Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 28 April 2023

Written By Black Arrow Admin

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

  • Navigating the Future of Cyber: Business Strategy, Cyber Security Training, and Digital Transformation are Key

Cyber investments have become table stakes for businesses around the world. Cyber crime is increasing, with 91% of organisations reporting at least one cyber incident in the past year. Not only are they growing in numbers, but they are becoming more sophisticated and diverse, with new threats constantly emerging. According to the 2023 Deloitte Global Future of Cyber survey, business leaders are changing how they think of cyber, and it’s emerging as a larger strategic discussion tied to an organisation’s long-term success.

Cyber is about more than protecting information—risk management, incident response planning, threat intelligence and training can often be directly correlated to increasing trust within businesses.

Cyber security training is essential for employees to ensure the safety and security of a business. Employees are often the first line of defence against cyber-attacks and frequently the weakest link in an organisation's security posture. Cyber security training can help employees recognise and avoid common cyber threats, such as phishing attacks, malware, and social engineering. 89% of organisations cited as high-performing cyber organisations have implemented annual cyber awareness training among all employees. With increased digital dependency year over year—effective employee training can raise awareness, reduce risk, improve security posture, and support compliance.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/deloitte/2023/04/20/navigating-the-future-of-cyber-business-strategy-cybersecurity-training-and-digital-transformation-are-key/?sh=1ab15c2c29c1

  • Shadow IT, SaaS Pose Security Liability for Enterprises

There's no denying that software-as-a-service (SaaS) has entered its golden age. Software tools have now become essential to modern business operations and continuity. However, not enough organisations have implemented the proper procurement processes to ensure they're protecting themselves from potential data breaches and reputational harm.

A critical component contributing to concerns around SaaS management is the rising trend of shadow IT, which is when employees download and use software tools without notifying their internal IT teams. A recent study shows that 77% of IT professionals believe that shadow IT is becoming a major concern in 2023, with more than 65% saying their SaaS tools aren't being approved. Organisations are beginning to struggle with maintaining security as their SaaS usage continues to sprawl.

To combat shadow IT and the high risks that come along with it, organisations must gain greater visibility over their SaaS stacks and institute an effective procurement process when bringing on new software solutions.

https://www.darkreading.com/edge-articles/shadow-it-saas-pose-security-liability-for-enterprises

  • The Strong Link Between Cyber Threat Intelligence and Digital Risk Protection

While indicators of compromise and attackers’ tactics, techniques, and processes (TTPs) remain central to threat intelligence, cyber threat intelligence needs have grown over the past few years, driven by things like digital transformation, cloud computing and remote working. In fact, these changes have led to a cyber threat intelligence (CTI) subcategory focused on digital risk protection (DRP). DRP is broadly defined as, “telemetry, analysis, processes, and technologies used to identify and mitigate risks associated with digital assets”.

According to research provider ESG, the most important functions of DRP as part of a mature CTI programme are: vulnerability exploit intelligence, takedown services, leaked data monitoring, malicious mobile application monitoring, brand protection and attack surface management. It should be noted that a mature CTI programme can utilise service providers to help carry out threat intelligence, it doesn’t have to be spun up by the organisation from nothing. Regardless, an organisation employing these DRP functions as part of a CTI programme will be increasing its cyber resilience and reducing the chance of a cyber incident.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3693754/the-strong-link-between-cyber-threat-intelligence-and-digital-risk-protection.html

  • Weak Credentials, Unpatched Vulnerabilities, Malicious Open Source Packages Causing Cloud Security Risks

Threat actors are getting more adept at exploiting common everyday issues in the cloud, including misconfigurations, weak credentials, lack of authentication, unpatched vulnerabilities, and malicious open-source software (OSS) packages. Meanwhile, security teams take an average of 145 hours to solve alerts, with 80% of cloud alerts triggered by just 5% of security rules in most environments according to a recent report. The report, conducted by UNIT 42 analysed the workload of 210,000 cloud accounts across 1,300 organisations.

