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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 24 May 2024

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 24 May 2024:

-Human Error and AI Tops Cyber Threats as 70% of CISOs Worry About Risk

-Threat Research Highlights Growing Mobile Security Risks

-The State of Cyber Security: AI and Geopolitics Mean a Bigger Threat Than Ever

-Family Offices Become Prime Targets for Cyber Hacks and Ransomware

-Ransomware Fallout - 94% Experience Downtime, 40% Face Work Stoppage

-Employee Discontent - Insider Threat No. 1

-Report Reveals 341% Rise in Advanced Phishing Attacks

-Ransomware and GenAI Raise Security Challenges, Driving Cyber Investment

-New Rules Prompt 93% of Organisations to Rethink Cyber Security Plans

-HR and IT Related Phishing Scams Still Most Popular According to KnowBe4’s Latest Phishing Report

-80% of Exposures from Misconfigurations, as 15 Vendors Account for 62% of Global Attack Surface

-UK to Propose Mandatory Reporting for Ransomware Attacks and Licensing Regime for all Payments

-UK’s Legal Sector Needs to Improve its Cyber Security, Says Experts

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

Human Error and AI Tops Cyber Threats as 70% of CISOs Worry About Risk

According to a survey of 1,600 CISOs, 70% worry about the risk of a material cyber attack over the next 12 months. Additionally, nearly 31% believe an attack is very likely, compared to 25% in 2023.  Amongst the largest concerns were human error, with 75% of CISOs identifying it as their most significant cyber vulnerability, up from 60% in 2023. Furthermore, 80% anticipate that human risk and employee negligence in particular will be major cyber security issues in the next two years.  Additionally, artificial intelligence was identified as an emerging concern for 54% of CISOs.

Sources: [The Register] [Infosecurity Magazine] [Cryptopolitan]

The State of Cyber Security: AI and Geopolitics Mean a Bigger Threat Than Ever

A recent report by Check Point reveals that global organisations faced an average of 1,158 weekly cyber attacks in 2023, an increase from 2022. In the UK, 50% of businesses experienced cyber attacks in the past year, with medium and large-sized businesses more affected at 70% and 74%, respectively. A ClubCISO survey found 62% of CISOs believe organisations are ill-equipped for AI-driven attacks, yet 77% haven't increased cyber security spending.

Additionally, a British Foreign Policy Group (BFPG) article highlights cyber threats from geopolitical tensions, with a recent attack on the Ministry of Defence exposing HR and payroll data. The National Cyber Security Centre attributes such attacks to state-affiliated actors like China and Russia. Despite efforts to establish international cyber norms, enforcement remains challenging. Businesses must recognise that cyber security is now deeply intertwined with geopolitics, affecting strategic partnerships and procurement.

Sources: [Verdict] [BFPG]

Threat Research Highlights Growing Mobile Security Risks

A recent report by a cloud security vendor focusing on the mobile threat landscape found that in the first quarter of 2024, the number of phishing, malicious, denylisted and offensive links delivered to their customers’ mobile devices tripled compared to Q1 2023. The report, which bases its data on 220 million devices, 325 million apps and billions of web items, found that the most common misconfiguration in mobiles was out of date operating systems (37%). When it came to the prevalence of attacks, 75% of organisations reported experiencing mobile phishing attempts targeting their employees.

This comes as a representative from the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency told the Federal Communications Commission earlier this year that there had been “numerous incidents of successful, unauthorised attempts” to steal location data, monitor voice and text messages, and deliver spyware.

Sources: [Economist] [Business Wire]

Family Offices Become Prime Targets for Cyber Hacks and Ransomware

A recent Dentons survey reveals that nearly 80% of family offices perceive a dramatic increase in cyber attack threats, with a quarter experiencing an attack in 2023, up from 17% in 2020. Despite their wealth, family offices often lack the staff and technology to manage these risks effectively. Less than a third report well-developed cyber risk management processes, and only 29% believe their cyber training programs are sufficient. This gap between awareness and action highlights the need for family offices to prioritise comprehensive cyber security measures, including better training, updated policies, and secure communication practices.

Source: [CNBC]

Ransomware Fallout: 94% Experience Downtime, 40% Face Work Stoppage

According to a report by cyber security provider Arctic Wolf, within the last 12 months 48% of organisations identified evidence of a successful breach within their environment and 70% of organisations were the targets of attempted Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks, with 29% of these targets becoming victims of one or more successful BEC occurrences.

In its survey, the company says “45% of the organizations we spoke with admitted to being the victim of a ransomware attack within the last 12 months”,  an increase from the prior year. Of those impacted by ransomware, 86% of attacks including successful data exfiltration and 94% of those impacted by a ransom event experienced a significant downtime and delays. 40% of victims stated they experienced a period of total work stoppage due to ransomware.

Source: [Help Net Security]

Employee Discontent: Insider Threat No. 1

Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) must integrate human factors into insider risk management (IRM), not just rely on detection technologies. IRM must consider factors such as those raised by recent research where only half of US workers are very satisfied with their jobs, and 28% feel their employers don't care about them. CISOs themselves are affected by job satisfaction; the 2024 IANS/Artico report shows three out of four CISOs are ready to leave their roles. DTEX Systems found 77% of malicious insiders concealed their activities, emphasising the importance of human engagement and feedback in mitigating risks.

Source: [CSO]

Report Reveals 341% Rise in Advanced Phishing Attacks

A recent report has revealed malicious emails increased by 341% over the past 6 months. This included a 217% increase in credential harvesting phishing attacks and a 29% increase in Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks. The report highlighted the impact of artificial intelligence, noting that since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, there has been a 4,151% surge in malicious phishing messages.

Source: [Security Magazine] [ Infosecurity Magazine]

Ransomware and GenAI Raise Security Challenges, Driving Cyber Investment

A recent study by Infosecurity Europe reveals that nearly 40% of cyber security leaders are increasing investments to combat the growing threats of ransomware and AI-generated attacks. A separate survey found 94% of organisations have or plan to implement generative AI use policies, and a third strictly forbid AI tech in their environment. This data highlights the ongoing effort to balance AI benefits with security risks, indicating that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all strategy for formalising AI adoption and usage policies.

Source: [Security Boulevard] [Infosecurity Magazine]

New Rules Prompt 93% of Organisations to Rethink Cyber Security Plans

A recent report reveals that 93% of organisations have re-evaluated their cyber security strategies due to new regulations, with 58% reconsidering their entire approach. The survey, which included 500 cyber security decision-makers from the US and UK, found that 92% reported increased security budgets, with 36% seeing rises of 20-49% and 23% experiencing over 50% increases. Despite this, only 40% feel confident in their resources to comply with regulations, and just one-third believe they can meet all requirements, highlighting significant gaps in preparedness.

Source: [security magazine]

HR and IT Related Phishing Scams Still Most Popular According to KnowBe4’s Latest Phishing Report

A recent KnowBe4 report reveals that HR-related phishing emails account for 42% of top-clicked phishing attempts, followed by IT-related emails at 30%. These phishing tactics exploit employees' trust and evoke immediate responses by mimicking legitimate business communications about dress code changes, tax updates, and training notifications. The report also highlights that nearly a third of users are vulnerable to phishing, emphasising the need for robust security awareness training. A well-trained workforce is essential in defending against increasingly sophisticated phishing attacks that leverage AI and emotional manipulation.

Source: [IT Security Guru]

80% of Exposures from Misconfigurations, as 15 Vendors Account for 62% of Global Attack Surface

A recent XM Cyber report highlights a significant gap in cyber security focus with identity and credential misconfigurations accounting for 80% of security exposures. The study, based on hundreds of thousands of attack path assessments, found that 62% of the global attack surface is concentrated in just 15 vendors. Furthermore, 41% of organisations had at least one compromised device, and 11% experienced ransomware incidents. The report underscores the need for a shift from patching all vulnerabilities to addressing high-impact exposures, especially those around identity management and critical asset protection.

Sources: [Security Magazine] [The Hacker News]

UK to Propose Mandatory Reporting for Ransomware Attacks and Licensing Regime for all Payments

A forthcoming proposal in Britain aims to overhaul the response to ransomware by mandating victims to report incidents and obtain a license before making extortion payments. This initiative, part of a public consultation, includes a ban on ransom payments for critical national infrastructure to deter attacks. The National Cyber Security Centre has highlighted concerns over underreporting, with a 2023 increase in ransomware-related data breaches. The plan’s success hinges on replacing the delayed Action Fraud reporting platform. This proposal marks a significant step in global ransomware policy, with Britain leading international efforts against cyber criminals.

Source: [The Record Media]

UK’s Legal Sector Needs to Improve its Cyber Security, Says Experts

One in ten UK data breaches in 2023 occurred in the legal sector, highlighting that UK law firms are attractive targets for cyber criminals. A recent analysis of the UK’s Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) data found that the legal sector is one of the worst performing sectors for data breaches, with nearly 86 per cent of the incidents within the legal sector involving breaches of personal identifiable information, including instances also affecting sensitive economic and financial data.

Sources [CITY AM]


Governance, Risk and Compliance


Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Ransomware Victims

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

BEC

Other Social Engineering

Artificial Intelligence

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Insurance

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Cloud/SaaS

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

Linux and Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Malvertising

Training, Education and Awareness

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Backup and Recovery

Data Protection

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs


Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare, Cyber Espionage and Geopolitical Threats/Activity

Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage

Nation State Actors

China

Russia

Iran

North Korea

Other Nation State Actors, Hacktivism, Extremism, Terrorism and Other Geopolitical Threat Intelligence


Vulnerability Management

Vulnerabilities

Tools and Controls




Sector Specific

Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.

Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.

·         Automotive

·         Construction

·         Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

·         Defence & Space

·         Education & Academia

·         Energy & Utilities

·         Estate Agencies

·         Financial Services

·         FinTech

·         Food & Agriculture

·         Gaming & Gambling

·         Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)

·         Health/Medical/Pharma

·         Hotels & Hospitality

·         Insurance

·         Legal

·         Manufacturing

·         Maritime

·         Oil, Gas & Mining

·         OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems

·         Retail & eCommerce

·         Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)

·         Startups

·         Telecoms

·         Third Sector & Charities

·         Transport & Aviation

·         Web3


As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.

Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 22 March 2024

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 22 March 2024:

-UK’s Cyber Resilience Stagnates as More Fall Victim to Attacks, 75% of UK Businesses & 79% of UK Charities Experienced a Cyber Incident in 2023

-1% of Users are Responsible for 88% of Data Loss Events

-Microsoft Report Says 87% of UK organisations are vulnerable to cyber attacks in the age of AI

-Cyber Naivety Leaves 4 out of 5 Businesses Wide Open and Only 1 in 5 Has a Plan

-Risk and Regulation: Preparing for the Era of Cyber Security Compliance

-Ransomware Attacks Jump 73% Within a Year

-The New CISO - Rethinking the Role

-90% of Attacks Involve Data or Credential Theft, SMBs Primary Target

-Chief Risk Officers Say Cyber Security is Most Pressing Risk

-Humans Still Cyber Security’s Weakest Link, Cyber Security Training Equips Your Workforce to Spot Threats

-Most IT Pros Think Cyber Attacks are Getting Worse, and Many Firms Don’t Know How to Deal with Them

-Supply Chain Cyber Attacks Create Weak Spots, You Need to Prepare

-Ransomware Attack on Change Healthcare Pegged as “Most Significant” in Sector History

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’s Cyber Resilience Stagnates as More Fall Victim to Attacks, 75% of UK Businesses & 79% of UK Charities Experienced a Cyber Incident in 2023

The UK Government’s Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS) has published its response to a ransomware enquiry with stark conclusions, stating that there is a lot to be done to truly tackle the threat posed by ransomware. The chair of the JCNSS said that the UK is and will remain exposed and unprepared if it continues to take a “head in the sand” attitude to ransomware. The minister for artificial intelligence (AI) called upon organisations to “step up their cyber security plans to guard against threats, protect their customers and workforce, and our wider economy.” This comes as the Government’s Cyber Security Longitudinal Survey (CSLS) found that three-quarters of UK businesses and 79% of UK charities experienced a cyber security incident in the last 12 months.

Despite progress, there's a pressing need for organisations to shift from viewing cyber security as solely an IT concern to recognising its integral role across all business functions, particularly in the face of escalating cyber threats. With only half of UK board members having had security training, only a quarter of businesses assessing suppliers for possible security risks, and a fifth of UK boards failing to discuss cyber security even once, the time to improve UK businesses is now.

Sources: [Emerging Risks Media Ltd] [CITY A.M.] [Verdict] [Computer Weekly]

1% of Users are Responsible for 88% of Data Loss Events

New research has shown that that 85% of organisations experienced a data loss in the past year, with 9 out of 10 of those facing a negative outcome such as business disruption, revenue loss and reputational damage. The research found that 1% of users were responsible for 88% of events. It is important to understand this is not always intentionally malicious; it can be accidental or negligent. The research found for example, that 87% of anomalous file exfiltration among cloud tenants over a nine-month period was caused by departing employees, underscoring the need for preventative strategies such as implementing a security review process for this user category.

With as little as 1% of users causing most alerts, organisations need to monitor their most sensitive data and who can access it. This should also include data loss prevention features, to further reduce the risk.

Source: [Help Net Security]

Microsoft Report Says 87% of UK Organisations are Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks in the Age of AI

New research conducted by Microsoft has found that 87% of UK Businesses are unprepared for the age of AI due to their vulnerability to cyber attacks, leaving a mere 13% considered resilient. Further, Microsoft stated that 39% of organisations were at high risk. For organisations, AI can be a tough obstacle to overcome in their journey to cyber resiliency, and it’s important to seek guidance if the available skills are not in-house.

Sources: [Microsoft] [TechRadar ] [The Times] [Infosecurity Magazine]

Cyber Naivety Leaves 4 out of 5 Businesses Wide Open, Only 1 in 5 Has a Plan

Research conducted by Cowbell Insurance has found that the UK is exhibiting a rather cavalier approach to security with 77% of UK SMEs not having any in-house security, 32% of CEOs being confident a cyber attack would not impact their ability to do business and 87% not considering reputational damage as a significant risk. This contrasts with the UK Government’s latest cyber security breaches survey, which found 59% of medium businesses experienced breaches or attacks in the last 12 months. Cowbell have stated that that UK SMEs are leaving themselves wide open to the threats and only 1 in 5 organisations had a dedicated plan to deal with a cyber attack.

A cyber security incident response plan (IRP) allows an organisation to have a documented and formalised process for dealing with a cyber incident. The IRP should be exercised annually, and cover roles and responsibilities, communications and escalations to detect, analyse, contain, eradicate and recover from an incident.

Sources: [Business Mondays] [Insurance Times] [Reinsurance News] [Gloucestershire Live]

Risk and Regulation: Preparing for the Era of Cyber Security Compliance

The next twelve months will see new regulations in many countries, and that means more things to comply with. The EU has two new regulations relating to cyber security: the NIS2 directive and the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA). However, despite their EU origin, the inclusion of supply chain companies within the regulations means their impact and reach will extend outside of the European Union itself. Both regulations are risk-management based in their approach.

In order to prepare, decision makers need to first understand what they are complying with and in some cases, this may require sourcing external help to fully ensure the organisation is compliant. Once this is understood, they can start implementing their compliance strategy. Research has shown that some 43% of enterprises surveyed had failed a compliance audit, making them ten times more likely to suffer a data breach.

Sources: [Security Week] [Verdict]

Ransomware Attacks Jump 73% Within a Year

A recent report has shown that ransomware surged by 46% in February 2024, compared to January of the same year and 73% higher than February of the previous year. The LockBit ransomware group claimed responsibility for 110 attacks in February alone. The results show that ransomware is not only still an issue, but one that is consistently rising and if your organisation isn’t already implementing procedures to their risk, it is imperative to start now. Lockbit was taken down in a coordinated law enforcement operation earlier this year; only time will tell how effective that operation was or whether, as with the Hydra from Greek mythology, cutting off one head just causes more to grow in its place.

Source: [TechTarget]

The New CISO - Rethinking the Role

The role of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) faces a pivotal transformation. Traditionally tasked with safeguarding company assets against cyber threats, CISOs now find themselves straddling the realms of security and business operations. This shift reflects a growing expectation for CISOs to align security measures with broader business objectives while navigating an increasingly complex risk landscape. With the average cost of a data breach soaring, reaching $4.45 million in 2023 according to IBM, the stakes are higher than ever. As businesses grapple with the integration of cyber security into operational strategies, CISOs are compelled to cultivate new skills, communicate effectively with boards, embrace risk-based approaches, fortify technical fundamentals, leverage automation, and meticulously document incident response plans. The evolving threat landscape demands a new breed of CISO, one who is adept at balancing resilience with operational imperatives, collaborating closely with leadership, and steering organisations through turbulent cyber waters.

Source: [Dark Reading]

90% of Attacks Involve Data or Credential Theft, SMBs Primary Target

The 2024 Sophos Threat Report sheds light on the changing tactics of ransomware operators, particularly in their targeting of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Notably, the report reveals a significant surge in ransomware attacks employing remote encryption, rising by 62% between 2022 and 2023. Sophos' Managed Detection and Response (MDR) team encountered multiple cyber attacks leveraging exploits in remote monitoring and management (RMM) software, a vital component used by many MSPs and external IT providers, and thus affecting many businesses. With almost half of malware detections for SMBs attributed to data-stealing malware, the report underscores the growing value of stolen data as currency in cyber criminal circles, with initial access brokers (IABs) facilitating network breaches. Data protection emerges as a critical challenge, with over 90% of attacks involving credential theft, and business email compromise (BEC) attacks becoming increasingly sophisticated. While ransomware remains a persistent threat, the report also highlights the proliferation of malware-as-a-service (MaaS) activities, emphasising the importance for SMBs to bolster their cyber security defences against these evolving threats.

Source: [MSSP Alert]

Chief Risk Officers Say Cyber Security is Most Pressing Risk

In an inaugural global insurance risk management survey conducted by EY/Institute of International Finance (IIF), cyber security was ranked as the highest immediate concern for chief risk officers. It placed above insurance, business model change and credit risk. When it came to emerging risks over the next three years, it remained at the top spot, followed by geopolitical risk, environmental risk and machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Source: [Insurance Journal]

Humans Still Cyber Security’s Weakest Link, Cyber Security Training Equips Your Workforce to Spot Threats

The latest findings from Mimecast's annual report emphasise that human error continues to be the leading cause of cyber breaches, responsible for 74% of incidents. As emerging threats like AI and deepfake technology pose increasingly sophisticated challenges, it's crucial for businesses to prioritise employee training and bolster their defence strategies.

Providing cyber security training is essential to creating a security conscious culture that educates on risk and in turn increases a company’s cyber culture. Committing to cyber security training needs to be beyond ticking a checkbox, as it allows the workforce the ability to understand, scrutinise and know how to report threats in the corporate environment. Training allows workers to be able to understand the types of threats they may face, along with red flags to look out for. Knowing how the employee should report a threat can determine whether your organisation can deal with a ransomware attack. While generic or off the shelf computer based training can be seen as an easy fix, training needs to be tailored to the organisation, its operating environment and the organisation’s culture and ways of doing business.

To mitigate this risk, organisations should consider implementing tailored cyber security education, tabletop exercises, phishing simulations, and one-on-one consulting for board members. As the responsibility of board members for cyber security strategy increases, it’s crucial to ensure their own security against evolving threats.

Sources: [Emerging Risks] [The HR Director] [WSJ] [The HR Director]

Most IT Pros Think Cyber Attacks are Getting Worse, and Many Firms Don’t Know How to Deal with Them

A recent report from Thales reveals a stark reality, with 93% of IT and security professionals noting a worsening trend in cyber attacks. Ransomware incidents have surged by over a quarter year-on-year, yet less than half of companies have adequate plans to address such threats, leading to 8% resorting to paying attackers' demands. Compliance failures are also on the rise, with 43% of enterprises falling short in audits, correlating with a higher incidence of cyber attacks among non-compliant organisations.

A separate report shows that despite record spending on cyber security, reaching $188 billion globally in 2023, reported data breaches in the US surged to an all-time high of 3,205, up 78% from the previous year. This paradox underscores the evolving tactics of cyber criminals. Ransomware attacks have transitioned from merely locking data to stealing and threatening to disclose it, termed Ransomware 2.0. Cloud misconfigurations, involving 82% of breaches, and exploitation of vendor systems further exacerbate the issue. Heightened awareness and improved practices are imperative to counteract the escalating threat landscape.

Source: [TechRadar] [WSJ]

Supply Chain Cyber Attacks Create Weak Spots: You Need to Prepare

A recent poll by Deloitte found that nearly half of senior executives anticipate a rise in supply chain attacks in the coming year, with 33% already experiencing at least one supply-chain cyber incident within the past year. This especially rings true for healthcare, with the sector accounting for 33% of third-party data breaches in 2023. Many organisations are unsure where to even begin.

Organisations need to manage their third party risks through risk assessments, to understand the third parties that they currently or plan to use, and the data that the third party would hold or access. This enables the third parties to be prioritised with clear communications to notify the organisation in the event of a data breach.

Sources: [Security Brief ] [Beta News]

Ransomware Attack on Change Healthcare Pegged as “Most Significant” in Sector History

In a landmark incident, the American Hospital Association has dubbed the recent ransomware attack on Change Healthcare, a division of UnitedHealth Group’s Optum, as the most significant cyber threat ever faced by the US healthcare system. The attack, which occurred on February 21st, has severely impacted operations, affecting various healthcare entities reliant on Change Healthcare's services. UnitedHealth Group, in response, has been working to restore critical systems, aiming to reinstate electronic payment and medical claims services later this month. However, challenges persist, with cyber security experts warning that recovery efforts could extend for at least 30 days. The attack's aftermath sheds light on the healthcare sector's susceptibility to cyber threats and underscores the need for robust security measures and swift governmental responses. Reports reveal that the ransomware group responsible has received a substantial payout, raising concerns about the broader implications for healthcare providers. Cyber insurance policies are expected to help mitigate financial losses, especially for smaller entities facing cash flow disruptions.

Source: [Reinsurance News]


Governance, Risk and Compliance


Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Ransomware Victims

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Other Social Engineering

Artificial Intelligence

Malware

Mobile

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Insurance

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Cloud/SaaS

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

Linux and Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Training, Education and Awareness

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Data Protection

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda


Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare, Cyber Espionage and Geopolitical Threats/Activity

Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage

Nation State Actors

China

Russia

Iran

North Korea


Vulnerability Management

Vulnerabilities




Other News


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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 05 January 2024

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 05 January 2024:

-A “Ridiculously Weak“ Password Causes Disaster for Spain’s Number 2 Mobile Carrier

-Russia Kyivstar Hack Should Alarm West, Ukraine Security Chief Warns

-23andMe Tells Victim It’s Their Fault Their Data Was Breached

-Financial Sector Faces More Cyber Attacks Than Other Sectors

-An Innocent-Looking Instagram Trend Could Be a Gift to Hackers

-Cyber Criminals Shared Millions of Stolen Records During Holiday Break

-Law Firm that Handles Data Breaches was Itself Hit by Data Breach

-Nigerian Hacker Arrested for Stealing Millions from Charities

-Cyber Criminals Implemented Artificial Intelligence for Invoice Fraud

-Shadow IT Threatens Corporate Cyber Security, Study Reveals

-Escalating Cyber Threats: Bots, Fraud Farms, and Cryptojacking Surge

-Putin has Declared a Cyber War on Britain

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

A “Ridiculously Weak“ Password Causes Disaster for Spain’s Number 2 Mobile Carrier

Spain’s second largest mobile operator, Orange España, suffered a major outage after an unknown party obtained a “ridiculously weak” password and used it to access an account for managing the network that delivers the company’s internet traffic. The attacker had posted the account they had compromised, and researchers found that the associated system had been infected with a Raccoon type infostealer back in September of 2023. The compromised account was Orange’s RIPE administrator account, with the password “ripeadmin”. The incident led to a 50% drop in connections for a 4 hour period, and  underscores the critical importance of robust cyber security measures, including strong passwords, and serves as a stark reminder that even seemingly minor oversights can lead to significant disruptions.

