Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 25 March 2022

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

• Morgan Stanley Client Accounts Breached in Social Engineering Attacks

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management says some of its customers had their accounts compromised in social engineering attacks.

The account breaches were the result of vishing (aka voice phishing), a social engineering attack where scammers impersonate a trusted entity (in this case Morgan Stanley) during a voice call to convince their targets into revealing sensitive information such as banking or login credentials.

The company said in a notice sent to affected clients that, "on or around February 11, 2022," a threat actor impersonating Morgan Stanley gained access to their accounts after tricking them into providing their Morgan Stanley Online account info.

After successfully breaching their accounts, the attacker also electronically transferred money to their own bank account by initiating payments using the Zelle payment service.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/morgan-stanley-client-accounts-breached-in-social-engineering-attacks/

• Ransomware Is Scary, But Another Scam Is Costing Victims Much, Much More

Business email compromise (BEC) remains the biggest source of financial losses, which totalled $2.4 billion in 2021, up from an estimated $1.8 billion in 2020, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Internet Crime Center (IC3).

The FBI says in its 2021 annual report that Americans last year lost $6.9 billion to scammers and cyber criminals through ransomware, BEC, and cryptocurrency theft related to financial and romance scams. In 2020, that figure stood at $4.2 billion.

Last year, FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 847,376 complaints about cybercrime losses, up 7% from 791,790 complaints in 2020.

BEC has been the largest source of fraud for several years despite ransomware attacks grabbing most headlines.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-is-scary-but-another-scam-is-costing-victims-much-much-more-says-fbi/#ftag=RSSbaffb68

• Phishing Kits Constantly Evolve to Evade Security Software

Modern phishing kits sold on cybercrime forums as off-the-shelf packages feature multiple, sophisticated detection avoidance and traffic filtering systems to ensure that internet security solutions won’t mark them as a threat.

Fake websites that mimic well-known brands are abundant on the internet to lure victims and steal their payment details or account credentials.

Most of these websites are built using phishing kits that feature brand logos, realistic login pages, and in cases of advanced offerings, dynamic webpages assembled from a set of basic elements.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/phishing-kits-constantly-evolve-to-evade-security-software/

• Ransomware Payment Demands Rose Dramatically in 2021

Ransomware attackers demanded dramatically higher ransom fees last year, and the average ransom payment rose by 78% to $541,010, according to data from incident response (IR) cases investigated by Palo Alto Networks Unit 42.

IR cases by Unit 42 also saw a whopping 144% increase in ransom demands, to $2.2 million. According to the report, the most victimised sectors were professional and legal services, construction, wholesale and retail, healthcare, and manufacturing.

Cyber extortion spiked, with 85% of ransomware victims — some 2, 556 organisations — having their data dumped and exposed on leak sites, according to the "2022 Unit 42 Ransomware Threat Report."

Conti led the ransomware attack volume, representing some one in five cases Unit 42 investigated, followed by REvil, Hello Kitty, and Phobos.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/ransomware-payments-demands-rose-dramatically-in-2021

• 7 Suspected Members of LAPSUS$ Hacker Gang, aged 16 to 21, Arrested in UK

The City of London Police has arrested seven teenagers between the ages of 16 and 21 for their alleged connections to the prolific LAPSUS$ extortion gang that's linked to a recent burst of attacks targeting NVIDIA, Samsung, Ubisoft, LG, Microsoft, and Okta.

"The City of London Police has been conducting an investigation with its partners into members of a hacking group," Detective Inspector, Michael O'Sullivan, said in a statement shared with The Hacker News. "Seven people between the ages of 16 and 21 have been arrested in connection with this investigation and have all been released under investigation. Our enquiries remain ongoing."

The development, which was first disclosed by BBC News, comes after a report from Bloomberg revealed that a 16-year-old Oxford-based teenager is the mastermind of the group. It's not immediately clear if the minor is one among the arrested individuals. The said teen, under the online alias White or Breachbase, is alleged to have accumulated about $14 million in Bitcoin from hacking.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/03/7-suspected-members-of-lapsus-hacker.html

• Here's How Fast Ransomware Encrypts Files

Forty-two minutes and 54 seconds: that's how quickly the median ransomware variant can encrypt and lock out a victim from 100,000 of their files.

The data point came from Splunk's SURGe team, which analysed in its lab how quickly the 10 biggest ransomware strains — Lockbit, REvil, Blackmatter, Conti, Ryuk, Avaddon, Babuk, Darkside, Maize, and Mespinoza — could encrypt 100,000 files consisting of some 53.93 gigabytes of data. Lockbit won the race, with speeds of 86% faster than the median. One Lockbit sample was clocked at encrypting 25,000 files per minute.

Splunk's team found that ransomware variants are all over the map speed-wise, and the underlying hardware can dictate their encryption speeds.

https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/here-s-how-fast-ransomware-encrypts-files

• HEAT Attacks: A New Class of Cyber Threats Organisations Are Not Prepared For

Web malware (47%) and ransomware (42%) now top the list of security threats that organisations are most concerned about. Yet despite the growing risks, just 27% have advanced threat protection in place on every endpoint device that can access corporate applications and resources.

This is according to research published by Menlo Security, exploring what steps organisations are taking to secure themselves in the wake of a new class of cyber threats – known as Highly Evasive Adaptive Threats (HEAT).

As employees spend more time working in the browser and accessing cloud-based applications, the risk of HEAT attacks increases. Almost two-thirds of organisations have had a device compromised by a browser-based attack in the last 12 months. The report suggests that organisations are not being proactive enough in mitigating the risk of these threats, with 45% failing to add strength to their network security stack over the past year. There are also conflicting views on the most effective place to deploy security to prevent advanced threats, with 43% citing the network, and 37% the cloud.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/22/web-security-threats/

• The Cyber Warfare Predicted in Ukraine May Be Yet to Come

In the build-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the national security community braced for a campaign combining military combat, disinformation, electronic warfare and cyber attacks. Vladimir Putin would deploy devastating cyber operations, the thinking went, to disable government and critical infrastructure, blind Ukrainian surveillance capabilities and limit lines of communications to help invading forces. But that’s not how it has played out. At least, not yet.

The danger is that as political and economic conditions deteriorate, the red lines and escalation judgments that kept Moscow’s most potent cyber capabilities in check may adjust. Western sanctions and lethal aid support to Ukraine may prompt Russian hackers to lash out against the west. Russian ransomware actors may also take advantage of the situation, possibly resorting to cyber crime as one of the few means of revenue generation.

https://www.ft.com/content/2938a3cd-1825-4013-8219-4ee6342e20ca

• The Three Russian Cyber Attacks the West Most Fears

The UK's cyber authorities are supporting the White House's calls for "increased cyber-security precautions", though neither has given any evidence that Russia is planning a cyber-attack.

Russia has previously stated that such accusations are "Russophobic".

However, Russia is a cyber-superpower with a serious arsenal of cyber-tools, and hackers capable of disruptive and potentially destructive cyber-attacks.

Ukraine has remained relatively untroubled by Russian cyber-offensives but experts now fear that Russia may go on a cyber-offensive against Ukraine's allies.

"Biden's warnings seem plausible, particularly as the West introduced more sanctions, hacktivists continue to join the fray, and the kinetic aspects of the invasion seemingly don't go to plan," says Jen Ellis, from cyber-security firm Rapid7.

This article from the BCC outlines the hacks that experts most fear, and they are repeats of things we have already seen coming out of Russia, only potentially a lot more destructive this time around.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-60841924

• Do These 8 Things Now to Boost Your Security Ahead of Potential Russian Cyber Attacks

The message comes as the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) ramp up warnings about Russian hacking of everything from online accounts to satellite broadband networks. CISA's current campaign is called Shields Up, which urges all organisations to patch immediately and secure network boundaries. This messaging is being echoed by UK and other Western Cyber authorities:

The use of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is being very strongly advocated. The White House and other agencies both sides of the Atlantic also urged companies to take seven other steps:

• Deploy modern security tools on your computers and devices to continuously look for and mitigate threats

• Make sure that your systems are patched and protected against all known vulnerabilities, and change passwords across your networks so that previously stolen credentials are useless to malicious actors

• Back up your data and ensure you have offline backups beyond the reach of malicious actors

• Run exercises and drill your emergency plans so that you are prepared to respond quickly to minimize the impact of any attack

• Encrypt your data so it cannot be used if it is stolen

• Educate your employees to common tactics that attackers will use over email or through websites

• Work with specialists to establish relationships in advance of any cyber incidents.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/white-house-warns-do-these-8-things-now-to-boost-your-security-ahead-of-potential-russian-cyberattacks/

• Cyber Crime Victims Suffered Losses of Over $6.9B in 2021 in the US Alone

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported a record-breaking year for 2021 in the number of complaints it received, among which business email compromise (BEC) attacks made up the majority of incidents.

IC3 handled 847,376 complaint reports last year — an increase of 7% over 2020 — which mainly revolved around phishing attacks, nonpayment/nondelivery scams, and personal data breaches. Overall, losses amounted to more than $6.9 billion.

BEC and email account compromises ranked as the No. 1 attack, accounting for 19,954 complaints and losses of around $2.4 billion.

"In 2021, heightened attention was brought to the urgent need for more cyber incident reporting to the federal government. Cyber incidents are in fact crimes deserving of an investigation, leading to judicial repercussions for the perpetrators who commit them," Paul Abbate, deputy director of the FBI wrote in the IC3's newly published annual report.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/fbi-cybercrime-victims-suffered-losses-of-over-6-9b-in-2021

• Expanding Threat Landscape: Cyber Criminals Attacking from All Sides

Research from Trend Micro warns of spiralling risk to digital infrastructure and remote workers as threat actors increase their rate of attack on organisations and individuals.

“Attackers are always working to increase their victim count and profit, whether through quantity or effectiveness of attacks,” said Jon Clay, VP of threat intelligence at Trend Micro.

“Our latest research shows that while Trend Micro threat detections rose 42% year-on-year in 2021 to over 94 billion, they shrank in some areas as attacks became more precisely targeted.”

