security Risks | ZDNet
What Is Clipboard Hijacking? How to Avoid Becoming a Victim (makeuseof.com)
White House Reminds Tech Giants Open Source Is A National Security Issue (bleepingcomputer.com)
Want To Improve Corporate Security? Prioritize Personal Security | ZDNet
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 21 May 2021
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 21 May 2021: Ransomware Attacks Are Spiking. Is Your Company Prepared?; Ban Ransom Payments To Hackers, Urges Ex-GCHQ Boss; How Penetration Testing Can Promote A False Sense Of Security; Ransomware’s New Swindle - Triple Extortion; ‘It’s A Battle, It’s Warfare’ - Experts Seek To Defeat Ransomware Attackers; 5 Reasons Why Enterprises Need Cyber Security Awareness And Training; 10 Emerging Cyber Security Trends To Watch In 2021
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
5 Reasons Why Enterprises Need Cyber Security Awareness And Training
Research shows that most cyber attacks rely on exploiting the human factor with the help of creative and innovative phishing techniques and other attack vectors. Almost 90% of all data breaches are caused due to human error. Therefore, even if an organisation has a robust cyber security infrastructure in place, the absence of cyber security awareness among employees can leave a huge gap in its cyber security framework. This gap can be easily exploited by cyber criminals to launch various types of cyber attacks. Hence, cyber security awareness and training are very much needed for any enterprise to secure it against cyber attacks.
Ban Ransom Payments To Hackers, Urges Ex-GCHQ Boss
Britain’s former cyber security chief has called for a ban on ransomware payments after the Irish health service became the latest to be hit by a major attack from international criminals. Ciaran Martin, the founding chief executive of GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said that making payments illegal would help to break the lucrative global hacking business model. Martin said that businesses were helping to fund the organised criminals who locked and stole their data. “At the moment you can pay to make it quietly go away. There’s no legal obligations involved,” he said. “There’s no obligation to report to anybody, there’s no traceability of payment of crypto currency. We have allowed this to spiral in an invisible way.”
Ransomware’s New Swindle: Triple Extortion
Ransomware attacks are exploding at a staggering rate, and so are the ransoms being demanded. Now experts are warning against a new threat — triple extortion — which means that attackers are expanding out to demand payments from customers, partners and other third parties related to the initial breach to grab even more cash for their crimes. Check Point’s latest ransomware report found that over the past year, ransomware payments have spiked by 171 percent, averaging about $310,000 — and that globally, the number of attacks has surged by 102 percent.
https://threatpost.com/ransomwares-swindle-triple-extortion/166149/
‘It’s A Battle, It’s Warfare’: Experts Seek To Defeat Ransomware Attackers
Cyber security experts like to joke that the hackers who have turned ransomware attacks into a multibillion-dollar industry are often more professional than even their biggest victims. Ransomware attacks — when cyber attackers lock up their target’s computer systems or data until a ransom is paid — returned to the spotlight this week after attacks hit one of the biggest petroleum pipelines in the US, Toshiba’s European business, and Ireland’s health service. While governments have pledged to tackle the problem, experts said the criminal gangs have become more enterprising and continue to have the upper hand. For businesses, they said, there is more pain to come. “This is probably the biggest conundrum in security because companies have to decide how far they participate in this cat-and-mouse game,” said Myrna Soto, former chief strategy and trust officer at Forcepoint and current board member of gas and electricity group Consumers Energy. “It’s a battle, it’s warfare, to be honest.”
https://www.ft.com/content/b48a2d70-4a8c-4407-83a2-59cd055068f8
Colonial Pipeline Boss Confirms $4.4M Ransom Payment
Its boss told the Wall Street Journal he authorised the payment on 7 May because of uncertainty over how long the shutdown would continue. "I know that's a highly controversial decision," Joseph Blount said in his first interview since the hack. The 5,500-mile (8,900-km) pipeline carries 2.5 million barrels a day. According to the firm, it carries 45% of the East Coast's supply of diesel, petrol and jet fuel. Chief executive Mr Blount told the newspaper that the firm decided to pay the ransom after discussions with experts who had previously dealt with DarkSide, the criminal organisation behind the attack.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57178503
10 Emerging Cyber Security Trends To Watch In 2021
A flurry of new threats, technologies and business models have emerged in the cyber security space as the world shifted to a remote work model in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lack of a network perimeter in this new world accelerated the adoption of SASE (secure access service edge), zero trust and XDR (extended detection and response) to ensure remote users and their data are protected. Adversaries have taken advantage of the complexity introduced by newly remote workforces to falsely impersonate legitimate users through credential theft and have upped the ante by targeting customers in the victim’s supply chain. The ability to monetize ransomware attacks by threatening to publicly leak victim data has made it more lucrative, while employers continue to fend off insiders with an agenda.