Source: [Ars Technica]

Russia Kyivstar Hack Should Alarm the West, Ukraine Security Chief Warns

If Ukraine's core telephone network can be taken out, organisations in the West could easily be next, Ukraine's SBU chief says. December's cyber attack on Ukrainian telecommunications operator Kyivstar by Russian-backed threat actor ‘Sandworm’ dealt a catastrophic blow to the telecoms provider, according to Illia Vitiuk, head of the Security Service of Ukraine's (SBU) cyber security department. It is believed that although the attack took place in December 2023, the threat actors likely had access to Kyivstar systems since May 2023.

Source: [Dark Reading]

23andMe Tells Victims It’s Their Fault Their Data Was Breached

A cyber incident at DNA data firm 23andMe started with credential stuffing 14,000 user accounts. Credential stuffing is the process by which a malicious actor uses previously harvested usernames and passwords from earlier unrelated breaches to break into other sites and services. Many of the 14,000 accounts had opted-in for a feature whereby information is shared with relatives, which meant that once compromised, attackers had access to 6.9 million users: nearly half of the user base.

Facing over 30 lawsuits from victims, 23andMe is now blaming victims, according to letters seen by victims. 23andMe stated “users negligently recycled and failed to update their passwords following these past security incidents, which are unrelated to 23andMe”. This has caused divide in the cyber world; on one side, recycling and failing to update passwords is poor cyber hygiene and on the other hand, there are technical controls that could have better prevented this type of well known and common attack.

Source: [TechCrunch] [The Register]

Financial Sector Faces More Cyber Attacks Than Other Sectors

A recent study found that more than three-quarters (77%) of financial organisations detected an attack on their infrastructures in 2023, compared with around two-thirds (68%) of other sectors. In particular, the study found that financial workers were at a higher than average risk of phishing compared to other workers. Despite their target attractiveness, only three-quarters (73%) of the financial sector respondents said that they have a cyber security policy in place or will do so within the next year. A separate report from Kaspersky stated that the financial sector is poised to experience an influx of artificial intelligence based attacks 2024, adding to the fire.

Sources: [SC Media] [TechRadar ]

An Innocent-Looking Instagram Trend Could Be a Gift to Hackers

A recent trend that has picked up traction at the end of December on social media apps such as Instagram and TikTok, encourages their followers to “get to know them better”. This trend gets people to answer a popular template, freely giving away personal information such as their height, date of birth, and various details that they feel strongly about including favourite food and phobias. While these questions may seem harmless, these sorts of personal details are used by companies for security questions, for example when a person wants to reset their password. Hackers can use this information to easily social engineer victims or impersonate them to get access to their accounts.

Source: [Business Insider]

Cyber Criminals Shared Millions of Stolen Records During Holiday Break

While many people unwind and enjoy their time off during the festive season, cyber criminals remain active. In fact, they leaked approximately 50 million records containing sensitive personal information during this period. These data breaches were not limited to the West; they had a global impact, affecting individuals in various countries such as Peru, Australia, South Africa, and more. It is important to note that not all the data leaks were recent; some appeared to be remnants of older incidents. For instance, some of the leaked data belonged to customers of the credit company Klarna, which was rumoured to have experienced a breach back in 2022, although it was never publicly confirmed. This ‘Free Leaksmas’ event, as it’s been dubbed, underscores the extensive global reach and serious consequences of these cyber criminal activities.

Sources: [Security Affairs] [Dark Reading]

Law Firm that Handles Data Breaches was Itself Hit by Data Breach

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, a law firm specialising in managing security incidents for other companies, has disclosed more details of the cyber attack it itself experienced in March 2023. The breach compromised the sensitive health and personal information of over 637,000 individuals. The stolen data was linked to client organisations and included the names of individuals alongside their social security numbers, medical details, and financial information. Despite the firm's expertise in cyber security, the attack highlights the pervasive risk of data breaches, even among those who advise on such matters. Orrick's delayed response and subsequent legal settlements underscore the importance of proactive security measures and swift action in the wake of a breach. This incident serves as a stark reminder to all organisations of the need for robust cyber defences and transparent communication strategies in today's digital landscape. The law firm has recently settled in principle to resolve four class action lawsuits that accused Orrick of failing to inform victims of the breach until months after the incident.

Source: [TechCrunch]

Nigerian Hacker Arrested for Stealing Millions from Charities

A Nigerian national, Olusegun Samson Adejorin, has been arrested for charges relating to business email compromise attacks that caused a charitable organisation in the US to lose more than $7.5 million. Adejorin had purchased a credential harvesting tool to steal login credentials, which were used to send emails to the charity’s financial service provider. The emails requested and authorised a transfer of $7.5 million, which the investment services provider believed it was paying to the charity whereas it was paying into a bank account controlled by the attacker.

Source: [Bleeping Computer]

Cyber Criminals Implemented Artificial Intelligence for Invoice Fraud

A cyber criminal gang known as GXC Team has been seen selling an artificial intelligence tool for creating fraudulent invoices. The tool, known as Business Invoice Swapper, scrutinises compromised emails that are fed to it, looking for emails which mention invoices or include invoice attachments. It then alters the details of the intended recipient to details specified by the perpetrator. This altered invoice then either replaces the compromised one, or is sent to a predetermined set of contacts.

Source: [Security Affairs]

Shadow IT Threatens Corporate Cyber Security, Study Reveals

With remote working becoming more and more prevalent, organisations are finding themselves at risk of cyber threats due to what is known as shadow IT; this is any software, hardware or IT resource used without the IT department’s approval, knowledge or oversight. A study by Kaspersky found of the 77% of companies that had suffered from cyber incidents over the past two years, 11% of these were directly caused by the unauthorised use of shadow IT.

Source: [Security Brief]

Escalating Cyber Threats: Bots, Fraud Farms, and Cryptojacking Surge

In the constantly evolving cyber threat landscape, 2023 has witnessed a notable surge in the use of bots, fraud farms, and cryptojacking. A new report found that 73% of web and app traffic this year has been attributed to malicious bots and fraud farms, indicating a significant shift towards automated cyber attacks. This trend poses a heightened risk to the ecommerce sector, where cyber criminals exploit API connections and third-party dependencies.

Furthermore, the surge in cryptojacking, marked by a 399% increase, reveals a diversifying strategy among cyber criminals, targeting critical infrastructure with sophisticated methods. These developments serve as a crucial reminder for organisations to bolster their cyber defences and adopt a proactive stance against these emerging and increasingly automated threats.

Source: [Help Net Security]

Putin has Declared a Cyber War on Britain

This year over 2 billion people will vote for new governments across the world, and it is crucial to be aware of upcoming threats to these elections from foreign powers. In particular, Russia is notorious for deploying bots, trolls, and deepfakes, which are techniques used to manipulate information and influence public opinion. These malicious actors are adept at spreading misinformation and disinformation, often with the goal of interfering in elections. With the upcoming UK General Election in 2024 and the US Presidential Election also falling this year, it is imperative to exercise caution and discernment when consuming online content. Not everything we see can be taken at face value.

Source: [Telegraph]



Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Ransomware Victims

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Artificial Intelligence

Malware

Mobile

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insurance

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Cloud/SaaS

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

Linux and Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Malvertising

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda


Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare, Cyber Espionage and Geopolitical Threats/Activity

Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage

Nation State Actors

China

Russia

Iran

North Korea

Other Nation State Actors, Hacktivism, Extremism, Terrorism and Other Geopolitical Threat Intelligence





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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 22 December 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 22 December 2023:

-Majority of 2023’s Critical Cyber Attacks Stemmed from Fewer Than 1% of Vulnerabilities, with 1 in 4 High Risk Vulnerabilities Exploited Within 24 Hours of Going Public

-Ransomware Gangs Are Increasingly Turning to Remote Access Tools for Attacks, As UK Honeypots Attacked 17 Million Times Per Day

-Why Employees Are a Bigger Security Risk than Hackers

-77% of Financial Services Firms Detected a Cyber Attack in the Last Year, as Finance and Healthcare Continue to Suffer the Most Cyber Attacks

-New Report Data Shows 75% Increase in Suspicious Emails Hitting Inboxes

-Threat Actors Still Exploiting Old Unpatched Vulnerabilities

-Many Organisations Still Lack Formal Cyber Security Training

-Addressing the Growing Threat of Supply Chain Cyber Attacks

-Cyber Incident Costs Surge 11% as Budgets Remain Muted

-Attacks on Critical Infrastructure are Harbingers of War: Are We Prepared?

-UK Data Centres to be Classed as Critical Infrastructure Under New Gov Proposals

-Data Exfiltration and Extortion is the New Ransomware Threat, as 65% of Organisations Say Ransomware Concerns Impact Risk Management

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

Majority of 2023’s Critical Cyber Attacks Stemmed from Fewer Than 1% of Vulnerabilities, with 1 in 4 High Risk Vulnerabilities Exploited Within 24 Hours of Going Public

A new Qualys report reveals that less than 1% of vulnerabilities are responsible for the greatest damage, and a quarter of high-risk vulnerabilities are now being exploited within a day of disclosure. In 2023, a record-breaking 26,000 vulnerabilities have been identified so far, emphasising the need for organisations to accelerate their response times. High-risk vulnerabilities, particularly in network devices and web applications, are the main targets for attackers seeking unauthorised access or privilege escalation. This situation underscores the critical need for organisations to implement a multi-layered defence strategy, automate patching where appropriate especially in areas of critical infrastructure, and adopt zero-trust principles to safeguard against such swift and potent cyber threats.

Sources: [SiliconANGLE] [SC Media]

Ransomware Gangs Are Increasingly Turning to Remote Access Tools for Attacks, As UK Honeypots Attacked 17 million Times Per Day

Nearly three quarters of cyber-attacks across the UK in 2023 targeted technology frequently used for remote working, new data from Coalition has revealed.

Attackers frequently target Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), a tool that lets users access office computers from home, as it grants the attacker quick access to devices and allows them to execute further attacks.

Honeypot sensors maintained by Coalition have recorded 5.8 billion attacks so far in 2023, averaging around 17 million attacks per day. Of these it was found that 76% of attacks targeted RDP.

Attackers exploit RDP vulnerabilities that often stem from simple configuration mistakes. By taking steps like disabling unnecessary remote access or tightening controls, companies can help shield themselves from these pervasive threats.

Sources: [Insurance Times] [TechRadar] [Infosecurity Magazine]

Why Employees Are a Bigger Security Risk than Hackers

In today's interconnected world, the spotlight is often on cyber criminals attacking from outside, but a worrying trend points inward. A recent study by Imperva reveals that insiders pose a significant threat, being behind 58% of security incidents. The incidents are a mixture of deliberate misuse and accidents, however the majority of organisations lack a strategy to combat these risks. Even when strategies exist, they may be undermined by employees bypassing IT protocols or due to the pressures of adapting to new technologies. With insider incidents on the rise by 47% in two years, the costs are too great to ignore.

Source: [Raconteur]

77% of Financial Services Firms Detected a Cyber Attack in the Last Year, as Finance and Healthcare Continue to Suffer the Most Cyber Attacks

Cyber attacks are more prevalent in the financial services sector than in any other industry. Last year, 77% of financial institutions were targeted, primarily through phishing and ransomware attacks. After financial services the second most targeted sector is healthcare. Both types of institutions are attractive targets not only because of their wealth of sensitive data but also because disruptions to their operations can lead to substantial ransom payments. They face increasingly sophisticated threats and the financial impact is significant, with approximately a quarter of these institutions estimating damages of at least $50,000. To mitigate these risks organisations are turning to cyber insurance, which necessitates further tightening of security practices, including identity and access management, to meet insurers’ stringent standards.

The healthcare sector reported over 179,000 cyber attacks in a single quarter, affecting entities globally. The primary threats were infostealers and ransomware. There have been scores of notable incidents where hospitals have been shut down or otherwise unable to operate. In many cases, this resulted in closing emergency departments, interfering with planned or emergency surgeries and forcing ambulances to divert to other hospitals, potentially causing life threatening delays. Further, a recent report analysing the enterprise risk management for the financial sector found that the two biggest concerns were rising interest rates at 74% and ransomware attacks at 65%.

Sources: [Security Magazine] [MSSP Alert] [PR NewsWire] [Security Magazine]

New Report Data Shows 75% Increase in Suspicious Emails Hitting Inboxes

A new report has unveiled the escalating threat posed by phishing emails, as detected by DMARC software. In the past year, there's been a 70% rise in emails flagged as fraudulent, with almost 18% of total email traffic in the first half of 2023 being intercepted as potential phishing attempts. This surge underscores a pressing need for robust email security measures. Simple yet effective tools like DMARC, which automatically weeds out emails impersonating legitimate domains, are becoming critical in the fight against these sophisticated scams. With the average cost of a cyber attack now well into the millions, and given the high click rates on phishing emails, it is clear that taking proactive steps to strengthen an organisations digital defence is not just sensible, it is essential for safeguarding the businesses in the digital age.

Source: [Dark Reading]

Threat Actors Still Exploiting Old Unpatched Vulnerabilities

A report by Cisco has found that the most targeted vulnerabilities this year, same as previous years, were old unpatched vulnerabilities which should have been fixed a long time ago. Some of these security gaps in widely-used applications like Microsoft Office and or within versions of Windows itself are over a decade old. Unpatched vulnerabilities can leave systems open to exploitation, potentially leading to unauthorised access, data breaches, and widespread security incidents, including being a key enabler of ransomware attacks. This highlights an urgent call to action for organisations to patch known vulnerabilities and secure user accounts to fortify their defences against cyber threats.

Source: [IT Business]

Many Organisations Still Lack Formal Cyber Security Training

As we navigate into 2024, a new report by the SANS Institute found that more than 30% of organisations do not regularly perform cyber readiness exercises, while 40% have yet to establish formal training for cyber security. These findings underline a gap between the need for robust security measures and actual preparedness. On a positive note, most organisations are adopting frameworks like the NIST CSF to shape their security posture, and two-thirds are actively using metrics to gauge the effectiveness of their security operations. Yet, there’s a call to action here: for real progress, intentional investment and commitment to comprehensive training and stringent security operations are non-negotiable. This is the path to mature security operations that can withstand the complexities of today’s cyber threats.

Source: [Security Brief]

Addressing the Growing Threat of Supply Chain Cyber Attacks

As businesses become more interconnected through digital supply chains, supply chain cyber attacks are becoming more of a pressing issue for organisations. The attackers tend to exploit weaknesses in third-party suppliers, often with less guarded entry points, to access larger networks. With companies increasingly outsourcing and using cloud adoption, the need for stringent third-party cyber risk assessments is vital. However, complexities arise with the shared responsibility model for cloud security, where setting out the division of security duties between cloud service providers and clients can blur lines of defence. To tackle these challenges, integration of cyber security into procurement and supply chain processes is essential. This means enforcing collaboration between procurement and cyber security teams, mandating security standards in vendor contracts, and utilising automated tools for continuous risk assessments. Safeguarding modern supply chains is no longer a siloed task but a strategic, organisation wide imperative.

Source: [HackerNoon]

Cyber Incident Costs Surge 11% as Budgets Remain Muted

A new report found an 11% jump in the direct costs of a significant cyber incident, now averaging $1.7 million. The burden is even heavier for those without cyber insurance, with costs escalating to $2.7 million per incident. Cyber risks like fraud, third-party breaches, and data theft remain prevalent. Despite these increasing threats, cyber security budgets have grown modestly and are not keeping pace with the increased level of threat. The report also highlights a concerning gap in understanding cyber threats and a lack of internal training, emphasising the critical need for not just financial investment, but also a deeper engagement with cyber security training and awareness within organisations.

Source: [Infosecurity Magazine]

Attacks on Critical Infrastructure are Harbingers of War: Are We Prepared?

The escalating cyber threats against critical infrastructure, like recent attacks on water authorities, highlight an urgent security concern. These attacks, which are often state-sponsored, are not just targeting financial or data assets but are striking at essential services vital to human survival. The tactics used in these attacks, known as Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB), are aimed at weakening a nation by disrupting services like power and water, key to both civil stability and military operations. Nations like Russia, China, and Iran employ these strategies for different purposes, ranging from strategic military advantages to ideological victories. The use of ransomware, as seen in the increasing incidents reported by the FBI, is a tool for both financial gain and geopolitical disruption. As we face these multifaceted threats, the need for robust cyber security measures to protect our critical infrastructure has never been more pressing. It is a call to action for nations and organisations alike to fortify their defences against these evolving and serious cyber threats.

Source: [SC Media]

UK Data Centres to be Classed as Critical Infrastructure Under New Gov Proposals

The UK government is considering new regulations aimed at enhancing the security and resilience of data centres. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) recognises the vital role of these data hubs and is examining the adequacy of current safety practices. With the identification of varying levels of security across the sector, the prospect of legislating minimum security standards is on the table. This may include establishing a regulatory body to oversee incident reporting and risk mitigation strategies, particularly for third-party service providers. These measures underscore the government's commitment to safeguarding data centres, which are increasingly integral to the UK's economic vitality and national security. As part of a broader initiative, the sector could be designated as critical national infrastructure, aligning it with international best practices and ensuring comprehensive protection from cyber threats and other risks.

Source: [ITPro]

Data Exfiltration and Extortion is the New Ransomware Threat, as 65% of Organisations Say Ransomware Concerns Impact Risk Management

Cyber criminals are escalating their tactics and becoming more aggressive in their effort to maximise disruption and compel the payment of ransom demands. Earlier this year, the ransomware group ALPHV exploited the new US data breach disclosure rules by filing a complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against a victim company for not reporting an alleged significant data breach. This marks a strategic evolution from traditional ransomware attacks, where data is encrypted and held hostage, to more nuanced extortion schemes. Such tactics are becoming more sophisticated, with triple extortion attacks threatening not just the target company but also their partners and clients. This shift from encryption to pure extortion requires a fresh understanding of cyber threats and a re-evaluation of defence strategies. It highlights the urgent need for businesses to protect not just their own data but also to consider the security of their entire data supply chain.

Source: [TechCrunch]



Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Ransomware Victims

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Artificial Intelligence

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Insurance

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Cloud/SaaS

Encryption

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Malvertising

Training, Education and Awareness

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs


Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare, Cyber Espionage and Geopolitical Threats/Activity

Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage

Nation State Actors

China

Russia

Iran

Other Nation State Actors, Hacktivism, Extremism, Terrorism and Other Geopolitical Threat Intelligence


Vulnerability Management

Vulnerabilities




Other News


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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 08 September 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 08 September 2023:

-More Than Half of UK Organisations Know They Aren’t Well Protected

-Generative AI Considered a Security Risk by 60% of Board Members: How Organisations Can Prepare

-Businesses Ignore Incident Response at Their Peril

-Blame Culture: An Organisation’s Ticking Time Bomb

-Spend to Save: CFO’s and Cyber Security Investment

-Cyber Security Tools Are New Targets for Attackers, including Nation-State Actors

-Attackers Access UK Military Data Through Third Party Supplier as Relentless Russian Cyber Attacks Raise Spectre of WW3

-Common Tactics Used by Threat Actors to Weaponise PDFs

-Years-old Microsoft Security Holes Still Hot Targets for Cyber Criminals

-Popular ‘As-a-Service’ Operations Have Earned Cyber Criminals over $64m

-71% of Organisations are Impacted by Cyber Security Skills Shortage

-Multiple Schools Hit by Cyber Attacks Before Term Begins

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

More Than Half of UK Organisations Know They Aren’t Well Protected

According to a recent report, just 49% of business leaders report their organisation is well or very well protected. Cyber security featured as the third highest-rated business priority, with increasing revenues and reducing costs forming the top two. One of the ways an organisation can reduce cost is to outsource, and 63% of respondents agreed, reporting that they wanted to work with an external cyber security partner to improve their security.

Even if you’re in the 49% of organisations that believes it is well protected, this can be a dangerous self-assessment based on a lack of experience and impartiality. Business leaders need independent assurance to ensure their security controls are appropriate and in line with the organisation’s risk appetite. It is essential to dispel assumptions, by investigating your security before an attacker does.

Black Arrow Cyber Consulting offers a free, no-obligation, introductory consultation to help you gain an unbiased perspective on how your current security approach could withstand an attacker. We help our clients to know the questions to ask of their external or internal IT provider, and how to leverage other security controls from existing resources.

Sources: [IT Security Guru][Beta News]

Generative AI Considered a Security Risk by 60% of Board Members. How Organisations Can Prepare

A recent report conducted by Proofpoint found that 60% of board members consider generative AI a security risk.

The rapid development and adoption of AI is double-edged in nature. Whilst it can yield positive benefits if used safely and responsibility within organisations, AI is also being used to great effect by malicious actors with AI abuse growing beyond phishing to increasing the efficacy of multistage attacks, being used to generated malware, and carrying out different types of social engineering attacks.

For this reason Boards and senior leaders are right to be concerned and should ensure appropriate measures are being taken.

Sources: [TheNationalNews] [SCMagazine] [CyberSecurityNews]

Further reading: [BusinessCloud.co.uk] [WIRED UK] [Help Net Security]

Businesses Ignore Incident Response at Their Peril

According to a UK Government report, a quarter of businesses don’t regard cyber incident response skills as essential and almost half said they weren’t confident they could put together an incident response plan. This led to 41% saying they were not very or not at all confident that they would be able to deal with a cyber security breach or attack.

Unfortunately, this leaves many organisations in a situation where they will have to learn the hard way about the implications of not having an incident response plan. A separate government report found that 37% of those hit by a cyber attack said it impacted operations and a quarter experienced negative consequences such as loss of money or data.

One of the ways organisations can circumnavigate their lack of confidence in their ability to construct an incident response plan is to use cyber security experts to construct it. 

Source: [Infosecurity Magazine]

Blame Culture: An Organisation’s Ticking Time Bomb

An organisation’s attitude and responses to cyber security are almost as important as the actions taken to prevent cyber attacks. “Lessons learnt” are a common feature within mature and cyber resilient organisations. Incidents are a matter of when not if, and it is important that organisations know how to react.

Taking the example of a phishing attack, it is easy to blame the employee who opened it, potentially firing them. With phishing simulations, it is equally easy to discipline an employee who fell for it. The problem is, neither of these focus on what can be learned, such as why the employee fell for it in the first place. Additionally, there is the potential that employees become reserved or reticent about reporting potential events, due to the fear of being disciplined. This can be the difference between an organisation having an early detection of an incident and being able to invoke incident response plans sooner, or leaving the attacker in the system doing damage for longer before being reported.

Source: [ IT Security Guru]

Spend to Save: CFOs and Cyber Security Investment

For chief financial officers (CFOs), the increasing impact of data breaches creates a paradox. While more spending is necessary to combat these challenges, this spending isn’t directly tied to profit. Instead, cyber security spending is all about return on investment.

When looking at spending, CFOs need to keep in mind that the total cost of a breach is more than the initial currency loss: there is the knock-on effect of reputation and losses in customers. But it is not a case of spending more to protect more; spending must be tailored to the organisation and prioritise in terms of business needs.

