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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 20 January 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 20 January 2023:
-Experts at Davos 2023 Call for a Global Response to the Gathering 'Cyber Storm'
-Cost of Data Breaches to Global Businesses at Five-Year High
-European Data Protection Authorities Issue Record €2.92 Billion In GDPR Fines, an Increase of 168%
-PayPal Accounts Breached in Large-Scale Credential Stuffing Attack
-Royal Mail Boss to Face MPs’ Questions Over Russian Ransomware Attack
-Third-Party Risk Management: Why 2023 Could be the Perfect Time to Overhaul your TPRM Program
-EU Cyber Resilience Regulation Could Translate into Millions in Fines
-Russian Hackers Try to Bypass ChatGPT's Restrictions for Malicious Purposes
-New Report Reveals CISOs Rising Influence
-ChatGPT and its Perilous Use as a "Force Multiplier" for Cyber Attacks
-Mailchimp Discloses a New Security Breach, the Second One in 6 Months
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
Experts at Davos 2023 Call for a Global Response to the Gathering 'Cyber Storm'
As economic and geopolitical instability spills into the new year, experts predict that 2023 will be a consequential year for cyber security. The developments, they say, will include an expanded threat landscape and increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks.
"There's a gathering cyber storm," Sadie Creese, a Professor of Cyber Security at the University of Oxford, said during an interview at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2023 in Davos, Switzerland. "This storm is brewing, and it's really hard to anticipate just how bad that will be."
Already, cyber attacks such as phishing, ransomware and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are on the rise. Cloudflare, a major US cyber security firm that provides protection services for over 30% of Fortune 500 companies, found that DDoS attacks—which entail overwhelming a server with a flood of traffic to disrupt a network or webpage—increased last year by 79% year-over-year.
"There's been an enormous amount of insecurity around the world," Matthew Prince, the CEO of Cloudflare, stated during the Annual Meeting. "I think 2023 is going to be a busy year in terms of cyber attacks."
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/01/cybersecurity-storm-2023-experts-davos23/
Cost of Data Breaches to Global Businesses at Five-Year High
Research from business insurer Hiscox shows that the cost of dealing with cyber events for businesses has more than tripled since 2018. The study, which collated data from the organisation’s previous five annual Cyber Readiness reports, has revealed that:
Since 2018 the median IT budgets for cyber security more than tripled.
Between 2020 and 2022 cyber-attacks increased by over a quarter.
Businesses are increasing their cyber security budgets year-on-year.
In the Hiscox 2022 Cyber Readiness report, the financial toll of cyber incidents, including data breaches, was estimated to be $16,950 (£15,265) on average. As the cost of cyber crime grew, so did organisations’ cyber security budgets – average spending on cyber security tripled from 2018 to 2022, rocketing from $1,470,196 (£1,323,973) to $5,235,162 (£4,714,482).
Hiscox has also revealed that half of all companies surveyed suffered at least one cyber attack in 2022, up 11% from 2020. Financial Services, as well as Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) sectors even reported a minimum of one attack for three consecutive years. Financial Services firms, however, seemed to be hit the hardest, with 66% reporting being impacted by cyber attacks in 2021-2022.
Cyber risk has risen to the same strategic level as traditional financial and operational risks, thanks to a growing realisation by businesses that the impact can be just as severe.
European Data Protection Authorities Issue Record €2.92 Billion in GDPR Fines, an Increase of 168%
European data regulators issued a record €2.92 billion in fines last year, a 168% increase from 2021. That’s according to the latest GDPR and Data Breach survey from international law firm DLA Piper, which covers all 27 Member States of the European Union, plus the UK, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. This year’s biggest fine of €405 million was imposed by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) against Meta Platforms Ireland Limited relating to Instagram for alleged failures to protect children’s personal data. The Irish DPC also fined Meta €265 million for failing to comply with the GDPR obligation for Data Protection by Design and Default. Both fines are currently under appeal.
Despite the overall increase in fines since January 28, 2022, the fine of €746 million that Luxembourg authorities levied against Amazon last year remains the biggest to be issued by an EU-based data regulator to date (though the retail giant is still believed to be appealing).
The report also revealed a notable increase in focus by supervisory authorities on the use of artificial intelligence (AI), while the volume of data breaches reported to regulators decreased slightly against the previous year’s total.
PayPal Accounts Breached in Large-Scale Credential Stuffing Attack
PayPal is sending out data breach notifications to thousands of users who had their accounts accessed through credential stuffing attacks that exposed some personal data.
Credential stuffing are attacks where hackers attempt to access an account by trying out username and password pairs sourced from data leaks on various websites. This type of attack relies on an automated approach with bots running lists of credentials to "stuff" into login portals for various services. Credential stuffing targets users that employ the same password for multiple online accounts, which is known as "password recycling."
PayPal explains that the credential stuffing attack occurred between December 6 and December 8, 2022. The company detected and mitigated it at the time but also started an internal investigation to find out how the hackers obtained access to the accounts. By December 20, 2022, PayPal concluded its investigation, confirming that unauthorised third parties logged into the accounts with valid credentials. The electronic payments platform claims that this was not due to a breach on its systems and has no evidence that the user credentials were obtained directly from them.
According to the data breach reporting from PayPal, 34,942 of its users have been impacted by the incident. During the two days, hackers had access to account holders' full names, dates of birth, postal addresses, social security numbers, and individual tax identification numbers. Transaction histories, connected credit or debit card details, and PayPal invoicing data are also accessible on PayPal accounts.
Royal Mail Boss to Face MPs’ Questions Over Russian Ransomware Attack
Royal Mail’s chief executive faced questions from MPs last week over the Russia-linked ransomware attack that caused international deliveries to grind to a halt.
Simon Thompson, chief executive of Royal Mail, was asked about the recent cyber attack when he appeared before the Commons Business Select Committee to discuss Royal Mail’s response to the cyber attack at the evidence session on Tuesday Jan 17.
A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Royal Mail has been subject to a cyber incident that is affecting our international export service. We are focused on restoring this service as soon as we are able.”
Royal Mail was forced to suspend all outbound international post after machines used for printing customs dockets were disabled by the Russia-linked Lockbit cyber crime gang. Lockbit’s attackers used ransomware, malicious software that scrambles vital computer files before the gang demands payment to unlock them again. The software also took over printers at Royal Mail’s international sorting offices and caused ransom notes to “spout” from them, according to reports.
Cyber security industry sources cautioned that while Lockbit is known to be Russian in origin, it is not known whether a stolen copy of the gang’s signature ransomware had been deployed by rival hackers.
Third-Party Risk Management: Why 2023 Could be the Perfect Time to Overhaul your TPRM Program
Ensuring risk caused by third parties does not occur to your organisation is becoming increasingly difficult. Every business outsources some aspects of its operations, and ensuring these external entities are a strength and not a weakness isn’t always a straightforward process.
In the coming years we’ll see organisations dedicate more time and resources to developing detailed standards and assessments for potential third-party vendors. Not only will this help to mitigate risk within their supply chain network, it will also provide better security.
As demand for third-party risk management (TPRM) grows, there are key reasons why we believe 2023 could be pivotal for the future of your organisation’s TPRM program, cyber risk being principal amongst them.
Forrester predicted that 60% of security incidents in 2022 would stem from third parties. In 2021 there was a 300% increase in supply chain attacks, a trend that has continued to increase over the past 12 months also. For example, Japanese car manufacturer Toyota was forced to completely shut down its operations due to a security breach with a third-party plastics supplier.
It’s not only the frequency of third-party attacks that has increased, but also the methods that cyber criminals are using are becoming increasingly sophisticated. For example, the SolarWinds cyber breach in 2020 was so advanced that Microsoft estimated it took over a thousand engineers to stop the impact of the attack.
As the sophistication and frequency of supply chain attacks increases, the impact they have on businesses reputations and valuations is also becoming apparent. There is a need for organisations to conduct thorough due diligence of the third parties they choose to work with, otherwise the consequences could be disastrous.
Remember always that cyber security should be a non-negotiable feature of all business transactions.
EU Cyber Resilience Regulation Could Translate into Millions in Fines
The EU Commission’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) is intended to close the digital fragmentation problem surrounding devices and systems with network connections – from printers and routers to smart household appliances and industrial control systems. Industrial networks and critical infrastructures require special protection.
According to the European Union, there is currently a ransomware attack every eleven seconds. In the last few weeks alone, among others, a leading German children’s food manufacturer and a global Tier1 automotive supplier headquartered in Germany were hit, with the latter becoming the victim of a massive ransomware attack. Such an attack even led to insolvency at the German manufacturer Prophete in January 2023. To press manufacturers, distributors and importers into action, they face significant penalties if security vulnerabilities in devices are discovered and not properly reported and closed.
“The pressure on the industry – manufacturers, distributors and importers – is growing immensely. The EU will implement this regulation without compromise, even though there are still some work packages to be done, for example regarding local country authorities,” says Jan Wendenburg, CEO, ONEKEY.
The financial fines for affected manufacturers and distributors are therefore severe: up to 15 million euros or 2.5 percent of global annual revenues in the past fiscal year – the larger number counts. “This makes it absolutely clear: there will be substantial penalties on manufacturers if the requirements are not implemented,” Wendenburg continues.
Manufacturers, distributors and importers are required to notify ENISA – the European Union’s cyber security agency – within 24 hours if a security vulnerability in one of their products is exploited. Exceeding the notification deadlines is already subject to sanctions.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/01/19/eu-cyber-resilience-regulation-fines/
Russian Hackers Try to Bypass ChatGPT's Restrictions for Malicious Purposes
Russian cyber-criminals have been observed on dark web forums trying to bypass OpenAI’s API restrictions to gain access to the ChatGPT chatbot for nefarious purposes.
Various individuals have been observed, for instance, discussing how to use stolen payment cards to pay for upgraded users on OpenAI (thus circumventing the limitations of free accounts). Others have created blog posts on how to bypass the geo controls of OpenAI, and others still have created tutorials explaining how to use semi-legal online SMS services to register to ChatGPT.
“Generally, there are a lot of tutorials in Russian semi-legal online SMS services on how to use it to register to ChatGPT, and we have examples that it is already being used,” wrote Check Point Research (CPR). “It is not extremely difficult to bypass OpenAI’s restricting measures for specific countries to access ChatGPT,” said Check Point. “Right now, we are seeing Russian hackers already discussing and checking how to get past the geofencing to use ChatGPT for their malicious purposes.”
They added that they believe these hackers are most likely trying to implement and test ChatGPT in their day-to-day criminal operations. “Cyber-criminals are growing more and more interested in ChatGPT because the AI technology behind it can make a hacker more cost-efficient,” they explained.
Case in point, just last week, Check Point Research published a separate advisory highlighting how threat actors had already created malicious tools using ChatGPT. These included infostealers, multi-layer encryption tools and dark web marketplace scripts.
More generally, the cyber security firm is not the only one believing ChatGPT could democratise cyber crime, with various experts warning that the AI bot could be used by potential cyber-criminals to teach them how to create attacks and even write ransomware.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/russian-hackers-to-bypass-chatgpt/
New Report Reveals CISOs Rising Influence
Cyber security firm Coalfire this week unveiled its second annual State of CISO Influence report, which explores the expanding influence of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and other security leaders.
The report revealed that the CISO role is maturing quickly, and the position is experiencing more equity in the boardroom. In the last year alone, there was a 10-point uptick in CISOs doing monthly reporting to the board. These positive outcomes likely stem from the increasingly metrics-driven reporting CISOs provide, where data is more effectively leveraged to connect security outcomes to business objectives.
An especially promising development in this year's report is how security teams are being looped into corporate projects. Of the security leaders surveyed, 78% say they are consulted early in project development when business objectives are first identified, and two-thirds are now making presentations to the highest levels of enterprise authority. 56% of CISOs present security metrics to their CEOs, up from 43% in 2021.
Cloud migration was universally identified as one of those top business objectives. The move to the cloud saddles CISOs with many challenges. The top priorities listed by CISOs include dealing with an expanding attack surface, staffing, and new compliance requirements — all within constrained budgets. In fact, 43% of security leaders said their budgets remained static or were reduced following business migration to the cloud.
Given these challenges, leading CISOs are transforming their approaches. To address multiple cloud compliance requirements, security leaders are focusing on the most onerous set of rules and creating separate environments for different requirements. Risk assessments were identified as the key tool used to secure funding for these and other cyber initiatives and to set top priorities.
