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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 26 May 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 26 May 2023:

-50% of UK CEOs See Cyber as a Bigger Business Risk than the Economy

-Report Finds 78% of Organisations Felt Prepared for Ransomware Attacks, Yet Half Still Fell Victim

-SMBs and Regional MSPs are Increasingly Targeted by State-Sponsored APT Groups

-IT Employee Piggybacked on Cyber Attack for Personal Gain

-Ransomware Threats Are Growing, and Targeting Microsoft Devices More and More

-Microsoft Reports Jump in Business Email Compromise (BEC) Activity

-Forrester Predicts 2023’s Top Cyber security Threats: From Generative AI to Geopolitical Tensions

-Advanced Phishing Attacks Surge 356% in 2022

-Today’s Cyber Defence Challenges: Complexity and a False Sense of Security

-Almost All Ransomware Attacks Target Backups, Says Veeam

-NCSC Warns Against Chinese Cyber Attacks on Critical Infrastructure

-Half of all Companies were Impacted by Spearphishing in 2022

-Google's .zip, .mov Domains Give Social Engineers a Shiny New Tool

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

  • 50% of UK CEOs see Cyber as a Bigger Business Risk than the Economy

Half of UK CEOs consider cyber security as a bigger risk to their organisation than economic uncertainty, a new study by Palo Alto Networks has found. The findings came from a survey of 2500 CEOs from the UK, Germany, France, Brazil and the UAE at large organisations (500+ employees).

Despite the recognition of the business threats posed by cyber attacks, UK CEOs have a lower level of understanding of cyber security risks than their international counterparts, with just 16% saying they have a complete understanding. This compares to 21% in Brazil, 21% in the UAE, 22% in France and 39% in Germany. Additionally, many UK CEOs feel detached from responsibility for cyber security at their organisations, instead leaving it to the responsibility of IT, although IT is only part of the solution.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/uk-ceo-cyber-risk-economy/

  • Report Finds 78% of Organisations Felt Prepared for Ransomware Attacks, Yet Half Still Fell Victim

Fortinet has unveiled its 2023 Global Ransomware Report based on a recent global survey and explores cyber security leaders’ perspectives on ransomware, particularly how it impacted their organisations in the last year and their strategies to mitigate an attack. The report found that the global threat of ransomware remains at peak levels, with half of organisations across all sizes, regions and industries falling victim in the last year.

The top challenges to stopping a ransomware attack were people and process related, with many organisations lacking clarity on how to secure against the threat. Specifically, four out of the five top challenges to stopping ransomware were people or process related. The second largest challenge was a lack of clarity on how to secure against the threat as a result of a lack of user awareness and training and no clear chain-of-command strategy to deal with attacks.

Despite the global macroeconomic environment, security budgets will have to increase in the next year with a focus on AI/ML technologies to speed detection, centralised monitoring tools to speed response and better preparation of people and processes.

https://www.itweb.co.za/content/mYZRX79g8gRqOgA8

  • SMBs and Regional MSPs are Increasingly Targeted by State-Sponsored APT Groups

Advanced persistent threat (APT) attacks were once mainly a concern for large corporations in industries that presented cyber espionage interest. That's no longer the case and over the past year in particular, the number of such state-sponsored attacks against small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) has increased significantly.

Cyber security firm Proofpoint analysed its telemetry data more than 200,000 SMB customers over the past year and saw a rise in phishing campaigns originating from APT groups, particularly those serving Russian, Iranian, and North Korean interests.

SMBs are also targeted by APT groups indirectly, through the managed services providers (MSPs) that maintain their infrastructure. Proofpoint has seen an increase in attacks against regional MSPs because their cyber security defences could be weaker than larger MSPs yet they still serve hundreds of SMBs in local geographies.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3697648/smbs-and-regional-msps-are-increasingly-targeted-by-state-sponsored-apt-groups.html#tk.rss_news

  • IT Employee Piggybacked on Cyber Attack for Personal Gain

A 28-year-old former IT employee of an Oxford-based company has been convicted of blackmailing his employer and unauthorised access to a computer with intent to commit other offences.