Source: [Security Intelligence]

Cyber Security Tools Are New Targets for Attackers, Including Nation-State Actors

An increasing number of attacks by nation-state attackers are targeting cyber security tools in their campaigns. This includes the recent attacks on US officials which attacked and gained access through the firewalls of the victim. Security vendors, just like anyone, will have flaws in their software: there will be vulnerabilities. As such, organisations need to be aware of these vulnerabilities and when support runs out for their cyber security tools, to better protect themselves.

Source: [News Week]

Attackers Access UK Military Data Through Third Party Supplier as Relentless Russian Cyber Attacks Raise Spectre of WW3

Top secret military data from the UK’s Ministry of Defence was stolen and then sold by the ransomware gang LockBit. How, you might ask? Through a rogue Windows 7 PC that belonged to their fencing supplier, Zaun. The LockBit Ransom group conducted the attack on the supplier’s network, and Zaun admitted the group may have exfiltrated 10GB of data.

Many attackers have realised that if you cannot directly attack an organisation, then the supplier can present a way in. Organisations need to be sure of their suppliers’ security, and conduct third party security assessments to identify the risk the supplier may present to the organisation itself.

Black Arrow have helped many clients carry out third party risk assessments on a large number of suppliers and this can be done as a standalone offering or as part of a fractional CISO engagement.

Source: [The Register] [Tech Monitor]

Common Tactics Used by Threat Actors to Weaponise PDFs

PDFs are often seen as safe, something that cannot be used by an attacker, but that’s wrong. Actors are using this trustworthiness, as well as the difficulty in detection and ubiquity of PDFs, to weaponise them. Common tactics involve malicious hyperlinks within PDFs and macros that run when a PDF is opened, and in some cases attackers are disguising a malicious Word document as a PDF to evade detection.

Source: [Cyber Security News]

Years-old Microsoft Security Holes Still Hot Targets for Cyber Criminals

A recent report has found that Microsoft vulnerabilities as old as 6 years are still being exploited, with one recorded as being exploited as recently as 31 August. In fact, since this particular vulnerability was fixed, it has been used to deploy 467 different malware types. This is not the number of attacks, but the number of different types of malware used in attacks.

The concept isn’t just for Microsoft. Many organisations do not employ effective patching strategies, and as such leave the doors open to attackers. Sometimes, these doors are open for years.

Source: [The Register]

Popular ‘As-a-Service’ Operations Have Earned Cyber Criminals over $64m

As-a-service operations allow attackers to employ sophisticated attacks without the need for extensive knowledge; they simply just purchase the ability.  Take phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS), where an attacker with very limited cyber knowledge simply needs to purchase a phishing kit and they are then well-equipped to target organisations. This availability in tools creates a significant surge in the number of cyber criminals, with one scheme alone raking in $64.5 billion in illegal gains.

Source: [IT Security Guru]

71% of Organisations are Impacted by Cyber Security Skills Shortage

Most organisations (71%) report that they’ve been impacted by the cyber security skills shortage, leading to an increased workload for the cyber security team (61%), unfilled open job requisitions (49%) and high burnout among staff (43%). Further, 95% respondents state the cyber security skills shortage and its associated impacts have not improved over the past few years and 54% (up 10% from 2021) say it has got worse.

Organisations need to continue maintaining and improving their security while their cyber security positions remain unfilled. Black Arrow supports firms to achieve this by providing expert resources on a flexible basis for technical, governance and transformational positions.

Source: [Security Magazine] [Digital Journal]

Multiple Schools Hit by Cyber Attacks Before Term Begins

Ahead of the new school term, a number of schools have become the victim of serious cyber attacks. The education sector isn’t a new target, with previous ransomware reports finding the education sector to account for 16% of victims.

The education sector remains a target due to the valuable data they hold, large attack surfaces and frequently a lack of resources and budgets, something many small and medium-sized business may share.

Source: [Infosecurity Magazine]



Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Ransomware Victims

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

Artificial Intelligence

Malware

Mobile

Botnets

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

BYOD

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Impersonation Attacks

Deepfakes

AML/CFT/Sanctions

Insurance

Dark Web

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Software Supply Chain

Cloud/SaaS

Hybrid/Remote Working

Attack Surface Management

Encryption

API

Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Malvertising

Parental Controls and Child Safety

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Backup and Recovery

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda


Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage

Russia

China

Iran

North Korea

Misc Nation State/Cyber Warfare


Vulnerability Management

Vulnerabilities




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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 01 September 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 01 September 2023:

-66 Percent of Businesses Don't Understand Their Cyber Risks

-Massive Supplier Cyber Breach Puts London’s Metropolitan Police on Red Alert After Officer and Staff Details Hacked

-Pay our Ransom Instead of a GDPR Fine, Cyber Crime Gang Tells Targets, as Attacks Against Small Businesses Ramp Up

-Survey Finds In-house Counsel Cyber Anxiety Skyrocketing

-58% of Malicious Emails Contained Spoofed Content

-Cyber Attacks Remain a Top Concern for Organisations Across All Industries

-BYOD Security Gap: Survey Finds 49% of European Firms Unprotected

-13% of Employees Admit to Falling for Phishing Attacks Working at Home, 9% Would Wait to Report After the Weekend

-Numbers Don't Lie: Exposing the Harsh Truths of Cyber Attacks in New Report

-Kroll’s Breach Highlights SIM-Swapping Risk

-Reducing The Risk of AI, What Can You Do?

-Debunking Popular Cyber Security Myths

-3 Malware Loaders Responsible for 80% of Intrusions

-MOVEit Hack Shows Attackers Still Use Old Tricks

-Barracuda Thought it Drove 0-day Hackers out of Customers’ Networks. It was Wrong

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

66 Percent of Businesses Don't Understand Their Cyber Risks

A survey has found that 67% of organisations have experienced a breach requiring attention within the last two years, despite having traditional security measures in place. Worryingly, 66% self-reported having limited visibility and insight into their cyber risk profiles.

83% of organisations agreed that a comprehensive cyber risk reduction strategy would yield a reduction in the likelihood of a significant cyber incident occurring, yet a number of organisations are finding it difficult to implement this and as a result are looking for outside assistance too. The report found that 93 percent of organisations plan to offload specific segments of cyber risk reduction workstreams or projects to security service providers within the next two years.

Source: [Beta News]

Massive Supplier Cyber Breach Puts London’s Metropolitan Police on Red Alert After Officer and Staff Details Hacked

All 47,000 personnel working for the Met Police were warned of the risk their photos, names and ranks having been stolen when cyber crooks penetrated the IT systems of a contractor printing warrant cards and staff passes. The supplier had access to names, ranks, photos, vetting levels and pay numbers of officers and staff, but did not hold information such as addresses, phone numbers or financial details.

The attack shows the importance of understanding the supply chain, and what access your supplier has access to. Without knowing who has your data, and what data, you will be left clueless if a breach on a supplier occurs.

Sources [Data Breaches] [UKAuthority]

Pay our Ransom Instead of a GDPR Fine, Cyber Crime Gang Tells Targets, as Attacks Against Small Businesses Ramp Up

Ransomware actors are always evolving their tactics, with gangs now telling victims if they don’t pay, then they will face fines under data protection laws. Additionally, small businesses are on the radar, partially due to them being easier targets for actors; some gangs have shifted from asking for millions from a large organisation, to requesting small ransoms from multiple small businesses.

As a result in both the number and sophistication of ransomware attacks, 80% of organisations expect their spending to increase. Not every organisation has an unlimited budget and so it is important that organisations are able to prioritise and allocate their budget effectively, to give them the most protection that their budget allows, especially small to medium-sized businesses.

Sources [Dark Reading] [The Record] [Security Magazine]

Survey Finds In-house Counsel Cyber Anxiety Skyrocketing

In a recent report, only 25% of legal professionals said they felt fully prepared to deal with a cyber attack, with 78% ranking the task of shielding their organisation from cyber attacks as the greatest regulatory concern over the next 12 months; previously, this figure was only 30% in 2021.

There has been a growing number of attacks, due to the sensitive data that is held and the number of attacks will continue to rise. With regulatory concerns adding to this, in-house counsel should be looking to have their concerns heard and drive the organisation to bolster their defences, and this may include outsourcing expert advice to make sure it is done correctly.

Source: [Law.com]

58% of Malicious Emails Contained Spoofed Content

According to a recent report, 58% of malicious emails contained spoof content and spam emails had increased by 30% from Q1 to Q2 2023. The report identified a surge in the number of uses of QR codes as a primary attack method, showing that attack methods are evolving, and in some cases, choosing not to use traditional methods.

The report reinforces the need for constant user education training, to reduce the risk of an employee falling for a phishing email. With this training, new evolving techniques such as that with QR codes, should also be addressed.

Source: [Security Magazine]

Cyber Attacks Remain a Top Concern for Organisations Across All Industries

Cyber attacks remain a top threat to organisations’ ability to do business across all industries. When asked in a recent report, 18% of respondents reported that cyber attacks threatened or disrupted their business.

With cyber attacks being a huge concern, many organisations have an incident response plan in place; yet despite this, nearly one quarter (23%) of companies surveyed have either never conducted tests or are unsure if their teams have tested. Cyber incidents are a matter of when, not if, and a strong incident response plan is always needed and can prevent a bad situation from being made worse by doing the wrong things in the immediate aftermath of an attack.

Source: [Business Wire]

BYOD Security Gap: Survey Finds 49% of European Firms Unprotected

A recent survey found that a concerning 49% of European businesses are operating without having a formal bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy, highlighting a lack of visibility and control over such devices. The report found that organisations are concerned about compliance-based issues, with 43% noting increased worries.

The benefits of BYOD are clear, allowing organisations to save money and eliminate the need for multiple devices. But without a formal BYOD policy, organisations are risking having employees bring in devices that are effectively invisible to IT. This means that the vulnerabilities that come with it, and the risks it can bring, also go unnoticed. To mitigate the risk, a formalised BYOD policy is required.

Source: [Infosecurity Magazine]

13% of Employees Admit to Falling for Phishing Attacks Working at Home, 9% Would Wait to Report After the Weekend

In a recent report, it was found that 13% of employees admitted they had fallen for a phishing attack whilst working from home. Rather worryingly, 21% said they would continue working business as usual in the event of falling victim to a phishing attack whilst working remotely on a Friday, with 9% indicating they’d wait until after the weekend to report it, effectively, giving the attacker a 48 hour period in which they go unnoticed, if the employee even remembers to report it on the Monday.

It is important that users are educated, both on spotting phishing attacks and the reporting process, so that organisations can be best protected. By providing regular and effective user training, employees will be at less risk of falling victim to a phishing attack, even from home. Additionally, by understanding the reporting process and why there is a need to report as soon as possible, organisations will shorten their detection time.

Source: [Security Magazine]

Numbers Don't Lie: Exposing the Harsh Truths of Cyber Attacks in New Report

In their most recent quarterly report, BlackBerry focused on a 90-day window, identifying over 1.5 million malware-based attacks, over 200,000 unique attacks, 17,000 attacks per day and 12 per minute to name a few. The report found that financial institutions were amongst the most targeted.

Source: [The Hacker News]

Kroll’s Breach Highlights SIM-Swapping Risk

A recent supply chain breach at Kroll, the risk and financial advisory firm, affected downstream customers and exposed personal information on hundreds of claimants in bankruptcy proceedings. The breach occurred when a threat actor had transferred an employee’s phone number to a device in the attackers possession, which was then subsequently used to access sensitive information.

In this attack, the actor had convinced T-Mobile to port the employee’s number over, allowing the actor to access files containing bankruptcy details. A mitigation recommended for this is to ask your network provider if they offer port freeze or number lock, to protect it from unauthorised transfer.

Source [Dark Reading]

Reducing The Risk of AI, What Can You Do?

Threat actors' use of generative AI has fuelled a significant rise in attacks worldwide during the last 12 months according to a recent report. Yet despite this, AI is still seen as a positive thing for organisations, with the power of generative AI quickly realised.

Certainly, AI can be used in the organisation to increase efficiency and automate tasks, but it must be used with vigilance. Organisations implementing AI should have governance over the usage of AI to eliminate the chance of data leaking. This governance may include policies, procedures and approved AI software.

Sources: [CSO Online] [UKTech News]

Debunking Popular Cyber Security Myths

At a time when cyber security is a constant feature in the news and our daily lives, it is important to debunk a few myths surrounding it. One of the biggest, is the assumption that cyber defence is all about the technical controls; in fact, 89% of cyber attacks involved social engineering. The prevalence of social engineering further shows that strong passwords, firewalls and antivirus are not enough; what’s the use in having a password that takes years to crack if you hand it over to someone?

When we think cyber security, we often think of external threat actors, but insider risk is a real threat: whether by malicious actions, negligence or misunderstanding, those inside your organisation can be a real risk to your organisation.

So what’s the take home? Cyber is more than just technology, and it is not just an outside attacker. Organisations’ cyber efforts should focus on more than just the technical requirements; by having things such as user education training, organisations can mitigate their cyber risk.

Sources: [Forbes] [Trend Micro]

3 Malware Loaders Responsible for 80% of Intrusions

Three malware loaders, QBot, SocGholish, and Raspberry Robin, are responsible for 80 percent of observed attacks on computers and networks so far this year. The malware are all distributed differently; Qbot is typically deployed through a phishing email, SocGholish is downloaded without user interaction, and Raspberry Robin is through USB devices.

Sources: [The Register] [Infosecurity Magazine]

MOVEit Hack Shows Attackers Still Use Old Tricks

SQL injection has been around for a quarter of a century, yet it still features amongst the top 10 list of security vulnerabilities. In fact, SQL injection was the method of attack for the infamous MOVEit hacks, which has impacted over 700 organisations, with the number still growing.

The MOVEit attack highlights just how easily old, over-looked vulnerabilities can be used to target an organisation. Consider your organisation now: are there any legacy systems or software in place?

Source: [Dark Reading]

Barracuda Thought it Drove 0-day Hackers out of Customers’ Networks. It was Wrong.

In late May, security vendor Barracuda had released a patch for their email security gateway (ESG), which was being actively exploited. Having already accounted for this, the threat actors utilised a new attack, which meant infected devices would reinfect themselves, effectively negating Barracuda’s patch. Unfortunately, this meant that for a while, Barracuda thought it was in the clear, when it was still under attack.

Upon realising this, Barracuda’s security advisory changed from recommending a patch to requiring an immediate replacement of compromised ESG appliances, regardless of the patch level. This shows the need for organisations to keep up to date with the latest threat intelligence, as missing the second update could mean infected devices are still in the wild, with organisations under the false perception that they were safe.

Source: [Ars Technica]



Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Ransomware Victims

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

Artificial Intelligence

2FA/MFA

AITM/MITM

Malware

Mobile

Botnets

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

BYOD

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Impersonation Attacks

Deepfakes

Insurance

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Cloud/SaaS

Hybrid/Remote Working

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Biometrics

Social Media

Training, Education and Awareness

Cyber Bullying, Cyber Stalking and Sextortion

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Data Protection

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda


Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage

Russia

China

North Korea


Vulnerability Management

Vulnerabilities




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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 25 August 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 25 August 2023:

-Cloud Hosting Firm Loses All Customer Data After Ransomware Attack

-Would You Infect Others to Rid Yourself of Ransomware?

-Artificial Intelligence and USBs Drive 8% Rise in Cyber Attacks

-Ransomware Attacks Broke Records in July, Mainly Driven By One Group

-Cyber Risk in The Boardroom

-Malware-Infected Advertising Grows Ever More Sophisticated, And More Damaging

-Cyber Security is Everyone’s Responsibility

-QR Code Hacks Are Another Thing to Worry About Now

-Security Basics Aren’t So Basic Anymore

-Apple MacOS Security Myths

-Security Leaders Report Misalignment of Investments and Risk Reduction

-Many CISOs Tout SaaS (Cloud) Cyber Security Confidence, but 79% Admit to SaaS Incidents, New Report Finds

-If You Ever Used Duolingo, Watch Out for Phishing Email

-91% of Security and IT Professionals Agree Cyber Criminals are Already Using AI in Email 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

Cloud Hosting Firm Loses All Customer Data After Ransomware Attack

CloudNordic, a Danish cloud hosting provider, has told customers to consider all of their data as having been lost following a ransomware infection that encrypted the large Danish cloud provider. The threat actors had destroyed the organisation’s backups, which prevented the firm from recovering effectively. The attack also impacted AzeroCloud, which is owned by the same company.

Worryingly, many organisations believe that having backups and using the cloud is enough for them to be able to recover from any cyber incident; unfortunately, as shown in the CloudNordic and AzeroCloud attacks, it is not enough. Organisations need to have a recovery plan in place which is tested and improved, to best strengthen themselves in the event of a cyber incident.

Sources: [The Register] [Bleeping Computer] [Help Net Security]

Would You Infect Others to Rid Yourself of Ransomware?

Hackers continually develop ransomware with new and creative attack methods that keep internet security professionals on their toes and pose challenges for people trying to detect threats. Victims of ransomware usually see messages asking them to pay for file access restoration; however, the Popcorn Time ransomware group takes a different approach to getting victims involved.

The Popcorn Time ransomware approach works via the referral method. The ransomware group is willing to give victims access to their files if they send the referral link to two other people, extending the attacker’s reach. Most people would hesitate to distribute a ransomware link through email, WhatsApp, or another method that is easy for victims to identify them as the perpetrators. Law enforcement bodies categorise ransomware attacks as crimes that come with hefty fines and prison time. Even those choosing to send the links to people they know face disastrous consequences beyond law enforcement, including the loss of jobs and relationships.

Source: [CyberNews]

Artificial Intelligence and USBs Drive 8% Rise in Cyber Attacks

Checkpoint’s 2023 Mid-Year Security Report shows an 8% surge in global weekly cyber attacks during Q2, marking the most significant increase in two years. The report highlights the fusion of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology with traditional tools like USB devices used for disruptive cyber attacks.

Other significant findings include the evolution of ransomware tactics. The report found that ransomware groups are exploiting vulnerabilities in common corporate software and shifting focus from encrypting data to stealing it. USB devices have resurfaced as threats, employed by both state-affiliated groups and cyber-criminals to distribute malware globally. The misuse of AI has escalated, as attackers use generative AI tools for phishing emails, keystroke monitoring malware and basic ransomware code.

Source: [InfoSecurity Magazine]

Ransomware Attacks Broke Records in July, Mainly Driven By One Group

A number of ransomware actors are utilising the threat of releasing sensitive data to get organisations to pay ransoms; in some cases this is combined with encryption to give the actor two avenues of payment. A report has found there were over 500 attacks last month, an increase of 153% compared to one year ago, and a 16% increase compared to June. Within Europe, there was a 59% increase in ransomware attacks from June to July.

Part of the significant rise is due to the ransomware group called Cl0p, whose attack on the MOVEit software has accounted for hundreds of victims this year. The Cl0p ransomware group has kept its promise to publish files on the clearweb of all its victims if contact was not made. The clearweb is simply what we know as the internet; anyone can access it. As such, there will be many organisations who are now having their sensitive data published and readily viewable for anyone who has access to the internet.

Sources: [Gov Info Seccurity] [Security Week] [ZDNET] [Cyber News]

Cyber Risk in The Boardroom

The relationship between the CISO and the wider boardroom has become increasingly cooperative, with 77% of CEO’s seeing cyber as a strategic function and a potential source of competitive advantage. While it is ultimately up to the board to take steps to keep cybersecurity high on the agenda, the CISO also has a responsibility to press the message and bridge any gaps.

CISOs must deliver concerns, strategies and recommendations in a business-first manner, while avoiding jargon and overly technical language. Attracting and retaining good quality senior security professionals is very challenging in the current market and Black Arrow offer a fractional CISO service, giving access to a whole team of specialists with wider expertise, experience and backgrounds, for less than the cost of hiring one individual.

Sources: [Security Week] [TechRadar]

Malware-Infected Advertising Grows Ever More Sophisticated, And More Damaging

The malware exploits known as malware-infected ads, or malvertising, have been around for decades, but new reports point to a steady rise in efficacy. With malvertising, the infected ads are typically placed on legitimate ad networks, which makes them more difficult to spot and remove. The technique continues to use more and more sophisticated mechanisms for getting their infections spread throughout the web and keeping them running for a long time. The exploits can operate in one of several ways, including intercepting a user’s clickstream on random hyperlinks and substituting them with redirects to advertising websites.

Adblockers either on endpoints or at the network level can also help to prevent malvertising from causing harm.

Source: [SiliconAngle]

Cyber Security is Everyone’s Responsibility

A recent survey found that 41% of respondents said that poor quality training, or a lack of training altogether, and insider threats were impacting their organisation’s security. Cyber security involves everyone as any employee can be an entry point for a cyber incident, but they also have the power to prevent one. It is important to make sure all employees are provided adequate training. Not every role requires the same training however, so it is important for organisations to identify and provide training that is appropriate to employees. Black Arrow provide live in person and online instructor lead cyber security training, both through Cyber Risk and Governance Workshops for Senior Leadership and Awareness, Behaviour and Culture Training for employees and contractors.

Source: [IT Pro Today]

QR Code Hacks Are Another Thing to Worry About Now

One of the upcoming technologies thrust upon us is QR codes. At this point, you can find them at most restaurants and parking sites. You simply scan the code and you are taken to the relevant site, for example, the menu for the restaurant. Attackers have cottoned on to this and started to use QR codes in phishing attacks; the idea being that the victim will scan the code without scrutinising it and be taken to a malicious website instead.

Source: [Bloomberg]

Security Basics Aren’t So Basic Anymore

The basics of cyber security, it turns out, aren’t so basic anymore. What was considered basic has moved way beyond just having firewalls and antivirus, and the most basic controls nowadays include more advanced controls such as robust identity and access management, multi-factor authentication (MFA) and patching and vulnerability management. Many of these now basic controls are lacking or non-existent across the economy according to cyber security experts. A report found that only 28% of Microsoft users had MFA enabled as 2022 closed.

You can’t solve all the problems at once. However, progress on these fronts also relies heavily on the need for a cultural shift. Organisations need to get to the point where they view cyber security in the same light as locks on doors and seatbelts in cars.

Source: [CioDive]

Apple MacOS Security Myths

Apple has maintained a reputation as being more secure than other manufacturers, and whilst Apple has put many different security mechanisms into its operating system, no technology is bulletproof. Assuming an Apple device is invulnerable can lead users to believe that their Mac will not get viruses or be subject to a plethora of other cyber threats. As a result, this can lead to poor cyber hygiene from the individual, as they assume they are safe regardless of what they do. Apple users need to remain every bit as aware of risks, social engineering, keeping devices up to date, and having appropriate security controls.

Source: [Huntress]

Security Leaders Report Misalignment of Investments and Risk Reduction

The cyber risk landscape was analysed in a recent report that examined the amount of risk that organisations are willing to accept, their resource constraints and key priorities for approaching cyber risk in the future. The report found 66% of respondents indicating that they have limited visibility and insight into their cyber risk profiles, hindering their ability to prioritise investments and allocate resources effectively. 67% of organisations experienced a breach requiring attention within the last two years despite having traditional threat-based security measures in place. Further, 61% of security executives expressed concerns over the current misalignment between cyber security investments and their organisation's risk reduction priorities.

