Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 28th July 2023

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

• Half of UK Businesses Struggle to Fill Cyber Security Skills Gap

Half of UK businesses have a cyber security skills gap that they are struggling to fill amid a challenging labour market, according to data published by the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), which found that there were more than 160,000 cyber security job postings in the last year – a 30% increase on the previous period. In all, the UK requires an additional 11,200 people with suitable cyber skills to meet the demands of the market, the report estimates.

In a separate report, it was found that a lack of executive understanding and an ever-widening talent gap is placing an unsustainable burden on security teams to prevent business-ending breaches. When asked how long it takes to fill a cyber security role, 82% of organisations report it takes three months or longer, with 34% reporting it takes seven months or more. These challenges have led one-third (33%) of organisations to believe they will never have a fully-staffed security team with the proper skills.

With such a gap, some organisations have turned to outsourcing cyber security roles, such as chief information security officers (CISOs), leading to a rise in virtual CISOs (vCISO). With outsourcing, organisations can ensure that they are easily able to pick up and use cyber security experts, greatly reducing the delay were they to hire. Black Arrow supports clients as their vCISO with specialist experience in cyber security risk management in a business context.

https://www.uktech.news/cybersecurity/uk-cybersecurity-skills-gap-20230725

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/07/26/security-teams-executive-burden/

• Deloitte Joins Fellow Big Four MOVEit victims PWC, EY as Victims Exceed 500

The global auditing and accounting firm Deloitte appeared alongside a further 55 MOVEit victims that were recently named by the Cl0p ransomware gang, making them the third Big Four accounting firm to be affected and amongst over 500 organisations in total with that number expected to continue to increase.

Research by Kroll has also uncovered a new exfiltration method used by Cl0p in their the MOVEit attacks, highlighting constant efforts by the ransomware gang. Worryingly, it has been reported that Cl0p have made between $75-100 million from ransom payments and it is expected this, along with the victim count, will rise.

https://cybernews.com/security/deloitte-big-four-moveit-pwc-ey-clop/

https://www.kroll.com/en/insights/publications/cyber/moveit-vulnerability-investigations-uncover-additional-exfiltration-method

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/clop-could-make-100m-moveit/

• Why Cyber Security Should Be Part of Your ESG Strategy

Organisations need to consider cyber security risks in their overall environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy amid growing cyber threats and regulatory scrutiny. The ESG programme is, in many ways, a form of risk management to mitigate the risks to businesses, societies and the environment, all of which can be impacted by cyber security. The investment community has been singling out cyber security as one of the major risks that ESG programmes will need to address due to the potential financial losses, reputational damage and business continuity risks posed by a growing number of cyber attacks and data breaches.

Various ESG reporting frameworks have emerged in recent years to provide organisations with guidelines on how they can operate ethically and sustainably, along with metrics that they can use to measure their progress. There are also specific IT security standards and frameworks, including ISO 27001 and government guidelines. Some regulators have gone as far as mandating the adoption of baseline security standards by critical infrastructure operators and firms in industries like financial services, but that does not mean organisations outside of regulated sectors are less pressured to shore up their cyber security posture.

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366545432/Why-cyber-security-should-be-part-of-your-ESG-strategy

• Lawyers Take Frontline Role in Business Response to Cyber Attacks

Cyber security risk has shot to the top of general counsels’ agendas as the sophistication and frequency of attacks has grown. According to security company Sophos’s State of Ransomware 2023 report, 44% of UK businesses surveyed said they had been hit with ransomware in the past year. Of those affected, 33% said their data was encrypted and stolen and a further 6% said that their data was not encrypted but they experienced extortion.

In-house lawyers have a key role around the boardroom table when dealing with a breach including war-gaming and discussing cases in which a company will pay a ransom. The advent of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legislation in Europe, and equivalents elsewhere, demands that businesses hit by a data breach notify a regulator, and the individuals whose data was stolen, or both, depending on certain factors. This has led to far greater exposure of cyber incidents which companies previously could have tried to deal with privately.

https://www.ft.com/content/2af44ae8-78fc-4393-88c3-0d784a850331

• Organisations Face Record $4.5M Per Data Breach Incident

In a recent report conducted by IBM, the average cost per data breach for US business in 2023 jumped to $4.45 million, a 15% increase over three years. In the UK, the average cost was found to be £3.4 million, rising to £5.3 million for financial services. It is likely that the cost per breach will maintain a continual rise, with organisations struggling to crack down on cyber crime, something threat groups like Cl0p are taking advantage of.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/orgs-record-4.5m-data-breach-incident

https://uk.newsroom.ibm.com/24-07-2023-IBM-Security-Report-Cost-of-a-Data-Breach-for-UK-Businesses-Averages-3-4m

• Cryptojacking Soars as Cyber Attacks Diversify

According to a recent report, a variety of attacks have increased globally, including cryptojacking (399%), IoT malware (37%) and encrypted threats (22%). This reflects the increase in actors who are changing their methods of attacks. The report found that we can expect more state-sponsored activity targeting a broader set of victims in 2023, including SMBs, government entities and enterprises.

Cryptojacking, sometimes referred to as malicious cryptomining, is where an attacker will use a victim’s device to mine cryptocurrency, giving the attacker free money at the expense of your device, network health and electricity.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/07/27/cryptojacking-attacks-rise/

• Ransomware Attacks Skyrocket in 2023

Ransomware attacks surged by 74% in Q2 2023 compared to the first three months of the year, a new report has found. The significant increase in ransomware over April, May and June 2023 suggests that attackers are regrouping. In July 2023, the blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis found that in the first half of 2023, ransomware attackers extorted $176m more than the same period in 2022, reversing a brief downward trend in 2022.

The report also observed an uptick in “pure extortion attacks,” with cyber criminals increasingly relying on the threat of data leaks rather than encrypting data to extort victims. Such schemes may not trigger any ransomware detection capability but could potentially be picked up by a robust Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ransomware-attacks-skyrocket-q2/

• Blocking Access to ChatGPT is a Short-Term Solution to Mitigate AI Risk

Despite the mass adoption of generative AI, most companies don’t know how to assess its security, exposing them to risks and disadvantages if they don’t change their approach. A report found that for every 10,000 enterprise users, an enterprise organisation is experiencing approximately 183 incidents of sensitive data being posted to ChatGPT per month. Worryingly, despite the security issues, only 45% have an enterprise-wide strategy to ensure a secure, aligned deployment of AI across the entire organisation.

Blocking access to AI related content and AI applications is a short term solution to mitigate risk, but comes at the expense of the potential benefits that AI apps offer to supplement corporate innovation and employee productivity. The data shows that in financial services and healthcare nearly 1 in 5 organisations have implemented a blanket ban on employee use of ChatGPT, while in the technology sector, only 1 in 20 organisations have done likewise.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/07/28/chatgpt-exposure/

https://www.techradar.com/pro/lots-of-sensitive-data-is-still-being-posted-to-chatgpt

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/07/25/generative-ai-strategy/

• Protect Your Data Like Your Reputation Depends on It (Because it Does)

Data breaches can be incredibly costly. Be it lawsuits, regulatory fines, or a fall in stock price, the financial consequences of a breach can bring even the largest organisation to its knees. However, in the face of economic damage, it’s too easy to overlook the vast reputational impacts that often do more harm to a business. After all, it’s relatively easy to recoup monetary losses, less so to regain customer trust.

It’s important to remember that reputational damage isn’t limited to consumer perceptions. Stakeholder, shareholder, and potential buyer perception is also something that needs to be considered. By having effective defence in depth controls including robust data loss prevention (DLP) solutions in place, organisations can reduce the risk of a breach from happening.

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/protect-your-data-like-your-reputation-depends-on-it-because-it-does/

• Why CISOs Should Get Involved with Cyber Insurance Negotiation

Generally negotiating cyber insurance policies falls to the general counsel, chief financial officer, or chief operations officer. Having the chief information security officer (CISO) at the table when negotiating with insurance brokers or carriers is a best practice for ensuring the insurers understand not only which security controls are in place, but why the controls are configured the way they are and the organisation's strategy. That said, often best practices are ignored for reasons of expediency and lack of acceptance by other C-suite executives.

Sometimes being the CISO can be a no-win position. According to a recent survey more than half of all CISOs report to a technical corporate officer rather than the business side of the organisation. This lack of recognition by the board can diminish the CISO's ability to deliver business-imperative insights and recommendations, leaving operations to have a more commanding influence on the board than cyber security. Too often the CISO gets the responsibility to protect the company without the authority and budget to accomplish their task.

https://www.darkreading.com/edge-articles/why-cisos-should-get-involved-with-cyber-insurance-negotiation

• Companies Must Have Corporate Cyber Security Experts, SEC Says

A recent report has found that only five Fortune 100 companies currently list a security professional in the executive leadership pages of their websites. This is largely unchanged from five of the Fortune 100 in 2018. One likely reason why a great many companies still don’t include their security leaders within their highest echelons is that these employees do not report directly to the company’s CEO, board of directors, or chief risk officer.

The chief security officer (CSO) or chief information security officer (CISO) position traditionally has reported to an executive in a technical role, such as the chief technology officer (CTO) or chief information officer (CIO). But workforce experts say placing the CISO/CSO on unequal footing with the organisation’s top leaders makes it more likely that cyber security and risk concerns will take a backseat to initiatives designed to increase productivity and generally grow the business.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently implemented new regulations necessitating publicly traded companies to report cyber attacks within four business days, once they're deemed material incidents. While the SEC is not presently advocating for the need to validate a board cyber security expert's credentials, it continues to insist that cyber security expertise within management be duly reported to them. The increased disclosure should help companies compare practices and may spur improvements in cyber defences, but meeting the new disclosure standards could be a bigger challenge for smaller companies with limited resources.

https://www.darkreading.com/edge-articles/companies-must-have-corporate-cybersecurity-experts-sec-says

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/sec-now-requires-companies-to-disclose-cyberattacks-in-4-days/

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/07/few-fortune-100-firms-list-security-pros-in-their-executive-ranks/

• Over 400,000 Corporate Credentials Stolen by Info-stealing Malware

Information stealers are malware that steal data stored in applications such as web browsers, email clients, instant messengers, cryptocurrency wallets, file transfer protocol (FTP) clients, and gaming services. The stolen information is packaged into archives called 'logs,' which are then uploaded back to the threat actor for use in attacks or sold on cyber crime marketplaces. Worryingly, employees use personal devices for work or access personal stuff from work computers, and this may result in many info-stealer infections stealing business credentials and authentication cookies. A report has found there are over 400,000 corporate credentials stolen, from applications such as Salesforce, Google Cloud and AWS. Additionally, there was a significant increase in the number containing OpenAI credentials; this is alarming as where AI is used without governance, the credentials may leak things such as internal business strategies and source code.

With such an array of valuable information for an attacker, it is no wonder incidents involving info stealers doubled in Q1 2023. Organisations can best protect themselves by utilising password managers, enforcing multi-factor authentication and having strict usage controls. Additionally, user awareness training can help avoid common infection channels such as malicious websites and adverts.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/over-400-000-corporate-credentials-stolen-by-info-stealing-malware/

https://www.scmagazine.com/news/infostealer-incidents-more-than-doubled-in-q1-2023

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Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Data Breaches Cost Businesses $4.5M on Average (darkreading.com)

• Deciphering The IBM Cost Of A Data Breach Report: A Statistical Perspective For Business Leaders (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Why CISOs Should Get Involved With Cyber Insurance Negotiation (darkreading.com)

• SEC now requires companies to disclose cyber attacks in 4 days (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Companies Must Have Corporate Cyber security Experts, SEC Says (darkreading.com)

• Companies encounter months-long delays in filling critical security positions - Help Net Security

• Why Today's CISOs Must Embrace Change (darkreading.com)

• Enterprises should layer-up security to avoid legal repercussions - Help Net Security

• Aligning Risk Appetite, Tolerance, And Thresholds With Business Planning: A Comprehensive Guide To Enterprise Risk Management (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Explaining risk maturity models and how they work | TechTarget

• Why cyber security should be part of your ESG strategy | Computer Weekly

• The old “trust but verify” adage should be the motto for every CISO | CSO Online

• Companies are rushing into generative AI without a cohesive, secure strategy - Help Net Security

• Few Fortune 100 Firms List Security Pros in Their Executive Ranks – Krebs on Security

• The critical cyber security backup plan too many companies are ignoring (cnbc.com)

• Protect Your Data Like Your Reputation Depends On It (Because It Does) (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Why Computer Security Advice Is More Confusing Than It Should Be (darkreading.com)

• Why whistleblowers in cyber security are important and need support | CSO Online

• The challenge of managing unlimited threats in a limited budget: cyber security experts comment | CSO Online

• 4 Cyber security Budget Management Tips (trendmicro.com)

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Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

• Clop now leaks data stolen in MOVEit attacks on clearweb sites (bleepingcomputer.com)

• MOVEit Vulnerability Investigations Uncover Additional Exfiltration Method (kroll.com)

• Clop Could Make $100m from MOVEit Campaign - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• The tail of the MOVEit hack may be longer than we realize | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Millions of people's healthcare files accessed by Clop gang • The Register

• Ransomware Attacks Skyrocket in Q2 2023 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Local Governments Targeted for Ransomware – How to Prevent Falling Victim (thehackernews.com)

• New Nitrogen malware pushed via Google Ads for ransomware attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Dozens of Organisations Targeted by Akira Ransomware - SecurityWeek

• Ransomware Spotlight: Play - Security News (trendmicro.com)

• The FBI's Cynthia Kaiser on how the bureau fights ransomware | CyberScoop

• Risk & Repeat: Are data extortion attacks ransomware? | TechTarget

• ALPHV ransomware adds data leak API in new extortion strategy (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Education Sector Has Highest Ransomware Victim Count - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Ransomware: Sophos says most universities pay | Times Higher Education (THE)

Ransomware Victims

• PwC has data leaked on the clear web - Cyber Security Connect

• Deloitte joins fellow Big Four MOVEit victims PWC, EY | Cybernews

• DHL investigating MOVEit breach as number of victims surpasses 20 million (therecord.media)

• Up to 11 Million People Hit by MOVEit Hack at Government Services Firm Maximus - SecurityWeek

• Millions of people's healthcare files accessed by Clop gang • The Register

• Tampa General Hospital Says Patient Information Stolen in Ransomware Attack - SecurityWeek

• Another Cl0p victim goes public | Cybernews

• Yamaha confirms cyber attack after multiple ransomware gangs claim attacks (therecord.media)

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Chinese Hackers Breached Ambassador’s Email - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• China’s Breach of Microsoft Cloud Email May Expose Deeper Problems | WIRED

• Stolen Microsoft key may have opened up more than inboxes • The Register

• KnowBe4 Phishing Test Results Reveal Half of Top Malicious Email Subjects Are HR Related (darkreading.com)

• The Email Threat Landscape, Q1 2023: Key Takeaways (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• How to avoid LinkedIn phishing attacks in the enterprise | TechTarget

• Windows 11 just got a big upgrade to protect you from phishing attacks — here’s how it works | Tom's Guide (tomsguide.com)

• Critical Infrastructure Workers More Likely to Detect and Report Phishing and Malicious Emails, Study Finds - MSSP Alert

BEC – Business Email Compromise

• Repeatable VEC Attacks Target Critical Infrastructure - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Artificial Intelligence

• The Dark Side of AI (darkreading.com)

• Blocking access to ChatGPT is a short term solution to mitigate risk - Help Net Security

• UN Security Council to hold first talks on AI risks | Reuters

• Companies are rushing into generative AI without a cohesive, secure strategy - Help Net Security

• ChatGPT, Other Generative AI Apps Prone to Compromise, Manipulation (darkreading.com)

• Lots of sensitive data is still being posted to ChatGPT | TechRadar

• Dark Web Markets Offer New FraudGPT AI Tool - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Top FBI officials warn of 'unparalleled' threat from China and AI | CyberScoop

• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Generative AI - SecurityWeek

• OpenAI, Meta and other tech firms sign onto White House AI commitments | FedScoop

• Intel's deepfake detector tested on real and fake videos - BBC News

• Are AI-Engineered Threats FUD or Reality? (darkreading.com)

• How is the Dark Web Reacting to the AI Revolution? (bleepingcomputer.com)

Malware

• Over 400,000 corporate credentials stolen by info-stealing malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Infostealer incidents more than doubled in Q1 2023 | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• The Alarming Rise of Infostealers: How to Detect this Silent Threat (thehackernews.com)

• Decoy Dog: New Breed of Malware Posing Serious Threats to Enterprise Networks (thehackernews.com)

• Rust-based malware used to hack both Windows and Linux servers - Neowin

• Rust-based Realst Infostealer Targeting Apple macOS Users' Cryptocurrency Wallets (thehackernews.com)

• Lazarus hackers hijack Microsoft IIS servers to spread malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• FIN8 is rewriting its backdoor malware to avoid detection | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• New Nitrogen malware pushed via Google Ads for ransomware attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New P2PInfect worm malware targets Linux and Windows Redis servers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• HotRat: New Variant of AsyncRAT Malware Spreading Through Pirated Software (thehackernews.com)

• Who and What is Behind the Malware Proxy Service SocksEscort? – Krebs on Security

Mobile

• Chinese-backed Hacking Group Launches Two Bugs Targeting Android Devices - MSSP Alert