https://www.crn.com/news/security/10-emerging-cybersecurity-trends-to-watch-in-2021
How Penetration Testing Can Promote A False Sense Of Security
Rob Gurzeev is concerned about blind spots—past and present. In his DarkReading article Defending the Castle: How World History Can Teach Cyber security a Lesson, Gurzeev mentioned, "Military battles bring direct lessons and, I find, often serve as a reminder that attack surface blind spots have been an Achilles' heel for defenders for a long time." "Cyber security attackers follow this same principle today," wrote Gurzeev. "Companies typically have a sizable number of IT assets within their external attack surface they neither monitor nor defend and probably do not know about in the first place."
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-penetration-testing-can-promote-a-false-sense-of-security/
Ransomware Attacks Are Only Getting Worse, Darkside Group "Quits," But That May Just Be A Strategy
Earlier this month, a hacker group named DarkSide launched a ransomware attack against the business network of the Colonial Pipeline, forcing the company to shut down the 5,500-mile main pipeline and leading to fuel shortages in 17 states and Washington DC last week. According to a Bloomberg report, Colonial paid 75 Bitcoin (around $5 million on the day of the transaction) in ransom to the Eastern European hackers, but officially the company has maintained a different narrative of not having any intention of paying the extortion fee in crypto currency, as the DarkSide group had demanded. However, the Georgia-based company is said to have made the payment within hours of the attack, possibly using a cyber insurance policy to cover it.
https://www.techspot.com/news/89689-ransomware-attacks-only-getting-worse-darkside-group-quits.html
Learning From Cyber Attacks Could Be The Key To Stopping Them
Organisations should use major cyber incidents as a way to think through the core of their security strategies in order to prevent or recover better from similar attacks. "A significant cyber incident is really an opportunity; because it's an opportunity to focus on the core issues that led to these cyber incidents," said Anne Neuberger, deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology at the White House, speaking at the UK National Cyber Security Centre's (NCSC) CYBERUK 21 virtual conference. Neuberger said that whether it's something like the SolarWinds sophisticated supply chain attack or the Colonial Pipeline ransomware incident, "we know that vulnerabilities across software and hardware can bring on larger concerns", but that looking at the core issues can help everyone improve their security.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/learning-from-cyber-attacks-could-be-the-key-to-stopping-them/
Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) Allegedly Has An Alarming Active Vulnerability
The Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is an incredibly useful feature used by likely millions of people every day. Considering it is free and preinstalled from Microsoft, it beats out most other Windows-based remote desktop software with ease. This, however, does not give it a free pass from having flaws; however, as a security researcher has discovered his password in cleartext within the RDP service’s memory. Researcher Jonas Lykkegård of the Secret Club, a group of hackers, seems to stumble across interesting things from time to time. He recently posted to Twitter about finding a password in cleartext in memory after using the RDP service. It seems he could not believe what he had found, as he tested it again and produced the same results using a new local account.
Amazon’s Ring Is The Largest Civilian Surveillance Network The US Has Ever Seen
In a 2020 letter to management, Max Eliaser, an Amazon software engineer, said Ring is “simply not compatible with a free society”. We should take his claim seriously. Ring video doorbells, Amazon’s signature home security product, pose a serious threat to a free and democratic society. Not only is Ring’s surveillance network spreading rapidly, it is extending the reach of law enforcement into private property and expanding the surveillance of everyday life. What’s more, once Ring users agree to release video content to law enforcement, there is no way to revoke access and few limitations on how that content can be used, stored, and with whom it can be shared.
Ransomware Attacks Are Spiking. Is Your Company Prepared?
With the migration to remote work over the last year, cyber attacks have increased exponentially. We saw more attacks of every kind, but the headline for 2020 was ransom attacks, which were up 150% over the previous year. The amount paid by victims of these attacks increased more than 300% in 2020. Already 2021 has seen a dramatic increase in this activity, with high-profile ransom attacks against critical infrastructure, private companies, and municipalities grabbing headlines on a daily basis. The amount of ransom demanded also has significantly increased this year, with some demands reaching tens of millions of dollars. And the attacks have become more sophisticated, with threat actors seizing sensitive company data and holding it hostage for payment.