Ransomware attackers are shifting their focus to critical businesses and industries more likely to pay, and double extortion tactics ensure that they are able to profit. Ransomware-as-a-service offerings have opened the market to attackers with limited technical knowledge – but also given rise to more specialisation, such as initial access brokers who are now an essential part of the cybercrime supply chain.

Threat actors are also getting better at exploiting human error to compromise cloud infrastructure and remote workers. Trend Micro detected and prevented 25.7 million email threats in 2021 compared to 16.7 million in 2020, with the volume of blocked phishing attempts nearly doubling over the period. Research shows home workers are often prone to take more risks than those in the office, which makes phishing a particular risk.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/22/threat-actors-increase-attack/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware Infections Follow Precursor Malware – Lumu • The Register

• Ransomware, Malware-as-a-Service Dominate Threat Landscape | SecurityWeek.Com

• Serious Security: DEADBOLT – The Ransomware That Goes Straight For Your Backups – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• AvosLocker Ransomware - What You Need To Know | The State of Security (tripwire.com)

• What the Conti Ransomware Group Data Leak Tells Us (darkreading.com)

• Ransomware Demands And Payments Increase With Use Of Leak Sites (computerweekly.com)

• Ten Notorious Ransomware Strains Put to The Encryption Speed Test (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Lockbit Wins Ransomware Speed Test, Encrypts 25k Files/Min • The Register

• Talos warns of BlackMatter-linked BlackCat Ransomware • The Register

• Report: 89% of Organizations Say Kubernetes Ransomware Is A Problem Today | VentureBeat

• Top Russian Meat Producer Hit with Windows BitLocker Encryption Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Greece's Public Postal Service Offline Due To Ransomware Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Hackers Demand $15 Million Ransom from TransUnion After Cracking "password" Password (bitdefender.com)

• Lawsuit Claims Kronos Breach Exposed Data For 'Millions' (techtarget.com)

• Estonian Man Sentenced To Prison For Role In Cyber Intrusions, Ransomware Attacks - CyberScoop

Phishing & Email

• New Phishing Toolkit Lets Anyone Create Fake Chrome Browser Windows (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Browser-in-the-Browser Attack Makes Phishing Nearly Invisible | Threatpost

• 'Unique Attack Chain' Drops Backdoor in New Phishing Campaign (darkreading.com)

Other Social Engineering

• Social Engineering Attacks To Dominate Web3, The Metaverse | ZDNet

Malware

• Malicious Microsoft Excel Add-Ins Used to Deliver RAT Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• BitRAT Malware Now Spreading As A Windows 10 License Activator (bleepingcomputer.com)

Mobile

• URL Rendering Trick Enabled WhatsApp, Signal, iMessage Phishing (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Downloaders Currently the Most Prevalent Android Malware (darkreading.com)

• Experts Uncover Campaign Stealing Cryptocurrency from Android and iPhone Users (thehackernews.com)

• Android Password-Stealing Malware Infects 100,000 Google Play Users (bleepingcomputer.com)

IoT

• Botnet of Thousands of MikroTik Routers Abused in Glupteba, TrickBot Campaigns (thehackernews.com)

• Honda Civics Vulnerable To Remote Unlock, Start Hack • The Register

• How to Secure Your Home WiFi Router - The Washington Post

Data Breaches/Leaks

• UK MoD's Capita-Run Recruitment Portal Support Offline • The Register

• Background Check Company Sued Over Data Breach - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Over 40,000 London Voters Have Data Leaked to Strangers - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Who is LAPSUS$, the Gang Hacking Microsoft, Samsung, and Okta? (gizmodo.com)

• Hackers Are Targeting European Refugee Charities -Ukrainian Official | Reuters

• Hackers Steal From Hackers By Pushing Fake Malware On Forums (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Oxford Teen Accused Of Making More Than £10m As A Leader Of International Cyber Gang (telegraph.co.uk)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

• An Investigation of Cryptocurrency Scams and Schemes (trendmicro.com)

• Global Regulators Monitor Crypto Use in Ukraine War | Reuters

• Cryptocurrency Companies Impacted by HubSpot Breach (techtarget.com)

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• 6 Types Of Insider Threats And How To Prevent Them (techtarget.com)

• HP Staffer Blew $5m On Personal Expenses With Company Card • The Register

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Internet Crime in 2021: Investment Fraud Losses Soar - Help Net Security

• NFT Fraud in the UK Soars 400% in 2021 - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• DeFiance Capital Founder Loses $1.7M in NFTs To Phishing Scam - Decrypt

Insurance

• How The Increase in Ransomware Has Impacted The Cyber Insurance Market - Help Net Security

• Cyber Insurance and War Exclusions (darkreading.com)

Dark Web

• Dark Web Drug Peddler Gets Nine Years - Infosecurity Magazine

Supply Chain

• 'Secrets Sprawl' Haunts Software Supply Chain Security | SecurityWeek.Com

Cloud

• As Breaches Soar, Companies Must Turn to Cloud-Native Security Solutions For Protection - Help Net Security

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• The Top 5 Things the 2022 Weak Password Report Means for IT Security (bleepingcomputer.com)

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare

• Russia Preparing To Conduct Cyber Attacks, White House warns - IT Security Guru

• New Mustang Panda Hacking Campaign Targets Diplomats, ISPs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Vidar Spyware Is Now Hidden in Microsoft Help Files | ZDNet

• FCC Adds Kaspersky To Covered List Due To Unacceptable Risks To Security - Security Affairs

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Internet Sanctions Against Russia Pose Risks, Challenges For Businesses | CSO Online

• Is It Safe To Use Russian-Based Kaspersky Antivirus? No, And Here's Why (komando.com)

• Anonymous Leaked 28gb of Data Stolen from The Central Bank of Russia - Security Affairs

• President Biden Says Russia Exploring Revenge Cyber Attacks • The Register

• Analysis: Putin's next escalation could be a direct cyberattack on the West - CNNPolitics

• Russia-backed Hackers Bypassed MFA, Exploited Print Vulnerability - MSSP Alert

• Hackers Around The World Deluge Russia's Internet With Simple, Effective Cyber Attacks (nbcnews.com)

• Anonymous Targets Western Companies Still Active in Russia - Security Affairs

• Ukrainian Enterprises Hit with the DoubleZero Wiper - Security Affairs

• NATO, G-7 Leaders Promise Bulwark Against Retaliatory Russian Cyber Attacks (cyberscoop.com)

• Russia Hacked Ukrainian Satellite Communications, Officials Believe - BBC News

• Russia-linked InvisiMole APT Targets State Organizations Of Ukraine - Security Affairs

• Corrupted Open-Source Software Enters the Russian Battlefield | ZDNet

• Nestlé Says 'Anonymous' Data Leak Actually A Self-Own • The Register

Nation State Actors – China

• Another Chinese Hacking Group Spotted Targeting Ukraine Amid Russia Invasion (thehackernews.com)

• Chinese APT Combines Fresh Hodur RAT with Complex Anti-Detection | Threatpost

• Mustang Panda Hacking Group Takes Advantage Of Ukraine Crisis In New Attacks | ZDNet

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• Dual North Korean Hacking Efforts Found Attacking Google Chrome Vulnerability for 6 Weeks - CyberScoop

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Vulnerabilities

• CISA Adds 66 Vulnerabilities To List Of Bugs Exploited In Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Google Issues Urgent Chrome Update to Patch Actively Exploited Zero-Day Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)

• Three Critical RCE Flaws Affect Hundreds of HP Printer Models - Security Affairs

• Critical Sophos Firewall vulnerability allows remote code execution (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Vulnerabilities Found in 250 HP Printer Models | CSO Online

• VMware Fixes Carbon Black Command Injection, Upload Bugs • The Register

• Western Digital Fixes Critical Bug Giving Root On My Cloud NAS Devices (bleepingcomputer.com)

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Sector Specific

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• Scottish Mental Health Charity SAMH Targeted In Cyber Attack - BBC News

• 12,000 Sensitive Patient Images Leaked - IT Security Guru

• Over 1 Million Impacted in Data Breach at Texas Dental Services Provider | SecurityWeek.Com

Retail/eCommerce

• For Magecart groups and other credit-card skimmers, old and new opportunities abound - CyberScoop

Transport and Aviation

• SATCOM Networks on High Alert After US Govt Warning • The Register

Energy & Utilities

• US Charges Four Russians Over Hacking Campaign on Energy Sector - BBC News

Education and Academia

• Heriot-Watt University in Second Week of Outage • The Register

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• The 2022 State of Cyber Assets Report (jupiterone.com)

• 2022 Weak Password Report - Specops Software

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Other News

• A Better Grasp of Cyber Attack Tactics Can Stop Criminals Faster (bleepingcomputer.com)

• The Chaos (and Cost) of the Lapsus$ Hacking Carnage | SecurityWeek.Com

• Soldiers told to use Signal instead of WhatsApp for security | The Times

• Cyber Security Compliance: Start With Proven Best Practices - Help Net Security

• Only 27% of Orgs Have Advanced Threat Protection on Endpoints | VentureBeat

• Okta Breach Leads To Questions On Disclosure, Reliance On Third-Party Vendors - CyberScoop

• The Challenges Audit Leaders Need To Look Out For This Year - Help Net Security

• South Korean DarkHotel Hackers Targeted Luxury Hotels in Macau (thehackernews.com)

• ISACA: Two-Thirds of Cybersecurity Teams Are Understaffed - Infosecurity Magazine

• Security Teams are Responsible for Over 165k Assets - Infosecurity Magazine

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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.

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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.

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 18 March 2022

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Guernsey Cyber Security Warning for Islanders and Businesses

There has been a rise in cyber-attacks since the war in Ukraine began, according to the States of Guernsey and a cyber-security firm.

The States said: "We have seen a noticeable increase in the number of phishing emails since the war began."

The Channel Islands see more than 10 million cyber attacks every month, according to research by Guernsey firm Black Arrow Cyber Consulting.

It encouraged vigilance, as the islands are not immune to these attacks.

A States spokesman said: "The whole community needs to remain vigilant against such emails, which are designed to appear to be from reputable sources in order to dupe people into providing personal information or access to their device via the clicking of a link."