"Costs and risks are up, while at the same time, cyber budgets are trending flat or down," said Colefire. "Cyber security has historically been lower in priority for organisations, but we are witnessing a big shift in enterprise cyber expectations. CISOs are rising to meet those expectations, speaking to the business, and as a result, solidifying their role in the C-suite."
https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/new-coalfire-report-reveals-cisos-rising-influence
ChatGPT and its Perilous Use as a "Force Multiplier" for Cyber Attacks
As a form of OpenAI technology, ChatGPT has the ability to mimic natural language and human interaction with remarkable efficiency. However, from a cyber security perspective, this also means it can be used in a variety of ways to lower the bar for threat actors.
One key method is the ability for ChatGPT to draft cunning phishing emails en masse. By feeding ChatGPT with minimal information, it can create content and entire emails that will lure unsuspecting victims to provide their passwords. With the right API setup, thousands of unique, tailored, and sophisticated phishing emails can be sent almost simultaneously.
Another interesting capability of ChatGPT is the ability to write malicious code. While OpenAI has put some controls in place to prevent ChatGPT from creating malware, it is possible to convince ChatGPT to create ransomware and other forms of malware as code that can be copied and pasted into an integrated development environment (IDE) and used to compile actual malware. ChatGPT can also be used to identify vulnerabilities in code segments and reverse engineer applications.
ChatGPT will expedite a trend that is already wreaking havoc across sectors – lowering the bar for less sophisticated threat actors, enabling them to conduct attacks while evading security controls and bypassing advanced detection mechanisms. And currently, there is not much that organisations can do about it. ChatGPT represents a technological marvel that will usher in a new era, not just for the cyber security space.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/sj0lfp11oi
Mailchimp Discloses a New Security Breach, the Second One in 6 Months
The popular email marketing and newsletter platform Mailchimp was hacked twice in the past six months. The news of a new security breach was confirmed by the company; the incident exposed the data of 133 customers.
Threat actors targeted the company’s employees and contractors to gain access to an internal support and account admin tool.
“On January 11, the Mailchimp Security team identified an unauthorised actor accessing one of our tools used by Mailchimp customer-facing teams for customer support and account administration. The unauthorised actor conducted a social engineering attack on Mailchimp employees and contractors, and obtained access to select Mailchimp accounts using employee credentials compromised in that attack.” reads the notice published by the company. “Based on our investigation to date, this targeted incident has been limited to 133 Mailchimp accounts.”
The malicious activity was discovered on January 11, 2023; in response to the intrusion the company temporarily suspended access for impacted accounts. The company also notified the primary contacts for all affected accounts less than 24 hours after the initial discovery.
https://securityaffairs.com/140997/data-breach/mailchimp-security-breach.html
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
Yum Brands says nearly 300 restaurants in UK impacted due to cyber attack | Reuters
Royal Mail boss to face MPs’ questions over Russian ransomware attack (telegraph.co.uk)
What is LockBit ransomware and how does it operate? | Royal Mail | The Guardian
How cyber-attack on Royal Mail has left firms in limbo - BBC News
Royal Mail restarts limited overseas post after cyber-attack - BBC News
How Royal Mail’s hacker became the world’s most prolific ransomware group | Financial Times (ft.com)
Ransomware Trends In Q4 2022: Key Findings And Recommendations (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Microsoft: Cuba ransomware hacking Exchange servers via OWASSRF flaw (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft retracts its report on Mac ransomware (techrepublic.com)
Ransomware Dips During 2022: Are Cyber attacks Slowing or Just a Blip? - MSSP Alert
Up to 1,000 ships affected by DNV ransomware attack - Splash247
Avast releases free BianLian ransomware decryptor (bleepingcomputer.com)
Vice Society ransomware leaks University of Duisburg-Essen’s data (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware attack cuts 1,000 ships off from on-shore servers • The Register
Royal Mail promises ‘workarounds’ to restore services after ransomware attack | Computer Weekly
Cyber-crime gangs' earnings slide as victims refuse to pay - BBC News
Ransomware gang steals data from KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut brand owner (bleepingcomputer.com)
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
How AI chatbot ChatGPT changes the phishing game | CSO Online
The big risk in the most-popular, and aging, big tech email programs (cnbc.com)
Why encrypting emails isn't as simple as it sounds - Help Net Security
Fake DHL emails allow hackers to breach Microsoft 365 accounts (msn.com)
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Techniques that attackers use to trick victims into visiting malicious content - Help Net Security
As Social Engineering Tactics Change, So Must Your Security Training (darkreading.com)
2FA/MFA
CircleCI's hack caused by malware stealing engineer's 2FA-backed session (bleepingcomputer.com)
The Importance of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) - MSSP Alert
Malware
New Backdoor Created Using Leaked CIA's Hive Malware Discovered in the Wild (thehackernews.com)
Experts spotted a backdoor that borrows code from CIA's Hive malware - Security Affairs
ChatGPT Creates Polymorphic Malware - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Attackers Crafted Custom Malware for Fortinet Zero-Day (darkreading.com)
New Chinese Malware Spotted Exploiting Recent Fortinet Firewall Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
Malicious ‘Lolip0p’ PyPi packages install info-stealing malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers exploit Cacti critical bug to install malware, open reverse shells (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers can use GitHub Codespaces to host and deliver malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers turn to Google search ads to push info-stealing malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
How to spot a cyberbot – five tips to keep your device safe (theconversation.com)
Mobile
New 'Hook' Android malware lets hackers remotely control your phone (bleepingcomputer.com)
Roaming Mantis’ Android malware adds DNS changer to hack WiFi routers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Botnets
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Internet of Things – IoT
Data Breaches/Leaks
6,000+ Customer Accounts Breached, NortonLifeLock Alert Users (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
1.7 TB of data from digital intelligence firm Cellebrite leaked online - Security Affairs
LastPass faces mounting criticism over recent breach | TechTarget
Mailchimp discloses a new incident, the second one in 6 months - Security Affairs
PayPal Breach Exposed PII of Nearly 35K Accounts (darkreading.com)
T-Mobile US says hacker accessed personal data of 37 million customers • TechCrunch
Twitter says leaked emails not hacked from its systems - BBC News
Hacked! My Twitter user data is out on the dark web -- now what? | ZDNET
Twitter sued over data leak that it denied was caused by a flaw | Business
Nissan North America data breach caused by vendor-exposed database (bleepingcomputer.com)
18k Nissan Customers Affected by Data Breach at Third-Party Software Developer | SecurityWeek.Com
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Crypto exchanges freeze accounts tied to North Korea • The Register
Europol arrested cryptocurrency scammers that stole millions from victims - Security Affairs
FTX Says $415 Million Of Its Crypto Assets Was Hacked (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Google Ads-delivered malware drains NFT influencer’s entire crypto wallet (cointelegraph.com)
Bitcoin is a ‘hyped-up fraud’, says JP Morgan chief (telegraph.co.uk)
International Arrests Over 'Criminal' Crypto Exchange | SecurityWeek.Com
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Hacker stole credit cards from Canada alcohol retailer LCBO - Security Affairs
Europol arrested cryptocurrency scammers that stole millions from victims - Security Affairs
New York man defrauded thousands using credit cards sold on dark web (bleepingcomputer.com)
FTX Says $415 Million Of Its Crypto Assets Was Hacked (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
The US Has a Massive Money Transfer Surveillance Apparatus (gizmodo.com)
The threat of location spoofing and fraud - Help Net Security
HUMAN Security Stops VASTFLUX Digital Ad Fraud Operation - MSSP Alert
International Arrests Over 'Criminal' Crypto Exchange | SecurityWeek.Com
Insurance
Dark Web
New York man defrauded thousands using credit cards sold on dark web (bleepingcomputer.com)
Illegal Solaris darknet market hijacked by competitor Kraken (bleepingcomputer.com)
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Cloud/SaaS
The Dangers of Default Cloud Configurations (darkreading.com)
Report: Cloud-based networks under growing attack • The Register
Data Security in Multicloud: Limit Access, Increase Visibility (darkreading.com)
Hybrid/Remote Working
Encryption
Vulnerabilities in cryptographic libraries found through modern fuzzing - Help Net Security
teiss - Cyber Threats - Managing the treat from quantum computers
Threats Of Quantum: The Solution Lies In Quantum Cryptography (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Why encrypting emails isn't as simple as it sounds - Help Net Security
TLS Connection Cryptographic Protocol Vulnerabilities (trendmicro.com)
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Compromise of employee device, credentials led to CircleCI breach | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
PayPal accounts breached in large-scale credential stuffing attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
NortonLifeLock: threat actors breached Norton Password Manager accounts - Security Affairs
Social Media
Twitter says leaked emails not hacked from its systems - BBC News
Hacked! My Twitter user data is out on the dark web -- now what? | ZDNET
French CNIL fined Tiktok $5.4 Million for violating cookie laws - Security Affairs
Malvertising
Hackers turn to Google search ads to push info-stealing malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Google Ads-delivered malware drains NFT influencer’s entire crypto wallet (cointelegraph.com)
HUMAN Security Stops VASTFLUX Digital Ad Fraud Operation - MSSP Alert
Training, Education and Awareness
Training, endpoint management reduce remote working cyber security risks - Help Net Security
As Social Engineering Tactics Change, So Must Your Security Training (darkreading.com)
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
GDPR Fines Surge 168% in a Year - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
European data protection authorities issue record €2.92 billion in GDPR fines | CSO Online
How data protection is evolving in a digital world - Help Net Security
EU cyber resilience regulation could translate into millions in fines - Help Net Security
Online safety bill: Attempt to jail tech bosses ‘could backfire’ | News | The Times
Culture secretary examines plans to punish tech bosses over online harms | Financial Times (ft.com)
French CNIL fined Tiktok $5.4 Million for violating cookie laws - Security Affairs
State legislators aren't waiting for Congress to regulate children's online privacy - CyberScoop
How Would the FTC Rule on Noncompetes Affect Data Security? (darkreading.com)
The US Has a Massive Money Transfer Surveillance Apparatus (gizmodo.com)
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Technology is a fragile machine that seems to power everything | Android Central
Training, endpoint management reduce remote working cyber security risks - Help Net Security
New Coalfire Report Reveals CISOs Rising Influence (darkreading.com)
Cost of data breaches to global businesses at five-year high- IT Security Guru
Experts at Davos 2023 sound the alarm on cyber security | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
Why Mean Time to Repair Is Not Always A Useful Security Metric (darkreading.com)
Why are there so many cyber attacks lately? An explainer on the rising trend | Globalnews.ca
How To Build A Network Of Security Champions In Your Organisation (forbes.com)
EU cyber resilience regulation could translate into millions in fines - Help Net Security
What is Business Attack Surface Management? (trendmicro.com)
How to build a cyber-resilience culture in the enterprise | TechTarget
Why Businesses Need to Think Like Hackers This Year (darkreading.com)
How to prioritize resilience in the face of cyber-attacks | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
Cyber-attack contributes to major Harrogate district firm posting £4.1m loss - The Stray Ferret
Data Protection
GDPR Fines Surge 168% in a Year - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
European data protection authorities issue record €2.92 billion in GDPR fines | CSO Online
How data protection is evolving in a digital world - Help Net Security
State legislators aren't waiting for Congress to regulate children's online privacy - CyberScoop
Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security
New Coalfire Report Reveals CISOs Rising Influence (darkreading.com)
IT Burnout may be Putting Your Organisation at Risk (bleepingcomputer.com)
Sophos Joins List of Cyber security Companies Cutting Staff | SecurityWeek.Com
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
UK supermarket uses facial recognition tech to track shoppers - Coda Story
State legislators aren't waiting for Congress to regulate children's online privacy - CyberScoop
Artificial Intelligence
How AI chatbot ChatGPT changes the phishing game | CSO Online
ChatGPT and its perilous use as a "Force Multiplier" for cyber attacks | Ctech (calcalistech.com)
Potential threats and sinister implications of ChatGPT - Help Net Security
Criminals seek OpenAI guardrail bypass, use ChatGPT for evil • The Register
ChatGPT Creates Polymorphic Malware - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Putin’s Russian cyber attacks could target UK’s infrastructure | News | The Times
Industrial espionage: How China sneaks out America's technology secrets - BBC News
Ukraine blames Russia for most of over 2,000 cyber attacks in 2022 | Reuters
Beware: Tainted VPNs Being Used to Spread EyeSpy Surveillanceware (thehackernews.com)
Is Elon Musk’s Starlink winning the war for Ukraine? | World | The Sunday Times (thetimes.co.uk)
Pro-Russia Hacktivist Group NoName057(16) Strikes Again (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Russian hacktivists NoName057 offer cash for DDoS attacks (techmonitor.ai)
Ukraine links data-wiping attack on news agency to Russian hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russian hackers target Ukrainian press briefing about cyber attacks (axios.com)
