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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 10 February 2023
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 10 February 2023:
-Companies Banned from Paying Hackers After Attacks on Royal Mail and Guardian
-Fraud Set to Be Upgraded as a Threat to National Security
-98% of Attacks are Not Reported by Employees to their Employers
-UK Second Most Targeted Nation Behind America for Ransomware
-Financial Institutions are Suffering from Increasingly Sophisticated Cyber Attacks
-An Email Attack Can End Up Costing You Over $1 Million
-Cyber Crime Shows No Signs of Slowing Down
-Surge of Swatting Attacks Targets Corporate Executive and Board Members
-Phishing Surges Ahead, as ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence Loom
-Pro-Russian Hacktivist Group is Only Getting Started, Experts Warn
-Crypto Investors Lost Nearly $4 Billion to Hackers in 2022
-PayPal and Twitter Abused in Turkey Relief Donation Scams
-Mysterious Leak of Booking.com Reservation Data is Being Used to Scam Customers
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 Companies Banned from Paying Ransomware Hackers After Attacks on Royal Mail and Guardian
British companies have been banned from paying ransomware hackers after a spate of attacks on businesses including Royal Mail and the Guardian newspaper.
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Thursday unveiled sanctions on seven Russian hackers linked to a gang called Conti, effectively banning any payments to the group.
Thursday’s sanctions are the first of their kind to be specifically targeted against Russian ransomware gang members.
The actions follow a spate of high-profile attacks on businesses and amid warnings from GCHQ that Russian and Iranian hackers are stepping up actions in Britain.
Fraud Set to Be Upgraded as a Threat to National Security
Fraud is to be reclassified as a threat to national security under UK government plans that will force police chiefs to devote more officers to solving the crime.
It will be elevated to the same status as terrorism, with chief constables mandated to increase resources and combine capabilities in a new effort to combat a fraud epidemic that now accounts for 30 per cent of all crime.
It will be added to the strategic policing requirement, which means that forces will be required by ministers to treat fraud as a major priority alongside not only terrorism, but also public disorder, civil emergencies, serious and organised crime, cyber attacks and child sexual abuse.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/04/fraud-set-upgraded-threat-national-security/
98% of Attacks are Not Reported by Employees to their Employers
Cyber attackers are increasingly using social engineering tactics to lure employees into opening malicious emails in an attempt to trick them into providing login credentials, updating bank account information and paying fraudulent invoices. Worryingly, research conducted by security provider Abnormal has found that 98% of attacks on organisations are not reported to the organisation’s security team. In addition to this, the report found that the volume of business email compromise attacks are spiking, growing by 175% over the past two years. The report also found that nearly two-thirds of large enterprises experiencing a supply chain compromise attack in the second half of 2022.
UK Second Most Targeted Nation Behind America for Ransomware
Security research team Kraken Labs released their report earlier this week, which found that of the 101 different countries that registered victims of ransomware, the UK had registered the second highest number of victims behind the US. Currently, there are over 60 ransomware groups, with the top 3 accounting for a third of all ransomware attacks.
Financial Institutions are Suffering from Increasingly Sophisticated Cyber Attacks
This week security provider Contrast Security released its Cyber Bank Heists report, an annual report that exposes cyber security threats facing the financial sector. The report warns financial institutions that security must be a top-of-mind issue amid rising geopolitical tensions, increased destructive attacks utilising wipers and a record-breaking year of zero-day exploits. The report involved a series of interviews with financial sector security leaders and found some notable results. Some of the results include 64% of leaders seeing an increase in application attacks, 72% of respondents planning to increase investment in application security in 2023, 60% of respondents falling victim to destructive attacks and 50% of organisations detecting campaigns which aimed to steal non-public market information.
An Email Attack Can End Up Costing You Over $1 Million
According to a report by security provider Barracuda Network, 75% of organisations had fallen victim to at least one successful email attack in the last 12 months, with those affected facing potential costs of over $1 million for their most expensive attack. The fallout from an email security attack can be significant, with the report finding 44% of those hit had faced significant downtime and business disruption. Additionally financial services greatly impacted by the loss of valuable data (59%) and payments made to attackers (51%). When it came to organisations preparation, 30% felt underprepared when dealing with account takeover and 28% felt unprepared for dealing with business email compromise.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/02/10/email-attack-damage-1-million/
Cyber Crime Shows No Signs of Slowing Down
Global risks from population pressures and climate change to political conflicts and industrial supply chain challenges characterised 2022. Cyber criminals used this turmoil to exploit these trending topics, including significant events, public affairs, social causes, and anywhere else opportunity appeared. According to security researchers at Zscaler TheatLabz, 2023 will see a rise in Crime-as-a-service (CaaS), supply chains will be bigger targets than ever, there will be a greater need for defence in depth as endpoint protection will not be enough and finally, there will be a decrease in the time between initial compromise and the final stage of an attack.
https://www.darkreading.com/zscaler/cybercrime-shows-no-signs-of-slowing-down
Surge of Swatting Attacks Targets Corporate Executive and Board Members
Swatting is the act of deceiving an emergency service with the purpose of the service then sending an emergency response, often armed, to a targeted persons address. Security provider Black Cloak has found that swatting incidents are now beginning to target C-suite executives and corporate board members, with the number of incidents increasing over the last few months. Malicious actors are using information from the dark web, company websites and property records to construct their swatting attacks.
Phishing Surges Ahead, as ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence Loom
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making it easier for threat actors to create sophisticated and malicious email campaigns. In their report, security provider Vade found that Q4 of 2022 saw a 36% volume increase in phishing campaigns compared to the previous quarter, with over 278.3 million unique phishing emails in that period. The researchers found in particular, new AI tools such as ChatGPT had made it easy for anyone, including those with limited skills, to conduct a sophisticated phishing campaign. Furthermore, the ability of ChatGPT to tailor phishing to different languages is an area for concern.
https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/bolstered-chatgpt-tools-phishing-surged-ahead
Pro-Russian Hacktivist Group is Only Getting Started, Experts Warn
A pro-Russian hacktivist group's low-level distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on US critical infrastructure could be a precursor to more serious cyber attacks, health care and security officials warned this week. A DDoS attack involves overwhelming a targeted service, service or network with traffic in an attempt to disrupt it. Earlier this week Killnet, a politically motivated Russian hacking group, overloaded and took down some US healthcare organisations. The attack came after threatening western healthcare organisations for the continued NATO support of Ukraine.
https://www.axios.com/2023/02/03/killnet-russian-hackers-attacks
Crypto Investors Lost Nearly $4 Billion to Hackers in 2022
Last year marked the worst year on record for cryptocurrency hacks, according to analytic firm Chainalysis’ latest report. According to the report, hackers stole $3.8 billion in 2022, up from $3.3 billion the previous year. De-centralised finance products, which are products that have no requirement for an intermediary or middle-man accounted for about 82% of all crypto stolen.
PayPal and Twitter Abused in Turkey Relief Donation Scams
Scammers are now exploiting the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Turkey and Syria. This time, stealing donations by abusing legitimate platforms such as PayPal and Twitter. It has been identified that multiple scams are running which call for fundraising, linking the victim to a legitimate PayPal site. The money however, is kept by the scammer.
Mysterious Leak of Booking.com Reservation Data is Being Used to Scam Customers
For almost 5 years, Booking.com customers have been on the receiving end of a continuous series of scams that demonstrate criminals have obtained travel plans amongst other personally identifiable information that were provided to Booking.com. The scams have involved users receiving fake emails purporting to be from Booking.com with genuine travel details that victims had provided. These emails contain links to malicious URL’s that look nearly identical to the Booking.com website. These then display the victim’s expected travel information, requiring them to input their card details. Some of the scams have developed and involve scammers sending WhatsApp messages after payment has been made, purporting to be from hotels which have been booked by the victims.
Threats
Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks
UK/US cyber crime crackdown sees 7 ransomware criminals sanctioned | CSO Online
US, UK Slap Sanctions on Trickbot Cyber crime Gang - SecurityWeek
UK second most targeted nation behind America for Ransomware - IT Security Guru
Hackers who breached ION say ransom paid; company declines comment | Reuters
New Wave of Ransomware Attacks Exploiting VMware Bug to Target ESXi Servers (thehackernews.com)
Massive ESXiArgs ransomware attack targets VMware ESXi servers worldwide (bleepingcomputer.com)
Royal Ransomware adds support for encrypting Linux, VMware ESXi systems-security affairs
Ongoing VMware ESXi Ransomware Attack Highlights Inherent Virtualisation Risks (darkreading.com)
Lessons Learned on Ransomware Prevention from the Rackspace Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
ESXiArgs Ransomware Hits Over 3,800 Servers as Hackers Continue Improving Malware - SecurityWeek
Ransomware Revolution: 4 Types of Cyber Risks in 2023 (trendmicro.com)
Hypervisor patching struggles exacerbate ESXiArgs attacks | TechTarget
Linux version of Royal Ransomware targets VMware ESXi servers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nevada Ransomware has released upgraded locker - Help Net Security
Italy, France and Singapore Warn of a Spike in ESXI Ransomware-security affairs
Massive ransomware attack targets VMware ESXi servers worldwide | CSO Online
LockBit ransomware gang claims Royal Mail cyber ttack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Medusa botnet returns as a Mirai-based variant with ransomware sting (bleepingcomputer.com)
New Linux variant of Clop Ransomware uses a flawed encryption-security affairs
After Hive takedown, could the LockBit ransomware crew be the next to fall? | CyberScoop
Russia-Linked Ransomware Gang Claims Responsibility for Royal Mail Attack (gizmodo.com)
Largest Canadian bookstore Indigo shuts down site after cyber ttack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers hit Vesuvius, UK engineering company shuts down affected systems • Graham Cluley
MKS Instruments falls victim to ransomware attack | CSO Online
North Korea ransomware targets hospitals to fund digital spycraft, US agencies warn | CyberScoop
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Phishing Surges Ahead, as ChatGPT & AI Loom (darkreading.com)
Employees Fail to Report 98% of Email Cyber Hacks To Security Teams, Study Finds - MSSP Alert
An email attack can end up costing you over $1 million - Help Net Security
What SOCs Need to Know About Water Dybbuk A BEC Actor Using Open-Source Toolkits (trendmicro.com)
How Can ChatGPT Make It Easier to Boost Phishing Scams? (analyticsinsight.net)
Cyber criminals exploit volatile job market for targeted email attacks - Help Net Security
'Phishing-as-a-service' kits drive uptick in theft: One business owner's story (cnbc.com)
Malicious Google ads sneak AWS phishing sites into search results (bleepingcomputer.com)
NewsPenguin Goes Phishing for Maritime & Military Secrets (darkreading.com)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Malware
Hacker develops new 'Screenshotter' malware to find high-value targets (bleepingcomputer.com)
Threat group targets over 1,000 companies with screenshotting and infostealing malware | CSO Online
ESXiArgs Ransomware Hits Over 3,800 Servers as Hackers Continue Improving Malware - SecurityWeek
Android mobile devices from top vendors in China have pre-installed malware-security affairs
Hackers backdoor Windows devices in Sliver and BYOVD attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
GuLoader Malware Using Malicious NSIS Executables to Target E-Commerce Industry (thehackernews.com)
Novel Banking Trojan 'PixPirate' Targets Brazil - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
New QakNote attacks push QBot malware via Microsoft OneNote files (bleepingcomputer.com)
Gootkit Malware Adopts New Tactics to Attack Healthcare and Finance Firms (thehackernews.com)
Mobile
Android mobile devices from top vendors in China have pre-installed malware-security affairs
Fraudulent "CryptoRom" Apps Slip Through Apple and Google App Store Review Process - SecurityWeek
Android phones from Chinese vendors share private data • The Register
'Money Lover' Finance App Exposes User Data (darkreading.com)
Xiaomi, OnePlus, Top Android Phones in China Spy on You: Study (gizmodo.com)
Android 14 to block malware from abusing sensitive permissions (bleepingcomputer.com)
UK Proposes Making the Sale and Possession of Encrypted Phones Illegal (vice.com)
Android's February 2023 Updates Patch 40 Vulnerabilities - SecurityWeek
Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS
Here's a list of proxy IPs to help block KillNet's DDoS bots • The Register
Tor and I2P networks hit by wave of ongoing DDoS attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Experts published a list of proxy IPs used by the group Killnet-security affairs
Internet of Things – IoT
Medusa botnet returns as a Mirai-based variant with ransomware sting (bleepingcomputer.com)
Security manufacturer’s smart cameras went dark for two hours (mybroadband.co.za)
Vulnerability Allows Hackers to Remotely Tamper With Dahua Security Cameras - SecurityWeek
NIST Picks IoT Standard for Small Electronics Cyber security (darkreading.com)
Data Breaches/Leaks
Swiss authorities open criminal probe into bank data breaches | Financial Times (ft.com)
Mysterious leak of Booking.com reservation data is being used to scam customers | Ars Technica
TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate confirm data breach affecting 20M customers (bleepingcomputer.com)
20 Million Users Impacted by Data Breach at Instant Checkmate, TruthFinder - SecurityWeek
Over 12% of analysed online stores expose private data, backups (bleepingcomputer.com)
'Money Lover' Finance App Exposes User Data (darkreading.com)
Reddit Suffers Security Breach Exposing Internal Documents and Source Code (thehackernews.com)
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Crypto – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Minister: Cyber crimes Now 20% of Spain’s Registered Offenses - SecurityWeek
Finland’s Most-Wanted Hacker Nabbed in France – Krebs on Security
Australian Man Sentenced for Scam Related to Optus Hack - SecurityWeek
Bungling Optus scammer was no criminal mastermind • Graham Cluley
Dark Web Market Revenues Sink 50% in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Crypto investors lost nearly $4 billion to hackers in 2022 (cnbc.com)
Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Crypto – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Avraham Eisenberg in court accused of crypto exchange crash • The Register
Crypto Drainers Are Ready to Ransack Investor Wallets (darkreading.com)
How Cyber criminals Are Operationalising Money Laundering and What to Do About It (darkreading.com)
FTX Being Advised by Cyber security Firm Sygnia on Hack Inquiry, CEO Ray Says (coindesk.com)
Scammers steal $4 million in crypto during in-person meeting • The Register
Enigma Stealer Targets Cryptocurrency Industry with Fake Jobs (trendmicro.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Another RAC staffer nabbed for sharing road accident data • The Register
Ex-Ubiquiti worker pleads guilty to data theft, extortion, and smear plot (bitdefender.com)
Cyber Hygiene: How to get buy-in from employees (trendmicro.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
PayPal and Twitter abused in Turkey relief donation scams (bleepingcomputer.com)
Working from home is fuelling fraud epidemic, warn managers (telegraph.co.uk)
Mysterious leak of Booking.com reservation data is being used to scam customers | Ars Technica
As V-Day nears: Romance scams cost victims $1.3B last year • The Register
What CISOs Can Do About Brand Impersonation Scam Sites (darkreading.com)
Father killed himself after falling victim to romance scam | News | The Times
'Brushing' scams send people free items, but could be a warning sign about a data breach - ABC News
Fraudulent "CryptoRom" Apps Slip Through Apple and Google App Store Review Process - SecurityWeek
How Cyber criminals Are Operationalising Money Laundering and What to Do About It (darkreading.com)
Banks leave doors open for scammers with flaws in online security | This is Money
Trio Arrested in COVID PPE Fraud Probe - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Twitter restricted in Turkey after the earthquake amid disinformation fear-security affairs
Impersonation Attacks
What CISOs Can Do About Brand Impersonation Scam Sites (darkreading.com)
HTML smuggling campaigns impersonate well-known brands to deliver malware | CSO Online
AML/CFT/Sanctions
How Cyber criminals Are Operationalising Money Laundering and What to Do About It (darkreading.com)
UK/US cyber crime crackdown sees 7 ransomware criminals sanctioned | CSO Online
US, UK Slap Sanctions on Trickbot Cyber crime Gang - SecurityWeek
Insurance
Tackling the New Cyber Insurance Requirements: Can Your Organisation Comply? (thehackernews.com)
How to Optimise Your Cyber Insurance Coverage (darkreading.com)
Dark Web
BlackSprut: Darknet Drug Market Advertises On Billboards In Moscow (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Dark Web Market Revenues Sink 50% in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Have we learnt nothing from SolarWinds supply chain attacks? • The Register
Vulnerability Provided Access to Toyota Supplier Management Network - SecurityWeek
Software Supply Chain
Cloud/SaaS
Cloud Apps Still Demand Way More Privileges Than They Use (darkreading.com)
Amazon S3 to apply security best practices for all new buckets - Help Net Security
Why Some Cloud Services Vulnerabilities Are So Hard to Fix (darkreading.com)
Malicious Google ads sneak AWS phishing sites into search results (bleepingcomputer.com)
7 Critical Cloud Threats Facing the Enterprise in 2023 (darkreading.com)
Hybrid/Remote Working
Working from home is fuelling fraud epidemic, warn managers (telegraph.co.uk)
Predictions For Securing Today's Hybrid Workforce (darkreading.com)
Identity and Access Management
Encryption
It Isn't Time to Worry About Quantum Computing Just Yet (darkreading.com)
UK Proposes Making the Sale and Possession of Encrypted Phones Illegal (vice.com)
API
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Biometrics
Social Media
Twitter Implements API Paywall, but Will That Solve Its Enormous Bot Crisis? (darkreading.com)
Twitter restricted in Turkey after the earthquake amid disinformation fear-security affairs
Malvertising
Training, Education and Awareness
Cyber Hygiene: How to get buy-in from employees (trendmicro.com)
Infosec Launches New Office Comedy Themed Security Awareness Training Series (darkreading.com)
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Corporate ‘privacy’ concerns must not derail Europe’s Data Act | Financial Times (ft.com)
While governments pass privacy laws, companies struggle to change - Help Net Security
Prioritising Cyber security Regulation Harmonisation (darkreading.com)
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Quarter of CFOs Have Suffered $1m+ Breaches - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Swiss authorities open criminal probe into bank data breaches | Financial Times (ft.com)
Trends that impact on organisations' 2023 security priorities - Help Net Security
With TikTok Bans, the Time for Operational Governance Is Now (darkreading.com)
Optimising Cyber security Investments in a Constrained Spending Environment (darkreading.com)
Surge of swatting attacks targets corporate executives and board members | CSO Online
Lessons From the Cold War: How Quality Trumps Quantity in Cyber security (darkreading.com)
Cyber Hygiene: How to get buy-in from employees (trendmicro.com)
Models, Frameworks and Standards
Data Protection
Corporate ‘privacy’ concerns must not derail Europe’s Data Act | Financial Times (ft.com)
While governments pass privacy laws, companies struggle to change - Help Net Security
Regulator Halts AI Chatbot Over GDPR Concerns - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
European Police Arrest 42 After Cracking Covert App - SecurityWeek
Eurocops shut down Exclu encrypted messaging app • The Register
Finnish psychotherapy extortion suspect arrested in France – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
Xiaomi, OnePlus, Top Android Phones in China Spy on You: Study (gizmodo.com)
Steps To Planning And Implementation Of Data Privacy (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
ChatGPT is a data privacy nightmare, and we ought to be concerned | Ars Technica
Artificial Intelligence
Adversaries Using OpenAI’s ChatGPT Chatbot for Cyber Attacks? Here are Some Clues - MSSP Alert
Phishing Surges Ahead, as ChatGPT & AI Loom (darkreading.com)
IT Leaders Reveal Cyber Fears Around ChatGPT - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
How Can ChatGPT Make It Easier to Boost Phishing Scams? (analyticsinsight.net)
ChatGPT's potential to aid attackers puts IT pros on high alert - Help Net Security
Hackers are selling a service that bypasses ChatGPT restrictions on malware | Ars Technica
ChatGPT is a data privacy nightmare, and we ought to be concerned | Ars Technica
Jailbreak Trick Breaks ChatGPT Content Safeguards (darkreading.com)
Regulator Halts AI Chatbot Over GDPR Concerns - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Google's Bard AI bot mistake wipes $100bn off shares - BBC News
$120bn wiped off Google after Bard AI chatbot gives wrong answer (telegraph.co.uk)
Why ChatGPT Isn't a Death Sentence for Cyber Defenders (darkreading.com)
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Pro-Russian hacktivist group Killnet could just be getting started (axios.com)
Yes, CISOs should be concerned about the types of data spy balloons can intercept | CSO Online
Android mobile devices from top vendors in China have pre-installed malware-security affairs
China sharply rebukes US over decision to shoot down spy balloon | Financial Times (ft.com)
Here's a list of proxy IPs to help block KillNet's DDoS bots • The Register
What is hybrid warfare? Inside the centre dealing with modern threats - BBC News
DPRK Using Unpatched Zimbra Devices to Spy on Researchers (darkreading.com)
Russian hackers using new Graphiron information stealer in Ukraine (bleepingcomputer.com)
The impact of Russia's Ukraine invasion on digital threats - Help Net Security
Russian Hackers Steal Data In Ukraine With New Graphiron Malware (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Spies, Hackers, Informants: How China Snoops on the US - SecurityWeek
US teases new China tech sanctions to deflate balloon-makers • The Register
Nation State Actors
Pro-Russian hacktivist group Killnet could just be getting started (axios.com)
With TikTok Bans, the Time for Operational Governance Is Now (darkreading.com)
Yes, CISOs should be concerned about the types of data spy balloons can intercept | CSO Online
Android mobile devices from top vendors in China have pre-installed malware-security affairs
China sharply rebukes US over decision to shoot down spy balloon | Financial Times (ft.com)
Microsoft: Iran Unit Behind Charlie Hebdo Hack-and-Leak Op - SecurityWeek
Here's a list of proxy IPs to help block KillNet's DDoS bots • The Register
Android phones from Chinese vendors share private data • The Register
DPRK Using Unpatched Zimbra Devices to Spy on Researchers (darkreading.com)
SNP MP Stewart McDonald's emails hacked by Russian group - BBC News
Australia to remove Chinese surveillance cameras amid security fears - BBC News
Russian hackers using new Graphiron information stealer in Ukraine (bleepingcomputer.com)
Xiaomi, OnePlus, Top Android Phones in China Spy on You: Study (gizmodo.com)
UN Experts: North Korean Hackers Stole Record Virtual Assets - SecurityWeek
Mysterious Russian satellites are now breaking apart in low-Earth orbit | Ars Technica
The impact of Russia's Ukraine invasion on digital threats - Help Net Security
Russian Hackers Steal Data In Ukraine With New Graphiron Malware (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Experts published a list of proxy IPs used by the group Killnet-security affairs
NewsPenguin Goes Phishing for Maritime & Military Secrets (darkreading.com)
US teases new China tech sanctions to deflate balloon-makers • The Register
North Korea ransomware targets hospitals to fund digital spycraft, US agencies warn | Cyber scoop
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerabilities and exposures to rise to 1,900 a month in 2023: Coalition | CSO Online
Patching & Passwords Lead the Problem Pack for Cyber-Teams (darkreading.com)
Hypervisor patching struggles exacerbate ESXiArgs attacks | TechTarget
How to fix the top 5 cyber security vulnerabilities | TechTarget
20 Powerful Vulnerability Scanning Tools In 2023 (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Vulnerabilities
High-Severity Privilege Escalation Vulnerability Patched in VMware Workstation - SecurityWeek
New Wave of Ransomware Attacks Exploiting VMware Bug to Target ESXi Servers (thehackernews.com)
GoAnywhere MFT Users Warned of Zero-Day Exploit - SecurityWeek
Serious security hole plugged in infosec tool binwalk | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)
Cisco fixed command injection bug in IOx Application Hosting Environment-security affairs
Vulnerability In F5 BIG-IP May Cause DoS And Code Execution (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
GoAnywhere MFT zero-day flaw actively exploited-security affairs
Exploitation attempts for Oracle E-Business Suite flaw observed after PoC release-security affairs
Critical vulnerability patched in Jira Service Management Server and Data Center | CSO Online
Warning: Hackers Actively Exploiting Zero-Day in Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT (thehackernews.com)
Exploit released for actively exploited GoAnywhere MFT zero-day (bleepingcomputer.com)
Patch Released for Actively Exploited GoAnywhere MFT Zero-Day - SecurityWeek
Unpatched Security Flaws Disclosed in Multiple Document Management Systems (thehackernews.com)
SonicWall warns web content filtering is broken on Windows 11 22H2 (bleepingcomputer.com)
OpenSSL Fixes Multiple New Security Flaws with Latest Update (thehackernews.com)
Android's February 2023 Updates Patch 40 Vulnerabilities - SecurityWeek
Tools and Controls
Other News
Yes, CISOs should be concerned about the types of data spy balloons can intercept | CSO Online
How to Think Like a Hacker and Stay Ahead of Threats (thehackernews.com)
Surge of swatting a attacks targets corporate executives and board members | CSO Online
Bermuda: Major Internet And Power Outage Strikes (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 25 November 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 25 November 2022:
-Hackers Hit One Third of Organisations Worldwide Multiple Times
-Firms Spend $1,197 Per Employee Yearly to Address Cyber Attacks
-90% of Organisations have Microsoft 365 Security Gaps
-Luna Moth Phishing Extortion Campaign Targets Businesses in Multiple Sectors
-The Real Cost of Cyber Attacks: What Organisations Should Be Prepared For
-34 Russian Cyber Crime Groups Stole Over 50 Million Passwords with Stealer Malware
-“Password” Continues to Be the Most Common Password in 2022
-Lasts Year’s Massive Twitter Data Breach Was Far Worse Than Reported, Reveal Security Researchers
-European Parliament Declares Russia to be a State Sponsor of Terrorism – then Gets Attacked
-The Changing Nature of Nation-State Cyber Warfare
-Is Your Company Covered for a Cyber Security Attack? That’s the £2 Million Question
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
Hackers Hit One Third of Organisations Worldwide Multiple Times
Hackers have stolen customer records multiple times from nearly a third of organisations worldwide in the past 12 months, security provider Trend Micro said in its newly released, twice-yearly Cyber Risk Index (CRI) report.