The convicted employee was the one who began to investigate the incident and, along with colleagues and the police, tried to mitigate it and its fallout. But he also realized that he could take advantage of the breach to line his own pockets.

“He accessed a board member’s private emails over 300 times as well as altering the original blackmail email and changing the payment address provided by the original attacker. This was in the hope that if payment was made, it would be made to him rather than the original attacker,” the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) revealed. He went as far as creating an almost identical email address to that of the original attacker, using it to pressure his employer into making the payment.

While some insider threats may stem from negligence or ignorance, this case highlights a more sinister scenario involving a malicious, opportunistic individual. Malicious insiders exploit their authorized access and privileges to engage in harmful, unethical, or illegal activities.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/05/24/it-employee-blackmailing-company/

  • Ransomware Threats Are Growing, and Targeting Microsoft Devices More and More

Ransomware attacks have never been this popular, a new report from cyber security researchers Securin, Ivanti, and Cyware has stated. New ransomware groups are emerging constantly, and new vulnerabilities being exploited are being discovered almost daily, but out of all the different hardware and software, Microsoft’s products are being targeted the most.

Attackers are now targeting more than 7,000 products built by 121 vendors, all used by businesses in their day-to-day operations. Most products belong to Microsoft, which has 135 vulnerabilities associated with ransomware. In just March 2023, there had been more breaches reported, than in all three previous years combined. Even though most cyber security incidents never get reported, too. In the first quarter of the year, the researchers discovered 12 new vulnerabilities used in ransomware attacks, three-quarters of which (73%) were trending in the dark web.

https://www.techradar.com/news/ransomware-threats-are-growing-and-targeting-microsoft-devices-more-and-more

  • Microsoft Reports Jump in Business Email Compromise (BEC) Activity

Thirty-five million business email compromise (BEC) attempts were detected in the last year, according to the latest Microsoft Cyber Signals report. Activity around BEC spiked between April 2022 and April 2023, with over 150,000 daily attempts, on average, detected by Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit.

Rather than targeting unpatched devices for vulnerabilities, BEC operators focus on leveraging the vast volume of daily email and other message traffic to trick victims into sharing financial information or unknowingly transferring funds to money mule accounts. Their goal is to exploit the constant flow of communication to carry out fraudulent money transfers.

Using secure email applications, securing identities to block lateral movement, adopting a secure payment platform and training employees are a few effective methods, according to the report.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3697152/microsoft-reports-jump-in-business-email-compromise-activity.html#tk.rss_news

  • Forrester Predicts 2023’s Top Cyber security Threats: From Generative AI to Geopolitical Tensions

The nature of cyber attacks is changing fast. Generative AI, cloud complexity and geopolitical tensions are among the latest weapons and facilitators in attackers’ arsenals. Three-quarters (74%) of security decision-makers say their organisations’ sensitive data was “potentially compromised or breached in the past 12 months” alone. Forrester’s Top Cyber security Threats in 2023 report provides a stark warning about the top cyber security threats this year, along with prescriptive advice to CISOs and their teams on countering them. By weaponising generative AI and using ChatGPT, attackers are fine-tuning their ransomware and social engineering techniques.

Perimeter-based legacy systems not designed with an AI-based upgrade path are the most vulnerable. With a new wave of cyber attacks coming that seek to capitalise on any given business’ weakest links, including complex cloud configurations, the gap between reported and actual breaches will grow.

Forrester cites Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its relentless cyber attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure as examples of geopolitical cyber attacks with immediate global implications. Forrester advises that nation-state actors continue to use cyber attacks on private companies for geopolitical purposes like espionage, negotiation leverage, resource control and intellectual property theft to gain technological superiority.

https://venturebeat.com/security/forrester-predicts-2023-top-cybersecurity-threats-generative-ai-geopolitical-tensions/

  • Advanced Phishing Attacks Surge 356% in 2022

A new report published this week observed a 356% growth in the number of advanced phishing attacks attempted by threat actors in 2022, with the total number of attacks having increased by 87%. Among the reasons behind this growth is the fact that malicious actors continue to gain widespread access to new tools, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)-powered tools. These have automated the process of generating sophisticated attacks, including those characterized by social engineering as well as evasion techniques.