Chinese hackers targeted Iranian government entities for months: Report | CSO Online
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Putin’s Russian cyber attacks could target UK’s infrastructure | News | The Times
Ukraine blames Russia for most of over 2,000 cyber attacks in 2022 | Reuters
Is Elon Musk’s Starlink winning the war for Ukraine? | World | The Sunday Times (thetimes.co.uk)
Pro-Russia Hacktivist Group NoName057(16) Strikes Again (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Russian hacktivists NoName057 offer cash for DDoS attacks (techmonitor.ai)
Ukraine links data-wiping attack on news agency to Russian hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russian hackers target Ukrainian press briefing about cyber attacks (axios.com)
Russians say they can download software from Intel again • The Register
Nation State Actors – China
Industrial espionage: How China sneaks out America's technology secrets - BBC News
Attackers Crafted Custom Malware for Fortinet Zero-Day (darkreading.com)
New Chinese Malware Spotted Exploiting Recent Fortinet Firewall Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
China wants 30 percent CAGR for its infosec industry • The Register
Chinese hackers targeted Iranian government entities for months: Report | CSO Online
Nation State Actors – North Korea
Nation State Actors – Iran
Nation State Actors – Misc
Vulnerability Management
The Top 10 Vulnerabilities of 2022: Mastering Vulnerability Management - Security Boulevard
3 Lessons Learned in Vulnerability Management (darkreading.com)
Vulnerabilities
Cisco won’t fix critical flaw in small business routers • The Register
Unpatched Zoho ManageEngine Products Under Active Cyber attack (darkreading.com)
Oracle's First Security Update for 2023 Includes 327 New Patches | SecurityWeek.Com
Why it's time to review your on-premises Microsoft Exchange patch status | CSO Online
Attackers Crafted Custom Malware for Fortinet Zero-Day (darkreading.com)
New Chinese Malware Spotted Exploiting Recent Fortinet Firewall Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
Cacti Servers Under Attack as Majority Fail to Patch Critical Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)
PoC exploits released for critical bugs in popular WordPress plugins (bleepingcomputer.com)
Vulnerabilities in cryptographic libraries found through modern fuzzing - Help Net Security
Microsoft: Exchange Server 2013 reaches end of support in 90 days (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers are using this old trick to dodge security protections | ZDNET
Attackers deploy sophisticated Linux implant on Fortinet network security devices | CSO Online
Researchers to release PoC exploit for critical Zoho RCE bug, patch now (bleepingcomputer.com)
MSI accidentally breaks Secure Boot for hundreds of motherboards (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft fixes SSRF vulnerabilities found in Azure services | TechTarget
Over 4,000 Sophos Firewall devices vulnerable to RCE attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Critical Security Vulnerabilities Discovered in Netcomm and TP-Link Routers (thehackernews.com)
Exploited Control Web Panel Flaw Added to CISA 'Must-Patch' List | SecurityWeek.Com
Two critical flaws discovered in Git system - Security Affairs
Vendors Actively Bypass Security Patch for Year-Old Magento Vulnerability | SecurityWeek.Com
Cisco Patches High-Severity SQL Injection Vulnerability in Unified CM | SecurityWeek.Com
CVE-2022-47966: Rapid7 Observed Exploitation of Critical ManageEngine Vulnerability | Rapid7 Blog
Critical Microsoft Azure RCE flaw impacted multiple services - Security Affairs
New Microsoft Azure Vulnerability Uncovered — EmojiDeploy for RCE Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Tools and Controls
Training, endpoint management reduce remote working cyber security risks - Help Net Security
Why encrypting emails isn't as simple as it sounds - Help Net Security
As Social Engineering Tactics Change, So Must Your Security Training (darkreading.com)
Zero trust network access for Desktop as a Service - Help Net Security
How to prioritize resilience in the face of cyber-attacks | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 29 July 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 29 July 2022
-1 in 3 Employees Don’t Understand Why Cyber Security Is Important
-As Companies Calculate Cyber Risk, The Right Data Makes a Big Difference
-Only 25% Of Organizations Consider Their Biggest Threat to Be from Inside the Business
-The Global Average Cost of a Data Breach Reaches an All-Time High of $4.35 Million
-Race Against Time: Hackers Start Hunting for Victims Just 15 Minutes After a Bug Is Disclosed
-Ransomware-as-a-Service Groups Forced to Change Tack as Payments Decline
-Phishers Targeted Financial Services Most During H1 2022
-HR Emails Dupe Employees the Most – KnowBe4 research reveals
-84% Of Organizations Experienced an Identity-Related Breach In The Past 18 Months
-Economic Downturn Raises Risk of Insiders Going Rogue
-5 Trends Making Cyber Security Threats Riskier and More Expensive
-Ransomware: Publicly Reported Incidents Are Only the Tip of the Iceberg
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
1 in 3 Employees Don’t Understand Why Cyber Security Is Important
According to a new Tessian report, 30% of employees do not think they personally play a role in maintaining their company’s cyber security posture.
What’s more, only 39% of employees say they’re very likely to report a security incident, making investigation and remediation even more challenging and time-consuming for security teams. When asked why, 42% of employees said they wouldn’t know if they had caused an incident in the first place, and 25% say they just don’t care enough about cyber security to mention it.
Virtually all IT and security leaders agreed that a strong security culture is important in maintaining a strong security posture. Yet, despite rating their organisation’s security 8 out 10, on average, three-quarters of organisations experienced a security incident in the last 12 months.
The report suggests this could stem from a reliance on traditional training programs: 48% of security leaders say training is one of the most important influences on building a positive security posture. But the reality is that employees aren’t engaged; just 28% of UK and US workers say security awareness training is engaging and only 36% say they’re paying full attention. Of those who are, only half say it’s helpful, while another 50% have had a negative experience with a phishing simulation. With recent headlines depicting how phishing simulations can go awry, negative experiences like these further alienate employees and decrease engagement.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/28/employees-dont-understand-why-cybersecurity-is-important/
As Companies Calculate Cyber Risk, the Right Data Makes a Big Difference
The proposed US Securities and Exchange Commission’s stronger rules for reporting cyber attacks will have ramifications beyond increased disclosure of attacks to the public. By requiring not just quick reporting of incidents, but also disclosure of cyber policies and risk management, such regulation will ultimately bring more accountability for cyber security to the highest levels of corporate leadership. Other jurisdictions will very likely follow the US in requiring more stringent cyber controls and governance.
This means that boards and executives everywhere will need to increase their understanding of cyber security, not only from a tech point of view, but from a risk and business exposure point of view. The CFO, CMO and the rest of the C-suite and board will want and need to know what financial exposure the business faces from a data breach, and how likely it is that breaches will happen. This is the only way they will be able to develop cyber policies and plans and react properly to the proposed regulations.
Companies will therefore need to be able to calculate and put a dollar value on their exposure to cyber risk. This is the starting point for the ability to make cyber security decisions not in a vacuum, but as part of overall business decisions. To accurately quantify cyber security exposure, companies need to understand what the threats are and which data and business assets are at risk, and they then need to multiply the cost of a breach by the probability that such an event will take place in order to put a dollar figure on their exposure.
While there are many automated tools, including those that use artificial intelligence (AI), that can help with this, the key to doing this well is to make sure calculations are rooted in real and relevant data – which is different for each company or organisation.
Only 25% Of Organisations Consider Their Biggest Threat to Be from Inside the Business
A worrying 73.5% of organisations feel they have wasted the majority of their cyber security budget on failing to remediate threats, despite having an over-abundance of security tools at their disposal, according to Gurucul.
Only 25% of organisations consider their biggest threat to be from inside the business, despite insider threats increasing by 47% over the past two years. With only a quarter of businesses seeing their biggest threat emanating from inside their organisation, it seems over 70% saw the biggest cyber security challenges emanating from external threats such as ransomware. In fact, although external threats account for many security incidents, we must never forget to look beyond those external malicious and bad actors to insider threats to effectively secure corporate data and IP.
The survey also found 33% of respondents said they are able to detect threats within hours, while 27.07% even claimed they can detect threats in real-time. However, challenges persist with 33% of respondents stating that it still takes their organisation days and weeks to detect threats, with 6% not being able to detect them at all.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/28/biggest-threat-inside-the-business/
The Global Average Cost of a Data Breach Reaches an All-Time High of $4.35 Million
IBM Security released the 2022 Cost of a Data Breach Report, revealing costlier and higher-impact data breaches than ever before, with the global average cost of a data breach reaching an all-time high of $4.35 million for studied organisations.
With breach costs increasing nearly 13% over the last two years of the report, the findings suggest these incidents may also be contributing to rising costs of goods and services. In fact, 60% of studied organisations raised their product or services prices due to the breach, when the cost of goods is already soaring worldwide amid inflation and supply chain issues.
The perpetuality of cyber attacks is also shedding light on the “haunting effect” data breaches are having on businesses, with the IBM report finding 83% of studied organisations have experienced more than one data breach in their lifetime. Another factor rising over time is the after-effects of breaches on these organisations, which linger long after they occur, as nearly 50% of breach costs are incurred more than a year after the breach.
The 2022 Cost of a Data Breach Report is based on in-depth analysis of real-world data breaches experienced by 550 organisations globally between March 2021 and March 2022. The research, which was sponsored and analysed by IBM Security, was conducted by the Ponemon Institute.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/27/2022-cost-of-a-data-breach-report/
Race Against Time: Hackers Start Hunting for Victims Just 15 Minutes After a Bug Is Disclosed
Attackers are becoming faster at exploiting previously undisclosed zero-day flaws, according to Palo Alto Networks. This means that the amount of time that system admins have to patch systems before exploitation happens is shrinking fast..
The company warns in its 2022 report covering 600 incident response (IR) cases that attackers typically start scanning for vulnerabilities within 15 minutes of one being announced.
Among this group are 2021's most significant flaws, including the Exchange Server ProxyShell and ProxyLogon sets of flaws, the persistent Apache Log4j flaws aka Log4Shell, the SonicWall zero-day flaws, and Zoho ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus.
While phishing remains the biggest method for initial access, accounting for 37% of IR cases, software vulnerabilities accounted of 31%. Brute-force credential attacks (like password spraying) accounted for 9%, while smaller categories included previously compromised credentials (6%), insider threat (5%), social engineering (5%), and abuse of trusted relationships/tools (4%).
Over 87% of the flaws identified as the source of initial access fell into one of six vulnerability categories.
Ransomware-as-a-Service Groups Forced to Change Tack as Payments Decline
Ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operators are evolving their tactics yet again in response to more aggressive law enforcement efforts, in a move that is reducing their profits but also making affiliates harder to track, according to Coveware.
The security vendor’s Q2 2022 ransomware report revealed that concerted efforts to crack down on groups like Conti and DarkSide have forced threat actors to adapt yet again.
It identified three characteristics of RaaS operations that used to be beneficial, but are increasingly seen as a hinderance.
The first is RaaS branding, which has helped to cement the reputation of some groups and improve the chances of victims paying, according to Coveware. However, branding also makes attribution easier and can draw the unwanted attention of law enforcement, it said.
“RaaS groups are keeping a lower profile and vetting affiliates and their victims more thoroughly,” Coveware explained.
“More RaaS groups have formed, resulting in less concentration among the top few variants. Affiliates are frequently shifting between RaaS variants on different attacks, making attribution beyond the variant more challenging.”
In some cases, affiliates are also using “unbranded” malware to make attribution more difficult, it added.
The second evolution in RaaS involves back-end infrastructure, which used to enable scale and increase profitability. However, it also means a larger attack surface and a digital footprint that’s more expensive and challenging to maintain.
As a result, RaaS developers are being forced to invest more in obfuscation and redundancy, which is hitting profits and reducing the amount of resources available for expansion, Coveware claimed.
Finally, RaaS shared services used to help affiliates with initial access, stolen data storage, negotiation management and leak site support.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/raas-groups-forced-change-payments/
Phishers Targeted Financial Services Most During H1 2022
Banks received the lion’s share of phishing attacks during the first half of 2022, according to figures published by cyber security company Vade.
The analysis also found that attackers were most likely to send their phishing emails on weekdays, with most arriving between Monday and Wednesday. Attacks tapered off towards the end of the week, Vade said.
While financial services scored highest on a per-sector basis, Microsoft was the most impersonated brand overall. The company’s Microsoft 365 cloud productivity services are a huge draw for cyber-criminals hoping to access accounts using phishing attacks.