The report features interviews with some 4,100 organisations across North America, Europe, Latin/South America and Asia-Pacific. Respondents stressed that customer records are at increased risk as organisations struggle to profile and defend an expanding attack surface.
Overall, respondents rated the following as the top cyber threats in 1H 2022:
Business Email Compromise (BEC)
Clickjacking
Fileless attacks
Ransomware
Login attacks (Credential Theft)
Here are some key findings from the study:
The CRI calculates the gap between organisational preparedness and the likelihood of being attacked, with -10 representing the highest level of risk. The global CRI index moved from –0.04 in 2H 2021 to –0.15 in 1H 2022, indicating a surging level of risk over the past six months.
This is a slight increase in risk from the second half of 2021, when it was -0.04. Organisations in North America and Asia-Pacific saw an increase in their cyber risk from that period while Europe and Latin/South America’s risk decreased in comparison.
The number of global organisations experiencing a “successful” cyber-attack increased from 84% to 90% over the same period.
The number now expected to be compromised over the coming year has also increased from 76% to 85%.
From the business perspective, the biggest concern is the misalignment between CISOs and business executives, Trend Micro said. The answers given by respondents to the question: “My organisation’s IT security objectives are aligned with business objectives,” only made a score of 4.79 out of 10.0
By addressing the shortage of cyber security professionals and improving security processes and technology, organisations will significantly reduce their vulnerability to attacks.
You can’t protect what you can’t see. But with hybrid working ushering in a new era of complex, distributed IT environments, many organisations are finding it difficult to eradicate growing security coverage and visibility gaps. To avoid the attack surface spiraling out of control, they need to combine asset discovery and monitoring with threat detection and response on a single platform.
Firms Spend $1,197 Per Employee Yearly to Address Cyber Attacks
Companies pay an average of $1,197 per employee yearly to address successful cyber incidents against email services, cloud collaboration apps or services and browsers.
Security researchers at Perception Point shared the findings with Infosecurity before publishing them in a new white paper this month.
According to the new data, the above figures exclude compliance fines, ransomware mitigation costs and losses from non-operational processes, all of which can cause further spending.
The survey, conducted in conjunction with Osterman Research in June, considers the responses of 250 security and IT decision-makers at various enterprises and reveals additional discoveries regarding today’s enterprise threat landscape.
These findings demonstrate the urgent need for organisations to find the most accurate and efficient cyber security solutions which provide the necessary protection with streamlined processes and managed services.
Among the findings is that malicious incidents against new cloud-based apps and services occur at 60% of the frequency with which they take place on email-based services.
Additionally, some attacks, like those involving malware installed on an endpoint, happen on cloud collaboration apps at a much higher rate (87%) when compared to email-based services.
The Perception Point report also shows that a successful email-based cyber incident takes security staff an average of 86 hours to address.
In light of these figures, the security company added that one security professional with no additional support can only handle 23 email incidents annually, representing a direct cost of $6452 per incident alone.
Conversely, incidents detected on cloud collaboration apps or services take, on average, 71 hours to resolve. In these cases, one professional can handle just 28 incidents yearly at an average cost of $5305 per incident.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/firms-dollar1197-per-employee/
90% of Organisations have Microsoft 365 Security Gaps
A recently published study evaluated 1.6 million Microsoft 365 users across three continents, finding that 90% of organisations had gaps in essential security protections. Managing Microsoft 365 (M365) is complicated. How can IT teams avoid management headaches, stay 100% compliant, and truly take control of their M365 instance?
Research from the study reveals that many common security procedures are not being followed 100% of the time. This leaves gaping holes in most organisations’ security defences. While most companies have strong documented security policies, the research uncovered that most aren’t being implemented consistently due to difficulties in reporting and limited IT resources:
90% of companies had gaps across all four key areas studied – multi-factor authentication (MFA), email security, password policies, and failed logins
87% of companies have MFA disabled for some or all their admins (which are the most critical accounts to protect, due to their higher access levels)
Only 17% of companies had strong password requirements that were being consistently followed.
Overall, nearly every organisation is leaving the door open for cyber security threats due to weak credentials, particularly for administrator accounts.
In addition to security challenges, the study identified key areas for improvement in managing Microsoft 365 licences as well, such as:
The average company had 21.6% of their licenses unassigned or “sitting on the shelf.” Another 10.2% of licenses were inactive, for an average of 31.9% unused licenses.
17% of companies had over 10,000 licenses unassigned or inactive. These cases represent big opportunities to optimise licence spend with better tools.
Overall, the study reveals that reporting challenges make security and licence management incredibly difficult, leading to unnecessary risks and costs.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/11/22/microsoft-365-security-protections/
Luna Moth Phishing Extortion Campaign Targets Businesses in Multiple Sectors
A callback phishing extortion campaign by Luna Moth (aka Silent Ransom Group) has targeted businesses in multiple sectors, including legal and retail.
The findings come from Palo Alto Network’s security team Unit 42, which described the campaign in a new advisory.
“This campaign leverages extortion without encryption, has cost victims hundreds of thousands of dollars and is expanding in scope,” reads the technical write-up. At the same time, Unit 42 said that this type of social engineering attack leaves very few artifacts because it relies on legitimate technology tools to carry out attacks. In fact, callback phishing, also known as telephone-oriented attack delivery (TOAD), is a social engineering method that requires a threat actor to interact with the victim to accomplish their goals.
“This attack style is more resource intensive but less complex than script-based attacks, and it tends to have a much higher success rate,” reads the advisory. According to Unit 42, threat actors associated with the Conti group have extensively used this attack style in BazarCall campaigns. “Early iterations of this attack focused on tricking the victim into downloading the BazarLoader malware using documents with malicious macros,” explained the researchers.
As for the new campaign, which Sygnia security researchers first unveiled in July, it removes the malware portion of the attack. “In this campaign, attackers use legitimate and trusted systems management tools to interact directly with a victim’s computer to manually exfiltrate data [...] As these tools are not malicious, they’re not likely to be flagged by traditional antivirus products,” Unit 42 wrote.
The researchers also said that they expect callback phishing attacks to increase in popularity because of low per-target cost, low risk of detection and fast monetisation factors.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/luna-moth-phishing-target-multiple/
The Real Cost of Cyber Attacks: What Organisations Should Be Prepared For
With each passing year, hackers and cyber criminals of all kinds are becoming more sophisticated, malicious, and greedy conducting brazen and often destructive cyber-attacks that can severely disrupt a company’s business operations. And this is a big problem, because, first and foremost, customers rely on a company’s ability to deliver services or products in a timely manner. Cyber-attacks not only can affect customers’ data, but they can impact service delivery.
In one of the recent incidents, the UK’s discount retailer The Works has been forced to temporarily shut down some of its stores after a ransomware attack. While the tech team quickly shut down the company’s computers after being alerted to the security breach by the firewall system, the attack caused disruption to deliveries and store functionality including till operations.
A cyber security incident can greatly affect a business due to the consequences associated with cyber-attacks like potential lawsuits, hefty fines and damage payments, insurance rate hikes, criminal investigations and bad publicity. For example, shares of Okta, a major provider of authentication services, fell 9% after the company revealed it was a victim of a major supply chain incident via an attack on a third-party contractor’s laptop, which affected some of its customers.
Another glaring example is a 2021 cyber-attack launched by the Russian-speaking ransomware gang called DarkSide against the operator of one of the US’ largest fuel pipelines Colonial Pipeline, which crippled fuel delivery across the Southeastern United States impacting lives of millions due to supply shortages. Colonial paid the DarkSide hackers a $4.4 million ransom soon after the incident. The attackers also stole nearly 100GB of data from Colonial Pipeline and threatened to leak it if the ransom wasn’t paid. It’s also worth noting that the company is now facing a nearly $1 million penalty for failure “to plan and prepare for a manual restart and shutdown operation, which contributed to the national impacts after the cyber-attack.”
Data breaches and costs associated with them have been on the rise for the past few years, but, according to a 2021 report, the average cost per breach increased from $3.86 million in 2020 to $4.24 million in 2021. The report also identified four categories contributing most global data breach costs – Lost business cost (38%), Detection and escalation (29%), Post breach response (27%), and Notification (6%).
Ransomware attacks cost an average of $4.62 million (the cost of a ransom is not included), and destructive wiper-style attacks cost an average of $4.69 million, the report said.
For a business, a data breach is not just a loss of data, it can also have a long-lasting impact on operations and undermine customers’ trust in the company. In fact, a survey revealed that 87% of consumers are willing to take their business elsewhere if they don’t trust a company is handling their data responsibly. Therefore, the reputational damage might be detrimental to a business’ ability to attract new customers.
34 Russian Cyber Crime Groups Stole Over 50 Million Passwords with Stealer Malware
As many as 34 Russian-speaking gangs, distributing information-stealing malware under the stealer-as-a-service model, stole no fewer than 50 million passwords in the first seven months of 2022.
"The underground market value of stolen logs and compromised card details is estimated around $5.8 million" Singapore-headquartered Group-IB said in a report shared with The Hacker News.
Aside from looting passwords, the stealers also harvested 2.11 billion cookie files, 113,204 crypto wallets, and 103,150 payment cards.
A majority of the victims were located in the US, followed by Brazil, India, Germany, Indonesia, the Philippines, France, Turkey, Vietnam, and Italy. In total, over 890,000 devices in 111 countries were infected during the time frame.
Group-IB said the members of several scam groups who are propagating the information stealers previously participated in the Classiscam operation. These groups, which are active on Telegram and have around 200 members on average, are hierarchical, consisting of administrators and workers (or traffers), the latter of whom are responsible for driving unsuspecting users to info-stealers like RedLine and Raccoon. This is achieved by setting up bait websites that impersonate well-known companies and luring victims into downloading malicious files. Links to such websites are, in turn, embedded into YouTube video reviews for popular games and lotteries on social media, or shared directly with non-fungible token (NFT) artists.
https://thehackernews.com/2022/11/34-russian-hacker-groups-stole-over-50.html
“Password” Continues to Be the Most Common Password in 2022
You would think the time spent working from home in the last two years or so helped netizens across the planet figure out how to master the world of WWW in a more efficient manner.
But new research from NordPass shows that despite so many people relying on an Internet connection for their daily activities, few actually care about the security of their data when they go online.
As a result, “password” continues to be the number one password out there, with the aforementioned company claiming that this particular keyword was detected close to 5 million times in a 3TB database. It takes less than one second to crack this password, the company says.
“123456” is currently the second most-used password worldwide, followed by its longer sibling known as “123456789” because, you know, hackers don’t know how to count to 10.
“There’s more than one way to get swindled on Tinder: using “tinder” as your password is more risky than swiping right on a billionaire. In total, this password was used 36,384 times” NordPass says. “The glitziest film industry event of the year – the Oscars ceremony – inspired many to use not-so-glitzy passwords: the password “Oscars” was used 62,983 times.”
Of course, it’s no surprise that Internet users out there turn to movies to get inspiration for their passwords, so unfortunately, “batman” is currently one of the most used keywords supposed to secure Internet accounts.
“Films and shows like Batman, Euphoria, and Encanto were among the most popular releases in 2021/2022. All are also popular passwords: “batman” was used 2,562,776 times, “euphoria” 53,993, and “encanto” 10,808 times,” the company says.
The most common password in the United States is “guest,” while in the United Kingdom, quite a lot of people go for “liverpool” (despite hackers needing just 1 second to crack it).
Lasts Year’s Massive Twitter Data Breach Was Far Worse Than Reported, Reveal Security Researchers
A massive Twitter data breach last year, exposing more than five million phone numbers and email addresses, was worse than initially reported. The same security vulnerability appears to have been exploited by multiple bad actors, and the hacked data has been offered for sale on the dark web by several sources.
It had previously been thought that only one hacker gained access to the data, and Twitter’s belated admission reinforced this impression. HackerOne first reported the vulnerability back in January, which allowed anyone to enter a phone number or email address, and then find the associated twitterID. This is an internal identifier used by Twitter, but can be readily converted to a Twitter handle. A bad actor would be able to put together a single database which combined Twitter handles, email addresses, and phone numbers.
At the time, Twitter admitted that the vulnerability had existed, and subsequently been patched, but said nothing about anyone exploiting it. Restore Privacy subsequently reported that a hacker had indeed used the vulnerability to obtain personal data from millions of accounts.
https://9to5mac.com/2022/11/25/massive-twitter-data-breach/
European Parliament Declares Russia to be a State Sponsor of Terrorism – Then Gets Attacked
On Wednesday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the latest developments in Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine. MEPs highlight that the deliberate attacks and atrocities committed by Russian forces and their proxies against civilians in Ukraine, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and other serious violations of international and humanitarian law amount to acts of terror and constitute war crimes. In light of this, they recognise Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and as a state that “uses means of terrorism”.
As the EU currently cannot officially designate states as sponsors of terrorism, the European Parliament calls on the EU and its member states to put in place the proper legal framework and consider adding Russia to such a list. This would trigger a number of significant restrictive measures against Moscow and have profound restrictive implications for EU relations with Russia.
In the meantime, MEPs call on the Council to include the Russian paramilitary organisation ‘the Wagner Group’, the 141st Special Motorized Regiment, also known as the “Kadyrovites”, and other Russian-funded armed groups, militias and proxies, on the EU’s terrorist list.
Almost immediately after the vote the European Parliament suffered a sustained denial of service attack that shut down email services and disrupted internet access for more than an hour. A pro-Russian group called KILLNET then claimed responsibility in a Telegram post.
The Changing Nature of Nation-State Cyber Warfare
Military conflict is ever shifting from beyond the battlefield and into cyber space. Ever more sophisticated and ruthless groups of nation-state actors and their proxies continue to target critical systems and infrastructure for political and ideological leverage. These criminals’ far-reaching objectives include intelligence gathering, financial gain, destabilising other nations, hindering communications, and the theft of intellectual property.
The risks to individuals and society are clear. Due to its importance to daily life and the economy, the UK’s critical national infrastructure (CNI) is a natural target for malicious nation-state cyber-attacks. We only need look at the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack in the US – at the hands of the Russia-affiliated DarkSide group – to appreciate the potential for one criminal act to escalate and cause large-scale societal impact: panic and disruption. Even though the pipeline was shut down for less than a week, the havoc caused by suspending fuel supplies gave CNI operators everywhere a worrying taste of things to come.
Closer to home, the recent cyber attack on South Staffordshire Water highlights the need for all utilities providers to take proactive measures and precautions to better secure essential human sustenance supplies. With the risk of coordinated attacks by criminals backed by nation states rising, the potential for human casualties if attacks against CNI go unchecked is becoming starkly clear.
The Russia-Ukraine war has heightened awareness of the cyber threats posed by all nation-state adversaries. Unsurprisingly, challenges and conflicts in the physical world tend to bleed through into the cyber domain. And with relations between Western nations and Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea more fraught than ever, UK organisations can expect to see further increases in cyber threats at the hands of hostile nation-state actors.
https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/the-changing-nature-of-nation-state-cyber-warfare/
Is Your Company Covered for a Cyber Security Attack? That’s the £2 Million Question
Cyber crime continues to be a persistent and pressing issue for all sized businesses, particularly smaller organisations. In fact, according to the National Cyber Security Alliance, nearly 60% of small businesses that experience a cyber attack shut their doors within six months.
Despite the continuing rise in risk, many small businesses remain vulnerable to cyber attacks due to a lack of resources and – surprisingly – a lack of knowledge of the existing threats. Moreover, companies are now being exposed to cyber risks even further as they struggle to get appropriate cyber insurance, which, if needed, can be devastating should bad actors circumvent your company’s defences.
Cyber insurance is a policy that helps an organisation pay for any financial losses incurred following a data breach or cyber attack. It also helps cover any costs related to the remediation process, such as paying for the investigation, crisis communication, legal services, and customer refunds.
With the constant – and ever-increasing – threat of potential cyber attacks and the need to protect their assets, many companies are applying for cyber insurance, which generally covers a variety of different types of cyber-attacks, including data breaches; business email compromises; cyber extortion demands; malware infections and ransomware.
But, despite the benefits of cyber insurance, it remains surprisingly undervalued. The UK government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2022 found that only 43% of businesses have a cyber insurance policy in place.
Organisations must always seek cost-effective ways to address the cyber security risks they face – as no business is safe in the modern security landscape from a cyber threat. One of the most common ways to mitigate the risk of a cyber security incident is cyber insurance. While all-sized businesses can benefit from having cyber insurance, small businesses frequently lack the knowledge and importance of securing it. This is usually because of the cost, the time involved in finding a provider, and a lack of understanding of the importance of a cyber insurance policy.