Bruce McDougall, from Black Arrow Cyber Consulting, said: "Criminals don't let a good opportunity go to waste. So they're conducting scams encouraging people to make false payments in the belief they're collecting for charities."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-60763398

CISOs Face 'Perfect Storm' Of Ransomware and State-Supported Cyber Crime

As some nations turn a blind eye, defence becomes life-or-death matter

With ransomware gangs raiding network after network, and nation states consciously turning a blind eye to it, today's chief information security officers are caught in a "perfect storm," says Cybereason CSO Sam Curry.

"There's this marriage right now of financially motivated cyber crime that can have a critical infrastructure and economic impact," Curry said during a CISO roundtable hosted by his endpoint security shop. "And there are some nation states that do what we call state-ignored sanctioning," he continued, using Russia-based REvil and Conti ransomware groups as examples of criminal operations that benefit from their home governments looking the other way. 

"You get the umbrella of sovereignty, and you get the free license to be a privateer in essence," Curry said. "It's not just an economic threat. It's not just a geopolitical threat. It's a perfect storm."

It's probably not a huge surprise to anyone that destructive cyber attacks keep CISOs awake at night. But as chief information security officers across industries — in addition to Curry, the four others on the roundtable spanned retail, biopharmaceuticals, electronics manufacturing, and a cruise line — have watched threats evolve and criminal gangs mature, it becomes a battle to see who can innovate faster; the attackers or the defenders.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/18/ciso_security_storm/

Four Key Risks Exacerbated by Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has altered the emerging risk landscape, and it requires enterprise risk management (ERM) leaders to reassess previously established organisational risk profiles in at least four key areas, according to Gartner.

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased the velocity of many risks we have tracked on a quarterly basis in our Emerging Risks survey,” said Matt Shinkman, VP with the Gartner Risk and Audit Practice.

“As ERM leaders reassess their organisational risk models, they must also ensure a high frequency of communication with the C-Suite as to the critical changes that require attention now.”

There are four major areas of risk that ERM leaders should continually monitor and examine their mitigation strategies as part of a broader aligned assurance approach as the war continues: Talent Risk, Cyber Security Risk, Financial Risk and Supply Chain Risk

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/17/erm-leaders-risk/

These Four Types of Ransomware Make Up Nearly Three-Quarters of Reported Incidents

Any ransomware is a cyber security issue, but some strains are having more of an impact than others.

Ransomware causes problems no matter what brand it is, but some forms are noticeably more prolific than others, with four strains of the malware accounting for a combined total of almost 70% of all attacks.

According to analysis by cyber security company Intel 471, the most prevalent ransomware threat towards the end of 2021 was LockBit 2.0, which accounted for 29.7% of all reported incidents. Recent victims of LockBit have included Accenture and the French Ministry of Justice. 

Almost one in five reported incidents involved Conti ransomware, famous for several incidents over the past year, including an attack against the Irish Healthcare Executive. The group recently had chat logs leaked, providing insights into how a ransomware gang works. PYSA and Hive account for one in 10 reported ransomware attacks each.

"The most prevalent ransomware strain in the fourth quarter of 2021 was LockBit 2.0, which was responsible for 29.7% of all reported incidents, followed by Conti at 19%, PYSA at 10.5% and Hive at 10.1%," said the researchers.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/these-four-types-of-ransomware-make-up-nearly-three-quarters-of-reported-incidents/

Critical Infrastructure Threat as Ransomware Groups Target 'Enemies of Russia'

The cyber crime underground has fractured into pro-Ukraine and pro-Russia camps, with the latter increasingly focused on critical national infrastructure (CNI) targets in the West, according to a new report from Accenture.

The consulting giant’s Accenture Cyber Threat Intelligence (ACTI) arm warned that the ideological schism could spell mounting risk for Western organisations as pro-Kremlin criminal groups adopt quasi-hacktivist tactics to choose their next victims.

Organisations in the government, media, finance, insurance, utilities and resources sectors should be braced for more attacks, said ACTI.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/critical-infrastructure-threat/

Cyber Insurance War Exclusions Loom Amid Ukraine Crisis

An expanding threat landscape is testing the limits of cyber insurance coverage.

The industry experienced a rapid maturation over the past three years as enterprises required a broader umbrella of insurance coverage to combat increasing cyber risks. While demands and premiums continue to rise, one recent area of contention involves war and hostile acts, an exclusion that's becoming harder to categorize.

A judgment in December, coupled with the Russian invasion last month that posed potential cyber retaliations to Ukraine allies, highlighted shortcomings in insurance policies when it comes to cyber conflicts.

https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/252514592/Cyber-insurance-war-exclusions-loom-amid-Ukraine-crisis

Zelenskyy Deepfake Crude, But Still Might Be a Harbinger of Dangers Ahead

Several deepfake video experts called a doctored video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that went viral this week before social media platforms removed it a poorly executed example of the form, but nonetheless damaging.

Elements of the Zelenskyy deepfake — which purported to show him calling for surrender — made it easy to debunk, they said. But that won’t always be the case.

https://www.cyberscoop.com/zelenskyy-deepfake-troubles-experts/

Cyber Crooks’ Political In-Fighting Threatens the West

They’re choosing sides in the Russia-Ukraine war, beckoning previously shunned ransomware groups and thereby reinvigorating those groups’ once-diminished power.

A rift has formed in the cyber crime underground: one that could strengthen, rather than cripple, the cyber-onslaught of ransomware.

According to a report, ever since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, “previously coexisting, financially motivated threat actors divided along ideological factions.”

“Pro-Ukrainian actors are refusing to sell, buy, or collaborate with Russian-aligned actors, and are increasingly attempting to target Russian entities in support of Ukraine,” wrote researchers from Accenture’s Cyber Threat Intelligence (ACTI). “However, pro-Russian actors are increasingly aligning with hacktivist-like activity targeting ‘enemies of Russia,’ especially Western entities due to their claims of Western warmongering.”

What might otherwise seem like a good thing – bad guys fighting bad guys – may in fact pose an increased threat to the West.

https://threatpost.com/cybercrooks-political-in-fighting-threatens-the-west/178899/

Cloud-Based Email Threats Surge 50% in 2021

There was a 50% year-on-year surge in cloud-based email threats in 2021, but a drop in ransomware and business email compromise (BEC) detections as attacks became more targeted, according to Trend Micro.

The security vendor’s 2021 roundup report, Navigating New Frontiers, was compiled from data collected by customer-installed products and cloud-based threat intelligence.

It revealed that Trend Micro blocked 25.7 million email threats targeting Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 users last year, versus 16.7 million in 2020.

The number of phishing attempts almost doubled during the period, as threat actors continued to target home workers. Of these, 38% were focused on stealing credentials, the report claimed.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cloudbased-email-threats-surge-2021/

Millions of New Mobile Malware Strains Blitzed Enterprise in 2021

Researchers uncovered more than two million new mobile malware samples in the wild last year, Zimperium said in a new report.

Those threats spanned some 10 million mobile devices in at least 214 countries, the Dallas, Texas-based solution provider said in its newly released 2022 Global Mobile Threat Report. Indeed, mobile malware proved in 2021 to be the most prevalent security threat to enterprises, encountered by nearly 25 percent mobile endpoints among Zimperium’s customers worldwide. The 2.3 million new mobile strains Zimperium’s researchers located amount to nearly 36,000 new strains of malware weekly and roughly 5,000 each day.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-services-and-products/mobile/millions-of-new-mobile-malware-strains-blitzed-enterprises-in-2021/

UK Criminal Defence Lawyer Hadn't Patched When Ransomware Hit

Criminal defence law firm Tuckers Solicitors is facing a fine from the UK's data watchdog for failing to properly secure data that included information on case proceedings which was scooped up in a ransomware attack in 2020.

The London-based business was handed a £98,000 penalty notice by the Information Commissioner's Office under Article 83 of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation 2018.

The breach was first noted by Tuckers on August 23 2020 when part of its IT system became unavailable. On closer inspection, resident techies found a note from the attackers confirming they had compromised part of the infrastructure. The Microsoft Exchange server was out of action and two days' worth of emails were lost, as detailed by the company blog at the time.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/15/brit_solicitor_fined_for_failing/

Russian Ransomware Gang Retool Custom Hacking Tools of Other APT Groups

A Russian-speaking ransomware outfit likely targeted an unnamed entity in the gambling and gaming sector in Europe and Central America by repurposing custom tools developed by other APT groups like Iran's MuddyWater, new research has found.

The unusual attack chain involved the abuse of stolen credentials to gain unauthorized access to the victim network, ultimately leading to the deployment of Cobalt Strike payloads on compromised assets, said Felipe Duarte and Ido Naor, researchers at Israeli incident response firm Security Joes, in a report published last week.

Although the infection was contained at this stage, the researchers characterized the compromise as a case of a suspected ransomware attack.

The intrusion is said to have taken place in February 2022, with the attackers making use of post-exploitation tools such as ADFind, NetScan, SoftPerfect, and LaZagne. Also employed is an AccountRestore executable to brute-force administrator credentials and a forked version of a reverse tunneling tool called Ligolo.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/03/russian-ransomware-gang-retool-custom.html

The Massive Impact of Vulnerabilities in Critical Infrastructure

Recent cyber events have shown how extremely vulnerable critical infrastructure is. What are the biggest security concerns?

In any world conflict, one of the primary threats posed is cyber actors disabling or destroying the core infrastructure of the adversary. Based on the global reaction to the current world conflict, countries fear reprisals. The worry is that there will be collateral damage to the critical infrastructure of other countries not directly involved in the current conflict.