https://hbr.org/2021/05/ransomware-attacks-are-spiking-is-your-company-prepared
Threats
Ransomware
Insurer AXA Hit By Ransomware After Dropping Support For Ransom Payments
One Of The US’s Largest Insurance Companies Reportedly Paid $40 Million To Ransomware Hackers
Ransomware’s Dangerous New Trick Is Double-Encrypting Your Data
Phishing
Other Social Engineering
Malware
Mobile
IoT
Four New Video Doorbells And Home Security Cameras Are Vulnerable To Hacking
EufyCam Users Should Turn Off Their Security Cams Immediately
Vulnerabilities
QNAP Warns Of eCh0raix Ransomware Attacks, Roon Server Zero-Day
Cross-Browser Tracking Vulnerability Tracks You Via Installed Apps
Cryptocurrency
Supply Chain
Nation State Actors
Denial of Service
Cloud
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our weekly ‘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 12 February 2021
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
2020 Sees Ransomware Increase By Over 400 Percent
A new study from Cyber Security company, finds that last year malware increased by 358 percent overall and ransomware increased by 435 percent as compared with 2019. The report which analyzes millions of attacks taking place across the year finds distribution of the Emotet malware skyrocketed by 4,000 percent, while malware threats attacking Android phones increased by 263 percent. July saw the largest increase in malicious activity, up by 653 percent compared with the previous year. Microsoft Office documents are the most manipulated document attack vector and these attacks were up by 112 percent.
https://betanews.com/2021/02/10/ransomware-increase-400-percent/
Remote Desktop Protocol Attacks Surge By 768%
Remote desktop protocol (RDP) attacks increase by 768% between Q1 and Q4 last year, fuelled by the shift to remote working. However, a slower rate of growth was observed in the final quarter of the year, indicating that organizations have enhanced their security for remote users.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/remote-desktop-protocol-attacks/
Even Minor Phishing Operations Can Distribute Millions Of Malicious Emails Per Week
Even small-scale phishing campaigns are capable of distributing millions and millions of malicious emails to victims around the world, according to a new report. Describing the most popular styles of phishing attack, criminal today rely on fast-churning campaigns. They create a single phishing email template (usually in English) and send it out to anywhere between 100 and 1,000 targets.
With One Update, This Malicious Android App Hijacked Millions Of Devices
With a single update, a popular barcode scanner app on Google Play transformed into malware and was able to hijack up to 10 million devices. Lavabird Ltd.'s Barcode Scanner was an Android app that had been available on Google's official app repository for years. The app, accounting for over 10 million installs, offered a QR code reader and a barcode generator -- a useful utility for mobile devices.
Cd Projekt Hit By Ransomware Attack, Refused To Pay Ransom, Data Reportedly Sold Off By Hackers
Polish video game maker CD Projekt, which makes Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher, has confirmed it was hit by a ransomware attack. In a statement posted to its Twitter account, the company said it will “not give in nor negotiate” with the hackers, saying it has backups in place. “We have already secured our IT infrastructure and begun restoring data,” the company said.
https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/09/cd-projekt-red-hit-by-ransomware-attack-refuses-to-pay-ransom/
Hacked Florida Water Plant Used Shared Passwords And Windows 7 PCs
The Oldsmar, Florida water plant hacked earlier this week used outdated Windows 7 PCs and shared passwords, the Associated Press has reported. A government advisory also revealed that the relatively unsophisticated attack used the remote-access program TeamViewer. However, officials also said that the hacker’s attempt to boost chemicals to dangerous levels was stopped almost immediately after it started.
Top Web Hosting Provider Shuts Down Following Cyber Attack
Cybercriminals often attack websites in order to extort a ransom from their victims but a recent cyberattack against the web hosting company No Support Linux Hosting took quite a different turn. After a hacker managed to breach the company's internal systems and compromise its entire operation, No Support Linux Hosting has announced that it is shutting down. The company alerted its customers to the situation before shutting down its website in a message.
https://www.techradar.com/news/top-web-hosting-provider-shuts-down-following-cyberattack
High Demand For Hacker Services On Dark Web Forums
Nine in 10 (90%) users of dark web forums are searching for a hacker who can provide them with a particular resource or who can download a user database. This is according to new research by Positive Technologies, which analyzed activity on the 10 most prominent forums on the dark web, which offer services such as website hacking and the buying/selling of databases. The study highlights the growing demand for hackers’ services and stolen data, exacerbated by the increased internet usage by both organizations and individuals since the start of COVID-19.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/demand-hacker-services-dark-web/
Facebook Phishing Campaign Tricked Nearly 500,000 Users In Two Weeks
A recent investigation uncovered a large scale phishing operation on Facebook. The Facebook phishing campaign is dangerous and targets user personal information. The phishing scam “Is that you” currently on Facebook has been around in multiple forms for years. The whole trouble starts with a “friend” sending you a message claiming to have found a video or image with you in it. The message is usually a video and after clicking, it takes you through a series of websites. These websites have malicious scripts that get your location, device type, and operating system.