The global threat landscape continues to evolve with a meteoric rise in the number of attacks, combined with increasingly sophisticated attack techniques designed to breach and damage organisations.

Additionally, the report highlighted that the changing threat landscape has resulted from the swift adoption of new cloud collaboration apps, cloud storage and productivity services for external collaboration.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/advanced-phishing-attacks-surge/

  • Today’s Cyber Defence Challenges: Complexity and a False Sense of Security

Organisations can mistakenly believe that deploying more security solutions will result in greater protection against threats. However, the truth of the matter can be very different. Gartner estimates that global spending on IT security and risk management solutions will exceed $189.7 billion annually in 2023, yet the breaches keep on coming. Blindly purchasing more security tools can add to complexity in enterprise environments and creates a false sense of security that contributes to today’s cyber security challenges.

To add to the dilemma, the new work-from-anywhere model is putting a strain on IT and security teams. Employees shifting between corporate and off-corporate networks are creating visibility and control challenges, which are impacting those teams’ ability to diagnose and remediate end user issues and minimize cyber security risks. In addition, they have to deal with a broad mix of networks, hardware, business and security applications, operating system (OS) versions, and patches.

https://www.securityweek.com/todays-cyber-defense-challenges-complexity-and-a-false-sense-of-security/

  • Almost All Ransomware Attacks Target Backups

Data stored in backups is the most common target for ransomware attackers. Almost all intrusions (93%) target backups and in 75% of cases succeed in taking out victims’ ability to recover. In addition, 85% of global organisations suffered at least one cyber attack in the past year according to the Veeam 2023 Ransomware trends report. Only 16% of organisations avoided paying ransom because they were able to recover from backups, down from 19% in last year’s survey.

According to the survey, criminals attempt to attack backup repositories in almost all (93%) cyber events in EMEA, with 75% losing at least some of their backups and more than one-third (39%) of backup repositories being completely lost.

Other key findings included that 21% said ransomware is now specifically excluded from insurance policies; and of those with cyber insurance, 74% saw increased premiums since their last policy renewal.

With most ransomware actors moving to double and triple extortion the days of a backup being all you need to keep you safe are far behind and firms should do more to prevent being the victim of ransomware in the first place.

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366538492/Almost-all-ransomware-attacks-target-backups-says-Veeam

  • NCSC Warns Against Chinese Cyber Attacks on Critical Infrastructure

The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and several other international security agencies have issued a new advisory warning the public against Chinese cyber activity targeting critical national infrastructure networks. According to the document, the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s associated threat actors employed sophisticated tactics to evade detection while conducting malicious activities against targets in the US and Guam. These tactics are expected to be used on critical infrastructure targets outside the US, including the UK.

The document further added that the threat actors mainly focused on credential access theft via brute force and password spraying techniques. The NCSC advisory provides network defenders with technical indicators and examples of techniques used by the attacker to help identify any malicious activity.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ncsc-warns-chinese-cyber-attacks/

  • Half of All Companies were Impacted by Spearphishing in 2022

Spearphishing is a sliver of all email exploits but the extent to which it succeeds is revealed in a new study from cyber security firm Barracuda Networks, which analysed 50 billion emails across 3.5 million mailboxes in 2022, unearthing around 30 million spearphishing emails and affecting 50% of all companies.

The report identified the top prevalent spearphishing emails were Scamming (47%) used to trick victims into disclosing sensitive information and the other being brand impersonation (42%) attacks mimicking a brand familiar with the victim to harvest credentials.