Source: [InfoSecurity Magazine]

Many CISOs Tout SaaS (Cloud) Cyber Security Confidence, but 79% Admit to Incidents

Cyber security, IT, and business leaders alike recognise SaaS (cloud) cyber security as an increasingly important part of the cyber threat landscape. And at first glance, respondents appear generally optimistic about their SaaS cyber security as 85% answered that they are confident or very confident in their company's or customer's data security in sanctioned SaaS apps.

Despite the confidence, 79% of respondents confirmed that their organisation had identified SaaS cyber security incidents over the past 12 months. Many of those incidents occurred in environments with cyber security policies in place and enforced, as 66% of respondents claimed in their responses.

Source: [The Hacker News]

If You Ever Used Duolingo, Watch Out for Phishing Email

Users of Duolingo, past and present, should be wary of phishing emails as data on about 2.6 million accounts were scraped through an exposed application programming interface (API), and then offered on a hacking forum back in January. Login and real names, email addresses, phone numbers, and courses studied were part of the collection, which went for $1,500. Now that data has resurfaced on a different forum, and at a substantially lower cost of just a few dollars, users of the service can expect this data to be used in fresh phishing campaigns.

Source: [PCWorld]

91% of Security and IT Professionals: Criminals are Already Using AI in Email Attacks

Recent research found that 91% of security and IT professionals are noticing cyber criminals already using AI as part of email attack campaigns, with 74% indicating they have experienced an increase in the use of AI by cyber criminals in the past six months. This is worrying as 52% reported that email security is among one of their top three concerns.

Organisations need to make sure that their technologies, procedures and policies are updated to factor in AI-enabled email attacks to help reduce the risk they pose to the organisation. Such improvements should also include employees.

Source: [PR Newswire]



Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Ransomware Victims

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

BEC – Business Email Compromise

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

Artificial Intelligence

Malware

Mobile

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Impersonation Attacks

Deepfakes

Insurance

Dark Web

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Cloud/SaaS

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

API

Biometrics

Social Media

Malvertising

Training, Education and Awareness

Parental Controls and Child Safety

Cyber Bullying, Cyber Stalking and Sextortion

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Backup and Recovery

Data Protection

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring


Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage

Russia

China

North Korea

Misc/Other/Unknown



Tools and Controls



Sector Specific

Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.

Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.

·         Automotive

·         Construction

·         Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

·         Defence & Space

·         Education & Academia

·         Energy & Utilities

·         Estate Agencies

·         Financial Services

·         FinTech

·         Food & Agriculture

·         Gaming & Gambling

·         Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)

·         Health/Medical/Pharma

·         Hotels & Hospitality

·         Insurance

·         Legal

·         Manufacturing

·         Maritime

·         Oil, Gas & Mining

·         OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems

·         Retail & eCommerce

·         Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)

·         Startups

·         Telecoms

·         Third Sector & Charities

·         Transport & Aviation

·         Web3


As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.

Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 4th August 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing 04 August 2023:

-Top 12 Exploited Vulnerabilities List Highlights Troubling Reality: Many Organisations Still Are Not Patching

-67% of Data Breaches Start with a Single Click, with 1 in 100 Emails Being Malicious

-Ransomware Attacks Hit All Time High. Attackers’ Motives Change, So Should Your Defence

-The Generative AI War Between Companies and Hackers is Starting

-Spend to Save: The CFO’s Guide to Cyber Security Investment

-Corporate Boards Take Heed: Give CISOs the Cold Shoulder at your Peril

-How the Talent Shortage Impacts Cyber Security Leadership

-Salesforce, Meta Suffer Phishing Campaign that Evades Typical Detection Methods

-Cyber Insurance and the Ransomware Challenge

-Microsoft Exposes Russian Hackers' Sneaky Phishing Tactics via Microsoft Teams Chats

-66% of Cyber security Leaders Don’t Trust Their Current Cyber Risk Mitigation Strategies

-Startups Should Move Fast and Remember Cyber Security

Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Intelligence 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

Top 12 Exploited Vulnerabilities List Highlights Troubling Reality That Many Organisations Are Still Not Patching

A joint advisory from US and allied cyber security agencies highlights the top routinely exploited vulnerabilities. This is a list that includes old and well-known bugs that many organisations still have not patched, including some vulnerabilities that have been known for more than five years. The list underscores how exploiting years-old vulnerabilities in unpatched systems continues to dominate the threat landscape. Organisations are more likely to be compromised by a bug found in 2021 or 2020 than they are by ones discovered over the past year.

This report emphasises that a vulnerability management strategy relying solely on CVSS for vulnerability prioritisation is proving to be insufficient at best; CVSS is an established method for assigning criticality scores to known vulnerabilities based on different scoring criteria. Additional context is required to allow for a more scalable and effective prioritisation strategy. This context should stem from internal sources, for example, the target environment (asset criticality, mitigating controls, reachability), as well as from external sources, which will permit a better assessment of the likelihood and feasibility of exploitation. Most organisations have a limited patching capacity, affected by the tooling, processes, and skills at their disposal. The challenge is to direct that limited patching capacity towards vulnerabilities that matter most in terms of risk reduction. Therefore, the task of sifting the signal through the noise is becoming increasingly more important.

Sources: [HelpNetSecurity] [NSA.gov] [SCMagazine]

67% of Data Breaches Start with a Single Click, with 1 in 100 Emails Being Malicious

In a report that leveraged data from 23.5 billion cyber security attacks, spanning 500 threat types and 900 distinct infrastructure and software vulnerabilities it was found that approximately 67% of all breaches start with someone clicking on a seemingly safe link, which explains why adversaries begin 80-95% of all attacks with a phishing email.

A separate report found that there was a 36% rise in cyber attacks in the first half of 2023. Email continued to be the main vector for delivering malicious content, with as many as 1 in every 100 emails sent in the first half of 2023 found to be malicious. In addition, malware accounted for 20% of attacks, and business email compromise (BEC) constituted 8%.

The findings reinforce the need for organisations to employ effective and regular security awareness training for users to better help them to not only identify, but also report such attacks to help strengthen the cyber resilience of the organisation. Black Arrow offers bespoke training to all roles within the organisation as well as upskilling tailored to those at the board level.

Source: [Security Intelligence]

Ransomware Attacks Hit All Time High. Attackers’ Motives Change, So Should Your Defence

Cases of straight-up data theft and extortion now appear to be more widespread a threat than ransomware, becoming the single most observed threat in the second calendar quarter of 2023, according to new data released by researchers. 1,378 organisations have been named as victims on ransomware data-leak websites in Q2 2023. This was a 64.4% increase from the record-breaking number of victims named in Q1 2023.

Despite both the rise in threats and the high percentage of respondents whose organisations suffered recent attacks, there hasn’t been a corresponding uptick in strategic measures to shore up cyber resilience. In fact, close to four in five survey respondents don’t have complete confidence that their company has a cyber resilience strategy designed to address today’s escalating cyber challenges and threats.

Sources: [Forbes] [HelpNetSecurity] [ComputerWeekly] [SecurityBrief.co.nz] [Malwarebytes]

The Generative AI War Between Companies and Hackers is Starting

To no one’s surprise, criminals are tapping open-source generative AI programs for all kinds of heinous acts, including developing malware and phishing attacks, according to the FBI. This comes as the UK National Risk Register officially classes AI as a long-term security threat. It’s safe to say AI is certainly a controversial field right now, with the battle between companies and hackers really starting to take place; only recently had technology giants such as Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft met with the US President Joe Biden to pledge to follow safeguards.

A recent report from security firm Barracuda has found that between August 2022 and July 2023, ransomware attacks had doubled and this surge has largely been driven by the breaching of networks via AI-crafted phishing campaigns, as well as automating attacks to increase reach, again using AI.

Despite the controversy, AI can be of tremendous value to organisations, helping to streamline and automate tasks. Organisations employing or looking to employ AI in the workplace should also have effective governance and identification procedures over the usage of said AI. Equally, when it comes to defending against AI attacks, organisations need to have a clear picture of their attack landscape, with layers of defence.

Sources: [CSO Online] [PC MAG] [CNBC] [Tech Radar]

Spend to Save: The CFO’s Guide to Cyber Security Investment

As a CFO, you need to make smart choices about cyber security investments. The increasing impact of data breaches creates a paradox: While more spending is necessary to combat these challenges, this spending isn’t directly tied to profit. Instead, cyber security spending should be seen an investment in the future of your business.

The impact of a cyber event extends beyond quantifiable currency loss. Further impacts include those of reputation and customer retention. CFOs should look to identify weak spots, understand the effect these can have, pick the right solution that mitigates these and finally, advocate cyber security and robust governance at the board level.

It is important to remember, cyber security is not just a technical issue, but also a business one, and you have a key role in ensuring the security and resilience of your organisation.

Source: [Security Intelligence]

Corporate Boards Take Heed: Give CISOs the Cold Shoulder at your Peril

The debate over whether the CISO should, by the very nature of the position, be considered a member of the C-suite has been raging for some time and seems likely to continue for a good while to come. CISOs should not only have a seat among the uppermost echelon at the big table but also be recognised as a foundational element in the success of any business.

There is a danger that, without an effective CISO, organisations can end up in a perilous situation in which there's no one driving the cyber security bus at a time when vulnerabilities and incidents are ever on the rise. When the CISO has a seat at the big table, everybody wins.

Source [CSO Online]

How the Talent Shortage Impacts Cyber Security Leadership

The lack of a skilled cyber security workforce hampers the effectiveness of an organisation’s security program. While technologies like AI and machine learning can provide some support, they are not sufficient, especially for small and medium sized businesses (SMBs). The cyber security workforce shortage affects not just current security but the future of leadership roles, including CISOs and CSOs.

Today’s CISOs require a blend of technology and business understanding. According to the (ISC)2 2022 Workforce Study, the global cyber security workforce is nearly 5 million and growing at 26% yearly. However, more than 3 million jobs still need to be filled, including specialised roles in cloud security, data protection, and incident response. This gap jeopardises functions like risk assessment, oversight, and systems patching.

The greatest talent shortage is found in soft skills, leading to a trend of looking outside the traditional security talent pool. The future of CISOs will likely require a solid security background, but as the talent gap widens, finding leadership candidates from the existing pool may remain challenging.

Source: [Security Intelligence]

Salesforce, Meta Suffer Phishing Campaign that Evades Typical Detection Methods

A recent report by cyber security company identified a sophisticated email phishing campaign exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Salesforce's legitimate email services. The vulnerability allowed threat actors to craft targeted phishing emails, cleverly evading conventional detection methods by leveraging Salesforce's domain and reputation and exploiting legacy quirks in Facebook's web games platform.

Whilst Facebook and Salesforce have now addressed the issue, it goes to show that technology alone is not enough to stop phishing; operational and people controls are still necessary and should form part of an effective organisational response.

Source: [Security Brief]

Cyber Insurance and the Ransomware Challenge

The cyber insurance industry has been heavily criticised for providing coverage for ransom payments. A frequent accusation, which has become close to perceived wisdom in policymaking and cyber security discussions on ransomware, is that cyber insurance has incentivised victims to pay a ransom following a cyber incident, rather than seek alternative remediation options. However, the insurance industry could do much more to instil discipline in both insureds and the ransomware response ecosystem in relation to ransom payments to reduce cyber criminals’ profits. Insurers’ role as convenors of incident response services gives them considerable power to reward firms that drive best practices and only guide victims towards payment as a last resort.

While the insurance industry has the power to do this, there are still challenges that need to be addressed in the underwriting process. Offering expensive policies that exclude common risks such as ransomware or nation-state attacks is simply not a sustainable approach. This has helped insurers become more profitable for now, but these are only short-term fixes to the real problem at hand. Namely, that the underwriting process for cyber insurance policies is still not that sophisticated. Most underwriters are poorly equipped to effectively measure the cyber risk exposure of new or renewing customers.

Sources: [RUSI] [Dark Reading]

Microsoft Exposes Russian Hackers' Sneaky Phishing Tactics via Microsoft Teams Chats

Microsoft on Wednesday disclosed that it identified a set of highly targeted social engineering attacks mounted by a Russian nation-state threat actor using credential theft phishing lures sent as Microsoft Teams chats. The tech giant attributed the attacks to a group it tracks as Midnight Blizzard.

"In this latest activity, the threat actor uses previously compromised Microsoft 365 tenants owned by small businesses to create new domains that appear as technical support entities" Microsoft said. "Using these domains from compromised tenants, Midnight Blizzard leverages Teams messages to send lures that attempt to steal credentials from a targeted organisation by engaging a user and eliciting approval of multi-factor authentication (MFA) prompts."

Source: [TheHackerNews]

66% of Cyber security Leaders Don’t Trust Their Current Cyber Risk Mitigation Strategies

A recent report found that 66% of cyber security leaders don’t trust their current cyber risk mitigation strategies. It was also found that while 90% of respondents say their organisation has dedicated resources responsible for managing and reducing cyber risk, in almost half of situations (46%) this consists of just one person.

In some cases, it can be hard to get the necessary talent to build out the cyber security arm of an organisation; this is where organisations can look towards outsourcing to fulfil positions with expertise. At Black Arrow we offer many services to help you to govern your cyber security, including as virtual CISO that leverages our diverse team with backgrounds from British intelligence, board governance, IT and finance.

Source: [ITSecurityWire]

UK legal Sector at Risk, National Cyber Security Centre Warns

Over the past three years more than 200 ransomware attacks worldwide have been inflicted on companies in the legal industry. The UK was the second most-attacked country constituting 2.3% of all ransomware attacks across various sectors. The legal sector was the fourth most-attacked industry in the UK in 2022. Ransomware groups are indiscriminate in their targeting, attacking companies of all sizes, from small law firms with only ten employees to large firms with 1,000+ employees, and ranging in revenue from companies generating £100 million to those with under £3 million. No single kind of company is immune to these attacks.

The International Bar Association (IBA) has released a report to guide senior executives and boards in protecting their organisations from cyber risk. Entitled "Global perspectives on protecting against cyber risks: best governance practices for senior executives and boards of directors," the report aims to provide leaders with insight into the primary elements of a robust cyber risk management programme. Its recommendations for senior executives and boards encompass understanding the organisation's cyber risk profile, knowing what information assets to safeguard, being aware of significant regulatory requirements, and recognising the security standards utilised by the organisation.

Sources: [Todays Conveyancer] [Infosecurity Magazine]

Startups Should Move Fast and Remember Cyber Security

The importance of cyber security for startups, which can often be overlooked in the pursuit of fast-paced growth, cannot be overstated. However, cyber attacks can have devastating consequences for businesses of all sizes. The percentage of micro-businesses in the UK that consider cyber security a high priority has dropped from 80% to 68% in the past year, possibly due to wider economic pressures. Cyber criminals target businesses of all sizes, often initially using automated software to find weak spots. Startups can be particularly vulnerable due to their fast-paced environments and new or less familiar supply chains. The use of shared office spaces can also increase risk.

The UK DCMS/DSIT 2023 Cyber Security Breaches survey reported that almost a third of businesses (32%) and a quarter of charities (24%) reported breaches or attacks in the past 12 months alone, with the average victim losing £15,300. Startups have the unique advantage of being able to implement cyber security best practices from the outset and embed them into company culture. It is recommended that startups prioritise cyber security from the get-go to protect their business and ensure long-term growth.

Source: [UKTech] [Cyber security breaches survey 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)]



Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Ransomware Victims

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

BEC – Business Email Compromise

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

Artificial Intelligence

Malware

Mobile

Botnets

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Deepfakes

AML/CFT/Sanctions

Insurance

Dark Web

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Software Supply Chain

Cloud/SaaS

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Biometrics

Social Media

Travel

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring


Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage

Russia

China

Iran

North Korea

Misc/Other/Unknown


Vulnerability Management

Vulnerabilities





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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 30 June 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 30 June 2023:

-Zurich Insurance Group Secures Data Leak After Leaving Sensitive Data Publicly Accessible

-Employees Worry Less About Cyber Security Best Practices in the Summer

-Businesses are Ignoring Third-Party Security Risks

-Fear Trumps Anger When It Comes to Data Breaches – Angry Customers Vent, But Fearful Customers Don’t Come Back

-Over 130 Organisations and Millions of Individuals Believed to Be Impacted by MOVEit Hack, it Keeps Growing

-Widespread BEC Attacks Threaten European Organisations

-Lloyd’s Syndicates Sued Over Cyber Insurance

-95% Fear Inadequate Cloud Security Detection and Response

-The Growing Use of Generative AI and the Security Risks They Pose

-The CISO’s Toolkit Must Include Political Capital Within The C-Suite

-Microsoft Warns of Widescale Credential Stealing Attacks by Russian Hackers as War Ministers Reliant on Cyber Crime

-SMBs Plagued by Exploits, Trojans and Backdoors

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

  • Zurich Insurance Group Secures Data Leak After Leaving Sensitive Data Publicly Accessible

Zurich Insurance Group is a major player in the insurance game, with over 55 million clients. They have recently just fixed a sensitive file that they had left publicly accessible. The file in question contained a range of credentials including database credentials, admin credentials, credentials for the actively exploited MOVEit software, credentials for their HR system and more. All of which could be utilised by threat actors to inflict serious damage. This was not the only vulnerability stemming from the insurance group; researchers found that Zurich were also running an outdated website, which contained a large number of vulnerabilities.

The case is alarming as Zurich Insurance Group provides cyber insurance and the instance above reinforces the need for organisations to be proactive in identifying cyber risks in their environment; it is simply not enough to rely on having insurance or meeting insurance requirements.

https://cybernews.com/zurich-insurance-data-leak/

  • Employees Worry Less About Cyber Security Best Practices in the Summer

IT teams are struggling to monitor and enforce BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies during summer months according to a new report. The report found that 55% of employees admitted to relying solely on their mobile devices while working remotely in the summer. 25% of all respondents claim that they aren’t concerned about ensuring network connections are secure when accessing their company’s data.

In the same report, 45% of employees in the US and UK said no specific measures to educate and remind employees on security best practices are taken during the summer, with only 24% of UK respondents receiving access to online cyber security training and guides and even less (17%) in the US. This comes as a separate report found that the number of phishing sites targeting mobile devices increased from 75% to 80% year-on-year in 2022, and this is likely to continue rising. Worryingly, it was also found that the average user is between six and ten times more likely to fall for an SMS phishing attack than email.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/06/30/summer-byod-policies/

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/mobile-malware-and-phishing-surge/

  • Businesses are Ignoring Third-Party Security Risks

With 58% of companies managing over 100 vendors, 8% of which manage over 1,000, the need for a robust Third-Party Security Risk Management process becomes abundantly clear. Despite this, only 13% of organisations continuously monitor the security risks of their third parties. This is worrying, when considering the knock-on effects of third party breaches from the likes of Capita, SolarWinds and 3CX, and the recent MOVEit attack, impacting organisations whose only relationship with MOVEit was that their supplier used it.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/06/30/third-party-relationships-risks/

  • Fear Trumps Anger When It Comes to Data Breaches – Angry Customers Vent, But Fearful Customers Don’t Come Back

When a person is notified of a data breach involving their personal information, if they react with a feeling of fear, as opposed to anger, they’re more likely to stop using the site. A report found that positive attitudes toward the website before the breach did not meaningfully affect whether consumers reengaged with the website after the breach, as some prior research has indicated. Instead, the emotional response of fear weighed heavily on customers and outweighed any earlier positive sentiment towards the organisation.

When a company has been breached in the past they have dealt with angry customers and negative press. To do so, companies may engage crisis managers to contain the damage, partner with identity protection services, pay fines or settlements, or try to lure back customers with free services. However, the study shows that companies need to address fearful customers differently after a data breach has occurred if they want to avoid customer loss. To do this, companies can work with their IT departments to identify customers who are no longer active after a breach and then reach out to them directly to assuage their fears.

https://theconversation.com/fear-trumps-anger-when-it-comes-to-data-breaches-angry-customers-vent-but-fearful-customers-dont-come-back-203109

  • Over 130 Organisations and Millions of Individuals Believed to be Impacted by MOVEit Hack, it Keeps Growing

The dramatic fallout continues in the mass exploitation of a critical vulnerability in a widely used file-transfer program, with at least three new victims coming to light in the past few days. They include the New York City Department of Education and energy companies Schneider Electric and Siemens Electric. These join others, including PwC, Sony and EY. If the attack has shown us one thing, it’s that any organisation can be a victim.

https://www.securityweek.com/over-130-organizations-millions-of-individuals-believed-to-be-impacted-by-moveit-hack/

https://arstechnica.com/security/2023/06/casualties-keep-growing-in-this-months-mass-exploitation-of-moveit-0-day/

  • Widespread BEC Attacks Threaten European Organisations

Based on an analysis of email attack trends between June 2022 and May 2023, total email attacks in Europe increased by 7 times and the US 5 times. For business email compromise (BEC) specifically, Europe saw an alarming 10 times the amount it had previously and the US saw a 2 times increase.

BEC continues to remain a high priority threat for many organisations and if someone already has a legitimate business email which they have compromised to use for BEC attacks on your organisation, it is very likely that your technical processes will be ineffective, leaving your people and operational processes to stop an attack. Is your organisation cyber aware? Are they undergoing regular awareness training?

This is one of many areas that Black Arrow can help improve your organisation’s security through robust employee cyber security Awareness Behaviour and Culture training.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/06/27/bec-attacks-frequency/

  • Lloyd’s Syndicates Sued Over Cyber Insurance

The University of California (UCLA) is suing a number of insurance firms for refusing to pay out on cyber policies nearly 10 years after hackers breached data on millions of patients at its health system. The dispute is over a cyber attack from 2014 through 2015 that exposed personal information of patients at UCLA Health.

UCLA Health allege that the syndicates refused to engage in dispute resolution by asserting that the statue of limitations applying to the claims had expired. The insurers, who could not be named, are said to have refused every claim saying that UCLA Health failed to satisfy cyber security requirements under the contract terms. It’s important for organisations with cyber insurance to understand their insurance in detail and to know where they stand in the event of a cyber incident.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/university-of-california-sues-lloyds-syndicates-over-cyber-insurance-da4675f5

  • 95% Fear Inadequate Cloud Security Detection and Response

A recent report found 95% of respondents expressed concern in their organisation’s ability to detect and respond to a security event in their cloud environment. The same study also found that 50% of total respondents had reported a data breach due to unauthorised access to their cloud environment.

It is often the case that issues in the cloud come from the perception of the responsibility of the cloud environment. Organisations must realise that they share responsibility for securing their cloud environment, including its configuration. The report found that, despite the number of breaches and concerns in their organisation’s ability, more than 80% of respondents still felt their existing tooling and configuration would sufficiently cover their organisation from an attack. Organisations must ask themselves what they are doing to protect their cloud environment.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/06/27/cloud-environment-security/

  • The Growing Use of Generative AI and the Security Risks They Pose

A recent survey by Malwarebytes revealed 81% of people are concerned about the security risks posed by ChatGPT and generative AI, and 52% of respondents are calling for a pause on ChatGPT for regulations to catch up, while 7% think it will improve internet security. A key concern about the data produced by generative AI platforms is the risk of "hallucinations" whereby machine learning models produce untruths. This becomes a serious issue for organisations if its content is heavily relied upon to make decisions, particularly those relating to threat detection and response.

