Threat Intelligence Blog

Contact us to discuss any insights from our Blog, and how we can support you in a tailored threat intelligence report.

Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 28 January 2022

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 28 January 2022

-UK Warned To Bolster Defences Against Cyber Attacks As Russia Threatens Ukraine - BBC News

-Cyber Attacks And Ransomware Hit A New Record In 2021, Says Report

-Ransomware Families Becoming More Sophisticated With Newer Attack Methods

-More Than 90% Of Enterprises Surveyed Have Been Hit By Successful Cyberattacks

-Ransomware Gangs Increase Efforts To Enlist Insiders For Attacks

-Shipment-Delivery Scams Become the Favoured Way to Spread Malware

-Most Ransomware Infections Are Self-Installed

-Staff Negligence Is Now A Major Reason For Insider Security Incidents

-22 Cyber Security Myths Organisations Need To Stop Believing In 2022

-Android Malware Can Factory-Reset Phones After Draining Bank Accounts

-GDPR Fines Surged Sevenfold to $1.25 Billion in 2021: Study

-Cyber Security In 2022 – A Fresh Look At Some Very Alarming Stats

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

UK Warned To Bolster Defences Against Cyber Attacks As Russia Threatens Ukraine - BBC News

UK organisations are being urged to bolster their defences amid fears cyber attacks linked to the conflict in Ukraine could move beyond its borders.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has issued new guidance, saying it is vital companies stay ahead of a potential threat.

The centre said it was unaware of any specific threats to UK organisations.

It follows a series of cyber attacks in Ukraine which are suspected to have involved Russia, which Moscow denies.

In December 2015, engineers in Ukrainian power stations saw cursors on their computer screens moving by themselves. They had been hacked. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power for hours.

It was the first time a power station had been taken offline, a sign that cyber intrusions were moving beyond stealing information into disrupting the infrastructure on which everyday life depends. Russia was blamed.

"It was a complex operation," says John Hultquist, an expert on Russian cyber operations at the US security firm Mandiant. "They even disrupted the telephone lines so that the engineers couldn't make calls."

Ukraine has been on the front line of a cyber conflict for years. But if Russia does invade the country soon, tanks and troops will still be at the forefront.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60158874

Cyber Attacks And Ransomware Hit A New Record In 2021, Says Report

Ransomware attacks have doubled for the past two years, says a new report—but a lot of people aren’t bothering to change their passwords.

Hackers made up for some lost time last year.

After seeing the number of data breaches decline in 2020, the Identity Theft Resource Center’s 16th Annual Data Breach Report says the number of security compromises was up more than 68% in 2021. That tops the all-time high by a shocking 23%.

All told, there were 1,862 breaches last year, says the ITRC, 356 more than in 2017, the previous busiest year on record.

“Many of the cyber attacks committed were highly sophisticated and complex, requiring aggressive defences to prevent them,” Eva Velasquez, ITRC president and CEO, said in a statement. “If those defences failed, too often we saw an inadequate level of transparency for consumers to protect themselves from identity fraud.”

https://www.fastcompany.com/90715622/cyberattacks-ransomware-data-breach-new-record-2021

Ransomware Families Becoming More Sophisticated With Newer Attack Methods

Ivanti, Cyber Security Works and Cyware announced a report which identified 32 new ransomware families in 2021, bringing the total to 157 and representing a 26% increase over the previous year.

The report also found that these ransomware groups are continuing to target unpatched vulnerabilities and weaponize zero-day vulnerabilities in record time to instigate crippling attacks. At the same time, they are broadening their attack spheres and finding newer ways to compromise organisational networks and fearlessly trigger high-impact assaults.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/28/new-ransomware-families/

More Than 90% Of Enterprises Surveyed Have Been Hit By Successful Cyber Attacks

Cyber attacks can impact any organisation, big or small. But large enterprises are often more tempting targets due to the vast amount of lucrative data they hold. A new report from cyber security firm Anomali reveals an increase in successful cyber attacks and offers ideas on how organisations can better protect themselves.

Published on Thursday, the "2022 Anomali Cyber security Insights Report" is based on a survey of 800 cyber security decision makers commissioned by Anomali and conducted by Harris between September 9 and October 13 of 2021. The survey elicited responses from professionals in the US, UK, Canada and other countries who work full time in such industries as manufacturing, telecommunications and financial services.

Among the respondents, 87% said that their organisations were victims of successful cyber attacks sometime over the past three years. In this case, a successful attack is one that caused damage, disruption or a data breach. Since the pandemic started almost two years ago, 83% of those polled have experienced an increase in attempted cyber attacks, while 87% have been hit with a rise in phishing emails, many of them exploiting coronavirus-related themes.