The report found that remote work is increasing risks. Users at companies with more than a 50% remote workforce report higher levels of suspicious emails — 12 per day on average, compared to 9 per day for those with less than a 50% remote workforce.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/barracuda-networks-spearphishing-study/

  • Google's .zip, .mov Domains Give Social Engineers a Shiny New Tool

Two new top-level domain names (.zip and .mov) have caused concern among security researchers, who say they allow for the construction of malicious URLs that even tech-savvy users are likely to miss. While a top-level domain (TLD) that mimics a file extension is only one component in the lookalike attack, the overall combination is much more effective with the .zip or .mov extension.

There's no question that phishing links that involve these TLDs can be used to lure unsuspecting users into accidentally downloading malware. Unlike other kinds of phishing URLs that are intended to lure the user to enter credentials into a phony login page, the lures with the .zip or .mov domains are more suited to drive-by download types of attacks.

https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/google-zip-mov-domains-social-engineers-shiny-new-tool


Governance, Risk and Compliance


Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Ransomware Victims

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

BEC – Business Email Compromise

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

Artificial Intelligence

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

Botnets

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Software Supply Chain

Cloud/SaaS

Attack Surface Management

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

API

Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Biometrics

Social Media

Training, Education and Awareness

Travel

Parental Controls and Child Safety

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Backup and Recovery

Data Protection

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda



Nation State Actors




Tools and Controls


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.

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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 21 April 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 21 April 2023:

-March 2023 Broke Ransomware Attack Records with a 91% Increase from the Previous Month

-Organisations Overwhelmed with Cyber Security Alerts, Threats and Attack Surfaces

-One in Three Businesses Faced Cyber Attacks Last Year

-Why Your Anti-Fraud, Identity & Cybersecurity Efforts Should Be Merged

-Tight Budgets and Burnout Push Enterprises to Outsource Cyber Security

-Complex 8 Character Passwords Can Be Cracked in as Little as 5 Minutes

-83% of Organizations Paid Up in Ransomware Attacks

-Security is a Revenue Booster, Not a Cost Centre

-EX-CEO Gets Prison Sentence for Bad Security

-Warning From UK Cyber Agency for a New ‘Class’ of Russian Hackers

-KnowBe4 Q1 Phishing Report Reveals IT and Online Services Emails Drive Dangerous Attack Trend

-Outsourcing Group Capita Admits Customer Data May Have Been Breached During Cyber-Attack

-Outdated Cyber Security Practices Leave Door Open for Criminals

-Quantifying cyber risk vital for business survival

-Recycled Network Devices Exposing Corporate Secrets

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

  • March 2023 Broke Ransomware Attack Records with a 91% Increase from the Previous Month

March 2023 was the most prolific month recorded by cyber security analysts in recent years, measuring 459 attacks, an increase of 91% from the previous month and 62% compared to March 2022. According to NCC Group, which compiled the report based on statistics derived from its observations, the reason last month broke all ransomware attack records was CVE-2023-0669. This is a vulnerability in Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT secure file transfer tool that the Clop ransomware gang exploited as a zero-day to steal data from 130 companies within ten days.

Regarding the location of last month's victims, almost half of all attacks (221) breached entities in North America. Europe followed with 126 episodes, and Asia came third with 59 ransomware attacks.

The recorded activity spike in March 2023 highlights the importance of applying security updates as soon as possible, mitigating potentially unknown security gaps like zero days by implementing additional measures and monitoring network traffic and logs for suspicious activity.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/march-2023-broke-ransomware-attack-records-with-459-incidents/

  • Organisations Overwhelmed with Cyber Security Alerts, Threats and Attack Surfaces

Many organisations are struggling to manage key security projects while being overwhelmed with volumes of alerts, increasing cyber threats and growing attack surfaces, a new report has said. Compounding that problem is a tendency by an organisation’s top brass to miss hidden risks associated with digital transformation projects and compliance regulations, leading to a false sense of confidence in their awareness of these vulnerabilities.