Hackers Are Tweaking Their Approach To Phishing Attacks In 2021
Cyber criminals are a creative bunch, constantly coming up with new ways to avoid detection and advance their sinister goals. A new report from cyber security experts at BitDam describes a few fresh techniques used in the wild so far in 2021. According to the report, email protection solutions tend to trust newly created email domains that are yet to be flagged as dangerous. Criminals are now increasingly exploiting this fact to increase the chances that phishing, and malware emails make it into victims' inboxes.
https://www.itproportal.com/news/hackers-are-tweaking-their-approach-to-phishing-attacks-in-2021/
Threats
Ransomware
Researchers identify 223 vulnerabilities used in recent ransomware attacks (Potential headline)
This old form of ransomware has returned with new tricks and new targets
Phishing
Malware
Mobile
IOT
Vulnerabilities
Attackers Exploit Critical Adobe Flaw to Target Windows Users
Microsoft issues emergency fix for Wi-Fi foul-up delivered hot and fresh on Patch Tuesday
Data Breaches
Organised Crime
Supply Chain
Nation-State Actors
Android spyware strains linked to state-sponsored Confucius threat group
'BendyBear' APT malware linked to Chinese government hackers
Microsoft to alert Office 365 users of nation-state hacking activity
Privacy
Reports Published in the Last Week
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 22 January 2021
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 22 January 2021: Ransomware Biggest Cyber Concern; Ransomware Payments Grew 311% In 2020; Cyber Security Spending To Soar In 2021; Ransomware Provides The Perfect Cover For Other Attacks; Gdpr Fines Skyrocket As Eu Gets Tough On Data Breaches; Popular Pdf Reader Has Database Of 77 Miliion Users Leaked Online; Malware Incidents On Remote Devices Increase
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Headlines of the Week
Ransomware is now the biggest Cyber Security concern for CISOs
Ransomware is the biggest cyber security concern facing businesses, according to those responsible for keeping organisations safe from hacking and cyberattacks. A survey of chief information security officers (CISOs) and chief security officers (CISOs found that ransomware is now viewed as the main cyber security threat to their organisation over the course of the next year. Almost half – 46% – of CISOs and CISOs surveyed said that ransomware or other forms of extortion by outsiders represents the biggest cyber security threat.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-is-now-the-biggest-cybersecurity-concern-for-cisos/
Crypto ransomware payments grew 311% in 2020
Crypto payments associated with ransomware grew at least 311% in 2020. “Ransomware” refers to a category of malicious computer programs that force users into paying ransoms. Just 0.34% of all cryptocurrency transactions last year were criminal, down from 2.1% in 2019. But that number is bound to go up, said the firm.
https://decrypt.co/54648/crypto-crime-ransomware-chainalysis-report-2020
The SolarWinds hackers used tactics other groups will copy
One of the most chilling aspects of Russia's recent hacking spree—which breached numerous United States government agencies among other targets—was the successful use of a “supply chain attack” to gain tens of thousands of potential targets from a single compromise at the IT services firm SolarWinds. But this was not the only striking feature of the assault. After that initial foothold, the attackers bored deeper into their victims' networks with simple and elegant strategies. Now researchers are bracing for a surge in those techniques from other attackers.
https://www.wired.com/story/solarwinds-hacker-methods-copycats/
Global Cyber Security spending to soar in 2021
The worldwide cyber security market is set to grow by up to 10% this year to top $60bn, as the global economy slowly recovers from the pandemic. Double-digit growth from $54.7bn in 2020 would be its best-case scenario. However, even in the worst case, cyber security spending would reach 6.6%. That would factor in a deeper-than-anticipated economic impact from lockdowns, although the security market has proven to be remarkably resilient thus far to the pandemic-induced global economic crisis. That said, SMB spending was hit hard last year, along with certain sectors like hospitality, retail and transport.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/global-cybersecurity-spending-to/
Cyber criminals publish more than 4,000 stolen Sepa files
Sepa rejected a ransom demand for the attack, which has been claimed by the international Conti ransomware group. Contracts, strategy documents and databases are among the 4,000 files released. The data has been put on the dark web - a part of the internet associated with criminality and only accessible through specialised software.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-55757884
Ransomware provides the perfect cover for other attacks
Look at any list of security challenges that CISOs are most concerned about and you’ll consistently find ransomware on them. It’s no wonder: ransomware attacks cripple organizations due to the costs of downtime, recovery, regulatory penalties, and lost revenue. Unfortunately, cybercriminals have added an extra sting to these attacks: they are using ransomware as a smokescreen to divert security teams from other clandestine activities behind the scenes
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/01/21/ransomware-cover/
Popular PDF reader has database of 77 million users hacked and leaked online
A threat actor has leaked a 14 GB database online containing over 77 million records relating to thousands of users of the Nitro PDF reader software, with users' email addresses, full names, hashed passwords, company names, IP addresses, and other system-related information.