Phishing attacks on Microsoft customers have become more creative, according to Vade, which identified several phone-based attacks. It highlighted a campaign impersonating Microsoft’s Defender anti-malware product, fraudulently warning that the company had debited a subscription fee. It encouraged victims to fix the problem by phone.
Facebook came a close second, followed by financial services company Crédit Agricole, WhatsApp and Orange.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/phishers-financial-services-h1-2022/
HR Emails Dupe Employees the Most – KnowBe4 research reveals
In phishing tests conducted on business emails, more than half of the subject lines clicked imitated Human Resources communications.
New research has revealed the top email subjects clicked on in phishing tests were those related to or from Human Resources, according to the latest ‘most clicked phishing tests‘ conducted by KnowBe4. In fact, half of those that were clicked on had subject lines related to Human Resources, including vacation policy updates, dress code changes, and upcoming performance reviews. The second most clicked category were those send from IT, which include requests or actions of password verifications that were needed immediately.
KnowBe4’s CEO commented “More than 80% of company data breaches globally come from human error, so security awareness training for your staff is one of the least costly and most effective methods to thwart social engineering attacks. Training gives employees the ability to rapidly recognise a suspicious email, even if it appears to come from an internal source, causing them to pause before clicking. That moment where they stop and question the email is a critical and often overlooked element of security culture that could significantly reduce your risk surface.”
This research comes hot off the heels of the recent KnowBe4 industry benchmarking report which found one in three untrained employees will click on a phishing link. The worst performing industries were Energy & Utilities, Insurance and Consulting, with all labelled the most at risk for social engineering in the large enterprise category.
84% Of Organisations Experienced an Identity-Related Breach in the Past 18 Months
60% of IT security decision makers believe their overall security strategy does not keep pace with the threat landscape, and that they are either lagging behind (20%), treading water (13%), or merely running to keep up (27%), according to a survey by Sapio Research.
The report also highlights differences between the perceived and actual effectiveness of security strategies. While 40% of respondents believe they have the right strategy in place, 84% of organisations reported that they have experienced an identity-related breach or an attack using stolen credentials during the previous year and a half.
Promisingly, many organisations are hungry to make a change, particularly when it comes to protecting identities. In fact, 90% of respondents state that their organisations fully recognise the importance of identity security in enabling them to achieve their business goals, and 87% say that it is one of the most important security priorities for the next 12 months.
However, 75% of IT and security professionals also believe that they’ll fall short of protecting privileged identities because they won’t get the support they need. This is largely due to a lack of budget and executive alignment, with 63% of respondents saying that their company’s board still doesn’t fully understand identity security and the role it plays in enabling better business operations.
While the importance of identity security is acknowledged by business leaders, most security teams will not receive the backing and budget they need to put vital security controls and solutions in place to reduce major risks. This means that the majority of organisations will continue to fall short of protecting privileges, leaving them vulnerable to cyber criminals looking to discover privileged accounts and abuse them.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/28/identity-related-breach/
Economic Downturn Raises Risk of Insiders Going Rogue
Declining economic conditions could make insiders more susceptible to recruitment offers from threat actors looking for allies to assist them in carrying out various attacks.
Enterprise security teams need to be aware of the heightened risk and strengthen measures for protecting against, detecting, and responding to insider threats, researchers from Palo Alto Network's Unit 42 threat intelligence team recommended in a report this week.
The security vendor's report highlighted several other important takeaways for security operations teams, including the fact that ransomware and business email compromise attacks continue to dominate incident response cases and vulnerability exploits — accounting for nearly one-third of all breaches.
Unit 42 researchers analysed data from a sampling of over 600 incident response engagements between April 2021 and May 2022 and determined that difficult economic times could lure more actors to cyber crime. This could include both people with technical skills looking to make a fast buck, as well as financially stressed insiders with legitimate access to valuable enterprise data and IT assets. The prevalence of remote and hybrid work models has created an environment where it's easier for workers to steal intellectual property or carry out other malicious activity, the researchers found.
https://www.darkreading.com/risk/economic-downturn-raises-the-risk-of-insiders-going-rogue
5 Trends Making Cyber Security Threats Riskier and More Expensive
Since the pandemic the cyber world has become a far riskier place. According to the Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report 2022, almost half (48%) of organisations across the US and Europe experienced a cyber attack in the past 12 months. Even more alarming is that these attacks are happening despite businesses doubling down on their cyber security spend.
Cyber security is at a critical inflection point where five megatrends are making the threat landscape riskier, more complicated, and costlier to manage than previously reported. To better understand the evolution of this threat landscape, let’s examine these trends in more detail.
Everything becomes digital
Organisations become ecosystems
Physical and digital worlds collide
New technologies bring new risks
Regulations become more complex
Organisations can follow these best practices to elevate cyber security performance:
Identify, prioritise, and implement controls around risks.
Adopt a framework such as ISO 27001 or NIST Cyber Security Framework.
Develop human-layered cyber security.
Fortify your supply chain.
Avoid using too many tools.
Prioritise protection of critical assets.
Automate where you can.
Monitor security metrics regularly to help business leaders get insight into security effectiveness, regulatory compliance, and levels of security awareness in the organisation.
Cyber security will always be a work in progress. The key to effective risk management is having proactive visibility and context across the entire attack surface. This helps to understand which vulnerabilities, if exploited, can cause the greatest harm to the business. Not all risks can be mitigated; some risks will have to be accepted and trade-offs will have to be negotiated.
Ransomware: Publicly Reported Incidents Are Only the Tip of the Iceberg
The threat landscape report on ransomware attacks published this week by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) uncovers the shortcomings of the current reporting mechanisms across the EU.
As one of the most devastating types of cyber security attacks over the last decade, ransomware, has grown to impact organisations of all sizes across the globe.
This threat landscape report analysed a total of 623 ransomware incidents across the EU, the United Kingdom and the United States for a reporting period from May 2021 to June 2022. The data was gathered from governments' and security companies' reports, from the press, verified blogs and in some cases using related sources from the dark web.
Between May 2021 and June 2022 about 10 terabytes of data were stolen each month by ransomware threat actors. 58.2% of the data stolen included employees' personal data.
At least 47 unique ransomware threat actors were found.
For 94.2% of incidents, we do not know whether the company paid the ransom or not. However, when the negotiation fails, the attackers usually expose and make the data available on their webpages. This is what happens in general and is a reality for 37.88% of incidents.
We can therefore conclude that the remaining 62.12% of companies either came to an agreement with the attackers or found another solution.
The study also shows that companies of every size and from all sectors are affected.
The figures in the report can however only portray a part of the overall picture. In reality, the study reveals that the total number of ransomware attacks is much larger. At present this total is impossible to capture since too many organisations still do not make their incidents public or do not report on them to the relevant authorities.
Threats
Ransomware
LockBit 3.0: Significantly Improved Ransomware Helps the Gang Stay on Top (darkreading.com)
Ransomware looms large over the cyber insurance industry - Help Net Security
800,000 businesses fall victim to ransomware each year (komando.com)
Business services top target of ransomware attacks (securitybrief.co.nz)
How Crypto is Driving the Ransomware Epidemic | Cryptoland Roundtable - YouTube
On security researcher's newsletter, exposing cyber criminals behind ransomware - CyberScoop
LockBit ransomware abuses Windows Defender to load Cobalt Strike (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mailing List Provider WordFly Scrambling to Recover Following Ransomware Attack | SecurityWeek.Com
No More Ransom helps millions of ransomware victims in 6 years (bleepingcomputer.com)
Lockbit ransomware gang claims to have breached the Italian Revenue Agency - Security Affairs
Lockbit Ramps Up Attacks on Public Sector - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
A ‘Top Tier’ Hacking Gang Is Likely To Be Behind Entrust Ransomware (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
No More Ransom Helped More Than 1.5 Million People Decrypt Their Devices (darkreading.com)
Ransomware caused American Dental Association outage, led to stolen data (scmagazine.com)
The road to ransomware recovery starts before an attack • The Register
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Phishing Attacks Skyrocket with Microsoft and Facebook as Most Abused Brands | Threatpost
Phishing scam targeting Bank of America, Citi and Wells Fargo customers (komando.com)
APT-Like Phishing Threat Mirrors Landing Pages (darkreading.com)
New Callback Malware Campaign Impersonates Legitimate Cyber Security Providers - MSSP Alert
Phishing Attacks: Microsoft Leads Top 25 of Impersonated Brands - MSSP Alert
1,000s of Phishing Attacks Blast Off From InterPlanetary File System (darkreading.com)
New ‘Robin Banks’ phishing service targets BofA, Citi, and Wells Fargo (bleepingcomputer.com)
Other Social Engineering; SMishing, Vishing, etc
Malware
Cisco Incident Response Report: Commodity Malware Top Threat in Q2 - MSSP Alert
Discovery of new UEFI rootkit exposes an ugly truth: The attacks are invisible to us | Ars Technica
As Microsoft blocks Office macros, hackers find new attack vectors (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft Links Raspberry Robin USB Worm to Russian Evil Corp Hackers (thehackernews.com)
Microsoft links Raspberry Robin malware to Evil Corp attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Malware-laced npm packages used to target Discord users - Security Affairs
CosmicStrand UEFI malware found in Gigabyte, ASUS motherboards (bleepingcomputer.com)
Sophisticated UEFI rootkit of Chinese origin shows up again in the wild after 3 years | CSO Online
Attackers are slowly abandoning malicious macros - Help Net Security
One of the most beloved Windows tools could actually be a huge security risk | TechRadar
QBot phishing uses Windows Calculator DLL hijacking to infect devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
Gootkit Loader’s Updated Tactics and Fileless Delivery of Cobalt Strike (trendmicro.com)
Microsoft: Austrian company DSIRF selling Subzero malware (techtarget.com)
Threat actors leverages DLL-SideLoading to spread Qakbot - Security Affairs
Rare 'CosmicStrand' UEFI Rootkit Swings into Cyber crime Orbit (darkreading.com)
Mobile
Here are the top phone security threats in 2022 and how to avoid them | ZDNet
New Android malware apps installed 10 million times from Google Play (bleepingcomputer.com)
Roaming Mantis Financial Hackers Targeting Android and iPhone Users in France (thehackernews.com)
Facebook ads push Android adware with 7 million installs on Google Play (bleepingcomputer.com)
Millions of Android devices infected with wallet-draining malware | TechRadar
Over a Dozen Android Apps on Google Play Store Caught Dropping Banking Malware (thehackernews.com)
Internet of Things – IoT
IoT Botnets Fuels DDoS Attacks – Are You Prepared? | Threatpost
Dahua IP Camera Vulnerability Could Let Attackers Take Full Control Over Devices (thehackernews.com)
Data Breaches/Leaks
US court system suffered ‘incredibly significant attack’ • The Register
Congress Warns of US Court Records System Breach - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Uber admits covering up massive 2016 data breach in settlement with US prosecutors - The Verge
T-Mobile to pay $500M for one of the largest data breaches in US history [Updated] | Ars Technica
Data Stolen in Breach at Security Company Entrust | SecurityWeek.Com
Fallout from massive Shanghai Police data breach reverberates on dark web - CyberScoop
Big Questions Remain Around Massive Shanghai Police Data Breach (darkreading.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cyber-mercenaries represent shifting criminal business model • The Register
Messaging Apps Tapped as Platform for Cyber Criminal Activity | Threatpost
Teenager Jailed for Snapchat Blackmail Cyber Crimes- IT Security Guru
DUCKTAIL operation targets Facebook’s Business and Ad accounts - Security Affairs
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Crypto fraud on the rise as consumers fall for fake celebrity endorsements | Cybernews
Hackers Increasingly Using WebAssembly Coded Cryptominers to Evade Detection (thehackernews.com)
NFT Hacking Group Attacks On The Rise, Report Finds- IT Security Guru
Hackers steal $6 million from blockchain music platform Audius (bleepingcomputer.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Major shifts and the growing risk of identity fraud - Help Net Security
JPMorgan, UBS accused of shoddy identity theft protection • The Register
Euro Police Bust €3m Internet Fraud Gang - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Romance scammers jailed after tricking Irish OAP out of €250k (bitdefender.com)
What the Titanic Can Teach Us About Fraud? | SecurityWeek.Com
AML/CFT/Sanctions
Insurance
Dark Web
Cyber crime goods and services are cheap and plentiful - Help Net Security
Hackers Selling Malware on Dark Web Underground Market (cybersecuritynews.com)
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Software Supply Chain