The study comprised IT professionals from the manufacturing, government, healthcare, financial services, retail and telecommunications industries. Five of the biggest challenges they face include:

  • Keeping up with threat intelligence (70%)

  • Allocating cyber security resources and budget (47%)

  • Visibility into all assets connected to the network (44%)

  • Compliance and regulation (39%)

  • Convergence of IT and OT (32%)

The report also focused on breaches within organisations, finding that 64% had suffered a breach or ransomware attack in the last five years; 43% said it had been caused by employee phishing.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-news/organizations-overwhelmed-with-cybersecurity-alerts-threats-and-attack-surfaces-armis-study-shows/

  • One in Three Businesses Faced Cyber Attacks Last Year

Nearly a third of businesses and a quarter of charities have said they were the subject of cyber attacks or breaches last year, new data has shown. Figures collected for the UK Government by polling company Ipsos show a similar proportion of larger and medium-sized companies and high-income charities faced attacks or breaches last year as in 2021.

Overall, 32% of businesses said they had been subject to attacks or breaches over a 12-month period, with 24% of charities saying the same. Meanwhile, about one in ten businesses (11%) and 8% of charities said they had been the victims of cyber crime – which is defined more narrowly – over the 12-month period. This rose to a quarter (26%) of medium-sized businesses, 37% of large businesses and 25% of high-income charities. The UK Government estimated there had been 2.4 million instances of cyber crime against UK businesses, costing an average of £15,300 per victim.

https://www.aol.co.uk/news/one-three-businesses-faced-cyber-105751822.html

  • Why Your Anti-Fraud, Identity & Cyber Security Efforts Should Be Merged

Across early-stage startups and mature public companies alike, organisations are increasingly moving to a convergence of fraud prevention, identity and access management (IdAM), and cyber security. To improve an organisation's overall security posture, business, IT, and fraud leaders must realise that their areas shouldn't be treated as separate line items. Ultimately, these three disciplines serve the same purpose — protecting the business — and they must converge. This is a simple statement, but complex in practice, due mainly to the array of people, strategies, and tooling that today's organisations have built.

The convergence of these three functions comes at a seminal moment, as global threats are heightened due to several factors: geopolitical tensions like the war on Ukraine, the economic downturn, and a never-ending barrage of sophisticated attacks on businesses and consumers. At the same time, companies are facing slowing revenues, rising inflation, and increased pressure from investors, causing layoffs and budget reductions in the name of optimisation. Cutting back in the wrong areas, however, increases risk.

https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/why-your-anti-fraud-identity-cybersecurity-efforts-should-be-merged

  • Tight Budgets and Burnout Push Enterprises to Outsource Cyber Security

With cyber security teams struggling to manage the remediation process and monitor for vulnerabilities, organisations are at a higher risk for security breaches, according to cyber security penetration test provider Cobalt. As enterprises prioritise efficiencies, security leaders increasingly turn to third-party vendors to alleviate the pressures of consistent testing and to fill in talent gaps.

Cobalt’s recent report found:

  • Budget cuts and layoffs plague security teams: 63% of US cyber security professionals had their department’s budget cut in 2023.

  • Cyber security professionals deprioritise responsibilities to stay afloat: 79% of US cyber security professionals admit to deprioritising responsibilities leading to a backlog of unaddressed vulnerabilities.

  • Inaccurate security configurations cause vulnerabilities: 40% of US respondents found the most security vulnerabilities were related to server security misconfigurations.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/04/19/cybersecurity-professionals-responsibilities/

  • Complex 8 Character Passwords Can Be Cracked in as Little as 5 Minutes

Recently, security vendor Hive released their findings on the time it takes to brute force a password in 2023. This year’s study included the emergence of AI tools. The vendor found that a complex 8 character password could be cracked in as little as 5 minutes. This number rose to 226 years when 12 characters were used and 1 million years when 14 characters were used. A complex password involves the use of numbers, upper and lower case letters and symbols.