Threats
Ransomware and Extortion
Yanluowang Ransomware's Russian Links Laid Bare - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Fake subscription invoices lead to corporate data theft and extortion - Help Net Security
Ransomware gang targets Belgian municipality, hits police instead (bleepingcomputer.com)
New ransomware encrypts files, then steals your Discord account (bleepingcomputer.com)
Donut extortion group also targets victims with ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Daixin Ransomware Gang Steals 5 Million AirAsia Passengers' and Employees' Data (thehackernews.com)
Ransomware attacks: Making cyber ransom payments unlawful would help boards (afr.com)
An aggressive Black Basta Ransomware campaign targets US-based companies - Security Affairs
Luna Moth ransomware group invests in call centres to target individual victims - SiliconANGLE
New ransomware attacks in Ukraine linked to Russian Sandworm hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cybereason warns of fast-moving Black Basta campaign (techtarget.com)
Enterprise healthcare providers warned of Lorenz ransomware threat | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
Montreal-area city hit by ransomware: Report | IT World Canada News
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
Google Blocks 231B Spam, Phishing Emails in Past 2 Weeks (darkreading.com)
World Cup phishing emails spike in Middle Eastern countries • The Register
Microsoft Email Security Bypasses Instagram Credential Phishing Attacks - IT Security Guru
Researcher warns that Cisco Secure Email Gateways can easily be circumvented - Security Affairs
SocGholish finds success through novel email techniques | SC Media (scmagazine.com)
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Malware
Cyber criminals are increasingly using info-stealing malware to target victims | CSO Online
A security firm hacked malware operators, locking them out of their own C&C servers | TechSpot
Emotet is back and delivers payloads like IcedID and Bumblebee - Security Affairs
All You Need to Know About Emotet in 2022 (thehackernews.com)
New attacks use Windows security bypass zero-day to drop malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Multi-Purpose Botnet and Infostealer 'Aurora' Rising to Fame | SecurityWeek.Com
DUCKTAIL malware campaign targeting Facebook business and ads accounts is back | CSO Online
Aurora infostealer malware increasingly adopted by cybergangs (bleepingcomputer.com)
This new malware is able to bypass all of Microsoft's security warnings | TechRadar
Backdoored Chrome extension installed by 200,000 Roblox players (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mobile
'Patch Lag' Leaves Millions of Android Devices Vulnerable (darkreading.com)
Millions of Android Devices Still Don't Have Patches for Mali GPU Flaws (thehackernews.com)
Your iPhone may be collecting more personal data than you think | Digital Trends
Bahamut cybermercenary group targets Android users with fake VPN apps | WeLiveSecurity
WhatsApp data leak: 500 million user records for sale | Cybernews
Internet of Things – IoT
Data Breaches/Leaks
WhatsApp data leak: 500 million user records for sale - Security Affairs
California County Says Personal Information Compromised in Data Breach | SecurityWeek.Com
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Russian cyber gangs stole over 50 million passwords this year (bleepingcomputer.com)
How social media scammers buy time to steal your 2FA codes – Naked Security (sophos.com)
DEV-0569 Group Switches Tactics, Abuses Google Ads to Deliver Payloads | Cyware Alerts - Hacker News
Hackers are locking out Mars Stealer operators from their own servers | TechCrunch
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Bank Of England Says Crypto Needs Regulation Now - Information Security Buzz
Two Estonians arrested for running $575M crypto Ponzi scheme (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyber crooks to ditch BTC as regulation and tracking improves: Kaspersky (cointelegraph.com)
Google Chrome extension used to steal cryptocurrency, passwords (bleepingcomputer.com)
Bahamas SEC Or Hacker? Stolen Funds From FTX Keep On Moving (bitcoinist.com)
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
'iSpoof' service dismantled, main operator and 145 users arrested (bleepingcomputer.com)
Operation Elaborate - UK police text 70,000 suspected victims of iSpoof bank fraudsters | Tripwire
DUCKTAIL malware campaign targeting Facebook business and ads accounts is back | CSO Online
Beware - Black Friday online shopping scams are here now | TechRadar
Online retailers should prepare for a holiday season spike in bot-operated attacks | CSO Online
Pig butchering domains seized and slaughtered by the Feds • The Register
Insurance
Software Supply Chain
Denial of Service DoS/DDoS
Cloud/SaaS
Hybrid/Remote Working
Identity and Access Management
Encryption
API
5 API Vulnerabilities That Get Exploited by Criminals - Security Affairs
Three security design principles for public REST APIs - Help Net Security
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Russian cyber gangs stole over 50 million passwords this year (bleepingcomputer.com)
Guess the most common password. Hint: We just told you • The Register
World Cup Players Among Most Breached Passwords - IT Security Guru
Google Chrome extension used to steal cryptocurrency, passwords (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft Email Security Bypasses Instagram Credential Phishing Attacks - IT Security Guru
Hackers steal $300,000 in DraftKings credential stuffing attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Social Media
Ducktail hackers now use WhatsApp to phish for Facebook Ad accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)
Cyber security Pros Put Mastodon Flaws Under the Microscope (darkreading.com)
Musk to abused Twitter users: Your tormentors will return • The Register
Facebook sued for collecting personal data to sell adverts | News | The Times
DUCKTAIL malware campaign targeting Facebook business and ads accounts is back | CSO Online
Microsoft Email Security Bypasses Instagram Credential Phishing Attacks - IT Security Guru
Beyond Trump, Twitter welcomes back purveyors of far-right disinformation - CyberScoop
Cyber Bullying, Cyber Stalking and Sextortion
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Bank Of England Says Crypto Needs Regulation Now - Information Security Buzz
How US cyber incident reporting law could finally fix the information sharing problem - CyberScoop
Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs
Operation Elaborate - UK police text 70,000 suspected victims of iSpoof bank fraudsters | Tripwire
'iSpoof' service dismantled, main operator and 145 users arrested (bleepingcomputer.com)
Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring
iPhones are not as privacy-focused as Apple claims, researchers point out - India Today
Thinking about taking your computer to the repair shop? Be very afraid | Ars Technica
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Ukraine shows how space is now central to warfare | Financial Times (ft.com)
New ransomware attacks in Ukraine linked to Russian Sandworm hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)
EU Parliament Putin things back together after cyber attack • The Register
Opinion | Democracies flirting with spyware like Pegasus raises dangers - The Washington Post
Scotland's broadband builder linked to Israeli spyware | HeraldScotland
Russia-based RansomBoggs Ransomware Targeted Several Ukrainian Organisations (thehackernews.com)
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Russian Tech Giant Wants Out of the Country As Ukraine War Rages on (insider.com)
Yanluowang Ransomware's Russian Links Laid Bare - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Nation State Actors – China
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerabilities
73 Percent of Retail Applications Contain Security Flaws, but Only a Quarter Are Fixed (yahoo.com)
Researcher warns that Cisco Secure Email Gateways can easily be circumvented - Security Affairs
AWS fixes 'confused deputy' vulnerability in AppSync • The Register
How to hack an unpatched Exchange server with rogue PowerShell code – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Google pushes emergency Chrome update to fix 8th zero-day in 2022 (bleepingcomputer.com)
Upgrade to Apache Commons Text 1.10 to Avoid New Exploit (infoq.com)
Security experts are laying Mastodon's flaws bare | TechRadar
Devices from Dell, HP, and Lenovo used outdated OpenSSL versions - Security Affairs
PoC Code Published for High-Severity macOS Sandbox Escape Vulnerability | SecurityWeek.Com
5 API Vulnerabilities That Get Exploited by Criminals - Security Affairs
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
Know thy enemy: thinking like a hacker can boost cyber security strategy | CSO Online
Security Culture Matters when IT is Decentralized (trendmicro.com)
Legacy IT system modernization largely driven by security concerns - Help Net Security
Been Doing It The Same Way For Years? Think Again. (thehackernews.com)
Docker Hub repositories hide over 1,650 malicious containers (bleepingcomputer.com)
How Tech Companies Can Slow Down Spike in Breaches (darkreading.com)
Inventor of the Web Sir Tim Berners-Lee wants to save your data from Big Tech with Web3.0 | Euronews
Deloitte reveals 10 strategic cyber security predictions for 2023 | VentureBeat
The Biden administration has racked up a host of cyber security accomplishments | CSO Online
US Navy Forced to Pay Software Company for Licensing Breach (gizmodo.com)
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 09 September 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 09 September 2022
-Why It’s Mission-critical That All-sized Businesses Stay Cyber Secure
-Half of Firms Report Supply Chain Ransomware Compromise
-Vulnerability Exploits, Not Phishing, Are the Top Cyber Attack Vector for Initial Compromise
-Uber’s Ex-Security Chief Faces Landmark Trial Over Data Breach That Hit 57m Users
-Over 10% of Enterprise IT Assets Found Missing Endpoint Protection
-Some Employees Aren't Just Leaving Companies — They're Defrauding Them
-Ransomware Gangs Switching to New Intermittent Encryption Tactic
-How Posting Personal and Business Photos Can Be a Security Risk
-Your Vendors Are Likely Your Biggest Cyber Security Risk
-A Recent Chinese Hack Is a Wake-up Call for the Security of the World’s Software Supply Chain
-Massive Hotels Group IHG Struck by Cyber Attack Which Disrupts Booking Systems
-London's Biggest Bus Operator Hit by Cyber "Incident"
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
Why It’s Mission-Critical That All-Sized Businesses Stay Cyber Secure
A study analysing millions of emails across thousands of companies found that on average, employees of small businesses with less than 100 employees experience 350% more social engineering attacks than employees of larger enterprises. 57% of these are phishing attacks – the most prevalent social engineering attack of 2021.
Add to the mix that the global average cost of a data breach for businesses has skyrocketed. According to IBM Security’s annual Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average global cost is now a phenomenal $4.35 million.
Generally, larger corporations tend to have bigger security budgets, making them less of a target than smaller businesses with lesser budgets, and as such, more attractive to cyber criminals. This means that for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – with fewer resources and money – protection from cyber-attacks is now a matter of survival.
Ease of attack is not the only reason why criminals attack SMEs either. SMEs are often an entry point to target bigger organisations within the same supply chain. These larger corporations can either be crucial partners, suppliers, or customers, making SMEs prime targets.
But with efficient cyber security measures, every business regardless of size can keep themselves and their network safe.
Half of Firms Report Supply Chain Ransomware Compromise
Over half (52%) of global organisations know a partner that has been compromised by ransomware, yet few are doing anything to improve the security of their supply chain, according to Trend Micro.
The security vendor polled nearly 3,000 IT decision makers across 26 countries to produce its latest report, ‘Everything is connected: Uncovering the ransomware threat from global supply chains’.
It revealed that 90% of global IT leaders believe their partners and customers are making their own organisation a more attractive ransomware target.
That might be down in part to the fact that SMBs comprise a significant chunk of the supply chain for 52% of respondents. The security of SMBs is generally thought to be less effective than protection in larger, better resourced companies.
However, despite their concerns, less than half (47%) of respondents said they share knowledge about ransomware attacks with their suppliers, while a quarter (25%) claimed they don’t share potentially useful threat information with partners.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/half-firms-supply-chain-ransomware/
Vulnerability Exploits, Not Phishing, Are the Top Cyber Attack Vector for Initial Compromise
Breaches involving phishing and credential compromise have received a lot of attention in recent years because of how frequently threat actors have employed the tactics in executing both targeted and opportunistic attacks. But that doesn't mean that enterprise organisations can afford to lessen their focus on vulnerability patching one bit.
A report from Kaspersky this week identified more initial intrusions last year resulting from exploitation of vulnerabilities in Internet-facing applications than breaches involving malicious emails and compromised accounts combined. And data that the company has collected through the second quarter of 2022 suggests the same trend might be playing out this year as well.
Kaspersky's analysis of its 2021 incident-response data showed that breaches involving vulnerability exploits surged from 31.5% of all incidents in 2020 to 53.6% in 2021. Over the same period, attacks associated with the use of compromised accounts to gain initial access declined from 31.6% in 2020 to 17.9% last year. Initial intrusions resulting from phishing emails decreased from 23.7% to 14.3% during the same period.
Uber’s Ex-Security Chief Faces Landmark Trial Over Data Breach That Hit 57m Users
Uber’s former security officer, Joe Sullivan, is standing trial this week in what is believed to be the first case of an executive facing criminal charges in relation to a data breach.
The US district court in San Francisco will start hearing arguments on whether Sullivan, the former head of security at the ride-share giant, failed to properly disclose a 2016 data breach affecting 57 million Uber riders and drivers around the world.
At a time when reports of ransomware attacks have surged and cyber security insurance premiums have risen, the case could set an important precedent regarding the culpability of US security staffers and executives for the way the companies they work for handle cyber security incidents.
The breach first came to light in November 2017, when Uber’s chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, revealed that hackers had gained access to the driver’s licence numbers of 600,000 US Uber drivers as well as the names, email addresses and phone numbers of as many as 57 million Uber riders and drivers.
Public disclosures like Khosrowshahi’s are required by law in many US states, with most regulations mandating that the notification be made “in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay”.
But Khosrowshahi’s announcement came with an admission: a whole year had passed since the information had been breached.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/sep/06/uber-joe-sullivan-trial-security-data-breach
Over 10% of Enterprise IT Assets Found With Missing Endpoint Protection
More than 10% of enterprise IT assets are missing endpoint protection and roughly 5% are not covered by enterprise patch management solutions.
The figures come from new research by Sevco Security, which the company has compiled in the State of the Cybersecurity Attack Surface report.
"Attackers are very adept at exploiting enterprise vulnerabilities. Security and IT teams already have their hands full mitigating the vulnerabilities that they know about, and our data confirms that this is just the tip of the iceberg," Sevco told Infosecurity Magazine.
The document analyses data aggregated from visibility into more than 500,000 IT assets, and underlines existential and underreported cyber security issues in relation to securing enterprises’ assets.
“The uncertainty of enterprise inventory – the elements that make up an organisation’s cyber security attack surface – upends the foundation of every major security framework and presents a challenge to security teams: it’s impossible to protect what you can’t see,” they said.
For instance, the data found that roughly 3% of all IT assets are “stale” in endpoint protection, while 1% are stale from the perspective of patch management coverage.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/enterprise-assets-miss-endpoint/
Some Employees Aren't Just Leaving Companies — They're Defrauding Them
Since the Great Resignation in 2021, millions of employees have left their roles with current employers in search of better ones. According to Microsoft, 40% of employees reported they are considering leaving their current roles by the end of 2022. With many still working in remote or hybrid positions due to the pandemic, larger businesses have started implementing measures to gain a better understanding of employee morale and sentiment to prevent turnover.
While most employees leave companies on good terms, some may become extremely unhappy or disgruntled prior to their departure and are more likely to defraud the company either before leaving or on their way out the door. The unfortunate reality is that no business is immune to fraud, but luckily, there are several steps you can take to prevent it from happening.
According to the Cressey Fraud Triangle, fraudulent behaviour often occurs due to three contributing factors. These include pressure or motive to commit a fraud (usually a personal financial problem), perceived opportunity within the organisation to commit a fraud (poor oversight or internal controls), and rationalisation (the ability to justify the crime to make it seem acceptable).
Very often, a fraudster needs all three sides of the triangle to successfully commit a crime. Therefore, it is extremely important for organisations to do their best to create controls and understand the risk associated with each of these areas. For example, an employee may be disgruntled and also have personal financial issues. However, if internal controls are robust and the employee doesn't have access to financial instruments, valuable assets or software systems, their ability to defraud the company is extremely limited or will get identified immediately.
Ransomware Gangs Switching to New Intermittent Encryption Tactic
A growing number of ransomware groups are adopting a new tactic that helps them encrypt their victims' systems faster while reducing the chances of being detected and stopped.
This tactic is called intermittent encryption, and it consists of encrypting only parts of the targeted files' content, which would still render the data unrecoverable without using a valid decryption key.
For example, by skipping every other 16 bytes of a file, the encryption process takes almost half of the time required for full encryption but still locks the contents for good.
Additionally, because the encryption is milder, automated detection tools that rely on detecting signs of trouble in the form of intense file IO operations are more likely to fail.
SentinelLabs has posted a report examining a trend started by LockFile in mid-2021 and now adopted by the likes of Black Basta, ALPHV (BlackCat), PLAY, Agenda, and Qyick.
These groups actively promote the presence of intermittent encryption features in their ransomware family to entice affiliates to join the RaaS operation.
"Notably, Qyick features intermittent encryption, which is what the cool kids are using as you read this. Combined with the fact that is written in Go, the speed is unmatched," describes a Qyick advertisement on hacking forums.
How Posting Personal and Business Photos Can Be a Security Risk
Image geotags, metadata, and location information can allow competitors, cyber criminals, and even nation-state threat actors to gain knowledge they can use against organisations.
Marketers in every industry enjoy evidencing their reach to their superiors and providing tangible examples of their width and breadth of influence via social networks, media, and other means of engagement. Photos of both customers and employees engaging at hosted social events, trade shows, conferences, and direct one-on-one encounters are often viewed as gold. Couple this with the individual employee’s or customer’s photos working their way onto social network platforms for others to see and admire, and the value of that gold increases, success being quantified by impressions, views and individual engagements.
The value of that gold doubles when not only does the company harvest data and call it a success, but their competitors also analyse such photos capturing a plethora of useful data points, including geotagged data, metadata of the photo, and identity of the individuals caught in the frame. They, too, call it a success. Yes, the digital engagement involving location data and or location hints within photos is a double-edged sword.
It isn’t just competitors who harvest the data. Criminal elements and nation-state intelligence and security elements do as well. Francis Bacon’s adage, “Knowledge itself is power,” applies. With location, time and place, and identity, competitors, criminals, and nation-states are given their initial tidbits of openly acquired information from which to begin to build their mosaic.
Your Vendors Are Likely Your Biggest Cyber Security Risk
As speed of business increases, more and more organisations are looking to either buy companies or outsource more services to gain market advantage. With organisations expanding their vendor base, there is a critical need for holistic third-party risk management (TPRM) and comprehensive cyber security measures to assess how much risk vendors pose.
While organisations assess and manage risk on a multitude of layers, none present bigger threats to business resiliency than third-party risk and a lack of robust cyber security controls. Breaches and service interruptions tied to these risk areas have brought down critical systems of major organisations. In 2021, 53% of CISOs surveyed by Black Kite reported being hit by at least one ransomware attack.
It bears repeating: Cyber security and third-party risk are the two biggest problems facing your long-term viability. Businesses need to be able to tackle these risk vectors individually to gain a complete view of their risk profile. A cross-functional process is essential to managing the overlap between these risk areas to better protect your organisation and increase workflow efficiency.
Ensuring that the cyber security practices of your vendors align with your organisation’s standards is critical to safeguarding your systems and data. In fact, it is just as important as how stable the business is or how well it delivers products and services.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/09/05/vendors-cybersecurity-risk/
A Recent Chinese Hack Is a Wake-up Call for the Security of the World’s Software Supply Chain
It’s perhaps only a coincidence that there’s a famous Chinese saying ‘No one knows, not even the ghosts’ that neatly summarises a recent hack on MiMi, a Chinese messaging app. According to recent reports, a Chinese state-backed hacking group inserted malicious code into this messaging app, essentially pulling off the equivalent of the infamous SolarWinds hack. Users of MiMi were served a version of the app with malicious code added, thanks to attackers taking control of the servers that delivered the app. In short, this was a software supply chain attack in which the software delivery pipeline was compromised.
Observers could be forgiven for thinking that this is just another hack. Chinese hacking groups, and those of Western countries too, have developed a reputation over the past two decades for spying, surveillance, and sabotage. But this attack is different than typical hacking fare because the attackers rode in on the back of a trusted piece of software. This is a software supply chain attack, where the attackers tamper with either source code, the software build system, or the software publishing pipeline, all of which have become essential to the functioning of the world’s digital economy.
Software supply chain attacks have been rapidly growing in frequency. Twenty years ago, there might have been one or two a year. These days, depending on the methodology, there are either hundreds or thousands a year, and that’s only counting the reported attacks. And increasingly anybody who depends upon software (read: everybody) is or shortly will be a victim: the U.S. government, Microsoft, thousands of other companies and, apparently in this MiMi attack, individuals.
Massive Hotels Group IHG Struck by Cyber Attack Which Disrupts Booking Systems
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), which owns brands such as InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, and many others, has had its IT systems breached by malicious hackers.
In a filing with the London Stock Exchange, the multinational hospitality company reported that "parts of the company's technology systems have been subject to unauthorised activity."
As a result, the company said, "IHG's booking channels and other applications have been significantly disrupted since [Monday], and this is ongoing."
The first indication that the company was experiencing problems appeared early on Monday morning UK time, when anyone who tried to book a hotel room via the company's website or app, or access their IHG One Rewards account was greeted by a maintenance message.
Although it has made no declaration regarding the nature of the security breach, in its filing with the London Stock Exchange, IHG mentioned they were "working to fully restore all systems". This would fit into the scenario of IHG having hit been hit with ransomware, which may not only have encrypted data - locking the company out of its systems and demanding a ransom be paid - but could have also caused even more problems.
London's Biggest Bus Operator Hit by Cyber "Incident"
Travellers in London were braced for more delays last week after the city’s largest bus operator revealed it has been hit by a “cyber security incident,” according to reports.
Newcastle-based transportation group Go-Ahead shared a statement with the London Stock Exchange indicating “unauthorised activity” had been discovered on its network yesterday.
“Upon becoming aware of the incident, Go-Ahead immediately engaged external forensic specialists and has taken precautionary measures with its IT infrastructure whilst it continues to investigate the nature and extent of the incident and implement its incident response plans,” it stated. “Go-Ahead will continue to assess the potential impact of the incident but confirms that there is no impact on UK or International rail services which are operating normally.”
However, the same may not be true of its bus services. Sky News reported that bus and driver rosters may have been impacted by the attack, which could disrupt operations.
