Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 15 October 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

The Human Element Is the Weakest Link

Within the last week, Facebook has become the subject of a whistleblowing campaign featuring thousands of documents alleging malpractice. Despite their size and expected security controls, these documents have been exfiltrated without detection, lending credence to the idea of the insider threat. https://www.darkreading.com/risk/the-human-element-is-the-weakest-link

Ransomware is the Biggest Cyber Threat to Business But Most Firms Still Aren't Ready for It

Ransomware is still the most significant cyber security threat facing organisations – ranging from critical national infrastructure providers and large enterprises to schools and local businesses – but it's a threat that can be countered. https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-is-now-the-most-urgent-cyber-threat-to-business-but-most-firms-arent-ready-for-it/

Most Known Ransomware Targets Windows Devices

Recently conducted research shows that 95% of identified ransomware is targeting Windows machines. Furthermore, the stats show that Israel are submitting by far the most ransomware samples, followed by South Korea, Vietnam, and China, with the UK in 10th place. https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/14/googles_virustotal_malware/

67% of Organisations Have Been Hit by Ransomware at Least Once

A recent report found that two-thirds of surveyed organizations have suffered a ransomware attack, with about half having been hit multiple times, and 16% having been hit three or more times. https://threatpost.com/podcast-67-percent-orgs-ransomware/175339/

Russian Cyber Crime Gang Targets Finance Firms With Stealthy Macros

A new phishing campaign dubbed MirrorBlast is deploying weaponized Excel documents that are extremely difficult to detect to compromise financial service organizations. The most notable feature of MirrorBlast is the low detection rates of the campaign's malicious Excel documents by security software, putting firms that rely solely upon detection tools at high risk. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/russian-cybercrime-gang-targets-finance-firms-with-stealthy-macros/  

70% of Businesses Can’t Ensure the Same Level of Protection for Every Endpoint

Recent research found that 86% of UK respondents believe it is not possible to fully prevent ransomware and malware attacks from compromising their organisations. It also found that the rise in the number of endpoints that businesses need to protect continues to be a key source of risk exposure. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/10/15/endpoint-protection-level/

Over 90% of Firms Suffered Supply Chain Breaches Last Year

A recent survey polled 1200 IT and procurement leaders responsible for supply chain and cyber risk management. Those polled came from global companies with 1,000+ employees and were used to compile its report: Managing Cyber Risk Across the Extended Vendor Ecosystem. The report revealed the average number of breaches experienced in the past 12 months grew from 2.7 in 2020 to 3.7 in 2021 – a 37% year-on-year increase. https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/90-firms-supply-chain-breaches/

Cyber Security Shortcomings Exposed By The Pandemic

According to a survey by SecureAge, 48% of businesses have experienced a cyber breach during the COVID-19 pandemic and another 8% ‘were not sure’. In addition, 16% of employees said they personally had to deal with a cyber security incident during the same period. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/10/13/cybersecurity-shortcomings/

6 Things to Know About 'Killware,' Cyber Security's Next Big Threat

Threat actors are adopting a “killware” cyber model, which launches attacks on critical infrastructure with the intent to cause harm. Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary for Homeland Security, told USA Today he is worried about killware because it has the potential to kill. Hackers breached a water system in February this year, which was considered an unsuccessful attempt to distribute contaminated water to residents of Florida. "[The] attack was not for financial gain but rather purely to do harm,” he said. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/cybersecurity/6-things-to-know-about-killware-cybersecurity-s-next-big-threat.html

2021 Nastiest Malware: Here to Stay and Ever Evolving

This year was yet another year with COVID-19 and malware running rampant in the headlines. Be it in person or online, the world is still struggling in the fight against viruses. This year took another turn for the worse when attacks on critical infrastructure and supply chains became a hot trend. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/10/12/nastiest-malware-2021/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Since 2020, At Least 130 Different Ransomware Families Have Been Active

• AWS Ransomware Attacks: Not A Question Of If, But When

• This New Ransomware Encrypts Your Data And Makes Some Nasty Threats, Too

• UK Cyber Head Says Russia Responsible For 'Devastating' Ransomware Attacks

• What Makes AWS Buckets Vulnerable To Ransomware

• The Netherlands Declares War On Ransomware Operations

• Weir Group Suffers 'Sophisticated' Ransomware Attack

• US Ransomware Law Would Require Victims To Disclose Ransom Payments Within 48 Hours

• Ransomware: Cyber Criminals Are Still Exploiting These Old Vulnerabilities, So Patch Now

BEC

• Analyzing Email Services Abused For Business Email Compromise

Phishing

• Human Hacking Increased As Apps And Browsers Moved Completely To The Cloud

• DocuSign Phishing Campaign Targets Low-Ranking Employees

• Phishing Campaign Uses Math Symbols To Evade Detection

Malware

• FreakOut Botnet Now Attacks Vulnerable Video DVR Devices

• FontOnLake Malware Strikes Linux Systems In Targeted Attacks

• Hackers Use Stealthy ShellClient Malware On Aerospace, Telco Firms

Vulnerabilities

• NSA Warns Of Alpaca TLS Attack, Use Of Wildcard TLS Certificates[RP1] 

• October Patch Tuesday: 3 Critical Bulletins Among 71

• Update Your Windows PCs Immediately To Patch New 0-Day Under Active Attack

• Microsoft Fixes Zero-Day Flaw In WIN32 Driver

• Windows Zero-Day Actively Exploited In Widespread Espionage Campaign

• Chinese Hackers Use Windows Zero-Day To Attack Defense, IT Firms

• Apple Releases Urgent iPhone And iPad Updates To Patch New Zero-Day Vulnerability

• Sky.Com Servers Exposed Via Misconfiguration

• Apache Patch Proves Patchy – Now You Need To Patch The Patch

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Data Breach Sees Millions Of Acer Customers' Data Being Sold By Hackers

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Trickbot Rising — Gang Doubles Down on Infection Efforts to Amass Network Footholds

Cryptocurrency/Cryptojacking

• CryptoRom Scam Rakes In $1.4m By Exploiting Apple Enterprise Features

• Hackers Are Hijacking Copy And Paste To Steal Millions Of Dollars In Crypto Currency

Dark Web

• Dark Web: Many Cyber Crime Services Sell For Less Than $500

• What It Costs To Hire A Hacker On The Dark Web

• Warning: 24M Webcam Video Records Up For Grabs On The Dark Web

Supply Chain

• Worldwide Supply Chains Vulnerable As Businesses Lack Visibility Into Suppliers

DoS/DDoS

• Microsoft Says Azure Fended Off What Might Just Be The World's Biggest-Ever DDoS Attack

• Ukrainian Police Arrest DDoS Operator Controlling 100,000 Bots

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Critical Infrastructure Security Dubbed 'Abysmal' By Researchers

Nation State Actors

• Google: We're Tracking 270 State-Sponsored Hacker Groups From Over 50 Countries

• Google Sent 50,000 Warnings Of State-Sponsored Attacks In 2021

• How Shape-Shifting Threat Actors Complicate Attack Attribution

• Google Warns Some Users That Fancybear’s Been Prowling Around

• Microsoft: Iran-Linked Hackers Breached Office 365 Customer Accounts

• We’re Not In Competition With China; We’re At War, Argues A Provocative New Book

Privacy

• Amazon's Ring Doorbell Can Violate Your Neighbour’s Privacy, A UK Judge Rules

• Amnesty International Links Cyber Security Firm To Spyware Operation

• Study Reveals Android Phones Constantly Snoop On Their Users

• How Apple Can Read Your Encrypted Messages

Other News

• This Is How Formula 1 Teams Fight Off Cyber Attacks

• Cyber Attack Shuts Down Ecuador's Largest Bank, Banco Pichincha[RP2] 

• 30 Mins Or Less: Rapid Attacks Extort Orgs Without Ransomware

• University Of Sunderland Is Latest To Be Hit By Cyber Attack

• Russia Excluded From 30-Country Meeting To Fight Ransomware And Cyber Crime

• Inside Apple: How MacOS Attacks Are Evolving

• Zero-Day Hunters Seek Laws To Prevent Vendors Suing Them For Helping Out And Doing Their Jobs

• Google To Give Security Keys To ‘High Risk’ Users Targeted By Government Hackers

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 10 September 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

91% Of IT Teams Have Felt 'Forced' To Trade Security For Business Operations

A new survey suggests that most IT staff have felt pressured to ignore security concerns in favour of business operations. On Thursday, a new study report was released, which combines data from an online YouGov survey targeting office workers that adopted WFH and global research conducted with IT decision-makers. In total, 91% of those surveyed said that they have felt "pressured" to compromise security due to the need for business continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic. 76% of respondents said that security had taken a backseat, and furthermore, 83% believe that working from home has created a "ticking time bomb" for corporate security incidents. https://www.zdnet.com/article/91-of-it-teams-have-felt-forced-to-trade-security-for-business-operations/

Ransomware Attacks Increased Exponentially In 2021

The growing threat of ransomware has been highlighted by NCC Group's Research Intelligence and Fusion Team (RIFT) analysis. Between January-March 2021 and April-June 2021, the number of ransomware assaults studied by the team climbed by 288%, indicating that enterprises are still facing waves of digital extortion in the form of targeted ransomware. https://www.ehackingnews.com/2021/09/ransomware-attacks-increased.html

Phishing Attacks: One In Three Suspect Emails Reported By Employees Really Are Malicious

All the time spent ticking boxes in cyber security training sessions seems to be paying off after all: according to a new report, about a third of emails reported by employees really are malicious or highly suspect, demonstrating the effectiveness of the well-established maxim "Think before you click".  Researchers analysed over 200,000 emails that were flagged by employees from organisations across the globe in the first half of 2021 and found that 33% of the reports could be classified as phishing. https://www.zdnet.com/article/phishing-attacks-one-in-three-suspect-emails-reported-by-employees-really-are-malicious/

Hackers Shift From Malware To Credential Hijacking

Adversaries are relying less on malware to conduct attacks that are consequently more difficult to detect, according to an annual report conducted by researchers. “According to data from our customer base indexed by Threat Graph, 68% of detections from the last three months were not malware-based,” reads the report released Wednesday. “Attackers are increasingly attempting to accomplish their objectives without writing malware to the endpoint, using legitimate credentials and built-in tools (living off the land)—which are deliberate efforts to evade detection by traditional antivirus products.” https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2021/09/report-hackers-shift-malware-credential-hacking/185209/

Attacker Breakout Time Now Less Than 30 Minutes

The average time it takes threat actors to move from initial access to lateral movement has fallen by 67% over the past year, putting extra pressure on security operations (SecOps) teams, according to researchers. The findings come from researchers own investigations with customers across around 248,000 unique global endpoints. For incidents where this “breakout time” could be derived over the past year, it averaged just 1 hour 32 minutes. However, in over a third (36%) of intrusions, adversaries managed to move laterally to additional hosts in under 30 minutes. https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/attacker-breakout-time-now-less/

Hackers Leak VPN Account Passwords From 87,000 Fortinet FortiGate Devices

Network security solutions provider Fortinet confirmed that a malicious actor had unauthorizedly disclosed VPN login names and passwords associated with 87,000 FortiGate SSL-VPN devices. "These credentials were obtained from systems that remained unpatched at the time of the actor's scan. While they may have since been patched, if the passwords were not reset, they remain vulnerable," the company said in a statement on Wednesday. https://thehackernews.com/2021/09/hackers-leak-vpn-account-passwords-from.html

53% Find It Difficult To Prevent An Insider Attack During Data Aggregation

Recent data from researchers found that 53% of companies find it impossible or very difficult to prevent an insider attack when data is being aggregated, a key indicator of intent of an attack. The vast majority of security threats follow a pattern or sequence of activity leading up to an attack, and insider threats are no exception. To fully understand any insider incident, visibility into the entire kill chain of an attack is imperative to preventing the exfiltration of critical data. https://venturebeat.com/2021/09/02/53-find-it-difficult-to-prevent-an-insider-attack-during-data-aggregation/

The Impact Of Ransomware On Cyber Insurance Driving The Need For Broader Cyber Security Knowledge

Not only have ransomware attacks spiked, the amount of ransom demanded has grown exponentially—to somewhere between $50 and $70 million dollars. Cyber Insurers can’t cover “whatever amount the hacker demands”—so major policies lost money. Insurers have responded by raising premiums, restricting coverage, or even getting out of the cyber-insurance game altogether in vulnerable markets. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/09/10/cyber-insurance-ransomware/

Hackers Exploit Camera Vulnerabilities To Spy On Parents

Various zero day vulnerabilities in home baby monitor could be compromised that lets threat actors hack into camera feed and put malicious codes like malware. The security issues were found in the IoT gadgets, made by China based developer Victure, that were found by researchers. In a security report, researchers revealed about the stack-based buffer flaw present in ONVIF server Victure PC420 component camera that allows hackers to plant remote codes on the victim device. When compromised, hacker can discover cameras (not owned by them) and command devices to broadcast camera feeds to third party and exploit the camera firmware. https://www.ehackingnews.com/2021/09/hackers-exploit-camera-vulnerabilities.html

39% Of All Internet Traffic Is From Bad Bots

Automated traffic takes up 64% of internet traffic – and whilst just 25% of automated traffic was made up by good bots, such as search engine crawlers and social network bots, 39% of all traffic was from bad bots, a Barracuda report reveals.

These bad bots include both basic web scrapers and attack scripts, as well as advanced persistent bots. These advanced bots try their best to evade standard defences and attempt to perform their malicious activities under the radar. The report revealed that the most common of these persistent bots were ones that went after e-commerce applications and login portals. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/09/07/bad-bots-internet-traffic/

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Threats

Ransomware

• REvil Ransomware Group Returns Following Kaseya Attack

• Ragnar Locker Gang Warns Victims Not To Call The FBI

• This Is The Perfect Ransomware Victim, According To Cyber Criminals

• 5 Surefire Things That’ll Get You Targeted By Ransomware

• Hive Is Dangerous New Ransomware Threat, FBI Says

• Why Ransomware Hackers Love A Holiday Weekend

BEC

Phishing

• Microsoft Outlook Shows Real Person’s Contact Info For IDN Phishing Emails

Other Social Engineering

• 'Bitcoin Fraud Cost Me £500,000'

Malware

• Traffic Exchange Networks Distributing Malware Disguised As Cracked Software

• New Malware Uses Novel Fileless Technique To Evade Detection

Mobile

• Dangerous New Cable Can Hack iPhones From One Mile Away

• This Android Security Flaw Could Let Hackers Follow All Your Movements

IOT

• IoT Attacks Skyrocket, Doubling In 6 Months

Vulnerabilities

• Zoho ManageEngine Password Manager Zero-Day Gets A Fix, Amid Attacks

• New CPU Side-Channel Attack Takes Aim At Chrome’s Site Isolation Feature

• Microsoft, CISA Urge Mitigations For Zero-Day RCE Flaw In Windows

• Atlassian CISO Defends Company's Confluence Vulnerability Response, Urges Patching

• PoC Released For GhostScript Vulnerability That Exposed Airbnb, Dropbox

• Netgear Smart Switches Open To Complete Takeover

• New 0-Day Attack Targeting Windows Users With Microsoft Office Documents

• Cisco Patches Critical Authentication Bug With Public Exploit

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Guntrader Breach Perp: I Don't Think It's A Crime To Dump 111k People's Details Online In Google Earth Format

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• TrickBot Gang Developer Arrested At The Seoul International Airport

• The Secret Vulnerability Of Cyber Criminals: Burnout

Cryptocurrency/Cryptojacking

• Financial Cyber Crime: Why Crypto Currency Is The Perfect ‘Getaway Car’

Insider Threats

• Enterprises Are Missing The Warning Signs Of Insider Threats

DoS/DDoS

• Yandex Is Battling The largest DDoS In Russian Internet history

Nation State Actors

• Microsoft Says Chinese Hackers Were Behind SolarWinds Serv-U SSH 0-Day Attack

Cloud

• Organisations Struggling To Develop Cloud Applications That Meet Security Requirements

Privacy

• WhatsApp “End-To-End Encrypted” Messages Aren’t That Private After All

• ProtonMail Logs Activist's IP Address With Authorities After Swiss Court Order

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Other News

• OWASP Shakes Up Web App Threat Categories With Release Of Draft Top 10

• SIEM Market Size To Reach $6436.2 Million By 2027

• A Zero-Trust Future: Why Cyber Security Should Be Prioritized For The Hybrid Working World

• Microsoft Has A $20 Billion Hacking Plan, But Cyber Security Has A Big Spending Problem

• Misbehaving Microsoft Teams Ad Brings Down The Entire Windows 11 Desktop

• This Seemingly Normal Lightning Cable Will Leak Everything You Type

• HSE Cyber Attack: Irish Health Service Still Recovering Months After Hack

• Brute-Force Attacks Target Inboxes For Gift Card Data

• Glasgow Firm Fined £150k After Half A Million Nuisance Calls, Spoofing Phone Number, Using False Trading Names

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 20 August 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.