Last year, the study found the same 8 and 12 character passwords would have taken 39 minutes and 3,000 years, showing the significant drop in the time it takes to brute force a password. The study highlights the importance for organisations to be aware of their password security and the need for consistent review and updates to the policy.

https://www.hivesystems.io/blog/are-your-passwords-in-the-green

  • 83% of Organisations Paid Up in Ransomware Attacks

A report this week found that 83% of victim organisations paid a ransom at least once. The report found that while entities like the FBI and CISA argue against paying ransoms, many organisations decide to eat the upfront cost of paying a ransom, costing an average of $925,162, rather than enduring the further operational disruption and data loss.

Organisations are giving ransomware attackers leverage over their data by failing to address vulnerabilities created by unpatched software, unmanaged devices and shadow IT. For instance, 77% of IT decision makers argue that outdated cyber security practices have contributed to at least half of security incidents. Over time, these unaddressed vulnerabilities multiply, giving threat actors more potential entry points to exploit and greater leverage to force companies into paying up.

https://venturebeat.com/security/83-of-organizations-paid-up-in-ransomware-attacks/

  • Security is a Revenue Booster, Not a Cost Centre

Security has historically been seen as a cost centre, which has led to it being given as little money as possible. Many CISOs, CSOs, and CROs fed into that image by primarily talking in terms of disaster avoidance, such as data breaches hurting the enterprise and ransomware potentially shutting it down. But what if security presented itself instead as a way to boost revenue and increase market share? That could easily shift those financial discussions into something much more comfortable.

For example, Apple touted its investments into the secure enclave to claim that it offers users better privacy. Specifically, the company argued that it couldn't reveal information to federal authorities because the enclave was just that secure. Apple turned that into a powerful competitive argument against rival Android creator Google, which makes much of its revenue by monetising users' data.

In another scenario, bank regulations require financial institutions to reimburse customers who are victimised by fraudsters, but they carve out an exception for wire fraud. Imagine if a bank realises that covering all fraud — even though it is not required to do so — could be a powerful differentiator that would boost its market share by supporting customers better than competitors do.

https://www.darkreading.com/edge-articles/security-is-a-revenue-booster-not-a-cost-center

  • Ex-CEO Gets Prison Sentence for Bad Security

A clinic was recently subject to a cyber attack and even though the clinic was itself the victim, the ex-CEO of the clinic faced criminal charges, too. It would appear that the CEO was aware of the clinic’s failure to employ data security precautions and was aware of this for up to two years before the attack took place.

Worse still, the CEO allegedly knew about the problems because the clinic suffered breaches in 2018 and 2019, and failed to report them; presumably hoping that no traceable cyber crimes would arise as a result, and thus that the company would never get caught out. However, modern breach disclosure and data protection regulations, such as GDPR in Europe, make it clear that data breaches can’t simply be “swept under the carpet” any more, and must be promptly disclosed for the greater good of all.

The former CEO has now been convicted and given a prison sentence, reminding business leaders that merely promising to look after other people’s personal data is not enough. Paying lip service alone to cyber security is insufficient, to the point that you can end up being treated as both a cyber crime victim and a perpetrator at the same time.

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2023/04/18/ex-ceo-of-breached-pyschotherapy-clinic-gets-prison-sentence-for-bad-data-security/

  • Warning From UK Cyber Agency for a New ‘Class’ of Russian Hackers

There is a new ‘class’ of Russian hackers, the UK cyber-agency NCSC warns. Due to an increased danger of attacks by state-aligned Russian hackers, the NCSC is encouraging all businesses to put the recommended protection measures into place. The NCSC alert states, “during the past 18 months, a new kind of Russian hacker has developed.” These state-aligned organisations frequently support Russia’s incursion and are driven more by ideology than money. These hacktivist organisations typically concentrate their harmful online activity on launching DDoS (distributed denial of service) assaults against vital infrastructure, including airports, the legislature, and official websites. The NCSC has released a special guide with a list of steps businesses should take when facing serious cyber threats. System patching, access control confirmation, functional defences, logging, and monitoring, reviewing backups, incident plans, and third-party access management are important steps.

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/warning-uk-cyberagency-russian-hackers/

  • KnowBe4 Q1 Phishing Report Reveals IT and Online Services Emails Drive Dangerous Attack Trend

KnowBe4 announced the results of its Q1 2023 top-clicked phishing report, and the results included the top email subjects clicked on in phishing tests.