Today, services such as healthcare systems, power grids, transportation and other critical industries are increasingly integrating their operational technology with traditional IT systems in order to modernize their infrastructure, and this has opened up a new wave of cyber attacks. Though businesses are ramping up their security initiatives and investments to defend and protect, their efforts have largely been siloed, reactive, and lack business context. Lack of visibility of risk across the estate is a huge problem for this sector.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/15/critical-infrastructure-security/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Nearly 34 Ransomware Variants Observed in Hundreds of Cyber Attacks in Q4 2021 (thehackernews.com)

• Franchises, Partnerships Emerge in Ransomware-as-a-Service Operations | ZDNet

• Dozens of Ransomware Variants Used In 722 Attacks Over 3 Months (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Conti Leak: A Ransomware Gang's Chats Expose Its Crypto Plans | WIRED

• 6 Reasons Not to Pay Ransomware Attackers (darkreading.com)

• Google Blows Lid Off Conti, Diavol Ransomware Access-Broker Ops | Threatpost

• SEC Filings Show Hidden Ransomware Costs And Losses | CSO Online

• Exotic Lily Sells Ransomware Groups Access To Targets • The Register

• New "Initial Access Broker" Working with Conti gang - IT Security Guru

• Google Exposes Tactics Of A Conti Ransomware Access Broker (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Avoslocker Ransomware Gang Targets US Critical Infrastructure - Security Affairs

• How Prepared Are Organisations To Face A Ransomware Attack On Kubernetes? - Help Net Security

• Experts Find Some Affiliates of BlackMatter Now Spreading BlackCat Ransomware (thehackernews.com)

• The Lapsus$ Hacking Group Is Off to a Chaotic Start | WIRED

• Bridgestone Cyber Attack Timeline and Ransomware Recovery Details - MSSP Alert

• Automotive Giant Denso Confirms Hack, Pandora Ransomware Group Takes Credit | ZDNet

Phishing & Email

• Massive Phishing Campaign Uses 500+ Domains To Steal Credentials (bleepingcomputer.com)

• How CAPTCHA Puzzles Cloak Phishing Page URLs In Emails • The Register

• Microsoft the No. 1 Most-Spoofed Brand in Phishing Attacks (darkreading.com)

• 76,000 Scams Taken Down Through Email Reporting - IT Security Guru

• Phony Instagram ‘Support Staff’ Emails Hit Insurance Company | Threatpost

• NCSC Catches 10 Million Phishes (computerweekly.com)

• This Browser-In-The-Browser Attack Is Perfect For Phishing • The Register

Malware

• New "B1txor20" Linux Botnet Uses DNS Tunnel and Exploits Log4J Flaw (thehackernews.com)

• Attacker Uses Websites' Contact Forms To Spread BazarLoader Malware | TechRepublic

• Gh0stCringe RAT Targeting Database Servers in Recent Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com

• Cyclops Blink Malware Sets Up Shop in ASUS Routers • The Register

• DirtyMoe Botnet Gains New Exploits in Wormable Module to Spread Rapidly (thehackernews.com)

• Linux Botnet Exploits Log4j Flaw To Hijack Arm, x86 Systems • The Register

• New Threat: B1txor20, A Linux Backdoor Using DNS Tunnel (360.com)

• Russian Cyclops Blink Botnet Launches Assault Against Asus Routers | ZDNet

• Uncovering Trickbot’s Use of IoT Devices In Command-And-Control Infrastructure - Microsoft Security Blog

• TrickBot Malware Abusing MikroTik Routers as Proxies for Command-and-Control (thehackernews.com)

Mobile

• Mobile Threats Skyrocket (darkreading.com)

• 2021 Mobile Security: Android More Vulnerabilities, iOS More Zero-Days (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Mobile Devices See 466% Annual Increase in Zero-Day Attacks - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• 'Escobar' Android malware steals your 2FA codes — and takes over your phone | Tom's Guide (tomsguide.com)

• Thousands of Secret Keys Found in Leaked Samsung Source Code | SecurityWeek.Com

• Scammers Have 2 Clever New Ways To Install Malicious Apps on iOS Devices | Ars Technica

• Threat Intel Report: Who Is Behind Staggering 190GB Samsung Galaxy Hack? (forbes.com)

• Android Trojan Persists On The Google Play Store Since January (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Mobile App Data Found Exposing API’s & Data In 1,000’s Of Cloud Databases - Information Security Buzz

IoT

• Smart Devices Spy On You – 2 Computer Scientists Explain How The Internet Of Things Can Violate Your Privacy (theconversation.com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Who's Who In The Cyber Criminal Underground | CSO Online

• Financially Motivated Threat Actors Willing To Go After Russian Targets - Help Net Security

• A Third of Malicious Logins Originate in Nigeria - Infosecurity Magazine

• Phishers Exploit Ukraine Conflict To Solicit Crypto - IT Security Guru

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• MITRE and Partners Build Insider Threat Knowledge Base | CSO Online

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• UK Shoppers Face More Identity Checks When Buying Online | Consumer affairs | The Guardian

Supply Chain

• Container Vulnerability Opens Door For Supply Chain Attacks (techtarget.com)

DoS/DDoS

• Israeli Govt Sites Hit By Huge DDoS Attack • The Register

Cloud

• How Cloud Services Become Weapons In Russia-Ukraine Cyber Conflict | ZDNet

• The Next Big Cyber Security Threat Is Connected SaaS Platforms (thenextweb.com)

Privacy

• Smart Devices Are Spying on You Everywhere, And That's a Problem (sciencealert.com)

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• NVIDIA Staff Shouldn’t Have Chosen Passwords Like These… • Graham Cluley

• Attackers Using Default Credentials To Target Businesses, Raspberry Pi And Linux Top Targets - Help Net Security

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• CafePress Fined For Covering Up Customer Info Leak • The Register

• Meta Fined €17 Million by Irish Regulator for GDPR Violations | CSO Online

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare

• Would 'Cyber Geneva Conventions' Defuse Online Aggression? (darkreading.com)

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Conti Leaks Reveal the Ransomware Group’s Links to Russia | WIRED

• How The Cyber World Can Support Ukraine | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)

• Russia's Disinformation Uses Deepfake Video Of Zelenskyy Telling People To Lay Down Arms - Security Affairs

• FBI Warns of MFA Flaw Used By State Hackers For Lateral Movement (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ukraine Secret Service Arrests Hacker Helping Russian Invaders (thehackernews.com)

• Open Source Maintainer Sabotages Code to Wipe Russian, Belarusian Computers (vice.com)

• German Government Advises Against Using Kaspersky Antivirus (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Russia Could Use Kaspersky Antivirus Software In Cyber Attacks In Europe, German Agency Warns | Euronews

• ‘It’s The Right Thing To Do’: The 300,000 Volunteer Hackers Coming Together To Fight Russia | Ukraine | The Guardian

• Ukraine's "IT Army" Hit With Info-Stealing Malware- IT Security Guru

• Viasat, Rosneft Hit By Cyber Attacks • The Register

• Mozilla Firefox Removes Russian Search Providers Over Misinformation Concerns (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Fake Antivirus Updates Used To Deploy Cobalt Strike in Ukraine (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ukrainian Hacktivists Allegedly Dumps Kaspersky Product Source Code Online (Updated) - Lowyat.NET

• New CaddyWiper Data Wiping Malware Hits Ukrainian Networks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Top Ukrainian Cyber Official Praises Volunteer Hacks On Russian Targets, Offers Updates - CyberScoop

• Anonymous Sent A Message To Russians: "Remove Putin" - Security Affairs

• Cyber Attacks Cripple Russian Websites After Ukraine Invasion (gizmodo.com)

• Russia Faces IT Crisis With Just Two Months Of Data Storage Left (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Russia Labels Meta 'Extremist Organisation, Bans Instagram • The Register

Nation State Actors – China

• China-Linked Threat Actors Are Targeting The Government Of Ukraine - Security Affairs

• China Claims It Captured NSA Spy Tool That Already Leaked • The Register

Nation State Actors – Iran

• Researchers Find New Evidence Linking Kwampirs Malware to Shamoon APT Hackers (thehackernews.com)

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Vulnerabilities

• CISA Adds 15 Vulnerabilities To List Of Flaws Exploited In Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New Linux Bug in Netfilter Firewall Module Lets Attackers Gain Root Access (thehackernews.com)

• Apple Patch Day: Gaping Security Holes in iOS, macOS, iPadOS | SecurityWeek.Com

• OpenSSL Patches Denial-Of-Service Certificate Flaw • The Register

• OpenSSL Patches Infinite-Loop DoS Bug In Certificate Verification – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Nasty Linux Netfilter Firewall Security Hole Found | ZDNet

• SolarWinds Warns Of Attacks Targeting Web Help Desk Instances (bleepingcomputer.com)

• High-Severity Vulnerabilities Patched in BIND Server | SecurityWeek.Com

• QNAP Warns Severe Linux Bug Affects Most Of Its NAS Devices (bleepingcomputer.com)

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Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

• Top Threats For The Financial Sector - Help Net Security

• Hackers Target Bank Networks with new Rootkit to Steal Money from ATM Machines (thehackernews.com)

• Banks on Alert For Russian Reprisal Cyber Attacks on Swift | Ars Technica

• Fraudsters Use Intelligent Bots To Attack Financial Institutions (scmagazine.com)

• 70% of Financial Service Providers Are Implementing API Security - Help Net Security

• Report: Payment Fraud Attacks Against Fintech Companies Soar By 70% In 2021 - Information Security Buzz

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• Healthcare Cyber Security Trends: Organisations Not Quite Ready To Deal With Threats - Help Net Security

• Hospitals Warned Of 'Phone Calls And Emails From Hackers' As Russia-Ukraine War Rages - Manchester Evening News

• Nearly 300k Heart Patients’ Data Exposed - Infosecurity Magazine

Transport and Aviation

• Aircraft Disrupted by Satellite Jamming Following Russian Invasion - Infosecurity Magazine

• EU & US Agencies Warn That Russia Could Attack Satellite Communications - Security Affairs

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• 2022 Global Mobile Threat Report: Key Insights on the State of Mobile Security - Zimperium Mobile Security Blog

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Other News

• Does the Free World Need a Global Cyber Alliance? | SecurityWeek.Com

• Why EDR Is Not Sufficient To Protect Your Organisation - Help Net Security

• Public and Private Sector Security: Better Protection by Collaboration | SecurityWeek.Com

• The Importance Of Building In Security During Software Development - Help Net Security

• How Fast Can Organisations Respond To A Cyber Security Crisis? - Help Net Security

• Researcher Uses 379-Year-Old Algorithm To Crack Crypto Keys Found In The Wild | Ars Technica

• How Pen Testing Gains Critical Security Buy-in and Defence Insight (darkreading.com)

• DarkHotel APT Targets Wynn, Macao Hotels to Rip Off Guest Data | Threatpost

• When IT Spending Plans Don't Reflect Security Priorities (darkreading.com)

• Half of People Accept All Cookies Despite The Security Risk | TechRadar

• Business Is At Last Collaborating On Cyber Security | Financial Times (ft.com)

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 11 February 2022

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

 UK, US, Australia Issue Joint Advisory: Ransomware on the Loose, Critical National Infrastructure Affected

Firms shelled out $5bn in Bitcoin in 6 months

Ransomware attacks are proliferating as criminals turn to gangs providing turnkey post-compromise services, Britain's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has warned.