• Spyhide stalkerware is spying on tens of thousands of phones | TechCrunch

• 5 steps to approach BYOD compliance policies | TechTarget

Botnets

• Hackers Target Apache Tomcat Servers for Mirai Botnet and Crypto Mining (thehackernews.com)

• Multiple DDoS Botnets Exploiting Recent Zyxel Vulnerability - SecurityWeek

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

• Critical UK Infrastructures in the crosshairs of DDoS attacks (link11.com)

• Zyxel users still getting hacked by DDoS botnet emerge as public nuisance No. 1 | Ars Technica

• Anonymous Sudan DDoS strikes dominate attacks by KillNet collective | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

BYOD

• 5 steps to approach BYOD compliance policies | TechTarget

Internet of Things – IoT

• Peloton Bugs Expose Enterprise Networks to IoT Attacks (darkreading.com)

• Microsoft previews  Defender for IoT firmware analysis service (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Axis Door Controller Vulnerability Exposes Facilities to Physical, Cyber Threats - SecurityWeek

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Deciphering The IBM Cost Of A Data Breach Report: A Statistical Perspective For Business Leaders (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Capita breach class action nears 1,000 sign-ups • The Register

• VirusTotal: We're sorry for mistake that exposed 5,000 users • The Register

• Deloitte joins fellow Big Four MOVEit victims PWC, EY | Cybernews

• NATO investigating apparent breach of unclassified information sharing platform | CyberScoop

• Tampa General Hospital Data Breach Impacts 1.2 Million Patients - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Australian Home Affairs cyber survey exposed personal data of participating firms | Data and computer security | The Guardian

• Data Breach Costs Hit Record High but Fall For Some - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Hacker Claims to Have Stolen Sensitive Medical Records from Egypt's Ministry of Health - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• BreachForums database and private chats for sale in hacker data breach (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Nice Suzuki, sport: shame dealer left your data up for grabs - Security Affairs

• Johns Hopkins hit with class action lawsuit connected to data breach - CBS Baltimore (cbsnews.com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• The New Summer Vacation Necessity: Cyber Hygiene (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• BreachForums database and private chats for sale in hacker data breach (bleepingcomputer.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• Cryptojacking soars as cyber attacks increase, diversify - Help Net Security

• Hackers Target Apache Tomcat Servers for Mirai Botnet and Crypto Mining (thehackernews.com)

• Cryptojacking: Understanding and defending against cloud compute resource abuse | Microsoft Security Blog

• Lazarus hackers linked to $60 million Alphapo cryptocurrency heist (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New Realst macOS malware steals your cryptocurrency wallets (bleepingcomputer.com)

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Dark Web Markets Offer New FraudGPT AI Tool - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Consumers demand more from businesses when it comes to security - Help Net Security

• CISOs gear up to combat the rising threat of B2B fraud - Help Net Security

• Booz Allen Pays $377m to Settle Government Fraud Case - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• MPs launch inquiry into prosecution of Norton Motorcycles pension fraud | Crime | The Guardian

Insurance

• Why CISOs Should Get Involved With Cyber Insurance Negotiation (darkreading.com)

• Brave New World of Cyber Insurance Meets Old-World Contract Principles | New Jersey Law Journal

Dark Web

• BreachForums database and private chats for sale in hacker data breach (bleepingcomputer.com)

• How is the Dark Web Reacting to the AI Revolution? (bleepingcomputer.com)

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• Capita breach class action nears 1,000 sign-ups • The Register

• DHL investigating MOVEit breach as number of victims surpasses 20 million (therecord.media)

• The tail of the MOVEit hack may be longer than we realize | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Up to 11 Million People Hit by MOVEit Hack at Government Services Firm Maximus - SecurityWeek

• Banking Sector Targeted in Open-Source Software Supply Chain Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Strengthening the weakest links in the digital supply chain - Help Net Security

• JumpCloud hack linked to North Korea after OPSEC mistake (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Supply Chain Attack Hits NHS Ambulance Trusts - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Software Supply Chain

• Two ambulance services in UK lost access to patient records after a cyber attack on software provider - Security Affairs

Cloud/SaaS

• China’s Breach of Microsoft Cloud Email May Expose Deeper Problems | WIRED

• Microsoft 365 Breach Risk Widens to Millions of Azure AD Apps (darkreading.com)

• JumpCloud hack linked to North Korea after OPSEC mistake (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Wiz Says 62% of AWS Environments Exposed to Zenbleed Exploitation - SecurityWeek

• The 4 Keys to Building Cloud Security Programs That Can Actually Shift Left (thehackernews.com)

• Ubuntu Linux Cloud Workloads Face Rampant Root Take Takeovers (darkreading.com)

Shadow IT

• NCSC Publishes New Guidance on Shadow IT - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Encryption

• The UK Government Is Very Close To Eroding Encryption Worldwide  | Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org)

• Apple could opt to stop iMessage and FaceTime services due to the government's surveillance demands - Security Affairs

• Hacking police radios: 30-year-old crypto flaws in the spotlight – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Researchers Find ‘Backdoor’ in Encrypted Police and Military Radios (vice.com)

API

• Reining in API sprawl | TechCrunch

• ALPHV ransomware adds data leak API in new extortion strategy (bleepingcomputer.com)

Open Source

• New OpenSSH Vulnerability Exposes Linux Systems to Remote Command Injection (thehackernews.com)

• Rust-based malware used to hack both Windows and Linux servers - Neowin

• Banking Sector Targeted in Open-Source Software Supply Chain Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• New P2PInfect worm malware targets Linux and Windows Redis servers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ubuntu Linux Cloud Workloads Face Rampant Root Take Takeovers (darkreading.com)

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

• CISA: Most cyber attacks on gov’ts, critical infrastructure involve valid credentials (therecord.media)

Social Media

• How to avoid LinkedIn phishing attacks in the enterprise | TechTarget

• Stanford researchers find Mastodon has a massive child abuse material problem - The Verge

Training, Education and Awareness

• Why are computer security guidelines so confusing? - Help Net Security

Travel

• The New Summer Vacation Necessity: Cyber Hygiene (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

Parental Controls and Child Safety

• Amazon agrees to $25 million fine for Alexa children privacy violations (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Stanford researchers find Mastodon has a massive child abuse material problem - The Verge

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• SEC now requires companies to disclose cyber attacks in 4 days (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Companies Must Have Corporate Cyber security Experts, SEC Says (darkreading.com)

• Amazon agrees to $25 million fine for Alexa children privacy violations (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Apple could opt to stop iMessage and FaceTime services due to the government's surveillance demands - Security Affairs

• OpenAI, Meta and other tech firms sign onto White House AI commitments | FedScoop

• EU Agrees On Common Position For Cyber Resilience Act To Enhance Security Of Digital Products (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

Data Protection

• More US States are ramping up data privacy laws in 2023 (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Protect Your Data Like Your Reputation Depends On It (Because It Does) (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

• Companies encounter months-long delays in filling critical security positions - Help Net Security

• UK Government Report Finds Cyber security Skills Gap Stagnant - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Bridging the cyber security skills gap through cyber range training - Help Net Security

• Overcoming the cyber security talent shortage with upskilling initiatives - Help Net Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

• The FBI's Cynthia Kaiser on how the bureau fights ransomware | CyberScoop

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

• More US States are ramping up data privacy laws in 2023 (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Amazon agrees to $25 million fine for Alexa children privacy violations (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Companies Need to Prove They Can Be Trusted with Technology (hbr.org)

• Ryanair Hit With Lawsuit Over Use of Facial Recognition Technology (darkreading.com)

Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda

• China Propaganda Spreads via US News Sites, Freelancers, Times Square (darkreading.com)

• Russia ‘using disinformation’ to imply Sweden supported Qur’an burnings | Sweden | The Guardian

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

Russia

• Anonymous Sudan DDoS strikes dominate attacks by KillNet collective | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Russian court jails cyber security executive for 14 years in treason case | Reuters

• Russia ‘using disinformation’ to imply Sweden supported Qur’an burnings | Sweden | The Guardian

• 69% of Russian gamers are pirating after Ukraine invasion pushback | Ars Technica

China

• Top FBI officials warn of 'unparalleled' threat from China and AI | CyberScoop

• China’s Breach of Microsoft Cloud Email May Expose Deeper Problems | WIRED

• Stolen Microsoft key may have opened up more than inboxes • The Register

• Chinese Hackers Breached Ambassador’s Email - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• The Chinese groups accused of hacking the US and others | Reuters

• Industrial Organisations in Eastern Europe Targeted by Chinese Cyber spies - SecurityWeek

• Chinese-backed Hacking Group Launches Two Bugs Targeting Android Devices - MSSP Alert

• China Propaganda Spreads via US News Sites, Freelancers, Times Square (darkreading.com)

• China-backed hackers suspected in NetScaler RCE attacks | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• US Senator Wyden Accuses Microsoft of ‘Cyber security Negligence’ - SecurityWeek

• China’s Wuhan Earthquake Center Suffers Cyber Attack - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

North Korea

• North Korean Cyber spies Target GitHub Developers (darkreading.com)

• JumpCloud hack linked to North Korea after OPSEC mistake (bleepingcomputer.com)

• GitHub warns of Lazarus hackers targeting devs with malicious projects (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Lazarus hackers hijack Microsoft IIS servers to spread malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Lazarus hackers linked to $60 million Alphapo cryptocurrency heist (bleepingcomputer.com)

• APT “Mysterious Elephant” Emerges in Q2 2023, Kaspersky Reports - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Misc/Other/Unknown

• Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs): Detection and Mitigation (blueteamresources.in)

• Part 1: Historic To 2022 – The APT And Logical Threats (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

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Vulnerability Management

• Google: 41 zero-day vulnerabilities exploited in 2022 | TechTarget

• CVSS 4.0 Is Here, But Prioritizing Patches Still a Hard Problem (darkreading.com)

• Want to live dangerously? Try running Windows XP in 2023 • The Register

• A step-by-step guide for patching software vulnerabilities - Help Net Security

Vulnerabilities

• Over 20,000 Citrix Appliances Vulnerable to New Exploit - SecurityWeek

• A flaw in OpenSSH forwarded ssh-agent allows remote code execution-Security Affairs

• Apple fixes new zero-day used in attacks against iPhones, Macs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Shadowserver reported that +15K Citrix servers are likely vulnerable to attacks exploiting the flaw CVE-2023-3519 - Security Affairs

• NetScaler RCE bug abused to pilfer critical infrastructure Active Directory data | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Ivanti patches MobileIron zero-day bug exploited in attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Zyxel users still getting hacked by DDoS botnet emerge as public nuisance No. 1 | Ars Technica

• Apache OpenMeetings Wide Open to Account Takeover, Code Execution (darkreading.com)

• Super Admin elevation bug puts 900,000 MikroTik devices at risk (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Norwegian government IT systems hacked using zero-day flaw (bleepingcomputer.com)

• VMware fixes bug exposing CF API admin credentials in audit logs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Major Security Flaw Discovered in Metabase BI Software – Urgent Update Required (thehackernews.com)

• Cyber security Agencies Warn Against IDOR Bugs Exploited for Data Breaches (thehackernews.com)

• Critical Zero-Days in Atera Windows Installers Expose Users to Privilege Escalation Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Atlassian RCE Bugs Plague Confluence, Bamboo (darkreading.com)

• Zenbleed attack leaks sensitive data from AMD Zen2 processors (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft shares fix for some Outlook hyperlinks not opening (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Critical Flaws Found in Microsoft Message Queuing Service - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• China-backed hackers suspected in NetScaler RCE attacks | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Study reveals silent Python package security fixes • The Register

• Windows 10 KB5028244 update released with 19 fixes, improved security (bleepingcomputer.com)

• VMware Patches Vulnerability Exposing Admin Credentials - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Wiz Says 62% of AWS Environments Exposed to Zenbleed Exploitation - SecurityWeek

• Multiple DDoS Botnets Exploiting Recent Zyxel Vulnerability - SecurityWeek

• Zimbra patches zero-day vulnerability exploited in XSS attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• WordPress Ninja Forms plugin flaw lets hackers steal submitted data (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Two flaws in Linux Ubuntu affect 40% of Ubuntu users - Security Affairs

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Tools and Controls

• Aligning Risk Appetite, Tolerance, And Thresholds With Business Planning: A Comprehensive Guide To Enterprise Risk Management (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Why cyber security should be part of your ESG strategy | Computer Weekly

• Lawyers take frontline role in business response to cyber attacks | Financial Times (ft.com)

• Explaining risk maturity models and how they work | TechTarget

• Microsoft enhances Windows 11 Phishing Protection with new features (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Shadow Coding Is An Intoxicating Shortcut—And A Security Landmine (forbes.com)

• Zero trust rated as highly effective by businesses worldwide - Help Net Security

• 50% of Zero Trust Programs Risk Failure According to PlainID Survey (darkreading.com)

• Google Chrome to offer 'Link Previews' when hovering over links (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Why are computer security guidelines so confusing? - Help Net Security

• Threat Intelligence Is Growing — Here's How SOCs Can Keep Up (darkreading.com)

• The challenge of managing unlimited threats in a limited budget: cyber security experts comment | CSO Online

• Shaping the future of digital identity - Help Net Security

• How to Put the Sec in DevSecOps (darkreading.com)

• Designing a Security Strategy for Defending Multicloud Architectures (darkreading.com)

• How Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR helps triage, investigate, and respond to cyberthreats | Microsoft Security Blog

• Converging networking and security with SASE - Help Net Security

• 5 steps to approach BYOD compliance policies | TechTarget

• KnowBe4 Phishing Test Results Reveal Half of Top Malicious Email Subjects Are HR Related (darkreading.com)

• Windows 11 just got a big upgrade to protect you from phishing attacks — here’s how it works | Tom's Guide (tomsguide.com)

• Artificial Intelligence Continues To Revolutionize Cyber security (forbes.com)

• Key factors for effective security automation - Help Net Security

• Microsoft previews Defender for IoT firmware analysis service (bleepingcomputer.com)

• The 4 Keys to Building Cloud Security Programs That Can Actually Shift Left (thehackernews.com)

• CISOs consider zero trust a hot security ticket - Help Net Security

• How a Cyber Security Platform Addresses the 3 “S” (trendmicro.com)

• 4 Cyber security Budget Management Tips (trendmicro.com)

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• The Email Threat Landscape, Q1 2023: Key Takeaways (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Cost of a data breach 2023 | IBM

• Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) | Europol (europa.eu)

• Q1 Report: Email Threat Trends Discover Q1 trends and stay ahead of email based threats. - VIPRE

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Other News

• Maritime Cyber attack Database Launched by Dutch University - SecurityWeek

• Google’s new security pilot program will ban employee Internet access | Ars Technica

• Inspiring secure coding: Strategies to encourage developers' continuous improvement - Help Net Security

• macOS Under Attack: Examining the Growing Threat and User Perspectives (thehackernews.com)

• Why whistleblowers in cyber security are important and need support | CSO Online

• Cyber crime as a Public Health Crisis (darkreading.com)

• 7 in 10 MSPs Name Data Security and Network Security As Their Top IT Priorities for 2023 (darkreading.com)

• TETRA Radio Code Encryption Has a Flaw: A Backdoor | WIRED

• World's most internetty firm tries life off the net • The Register

• Exam board cyber attack investigation: Teenager arrested (schoolsweek.co.uk)

• Companies Need to Prove They Can Be Trusted with Technology (hbr.org)

• Heart monitor manufacturer hit by cyber attack, takes systems offline (bitdefender.com)

• How do companies protect customer data? | TechTarget

• Cyber security Agencies Warn Against IDOR Bugs Exploited for Data Breaches (thehackernews.com)

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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

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 24 March 2023

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

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Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

• LockBit 3.0 Ransomware: Inside the Cyberthreat That's Costing Millions (thehackernews.com)

• UK Ransomware Incident Volumes Surge 17% in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Banks, Financial Sector Hit By Rising Ransomware Attacks - Bloomberg

• BianLian ransomware crew swaps encryption for extortion • The Register

• New victims come forward after mass-ransomware attack | TechCrunch

• Ransomware Gangs' Harassment of Victims Is Increasing (techrepublic.com)

• LockBit ransomware gang now also claims City of Oakland breach (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Free decryptor released for Conti-based ransomware following data leak | Tripwire

• New 'Trigona' Ransomware Targets US, Europe, Australia - SecurityWeek

• Ransomware Strongly Influencing SOC Modernization Strategies, Cybereason Research Shows - MSSP Alert

• US govt agencies released an alert on the Lockbit 3.0 ransomware- Security Affairs

• Security News This Week: Ring Is in a Standoff With Hackers | WIRED UK

• CISA kicks off ransomware vulnerability pilot to help spot ransomware-exploitable flaws | CSO Online

• Clop ransomware claims Saks Fifth Avenue, retailer says mock data stolen (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Researchers Shed Light on CatB Ransomware's Evasion Techniques (thehackernews.com)

• Why CISOs Are Looking to Lateral Security to Mitigate Ransomware | CIO

• Dole discloses employee data breach after ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ransomware Attacks Double in Europe's Transport Sector - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Prevent Ransomware with Cyber security Monitoring (trendmicro.com)

• Getting Ahead of the Ransomware Epidemic: CISA’s Pre-Ransomware Notifications Help Organisations Stop Attacks Before Damage Occurs | CISA

• Ferrari in a spin as crims steal customer data • The Register

• Play ransomware gang hit Dutch shipping firm Royal Dirkzwager- Security Affairs