Another recent report on the risks brought by Large Language Model AIs showed that the rise in opensource AI adoption is developed insecurely; this results in an increased threat with substantial security risks to organisation.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/643516/survey-reveals-mass-concern-over-generative-ai-security-risks.html

https://www.darkreading.com/operations/malwarebytes-chatgpt-survey-reveals-81-are-concerned-by-generative-ai-security-risks

https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/generative-ai-projects-cybersecurity-risks-enterprises

  • The CISO’s Toolkit Must Include Political Capital Within The C-Suite

Over the past 18 months, there has been a sea change in the chief information security officer (CISO) role. Fundamentally, the CISO is responsible for the protection of an entity's information. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a proposed rule change on cyber security risk management, strategy, governance, and incident response disclosure by public companies that requires publicly traded companies to provide evidence of the board's oversight of cyber security risk. Couple this with the former CISO of Uber being found guilty on charges of "obstruction of the proceedings of the Federal Trade Commission" and it is clear that the hand at the helm must be able to navigate all types of seas in their entity's political milieu. In this regard, the CISO needs to acquire political capital. CISO’s should have the capability to talk in understandable terms and clearly demonstrate value to the other board members.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/643199/the-cisos-toolkit-must-include-political-capital-within-the-c-suite.html

  • Microsoft Warns of Widescale Credential Stealing Attacks by Russian Hackers as War Ministers Reliant on Cyber Crime

Russia's diminishing position on the world stage has limited its physical options on the ground, leaving Putin's regime increasingly reliant on cyber crime to carry out its oppositional activities against Ukraine and Europe. Microsoft has disclosed that it has detected a spike in credential-stealing attacks conducted by the Russian state-affiliated hacker group known as Midnight Blizzard.

This comes as Switzerland's Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) released its 2023 security assessment, predicting that Russia will increasingly launch cyber attacks as part of its war strategy not just in Ukraine, but against NATO member states as well.

https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/russia-reliant-on-cybercrime-as-international-pariah

https://thehackernews.com/2023/06/microsoft-warns-of-widescale-credential.html

  • SMB’s Plagued as Cyber Attackers Still Rely on Decades Old Security Weaknesses and Tactics

Despite best cyber security efforts, small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) continue to struggle to thwart attacks and harden defences in response to remote working and other newer challenges.

This future focus can lead to a neglection of older weaknesses. Cyber attackers are typically relying on tried-and-tested tactics and old security weaknesses to target organisations, a recent Barracuda threat spotlight found. Hackers are returning to proven methods to gain remote control of systems, install malware, steal information and disrupt or disable business operations through denial-of-service attacks, Barracuda reports. The report found that between February to April 2023, the top malicious tactics found to be used were vulnerabilities from 2008.

The report highlights the fact that there are no cutoff dates for vulnerabilities and attackers will use whatever is at their disposal to try and infiltrate your organisation. This can be protected by having strong policies and controls in place alongside frequent penetration testing to ensure these vulnerabilities are being patched.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/cyberattackers-still-rely-on-decades-old-security-weaknesses-tactics-barracuda-reports/

https://www.scmagazine.com/news/malware/smbs-plagued-by-exploits-trojans-and-backdoors



Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Ransomware Victims

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

BEC – Business Email Compromise

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

Artificial Intelligence

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Deepfakes

Insurance

Dark Web

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Cloud/SaaS

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Travel

Cyber Bullying, Cyber Stalking and Sextortion

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring


Nation State Actors, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage

Russia

China

Iran

North Korea

Misc/Other/Unknown


Vulnerability Management

Vulnerabilities




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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 02 June 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 02 June 2023:

-How to Keep Cyber Attacks from Tanking Your Balance Sheet

-Company Size Doesn’t Matter When It Comes to Cyber Attacks

-‘Exceptional’ Cyber Attacks Now Normal, says BT Security Chief

-How State-Sponsored/Advanced Persistent Threat Groups (APTs) Target SMBs

-Phishing Campaigns Thrive as Evasive Tactics Outsmart Conventional Detection

-Don't be Polite When you Get a Text from a Wrong Number

-Capita Cyber Attack: 90 Downstream Organisations Reported Data Breaches

-Travel-Themed Phishing, BEC Campaigns Get Smarter as Summer Season Arrives

-Organisations Spend 100 Hours Battling Post-Delivery Email Threats

-Ransomware Gangs Adopting Business-like Practices to Boost Profits

-The Sobering Truth About Ransomware—For The 80% Who Paid Up

-The Great CISO Resignation: Why Security Leaders are Quitting in Droves

-When is it Time for a Cyber Hygiene Audit?

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

  • How to Keep Cyber Attacks from Tanking Your Balance Sheet

According to a recent Forrester report, last year saw 1 billion records exposed in the top 35 breaches, $2.6 billion stolen in the top nine cryptocurrency breaches, and $2.7 billion in fines levied to the top 35 violators.

The average cost of a data breach reached $4.35 million in 2022, according to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report for that year, which represents a 2.6% increase over the prior year, and a 12.7% increase from 2020. For ransomware, a report found the average payment in 2021 was approximately $1.85 million, more than double the $760,000 figure from 2020. These are just direct costs; indirect costs are far greater and can include lost business, lost customers, reputational loss and regulatory fines.

When it comes to managing cyber risk, corporate boards should look to understand cyber security as a strategic business enabler, understand the impacts, align risk-management with business needs, ensure the organisation supports cyber security, incorporate cyber security expertise into governance and encourage systemic resilience.

https://hbr.org/2023/06/how-to-keep-cyberattacks-from-tanking-your-balance-sheet

  • Company Size Doesn’t Matter When It Comes to Cyber Attacks

65% of large organisations suffered a cyber attack within the last 12 months, which is similar to the results among companies of all sizes (68%), according to a recent report. The most common security incidents were the same for all companies; these were phishing, ransomware and user account compromise, also known as business email compromise (BEC).

Smaller companies often underestimate their risk, with the reasoning that cyber criminals want the biggest targets as they will likely have more intellectual property, however all businesses have valuable data and are therefore a target. Additionally, smaller organisations can sometimes be seen as a way into larger organisations that use their services.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/05/29/larger-organizations-cyberattacks/

  • ‘Exceptional’ Cyber Attacks Now Normal, says BT Security Chief

The threat of cyber attacks is growing at an “unprecedented” pace, according to the chief security officer at multinational teleco BT, Howard Watson, but it is not just large organisations such as BT who will be impacted by this increase.

Watson highlighted that the increase in sophisticated technology poses the biggest threat in the long run: “Technological advancement, as ever, is a double-edged sword in security. Quantum and AI have great potential for benefits in the right hands, or to cause massive damage in the wrong hands. But we know that cyber criminals will utilise these technologies, so we have to be able to respond in kind.”  Adding to this, the chief security officer highlighted that events that were previously considered as ‘exceptional’ need to be assessed and planned for as a probability, rather than a possibility.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/exceptional-cyberattacks-now-normal-says-bt-security-chief-nd2kfp3gc

  • How State-Sponsored/Advanced Persistent Threat Groups (APTs) Target SMBs

Small and medium businesses (SMBs) are not exempt from being targeted by advanced persistent threat (APT) actors, according to Proofpoint researchers who collected data from over 200,000 SMB customers. Proofpoint identified a rise in phishing campaigns originating from such state-sponsored APT groups, who are highly skilled and typically state-sponsored groups with distinct strategic goals. These goals range from espionage and intellectual property theft to destructive attacks, state-sponsored financial theft, and disinformation campaigns.

Unfortunately, SMBs often lack adequate cyber security measures, making them vulnerable to all kinds of cyber threats. APT actors exploit this weakness by targeting SMBs as a stepping stone towards achieving their larger goals.

Alongside phishing campaigns, it was identified that APTs are increasingly targeting regional outsourced IT providers/Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to mount supply chain attacks. By compromising regional MSPs within geographies that align with the strategic collection requirements of APT actors, threat actors can gain access to multiple SMBs to extract sensitive information or execute further attacks.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/05/31/apt-targeting-smbs/

  • Phishing Campaigns Thrive as Evasive Tactics Outsmart Conventional Detection

According to research, 2022 saw a 25% increase in the use of phishing kits. These phishing kits are a set of tools that enable cyber criminals to effortlessly create and maintain large scale sophisticated phishing campaigns. It is this sophistication that allows cyber criminals to circumnavigate conventional detections; in fact, the research found a 40% increase in the use of anti-bot technologies designed to prevent automated scanners from identifying content as phishing.

In some cases (11% of observed phishing kits) malicious links would not be detected when tested by anti-phishing controls because those controls do not use the exact device parameters, geolocation and referrer of the intended target victim’s profile; therefore the malicious link is allowed to be delivered to the intended target.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/06/01/advanced-detection-evasion-techniques/

  • Don't be Polite When you Get a Text from a Wrong Number

You should immediately be suspicious of any text you get from a number not in your contacts, even if it may be innocent looking. Your first reaction may be to be polite and let them know they have the wrong number, but this person is a stranger. Strangely, despite teaching our children not to talk to strangers, many are comfortable with divulging information to them. Although letting them know they made a mistake seems harmless, responding opens you up to being scammed and you’ve just let them know you’re a real person. Every bit of helpful information you provide has the potential to be leveraged by an attacker.

https://www.kens5.com/article/money/consumer/wrong-number-text-messages/273-c94cd68b-6117-4add-bf16-e010f7e16726

  • Capita Cyber Attack: 90 Downstream Organisations Reported Data Breaches

90 organisations have reported breaches of personal information held by Capita after the outsourcing group had suffered a cyber attack, according to Britain’s data watchdog. The attack on Capita, which occurred in March, is still impacting businesses, with the UK Information Commissioners Office (ICO) making enquiries. Organisations must notify the ICO within 72 hours of becoming aware of a personal data breach.

The impact of the attack, and its knock-on effect, highlights the need for organisations to consider their third party security, no matter the size of the third party they use.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/30/capita-cyber-attack-data-breaches-ico

  • Travel-Themed Phishing, BEC Campaigns Get Smarter as Summer Season Arrives

A recent survey from McAfee found that nearly a third (30%) of adults have fallen victim or know someone who has fallen victim to an online scam when bargain hunting for travel deals during the summer season, with a full two-thirds of victims losing up to $1,000.

This has extended to the corporate environment, with threat actors impersonating the HR department and exploiting the trust users place in their employers, a report has found. The attack leverages regular HR procedures associated with holiday requests and taps into the anticipation and excitement surrounding the summer travel season, to capitalise on exploiting the user.

https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/travel-themed-phishing-bec-campaigns-smarter-summer-season

  • Organisations Spend 100 Hours Battling Post-Delivery Email Threats

Nearly every victim of a spear-phishing attack in the last 12 months saw impacts on their organisation, including malware infections, stolen data, and reputational damage, according to Barracuda Networks. The research shows that cyber criminals continue to barrage organisations with targeted email attacks, and many companies are struggling to keep up.

While spear-phishing attacks are low-volume, they are widespread and highly successful compared to other types of email attacks. On average, organisations take nearly 100 hours to identify, respond to, and remediate a post-deliver email threat: 43 hours to detect the attack and 56 hours to respond and remediate after the attack is detected.

Users at companies with more than a 50% remote workforce report higher levels of suspicious emails: 12 per day on average, compared to 9 per day for those with less than a 50% remote workforce. Companies with more than a 50% remote workforce also reported that it takes longer to both detect and respond to email security incidents: 55 hours to detect and 63 hours to respond and mitigate, compared to an average of 36 hours and 51 hours respectively for organisations with fewer remote workers.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/05/30/2023-spear-phishing-trends/

  • Ransomware Gangs Adopting Business-like Practices to Boost Profits

Ransomware gangs are using a variety of business-like practices to boost profits, making it more difficult for defenders to differentiate various groups, a new report by WithSecure has surmised. This move towards mirroring legitimate businesses practices means that tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) are blurring.

The underground marketplace now includes entities including ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) groups, Initial Access Brokers (IAB), crypter-as-a-service (CaaS), cryptojackers, malware-as-a-service (MaaS) groups and nation-state actors. This allows nation-states to use tools available on the underground market to gain access to networks and systems without being detected. Ultimately, this trend towards professionalisation makes the expertise and resources to attack organisations accessible to lesser-skilled or poorly resourced threat actors.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ransomware-gangs-business-practices/

  • The Sobering Truth about Ransomware—for the 80% Who Paid Up

Newly published research of 1,200 organisations impacted by ransomware reveals a sobering truth that awaits many of those who decide to pay the ransom. According to research, 80% of the organisations surveyed decided to pay the demanded ransom in order to both end the ongoing cyber attack and recover otherwise lost data. This is despite 41% of those organisations having a “do not pay” policy in place, which only goes to reinforce the cold hard fact that cyber crime isn’t an easy landscape to navigate. This is something that’s especially true when your business is facing the real-world impact of dealing with a ransomware attack.

Of the 960 organisations that paid a ransom, 201 of them (21%) were still unable to recover their lost data. The same number also reported that ransomware attacks were now excluded from their insurance policies. Of those organisations with cyber insurance cover, 74% reported a rise in premiums. Another report, published by Sophos, revealed that 32% of those surveyed opted to pay the ransom but a shocking 92% failed to recover all their data and 29% were unable to recover more than half of the encrypted data.

Some groups have switched to stealing sensitive customer or corporate data instead, with the ransom demanded in return for them not selling it to the highest bidder or publishing it online. Many groups combine the two for a double extortion ransomware attack.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2023/05/30/the-sobering-truth-about-ransomware-for-the-80-percent-who-paid-up 

  • The Great CISO Resignation: Why Security Leaders are Quitting in Droves

With the rise in AI tools such as ChatGPT broadening an attacker’s arsenal, this places greater and greater pressure on security leaders who are already dealing with shrinking budgets, skeleton crew staff and a conglomeration of security tools and protocols — so much so that they are increasingly quitting. A recent report found that nearly a third (32%) of CISOs in the US and UK were considering leaving their current organisation and 9 out of 10 reported themselves as “moderately” or “tremendously” stressed.

This so-called Great CISO Resignation is concerning, because what happens when there’s nobody guarding the gate and rallying the troops?

https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/analysis/the-great-ciso-resignation-why-security-leaders-are-quitting-in-droves/2023/05/

  • When is it Time for a Cyber Hygiene Audit?

Effective cyber hygiene practices limit threats against your systems, devices and users, preventing breaches that could compromise sensitive business information, database information, and personal data. But cyber hygiene isn’t a static or one-off process. It requires routine execution and, occasionally, a full audit. This audit typically covers a range of aspects including encryption, documentation, authentication, patches, security and ongoing cyber hygiene.

Good cyber hygiene is a necessary part of maintaining IT security. Setting up processes and procedures within your organisation’s regular operating procedures is an effective way to maintain cyber hygiene. Although the responsibilities may differ by position, everyone in the organisation plays a role.

An audit provides important information on where and where you need to improve. It also provides a baseline for measuring improvement and effectiveness. The key to success is to integrate hygiene into routine process starting top down from policies into every part of the business and making use of third party experts to help aid in the process.

https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/devops/23/e/cyber-hygiene-audit-best-practices.html



Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Ransomware Victims

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Artificial Intelligence

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

Botnets

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

AML/CFT/Sanctions

Insurance

Dark Web

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Software Supply Chain

Cloud/SaaS

Hybrid/Remote Working

Shadow IT

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

API

Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Malvertising

Training, Education and Awareness

Travel

Parental Controls and Child Safety

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Data Protection

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda




Vulnerability Management

Vulnerabilities





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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 14 April 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 14 April 2023:

-Almost Half of Former Employees Say Their Passwords Still Work

-Efficient Risk Based Patch Management Means Eliminating Just 2% of Exposures Could Protect 90% of Critical Assets

-Printers Pose Persistent Yet Overlooked Threat

-Employees Are as Likely as Cyber Criminals to Cause Cyber Incidents

-Over 90% of Organisations Find Threat Hunting a Challenge

-75% of Organisations Have Suffered a Cyber Security Breach

-Leak Shows Evolving Russian Cyber War Capabilities

-Outsourced Payroll and HR Services Firm Forced to Shut Down After Cyber Attack

-When a Cyber Criminal Steals Personal Data from Your Organisation What Do You Do and Who Do You Need to Inform?

-Insider Threat and Ransomware: A Growing Issue

-How LockBit Changed Cyber Security Forever

-Hybrid Work Environments Are Stressing CISOs

-Protect Your Data with a USB Condom

-Strategising Cyber Security: Why a Risk-based Approach is Key

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

  • Almost Half of Former Employees Say Their Passwords Still Work

An alarming number of organisations are not properly offboarding employees when they leave, especially in regard to passwords. In a new survey of 1,000 workers who had access to company passwords at their previous jobs, 47% admitted to using them after leaving the company.

According to the survey one in three respondents said they had been using the passwords for upwards of two years, which is a distressingly long time for organisations not to be aware of who is accessing those accounts and services.

When asked what they use the passwords for, 64% said to access their former email accounts and 44% to access company data. A concerning 10% of respondents said they were trying to disrupt company activities.

https://www.darkreading.com/edge-threat-monitor/almost-half-of-former-employees-say-their-passwords-still-work

  • Efficient Risk Based Patch Management Means Eliminating Just 2% of Exposures Could Protect 90% of Critical Assets

A recent cyber security report analysed over 60 million security exposures, or weaknesses that could give an attacker access to systems. The report found that only 2% enabled attackers access to critical assets, while 75% of exposures along attack paths lead to “dead ends”. Further, the report shows that average organisations have 11,000 exploitable security exposures monthly, with techniques targeting credentials and permissions affecting 82% of organisations and exploits accounting for over 70% of all identified security exposures.

The report found that most security alerts were benign and did not lead to critical assets. By applying efficient risk based patch management and reducing unnecessary access to critical assets, organisations can mitigate a significant amount of risk. This isn’t a simple task however, for an organisation to be able to employ efficient risk based patch management it must have a sufficient level of cyber maturity and internal vulnerability scanning accompanied by a dynamic threat intelligence component.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/eliminating-2-exposures-protect-90/

  • Printers Pose Persistent Yet Overlooked Threat

A rash of printer-related vulnerabilities in 2023 have punctuated security expert warnings that printers continue to be a significant vulnerability within companies — especially as remote workers require printing resources or access to corporate printers. So far in 2023, Lexmark advised that a publicly available remote exploit had already targeted a code execution flaw in its printers, HP warned of a vulnerable firmware version on some of its enterprise printers, and Microsoft fixed three remote code execution vulnerabilities in its printer drivers.

Printers remain a likely soft spot in most companies’ attack surface area, particularly because they are not always part of a company’s asset management process and are often left out of security assessments and risk registers. Many organisations don’t know where their printers are, their security status, configuration, monitoring or logging activity. Research has shown that 67% of companies are worried about the risk home printers may pose and only 26% of information technology and cyber security professionals are confident in their organisation’s printing infrastructure security.

https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/printers-pose-persistent-yet-overlooked-threat

  • Employees Are as Likely as Cyber Criminals to Cause Cyber Incidents

Employees and cyber criminals cause similar numbers of data leakages. Kaspersky’s 2022 IT Security Economics survey found cyber-attacks caused 23% of data leakages, while employees caused a similar proportion, at 22%. The rise in employees causing leakages may be linked with more remote working since the pandemic, with new staff laptops, tablets, and virtual private networks (VPNs) featuring among the extra endpoints and systems needing security. Although innocent mistakes or ignoring cyber-security policy were behind most leakages, security managers reported 36% of employee-triggered leakages were deliberate acts of sabotage or espionage. The high number of cyber-incidents stemming from employee action shows all organisations need thorough cyber-security awareness training to teach all staff how to avoid common security mistakes.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/business-reporter/employees-cyber-criminals-cyber-incidents-b2314225.html

  • Over 90% of Organisations Find Threat Hunting a Challenge

Executing essential cyber security operations tasks during the threat hunting process is an increasingly challenging proposition to the vast majority of organisations, with 93% of those polled for a Sophos report saying they find basic security operations a chore.

In the report, “The state of cybersecurity 2023: The business impact of adversaries on defenders”, Sophos said these findings were likely the result of the ongoing cyber security skills shortage, which is creating a domino effect in security operations: a lack of skilled personnel makes investigating alerts take longer, which reduces the security team’s capacity and increases the organisation’s exposure to higher levels of risk.

Organisations that suffer the most are those with revenues of less than $10m (£8m), which are more likely to lack the necessary skillsets, followed by organisations with revenues of more than $5bn, where organisational and system complexity likely play a more prominent role.

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/365534612/Over-90-of-organisations-find-threat-hunting-a-challenge

  • 75% of Organisations Have Suffered a Cyber Security Breach

Most organisations need stronger security controls to stop cyber security breaches and cyber attacks, according to “The Data Dilemma: Cloud Adoption and Risk Report” from security service edge (SSE) company Skyhigh Security. Key takeaways from the report include:

  • 97% of organisations indicated they are experiencing private cloud problems.

  • 75% have experienced a cyber security breach, threat and/or theft of data.

  • 75% said shadow IT “impairs their ability to keep data secure.”

  • 60% allow employees to download sensitive data to their personal devices.

  • 52% noted their employees are using SaaS services that are commissioned by departments outside of IT and without direct involvement of their IT department.

  • 37% said they do not trust the public cloud to secure their sensitive data.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/skyhigh-security-report-75-of-organizations-have-suffered-a-cybersecurity-breach/

  • Leak Shows Evolving Russian Cyber War Capabilities

The leak of thousands of pages of secret documentation related to the development of Moscow’s cyber and information operations capabilities paint a picture of a government obsessed with social control and committed to scaling their capacity for non-kinetic interference.

The leaked documents detail methods and training simulations intended to prepare an operator workforce for offensive operations against critical infrastructure targets. Tools revealed by these recent leaks suggest a desire and an ability to extensively map foreign vulnerabilities and make the job of Russia’s cyber conflict operators as accessible and scalable as possible.

This leak reinforces the significant concern regarding the threat posed by Russian cyber forces to firms across the globe.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3692821/ntc-vulkan-leak-shows-evolving-russian-cyberwar-capabilities.html#tk.rss_news

  • Outsourced Payroll and HR Services Firm Forced to Shut Down After Cyber Attack

Belgian headquartered HR and payroll giant SD Worx has suffered a cyber attack causing them to shut down all IT systems for their UK and Ireland services. While the login portals for other European countries are working correctly, the company's UK customer portal was not accessible. As a full-service human resources and payroll company, SD Worx manages a large amount of sensitive data for their client's employees.

According to the company's general conditions agreement, this data may include tax information, government ID numbers, addresses, full names, birth dates, phone numbers, bank account numbers, employee evaluations, and more.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/sd-worx-shuts-down-uk-payroll-hr-services-after-cyberattack/

  • When a Cyber Criminal Steals Personal Data from Your Organisation What Do You Do and Who Do You Need to Inform?

If that happens it might be time for your management to clear their desks. The prospect of financial penalties and reputational damage is very real. You need to know your obligations — for instance, reporting the breach to applicable authorities and regulators within strict timeframes — understand the breach, and prioritise. Then you communicate and remedy. If you haven’t planned well, it’s going to be tough.

You need to understand the data breach. Who is affected — is it staff or customer data? What exactly have the cyber criminals accessed? Consider the type of information: salary details and passport copies, or customer payment information.

If personal data has been lost or compromised, you will likely have an obligation under data protection regulations to report the breach to your applicable data protection authority within 72 hours, and if you are a regulated business there will likely be similar requirements to report to your regulator within a similar timeframe. Knowing your obligations — ideally before any hack takes place — will guide how well you respond.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/who-should-i-inform-after-a-data-hack-dcrzvgp2x

  • Insider Threat and Ransomware: A Growing Issue

Ransomware is a growing epidemic. 2022 saw a slew of high-profile attacks leading to massive paydays for cyber criminals. Cyber criminals work just as hard to conceal their identities and location as they do to exploit weaknesses and capture valuable data to hold hostage. Organisations not only stand to lose money in this scenario, but the damage to their reputation and trustworthiness in the market can be challenging to recover from. Customers place high trust in the safety of their personal information, and it’s the company they hold accountable – not the thieves – if it slips into the wrong hands.