In a joint UK-US-Australia advisory issued this week, the three countries said they had "observed an increase in sophisticated, high-impact ransomware incidents against critical infrastructure organisations globally."

The warning comes hot on the heels of several high-profile attacks against oil distribution companies and also businesses that operate ports in the West – though today's note insists there was a move by criminals away from "big game hunting" against US targets.

Among the main threats facing Western organisations were the use of "cybercriminal services-for-hire". These, as detailed in the advisory, include "independent services to negotiate payments, assist victims with making payments, and arbitrate payment disputes between themselves and other cyber criminals."

https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/09/uk_us_au_ransomware_warning/

Ransomware Groups and APT Actors Laser-Focused on Financial Services

Trellix released a report, examining cybercriminal behaviour and activity related to cyber threats in the third quarter (Q3) of 2021. Among its findings, the research reports that despite a community reckoning to ban ransomware activity from online forums, hacker groups used alternate personas to continue to proliferate the use of ransomware against an increasing spectrum of sectors – hitting the financial, utilities and retail sectors most often, accounting for nearly 60% of ransomware detections.

“While we ended 2021 focused on a resurgent pandemic and the revelations around the Log4j vulnerability, our third-quarter deep dive into cyber threat activity found notable new tools and tactics among ransomware groups and advanced global threat actors,” said Trellix.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/02/07/cyber-threats-q3-2021/

Why the C-Suite Should Focus on Understanding Cyber Security and Investing Appropriately

Trend Micro has published a research revealing that persistently low IT/C-suite engagement may imperil investments and expose organisations to increased cyber risk. Over 90% of the IT and business decision makers surveyed expressed particular concern about ransomware attacks.

Despite widespread concern over spiralling threats, the study found that only 57% of responding IT teams discuss cyber risks with the C-suite at least weekly.

Vulnerabilities used to go months or even years before being exploited after their discovery.

“Now it can be hours, or even sooner. More executives than ever understand that they have a responsibility to be informed, but they often feel overwhelmed by how rapidly the cyber security landscape evolves. IT leaders need to communicate with their board in such a way that they can understand where the organisation’s risk is and how they can best manage it.”

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/02/10/c-suite-engagement/

Almost $1.3bn Paid to Ransomware Actors Since 2020

Cryptocurrency experts have identified $602m of ransomware payments made in 2021, but warned the real figure will likely surpass the $692m paid to cybercrime groups in 2020.

The findings come from the Ransomware Crypto Crime Report produced by blockchain investigations and analytics company Chainalysis. It reveals some fascinating insight into current industry trends.

Average payment size has soared over recent years, from $25,000 in 2019 to $88,000 a year later and $118,000 in 2021. That’s due in part to a surge in targeted attacks on major organisations, known as “big-game hunting,” which can net threat actors tens of millions in a single compromise.

“This big-game hunting strategy is enabled in part by ransomware attackers’ usage of tools provided by third-party providers to make their attacks more effective,” the report explained. “Usage of these services by ransomware operators spiked to its highest ever levels in 2021.”

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/almost-13bn-paid-to-ransomware/

Cyber Crooks Frame Targets by Planting Fabricated Digital Evidence

The ‘ModifiedElephant’ threat actors are technically unimpressive, but they’ve evaded detection for a decade, hacking human rights advocates’ systems with dusty old keyloggers and off-the-shelf RATs.

Threat actors are hijacking the devices of India’s human rights lawyers, activists and defenders, planting incriminating evidence to set them up for arrest, researchers warn.

The actor, dubbed ModifiedElephant, has been at it for at least 10 years, and it’s still active. It’s been shafting targets since 2012, if not sooner, going after hundreds of groups and individuals – some repeatedly – according to SentinelLabs researchers.

The operators aren’t what you’d call technical prodigies, but that doesn’t matter. Threat researchers at SentinelOne, said that the advanced persistent threat (APT) group – which may be tied to the commercial surveillance industry – has been muddling along just fine using rudimentary hacking tools such as commercially available remote-access trojans (RATs)

https://threatpost.com/cybercrooks-frame-targets-plant-incriminating-evidence/178384/

Highly Evasive Adaptive Threats (HEAT) Bypassing Traditional Security Defences

Menlo Security announced it has identified a surge in cyberthreats, termed Highly Evasive Adaptive Threats (HEAT), that bypass traditional security defences.

HEAT attacks are a class of cyber threats targeting web browsers as the attack vector and employs techniques to evade detection by multiple layers in current security stacks including firewalls, Secure Web Gateways, sandbox analysis, URL Reputation, and phishing detection. HEAT attacks are used to deliver malware or to compromise credentials, that in many cases leads to ransomware attacks.

In an analysis of almost 500,000 malicious domains, the research team discovered that 69% of these websites used HEAT tactics to deliver malware. These attacks allow bad actors to deliver malicious content to the endpoint by adapting to the targeted environment. Since July 2021, there was a 224% increase in HEAT attacks.

“With the abrupt move to remote working in 2020, every organisation had to pivot to a work from an anywhere model and accelerate their migration to cloud-based applications. An industry report found that 75% of the working day is spent in a web browser, which has quickly become the primary attack surface for threat actors, ransomware and other attacks. The industry has seen an explosion in the number and sophistication of these highly evasive attacks and most businesses are unprepared and lack the resources to prevent them,” said Menlo Security.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/02/08/cyberthreats-bypass-security-defences/

LockBit, BlackCat, Swissport, Oh My! Ransomware Activity Stays Strong

However, groups are rebranding and recalibrating their profiles and tactics to respond to law enforcement and the security community’s focus on stopping ransomware attacks.

Law enforcement, C-suite executives and the cyber security community at-large have been laser-focused on stopping the expensive and disruptive barrage of ransomware attacks — and it appears to be working, at least to some extent. Nonetheless, recent moves from the LockBit 2.0 and BlackCat gangs, plus this weekend’s hit on the Swissport airport ground-logistics company, shows the scourge is far from over.

It’s more expensive and riskier than ever to launch ransomware attacks, and ransomware groups have responded by mounting fewer attacks with higher ransomware demands, Coveware has reported, finding that the average ransomware payment in the fourth quarter of last year climbed by 130 percent to reach $322,168. Likewise, Coveware found a 63 percent jump in the median ransom payment, up to $117,116.

“Average and median ransom payments increased dramatically during Q4, but we believe this change was driven by a subtle tactical shift by ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operations that reflected the increasing costs and risks previously described,” Coveware analysts said. “The tactical shift involves a deliberate attempt to extort companies that are large enough to pay a ‘big game’ ransom amount but small enough to keep attack operating costs and resulting media and law enforcement attention low.”

https://threatpost.com/lockbit-blackcat-swissport-ransomware-activity/178261/

2021 Was The Most Prolific Year On Record For Data Breaches

Spirion released a guide which provides a detailed look at sensitive data breaches in 2021 derived from analysis conducted against the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) database of publicly reported data breaches in the United States.

The guide is based on the analysis of more than 1,500 data incidents that occurred in the United States during 2021 that specifically involved sensitive data, including personally identifiable information (PII). The report identifies the top sensitive data breaches by the number of individuals impacted, number of records compromised, threat actor, exposure vector, and types of sensitive data exposed by industry sector.

2021 was the most prolific year on record for data breaches, surpassing 2017’s all-time high. Last year a total of 1,862 data compromises were reported by US organisations—a 68 percent increase over 2020. ITRC data revealed that 83% of the year’s incidents exposed 889 million sensitive data records that impacted more than 150 million individuals.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/02/09/2021-sensitive-data-breaches/

$1.3 Billion Lost to Romance Scams in the Past Five Years

Romance scams are reaching record-highs, regulators warn.

Netflix's new documentary, The Tinder Swindler, is a wild ride.

The show examines how an alleged fraudster impacted the lives of multiple women, matching with them on Tinder and treating them to expensive dates to gain their trust -- and eventually asking for huge sums of money.

While you may watch the show and wonder how someone -- no matter their gender -- could allow themselves to be swindled out of their savings, romance scams are common, breaking hearts and wiping bank balances around the world every day. 

We've moved on from the days of "lonely hearts" columns to dating apps, and they're popular channels to conduct fraud.

Fake profiles, stolen photos and videos, and sob stories from fraudsters (their car has broken down, they can't afford to meet a match, or, in The Tinder Swindler's case, their "enemies" are after them) are all weapons designed to secure interest and sympathy.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/1-3-billion-lost-to-romance-scams-in-the-past-five-years-ftc/

Cyber Security Compliance Still Not A Priority For Many

IBM survey suggests that cyber security still isn't a priority for many companies

The most consistent data point in the IBM i Marketplace Survey Results over recent years has been the ever-present cyber security threat. This year is no exception. The study shows that 62% of organisations consider cyber security a number one concern as they plan their IT infrastructure. 22% cite regulations and compliance in their top five. While companies that prioritise security seem to be implementing multiple solutions, it’s still alarming that nearly half of them do not plan to implement them.

The complexity of cyber security often leaves industry leaders confused and overwhelmed, unable to produce the sound, proactive stance that is so essential.

Cyber security standards can be confusing, but they are necessary. Tighter security can be encouraged with an understanding of cyber security guidelines

For many organisations, cyber security standards are just too complex to wrap their hands around, but that doesn’t mean it’s not necessary. Understanding how cyber security guidelines affect companies’ legal standing can help encourage tighter security.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/02/07/cybersecurity-compliance-still-not-a-priority-for-many/

The World is Falling Victim to the Growing Trickbot Attacks in 2022

The malware goons are back again. The cybercrime operators behind the notorious TrickBot malware have once again upped the ante by fine-tuning its techniques by adding multiple layers of defence to slip past antimalware products.