• Hitachi Energy confirms data breach after Clop GoAnywhere attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• City of Toronto confirms data theft, Clop claims responsibility (bleepingcomputer.com)

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• 7 guidelines for identifying and mitigating AI-enabled phishing campaigns | CSO Online

• Just 1% of Dot-Org Domains Are Fully DMARC Protected - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

BEC – Business Email Compromise

• Security Researchers Spot $36m BEC Attack - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Other Social Engineering; Smishing, Vishing, etc

• Vishing Campaign Targets Social Security Administration - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Threat actors are experimenting with QR codes - Help Net Security

• Over 2400 Fake Pages Found Targeting Job Seekers in Middle East, Africa - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

2FA/MFA

• Massive Phishing Campaign Bypasses MFA and Mimics Microsoft Office (techrepublic.com)

• How Cyber-Criminals are Circumventing Multifactor Authentication - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Malware

• Emotet malware now distributed in Microsoft OneNote files to evade defences (bleepingcomputer.com)

• ChatGPT Polymorphic Malware Bypasses Endpoint Detection Filters (cybersecuritynews.com)

• RAT developer arrested for infecting 10,000 PCs with malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Google flags apps made by popular Chinese e-commerce giant as malware | TechCrunch

• Mispadu Banking Trojan Targets Latin America: 90,000+ Credentials Stolen (thehackernews.com)

• Custom 'Naplistener' Malware a Nightmare for Network-Based Detection (darkreading.com)

• New ShellBot DDoS Malware Variants Targeting Poorly Managed Linux Servers (thehackernews.com)

• ScarCruft's Evolving Arsenal: Researchers Reveal New Malware Distribution Techniques (thehackernews.com)

• Python info-stealing malware uses Unicode to evade detection (bleepingcomputer.com)

Mobile

• Nexus: A New Rising Android Banking Trojan Targeting 450 Financial Apps (thehackernews.com)

• The FBI Warns SIM Swapping Attacks Are Rising. What's That? - ReHack

• Android apps are spying on you — with no easy way to stop them | Digital Trends

• Your Samsung phone may have a big security flaw – here's how to stay safe | TechRadar

• UK emergency alert system launched to warn of life-threatening events - with test set for next month | UK News | Sky News

• Google Pixel phones had a serious data leakage bug – here’s what to do! – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• How to keep your phone safe from the scary Exynos modem vulnerability (androidpolice.com)

Botnets

• New GoLang-Based HinataBot Exploiting Router and Server Flaws for DDoS Attacks (thehackernews.com)

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

• New ‘HinataBot’ botnet could launch massive 3.3 Tbps DDoS attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• KillNet Group Uses DDoS Attacks Against Azure-Based Healthcare Apps - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Mirai Hackers Use Golang to Create a Bigger, Badder DDoS Botnet (darkreading.com)

• New ShellBot DDoS Malware Variants Targeting Poorly Managed Linux Servers (thehackernews.com)

Internet of Things – IoT

• Eufy security cam 'stored unique ID' of everyone filmed • The Register

• Google sounds alarm on Samsung modem bugs in Android devices • The Register

• EU Council extends product lifetime, clarifies scope in cyber security law – EURACTIV.com

• Tesco to ditch Chinese-made CCTV cameras over security and human rights fears (telegraph.co.uk)

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Complacency of staff to blame for data breaches (thesundaily.my)

• Hitachi Energy confirms data breach after Clop GoAnywhere attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Latitude customers are furious: some have had data hacked before through Medibank and Optus - ABC News

• Data breaches cost businesses nearly $6M on average: Mastercard | CTV News

• Healthcare provider ILS warns 4.2 million people of data breach (bleepingcomputer.com)

• NBA is warning fans of a data breach after a third-party newsletter service hack- Security Affairs

• Lowe’s Market chain leaves client data up for grabs- Security Affairs

• Ferrari discloses data breach after receiving ransom demand (bleepingcomputer.com)

• South Korea fines McDonalds for data leak from raw SMB share • The Register

• A million at risk from user data leak at Korean beauty platform PowderRoom- Security Affairs

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• New York Man Arrested for Running BreachForums Cyber crime Website - SecurityWeek

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• Fireblocks Discloses Critical Vulnerability in BitGo Ethereum Wallets - Decrypt

• General Bytes Bitcoin ATMs hacked using zero-day, $1.5M stolen (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Linus Tech Tips' YouTube Channel has been hacked by Crypto Scammers | OC3D News (overclock3d.net)

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Should Your Organisation Be Worried About Insider Threats? - IT Security Guru

• Top 5 Insider Threats to Look Out For in 2023- Security Affairs

• Preventing Insider Threats in Your Active Directory (thehackernews.com)

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Voice deepfakes are calling – here's what they are and how to avoid getting scammed (theconversation.com)

• Detecting face morphing: A simple guide to countering complex identity fraud - Help Net Security

• ‘My bank did not stop £6,500 payment to holiday scammers despite my pleas’ | Scams | The Guardian

• The FBI Warns SIM Swapping Attacks Are Rising. What's That? - ReHack

• Hackers inject credit card stealers into payment processing modules (bleepingcomputer.com)

Deepfakes

• Voice deepfakes are calling – here's what they are and how to avoid getting scammed (theconversation.com)

• Detecting face morphing: A simple guide to countering complex identity fraud - Help Net Security

Insurance

• SMBs don't see need for cyber insurance since they won't experience security incidents | ZDNET

• Cyber insurance carriers expanding role in incident response | TechTarget

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• Controlling Third-Party Data Risk Should Be a Top Cyber security Priority (darkreading.com)

• Companies vulnerable to cyber-attack via suppliers - research | RNZ News

• Why you should treat ChatGPT like any other vendor service - Help Net Security

• MITRE Rolls Out Supply Chain Security Prototype (darkreading.com)

Software Supply Chain

• Why Business Software Buyers Are Demanding Baked-in Security - MSSP Alert

Cloud/SaaS

• How access management helps protect identities in the cloud | VentureBeat

• Bitcoin ATM maker shuts cloud service after user hot wallets compromised (cointelegraph.com)

• The cloud backlash has begun: Why big data is pulling compute back on premises | TechCrunch

• Shouldering the Increasingly Heavy Cloud Shared-Responsibility Model (darkreading.com)

• 4 cloud API security best practices | TechTarget

• 8 cloud detection and response use cases | TechTarget

• How to Transfer Data Securely When Moving to the Cloud - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• The hidden danger to zero trust: Excessive cloud permissions • Graham Cluley

• New CISA tool detects hacking activity in Microsoft cloud services (bleepingcomputer.com)

• 4 Tips for Better AWS Cloud Workload Security (trendmicro.com)

Hybrid/Remote Working

• Bridging the cyber security readiness gap in a hybrid world - Help Net Security

Identity and Access Management

• How access management helps protect identities in the cloud | VentureBeat

• The impact of AI on the future of ID verification - Help Net Security

• Preventing Insider Threats in Your Active Directory (thehackernews.com)

• CISA, NSA push identity and access management framework as risks grow | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

API

• 4 cloud API security best practices | TechTarget

Open Source

• New ShellBot DDoS Malware Variants Targeting Poorly Managed Linux Servers (thehackernews.com)

• Open Source Vulnerabilities Still Pose a Big Challenge for Security Teams (darkreading.com)

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

• Okta Post-Exploitation Method Exposes User Passwords (darkreading.com)

Social Media

• BBC presses staff to uninstall TikTok from corporate kit • The Register

• TikTok cannot be considered a private company: report • The Register

• TikTok CEO plans rigorous defences in Congress against claims the app is a US security threat | CyberScoop

• Five brutal hours for TikTok: CEO raked over coals amid privacy, security concerns | CyberScoop

• Linus Tech Tips' YouTube Channel has been hacked by Crypto Scammers | OC3D News (overclock3d.net)

Training, Education and Awareness

• Complacency of staff to blame for data breaches (thesundaily.my)

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• Board Cyber Shortage: Don’t Get Caught Swimming Naked (forbes.com)

• ICO Reprimands Metropolitan Police for Data Snafu - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• EU Council extends product lifetime, clarifies scope in cyber security law – EURACTIV.com

• India’s infosec reporting rules observed by just 15 orgs • The Register

• Why Organisations Need To Go Beyond Federal Cyber security Compliance Standards (forbes.com)

Governance, Risk and Compliance

• How CISOs Can Work With the CFO to Get the Best Security Budget (darkreading.com)

• CIOs Build New Bonds With CISOs - WSJ

• How to best allocate IT and cyber security budgets in 2023 - Help Net Security

• IT security spending to reach nearly $300 billion by 2026 - Help Net Security

• Board Cyber Shortage: Don’t Get Caught Swimming Naked (forbes.com)

• How Your Cyber security Strategy Enables Better Business (trendmicro.com)

• 55 zero-day flaws exploited last year show the importance of security risk management | CSO Online

• How Can CISOs Connect With the Board of Directors? (darkreading.com)

• Achieving The Five Levels Of Information Security Governance (forbes.com)

• Enhance security while lowering IT overhead in times of recession - Help Net Security

• Why organisations shouldn't fold to cyber criminal requests - Help Net Security

Models, Frameworks and Standards

• Meta Proposes Revamped Approach to Online Kill Chain Frameworks (darkreading.com)

• MITRE Rolls Out Supply Chain Security Prototype (darkreading.com)

Backup and Recovery

• Data backup, security alerts, and encryption viewed as top security features - Help Net Security

• Top 5 security risks for enterprise storage, backup devices - Help Net Security

Data Protection

• Use of Meta tracking tools found to breach EU rules on data transfers | TechCrunch

• ICO Reprimands Metropolitan Police for Data Snafu - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

• How training and recognition can reduce cyber security stress and burnout | CSO Online

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

• RAT developer arrested for infecting 10,000 PCs with malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New York Man Arrested for Running BreachForums Cyber crime Website - SecurityWeek

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

• Eufy security cam 'stored unique ID' of everyone filmed • The Register

• Use of Meta tracking tools found to breach EU rules on data transfers | TechCrunch

• How to protect online privacy in the age of pixel trackers - Help Net Security

• Windows 11 Snipping Tool privacy bug exposes cropped image content (bleepingcomputer.com)

• French govt clears AI facial scans for Paris Olympics • The Register

Artificial Intelligence

• EU's AI regulation vote looms. We’re still not sure how unrestrained AI should be | Euronews

• ChatGPT Leaves Governments Scrambling for AI Regulations - Bloomberg

• ‘We are a little bit scared’: OpenAI CEO warns of risks of artificial intelligence | Artificial intelligence (AI) | The Guardian

• ChatGPT Polymorphic Malware Bypasses Endpoint Detection Filters (cybersecuritynews.com)

• Detecting face morphing: A simple guide to countering complex identity fraud - Help Net Security

• We need to create guardrails for AI | Financial Times (ft.com)

• GPT-4 devises plan to ‘escape’ by gaining control of a user's computer | Mint (livemint.com)

• Mastercard strengthens customer security with new AI ‘Cyber Shield’ | Mastercard Newsroom

• The impact of AI on the future of ID verification - Help Net Security

• 7 guidelines for identifying and mitigating AI-enabled phishing campaigns | CSO Online

• AI news latest: Google lets people talk to ‘Bard’ bot as ChatGPT taken offline after it goes haywire | The Independent

• Why you should treat ChatGPT like any other vendor service - Help Net Security

• Mozilla launches a new startup focused on ‘trustworthy’ AI | TechCrunch

• French govt clears AI facial scans for Paris Olympics • The Register

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

• Financial cyber threats heightened by ideologically motivated hacktivism amidst geopolitical tension | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Threat actors linked to nation-states exploited zero-days the most in 2022 | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• New Espionage Group 'YoroTrooper' Targeting Entities in European, CIS Countries - SecurityWeek

• Pro-Russian Winter Vivern APT Targets Governments and Telecom Firm - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Palantir: NHS trusts ordered to share patient data with US ‘spy-tech’ firm | openDemocracy

• Tesco to ditch Chinese-made CCTV cameras over security and human rights fears (telegraph.co.uk)

• Purported Chinese warships interfering with passenger planes • The Register

• Putin to staffers: throw out your iPhones over security • The Register

• Russia-backed Iridium Hackers Set to Launch Attacks on Ukrainian Government Sites - MSSP Alert

• Facebook Security Exec Seaford Hacked by Greek Predator Spyware (gizmodo.com)

• BBC presses staff to uninstall TikTok from corporate kit • The Register

• New 'Bad Magic' Cyber Threat Disrupt Ukraine's Key Sectors Amid War (thehackernews.com)

• Hacker tied to DC Health Link breach says attack 'born out of Russian patriotism' | CyberScoop

• Unknown actors target orgs in Russia-occupied Ukraine • The Register

• Xi, Putin, declare intent to rule the world of AI, infosec • The Register

• North Korean hackers using Chrome extensions to steal Gmail emails (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Fact or fiction, hacktivists' claims of industrial sabotage in Russia or Ukraine get attention online | CyberScoop

• Stealthy hacks show advancements in China's cyberespionage operations, researchers say | CyberScoop

• China-Aligned "Operation Tainted Love" Targets Middle East Telecom Providers - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Nation State Actors

• Financial cyber threats heightened by ideologically motivated hacktivism amidst geopolitical tension | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• Threat actors linked to nation-states exploited zero-days the most in 2022 | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• New Espionage Group 'YoroTrooper' Targeting Entities in European, CIS Countries - SecurityWeek

• Pro-Russian Winter Vivern APT Targets Governments and Telecom Firm - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Huawei Has Replaced Thousands of US-Banned Parts With Chinese Versions: Founder - SecurityWeek

• Tesco to ditch Chinese-made CCTV cameras over security and human rights fears (telegraph.co.uk)

• Purported Chinese warships interfering with passenger planes • The Register

• TikTok cannot be considered a private company: report • The Register

• Five brutal hours for TikTok: CEO raked over coals amid privacy, security concerns | CyberScoop

• BBC presses staff to uninstall TikTok from corporate kit • The Register

• Google flags apps made by popular Chinese e-commerce giant as malware | TechCrunch

• Putin to staffers: throw out your iPhones over security • The Register

• Russia-backed Iridium Hackers Set to Launch Attacks on Ukrainian Government Sites - MSSP Alert

• New 'Bad Magic' Cyber Threat Disrupt Ukraine's Key Sectors Amid War (thehackernews.com)

• Hacker tied to D.C. Health Link breach says attack 'born out of Russian patriotism' | CyberScoop

• Unknown actors target orgs in Russia-occupied Ukraine • The Register

• Xi, Putin, declare intent to rule the world of AI, infosec • The Register

• Chinese-linked hackers deployed the most zero-day vulnerabilities in 2022, researchers say | CyberScoop

• Fact or fiction, hacktivists' claims of industrial sabotage in Russia or Ukraine get attention online | CyberScoop

• The pressing threat of Chinese-made drones flying above US critical infrastructure  | CyberScoop

• Stealthy hacks show advancements in China's cyberespionage operations, researchers say | CyberScoop

• China-Aligned "Operation Tainted Love" Targets Middle East Telecom Providers - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Russian hacktivists deploy new AresLoader malware via decoy installers | CSO Online

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Vulnerability Management

• 55 zero-day flaws exploited last year show the importance of security risk management | CSO Online

• Hackers mostly targeted Microsoft, Google, Apple zero-days in 2022 (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Move, Patch, Get Out the Way: 2022 Zero-Day Exploitation Continues at an Elevated Pace | Mandiant

• From Ransomware to Cyber Espionage: 55 Zero-Day Vulnerabilities Weaponized in 2022 (thehackernews.com)

• Threat actors linked to nation-states exploited zero-days the most in 2022 | SC Media (scmagazine.com)

• 10 Vulnerabilities Types to Focus On This Year (darkreading.com)

• Vulnerability vs. Risk: How MSSPs Can Prioritize Remediating Cyber security Vulnerabilities - MSSP Alert

• What Is the Microsoft Print Spooler Vulnerability? - ReHack

• Chinese-linked hackers deployed the most zero-day vulnerabilities in 2022, researchers say | CyberScoop

• Windows 11, Tesla, Ubuntu, and macOS hacked at Pwn2Own 2023 (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Top 5 security risks for enterprise storage, backup devices - Help Net Security

• Open Source Vulnerabilities Still Pose a Big Challenge for Security Teams (darkreading.com)

Vulnerabilities

• Microsoft Outlook Vulnerability Could Be 2023's 'It' Bug (darkreading.com)

• CVE-2023-23397 Outlook exploit: "A proliferation event" (thestack.technology)

• Patch CVE-2023-23397 Immediately: What You Need To Know and Do (trendmicro.com)

• Cisco fixed severe vulnerabilities in its IOS and IOS XE software- Security Affairs

• Exploit released for Veeam bug allowing cleartext credential theft (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Experts published PoC exploit code for Veeam Backup & Replication bug- Security Affairs

• WordPress force patching WooCommerce plugin with 500K installs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Windows 11 bug warns Local Security Authority protection is off (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Bitwarden addresses autofill issue that could be exploited to steal logins - gHacks Tech News

• Hackers mostly targeted Microsoft, Google, Apple zero-days in 2022 (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft’s blunders with new Windows 10 update are causing serious headaches | TechRadar

• Microsoft: Defender update behind Windows LSA protection warnings (bleepingcomputer.com)