Go-Ahead operates multiple services in the South, South West, London, North West, East Anglia, East Yorkshire and its native North East. It is London’s largest bus company, operating over 2400 buses in the capital and employing more than 7000 staff.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/londons-biggest-bus-operator-hit/
Threats
Ransomware and Extortion
Interpol dismantles sextortion ring, warns of increased attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Play Ransomware Attack Playbook Similar to that of Hive, Nokoyawa (trendmicro.com)
Some Members of Conti Group Targeting Ukraine in Financially Motivated Attacks (thehackernews.com)
How to Improve Mean Time to Detect for Ransomware | SecurityWeek.Com
Google: Former Conti ransomware members attacking Ukraine (techtarget.com)
Hackers Are Using NASA Telescope Images To Push Ransomware (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
Ransomware gang's Cobalt Strike servers DDoSed with anti-Russia messages (bleepingcomputer.com)
Everything You Need To Know About BlackCat (AlphaV) (darkreading.com)
Microsoft: Iranian hackers encrypt Windows systems using BitLocker (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft Warns of Ransomware Attacks by Iranian Phosphorus Hacker Group (thehackernews.com)
Clarion Housing: Anger over landlord silence since cyber attack - BBC News
New Ransomware Hits Windows, Linux Servers Of Chile Govt Agency (informationsecuritybuzz.com)
QNAP warns new Deadbolt ransomware attacks exploiting 0day - Security Affairs
Second largest U.S. school district LAUSD hit by ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Windows Defender identified Chromium, Electron apps as Hive Ransomware - Security Affairs
Phishing & Email Based Attacks
EvilProxy Commodifies Reverse-Proxy Tactic for Phishing, Bypassing 2FA (darkreading.com)
Criminals harvest users' PI by impersonating popular brands - Help Net Security
Lampion malware returns in phishing attacks abusing WeTransfer (bleepingcomputer.com)
A new phishing scam targets American Express cardholders - Security Affairs
EvilProxy phishing-as-a-service with MFA bypass emerged on the dark web - Help Net Security
GIFShell attack creates reverse shell using Microsoft Teams GIFs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc
Malware
Cyber criminals targeting Minecraft fans with malware • The Register
Next-Gen Linux Malware Takes Over Devices With Unique Tool Set (darkreading.com)
TeslaGun Primed to Blast a New Wave of Backdoor Cyber attacks (darkreading.com)
New Linux malware evades detection using multi-stage deployment (bleepingcomputer.com)
Bumblebee malware adds post-exploitation tool for stealthy infections (bleepingcomputer.com)
North Korean Hackers Deploying New MagicRAT Malware in Targeted Campaigns (thehackernews.com)
Mobile
Internet of Things – IoT
Data Breaches/Leaks
NATO docs sold on darkweb after they were stolen from Portugal - Security Affairs
Criminals claim they've stolen NATO missile plans • The Register
TikTok denies data breach following leak of user data - Security Affairs
IRS mistakenly published confidential info for roughly 120K taxpayers - Security Affairs
Samsung US Says Customer Data Compromised in July Data Breach | SecurityWeek.Com
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain
Scammers live-streamed on YouTube a fake Apple crypto event - Security Affairs
FBI: Crooks are using these DeFi flaws to steal your money | ZDNET
Feds freeze $30m in cryptocurrency stolen from Axie Infinity • The Register
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
62% of consumers see fraud as an inevitable risk of online shopping - Help Net Security
Islanders in Jersey lose nearly £400,000 to romance fraud | ITV News Channel
The Advantages of Threat Intelligence for Combating Fraud | SecurityWeek.Com
AML/CFT/Sanctions
UK forces crypto exchanges to report suspected sanction breaches | Cryptocurrencies | The Guardian
US Treasury sanctioned Iran ’s Ministry of Intelligence over Albania cyber attack - Security Affairs
Insurance
Supply Chain and Third Parties
Supply chain risk is a top security priority as confidence in partners wanes - Help Net Security
KeyBank: Hackers of third-party provider stole customer data | The Seattle Times
Government guide for supply chain security: The good, the bad and the ugly - Help Net Security
Software Supply Chain
Denial of Service DoS/DDoS
Cloud/SaaS
Defenders Be Prepared: Cyber attacks Surge Against Linux Amid Cloud Migration (darkreading.com)
Hybrid Cloud Security Challenges & Solutions (trendmicro.com)
Identity and Access Management
Encryption
API
Open Source
Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks
Are Default Passwords Hiding in Your Active Directory? Here's how to check (bleepingcomputer.com)
200,000 North Face accounts hacked in credential stuffing attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
Social Media
TikTok denies security breach after hackers leak user data, source code (bleepingcomputer.com)
Facebook Engineers Admit They Don’t Know What They Do With Your Data (vice.com)
Privacy
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Cyber Bullying and Cyber Stalking
Regulations, Fines and Legislation
Spyware, Cyber Espionage & Cyber Warfare, including Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Google Details Recent Ukraine Cyber attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Ukraine dismantles more bot farms spreading Russian disinformation (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ukraine is under attack by hacking tools repurposed from Conti cyber crime group | Ars Technica
Newly discovered cyber spy group targets Asia • The Register
New Iranian hacking group APT42 deploys custom Android spyware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Israeli Defence Minister's Cleaner Sentenced for Spying Attempt | SecurityWeek.Com
Researchers Find New Android Spyware Campaign Targeting Uyghur Community (thehackernews.com)
Anonymous hacked Yandex taxi causing a traffic jam in Moscow - Security Affairs
Nation State Actors
Nation State Actors – Russia
Nation State Actors – China
Nation State Actors – North Korea
North Korean Hackers Deploying New MagicRAT Malware in Targeted Campaigns (thehackernews.com)
North Korea's Lazarus Targets Energy Firms With Three RATs | SecurityWeek.Com
Nation State Actors – Iran
Microsoft: Iranian hackers encrypt Windows systems using BitLocker (bleepingcomputer.com)
UK condemns Iran for reckless cyber attack against Albania - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
US Treasury sanctioned Iran ’s Ministry of Intelligence over Albania cyber attack - Security Affairs
NATO Condemns Alleged Iranian Cyber attack on Albania | SecurityWeek.Com
New Iranian hacking group APT42 deploys custom Android spyware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Microsoft investigates Iranian attacks against the Albanian government - Microsoft Security Blog
Microsoft Warns of Ransomware Attacks by Iranian Phosphorus Hacker Group (thehackernews.com)
Nation State Actors – Misc
Vulnerabilities
CISA adds 12 new flaws to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog - Security Affairs
September 2022 Patch Tuesday forecast: No sign of cooling off - Help Net Security
High-risk ConnectWise Automate vulnerability fixed, admins urged to patch ASAP - Help Net Security
Hackers Exploit Zero-Day in WordPress BackupBuddy Plugin in ~5 Million Attempts (thehackernews.com)
Mirai Variant MooBot Botnet Exploiting D-Link Router Vulnerabilities (thehackernews.com)
Cisco won’t fix authentication bypass zero-day in EoL routers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Critical RCE Vulnerability Affects Zyxel NAS Devices — Firmware Patch Released (thehackernews.com)
Chrome and Edge fix zero-day security hole – update now! – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Google Patches Sixth Chrome Zero-Day of 2022 | SecurityWeek.Com
QNAP patches zero-day used in new Deadbolt ransomware attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
HP fixes severe bug in pre-installed Support Assistant tool (bleepingcomputer.com)
Other News
The Heartbleed bug: How a flaw in OpenSSL caused a security crisis | CSO Online
Cyber Security - the More Things Change, the More They Are The Same | SecurityWeek.Com
CISOs say stress and burnout are their top personal risks (cnbc.com)
How to deal with unprecedented levels of regulatory change - Help Net Security
Sector Specific
Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.
Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.
· Automotive
· Construction
· Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)
· Defence & Space
· Education & Academia
· Energy & Utilities
· Estate Agencies
· Financial Services
· FinTech
· Food & Agriculture
· Gaming & Gambling
· Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)
· Health/Medical/Pharma
· Hotels & Hospitality
· Insurance
· Legal
· Manufacturing
· Maritime
· Oil, Gas & Mining
· OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems
· Retail & eCommerce
· Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)
· Startups
· Telecoms
· Third Sector & Charities
· Transport & Aviation
· Web3
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
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 02 February 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 02 February 2022:
-Why Cyber Change Outpaces Boardroom Engagement
-NCSC Alerts UK Orgs To Brace For Destructive Russian Cyber Attacks
-Ransomware: Over Half Of Attacks Are Targeting These Three Industries
-Third of Employees Admit to Exfiltrating Data When Leaving Their Job
-Massive Social Engineering Waves Have Impacted Banks In Several Countries
-Ransomware Is Terrifying – But Never Underestimate The Damage An Employee With Unmonitored Access Can Do
-People Working In IT Related Roles Equally Susceptible To Phishing Attempts As The General Population
-FBI Says More Cyber Attacks Come From China Than Everywhere Else Combined
-Managing Detections Is Not the Same as Stopping Breaches
-From War to Web Security, Protect Your Attack Surface from the Weakest Link
-Number Of Data Compromises Reaching All-Time High
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
Cyber Change Outpaces Boardroom Engagement
We all know the story of the past two years. Mass digital investments in SaaS collaboration suites, cloud infrastructure and other tools helped to keep organisations operational when they needed it most. The money continues to flow today, as those same companies realize they must keep on pumping funds into digital to stay competitive amidst rising customer expectations. Gartner predicted public cloud spending growth would hit 23% year-on-year in 2021 and increase 20% this year to top $397bn.
From a cyber security perspective, these business decisions are loaded with risk if protections are not built into projects from the start. A recent global poll revealed that of 90% of business and IT decision makers are concerned about the impact of ransomware. It also found generally poor levels of cyber-awareness among board members. Less than half (46%) of respondents claimed concepts like “cyber risk” and “cyber risk management” were known extensively in their organisation.
The truth is that many board leaders do understand the need for greater investment in security as a strategic growth driver. But they find it hard to keep pace with a threat landscape that moves at the speed of light. Vulnerabilities used to go months or years before they were exploited, for example, but today threat actors are working on exploits for bugs like Log4Shell within hours of their discovery. That makes the fast-changing risk landscape difficult to grasp for even tech-savvy C-suite leaders. As a result, cyber risk continues to be managed reactively, which puts the organisation perpetually on the back foot.
https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/research/22/b/why-cyber-change-outpaces-boardroom-engagement.html
NCSC Alerts UK Orgs to Brace for Destructive Russian Cyber Attacks
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is urging organisations to bolster security and prepare for a potential wave of destructive cyber attacks after recent breaches of Ukrainian entities.
The NCSC openly warns that Russian state-sponsored threat actors will likely conduct the attacks and reminds of the damage done in previous destructive cyber attacks, like NotPetya in 2017 and the GRU campaign against Georgia in 2019.
These warnings come after Ukrainian government agencies and corporate entities suffered cyber attacks where websites were defaced, and data-wiping malware was deployed to destroy data and make Windows devices inoperable.
The cause for the resurgence of attacks is the tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and attempts to negotiate a way out of the Ukraine crisis have failed so far.
Ukraine and Russia have engaged in cyber warfare for many years, but recent Russian military mobilization was accompanied by new waves of attacks, with European countries and the USA expected to be targeted next.
Over Half of Ransomware Attacks are Targeting Financial Services, Utilities and Retail
Three sectors have been the most common target for ransomware attacks, but researchers warn "no business or industry is safe".
Over half of ransomware attacks are targeting one of three industries; banking, utilities and retail, according to analysis by cyber security researchers – but they've also warned that all industries are at risk from attacks.
The data has been gathered by Trellix – formerly McAfee Enterprise and FireEye – from detected attacks between July and September 2021, a period when some of the most high-profile ransomware attacks of the past year happened.
According to detections by Trellix, banking and finance was the most common target for ransomware during the reporting period, accounting for 22% of detected attacks. That's followed by 20% of attacks targeting the utilities sector and 16% of attacks targeting retailers. Attacks against the three sectors in combination accounted for 58% of all of those detected.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-over-half-of-attacks-are-targeting-these-three-industries/
Third of Employees Admit to Exfiltrating Data When Leaving Their Job
Nearly one-third (29%) of employees admitted taking data with them when they leave their job, according to new research from Tessian.
The findings follow the ‘great resignation’ of 2021, when workers quit their jobs in huge waves following the COVID-19 pandemic. Unsurprisingly, close to three-quarters (71%) of IT leaders believe this trend has increased security risks in their organisations.
In addition, nearly half (45%) of IT leaders said they had seen incidents of data exfiltration increase in the past year due to staff taking data with them when they left.
The survey of 2000 UK workers also looked at employees' motives for taking such information. The most common reason was that the data would help them in their new job (58%). This was followed by the belief that the information belonged to them because they worked on the document (53%) and to share it with their new employer (44%).
The employees most likely to take data with them when leaving their job worked in marketing (63%), HR (37%) and IT (37%).
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/third-employees-exfiltrating-data/
Massive Social Engineering Waves Have Impacted Banks in Several Countries
A massive social engineering campaign has been delivered in the last two years in several countries, including Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, the UK, and France. According to Segurança Informática publication, the malicious waves have impacted banking organisations with the goal of stealing the users’ secrets, accessing the home banking portals, and also controlling all the operations on the fly via Command and Control (C2) servers geolocated in Brazil.
In short, criminal groups are targeting victims’ from different countries to collect their home banking secrets and payment cards. The campaigns are carried out by using social engineering schemas, namely smishing, and spear-phishing through fake emails.
Criminals obtain lists of valid and tested phone numbers and emails from other malicious groups, and the process is performed on underground forums, Telegram channels or Discord chats.
The spear-phishing campaigns try to lure victims with fake emails that impersonate the banking institutions. The emails are extremely similar to the originals, exception their content, mainly related to debts or lack of payments.
https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/127516/cyber-crime/massive-social-engineering-banks.html
Ransomware is Terrifying – But Never Underestimate the Damage an Employee with Unmonitored Access Can Do
Is the biggest threat to your data a mysterious ransomware merchant or an advanced persistent threat cartel?
Or is it a security system that will show you that data has been exfiltrated from your organisation – but only after the fact, leaving open the possibility that your valuable IP could have already been shared with unauthorized parties?
It was the latter scenario that allegedly resulted in 12,000 internal documents being lifted from Pfizer’s systems by a soon-to-depart employee last year. Those documents reportedly included details of COVID-19 vaccine research and a new melanoma drug.
The incident shows how today’s cloud infrastructure can exacerbate security gaps and why simply detecting a potential data leak isn’t enough. Companies need to have deep insight into what their employees are doing, as well as technology that can actively enforce policy and prevent unencrypted data from ever leaving the enterprise.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/03/ransomware_terrifying/
People Working in IT Related Roles Equally Susceptible to Phishing Attempts as the General Population
Phishing emails that mimic HR announcements or ask for assistance with invoicing get the most clicks from recipients, according to a study from F-Secure.
The study, which included 82,402 participants, tested how employees from four different organisations responded to emails that simulated one of four commonly used phishing tactics.
22% of recipients that received an email simulating a human resources announcement about vacation time clicked, making emails that mimic those sent by HR the most frequent source of clicks in the study.
An email asking the recipient to help with an invoice (referred to as CEO Fraud in the report) was the second most frequently engaged with email type, receiving clicks from 16% of recipients.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/02/03/phishing-emails-clicks/
FBI Says More Cyber Attacks Come from China than Everywhere Else Combined
US Federal Bureau of Investigation director Christopher Wray has named China as the source of more cyber-attacks on the USA than all other nations combined.
In a Monday speech titled Countering Threats Posed by the Chinese Government Inside the US, Wray said the FBI is probing over 2,000 investigations of incidents assessed as attempts by China's government "to steal our information and technology."
"The Chinese government steals staggering volumes of information and causes deep, job-destroying damage across a wide range of industries – so much so that, as you heard, we're constantly opening new cases to counter their intelligence operations, about every 12 hours or so."
Wray rated China's online offensive as "bigger than those of every other major nation combined," adding it has "a lot of funding and sophisticated tools, and often joining forces with cyber criminals – in effect, cyber mercenaries."
https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/03/fbi_china_threat_to_usa/
Managing Detections is Not the Same as Stopping Breaches
Enterprises interested in managed detection and response (MDR) services to monitor endpoints and workloads should make sure the providers have rock-solid expertise in detecting and responding to threats.
The fundamental challenge in cyber security is that adversaries move quickly. We know from observation that attackers go from initial intrusion to lateral movement in a matter of a couple hours or less.
If security teams are going to successfully stop a breach, they need to operate within the same timeframe, containing and remediating threats within minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Such constant vigilance can be challenging for in-house staff. This is why many organisations engage a provider of managed detection and response (MDR) security services, which monitors endpoints, workloads, and other systems to detect and monitor threats.
Unfortunately, even most managed services have several fundamental flaws that prevent them from executing on the core mission of stopping breaches.
https://www.darkreading.com/crowdstrike/managing-detections-is-not-the-same-as-stopping-breaches
From War to Web Security, Protect Your Attack Surface from the Weakest Link
With the rapid proliferation of data, increasing number of domains and subdomains as well as rise in third-party providers, the number of entry points through which attackers can infiltrate a company’s web environment is endless. Attacks are increasingly causing consequences felt beyond the perimeter of an organisation, as demonstrated earlier this year with the Colonial Pipeline breach, which caused fuel prices along the US East Coast to soar, and the attack on software provider Kaseya that forced hundreds of grocery stores in the Nordics to shut down business for days.
Security breaches often happen through an avenue that no one saw coming — a server no one knew existed, an old landing page, weak passwords or an application that was missing a patch. It’s perhaps never been clearer than today that a company is only as strong as the weakest link in its growing attack surface.
https://thenewstack.io/from-war-to-web-security-protect-your-attack-surface-from-the-weakest-link/
Number of Data Compromises Reaching All-Time High
According to an Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) report, the overall number of data compromises (1,862) is up more than 68 percent compared to 2020.
The new record number of data compromises is 23 percent over the previous all-time high (1,506) set in 2017. The number of data events that involved sensitive information (Ex: Social Security numbers) increased slightly compared to 2020 (83 percent vs. 80 percent). However, it remained well below the previous high of 95 percent set in 2017.
The number of victims continues to decrease (down five (5) percent in 2021 compared to the previous year) as identity criminals focus more on specific data types rather than mass data acquisition. However, the number of consumers whose data was compromised multiple times per year remains alarmingly high.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/31/data-compromises-up/
Threats
Ransomware
Aggressive BlackCat Ransomware on the Rise (darkreading.com)
A Look At The New Sugar Ransomware Demanding Low Ransoms (bleepingcomputer.com)
BlackCat Ransomware - What You Need To Know | The State of Security (tripwire.com)
KP Snacks Giant Hit By Conti Ransomware, Deliveries Disrupted (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hacker Group 'Moses Staff' Using New StrifeWater RAT in Ransomware Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Financially Motivated Hackers Use Leaked Conti Ransomware Techniques in Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
FBI Shares Lockbit Ransomware Technical Details, Defense Tips (bleepingcomputer.com)
BlackCat (ALPHV) Ransomware Linked To BlackMatter, DarkSide Gangs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Over 500,000 People Impacted By A Ransomware Attack That Hit Morley - Security Affairs
Scottish Agency Still Recovering from 2020 Ransomware Attack - Infosecurity Magazine
Conti Ransomware Encrypted 80% of Ireland's HSE IT Systems (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware Wants You to Like and Subscribe, Or Else (vice.com)
Ransomware Means Your Database IS The Front Line. How Are You Defending It? • The Register
Phishing
Low-Detection Phishing Kits Increasingly Bypass MFA | Threatpost
MFA Adoption Pushes Phishing Actors To Reverse-Proxy Solutions (bleepingcomputer.com)
Intuit Warns Of Phishing Emails Threatening To Delete Accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)
Strong Authentication Protects Against Phishing. So Why Aren't More People Using It? | ZDNet
Microsoft Blocked Billions Of Brute-Force And Phishing Attacks Last Year (bleepingcomputer.com)
Other Social Engineering
Malware
Malicious CSV Text Files Used To Install BazarBackdoor Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
New Malware Used by SolarWinds Attackers Went Undetected for Years (thehackernews.com)
Microsoft: This Mac Malware Is Getting Smarter And More Dangerous | ZDNet
Data Breaches/Leaks
The 3 Most Common Causes of Data Breaches in 2021 (darkreading.com)
British Council Exposed More Than 100,000 Files With Student Records (bleepingcomputer.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Supply Chain
DoS/DDoS
CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA
Nation State Actors
Russian 'Gamaredon' Hackers Use 8 New Malware Payloads In Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
State Hackers' New Malware Helped Them Stay Undetected For 250 Days (bleepingcomputer.com)
Charming Kitten Sharpens Its Claws with PowerShell Backdoor | Threatpost
FBI's Warning About Iranian Firm Highlights Common Cyber Attack Tactics | CSO Online
Cloud
Passwords & Credential Stuffing
Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare
Ukraine Continues to Face Cyber Espionage Attacks from Russian Hackers (thehackernews.com)
Gamaredon (Primitive Bear) Russian APT Group Actively Targeting Ukraine (paloaltonetworks.com)
Hackers Exploited 0-Day Vulnerability in Zimbra Email Platform to Spy on Users (thehackernews.com)
Cyber Spies Linked To Memento Ransomware Use New PowerShell Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
NSO Group's Pegasus Spyware and Phantom Encryption Cracker Trigger Fresh Concerns - MSSP Alert
Vulnerabilities
Apple, SonicWall, Internet Explorer Vulnerabilities Added To CISA List | ZDNet
Samba 'Fruit' Bug Allows RCE, Full Root User Access | Threatpost
Tens of Thousands of Websites Vulnerable to RCE Flaw in WordPress Plug-in (darkreading.com)
Cisco Fixes Critical Bugs In SMB Routers, Exploits Available (bleepingcomputer.com)
UEFI Firmware Vulnerabilities Affect At Least 25 Computer Vendors (bleepingcomputer.com)
Google Patches 27 Vulnerabilities With Release of Chrome 98 | SecurityWeek.Com
Intel Patched 226 Vulnerabilities in 2021 | SecurityWeek.Com
600K WordPress Sites Impacted By Critical Plugin RCE Vulnerability (bleepingcomputer.com)
Critical Log4j Vulnerabilities Are the Ultimate Gift for Cyber Criminals (darkreading.com)
ESET Antivirus Bug Let Attackers Gain Windows SYSTEM Privileges (bleepingcomputer.com)
Sector Specific
Financial Services Sector
Retail
Transport and Aviation
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
Hackers Went Wild in 2021 — Every Company Should Do These 5 Things in 2022 (darkreading.com)
Rush To Remote Work Left Sysadmins Struggling To Keep Businesses Safe - Help Net Security
Telco Fined €9 Million For Hiding Cyber Attack Impact From Customers (bleepingcomputer.com)
90% of Security Leaders Warn of Skills Shortage - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Hundreds Of Thousands Of Routers Exposed To Eternal Silence Campaign Via UPnP - Security Affairs
Social Security Numbers Most Targeted Sensitive Data - Infosecurity Magazine
NIST's New Cyber-Resiliency Guidance: 3 Steps For Getting Started | CSO Online
Organisations Neglecting Microsoft 365 Cyber Security Features - 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.