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

A Third of Global Companies Have Experienced Ransomware Attack, Survey Finds

Roughly a third of large international companies have faced a ransomware attack or other data breach in the last 12 months, according to a new survey.

Analysts surveyed almost 800 companies and found 37% of international companies experienced ransomware attacks this past year. The survey focused on companies with more than 500 employees.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/jg84q3/a-third-of-global-companies-have-experienced-ransomware-attack-survey-finds

Company Size Is A Nonissue With Automated Cyber Attack Tools

Even with plenty of old problems to contend with, firms need to get ready for new and more powerful automated ransomware tools.

Cyber criminals are constantly looking for the best return on their investment and solutions that lower the chance of being caught. Sadly, that appears to mean small businesses are their current target of opportunity.

Tech media and cyber pundits have been sounding the alarm and offering small businesses specific cybersecurity solutions for a few years now, but it seems to no avail.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/company-size-is-a-nonissue-with-automated-cyberattack-tools/

Over 60% Of Employees Reuse Passwords Across Business And Personal Accounts

Nearly two thirds of employees are using personal passwords to protect corporate data, and vice versa, with even more business leaders concerned about this very issue. Surprisingly, 97% of employees know what constitutes a strong password, yet over half (53%) admit to not always using one.

http://hrnews.co.uk/over-60-of-employees-reuse-passwords-across-business-and-personal/

LockBit 2.0 Ransomware Proliferates Globally 

Fresh attacks target companies’ employees, promising millions of dollars in exchange for valid account credentials for initial access.

The LockBit ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) gang has ramped up its targeted attacks, researchers said, with attempts against organizations in Chile, Italy, Taiwan and the U.K. using version 2.0 of its malware.

https://threatpost.com/lockbit-ransomware-proliferates-globally/168746/

Secret Terrorist Watchlist With 2 Million Records Exposed Online

A secret terrorist watchlist with 1.9 million records, including classified "no-fly" records was exposed on the internet.

The list was left accessible on an Elasticsearch cluster that had no password on it.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/secret-terrorist-watchlist-with-2-million-records-exposed-online/

Phishing Costs Nearly Quadrupled Over 6 Years

Lost productivity & mopping up after the costly attacks that follow phishing – BEC & ransomware in particular – eat up most costs, not pay-outs to crooks.

Research shows that the cost of phishing attacks has nearly quadrupled over the past six years: Large US companies are now losing, on average, $14.8 million annually, or $1,500 per employee.

That’s up sharply from 2015’s figure of $3.8 million, according to a new study from Ponemon Institute that was sponsored by Proofpoint.

According to the study, released Tuesday, phishing leads to some of the costliest cyber attacks.

https://threatpost.com/phishing-costs-quadrupled/168716/

Security Teams Report Rise In Cyber Risk

A recent report shows declining confidence in many organisations’ security function to address today’s threats.

80% of respondents to the Trend Micro’s biannual Cyber Risk Index (CRI) report said they expect to experience a data breach that compromises customer data in the next 12 months.

The report surveyed more than 3,600 businesses of all sizes and industries across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America for their thoughts on cyber risk. Despite an increased focus on security due to high-profile ransomware and other attacks in the past year, respondents reported a rise in risk due to inadequate security processes like backing up key assets.

Organisations are overwhelmed as they pivot from traditional to distributed networks. Pandemic-driven work-from-home growth is potentially how businesses will be run going forward. That distributed network means that it’s harder for IT staff to know what assets are under their control and what security controls should be in place. With the line blurring between corporate and personal assets, organizations are overwhelmed with the pace of change.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3629477/security-teams-report-rise-in-cyber-risk.html

Organisations Aware Of The Importance Of Zero Trust, Yet Still Relying On Passwords

Organisations have become more security conscious over the course of the pandemic, leading them to invest heavily in zero trust, according to a new study.

The report surveyed over 600 global security leaders about their initiatives and found that remote work has led to a change in how organizations view the importance of zero trust, with financial services, healthcare organisations and the software industry seeing the most significant progress.

78% of companies globally say that zero trust has increased in priority and nearly 90% are currently working on a zero trust initiative, up from just 41% a year ago.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/08/11/importance-of-zero-trust/

Reliance On Third Party Workers Making Companies More Vulnerable To Cyber Attacks

A new survey revealed 83% of respondents agree that because organisations increasingly rely on contractors, freelancers, and other third party workers, their data systems have become more vulnerable to cyber attacks.

Further, 88% of people say organisations and government entities must have better data security systems in place to protect them from the increase in third party remote attacks.

Recent high-profile breaches, including SolarWinds, Colonial Pipeline, and JBS Foods, have exposed how vulnerable organisations are to cyber crime and in particular ransomware attacks. Of note with recent attacks is how data breaches can quickly affect aspects of everyday life, such as the ability to fill a car with petrol or buy meat at the supermarket.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/08/16/reliance-on-third-party-workers/

The Cyber Security Skills Gap Persists For The Fifth Year Running

Most organisations are still lacking talent, according to a new report, but experts think expanding the definition of a cybersecurity professional can help.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/the-cybersecurity-skills-gap-persists-for-the-fifth-year-running/

T-Mobile Hack Is A Return To The Roots Of Cyber Crime

In the world of cyber crime, ransomware attacks might be the sophisticated bank heists. The hack of T-Mobile is more akin to smashing a window, grabbing merchandise, and running.

The attack that exposed the personal information of millions of T-Mobile customers spotlights a common type of cyber threat that can inflict significant damage to consumers, much like the recent rash of ransomware attacks hitting companies.

The breach exposed the data of more than 40 million people, T-Mobile confirmed Wednesday, including customer’s full names and driver’s license information. A hacker posted about the stolen information on a cyber crime forum late last week, offering to sell the information to buyers for the price of six bitcoin, or about $270,000.

This type of attack, in which hackers worm their way into companies’ systems, steal data and try to sell it online, has been a common tactic for years, cyber security experts say. Unlike the high-profile ransomware attacks that have disrupted fuel supplies, hospital systems and food production in recent months, these data exfiltration hacks do not lock down computer systems.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/19/tmobile-breach-data-hacks/

Phishing Attacks Increase In H1 2021, Sharp Jump In Crypto Attacks

The first half of 2021 shows a 22 percent increase in the volume of phishing attacks over the same time period last year, a new report reveals. Notably, however, phishing volume in June dipped dramatically for the first time in six months, immediately following a very high-volume in May.

Bad actors continue to utilise phishing to fleece proprietary information, and are developing more sophisticated ways to do so based on growth in areas such as cryptocurrency and sites that use single-sign-on.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/08/19/phishing-attacks-h1-2021/

Connected Devices Increasingly At Risk As New Ransomware Attacks Are Reported Almost Daily

A new report has shined a light on the state of connected devices. The number of agentless and un-agentable devices increased to 42% in this year’s report (compared to 32% of agentless or un-agentable devices in 2020). These devices include medical and manufacturing devices that are critical to business operations along with network devices, IP phones, video surveillance cameras and facility devices (such as badge readers) that are not designed with security in mind, cannot be patched, and cannot support endpoint security agents.

With almost half of devices in the network that are either agentless or un-agentable, organisations need to complement their endpoint security strategy with a network-based security approach to discover and secure these devices.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/08/12/connected-devices-risks/

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Threats

Ransomware

• John Oliver On Ransomware Attacks: ‘It’s In Everyone’s Interest To Tet This Under Control’

• Hospitals Hamstrung By Ransomware Are Turning Away Patients

• Half Of US Hospitals Shut Down Networks Due To Ransomware

• Device Complexity Leaving Schools At Heightened Risk Of Ransomware Attacks

• This Ransomware Has Returned With New Techniques To Make Attacks More Effective

• Diavol Ransomware Sample Shows Stronger Connection To TrickBot Gang

• Ransomware Criminals' Demands Rise As Aggressive Tactics Pay Off

BEC

• 23 Charged Over Covid-19 Business Email Compromise Fraud

Phishing

• "Jigsaw Puzzle" Phishing Attacks Use Morse Code To Hide

• Cyber Attackers Embrace CAPTCHAs To Hide Phishing, Malware

• WordPress Sites Abused In Aggah Spear-Phishing Campaign

• This Microsoft 365 Spear-Phishing Campaign Has Been Running Riot For Over A Year

Other Social Engineering

• Delivery Scams Most Prominent Form Of Smishing

Malware

• Malware Campaign Uses Clever 'Captcha' To Bypass Browser Warning

• Malware Dev Infects Own PC And Data Ends Up On Intel Platform

• Researchers Discover New AdLoad Malware Campaigns Targeting Macs And Apple Products

Mobile

• How Hackers Can Use Message Mirroring Apps To See All Your SMS Texts — And Bypass 2FA Security

IOT

• Amazon Sidewalk Highlights Network Security Visibility Risks Consumer Services Pose

Vulnerabilities

• Multiple Flaws Affecting Realtek Wi-Fi SDKs Impact Nearly A Million IoT Devices

• Unpatched Remote Hacking Flaw Disclosed In Fortinet's FortiWeb WAF

• Linux Glibc Security Fix Created A Nastier Linux Bug

• 65 Vendors Affected By Severe Vulnerabilities In Realtek Chips

• Eight-Year-Old Bug In Microsoft's 64-Bit VBA Prompts Complaints Of Neglect

• Cisco Won’t Fix Zero-Day RCE Vulnerability In End-Of-Life VPN Routers

• Adobe Addresses Two Critical Vulnerabilities In Photoshop

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Chase Bank Accidentally Leaked Customer Info To Other Customers

• Colonial Pipeline Reports Data Breach After May Ransomware Attack

• Ford Bug Exposed Customer And Employee Records From Internal Systems

Dark Web

• Dark Web Blockchain Analysis Tool Suspended After Flurry Of Media Coverage

• Dark Web Drug Dealer Indicted For Laundering $137 Million In Bitcoin From Prison

• Dark Web Criminals Have Built A Tool That Checks For Dirty Bitcoin

Supply Chain

DoS/DDoS

• Attackers Can Weaponize Firewalls And Middleboxes For Amplified DDoS Attacks

• Botnet Generates One of the Largest DDoS Attacks on Record

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Mysterious Hacker Group Suspected In July Cyber Attack On Iranian Trains

Nation State Actors

• Chinese Espionage Tool Exploits Vulnerabilities In 58 Widely Used Websites

• North Korea Hackers Spreading Malware Via Browser Exploits

Cloud

• The Overlooked Security Risks Of The Cloud

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Other News

• Blackbaud – Firm That Paid Off Crooks After 2020 Ransomware Attack – Fails To Get California Privacy Law Claim Dropped

• Threat Actors Hacked US Census Bureau In 2020 By Exploiting A Citrix Flaw

• Cyber Security Is Top Priority For Enterprises As They Shift To Digital-First Operating Models

• SMEs Awareness Of GDPR Is High, But Few Adhere To Its Legal Requirements

• Hacker Finds A Way To Steal Windows 365 User Names And Passwords

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 16 July 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

 84% Of Organisations Experienced Phishing Or Ransomware Attacks In The Last Year

A new report from Trend Micro has found that 84% of organisations have reported phishing or ransomware security incidents in the last 12 months.

The findings come from an Osterman Research study commissioned by Trend Micro that was compiled from interviews with cyber security professionals in midsize and large organisations nationwide. The research also found that half of organisations are not effective at countering phishing and ransomware threats.

https://www.itpro.co.uk/security/ransomware/360191/84-of-organizations-experienced-phishing-or-ransomware-attacks-in-last

Phishing continues to be one of the easiest paths for ransomware

Ransomware gangs are still using phishing as one of the main ways to attack an organisation, according to a new survey from Cloudian featuring the insights of 200 IT decision-makers who experienced a ransomware attack over the last two years.

More than half of all respondents have held anti-phishing training among employees, and 49% had perimeter defenses in place when they were attacked.

Nearly 25% of all survey respondents said their ransomware attacks started through phishing, and of those victims, 65% had conducted anti-phishing training sessions. For enterprises with fewer than 500 employees, 41% said their attacks started with phishing. About one-third of all victims said their public cloud was the entry point ransomware groups used to attack them.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/phishing-continues-to-be-one-of-the-easiest-paths-for-ransomware-report/

Ransomware: Only Half Of Organisations Can Effectively Defend Against Attacks, Warns Report

Around half of firms don't have the technology to prevent or detect ransomware attacks, according to research by cybersecurity company Trend Micro. It suggests that many organisations don't have the cybersecurity capabilities required to prevent ransomware attacks, such as the ability to detect phishing emails, remote desktop protocol (RDP) compromise or other common techniques deployed by cyber attackers during ransomware campaigns. 

For example, the report warns that many organisations struggle with detecting the suspicious activity associated with ransomware and attacks that could provide early evidence that cyber criminals have compromised the network. That includes failing to identify unusual lateral movement across corporate networks, or being able to spot unauthorised users gaining access to corporate data.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-only-half-of-organisations-can-effectively-defend-against-attacks-warns-report/

MI5 Chief Warns Public Of Cyber-Threat From Hostile States Such As China & Russia

Head of Britain's MI5, Ken McCallum, is urging the public to be as vigilant about threats from "hostile states" as from terrorism.

These include disruptive cyber-attacks, misinformation, espionage and interference in politics - and are usually linked to Russia and China.

McCallum is warning that "less visible threats... have the potential to affect us all," affecting UK jobs and public services and could even lead to a loss of life.

The head of the Security Service wants to challenge the idea that activity by so-called "hostile states", usually taken to mean primarily Russia and China, only affects governments or certain institutions.

Instead, he is to argue in an annual threat update, that the British public are not immune to the "tentacles" of covert action by other states.

In the speech at MI5's Thames House headquarters, Mr McCallum will warn the "consequences range from frustration and inconvenience, through loss of livelihood, potentially up to loss of life".

https://eutoday.net/news/security-defence/2021/uk-mi5-chief-ken-mccallum-warns-public-of-cyber-threat-from-hostile-states-such-as-china-russia

Almost All Organisations Have Suffered Insider Data Breaches

Egress’ Insider Data Breach Survey 2021 claims that 94 percent of organisations have experienced insider data breaches in the last year. Human error was the top cause of serious incidents, according to 84 percent of IT leaders surveyed.

However, IT leaders are more concerned about malicious insiders, with 28 percent indicating that intentionally malicious behaviour is their biggest fear. Despite causing the most incidents, human error came bottom of the list, with just over one-fifth (21 percent) saying that it’s their biggest concern.

Additionally, almost three-quarters (74 percent) of organisations have been breached because of employees breaking security rules, and 73 percent have been the victim of phishing attacks.

The survey, independently conducted by Arlington Research on behalf of Egress, surveyed 500 IT leaders and 3,000 employees in the US and UK across vertical sectors including financial services, healthcare and legal.

https://workplaceinsight.net/almost-all-organisations-have-suffered-insider-data-breaches/

Cyber Crime Costs Organisations Nearly $1.79 Million Per Minute

Cybercrime costs organisations an incredible $1.79m every minute, according to RiskIQ’s 2021 Evil Internet Minute Report.