• ZenGo uncovers 'red pill attack' vulnerability in popular Web3 apps (cointelegraph.com)

• Windows 11 Snipping Tool privacy bug exposes cropped image content (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Patch Tuesday -> Exploit Wednesday: Pwning Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock (afd.sys) in 24 Hours (securityintelligence.com)

• If your Netgear Orbi router isn’t patched, you’ll want to change that pronto | Ars Technica

• Attackers Are Probing for Zero-Day Vulns in Edge Infrastructure Products (darkreading.com)

• Chinese-linked hackers deployed the most zero-day vulnerabilities in 2022, researchers say | CyberScoop

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Tools and Controls

• Data backup, security alerts, and encryption viewed as top security features - Help Net Security

• Majority of SMBs Lack Dedicated Cyber Experts, Incident Response Plan - MSSP Alert

• 55 zero-day flaws exploited last year show the importance of security risk management | CSO Online

• Complacency of staff to blame for data breaches (thesundaily.my)

• How access management helps protect identities in the cloud | VentureBeat

• Why CISOs Should Prioritize Extended Detection & Response (XDR) - VMware Security Blog - VMware

• The Ethics of Network and Security Monitoring (darkreading.com)

• Fighting VPN criminalization should be Big Tech’s top priority, activists say | Ars Technica

• Just 1% of Dot-Org Domains Are Fully DMARC Protected - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• How network perimeters secure enterprise networks | TechTarget

• Top 5 security risks for enterprise storage, backup devices - Help Net Security

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• State of Cybersecurity for Mid-Sized Businesses in 2023 | Huntress

• Move, Patch, Get Out the Way: 2022 Zero-Day Exploitation Continues at an Elevated Pace | Mandiant

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Other News

• Web Fingerprinting gets frighteningly good: sees through VPNs and Incognito Mode - gHacks Tech News

• Journalist plugs in unknown USB drive mailed to him—it exploded in his face | Ars Technica

• What Is Shoulder Surfing? How Does It Affect Cyber security (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Inside the DEA Tool Hackers Allegedly Used to Extort Targets (vice.com)

• Top ways attackers are targeting your endpoints - Help Net Security

• What Is a Dirty IP Address and How Does It Affect Your Security? (makeuseof.com)

• 5 rules to make security user-friendly - Help Net Security

• Techno-nationalism explained: What you need to know (techtarget.com)

• How Emerging Trends in Virtual Reality Impact Cyber security - IT Security Guru

• Pipeline Cyber security Rules Show the Need for Public-Private Partnerships (darkreading.com)

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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

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 10 June 2022

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

• Business Email Compromise (BEC) Attacks Have Risen 53% Year-Over-Year

Armorblox released a report which highlights the use of language-based attacks that bypass existing email security controls. The report uncovers how the continued increase in remote working has made critical business workflows even more vulnerable to new forms of email-based attacks, often resulting in financial fraud or credential theft.

Language-based attacks have become the new normal for business email compromise (BEC) with 74% of these attacks using language as the main attack vector.

Security teams spend a massive amount of time configuring rules and exceptions in their email security solutions to block impersonation emails – both for executives and other employees. Despite all of that manual work and rule writing, 70% of impersonation emails evaded email security controls.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/06/language-based-attacks-email-video/

• Ransomware Attacks Setting New Records

Zscaler released the findings of its annual ThreatLabz Ransomware Report, which revealed an 80 percent increase in ransomware attacks year-over-year.

In 2022, the most prevalent ransomware trends include double-extortion, supply chain attacks, ransomware-as-a-service, ransomware rebranding, and geo-political incited ransomware attacks. The report details which industries are being targeted the most by cyber criminals, explains the damage caused by double-extortion and supply chain attacks, and catalogues the most active ransomware groups operating today.

Modern ransomware attacks require a single successful asset compromise to gain initial entry, move laterally, and breach the entire environment, making legacy VPN and flat networks extremely vulnerable. Attackers are finding success exploiting weaknesses across businesses’ supply chains as well as critical vulnerabilities like Log4Shell, PrintNightmare, and others. And with ransomware-as-a-service available on the darkweb, more and more criminals are turning to ransomware, realising that the odds of receiving a big payday are high.

The tactics and scope of ransomware attacks have been steadily evolving, but the end goal continues to be a disruption of the target organisation and theft of sensitive information for the purposes of ransom. The size of the ransom often depends on the number of systems infected and the value of the data stolen: the higher the stakes, the higher the payment. In 2019, many ransomware groups updated their tactics to include data exfiltration, commonly referred to as a ‘double extortion’ ransomware.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/07/ransomware-attacks-increase/

• Hackers Are Now Hiding Inside Networks for Longer. That's Not a Good Sign

Cyber criminals are spending more time inside networks before they're discovered, and that's allowing them to do more damage.

The amount of time cyber criminal intruders are spending inside victims' networks is increasing, providing them with the ability to carry out higher complexity campaigns and more damaging cyber attacks.

According to analysis by cyber security researchers at Sophos, who examined incidents targeting organisations around the world and across a wide range of industry sectors, the median dwell time that cyber criminals spend inside compromised networks is now 15 days, up from 11 days the previous year.

Dwell time is the amount of time hackers are inside the network before they're discovered or before they leave – and being able to spend an increased amount of time inside a compromised network undetected means they're able to more carefully conduct malicious activity, such as monitoring users, stealing data or laying the foundations for a malware or ransomware attack.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/hackers-are-now-hiding-inside-networks-for-longer-thats-not-a-good-sign/

• Paying Ransomware Paints Bigger Bullseye on Target’s Back

Ransomware attackers often strike targets twice, regardless of whether the ransom was paid.

Paying ransomware attackers doesn’t pay off and often paints a bigger target on a victim’s back. Eighty percent of ransomware victims that paid their attackers were hit a second time by the malware scourge.

New ransomware numbers come from a Cybereason’s April ransomware survey of 1,456 cyber security professionals. According to the gated report (registration required), victims that were successfully extorted were not only targeted a second time, but frequently data encrypted by criminals later became unusable during the decryption process because of corruption issues.

The fact that ransomware gangs strike so quickly a second and third time isn’t surprising, because they will try to profit in any possible way so why not hit the same company, demand a higher ransom, and get paid again?

https://threatpost.com/paying-ransomware-bullseye-back/179915/

• Organisations Fix Only 1 in 10 Vulnerabilities Monthly

New research from SecurityScorecard features a couple of eye-popping “only” findings: Only 10 percent of vulnerabilities are remediated each month, and only 60 percent of companies have improved their security profile despite a 15-fold increase in the number of cyber incidents in the last three years.

That’s not good. The research, which sought to measure how long it took the 1.6 million organisations assessed to remediate vulnerabilities in the three-year period from 2019 to 2022, also found the following:

·       53% had at least one exposed vulnerability to the internet, while 22% of organisations amassed more than 1,000 vulnerabilities each, confirming more progress is required to protect organisations’ critical assets.

·       The financial sector is among the slowest remediation rates (median to fix 50% = 426 days), while utilities ranked among the fastest (median = 270 days).

·       Despite a 15-fold increase in exploitation activity for vulnerabilities with published exploit code, there was little evidence that organisations in the financial sector fixed exploited flaws faster.

·       The IT sector (62.6%) and public sector (61.6%) had the highest prevalence of open vulnerabilities.

·       The financial sector (48.6%) exhibited the lowest proportion of open vulnerabilities; however, there is less than a 10% difference between this and other sectors in terms of industries with the most open vulnerabilities.

·       It typically takes organisations 12 months to remediate half of the vulnerabilities in their internet-facing infrastructure.

·       When firms have fewer than 10 open vulnerabilities, it can take about a month to close just half of them, but when the list grows into the hundreds, it takes up to a year to reach the halfway point.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/organizations-fix-only-1-in-10-vulnerabilities-monthly/

• Cyber Attack Surface "Spiralling Out of Control"

Global organisations are still beset with cyber visibility and control challenges, with two-fifths (43%) admitting their digital attack surface is out of control as a result, according to new Trend Micro research.

The security vendor polled over 6200 IT and business decision-makers to compile its new study, ‘Mapping the digital attack surface: Why global organisations are struggling to manage cyber risk’.

It revealed that nearly three-quarters (73%) are concerned about the increasing size of their attack surface. Over a third (37%) said it is “constantly evolving and messy,” and just half (51%) thought they were able to fully define its extent.

These visibility challenges are greatest in cloud environments, although problems persist across the board. The report highlights complex supply chains, tool bloat and home working-driven shadow IT as additional contributory factors.

On average, respondents estimated having just 62% visibility of their attack surface.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cyberattack-surface-out-of-control/

• Phishing Hits All-Time High in Q1 2022

The first quarter of 2022 saw phishing attacks hit a record high, topping one million for the first time, according to data from the Anti Phishing Working Group (APWG).

The industry, law enforcement and government coalition’s new Phishing Activity Trends Report also revealed that March was the worst month on record for phishing, with 384,291 attacks detected.

The financial sector was the worst hit, accounting for 24% of all detected attacks, although webmail and SaaS providers were also popular targets.

Attacks spoofing retailers dropped 17% from the previous quarter to 15% following the busy holiday shopping season, while those against social media services rose significantly, from nearly 9% percent of all attacks to 13% over the same period.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/phishing-hits-all-time-high-q1/

• Ransomware's ROI Retreat Will Drive More BEC Attacks

Law enforcement crackdowns, tighter cryptocurrency regulations, and ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operator shutdowns are driving down the return on investment for ransomware operations across the globe.

A presentation at the RSA Conference last week laid out analysis of the ransomware threat landscape, predicting that there will be a pivot from ransomware toward renewed interest in basic business email compromise (BEC) attacks in the next 6 to 12 months.

Ransomware attacks grab headlines and have been supercharged by a few prolific RaaS operators, but crackdowns on just one group can make an enormous dent.

Ransomware is a centralised ecosystem with small numbers of operators responsible for the majority of attacks.

The recent disappearance of Pysa, left just two groups, Conti and Lockbit, with more than 50% of the share of the total ransomware attacks in the first half of 2022. BEC groups, on the other hand, are diffuse and scattered, making them much harder to eradicate.

Although they're not as quick to make the headlines, BEC attacks have cost business more than $43 billion since 2016, according to the FBI, and make up $1 out of every $3 lost to cyber attacks, far outpacing ransomware losses.

Ransomware has had a moment over the past couple of years, in part because once threat actors were able to abandon arcane wire transfers to collect ransoms and rely on cryptocurrency, caps on transactions were lifted and it became simple to collect much larger amounts. But new crypto regulations are chilling the ability of these cyber criminals to rely on its infrastructure to do business, adding "friction" to the transactions.

BEC attacks, by comparison, rely on social engineering to corrupt a business's financial supply chain to get employees to willingly part with the cash, making them exponentially harder to track and stop. 

https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/retreat-of-ransomware-roi-will-drive-bec-attacks-analyst-warns

• The Real Cost of Cyber Attacks: What Organisations Should Be Prepared For

With each passing year, hackers and cyber criminals of all kinds are becoming more sophisticated, malicious, and greedy conducting brazen and often destructive cyber-attacks that can severely disrupt a company’s business operations. And this is a big problem, because, first and foremost, customers rely on a company’s ability to deliver services or products in a timely manner. Cyber attacks not only can affect customers’ data, but they can impact service delivery.

Data breaches and costs associated with them have been on the rise for the past few years, but, according to a 2021 report, the average cost per breach increased from $3.86 million in 2020 to $4.24 million in 2021. The report also identified four categories contributing most global data breach costs – Lost business cost (38%), Detection and escalation (29%), Post breach response (27%), and Notification (6%).

Ransomware attacks cost an average of $4.62 million (the cost of a ransom is not included), and destructive wiper-style attacks cost an average of $4.69 million, the report said.

For a business, a data breach is not just a loss of data, it can also have a long-lasting impact on operations and undermine customers’ trust in the company. In fact, a survey revealed that 87% of consumers are willing to take their business elsewhere if they don’t trust a company is handling their data responsibly. Therefore, the reputational damage might be detrimental to a business’ ability to attract new customers.

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/articles/the-real-cost-of-cyber-attacks-what-organizations-should-be-prepared-for/

• Why Smishing and Vishing Attempts Surged In 2021

In The Human Factor Report 2022, security vendor Proofpoint found that SMS phishing (smishing) attacks more than doubled year-on-year in 2021. The report is based on their analysis of over 2.6 billion email messages, 49 billion URLs, 1.9 billion attachments, 28 million cloud accounts and 1.7 billion mobile messages.

The study details the most common attack surfaces and methods including categories of risk, vulnerabilities, attacks, Russian Aligned APT’s, and Privilege as a vector.

Key Findings:

• Managers and executives make up only 10% of users, but almost 50% of the most severe attack risk

• Attackers attempt to initiate more than 100,000 telephone-oriented attacks every day.

• Malicious URLS are 3-4x more common than malicious attachments.

• Smishing attempts more than doubled in the US over the year, while in the UK over 50% of lures are themed around delivery notification.

• More than 20 million messages attempted to deliver malware linked to eventual ransomware attack

• Data loss prevention alerts have stabilised as businesses adopt permanent hybrid work models.

• 80% of businesses are attacked by a compromised supplier account in any given month.

• 35% of cloud tenants that received a suspicious login also saw suspicious post-access activity.

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/expert-comments/why-smishing-and-vishing-attempts-surged-in-2021/

• Know Your Enemy! Learn How Cyber Crime Adversaries Get In…

Cyber security vendor Sophos dug into the incident reports of 144 real-life cyber attacks investigated by its Rapid Response team during 2021.

What they found might not surprise you, but it’s vital information nevertheless, because it’s what really happened, not merely what might have.

Notably:

• Unpatched vulnerabilities were the entry point for close to 50% of the attackers.

• Attackers stuck around for more than a month on average when ransomware wasn’t their primary goal.

• Attackers were known to have stolen data in about 40% of incidents. (Not all data thefts can be proved, of course, given that there isn’t a gaping hole where your copy of the data used to be, so the true number could be much higher.)

• RDP was abused to circumnavigate the network by more than 80% of attackers once they’d broken in.

Intriguingly, if perhaps unsurprisingly, the smaller the organisation, the longer the crooks had generally been in the network before anyone noticed and decided it was time to kick them out.

In businesses with 250 staff and below, the crooks stuck around (in the jargon, this is known by the quaintly archaic automotive metaphor of dwell time) for more than seven weeks on average.

This compared with an average dwell time of just under three weeks for organisations with more than 3000 employees.

As you can imagine, however, ransomware criminals typically stayed hidden for much shorter periods (just under two weeks, instead of just over a month), not least because ransomware attacks are inherently self-limiting.

After all, once ransomware crooks have scrambled all your data, they’re out of hiding and straight into their in-your-face blackmail phase.

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2022/06/07/know-your-enemy-learn-how-cybercrime-adversaries-get-in/

• Small Businesses Struggle with an Increase in Cyber Attacks

Part of the problem: They don’t believe they are targets, so they don’t make security a priority. Cyber attacks are becoming more common for small businesses, and many aren’t prepared to deal with an attack.