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 28 January 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 28 January 2022
-UK Warned To Bolster Defences Against Cyber Attacks As Russia Threatens Ukraine - BBC News
-Cyber Attacks And Ransomware Hit A New Record In 2021, Says Report
-Ransomware Families Becoming More Sophisticated With Newer Attack Methods
-More Than 90% Of Enterprises Surveyed Have Been Hit By Successful Cyberattacks
-Ransomware Gangs Increase Efforts To Enlist Insiders For Attacks
-Shipment-Delivery Scams Become the Favoured Way to Spread Malware
-Most Ransomware Infections Are Self-Installed
-Staff Negligence Is Now A Major Reason For Insider Security Incidents
-22 Cyber Security Myths Organisations Need To Stop Believing In 2022
-Android Malware Can Factory-Reset Phones After Draining Bank Accounts
-GDPR Fines Surged Sevenfold to $1.25 Billion in 2021: Study
-Cyber Security In 2022 – A Fresh Look At Some Very Alarming Stats
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 Warned To Bolster Defences Against Cyber Attacks As Russia Threatens Ukraine - BBC News
UK organisations are being urged to bolster their defences amid fears cyber attacks linked to the conflict in Ukraine could move beyond its borders.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has issued new guidance, saying it is vital companies stay ahead of a potential threat.
The centre said it was unaware of any specific threats to UK organisations.
It follows a series of cyber attacks in Ukraine which are suspected to have involved Russia, which Moscow denies.
In December 2015, engineers in Ukrainian power stations saw cursors on their computer screens moving by themselves. They had been hacked. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power for hours.
It was the first time a power station had been taken offline, a sign that cyber intrusions were moving beyond stealing information into disrupting the infrastructure on which everyday life depends. Russia was blamed.
"It was a complex operation," says John Hultquist, an expert on Russian cyber operations at the US security firm Mandiant. "They even disrupted the telephone lines so that the engineers couldn't make calls."
Ukraine has been on the front line of a cyber conflict for years. But if Russia does invade the country soon, tanks and troops will still be at the forefront.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60158874
Cyber Attacks And Ransomware Hit A New Record In 2021, Says Report
Ransomware attacks have doubled for the past two years, says a new report—but a lot of people aren’t bothering to change their passwords.
Hackers made up for some lost time last year.
After seeing the number of data breaches decline in 2020, the Identity Theft Resource Center’s 16th Annual Data Breach Report says the number of security compromises was up more than 68% in 2021. That tops the all-time high by a shocking 23%.
All told, there were 1,862 breaches last year, says the ITRC, 356 more than in 2017, the previous busiest year on record.
“Many of the cyber attacks committed were highly sophisticated and complex, requiring aggressive defences to prevent them,” Eva Velasquez, ITRC president and CEO, said in a statement. “If those defences failed, too often we saw an inadequate level of transparency for consumers to protect themselves from identity fraud.”
https://www.fastcompany.com/90715622/cyberattacks-ransomware-data-breach-new-record-2021
Ransomware Families Becoming More Sophisticated With Newer Attack Methods
Ivanti, Cyber Security Works and Cyware announced a report which identified 32 new ransomware families in 2021, bringing the total to 157 and representing a 26% increase over the previous year.
The report also found that these ransomware groups are continuing to target unpatched vulnerabilities and weaponize zero-day vulnerabilities in record time to instigate crippling attacks. At the same time, they are broadening their attack spheres and finding newer ways to compromise organisational networks and fearlessly trigger high-impact assaults.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/28/new-ransomware-families/
More Than 90% Of Enterprises Surveyed Have Been Hit By Successful Cyber Attacks
Cyber attacks can impact any organisation, big or small. But large enterprises are often more tempting targets due to the vast amount of lucrative data they hold. A new report from cyber security firm Anomali reveals an increase in successful cyber attacks and offers ideas on how organisations can better protect themselves.
Published on Thursday, the "2022 Anomali Cyber security Insights Report" is based on a survey of 800 cyber security decision makers commissioned by Anomali and conducted by Harris between September 9 and October 13 of 2021. The survey elicited responses from professionals in the US, UK, Canada and other countries who work full time in such industries as manufacturing, telecommunications and financial services.
Among the respondents, 87% said that their organisations were victims of successful cyber attacks sometime over the past three years. In this case, a successful attack is one that caused damage, disruption or a data breach. Since the pandemic started almost two years ago, 83% of those polled have experienced an increase in attempted cyber attacks, while 87% have been hit with a rise in phishing emails, many of them exploiting coronavirus-related themes.
Ransomware Gangs Increase Efforts To Enlist Insiders For Attacks
A recent survey of 100 large (over 5,000 employees) North American IT firms shows that ransomware actors are making greater effort to recruit insiders in targeted firms to aid in attacks.
The survey was conducted by Hitachi ID, which performed a similar study in November 2021. Compared to the previous survey, there has been a 17% rise in the number of employees offered money to aid in ransomware attacks against their employer.
Most specifically, 65% of the survey respondents say that they or their employees were approached between December 7, 2021, and January 4, 2022, to help hackers establish initial access.
Shipment-Delivery Scams Become the Favoured Way to Spread Malware
Attackers increasingly are spoofing the courier DHL and using socially engineered messages related to packages to trick users into downloading Trickbot and other malicious payloads.
Threat actors are increasingly using scams that spoof package couriers like DHL or the U.S. Postal Service in authentic-looking phishing emails that attempt to dupe victims into downloading credential-stealing or other malicious payloads, researchers have found.
Researchers from Avanan, a Check Point company, and Cofense have discovered recent phishing campaigns that include malicious links or attachments aimed at infecting devices with Trickbot and other dangerous malware, they reported separately on Thursday.
The campaigns separately relied on trust in widely used methods for shipping and employees’ comfort with receiving emailed documents related to shipments to try to elicit further action to compromise corporate systems, researchers said.
https://threatpost.com/shipment-delivery-scams-a-fav-way-to-spread-malware/178050/
Most Ransomware Infections Are Self-Installed
New research from managed detection and response (MDR) provider Expel found that most ransomware attacks in 2021 were self-installed.
The finding was included in the company’s inaugural annual report on cyber security trends and predictions, Great eXpeltations, published on Thursday.
Researchers found eight out of ten ransomware infections occurred after victims unwittingly opened a zipped file containing malicious code. Abuse of third-party access accounted for 3% of all ransomware incidents, and 4% were caused by exploiting a software vulnerability on the perimeter.
The report was based on the analysis of data aggregated from Expel’s security operations center (SOC) concerning incidents spanning January 1 2021 to December 31 2021.
Other key findings were that 50% of incidents were BEC (business email compromise) attempts, with SaaS apps a top target.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/most-ransomware-infections-self/
Staff Negligence Is Now A Major Reason For Insider Security Incidents
Insider threats cost organisations approximately $15.4 million every year, with negligence a common reason for security incidents, new research suggests.
Enterprise players today are facing cyber security challenges from every angle. Weak endpoint security, unsecured cloud systems, vulnerabilities -- whether unpatched or zero-days -- the introduction of unregulated internet of things (IoT) devices to corporate networks and remote work systems can all become conduits for a cyber attack to take place.
When it comes to the human element of security, a lack of training or cyber security awareness, mistakes, or deliberate, malicious actions also needs to be acknowledged in managing threat detection and response.
22 Cyber Security Myths Organisations Need To Stop Believing In 2022
Security teams trying to defend their organisations need to adapt quickly to new challenges. Yesterday’s buzzwords and best practices have become today’s myths.
The past few years have seen a dramatic shift in how organisations protect themselves against attackers. The hybrid working model, fast-paced digitalization, and increased number of ransomware incidents have changed the security landscape, making CISOs' jobs more complex than ever.
This convoluted environment requires a new mindset to defend, and things that might have held true in the past might no longer be useful. Can digital certificates' expiration dates still be managed in a spreadsheet? Is encryption 'magic dust'? And are humans actually the weakest link?
Security experts weigh in the 22 cyber security myths that we finally need to retire in 2022.
Android Malware Can Factory-Reset Phones After Draining Bank Accounts
A banking-fraud trojan that has been targeting Android users for three years has been updated to create even more grief. Besides draining bank accounts, the trojan can now activate a kill switch that performs a factory reset and wipes infected devices clean.
Brata was first documented in a post from security firm Kaspersky, which reported that the Android malware had been circulating since at least January 2019. The malware spread primarily through Google Play but also through third-party marketplaces, push notifications on compromised websites, sponsored links on Google, and messages delivered by WhatsApp or SMS. At the time, Brata targeted people with accounts from Brazil-based banks.
GDPR Fines Surged Sevenfold to $1.25 Billion in 2021: Study
Fines issued for GDPR non-compliance increased sevenfold from 2020 to 2021, analysis shows
In its latest annual GDPR summary, international law firm DLA Piper focuses attention in two areas: fines imposed and the evolving effect of the Schrems II ruling of 2020. Fines are increasing and Schrems II issues are becoming more complex.
Fines issued for GDPR non-compliance increased significantly (sevenfold) in 2021, from €158.5 million (approximately $180 million) in 2020 to just under €1.1 billion (approximately $1.25 billion) in 2021. The largest fines came from Luxembourg against Amazon (€746 million / $846 million), and Ireland against WhatsApp (€225 million / $255 million). Both are currently being appealed.
The WhatsApp fine is interesting. The original fine proposed by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) was for €30 million to €50 million. However, other European regulators objected, and the European Data Processing Board (EDPB) adjudicated – instructing Ireland to increase the fine by 350%.
https://www.securityweek.com/gdpr-fines-surged-sevenfold-125-billion-2021-study
Cyber Security In 2022 – A Fresh Look At Some Very Alarming Stats
Last year Forbes wrote a couple of articles that highlighted some of the more significant cyber statistics associated with our expanding digital ecosystem. In retrospect, 2021 was a very trying year for cyber security in so many areas. There were high profile breaches such as Solar Winds, Colonial Pipeline and dozens of others that had major economic and security related impact. Ransomware came on with a vengeance targeting many small and medium businesses.
Perhaps most worrisome was how critical infrastructure and supply chains security weaknesses were targeted and exploited by adversaries at higher rates than in the past. Since it is only January, we are just starting to learn of some of the statistics that certainly will trend in 2022. By reviewing the topics below, we can learn what we need to fortify and bolster in terms of cyber security throughout the coming year.
Buy now, pay later fraud, romance and cryptocurrency schemes top the list of threats this year
Experian released its annual forecast, which reveals five fraud threats for the new year. With consumers continuing to take a digital-first approach to everything from shopping, dating and investing, fraudsters are finding new and innovative ways to commit fraud.
The main areas they are predicting seeing rises in fraud are:
-Buy now, pay never
-Cryptocurrency scams
-Doubling ransomware attacks
-More increases in romance fraud
-Digital elder abuse will rise
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/26/fraud-threats-this-year/
Threats
Ransomware
Ransomware: More Families, More Vulnerabilities, More Weaponry Dominate 2021 - MSSP Alert
Linux Version Of LockBit Ransomware Targets VMware ESXi Servers (bleepingcomputer.com)
BlackCat Ransomware Targeting US, European Retail, Construction And Transportation Orgs | ZDNet
Conti Ransomware Hits Apple, Tesla Supplier - The Record by Recorded Future
Phishing
There's Been A Big Rise In Phishing Attacks Using Microsoft Excel XLL Add-Ins | ZDNet
Microsoft warns of multi-stage phishing campaign leveraging Azure AD (bleepingcomputer.com)
Other Social Engineering
Malware
Trickbot Injections Get Harder to Detect & Analyze (darkreading.com)
Log4j: Mirai Botnet Found Targeting ZyXEL Networking Devices | ZDNet
Hackers Infect macOS with New DazzleSpy Backdoor in Watering-Hole Attacks (thehackernews.com)
TrickBot Malware Using New Techniques to Evade Web Injection Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Mobile
105 Million Android Users Targeted By Subscription Fraud Campaign (bleepingcomputer.com)
2FA App With 10,000 Google Play Downloads Loaded Well-Known Banking Trojan | Ars Technica
New FluBot And TeaBot Campaigns Target Android Devices Worldwide (bleepingcomputer.com)
Latest Version Of Android RAT BRATA Wipes Devices After Stealing Data - Security Affairs
IoT
As IoT Attacks Increase, Experts Fear More Serious Threats (darkreading.com)
Millions of Routers, IoT Devices at Risk as Malware Source Code Surfaces on GitHub (darkreading.com)
19-Year-Old Describes How He Remotely Hacked 25+ Teslas (businessinsider.com)
Data Breaches/Leaks
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking
Supply Chain
DoS/DDoS
Microsoft Mitigates Largest DDoS Attack 'Ever Reported In History' (bleepingcomputer.com)
Nobel Foundation Site Hit By DDoS Attack On Award Day (bleepingcomputer.com)
CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA
Over 20,000 Data Center Management Systems Exposed To Hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)
Energy Sector Still Needs to Shut the Barn Door (darkreading.com)
Nation State Actors
North Korean Hackers Using Windows Update Service to Infect PCs with Malware (thehackernews.com)
Russian APT29 Hackers' Stealthy Malware Undetected For Years (bleepingcomputer.com)
North Korean Hackers Return with Stealthier Variant of KONNI RAT Malware (thehackernews.com)
German Intel Warns Of APT27 Targeting Commercial Organisations - Security Affairs
Threat Actors Use Microsoft OneDrive for Command-and-Control in Attack Campaign (darkreading.com)
Cloud
Top 5 Cloud Security Data Breaches in Recent Years (makeuseof.com)
Molerats Group Uses Public Cloud Services As Attack Infrastructure - Security Affairs
Privacy
Passwords & Credential Stuffing
65% Of Organisations Continue To Rely On Shared Logins - Help Net Security
Strong Security Starts With The Strengthening Of The Weakest Link: Passwords - Help Net Security
Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare
Vulnerabilities
Ubiquitous Linux Bug: ‘An Attacker’s Dream Come True’ | Threatpost
Outlook Security Feature Bypass Allowed Sending Malicious Links | SecurityWeek.Com
Attackers Now Actively Targeting Critical SonicWall RCE Bug (bleepingcomputer.com)
Patching the CentOS 8 Encryption Bug is Urgent – What Are Your Plans? (thehackernews.com)
Apple Fixes New Zero-Day Exploited To Hack macOS, iOS Devices (bleepingcomputer.com)
F5 Fixes 25 Flaws In BIG-IP, BIG-IQ, and NGINX Products - Security Affairs
Sector Specific
Health/Medical/Pharma Sector
Education and Academia
Reports Published in the Last Week
Aqua Security Reports Large Increase in Supply Chain Attacks (infoq.com)
Other News
Cyber Security: 11 Steps To Take As Threat Levels Increase | ZDNet
Right of Boom: Can Your MSP Really Survive A Cyber Attack? - MSSP Alert
Are You Prepared to Defend Against a USB Attack? (darkreading.com)
VW Fired Senior Employee After They Raised Cyber Security Concerns | Financial Times
Microsoft Outlook RCE Zero-Day Exploits Now Selling For $400,000 (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hackers Are Taking Over CEO Accounts With Rogue OAuth Apps (bleepingcomputer.com)
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 21 January 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 21 January 2022
-Cyber Risks Top Worldwide Business Concerns In 2022
-Bosses Think That Security Is Taken Care Of: CISOs Aren't So Sure
-Fraud Is On the Rise, and It's Going to Get Worse
-Two-Fifths of Ransomware Victims Still Paying Up
-Less Than a Fifth of Cyber Leaders Feel Confident Their Organisation is Cyber-Resilient
-Endpoint Malware And Ransomware Detections Hit All-Time High
-End Users Remain Organisations' Biggest Security Risk
-Supply Chain Disruptions Rose In 2021
-Red Cross Begs Attackers Not to Leak Stolen Data for 515K People
-DHL Dethrones Microsoft As Most Imitated Brand In Phishing Attacks
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
Cyber Risks Top Worldwide Business Concerns In 2022
Cyber perils are the biggest concern for companies globally in 2022, according to the Allianz Risk Barometer. The threat of ransomware attacks, data breaches or major IT outages worries companies even more than business and supply chain disruption, natural disasters or the COVID-19 pandemic, all of which have heavily affected firms in the past year.
Cyber incidents tops the Allianz Risk Barometer for only the second time in the survey’s history (44% of responses), Business interruption drops to a close second (42%) and Natural catastrophes ranks third (25%), up from sixth in 2021. Climate change climbs to its highest-ever ranking of sixth (17%, up from ninth), while Pandemic outbreak drops to fourth (22%).
The annual survey incorporates the views of 2,650 experts in 89 countries and territories, including CEOs, risk managers, brokers and insurance experts. View the full global and country risk rankings.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/20/cyber-concern-2022/
Bosses Think That Security Is Taken Care Of: CISOs Aren't So Sure
The World Economic Forum warns about a significant gap in understanding between C-suites and information security staff - but it's possible to close the gap.
Organisations could find themselves at risk from cyberattacks because of a significant gap between the views of their own security experts and the boardroom.
The World Economic Forum's new report, The Global Cyber Security Outlook 2022, warns there are big discrepancies between bosses and information security personnel when it comes to the state of cyber resilience within organisations.
According to the paper, 92% of business executives surveyed agree that cyber resilience is integrated into enterprise risk management strategies – or in other words, protecting the organisation against falling victim to a cyberattack, or mitigating the incident so it doesn't result in significant disruption.
However, only 55% of security-focused executives believe that cyber resilience is integrated into risk management strategies – indicating a significant divide in attitudes to cyber security.
This gap can leave organisations vulnerable to cyberattacks, because boardrooms believe enough has been done in order to mitigate threats, while in reality there could be unconsidered vulnerabilities or extra measures put in place.
Fraud Is On the Rise, and It's Going to Get Worse
The acceleration of the digital transformation resulted in a surge of online transactions, greater adoption of digital payments, and increased fraud.
As more daily activities — work, education, shopping, and entertainment — shift online, fraud is also on the rise. A trio of recent reports paint a bleak picture, highlighting concerns that companies are experiencing increasing losses from fraud and that the situation will get worse over the coming year.
In KPMG's survey of senior risk executives, 67% say their companies have experienced external fraud in the past 12 months, and 38% expect the risk of fraud committed by external perpetrators to somewhat increase in the next year. External fraud, which includes credit card fraud and identity theft, is specifically referring to incidents perpetuated by individuals outside the company. For most of these respondents, there was a financial impact: Forty-two percent say their organisations experienced 0.5% to 1% of loss as a result of fraud and cybercrime.
https://www.darkreading.com/edge-articles/fraud-is-on-the-rise-and-its-going-to-get-worse
Two-Fifths of Ransomware Victims Still Paying Up
Two-fifths (39%) of ransomware victims paid their extorters over the past three years, with the majority of these spending at least $100,000, according to new Anomali research.
The security vendor hired The Harris Poll to complete its Cyber Resiliency Survey – interviewing 800 security decision-makers in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, the UAE, Mexico and Brazil.
Some 87% said their organisation had been the victim of a successful attack resulting in damage, disruption, or a breach since 2019. However, 83% said they’d experienced more attacks since the start of the pandemic.
Over half (52%) were ransomware victims, with 39% paying up. Of these, 58% gave their attackers between $100,000 and $1m, while 7% handed over more than $1m.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/two-fifths-ransomware-victims/
Less Than a Fifth of Cyber Leaders Feel Confident Their Organisation is Cyber-Resilient
Less than one-fifth (17%) of cyber leaders feel confident that their organisations are cyber-resilient, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s inaugural Global Cyber Security Outlook 2022 report.
The study, written in collaboration with Accenture, revealed there is a wide perception gap between business executives and security leaders on the issue of cyber security. For example, 92% of businesses believe cyber-resilience is integrated into their enterprise risk-management strategies, compared to just 55% of cyber leaders.