Even if you have good technical controls, the low-hanging fruit is capitalising on the human element and gaining entrance through a person within your organisation. Insider threats come in all shapes and sizes and roles, including employees, executives, former employees, board members, contractors, and service providers. Insider threats, by their very nature, pose a unique challenge for organisations.

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/insider-threat-and-ransomware-a-growing-issue/

  • How LockBit Changed Cyber Security Forever

LockBit are one of the most prolific ransomware gangs globally, accounting for almost half of ransomware attacks in 2022. They not only maintain a high profile, but they’ve also turned ransom monetisation upside down. Thanks to their innovative approach, the group has claimed 44% of total ransomware attacks launched in 2022. LockBit made history by launching the industry’s first bug bounty program initiated by a ransomware group. The operation invites security experts to uncover vulnerabilities and report them for rewards ranging from $1,000 to a staggering $1 million. This has since been expanded and now offers bounties for creative ways to enhance ransomware operations.

https://securityintelligence.com/articles/how-lockbit-changed-cybersecurity/

  • Hybrid Work Environments Are Stressing CISOs

The impact of the hybrid workforce on security posture, as well as the risks introduced by this way of working, are posing concerns for CISOs and driving them to develop new strategies for hybrid work security, according to a new report.

Among the report’s most critical findings is the revelation that browsing-based threats ranked as CISOs’ number one concern, regardless of whether their organisation was operating primarily in an in-office, hybrid, or remote setting.

And as for the risks posed by hybrid and remote workers specifically, insecure browsing also topped the list of CISOs’ concerns.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/04/12/hybrid-work-environments-stressing-cisos/

  • Protect Your Data with a USB Condom

USB isn't just a charging protocol, it also allows data to flow back and forth, and while most of the time this data flow is safe, it is possible to create a malicious charging port that can do bad things, such as plant malware on your device or steal your data. Equally, an employee plugging their personal phone into a corporate USB port may present a danger to the corporate network through the phone. A USB condom is a small dongle that adds a layer of protection between your device and the charging point you're attaching it to by blocking the data being transferred through the port. If you must use a charger, cable, or charging port that isn't under your control, it makes sense to use a USB condom.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/protect-your-data-with-a-usb-condom/

  • Strategising Cyber Security: Why a Risk-based Approach is Key

By 2027, cyber crime could cost the global economy nearly $24 trillion. Businesses often find themselves at the sharp end of this challenge, and, as such, cyber security is a critical aspect of the modern business landscape. Cyber threats are multiplying and pose serious financial, legal and reputational challenges to organisations.

Modern and effective cyber security management entails more than managing technology risk; it encompasses managing business risk. Organisations must recognise cyber security as a strategic imperative integrated into their overall risk management framework — and this starts at the board level.  In some cases, board members may find it beneficial to seek help in assessing appropriate levels of control.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/04/strategizing-cybersecurity-why-a-risk-based-approach-is-key/


Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

BEC – Business Email Compromise

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Cloud/SaaS

Hybrid/Remote Working

Attack Surface Management

Shadow IT

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

API

Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Malvertising

Training, Education and Awareness

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Governance, Risk and Compliance

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

Artificial Intelligence


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

Nation State Actors


Vulnerability Management

Vulnerabilities



Reports Published in the Last Week



Sector Specific

Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.

Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.

·       Automotive

·       Construction

·       Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

·       Defence & Space

·       Education & Academia

·       Energy & Utilities

·       Estate Agencies

·       Financial Services

·       FinTech

·       Food & Agriculture

·       Gaming & Gambling

·       Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)

·       Health/Medical/Pharma

·       Hotels & Hospitality

·       Insurance

·       Legal

·       Manufacturing

·       Maritime

·       Oil, Gas & Mining

·       OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems

·       Retail & eCommerce

·       Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)

·       Startups

·       Telecoms

·       Third Sector & Charities

·       Transport & Aviation

·       Web3


As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.

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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 31 March 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 31 March 2023:

-Phishing Emails Up a Whopping 569% in 2022

-The End User Password Mistakes Putting Your Organisation at Risk

-Millions of Penetration Tests Show Companies’ Security Postures are Getting Worse

-71% of Employees Keep Work Passwords on Personal Devices

-Cyber Crime Frontlines in Russia-Ukraine War Move to Eastern and Northern Europe

-Security Flaws Cost Fifth of Executive’s Businesses

-Companies Struggle to Build and Run Effective Programs to Protect Data from Insider Threats

-Only 10% of Workers Remember All Their Cyber Security Training

-Silence Gets You Nowhere in a Data Breach

-Just 1% of Cloud Permissions are Actively Used

-Dangerous Misconceptions About Emerging Cyber Threats

-‘Grim’ Criminal Abuse of ChatGPT is Coming, Europol Warns

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

  • Phishing Emails Up a Whopping 569% in 2022

The volume of phishing emails sent in 2022 spiked by a jaw-dropping 569% according to a new report. Based on data from 35 million users, the report details the astronomical rise of email phishing as a tactic among threat actors in 2022. Key findings from the report include the number of credential phishing emails sent spiked by 478% and, for the eighth consecutive year, business email compromise (BEC) ranked as the top cyber crime.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/phishing-emails-up-whopping-569-percent-2022

  • The End User Password Mistakes Putting Your Organisation at Risk

Businesses rely on their end users, but those same users often don't follow the best security practices. Without the right password security policies, a single end user password mistake can be a costly breach of your organisation's defences. End users want to do their work quickly and efficiently, but sharing, reusing and weak passwords can put your organisation at risk so having the right policies in place is essential for security.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/the-end-user-password-mistakes-putting-your-organization-at-risk/

  • Millions of Penetration Tests Show Companies’ Security Postures are Getting Worse

The risk score for the average company worsened in the past year as companies fail to adapt to data exfiltration techniques and adequately protect web applications. Companies' effective data-exfiltration risk increased to 44 out of 100 (with 100 indicating the riskiest posture) in 2022, from an average score of 30 in the previous year, indicating that the overall risk of data being compromised has increased. That's according to rankings by Cymulate, who crunched data on 1.7 million hours of offensive cyber security testing. The research noted that while many companies are improving the adoption of strict network and group policies, attackers are adapting to sidestep such protections. They also found that four of the top-10 CVEs (known vulnerabilities) identified in customer environments were more than two years old.

https://www.darkreading.com/cloud/millions-pen-tests-companies-security-posture-getting-worse

  • 71% of Employees Keep Work Passwords on Personal Devices

71% of employees store sensitive work passwords on their personal phones, and 66% use their personal texting apps for work, according to a new mobile bring your own device (BYOD) security report this week, with the report also suggesting 95% of security leaders are increasingly concerned about phishing attacks via private messaging apps. With the widespread use of personal mobile devices in the workplace, it is increasingly difficult for employers to ensure the security of sensitive information. The use of personal devices and personal apps was the direct cause of many high-profile corporate breaches and this is a trend that will surely continue, as employees often use corporate and personal devices for work, effectively doubling the attack surface for cyber criminals as threat actors know there are fewer security controls on personal mobile devices than on corporate ones.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/70-employees-keep-work-passwords/

  • Cyber Frontlines in Russia-Ukraine War Move to Eastern and Northern Europe

More than a year into the war in Ukraine, hackers have extended the cyber battleground to Eastern and Northern Europe with the number of incidents in those geographies spiking noticeably. A new report shows that cyber warfare inside the conflict has “clearly moved on” from the beginnings of the war. Over the last 12 months, the research reports that the majority of incidents only affecting Ukraine in the first quarter of 2022 (50.4%) sank to 28.6% in the third period. But European Union countries have seen a spike in incidents related to the war in the past six months from 9.8% to 46.5%. Indeed, the number of attacks on EU countries in the third quarter of 2022 totalled just slightly less than those in the Ukraine. And, in the first quarter of this year, more than 80% of incidents occurred inside the European Union. Cyber is now a crucial weapon in the arsenal of new instruments of war, alongside disinformation, manipulation of public opinion, economic warfare, sabotage and guerrilla tactics. With the lateralisation of the conflict from Ukraine to the rest of Europe, Western Europe should be wary of possible attacks on critical infrastructure in the short term if the conflict continues to accelerate.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/cybercrime-front-lines-in-russia-ukraine-war-move-to-eastern-and-northern-europe/

  • Security Flaws Cost Fifth of Executives New Business

Boards continue to under-appreciate the value of cyber security to the business, despite acknowledging its critical role in winning new business and talent, according to Trend Micro. The security giant polled 2,718 business decision makers globally to compile its Risky Rewards study and it found that half (51%) believe cyber security is a necessary cost but not a revenue contributor. 48% argue that its value is limited to threat prevention and two-fifths (38%) see security as a barrier rather than a business enabler. That’s despite a fifth (19%) acknowledging that poor security posture has already impacted their ability to win new business, and 57% thinking there is a strong connection between cyber and client acquisition.

 https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/fifth-execs-security-flaws-cost/

  • Companies Struggle to Build and Run Effective Programs to Protect Data from Insider Threats

Insider risk is emerging as one of the most challenging threats for organisations to detect, mitigate and manage, Code42 Software said in its annual Data Exposure Report for 2023. To compile data for the study they surveyed some 700 cyber security leaders, managers and practitioners and whilst more than 72% of companies indicated they have an insider risk management (IRM) program in place, the same companies experienced a year-over-year increase in data loss incidents of 32%. 71% of respondees expect data loss from insider events to increase in the next 12 months. Insider incidents are costing organisations $16 million per incident on average, and chief information security officers (CISOs) say that insider risks are the most challenging type of threat to detect. Data loss from insiders is not a new problem but it has become more complex with workforce turnover and cloud adoption.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/companies-struggle-to-build-and-run-effective-programs-to-protect-data-from-insider-threats/

  • Only 10% of Workers Remember All Their Cyber Security Training

New research has found that only 10% of workers remember all their cyber security training. Furthermore, only half of employees are undergoing regular training, and a quarter aren’t receiving any training at all. Organisations should look to carry out effective and regular training that is tailored to their employees to increase the chance of training content being retained, with a programme of ongoing continual reinforcement.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2023/03/30/only-10-of-workers-remember-all-their-cyber-security-training/

  • Silence Gets You Nowhere in a Data Breach

In cyber security, the phrase “what they don’t know won’t hurt them” is not only wrong, it’s dangerous. Despite this, it’s a motto that remains in many organisations’ PR playbooks, as demonstrated by the recent LastPass and Fortra data breaches. Smaller companies, too, are employing a silent-treatment approach to data breaches, and cyber attacks are now a fact of doing business with almost half of US organisations having suffered a cyber attack in 2022. Attackers are increasingly targeting smaller businesses due to the fact they are seen as easier targets than large companies.

 https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/29/silence-gets-you-nowhere-in-a-data-breach/

  • Just 1% of Cloud Permissions are Actively Used

According to Microsoft, a surge in workload identities, super admins and “over-permissioning” is driving the increase in cyber risk for organisations. Just 1% of users are using the permissions granted to them for day-to-day work. Worryingly, this leaves a significant number of unnecessary permissions which could be used by an attacker to elevate their privileges.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/just-1-of-cloud-permissions-used/

  • Dangerous Misconceptions About Emerging Cyber Threats

Organisations are leaving common attack paths exposed in their quest to combat emergent threats, according to a new report that delves into the efficacy of different security controls, the most concerning threats as tested by organisations worldwide, and top cyber security best practices for 2023. One of the key findings of the report is that many organisations are actively testing against threats seen in the news, likely from pressure to report on their exposure risk to emergent threats, and whilst this is good, it should not take away from assessing threats and exposures that are more likely actively targeting the business.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/03/30/misconceptions-emerging-cyber-threats/  

  • ‘Grim’ Criminal Abuse of ChatGPT is Coming, Europol Warns

Europol has warned that criminals are set to take advantage of artificial intelligence to commit fraud and other crimes. Europol highlighted that ChatGPT could be used to speed up criminal research, impersonate speech styles for phishing and write code. Furthermore, despite ChatGPT having safeguards, Europol note that these can be circumvented.

https://www.securityweek.com/grim-criminal-abuse-of-chatgpt-is-coming-europol-warns/


Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

BEC – Business Email Compromise

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

Botnets

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Deepfakes

AML/CFT/Sanctions

Insurance

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Cloud/SaaS

Hybrid/Remote Working

Shadow IT

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

API

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Training, Education and Awareness

Parental Controls and Child Safety

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Governance, Risk and Compliance

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Backup and Recovery

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

Artificial Intelligence


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

Nation State Actors



Tools and Controls




Sector Specific

Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.

Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in.

·       Automotive

·       Construction

·       Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

·       Defence & Space

·       Education & Academia

·       Energy & Utilities

·       Estate Agencies

·       Financial Services

·       FinTech

·       Food & Agriculture

·       Gaming & Gambling

·       Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)

·       Health/Medical/Pharma

·       Hotels & Hospitality

·       Insurance

·       Legal

·       Manufacturing

·       Maritime

·       Oil, Gas & Mining

·       OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems

·       Retail & eCommerce

·       Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)

·       Startups

·       Telecoms

·       Third Sector & Charities

·       Transport & Aviation

·       Web3


As usual, contact us to help assess where your risks lie and to ensure you are doing all you can do to keep you and your business secure.

Look out for our ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Links to articles are for interest and awareness and linking to or reposting external content does not endorse any service or product, likewise we are not responsible for the security of external links.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 24 March 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 24 March 2023:

-Majority of SMBs Lack Dedicated Cyber Experts and Cyber Incident Response Plans

-Controlling Third-Party Data Risk Should Be a Top Cyber Security Priority

-IT Security Spending to Reach Nearly $300 Billion by 2026

-2023 Cyber Security Maturity Report Reveals Organisational Unpreparedness for Cyber Attacks

-Board Cyber Shortage: Don’t Get Caught Swimming Naked

-Should Your Organisation Be Worried About Insider Threats?

-UK Ransomware Incident Volumes Surge 17% in 2022

-Financial Industry Hit by Rising Ransomware Attacks and BEC

-55 zero-day Flaws Exploited Last Year Show the Importance of Security Risk Management

-Security Researchers Spot $36m BEC Attack

-New Victims Come Forward After Mass Ransomware Attack

-Ransomware Gangs’ Harassment of Victims is Increasing

-Wartime Hacktivism is Spilling Over Into the Financial Services Industry

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

  • Majority of SMBs Lack Dedicated Cyber Experts and Cyber Incident Response Plans

A recent report conducted by security provider Huntress found some worrying results regarding SMBs lack of dedicated cyber experts and lack of cyber incident response plans. Some of the reports key findings were 24% of SMBs suffering a cyber attack or unsure if they had suffered a cyber attack in the last 12 months, 61% of SMBs not having a dedicated cyber security expert and 47% having no incident response plan. The report found that SMBs struggled to implement basic training and only 9% of employees adhered to security best practices, potentially due to the previously mentioned training struggles. The report highlights a clear need for SMBs to increase their cyber resilience and conduct effective user education and awareness training.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/majority-of-smbs-lack-dedicated-cyber-experts-incident-response-plan/

  • Controlling Third-Party Data Risk Should be a Top Cyber Security Priority

Nearly 60% of all data breaches are initiated via third-party vendors and this is often hard to detect. The ever-increasing use of third party services has led to the average organisation sharing sensitive data with 583 third parties, a worrying number of attack vectors. Due to the impact a third party breach can have on an organisation it is imperative that organisations assess and risk manage their supply chains to increase the organisations cyber resilience.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/controlling-third-party-data-risk-should-be-a-top-cybersecurity-priority-

  • IT Security Spending to Reach Nearly $300 Billion by 2026

Worldwide spending on security is forecast to be $219 billion in 2023, an increase of 12.1% compared to 2022. This figure is expected to continually rise, reaching nearly $300 billion by 2026. In Europe, it is predicted that the biggest portion of spending will still be represented by services, which will be increasingly leveraged by organisations with limited cyber security experience. Additionally the finance sector, which will have to constantly ensure regulatory adherence, is predicted to be the largest spending sector. Organisations should perform due diligence and ensure that they are using reputable services.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/03/20/it-security-spending-2026/

  • 2023 Cyber Security Maturity Report Reveals Organisational Unpreparedness for Cyber Attacks

In 2022 alone cyber attacks increased by 38%, highlighting the need for organisations to have a high level of cyber maturity; despite this, a recent cyber security maturity report ranked UK organisations as 12th  globally. Some of the findings from the report included that 32% of organisations were found to have weak passwords and 23% had weak authentication systems.

https://thehackernews.com/2023/03/2023-cybersecurity-maturity-report.html

  • Board Cyber Shortage: Don’t Get Caught Swimming Naked

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently released their rules on cyber security risk management, strategy governance and incident disclosure by public companies. As part of the rules, the public disclosure of board directors’ cyber risk biographies is mandated. Worryingly, recent research has found that there is a drastic gap in cyber expertise at the board director level, with 90% of companies not having a single director with cyber security expertise. Board directors are able to address this issue by retaining outside expert advisors, upskilling board members or hiring new cyber security board directors. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2023/03/20/board-cyber-shortage-dont-get-caught-swimming-naked/?sh=6ea732895af8

  • Should your Organisation be Worried about Insider Threats?

Cyber crime is predicted to reach $10.5 trillion worth, making it a lucrative business venture for opportunist criminals. One of the threats companies face is insider threat; this is where the threat comes from within the organisation. Insider threat can include third-party vendors, business partners and others with access to an organisations systems and networks. The threat an insider poses is commonly thought of as malicious but it can also be negligent, where insiders haven’t received proper user education and awareness training. Worryingly, insider threat is rising and research has shown a significant amount of under-reporting; over 70% of insider attacks never reach the headlines. As such, it is difficult for organisations to gauge the risk of insider threats.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2023/03/17/should-your-organization-be-worried-about-insider-threats/

  • UK Ransomware Incident Volumes Surge 17% in 2022

According to recent research, attacker-reported ransomware incidents increased by 17% annually in the UK last year and 2023 is showing signs of a continual rise. With this continual rise, it is important for organisations to assess and build upon their cyber resilience.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/uk-ransomware-incident-surge-17/

  • Financial Industry Hit by Rising Ransomware Attacks and BEC

According to a recent report by the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) ransomware remained the biggest concern for the financial industry with an increase in attacks due to ransomware-as-a-service. Furthermore, FS-ISAC found a 300% increase in the number of business email compromise attacks from 2021 to 2022. Artificial intelligence was identified as an upcoming area of concern due to its ability to obfuscate detection.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-21/banks-financial-industry-buffeted-by-rising-ransomware-attacks?

  • 55 zero-day Flaws Exploited Last Year Show the Importance of Security Risk Management

According to a report from intelligence provider Mandiant 55 zero-days were exploited in 2022 and 13 of those were used in cyber espionage attacks. Of the espionage attacks, 7 related to Chinese threat actors and 2 related to Russian threat actors. The report found that effective security management and patching remained the best protections for organisations.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3691609/55-zero-day-flaws-exploited-last-year-show-the-importance-of-security-risk-management.html#tk.rss_news

  • Security Researchers Spot $36m BEC Attack

Security experts recently identified a single business email compromise attack which amounted to $36.4m. The attack in question contained an invoice, payment instructions, a forged letterhead and even cc’d a legitimate and well known company. The attacker also changed “.com” to “.cam” to imitate a domain. The total cost of BEC based on reported incidents is around $2.7 billion and this is excluding unreported incidents. Organisations should ensure that staff are adequately trained in identifying and reporting such attacks.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/security-researchers-spot-36m-bec/

  • New Victims Come Forward After Mass Ransomware Attack

Russia-linked Ransomware gang “Clop” has claimed a mass hack of 130 organisations via the vendor GoAnywhere, with more victims coming forward. Clop adds names of victims to its dark web site, which is used to extort companies further by threatening to publish the stolen files unless a ransom is paid.

https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/22/fortra-goanywhere-ransomware-attack/

  • Ransomware Gangs’ Harassment of Victims is Increasing

Analysis by Palo Alto Networks found that harassment was a factor in 20% of ransomware cases, a significant jump from less than 1% in mid 2021. The harassment campaign by threat attackers is intended to make sure that ransom payments are met. This adds to the stress that organisations already face with ransomware incidents.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/ransomware-gangs-harassment-victims-increasing/

  • Wartime Hacktivism is Spilling Over into the Financial Services Industry

The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) has identified that financial firms in countries that Russia considers hostile have been singled out for attacks and these attacks are going to continue if the Russia and Ukraine war persists.

https://www.scmagazine.com/analysis/risk-management/report-wartime-hacktivism-is-spilling-over-into-the-financial-services-industry


Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

BEC – Business Email Compromise

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

Botnets

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Deepfakes

Insurance

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Software Supply Chain

Cloud/SaaS

Hybrid/Remote Working

Identity and Access Management

API

Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Training, Education and Awareness

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Governance, Risk and Compliance

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Backup and Recovery

Data Protection

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

Artificial Intelligence


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

Nation State Actors


Vulnerability Management

Vulnerabilities





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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 17 March 2023

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 17 March 2023:

-Almost Half of IT Leaders Consider Security as an Afterthought

-Over $10bn Lost To Online Frauds, with Pig Butchering and Investment Scams Accounting for $3B, Overtaking BEC – FBI Report Says

-Over 721 Million Passwords Were Leaked in 2022

-How Much of a Cyber Security Risk are Suppliers?

-90% of £5m+ Businesses Hit by Cyber Attacks

-Rushed Cloud Migrations Result in Escalating Technical Debt

-17 European Nations Targeted by Russia in 2023 as Espionage Ramping Up

-Microsoft Warns of Large-Scale Use of Phishing Kits

-BEC Volumes Double on Phishing Surge

-The Risk of Pasting Confidential Company Data in ChatGPT

-Ransomware Attacks have Entered a New Phase

-MI5 Launches New Agency to Tackle State-Backed Attacks

-Why Cyber Awareness Training is an Ongoing Process

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

  • Almost Half of IT Leaders Consider Security as an Afterthought

A recent industry report found that security is an afterthought for almost half of UK IT leaders, despite 92% of respondents agreeing that security risks had risen in the last five years. Additionally, 48% of respondents felt that the rapid development of new tools had caused challenges around security. The concept of security as an afterthought is worrying when considering that 39% of UK businesses identified a cyber attack within the past 12 months.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2023/03/14/almost-half-of-it-leaders-consider-security-as-an-afterthought-research-reveals

  • Over $10bn Lost to Online Frauds, with Pig Butchering and Investment Scams Accounting for $3B, Overtaking BEC – FBI Report Says

According to the latest FBI crime report pig butchering now accounts for $3 billion of the $10 billion total lost to online fraud. Pig butchering is a rising investment scam that uses the promise of romance and the lure of making easy cryptocurrency profit against its unsuspecting targets. The concept of pig butchering is to “fatten up” the victim, with small returns on cryptocurrency and personal interactions, often with an element of romance; eventually, the victim is lured into making a larger investment with the scammer. In addition to pig butchering, other investment scams are growing in provenance and are set to overtake Business Email Compromise (BEC) as a major earner for cyber criminals.

https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/pig-butchering-investment-scams-3b-cybercrime-threat-overtaking-bec

  • Over 721 Million Passwords were Leaked in 2022

A report published this week discovered 721.5 million exposed credentials online in 2022. Additionally, the report identified 72% of users reusing previously compromised passwords. The study also uncovered 8.6 billion personally identifiable information assets, including 67 million credit card numbers which were publicly available.

https://www.neowin.net/news/study-over-721-million-passwords-were-leaked-in-2022/

  • How Much of a Cyber Security Risk are Suppliers?