As small businesses have accelerated their adoption of new technologies for remote work, communication, production and sales during the pandemic, their expanded computer networks have created new vulnerabilities to phishing and ransomware attacks. But many small businesses still don’t expect to be targeted by hackers, so preparing for a cyber attack is well down their list of priorities.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/small-business-cyberattacks-increase-11654540786

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Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware attacks have increased by 80% year-over-year - Help Net Security

• How the Russia-Ukraine war makes ransomware payments harder | CSO Online

• How Poor Communication Opens the Door to Ransomware and Extortion (darkreading.com)

• Cuba ransomware returns to extorting victims with updated encryptor (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Vice Society gang adds the Italian City of Palermo to its data leak site - Security Affairs

• Qbot - known channel for ransomware - delivered via phishing and Follina exploit - Help Net Security

• Black Basta Ransomware Targets ESXi Servers in Active Campaign (darkreading.com)

• Mandiant: Cyber extortion schemes increasing pressure to pay (techtarget.com)

• Roblox Game Pass store used to sell ransomware decryptor (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Costa Rican government held up by ransomware … again • The Register

• Gloucester Council IT Systems Still Not Fully Operational Six Months After Cyber-Attack - Infosecurity Magazine

• BEEF ALERT: Ransomware Group Very Mad at Being Associated with Lavish Russian Hackers (vice.com)

• Ransomware Pressure Forcing UK CISOs to Consider Quitting - Infosecurity Magazine

BEC – Business Email Compromise

• Business Email Compromise Scams Are Poised to Eclipse Ransomware | WIRED

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Evasive phishing mixes reverse tunnels and URL shortening services (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Proofpoint: We Block Up to Two Million Extortion Emails Daily - Infosecurity Magazine

• Massive Facebook Messenger phishing operation generates millions (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Facebook phishing campaign nets millions in IDs and cash • The Register

Other Social Engineering

• Smishing and Vishing Attempts Surged in 2021 - Infosecurity Magazine

Malware

• Symantec sees more malware operators exploiting Follina • The Register

• Potent Emotet Variant Spreads Via Stolen Email Credentials | Threatpost

• Symbiote Malware Poses Stealthy, Linux-Based Threat to Financial Industry (darkreading.com)

• This advanced new malware strain leaves you practically defenceless | TechRadar

• Be on the lookout for this malware that hijacks your browser and generates bogus search results | PC Gamer

• MacOS malware attacks slipping through the cracks (techtarget.com)

• 11 infamous malware attacks: The first and the worst | CSO Online

• 9 types of computer virus and how they do their dirty work | CSO Online

Mobile

• Android June 2022 updates bring fix for critical RCE vulnerability (bleepingcomputer.com)

IoT

• New Privacy Framework for IoT Devices Gives Users Control Over Data Sharing (thehackernews.com)

• How to Compromise a Printer in Three Simple Steps | CrowdStrike

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Since 2004, the average American has had at least 7 data breaches (scmagazine.com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• World Economic Forum wants a global map of online crime • The Register

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs

• Threat actors exploit recently disclosed Atlassian Confluence flaw in cryptomining campaign - Security Affairs

• Researchers Detail How Cyber Criminals Targeting Cryptocurrency Users (thehackernews.com)

• 7 NFT Scams That Could Be Targeting Your Brand (darkreading.com)

• Hackers stole +$250,000 in Ethereum from Bored Ape Yacht ClubSecurity Affairs

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Pandemic-related identity fraud: How serious is it? - Help Net Security

• Apple Release 2021 Fraud Prevention Analysis- IT Security Guru

AML/CFT/Sanctions

• Information, AML/CFT steps are key to fighting international digital crime, DOJ report says (cointelegraph.com)

Insurance

• Microsoft flags common pitfalls for cyber insurance (techtarget.com)

Dark Web

• Dark web sites selling alleged Western weapons sent to Ukraine (bleepingcomputer.com)

Software Supply Chain

• 82% of CIOs believe their software supply chains are vulnerable - Help Net Security

• Boards, CEOs demand software supply chain security improvements - Help Net Security

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

• Major DDoS attacks increasing after invasion of Ukraine (techtarget.com)

Cloud/SaaS

• Cloud Security Tops Ransomware As Primary RSA Conference Attendee Concern - MSSP Alert

• Only 13.5% of IT pros have mastered security in the cloud native space - Help Net Security

• Is Cloud Security Losing Sight of Endpoints? - MSSP Alert

• OMIGOD: Cloud providers still using secret middleware • The Register

• Getting to grips with SaaS security - Help Net Security

Attack Surface Management

• Taming the Digital Asset Tsunami | Threatpost

Open Source

• Symbiote, a nearly-impossible-to-detect Linux malware - Security Affairs

Privacy

• Researchers Find Bluetooth Signals Can be Fingerprinted to Track Smartphones (thehackernews.com)

• New Privacy Framework for IoT Devices Gives Users Control Over Data Sharing (thehackernews.com)

Parental Controls and Child Safety

• Digital fingerprints of a million child abuse images made - BBC News

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

• US dismantled and seized SSNDOB cyber crime marketplace - Security Affairs

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

• “Cyber Spetsnaz” is Attacking Government Agencies - Security Affairs

• Russian Ministry Website Reportedly Hacked- IT Security Guru

• Ordinary Ukrainians wage war with digital tools and drones | Financial Times (ft.com)

• Ukraine's secret cyber-defence: Excellent backups • The Register

• Major DDoS attacks increasing after invasion of Ukraine (techtarget.com)

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Russia escalates threats against West in response to cyber attacks - CyberScoop

• Russia, China, oppose US cyber support of Ukraine • The Register

Nation State Actors – China

• Russia, China, oppose US cyber support of Ukraine • The Register

• Chinese hacking group Aoqin Dragon quietly spied orgs for a decade (bleepingcomputer.com)

• China Is "Scanning" One Of World's Most Surveilled City; Now Risks Being Blinded By A Bill In The UK Parliament (eurasiantimes.com)

• People’s Republic of China State-Sponsored Cyber Actors Exploit Network Providers and Devices | CISA

• US: Chinese govt hackers breached telcos to snoop on network traffic (bleepingcomputer.com)

Nation State Actors – Iran

• Microsoft seized 41 domains used by Iran-linked Bohrium APT - Security Affairs

• Iranian hackers target energy sector with new DNS backdoor (bleepingcomputer.com)

Nation State Actors – Misc APT

• State-Backed Hackers Exploit Microsoft 'Follina' Bug to Target Entities in Europe and US (thehackernews.com)

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Vulnerability Management

• CISA warning: Hackers are exploiting these 36 "significant" cyber security vulnerabilities - so patch now | ZDNet

• How CISA's list of 'must-patch' vulnerabilities has expanded both in size, and who's using it - CyberScoop

• Even the Most Advanced Threats Rely on Unpatched Systems (thehackernews.com)

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Vulnerabilities

• Windows zero-day exploited in US local govt phishing attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• DogWalk zero-day Windows bug receives patch - but not from Microsoft (bitdefender.com)

• Chrome 102 Update Patches High-Severity Vulnerabilities | SecurityWeek.Com

• NSA, FBI warning: Hackers are using these flaws to target VPNs and network devices | ZDNet

• Ubuntu Users Get a Massive Linux Kernel Update, 35 Security Vulnerabilities Patched - 9to5Linux

• Vulnerability discovered in Apple M1 chip • The Register

• Threat Actors Start Exploiting Meeting Owl Pro Vulnerability Days After Disclosure | SecurityWeek.Com

• Critical U-Boot Vulnerability Allows Rooting of Embedded Systems | SecurityWeek.Com

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Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

• Symbiote Malware Poses Stealthy, Linux-Based Threat to Financial Industry (darkreading.com)

Telecoms

• String of attacks on French telecom infrastructure preceded April attack on fiber optic cables (cyberscoop.com)

• US: Chinese govt hackers breached telcos to snoop on network traffic (bleepingcomputer.com)

• People’s Republic of China State-Sponsored Cyber Actors Exploit Network Providers and Devices | CISA

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• Healthcare-specific cyber security problems and how to address them - Help Net Security

• Data for 2 million patients stolen in largest healthcare breach so far of 2022 (scmagazine.com)

Retail/eCommerce

• Online gun shops in the US hacked to steal credit cards (bleepingcomputer.com)

Energy & Utilities

• Iranian hackers target energy sector with new DNS backdoor (bleepingcomputer.com)

• US Water Utilities Prime Cyber Attack Target, Experts | Threatpost

Education and Academia

• Ransomware attacks keeping the educational sector on its toes - Help Net Security

• Personal Information of Over 30,000 Students Exposed in Unprotected Database | SecurityWeek.Com

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• The Human Factor Report 2022 | Proofpoint US

• Router security report 2021 | Securelist

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Other News

• 'Shields Up': the new normal in cyberspace - CyberScoop

• 37 Major Companies and Organisations Pledge to Enhance Cyber Resiliency and Counter Evolving Global Threats (darkreading.com)

• This hacking group quietly spied on their targets for 10 years | ZDNet

• Identity-based Attacks and Living-of-the-land Tactics Represent Top Threats - MSSP Alert

• Over Half of CISOs Struggling for Board Investment - Infosecurity Magazine

• Cisco EVP: Cyber security poverty line is human-rights issue • The Register

• Zero trust segmentation eliminates 5 cyber disasters per year and saves $20+ million annually - Help Net Security

• Top three most critical areas of web security - Help Net Security

• How the Colonial Pipeline attack has changed cyber security | CSO Online

• Five Eyes alliance’s top cop: tech is the future of Policing • The Register

• The costs and damages of DNS attacks - Help Net Security

• An Emerging Threat: Attacking 5G Via Network Slices (darkreading.com)

• How AI Is Useful — and Not Useful — for Cyber security (darkreading.com)

• Only 43% of security pros can respond to critical alerts in less than an hour - Help Net Security

• Now Is the Time to Plan for Post-Quantum Cryptography (darkreading.com)

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 18 February 2022

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.

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Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

As Ukraine Tensions Rise, UK Organisations Should Protect Themselves From Cyber Threats

In a world that is so dependent on digital assets, cyber resilience is more important than ever. At the National Cyber Security Centre – a part of GCHQ – the mission is to make the UK the safest place to live and work online, but they have said they cannot do it alone. 

Now, at a time of heightened cyber threats, the NCSC is urging all organisations to follow their advice on the steps they should take to improve their resilience.

The UK is closer to the crisis in Ukraine than you might think. While 2,000-odd miles separate us physically from their borders with Russia, that distance is much shorter in cyber space – and attacks targeting Ukraine’s digital infrastructure could be felt here in Britain.

Cyber attacks do not respect geographic boundaries. On a daily basis, businesses in the UK are targeted by ransomware attacks from criminals overseas.

And as tensions have risen in Ukraine in recent weeks, authorities have already seen a number of cyber attacks occurring. On Friday evening, the UK government judged that the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) was involved in last week’s distributed denial of service attacks against the financial sector in Ukraine.

If the situation continues to escalate, we could see cyber attacks that have international consequences, intentional or not. Rising tensions in the region, with the risk of overspill, are why the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has said that the UK’s cyber risk has heightened in the last month, although there is no evidence of the UK being specifically targeted.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/19/uk-organisations-should-protect-now-unintended-consequences/

Small Businesses Facing Upwards of 11 Cyber Threats Per Day Per Device

BlackBerry's 2022 Threat Report highlights growing threats to SMBs, calls on government to make cyber security top priority

BlackBerry Limited has released the 2022 BlackBerry Annual Threat Report, highlighting a cybercriminal underground which it says has been optimised to better target local small businesses. Small businesses will continue to be an epicentre for cybercriminal focus as SMBs facing upward of 11 cyber threats per device per day, which only stands to accelerate as cybercriminals increasingly adopt collaborative mindsets.

The report also uncovered cyber breadcrumbs from some of last year’s most notorious ransomware attacks, suggesting some of the biggest culprits may have simply been outsourced labour.  In multiple incidents BlackBerry identified threat actors leaving behind playbook text files containing IP addresses and more, suggesting the authors of this year’s sophisticated ransomware are not the ones carrying out attacks. This highlights the growing shared economy within the cyber underground.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/02/15/small-businesses-facing-upwards-of-11-cyberthreats-per-day-per-device/

Microsoft Teams Targeted With Takeover Trojans

Threat actors are targeting Microsoft Teams users by planting malicious documents in chat threads that execute Trojans that ultimately can take over end-user machines, researchers have found.

Researchers began tracking the campaign in January, which drops malicious executable files in Teams conversations that, when clicked on, eventually take over the user’s computer, according to a report published Thursday.

Using an executable file, or a file that contains instructions for the system to execute, hackers can install DLL files and allow the program to self-administer and take control over the computer. By attaching the file to a Teams attack, hackers have found a new way to easily target millions of users.

Cyber criminals long have targeted Microsoft’s ubiquitous document-creation and sharing suite – the legacy Office and its cloud-based version, Office 365 – with attacks against individual apps in the suite such as PowerPoint as well as business email compromise and other scams.

Now Microsoft Teams – a business communication and collaboration suite – is emerging as an increasingly popular attack surface for cybercriminals.

https://threatpost.com/microsoft-teams-targeted-takeover-trojans/178497/

The European Central Bank is Warning Banks of Possible Russia-Linked Cyber Attack Amid the Rising Crisis With Ukraine

The European Central Bank is warning banks of possible Russia-linked cyber attack amid the rising crisis with Ukraine and is inviting them to step up defences.

The news was reported by Reuters, citing two unnamed sources. The ECB pointed out that addressing cyber security is a top priority for the European agency.

“The European Central Bank is telling euro zone banks zone to step up their defences against cyber attacks, also in the context of geopolitical tensions such as the stand-off between Russia and Ukraine, the ECB’s top supervisor said on Thursday.” reported Reuters.

ECB warned that the rising risk from cyber attacks begun in 2020.

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/128004/breaking-news/european-central-bank-warns-russia-cyberattacks.html

Companies Face Soaring Prices For Cyber Insurance

The cost of cyber insurance has risen steeply over the past year. According to Marsh, the price of cover in the US grew by 130 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2021 alone, while in the UK it grew by 92 per cent. That has increased pressure on companies who are facing cost inflation in other parts of their business.

The steep hikes in the cost of cyber insurance come against a backdrop of rising prices more broadly. According to Marsh, commercial insurance prices rose 13 per cent in the final quarter of 2021.

The hardening market from reduced capacity allied with increasing cyber fraud are potent forces. Pricing becomes more challenging, reinsurance appetite reduced whilst costs increasing and fraudsters have as much access to the latest technologies as do enterprises, the government sector and the insurance industry.

There may be limits to what insurers can cover. Speaking to the Financial Times last week the chief executive of Zurich said: “A connected economy offers lots of opportunities for cyber attacks.” A major cyber risk, he added, “is something only governments can manage”.

Companies will have to do more themselves to fight cyber fraud with technology partners. Meanwhile brokers and insurers must review underwriting data and practices and government raise effectiveness at prosecuting criminals.

https://www.ft.com/content/60ddc050-a846-461a-aa10-5aaabf6b35a5

Even When Warned, Businesses Ignore Critical Vulnerabilities And Hope For The Best

A Bulletproof research found the extent to which businesses are leaving themselves open to cyber attack. When tested, 28% of businesses had critical vulnerabilities – vulnerabilities that could be immediately exploited by cyber attacks.

A quarter of businesses neglected to fix those critical vulnerabilities, even though penetration testing had highlighted them to the business after a retest was completed.

The research analyzed data from over 3,800 days’ worth of penetration testing services. These tests are a means of identifying vulnerabilities within an organisation’s security systems by simulating how malicious actors would seek to exploit such shortcomings.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/02/18/businesses-critical-vulnerabilities/

Ransomware-Related Data Leaks Nearly Doubled in 2021: Report

There was a significant increase in ransomware-related data leaks and interactive intrusions in 2021, according to the 2022 Global Threat Report released on Tuesday by endpoint security firm CrowdStrike.

The number of ransomware attacks that led to data leaks increased from 1,474 in 2020 to 2,686 in 2021, which represents an 82% increase. The sectors most impacted by data leaks in 2021 were industrial and engineering, manufacturing, and technology.

The growth and impact of big game hunting in 2021 was a palpable force felt across all sectors and in nearly every region of the world. Although some adversaries and ransomware ceased operations in 2021, the overall number of operating ransomware families increased,” CrowdStrike said in its report.

https://www.securityweek.com/ransomware-related-data-leaks-nearly-doubled-2021-report

Online Fraud Skyrocketing: Gaming, Streaming, Social Media, Travel and Ecommerce Hit the Most

An Arkose Labs report is warning UK commerce that it faces its most challenging year ever. Experts analyzed over 150 billion transaction requests across 254 countries and territories in 2021 over 12 months to discover that there has been an 85% increase in login attacks and fake consumer account creation at businesses.

Alongside this, it identified that one in four new online accounts created were fake. A further 21% of all traffic was confirmed as a fraudulent cyber attack.

From the earliest days of online information to the rapid evolution of today’s metaverses, the internet has come a long way. However, this latest data shows that it is more under attack than ever before.

Your digital identity is a currency for fraudsters and wherever there is online commerce, cyber criminals are quick to identify vulnerabilities.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/02/14/fake-consumer-account/

Poor Security Hygiene Organisations and Ransomware Attacks: Painful Math

Poor cyber security hygiene is widely considered to be a major influencing factor for exposure to a ransomware attack. But is that an accurate assessment?

In a new study, RiskRecon, a security best practices specialist, investigated 600+ cyber hijacks to determine if companies victimized by a “detonation” had poor cyber security hygiene at the time and which factors, such as web encryption, application security and email security, are key gaps in coverage.

The answer: Cyber security hygiene does in fact play a large role in an organisation’s vulnerability to a ransomware attack. RiskRecon analyzed the cyber security hygiene on the day of ransomware incident for 622 organisations spanning 633 ransomware events occurring between 2017 and 2021. Based on a comparison population of cyber security ratings and assessments of some 100,000 entities, companies that have very poor cyber security hygiene in their internet-facing systems (a ‘D’ or ‘F’ RiskRecon rating) have about a 40 times higher rate of destructive ransomware events as compared to those with clean cyber security hygiene. Only .03 percent of ‘A-rated’ companies were victims of a destructive ransomware attack, compared with 1.08 percent of ‘D-rated’ and 0.91 percent of ‘F-rated’ companies.

The cyber security conditions underlying the RiskRecon rating reveal just how poor the cyber security hygiene is of companies, on average, that fall victim to a material system-encrypting ransomware attack. For example, ransomware victims have an average of 11 material software vulnerabilities in their internet-facing systems, in comparison with only one issue in the general population. Looking at network services that criminals commonly exploit, ransomware victims expose 3.3 times more unsafe network services to the internet than the general population.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/poor-security-hygiene-organisations-and-ransomware-attacks-painful-math/

Security Teams Expect Attackers to Go After End Users First

Phishing, malware, and ransomware have spurred organisations to increase their investments in endpoint security, according to Dark Reading’s Endpoint Security Survey.

The shift to a more distributed work environment and an increase in digital transformation initiatives have motivated organisations to bolster their endpoint security defences. However, end users continue to be a major source of worry for IT and security decision-makers, according to the latest Dark Reading survey.

Phishing, malware, and ransomware pose major threats to organisations, as do attacks involving credential theft. An overwhelming 93% of IT and security professionals in Dark Reading’s "2022 Endpoint Security Survey" cite the growing number of ransomware attacks as the reason behind increased investments in endpoint security. Similarly, 83% say the increase in attacks using end-user credentials spurred their endpoint investments.