This difference in attitude appears to be having worrying consequences. The WEF said that many security leaders feel that they are not consulted in security decisions, and only 68% believe cyber-resilience forms a major part of their organisation’s overall corporate risk management.
In addition, over half (59%) of all cyber leaders admitted they would find it challenging to respond to a cyber security incident due to a shortage of skills within their team.
Supply chain security was another major concern among cyber leaders, with almost nine in 10 (88%) viewing SMEs as a key threat to supply chains.
Interestingly, 59% of cyber leaders said cyber-resilience and cyber security are synonymous, with the differences not well understood.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cyber-leaders-organisation/
Endpoint Malware And Ransomware Detections Hit All-Time High
Endpoint malware and ransomware detections surpassed the total volume seen in 2020 by the end of Q3 2021, according to researchers at the WatchGuard Threat Lab. In its latest report, WatchGuard also highlights that a significant percentage of malware continues to arrive over encrypted connections.
While zero-day malware increased by just 3% to 67.2% in Q3 2021, the percentage of malware that arrived via Transport Layer Security (TLS) jumped from 31.6% to 47%. Data shows that many organisations are not decrypting these connections and therefore have poor visibility into the amount of malware hitting their networks.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/20/endpoint-malware-ransomware-detections-q3-2021/
End Users Remain Organisations' Biggest Security Risk
With the rapid adoption of hybrid working environments and increased attacks, IT and security professionals worry that future data breaches will most likely be the result of end users who are negligent of or break security policy, according to a recent Dark Reading survey. The percentage of respondents in Dark Reading's 2021 Strategic Security Survey who perceive users breaking policy as the biggest risk fell slightly, however, from 51% in 2020 to 48% in 2021. Other potential issues involving end users showed improvements as well, with social engineering falling in concern from 20% to 15% and remote work worries halving from 26% to 13%.
While this trend is positive, it's unclear where the increased confidence comes from, since more people now report ineffective end-user security awareness training (11%, to 2020's 7%).
Respondents shared their heightened concern about well-funded attacks. In 2021, 25% predicted an attack targeted at their organisations (a rise from 2020, when 20% said the same), and fear of a nation-state-sponsored action rose to 16% from 9% the year before. Yet only 16% reported sophisticated, automated malware as a top concern, a 10% drop from 2020, and fear of a gap between security and IT advances only merited 9%. A tiny 3% worried that their security tools wouldn't work well together, dropping from the previous year's 10%.
Supply Chain Disruptions Rose In 2021
56% of businesses experienced more supply chain disruptions in 2021 than 2020, a Hubs report reveals.
Last year was marked by a number of challenges, including computer chip shortages, port congestion, the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, logistics impediments, and energy crises, though with every hurdle faced, solutions are being sought. It is increasingly clear that while certain risks are hard to anticipate and difficult to plan for, it is possible to mitigate the effects of supply chain disruptions by establishing a robust and agile supply chain.
Over 98% of global companies are now planning to boost the resilience of their manufacturing supply chains, however, 37% have yet to implement any measures. As businesses develop long term strategies, over 57% of companies say diversification of their supply chains is the most effective way of building resilience. This report explores last year’s most disruptive events, how disruptions have changed over time, industry trends and strategies for strengthening manufacturing supply chains.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/19/supply-chain-disruptions-2021/
Red Cross Begs Attackers Not to Leak Stolen Data for 515K People
A cyber attack forced the Red Cross to shut down IT systems running the Restoring Family Links system, which reunites families fractured by war, disaster or migration. UPDATE: The ICRC says it’s open to confidentially communicating with the attacker.
The Red Cross is imploring threat actors to show mercy by abstaining from leaking data belonging to 515,000+ “highly vulnerable” people. The data was stolen from a program used to reunite family members split apart by war, disaster or migration.
“While we don’t know who is responsible for this attack, or why they carried it out, we do have this appeal to make to them,” Robert Mardini, the director general of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), said in a release on Wednesday. “Your actions could potentially cause yet more harm and pain to those who have already endured untold suffering. The real people, the real families behind the information you now have are among the world’s least powerful. Please do the right thing. Do not share, sell, leak or otherwise use this data.”
https://threatpost.com/red-cross-begs-attackers-not-to-leak-515k-peoples-stolen-data/177799/
DHL Dethrones Microsoft As Most Imitated Brand In Phishing Attacks
DHL was the most imitated brand in phishing campaigns throughout Q4 2021, pushing Microsoft to second place, and Google to fourth.
This isn't surprising considering that the final quarter of every year includes the Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas shopping season, so phishing lures based on package deliveries naturally increase.
DHL is an international package delivery and express mail service, delivering over 1.6 billion parcels per year.
As such, phishing campaigns impersonating the brand have good chances of reaching people who are waiting for a DHL package to arrive during the holiday season.
The specific lures range from a package that is stuck at customs and requires action for clearance to supposed tracking numbers that hide inside document attachments or embedded links.
Threats
Ransomware
New White Rabbit Ransomware Linked To FIN8 Hacking Group (bleepingcomputer.com)
Conti Ransomware Gang Started Leaking Files Stolen From Bank Indonesia - Security Affairs
This New Ransomware Comes With A Small But Dangerous Payload | ZDNet
FBI Warning: This New Ransomware Makes Demands Of Up To $500,000 | ZDNet
Experts Warn Of Attacks Using A New Linux Variant Of SFile Ransomware - Security Affairs
SEC Filing Reveals Fortune 500 Firm Targeted in Ransomware Attack | Threatpost
FBI Warns Organisations of Diavol Ransomware Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Marketing Giant RRD Confirms Data Theft In Conti Ransomware Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)
After Ransomware Arrests, Some Dark Web Criminals Are Getting Worried | ZDNet
BEC – Business Email Compromise
Phishing
Phishing Impersonates Shipping Giant Maersk To Push STRRAT Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
#COVID19 Phishing Emails Surge 500% on Omicron Concerns - Infosecurity Magazine
Financially Motivated Earth Lusca Threat Actors Targets Orgs Worldwide - Security Affairs
Malware
Microsoft Details Recent Damaging Malware Attacks on Ukrainian Organisations (darkreading.com)
Custom-Written Malware Discovered Across Windows, MacOS, And Linux Systems | TechSpot
Backdoor RAT for Windows, macOS, and Linux went undetected until now | Ars Technica
Ukraine: Wiper Malware Masquerading As Ransomware Hits Government Organisations - Help Net Security
Linux Malware Is On The Rise. Here Are Three Top Threats Right Now | ZDNet
Malware That Can Survive OS Reinstalls Strikes Again, Likely for Cyber Espionage | PCMag
New MoonBounce UEFI Malware Used By Apt41 In Targeted Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Data Breaches/Leaks
Exposed Records Exceeded 40 Billion In 2021 - Help Net Security
European Regulators Hand Out €1.1bn in GDPR Fines - Infosecurity Magazine
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Financially Motivated Earth Lusca Threat Actors Targets Orgs Worldwide - Security Affairs
A Hacker Is Negotiating With Victims on the Blockchain After $1.4M Heist (vice.com)
FBI & European Police Take Down Computer Servers Used In Major Cyberattacks Worldwide - CNNPolitics
Europol Shuts Down VPNLab, Cyber Criminals' Favourite VPN Service (thehackernews.com)
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking
Cyber Criminals Actively Target VMware vSphere with Cryptominers | Threatpost
New BHUNT Password Stealer Malware Targeting Cryptocurrency Wallets (thehackernews.com)
Cheap Malware Is Behind A Rise In Attacks On Cryptocurrency Wallets | ZDNet
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Research: Why Employees Violate Cyber Security Policies (hbr.org)
What CISOs Can Learn About Insider Threats From Iran's Human Espionage Tactics | CSO Online
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
How Buy Now, Pay Later Is Being Targeted By Fraudsters - Help Net Security
Romance Scammer Who Targeted 670 Women Gets 28 Months In Jail – Naked Security (sophos.com)
Insurance
CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA
UK Mulls Making MSPs Subject To Mandatory Security Standards • The Register
‘Anomalous’ Spyware Stealing Credentials In Industrial Firms (bleepingcomputer.com)
European Union Simulated A Cyber Attack On A Fictitious Finnish Power Company - Security Affairs
Nation State Actors
Ukraine Cyber Attack Timeline: Microsoft, CISA, White House and Kyiv Statements - MSSP Alert
Chinese Hackers Spotted Using New UEFI Firmware Implant in Targeted Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Security Scanners Across Europe Tied To China Govt, Military | AP News
Cloud
Privacy
Passwords & Credential Stuffing
Your Keyboard Walking Password Isn’t Complex Or Secure – Review Geek
Box Flaw Allowed To Bypass MFA And Takeover Accounts - Security Affairs
Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare
Vulnerabilities
CISA Adds 13 Exploited Vulnerabilities To List, 9 with Feb. 1 Remediation Date | ZDNet
High-Severity Vulnerabilities Patched in McAfee Enterprise Product | SecurityWeek.Com
Cisco Releases Patch for Critical Bug Affecting Unified CCMP and Unified CCDM (thehackernews.com)
A bug in McAfee Agent allows to run code with SYSTEM privileges - Security Affairs
Zoho Fixes A Critical Vulnerability (CVE-2021-44757) in Desktop Central - Security Affairs
Ubuntu Patch For Heap Buffer Overflow Vulnerability • The Register
Google Details Two Zero-Day Bugs Reported in Zoom Clients and MMR Servers (thehackernews.com)
Hackers Attempt to Exploit New SolarWinds Serv-U Bug in Log4Shell Attacks (thehackernews.com)
F5 Patches Two Dozen Vulnerabilities in BIG-IP | SecurityWeek.Com
McAfee Bug Can Be Exploited to Gain Windows SYSTEM Privileges | Threatpost
Oracle Critical Patch Update for January 2022 will fix 483 new flaws - Security Affairs
20K WordPress Sites Exposed by Insecure Plugin REST-API | Threatpost
Cisco Issues Patch for Critical RCE Vulnerability in RCM for StarOS Software (thehackernews.com)
Critical Bugs in Control Web Panel Expose Linux Servers to RCE Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Critical SAP Vulnerability Allows Supply Chain Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
Zoho Plugs Another Critical Security Hole In Desktop Central (bleepingcomputer.com)
Safari Exploit Can Leak Browser Histories And Google Account Info | Engadget
Sector Specific
Financial Services Sector
Health/Medical/Pharma Sector
More Than Half Of Medical Devices Found To Have Critical Vulnerabilities | ZDNet
Additional Healthcare Firms Disclose Impact From Netgain Ransomware Attack | SecurityWeek.Com
Retail
Education and Academia
Other News
Biggest MSP Takeaways From The Apache Log4j Vulnerability - MSSP Alert
The Emotional Stages Of A Data Breach: How To Deal With Panic, Anger, And Guilt | CSO Online
The Log4j Vulnerability Puts Pressure on the Security World | Threatpost
Hackers Planted Secret Backdoor in Dozens of WordPress Plugins and Themes (thehackernews.com)
BadUSB explained: How rogue USBs threaten your organisation | CSO Online
Millions of UK Wi-Fi Routers Vulnerable To Security Threats - IT Security Guru
NATO, Ukraine Sign Deal to 'Deepen' Cyber Cooperation | SecurityWeek.Com
UK Umbrella Company Parasol Group Confirms Cyber Attack • The Register
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 14 January 2022
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 14 January 2022
-Businesses Suffered 50% More Cyber Attack Attempts per Week in 2021
-Cyber Attacks Against MSPs Jump 67%
-SMEs Still An Easy Target For Cyber Criminals
-World Economic Forum: Cyber Security Failures an Increasing Global Threat
-Microsoft Faces Wormable, Critical RCE Bug & 6 Zero-Days
-Russia Arrests REvil Ransomware Gang Responsible for High-Profile Cyber Attacks
-North Korea Hackers Stole $400m Of Cryptocurrency In 2021, Report Says
-No Lights, No Heat, No Money - That's Life In Ukraine During Cyber Warfare
-Ukrainian Police Arrest Five Members Of Ransomware Affiliate
-Fingers Point To Lazarus, Cobalt, Fin7 As Key Hacking Groups Attacking Finance Industry
-Ransomware, Supply Chain, And Deepfakes: The Top Threats The Finance Industry Needs To Prepare For
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
Businesses Suffered 50% More Cyber Attack Attempts per Week in 2021
Cyberattack attempts reached an all-time high in the fourth quarter of 2021, jumping to 925 a week per organisation, partly due to attempts stemming from the Log4j vulnerability, according to new data.
Check Point Research on Monday reported that it found 50% more attack attempts per week on corporate networks globally in calendar year 2021 compared with 2020.
The researchers define a cyberattack attempt as a single isolated cyber occurrence that could be at any point in the attack chain — scanning/exploiting vulnerabilities, sending phishing emails, malicious website access, malicious file downloads (from Web/email), second-stage downloads, and command-and-control communications.
Cyber Attacks Against MSPs Jump 67%
Cyber attacks spiked by 50 percent in 2021 as compared to 2020, aided by millions of attacks in December by hackers attempting to exploit the Log4J vulnerability, according to a Check Point Software Technologies research report.
In terming 2021 a “record breaking year,” the security provider pointed to a worldwide peak of 925 cyber attacks per organisation weekly and an October 2021 measure that showed a 40 percent increase in cyberattacks, with one out of every 61 entities hit by ransomware each week. The number of cyberattacks on managed service providers (MSPs) and internet service providers (ISPs) rose by nearly 70 percent year over year.
https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-news/cyberattacks-vs-msps-skyrocket/
SMEs Still An Easy Target For Cyber Criminals
Cyber crime continues to be a major concern, with 51% of SMEs experiencing a cyber security breach, a Markel Direct survey reveals.
In this survey that polled 1000 respondents, Markel Direct explored the issue of cybercrime and its impact on the self-employed and SMEs. The survey found the most common cybersecurity attacks were malware/virus related (24%) followed by a data breach (16%) and phishing attack (15%), with 68% reporting the cost of their breach was up to £5,000.
This comes after the latest Quarterly Fraud and Cyber Crime Report revealed that Britons lost over £1 billion in the first six months of 2021, due to the considerable increase in fraudulent activity.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/12/smes-cybersecurity-breach/
World Economic Forum: Cyber Security Failures an Increasing Global Threat
Cybersecurity was once again identified as a major short and medium-term threat to the world in this year’s World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) The Global Risk Report. The analysis was based on insights from nearly 1000 global experts and leaders who responded to the WEF’s Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, environmental issues like climate action failure and extreme weather ranked highest on the risks facing the world over the short (0-2 years), medium (2-5 years) and long-term (5-10 years). In addition, a number of challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, such as livelihood crises, infectious diseases and mental health deterioration, also scored highly. Overall, this added up to a pessimistic assessment, with 84.2% of respondents stating they were either “worried” or “concerned” about the global outlook.
Digital challenges, such as “cyber security failures,” were also viewed as a significant and growing problem to the world. Nearly one in five (19.5%) respondents believe cybersecurity failures will be a critical threat to the world in just the next 0-2 years, and 14.6% said it would be in 2-5 years
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/world-economic-forum-cybersecurity/
Microsoft Faces Wormable, Critical RCE Bug & 6 Zero-Days
Microsoft started 2022 with a large January Patch Tuesday update covering nine critical CVEs, including a self-propagator with a 9.8 CVSS score.
Microsoft has addressed a total of 97 security vulnerabilities in its January 2022 Patch Tuesday update – nine of them rated critical – including six that are listed as publicly known zero-days.
The fixes cover a swath of the computing giant’s portfolio, including: Microsoft Windows and Windows Components, Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based), Exchange Server, Microsoft Office and Office Components, SharePoint Server, .NET Framework, Microsoft Dynamics, Open-Source Software, Windows Hyper-V, Windows Defender, and Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).
https://threatpost.com/microsoft-wormable-critical-rce-bug-zero-day/177564/
Russia Arrests REvil Ransomware Gang Responsible for High-Profile Cyber Attacks
In an unprecedented move, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the country's principal security agency, on Friday disclosed that it arrested several members belonging to the notorious REvil ransomware gang and neutralized its operations.
The surprise takedown, which it said was carried out at the request of the US authorities, saw the law enforcement agency conduct raids at 25 addresses in the cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Leningrad and Lipetsk regions that belonged to 14 suspected members of the organised cyber crime syndicate.
"In order to implement the criminal plan, these persons developed malicious software, organised the theft of funds from the bank accounts of foreign citizens and their cashing, including through the purchase of expensive goods on the Internet," the FSB said in a statement.
In addition, the FSB seized over 426 million rubles, including in cryptocurrency, $600,000, €500,000, as well as computer equipment, crypto wallets used to commit crimes, and 20 luxury cars that were purchased with money obtained by illicit means.
https://thehackernews.com/2022/01/russia-arrests-revil-ransomware-gang.html
North Korea Hackers Stole $400m Of Cryptocurrency In 2021, Report Says
North Korean hackers stole almost $400m (£291m) worth of digital assets in at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms last year, a report claims.
Blockchain analysis company Chainalysis said it was one of most successful years on record for cyber-criminals in the closed east Asian state.
The attacks mainly targeted investment firms and centralised exchanges.
North Korea has routinely denied being involved in hack attacks attributed to them.
"From 2020 to 2021, the number of North Korean-linked hacks jumped from four to seven, and the value extracted from these hacks grew by 40%," Chainalysis said in a report.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59990477
No Lights, No Heat, No Money - That's Life In Ukraine During Cyber Warfare
Hackers who defaced and interrupted access to numerous Ukrainian government websites on Friday could be setting the stage for more serious cyberattacks that would disrupt the lives of ordinary Ukrainians, experts said.
"As tensions grow, we can expect more aggressive cyber activity in Ukraine and potentially elsewhere," said John Hultquist, an intelligence analyst at US cyber security company Mandiant, possibly including "destructive attacks that target critical infrastructure."
"Organisations need to begin preparing," Hultquist added.
Intrusions by hackers on hospitals, power utility companies, and the financial system were until recently rare. But organised cyber criminals, many of them living in Russia, have gone after institutions aggressively in the past two years with ransomware, freezing data and computerized equipment needed to care for hospital patients.
In some cases, those extortion attacks have led to patient deaths, according to litigation, media reports and medical professionals.
Ukrainian Police Arrest Five Members Of Ransomware Affiliate
Ukrainian police announced the arrest of five members of a ransomware affiliate on Thursday, noting that the group was behind attacks on more than 50 companies across Europe and the US.
In a statement, both the Ukrainian Security Service and Ukrainian Cyber Police said the group made at least $1 million through their attacks on the companies.
US and UK law enforcement officials worked with Ukrainian officials on the operation.
Officials said the leader of the group was a 36-year-old who worked with his wife and three other people out of Kyiv. The five are facing a variety of charges in Ukraine related to money laundering, hacking, and selling malware.
One of the people charged is wanted by law enforcement agencies in UK after "using a virus to obtain bank card details of the customers of British banks," according to the police statement.
The bank card details were used to buy things online that were then resold.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ukrainian-police-arrest-members-of-ransomware-affiliate/
Fingers Point To Lazarus, Cobalt, Fin7 As Key Hacking Groups Attacking Finance Industry
The Lazarus, Cobalt, and FIN7 hacking groups have been labeled as the most prevalent threat actors striking financial organisations today.
According to "Follow the Money," a new report (.PDF) published on the financial sector by Outpost24's Blueliv on Thursday, members of these groups are the major culprits of theft and fraud in the industry today.
The financial sector has always been, and possibly always will be, a key target for cybercriminal groups. Organisations in this area are often custodians of sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) belonging to customers and clients, financial accounts, and cash.
They also often underpin the economy: if a payment processor or bank's systems go down due to malware, this can cause irreparable harm not only to the victim company in question, but this can also have severe financial and operational consequences for customers.
Ransomware, Supply Chain, And Deepfakes: The Top Threats The Finance Industry Needs To Prepare For
The finance industry is constantly targeted by numerous threat actors, and they are always innovating and trying new techniques (such as deepfakes) to outsmart security teams and breach an organisation’s network.
In addition to that, there is currently a huge demand for data and new tools on the dark web. In fact, users are selling access to point-of-sale (PoS) terminals and login details to the websites of financial services organisations all the time.
How can financial organisations protect themselves from existing threats and combat new ones at the same time?