The report’s findings echoed similarities from the previous year, finding almost all cloud users, roles, services and resources grant excessive permissions. Some of the other key findings include as many as 83% of organisations having hard-coded credentials in their source control management systems, 53% of cloud accounts allowing weak password usage and 44% allowing password reuse and 71% of high or critical vulnerabilities exposed were at least two years old.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3693260/weak-credentials-unpatched-vulnerabilities-malicious-oss-packages-causing-cloud-security-risks.html

  • Over 70 Billion Unprotected Files Available on Unsecured Web Servers

A recent report found that more than 70 billion files, including intellectual property and financial information, are freely available and unprotected on unsecured web servers. Other key findings of the report included almost 1 in 10 of all detected internet-facing assets having an unpatched vulnerability, with the top 10 vulnerabilities found unpatched at least 12 million times each.

The report predicted that there will be a significant rise in information stealing malware; the report had found that 50% of emails associated with customers were plaintext and unencrypted. Additionally, there will be more incidents due to an increase in assets which are not known to IT, known as shadow IT.

Organisations should look to employ efficient patch management, have an up to date asset register, and use encryption to better increase their cyber defences.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/04/24/critical-cybersecurity-exposures/

  • Cyber Thieves Are Getting More Creative

Cyber criminals are constantly changing their tactics and finding new ways to steal money from organisations. An example of this can be seen where criminals are breaking into systems to learn who is authorised to send payments and what the procedures are. Eventually, this leads to the criminal instructing payment to their own account.

Unfortunately, it is only after such events that some organisations are taking actions, such as verifying payments through phone calls. Whilst it is important for organisations to learn from attacks, it is beneficial to take a pro-active approach and employ procedures such as call back procedures before an incident has occurred.

https://hbr.org/2023/04/cyber-thieves-are-getting-more-creative

  • Modernising Vulnerability Management: The Move Toward Exposure Management

Managing vulnerabilities in the constantly evolving technological landscape is a difficult task. Although vulnerabilities emerge regularly, not all vulnerabilities present the same level of risk. Traditional metrics such as CVSS score or the number of vulnerabilities are insufficient for effective vulnerability management as they lack business context, prioritisation, and understanding of attackers' motivations, opportunities and means. Vulnerabilities only represent a small part of the attack surface that attackers can leverage.

Exposures are broader and can encompass more than just vulnerabilities. Exposures can result from various factors, such as human error, improperly defined security controls, and poorly designed and unsecured architecture. Organisations should consider that an attacker doesn’t just look at one exposure; attackers will often use a combination of vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, permissions and other exposures to move across systems and reach valuable assets.

As such, organisations looking to improve their cyber resiliency should consider their vulnerability management system and assess both whether it is taking into account exposures and the context in relation to the organisation.

https://thehackernews.com/2023/04/modernizing-vulnerability-management.html

  • Two-thirds of Cyber Attacks Involve Ransomware

A report from Sophos focusing on recent incident response cases, found that 68.4% of incidents resulted from ransomware. This was followed by network breaches, accounting for 18.4%. Regarding threat actor access, the report found that unpatched vulnerabilities were the single most common access method, followed by compromised credentials.

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/365535467/Almost-three-quarters-of-cyber-attacks-involve-ransomware

  • Corporate Boards Pressure CISOs to Step Up Risk Mitigation Efforts

A recent report found that the top challenges when implementing an effective cyber/IT risk management programme include an increase in the quantity (49%) and severity (49%) of cyber threats, a lack of funding (37%) and a lack of staffing/cyber risk talent (36%).

Cyber attacks have been increasing for several years now and resulting data breaches cost businesses an average of $4.35 million in 2022, according to the annual IBM ‘Cost of a Data Breach’ report. Given the financial and reputational consequences of cyber attacks, corporate board rooms are putting pressure on CISOs to identify and mitigate cyber/IT risk.

When it came to reporting to the board, 30% of CIO and CISO respondents say they do not communicate risk around specific business initiatives to other company leaders, indicating they may not know how to share that information in a constructive way.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/04/26/effective-it-risk-management/

  • NSA Sees ‘Significant’ Russian Intel Gathering on European, US Supply Chain Entities

According to the US National Security Agency (NSA), Russian hackers could be looking to attack logistics targets more broadly. The NSA have noted a significant amount of intelligence gathering into western countries, including the UK and the US.