TrickBot, which started out as a banking trojan, has evolved into a multi-purpose crimeware-as-a-service (CaaS) that’s employed by a variety of actors to deliver additional payloads such as ransomware. Over 100 variations of TrickBot have been identified to date, one of which is a “Trickboot” module that can modify the UEFI firmware of a compromised device. In the fall of 2020, Microsoft along with a handful of U.S. government agencies and private security companies teamed up to tackle the TrickBot botnet, taking down much of its infrastructure across the world in a bid to stymie its operations. But TrickBot has proven to be impervious to takedown attempts, what with the operators quickly adjusting their techniques to propagate multi-stage malware through phishing and malspam attacks, not to mention expanding their distribution channels by partnering with other affiliates like Shathak (aka TA551) to increase scale and drive profits.

Russian-based criminals behind the notorious malware known as Trickbot appear to be working overtime to upgrade the threat’s capabilities. Researchers announced last week the discovery of new malware components that enable monitoring and intelligence gathering on victims. The research findings include the detection of a VNC module that uses a custom communications protocol to obfuscate any data being transmitted between the command-and-control (C2) servers and the victims, making the attacks harder to find. The module is in active development and is being updated by criminals at a rapid pace.

https://www.analyticsinsight.net/the-world-is-falling-victim-to-the-growing-trickbot-attacks-in-2022/

“We Absolutely Do Not Care About You”: Sugar Ransomware Targets Individuals

Ransomware tends to target organisations. Corporations not only house a trove of valuable data they can’t function without, but they are also expected to cough up a considerable amount of ransom money in exchange for their encrypted files. And while corporations struggle to keep up with attacks, ransomware groups have left the average consumer relatively untouched—until now.

Sugar ransomware, a new strain recently discovered by the Walmart Security Team, is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) that targets single computers and (likely) small businesses, too. Sugar, also known to many as Encoded01, has been in operation since November 2021.

https://blog.malwarebytes.com/ransomware/2022/02/we-absolutely-do-not-care-about-you-sugar-ransomware-targets-individuals/

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Threats

Ransomware

• NCSC Joins US and Australian Partners to Reveal Latest Ransomware Trends - NCSC.GOV.UK

• Russian Ransomware Attacks Increased During 2021, Joint Review Finds | Cybercrime | The Guardian

• You've Still Not Patched It? Hackers Are Using These Old Software Flaws To Deliver Ransomware | ZDNet

• FBI: Watch Out For LockBit 2.0 Ransomware, Here's How To Reduce The Risk To Your Network | ZDNet

• Law Enforcement Action Push Ransomware Gangs To Surgical Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Europe's Biggest Car Dealer Hit With Ransomware Attack | ZDNet

• Swissport Ransomware Incident Delayed Flights - Infosecurity Magazine

• How a Texas Hack Changed the Ransomware Business Forever - The Record by Recorded Future

• Puma Hit By Data Breach After Kronos Ransomware Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Vodafone Portugal Hit By A Massive Cyber Attack - Security Affairs

• Fortune 500 Service Provider Says Ransomware Attack Led To Leak Of More Than 500k SSNs | ZDNet

Phishing

• Hackers Using Fake Job Offers in Latest Catfishing Scheme - ClearanceJobs

• Threat Actors Revive 20-Year-Old Tactic in Microsoft 365 Phishing Attacks (darkreading.com)

• ICO Hit by 2650% Rise in Email Attacks - Infosecurity Magazine

Other Social Engineering

• Roaming Mantis SMSishing Campaign Now Targets Europe - Security Affairs

• FBI: SIM Swapping Attacks Have Surged Five-Fold - Infosecurity Magazine

Malware

• Qbot Needs Only 30 Minutes To Steal Your Credentials, Emails (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Linux Malware Attacks Are On The Rise, And Businesses Aren't Ready For It | ZDNet

• This Password-Stealing Malware Posed As A Windows 11 Download | ZDNet

• Several Malware Families Using Pay-Per-Install Service to Expand Their Targets (thehackernews.com)

• Qbot, Lokibot Malware Switch Back To Windows Regsvr32 Delivery (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Data Highlights Growing Threat From Intelligent Bots Operated at Scale by Cybercriminals | SecurityWeek.Com

Mobile

• Medusa Malware Joins Flubot's Android Distribution Network | Threatpost

• Critical Android 12 Bug Fixed In February Security Patches • The Register

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Croatian Phone Carrier Data Breach Impacts 200,000 Clients (bleepingcomputer.com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Russian Government Continues Crackdown On Cyber Criminals - CyberScoop

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

• More Than $400 Million Drained From Hacked Blockchain Bridges In Little More Than A Week • Graham Cluley

• Wife of Couple Accused of $4.5 billion Bitcoin Swindle Gave Cyber Security Advice (theblockcrypto.com)

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Chinese Telecom Hytera Charged For Allegedly Recruiting Motorola Employees To Steal Trade Secrets | ZDNet

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Midlifers Bled Dry By Scam That Takes Two Months To Spot (telegraph.co.uk)

Supply Chain

• The Most Common Cyber Gaps Threatening Supply Chain Security - Help Net Security

DoS/DDoS

• DDoS Attacks Hit All-time High - Infosecurity Magazine

Nation State Actors

• Russian APT Steps Up Malicious Cyber Activity in Ukraine (darkreading.com)

• Iran Malware in HPE Server Stuns Cyber Security Experts - Bloomberg

• Iranian Hackers Using New Marlin Backdoor in 'Out to Sea' Espionage Campaign (thehackernews.com)

Cloud

• Organisations And The Cloud: How They Use It And How They Secure It - Help Net Security

Privacy

• Meta Threatens to Shut Down Facebook and Instagram in Europe | The Independent

• Facebook Exposes 'God Mode' Token Miscreants Could Use • The Register

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare

• MoleRats APT Flaunts New Trojan in Latest Cyber Espionage Campaign | Threatpost

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Vulnerabilities

• Microsoft, Oracle, Apache and Apple vulnerabilities added to CISA catalog | ZDNet

• CISA Says 'HiveNightmare' Windows Vulnerability Exploited in Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com

• Microsoft Fixes Defender Flaw Letting Hackers Bypass Antivirus Scans (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft and Other Major Software Firms Release February 2022 Patch Updates (thehackernews.com)

• Apple Patches New Zero-Day Exploited To Hack iPhones, iPads, Macs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• CISA Urges Orgs To Patch Actively Exploited Windows SeriousSAM Bug (bleepingcomputer.com)

• CISA Warns Admins To Patch Maximum Severity SAP Vulnerability (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Adobe Patches 13 Vulnerabilities in Illustrator | SecurityWeek.Com

• PHP Everywhere RCE Flaws Threaten Thousands of WordPress Sites (bleepingcomputer.com)

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Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

• Ransomware Groups and APT Actors Laser-Focused On Financial Services - Help Net Security

Defence

• Defence Contractors Need to Check Their Six (darkreading.com)

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• FritzFrog P2P Botnet Attacking Healthcare, Education and Government Sectors (thehackernews.com)

Retail/eCommerce

• Wave of MageCart Attacks Target Hundreds Of Outdated Magento Sites (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Threat Actors Compromised +500 Magento-Based E-Stores With E-Skimmers - Security Affairs

Transport and Aviation

• Swissport Ransomware Incident Delayed Flights - Infosecurity Magazine

Education and Academia

• FritzFrog P2P Botnet Attacking Healthcare, Education and Government Sectors (thehackernews.com)

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Other News

• A "light" February 2022 Patch Tuesday That Should Not Be Ignored - Help Net Security

• Organisations Still Struggling To Use APIs Effectively - Help Net Security

• Threat Hunting: Your Best Defence Against Unknown Threats - MSSP Alert

• UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Suffered Serious Cyber Attack Earlier This Year | Reuters

• European Police Flag 500+ Pieces of “Terrorist” Content - Infosecurity Magazine

• A Quarter of New Online Accounts Are Fake – Report - Infosecurity Magazine

• Microsoft To Make Enabling 'Untrusted' Office Macros Tougher In The Name Of Security | ZDNet

• Cyber Terrorism Is a Growing Threat & Governments Must Take Action (darkreading.com)

• Hackers Have Begun Adapting To Wider Use Of Multi-Factor Authentication | TechRepublic

• The Race To Save The Internet From Quantum Hackers (nature.com)

• Disaster Recovery Is Critical For Business Continuity - Help Net Security

• CISOs Are Burned Out And Falling Behind | CSO Online

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 02 February 2022

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Cyber Change Outpaces Boardroom Engagement

We all know the story of the past two years. Mass digital investments in SaaS collaboration suites, cloud infrastructure and other tools helped to keep organisations operational when they needed it most. The money continues to flow today, as those same companies realize they must keep on pumping funds into digital to stay competitive amidst rising customer expectations. Gartner predicted public cloud spending growth would hit 23% year-on-year in 2021 and increase 20% this year to top $397bn.

From a cyber security perspective, these business decisions are loaded with risk if protections are not built into projects from the start. A recent global poll revealed that of 90% of business and IT decision makers are concerned about the impact of ransomware. It also found generally poor levels of cyber-awareness among board members. Less than half (46%) of respondents claimed concepts like “cyber risk” and “cyber risk management” were known extensively in their organisation.

The truth is that many board leaders do understand the need for greater investment in security as a strategic growth driver. But they find it hard to keep pace with a threat landscape that moves at the speed of light. Vulnerabilities used to go months or years before they were exploited, for example, but today threat actors are working on exploits for bugs like Log4Shell within hours of their discovery. That makes the fast-changing risk landscape difficult to grasp for even tech-savvy C-suite leaders. As a result, cyber risk continues to be managed reactively, which puts the organisation perpetually on the back foot.

https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/research/22/b/why-cyber-change-outpaces-boardroom-engagement.html

NCSC Alerts UK Orgs to Brace for Destructive Russian Cyber Attacks

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is urging organisations to bolster security and prepare for a potential wave of destructive cyber attacks after recent breaches of Ukrainian entities.

The NCSC openly warns that Russian state-sponsored threat actors will likely conduct the attacks and reminds of the damage done in previous destructive cyber attacks, like NotPetya in 2017 and the GRU campaign against Georgia in 2019.