Ransomware victims that have backups are paying ransoms to stop hackers leaking their stolen data
Some organisations that fall victim to ransomware attacks are paying ransoms to cyber-criminal gangs despite being able to restore their own networks from backups, in order to prevent hackers publishing stolen data. Over the course of the past year, many of the most successful ransomware gangs have added an additional technique in an effort to coerce victims into paying ransoms after compromising their networks – publishing stolen data if a payment isn't received.
GDPR fines skyrocket as EU gets tough on data breaches
Europe’s new privacy protection regime has led to a surge in fines for bad actors, according to research published today. Law firm DLA Piper says that, since January 28th, 2020, the EU has issued around €158.5 million (around $192 million) in financial penalties. That’s a 39-percent increase on the previous 20-month period Piper examined in its report, published this time last year. And as well as the increased fines, the number of breach notifications has shot up by 19 percent across the same 12-month period.
https://www.engadget.com/gdpr-fines-dla-piper-report-144510440.html
Malware incidents on remote devices increase
Devices compromised by malware in 2020, 37% continued accessing corporate emails after being compromised and 11% continued accessing cloud storage, highlighting a need for organizations to better determine how to configure business tools to ensure fast and safe connectivity for all users in 2021.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/01/18/malware-incidents-remote-devices/
Threats
Phishing
Malware
Vulnerabilities
Signal and other video chat apps found to have some major security flaws
Automated exploit of critical SAP SolMan vulnerability detected in the wild
List of DNSpooq vulnerability advisories, patches, and update
Dnsmasq vulnerabilities open networking devices, Linux distros to DNS cache poisoning
New FreakOut botnet targets Linux systems running unpatched software
Data Breaches
Denial of Service
Cloud
Privacy
Other News
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our weekly ‘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.
Cyber Briefing 23 October 2020: Ransomware Continues to Evolve; Infected IoT Up 100%; Brute Force Attacks Up with more Open RDP Ports; 40% Unsure on Mobile Phishing; Most Imitated Phishing Brands
Cyber Briefing 23 October 2020: Ransomware Variants Evolve as Crooks Chase Bigger Paydays; Infected IoT Surges 100% in a Year; Brute Force Attacks Up Due To More Open RDP Ports; 40% of Users Not Sure What Mobile Phishing Is; Microsoft Most Imitated Phishing Brand Q3 2020; DDoS Triples as Ransoms Re-Emerge; Exploited Chrome Bug Fixed; WordPress Forces Security Update; The Most Worrying Vulns Around Today
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.
Threats
Ransomware
This week has been busy with ransomware related news, including new charges against Russian state-sponsored hackers and numerous attacks against well-known organisations.
In 2017, there was an attack utilizing the NotPetya ransomware to destroy data on systems worldwide. This week, the US govt indicted six Russian intelligence operatives [source], known to be part of the notorious 'Sandworm' group, for hacking operations, including NotPetya.
Ransomware variants continue to evolve as crooks chase bigger paydays
The number of ransomware attacks which threaten to leak stolen data if the victim doesn't pay a ransom to get their encrypted files and servers back is growing – and this is being reflected in the changing nature of the cyber criminal market.
Analysis by cyber security researchers found that over the last three months – between July and September - 80 percent of ransomware attacks combined with data dumps were associated with four families of ransomware – Maze, Sodinokibi, Conti and Netwalker.
The period from April to June saw just three ransomware families account for 80 percent of alerts – DoppelPaymer, Maze and Sodinokibi.
The way DoppelPayer has dropped off and how Conti and NetWalker have suddenly emerged some of the most prolific threats shows how the ransomware space continues to evolve, partly because of how successful it has already become for the crooks behind it. [source]
Why this matters:
Maze was the first major family of ransomware to add threats of data breaches to their ransom demands and other ransomware operators have taken note – and stolen the additional extortion tactic.
There is an inherent competitive nature that has befallen the ransomware landscape. The saturated ransomware market pushes ransomware developers to cut through the noise and gain the best ransomware title and this drives more affiliates to carry out their work and, thus, more successful attacks to reach their goal: to make as much money as possible.
DoppelPaymer's activity has dropped over the last few months – although it still remains active - enabling Conti and NetWalker to grab a larger slice of the pie.
Notable ransomware victims of the last week
French IT giant Sopra Steria hit by Ryuk ransomware
French IT services giant Sopra Steria suffered a cyber attack on October 20th, 2020, that reportedly encrypted portions of their network with the Ryuk ransomware.
Sopra Steria is a European information technology company with 46,000 employees in 25 countries worldwide. The company provides a wide range of IT services, including consulting, systems integration, and software development.