Denial of Service DoS/DDoS
Akamai blocked the largest DDoS attack ever on its European customers - Security Affairs
DDoS Attack Trends in 2022: Ultrashort, Powerful, Multivector Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cloud/SaaS
Kansas MSP shuts down cloud services to fend off cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Organisations are struggling with SaaS security. Why? - Help Net Security
Attack Surface Management
Identity and Access Management
Encryption
Transport Layer Security (TLS): Issues & Protocol (trendmicro.com)
SSH2 vs. SSH1 and why SSH versions still matter (techtarget.com)
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Using Account Lockout policies to block Windows Brute Force Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Stop Putting Your Accounts At Risk, and Start Using a Password Manager (thehackernews.com)
Social Media
Facebook security cracked by Malware made in Vietnam • The Register
Cyber-Criminal Offers 5.4m Twitter Users’ Data - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Training, Education and Awareness
Privacy
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
UK Seizes Nearly $27m in Crypto-Assets - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
European Cops Helped 1.5 Million People Decrypt Their Ransomwared Computers (vice.com)
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Cyberspies use Google Chrome extension to steal emails undetected (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft says it caught an Austrian spyware group using Windows 0-day exploits - The Verge
Pegasus spyware: Just 'tip of the iceberg' seen so far • The Register
Cyber attacks by Iran and Israel now target critical infrastructure. - The Washington Post
US and Ukraine Sign Agreement to Deepen Cyber security Operational Collaboration - MSSP Alert
CISA, Ukrainian cyber agency deepen partnership to combat Russian threat - CyberScoop
How is Anonymous attacking Russia? The top six ways ranked (cnbc.com)
European Lawmaker Targeted With Cytrox Predator Surveillance Spyware | SecurityWeek.Com
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Russia is quietly ramping up its Internet censorship machine | Ars Technica
Apple network traffic takes mysterious detour through Russia • The Register
Nation State Actors – China
Chinese APTs: Interlinked networks and side hustles – Intrusion Truth (wordpress.com)
OneWeb sale risks giving China a stake in ‘Five Eyes’ spying tech (telegraph.co.uk)
Nation State Actors – North Korea
North Korean Hackers Using Malicious Browser Extension to Spy on Email Accounts (thehackernews.com)
North Korean hackers attack EU targets with Konni RAT malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
US puts $10 million bounty on North Korean threat groups • The Register
Is APT28 behind the STIFF#BIZON attacks attributed to North Korea-linked APT37? Security Affairs
Nation State Actors – Iran
Vulnerability Management
Hackers scan for vulnerabilities within 15 minutes of disclosure (bleepingcomputer.com)
Attackers Have 'Favourite' Vulnerabilities to Exploit (darkreading.com)
Taking the Risk-Based Approach to Vulnerability Patching (thehackernews.com)
Organisations struggle to manage devices and stay ahead of vulnerabilities - Help Net Security
2022 Unit 42 Incident Response Report: How Attackers Exploit Zero-Days (paloaltonetworks.com)
Security Teams Overwhelmed With Bugs, Bitten by Patch Prioritization (darkreading.com)
Time between vuln disclosures, exploits is getting smaller • The Register
Vulnerabilities
Critical Samba bug could let anyone become Domain Admin – patch now! – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Multiple Windows, Adobe Zero-Days Anchor Knotweed Commercial Spyware (darkreading.com)
How to Fix CVE-2022-30190 vulnerability using Microsoft Intune - CloudInfra
CISA releases IOCs for attacks exploiting Log4Shell in VMware Horizon and UAG | CSO Online
Critical FileWave MDM Flaws Open Organisation-Managed Devices to Remote Hackers (thehackernews.com)
Hackers are abusing IIS extensions to establish covert backdoors - Security Affairs
FileWave fixes bugs that left 1,000+ orgs open to ransomware • The Register
Google Chrome Zero-day Vulnerability Discovered By Avast (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
LibreOffice fixed 3 flaws, including a code execution issue - Security Affairs
Drupal developers fixed a code execution flaw in the popular CMS - Security Affairs
LibreOffice Releases Software Update to Patch 3 New Vulnerabilities (thehackernews.com)
Hackers Exploit PrestaShop Zero-Day to Steal Payment Data from Online Stores (thehackernews.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
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
A Retrospective on the 2015 Ashley Madison Breach – Krebs on Security
The Great BizApp Hack: Cyber-Risks in Your Everyday Business Applications (darkreading.com)
Threat Actors Pivot Around Microsoft’s Macro-Blocking in Office | Threatpost
Microsoft again reverses course, will block macros by default (scmagazine.com)
Is Your Home or Small Business Built on Secure Foundations? Think Again… (darkreading.com)
Infosec pros want more industry cooperation and support for open standards - Help Net Security
We pass cyber attack costs onto customers, businesses admit • The Register
How to Combat the Biggest Security Risks Posed by Machine Identities (thehackernews.com)
Discord, Telegram Services Hijacked to Launch Array of Cyber Attacks (darkreading.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 22 July 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 22 July 2022
-Insurer Refuses to Pay Out After Victim Misrepresented Their Cyber Controls
-5 Cyber Security Questions CFOs Should Ask CISOs
-The Biggest Cyber Attacks in 2022 So Far — and it’s Just the Tip of the Iceberg
-Malware-as-a-Service Creating New Cyber Crime Ecosystem
-The Rise and Continuing Popularity of LinkedIn-Themed Phishing
-Microsoft Teams Default Settings Leave Organisations Open to Cyber Attacks
-Top 10 Cyber Security Attacks of Last Decade Show What is to Come
-Software Supply Chain Concerns Reach C-Suite
-EU Warns of Russian Cyber Attack Spillover, Escalation Risks
-Critical Flaws in GPS Tracker Enable “Disastrous” and “Life-Threatening” Hacks
-Russian Hackers Behind Solarwinds Breach Continue to Scour US And European Organisations for Intel, Researchers Say
-The Next Big Security Threat Is Staring Us in The Face. Tackling It Is Going to Be Tough
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
Insurer Refuses to Pay Out After Victim Misrepresented Their Cyber Controls
In what may be one of the first court filings of its kind, insurer Travelers is asking a district court for a ruling to rescind a policy because the insured allegedly misrepresented its use of multifactor authentication (MFA) – a condition to get cyber coverage.
According to a July filing, Travelers said it would not have issued a cyber insurance policy in April to electronics manufacturing services company International Control Services (ICS) if the insurer knew the company was not using MFA as it said. Additionally, Travelers wants no part of any losses, costs, or claims from ICS – including from a May ransomware attack ICS suffered.
Travelers alleged ICS submitted a cyber policy application signed by its CEO and “a person responsible for the applicant’s network and information security” that the company used MFA for administrative or privileged access. However, following the May ransomware event, Travelers first learned during an investigation that the insured was not using the security control to protect its server and “only used MFA to protect its firewall, and did not use MFA to protect any other digital assets.”
Therefore, statements ICS made in the application were “misrepresentations, omissions, concealment of facts, and incorrect statements” – all of which “materially affected the acceptance of the risk and/or the hazard assumed by Travelers,” the insurer alleged in the filing.
ICS also was the victim of a ransomware attack in December 2020 when hackers gained access using the username and password of an ICS administrator, Travelers said. ICS told the insurer of the attack during the application process and said it improved the company’s cyber security.
Travelers said it wants the court to declare the insurance contract null and void, rescind the policy, and declare it has no duty to indemnify or defend ICS for any claim.
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2022/07/12/675516.htm#
5 Cyber Security Questions CFOs Should Ask CISOs
Armed with the answers, chief financial officers can play an essential role in reducing cyber risk.
Even in a shrinking economy, organisations are likely to maintain their level of cyber security spend. But that doesn’t mean in the current economic climate of burgeoning costs and a possible recession they won’t take a magnifying glass to how they are spending the money budgeted to defend systems and data. Indeed, at many companies, cyber security spending isn’t targeting the most significant dangers, according to experts — as evidenced by the large number of successful ransomware attacks and data breaches.
Without a comprehensive understanding of the security landscape and what the organisation needs to do to protect itself, how can CFOs make the right decisions when it comes to investments in cyber security technology and other resources? They can’t.
So, CFOs need to ensure they have a timely grasp of the security issues their organisation faces. That requires turning to the most knowledgeable people in the organisation: chief information security officers (CISOs) and other security leaders on the IT front lines.
Here are five questions CFOs should be asking their CISOs about the security of their companies.
How secure are we as an organisation?
What are the main security threats or risks in our industry?
How do we ensure that the cyber security team and the CISO are involved in business development?
What are the risks and potential costs of not implementing a cyber control?
Do employees understand information security and are they implementing security protocols successfully?
The Biggest Cyber Attacks in 2022 So Far — and it’s Just the Tip of the Iceberg
For those in the cyber resilience realm, it’s no surprise that there’s a continued uptick in cyber attacks. Hackers are hacking, thieves are thieving and ransomers are — you guessed it — ransoming. In other words, cyber crime is absolutely a growth industry.
As we cross into the second half of this year, let’s look at some of the most significant attacks so far:
Blockchain schmockchain. Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com’s two-factor-identification (2FA) system was compromised as thieves made off with approximately $30 million.
Still the one they run to. Microsoft’s ubiquity makes it a constant target. Earlier this year, the hacking collective Lapsus$ compromised Cortana and Bing, among other Microsoft products, posting source code online.
Not necessarily the news. News Corp. journalist emails and documents were accessed at properties including the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones and the New York Post in a hack tied to China.
Uncharitable ways. The Red Cross was the target of an attack earlier this year, with more than half a million “highly vulnerable” records of Red Cross assistance recipients compromised.
Victim of success. North Korea’s Lazarus Group made off with $600 million in cryptocurrencies after blockchain gaming platform Ronin relaxed some of its security protocols so its servers could better handle its growing popularity.
We can hear you now. State-sponsored hackers in China have breached global telecom powerhouses worldwide this year, according to the U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency.
Politics, the art of the possible. Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo was breached twice this year as hacktivists exposed the records of donors to Canada’s Freedom Convoy.
Disgruntled revenge. Businesspeople everywhere were reminded of the risks associated with departing personnel when fintech powerhouse Block announced that a former employee accessed sensitive customer information, impacting eight million customers.
Unhealthy habits. Two million sensitive customer records were exposed when hackers breached Shields Health Care’s network.
They even stole the rewards points. General Motors revealed that hackers used a credentials stuffing attack to access personal information on an undisclosed number of car owners. They even stole gift-card-redeemable customer reward points.
For every breach or attack that generates headlines, millions of others that we never hear about put businesses at risk regularly. The Anti-Phishing Working Group just released data for the first quarter of this year, and the trend isn’t good. Recorded phishing attacks are at an all-time high (more than a million in just the first quarter) and were accelerating as the quarter closed, with March 2022 setting a new record for single-month attacks.
Malware-as-a-Service Creating New Cyber Crime Ecosystem
This week HP released their report The Evolution of Cybercrime: Why the Dark Web is Supercharging the Threat Landscape and How to Fight Back, exploring how cyber-criminals are increasingly operating in a quasi-professional manner, with malware and ransomware attacks being offered on a ‘software-as-a-service’ basis.
The report’s findings showed how cyber crime is being supercharged through “plug and play” malware kits that are easier than ever to launch attacks. Additionally, cyber syndicates are now collaborating with amateur attackers to target businesses, putting the online world and its users at risk.
The report’s methodology saw HP’s Wolf Security threat team work in tandem with dark-web investigation firm Forensic Pathways to scrape and analyse over 35 million cyber criminal marketplaces and forum posts between February and March 2022, with the investigation helping to gain a deeper understanding of how cyber criminals operate, gain trust, and build reputation. Its key findings include:
Malware is cheap and readily available: Over three-quarters (76%) of malware advertisements listed, and 91% of exploits (i.e. code that gives attackers control over systems by taking advantage of software bugs), retail for under $10.
Trust and reputation are ironically essential parts of cyber-criminal commerce: Over three-quarters (77%) of cyber criminal marketplaces analysed require a vendor bond – a license to sell – which can cost up to $3000. Of these, 92% have a third-party dispute resolution service.
Popular software is giving cyber criminals a foot in the door: Kits that exploit vulnerabilities in niche systems command the highest prices (typically ranging from $1,000-$4,000), while zero day vulnerabilities are retailing at 10s of thousands of pounds on dark web markets.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/malware-service-cybercrime/
The Rise and Continuing Popularity of LinkedIn-Themed Phishing
Phishing emails impersonating LinkedIn continue to make the bulk of all brand phishing attempts. According to Check Point, 45% of all email phishing attempts in Q2 2022 imitated the style of communication of the professional social media platform, with the goal of directing targets to a spoofed LinkedIn login page and collecting their account credentials.