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

Ransomware Gangs Increase Efforts To Enlist Insiders For Attacks

A recent survey of 100 large (over 5,000 employees) North American IT firms shows that ransomware actors are making greater effort to recruit insiders in targeted firms to aid in attacks.

The survey was conducted by Hitachi ID, which performed a similar study in November 2021. Compared to the previous survey, there has been a 17% rise in the number of employees offered money to aid in ransomware attacks against their employer.

Most specifically, 65% of the survey respondents say that they or their employees were approached between December 7, 2021, and January 4, 2022, to help hackers establish initial access.

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

Shipment-Delivery Scams Become the Favoured Way to Spread Malware

Attackers increasingly are spoofing the courier DHL and using socially engineered messages related to packages to trick users into downloading Trickbot and other malicious payloads.

Threat actors are increasingly using scams that spoof package couriers like DHL or the U.S. Postal Service in authentic-looking phishing emails that attempt to dupe victims into downloading credential-stealing or other malicious payloads, researchers have found.

Researchers from Avanan, a Check Point company, and Cofense have discovered recent phishing campaigns that include malicious links or attachments aimed at infecting devices with Trickbot and other dangerous malware, they reported separately on Thursday.

The campaigns separately relied on trust in widely used methods for shipping and employees’ comfort with receiving emailed documents related to shipments to try to elicit further action to compromise corporate systems, researchers said.

https://threatpost.com/shipment-delivery-scams-a-fav-way-to-spread-malware/178050/

Most Ransomware Infections Are Self-Installed

New research from managed detection and response (MDR) provider Expel found that most ransomware attacks in 2021 were self-installed.

The finding was included in the company’s inaugural annual report on cyber security trends and predictions, Great eXpeltations, published on Thursday.

Researchers found eight out of ten ransomware infections occurred after victims unwittingly opened a zipped file containing malicious code. Abuse of third-party access accounted for 3% of all ransomware incidents, and 4% were caused by exploiting a software vulnerability on the perimeter.

The report was based on the analysis of data aggregated from Expel’s security operations center (SOC) concerning incidents spanning January 1 2021 to December 31 2021.

Other key findings were that 50% of incidents were BEC (business email compromise) attempts, with SaaS apps a top target.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/most-ransomware-infections-self/

Staff Negligence Is Now A Major Reason For Insider Security Incidents

Insider threats cost organisations approximately $15.4 million every year, with negligence a common reason for security incidents, new research suggests.

Enterprise players today are facing cyber security challenges from every angle. Weak endpoint security, unsecured cloud systems, vulnerabilities -- whether unpatched or zero-days -- the introduction of unregulated internet of things (IoT) devices to corporate networks and remote work systems can all become conduits for a cyber attack to take place.

When it comes to the human element of security, a lack of training or cyber security awareness, mistakes, or deliberate, malicious actions also needs to be acknowledged in managing threat detection and response.

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

22 Cyber Security Myths Organisations Need To Stop Believing In 2022

Security teams trying to defend their organisations need to adapt quickly to new challenges. Yesterday’s buzzwords and best practices have become today’s myths.

The past few years have seen a dramatic shift in how organisations protect themselves against attackers. The hybrid working model, fast-paced digitalization, and increased number of ransomware incidents have changed the security landscape, making CISOs' jobs more complex than ever.

This convoluted environment requires a new mindset to defend, and things that might have held true in the past might no longer be useful. Can digital certificates' expiration dates still be managed in a spreadsheet? Is encryption 'magic dust'? And are humans actually the weakest link?

Security experts weigh in the 22 cyber security myths that we finally need to retire in 2022.

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

Android Malware Can Factory-Reset Phones After Draining Bank Accounts

A banking-fraud trojan that has been targeting Android users for three years has been updated to create even more grief. Besides draining bank accounts, the trojan can now activate a kill switch that performs a factory reset and wipes infected devices clean.

Brata was first documented in a post from security firm Kaspersky, which reported that the Android malware had been circulating since at least January 2019. The malware spread primarily through Google Play but also through third-party marketplaces, push notifications on compromised websites, sponsored links on Google, and messages delivered by WhatsApp or SMS. At the time, Brata targeted people with accounts from Brazil-based banks.

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

GDPR Fines Surged Sevenfold to $1.25 Billion in 2021: Study

Fines issued for GDPR non-compliance increased sevenfold from 2020 to 2021, analysis shows

In its latest annual GDPR summary, international law firm DLA Piper focuses attention in two areas: fines imposed and the evolving effect of the Schrems II ruling of 2020. Fines are increasing and Schrems II issues are becoming more complex.

Fines issued for GDPR non-compliance increased significantly (sevenfold) in 2021, from €158.5 million (approximately $180 million) in 2020 to just under €1.1 billion (approximately $1.25 billion) in 2021. The largest fines came from Luxembourg against Amazon (€746 million / $846 million), and Ireland against WhatsApp (€225 million / $255 million). Both are currently being appealed.