These warnings come after Ukrainian government agencies and corporate entities suffered cyber attacks where websites were defaced, and data-wiping malware was deployed to destroy data and make Windows devices inoperable.

The cause for the resurgence of attacks is the tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and attempts to negotiate a way out of the Ukraine crisis have failed so far.

Ukraine and Russia have engaged in cyber warfare for many years, but recent Russian military mobilization was accompanied by new waves of attacks, with European countries and the USA expected to be targeted next.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ncsc-alerts-uk-orgs-to-brace-for-destructive-russian-cyberattacks/

Over Half of Ransomware Attacks are Targeting Financial Services, Utilities and Retail

Three sectors have been the most common target for ransomware attacks, but researchers warn "no business or industry is safe".

Over half of ransomware attacks are targeting one of three industries; banking, utilities and retail, according to analysis by cyber security researchers – but they've also warned that all industries are at risk from attacks.

The data has been gathered by Trellix – formerly McAfee Enterprise and FireEye – from detected attacks between July and September 2021, a period when some of the most high-profile ransomware attacks of the past year happened.

According to detections by Trellix, banking and finance was the most common target for ransomware during the reporting period, accounting for 22% of detected attacks. That's followed by 20% of attacks targeting the utilities sector and 16% of attacks targeting retailers. Attacks against the three sectors in combination accounted for 58% of all of those detected.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-over-half-of-attacks-are-targeting-these-three-industries/

Third of Employees Admit to Exfiltrating Data When Leaving Their Job

Nearly one-third (29%) of employees admitted taking data with them when they leave their job, according to new research from Tessian.

The findings follow the ‘great resignation’ of 2021, when workers quit their jobs in huge waves following the COVID-19 pandemic. Unsurprisingly, close to three-quarters (71%) of IT leaders believe this trend has increased security risks in their organisations.

In addition, nearly half (45%) of IT leaders said they had seen incidents of data exfiltration increase in the past year due to staff taking data with them when they left.

The survey of 2000 UK workers also looked at employees' motives for taking such information. The most common reason was that the data would help them in their new job (58%). This was followed by the belief that the information belonged to them because they worked on the document (53%) and to share it with their new employer (44%).

The employees most likely to take data with them when leaving their job worked in marketing (63%), HR (37%) and IT (37%).

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/third-employees-exfiltrating-data/

Massive Social Engineering Waves Have Impacted Banks in Several Countries

A massive social engineering campaign has been delivered in the last two years in several countries, including Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, the UK, and France. According to Segurança Informática publication, the malicious waves have impacted banking organisations with the goal of stealing the users’ secrets, accessing the home banking portals, and also controlling all the operations on the fly via Command and Control (C2) servers geolocated in Brazil.

In short, criminal groups are targeting victims’ from different countries to collect their home banking secrets and payment cards. The campaigns are carried out by using social engineering schemas, namely smishing, and spear-phishing through fake emails.

Criminals obtain lists of valid and tested phone numbers and emails from other malicious groups, and the process is performed on underground forums, Telegram channels or Discord chats.

The spear-phishing campaigns try to lure victims with fake emails that impersonate the banking institutions. The emails are extremely similar to the originals, exception their content, mainly related to debts or lack of payments.

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/127516/cyber-crime/massive-social-engineering-banks.html

Ransomware is Terrifying – But Never Underestimate the Damage an Employee with Unmonitored Access Can Do

Is the biggest threat to your data a mysterious ransomware merchant or an advanced persistent threat cartel?

Or is it a security system that will show you that data has been exfiltrated from your organisation – but only after the fact, leaving open the possibility that your valuable IP could have already been shared with unauthorized parties?

It was the latter scenario that allegedly resulted in 12,000 internal documents being lifted from Pfizer’s systems by a soon-to-depart employee last year. Those documents reportedly included details of COVID-19 vaccine research and a new melanoma drug.

The incident shows how today’s cloud infrastructure can exacerbate security gaps and why simply detecting a potential data leak isn’t enough. Companies need to have deep insight into what their employees are doing, as well as technology that can actively enforce policy and prevent unencrypted data from ever leaving the enterprise.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/03/ransomware_terrifying/

People Working in IT Related Roles Equally Susceptible to Phishing Attempts as the General Population

Phishing emails that mimic HR announcements or ask for assistance with invoicing get the most clicks from recipients, according to a study from F-Secure.

The study, which included 82,402 participants, tested how employees from four different organisations responded to emails that simulated one of four commonly used phishing tactics.

22% of recipients that received an email simulating a human resources announcement about vacation time clicked, making emails that mimic those sent by HR the most frequent source of clicks in the study.

An email asking the recipient to help with an invoice (referred to as CEO Fraud in the report) was the second most frequently engaged with email type, receiving clicks from 16% of recipients.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/02/03/phishing-emails-clicks/

FBI Says More Cyber Attacks Come from China than Everywhere Else Combined

US Federal Bureau of Investigation director Christopher Wray has named China as the source of more cyber-attacks on the USA than all other nations combined.

In a Monday speech titled Countering Threats Posed by the Chinese Government Inside the US, Wray said the FBI is probing over 2,000 investigations of incidents assessed as attempts by China's government "to steal our information and technology."

"The Chinese government steals staggering volumes of information and causes deep, job-destroying damage across a wide range of industries – so much so that, as you heard, we're constantly opening new cases to counter their intelligence operations, about every 12 hours or so."

Wray rated China's online offensive as "bigger than those of every other major nation combined," adding it has "a lot of funding and sophisticated tools, and often joining forces with cyber criminals – in effect, cyber mercenaries."

https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/03/fbi_china_threat_to_usa/

Managing Detections is Not the Same as Stopping Breaches

Enterprises interested in managed detection and response (MDR) services to monitor endpoints and workloads should make sure the providers have rock-solid expertise in detecting and responding to threats.

The fundamental challenge in cyber security is that adversaries move quickly. We know from observation that attackers go from initial intrusion to lateral movement in a matter of a couple hours or less.

If security teams are going to successfully stop a breach, they need to operate within the same timeframe, containing and remediating threats within minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Such constant vigilance can be challenging for in-house staff. This is why many organisations engage a provider of managed detection and response (MDR) security services, which monitors endpoints, workloads, and other systems to detect and monitor threats.

Unfortunately, even most managed services have several fundamental flaws that prevent them from executing on the core mission of stopping breaches.

https://www.darkreading.com/crowdstrike/managing-detections-is-not-the-same-as-stopping-breaches

From War to Web Security, Protect Your Attack Surface from the Weakest Link

With the rapid proliferation of data, increasing number of domains and subdomains as well as rise in third-party providers, the number of entry points through which attackers can infiltrate a company’s web environment is endless. Attacks are increasingly causing consequences felt beyond the perimeter of an organisation, as demonstrated earlier this year with the Colonial Pipeline breach, which caused fuel prices along the US East Coast to soar, and the attack on software provider Kaseya that forced hundreds of grocery stores in the Nordics to shut down business for days.

Security breaches often happen through an avenue that no one saw coming — a server no one knew existed, an old landing page, weak passwords or an application that was missing a patch. It’s perhaps never been clearer than today that a company is only as strong as the weakest link in its growing attack surface.

https://thenewstack.io/from-war-to-web-security-protect-your-attack-surface-from-the-weakest-link/

Number of Data Compromises Reaching All-Time High

According to an Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) report, the overall number of data compromises (1,862) is up more than 68 percent compared to 2020.

The new record number of data compromises is 23 percent over the previous all-time high (1,506) set in 2017. The number of data events that involved sensitive information (Ex: Social Security numbers) increased slightly compared to 2020 (83 percent vs. 80 percent). However, it remained well below the previous high of 95 percent set in 2017.

The number of victims continues to decrease (down five (5) percent in 2021 compared to the previous year) as identity criminals focus more on specific data types rather than mass data acquisition. However, the number of consumers whose data was compromised multiple times per year remains alarmingly high.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/31/data-compromises-up/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Inside Trickbot, Russia’s Notorious Ransomware Gang | WIRED

• Aggressive BlackCat Ransomware on the Rise (darkreading.com)

• A Look At The New Sugar Ransomware Demanding Low Ransoms (bleepingcomputer.com)

• BlackCat Ransomware - What You Need To Know | The State of Security (tripwire.com)

• KP Snacks Giant Hit By Conti Ransomware, Deliveries Disrupted (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Hacker Group 'Moses Staff' Using New StrifeWater RAT in Ransomware Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Financially Motivated Hackers Use Leaked Conti Ransomware Techniques in Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com

• FBI Shares Lockbit Ransomware Technical Details, Defense Tips (bleepingcomputer.com)

• BlackCat (ALPHV) Ransomware Linked To BlackMatter, DarkSide Gangs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Over 500,000 People Impacted By A Ransomware Attack That Hit Morley - Security Affairs

• Scottish Agency Still Recovering from 2020 Ransomware Attack - Infosecurity Magazine

• Conti Ransomware Encrypted 80% of Ireland's HSE IT Systems (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ransomware Wants You to Like and Subscribe, Or Else (vice.com)

• Ransomware Means Your Database IS The Front Line. How Are You Defending It? • The Register

Phishing

• Low-Detection Phishing Kits Increasingly Bypass MFA | Threatpost

• MFA Adoption Pushes Phishing Actors To Reverse-Proxy Solutions (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Intuit Warns Of Phishing Emails Threatening To Delete Accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Strong Authentication Protects Against Phishing. So Why Aren't More People Using It? | ZDNet

• Microsoft Blocked Billions Of Brute-Force And Phishing Attacks Last Year (bleepingcomputer.com)

Other Social Engineering

• FBI Warning: Scammers Are Posting Fake Job Ads On Networking Sites To Steal Your Money And Identity | ZDNet

Malware

• Malicious CSV Text Files Used To Install BazarBackdoor Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New Malware Used by SolarWinds Attackers Went Undetected for Years (thehackernews.com)

• Microsoft: This Mac Malware Is Getting Smarter And More Dangerous | ZDNet

Data Breaches/Leaks

• The 3 Most Common Causes of Data Breaches in 2021 (darkreading.com)

• British Council Exposed More Than 100,000 Files With Student Records (bleepingcomputer.com)

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• How Costly Is An Insider Threat? - Help Net Security