The phishers are generally trying to pique the targets’ interest with fake messages claiming that they “have appeared in X searches this week”, that a new message is waiting for them, or that another user would like to do business with them, and are obviously taking advantage of the fact that a record number of individuals are switching or are considering quitting their job and are looking for a new one.
To compare: In Q4 2021, LinkedIn-themed phishing attempts were just 8 percent of the total brand phishing attacks flagged by Check Point. Also, according to Vade Secure, in 2021 the number of LinkedIn-themed phishing pages linked from unique phishing emails was considerably lower than those impersonating other social networks (Facebook, WhatsApp).
Other brands that phishers loved to impersonate during Q2 2022 are (unsurprisingly) Microsoft (13%), DHL (12%) and Amazon (9%).
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/21/linkedin-phishing/
Microsoft Teams Default Settings Leave Organisations Open to Cyber Attacks
Relying on default settings on Microsoft Teams leaves organisations and users open to threats from external domains, and misconfigurations can prove perilous to high-value targets.
Microsoft Teams has over 270 million active monthly users, with government institutions using the software in the US, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Lithuania, and other countries at varying levels.
Cyber security researchers have discovered that relying on default MS Teams settings can leave firms and high-value users vulnerable to social engineering attacks. Attackers could create group chats, masquerade as seniors within the target organisation and observe whether users are online.
Attackers could, rather convincingly, impersonate high-ranking officials and possibly strike up conversations, fooling victims into believing they’re discussing sensitive topics with a superior. Skilled attackers could do a lot of harm with this capability.
https://cybernews.com/security/microsoft-teams-settings-leave-govt-officials-open-to-cyberattacks/
Top 10 Cyber Security Attacks of Last Decade Show What is to Come
Past is prologue, wrote William Shakespeare in his play “The Tempest,” meaning that the present can often be determined by what has come before. So it is with cyber security, serving as the basis of which is Trustwave’s “Decade Retrospective: The State of Vulnerabilities” over the last 10 years.
Threat actors frequently revisit well-known and previously patched vulnerabilities to take advantage of continuing poor cyber security hygiene. “If one does not know what has recently taken place it leaves you vulnerable to another attack,” Trustwave said in its report that identifies and examines the “watershed moments” that shaped cyber security between 2011 and 2021.
With a backdrop of the number of security incidents and vulnerabilities increasing in volume and sophistication, here are Trustwave’s top 10 network vulnerabilities in no particular order that defined the decade and “won’t be forgotten.”
SolarWinds hack and FireEye breach, Detected: December 8, 2020 (FireEye)
EternalBlue Exploit, Detected: April 14, 2017
Heartbleed, Detected: March 21, 2014
Shellshock, Remote Code Execution in BASH, Detected: September 12, 2014
Apache Struts Remote Command Injection & Equifax Breach, Detected: March 6, 2017
Chipocalypse, Speculative Execution Vulnerabilities Meltdown & Spectre
BlueKeep, Remote Desktop as an Access Vector, Detected: January, 2018
Drupalgeddon Series, CMS Vulnerabilities, Detected: January, 2018
Microsoft Windows OLE Vulnerability, Sandworm Exploit, Detected: September 3, 2014
Ripple20 Vulnerabilities, Growing IoT landscape, Detected: June 16, 2020
Software Supply Chain Concerns Reach C-Suite
Major supply chain attacks have had a significant impact on software security awareness and decision-making, with more investment planned for monitoring attack surfaces.
Organisations are waking up to the need to establish better software supply chain risk management policies and are taking action to address the escalating threats and vulnerabilities targeting this expanding attack surface.
These were among the findings of a CyberRisk Alliance-conducted survey of 300 respondents from both software-buying and software-producing companies.
Most survey respondents (52%) said they are "very" or "extremely" concerned about software supply chain risks, and 84% of respondents said their organisation is likely to allocate at least 5% of their AppSec budgets to manage software supply chain risk.
Software buyers are planning to invest in procurement program metrics and reporting, application pen-testing, and software build of materials (SBOM) design and implementation, according to the findings.
Meanwhile, software developers said they plan to invest in secure code review as well as SBOM design and implementation.
https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/software-supply-chain-concerns-reach-c-suite
EU Warns of Russian Cyber Attack Spillover, Escalation Risks
The Council of the European Union (EU) said that Russian hackers and hacker groups increasingly attacking "essential" organisations worldwide could lead to spillover risks and potential escalation.
"This increase in malicious cyber activities, in the context of the war against Ukraine, creates unacceptable risks of spillover effects, misinterpretation and possible escalation," the High Representative on behalf of the EU said.
"The latest distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against several EU Member States and partners claimed by pro-Russian hacker groups are yet another example of the heightened and tense cyber threat landscape that EU and its Member States have observed."
In this context, the EU reminded Russia that all United Nations member states must adhere to the UN's Framework of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace to ensure international security and peace.
The EU urged all states to take any actions required to stop malicious cyber activities conducted from their territory.
The EU's statement follows a February joint warning from CISA and the FBI that wiper malware attacks targeting Ukraine could spill over to targets from other countries.
Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) said in late March that it observed phishing attacks orchestrated by the Russian COLDRIVER hacking group against NATO and European military entities.
In May, the US, UK, and EU accused Russia of coordinating a massive cyber attack that hit the KA-SAT consumer-oriented satellite broadband service in Ukraine on February 24 with AcidRain data destroying malware, approximately one hour before Russia invaded Ukraine.
A Microsoft report from June also confirms the EU's observation of an increase in Russian malicious cyber activities. The company's president said that threat groups linked to Russian intelligence agencies (including the GRU, SVR, and FSB) stepped up cyber attacks against government entities in countries allied with Ukraine after Russia's invasion.
In related news, in July 2021, President Joe Biden warned that cyber attacks leading to severe security breaches could lead to a "real shooting war," a statement issued a month after NATO said that cyber attacks could be compared to "armed attacks" in some circumstances.
Critical Flaws in GPS Tracker Enable “Disastrous” and “Life-Threatening” Hacks
A security firm and the US government are advising the public to immediately stop using a popular GPS tracking device or to at least minimise exposure to it, citing a host of vulnerabilities that make it possible for hackers to remotely disable cars while they’re moving, track location histories, disarm alarms, and cut off fuel.
An assessment from security firm BitSight found six vulnerabilities in the Micodus MV720, a GPS tracker that sells for about $20 and is widely available. The researchers who performed the assessment believe the same critical vulnerabilities are present in other Micodus tracker models. The China-based manufacturer says 1.5 million of its tracking devices are deployed across 420,000 customers. BitSight found the device in use in 169 countries, with customers including governments, militaries, law enforcement agencies, and aerospace, shipping, and manufacturing companies.
BitSight discovered what it said were six “severe” vulnerabilities in the device that allow for a host of possible attacks. One flaw is the use of unencrypted HTTP communications that makes it possible for remote hackers to conduct adversary-in-the-middle attacks that intercept or change requests sent between the mobile application and supporting servers. Other vulnerabilities include a flawed authentication mechanism in the mobile app that can allow attackers to access the hardcoded key for locking down the trackers and the ability to use a custom IP address that makes it possible for hackers to monitor and control all communications to and from the device.
Russian Hackers Behind Solarwinds Breach Continue to Scour US And European Organisations for Intel, Researchers Say
The Russian hackers behind a sweeping 2020 breach of US government networks have in recent months continued to hack US organisations to collect intelligence while also targeting an unnamed European government that is a NATO member.
The new findings show how relentless the hacking group — which US officials have linked with Russia's foreign intelligence service — is in its pursuit of intelligence held by the US and its allies, and how adept the hackers are at targeting widely used cloud-computing technologies.
The hacking efforts come as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to fray US-Russia relations and drive intelligence collection efforts from both governments.
In recent months, the hacking group has compromised the networks of US-based organisations that have data of interest to the Russian government.
In separate activity revealed Tuesday, US cyber security firm Palo Alto Networks said that the Russian hacking group had been using popular services like Dropbox and Google Drive to try to deliver malicious software to the embassies of an unnamed European government in Portugal and Brazil in May and June.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/19/politics/russia-solarwinds-hackers/index.html
The Next Big Security Threat Is Staring Us in The Face. Tackling It Is Going to Be Tough
If the ongoing fight against ransomware wasn't keeping security teams busy, along with the challenges of securing the ever-expanding galaxy of Internet of Things devices, or cloud computing, then there's a new challenge on the horizon – protecting against the coming wave of digital imposters or deepfakes.
A deepfake video uses artificial intelligence and deep-learning techniques to produce fake images of people or events.
One recent example is when the mayor of Berlin thought he was having an online meeting with former boxing champion and current mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko. But the mayor of Berlin grew suspicious when 'Klitschko' started saying some very out of character things relating to the invasion of Ukraine, and when the call was interrupted the mayor's office contacted the Ukrainian ambassador to Berlin – to discover that, whoever they were talking to, it wasn't the real Klitschko.
It's a sign that deepfakes are getting more advanced and quickly. Previous instances of deepfake videos that have gone viral often have tell-tale signs that something isn't real, such as unconvincing edits or odd movements, but the developments in deepfake technology mean it isn't difficult to imagine it being exploited by cyber criminals, particularly when it comes to stealing money.
While ransomware might generate more headlines, business email compromise (BEC) is the costliest form of cyber crime today. The FBI estimates that it costs businesses billions of dollars every year. The most common form of BEC attack involves cyber criminals exploiting emails, hacking into accounts belonging to bosses – or cleverly spoofing their email accounts – and asking staff to authorise large financial transactions, which can often amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The emails claim that the money needs to be sent urgently, maybe as part of a secret business deal that can't be disclosed to anyone. It's a classic social-engineering trick designed to force the victim into transferring money quickly and without asking for confirmation from anyone else who could reveal it's a fake request. By the time anyone might be suspicious, the cyber criminals have taken the money, likely closed the bank account they used for the transfer – and run.
BEC attacks are successful, but many people might remain suspicious of an email from their boss that comes out the blue and they could avoid falling victim by speaking to someone to confirm that it's not real. But if cyber criminals could use a deepfake to make the request, it could be much more difficult for victims to deny the request, because they believe they're actually speaking to their boss on camera.
Many companies publicly list their board of directors and senior management on their website. Often, these high-level business executives will have spoken at events or in the media, so it's possible to find footage of them speaking. By using AI-powered deep-learning techniques, cyber criminals could exploit this public information to create a deepfake of a senior-level executive, exploit email vulnerabilities to request a video call with an employee, and then ask them to make the transaction. If the victim believes they're speaking to their CEO or boss, they're unlikely to deny the request.