End users pose one of the biggest threats to the organisation, as 87% expect that if attackers wanted to steal the organisation’s data, they would begin by targeting a single end user.

Concerns about the end user are not new. Verizon’s "2021 Data Breach Investigations Report" found that 85% of the breaches it investigated in 2020 involved end users in some way – such as stolen account credentials, incorrectly assigned privileges or elevated privileges, social engineering, and user error.

https://www.darkreading.com/edge-threat-monitor/end-users-remain-one-of-the-biggest-headaches-in-it-security

US Warns of Imminent Russian Invasion of Ukraine With Tanks, Jet Fighters, Cyber Attacks

President Biden said Friday he is convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine and that he expects an attack in the coming days, with targets including the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

US officials said a Russian attack could involve a broad combination of jet fighters, tanks, ballistic missiles and cyberattacks, with the ultimate intention of rendering Ukraine’s leadership powerless.

The officials said Mr. Putin has laid the groundwork in recent days through a series of destabilizing activities and false-flag operations, long predicted by U.S. and allied officials and intended to make it look as if Ukraine has provoked Russia into a conflict, thus justifying the Russian invasion.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-troops-told-to-exercise-restraint-to-avoid-provoking-russian-invasion-11645185631

TrickBot Malware Targeted Customers of 60 High-Profile Companies Since 2020

The notorious TrickBot malware is targeting customers of 60 financial and technology companies, including cryptocurrency firms, primarily located in the U.S., even as its operators have updated the botnet with new anti-analysis features.

TrickBot is a sophisticated and versatile malware with more than 20 modules that can be downloaded and executed on demand.

In addition to being both prevalent and persistent, TrickBot has continually evolved its tactics to go past security and detection layers. To that end, the malware's "injectDll" web-injects module, which is responsible for stealing banking and credential data, leverages anti-deobfuscation techniques to crash the web page and thwart attempts to scrutinize the source code.

Also put in place are anti-analysis guardrails to prevent security researchers from sending automated requests to command-and-control (C2) servers to retrieve fresh web injects.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/02/trickbot-malware-targeted-customers-of.html

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Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware’s Savage Reign Continues As Attacks Increase 105% - Help Net Security

• SonicWall CEO on ransomware: Every good vendor was hit in past 2 years - The Register

• Are You Prepared for 2022's More Destructive Ransomware? | SecurityWeek.Com

• CISA Advisory Cautions MSPs: Beware More Ransomware Attacks - MSSP Alert

• Conti Ransomware Gang Takes Over Trickbot Malware Operation (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ransomware Gangs Are Changing Their Tactics. That Could Prove Very Expensive For Some Victims | ZDNet

• FBI Eyes Ransomware Profits With New Cryptocurrency Crimes Unit | TechCrunch

• FBI Warns BlackByte Ransomware Is Targeting US Critical Infrastructure | TechCrunch

• Ransomware Is A Clear And Present Danger. So Why Rely On Legacy DR To Recover From It? • The Register

BEC – Business Email Compromise

• FBI Warns of BEC Scams Abusing Virtual Meeting Platforms | SecurityWeek.Com

Phishing & Email

• LinkedIn Phishing Attacks Up 232% | Phishing | Egress

• Half Of All Emails In 2021 Were Spam- IT Security Guru

• Microsoft Warns of 'Ice Phishing' Threat on Web3 and Decentralized Networks (thehackernews.com)

Malware

• Emotet Now Spreading Through Malicious Excel Files | Threatpost

• A Modern Ninja: Evasive Trickbot Attacks Customers of 60 High-Profile Companies - Check Point Research

• PseudoManuscrypt Malware Spreading the Same Way as CryptBot Targets Koreans (thehackernews.com)

• Baby Golang-Based Botnet Already Pulling in $3K/Month for Operators | Threatpost

• 25 Years On, Microsoft Makes Another Stab At Stopping Macro Malware • Graham Cluley

• Three-Fifths of Cyber-Attacks in 2021 Were Malware-Free - Infosecurity Magazine

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Millions of Internet Society Personal Files Exposed In Data Leak | Laptop Mag

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• 74% of Ransomware Revenue Goes to Russia-Linked Hackers - BBC News

• Interpol Must Change With Cyber Crime, Says Director • The Register

• Attackers Hone Their Playbooks, Become More Agile (darkreading.com)

• Cyber Criminals Have Changed Tactics (darkreading.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

• ‘Heist Of The Century’: US Bitcoin Case Tests Ability To Crack Down On Cyber Crime | Law (US) | The Guardian

• SIM-Swapping Attacks, Many Aimed at Crypto Accounts, Are on the Rise - WSJ

• FBI Says Crypto Payments Are a 'Huge Challenge' Amid Rise in Ransomware Attacks - Decrypt

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• The Rise Of The Super Malicious Insider: Yes, We Need To Worry - Help Net Security

• Finance Officer Jailed After Stealing £200,000 from Charity - Infosecurity Magazine

• Ex IT Tech Jailed For Wiping School Network During Lockdown • The Register

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Barclays: Scams Surged in Final Quarter of 2021 - Infosecurity Magazine

• Fraud and Scam Activity Hits All-Time High - Help Net Security

• Soaring Losses Accelerate Investments In Anti-Fraud Tech - Help Net Security

• Threat Actors Still Love a Romance Scam - Infosecurity Magazine

• Singapore Introduces Strong Measures To Stop Online Scams • The Register

• 7 Tips for How To Spot a Scammer and Protect Yourself | Well+Good

DoS/DDoS

• Ukraine Defence and Bank Networks DDoS-ed - Infosecurity Magazine

• Carpet Bombing Attacks on the Rise - Infosecurity Magazine

Nation State Actors

• Russia’s Offensive Cyber Actions Should Be A Cause For Concern For CISOs | CSO Online

• Russia Stole US Defense Data From IT Systems, Says CISA • The Register

• Cyber Security: These Countries Are The New Hacking Threats To Fear As Offensive Campaigns Escalate | ZDNet

• Researchers Link ShadowPad Malware Attacks to Chinese Ministry and PLA (thehackernews.com)

• Chinese MI6 Informant Gave Information To MPs About Huawei Threat | Huawei | The Guardian

• Red Cross Attributes Server Breach To Nation-State Actor - CyberScoop

• Iranian Hackers Targeting VMware Horizon Log4j Flaws to Deploy Ransomware (thehackernews.com)

Cloud

• Report: 63% of IT Pros Say Cyber Threats Are Top Obstacle To Cloud Adoption Strategy | VentureBeat

• EU Watchdog To Probe Public Sector's Love Affair With Cloud • The Register

Privacy

• Facebook Agrees to Pay $90 Million to Settle Decade-Old Privacy Violation Case (thehackernews.com)

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare

• How a Russia Cyber Attack On The UK Would Target Online Shopping, Card Payments And NHS Records (inews.co.uk)

• The Conflict In Ukraine Proves Cyber-Attacks Are Now Weapons Of War (thenextweb.com)

• Cyber, War and Ukraine: What Does Recent History Teach Us To Expect? | Science & Tech News | Sky News

• Cyber Warfare In Ukraine Poses A Threat To The Global System | Financial Times (ft.com)

• EU Data Protection Watchdog Calls for Ban on Pegasus-like Commercial Spyware (thehackernews.com)

• More Polish Opposition Figures Found To Have Been Targeted By Pegasus Spyware | Poland | The Guardian

• Using Mobile Networks For Cyber Attacks As Part Of A Warfare Strategy - Help Net Security

• Moses Staff Hackers Targeting Israeli Organisations for Cyber Espionage (thehackernews.com)

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Vulnerabilities

• Squirrelwaffle, Microsoft Exchange Server Vulnerabilities Exploited For Financial Fraud | ZDNet

• Attackers Can Crash Cisco Email Security Appliances by Sending Malicious Emails (thehackernews.com)

• New Chrome 0-Day Bug Under Active Attack – Update Your Browser ASAP! (thehackernews.com)

• Multiple Vulnerabilities Put 40 Million Ubuntu Users At Risk | TechRadar

• Critical Flaw Uncovered in WordPress Backup Plugin Used by Over 3 Million Sites (thehackernews.com)

• High-Severity Vulnerability Found in Apache Database System Used by Major Firms | SecurityWeek.Com

• VMware Fixes Holes That Could Allow Virtual Machine Escapes – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Another Critical RCE Discovered in Adobe Commerce and Magento Platforms (thehackernews.com)

• T2 Mac Security Vulnerability: Passwords Can Now Be Cracked - 9to5Mac

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Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

• Open Banking Innovation: A Race Between Developers And Cyber Criminals - Help Net Security

• Canada's Major Banks Go Offline In Mysterious Hours-Long Outage (bleepingcomputer.com)

Defence

• US Says Russian State Hackers Lurked In Defense Contractor Networks For Months | Ars Technica

Transport and Aviation

• Warning Over Mysterious Hackers That Have Been Targeting Aerospace And Defence Industries For Years | ZDNet

• Unskilled Hacker Linked To Years Of Attacks On Aviation, Transport Sectors (bleepingcomputer.com)

Energy & Utilities

• Energy, Oil And Utility Sector Most Likely To Pay Ransoms - Help Net Security

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• 2022 Global Threat Report: A Year of Adaptability and Perseverance (crowdstrike.com)

• Threat Intelligence Report 2022: Cyber Security Priorities - Truesec

• The Year of Living Dangerously: Details from the BlackBerry 2022 Threat Report

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Other News

• Over 28,000 Vulnerabilities Disclosed in 2021: Report | SecurityWeek.Com

• Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) Can't Give Organisations The Security They Need - Help Net Security

• How Challenging Is Corporate Data Protection? - Help Net Security

• Local Authority Sets Aside £380k for Cyber-Attack Recovery - Infosecurity Magazine

• Traditional MFA Is Creating A False Sense Of Security - Help Net Security

• Massive LinkedIn Phishing, Bot Attacks Feed on the Job-Hungry | Threatpost

• Be Flexible About Where People Work — But Not on Data Privacy (darkreading.com)

• Researchers Block “Largest Ever” Bot Attack - Infosecurity Magazine

• BadUSB: The Cyber Threat That Gets You To Plug It In – CloudSavvy IT

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 21 January 2022

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.

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Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Cyber Risks Top Worldwide Business Concerns In 2022

Cyber perils are the biggest concern for companies globally in 2022, according to the Allianz Risk Barometer. The threat of ransomware attacks, data breaches or major IT outages worries companies even more than business and supply chain disruption, natural disasters or the COVID-19 pandemic, all of which have heavily affected firms in the past year.

Cyber incidents tops the Allianz Risk Barometer for only the second time in the survey’s history (44% of responses), Business interruption drops to a close second (42%) and Natural catastrophes ranks third (25%), up from sixth in 2021. Climate change climbs to its highest-ever ranking of sixth (17%, up from ninth), while Pandemic outbreak drops to fourth (22%).

The annual survey incorporates the views of 2,650 experts in 89 countries and territories, including CEOs, risk managers, brokers and insurance experts. View the full global and country risk rankings.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/20/cyber-concern-2022/

Bosses Think That Security Is Taken Care Of: CISOs Aren't So Sure

The World Economic Forum warns about a significant gap in understanding between C-suites and information security staff - but it's possible to close the gap.

Organisations could find themselves at risk from cyberattacks because of a significant gap between the views of their own security experts and the boardroom.

The World Economic Forum's new report, The Global Cyber Security Outlook 2022, warns there are big discrepancies between bosses and information security personnel when it comes to the state of cyber resilience within organisations.

According to the paper, 92% of business executives surveyed agree that cyber resilience is integrated into enterprise risk management strategies – or in other words, protecting the organisation against falling victim to a cyberattack, or mitigating the incident so it doesn't result in significant disruption.

However, only 55% of security-focused executives believe that cyber resilience is integrated into risk management strategies – indicating a significant divide in attitudes to cyber security.

This gap can leave organisations vulnerable to cyberattacks, because boardrooms believe enough has been done in order to mitigate threats, while in reality there could be unconsidered vulnerabilities or extra measures put in place.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/managers-think-their-systems-are-unbreakable-cybersecurity-teams-arent-so-sure/

Fraud Is On the Rise, and It's Going to Get Worse

The acceleration of the digital transformation resulted in a surge of online transactions, greater adoption of digital payments, and increased fraud.

As more daily activities — work, education, shopping, and entertainment — shift online, fraud is also on the rise. A trio of recent reports paint a bleak picture, highlighting concerns that companies are experiencing increasing losses from fraud and that the situation will get worse over the coming year.

In KPMG's survey of senior risk executives, 67% say their companies have experienced external fraud in the past 12 months, and 38% expect the risk of fraud committed by external perpetrators to somewhat increase in the next year. External fraud, which includes credit card fraud and identity theft, is specifically referring to incidents perpetuated by individuals outside the company. For most of these respondents, there was a financial impact: Forty-two percent say their organisations experienced 0.5% to 1% of loss as a result of fraud and cybercrime.

https://www.darkreading.com/edge-articles/fraud-is-on-the-rise-and-its-going-to-get-worse

Two-Fifths of Ransomware Victims Still Paying Up

Two-fifths (39%) of ransomware victims paid their extorters over the past three years, with the majority of these spending at least $100,000, according to new Anomali research.

The security vendor hired The Harris Poll to complete its Cyber Resiliency Survey – interviewing 800 security decision-makers in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, the UAE, Mexico and Brazil.

Some 87% said their organisation had been the victim of a successful attack resulting in damage, disruption, or a breach since 2019. However, 83% said they’d experienced more attacks since the start of the pandemic.

Over half (52%) were ransomware victims, with 39% paying up. Of these, 58% gave their attackers between $100,000 and $1m, while 7% handed over more than $1m.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/two-fifths-ransomware-victims/

Less Than a Fifth of Cyber Leaders Feel Confident Their Organisation is Cyber-Resilient

Less than one-fifth (17%) of cyber leaders feel confident that their organisations are cyber-resilient, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s inaugural Global Cyber Security Outlook 2022 report.

The study, written in collaboration with Accenture, revealed there is a wide perception gap between business executives and security leaders on the issue of cyber security. For example, 92% of businesses believe cyber-resilience is integrated into their enterprise risk-management strategies, compared to just 55% of cyber leaders.

This difference in attitude appears to be having worrying consequences. The WEF said that many security leaders feel that they are not consulted in security decisions, and only 68% believe cyber-resilience forms a major part of their organisation’s overall corporate risk management.

In addition, over half (59%) of all cyber leaders admitted they would find it challenging to respond to a cyber security incident due to a shortage of skills within their team.

Supply chain security was another major concern among cyber leaders, with almost nine in 10 (88%) viewing SMEs as a key threat to supply chains.

Interestingly, 59% of cyber leaders said cyber-resilience and cyber security are synonymous, with the differences not well understood.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cyber-leaders-organisation/

Endpoint Malware And Ransomware Detections Hit All-Time High

Endpoint malware and ransomware detections surpassed the total volume seen in 2020 by the end of Q3 2021, according to researchers at the WatchGuard Threat Lab. In its latest report, WatchGuard also highlights that a significant percentage of malware continues to arrive over encrypted connections.

While zero-day malware increased by just 3% to 67.2% in Q3 2021, the percentage of malware that arrived via Transport Layer Security (TLS) jumped from 31.6% to 47%. Data shows that many organisations are not decrypting these connections and therefore have poor visibility into the amount of malware hitting their networks.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/20/endpoint-malware-ransomware-detections-q3-2021/

End Users Remain Organisations' Biggest Security Risk

With the rapid adoption of hybrid working environments and increased attacks, IT and security professionals worry that future data breaches will most likely be the result of end users who are negligent of or break security policy, according to a recent Dark Reading survey. The percentage of respondents in Dark Reading's 2021 Strategic Security Survey who perceive users breaking policy as the biggest risk fell slightly, however, from 51% in 2020 to 48% in 2021. Other potential issues involving end users showed improvements as well, with social engineering falling in concern from 20% to 15% and remote work worries halving from 26% to 13%.

While this trend is positive, it's unclear where the increased confidence comes from, since more people now report ineffective end-user security awareness training (11%, to 2020's 7%).

Respondents shared their heightened concern about well-funded attacks. In 2021, 25% predicted an attack targeted at their organisations (a rise from 2020, when 20% said the same), and fear of a nation-state-sponsored action rose to 16% from 9% the year before. Yet only 16% reported sophisticated, automated malware as a top concern, a 10% drop from 2020, and fear of a gap between security and IT advances only merited 9%. A tiny 3% worried that their security tools wouldn't work well together, dropping from the previous year's 10%.

https://www.darkreading.com/edge-threat-monitor/despite-rise-of-third-party-concerns-end-users-still-the-biggest-security-risk

Supply Chain Disruptions Rose In 2021

56% of businesses experienced more supply chain disruptions in 2021 than 2020, a Hubs report reveals.

Last year was marked by a number of challenges, including computer chip shortages, port congestion, the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, logistics impediments, and energy crises, though with every hurdle faced, solutions are being sought. It is increasingly clear that while certain risks are hard to anticipate and difficult to plan for, it is possible to mitigate the effects of supply chain disruptions by establishing a robust and agile supply chain.