The study, which analysed the volume of malicious activity on the internet, laid bare the scale and damage of cyber-attacks in the past year, finding that 648 cyber-threats occurred every minute.

The researchers calculated that the average cost of a breach is $7.2 per minute, while the overall predicted cybersecurity spend is $280,060 every minute.

E-commerce has been heavily hit by online payment fraud in the past year, with cyber-criminals taking advantage of the shift to online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the e-commerce industry saw a record $861.1bn in sales, it lost $38,052 to online payment fraud every minute.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cybercrime-costs-orgs-per-minute/

Phishing, Ransomware Driving Wave of Data Breaches

Data compromises have increased every month this year except May.

If that trend continues, or even if there is only an average of 141 new compromises per month for the next six months, the total will still exceed the previous high of 1,632 breaches set in 2017.

These were among the findings of the nonprofit organization Identity Theft Resource Center’s (ITRC) latest data breach analysis report, which revealed publicly reported U.S. data breaches are up 38% in the second quarter of 2021, for a total of 491 compromises, compared to Q1.

https://securityboulevard.com/2021/07/phishing-ransomware-driving-wave-of-data-breaches/

Top CVEs Trending with Cybercriminals

An analysis of criminal forums reveal what publicly known vulnerabilities attackers are most interested in.

Criminal small talk in underground forums offer critical clues about which known Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) threat actors are most focused on. This, in turn, offers defenders clues on what to watch out for.

An analysis of such chatter, by Cognyte, examined 15 cybercrime forums between Jan. 2020 and March 2021. In its report, researchers highlight what CVEs are the most frequently mentioned and try to determine where attackers might strike next.

“Our findings revealed that there is no 100 percent correlation between the two parameters, since the top five CVEs that received the highest number of posts are not exactly the ones that were mentioned on the highest number of Dark Web forums examined,” the report said. “However, it is still enough to understand which CVEs were popular among threat actors on the Dark Web during the time examined.”

https://threatpost.com/top-cves-trending-with-cybercriminals/167889/

Sonicwall Releases Urgent Notice About 'Imminent' Ransomware Targeting Firmware

Networking device maker SonicWall sent out an urgent notice to its customers about "an imminent ransomware campaign using stolen credentials" that is targeting Secure Mobile Access (SMA) 100 series and Secure Remote Access (SRA) products running unpatched and end-of-life 8.x firmware.

In addition to the notice posted to its website, SonicWall sent an email to anyone using SMA and SRA devices, urging some to disconnect their devices immediately. They worked with Mandiant and other security companies on the issue, according to the release.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/sonicwall-releases-urgent-notice-about-imminent-ransomware-targeting-firmware/

Google Finds Zero-Day Security Flaws In All Your Favourite Browsers

Researchers at Google have shared insight into four zero-day security vulnerabilities in popular web browsers which were exploited in the wild earlier this year.

DIscovered by Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG), the four vulnerabilities in Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, and WebKit, the browser engine used by Apple's Safari, were used as a part of three different campaigns.

https://www.techradar.com/news/google-finds-zero-day-security-flaws-in-all-your-favorite-browsers

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Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware attackers are growing bolder and using new extortion methods

• REvil ransomware gang's websites vanish soon after Kaseya fiasco, Uncle Sam threatens retaliation

• What it's really like to negotiate with ransomware attackers

• Holding The World To Ransom: Top 5 Online Gangs

• Ransomware demands are digital extortion: don’t pay

• Ransomware recovery: Plan for it now

• Ransomware shows the power and weakness of the web

• This ransomware gang hunts for evidence of crime to pressure victims into paying a ransom

• HelloKitty ransomware now targets VMware ESXi servers

BEC

• Business email compromise (BEC) attacks take phishing to the next level

Phishing

• Kaseya warns of phishing campaign pushing fake security updates

• Phishing, Ransomware Driving Wave of Data Breaches

Other Social Engineering

• Social Engineering Tactics Behind Ransomware

• Propaganda as a Social Engineering Tool

Malware

• Trickbot Malware Rebounds with Virtual-Desktop Espionage Module

• Hackers Spread BIOPASS Malware via Chinese Online Gambling Sites

Mobile

• iOS zero-day let SolarWinds hackers compromise fully updated iPhones

Vulnerabilities

• Microsoft July 2021 Patch Tuesday: 117 vulnerabilities, Pwn2Own Exchange Server bug fixed

• SonicWall vulnerability allows attackers to obtain full control of device and underlying OS

• Microsoft's Emergency Patch Fails to Fully Fix PrintNightmare RCE Vulnerability

• So nice of China to put all of its network zero-day vulns in one giant database no one will think to break into

• Serious Security Vulnerability Hits DrayTek’s UK Fibre Routers

• Kaseya issues patch for on-premise customers, SaaS rollout underway

Data Breaches

• Morgan Stanley suffered data breach of customers after supply chain hack

• Fashion retailer Guess discloses data breach after ransomware attack

• Insurance giant CNA reports data breach after ransomware attack

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• SolarWinds 0-day gave Chinese hackers privileged access to customer servers

• Magecart hackers hide stolen credit card data into images and bogus CSS files

Cryptocurrency/Cryptojacking

• Does cyber crime impact crypto currency prices? Researchers find out

Insider Threats

• New Code42 Study Reveals Significant Impact of Insider Risk

Dark Web

• Feds: Dark web operator sought to sell inside information

Supply Chain

• UK food supply chain vulnerable to cyber-attack, expert warns

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Vulnerability in Schneider Electric PLCs allows for undetectable remote takeover

• Unpatched Critical RCE Bug Allows Industrial, Utility Takeovers

Nation State Actors

• Fake Zoom App Dropped by New APT ‘Luminous Moth’

• These Iranian hackers posed as academics in a bid to steal email passwords

Privacy

• Threat actors scrape 600 million LinkedIn profiles and are selling the data online – again

User Education, Awareness and Training

• Without training one in three users fall for phishing scams 

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Other News

Kaseya's Staff Sounded the Alarm About Security Flaws for Years Before Ransomware Attack

Israeli Firm Helped Governments Target Journalists, Activists with 0-Days and Spyware

Endpoint Detection (alone) won’t protect your organisation from advanced hacking groups

Kaseya hack proves we need better cyber metrics

Instagram's Security Checkup will help users secure their accounts after a hack

79% of organisations identify threat modelling as a top priority in 2021

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 09 July 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

Hackers Demand $70 Million To End Biggest Ransomware Attack On Record

An affiliate of the notorious REvil gang, best known for extorting $11 million from the meat-processor JBS after a Memorial Day attack, infected thousands of victims in at least 17 countries on Friday, largely through firms that remotely manage IT infrastructure for multiple customers. REvil was demanding ransoms of up to $5 million, the researchers said. But late Sunday it offered in a posting on its dark web site a universal decryptor software key that would unscramble all affected machines in exchange for $70 million in crypto currency.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ransomware-attack-revil-hackers-demand-70-million/

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Zero Day Malware Reached An All-Time High Of 74% In Q1 2021

74% of threats detected in Q1 2021 were zero day malware – or those for which a signature-based antivirus solution did not detect at the time of the malware release – capable of circumventing conventional antivirus solutions. The report also covers new threat intelligence on rising network attack rates, how attackers are trying to disguise and repurpose old exploits, the quarter’s top malware attacks, and more.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/06/29/zero-day-malware-q1-2021/

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New Trojan Malware Steals Millions Of Login Credentials

There is a new custom Trojan-type malware that managed to infiltrate over three million Windows computers and steal nearly 26 million login credentials for about a million websites. The findings suggest that the Trojan classifies the websites into a dozen categories, which include virtually all popular email services, social media platforms, file storage and sharing services, ecommerce platforms, financial platforms, and more. In all, the unnamed malware managed to siphon away 1.2 terabytes of personal data including over a million unique email addresses, over two billion cookies, and more than six million other files.

https://www.techradar.com/news/malware-steals-millions-of-login-credentials-for-popular-websites

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Ransomware As A Service: Negotiators Are Now In High Demand

The Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) ecosystem is evolving into something akin to a corporate structure, with new openings available for "negotiators" -- a role focused on extorting victims to pay a ransom. A study in RaaS trends has recently come out saying that one-man-band operations have almost "completely dissolved" due to the lucrative nature of the criminal ransomware business. Showing the potential financial gains squeezed from companies desperate to unlock their systems have given rise to specialists in cyber crime and extortion and have also led to a high demand for individuals to take over the negotiation part of an attack chain.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-as-a-service-negotiators-between-hackers-and-victims-are-now-in-high-demand/

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MacOS Targeted In WildPressure APT Malware Campaign

Recently, threat actors known as WildPressure have added a MacOS malware variant to their latest campaign targeting energy sector businesses, while enlisting compromised WordPress websites to carry out attacks. Furthermore, known novel malware, initially identified in March 2020 and dubbed Milum, has now been retooled with a PyInstaller bundle containing a trojan dropper compatible with Windows and MacOS systems, according to researchers. Compromised endpoints allow the advanced persistent threat (APT) group to download and upload files and executing commands.

https://threatpost.com/macos-wildpressure-apt/167606/

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The Cost Of Cyber Insurance Increased 32% Last Year And Shows No Signs Of Easing

The cost of insurance to protect businesses and organisations against the ever-increasing threat of cyber crimes has soared by a third in the last year. Also adding that global cyber insurance pricing has increased by an average of 32 percent in the year to June. Not only are premiums going through the roof, insurers are also attaching more strings to their policies, demanding ever more assurances that firms taking out cover have the necessary systems and processes in place to prevent a cyber mishap. Previous research also suggests that the upward squeeze on premiums shows no sign of easing, which, in turn, is putting more strain on the sector.

https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/05/cyber_insurance_report/

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Critical Flaws In Windows Print Spooler Service Could Allow For Remote Attacks

Administrators are urged to apply the latest patches from Microsoft and disable the Windows Print spooler service in domain controllers and systems not used for printing. This is because Microsoft is currently grappling with a couple of security holes in its Windows Print spooler service that could allow attackers to remotely control an affected system. Anyone able to exploit the more recent vulnerability of the two would be able to run code on the compromised computer with full system privileges. That attacker could then install software, modify data and create new user accounts.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/critical-flaws-in-windows-print-spooler-service-could-allow-for-remote-attacks/

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End Users In The Dark About Latest Cyber Threats, Attacks

According to a recent survey, which polled consumers and end users, high-profile incidents such as the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline Co. and the breach of a Florida city's water utilities were either overlooked or ignored by many outside the IT and information security fields. As a result, the responsibility for keeping users informed and aware of the need for heightened security appears to fall on administrators and IT staff.

https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/news/252503223/End-users-in-the-dark-about-latest-cyber-threats-attacks

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British Airways Settles Over Record Claim For Data Breach

British Airways has settled what is thought to be the biggest claim for a data breach in British legal history, involving 16,000 victims. However, the amount was not disclosed. When The breach took place three years ago, multiple data sources and customer data was leaked, including the leakage of names, addresses and card payment details which affected 420,000 customers and staff. As a result, in 2019 the Information Commissioner’s Office hit BA with its largest ever fine at £20 million.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/british-airways-settles-over-record-claim-for-data-breach-g0f63dnst

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Hackers On Loose As 9,000 Data Leaks A Year Recorded

Public bodies and the private sector suffered nearly 9,000 data security incidents in 12 months with sensitive and private information hacked, lost or accidentally given to the wrong people. This Data was seen to lists more than 500 organisations hit by ransomware attacks and a further 562 incidents of hacking. There was also a total of 8,815 data security incidents in 2020/21 with the most breaches in the health and education sectors. Furthermore, over the past three years, police forces across England and Wales suffered an average eight breaches a week. Even security experts announced that these figures were “alarming” and that the public would be “disturbed” to learn how often important information/data was being lost.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hackers-9000-data-leaks-recorded-cyber-crime-56nvs7t6w

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Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware Demands Are Digital Extortion: Don’t Pay

• Trickbot Cyber Crime Group Linked To New Diavol Ransomware

• Swedish Coop Supermarkets Shut Due To US Ransomware Cyber Attack

• Ransomware-Hit Law Firm Gets Court Order Asking Crooks Not To Publish The Data They Stole

• The Rise And Rise Of Ransomware As A Service

• This Crowd Sourced Ransomware Payment Tracker Shows How Much Cyber Criminals Have Heisted

• Ransomware: US Warns Russia To Take Action After Latest Attacks

• Kaseya Says Up To 1,500 Businesses Compromised In Massive Ransomware Attack

Phishing

• Attackers Use ‘Offensive AI’ To Create Deepfakes For Phishing Campaigns

Malware

• Microsoft Office Users Face Malware-Protection Bypass

• TrickBot Spruces Up Its Banking Trojan Module

• WildPressure APT Emerges With New Malware Targeting Windows and MacOS

• Fake Kaseya VSA Security Update Drops Cobalt Strike

Vulnerabilities

• Microsoft Issues Emergency Patch for Critical Windows PrintNightmare Vulnerability

• Microsoft Warns Of Critical PowerShell 7 Code Execution Vulnerability

• Another 0-Day Looms For Many Western Digital Users

• Researchers Briefly Posted PoC For Windows Print Spooler RCE Flaw

• Kaseya Patches Imminent After Zero-Day Exploits, 1,500 Impacted

• SonicWall Addresses Critical CVE-2021-20026 Flaw In NSM Devices

• Kaseya Left Customer Portal Vulnerable To 2015 Flaw In Its Own Software

• Morgan Stanley Announces Breach Of Customer SSNs Through Accellion FTA Vulnerability

Data Breaches

• Hacker Obtains Data On Thousands Of VPN Users

• US Insurance Giant AJG Reports Data Breach After Ransomware Attack

• Thousands Of Patients Hit By NHS Data Breaches

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• UK, US Agencies Warn Of Large-Scale Brute-Force Attacks Carried Out By Russian APT

• Moroccan Hacker Dr Hex Arrested For Phishing Attacks, Malware Distribution

• Operation Lyrebird: Group-IB Assists INTERPOL In Identifying Suspect Behind Numerous Cyber Crimes Worldwide

Supply Chain

• Kaseya Supply Chain Attack Hits Nearly 40 Service Providers With REvil Ransomware

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Oil & Gas Targeted in Year-Long Cyber Espionage Campaign

Nation State Actors

• SolarWinds Hackers Breached RNC Via Synnex In New Attack: Report

• Lazarus gang targets engineers with job offers using poisoned emails (tripwire.com)

Cloud

• Enterprise Hybrid and Multicloud Security Attack Surface Grows

• Public Cloud Security 'Just Barely Adequate,' Experts Say

Privacy

• A New ‘Digital Violence’ Platform Maps Dozens Of Victims Of NSO Group’s Spyware

• Audio Editor Audacity Denies Spyware Accusation

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Other News

• IT Manager Who Swindled Essex Hospital Trust Out Of £800k Gets 5 Years In Prison

• US Companies Hit By 'Colossal' Cyber Attack

• Watch Out Gamers, Hackers Have You In Their Crosshairs

• Website Of Mongolian Certificate Authority Served Backdoored Client Installer

• Security Problems Worsen As Enterprises Build Hybrid And Multiloud Systems

• Report Shines Light On Revil's Depressingly Simple Tactics: Phishing, Credential Stuffing RDP Servers... The Usual

• Leaked infrastructure code, credentials and keys costing orgs an average of $1.2 million per year

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 12 March 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.