Although there is no indication yet regarding attacks from Russia in connection with the logistics related to Ukraine, organisations should be aware and look to improve their cyber security practices to be best prepared.

https://cyberscoop.com/nsa-russian-ukraine-supply-chain-ransomware/

  • Email Threat Report 2023: Key Takeaways

According to a recent report, email phishing made up 24% of all spam types in 2022, a significant increase in proportion from 11% in 2021. The finance industry was the most targeted by far, accounting for 48% of phishing incidents. It is followed by the construction sector at 17%, overtaking 2021’s second-place industry, e-commerce. Both the finance and construction industries saw an increase in phishing since last year. Of all the emails analysed in 2022, an enormous 90% were spam emails.

With phishing as prevalent as ever, organisations should look to implement training for their staff to not only be able to spot phishing emails, but to be able to report these and aid in improving the cyber security culture of their organisation.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2023/04/27/email-threat-report-2023-key-takeaways/

  • 5 Most Dangerous New Attack Techniques

Experts from security training provider SANS Institute have revealed the 5 most dangerous new attack techniques: adversarial AI, ChatGPT-powered social engineering, third-party developer attacks (also known as software supply chain attacks), SEO, and paid advertising attacks.

The new techniques highlight the ever changing environment of the attack environment. SEO and paid advertising attacks are leveraging fundamental marketing strategies to gain initial access, heightening the importance for organisations to incorporate scalable user awareness training programmes, tailored to new threats.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3694892/5-most-dangerous-new-attack-techniques.html  

  • Many Public Salesforce Sites are Leaking Private Data

A shocking number of organisations — including banks and healthcare providers — are leaking private and sensitive information from their public Salesforce Community websites. The data exposures all stem from a misconfiguration in Salesforce Community that allows an unauthenticated user to access records that should only be available after logging in.

This included the US State of Vermont who had at least five separate Salesforce Community sites that allowed guest access to sensitive data, including a Pandemic Unemployment Assistance programme that exposed the applicant’s full name, social security number, address, phone number, email, and bank account number. Similar information was leaked by TCF Bank on their Salesforce Community Website.

It's not just Salesforce though; misconfigurations in general are responsible for a number of leaked documents and or exposures relating to an organisation.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/04/many-public-salesforce-sites-are-leaking-private-data/

Threats

Ransomware, Extortion and Destructive Attacks

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

BEC – Business Email Compromise

2FA/MFA

Malware

Mobile

Botnets

Denial of Service/DoS/DDOS

Internet of Things – IoT

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

Deepfakes

AML/CFT/Sanctions

Insurance

Dark Web

Supply Chain and Third Parties

Software Supply Chain

Cloud/SaaS

Containers

Attack Surface Management

Shadow IT

Identity and Access Management

Open Source

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

Social Media

Malvertising

Training, Education and Awareness

Digital Transformation

Parental Controls and Child Safety

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

Governance, Risk and Compliance

Models, Frameworks and Standards

Careers, Working in Cyber and Information Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

Privacy, Surveillance and Mass Monitoring

Artificial Intelligence

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

Nation State Actors

Tools and Controls

Sector Specific

Industry specific threat intelligence reports are available.

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

·       Automotive

·       Construction

·       Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

·       Defence & Space

·       Education & Academia

·       Energy & Utilities

·       Estate Agencies

·       Financial Services

·       FinTech

·       Food & Agriculture

·       Gaming & Gambling

·       Government & Public Sector (including Law Enforcement)

·       Health/Medical/Pharma

·       Hotels & Hospitality

·       Insurance

·       Legal

·       Manufacturing

·       Maritime

·       Oil, Gas & Mining

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

·       Retail & eCommerce

·       Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs)

·       Startups

·       Telecoms

·       Third Sector & Charities

·       Transport & Aviation

·       Web3

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Admin
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