Over 98% of global companies are now planning to boost the resilience of their manufacturing supply chains, however, 37% have yet to implement any measures. As businesses develop long term strategies, over 57% of companies say diversification of their supply chains is the most effective way of building resilience. This report explores last year’s most disruptive events, how disruptions have changed over time, industry trends and strategies for strengthening manufacturing supply chains.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/19/supply-chain-disruptions-2021/

Red Cross Begs Attackers Not to Leak Stolen Data for 515K People

A cyber attack forced the Red Cross to shut down IT systems running the Restoring Family Links system, which reunites families fractured by war, disaster or migration. UPDATE: The ICRC says it’s open to confidentially communicating with the attacker.

The Red Cross is imploring threat actors to show mercy by abstaining from leaking data belonging to 515,000+ “highly vulnerable” people. The data was stolen from a program used to reunite family members split apart by war, disaster or migration.

“While we don’t know who is responsible for this attack, or why they carried it out, we do have this appeal to make to them,” Robert Mardini, the director general of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), said in a release on Wednesday. “Your actions could potentially cause yet more harm and pain to those who have already endured untold suffering. The real people, the real families behind the information you now have are among the world’s least powerful. Please do the right thing. Do not share, sell, leak or otherwise use this data.”

https://threatpost.com/red-cross-begs-attackers-not-to-leak-515k-peoples-stolen-data/177799/

DHL Dethrones Microsoft As Most Imitated Brand In Phishing Attacks

DHL was the most imitated brand in phishing campaigns throughout Q4 2021, pushing Microsoft to second place, and Google to fourth.

This isn't surprising considering that the final quarter of every year includes the Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas shopping season, so phishing lures based on package deliveries naturally increase.

DHL is an international package delivery and express mail service, delivering over 1.6 billion parcels per year.

As such, phishing campaigns impersonating the brand have good chances of reaching people who are waiting for a DHL package to arrive during the holiday season.

The specific lures range from a package that is stuck at customs and requires action for clearance to supposed tracking numbers that hide inside document attachments or embedded links.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/dhl-dethrones-microsoft-as-most-imitated-brand-in-phishing-attacks/

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Threats

Ransomware

• New White Rabbit Ransomware Linked To FIN8 Hacking Group (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Conti Ransomware Gang Started Leaking Files Stolen From Bank Indonesia - Security Affairs

• This New Ransomware Comes With A Small But Dangerous Payload | ZDNet

• FBI Warning: This New Ransomware Makes Demands Of Up To $500,000 | ZDNet

• Experts Warn Of Attacks Using A New Linux Variant Of SFile Ransomware - Security Affairs

• SEC Filing Reveals Fortune 500 Firm Targeted in Ransomware Attack | Threatpost

• FBI Warns Organisations of Diavol Ransomware Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com

• Marketing Giant RRD Confirms Data Theft In Conti Ransomware Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• After Ransomware Arrests, Some Dark Web Criminals Are Getting Worried | ZDNet

BEC – Business Email Compromise

• Nigerian Authorities Arrest 11 Members of Prolific BEC Fraud Group | SecurityWeek.Com

Phishing

• Phishing Impersonates Shipping Giant Maersk To Push STRRAT Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• #COVID19 Phishing Emails Surge 500% on Omicron Concerns - Infosecurity Magazine

• Financially Motivated Earth Lusca Threat Actors Targets Orgs Worldwide - Security Affairs

Malware

• Microsoft Details Recent Damaging Malware Attacks on Ukrainian Organisations (darkreading.com)

• Custom-Written Malware Discovered Across Windows, MacOS, And Linux Systems | TechSpot

• Backdoor RAT for Windows, macOS, and Linux went undetected until now | Ars Technica

• Ukraine: Wiper Malware Masquerading As Ransomware Hits Government Organisations - Help Net Security

• Russian Hackers Heavily Using Malicious Traffic Direction System to Distribute Malware (thehackernews.com)

• Linux Malware Is On The Rise. Here Are Three Top Threats Right Now | ZDNet

• Malware That Can Survive OS Reinstalls Strikes Again, Likely for Cyber Espionage | PCMag

• New MoonBounce UEFI Malware Used By Apt41 In Targeted Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Exposed Records Exceeded 40 Billion In 2021 - Help Net Security

• European Regulators Hand Out €1.1bn in GDPR Fines - Infosecurity Magazine

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Financially Motivated Earth Lusca Threat Actors Targets Orgs Worldwide - Security Affairs

• A Hacker Is Negotiating With Victims on the Blockchain After $1.4M Heist (vice.com)

• FBI & European Police Take Down Computer Servers Used In Major Cyberattacks Worldwide - CNNPolitics

• Europol Shuts Down VPNLab, Cyber Criminals' Favourite VPN Service (thehackernews.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

• 2FA Bypassed in $34.6M Crypto.com Heist | Threatpost

• Cyber Criminals Actively Target VMware vSphere with Cryptominers | Threatpost

• New BHUNT Password Stealer Malware Targeting Cryptocurrency Wallets (thehackernews.com)

• Cheap Malware Is Behind A Rise In Attacks On Cryptocurrency Wallets | ZDNet

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Research: Why Employees Violate Cyber Security Policies (hbr.org)

• What CISOs Can Learn About Insider Threats From Iran's Human Espionage Tactics | CSO Online

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• How Buy Now, Pay Later Is Being Targeted By Fraudsters - Help Net Security

• Romance Scammer Who Targeted 670 Women Gets 28 Months In Jail – Naked Security (sophos.com)

Insurance

• Merck Awarded $1.4B Insurance Payout over NotPetya Attack | Threatpost

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• UK Mulls Making MSPs Subject To Mandatory Security Standards • The Register

• ‘Anomalous’ Spyware Stealing Credentials In Industrial Firms (bleepingcomputer.com)

• European Union Simulated A Cyber Attack On A Fictitious Finnish Power Company - Security Affairs

Nation State Actors

• Ukraine: Recent Cyber Attacks Part of Wider Plot to Sabotage Critical Infrastructure (thehackernews.com)

• Ukraine Cyber Attack Timeline: Microsoft, CISA, White House and Kyiv Statements - MSSP Alert

• Chinese Hackers Spotted Using New UEFI Firmware Implant in Targeted Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Security Scanners Across Europe Tied To China Govt, Military | AP News

Cloud

• Attackers Use Public Cloud Providers To Spread RATs | CSO Online

Privacy

• UK.Gov's No Place To Hide campaign flops on launch • The Register

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• Your Keyboard Walking Password Isn’t Complex Or Secure – Review Geek

• Box Flaw Allowed To Bypass MFA And Takeover Accounts - Security Affairs

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare

• Malware That Can Survive OS Reinstalls Strikes Again, Likely for Cyber Espionage | PCMag

Vulnerabilities

• CISA Adds 13 Exploited Vulnerabilities To List, 9 with Feb. 1 Remediation Date | ZDNet

• Microsoft RDP Vulnerability Makes It A Breeze For Attackers To Become Men-In-The-Middle - TechRepublic

• High-Severity Vulnerabilities Patched in McAfee Enterprise Product | SecurityWeek.Com

• Cisco Releases Patch for Critical Bug Affecting Unified CCMP and Unified CCDM (thehackernews.com)

• A bug in McAfee Agent allows to run code with SYSTEM privileges - Security Affairs

• Zoho Fixes A Critical Vulnerability (CVE-2021-44757) in Desktop Central - Security Affairs

• Ubuntu Patch For Heap Buffer Overflow Vulnerability • The Register

• Google Details Two Zero-Day Bugs Reported in Zoom Clients and MMR Servers (thehackernews.com)

• Hackers Attempt to Exploit New SolarWinds Serv-U Bug in Log4Shell Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• F5 Patches Two Dozen Vulnerabilities in BIG-IP | SecurityWeek.Com

• McAfee Bug Can Be Exploited to Gain Windows SYSTEM Privileges | Threatpost

• Oracle Critical Patch Update for January 2022 will fix 483 new flaws - Security Affairs

• 20K WordPress Sites Exposed by Insecure Plugin REST-API | Threatpost

• Nasty Linux Kernel Bug Found And Fixed | ZDNet

• Cisco Issues Patch for Critical RCE Vulnerability in RCM for StarOS Software (thehackernews.com)

• Critical Bugs in Control Web Panel Expose Linux Servers to RCE Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Critical SAP Vulnerability Allows Supply Chain Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com

• Zoho Plugs Another Critical Security Hole In Desktop Central (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Safari Exploit Can Leak Browser Histories And Google Account Info | Engadget

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Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

• Singapore Pushed To Introduce Security Measures Amidst Online Banking Scams | ZDNet

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• More Than Half Of Medical Devices Found To Have Critical Vulnerabilities | ZDNet

• Additional Healthcare Firms Disclose Impact From Netgain Ransomware Attack | SecurityWeek.Com

Retail

• PCI SSC Updates Card Security Standards To Secure The Card Production Process - Help Net Security

Education and Academia

• Kids Won’t Stop Launching DDoS Attacks Against Their Schools | TechRadar

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Other News

• Biggest MSP Takeaways From The Apache Log4j Vulnerability - MSSP Alert

• The Emotional Stages Of A Data Breach: How To Deal With Panic, Anger, And Guilt | CSO Online

• The Log4j Vulnerability Puts Pressure on the Security World | Threatpost

• Hackers Planted Secret Backdoor in Dozens of WordPress Plugins and Themes (thehackernews.com)

• BadUSB explained: How rogue USBs threaten your organisation | CSO Online

• Millions of UK Wi-Fi Routers Vulnerable To Security Threats - IT Security Guru

• NATO, Ukraine Sign Deal to 'Deepen' Cyber Cooperation | SecurityWeek.Com

• UK Umbrella Company Parasol Group Confirms Cyber Attack • The Register

• MPs Criticise Cyber Agency For Not Aiding China Rights Group After It Was Hacked | China | The Guardian

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 07 January 2022

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.

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Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Microsoft Sees Rampant Log4j Exploit Attempts, Testing

Microsoft says it’s only going to get worse: It’s seen state-sponsored and cyber-criminal attackers probing systems for the Log4Shell flaw through the end of December.

No surprise here: The holidays bought no Log4Shell relief.

Threat actors vigorously launched exploit attempts and testing during the last weeks of December, Microsoft said on Monday, in the latest update to its landing page and guidance around the flaws in Apache’s Log4j logging library.

“We have observed many existing attackers adding exploits of these vulnerabilities in their existing malware kits and tactics, from coin miners to hands-on-keyboard attacks,” according to Microsoft.

https://threatpost.com/microsoft-rampant-log4j-exploits-testing/177358/

Warning: Log4j Still Lurks Where Dependency Analysis Can’t Find It

The best programming practice to include a third-party library in source code is to use the import command. It is the easiest way to do it, and it is also the way that most dependency analysis programs work to determine if a vulnerable library is in play. But any time code is included without calling it as an external package, traditional dependency analysis might not be enough to find it — including when Java coders use a common trick to resolve conflicting dependencies during the design process.

A new study by jFrog found that 400 packages on repository Maven Central used Log4j code without calling it as an external package. Around a third of that came from fat jars — jar files that include all external dependencies to make a more efficient product. The remainder came from directly inserting Log4j code into the source code, including shading, a work-around used when two or more dependencies call different versions of the same library in a way that might conflict.

While 400 may not seem like a lot for Maven Central, where Google found 17,000 packages implementing the vulnerable Log4j library, some of the 400 packages unearthed by JFrog are widely used.

https://www.scmagazine.com/analysis/devops/warning-log4j-still-lurks-where-dependency-analysis-cant-find-it

Hackers Sending Malware-Filled USB Sticks to Companies Disguised as Presents

The "malicious USB stick" trick is old but apparently it's still wildly popular with the crooks.

Word to the wise: If a stranger ever offers you a random USB stick as a gift, best not to take it.

On Thursday, the FBI warned that a hacker group has been using the US mail to send malware-laden USB drives to companies in the defence, transportation and insurance industries. The criminals’ hope is that employees will be gullible enough to stick them into their computers, thus creating the opportunity for ransomware attacks or the deployment of other malicious software, The Record reports.

The hacker group behind this bad behaviour—a group called FIN7—has gone to great lengths to make their parcels appear innocuous. In some cases, packages were dressed up as if they were sent by the US Department of Health and Human Services, with notes explaining that the drives contained important information about COVID-19 guidelines. In other cases, they were delivered as if they had been sent via Amazon, along with a “decorative gift box containing a fraudulent thank you letter, counterfeit gift card, and a USB,” according to the FBI warning.

https://gizmodo.com/hackers-have-been-sending-malware-filled-usb-sticks-to-1848323578

Patch Systems Vulnerable To Critical Log4j Flaws, UK And US Officials Warn

One of the highest-severity vulnerabilities in years, Log4Shell remains under attack.

Criminals are actively exploiting the high-severity Log4Shell vulnerability on servers running VMware Horizon in an attempt to install malware that allows them to gain full control of affected systems, the UK’s publicly funded healthcare system is warning.

CVE-2021-44228 is one of the most severe vulnerabilities to come to light in the past few years. It resides in Log4J, a system-logging code library used in thousands if not millions of third-party applications and websites. That means there is a huge base of vulnerable systems. Additionally, the vulnerability is extremely easy to exploit and allows attackers to install Web shells, which provide a command window for executing highly privileged commands on hacked servers.

The remote-code execution flaw in Log4J came to light in December after exploit code was released before a patch was available. Malicious hackers quickly began actively exploiting CVE-2021-44228 to compromise sensitive systems.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/01/patch-systems-vulnerable-to-critical-log4j-flaws-uk-and-us-officials-warn/

‘Elephant Beetle’ Lurks For Months In Networks

The group blends into an environment before loading up trivial, thickly stacked, fraudulent financial transactions too tiny to be noticed but adding up to millions of dollars.

Researchers have identified a threat group that’s been quietly siphoning off millions of dollars from financial- and commerce-sector companies, spending months patiently studying their targets’ financial systems and slipping in fraudulent transactions amongst regular activity.

The Sygnia Incident Response team has been tracking the group, which it named Elephant Beetle, aka TG2003, for two years.

In a Wednesday report, the researchers called Elephant Beetle’s attack relentless, as the group has hidden “in plain sight” without the need to develop exploits.

https://threatpost.com/elephant-beetle-months-networks-financial/177393/

Sonicwall: Y2k22 Bug Hits Email Security, Firewall Products

SonicWall has confirmed today that some of its Email Security and firewall products have been hit by the Y2K22 bug, causing message log updates and junk box failures starting with January 1st, 2022.

The company says that email users and administrators will no longer be able to access the junk box or un-junk newly received emails on affected systems.

They will also no longer be able to trace incoming/outgoing emails using the message logs because they're no longer updated.

On January 2nd, SonicWall deployed updates to North American and European instances of Hosted Email Security, the company's cloud email security service.

It also released fixes for its on-premises Email Security Appliance (ES 10.0.15) and customers using firewalls with the Anti-Spam Junk Store functionality toggled on (Junk Store 7.6.9).

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/sonicwall-y2k22-bug-hits-email-security-firewall-products/

Hackers Use Video Player To Steal Credit Cards From Over 100 Sites

Hackers used a cloud video hosting service to perform a supply chain attack on over one hundred real estate sites that injected malicious scripts to steal information inputted in website forms.

These scripts are known as skimmers or formjackers and are commonly injected into hacked websites to steal sensitive information entered into forms. Skimmers are commonly used on checkout pages for online stores to steal payment information.

In a new supply chain attack discovered by Palo Alto Networks Unit42, threat actors abused a cloud video hosting feature to inject skimmer code into a video player. When a website embeds that player, it embeds the malicious script, causing the site to become infected.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-use-video-player-to-steal-credit-cards-from-over-100-sites/

Cyber World Is Starting 2022 In Crisis Mode With The Log4j Bug

The cyber security world is starting off 2022 in crisis mode.

The newest culprit is the log4j software bug, which cyber security and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly called “the most serious vulnerability I have seen in my decades-long career.” It forced many cyber security pros to work through the holidays to protect computer systems at Big Tech firms, large and small companies and government agencies.

But crises like log4j have become the norm rather than the exception during the past few years.

Last year kicked off with the SolarWinds hack — a Russian government operation that compromised reams of sensitive information from U.S. government agencies and corporations.

Digital threats of all sorts are growing far faster than the capability to defend against them. If past is prologue, 2022 is likely to be a year of big hacks, big threats and plenty more crises.

“We’re always in crisis is the long and short of it,” Jake Williams, a former National Security Agency (NSA) cyber operator and founder of the firm Rendition Infosec, told me. “Anyone looking for calm rather than the storm in cyber is in the wrong field.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/03/cyber-world-is-starting-2022-crisis-mode-with-log4j-bug/

Everything You Need To Know About Ransomware Attacks and Gangs In 2022

Ransomware is a lucrative business for criminals. It is paying off, and it is working.

According to a recent Trend Micro report, a staggering 84% of US organisations experienced either a phishing or ransomware attack in the last year. The average ransomware payment was over $500,000.

Bad actors want to keep cashing in. So they’re going as far as creating ransomware kits as a service (Ransomware as a Service) to be sold on the dark web and even setting up fake companies to recruit potential employees.

Many ransomware gangs function like real companies — with marketing teams, websites, software development, user documentation, support forums and media relations.

If the “companies” run by ransomware gangs can operate with minimal expenses and mind-blowing revenues, what’s stopping them from growing in number and size?

https://securityintelligence.com/articles/ransomware-attacks-gangs-2022/

Why the Log4j Vulnerability Makes Endpoint Visibility and Zero Trust Security More Important Than Ever

The Apache Log4j vulnerability is one of the most serious vulnerabilities in recent years—putting millions of devices at risk.