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

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Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

‘Really Messy’: Why The Hack of Microsoft’s Email System Is Getting Worse, With Attacks Doubling Every Two Hours

The cyber security community sprang into action after Microsoft first announced a series of vulnerabilities that let hackers break into the company's Exchange email and calendar programs. China has used it to spy on a wide range of industries in the United States ranging from medical research to law firms to defence contractors, the company said. China has denied responsibility. In the past 24 hours, the team has observed "exploitation attempts on organizations doubling every two to three hours." The countries feeling the brunt of attack attempts are Turkey, the United States, and Italy, accounting for 19%, 18%, and 10% of all tracked exploit attempts, respectively.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/really-messy-hack-microsofts-email-system-getting-worse-rcna377

https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-exchange-server-hacks-doubling-every-two-hours/

Trickbot Malware Is Now Your Biggest Security Headache

Trickbot malware has risen to fill the gap left by the takedown of the Emotet botnet, with a higher number of criminals shifting towards it to distribute malware attacks. Emotet was the world's most prolific and dangerous malware botnet before it was disrupted by an international law enforcement operation in January this year.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-trojan-malware-is-now-your-biggest-security-headache/

Cyber Criminals Are Increasingly Targeting Browser Zero Days

As more and more of our work is done within our browsers, cyber criminals have begun to leverage web browser exploits to compromise endpoint systems, according to new research from Menlo Security. At the same time, enterprises around the world were forced to make an almost overnight transition to remote work last year and this surge in employees working from home along with the shift to cloud computing have resulted in a greatly increased attack surface.

https://www.techradar.com/news/cybercriminals-are-increasingly-targeting-browser-zero-days

More Than 1m Small Businesses ‘At Risk Of Collapse’ Due To Cyber Threats

The research, commissioned by Vodafone, also showed that 16 per cent of firms would likely be forced to lay off staff in the event of a hack. As a result, the report called on ministers to beef up the country’s corporate cyber defences, warning that a failure to do so could hamper the post-pandemic economic recovery. It urged the government to expand a dedicated business cyber security within the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which is part of GCHQ, and introduce a five per cent VAT cut on cybersecurity products for small companies.

Number Of Ransomware Attacks Grew By More Than 150%

By the end of 2020, the ransomware market, fueled by the pandemic turbulence, had turned into the biggest cyber crime money artery. Based on the analysis of more than 500 attacks observed during Group-IB’s own incident response engagements and cyber threat intelligence activity, researchers estimate that the number of ransomware attacks grew by more than 150% in 2020.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/03/08/ransomware-attacks-grew-2020/

Hackers Are Using Home Office Selfies To Steal Your Personal Data

The pandemic has been the source of plenty of memes and new internet trends, not least the remote working selfie, which involves people taking photos of their home office setup or video conferencing sessions. However, a new blog suggests cyber criminals are capitalizing on this new genre of selfie to steal a range of personal data that could be used to execute identity or financial fraud.

https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/hackers-are-using-home-office-selfies-to-steal-your-personal-data

Massive Supply-Chain Cyber Attack Breaches Several Airlines

A communications and IT vendor for 90 percent of the world’s airlines, SITA, has been breached, compromising passenger data stored on the company’s U.S. servers in what the company is calling a “highly sophisticated attack.” The affected servers are in Atlanta, and belong to the SITA Passenger Service System (SITA PSS).

https://threatpost.com/supply-chain-cyberattack-airlines/164549/

Millions Of Windows Devices Are Still Infested With Malware

Over 100 million Windows consumer and business devices across the world were infected with malware last year, new analysis has found. While examining the recent Malwarebytes "State of Malware" report, Atlas VPN noted that whilst the number of infected Windows machines seems high, this landmark figure was actually 12% drop when compared to 2019.

https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/millions-of-windows-devices-are-still-infested-with-malware

Did You Know Browser Extensions Are Looking at Your Bank Account?

Browser extensions have full access to all the web pages you visit. It can see which web pages you are browsing, read their contents, and watch everything you type. It could even modify the web pages—for example, by inserting extra advertisements. If the extension is malicious, it could gather all that private data of yours—from web browsing activity and the emails you type to your passwords and financial information—and send it to a remote server on the internet.

https://www.howtogeek.com/716771/did-you-know-browser-extensions-are-looking-at-your-bank-account/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Capcom reportedly forced employees to work in the office following ransomware attack

• Fake Ad Blocker Delivers Hybrid Cryptominer/Ransomware Infection

• New ransomware only decrypts victims who join their Discord server

Phishing

• Fake Google reCAPTCHA Phishing Attack Swipes Office 365 Passwords

Malware

• Nim-Based Malware Loader Spreads Via Spear-Phishing Emails

• Supernova malware clues link Chinese threat group Spiral to SolarWinds server hacks

Mobile

• Malicious apps on Google Play dropped banking Trojans on user devices

Vulnerabilities

• Microsoft's March Patch Tuesday: Critical remote code execution flaws, IE zero-day fixed

• F5 issues BIG-IP patches to tackle unauthenticated remote code execution, critical flaws

• Hackers Exploit QNAP Vulnerabilities to Turn NAS Devices Into Crypto Miners

• Malware Can Exploit New Flaw in Intel CPUs to Launch Side-Channel Attacks

• Adobe releases batch of security fixes for Framemaker, Creative Cloud, Connect

• Critical 0-day that targeted security researchers gets a patch

• Intel CPU interconnects can be exploited by malware to leak encryption keys and other info

• Now it is F5’s turn to reveal critical security bugs – and the Feds were quick to sound the alarm on these BIG-IP flaws

Organised Crime

• Police raids across Europe after encrypted phone network shut down

Dark Web

• Dark Web Markets for Stolen Data See Banner Sales

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Hack of '150,000 cameras' investigated by camera firm

Nation-State Actors

• Researchers Unveil New Linux Malware Linked to Chinese Hackers

• United States considering cyber war on Russia in retaliation for SolarWinds hack

Privacy

• The UK is secretly testing a controversial web snooping tool

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Other News

• This Unassuming Little Device Can Hack Your Smart Home

• Did You Know Browser Extensions Are Looking at Your Bank Account?

• White hat bounty hackers become millionaires

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 19 February 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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Image by Lukas Bieri from Pixabay

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Masslogger Swipes Microsoft Outlook, Google Chrome Credentials

Cyber Criminals are targeting Windows users with a new variant of the Masslogger trojan, which is spyware designed to swipe victims’ credentials from Microsoft Outlook, Google Chrome and various instant-messenger accounts. Researchers uncovered the campaign targeting users in Italy, Latvia and Turkey starting in mid-January. When the Masslogger variant launched its infection chain, it disguised its malicious RAR files as Compiled HTML (CHM) files. This is a new move for Masslogger, and helps the malware sidestep potential defensive programs, which would otherwise block the email attachment based on its RAR file extension, said researchers on Wednesday.

https://threatpost.com/masslogger-microsoft-outlook-google-chrome/164011/

Phishers tricking users via fake LinkedIn Private Shared Document

The phishing message is delivered via LinkedIn’s internal messaging system and looks like it has been sent by one of the victim’s contacts. The message urges the recipient to follow a third-party link to view a document. If they fail to find this suspicious, they’ll be redirected to a convincingly spoofed LinkedIn login page, and if they enter their login credentials, their account will probably soon be sending out phishing messages to their contacts.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/02/18/linkedin-private-shared-document/

Solarwinds Attack Hit 100 Companies And Took Months Of Planning’; ‘Largest And Most Sophisticated Attack’ Ever Seen According To Microsoft; Hackers Downloaded Some Azure, Exchange, And Intune Source Code

A hacking campaign that used a tech company as a springboard to compromise a raft of US government agencies has been called “the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen”, according to Microsoft. Nine US governmental agencies were breached along with 100 different private sector companies , many of which were technology companies, including products that could be used to launch additional intrusions. Microsoft said it has formally completed its investigation into the SolarWinds-related breach and found no evidence that hackers abused its internal systems or official products to pivot and attack end-users and business customers, though it did state that it had discovered that hackers used the access they gained through the SolarWinds Orion app to pivot to Microsoft's internal network, where they accessed the source code of several internal projects.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/solarwinds-attack-hit-100-companies-and-took-months-of-planning-says-white-house/ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/solarwinds-us-russia-hacking-b1802299.html https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-says-solarwinds-hackers-downloaded-some-azure-exchange-and-intune-source-code/

Ransomware gangs are running riot – paying them off doesn’t help

In the past five years, ransomware attacks have evolved from rare misfortunes into common and disruptive threats. Hijacking the IT systems of organisations and forcing them to pay a ransom in order to reclaim them, cyber criminals are freely extorting millions of pounds from companies – and they’re enjoying a remarkably low risk of arrest as they do it.

https://theconversation.com/ransomware-gangs-are-running-riot-paying-them-off-doesnt-help-155254

Most security bugs in the wild are years old

Most vulnerabilities exploited in the wild are years old and some could be remedied easily with a readily available patch. This is one of the findings of a new report, which states that two thirds (65 percent) of CVEs found in 2020 were more than three years old, while a third of those (32 percent) were originally identified in 2015 or earlier.

https://www.itproportal.com/news/most-security-bugs-in-the-wild-are-multiple-years-old/

Hacker Claims to Have Stolen Files Belonging to Prominent Law Firm Jones Day

A hacker claims to have stolen files belonging to the global law firm Jones Day and posted many of them on the dark web. Jones Day has many prominent clients, including former President Donald Trump and major corporations. Jones Day, in a statement, disputed that its network has been breached. The statement said that a file-sharing company that it has used was recently compromised and had information taken. Jones Day said it continues to investigate the breach and will continue to be in discussion with affected clients and appropriate authorities.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/hacker-claims-to-have-stolen-files-belonging-to-prominent-law-firm-jones-day-11613514532?reflink=desktopwebshare_twitter

Former Spy Chief Calls For Military Cyber Attacks On Ransomware Hackers

The state should launch military cyber attacks to shut down ransomware gangs that have extorted millions of pounds from British businesses, a former spy chief has said.

Ciaran Martin, who previously led the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, said the problem of criminal gangs locking and stealing files has become so serious that Government should now seek to disrupt the operations of prolific criminals.

The plans would mark a major change of tack for the UK authorities, who have long downplayed the idea they could routinely use offensive hacking as well as cyber defence.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2021/02/15/former-spy-chief-calls-military-cyber-attacks-ransomware-hackers/

Think your backups will protect you from ransomware? What do you think the malware attacked first?

If you think your backup strategy means you’re protected from the worst that cyber criminals can throw at you, we’ve got some bad news. Ransomware creators know all about backups, too. So, if you are unlucky enough to get a “pay up or else” notice, there’s a very good chance that the attacker in question has already been stealthily working their way through your systems for some time, ensuring your recovery data has already been comprehensively trashed.

https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/17/protect_yourself_from_ransomware_webcast/

100+ Financial Services Firms Targeted in Ransom DDoS Attacks in 2020

More than 100 financial services firms across multiple countries were targeted in a wave of ransom distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks conducted by the same threat actor in 2020. The attacks moved in methodical fashion across Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia, hitting dozens of organizations in the financial sector in each region, the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) disclosed this week. Among those targeted were banks, exchanges, payments companies, card issuers, payroll companies, insurance firms, and money transfer services.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/100+-financial-services-firms-targeted-in-ransom-ddos-attacks-in-2020/d/d-id/1340165

14 million alleged Amazon and eBay account details sold online

An unknown user was offering the data of 14 million Amazon and eBay customers’ accounts for sale on a popular hacking forum. The data appears to come from users who had Amazon or eBay accounts from 2014-2021 in 18 different countries. The database was being sold for $800 and the accounts are divided into their respective countries. The leaked data includes the customer’s full name, postal code, delivery address, and shop name, as well 1.6 million phone records.

https://cybernews.com/security/14-million-amazon-and-ebay-accounts-sold-online-in-new-leak/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Kia Reportedly Under Ransomware Attack With $20M Demand

• Conti ransomware: Evasive by nature

• Egregor ransomware affiliates arrested by Ukrainian, French police

BEC

• This cyber security threat costs business millions. And it's the one they often forget about

Phishing

• This phishing email promises you a bonus - but actually delivers this Windows trojan malware

• How Hackers use Phishing to Hijack Sites through Hosting Provider

• Hackers abusing the Ngrok platform phishing attacks

Malware

• Windows and Linux servers targeted by new WatchDog botnet for almost two years

• Malware Is Now Targeting Apple’s New M1 Processor

• TrickBot's BazarBackdoor malware is now coded in Nim to evade antivirus

Mobile

• Owner of app that hijacked millions of devices with one update exposes buy-to-infect scam

IOT

Vulnerabilities

• The OpenSSL Project addressed three vulnerabilities

• WordPress plugin exploit puts more than one million sites at risk

• Bug in shared SDK can let attackers join calls undetected across multiple apps

• Malvertisers Exploited WebKit 0-Day to Redirect Browser Users to Scam Sites

• Apple patches severe macOS Big Sur data loss bug

• Microsoft Pulls Bad Windows Update After Patch Tuesday Headaches

• Telegram privacy feature failed to delete self-destructing video files

Data Breaches

• Scottish Borders Council apologises for data breach

Organised Crime

• Duo Charged with Multimillion-Dollar Dark Web Drugs Scheme

• Cybercrime Joker Retires With A Reported $2.1 Billion In Bitcoin

Insider Threats

• Yandex Data Breach Exposes 4K+ Email Accounts

Supply Chain

• Supply chain attacks are on the rise: Check your software build pipeline security

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• The Cyber Risks of Transportation’s Connected OT/IoT Systems

Nation-State Actors

• France Ties Russia's Sandworm to a Multiyear Hacking Spree

• Russian state hackers targeted Centreon servers in years-long campaign

• Feds Indict North Korean Hackers for Years of Heists and Scams

• MPs sign up to Clubhouse app despite Chinese security concerns

Privacy

• More bosses are using software to monitor remote workers. Not everyone is happy about it

• 'Spy pixels in emails have become endemic'

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• State Of Malware 2021 Report

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Other News

• Attacks targeting IT firms stir concern, controversy

• Record year for UK’s £8.9bn cyber security sector

• Most businesses plan to move away from VPNs, adopt a zero-trust access model

• 20 Common Tools & Techniques Used by macOS Threat Actors & Malware

• The biggest cyber attacks in gaming history

• Discord is fast becoming a favourite tool among cyber criminals

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 05 February 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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Photo by Corinne Kutz on Unsplash

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Ransomware Gangs Made At Least $350 Million In 2020

Ransomware gangs made at least $350 million in ransom payments last year, in 2020, blockchain analysis. The figure was compiled by tracking transactions to blockchain addresses linked to ransomware attacks. Although Chainalysis possesses one of the most complete sets of data on cryptocurrency-related cybercrime, the company said its estimate was only a lower bound of the true total due.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-gangs-made-at-least-350-million-in-2020/

Home Working Increases Cyber Security Fears

"We see tens of different hacking attacks every single week. It is never ending."A senior computer network manager says they are bombarded from all directions. "We see everything," he says. "Staff get emails sent to them pretending to be from the service desk, asking them to reset their log-in passwords. "We see workers being tricked into downloading viruses from hackers demanding ransoms, and we have even had employees sent WhatsApp messages pretending to be from the CEO, asking for money transfers.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55824139

3.2 Billion Emails And Passwords Exposed Online

A whopping 3.2 billion password-username pairs are up for grabs in an unnamed online hacking forum. But don't panic — the data is nothing new. It's a compilation of stolen credentials from dozens of old data breaches, some going back ten years. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be aware that your old passwords are floating out there. Yes, your passwords, and ours too. Pretty much anyone who's ever created more than three online accounts has had a password compromised by now.

https://www.tomsguide.com/news/3-2-billion-passwords-leaked

Account Takeover Attacks Spiked In 2020

Occurring whenever a bad actor can steal login credentials and seize control of an online account, takeover attacks rose from 34% of fraud detected in 2019 to 54% by the end of December 2020. Other methods of fraud were blips on the radar compared to account takeovers: The next most popular method, at just 16% of detected fraud, was money laundering/mule transactions, followed by new account fraud (14%), and a mere 12% of instances used remote access or hacking tools to accomplish their goals.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/account-takeover-attacks-spiked-in-2020-kaspersky-says/

30% Of “Solarwinds Hack” Victims Didn’t Actually Use Solarwinds

When security last week that it had been targeted by the same attacker that compromised SolarWinds' Orion software, it noted that the attack did not use SolarWinds itself. According to Malwarebytes, the attacker had used "another intrusion vector" to gain access to a limited subset of nearly a third of the organizations attacked had no direct connection to SolarWinds.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/01/30-of-solarwinds-hack-victims-didnt-actually-use-solarwinds/