The firm has said that the attack has hit all geographies where they operate and have said it will take them several weeks to recover.
Numerous sources have confirmed that it was Ryuk ransomware threat actors who were behind the attack. This hacking group is known for its TrickBot and BazarLoader infections that allow threat actors to access a compromised network and deploy the Ryuk or Conti ransomware infections.
BazarLoader is increasingly being used in Ryuk attacks against high-value targets due to its stealthy nature and is less detected than TrickBot by security software.
When installed, BazarLoader will allow threat actors to remotely access the victim's computer and use it to compromise the rest of the network.
After gaining access to a Windows domain controller, the attackers then deploy the Ryuk ransomware on the network to encrypt all of its devices, as illustrated in the diagram above. [Source1] [source2]
The Nefilim ransomware operators have posted a long list of files that appear to belong to Italian eyewear and eyecare giant Luxottica.
Luxottica Group S.p.A. is an Italian eyewear conglomerate and the world’s largest company in the eyewear industry (which owns brands including LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, Apex by Sunglass Hut, Pearle Vision, Target Optical, Eyemed vision care plan, and Glasses.com. Its best known brands are Ray-Ban, Persol, and Oakley) and employs over 80,000 people and generated 9.4 billion in revenue for 2019.
The company was hit by a cyber attack and some of the web sites operated by the company were not reachable, including Ray-Ban, Sunglass Hut, LensCrafters, EyeMed, and Pearle Vision.
Reports indicate that the firm was using a Citrix ADX controller device vulnerable to a critical vulnerability and it is believed that a threat actor or actors exploited the above flaw to infect the systems at the company with ransomware. This appears to have subsequently confirmed with Nefilim ransomware operators having posted a long list of files that appear to belong to Luxottica. [source]
Why this matters:
The analysis of the leaked files revealed that they contain confidential information regarding the recruitment process, professional resumes, and info about the internal structures of the Group’s human resource department. The ransomware operators also published a message which accuses Luxottica of having failed the properly manage the attack.
In the past months, the number of ransomware attacks surged, numerous ransomware gangs made the headlines targeting organisations worldwide and threatening victims with releasing the stolen data if the ransom was not paid.
Extortion is the new thing in cyber crime right now, more so than in the past. Companies cannot hide the cyber attack anymore. Now it’s more about how to manage the breach from the communication perspective. Defending companies from these types of attacks becomes even more strategic: data leak damages can generate tremendous amount of costs for companies worldwide.
Other notable ransomware victims this week include:
Barnes & Noble hit by Egregor ransomware, strange data leaked [source]
Montreal's STM public transport system hit by ransomware attack [source]
WastedLocker ransomware hits US-based ski and golf resort operator Boyne Resorts (WastedLocker was the same one used in the attack on Garmin in July) [source]
Other Threats
Infected IoT Device Numbers Surge 100% in a Year
The volume of infected Internet of Things (IoT) devices globally has soared by 100% over the past year, according to new data from Nokia.
It revealed that infected IoT devices now comprise nearly a third (32.7%) of the total number of devices, up from 16.2% in the 2019 report.
Nokia argued that infection rates for connected devices depend dramatically upon the visibility of the devices on the internet.
In networks where devices are routinely assigned public facing internet IP addresses there is a higher infection rate. In networks where carrier grade NAT is used, the infection rate is considerably reduced, because the vulnerable devices are not visible to network scanning.
With the introduction of 5G well underway, it is expected that not only the number of IoT devices will increase dramatically, but also the share of IoT devices accessible directly from the internet will increase as well, and rates of infection rising accordingly. [source]
Brute force attacks increase due to more open RDP ports
While leaving your back door open while you are working from home may be something you do without giving it a second thought, having unnecessary ports open on your computer or on your corporate network is a security risk that is sometimes underestimated. That’s because an open port can be subject to brute force attacks.
A brute force attack is where an attacker tries every way he can think of to get in. Including throwing the kitchen sink at it. In cases where the method they are trying is to get logged in to your system, they will try endless combinations of usernames and passwords until a combination works.
Brute force attacks are usually automated, so it doesn’t cost the attacker a lot of time or energy. Certainly not as much as individually trying to figure out how to access a remote system. Based on a port number or another system specific property, the attacker picks the target and the method and then sets his brute force application in motion. He can then move on to the next target and will get notified when one of the systems has swallowed the hook.