The WhatsApp fine is interesting. The original fine proposed by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) was for €30 million to €50 million. However, other European regulators objected, and the European Data Processing Board (EDPB) adjudicated – instructing Ireland to increase the fine by 350%.

https://www.securityweek.com/gdpr-fines-surged-sevenfold-125-billion-2021-study

Cyber Security In 2022 – A Fresh Look At Some Very Alarming Stats

Last year Forbes wrote a couple of articles  that highlighted some of the more significant cyber statistics associated with our expanding digital ecosystem.  In retrospect, 2021 was a very trying year for cyber security in so many areas. There were high profile breaches such as Solar Winds, Colonial Pipeline and dozens of others that had major economic and security related impact.  Ransomware came on with a vengeance targeting many small and medium businesses.  

Perhaps most worrisome was how critical infrastructure and supply chains security weaknesses were targeted and exploited by adversaries at higher rates than in the past.  Since it is only January, we are just starting to learn of some of the statistics that certainly will trend in 2022.  By reviewing the topics below, we can learn what we need to fortify and bolster in terms of cyber security throughout the coming year.

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

Buy now, pay later fraud, romance and cryptocurrency schemes top the list of threats this year

Experian released its annual forecast, which reveals five fraud threats for the new year. With consumers continuing to take a digital-first approach to everything from shopping, dating and investing, fraudsters are finding new and innovative ways to commit fraud.

The main areas they are predicting seeing rises in fraud are:

-Buy now, pay never

-Cryptocurrency scams

-Doubling ransomware attacks

-More increases in romance fraud

-Digital elder abuse will rise

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/26/fraud-threats-this-year/

Threats

Ransomware

Phishing

Other Social Engineering

Malware

Mobile

IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

Supply Chain

DoS/DDoS

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

Nation State Actors

Cloud

Privacy

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare

Vulnerabilities

Other News

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

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

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

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

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 18 June 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 18 June 2021: Ransomware Now Ranks As UK’s Top Cyber Security Danger; 54% of all employees reuse passwords across accounts; Most Firms Face Second Ransomware Attack After Paying Off First; Bad Cyber Security Behaviours Plaguing The Remote Workforce; VPN Attacks Up Nearly 2000% As Companies Embrace A Hybrid Workplace; Over 65,000 Ransomware Attacks Expected In 2021; Business Leaders Now Feel More Vulnerable To Cyber Attacks

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Ransomware Now Ranks As UK’s Top Cyber Security Danger

Ransomware hackers are now the biggest cyber security threat in the UK for the majority of individuals and businesses in the region, Lindy Cameron, chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said in a speech. “For the vast majority of UK citizens and businesses, and indeed for the vast majority of critical national infrastructure providers and government service providers, the primary key threat is not state actors but cyber criminals,” Cameron said in the speech at the second annual cyber security meeting at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), the oldest independent defense and security think tank worldwide.

https://www.pymnts.com/news/security-and-risk/2021/ransomware-now-ranks-as-uks-top-cybersecurity-danger/

54% of all employees reuse passwords across multiple work accounts

Results of a study into current attitudes and adaptability to at-home corporate cyber security, employee training, and support in the current global hybrid working era revealed some interesting results. The report surveyed 3,006 employees, business owners, and C-suite executives at large organisations (250+ employees), who have worked from home and use work issued devices in the UK, France and Germany.

According to the findings 54% of all employees use the same passwords across multiple work accounts. 22% of respondents still keep track of passwords by writing them down, including 41% of business owners and 32% of C-level executives.

42% of respondents admit to using work-issued devices for personal reasons daily while working from home. Of these, 29% are using work devices for banking and shopping, and 7% admit to watching illegal streaming services. Senior workers are among the biggest offenders, as 44% of business owners and 39% of C-level executives admit to performing personal tasks on work-issued devices every day since working from home, with 23% of business owners and 15% of C-level respondents using them for illegal streaming/watching TV.

A year after the pandemic began and work-from-home policies were implemented, 37% of all employees across all sectors are yet to receive cyber security training to work from home, leaving businesses largely exposed to evolving risks. 43% of all employees suggest that cyber security isn’t the responsibility of the workforce, with 60% believing this should be handled by IT teams.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/06/10/employees-reuse-passwords-across-multiple-work-accounts/

VPN Attacks Up Nearly 2000% As Companies Embrace A Hybrid Workplace

In Q1 2021, there was a 1,916% increase in attacks against Fortinet’s SSL-VPN and a 1,527% increase in Pulse Connect Secure VPN. These vulnerabilities allow a threat actor to gain access to a network. Once they are in, they can exfiltrate information and deploy ransomware. “2020 was the era of remote work and as the workforce adjusted, information technology professionals scrambled to support this level of remote activity by enabling a wide variety of remote connectivity methods,” said J.R. Cunningham, CSO at Nuspire. “This added multiple new attack vectors that enabled threat actors to prey on organisations, which is what we started to see in Q1 and are continuing to see today.”