Data Leakage Attacks Saw Huge Rise In 2020

The number of data leakage incidents grew by an “unprecedented” rate in 2020, a new report from Imperva argues. Through online means alone, not counting leaks caused by lost hardware or word of mouth, Imperva researchers tracked a 93 percent rise. By the end of the year, Imperva had identified a total of 1.7 million leaks, with the the number growing even faster in the second half of the year. Between Q3 and Q4, there was a 47 percent increase.

https://www.itproportal.com/news/data-leakage-attacks-saw-huge-rise-in-2020/

Automated Tools Increasingly Used to Launch Cyber Attacks

Cyber-criminals are increasingly making use of automation and bots to launch attacks, according to a new analysis. revealed that over half (54%) of all cyber-attacks it blocked in November and December were web application attacks which involved the use of automated tools. The most prevalent form was fuzzing attacks, making up around one in five (19.5%). This uses automation to detect and exploit the points at which applications break. This was followed by injection attacks (12%), in which cyber-criminals make use of automation tools such as sqlmap to gain access to applications.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/automated-tools-launch-cyber/

A Second SolarWinds Hack Deepens Third-Party Software Fears

It’s been more than two months since revelations that alleged Russia-backed hackers broke into the IT management firm SolarWinds and used that access to launch a massive software supply chain attack. It now appears that Russia was not alone; Reuters reports that suspected Chinese hackers independently exploited a different flaw in SolarWinds products last year at around the same time, apparently hitting the US Department of Agriculture's National Finance Center.

https://www.wired.com/story/solarwinds-hack-china-usda/

93% Of Workers Overshare Online, Causing Security Risks

Reveals just how much, and how often, people divulge about their lives online and how attackers take advantage of it. With insights from both professionals and hackers, the report explores how cybercriminals use an abundant and seemingly cheap resource — the personal information people share on social media and in out-of-office alerts — to craft social engineering attacks.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/02/03/workers-overshare-online/

Is There A Widening Gulf Between You And Your Remote Workers? Yes – And It’s Security Shaped

It’s been almost a year since large parts of the workforce beat a hasty retreat from their offices, and began a mass experiment in working from home, often courtesy of Microsoft 365. And after 12 or so months, it’s safe to say that the case for productive remote working has been proved, and that many workers will continue to do so even when the all clear sounds. But is there a question as to whether remote working is as secure as the traditional, office bound, hard perimeter setup? Well, yes, and it’s fair to say the jury is still very much out.

https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/04/mind_the_security_gap_regcast/

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Threats

Ransomware

• US Shipping Giant Loses $7.5m in Ransomware Attack

• Ransomware: A company paid millions to get their data back, but forgot to do one thing. So the hackers came back again

• Blockchain Analysis Shows Connections Between Four of 2020’s Biggest Ransomware Strains

• 2021's First Big Ransomware Gang Launches Sleek and Bigoted 'Leak' Site

• UK Research and Innovation suffers ransomware attack

• Serco cyber attack: Belgian military and European Space Agency told 'no data compromised' despite hack

• Ransomware gangs now have industrial targets in their sights. That raises the stakes for everyone

Other Social Engineering

• Many of us are sharing too much information on social media

Malware

• Crypto malware targets Kubernetes clusters, say researchers

• This malware abuses Tor and Telegram infrastructure to evade detection

• Tiny Kobalos malware seen backdooring SSH tools, menacing supercomputers, an ISP, and more – ESET

• Experts discovered a new Trickbot module used for lateral movement

• Agent Tesla ramps up its game in bypassing security walls, attacks endpoint protection

Mobile

• Android Devices Prone to Botnet’s DDoS Onslaught

Vulnerabilities

• Google patches an actively exploited Chrome zero-day

• Five Critical Android Bugs Patched, Part of Feb. Security Bulletin

• Recent root-giving Sudo bug also impacts macOS

• SonicWall zero-day exploited in the wild

Data Breaches

• Security firm Stormshield discloses data breach, theft of source code

• Female escort review site data breach affects 470,000 members

• Over Three Million US Drivers Exposed in Data Breach

• Foxtons customer data leaked onto the dark web

Nation-State Actors

• Hezbollah-Linked Lebanese Cedar APT Infiltrates Hundreds of Servers

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Other News

• Google says it’s too easy for hackers to find new security flaws

• U.K. Arrest in ‘SMS Bandits’ Phishing Service

• Microsoft tracked a system sending a million malware emails a month. Here's what it discovered

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 29 January 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.

Top Cyber Headlines of the Week

Phishing Attacks Show High-Ranking Execs May Be ‘Most Valuable Asset,’ and ‘Greatest Vulnerability’

Cyber criminals have been using a phishing kit featuring fake Office 365 password alerts as a lure to target the credentials of chief executives, business owners and other high-level corporate leaders. The scheme highlights the role and responsibility upper management plays in ensuring the security of their own company’s assets.

https://www.scmagazine.com/home/security-news/phishing/phishing-scheme-shows-ceos-may-be-most-valuable-asset-and-greatest-vulnerability/

Insurers 'Funding Organised Crime' by Paying Ransomware Claims

Insurers are inadvertently funding organised crime by paying out claims from companies who have paid ransoms to regain access to data and systems after a hacking attack, Britain’s former top cybersecurity official has warned.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jan/24/insurers-funding-organised-by-paying-ransomware-claims

Emotet: Police raids take down botnet that hacked 'millions of computers worldwide'

Emotet, one of the world's most dangerous cyber crime services, has been taken down following one of the largest ever internationally-coordinated actions against cyber criminals. Although it began as banking malware designed to steal financial credentials, Emotet had become an infrastructure tool leased out to cyber criminals to break into victim computer networks and install additional malicious software.

https://news.sky.com/story/emotet-police-raids-take-down-botnet-that-hacked-millions-of-computers-worldwide-12200460

After the SolarWinds Hack, We Have No Idea What Cyber Dangers We Face

Months before insurgents breached the Capitol and rampaged through the halls of Congress, a stealthier invader was muscling its way into the computers of government officials, stealing documents, monitoring e-mails, and setting traps for future incursions. Last March, a hacking team, believed to be affiliated with Russian intelligence, planted malware in a routine software upgrade from a Texas-based I.T. company called SolarWinds, which provides network-management systems to more than three hundred thousand clients.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/after-the-solarwinds-hack-we-have-no-idea-what-cyber-dangers-we-face

FSB warns Russian businesses of cyber attacks as retaliation for SolarWinds hack

Russian authorities are alerting Russian organizations of potential cyberattacks launched by the United States in response to SolarWinds attack. The Russian intelligence agency FSB has issued a security alert this week warning Russian organizations of potential cyberattacks launched by the United States in response to the SolarWinds supply chain attack.

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/113752/cyber-warfare-2/fsb-fears-retaliation-solarwinds-hack.html

Update your iPhone — Apple just disclosed hackers may have 'actively exploited' a vulnerability in its iOS

On Tuesday released a new iOS software update that includes fixes for three security weaknesses in the former version.  Its support website that it is aware of the three security bugs and that they "may have been actively exploited. “Also, it does not disclose details regarding security issues "until an investigation has occurred."

https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-ios-14-update-hackers-security-bugs-iphone-software-2021-1?utmSource=twitter&utmContent=referral&utmTerm=topbar&referrer=twitter

Top Cyber Attacks of 2020

"Zoombomb" became the new photobomb—hackers would gain access to a private meeting or online class hosted on Zoom and shout profanities and racial slurs or flash pornographic images. Nation-state hacker groups mounted attacks against organisations involved in the coronavirus pandemic response, including the World Health Organization and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, some in an attempt to politicize the pandemic.

https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/top-cyber-attacks-of-2020.html

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Threats

Ransomware

• Nefilim Ransomware Gang Hits Jackpot with Ghost Account

• Cyber Criminals use deceased staff accounts to spread Nemty ransomware

• US and Bulgarian authorities disrupt NetWalker ransomware operation

• Former UK Cyber Security Chief Says Laws Are Needed to Stop Ransomware Payouts

BEC

• BEC attack techniques exploit Microsoft 365 messages

Phishing

• Targeted Phishing Attacks Strike High-Ranking Company Executives

Other Social Engineering

• Google warns of ‘novel social engineering method’ used to hack security researchers

Malware

• DreamBus botnet targets enterprise apps running on Linux servers

• These are the biggest threats facing WordPress sites today

• Trickbot is back again - with fresh phishing and malware attacks

Mobile

• A New Credential Stealing Android Malware

• Beware — A New Wormable Android Malware Spreading Through WhatsApp

Vulnerabilities

• Heap-based buffer overflow in Linux Sudo allows local users to gain root privileges

• Vulnerability found in top messaging apps let hackers eavesdrop

• Cisco DNA Center Bug Opens Enterprises to Remote Attack

• Experts Detail A Recent Remotely Exploitable Windows Vulnerability

• Former LulzSec Hacker Releases VPN Exploit Used to Hack Hacking Team

• KindleDrip exploit – Hacking a Kindle device with a simple email

Data Breaches

• Australian securities regulator discloses security breach

• Hacker leaks data of 2.28 million dating site users

• Grindr fined £8.6m in Norway over sharing personal information

Charities

• A month after a high-level cyber attack, charity says many IT systems are still offline

Insider Threats

• Man arrested after UK school finds wiped hard drives on devices connected to network

Nation-State Actors

• More Security Vendors Admit to SolarWinds Attacks 

Denial of Service

• DDoS attacks: Big rise in threats to overload business networks

Privacy

• These malicious tracking apps have already been downloaded over a billion times

• Banks rush to spy on traders’ Signal chats amid WhatsApp exodus

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• Cyber fraud a national security issue, says RUSI report

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Other News

• Remote Attackers Can Now Reach Protected Network Devices via NAT Slipstreaming

• TikTok Flaw Lay Bare Phone Numbers, User IDs For Phishing Attacks

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 04 December 2020

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 Headlines of the Week

Covid vaccine supply chain targeted by hackers, say security experts

Cyber attackers have targeted the cold supply chain needed to deliver Covid-19 vaccines, according to a report detailing a sophisticated operation likely backed by a nation state. 

The hackers appeared to be trying to disrupt or steal information about the vital processes to keep vaccines cold as they travel from factories to hospitals and doctors’ offices.

https://www.ft.com/content/9c303207-8f4a-42b7-b0e4-cf421f036b2f

Criminals to Favour Ransomware and BEC Over Breaches in 2021

The era of the mega-breach may be coming to an end as cyber-criminals eschew consumers’ personal data and focus on phishing and ransomware.

Cyber-criminals are relying less on stolen personal information and more on “poor consumer behaviors” such as password reuse to monetize attacks.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/criminals-favor-ransomware-bec/

Bank Employee Sells Personal Data of 200,000 Clients

South Africa–based financial services group Absa has stated that one of its employees sold the personal information of 200,000 clients to third parties.

The group confirmed on Wednesday that the illegal activity had occurred and that 2% of Absa's retail customer base had been impacted.

The employee allegedly responsible for it was a credit analyst who had access to the group's risk-modeling processes.

Data exposed as a result of the security incident included clients' ID numbers, addresses, contact details, and descriptions of vehicles that they had purchased on finance.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/bank-employee-sells-personal-data/

LastPass review: Still the leading password manager, despite security history

"'Don't put all your eggs in one basket' is all wrong. I tell you 'put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket,'" said industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1885. When it comes to privacy tools, he's usually dead wrong. In the case of password managers, however, Carnegie is usually more dead than wrong. To wit, I have been using LastPass so long I don't know when I started using LastPass and, for now, I've got no reason to change that. 

https://www.cnet.com/news/lastpass-review-still-the-leading-password-manager-despite-security-history/

The most significant security innovations of 2020

Who gets access? That is the question that drives every security measure and innovation that’s landed on PopSci’s annual compendium since we launched the category in 2008. Every year, that question gets bigger and bigger. In 2020, the world quaked under a global pandemic that took 1.4 million lives, the US saw a rebirth in its civil rights movement, and a spate of record-breaking wildfires forced entire regions to evacuate. And those are just the new scares. A buildup of angst against ad trackers and app snooping led to major changes in hardware and software alike. It was a year full of lessons, nuances, and mini revolutions, and we strive to match that with our choices.

https://www.popsci.com/story/technology/most-important-security-innovations-2020/

2020 security priorities: Pandemic changing short- and long-term approaches to risk

Security planning and budgeting is always an adventure. You can assess current risk and project the most likely threats, but the only real constant in cybersecurity risk is its unpredictability. Layer a global pandemic on top of that and CISOs suddenly have the nearly impossible task of deciding where to request and allocate resources in 2021.

Show how the COVID pandemic has changed what security focuses on now and what will drive security priorities and spending in 2021. Based on a survey of 522 security professionals from the US, Asia/Pacific and Europe, the study reveals how the pandemic has changed the way organizations assess risk and respond to threats—permanently.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3598393/new-study-shows-pandemic-changing-short-and-long-term-approaches-to-risk.html

Cyber risks take the fun out of connected toys

As Christmas approaches, internet-enabled smart toys are likely to feature heavily under festive trees. While some dolls of decades past were only capable of speaking pre-recorded phrases, modern equivalents boast speech recognition and can search for answers online in real time.

Other connected gadgets include drones or cars such as Nintendo’s Mario Kart Live Home Circuit, where players race each other in a virtual world modelled after their home surroundings.

But for all the fun that such items can bring, there is a risk — poorly-secured Internet of Things toys can be turned into convenient tools for hackers.

https://www.ft.com/content/c653e977-435f-4553-8401-9fa9b0faf632

Remote Workers Admit Lack of Security Training

A third of remote working employees have not received security training in the last six months.

400 remote workers in the UK across multiple industries, while 83% have had access to security best practice training and 88% are familiar with IT security policies, 32% have received no security training in the last six months.

Also, 50% spend two or more hours a week on IT issues, and 42% felt they had to go around the security policies of their organization to do their job.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/remote-workers-training/ 

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Threats

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Ransomware

Delaware County Pays $500,000 Ransom After Outages

A US county is in the process of paying half-a-million dollars to ransomware extorters who locked its local government network, according to reports.

Pennsylvania’s Delaware County revealed the attack last week, claiming in a notice that it had disrupted “portions of its computer network.

“We commenced an immediate investigation that included taking certain systems offline and working with computer forensic specialists to determine the nature and scope of the event. We are working diligently to restore the functionality of our systems,” it said.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/delaware-county-pays-500k-ransom/

MasterChef Producer Hit by Double Extortion Ransomware

A multibillion-dollar TV production company has become the latest big corporate name caught out by ransomware, it emerged late last week.

The firm owns over 120 production firms around the world, delivering TV shows ranging from MasterChef and Big Brother to Black Mirror and The Island with Bear Grylls.

In a short update last Thursday, it claimed to be managing a “cyber-incident” affecting the networks of Endemol Shine Group and Endemol Shine International, Dutch firms it acquired in a $2.2bn deal in July.

Although ransomware isn’t named in the notice, previous reports suggest the firm is being extorted.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/masterchef-producer-double/

Sopra Steria to take multi-million euro hit on ransomware attack

The company revealed in October that it had been hit by hackers using a new version of Ryuk ransomware.

It now says that the fallout, with various systems out of action, is likely to have a gross negative impact on operating margin of between €40 million and €50 million.

The group's insurance coverage for cyber risks is EUR30 million, meaning that negative organic revenue growth for the year is now expected to be between 4.5% and five per cent (previously between two per cent and four per cent). Free cash flow is now expected to be between €50 million and €100 million (previously between €80 million and €120 million).

https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/37020/sopra-steria-to-take-multi-million-euro-hit-on-ransomware-attack

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BEC

FBI: BEC Scams Are Using Email Auto-Forwarding

The agency notes in an alert made public this week that since the COVID-19 pandemic began, leading to an increasingly remote workforce, BEC scammers have been taking advantage of the auto-forwarding feature within compromised email inboxes to trick employees to send them money under the guise of legitimate payments to third parties.