RDP attacks are one of the main entry points when it comes to targeted ransomware operations. To increase effectiveness, ransomware attacks are getting more targeted and one of the primary attack vectors is the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Remote desktop is exactly what the name implies, an option to remotely control a computer system. It almost feels as if you were actually sitting behind that computer. Which is exactly what makes an attacker with RDP access so dangerous. [source]
Why this matters:
Because of the current pandemic, many people are working from home and may be doing so for a while to come. Working from home has the side effect of more RDP ports being opened. Not only to enable the workforce to access company resources from home, but also to enable IT staff to troubleshoot problems on the workers’ devices. A lot of enterprises rely on tech support teams using RDP to troubleshoot problems on employee’s systems.
But ransomware, although prevalent, is not the only reason for these types of attacks. Cyber criminals can also install keyloggers or other spyware on target systems to learn more about the organization they have breached. Other possible objectives might be data theft, espionage, or extortion.
Phishing
Two in five employees are not sure what a mobile phishing attack is
The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly changed the way people work and accelerated the already growing remote work trend. This has also created new security challenges for IT departments, as employees increasingly use their own personal devices to access corporate data and services.
These changes, where employees, IT infrastructures, and customers are everywhere – has led to employees not prioritising security in their new world of work, and the current distributed remote work environment has also triggered a new threat landscape, with malicious actors increasingly targeting mobile devices with phishing attacks.
A new study looking at the impact that lockdown has had on employees working habits polled 1,200 workers across the US, UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand showed that many employees were unaware of how to identify and avoid a phishing attack, and over two in five (43%) of employees are not even sure what a phishing attack is. [source]
Microsoft is Most Imitated Brand for Phishing Attempts in Q3 2020
The latest Check Point ‘Q3 Brand Phishing Report’, highlighting the brands that hackers imitated the most to lure people into giving up personal data, reveals the brands which were most frequently imitated by criminals in their attempts to steal individuals’ personal information or payment credentials during July, August and September.
In Q3, Microsoft was the most frequently targeted brand by cyber criminals, soaring from fifth place (relating to 7% of all brand phishing attempted globally in Q2 of 2020) to the top of the ranking. 19% of all brand phishing attempts related to the technology giant, as threat actors sought to capitalise on large numbers of employees still working remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic. For the first time in 2020, DHL entered the top 10 rankings, taking the second spot with 9% of all phishing attempts related to the company. [source]
Top phishing brands in Q3 2020
Microsoft (19%)
DHL (9%)
Google (9%)
PayPal (6%)
Netflix (6%)
Facebook (5%)
Apple (5%)
Whatsapp (5%)
Amazon (4%)
Instagram (4%)
Phishing Lures Shifting from COVID-19 updates to Job Opportunities
Researchers are seeing a pivot in the spear-phishing and phishing lures used by cybercriminals, to entice potential job candidates as businesses start to open up following the pandemic.
Cyber criminals cashed in on the surge of COVID-19 earlier this year, with email lures purporting to be from healthcare professionals offering more information about the pandemic. However, as the year moves forward, bad actors are continuing to swap up their attacks and researchers are now seeing ongoing email based attacks that tap into new job opportunities as businesses start to open up. [source]
Denial of Service Attacks
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) Attacks Triple in Size as Ransom Demands Re-Emerge
The last quarter of 2020 has seen a wave of web application attacks which have used ransom letters to target businesses across a number of industries.
According to research from Akamai, the largest of these attacks sent over 200Gbps of traffic at their targets as part of a sustained campaign of higher Bits Per Second (BPS) and Packets Per Second (PPS) than similar attacks had displayed a few weeks prior.
Prior to August most of these attacks were targeting the gaming industry but since then these attacks abruptly swung to financial organisations, and later in the cycle, multiple other verticals.
Akamai explained that none of the vectors involved in these series of attacks were new, as most of the traffic was generated by reflectors and systems that were used to amplify traffic. However, multiple organisations began to receive targeted emails with threats of DDoS attacks, where this would be launched unless a ransom amount was paid. A small DDoS would be made against the company to show that the attackers were serious, and then there was a threat of a 1Tbps attack if payment was not made.
Many extortion DDoS campaigns start as a threat letter, and never progress beyond that point but this this campaign has seen frequent ‘sample’ attacks that prove to the target that criminals have the capability to make life difficult.
Many of the extortion emails ended up being caught by spam filters, and not all targets are willing to admit they’ve received an email from the attackers.
Why this matters:
This extortion DDoS campaign is not over and the criminals behind this campaign are changing and evolving their attacks in order to throw off defenders and the law enforcement agencies that are working to track them down.
Vulnerabilities
New Google Chrome version fixes actively exploited zero-day bug
Google released Chrome 86.0.4240.111 this week to address five security vulnerabilities, one of which is being actively exploited.
The announcement from Google stated they they were aware of reports that an exploit for CVE-2020-15999 exists in the wild.