When your business is digitally connected to a service provider, you need to understand how a cyber security attack on their business can affect yours. You can have all the right measures in place to manage your own cyber risks, but this doesn’t matter if there are undiscovered vulnerabilities in your supply chain. Organisations need to audit the cyber security of suppliers at several stages of their relationship; you may benefit from specialist cyber security support if you can’t do this in-house. Ask hard questions and consider advising your suppliers that if their cyber security is not enough then you may take your business elsewhere. Many businesses now require suppliers to be certified to schemes such as ISO 27001; demonstrating your security posture to your customers is an important ticket to trade.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-much-of-a-cybersecurity-risk-are-my-suppliers-mqbwcf7p2

  • 90% of £5m+ Businesses Hit by Cyber Attacks

A study from Forbes found that 57% of small and medium-sized enterprises had suffered an online attack. Businesses with an annual turnover in excess of £5 million were even more likely to experience a cyber crime with the figure rising to nearly 90% of firms of this size suffering a cyber attack. To make matters worse, the study found that a significant proportion of British businesses are without any form of protection against online attacks.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2023/03/13/nine-in-10-5m-businesses-hit-by-cyber-attacks/

  • Rushed Cloud Migrations Result in Escalating Technical Debt

A cloud service provider found 83% of CIO’s are feeling pressured to stretch their budgets even further than before. 72% of CIOs admitted that they are behind in their digital transformation because of technical debt and 38% believed the accumulation of this debt is largely because of rushed cloud migrations. Respondents believed these rushed migrations caused for miscalculations in the cloud budget, which resulted in significant overspend.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/03/16/managing-cloud-costs/

  • Microsoft: 17 European Nations Targeted by Russia in 2023 as Espionage Ramping Up

According to an intelligence report from Microsoft, Russia has been ramping up its cyber espionage operations and this now includes 17 European nations. Of all 74 countries targeted, the UK ranked third, after the US and Poland.

https://www.securityweek.com/microsoft-17-european-nations-targeted-by-russia-in-2023-as-espionage-ramping-up/

  • Microsoft Warns of Large-Scale Use of Phishing Kits

Microsoft have found that phishing kits are being purchased and used to perform millions of phishing emails every day. In their report, Microsoft found the availability of purchasing such phishing kits was part of the industrialisation of the cyber criminal economy and lowered the barrier of entry for cyber crime. Microsoft identified phishing kits which had the capability to bypass multi factor authentication selling for as little as $300. The emergence of AI is only going to compound this.

https://thehackernews.com/2023/03/microsoft-warns-of-large-scale-use-of.html

  • BEC Volumes Double on Phishing Surge

The number of Business Email Compromise (BEC) incidents doubled last year according to security provider Secureworks. In their report, they found that the main initial access vectors for BEC were phishing and systems with known vulnerabilities, with each accounting for a third of initial accesses.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/bec-volumes-double-on-phishing/

  • The Risk of Pasting Confidential Company Data in ChatGPT

Researchers analysed the use of artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT and found that 4.9% of employees have provided company data to the tool; ChatGPT builds its knowledge on this and in turn, this knowledge is shared publicly. The risk is serious, with employees putting their organisation at risk of leaking sensitive and confidential information. The research found that 0.9% of employees are responsible for 80% of leaks caused by pasting company data into ChatGPT and this number is expected to rise.

https://securityaffairs.com/143394/security/company-data-chatgpt-risks.html

  • Ransomware Attacks have Entered a Heinous New Phase

With an increasing amount of victims refusing to pay, cyber criminal gangs are now resorting to new techniques; this includes the recent release of stolen naked photos of cancer patients and sensitive student records. Where encryption and a demand for payment were previously the de facto method for cyber criminals, this has now shifted to pure exfiltration. In a report, the FBI highlighted evolving and increasingly aggressive extortion behaviour, with actors increasingly threatening to release stolen data.

https://www.wired.com/story/ransomware-tactics-cancer-photos-student-records/

  • MI5 Launches New Agency to Tackle State-Backed Attacks

British intelligence agency MI5 have announced the creation of the National Protective Security Authority (NPSA), created as part of a major review of government defences. The NPSA is to operate out of MI5 and absorb and extend the responsibilities for the protection of national infrastructure. The NPSA will work with existing agencies such as the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Counter Terrorism Security Office (CTSO) to provide defensive advice to UK organisations.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/mi5-new-agency-tackle-statebacked/

  • Why Cyber Awareness Training is an Ongoing Process

A survey conducted by Hornetsecurity found that 80% of respondents believed remote working introduced extra cyber security risks and 75% were aware that personal devices are used to access sensitive data, fuelling the need for employees to be cyber aware. Where IT security training is only undertaken once, for example in block training, it is likely that participants will have forgotten a lot of the content after as little as a week; this means that for organisations to get the most out of training, they need to conduct frequent awareness training. By conducting frequent training there is more chance of trainees retaining the training content and allowing the organisation to shape a culture of cyber security.

https://www.hornetsecurity.com/en/security-information/why-cyber-awareness-training-is-an-ongoing-process/


Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

BEC – Business Email Compromise

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

Botnets

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Impersonation Attacks

Deepfakes

AML/CFT/Sanctions

Dark Web

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Software Supply Chain

Cloud/SaaS

Hybrid/Remote Working

Attack Surface Management

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Malvertising

Training, Education and Awareness

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Governance, Risk and Compliance

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Data Protection

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

Artificial Intelligence

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda


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

Nation State Actors


Vulnerabilities




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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 15 July 2022

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 15 July 2022:

-10,000 Organisations Targeted by Phishing Attack That Bypasses Multi-Factor Authentication

-Businesses Are Adding More Endpoints, But Can’t Manage Them All

-Ransomware Activity Resurges in Q2

-North Korean Hackers Targeting Small and Midsize Businesses with H0lyGh0st Ransomware

-One-Third of Users Without Security Awareness Training Click on Phishing URLs

-Ransomware Scourge Drives Price Hikes in Cyber Insurance

-Conventional Cyber Security Approaches Are Falling Short

-Virtual CISOs Are the Best Defence Against Accelerating Cyber Risks

-Firms Not Planning for Supply Chain Threats

-Data Breach Lawsuit: Will IT Service Provider Capgemini Owe Damages?

-Security Culture: Fear of Cyber Warfare Driving Initiatives

-Cryptocurrency 'Mixers' See Record Transactions from Sanctioned Actors

-Online Payment Fraud Expected to Cost $343B Over Next 5 Years

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

  • 10,000 Organisations Targeted by Phishing Attack That Bypasses Multi-Factor Authentication

Microsoft has shared details of a widespread phishing campaign that not only attempted to steal the passwords of targeted organisations, but was also capable of circumventing multi-factor authentication (MFA) defences.

The attackers used AiTM (Attacker-in-The-Middle) reverse-proxy sites to pose as Office 365 login pages which requested MFA codes, and then use them to log into the genuine site.

According to Microsoft’s detailed report on the campaign, once hackers had broken into email inboxes via the use of stolen passwords and session cookies, they would exploit their access to launch Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks on other targets.

By creating rules on victims’ email accounts, the attackers are able to then ensure that they maintain access to incoming email even if a victim later changes their password.

The global pandemic, and the resulting increase in staff working from home, has helped fuel a rise in the adoption of multi-factor authentication.

Cyber criminals, however, haven’t thrown in the towel when faced with MFA-protected accounts. Accounts with MFA are certainly less trivial to break into than accounts which haven’t hardened their security, but that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible.

Reverse-proxy phishing kits like Modlishka, for instance, impersonate a login page, and ask unsuspecting users to enter their login credentials and MFA code. That collected data is then passed to the genuine website – granting the cyber criminal access to the site.

As more and more people recognise the benefits of MFA, we can expect a rise in the number of cyber criminals investing effort into bypassing MFA.

Microsoft’s advice is that organisations should complement MFA with additional technology and best practices.

https://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/featured/10000-organisations-targeted-by-phishing-attack-that-bypasses-multi-factor-authentication/

  • Businesses Are Adding More Endpoints, But Can’t Manage Them All

Most enterprises struggle to maintain visibility and control of their endpoint devices, leading to increased security breaches and impaired ability to ward off outside attacks, according to a survey conducted by Ponemon Institute.

Findings show that the average enterprise now manages approximately 135,000 endpoint devices. Despite $4,252,500 of annual budget spent on endpoint protection, an average of 48 percent of devices – or 64,800 per enterprise – are at risk because they are no longer detected by the organisation’s IT department or the endpoints’ operating systems have become outdated.

Additionally, 63 percent of respondents find that the lack of visibility into their endpoints is the most significant barrier to achieving a strong security posture.

IT organisations are facing unprecedented rates of distribution point sprawl, which has grown rapidly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 61 percent of respondents say distribution points have increased in the last two years, and the average endpoint has as many as 7 agents installed for remote management, further adding to management complexity.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/14/businesses-are-adding-more-endpoints/

  • Ransomware Activity Resurges in Q2

Ransomware activity rose by a fifth in the last quarter, according to a report from security firm Digital Shadows.

The company, which monitors almost 90 data leak sites on the dark web, observed ransomware groups name 705 victims in Q2 2022, representing a 21% increase over last quarter’s 582. This was a resurgence in activity following a 25.3% decline quarter-on-quarter during Q1.

The LockBit ransomware group overtook Conti in victim numbers as Conti ceased operations following the leak of internal chat logs. Conti had reached almost 900 victims during its operations, but LockBit is now closing in on 1,000 after a 13% growth in activity during the quarter.

LockBit also continued to innovate, releasing version 3 of its ransomware with new features, including support for payments using the Zcash cryptocurrency. It also launched a reward program for any information on high-value targets, along with a data leak site that allows anyone to purchase victim data.

At around 230, Lockbit’s quarterly victim numbers far exceeded any other group in Q2. It was accountable for almost a third of all postings to leak sites in Q2. Conti, which had limped along for several weeks after its own data leak, managed just over 50. In third place was Alphv, which grew 118% during the quarter. Basta came in fourth.

Some other smaller groups are also growing rapidly, according to the report. Vice Society, in fifth place this quarter, doubled its activity.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ransomware-activity-resurges-q2/

  • One-Third of Users Without Security Awareness Training Click on Phishing URLs

Phishing attacks just won't die, and new data underscores their effectiveness among users who have not been provided security awareness training.

According to data pulled from security awareness training provider KnowBe4's clients, 32.4% of users will fall for a phish — clicking on a link or following a phony request — if those users have not had any official training. The disconnect is worse in some industry sectors, including consulting, energy and utilities, and healthcare and pharmaceuticals, where half of all untrained users fall for phishing attacks.

The data was pulled from 23.4 million simulated phishing tests conducted at more than 30,000 organisations, encompassing some 9.5 million users. According to KnowBe4, 90 days after monthly or more training, the number of phishing test fails dropped to around 17.6%, and to 5% after one year of regular awareness training.

https://www.darkreading.com/remote-workforce/one-third-of-users-click-on-phishing

  • Ransomware Scourge Drives Price Hikes in Cyber Insurance

Cyber security insurance costs are rising, and insurers are likely to demand more direct access to organisational metrics and measures to make more accurate risk assessments.

The rising cost of ransomware attacks is helping push significant premium increases in cyber insurance policies in the UK and US, new data shows.

With the average payouts across the past two years averaging more than $3.5 million in the US, a growing number of cyber security insurers want direct access to customer security metrics and measures. This would help prove the status of security controls, according to a Panaseer report on the state of the cyber insurance industry.

However, insurance firms are struggling to accurately understand a customer's security posture, which is in turn affecting price increases.

Panaseer notes that 82% of insurers surveyed said they expect the rise in premiums to continue. The increasing cost of ransomware is putting premiums up, and the increase in the number of attacks, as well as the number of successful attacks, means insurance is getting harder to get and is getting more expensive.

Meanwhile, 87% of insurers surveyed say they want a more consistent approach to analysing cyber-risk. Fundamentally, insurers need better information in order to price the risk — questionnaires aren't going to cut it. Having real live data coming from a customer about their security posture is what's going to be required for them to accurately price risk, in the same way that telematics did for car insurance.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/ransomware-scourge-drives-price-hikes-in-cyber-insurance

  • Conventional Cyber Security Approaches Are Falling Short

Traditional security approaches that rely on reactive, detect-and-respond measures and tedious manual processes can’t keep pace with the volume, variety, and velocity of current threats, according to Skybox Security. As a result, 27% of all executives and 40% of CSOs say their organisations are not well prepared for today’s rapidly shifting threat landscape.

On average, organisations experienced 15% more cyber security incidents in 2021 than in 2020. In addition, “material breaches”— defined as “those generating a large loss, compromising many records, or having a significant impact on business operations” — jumped 24.5%.

The top four causes of the most significant breaches reported by the affected organisations were:

  • Human error

  • Misconfigurations

  • Poor maintenance/lack of cyber hygiene

  • Unknown assets.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/07/14/conventional-cybersecurity-approaches/

  • Virtual CISOs Are the Best Defence Against Accelerating Cyber-Risks

The cyber security challenges that companies are facing today are vast, multidimensional, and rapidly changing. Exacerbating the issue is the relentless evolution of threat actors and their ability to outmanoeuvre security controls effortlessly.

As technology races forward, companies without a full-time CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) are struggling to keep pace. For many, finding, attracting, retaining, and affording the level of skills and experience needed is out of reach or simply unrealistic. Enter the virtual CISO (vCISO). These on-demand experts provide security insights to companies on an ongoing basis and help ensure that security teams have the resources they need to be successful.

Typically, an engagement with a vCISO is long lasting, but in a fractional delivery model. This is very different from a project-oriented approach that requires a massive investment and results in a stack of deliverables for the internal team to implement and maintain. A vCISO not only helps to form the approach, define the action plan, and set the road map but, importantly, stays engaged throughout the implementation and well into the ongoing management phases.

The best vCISO engagements are long-term contracts. Typically, there's an upfront effort where the vCISO is more engaged in the first few months to establish an understanding, develop a road map, and create a rhythm with the team. Then, their support drops into a regular pace which can range from two to three days per week or five to ten days per month.

https://www.darkreading.com/careers-and-people/virtual-cisos-are-the-best-defense-against-accelerating-cyber-risks

  • Firms Not Planning for Supply Chain Threats

Enterprises are failing to plan properly for supply chain risks and cyber security threats from the wider digital ecosystem, a leading technology consultancy has warned.

According to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), firms put the risks posed by ecosystem partners at the bottom of a list of 10 key threats. CISOs and chief risk officers believed that financial systems, customer databases and R&D were the systems most likely to be targeted. Supply chain and distribution was placed in ninth.

The report, based on a survey of larger firms with annual revenues of $1bn or more, found that only 16% of chief risk officers believed the digital ecosystem was a concern when it comes to cyber risks, and only 14% said those ecosystems were a priority for board level discussions.

The research also found that a small number of enterprises fail to focus on cyber risk, with one in six boards discussing it only “occasionally, as necessary or never.” TCS found, though, that organisations with above-average profit and revenue growth were more likely to put cyber security on the agenda at board meetings.

TCS also found that enterprises view the cloud as a more secure environment than conventional data centres and on-premises systems. Additionally, the research highlighted ongoing concerns about skills and the need to attract and retain talented security staff. Firms where senior leaders focus on cyber security are more likely to be able to close the skills gap, according to the study.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/planning-supply-chain-threats/

  • Data Breach Lawsuit: Will IT Service Provider Capgemini Owe Damages?

IT service provider and consulting firm Capgemini is facing a lawsuit related to a June 2020 data breach. The plaintiff — gaming company Razer — is seeking $7 million in damages. A trial in Singapore’s High Court regarding the dispute is underway, according to Vulcan Post.

Razer claims it has suffered approximately $6.85 million in profit losses from its online website due to the data breach. Razer is pursuing damages for an unquantified sum for profit losses from the rejection of its digital bank license application.

The Razer data breach occurred due to an issue with an IT system. It may have exposed the personal information of about 100,000 Razer customers.

The Razer data breach may have occurred due to a misconfigured Elasticsearch cluster. It also was exposed to the public and indexed by public search engines and took more than three weeks to fix.

Experts from Razer and Capgemini agreed that the data breach was caused by a security misconfiguration. However, Razer now claims that a Capgemini employee recommended the IT system that led to the breach and is therefore responsible for the incident.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-breaches-and-attacks/data-breach-lawsuit-gaming-company-razer-sues-capgemini-for-7-million/

  • Security Culture: Fear of Cyber Warfare Driving Initiatives

KnowBe4, the provider of security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, has conducted a survey during Infosecurity Europe, which evaluated the opinions of nearly 200 security professionals towards security culture, or more specifically: the ideas, customs and social behaviours of an organisation that influence their security practices.

The research found the threat of cyber warfare (30%) or experiencing a data breach or cyber attack (30%) were the two biggest reasons why security professionals wanted to improve security culture at their organisations. Given the current invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the resulting cyber security warnings announced by many of the world’s leading governments, improving current cyber security efforts has continued to be a top priority for many.

The study also revealed just over two thirds (67%) answered that a strong security culture would very likely reduce the risk of security incidents, with the majority (85%) directing their efforts into both improving security awareness training and communicating values expected from employees regarding security.

However, there are many obstacles when attempting to create a strong security culture, with the main issue being a lack of budget (26%) which was followed security professionals facing indifference from fellow employees (24%) and a lack of senior management support (16%).

Interestingly, just under three quarters (73%) admitted to putting an increased effort into measuring employees understanding of security – this still leaves a considerable gap of 27% that do not, something many security professionals will want to consider closing. Thankfully, 38% agree this aspect of security culture would be an area they want to improve in their organisation. When witnessing a colleague display poor security practises, 67% of UK security experts would prefer to tell the individual discreetly, while just under a third (31%) would send the member of staff training material to review. Only 18% would report the individual to the security team.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/07/11/security-culture-fear-of-cyber-warfare-driving-initiatives/

  • Cryptocurrency 'Mixers' See Record Transactions from Sanctioned Actors

Use of so-called cryptocurrency “mixers,” which combine various types of assets to mask their origin, peaked at a 30-day average of nearly $52 million worth of digital currency in April, representing an unprecedented volume of funds moving through those services, researchers at cryptocurrency research firm Chainalysis found.

A near two-fold increase in funds sent from illicit addresses has accelerated the increase, indicating that the technology that can obfuscate the currency continues to be highly attractive to cyber criminals.

Cryptocurrency mixers work by taking an individual’s cryptocurrency and combining it with a larger pool before returning units equivalent to the original amount minus a service fee to the original account. As a result, it makes it harder for law enforcement and cryptocurrency analysts to trace the currency.

Mixers aren’t solely used by criminals, but they are extremely popular with them. 10% of all funds from illicit wallets are sent to mixers, while mixers received less than 0.5% of the share of other sources of funds tracked by the firm, including decentralised finance projects.

The bulk of illicit funds transferred to mixers came from sanctioned actors, primarily Russian dark net market Hydra and more recently the Lazarus Group, a group of North Korean state-backed hackers. International law enforcement took out Hydra, which had been responsible for 80% of dark web transactions involving cryptocurrency, in May. The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control followed with sanctions on more than 100 of its cryptocurrency addresses.

The use of mixers by North Korea state-backed hackers, and a popular mixer they employed to launder funds, made up the rest of the transfers.

https://www.cyberscoop.com/cryptocurrency-mixers-see-record-transactions-from-sanctioned-actors/

  • Online Payment Fraud Expected to Cost $343B Over Next 5 Years

Despite ratcheted-up efforts to prevent account takeover, fraudsters are cashing in on a range of online payment fraud schemes, which researchers predict will cost retail organisations more than $343 billion over the next five years.

Physical good purchases are loss leaders, making up 49% of online payment fraud, driven in large part by developing markets with little address verification, according to a new Juniper Research report.

Fundamentally, no two online transactions are the same, so the way transactions are secured cannot follow a one-size-fits-all solution. Payment fraud detection and prevention vendors must build a multitude of verification capabilities, and intelligently orchestrate different solutions depending on circumstances, in order to correctly protect both merchants and users.

https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/online-payment-fraud-expected-to-cost-343b-over-5-years


Threats

Ransomware

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Other Social Engineering

Malware

Mobile

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Insurance

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

Identity and Access Management

Encryption

Social Media

Training, Education and Awareness

Privacy

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

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




Vulnerabilities


Sector Specific

Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.

Contact us to receive tailored reports specific to the industry/sector and geographies you operate in. 

  • Automotive

  • Construction

  • Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

  • Defence & Space

  • Education & Academia

  • Energy & Utilities

  • Estate Agencies

  • Financial Services

  • FinTech

  • Food & Agriculture

  • Gaming & Gambling

  • Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)

  • Health/Medical/Pharma

  • Hotels & Hospitality

  • Insurance

  • Legal

  • Manufacturing

  • Maritime

  • Oil, Gas & Mining

  • OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA & Cyber-Physical Systems

  • Retail & eCommerce

  • Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)

  • Startups

  • Telecoms

  • Third Sector & Charities

  • Transport & Aviation

  • Web3



Other News

5 key considerations for your 2023 cyber security budget planning | CSO Online

What Are the Risks of Employees Going on a 'Hybrid Holiday'? (darkreading.com)

New ‘Luna Moth’ hackers breach orgs via fake subscription renewals (bleepingcomputer.com)

Experian accounts could still be at risk from hackers | TechRadar

Cyber security skills surpass cloud skills as this year's training priority, if professionals can find the time | ZDNet

Average American Accesses Suspicious Sites 6.5 Times a Day - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Mergers and acquisitions are a strong zero-trust use case • The Register

Recruitment agency Morgan Hunt confirms 'cyber incident' • The Register

New Exploit Attacks UK Routers and Runs Up Mobile Data Bills - ISPreview UK

How Attackers Could Dupe Developers into Downloading Malicious Code From GitHub (darkreading.com)

CEO of Dozens of Companies Charged in Scheme to Traffic An Estimated $1bn in Fake Cisco Devices - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Data breaches explained: Types, examples, and impact | CSO Online

President of European Central Bank Christine Lagarde targeted by hackers - Security Affairs

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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 17 June 2022

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 17 June 2022

-How Organisations Can Protect Themselves in The Emerging Risk Landscape

-Phishing Reaches All-Time High in Early 2022

-Ransomware Attacks Are Surging, with More Dangerous Hybrid Attacks to Come. Is Your Cyber Security Up to Date?

-The Challenges of Managing Increased Complexity As Hybrid IT Accelerates

-72% Of Middle Market Companies Expect to Experience a Cyber Attack

-Malware's Destruction Trajectory and How to Defeat It

-Which Stolen Data Are Ransomware Gangs Most Likely to Disclose?

-Threat Actors Becoming More Creative Exploiting the Human Factor

-66% Of Organisations Store 21%-60% Of Their Sensitive Data in The Cloud

-Travel-related Cyber Crime Takes Off as Industry Rebounds

-How Should You Think About Security When Considering Digital Transformation Projects?

-Internet Explorer Now Retired but Still an Attacker Target

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

  • How Organisations Can Protect Themselves in The Emerging Risk Landscape

ThoughtLab’s 2022 cyber security benchmarking study ‘Cyber Security Solutions for a Riskier World’ revealed that the pandemic has brought cyber security to a critical inflection point. The number of material breaches that respondents suffered rose 20.5% from 2020 to 2021, and cyber security budgets as a percentage of firms’ total revenue jumped 51%, from 0.53% to 0.80%.