IT organisations worldwide are still reeling from the discovery of a major security vulnerability in Apache Log4j, an open-source logging utility embedded in countless internal and commercial applications.

By submitting a carefully constructed variable string to log4j, attackers can take control of any application that includes log4j. Suddenly, cyber criminals around the world have a blueprint for launching attacks on everything from retail store kiosks to mission-critical applications in hospitals.

If security teams overlook even one instance of log4j in their software, they give attackers an opportunity to issue system commands at will. Attackers can use those commands to install ransomware, exfiltrate data, shut down operations — the list goes on.

How should enterprises respond to this pervasive threat?

https://www.cio.com/article/302868/why-the-log4j-vulnerability-makes-endpoint-visibility-and-zero-trust-security-more-important-than-ever.html

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Threats

Ransomware

• Night Sky Is The Latest Ransomware Targeting Corporate Networks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Counties In New Mexico, Arkansas Begin 2022 With Ransomware Attacks | ZDNet

• Ransomware Attack Affects The Websites Of 5,000 Schools - CNNPolitics

Phishing

• Google Docs Comments Weaponized in New Phishing Campaign (darkreading.com)

• US Arrests Suspect Who Stole Unpublished Books In Phishing Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

Malware

• FluBot Malware Now Targets Europe Posing As Flash Player App (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New Mac Malware Samples Underscore Growing Threat (darkreading.com)

• Purple Fox Rootkit Now Bundled With Telegram Installer | Malwarebytes Labs

• ‘Malsmoke’ Exploits Microsoft’s E-Signature Verification | Threatpost

Mobile

• Apple iPhone Malware Tactic Causes Fake Shutdowns to Enable Spying | Threatpost

IoT

• IoT's Importance is Growing Rapidly, But Its Security Is Still Weak | SecurityWeek.Com

Data Breaches/Leaks

• List Of Data Breaches And Cyber Attacks In December 2021 | 219M records (itgovernance.co.uk)

• Have I Been Pwned Warns Of DatPiff Data Breach Impacting Millions (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Morgan Stanley To Pay $60 Million To Resolve Data Security Lawsuit (Yahoo.Com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

• Report: $2.2 Billion In Cryptocurrency Stolen From DeFi Platforms In 2021 | ZDNet

• UK Police Seize £322m of Cryptocurrency in Past Five Years - Infosecurity Magazine

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Broker-Dealers Impersonators Stole $50 Million Using Spoofed Sites (bleepingcomputer.com)

• 'Sextortion' Leads To Financial Losses And Psychological Trauma. Here's What To Look Out For On Dating Apps (theconversation.com)

DoS/DDoS

• CDN Cache Poisoning Allows DoS Attacks Against Cloud Apps (darkreading.com)

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Why The UK’s Energy Sector Is Fragile And Ripe To Cyber Attacks - Help Net Security

Nation State Actors

• Should Businesses Be Concerned About APT-Style Attacks? - Help Net Security

• MI6 Chief Thanks China For ‘Free Publicity’ After James Bond Spoof | China | The Guardian

• Log4j Vulnerabilities: New Patches And Nation-State Exploitation. (thecyberwire.com)

• North Korea-Linked Konni APT Targets Russian Diplomatic Bodies - Security Affairs

Privacy

• Swiss Army Bans All Chat Apps But Locally-Developed Threema (bleepingcomputer.com)

• France Fines Google, Facebook €210 Million Over Privacy Violating Tracking Cookies (thehackernews.com)

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• 1.1M Compromised Accounts Found at 17 Major Companies | Threatpost

Spyware and Espionage

• US Counterintelligence Shares Tips To Block Spyware Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

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Vulnerabilities

• Google Chrome Update Includes 37 Security Fixes | ZDNet

• Emergency Windows Server Update Fixes Remote Desktop Issues (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft Rolled Out Emergency Fix For Y2k22 Bug In Exchange Servers - Security Affairs

• VMware Fixed CVE-2021-22045 Heap-Overflow In Workstation, Fusion and ESXi - Security Affairs

• Latest WordPress Security Release Fixes XSS, SQL Injection Bugs | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)

• Internet Bug Bounty: High Severity Vulnerability In Apache HTTP Server Could Lead To RCE | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)

• QNAP: Get NAS Devices Off the Internet Now | Threatpost

• New Ubuntu Linux Kernel Security Updates Fix 9 Vulnerabilities, Patch Now - 9to5Linux

• JFrog Researchers Find JNDI Vulnerability In H2 Database Consoles Similar To Log4Shell | ZDNet

• Unpatched HomeKit Vulnerability Exposes iPhones, iPads to DoS Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com

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Sector Specific

Defence

• FBI: Hackers Use BadUSB To Target Defence Firms With Ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• Are Medical Devices at Risk of Ransomware Attacks? (thehackernews.com)

Estate Agents

• Hackers Target Real Estate Websites with Skimmer in Latest Supply Chain Attack (thehackernews.com)

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Other News

Log4j Flaw Attack Levels Remain High, Microsoft Warns | ZDNet

Cyber Attack Against UK Ministry of Defence Training Academy Revealed | ZDNet

API Security: Understanding The Next Top Attack Vector - Help Net Security

E-Waste Is a Cybersecurity Problem, Too - IEEE Spectrum

The Log4j Debacle Showed Again That Public Disclosure Of 0-Days Only Helps Attackers - Help Net Security

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 03 December 2021

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

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Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Double Extortion Ransomware Victims Soar 935%

Researchers have recorded a 935% year-on-year increase in double extortion attacks, with data from over 2300 companies posted onto ransomware extortion sites.

Group-IB’s Hi-Tech Crime Trends 2021/2022 report covers the period from the second half of 2020 to the first half of 2021.

During that time, an “unholy alliance” of initial access brokers and ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) affiliate programs has led to a surge in breaches, it claimed.

In total, the number of breach victims on ransomware data leak sites surged from 229 in the previous reporting period to 2371, Group-IB noted. During the same period, the number of leak sites more than doubled to 28, and the number of RaaS affiliates increased 19%, with 21 new groups discovered.

Group-IB warned that, even if victim organisations pay the ransom, their data often end up on these sites.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/double-extortion-ransomware-soar/

MI6 Boss: Digital Attack Surface Growing "Exponentially"

Head of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), Richard Moore, explained in a rare speech this week that, unlike the character Q from the James Bond films, even MI6 cannot source all of its tech capabilities in-house.

New partners and tech capabilities will help address MI6’s four key priorities: Russia, China, Iran and global terrorism. It’s a challenge made more acute as technology rapidly advances, he said.

“The ‘digital attack surface’ that criminals, terrorists and hostile states threats seek to exploit against us is growing exponentially. We may experience more technological progress in the next ten years than in the last century, with a disruptive impact equal to the industrial revolution,” Moore argued.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/mi6-digital-attack-surface-growing/

How Phishing Kits Are Enabling A New Legion Of Pro Phishers

Some cybercriminals are motivated by political ideals, others by malice or mischief, but most are only interested in cold, hard cash. To ensure their criminal endeavours are profitable, they need to balance the potential payday against the time, resources and risk required.

It’s no wonder then that so many use phishing as their default attack method. Malicious emails can be used to reach many targets with relative ease, and criminals can purchase ready-made phishing kits that bundle together everything they need for a lucrative campaign.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/12/02/phishing-kits-pro/

Crooks Are Selling Access To Hacked Networks. Ransomware Gangs Are Their Biggest Customers

Dark web forum posts offering compromised VPN, RDP credentials and other ways into networks have tripled in the last year.

There's been a surge in cyber criminals selling access to compromised corporate networks as hackers look to cash in on the demand for vulnerable networks from gangs looking to initiate ransomware attacks.

Researchers at cybersecurity company Group-IB analysed activity on underground forums and said there's been a sharp increase in the number of offers to sell access to compromised corporate networks, with the number of posts offering access tripling between 2020 and 2021

https://www.zdnet.com/article/theres-been-a-big-jump-in-crooks-selling-access-to-hacked-networks-ransomware-gangs-are-their-best-customers/

Omicron Phishing Scam Already Spotted in UK

The global pandemic has provided cover for all sorts of phishing scams over the past couple of years, and the rise in alarm over the spread of the latest COVID-19 variant, Omicron, is no exception.

As public health professionals across the globe grapple with what they fear could be an even more dangerous COVID-19 variant than Delta, threat actors have grabbed the opportunity to turn uncertainty into cash.

UK consumer watchdog “Which?” has raised the alarm that a new phishing scam, doctored up to look like official communications from the National Health Service (NHS), is targeting people with fraud offers for free PCR tests for the COVID-19 Omicron variant

https://threatpost.com/omicron-phishing-scam-uk/176771/

Phishing Remains the Most Common Cause of Data Breaches, Survey Says

Phishing, malware, and denial-of-service attacks remained the most common causes for data breaches in 2021. Data from Dark Reading’s latest Strategic Security Survey shows that more companies experienced a data breach over the past year due to phishing than any other cause. The percentage of organisations reporting a phishing-related breach is slightly higher in the 2021 survey (53%) than in the 2020 survey (51%). The survey found that malware was the second biggest cause of data breaches over the past year, as 41% of the respondents said they experienced a data breach where malware was the primary vector.

https://www.darkreading.com/edge-threat-monitor/phishing-remains-the-most-common-cause-of-data-breaches-survey-says

Ransomware Victims Increase Security Budgets Due To Surge In Attacks

As the end of 2021 approaches, there’s no doubt ransomware became a top cybersecurity concern across multiple industries.  Successful ransomware attacks like the Colonial Pipeline, which took down critical US infrastructure, and Kaseya, which hit over 1,500 companies in a single attack, became a popular topic in the news.

Research conducted by Cymulate, however, shows that despite the increase in the number of attacks this past year, overall victims suffered limited damage in both severity and duration. Potential victims have improved their level of preparedness, with 70% reporting an increase of awareness at the boardroom and business management level. The majority (55%) undertook proactive measures to prevent ransomware attacks before they could cause any significant damage, and many of those respondents (38%) prevented attacks even before they could cause any serious downtime. Only 14% of respondents that experienced an attack were down for a week or more.

https://venturebeat.com/2021/12/03/report-ransomware-victims-increase-security-budgets-due-to-surge-in-attacks/

Control Failures Are Behind A Growing Number Of Cyber Security Incidents

Data from a survey of 1,200 enterprise security leaders reveals that an increase in tools and manual reporting combined with control failures are contributing to the success of threats such as ransomware, which costs organisations an average of $1.85 million in recovery, according to Panaseer.

Currently, only 36% of security leaders feel very confident in their ability to prove controls were working as intended. This is despite 99% of respondents believing it’s valuable to know that all controls are fully deployed and operating within policy, and cybersecurity control failures are currently being listed as the top emerging risk in the latest Gartner Emerging Risks Monitor Report. Attacks only succeed when they hit systems that haven’t been patched or don’t have security controls monitoring them.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/12/01/control-failures-cybersecurity/

MI6 Spy Chief Says China, Russia, Iran Top UK Threat List

China, Russia and Iran pose three of the biggest threats to the U.K. in a fast-changing, unstable world, the head of Britain’s foreign intelligence agency said Tuesday.

MI6 chief Richard Moore said the three countries and international terrorism make up the “big four” security issues confronting Britain’s spies.

In his first public speech since becoming head of the Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6, in October 2020, Moore said China is the intelligence agency’s “single greatest priority” as the country’s leadership increasingly backs “bold and decisive action” to further its interests.

Calling China “an authoritarian state with different values than ours,” he said Beijing conducts “large-scale espionage operations” against the U.K. and its allies, tries to ”distort public discourse and political decision-making” and exports technology that enables a “web of authoritarian control” around the world.

Moore said the U.K. also continues “to face an acute threat from Russia.” He said Moscow has sponsored killing attempts, such as the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal in England in 2018, mounts cyber attacks and attempts to interfere in other countries’ democratic processes.

https://www.securityweek.com/mi6-spy-chief-says-china-russia-iran-top-uk-threat-list

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Threats

Ransomware

• Microsoft Exchange Servers Hacked To Deploy BlackByte Ransomware (Bleepingcomputer.Com)

• Ransomware Group Rebrands Multiple Times to Evade Detection - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• New Ransomware Variant Could Become Next Big Threat (darkreading.com)

• FBI Says The Cuba Ransomware Gang Made $43.9 Million From Ransom Payments - The Record By Recorded Future

• Yanluowang Ransomware Tied to Thieflock Threat Actor | Threatpost

• Yanluowang Ransomware Operation Matures With Experienced Affiliates (Bleepingcomputer.Com)

• Ransomware Attack On Planned Parenthood Exposes 400,000 Patients' Personal Data - CNN

• Ransomware vs. Cities: A Cyber War (darkreading.com)

Phishing

• APT Groups Adopt New Phishing Method. Will Cybercriminals Follow? (darkreading.com)

• Hackers Increasingly Using RTF Template Injection Technique in Phishing Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Phishing Kits' Favourite Brand? Amazon - Help Net Security

Malware

• Emotet Now Spreads Via Fake Adobe Windows App Installer Packages (Bleepingcomputer.Com)

• New Malvertising Campaigns Spreading Backdoors, Malicious Chrome Extensions (thehackernews.com)

• Password-Stealing And Keylogging Malware Is Being Spread Through Fake Downloads | ZDNet

• Malware Variants In 2021: Harder To Detect And Respond To - Help Net Security

Mobile

• More Than 300,000 Play Store Users Infected With Android Banking Trojans - The Record By Recorded Future

• Surge Of Info-Stealing Android Malware FluBot Detected Again • The Register

• Fake Support Agents Call Victims To Install Android Banking Malware (Bleepingcomputer.Com)

• Multi-Platform Spyware Tracks Users Across Windows And Android | Techradar

• BEWARE: More Google Play Store Apps are Found to Have Trojan Malware, Per a Kaspersky Malware Analyst | Tech Times

IOT

• HP Patches Wormable Bug Impacting More Than 150 Multi-Functional Printers - The Record By Recorded Future

• IOT Devices Must “Protect Consumers From Cyber Harm”, Says UK Government – Naked Security (Sophos.Com)

Vulnerabilities

• Pretty Much All Wi-Fi Routers Are Vulnerable To Attack, Study Finds | Techradar

• Warning: Yet Another Zoho ManageEngine Product Found Under Active Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• New Ubuntu Linux Kernel Security Patches Address 6 Vulnerabilities, Update Now - 9to5Linux

• Netgear Router Vulnerabilities Affecting SME Products Fixed • The Register

Data Breaches/Leaks

• UK Government Fined £500,000 For New Year Honours Data Breach - BBC News

• Panasonic Discloses Four-Months-Long Data Breach - The Record By Recorded Future

• Misconfigured Database Leaks Data On 300k E-Commerce Buyers - Infosecurity Magazine (Infosecurity-Magazine.Com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Russian Bulletproof Hosting Kingpin Gets Five Years - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Europol Arrested 1800 Money Mules As Part Of Anti-Money-Laundering Operation - Security Affairs

Cryptocurrency/Cryptojacking

• Iranians Charged for Cryptojacking After U.S. Firm Gets $760,000 Cloud Bill | SecurityWeek.Com

• Threat Actors Stole $120 M In Crypto From BadgerDAO DeFi Platform - Security Affairs

• Vulnerabilities Exploited for Monero Mining Malware Delivered via GitHub, Netlify (trendmicro.com)

• How Do Criminals Exploit Cryptocurrencies? | Financial Times (ft.com)

Insider Threats

• Man Charged With Ubiquiti Data Breach And Extortion Was Employee Assigned To Investigate Hack (Bitdefender.Com)

Fraud & Financial Crime

• How Criminals Are Using Synthetic Identities for Fraud (darkreading.com)

Insurance

• Lloyd’s Carves Out Cyber-Insurance Exclusions for State-Sponsored Attacks | Threatpost

• Cyber War Victims Might Not Get Payouts – Insurer • The Register

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• USB Devices the Common Denominator in All Attacks on Air-Gapped Systems (darkreading.com)

Nation State Actors

• MI6 Spy Chief Says China, Russia, Iran Top UK Threat List | SecurityWeek.Com

• Lloyd’s Carves Out Cyber-Insurance Exclusions for State-Sponsored Attacks | Threatpost

• Jumping The Air Gap: 15 Years Of Nation‑State Effort | WeLiveSecurity

• Israel and Iran Broaden Cyberwar to Attack Civilian Targets - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

• APT groups from China, Russia, and India adopt novel attack technique - The Record by Recorded Future

• North Korea-Linked Zinc APT Posed As Samsung Recruiters To Target Security Firms - Security Affairs

Cloud

• These Researchers Wanted To Test Cloud Security. They Were Shocked By What They Found | ZDNet

Parental Controls

• Smartwatches For Children Are A Privacy And Security Nightmare (Bleepingcomputer.Com)

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Sector Specific

Retail

• Holiday Season Fraud Fear Higher this Year - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• The Cyber Threats Facing Retailers This Holiday Shopping Season (darkreading.com)

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Other News

• Hackers Are Guessing Your Credit Card Details - And There's Nothing You Can Do About It | Techradar

• UK Adults ‘Not Concerned’ Over Online Security, Poll Suggests | The Independent

• Nine WiFi Routers Used By Millions Were Vulnerable To 226 Flaws (Bleepingcomputer.Com)

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