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/12/finance-industry-threats/
Threats
Ransomware
Night Sky Ransomware Is Attacking Corporate Networks For 800k Ransom - The Cybersecurity Times
One Of The REvil Members Arrested Was Behind Colonial Pipeline Attack - Security Affairs
Ransomware Is Being Rewritten In Go For Joint Attacks On Windows, Linux Users | IT PRO
Watch Out, That Microsoft Edge Update Is Actually Ransomware | TechRadar
Qlocker Ransomware Returns To Target QNAP NAS Devices Worldwide (bleepingcomputer.com)
Trends That Shaped Ransomware – And Why It’s Not Slowing Down - CyberScoop
Phishing
Check Your SPF Records: Wide IP Ranges Undo Email Security And Make For Tasty Phishes | ZDNet
Phishers Are Targeting Office 365 Users By Exploiting Adobe Cloud - Help Net Security
Real Big Phish: Mobile Phishing & Managing User Fallibility | Threatpost
Malware
Microsoft Defender Weakness Lets Hackers Bypass Malware Detection (bleepingcomputer.com)
New RedLine Malware Version Spread As Fake Omicron Stat Counter (bleepingcomputer.com)
‘Fully Undetected’ SysJoker Backdoor Malware Targets Windows, Linux & macOS | Threatpost
FluBot Malware Continues To Evolve. What's New In Ver 5.0 And Beyond? Security Affairs
Oops: Cyberspies Infect Themselves With Their Own Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mobile
Android Users Can Now Disable 2G to Block Stingray Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
EFF Praises Android’s New 2G Kill Switch, Wants Apple To Follow Suit | Ars Technica
How To Protect Yourself Against Sim-Swapping Scams With Mobile Phone Fraud On The Rise (inews.co.uk)
IoT
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking
Abcbot Botnet Is Linked To Xanthe Cryptojacking Group | ZDNet
North Korean Hackers Impersonate Major Crypto Investment Firm to Scam Startups (vice.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Data Security In The Age Of Insider Threats: A Primer - Help Net Security
Former DHS Official Charged With Stealing Govt Employees' PII (bleepingcomputer.com)
Forensics Expert Kept Murder Snaps on PC - Infosecurity Magazine
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
DoS/DDoS
Extortion DDoS Attacks Grow Stronger And More Common (Bleepingcomputer.Com)
DDoS Attacks That Come Combined With Extortion Demands Are On The Rise | ZDNet
CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA
Manufacturers Are Starting To Realize The Importance Of OT Security - Help Net Security
FBI, NSA and CISA Warns of Russian Hackers Targeting Critical Infrastructure (thehackernews.com)
Critical Infrastructure Falls Short on Ransomware Readiness, Mitigation, Recovery - MSSP Alert
Nation State Actors
Ukraine Hacks Add to Worries of Cyber Conflict With Russia | SecurityWeek.Com
Destructive Malware Targeting Ukrainian Organisations - Microsoft Security Blog
US Olympic Athletes Urged to Leave Phones Behind (gizmodo.com)
Russian Submarines Threatening Undersea Cables, UK Defence Chief Warns - Security Affairs
Iranian Hackers Exploit Log4j Vulnerability to Deploy PowerShell Backdoor (thehackernews.com)
US Cyber Command Links 'MuddyWater' Hacking Group to Iranian Intelligence (thehackernews.com)
Cloud
Passwords & Credential Stuffing
Parental Controls and Child Safety
Vulnerabilities
Threat Actors Can Bypass Malware Detection Due To Microsoft Defender Weakness - Security Affairs
noPac Exploit: Microsoft AD Flaw May Lead to Total Domain Compromise | CrowdStrike
Adobe Fixes 4 Critical Reader Bugs That Were Demonstrated At Tianfu Cup - Security Affairs
WordPress 5.8.3 Security Update Fixes SQL Injection, XSS Flaws (bleepingcomputer.com)
WordPress Bugs Exploded in 2021, Most Exploitable | Threatpost
Sonicwall SMA 100 VPN Box Security Hole Exploit Info Shared • The Register
Cisco Patches Critical Vulnerability in Contact Center Products | SecurityWeek.Com
Millions of Routers Exposed to RCE by USB Kernel Bug | Threatpost
Mozilla Patches High-Risk Firefox, Thunderbird Security Flaws | SecurityWeek.Com
Sector Specific
Financial Services Sector
SMBs – Small and Medium Businesses
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
Hackers Penetrate 93% of Local Company Networks, Cyber Simulation Finds - MSSP Alert
URL Parsing: A Ticking Time Bomb Of Security Exploits - TechRepublic
Europol Told to Delete Vast Trove of Personal Information - Infosecurity Magazine
The Race Towards Renewable Energy Is Creating New Cyber Security Risks | ZDNet
What Is Clipboard Hijacking? How to Avoid Becoming a Victim (makeuseof.com)
White House Reminds Tech Giants Open Source Is A National Security Issue (bleepingcomputer.com)
Want To Improve Corporate Security? Prioritize Personal Security | ZDNet
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 10 December 2021
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 10 December 2021
-Beware Of Ransomware Attacks Between Christmas and New Year’s!
-Why Holidays Put Your Company at Risk of Cyber Attack (And How to Take Precautions)
-Security Experts Sound Alarm on Zero-Day in Widely Used Log4j Tool
-SolarWinds Attackers Spotted Using New Tactics, Malware
-Cyber Crime Supply Chain: Fueling The Rise In Ransomware
-Weak Passwords Caused 30% Of Security Breaches
-Work-from-Anywhere Requires "Work-from-Anywhere Security"
-Just 3% of UK Firms Escaped a Supply Chain Breach in 2021
-Critical Flaw In ManageEngine Desktop Central MSP Tool Exploited In The Wild
-New Financial Services Industry Report Reveals Major Gaps in Storage and Backup Security
-UK’s Poor Cyber Risk Planning Could “Wreak Havoc”
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
Beware Of Ransomware Attacks Between Christmas And New Year’s!
Darktrace reported that its security researchers discovered a 30% increase in the average number of attempted ransomware attacks globally over the holiday season in every consecutive year from 2018 to 2020 compared to the monthly average.
The researchers also observed a 70% average increase in attempted ransomware attacks in November and December compared to January and February. Following a record number of ransomware attacks this year, the company expects the spike to be higher over the 2021 holiday period.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/12/09/ransomware-attacks-holiday/
Why Holidays Put Your Company at Risk of Cyber Attack (And How to Take Precautions)
It is a time when many are thinking of their families and loved ones, time off work, and gift-giving – the holidays. However, while many have their minds outside the realm of work during the holiday season, often, this is when attackers plan their most sinister attacks.
So how can you take precautions to protect your organisation during these times?
Attackers today do not have a soft spot for businesses and give companies a break at any time of the year, especially not during holidays. On the contrary, any time of the year where companies may be less prepared to fend off a cyberattack is an opportunity for successful compromise. As a result, the holidays put your company at a higher risk of cyberattack.
https://thehackernews.com/2021/12/why-holidays-put-your-company-at-risk.html
Security Experts Sound Alarm on Zero-Day in Widely Used Log4j Tool
Security experts are sounding the equivalent of a five-alarm fire on a critical new zero-day vulnerability in Log4j, a logging framework that is ubiquitously present in Java software.
The flaw (CVE-2021-44228) could allow remote attackers to run arbitrary code on any application that uses Log4j and is already being actively exploited. Some vendors have observed mass scanning activity — presumably by threat actors — for vulnerable applications, and there are some reports of exploit activity against organisations. Attacks against the flaw take little skill to execute and are being fueled by proof-of-concept code in the wild.
SolarWinds Attackers Spotted Using New Tactics, Malware
One year after the disruptive supply-chain attacks, researchers have observed two new clusters of activity from the Russia-based actors that signal a significant threat may be brewing.
One year after the notorious and far-reaching SolarWinds supply-chain attacks, its orchestrators are on the offensive again. Researchers said they’ve seen the threat group – which Microsoft refers to as “Nobelium” and which is linked to Russia’s spy agency – compromising global business and government targets with novel tactics and custom malware, stealing data and moving laterally across networks.
https://threatpost.com/solarwinds-attackers-new-tactics-malware/176818/
Cyber Crime Supply Chain: Fuelling The Rise In Ransomware
Trend Micro released a research detailing the murky cybercrime supply chain behind much of the recent surge in ransomware attacks. Demand has increased so much over the past two years that many cybercriminal markets now have their own “Access-as-a-Service” sections.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/12/06/cybercrime-supply-chain/
Weak Passwords Caused 30% Of Security Breaches
A recent survey assessed the risk factors associated with password management and how to safeguard them from attacks or breaches. The results revealed that 30% of respondents reported password leaks and security breaches as a result of poor password practices. Respondees admitted to making poor password choices, such as sharing them with colleagues, family members or friends; writing them on sticky notes, papers, planners; re-using passwords across multiple sites and only changing them when prompted.
Consequently, researchers revealed some of the best password practices to create unhackable passwords. These practices include using secure VPNs, two-factor authentication, using a password management software and creating unique passwords that aren’t easily deduced .
https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2021/12/10/weak-passwords-caused-30-of-security-breaches/
Work-from-Anywhere Requires "Work-from-Anywhere Security"
Securing today's expanding networks often includes adding additional technologies to an already overburdened security environment. With organisations already struggling to manage an average of 45 security tools, with each incident requiring coordination across 19 different devices, adding new technologies to the mix may be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
The most recent example of the rapid expansion of the network's attack surface has been remote work. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for a work-from-anywhere (WFA) strategy. And now, as workers begin to return to the office, a hybrid approach to work has become the new status quo. According to Accenture, 83% of workers prefer a hybrid work model that allows them to work remotely between 25% and 75% of the time. And businesses are listening. 63% of high-revenue growth companies have already enabled productivity anywhere workforce models.
One of the biggest security challenges of a hybrid workforce is that employees need to move seamlessly between the corporate office, their home network, and other remote locations. Applications, whether deployed in the data centre, SaaS, or cloud, not only need to be available from anywhere, but user experience—and security—needs to be consistent from any location as well.
https://www.securityweek.com/work-anywhere-requires-work-anywhere-security
Just 3% of UK Firms Escaped a Supply Chain Breach in 2021
Some 97% of UK organisations suffered a supply chain breach over the past year, up from 82% in 2020 and the second highest figure globally, according to BlueVoyant.
The security firm polled 1200 C-level executives with responsibility for managing risk in supply chains, across the UK, US, Singapore, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands.
UK firms also experienced a higher-than-average percentage of breaches: 59% suffered between two and five supply chain incidents compared to an overall average of 49%. The average number of breaches in the country grew from 2.64 in 2020 to 3.57 in 2021.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given these figures, only a quarter (27%) of UK respondents said they consider third-party cyber risk a key priority versus a 42% global average.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/just-3-uk-firms-escaped-supply/
Critical Flaw In ManageEngine Desktop Central MSP Tool Exploited In The Wild
News of this latest zero-day vulnerability comes after hackers exploited at least two other flaws in ManageEngine products this year. Attacks against MSPs and their tools have seen a rise over the past several years due to hackers realizing that compromising such organisations can provide an easy way into the networks of thousands of businesses that rely on them to manage their IT assets.
News of this latest zero-day vulnerability comes after hackers exploited at least two other flaws in ManageEngine products this year. Attacks against MSPs and their tools have seen a rise over the past several years due to hackers realizing that compromising such organisations can provide an easy way into the networks of thousands of businesses that rely on them to manage their IT assets.
New Financial Services Industry Report Reveals Major Gaps in Storage and Backup Security
Continuity™, the first dedicated storage and backup security provider, this week announced findings from its Security Intelligence Report: Analysis of Storage and Backup Security in the Financial Services & Banking Sector. This extensive study – the first of its kind – explores the security posture of storage and backup environments in the global financial services industry.
The survey of 200 financial services firms and banks from 45 countries revealed that most of these organisations have not yet reached a satisfactory level of storage and backup maturity. Notably, more than half (52%) of the respondents were not strongly confident about their storage and backup security, and a quarter (25%) noted they were significantly concerned (low or no confidence).
UK’s Poor Cyber Risk Planning Could “Wreak Havoc”
The UK’s long-term risk planning is under-powered and could expose the nation if it is struck by a serious cyber-threat, a new House of Lords (HoL) report has found.
The study, Preparing for Extreme Risks: Building a Resilient Society, was produced by the upper chamber’s Select Committee on Risk Assessment and Risk Planning after interviews with 85 expert witnesses.
It claimed that the government spends too much of its time reacting to crises and emergencies, neglecting the kind of long-term planning which would have prepared the country better for the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The UK’s unpreparedness to manage the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus was and is clear. More broadly, our inquiry has analyzed the UK’s risk assessment process and found that our current system is deficient at assessing and addressing future threats and hazards,” it argued.
“However, pandemics are only one of a number of extreme risks facing the UK. Severe space weather events could render smart technologies on which much of society relies inoperable for weeks or longer; this would include GPS, the internet, communications systems and power supplies. A cyber or physical attack on our critical national infrastructure could wreak havoc.”
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/uks-poor-cyber-risk-planning-could/
Threats
Ransomware
Ransomware Attacks Soar, Hackers Set To Become More Aggressive | Reuters
Emotet’s Behaviour & Spread Are Omens of Ransomware Attacks | Threatpost
Ireland Conti Ransomware Attack Vector Was Spam Email • The Register
Crackdown On Crypto Firms Needed To ‘Wreck’ Ransomware, Says Ex-GCHQ Boss (telegraph.co.uk)
Companies Linked to Russian Ransomware Hide in Plain Sight - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
New 'Karakurt' Cyber Crime Gang Focuses On Data Theft And Extortion - Security Affairs
More Than 300 Spar Shops In North Of England Hit By Cyber Attack | Hacking | The Guardian
New Cerber Ransomware Targets Confluence And GitLab Servers (Bleepingcomputer.Com)
Ransomware Attack Locks Hotel Guests Out Of Rooms - IT Security Guru
BlackCat: A New Rust-based Ransomware Malware Spotted in the Wild (thehackernews.com)
ALPHV BlackCat - This Year's Most Sophisticated Ransomware (Bleepingcomputer.Com)
Phishing
Microsoft, Google OAuth Flaws Can Be Abused In Phishing Attacks (Bleepingcomputer.Com)
Researchers Explore Microsoft Outlook Phishing Techniques (darkreading.com)
Convincing Microsoft Phishing Uses Fake Office 365 Spam Alerts (Bleepingcomputer.Com)
Study: Most Phishing Pages Are Abandoned Or Disappear In A Matter Of Days - Techrepublic
Phishing Attacks Use QR Codes To Steal Banking Credentials (Bleepingcomputer.Com)
Malware
Emotet Is Back and More Dangerous Than Before (darkreading.com)
Malicious Notepad++ Installers Push StrongPity Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
Mobile
IOT
IoT Under Attack: Security Is Still Not Good Enough On These Edge Devices | ZDNet
Three-Quarters of Firms Admit to Sub-Optimal IoT Security - Infosecurity Magazine
Data Breaches/Leaks
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Microsoft Seizes 42 Malicious Web Domains Used By Chinese Hackers (thehackernews.com)
Google Disrupts Massive Glupteba Botnet, Sues Russian Operators (Bleepingcomputer.Com)
Cyber Criminals Are Using Fake Advertising To Distribute Malware | Techspot
Cryptocurrency/Cryptojacking
Hackers Are Minting Their Own Crypto To Use In Elaborate Phishing Scams | Techradar
Tor2Mine Cryptominer Is Warning Sign Of Network Exploitation • The Register
QNAP Warns Users Of Bitcoin Miner Targeting Their NAS Devices (Bleepingcomputer.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud & Financial Crime
Dark Web
OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA
Nation State Actors
UK Spy Chief Raises Fears Over China’s Digital Renminbi | Financial Times (FT.com)
Russia Blocks Tor Privacy Service in Latest Censorship Move (thehackernews.com)
Cloud
Vulnerabilities
Your Microsoft Network Is Only As Secure As Your Oldest Server | CSO Online
Lack of Patching Leaves 300,000 Routers at Risk for Attack (darkreading.com)
Vulnerability In Windows 10 URI Handler Leads To Remote Code Execution | Malwarebytes Labs
Dark Mirai Botnet Targeting RCE On Popular TP-Link Router (Bleepingcomputer.Com)
Sprawling Active Attack Aims to Take Over 1.6M WordPress Sites | Threatpost
Sector Specific
Financial Services Sector
US Bank Regulator Urges Vigilance As Ransomware Attacks On The Rise | Reuters
Israel Leads 10-Country Simulation Of Major Cyber Attack On World Markets | The Times Of Israel
Health/Medical/Pharma Sector
Retail
Fueled by Pandemic Realities, Grinchbots Aggressively Surge in Activity | Threatpost
Hackers Infect Random WordPress Plugins To Steal Credit Cards (Bleepingcomputer.Com)
Transport and Aviation
Other News
Google, Microsoft: Internet Whac-a-Mole vs. Cyber Criminals - MSSP Alert
Are You Guilty of These 8 Network-Security Bad Practices? | Threatpost
1.6 Million WordPress Sites Under Cyber Attack From Over 16,000 IP Addresses (thehackernews.com)
Next-Gen Maldocs & How to Solve the Human Vulnerability | Threatpost
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our weekly ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 17 September 2021
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 17 September 2021
-Ransomware Preparedness Is Low Despite Executives’ Concerns
-MSPs That Cannot Modernize Will Find Themselves And Their Clients Falling Behind
-Two-Thirds Of Cloud Attacks Could Be Stopped By Checking Configurations, Research Finds
-Open Source Software Cyber Attacks Increasing By 650%, Popular Projects More Vulnerable
-Third-Party Cloud Providers: Expanding The Attack Surface
-Ransomware Encrypts South Africa's Entire Dept Of Justice Network
-2021’s Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses
-46% Of All On-Prem Databases Are Vulnerable To Attack, Breaches Expected To Grow
-Most Fortune 500 Companies’ External IT Infrastructure Considered At Risk
-Thousands Of Internet-Connected Databases Contain High Or Critical Vulnerabilities
-Only 30% Of Enterprises Use Cloud Services With End to End Encryption For External File Sharing
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
Ransomware Preparedness Is Low Despite Executives’ Concerns
86.7% of C-suite and other executives say they expect the number of cyber attacks targeting their organisations to increase over the next 12 months, according to a recent poll conducted by researchers. While 64.8% of polled executives say that ransomware is a cyber threat posing major concern to their organisations over the next 12 months, only 33.3% say that their organisations have simulated ransomware attacks to prepare for such an incident. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/09/15/ransomware-preparedness/
MSPs That Cannot Modernize Will Find Themselves And Their Clients Falling Behind
Researchers sought feedback from IT professionals to explore the performance of modern (and not-so-modern) managed service providers (MSPs). The survey found that even satisfactory MSPs are falling short in certain key areas: cloud strategy, security, and IT spending. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/09/16/msps-falling-behind/
Two-Thirds Of Cloud Attacks Could Be Stopped By Checking Configurations, Research Finds
On Wednesday, researchers published its latest Cloud Security Threat Landscape report, spanning Q2 2020 through Q2 2021. According to the research, two out of three breached cloud environments observed by the tech giant "would likely have been prevented by more robust hardening of systems, such as properly implementing security policies and patching systems." https://www.zdnet.com/article/two-thirds-of-cloud-attacks-could-be-stopped-by-checking-configurations-research-finds/
Open Source Software Cyber Attacks Increasing By 650%, Popular Projects More Vulnerable
Researchers released a report that revealed continued strong growth in open source supply and demand dynamics. Further, with regard to open source security risks, the report reveals a 650% year over year increase in supply chain attacks aimed at upstream public repositories, and a fascinating dichotomy pertaining to the level of known vulnerabilities present in popular and non-popular project versions. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/09/17/open-source-cyberattacks/
Third-Party Cloud Providers: Expanding The Attack Surface
In the era of digital transformation, which is essentially an organisation’s way of stating they are increasing their reliance on cloud-based services—enterprises’, digital landscapes are more interconnected than ever before. This means that the company you buy a technology function from may have downstream third-party providers that enable plumbing, infrastructure and development technology that drive their business. With modern computing environments moving further away from the enterprise, the safety assumption paradigm is shifting. This has impacted the threat landscape because as organisations increase migration to the cloud (a third party), they must now consider that these newly onboarded third parties may have serious security issues that could present adversaries with opportunities to infiltrate your network. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/09/13/third-party-cloud-providers/
Ransomware Encrypts South Africa's Entire Dept Of Justice Network
The justice ministry of the South African government is working on restoring its operations after a recent ransomware attack encrypted all its systems, making all electronic services unavailable both internally and to the public. As a consequence of the attack, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development said that child maintenance payments are now on hold until systems are back online. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ransomware-encrypts-south-africas-entire-dept-of-justice-network/
2021’s Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses
Researchers recently updated a list of the top 25 most dangerous software bugs, and it’s little surprise that a number of them have been on that list for years. The Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) list represents vulnerabilities that have been widely known for years, yet are still being coded into software and being bypassed by testing. Both developers and testers presumably know better by now, but keep making the same mistakes in building applications. https://threatpost.com/2021-angerous-software-weaknesses/169458/
46% Of All On-Prem Databases Are Vulnerable To Attack, Breaches Expected To Grow
A five-year longitudinal study comprising nearly 27,000 scanned databases discovered that the average database contains 26 existing vulnerabilities. 56% of the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) found were ranked as ‘High’ or ‘Critical’ severity, aligned with guidelines from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This indicates that many organisations are not prioritizing the security of their data and neglecting routine patching exercises. Based on Imperva scans, some CVEs have gone unaddressed for three or more years. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/09/15/on-prem-databases-vulnerable/
Most Fortune 500 Companies’ External IT Infrastructure Considered At Risk
Nearly three quarters of Fortune 500 companies’ IT infrastructure exists outside their organisation, a quarter of which was found to have a known vulnerability that threat actors could infiltrate to access sensitive employee or customer data, as research reveal. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/09/15/external-it-infrastructure-risk/
Thousands Of Internet-Connected Databases Contain High Or Critical Vulnerabilities
After spending five years poring over port scan results, researchers reckon there's about 12,000 vulnerability-containing databases accessible through the internet. The study also found that of the 46 per cent of 27,000 databases scanned, just over half that number contained "high" or "critical" vulns as defined by their CVE score. https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/14/imperva_12k_database_vuln_report/
Only 30% Of Enterprises Use Cloud Services With End to End Encryption For External File Sharing
A recent study of enterprise IT security decision makers conducted by researchers shows that majority of enterprises use additional encryption methods to boost the security of cloud collaboration and file transfer, however, tools with built-in end-to-end encryption are still less frequent despite the growing popularity of this privacy and security enhancing technology. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/09/13/external-file-sharing/
Threats
Ransomware
The State Of Ransomware: National Emergencies And Million-Dollar Blackmail
Ransomware Attackers Targeted App Developers With Malicious Office Docs, Says Microsoft
Microsoft: Windows MSHTML Bug Now Exploited By Ransomware Gangs
Ransomware Gang Threatens To Wipe Decryption Key If Negotiator Hired
US General In Charge Of Cyber Security Pledges ‘Surge’ To Address Ransomware Attacks
REvil Ransomware Is Back In Full Attack Mode And Leaking Data
Ransomware-Hit Law Firm Secures High Court Judgment Against Unknown Criminals
Ransomware Encrypts South Africa's Entire Dept Of Justice Network
BEC
Phishing
Other Social Engineering
Brits Open Doors For Tech-Enabled Fraudsters Because They 'Don't Want To Seem Rude'
Scammers In Russia Offer Free Bitcoin On A Hacked Government Website
Malware
Mobile
Cyber Security Expert: Israeli Spyware Company NSO Group Poses ‘A Serious Threat To Phone Users’
After The T-Mobile Breach, Companies Are Preventing Customers From Securing Their Accounts
IOT
Vulnerabilities
Microsoft September 2021 Patch Tuesday Fixes 2 Zero-Days, 60 Flaws
Third Critical Bug Affects Netgear Smart Switches — Details And PoC Released
Patch Now! PrintNightmare Over, MSHTML Fixed, A New Horror Appears … OMIGOD
No Patch For High-Severity Bug In Legacy IBM System X Servers
Experts Warn About Vulnerabilities of U.S. GPS System To Cyber Terrorists
Data Breaches/Leaks
Organised Crime & Criminal Actors
Cryptocurrency/Cryptojacking
DoS/DDoS
Nation State Actors
Cloud
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our weekly ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 07 May 2021
Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 07 May 2021: New Technology Has Enabled Cyber-Crime On An Industrial Scale; Cyber Security Control Failures Listed As Top Emerging Risk; Third Parties Caused Data Breaches At 51% Of Organisations; Apple Devices Under Attack, Update Now; Ransomware Reality Shock - 92% Who Pay Do Not Get Their Data Back; New Vulnerabilities Impact 60% Of Email Servers; Big Rise In Double Extortion Ransomware; Millions At Security Risk From Old Routers; 30% Of All Smartphones Vulnerable To New Bug
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
New Technology Has Enabled Cyber-Crime On An Industrial Scale
Nobody likes a call from the taxman. Donald Rumsfeld, who as America’s defence secretary oversaw a budget bigger than the economy of a typical country, nonetheless finds the rules so confusing that he writes to the Internal Revenue Service each year complaining that he has “no idea” whether he has filed his taxes correctly. So, it is hardly surprising that, when the phone rings and an official-sounding voice says you have underpaid your taxes and will be connected to an adviser to pay the balance, ordinary folk tremble.