This new version of Chrome started rolling out to the entire userbase. Users on Windows, Mac, and Linux desktop users can upgrade to Chrome 86 by going to Settings -> Help -> About Google Chrome.
The Google Chrome web browser will then automatically check for the new update and install it when available.
Adobe releases another out-of-band patch, squashing critical bugs across creative software
Adobe has released a second out-of-band security update to patch critical vulnerabilities across numerous software products.
The patch, released outside of the tech giant's typical monthly security cycle, impacts Adobe Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Marketo, Animate, After Effects, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Media Encoder, InDesign, and the Creative Cloud desktop application on Windows and macOS machines.
The vulnerabilities across the different products variously could result in privilege escalation, cross-site scripting (XSS), which could be weaponised to deploy malicious JavaScript in a browser session, or otherwise could result in arbitrary code execution.
Last week, Adobe released a separate set of out-of-band security fixes impacting the Magento platform. On October 15, Adobe said the patch resolved nine vulnerabilities, eight of which are critical -- including a bug that could be abused to tamper with Magento customer lists. [source]
WordPress deploys forced security update for dangerous bug in popular plugin
The WordPress security team has taken a rare step last week and used a lesser-known internal capability to forcibly push a security update for a popular plugin called Loginizer, which provides security enhancements for the WordPress login page, but that was found to contain a dangerous SQL injection bug that could have allowed hackers to take over WordPress sites running older versions of the plugin. [source]
Why this matters:
Remote attackers to run code against the WordPress database — in what is referred to as an unauthenticated SQL injection attack.
These are the most worrying vulnerabilities around today
Failure to patch once again leaves organisations open to attacks
The US National Security Agency (NSA) has published a new cyber security advisory in which it details 25 of the most dangerous vulnerabilities actively being exploited in the wild by Chinese state-sponsored hackers and other cyber criminals.
Unlike zero-day vulnerabilities where hardware and software makers have yet to release a patch, all of the vulnerabilities in the NSA's advisory are well-known and patches have been made available to download from their vendors. However, the problem lies in the fact that organisations have yet to patch their systems, leaving them vulnerable to potential exploits and attacks.
The NSA provided further details on the nature of the vulnerabilities in its advisory while urging organisations to patch them immediately.
Most of the vulnerabilities listed below can be exploited to gain initial access to victim networks using products that are directly accessible from the Internet and act as gateways to internal networks. The majority of the products are either for remote access or for external web services and should be prioritised for immediate patching. The full list can be found here.
The first bug in the list, tracked as CVE-2019-11510, relates to Pulse Secure VPN servers and how an unauthenticated remote attacker can expose keys or passwords by sending a specially crafted URI to perform an arbitrary file reading vulnerability.
Another notable bug from the list, tracked as CVE-2020-5902, affects the Traffic Management User Interface (TMUI) of F5 BIG-IP proxies and load balancers and it is vulnerable to a Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability that if exploited, could allow a remote attacker to take over an entire BIG-IP device.
The Citrix Application Delivery Controller (ADC) and Gateway systems are vulnerable to a directory traversal bug, tracked as CVE-2019-19781, that can lead to remote code execution where an attacker does not need to possess valid credentials for the device.
The advisory also mentions BlueKeep, SigRed, Netlogon, CurveBall and other more well-known vulnerabilities.
To avoid falling victim to any potential attacks exploiting these vulnerabilities, the NSA recommends that organisations keep their systems and products updated and patched as soon as possible after vendors release them. [source]
Miscellaneous Cyber News of the Weeks
Hackers Can Clone Millions of Toyota, Hyundai, and Kia Keys
Owners of cars with keyless start systems have learned to worry about so-called relay attacks, in which hackers exploit radio-enabled keys to steal vehicles without leaving a trace. Now it turns out that many millions of other cars that use chip-enabled mechanical keys are also vulnerable to high-tech theft. A few cryptographic flaws combined with a little old-fashioned hot-wiring—or even a well-placed screwdriver—lets hackers clone those keys and drive away in seconds.
Researchers this week revealed new vulnerabilities in the encryption systems used by immobilisers, the radio-enabled devices inside of cars that communicate at close range with a key fob to unlock the car's ignition and allow it to start. Specifically, they found problems in how Toyota, Hyundai, and Kia implement their encryption system. A hacker who swipes a relatively inexpensive RFID reader/transmitter device near the key fob of any affected car can gain enough information to derive its secret cryptographic value. That, in turn, would allow the attacker to spoof the device to impersonate the key inside the car, disabling the immobiliser and letting them start the engine.
The researchers say the affected car models include the Toyota Camry, Corolla, and RAV4; the Kia Optima, Soul, and Rio; and the Hyundai I10, I20, and I40, amongst others. [source]
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 weekly ‘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.