This tactic works because most organizations do not sync their web-based email client forwarding features with their desktop client counterparts. This limits the ability of system administrators to detect any suspicious activities and enables the fraudsters to send malicious emails from the compromised accounts without being detected, the alert, sent to organizations in November and made public this week, notes.

https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/fbi-bec-scams-are-using-email-auto-forwarding-a-15498

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Phishing

Phishing lures employees with fake 'back to work' internal memos

Scammers are trying to steal email credentials from employees by impersonating their organization's human resources (HR) department in phishing emails camouflaged as internal 'back to work' company memos.

These phishing messages have managed to land in thousands of targeted individuals' mailboxes after bypassing G Suite email defences according to stats provided by researchers at email security company Abnormal Security who spotted this phishing campaign.

There is a high probability that some of the targets will fall for the scammers' tricks given that during this year's COVID-19 pandemic most companies have regularly emailed their employees with updates regarding remote working policy changes.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/phishing-lures-employees-with-fake-back-to-work-internal-memos/

Warning: Massive Zoom phishing targets Thanksgiving meetings

Everyone should be on the lookout for a massive ongoing phishing attack today, pretending to be an invite for a Zoom meeting. Hosted on numerous landing pages, BleepingComputer has learned that thousands of users' credentials have already been stolen by the attack.

With many in the USA hosting virtual Thanksgiving dinners and people in other countries conducting Zoom business meetings, as usual, today is a prime opportunity to perform a phishing attack using Zoom invite lures.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/warning-massive-zoom-phishing-targets-thanksgiving-meetings/

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Malware

All-new Windows 10 malware is excellent at evading detection

Security researchers at Kaspersky have discovered a new malware strain developed by the hacker-for-hire group DeathStalker that has been designed to avoid detection on Windows PCs.

While the threat actor has been active since at least 2012, DeathStalker first drew Kaspersky's attention back in 2018 because of its distinctive attack characteristics which didn't resemble those employed by cybercriminals or state-sponsored hackers.

https://www.techradar.com/news/all-new-windows-10-malware-is-excellent-at-evading-detection

New TrickBot version can tamper with UEFI/BIOS firmware

The operators of the TrickBot malware botnet have added a new capability that can allow them to interact with an infected computer's BIOS or UEFI firmware.

The new capability was spotted inside part of a new TrickBot module, first seen in the wild at the end of October, security firms Advanced Intelligence and Eclypsium said in a joint report published today.

The new module has security researchers worried as its features would allow the TrickBot malware to establish more persistent footholds on infected systems, footholds that could allow the malware to survive OS reinstalls.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/new-trickbot-version-can-tamper-with-uefibios-firmware/

Russia-linked APT Turla used a new malware toolset named Crutch

Russian-linked APT group Turla has used a previously undocumented malware toolset, named Crutch, in cyberespionage campaigns aimed at high-profile targets, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of a European Union country.

The Turla APT group (aka Snake, Uroburos, Waterbug, Venomous Bear and KRYPTON) has been active since at least 2007 targeting diplomatic and government organizations and private businesses in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, North and South America, and former Soviet bloc nations.

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/111813/apt/turla-crutch-malware-platform.html

MacBooks under attack by dangerous malware: What to do

a recent spate of malware attacks targeting macOS of late that installs backdoors to steal sensitive personal information. The security firm discovered that a new malware variant is being used online and backed by a rogue nation-state hacking group known as OceanLotus, which also operates under the name AKTP2 and is based in Vietnam. 

The new malware was created by OceanLotus due to the “similarities in dynamic behavior and code” from previous malware connected to the Vietnamese-based hacking group. 

https://www.laptopmag.com/news/macbooks-under-attack-by-dangerous-malware-what-to-do

Hackers Using Monero Mining Malware as Decoy, Warns Microsoft

The company’s intelligence team said a group called BISMUTH hit government targets in France and Vietnam with relatively conspicuous monero mining trojans this summer. Mining the crypto generated side cash for the group, but it also distracted victims from BISMUTH’s true campaign: credential theft.

Crypto-jacking “allowed BISMUTH to hide its more nefarious activities behind threats that may be perceived to be less alarming because they’re ‘commodity’ malware,” Microsoft concluded. It said the conspicuousness of monero mining fits BISMUTH’s “hide in plain sight” MO.

Microsoft recommended organizations stay vigilant against crypto-jacking as a possible decoy tactic.

https://www.coindesk.com/hackers-using-monero-mining-malware-as-decoy-warns-microsoft

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Vulnerabilities

Zerologon is now detected by Microsoft Defender for Identity

There has been a huge focus on the recently patched CVE-2020-1472 Netlogon Elevation of Privilege vulnerability, widely known as ZeroLogon. While Microsoft strongly recommends that you deploy the latest security updates to your servers and devices, we also want to provide you with the best detection coverage possible for your domain controllers. Microsoft Defender for Identity along with other Microsoft 365 Defender solutions detect adversaries as they try to exploit this vulnerability against your domain controllers.

https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2020/11/30/zerologon-is-now-detected-by-microsoft-defender-for-identity/

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Privacy

'We've heard the feedback...' Microsoft 365 axes per-user productivity monitoring after privacy backlash

If you heard a strange noise coming from Redmond today, it was the sound of some rapid back-pedalling regarding the Productivity Score feature in its Microsoft 365 cloud platform.

Following outcry from subscribers and privacy campaigners, the Windows giant has now vowed to wind back the functionality so that it no longer produces scores for individual users, and instead just summarizes the output of a whole organization. It was feared the dashboard could have been used by bad bosses to measure the productivity of specific employees using daft metrics like the volume of emails or chat messages sent through Microsoft 365.

https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/01/productivity_score/

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Other News

Think-Tanks Under Attack by Foreign APTs, CISA Warns

AI needed to vet 100 billion cyber threat items per day

Cloud native security: A maturing and expanding arena

MOD Corsham seeks new recruits to combat cyber warfare

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 27 November 2020

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 Headlines of the Week

Hundreds of C-level executives’ credentials available for $100 to $1500 per account

A credible threat actor is offering access to the email accounts of hundreds of C-level executives for $100 to $1500 per account.

The availability of access to the email accounts of C-level executives could allow threat actors to carry out multiple malicious activities, from cyber espionage to BEC scams.

The threat actor is selling login credentials for Office 365 and Microsoft accounts and the price depends on the size of the C-level executives’ companies and the internal role of the executive.

The threat actor claims its database includes login credentials of high-level executives such as:

CEO, CTO, COO, CFO, CMO. President, Vice President, Executive Assistant, Finance Manager, Accountant, Director, Finance Director, Financial Controller and Accounts Payables

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/111588/cyber-crime/executives-credentials-dark-web.html

This Bluetooth Attack Can Steal a Tesla Model X in Minutes

Tesla has always prided itself on its so-called over-the-air updates, pushing out new code automatically to fix bugs and add features. But one security researcher has shown how vulnerabilities in the Tesla Model X's keyless entry system allow a different sort of update:

A hacker could rewrite the firmware of a key fob via Bluetooth connection, lift an unlock code from the fob, and use it to steal a Model X in just a matter of minutes.

https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-model-x-hack-bluetooth/

Three members of TMT cybercrime group arrested in Nigeria

Three Nigerians suspected of being part of a cybercrime group that has made tens of thousands of victims around the world have been arrested today in Lagos, Nigeria, Interpol reported.

In a report disclosing its involvement in the investigation, security firm Group-IB said the three suspects are members of a cybercrime group they have been tracking since 2019 and which they have been tracking under the codename of TMT.

Group-IB said the group primarily operated by sending out mass email spam campaigns containing files laced with malware.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/three-members-of-tmt-cybercrime-group-arrested-in-nigeria/

Cyber criminals make £2.5m raid on law firms in lockdown

The large number of lawyers working from home has become a magnet for cyber criminals, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said, revealing a 300% increase in phishing scams in the first two months of lockdown alone.

In the first half of 2020, firms reported that nearly £2.5m held by them had been stolen by cybercriminals, more than three times the amount reported in the same period in 2019.

Law firm staff working remotely on less secure devices than the office network and those without dedicated office space finding it hard to keep information confidential. Those using video meetings also need to make sure that unauthorised parties cannot overhear or see a confidential meeting.

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/cyber-criminals-make-25m-raid-on-law-firms-in-lockdown/5106526.article

Hackers post athletes’ naked photos online

Four British athletes are among hundreds of female sports stars and celebrities whose intimate photographs and videos have been posted online in a targeted cyberattack.

The hack, which the athletes became aware of this week, has caused panic and one leading sports agency has advised its clients to take extra measures to protect their private data.

The athletes, who had photographs and videos stolen from their phones, were considering steps last night to have the material removed from the dark net.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hackers-post-athletes-naked-photos-online-86sq27hgl

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Threats

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Ransomware

Manchester United hackers 'demanding million-pound ransom'

Manchester United are still suffering the effects of a significant cyberattack that targeted the club earlier this week.

Following last weekend's 'sophisticated' attack, the club has revealed it is still suffering severe disruption to its internal systems, several of which had to be shut down following the incident.

Reports have also claimed that the hackers are demanding "millions of pounds" before they let the club regain full control.

https://www.techradar.com/sg/news/manchester-united-hackers-demanding-million-pound-ransom

Egregor Ransomware Attack Hijacks Printers to Spit Out Ransom Notes

The South American retail giant Cencosud was hit with ransomware last week? The retailer was infected by an Egregor ransomware attack which, in time honoured fashion, stole sensitive files that it found on the compromised network, and encrypted data on Cencosud’s drives to lock workers out of the company’s data.

A text file was left on infected Windows computers, telling the store that private data would be shared with the media if it was not prepared to begin negotiating with the hackers within three days.

That’s nothing unusual, but Egregor’s novel twist is that it can also tell businesses that their computer systems are well and truly breached by sending its ransom note to attached printers.

https://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/featured/egregor-ransomware-attack-hijacks-printers-spit-out-ransom-notes/

Sopra Steria: Adding up outages and ransomware clean-up, Ryuk attack will cost us up to €50m

Sopra Steria has said a previously announced Ryuk ransomware infection will not only cost it "between €40m and €50m" but will also deepen expected financial losses by several percentage points.

The admission comes weeks after the French-headquartered IT outsourcing firm's Active Directory infrastructure was compromised by malicious people who deployed the Ryuk ransomware, using what the company called "a previously unknown strain."

https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/25/sopra_steria_ransomware_damage_50m_euros/

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Phishing

GoDaddy scam shows how voice phishing can be more deceptive than email schemes

Companies can protect employees from phishing schemes through a combination of training, secure email gateways and filtering technologies. But what protects workers from phone-based voice phishing (vishing) scams, like the kind that recently targeted GoDaddy and a group of cryptocurrency platforms that use the Internet domain registrar service?

Experts indicate that there are few easy answers, but organizations intent on putting a stop to such activity may have to push for more secure forms of verification, escalation procedures for sensitive requests, and better security awareness of account support staffers and other lower-level employees.

https://www.scmagazine.com/home/security-news/phishing/godaddy-scam-shows-how-voice-phishing-can-be-more-deceptive-than-email-schemes/

Google Services Weaponized to Bypass Security in Phishing, BEC Campaigns

A spike in recent phishing and business email compromise (BEC) attacks can be traced back to criminals learning how to exploit Google Services, according to research from Armorblox.

Social distancing has driven entire businesses into the arms of the Google ecosystem looking for a reliable, simple way to digitize the traditional office. A report detailing how now-ubiquitous services like Google Forms, Google Docs and others are being used by malicious actors to give their spoofing attempts a false veneer of legitimacy, both to security filters and victims.

https://threatpost.com/google-services-weaponized-to-bypass-security-in-phishing-bec-campaigns/161467/

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Malware

Malware creates scam online stores on top of hacked WordPress sites

A new cybercrime gang has been seen taking over vulnerable WordPress sites to install hidden e-commerce stores with the purpose of hijacking the original site's search engine ranking and reputation and promote online scams.

The attacks were discovered earlier this month targeting a WordPress honeypot which was set up and managed.

The attackers leveraged brute-force attacks to gain access to the site's admin account, after which they overwrote the WordPress site's main index file and appended malicious code.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/malware-creates-online-stores-on-top-of-hacked-wordpress-sites/

Enter WAPDropper – An Android Malware Subscribing Victims to Premium Services by Telecom Companies

WAPDropper, a new malware which downloads and executes an additional payload. In the current campaign, it drops a WAP premium dialler which subscribes its victims to premium services without their knowledge or consent.

The malware, which belongs to a newly discovered family, consists of two different modules: the dropper module, which is responsible for downloading the 2nd stage malware, and a premium dialler module that subscribes the victims to premium services offered by legitimate sources – In this campaign, telecommunication providers in Thailand and Malaysia.
https://research.checkpoint.com/2020/enter-wapdropper-subscribe-users-to-premium-services-by-telecom-companies/

LightBot: TrickBot’s new reconnaissance malware for high-value targets

The notorious TrickBot gang has released a new lightweight reconnaissance tool used to scope out an infected victim's network for high-value targets.

Over the past week, security researchers began to see a phishing campaign normally used to distribute TrickBot's BazarLoader malware switch to installing a new malicious PowerShell script.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/lightbot-trickbot-s-new-reconnaissance-malware-for-high-value-targets/

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IoT

The smart video doorbells letting hackers into your home

Smart doorbells with cameras let you see who’s at the door without getting up off the sofa, but in-depth security testing has found some are leaving your home wide open to uninvited guests.

With internet-connected smart tech on the rise, smart doorbells are a common sight on UK streets. Popular models, such as Ring and Nest doorbells, are expensive, but scores of similar looking devices have popped up on Amazon, eBay and Wish at a fraction of the price.

https://www.which.co.uk/news/2020/11/the-smart-video-doorbells-letting-hackers-into-your-home/

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Password Attacks

Up to 350,000 Spotify accounts hacked in credential stuffing attacks

An unsecured internet-facing database containing over 380 million individual records, including login credentials that were leveraged for breaking into 300,000 to 350,000 Spotify accounts. The exposed records included a variety of sensitive information such as people’s usernames and passwords, email addresses, and countries of residence.

The treasure trove of data was stored on an unsecured Elasticsearch server that was uncovered. Both the origin and owners of the database remain unknown. However, the researchers were able to validate the veracity of the data as Spotify confirmed that the information had been used to defraud both the company and its users.

https://www.welivesecurity.com/2020/11/24/350000-spotify-accounts-hacked-credential-stuffing-attacks/

Passwords exposed for almost 50,000 vulnerable Fortinet VPNs

A hacker has now leaked the credentials for almost 50,000 vulnerable Fortinet VPNs.

Over the weekend a hacker had posted a list of one-line exploits to steal VPN credentials from these devices.

Present on the list of vulnerable targets are IPs belonging to high street banks, telecoms, and government organizations from around the world.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/passwords-exposed-for-almost-50-000-vulnerable-fortinet-vpns/

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Vulnerabilities

UK urges orgs to patch critical MobileIron RCE bug

The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issued an alert yesterday, prompting all organizations to patch the critical CVE-2020-15505 remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in MobileIron mobile device management (MDM) systems.

An MDM is a software platform that allows administrators to remotely manage mobile devices in their organization, including the pushing out of apps, updates, and the ability to change settings. This management is all done from a central location, such as an admin console running on the organization's server, making it a prime target for attackers.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/uk-urges-orgs-to-patch-critical-mobileiron-cve-2020-15505-rce-bug/

Critical Unpatched VMware Flaw Affects Multiple Corporates Products

VMware has released temporary workarounds to address a critical vulnerability in its products that could be exploited by an attacker to take control of an affected system.

"A malicious actor with network access to the administrative configurator on port 8443 and a valid password for the configurator admin account can execute commands with unrestricted privileges on the underlying operating system," the virtualization software and services firm noted in its advisory.

Tracked as CVE-2020-4006, the command injection vulnerability has a CVSS score of 9.1 out of 10 and impacts VMware Workspace One Access, Access Connector, Identity Manager, and Identity Manager Connector.

https://thehackernews.com/2020/11/critical-unpatched-vmware-flaw-affects.html

GitHub fixes 'high severity' security flaw spotted by Google

GitHub has finally fixed a high severity security flaw reported to it by Google Project Zero more than three months ago.