Threats
Ransomware
Post-Breakup, Conti Ransomware Members Remain Dangerous (darkreading.com)
The Kronos Ransomware Attack: What You Need to Know So Your Business Isn't Next (darkreading.com)
New Luna ransomware encrypts Windows, Linux, and ESXi systems (bleepingcomputer.com)
Digital security giant Entrust breached by ransomware gang (bleepingcomputer.com)
Protecting Against Kubernetes-Borne Ransomware (darkreading.com)
Knauf cyber attack: Black Basta ransomware gang claims responsibility (techmonitor.ai)
New Redeemer ransomware version promoted on hacker forums (bleepingcomputer.com)
Kaspersky report on Luna and Black Basta ransomware | Securelist
New Cross-Platform 'Luna' Ransomware Only Offered to Russian Affiliates | SecurityWeek.Com
Conti’s Reign of Chaos: Costa Rica in the Crosshairs | Threatpost
Researchers uncover potential ransomware network with U.S. connections - CyberScoop
How Conti ransomware hacked and encrypted the Costa Rican government (bleepingcomputer.com)
A small Canadian town is being extorted by a global ransomware gang - The Verge
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Phishing Bonanza: Social-Engineering Savvy Skyrockets as Malicious Actors Cash In (darkreading.com)
Outlook users report suspicious activity from Microsoft IPs • The Register
PayPal Used to Send Malicious “Double Spear” Invoices - Infosecurity Magazine
LinkedIn remains the most impersonated brand in phishing attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Google Calendar provides new way to block invitation phishing (bleepingcomputer.com)
Other Social Engineering
Malware
Hacking group '8220' grows cloud botnet to more than 30,000 hosts (bleepingcomputer.com)
Buy ‘plug-n-play’ malware for the price of a pint of beer (computerweekly.com)
New ‘Lightning Framework’ Linux malware installs rootkits, backdoors (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mobile
Google pulls malware-infected apps, 3 million users at risk • The Register
Roaming Mantis hits Android and iOS users in malware, phishing attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
BYOD
Data Breaches/Leaks
Neopets data breach exposes personal data of 69 million members (bleepingcomputer.com)
Verified Twitter Vulnerability Exposes Data from 5.4 Million Accounts | RestorePrivacy
Mixed Messages as Neopets Scrambles to Respond to Mega Breach - Infosecurity Magazine
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cyber crime escalates as barriers to entry crumble | CSO Online
Understanding the Evolution of Cyber Crime to Predict its Future | SecurityWeek.Com
The growth in targeted, sophisticated cyber attacks troubles top FBI cyber official - CyberScoop
'AIG' Threat Group Launches with Unique Business Model (darkreading.com)
US DOJ report warns of escalating cyber crime, 'blended' threats (techtarget.com)
Chaotic LAPSUS$ Group Goes Quiet, but Threat Likely Persists (darkreading.com)
Last member of Gozi malware troika arrives in US for criminal trial – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Romanian hacker faces US trial over virus-for-hire service - The Verge
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
This Cloud Botnet Has Hijacked 30,000 Systems to Mine Cryptocurrencies (thehackernews.com)
Hackers Use Evilnum Malware to Target Cryptocurrency and Commodities Platforms (thehackernews.com)
Singapore distances itself from local crypto companies • The Register
FBI Warns Fake Crypto Apps are Bilking Investors of Millions | Threatpost
Ex-Coinbase manager charged in crypto insider trading case • The Register
FBI Warns of Fake Cryptocurrency Apps Stealing Millions from Investors (thehackernews.com)
My Big Coin founder guilty of $6m crypto-fraud • The Register
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
AML/CFT/Sanctions
UK Regulator Issues Record Fines as Financial Crime Surges - Infosecurity Magazine
Broker Fined £2m for Financial Crime Control Failings - Infosecurity Magazine
Insurance
82% of global insurers expect the rise in cyber insurance premiums to continue - Help Net Security
Will Your Cyber Insurance Premiums Protect You in Times of War? (darkreading.com)
Dark Web
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Software Supply Chain
Improving Software Supply Chain Cyber Security (trendmicro.com)
Why SBOMs aren't the silver bullet they're portrayed as - Help Net Security
Breaking down CIS's new software supply chain security guidance | CSO Online
Cloud/SaaS
60% of IT leaders are not confident about their secure cloud access - Help Net Security
Public Cloud Customers Admit Security Challenges - Infosecurity Magazine
The New Weak Link in SaaS Security: Devices (thehackernews.com)
Identity and Access Management
Encryption
Open Source
Open source security needs automation as usage climbs amongst organisations | ZDNet
New ‘Lightning Framework’ Linux malware installs rootkits, backdoors (bleepingcomputer.com)
The US military wants to understand the most important software on earth | MIT Technology Review
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
The importance of secure passwords can't be emphasized enough - Help Net Security
3rd Party Services Are Falling Short on Password Security (bleepingcomputer.com)
Okta Exposes Passwords in Clear Text for Possible Theft (darkreading.com)
Enforcing Password History in Your Windows AD to Curb Password Reuse (bleepingcomputer.com)
Social Media
LinkedIn remains the most impersonated brand in phishing attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hacker selling Twitter account data of 5.4 million users for $30k (bleepingcomputer.com)
TikTok Engaging in Excessive Data Collection - Infosecurity Magazine
Privacy
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
UK Regulator Issues Record Fines as Financial Crime Surges - Infosecurity Magazine
Legal Experts Concerned Over New UK Digital Reform Bill - Infosecurity Magazine
Understanding Proposed SEC Rules Through an ESG Lens (darkreading.com)
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
EU warns of risks of spillover effects associated with ongoing war - Security Affairs
US Cyber Command IDs new malware strains targeting Ukraine • The Register
Russian hackers use fake DDoS app to infect pro-Ukrainian activists (bleepingcomputer.com)
Experts Uncover New CloudMensis Spyware Targeting Apple macOS Users (thehackernews.com)
Hackers attempt to infiltrate Ukrainian tech company with backdoor malware, Talos says - CyberScoop
Will Your Cyber-Insurance Premiums Protect You in Times of War? (darkreading.com)
Hackers Target Ukrainian Software Company Using GoMet Backdoor (thehackernews.com)
Copycat DoS App Created by Russian Hackers to Target Ukraine - IT Security Guru
Albanian government websites go dark after cyber attack • The Register
Mysterious, Cloud-Enabled macOS Spyware Blows Onto the Scene (darkreading.com)
Belgium claims China-linked APT groups hit its ministries - Security Affairs
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Google, EU Warn of Malicious Russian Cyber Activity | SecurityWeek.Com
Google warns Kremlin-backed goons pose as pro-Ukraine app • The Register
Russia Released a Ukrainian App for Hacking Russia That Was Actually Malware (vice.com)
Cloaked Ursa (APT29) Hackers Use Trusted Online Storage Services (paloaltonetworks.com)
Russian SVR hackers use Google Drive, Dropbox to evade detection (bleepingcomputer.com)
Russia, Iran discuss broad tech collaboration • The Register
Half of Russian spies in Europe expelled since Ukraine invasion, says MI6 chief | MI6 | The Guardian
Nation State Actors – China
Belgium says Chinese APT gangs attacked its government • The Register
Government blocks Chinese tech deal on national security grounds | Business News | Sky News
Nation State Actors – North Korea
Nation State Actors – Iran
Nation State Actors – Misc APT
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerabilities
Chrome 103 Update Patches High-Severity Vulnerabilities | SecurityWeek.Com
Critical Bugs Threaten to Crack Atlassian Confluence Workspaces Wide Open (darkreading.com)
WordPress Page Builder Plug-in Under Attack, Can't Be Patched (darkreading.com)
SonicWall: Patch critical SQL injection bug immediately (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cisco fixes bug that lets attackers execute commands as root (bleepingcomputer.com)
Atlassian reveals critical flaws across its product line • The Register
Netwrix Auditor Vulnerability Can Facilitate Attacks on Enterprises | SecurityWeek.Com
Azure's Security Vulnerabilities Are Out of Control - Last Week in AWS Blog
Oracle Releases 349 New Security Patches With July 2022 CPU | SecurityWeek.Com
0-day used to infect Chrome users could pose threat to Edge and Safari users, too | Ars Technica
Juniper Networks Patches Over 200 Third-Party Component Vulnerabilities | SecurityWeek.Com
Google Chrome Zero-Day Weaponized to Spy on Journalists (darkreading.com)
Apple Ships Urgent Security Patches for macOS, iOS | SecurityWeek.Com
Juniper Releases Patches for Critical Flaws in Junos OS and Contrail Networking (thehackernews.com)
Code Execution and Other Vulnerabilities Patched in Drupal | SecurityWeek.Com
Atlassian Rolls Out Security Patch for Critical Confluence Vulnerability (thehackernews.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
Other News
Hackers for Hire: Adversaries Employ 'Cyber Mercenaries' | Threatpost
Companies around the globe still not implementing MFA - Help Net Security
Global Firms Fear the Worst Over Risk Management Failures - Infosecurity Magazine
Humans are becoming the primary security risk for organisations around the world - Help Net Security
What threats and challenges are CISOs and CROs most focused on? - Help Net Security
What InfoSec Pros Can Teach the Organisation About ESG (darkreading.com)
SATAn Turns Hard Drive Cable Into Antenna To Defeat Air-Gapped Security | Hackaday
Lack of staff and resources drives smaller teams to outsource security - Help Net Security
Office macro security: on-again-off-again feature now BACK ON AGAIN! – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Removing the blind spots that allow lateral movement - Help Net Security
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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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 11 February 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 11 February 2022:
-UK, US, Australia Issue Joint Advisory: Ransomware on the Loose, Critical National Infrastructure Affected
-Ransomware Groups and APT Actors Laser-Focused on Financial Services
-Why the C-Suite Should Focus on Understanding Cybersecurity and Investing Appropriately
-Almost $1.3bn Paid to Ransomware Actors Since 2020
-Cyber Crooks Frame Targets by Planting Fabricated Digital Evidence
-Highly Evasive Adaptive Threats (HEAT) Bypassing Traditional Security Defenses
-LockBit, BlackCat, Swissport, Oh My! Ransomware Activity Stays Strong
-2021 Was The Most Prolific Year On Record For Data Breaches
-$1.3 Billion Lost to Romance Scams in the Past Five Years
-Cyber Security Compliance Still Not A Priority For Many
-The World is Falling Victim to the Growing Trickbot Attacks in 2022
-“We Absolutely Do Not Care About You”: Sugar Ransomware Targets Individuals
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, US, Australia Issue Joint Advisory: Ransomware on the Loose, Critical National Infrastructure Affected
Firms shelled out $5bn in Bitcoin in 6 months
Ransomware attacks are proliferating as criminals turn to gangs providing turnkey post-compromise services, Britain's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has warned.
In a joint UK-US-Australia advisory issued this week, the three countries said they had "observed an increase in sophisticated, high-impact ransomware incidents against critical infrastructure organisations globally."
The warning comes hot on the heels of several high-profile attacks against oil distribution companies and also businesses that operate ports in the West – though today's note insists there was a move by criminals away from "big game hunting" against US targets.
Among the main threats facing Western organisations were the use of "cybercriminal services-for-hire". These, as detailed in the advisory, include "independent services to negotiate payments, assist victims with making payments, and arbitrate payment disputes between themselves and other cyber criminals."
https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/09/uk_us_au_ransomware_warning/
Ransomware Groups and APT Actors Laser-Focused on Financial Services
Trellix released a report, examining cybercriminal behaviour and activity related to cyber threats in the third quarter (Q3) of 2021. Among its findings, the research reports that despite a community reckoning to ban ransomware activity from online forums, hacker groups used alternate personas to continue to proliferate the use of ransomware against an increasing spectrum of sectors – hitting the financial, utilities and retail sectors most often, accounting for nearly 60% of ransomware detections.
“While we ended 2021 focused on a resurgent pandemic and the revelations around the Log4j vulnerability, our third-quarter deep dive into cyber threat activity found notable new tools and tactics among ransomware groups and advanced global threat actors,” said Trellix.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/02/07/cyber-threats-q3-2021/
Why the C-Suite Should Focus on Understanding Cyber Security and Investing Appropriately
Trend Micro has published a research revealing that persistently low IT/C-suite engagement may imperil investments and expose organisations to increased cyber risk. Over 90% of the IT and business decision makers surveyed expressed particular concern about ransomware attacks.
Despite widespread concern over spiralling threats, the study found that only 57% of responding IT teams discuss cyber risks with the C-suite at least weekly.
Vulnerabilities used to go months or even years before being exploited after their discovery.
“Now it can be hours, or even sooner. More executives than ever understand that they have a responsibility to be informed, but they often feel overwhelmed by how rapidly the cyber security landscape evolves. IT leaders need to communicate with their board in such a way that they can understand where the organisation’s risk is and how they can best manage it.”
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/02/10/c-suite-engagement/
Almost $1.3bn Paid to Ransomware Actors Since 2020
Cryptocurrency experts have identified $602m of ransomware payments made in 2021, but warned the real figure will likely surpass the $692m paid to cybercrime groups in 2020.
The findings come from the Ransomware Crypto Crime Report produced by blockchain investigations and analytics company Chainalysis. It reveals some fascinating insight into current industry trends.
Average payment size has soared over recent years, from $25,000 in 2019 to $88,000 a year later and $118,000 in 2021. That’s due in part to a surge in targeted attacks on major organisations, known as “big-game hunting,” which can net threat actors tens of millions in a single compromise.
“This big-game hunting strategy is enabled in part by ransomware attackers’ usage of tools provided by third-party providers to make their attacks more effective,” the report explained. “Usage of these services by ransomware operators spiked to its highest ever levels in 2021.”
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/almost-13bn-paid-to-ransomware/
Cyber Crooks Frame Targets by Planting Fabricated Digital Evidence
The ‘ModifiedElephant’ threat actors are technically unimpressive, but they’ve evaded detection for a decade, hacking human rights advocates’ systems with dusty old keyloggers and off-the-shelf RATs.
Threat actors are hijacking the devices of India’s human rights lawyers, activists and defenders, planting incriminating evidence to set them up for arrest, researchers warn.
The actor, dubbed ModifiedElephant, has been at it for at least 10 years, and it’s still active. It’s been shafting targets since 2012, if not sooner, going after hundreds of groups and individuals – some repeatedly – according to SentinelLabs researchers.