During that time, cyber security has become a strategic business imperative, requiring CEOs and their management teams to work together to meet the higher expectations of regulators, shareholders, and the board.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/13/cybersecurity-strategic-business-imperative-video/

  • Phishing Reaches All-Time High in Early 2022

The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) Phishing Activity Trends Report reveals that in the first quarter of 2022 there were 1,025,968 total phishing attacks—the worst quarter for phishing observed to date. This quarter was the first time the three-month total has exceeded one million. There were 384,291 attacks in March 2022, which was a record monthly total.

In the first quarter of 2022, OpSec Security reported that phishing attacks against the financial sector, which includes banks, remained the largest set of attacks, accounting for 23.6 percent of all phishing. Attacks against webmail and software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers remained prevalent as well, while attacks against retail/ecommerce sites fell from 17.3 to 14.6 percent after the holiday shopping season.

Phishing against social media services rose markedly, from 8.5 percent of all attacks in 4Q2021 to 12.5 percent in 1Q2022. Phishing against cryptocurrency targets—such as cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet providers—inched up from 6.5 in the previous quarter to 6.6 percent of attacks.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/15/2022-total-phishing-attacks/

  • Ransomware Attacks Are Surging, with More Dangerous Hybrid Attacks to Come. Is Your Cyber Security Up to Date?

Time to reassess your cyber security strategies. Again.

Ransomware attacks on businesses have increased by one-third in the past year, according to a recent report by the Boston-based cyber security company Cybereason. 

Most (73 percent of businesses) were hit by at least one ransomware attack in the past year, and 68 percent of businesses that paid a ransom were hit again in less than a month for a higher ransom, according to the survey, which polled 1,456 cyber security professionals at global companies with 700 or more employees.

These attacks have big implications: Thirty-seven percent of companies were forced to lay off employees after paying ransoms, and 33 percent were forced to temporarily suspend business.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, cyber security experts have insisted businesses improve their lines of defence to protect against an increased risk of ransomware attacks from Russia. ​Ransomware attacks have also increased since the start of the pandemic--the rise of remote work increased vulnerability for many businesses, which hackers have taken advantage of, a 2020 FBI memo noted. So, enterprises of all sizes are at risk from many more points of attack.

https://www.inc.com/rebecca-deczynski/ransomware-attacks-increasing-cyber-security-advice.html

  • The Challenges of Managing Increased Complexity as Hybrid IT Accelerates

SolarWinds released the findings of its ninth annual IT Trends Report which examines the acceleration of digital transformation efforts and its impact on IT departments. The report found the acceleration of hybrid IT has increased network complexity for most organisations and caused several worrisome challenges for IT professionals.

Hybrid and remote work have amplified the impact of distributed and complex IT environments. Running workloads and applications across both cloud and on-premises infrastructure can be challenging, and many organisations are increasingly experiencing—and ultimately hindered by—these pain points.

As more and more mission-critical workloads move to connected cloud architectures that span public, private, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments, enterprises recognise they need to invest in the tools that will help them ensure consistent policies and performance across all platforms and end users. However, they simultaneously face challenges such as budget, time constraints, and barriers to implementing observability as a strategy to keep pace with hybrid IT realities.

However professionals feel less confident in their organisation’s ability to manage IT. While 54% of respondents state they leverage monitoring strategies to manage this complexity, 49% revealed they lack visibility into the majority of their organisation’s apps and infrastructure. This lack of visibility impacts their ability to conduct anomaly detection, easy root-cause analysis, and other critical processes to ensure the availability, performance, and security of business-critical applications.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/16/hybrid-it-acceleration-challenges/

  • 72% Of Middle Market Companies Expect to Experience a Cyber Attack

Middle market companies face an increasingly volatile cyber security environment, with threats coming from more directions than ever before and more skilled criminals targeting the segment, according to an RSM US and US Chamber of Commerce report.

However, there is good news as the number of breaches reported in the last year among middle market companies slightly decreased with protections becoming more available and executives understanding the consequences related to potential incidents. Twenty-two percent of middle market leaders claimed that their company experienced a data breach in the last year, representing a drop from 28% in last year’s survey, suggesting that even with enhanced protections in place and the decrease in attacks, companies cannot afford to let their guard down.

The middle market encountered a roller coaster of risks in the last year, from lingering threats related to the COVID-19 pandemic to geopolitical conflicts and economic uncertainty.

The small drop in reported breaches is encouraging, and largely attributed to middle market companies beginning to implement better identity and access management controls. Yet, even with the decline in reported attacks, companies recognise the risks posed by the current dynamic threat environment, with 72% of executives anticipating that unauthorised users will attempt to access data or systems in 2022, a sharp rise from 64% last year and the highest number since RSM began tracking data in 2015.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/16/middle-market-companies-cybersecurity/

  • Malware's Destruction Trajectory and How to Defeat It

Malware and targeted attacks on operating systems and firmware have become increasingly destructive in nature, and these more nefarious attack methods are rising in prevalence. And just to add insult to injury, there are more of them. Today’s attacks are hitting more often, and they are hitting harder.

In the first three decades of its existence, malware was primarily restricted to mischief and attempts by virus creators to discover if their creations would work. But now the threat landscape has changed from simple vandalism to lucrative cyber crime and state-sponsored attacks.

Wiper malware, in particular, has gained traction in recent months. The FortiGuard Labs research team has seen at least seven different malware attacks targeting Ukrainian infrastructure or Ukrainian companies so far this year. The primary reason for using Wiper malware is its sheer destructiveness – the intent is to cripple infrastructure. What does the increased presence of Wiper malware strains indicate? And what do security leaders need to know and do to keep their organisation safe? Read more…

https://www.securityweek.com/malwares-destruction-trajectory-and-how-defeat-it

  • Which Stolen Data Are Ransomware Gangs Most Likely to Disclose?

If your organisation gets hit by a ransomware gang that has also managed to steal company data before hitting the “encrypt” button, which types of data are more likely to end up being disclosed as you debate internally on whether you should pay the ransomware gang off?

Rapid7 analysed 161 data disclosures performed by ransomware gangs using the double extortion approach between April 2020 and February 2022, and found that:

  • The most commonly leaked data is financial (63%), followed by customer/patient data (48%)

  • Files containing intellectual property (e.g., trade secrets, research data, etc.) are rarely disclosed (12%) by ransomware gangs, but if the organisation is part of the pharmaceutical industry, the risk of IP data being disclosed is considerably higher (43%), “likely due to the high value placed on research and development within this industry.”

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/17/ransomware-data-disclosed/

  • Threat Actors Becoming More Creative Exploiting the Human Factor

Threat actors exhibited "ceaseless creativity" last year when attacking the Achilles heel of every organisation—its human capital—according to Proofpoint's annual The Human Factor 2022 report. The report, released June 2, draws on a multi-trillion datapoint graph created from the company's deployments to identify the latest attack trends by malicious players.

"Last year, attackers demonstrated just how unscrupulous they really are, making protecting people from cyber threats an ongoing—and often eye-opening—challenge for organisations,” Proofpoint said in a statement.

The combination of remote work and the blurring of work and personal life on smartphones have influenced attacker techniques, the report notes. During the year, SMS phishing, or smishing, attempts more than doubled in the United States, while in the UK, 50% of phishing lures focused on delivery notifications. An expectation that more people were likely working from home even drove good, old-fashioned voice scams, with more than 100,000 telephone attacks a day being launched by cyber criminals.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3663478/threat-actors-becoming-more-creative-exploiting-the-human-factor.html#tk.rss_news

  • 66% Of Organisations Store 21%-60% Of Their Sensitive Data in The Cloud

A Thales report, conducted by 451 Research, reveals that 45% of businesses have experienced a cloud-based data breach or failed audit in the past 12 months, up 5% from the previous year, raising even greater concerns regarding the protection of sensitive data from cyber criminals.

Globally, cloud adoption and notably multicloud adoption, remains on the rise. In 2021, organisations worldwide were using an average amount of 110 software as a service (SaaS) applications, compared with just eight in 2015, showcasing a startlingly rapid increase.

With increasing complexity of multicloud environments comes an even greater need for robust cyber security. When asked what percentage of their sensitive data is stored in the cloud, 66% said between 21-60%. However, only 25% said they could fully classify all data.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/16/cloud-based-data-breach-video/

  • Travel-related Cyber Crime Takes Off as Industry Rebounds

An upsurge in the tourism industry after the COVID-19 pandemic grabs the attention of cyber criminals to scam the tourists.

Researchers are warning a post-COVID upsurge in travel has painted a bullseye on the travel industry and has spurred related cyber crimes.

Criminal activity includes an uptick in adversaries targeting the theft of airline mileage reward points, website credentials for travel websites and travel-related databases breaches, according to a report by Intel 471.

The impact of the attacks are hacked accounts stripped of value. But also, researchers say the consequences of recent attacks can also include flight delays and cancelations as airlines grapple with mitigating hacks.

https://threatpost.com/travel-related-cybercrime-takes-off/179962/

  • How Should You Think About Security When Considering Digital Transformation Projects?

Digital transformation helps businesses keep operating and stay competitive. Here are the ways to think about security so that businesses reap the benefits without taking on associated risks.

Multiple factors contribute to the sheer number of digital transformation projects underway today: the proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT), expanding artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, the sudden shift to a remote workforce prompted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the rapid rate of cloud migration. Digital transformation is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have in order to survive and thrive in today’s business world.

CISOs and their security teams need to think about security in the digital age from both an internal and an external perspective. For the former, security teams should introduce and adopt digital enablers to transform the information security organisation. Digital enablers include the cloud, IoT, AI/machine learning (ML), and automation to transform the information security organisation.

For the latter, they should address potential risks as new digital enablers are introduced by the business to drive growth.

Here are five specific areas security teams should prioritise to achieve security-first digital transformation:

  1. Security operations modernisation

  2. Developer-centric security

  3. Cloud strategy and execution

  4. Connected devices

  5. Big data and analytics

As important as it is to keep the business operating and competitive, organisations must transform securely. Keeping security at the forefront gives the business the benefits of digital transformation without the associated risks.

https://www.darkreading.com/edge-ask-the-experts/how-should-i-think-about-security-when-considering-digital-transformation-projects-

  • Internet Explorer Now Retired but Still an Attacker Target

Microsoft's official end-of-support for the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application on June 15 relegated to history a browser that's been around for almost 27 years. Even so, IE still likely will provide a juicy target for attackers.

That's because some organisations are still using Internet Explorer (IE) despite Microsoft's long-known plans to deprecate the technology. Microsoft meanwhile has retained the MSHTML (aka Trident) IE browser engine as part of Windows 11 until 2029, allowing organisations to run in IE mode while they transition to the Microsoft Edge browser. In other words, IE isn't dead just yet, nor are threats to it.

Though IE has a negligible share of the browser market worldwide these days (0.52%), many enterprises still run it or have legacy applications tied to IE. This appears to be the case in countries such as Japan and Korea. Stories in Nikkei Asia and Japan Times this week quoted a survey by Keyman's Net showing that nearly 49% of 350 Japanese companies surveyed are still using IE. Another report in South Korea's MBN pointed to several large organisations still running IE.

https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/internet-explorer-will-likely-remain-an-attacker-target-for-some-time


Threats

Ransomware

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

Other Social Engineering

Malware

Mobile

Internet of Things - IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Dark Web

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

Cloud/SaaS

Privacy

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Travel

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

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




Vulnerabilities





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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

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.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/more-than-90-of-enterprises-surveyed-have-been-hit-by-successful-cyberattacks/

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.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ransomware-gangs-increase-efforts-to-enlist-insiders-for-attacks/

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.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/employee-contractor-negligence-is-now-a-major-reason-for-insider-security-incidents/

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.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3648048/22-cybersecurity-myths-organisations-need-to-stop-believing-in-2022.html

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.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/01/android-malware-can-factory-reset-phones-after-draining-bank-accounts/

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.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckbrooks/2022/01/21/cybersecurity-in-2022--a-fresh-look-at-some-very-alarming-stats/

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

Phishing

Other Social Engineering

Malware

Mobile

IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

Supply Chain

DoS/DDoS

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

Nation State Actors

Cloud

Privacy

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare

Vulnerabilities




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 ‘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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

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.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/corporate-networks-saw-50-more-attacks-per-week-in-2021-

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.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/no-lights-no-heat-no-money-thats-life-ukraine-during-cyber-warfare-2022-01-14/

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.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/fingers-point-to-lazarus-cobalt-fin7-as-key-hacking-groups-focused-on-finance-industry/

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

Phishing

Malware

Mobile

IoT

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

DoS/DDoS

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

Nation State Actors

Cloud

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

Parental Controls and Child Safety






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.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 26 November 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 26 November 2021

-70% Of IT Pros Say Security Hygiene Has Gotten Harder Over Past Two Years

-As Digital Shopping Surges, Researchers Predict 8 Million Daily Attacks

-More Ransomware Attacks Up to September Than Whole of 2020

-Ransomware Warning: Hackers See Holidays And Weekends As A Great Time To Attack

-Suspect Arrested In 'Ransom Your Employer' Criminal Scheme

-The Newer Cyber Crime Triad: Trickbot-Emotet-Conti

-Threat Actors Find And Compromise Exposed Services In 24 Hours

-Does Your Company Employ A CISO? Many Are Operating Without Security Leadership

-New Malware Is Capable Of Evading Almost All Antivirus Products

-Interpol Arrests Over 1,000 Suspects Linked To Cyber Crime

-Researchers Warn Of Severe Risks From ‘Printjack’ Printer 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

70% Of IT Pros Say Security Hygiene Has Got Harder Over Past Two Years

A new report from Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) and JupiterOne warns of inadequate security hygiene and posture management practices at many organizations. The research found that 86% of organizations believe they follow best practices for security hygiene and posture management. However, 70% of organizations said they use more than ten security tools to manage security hygiene and posture management, which raises concerns about data management and operations overhead.

In addition, 73% of security professionals admitted that they still depend on spreadsheets to manage security hygiene and posture at their organizations. As a result, 70% of respondents said that security hygiene and posture management had become more difficult over the past two years as their attack surfaces have grown.

https://venturebeat.com/2021/11/19/report-70-of-it-pros-say-security-hygiene-has-gotten-harder-over-past-two-years/

As Digital Shopping Surges, Researchers Predict 8 Million Daily Attacks

Arkose Labs released new data on the latest fraud trends, revealing increased threats during the holidays, rising bot attacks, and a resurgence in attacks on travel companies. As shoppers fill their online carts, account takeover (ATO) attacks and gift-card fraud remain persistent.

The report shares the top six fraud-fighting trends from the previous 3 months and provides data highlighting that no digital business is immune from attack. Financial industries saw 32 percent more attacks than in the first half of 2021.

Retail and travel attacks increased 63 percent in Q3, and gaming saw a spate of fake new accounts being set up for fraudulent purposes. Media and streaming businesses saw 60 percent of malicious activity targeting logins, and 20 percent of these attacks originating from human fraud farms.

Technology platforms see 91 percent of all attacks powered by bots. Overall, attacks are increasing in every industry, and they are growing more sophisticated.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/11/22/threats-during-holidays/

More Ransomware Attacks Up to September Than Whole of 2020

Most UK business leaders expect cyber-threats to surge next year, with ransomware, business email compromise (BEC), cloud and supply chain attacks all predicted to increase, according to PwC.

The findings come from the consulting giant’s 2022 Global Digital Trust Insights Survey and were distilled from interviews with 257 business and technology executives in the UK.

Although most (63%) respondents said they expect security budgets to increase next year, even more (66%) predicted cyber-threats would rise. Ransomware (61%), BEC (61%), malware via software updates (63%), and cloud compromise (64%) were among the most notable.

Bobbie Ramsden-Knowles, crisis and resilience partner at PwC UK, claimed the firm’s threat intelligence team has tracked more ransomware incidents globally up to September this year than for the whole of 2020.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/more-ransomware-attacks-september/

Ransomware Warning: Hackers See Holidays And Weekends As A Great Time To Attack

Just because you're taking a break, that doesn't mean hackers will be too.

Ahead of the holidays cyber agencies have released a warning to stay vigilant on holidays and weekends, because hackers don't plan on taking a holiday break.

Warnings remind organisations that ransomware attackers often choose to launch attacks on holidays and weekends, specifically when businesses are likely to be closed.

Recent history tells us that this could be a time when these persistent cyber actors halfway across the world are looking for ways—big and small—to disrupt the critical networks and systems belonging to organizations, businesses, and critical infrastructure.

Some of the worst ransomware attacks happened on holidays and weekends.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/security-warning-ransomware-attackers-are-working-on-the-holidays-even-if-you-arent/

Suspect Arrested In 'Ransom Your Employer' Criminal Scheme

A Nigerian man has been arrested in connection to a scheme attempting to lure insiders to deploy ransomware on employer systems.

On November 22, security expert Brian Krebs reported that the man, Oluwaseun Medayedupin, was arrested by Nigerian authorities on Friday.

The suspect is allegedly linked to a 'ransom your employer' scheme investigated by Abnormal Security in August.

Customers of the cybersecurity firm were sent emails with the subject "Partnership affiliate offer," requesting that the recipient considered becoming an accomplice in a cyberattack.

The emails offered a 40% cut of an anticipated $2.5 million ransomware payment in Bitcoin (BTC), made after the recipients installed the DemonWare ransomware on their employer's systems.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/suspect-arrested-in-ransom-your-employer-criminal-scheme/

The Newer Cyber Crime Triad: Trickbot-Emotet-Conti

Advanced Intelligence researchers argue that the restarting of the Emotet botnet was driven by Conti ransomware gang.

Early this year, law enforcement and judicial authorities worldwide conducted a joint operation, named Operation Ladybird, which disrupted the EMOTET botnet. At the time the investigators have taken control of its infrastructure in an international coordinated action.

This operation was the result of a joint effort between authorities in the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Lithuania, Canada and Ukraine, with international activity coordinated by Europol and Eurojust.

The law enforcement agency was able to take over at least 700 servers used as part of the Emotet botnet’s infrastructure. The FBI collected millions of email addresses used by Emotet operators in their malware campaigns as part of the cleanup operation.

The Emotet banking trojan has been active at least since 2014, the botnet is operated by a threat actor tracked as TA542. The infamous banking trojan was also used to deliver other malicious code, such as Trickbot and QBot trojans, or ransomware such as Conti, ProLock, Ryuk, and Egregor.

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/124807/cyber-crime/trickbot-emotet-conti-triad.html

Threat Actors Find And Compromise Exposed Services In 24 Hours

Researchers set up 320 honeypots to see how quickly threat actors would target exposed cloud services and report that 80% of them were compromised in under 24 hours.

Malicious actors are constantly scanning the Internet for exposed services that could be exploited to access internal networks or perform other malicious activity.

To track what software and services are targeted by threat actors, researchers create publicly accessible honeypots. Honeypots are servers configured to appear as if they are running various software as lures to monitor threat actors' tactics.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/threat-actors-find-and-compromise-exposed-services-in-24-hours/

Does Your Company Employ A CISO? Many Are Operating Without Security Leadership

45% of companies do not employ a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), a Navisite research found. Of this group, 58% think their company should hire a CISO.

Only 40% of respondents stated their cybersecurity strategy was developed by a CISO or member of the security team, with 60% relying on other parts of their organization, including IT, executive leadership and compliance.

130 security, IT and compliance professionals were polled in the US to determine their perceptions on the state of cybersecurity leadership and readiness within their organizations. More than 80% of respondents described their job title as either executive leadership or management, with more than 60% of respondents coming from mid-sized organizations between 100-5,000 employees.

Why you should employ a CISO?

·       21% of respondents admit their company does not have a dedicated person or staff whose sole responsibility is security/cybersecurity.

·       75% of respondents said their company experienced an increase in overall cybersecurity threat volume in the last year.

·       80% of respondents felt their company exhibited strong cybersecurity leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.

·       70% of respondents expressed confidence in the effectiveness of their cybersecurity program—but that confidence dropped to 58% for companies without a CISO.

·       47% of survey takers believe their company spends too little on cybersecurity.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/11/23/employ-ciso/

New Malware Is Capable Of Evading Almost All Antivirus Products

There’s a new JavaScript downloader on the prowl that not only distributes eight different Remote Access Trojans (RATs), keyloggers and information stealers, but is also able to bypass detection by a majority of security tools, experts have warned.

Cyber security researchers at HP Wolf Security named the malware RATDispenser, noting that while JavaScript downloaders typically have a lower detection rate than other downloaders, this particular malware is more dangerous since it employs several techniques to evade detection.

“It’s particularly concerning to see RATDispenser only being detected by about 11% of antivirus systems, resulting in this stealthy malware successfully deploying on victims’ endpoints in most cases,” noted Patrick Schlapfer, Malware Analyst at HP.

https://www.techradar.com/news/new-malware-is-capable-of-evading-almost-all-antivirus-products

Interpol Arrests Over 1,000 Suspects Linked To Cyber Crime

Interpol has coordinated the arrest of 1,003 individuals linked to various cyber-crimes such as romance scams, investment frauds, online money laundering, and illegal online gambling.

This crackdown results from a four-month action codenamed ‘Operation HAEICHI-II,’ which took place in twenty countries between June and September 2021.

These were Angola, Brunei, Cambodia, Colombia, China, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Korea (Rep. of), Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Thailand, and Vietnam.

On the financial aspect of the operation, the authorities have also intercepted nearly $27,000,000 and froze 2,350 banking accounts linked to various online crimes.

As the Interpol announcement details, at least ten new criminal modus operandi were identified in HAEICHI-II, indicative of the evolving nature of cyber-crime.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/legal/interpol-arrests-over-1-000-suspects-linked-to-cyber-crime/

Researchers Warn Of Severe Risks From ‘Printjack’ Printer Attacks

A team of Italian researchers has compiled a set of three attacks called 'Printjack,' warning users of the significant consequences of over-trusting their printer.

The attacks include recruiting the printers in DDoS swarms, imposing a paper DoS state, and performing privacy breaches.

As the researchers point out, modern printers are still vulnerable to elementary flaws and lag behind other IoT and electronic devices that are starting to conform with cybersecurity and data privacy requirements.

By evaluating the attack potential and the risk levels, the researchers found non-compliance with GDPR requirements and the ISO/IEC 27005:2018 (framework for managing cyber-risks).

This lack of in-built security is particularly problematic when considering how omnipresent printers are, being deployed in critical environments, companies, and organizations of all sizes.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/researchers-warn-of-severe-risks-from-printjack-printer-attacks/


Threats

Ransomware

BEC – Business Email Compromise

Phishing

Malware

Mobile

IOT

Vulnerabilities

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptojacking

Fraud & Financial Crime

Insurance

Nation State Actors

Cloud

Passwords

Parental Controls





 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.

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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.

https://www.economist.com/international/2021/05/06/new-technology-has-enabled-cyber-crime-on-an-industrial-scale

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.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2021/05/02/ransomware-reality-shock-92-who-pay-dont-get-their-data-back/?sh=4c38f3d5e0c7

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.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-theres-been-a-big-rise-in-double-extortion-attacks-as-gangs-try-out-new-tricks/

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.

https://www.wired.com/story/vastaamo-psychotherapy-patients-hack-data-breach/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=wired&utm_social-type=earned

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

Phishing

Malware

Mobile

Vulnerabilities

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.

Read More