The bug affected GitHub's Actions feature – a developer workflow automation tool was "highly vulnerable to injection attacks".

GitHub's Actions support a feature called workflow commands as a communication channel between the Action runner and the executed action.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/github-fixes-high-severity-security-flaw-spotted-by-google/

Google Chrome users still vulnerable to multiple zero-day attacks

As business users and consumers have moved most of their workloads to the cloud, more and more of their work is being done in web browsers such as Google Chrome as opposed to in applications installed locally on their systems.

This means that the web browser is now an essential yet vulnerable entry point that if compromised, could give cybercriminals access to a user's entire digital life including their email, online banking, social networks and more. However, despite this risk, users are failing to update to the latest version of Google Chrome.

https://www.techradar.com/news/google-chrome-users-still-vulnerable-to-multiple-zero-day-attacks

Microsoft releases patching guidance for Kerberos security bug

Released details on how to fully mitigate a security feature bypass vulnerability in Kerberos KDC (Key Distribution Centre) patched during this month's Patch Tuesday.

The remotely exploitable security bug tracked as CVE-2020-17049 exists in the way KDC decides if service tickets can be used for delegation via Kerberos Constrained Delegation (KCD).

Kerberos is the default authentication protocol for domain connected devices running Windows 2000 or later. Kerberos KDC is a feature that manages service tickets used for encrypting messages between network servers and clients.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-releases-patching-guidance-for-kerberos-security-bug/

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Data Breaches

Sophos notifies customers of data exposure after database misconfiguration

UK-based cyber-security vendor Sophos is currently notifying customers via email about a security breach the company suffered earlier this week.

Exposed information included details such as customer first and last names, email addresses, and phone numbers (if provided).

https://www.zdnet.com/article/sophos-notifies-customers-of-data-exposure-after-database-misconfiguration/

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Privacy

Microsoft productivity score feature criticised as workplace surveillance

Microsoft has been criticised for enabling “workplace surveillance” after privacy campaigners warned that the company’s “productivity score” feature allows managers to use Microsoft 365 to track their employees’ activity at an individual level.

The tools, first released in 2019, are designed to “provide you visibility into how your organisation works”, according to a Microsoft blogpost, and aggregate information about everything from email use to network connectivity into a headline percentage for office productivity.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/nov/26/microsoft-productivity-score-feature-criticised-workplace-surveillance

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Other News

Robot vacuum cleaners can eavesdrop on your conversations, researchers reveal - Bitdefender

You can protect the company from hackers, but can you protect the company from the CEO?

Botnets have been silently mass-scanning the internet for unsecured ENV files | ZDNet

Windows 10 KB4586819 update fixes gaming and USB 3.0 issues (bleepingcomputer.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 weekly ‘Cyber Tip Tuesday’ video blog and on our YouTube channel.

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

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

Cyber Threat Briefing 16 October 2020: ransomware tidal wave; notable ransomware victims from the last week; BEC Attacks: Nigeria no longer epicentre, losses top $26B; Trickbot back; MS fix 87 vulns

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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Threats

Ransomware

Ransomware is growing and growing and getting worse all the time, with the G7 this week warning of ‘a tidal wave of ransomware attacks’ [source]. It is fast approaching becoming such a problem that it may soon reach epidemic status with few organisations left unaffected as firm after firm falls victim.

The ransomware gangs have turned crime into a multi-million pound business empire, it is estimated that $7.5 billion was extorted from victims last year in the United States alone [source], putting any legitimate industry or business sector to shame in term of meteoric growth. This is not small scale actors working out of their bedrooms, they have customer support centres and 24/7 helplines, they have plush offices and flash cars, paid for by the victims of their crimes, paid for by firms like yours paying ransoms.

And here's how attackers are getting in: in nearly half (47%) of ransomware cases gangs used the open remote desktop protocol, a tool that has been used by many companies to help staff work from home, but which can also give attackers a way in if it is not correctly secured.

More than a quarter (26%) of cases were traced back to a phishing email, and a smaller number used specific vulnerability exploits (17%), including Citrix NetScaler CVE-2019-19781 and Pulse VPN CVE-2019-11510. This was followed by account takeovers, at 10%. [source]

Criminal gangs have earned so much money and power they are now outsourcing much of the labour, allowing them to live of their spoils while their empires continue to grow, while they do next to nothing, with more and more joining their ranks [source]

As long as even a small number of victims pay the ransom this remains highly lucrative for attackers.

The ransom for Software AG is $23m, but they will demand much smaller sums from much smaller firms – so how are they doing this? Are larger firms being specifically targeted with tailored phishing campaigns, where they hope they will get lucky in getting an employee to fall for the bait, where lower value targets are being hit with machine/algorithmic generated phishing attacks, with lower levels of sophistication and more of a ‘spray and pray’ approach, hoping casting a wide enough net will still result in larger numbers of lower value victims.

We keep trying to warn firms how bad this is getting, and we don’t do this to drum up business, we do this because we are hugely concerned about the direction this is going and how damaging this can be for any firm.

Many firms are reluctant to take cyber security seriously, believing it won’t happen to them, but it is happening to firm after firm after firm who believed it wouldn’t happen to them. It’s too late to start thinking about what you should have done after you’ve become a victim, it’s far better, and far cheaper, to take steps to avoid being a victim in the first place than trying to recover or pay the ransom.

Of the increasing number of firms that do go hit, many don’t survive, and those that do often find things are never the same again, with impacts on confidence levels in your staff and in your IT and information security departments [source]

Ransomware is not only affecting desktops, laptops and servers, but also now increasingly Android and other mobile platforms [source]

Protecting against ransomware is not a luxury or something that can kicked down the road to look at another day, firms need to ensure they are protecting themselves against this threat now – before they become a victim.

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Notable ransomware victims of the last week

There have been a number of high profile victims of ransomware in the last week, notably Software AG, a German conglomerate with operations in more than 70 countries, which was attacked by the Clop group who are threatening to dump stolen data if the $23 million ransom is not paid.

Carnival Cruises were hit with ransomware affecting data and personal information for guests, employees and crew for Carnival Cruises, Holland America and Seabourn as well as casino operations.

Early indications point to the disruption being experiences by Hackney Council with their systems stemming from a ransomware attack, although this has not been confirmed.

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BEC

BEC Attacks: Nigeria No Longer the Epicentre as Losses top $26B

Business Email Compromise (BEC) Fraudsters now have bases of operation across at least 39 countries and are responsible for $26 billion in losses annually, and growing.

A study of more than 9,000 instances of BEC attacks all over the world shows that the number has skyrocketed over the past year, and that the social-engineering scam has expanded well beyond its historic roots in Nigeria.

Why this matters:

A recent report entitled The Global Reach of Business Email Compromise, found that these attacks cost businesses a staggering $26 billion every year. And that trend appears to be accelerating. In fact, researchers found BEC attacks currently make up a full 40 percent of cyber crime losses globally, impacting at least 177 countries.

For context, the Anti-Phishing Working Group recently find that the average wire transfer in a BEC scan is around $80,000.

In a BEC attack, a scammer impersonates a company executive or other trusted party and tries to trick an employee responsible for payments or other financial transactions into writing money to a bogus account. Attackers usually conduct a fair amount of recon work, studying executive styles and uncovering the organisations vendors, billing system practices and other information to help mount a convincing attack.

Read more: https://threatpost.com/bec-attacks-nigeria-losses-snowball/160118/

Trickbot back after disruption attempts

The Trickbot botnet looks to be working once again, despite separate efforts in the past few weeks aimed at disrupting its operation.

Earlier this month the Emotet spam botnet – which is often the precursor to TrickBot being loaded onto a system – began receiving spam templates intended for mass distribution. These spam templates contained Microsoft Word document attachments with malicious macros that fetch and load a copy of Emotet onto the victim machine. The Emotet bot reached out to its controllers and received commands to download and execute Trickbot on victim machines.

The Trickbot group tag that researchers identified is tied to a typical infection campaign that information security researchers have been observing for the past 6 months or more.

Additionally, Intel 471 researchers saw an update to the Trickbot plugin server configuration file. Fifteen server addresses were added, and two old servers were retained in the configuration, along with the server’s ‘.onion’ address. This was likely done as a fix that would help operators maintain that their infrastructure remains operational. [link]

Why this matters:

The fix is another round in the back-and-forth between Trickbot’s operators and the separate public and private sector parties that have attempted to disrupt the botnet’s actions. This includes actions by the US Cyber Command and Microsoft, who issued a public statement that it had taken legal action to “combat ransomware ahead of U.S. elections.” The legal action involved Microsoft attempting to disrupt a number of Trickbot command and control server IP addresses in the United States.

The fact that Trickbot has resumed normal operations despite the best efforts of the likes of the US Cyber Command and Microsoft shows how resilient of an operation Trickbot is, and how much more effort is needed to fully take the botnet offline for good. The botnet’s operators have all the IT support of legitimate enterprises – continuity planning, backups, automated deployment, and a dedicated workforce – that allow them to quickly react to disruptive measures.

Read more: https://public.intel471.com/blog/trickbot-online-emotet-microsoft-cyber-command-disruption-attempts/

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Vulnerabilities

Microsoft October 2020 Patch Tuesday fixes 87 vulnerabilities

Microsoft this week released its monthly batch of security updates known as Patch Tuesday, and this month the OS maker has patched 87 vulnerabilities across a wide range Microsoft products.

By far, the most dangerous bug patched this month is CVE-2020-16898. Described as a remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in the Windows TCP/IP stack, this bug can allow attackers to take over Windows systems by sending malicious ICMPv6 Router Advertisement packets to an unpatched computer via a network connection.

Another bug to keep an eye on is CVE-2020-16947, a remote code execution issue in Outlook. Microsoft says this bug can be exploited by tricking a user to open a specially crafted file with an affected version of Microsoft Outlook software. [source1] [source2]

Why this matters:

The bug was discovered internally by Microsoft engineers, and OS versions vulnerable to CVE-2020-16898 include Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019.

With a severity score of 9.8 out of a maximum 10, Microsoft considers the bug dangerous and likely to be weaponised, and rightfully so.

Patching the bug is recommended, but workarounds such as disabling ICMPv6 RDNSS support also exist, which would allow system administrators to deploy temporary mitigations until they quality-test this month’s security updates for any OS-crashing bugs.

Critical SonicWall VPN Portal Bug Allows DoS, Worming RCE

A critical security bug in the SonicWall VPN Portal can be used to crash the device and prevent users from connecting to corporate resources. It could also open the door to remote code execution (RCE), researchers said.

The flaw (CVE-2020-5135) is a stack-based buffer overflow in the SonicWall Network Security Applicance (NSA). According to researchers who discovered it, the flaw exists within HTTP/HTTPS service used for product management and SSL VPN remote access. [source]

Why this matters:

An unskilled attacker could trigger a persistent denial-of-service condition using an unauthenticated HTTP request involving a custom protocol handler.

Adding insult to injury, this particular flaw exists in a pre-authentication routine, and within a component (SSL VPN) which is typically exposed to the public internet.

 ‘More Than A Billion’ Phone Wide Open To ‘Backdoor’ Remote Code Execution in Adtech Company’s Code

Malicious code impacting more than a billion smartphone owners is currently in the wild and enabling remote code execution. [source]

Why this matters:

Remote code execution is a very serious security violation, and basically enables the owner of that code do almost anything they want on your phone.

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Miscellaneous Cyber News of the Weeks

Malware gangs love open source offensive hacking tools

In the cyber security field, the term OST (Open Source Tools) refers to software apps, libraries, and exploits that possess offensive hacking capabilities and have been released as either free downloads or under an open source license.

OST projects are usually released to provide a proof-of-concept exploit for a new vulnerability, to demonstrate a new (or old) hacking technique, or as penetration testing utilities shared with the community.

These discussions have been taking place for more than a decade. However, they have always been based on personal experiences and convictions, and never on actual raw data.

That changed this week when a security researcher compiled data on 129 open source offensive hacking tools and searched through malware samples and cyber-security reports to discover how widespread was the adoption of OST projects among hacking groups — such as low-level malware gangs, elite financial crime groups, and even nation-state sponsored APTs. [source]

The results were compiled in an interactive map – available here

Why this matters:

Today, OST is one of the most (if not the most) controversial topics in the information security  community.

On one side, you have the people who are in favour of releasing such tools, arguing that they can help defenders learn and prepare systems and networks for future attacks.

On the opposing side, you have the ones who say that OST projects help attackers reduce the costs of developing their own tools and hiding activities into a cloud of tests and legitimate pen-tests.

Fitbit Spyware Steals Personal Data via Watch Face

A researcher has found they can take advantage of lax Fitbit privacy controls to build a malicious spyware watch face.

A wide-open app-building API (Application Programming Interface) could allow an attacker to build a malicious application that could access Fitbit user data, and send it to any server.

A proof-of-concept was created to do just that, after realizing that Fitbit devices are loaded with sensitive personal data. [source]

Why this matters:

Essentially, the API could send device type, location and user information including gender, age, height, heart rate and weight and it could also access calendar information. While this doesn’t include PII profile data, the calendar invites could expose additional information such as names and locations.

The researcher was able to make the app available through the Fitbit Gallery (where Fitbit showcases various third-party and in-house apps). Thus, the spyware appears legitimate, and increase the likelihood it would be downloaded.

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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.

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

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

Cyber Weekly Flash Briefing for 24 April 2020 – increase in data breaches with staff WFH, MS out of band patch for Office, hackers breach ad servers, 309m Facebooks users details compromised

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

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The week in 60 seconds - video flash briefing

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Over half of organisations expect remote workers to increase the risk of a data breach

Apathy towards cyber security remains one of the biggest challenges for businesses.

The majority of UK’s IT decision-makers believe remote workers will expose their businesses to the risk of a data breach.

This is according to a new report which claims the awareness of the issue has been “steadily growing” over the last three years.

While the report does not offer definitive explanations for the rise, it cites increased remote working due to the coronavirus as a contributing factor.

The percentage of employees intentionally putting data at risk dropped slightly (from 47 to 44 percent), but apathy continues to be a “major problem”.

However, remote working appears to have forced IT decision-makers to pay closer attention to security.

Almost all (96 percent) respondents acknowledged risks associated with BYOD policies and a significant portion of those (42 percent) only allow the use of pre-approved gear (up from 11 percent last year).

This change is “crucial”, as lost and misplaced devices are now the second biggest data breach cause (24 percent), behind intentionally putting data at risk (33 percent) and ahead of mishandling corporate data.

Read more: https://www.itproportal.com/news/over-half-of-organisations-expect-their-remote-workers-to-expose-them-to-the-risk-of-a-data-breach/

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Trickbot Named Most Prolific #COVID19 Malware

Notorious malware Trickbot has been linked to more COVID-19 phishing emails than any other, according to new data from Microsoft.

The Microsoft Security Intelligence Twitter account made the claim on Friday.

“Based on Office 365 ATP data, Trickbot is the most prolific malware operation using COVID-19 themed lures,” it said. “This week’s campaign uses several hundreds of unique macro-laced document attachments in emails that pose as messages from a non-profit offering a free COVID-19 test.”

Microsoft has been providing regular updates through the current crisis as organizations struggle to securely manage an explosion in home working while cyber-criminals step up efforts to exploit stretched IT security teams and distracted employees.

Read more: https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/trickbot-named-most-prolific/

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Microsoft Issues Out-Of-Band Security Update For Office, Paint 3D

Microsoft has released an out-of-band security update for Microsoft Office, Office 365 ProPlus and Paint 3D. The applications are affected by multiple Autodesk vulnerabilities that, if exploited, could enable remote code execution.

The flaws, all rated “important” in severity, are tied to six CVEs stemming from Autodesk’s library for FBX, a popular file format format that supports 3D models. This library is integrated into certain Microsoft applications

Read more: https://threatpost.com/microsoft-issues-out-of-band-security-update-for-office-paint-3d/155016/

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1,000 may be hit by CISI website fraud attack

The CISI has launched an investigation after a website attack resulted in 1,000 customers and members being exposed to the risk of credit card fraud.