The report found that phishing tactics are changing with the increasing trend of cyber criminals using email subjects related to IT and online services such as password change requirements, Zoom meeting invitations, security alerts and more. These are effective because they would impact an end users’ daily workday and subsequent tasks to be completed.

71% of the most effective phishing lures related to HR (including leave, dress code, expenses, pay and performance) or tax, and these types of emails continue to be very effective.

Emails that are disguised as coming from an internal source such as the IT department or HR are especially dangerous because they appear to come from a more trusted, familiar place where an employee would not necessarily question it or be as sceptical. Building up an organisation’s human firewall by fostering a strong security culture is essential to outsmart bad actors.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2023/04/19/knowbe4-q1-phishing-report-reveals-it-and-online-services-emails-drive-dangerous-attack-trend/

  • Outsourcing Group Capita Admits Customer Data May Have Been Breached During Cyber Attack

Capita, which runs crucial services for the UK NHS, Government, Military and Financial Services, has for the first time admitted that hackers accessed potential customer, staff and supplier data during a cyber attack last month. The company said its investigation into the attack – which caused major IT outages for clients – found that hackers infiltrated its systems around 22 March, meaning they had around nine days before Capita “interrupted” the breach on 31 March.

While Capita has admitted that data was breached during the incident, it raises the possibility that public sector information was accessed by hackers. Capita, which employs more than 50,000 people in Britain, is one of the government’s most important suppliers and holds £6.5bn-worth of public sector contracts. Capita stopped short of disclosing how many customers were potentially affected by the breach, and is still notifying anyone whose data might be at risk.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/apr/20/capita-admits-customer-data-may-have-been-breached-during-cyber-attack

  • Outdated Cyber Security Practices Leave Door Open for Criminals

A recent report found that as organisations increasingly find themselves under attack, they are drowning in cyber security debt – unaddressed security vulnerabilities like unpatched software, unmanaged devices, shadow IT, and insecure network protocols that act as access points for bad actors. The report found a worrying 98% of respondents are running one or more insecure network protocols and 47% had critical devices exposed to the internet. Despite these concerning figures, fewer than one-third said they have immediate plans to address any of the outdated security practices that put their organisations at risk.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/04/20/outdated-cybersecurity-practices/

  • Quantifying Cyber Risk Vital for Business Survival

Organisations are starting to wake up to the fact that the impact of ransomware and other cyber attacks cause long term issues. The financial implications are far reaching and creating barriers for companies to continue operations after these attacks. As such, quantifying cyber risk is business-specific, and organisations must assess what type of loss they may face, which includes revenue, remediation, legal settlement, or otherwise.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/04/19/cyber-attacks-financial-impact/

  • Recycled Network Devices Exposing Corporate Secrets

Over half of corporate network devices sold second-hand still contain sensitive company data, according to a new study. The study involved the purchase of recycled routers, finding that 56% contained one or more credentials as well as enough information to identify the previous owner.

Some of the analysed data included customer data, credentials, connection details for applications and authentication keys. In some cases, the data allowed for the location of remote offices and operators, which could be used in subsequent exploitation efforts.

In a number of cases the researchers were able to determine with high confidence — based on the data still present on the devices — who their previous owner was. The list included a multinational tech company and a telecoms firm, both with more than 10,000 employees and over $1 billion in revenue.

The study informed organisations who had owned the routers. Unfortunately, when contacted, some of the organisations failed to respond or acknowledge the findings.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/recycled-network-exposing/


Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

BEC – Business Email Compromise

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

Botnets

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

AML/CFT/Sanctions

Insurance

Dark Web

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Software Supply Chain

Cloud/SaaS

Attack Surface Management

Shadow IT

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

API

Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Governance, Risk and Compliance

Secure Disposal

Backup and Recovery

Data Protection

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

Artificial Intelligence

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda


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

Nation State Actors





 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.

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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.

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