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/06/15/vpn-attacks-up/

Most Firms Face Second Ransomware Attack After Paying Off First

Most businesses that choose to pay to regain access to their encrypted systems experience a subsequent ransomware attack. And almost half of those that pay up say some or all their data retrieved were corrupted. Some 80% of organisations that paid ransom demands experienced a second attack, of which 46% believed the subsequent ransomware to be caused by the same hackers. Amongst those that paid to regain access to their systems, 46% said at least some of their data was corrupted, according to a survey released Wednesday. The study polled 1,263 security professionals in seven markets worldwide, including 100 in Singapore, as well as respondents in Germany, France, the US, and UK.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/most-firms-face-second-ransomware-attack-after-paying-off-first/

Over 65,000 Ransomware Attacks Expected In 2021: Former Cisco CEO

U.S. companies are expected to endure over 65,000 ransomware attacks this year — and that's “a conservative number,” according to John Chambers, former CEO of Cisco Systems. With McDonald’s, JBS, and Colonial Pipeline Co. all recently coming under cyber attacks, Chambers does not foresee an end to the onslaught of cyber security threats anytime soon. He estimated that the number of ransomware attacks in 2021 could end up being as high as 100,000, with each one costing companies an average of $170,000. In the case of Colonial, just one password was needed for hackers to compromise the entire company’s IT infrastructure. This led to Colonial and JBS paying a combined $15 million in ransom against FBI advice.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/over-65000-ransomware-attacks-expected-in-2021-former-cisco-ceo-125100793.html

Business Leaders Now Feel More Vulnerable To Cyber Attacks

Geographically speaking, 55% of US and 49% of UK respondents have experienced the most severe impact to their network security due to these attacks (suggesting that their businesses are more of a target than those in continental Europe) which, in turn, has resulted in a clear majority of respondents (60%) increasing their investment in this area. A sizeable 68% of leaders said their company has experienced a DDoS attack in the last 12 months with the UK (76%) and the US (73%) experiencing a significantly higher proportion compared to 59% of their German and 56% French counterparts. Additionally, over half of the leaders who participated in the survey confirmed that they specifically experienced a DDoS ransom or extortion attack in that time, with a large number of them (65%) targeted at UK companies, compared with the relatively low number in France (38%).

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/06/14/business-leaders-feel-vulnerable-cyber-attacks/

Ransomware Gang Turns To Revenge Porn

At least one ransomware gang has taken a rare and highly invasive step in order to convince its victims to pay: leaking nude images allegedly uncovered as part of their hack of a target company. The news presents an escalation in the world of ransomware and digital extortion, and comes as the U.S. government and other countries discuss new measures to curb the spike in ransomware incidents. Ransomware groups have recently targeted, and in some cases extracted payment from, the Colonial Pipeline Company, meat producer JBS, and the Irish healthcare system. Locking down computers with ransomware can already have a substantial impact on business operations; leaking information on top of that can present victims with another risk. But posting nude images publicly on the internet threatens to make extortion of organisations a much more personal matter.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3xzby/ransomware-gang-revenge-porn-leaks-nude-images

Bank Of America Spends Over $1 Billion Per Year On Cyber Security

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said Monday that the company has ramped its cyber security spending to over $1 billion a year. “I became CEO 11 and a half years ago, and we probably spent three to $400 million [per year] and we’re up over a billion now,” Moynihan said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “The institutions around us, other institutions and my peers, spend like amounts, and our contracting parties spend like amounts,” he added. “In other words, we cause spending in third parties that provide services to us to protect us in the same way. So there’s a lot of money being spend on this, and I think one of the things our industry has done a great job of is work together.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/14/bank-of-america-spends-over-1-billion-per-year-on-cybersecurity.html

Bad Cyber Security Behaviours Plaguing The Remote Workforce

According to the report, younger employees are most likely to admit they cut cyber security corners, with 51% of 16-24 year olds and 46% of 25-34 year olds reporting they’ve used security workarounds. In addition, 39% say the cyber security behaviours they practice while working from home differ from those practiced in the office, with half admitting it’s because they feel they were being watched by IT departments. IT leaders are optimistic about the return to office, with 70% believing staff will more likely follow company security policies around data protection and privacy. However, only 57% of employees think the same.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/06/16/cybersecurity-behaviors/

Threats

Ransomware

BEC

Phishing

Malware

Vulnerabilities

Data Breaches

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency

Supply Chain

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

Nation State Actors

Denial of Service

Cloud

Privacy

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

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

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

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

Read More