The professional body with 45,000 members says some members have reported “fraudulent activity” on their cards following a payment transaction on the CISI website.

The organisation, which provides the Certified Financial Planner and Chartered Wealth manager designations, has launched a probe with help from its insurers and KPMG.

The CISI has contacted 5,785 customers that processed a payment transaction through its website between 1 February 2020 and 15 April 2020.

It said not all of these have seen “fraudulent activity” but it anticipates about 1,000 have been exposed to a risk of fraud.

Read more: https://www.financialplanningtoday.co.uk/news/item/11502-1-000-may-be-hit-by-cisi-website-fraud-attack

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Here's a list of all the ransomware gangs who will steal and leak your data if you don't pay

Starting with late 2019 and early 2020, the operators of several ransomware strains have begun adopting a new tactic.

In an attempt to put additional pressure on hacked companies to pay ransom demands, several ransomware groups have also begun stealing data from their networks before encrypting it.

If the victim -- usually a large company -- refuses to pay, the ransomware gangs threaten to leak the information online, on so-called "leak sites" and then tip journalists about the company's security incident.

Companies who may try to keep the incident under wraps, or who may not want intellectual property leaked online, where competitors could get, will usually cave in and pay the ransom demand.

While initially the tactic was pioneered by the Maze ransomware gang in December 2019, it is now becoming a widespread practice among other groups as well.

Clop, Doppenpaymer, Maze, Nefilim, Nemty, Ragnarlocker, Revil (Sodinokibi), Sekhmet, Snatch

Read the original article here for full details: https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-a-list-of-all-the-ransomware-gangs-who-will-steal-and-leak-your-data-if-you-dont-pay/

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Hackers have breached 60 ad servers to load their own malicious ads

A mysterious hacker group has been taking over ad servers for the past nine months in order to insert malicious ads into their ad inventory, ads that redirect users to malware download sites.

This clever hacking campaign was discovered last month and appears to have been running for at least nine months, since August 2019.

Hackers have targeted advertising networks running old versions of the Revive open-source ad server. Hackers breach outdated Revive servers and silently append malicious code to existing ads.

Once the tainted ads load on legitimate sites, the malicious code hijacks and redirects site visitors to websites offering malware-laced files -- usually disguised as Adobe Flash Player updates.

Read more: https://www.zdnet.com/article/hackers-have-breached-60-ad-servers-to-load-their-own-malicious-ads/

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GCHQ calls on public to report coronavirus-related phishing emails

GCHQ is asking members of the public to report suspicious emails they have received amid a wave of scams and hacking attacks that seek to exploit fear of Covid-19 to enrich cybercriminals.

The National Cyber Security Centre, a branch of the intelligence agency, has launched the suspicious email reporting service with a simple request of the public: forward any dubious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk, and the NCSC’s automated scanning system will check for scam emails and immediately remove criminal sites.

Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/apr/21/gchq-calls-public-report-coronavirus-phishing-emails

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Hackers exploit bug to access iPhone users’ emails

Hackers have devised a way to install malicious software on iPhones without getting the victim to download an attachment or click on any links.

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a bug in the phone’s email app that hackers may have been exploiting since January 2018. It enables hackers to access all emails on a phone, as well as remotely modify or delete them.

Typically, an attack on a phone requires a user to download the malware, such as clicking on a link in a message or on an attachment. Yet in this case, hackers send a blank email to the user. When the email is opened, a bug is triggered that causes the Mail app to crash, forcing the user to reboot it. During the reboot, hackers could access information on the device.

The hack is virtually undetectable by victims due to the sophisticated nature of the attack and Apple’s own security measures, which often make investigating the devices for potential vulnerabilities a challenge, experts claim.

More here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hackers-exploit-bug-to-access-iphone-users-emails-ssvvztrgf

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FBI Sees Cybercrime Reports Increase Fourfold During COVID-19 Outbreak

Instances of cybercrime appear to have jumped by as much as 300 percent since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the FBI. The bureau’s Internet Crime Complain Center (IC3) said last week that it’s now receiving between 3,000 and 4,000 cybersecurity complaints every day, up from the average 1,000 complaints per day the center saw before COVID-19 took hold.

While much of this jump can be attributed to America’s daily activities increasingly moving online — newly remote workers unaware of basic security measures or companies struggling to keep externally-accessed systems secure, for example — the FBI says a lot of the increased cybercrime is coming from nation states seeking out COVID-19-related research.

More: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/349509

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309 million Facebook users’ phone numbers found online

Last weekend, researchers came across a database with 267m Facebook user profiles being sold on the Dark Web.

Looking to verify the records and add them to the firm’s breach notification service, the researchers bought it, for the grand total of £500.

That works out to USD $540 — or about 0.0002 cents — per record. The records held Facebook users’ IDs, which are unique, public numbers associated with specific accounts that can be used to figure out an account’s username and other profile info. The records also included full names, email addresses, phone numbers, timestamps for last connection, relationship status and age.

Fortunately, there were no passwords exposed, but the breach still forms a perfect tool kit for an email or text phishing campaign that looks like it’s coming from Facebook itself. If enough users get fooled into clicking on spearphishers’ rigged links, it could lead to the exposure of even more, and more valuable, data.

Read more here: https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2020/04/22/309-million-facebook-users-phone-numbers-and-more-found-online/

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Google Issues Warning For 2 Billion Chrome Users

Google just gave its two billion Chrome users a brilliant (if long overdue) upgrade, but it doesn’t mask all of the controversial changes, security problems and data concerns which have worried users about the browser recently. And now Google has issued a new critical warning you need to know about.

Chrome has a critical security flaw across Windows, Mac and Linux and it urges users to upgrade to the latest version of the browser (81.0.4044.113). Interestingly, at the time of publication, Google is also keeping the exact details of the exploit a mystery.

Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2020/04/18/google-chrome-81-critical-security-exploit-upgrade-warning-update-chrome-browser/#42a057f56bde

Zoom announces 5.0 update with tougher encryption and new security features

Zoom has today announced its new 5.0 update, bringing robust new security features including AES 256-bit GCM encryption.

Zoom says that AES 256-bit GCM encryption will "raise the bar for securing our users' data in transit", providing "confidentiality and integrity assurances on your Zoom Meeting, Zoom Video Webinar and Zoom Phone Data." The systemwide enablement of this new security standard will take place on May 30.

Zoom has also introduced a new security icon, where it has grouped its security features in one place within Zoom's meeting menu bar. It has also introduced more robust host controls, including a 'report a user' feature. Waiting rooms now default to on, as do meeting passwords and cloud recording passwords. Zoom has also introduced a new data structure for linking contacts within larger organizations. Previously, a Zoom feature designed to group users by domain name had seen thousands of random users grouped together, sharing lots of information with strangers.

Read more: https://www.androidcentral.com/zoom-announces-50-update-tougher-encryption-and-new-security-features

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Temporary coronavirus hospitals face growing cybersecurity risks

The coronavirus outbreak has led to a series of temporary medical facilities opening across the U.S., most of which will use remote-care devices without the proper protection against hackers. Because of their remoteness and the overall uncertainty that pandemic’s created, cybersecurity at these temporary hospitals has fallen to the wayside and risks are at an all-time high.

Further complicating matters, most of these temporary units are highly dependent on connected medical devices to facilitate remote care. This leaves these hospitals open to hackers stealing patients’ personal health information via these connected devices.

Fortunately, there are a number of steps health care organizations can take to protect their remote facilities. Not only should organizations ensure their software is up to date and fully patched, but they should also consider enabling two-factor authentication for every account that’s granted access to the remote center’s system.

To assist with securing these remote health care locations, Microsoft has expanded the availability of its AccountGuard security service program. Currently offered at no cost to health care providers on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak, Microsoft’s AccountGuard service helps targeted organizations protect themselves from ongoing cybersecurity threats.

Read more: https://www.itpro.co.uk/security/cyber-security/355420/temporary-coronavirus-hospitals-facing-growing-cybersecurity-risks

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

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

Cyber Weekly Flash Briefing for 20 March 2020 – Working from home brings security challenges, COVID-19 scams and malware, VPNs and MFA, broadband strain, critical patches

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

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Working from Home: COVID-19’s Constellation of Security Challenges

Organisations are sending employees and students home to work and learn — but implementing the plan opens the door to more attacks, IT headaches and brand-new security challenges.

As the threat of coronavirus continues to spread, businesses are sending employees home to work remotely, and students are moving to online classes. But with the social distancing comes a new threat – a cyber-related one.

As organisations rush to shift their businesses and classes online, cybercriminals are ramping up their tactics to take advantage of those who may have inadequate or naive security postures as a result. Given the challenges in securing work- and learn-from-home environments, the attack surface represents an attractive opportunity for threat actors

Read more here: https://threatpost.com/working-from-home-covid-19s-constellation-of-security-challenges/153720/

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Thousands of COVID-19 scam and malware sites are being created on a daily basis

Malware authors and fraudsters aren't letting a tragedy go to waste.

In the midst of a global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, hackers are not letting a disaster go to waste and have now automated their coronavirus-related scams to industrial levels.

According to multiple reports, cybercriminals are now creating and putting out thousands of coronavirus-related websites on a daily basis.

Most of these sites are being used to host phishing attacks, distribute malware-laced files, or for financial fraud, for tricking users into paying for fake COVID-19 cures, supplements, or vaccines.

More here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/thousands-of-covid-19-scam-and-malware-sites-are-being-created-on-a-daily-basis/

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EU warns of broadband strain as millions work from home

The EU has called on streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube to limit their services in order to prevent the continent’s broadband networks from crashing as tens of millions of people start working from home. 

Until now, telecoms companies have been bullish that internet infrastructure can withstand the drastic change in online behaviour brought about by the coronavirus outbreak. 

But on Wednesday evening, Thierry Breton, one of the European commissioners in charge of digital policy, said streaming platforms and telecoms companies had a “joint responsibility to take steps to ensure the smooth functioning of the internet” during the crisis.

Read more on the FT here: https://www.ft.com/content/b4ab03db-de1f-4f98-bcc2-b09007427e1b

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COVID-19: With everyone working from home, VPN security has now become paramount

With most employees working from home amid today's COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak, enterprise VPN servers have now become paramount to a company's backbone, and their security and availability must be the focus going forward for IT teams.

It is critical that the VPN service is patched and up to date because there will be more scanning against these services.

It is also critical that multi factor authentication (MFA or 2FA) is used to protect connections over VPN.

More: https://www.zdnet.com/article/covid-19-with-everyone-working-from-home-vpn-security-has-now-become-paramount/

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What do you not want right now? A bunch of Cisco SD-WAN, Webex vulnerabilities? Here are a bunch of them

Cisco has issued a series of security updates for its SD-WAN and Webex software, just when they're most needed.

SD-WAN is host to five vulnerabilities ranging from privilege escalation to remote code injection.

Meanwhile, the Webex video-conferencing software also needs some sorting out right when everyone's working from home amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The patch bundle includes a fix for Cisco Webex Network Recording Player for Microsoft Windows and Cisco Webex Player for Microsoft Windows. A hacker can send a suitably crafted file in either the Advanced Recording Format (ARF) or the Webex Recording Format (WRF), and if the recipient clicks on it on a vulnerable computer, they get pwned. iOS users also need to patch an information-disclosure bug.

The other fixes mention SQL injection and cross-site scripting flaws.

More on The Register here: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/19/cisco_sdwan_bugs/

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Windows 10 or Mac user? Patch Adobe Reader and Acrobat now to fix 9 critical security flaws

Adobe has released an important security update for its popular PDF products, Adobe Acrobat and Reader after missing its usual release aligned with Microsoft Patch Tuesday.

The company has released an update for the PDF software for Windows and macOS machines. The update addresses nine critical flaws and four vulnerabilities rated as important.

The critical flaws include an out-of-bounds write, a stack-based overflow flaw, a use-after-free, buffer overflow, and memory corruption bug.

All the critical flaws allow for arbitrary code execution, meaning attackers could use them to rig a PDF to install malware on a computer running a vulnerable version of the software.

More here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-or-mac-user-patch-adobe-reader-and-acrobat-now-to-fix-9-critical-security-flaws/

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WordPress and Apache Struts account for 55% of all weaponized vulnerabilities

Comprehensive study looks at the most attacked web technologies of the last decade.

A study that analysed all the vulnerability disclosures between 2010 and 2019 found that around 55% of all the security bugs that have been weaponized and exploited in the wild were for two major application frameworks, namely WordPress and Apache Struts.

The Drupal content management system ranked third, followed by Ruby on Rails and Laravel, according to a report published this week.

In terms of programming languages, vulnerabilities in PHP and Java apps were the most weaponized bugs of the last decade.

Read the full article here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/wordpress-and-apache-struts-account-for-55-of-all-weaponized-vulnerabilities/

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Trickbot malware adds new feature to target telecoms, universities and finance companies

Researchers uncover a Trickbot campaign with new abilities that looks like it's being used in an effort to steal intellectual property, financial data - and potentially for espionage.

The new form of the infamous Trickbot malware is using never-before-seen behaviour in attacks targeting telecommunications providers, universities and financial services in a campaign that looks to be going after intellectual property and financial data.

Trickbot has been in operation since 2016 and, while it started life as a banking trojan, the modular nature of the malware means it can be easily re-purposed for other means, which has led to it becoming one of the most advanced and capable forms of malware attack delivery in the world today.

And now it has been updated with yet another new capability, with a module that uses brute force attacks against targets mostly in telecoms, education, and financial services in the US and Hong Kong. These targets are pre-selected based on IP addresses, indicating that the attackers are going after them specifically.

More here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/trickbot-malware-adds-new-feature-to-target-telecoms-universities-and-finance-companies/

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Most organizations have yet to fix CVE-2020-0688 Microsoft Exchange flaw

Organisations are delaying in patching Microsoft Exchange Server flaw (CVE-2020-0688) that Microsoft fixed with February 2020 Patch Day updates.

The CVE-2020-0688 flaw resides in the Exchange Control Panel (ECP) component, the root cause of the problem is that Exchange servers fail to properly create unique keys at install time.

A remote, authenticated attacker could exploit the CVE-2020-0688 vulnerability to execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges on a server and take full control.

More here: https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/99752/hacking/companies-cve-2020-0688-fixed.html

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Two Trend Micro zero-days exploited in the wild by hackers

Hackers tried to exploit two zero-days in Trend Micro antivirus products, the company said in a security alert this week.

The Japanese antivirus maker has released patches on Monday to address the two zero-days, along with three other similarly critical issues (although, not exploited in the wild).

According to the alert, the two zero-days impact the company's Apex One and OfficeScan XG enterprise security products.

Trend Micro did not release any details about the attacks.

These two zero-days mark the second and third Trend Micro antivirus bugs exploited in the wild in the last year.

Read more here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/two-trend-micro-zero-days-exploited-in-the-wild-by-hackers/

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Most ransomware attacks take place during the night or over the weekend

27% of all ransomware attacks take place during the weekend, 49% after working hours during weekdays

The vast majority of ransomware attacks targeting the enterprise sector occur outside normal working hours, during the night or over the weekend.

According to a report published this week, 76% of all ransomware infections in the enterprise sector occur outside working hours, with 49% taking place during night-time over the weekdays, and 27% taking place over the weekend.

The numbers were compiled from dozens of ransomware incident response investigations from 2017 to 2019.

The reason why attackers are choosing to trigger the ransomware encryption process during the night or weekend is because most companies don't have IT staff working those shifts, and if they do, they are most likely short-handed.

If a ransomware attack does trigger a security alert within the company, then there would be nobody to react right away and shut down a network, or the short-handed staff would have a hard time figuring what's actually happening before the ransomware encryption process ends and the company's network is down & ransomed.

Read more here: https://www.zdnet.com/article/most-ransomware-attacks-take-place-during-the-night-or-the-weekend/

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

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