The operators aren’t what you’d call technical prodigies, but that doesn’t matter. Threat researchers at SentinelOne, said that the advanced persistent threat (APT) group – which may be tied to the commercial surveillance industry – has been muddling along just fine using rudimentary hacking tools such as commercially available remote-access trojans (RATs)
https://threatpost.com/cybercrooks-frame-targets-plant-incriminating-evidence/178384/
Highly Evasive Adaptive Threats (HEAT) Bypassing Traditional Security Defences
Menlo Security announced it has identified a surge in cyberthreats, termed Highly Evasive Adaptive Threats (HEAT), that bypass traditional security defences.
HEAT attacks are a class of cyber threats targeting web browsers as the attack vector and employs techniques to evade detection by multiple layers in current security stacks including firewalls, Secure Web Gateways, sandbox analysis, URL Reputation, and phishing detection. HEAT attacks are used to deliver malware or to compromise credentials, that in many cases leads to ransomware attacks.
In an analysis of almost 500,000 malicious domains, the research team discovered that 69% of these websites used HEAT tactics to deliver malware. These attacks allow bad actors to deliver malicious content to the endpoint by adapting to the targeted environment. Since July 2021, there was a 224% increase in HEAT attacks.
“With the abrupt move to remote working in 2020, every organisation had to pivot to a work from an anywhere model and accelerate their migration to cloud-based applications. An industry report found that 75% of the working day is spent in a web browser, which has quickly become the primary attack surface for threat actors, ransomware and other attacks. The industry has seen an explosion in the number and sophistication of these highly evasive attacks and most businesses are unprepared and lack the resources to prevent them,” said Menlo Security.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/02/08/cyberthreats-bypass-security-defences/
LockBit, BlackCat, Swissport, Oh My! Ransomware Activity Stays Strong
However, groups are rebranding and recalibrating their profiles and tactics to respond to law enforcement and the security community’s focus on stopping ransomware attacks.
Law enforcement, C-suite executives and the cyber security community at-large have been laser-focused on stopping the expensive and disruptive barrage of ransomware attacks — and it appears to be working, at least to some extent. Nonetheless, recent moves from the LockBit 2.0 and BlackCat gangs, plus this weekend’s hit on the Swissport airport ground-logistics company, shows the scourge is far from over.
It’s more expensive and riskier than ever to launch ransomware attacks, and ransomware groups have responded by mounting fewer attacks with higher ransomware demands, Coveware has reported, finding that the average ransomware payment in the fourth quarter of last year climbed by 130 percent to reach $322,168. Likewise, Coveware found a 63 percent jump in the median ransom payment, up to $117,116.
“Average and median ransom payments increased dramatically during Q4, but we believe this change was driven by a subtle tactical shift by ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operations that reflected the increasing costs and risks previously described,” Coveware analysts said. “The tactical shift involves a deliberate attempt to extort companies that are large enough to pay a ‘big game’ ransom amount but small enough to keep attack operating costs and resulting media and law enforcement attention low.”
https://threatpost.com/lockbit-blackcat-swissport-ransomware-activity/178261/
2021 Was The Most Prolific Year On Record For Data Breaches
Spirion released a guide which provides a detailed look at sensitive data breaches in 2021 derived from analysis conducted against the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) database of publicly reported data breaches in the United States.
The guide is based on the analysis of more than 1,500 data incidents that occurred in the United States during 2021 that specifically involved sensitive data, including personally identifiable information (PII). The report identifies the top sensitive data breaches by the number of individuals impacted, number of records compromised, threat actor, exposure vector, and types of sensitive data exposed by industry sector.
2021 was the most prolific year on record for data breaches, surpassing 2017’s all-time high. Last year a total of 1,862 data compromises were reported by US organisations—a 68 percent increase over 2020. ITRC data revealed that 83% of the year’s incidents exposed 889 million sensitive data records that impacted more than 150 million individuals.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/02/09/2021-sensitive-data-breaches/
$1.3 Billion Lost to Romance Scams in the Past Five Years
Romance scams are reaching record-highs, regulators warn.
Netflix's new documentary, The Tinder Swindler, is a wild ride.
The show examines how an alleged fraudster impacted the lives of multiple women, matching with them on Tinder and treating them to expensive dates to gain their trust -- and eventually asking for huge sums of money.
While you may watch the show and wonder how someone -- no matter their gender -- could allow themselves to be swindled out of their savings, romance scams are common, breaking hearts and wiping bank balances around the world every day.
We've moved on from the days of "lonely hearts" columns to dating apps, and they're popular channels to conduct fraud.
Fake profiles, stolen photos and videos, and sob stories from fraudsters (their car has broken down, they can't afford to meet a match, or, in The Tinder Swindler's case, their "enemies" are after them) are all weapons designed to secure interest and sympathy.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/1-3-billion-lost-to-romance-scams-in-the-past-five-years-ftc/
Cyber Security Compliance Still Not A Priority For Many
IBM survey suggests that cyber security still isn't a priority for many companies
The most consistent data point in the IBM i Marketplace Survey Results over recent years has been the ever-present cyber security threat. This year is no exception. The study shows that 62% of organisations consider cyber security a number one concern as they plan their IT infrastructure. 22% cite regulations and compliance in their top five. While companies that prioritise security seem to be implementing multiple solutions, it’s still alarming that nearly half of them do not plan to implement them.
The complexity of cyber security often leaves industry leaders confused and overwhelmed, unable to produce the sound, proactive stance that is so essential.
Cyber security standards can be confusing, but they are necessary. Tighter security can be encouraged with an understanding of cyber security guidelines
For many organisations, cyber security standards are just too complex to wrap their hands around, but that doesn’t mean it’s not necessary. Understanding how cyber security guidelines affect companies’ legal standing can help encourage tighter security.
https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/02/07/cybersecurity-compliance-still-not-a-priority-for-many/
The World is Falling Victim to the Growing Trickbot Attacks in 2022
The malware goons are back again. The cybercrime operators behind the notorious TrickBot malware have once again upped the ante by fine-tuning its techniques by adding multiple layers of defence to slip past antimalware products.
TrickBot, which started out as a banking trojan, has evolved into a multi-purpose crimeware-as-a-service (CaaS) that’s employed by a variety of actors to deliver additional payloads such as ransomware. Over 100 variations of TrickBot have been identified to date, one of which is a “Trickboot” module that can modify the UEFI firmware of a compromised device. In the fall of 2020, Microsoft along with a handful of U.S. government agencies and private security companies teamed up to tackle the TrickBot botnet, taking down much of its infrastructure across the world in a bid to stymie its operations. But TrickBot has proven to be impervious to takedown attempts, what with the operators quickly adjusting their techniques to propagate multi-stage malware through phishing and malspam attacks, not to mention expanding their distribution channels by partnering with other affiliates like Shathak (aka TA551) to increase scale and drive profits.
Russian-based criminals behind the notorious malware known as Trickbot appear to be working overtime to upgrade the threat’s capabilities. Researchers announced last week the discovery of new malware components that enable monitoring and intelligence gathering on victims. The research findings include the detection of a VNC module that uses a custom communications protocol to obfuscate any data being transmitted between the command-and-control (C2) servers and the victims, making the attacks harder to find. The module is in active development and is being updated by criminals at a rapid pace.
“We Absolutely Do Not Care About You”: Sugar Ransomware Targets Individuals
Ransomware tends to target organisations. Corporations not only house a trove of valuable data they can’t function without, but they are also expected to cough up a considerable amount of ransom money in exchange for their encrypted files. And while corporations struggle to keep up with attacks, ransomware groups have left the average consumer relatively untouched—until now.
Sugar ransomware, a new strain recently discovered by the Walmart Security Team, is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) that targets single computers and (likely) small businesses, too. Sugar, also known to many as Encoded01, has been in operation since November 2021.
Threats
Ransomware
NCSC Joins US and Australian Partners to Reveal Latest Ransomware Trends - NCSC.GOV.UK
Russian Ransomware Attacks Increased During 2021, Joint Review Finds | Cybercrime | The Guardian
FBI: Watch Out For LockBit 2.0 Ransomware, Here's How To Reduce The Risk To Your Network | ZDNet
Law Enforcement Action Push Ransomware Gangs To Surgical Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Europe's Biggest Car Dealer Hit With Ransomware Attack | ZDNet
Swissport Ransomware Incident Delayed Flights - Infosecurity Magazine
How a Texas Hack Changed the Ransomware Business Forever - The Record by Recorded Future
Puma Hit By Data Breach After Kronos Ransomware Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Vodafone Portugal Hit By A Massive Cyber Attack - Security Affairs
Fortune 500 Service Provider Says Ransomware Attack Led To Leak Of More Than 500k SSNs | ZDNet
Phishing
Hackers Using Fake Job Offers in Latest Catfishing Scheme - ClearanceJobs
Threat Actors Revive 20-Year-Old Tactic in Microsoft 365 Phishing Attacks (darkreading.com)
ICO Hit by 2650% Rise in Email Attacks - Infosecurity Magazine
Other Social Engineering
Roaming Mantis SMSishing Campaign Now Targets Europe - Security Affairs
FBI: SIM Swapping Attacks Have Surged Five-Fold - Infosecurity Magazine
Malware
Qbot Needs Only 30 Minutes To Steal Your Credentials, Emails (bleepingcomputer.com)
Linux Malware Attacks Are On The Rise, And Businesses Aren't Ready For It | ZDNet
This Password-Stealing Malware Posed As A Windows 11 Download | ZDNet
Several Malware Families Using Pay-Per-Install Service to Expand Their Targets (thehackernews.com)
Qbot, Lokibot Malware Switch Back To Windows Regsvr32 Delivery (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mobile
Medusa Malware Joins Flubot's Android Distribution Network | Threatpost
Critical Android 12 Bug Fixed In February Security Patches • The Register
Data Breaches/Leaks
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Supply Chain
DoS/DDoS
Nation State Actors
Russian APT Steps Up Malicious Cyber Activity in Ukraine (darkreading.com)
Iran Malware in HPE Server Stuns Cyber Security Experts - Bloomberg
Iranian Hackers Using New Marlin Backdoor in 'Out to Sea' Espionage Campaign (thehackernews.com)
Cloud
Privacy
Meta Threatens to Shut Down Facebook and Instagram in Europe | The Independent
Facebook Exposes 'God Mode' Token Miscreants Could Use • The Register
Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare
Vulnerabilities
Microsoft, Oracle, Apache and Apple vulnerabilities added to CISA catalog | ZDNet
CISA Says 'HiveNightmare' Windows Vulnerability Exploited in Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Microsoft Fixes Defender Flaw Letting Hackers Bypass Antivirus Scans (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft and Other Major Software Firms Release February 2022 Patch Updates (thehackernews.com)
Apple Patches New Zero-Day Exploited To Hack iPhones, iPads, Macs (bleepingcomputer.com)
CISA Urges Orgs To Patch Actively Exploited Windows SeriousSAM Bug (bleepingcomputer.com)
CISA Warns Admins To Patch Maximum Severity SAP Vulnerability (bleepingcomputer.com)
Adobe Patches 13 Vulnerabilities in Illustrator | SecurityWeek.Com
PHP Everywhere RCE Flaws Threaten Thousands of WordPress Sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Sector Specific
Financial Services Sector
Defence
Health/Medical/Pharma Sector
Retail/eCommerce
Wave of MageCart Attacks Target Hundreds Of Outdated Magento Sites (bleepingcomputer.com)
Threat Actors Compromised +500 Magento-Based E-Stores With E-Skimmers - Security Affairs
Transport and Aviation
Education and Academia
Other News
A "light" February 2022 Patch Tuesday That Should Not Be Ignored - Help Net Security
Organisations Still Struggling To Use APIs Effectively - Help Net Security
Threat Hunting: Your Best Defence Against Unknown Threats - MSSP Alert
UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Suffered Serious Cyber Attack Earlier This Year | Reuters
European Police Flag 500+ Pieces of “Terrorist” Content - Infosecurity Magazine
A Quarter of New Online Accounts Are Fake – Report - Infosecurity Magazine
Microsoft To Make Enabling 'Untrusted' Office Macros Tougher In The Name Of Security | ZDNet
Cyber Terrorism Is a Growing Threat & Governments Must Take Action (darkreading.com)
Hackers Have Begun Adapting To Wider Use Of Multi-Factor Authentication | TechRepublic
The Race To Save The Internet From Quantum Hackers (nature.com)
Disaster Recovery Is Critical For Business Continuity - Help Net Security
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