Cyber Security Control Failures Listed As Top Emerging Risk
Despite a myriad of risks resulting from the pandemic, such as the new work environment and environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns, cyber security risk was singled out with notable consistency across all geographic regions and most industries, cited by 67% of respondents. The next highest cited risk, “the new working model” was cited by 43% of respondents. “Many organisations were forced to implement quick fixes to serious operational gaps as a result of their initial pandemic responses.”
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/05/03/cybersecurity-control-failures/
Third Parties Caused Data Breaches At 51% Of Organisations
Remote access is becoming an organisation's weakest attack surface, according to new research published. The new report, titled “A Crisis in Third-party Remote Access Security,” reveals a disparity between an organisation's perceived third-party access security threat and the protective measures it puts in place. Researchers found that organisations are exposing their networks to non-compliance and security risks by not taking action to reduce third-party access risk.
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/third-parties-breaches-at-51-of/
Apple Devices Under Attack — Update Your Mac, iPhone, iPad And Apple Watch Now
Apple on Monday (May 3) pushed out emergency patches to macOS, iPadOS, watchOS and two different versions of iOS to fix four flaws in WebKit, the rendering engine that underlies the Safari web browser. Install these updates when you receive them, because for each flaw, the company states that "Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited." In each case, Apple says, "processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution." In plain English, that means web pages could be built to remotely hack your Mac, iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch.
https://www.tomsguide.com/uk/news/apple-urgent-updates-2105
Enforcing KYC, AML Laws Is Key To Reducing Ransomware Attacks: Task Force
Better enforcement of crypto currency regulations can help address an increasing number of ransomware attacks; a public-private task force claimed Thursday. The Ransomware Task Force, led by the Institute for Security and Technology with support from Microsoft, McAfee and various government agencies, published a report proposing a host of government and company responses to the growing threat of ransomware attacks, including recommendations to disrupt payments to the developers who develop this form of malware. A ransomware attack is one where a malicious actor hijacks a computer or network, locking it until the victim pays a ransom, often in crypto currency (ransomware victims paid close to $350 million in crypto to attackers last year). Paying the ransom is not necessarily a guarantee the perpetrator will share a decryption tool to unlock the computer.
https://www.coindesk.com/enforcing-kyc-aml-laws-is-key-to-reducing-ransomware-attacks-report-says
Ransomware Reality Shock: 92% Who Pay Do Not Get Their Data Back
As Apple gets caught up in an apparent $50 million ransomware extortion attempt by a significant cyber criminal gang, new research reveals just how unlikely it is that organisations will get all their data back if they pay up. On April 23, I reported how the notorious cyber criminal gang behind the REvil ransomware operation had attempted to get Apple to pay the ransom for another business that it had targeted. That business, REvil said, was Apple original design manufacturer Quanta Computer and the gang said it had stolen the schematics for several new Apple products. Several blueprints were published to the REvil dark web site, including one that 9to5Mac determined was related to the 2021 MacBook Pro.
New Vulnerabilities Impact 60% Of The Internet’s Email Servers
The maintainers of the Exim email server software have released updates today to patch a collection of 21 vulnerabilities that can allow threat actors to take over servers using both local and remote attack vectors. Known as 21Nails, the vulnerabilities were discovered by the security firm Qualys. The bugs impact Exim, a type of email server known as a mail transfer agent (MTA) that helps email traffic travel across the internet and reach its intended destinations. While there are different MTA clients available, an April 2021 survey shows that Exim has a market share of nearly 60% among all MTA solutions, being widely adopted around the internet.
New vulnerabilities impact 60% of the internet’s email servers
Ransomware: There's Been A Big Rise In Double Extortion Attacks As Gangs Try Out New Tricks
There has been a big rise in the number of ransomware gangs that threaten to release information stolen from the victims if they themselves rather than the firm, do not pay the ransom for the decryption key required to restore their network. The idea behind these 'double extortion' ransomware attacks is that even if the victim organisation believes it can restore its network without giving into the ransom demands of cyber criminals – which regularly cost millions of dollars in Bitcoin – the threat of sensitive information about employees or customers being exposed could still push victims to giving into the blackmail and paying the ransom.
They Told Their Therapists Everything. Hackers Leaked It All
Finnish mental health Clinic Vastaamo suffers catastrophic data breach. A security flaw at the firm’s IT provider not only exposed full names, dates of birth, and social security numbers, but also the actual written notes their therapists had taken. It was the patients themselves, rather than the firm were then left facing a demand for ransom payment to prevent public disclosure of their data.
Millions At Security Risk From Old Routers
Millions of people could be using outdated routers that put them at risk of being hacked. The consumer watchdog examined 13 models provided to customers by internet-service companies such as EE, Sky and Virgin Media and found more than two-thirds had flaws. It estimated about six million people could have a device not updated since 2018 or earlier. So, in some cases, they would not have received crucial security updates.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56996717
An Estimated 30% Of All Smartphones Vulnerable To New Qualcomm Bug
Around a third of all smartphones in the world are believed to be affected by a new vulnerability in a Qualcomm modem component that can grant attackers access to the device’s call and SMS history and even audio conversations. First designed in the early 90s, the chip has been updated across the years to support 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G cellular communications and has slowly become one of the world’s most ubiquitous technologies, especially with smartphone vendors. Devices that use Qualcomm MSM chips today include high-end smartphone models sold by Google, Samsung, LG, Xiaomi, and One Plus, just to name a few.
https://therecord.media/an-estimated-30-of-all-smartphones-vulnerable-to-new-qualcomm-bug/
Threats
Ransomware
Cloud Hosting Provider Swiss Cloud Suffered A Ransomware Attack
Babuk Quits Ransomware Encryption, Focuses On Data-Theft Extortion
Phishing
Malware
Mobile
Vulnerabilities
Security Researchers Found 21 Flaws In This Widely Used Email Server, So Update Immediately
Dell Is Issuing A Security Patch For Hundreds Of Computer Models Going Back To 2009
Pulse Secure fixes VPN zero-day used to hack high-value targets
Microsoft Warns Of Damaging Vulnerabilities In Dozens Of Iot Operating Systems
Python Also Impacted By Critical Ip Address Validation Vulnerability
Computer Scientists Discover New Vulnerability Affecting Computers Globally
Data Breaches
Data Leak Implicates Over 200,000 People In Amazon Fake Product Review Scam
Middle Market Companies Facing A Record Number Of Data Breaches
Nation State Actors
Denial of Service
Privacy
Other News
As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.
Look out for our weekly ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.
Cyber Weekly Flash Briefing 09 October 2020: Jersey based insurance firm Ardonagh hit with ransomware; Boards increase cyber investment; spike in romance scams; Amazon Prime Day phishing spike
Cyber Weekly Flash Briefing 09 October 2020: Jersey based insurance firm Ardonagh hit with ransomware; Boards increase cyber investment; spike in romance scams; cyber remains top business risk; ransomware surge as hackers take advantage of firms under pressure; Amazon Prime Day spurs phishing spike; new botnet wipes IoT devices; Emotet one of the most prevalent threats; Windows Error Reporting exploited
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.
Jersey based insurance firm Ardonagh Group disabled 200 admin accounts as ransomware infection took hold
Jersey-headquartered insurance company Ardonagh Group has suffered a potential ransomware infection.
Reports indicated that the insurance firm had been forced to suspend 200 internal accounts with admin privileges as the "cyber incident" progressed through its IT estate.
The UK's second largest privately owned insurance broker, according to the Financial Times, Ardonagh Group has spent the year to date acquiring other companies.
The timing of the most recent attack is unfortunate: Ardonagh recently published its financials, showing a loss of £94.m, according to reports.
Why this matters:
Whilst there is nothing to suggest these attacks are linked this attack comes a week after US insurance giant Gallagher was also hit with ransomware.
No firm is immune to being hit with ransomware, no matter how good they think their defences are, and then it comes down to how well you had planned for ransomware happening and how capable you are to recover and get the business back on its feet.
Read more: https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/06/ardonagh_group_ransomware/ and https://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/news/ardonagh-data-breach-reported-to-information-commissioner/1434888.article
Boards Increase Investment in Cyber security in Face of Threats and Regulatory Fines
Board decisions on cyber security spending are slowly improving following the impact of regulatory fines and COVID-19.
According to research surveying 908 senior IT security decision makers working within organisations with more than 500 employees, 58% plan to add more security budget in the next 12 months.
Amid growing cyber threats and rising risks through the COVID crisis, CISOs report that boards are listening and stepping up with increased budget for cyber security, with 91% agreeing that their board adequately supports them with investment.
Retro-fixing of security to remote working tools was “a path and direction most organisations have been going down, however it was always a lower priority.”
COVID-19 has accelerated the investment into both cloud and remote working budgets, and this includes the need for secure remote access and the ability to access from any location. Having a CISO on the board is helping ensure technology that supports remote working environments are also secure by design.
Why this matters:
Boards are definitely listening and stepping up with increased budget for cyber security, however many firms still tend to view any investment as a cost rather than adding business value. There is still some way to go, boards mainly approve investments after a security incident or through fear of regulatory penalties for non-compliance which shows that cyber security investment decisions are more about insurance than about any desire to lead the field which, in the long run, limits the industry’s ability to keep pace with the cyber-criminals.
Read more: https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/boards-increase-investment-fines/
Online Romance Scams Spike Under Lockdown
Police and banks are celebrating after revealing that £19 million in fraud was stopped in the first half of the year, although romance scams are reportedly on the rise.
Over 600 reports of romance scams were made each month in June, July and August, contributing to a 26% year-on-year increase in cases recorded by Action Fraud, according to Sky News.
These are typically confidence tricks where a vulnerable individual is contacted via a dating site and financially exploited or unwittingly used as a money mule.
Why this matters:
Over 19,400 such crimes were logged with the FBI last year, making it the second highest earner for cyber-criminals after business email compromise (BEC). Over $475 million was lost to romance scammers in 2019, the law enforcement agency said.
In the UK, losses are said to have exceeded £66 million between August 2019 and August 2020. As a result, various dating sites, banking groups and police are running a “Take Five” awareness campaign designed to warn users of the dangers posed by internet scammers.
The spike in romance scams coincided with COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK and much of the rest of the world, and a subsequent shift in crime and fraud online.
Action Fraud claimed it saw an increase in reported attacks in the first month of lockdown, to nearly 4000. UK Finance last month claimed that fraudsters are increasingly shifting their operations online.
However, Action Fraud also revealed this week that millions of pounds worth of fraud has been prevented so far this year thanks to a Banking Protocol first introduced three years ago.
The initiative enables banking staff in branches to alert their local police force when they suspect a customer is being scammed, for example if they are transferring or withdrawing large sums of money. It has been used to good effect to stop romance fraud, and impersonation scams, Action Fraud claimed.
In addition to the £19.3 million in fraud allegedly prevented, 100 arrests were made in the first half of the year.
Read more: https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/online-romance-scams-spike-under/
WEF: Cyber-Attacks Remain Top Business Risk in the West
Cyber-attacks have dropped down the pecking order in terms of top global business risks but remain high on the priority list in North America and Europe, according to the latest World Economic Forum (WEF) data.
The annual Regional Risks for Doing Business report is compiled from over 12,000 responses from business leaders in 127 countries. They are presented with a pre-selected list of 30 global risks and asked to choose the five that they believe to be of most concern for doing business in their country over the next decade.
Why this matters:
Unsurprisingly given the current financial and healthcare crisis, the top two global risks were unemployment and spread of infectious disease, followed by fiscal crisis. Spread of infectious disease also topped the priority list for business leaders regionally in Europe, Eurasia and East Asia and the Pacific.
However, although cyber-attacks fell from second place globally last year to fourth, they are still top-of-mind in the West.
They were named the number one risk of the next decade by North American business leaders, garnering a share of 55% versus infectious diseases in second with 30%. Cyber-risk was placed second in Europe but first in the UK, with 56% versus fiscal crises in second with 45%.
Read more: https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/wef-cyberattacks-top-business-risk/
Ransomware: Surge in attacks as hackers take advantage of organisations under pressure
The number of ransomware attacks has significantly grown over the past few months as cyber criminals look to cash in on security vulnerabilities opened up by the rise in remote working.
Researchers at cyber security company Check Point said the number of daily ransomware attacks across the globe has increased by half over the past three months – and that they've almost doubled in the US.
Why this matters:
One of the reasons ransomware attacks are on the rise is because of the swift switch to remote working that has forced many people to work from home for the first time, something that could leave them vulnerable to phishing emails and malware attacks, especially on a home network that likely won't be as secure as an enterprise environment.
Working from home also makes monitoring devices for malicious activity harder for information security teams than it would be if every user was under one roof, providing hackers with a better chance of going about their business unnoticed.
Amazon Prime Day Spurs Spike in Phishing, Fraud Attacks
Cyber criminals are tapping into Amazon’s annual discount shopping campaign for subscribers, Prime Day, with researchers warning of a recent spike in phishing and malicious websites that are fraudulently using the Amazon brand.
There has been a spike in the number of new monthly phishing and fraudulent sites created using the Amazon brand since August, the most significant since the COVID-19 pandemic forced people indoors in March, according to a new report published this week.
Why this matters:
As shoppers gear up for two days of great deals, cyber criminals are preparing to prey on the unwary, taking advantage of those who let their guard down to snap up bargains.
Prime Day actually happens over two days—this year the event falls on Oct. 13 to 14. Amazon Prime customers enjoy special sales and discounts on top brands to mark the biggest shopping event of the year on the online retail giant’s site.
Amazon last year yielded over $7 billion in sales during the 36-hour event, which could go even bigger this year due to “the decline of brick and mortar retail and the close proximity to the holidays,” researchers noted. Indeed, mandatory stay-at-home orders globally that began with the COVID-19 pandemic in March have significantly boosted Amazon’s business, a trend that shows no signs of abating.
Read more: https://threatpost.com/amazon-prime-day-spurs-spike-in-phishing-fraud-attacks/159960/
Microsoft warns of Android ransomware that activates when you press the Home button
A new strain of mobile ransomware abuses the mechanisms behind the "incoming call" notification and the "Home" button to lock screens on users' devices.
Named AndroidOS/MalLocker.B, the ransomware is hidden inside Android apps offered for download on online forums and third-party websites.
Just like most Android ransomware strains, MalLocker.B doesn't actually encrypt the victim's files but merely prevents access to the rest of the phone.
Once installed, the ransomware takes over the phone's screen and prevents the user from dismissing the ransom note — which is designed to look like a message from local law enforcement telling users they committed a crime and need to pay a fine.
Why this matters:
Ransomware posing as fake police fines has been the most popular form of Android ransomware for more than half a decade now.
Across time, these malware strains have abused various functions of the Android operating systems in order to keep users locked on their home screen.
Past techniques included abusing the System Alert window or disabling the functions that interface with the phone's physical buttons.
MalLocker.B comes with a new variation of these techniques.
The ransomware uses a two-part mechanism to show its ransom note.
The first part abuses the "call" notification. This is the function that activates for incoming calls to show details about the caller, and MalLocker.B uses it to show a window that covers the entire area of the screen with details about the incoming call.
The second part abuses the "onUserLeaveHint()" function. This function is called when users want to push an app into the background and switch to a new app, and it triggers when pressing buttons like Home or Recents. MalLocker.B abuses this function to bring its ransom note back into the foreground and prevent the user from leaving the ransom note for the home screen or another app.
The abuse of these two functions is a new and never-before-seen trick, but ransomware that hijacks the Home button has been seen before.
Suspected Chinese Hackers Unleash Malware That Can Survive OS Reinstalls
Chinese hackers may be using malware that can survive Windows OS reinstalls to spy on computers.
Security firm Kaspersky Lab uncovered the malware, which exploits a computer’s UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) to continually persist on a Windows machine.
Why this matters:
Attacking the UEFI is pretty alarming because the software is used to boot up your computer and load the operating system. It also operates separately from your computer’s main hard drive, and usually resides in the motherboard’s SPI flash memory as firmware. As a result, any malicious process embedded in the UEFI can survive an operating system reinstall while evading traditional antivirus solutions. This attack shows that in exceptional cases actors are willing to go to great lengths in order to gain the highest level of persistence on a victim’s machine.
New HEH botnet can wipe routers and IoT devices
A newly discovered botnet contains code that can wipe all data from infected systems, such as routers, servers, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
Named HEH, the botnet spreads by launching brute-force attacks against any internet-connected system that has its Telnet ports (23 and 2323) exposed online.
If the device uses default or easy-to-guess Telnet credentials, the botnet gains access to the system, where it immediately downloads one of seven binaries that install the HEH malware.
Why this matters:
This HEH malware doesn't contain any offensive features, such as the ability to launch DDoS attacks, the ability to install crypto-miners, or code to run proxies and relay traffic for bad actors.
The only features present are a function that ensnares infected devices and coerces them to perform Telnet brute-force attacks across the internet to help amplify the botnet; a feature that lets attackers run Shell commands on the infected device; and a variation of this second feature that executes a list of predefined Shell operations that wipe all the device's partitions.
US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warns that Emotet malware is one of the most prevalent threats today
The malware known as Emotet has emerged as “one of the most prevalent ongoing threats” as it increasingly targets state and local governments and infects them with other malware, the cybersecurity arm of the Department of Homeland Security said on Tuesday.
Why this matters:
Emotet was first identified in 2014 as a relatively simple trojan for stealing banking account credentials. Within a year or two, it had reinvented itself as a formidable downloader or dropper that, after infecting a PC, installed other malware. The Trickbot banking trojan and the Ryuk ransomware are two of the more common follow-ons. Over the past month, Emotet has successfully burrowed into Quebec’s Department of Justice and increased its onslaught on governments in France, Japan, and New Zealand. It has also targeted the Democratic National Committee and numerous other US state and local government agencies.
Hackers exploit Windows Error Reporting service in new fileless attack
A new fileless attack technique that abuses the Microsoft Windows Error Reporting (WER) service is the work of a hacking group that is yet to be identified.
According to researchers the attack vector relies on malware burying itself in WER-based executables to avoid arousing suspicion.
In a blog post on Tuesday the researchers said the new "Kraken" attack -- albeit not a completely novel technique in itself -- was detected on September 17.
A lure phishing document found by the research team was packaged up in a .ZIP file. Titled, "Compensation manual.doc," the file claims to contain information relating to worker compensation rights, but when opened, is able to trigger a malicious macro.
Why this matters:
The macro leads to a payload injected a process connected to the WER service and used by Microsoft to track and address operating system errors.
That reporting service, WerFault.exe, is usually invoked when an error related to the operating system, Windows features, or applications happens," Malwarebytes says. "When victims see WerFault.exe running on their machine, they probably assume that some error happened, while in this case they have actually been targeted in an attack.