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Americans Lost $770 Million From Social Media Fraud In 2021, FTC Reports - Security Affairs

Supply Chain

• Supply Chain Security Is Not a Problem…It’s a Predicament | Threatpost

DoS/DDoS

• Reasons Why Every Business is a Target of DDoS Attacks (thehackernews.com)

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Ransomware Often Hits Industrial Systems, With Significant Impact: Survey | SecurityWeek.Com

Nation State Actors

• Russian 'Gamaredon' Hackers Use 8 New Malware Payloads In Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• State Hackers' New Malware Helped Them Stay Undetected For 250 Days (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Charming Kitten Sharpens Its Claws with PowerShell Backdoor | Threatpost

• FBI's Warning About Iranian Firm Highlights Common Cyber Attack Tactics | CSO Online

• Iranian APT Group Uses Previously Undocumented Trojan For Destructive Access To Organisations | CSO Online

Cloud

• If My Organisation Is Mostly in the Cloud, Do I Need a Firewall? (darkreading.com)

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• The Account Takeover Cat-and-Mouse Game | Threatpost

• Reducing The Blast Radius Of Credential Theft - Help Net Security

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare

• Ukraine Continues to Face Cyber Espionage Attacks from Russian Hackers (thehackernews.com)

• Gamaredon (Primitive Bear) Russian APT Group Actively Targeting Ukraine (paloaltonetworks.com)

• Hackers Exploited 0-Day Vulnerability in Zimbra Email Platform to Spy on Users (thehackernews.com)

• Cyber Spies Linked To Memento Ransomware Use New PowerShell Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• NSO Group's Pegasus Spyware and Phantom Encryption Cracker Trigger Fresh Concerns - MSSP Alert

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Vulnerabilities

• Apple, SonicWall, Internet Explorer Vulnerabilities Added To CISA List | ZDNet

• Samba 'Fruit' Bug Allows RCE, Full Root User Access | Threatpost

• Tens of Thousands of Websites Vulnerable to RCE Flaw in WordPress Plug-in (darkreading.com)

• Cisco Fixes Critical Bugs In SMB Routers, Exploits Available (bleepingcomputer.com)

• UEFI Firmware Vulnerabilities Affect At Least 25 Computer Vendors (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Google Patches 27 Vulnerabilities With Release of Chrome 98 | SecurityWeek.Com

• Intel Patched 226 Vulnerabilities in 2021 | SecurityWeek.Com

• Public Exploit Released for Windows 10 Bug | Threatpost

• 600K WordPress Sites Impacted By Critical Plugin RCE Vulnerability (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Critical Log4j Vulnerabilities Are the Ultimate Gift for Cyber Criminals (darkreading.com)

• ESET Antivirus Bug Let Attackers Gain Windows SYSTEM Privileges (bleepingcomputer.com)

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Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

• Bank Executives Mostly Concerned About Cyber Crime - Help Net Security

Retail

• Why Buy Now, Pay Later Is The Next Big Fraud Risk For Retailers | CSO Online

Transport and Aviation

• Ransomware Spree Hitting European Oil, Transport Companies - CyberScoop
  

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• Identity Theft Resource Center’s 2021 Annual Data Breach Report Sets New Record for Number of Compromises - ITRC (idtheftcenter.org)

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Other News

• Hackers Went Wild in 2021 — Every Company Should Do These 5 Things in 2022 (darkreading.com)

• Rush To Remote Work Left Sysadmins Struggling To Keep Businesses Safe - Help Net Security

• Telco Fined €9 Million For Hiding Cyber Attack Impact From Customers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Are There Holes In Your Cyber Security Map? | VentureBeat

• 90% of Security Leaders Warn of Skills Shortage - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• The Real-World Impact of the Global Cyber Security Workforce Gap on Cyber Defenders (darkreading.com)

• Hundreds Of Thousands Of Routers Exposed To Eternal Silence Campaign Via UPnP - Security Affairs

• Social Security Numbers Most Targeted Sensitive Data - Infosecurity Magazine

• NIST's New Cyber-Resiliency Guidance: 3 Steps For Getting Started | CSO Online

• Organisations Neglecting Microsoft 365 Cyber Security Features - Help Net Security

• Microsoft Says MFA Adoption Remains Low, Only 22% Among Enterprise Customers - The Record by Recorded Future

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 28 January 2022

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hackers made up for some lost time last year.

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

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

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

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

Ransomware Families Becoming More Sophisticated With Newer Attack Methods

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ransomware Gangs Increase Efforts To Enlist Insiders For Attacks

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

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

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

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

Shipment-Delivery Scams Become the Favoured Way to Spread Malware

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

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

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

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

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

Most Ransomware Infections Are Self-Installed

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

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

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

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

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

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

Staff Negligence Is Now A Major Reason For Insider Security Incidents

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

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

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

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

22 Cyber Security Myths Organisations Need To Stop Believing In 2022

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

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

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

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

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

Android Malware Can Factory-Reset Phones After Draining Bank Accounts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-Buy now, pay never

-Cryptocurrency scams

-Doubling ransomware attacks

-More increases in romance fraud

-Digital elder abuse will rise

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

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Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware: More Families, More Vulnerabilities, More Weaponry Dominate 2021 - MSSP Alert

• Linux Version Of LockBit Ransomware Targets VMware ESXi Servers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• BlackCat Ransomware Targeting US, European Retail, Construction And Transportation Orgs | ZDNet

• Conti Ransomware Hits Apple, Tesla Supplier - The Record by Recorded Future

Phishing

• There's Been A Big Rise In Phishing Attacks Using Microsoft Excel XLL Add-Ins | ZDNet

• Microsoft warns of multi-stage phishing campaign leveraging Azure AD (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Evolved phishing: Device Registration Trick Adds To Phishers’ Toolbox For Victims Without MFA - Microsoft Security Blog

Other Social Engineering

• Coronavirus SMS Scam Offers Home PCR Testing Devices – Don’t Fall For It! – Naked Security (sophos.com)

Malware

• Trickbot Injections Get Harder to Detect & Analyze (darkreading.com)

• Log4j: Mirai Botnet Found Targeting ZyXEL Networking Devices | ZDNet

• Hackers Infect macOS with New DazzleSpy Backdoor in Watering-Hole Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• TrickBot Malware Using New Techniques to Evade Web Injection Attacks (thehackernews.com)

Mobile

• 105 Million Android Users Targeted By Subscription Fraud Campaign (bleepingcomputer.com)

• 2FA App With 10,000 Google Play Downloads Loaded Well-Known Banking Trojan | Ars Technica

• New FluBot And TeaBot Campaigns Target Android Devices Worldwide (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Latest Version Of Android RAT BRATA Wipes Devices After Stealing Data - Security Affairs

• Is Google Tracking Your Location Even When You Think You’ve Turned It Off? US States Sue Over “Deception” • Graham Cluley

IoT

• As IoT Attacks Increase, Experts Fear More Serious Threats (darkreading.com)

• Mirai Splinter Botnets Dominate IoT Attack Scene | ZDNet

• Millions of Routers, IoT Devices at Risk as Malware Source Code Surfaces on GitHub (darkreading.com)

• 19-Year-Old Describes How He Remotely Hacked 25+ Teslas (businessinsider.com)

Data Breaches/Leaks

• 'We're Losing Control Of Our Data' As Breaches Reach An All-Time High | ZDNet

• Personal Identifying Information For 1.5 Billion Users Was Stolen In 2021, But From Where? - TechRepublic

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Russia Makes More Arrests, But Cyber Crime-Harbouring Reputation Hard To Shake (scmagazine.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

• People Are Still Getting Pwned a Week After a Crypto Hack Was ‘Contained’ (vice.com)

Supply Chain

• Aqua Security Reports Large Increase in Supply Chain Attacks (infoq.com)

DoS/DDoS

• Microsoft Mitigates Largest DDoS Attack 'Ever Reported In History' (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Nobel Foundation Site Hit By DDoS Attack On Award Day (bleepingcomputer.com)

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Over 20,000 Data Center Management Systems Exposed To Hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Energy Sector Still Needs to Shut the Barn Door (darkreading.com)

Nation State Actors

• North Korean Hackers Using Windows Update Service to Infect PCs with Malware (thehackernews.com)

• Russian APT29 Hackers' Stealthy Malware Undetected For Years (bleepingcomputer.com)

• North Korean Hackers Return with Stealthier Variant of KONNI RAT Malware (thehackernews.com)

• German Intel Warns Of APT27 Targeting Commercial Organisations - Security Affairs

• Threat Actors Use Microsoft OneDrive for Command-and-Control in Attack Campaign (darkreading.com)

• APTs Quiet Ahead Of Beijing Games, But Financially Motivated Hackers Are Still Lurking, Research Says - CyberScoop

Cloud

• Top 5 Cloud Security Data Breaches in Recent Years (makeuseof.com)

• Molerats Group Uses Public Cloud Services As Attack Infrastructure - Security Affairs

Privacy

• UK’s Privacy Tsar Mounts Fierce Defence of End-to-End Encryption - Infosecurity Magazine

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• 65% Of Organisations Continue To Rely On Shared Logins - Help Net Security

• Strong Security Starts With The Strengthening Of The Weakest Link: Passwords - Help Net Security

• Has That Password Been Compromised? - IT Security Guru

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare

• DazzleSpy: Pro-Democracy Org Hijacked To Become macOS Spyware Distributor | ZDNet

Vulnerabilities

• Ubiquitous Linux Bug: ‘An Attacker’s Dream Come True’ | Threatpost

• Outlook Security Feature Bypass Allowed Sending Malicious Links | SecurityWeek.Com

• Attackers Now Actively Targeting Critical SonicWall RCE Bug (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Patching the CentOS 8 Encryption Bug is Urgent – What Are Your Plans? (thehackernews.com)

• Apple Fixes New Zero-Day Exploited To Hack macOS, iOS Devices (bleepingcomputer.com)

• F5 Fixes 25 Flaws In BIG-IP, BIG-IQ, and NGINX Products - Security Affairs

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Sector Specific

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• Healthcare Industry Most Common Victim Of Third-Party Breaches Last Year - Help Net Security

Education and Academia

• Education Sector Hounded By Cyber Attacks In 2021 | CSO Online

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• Reports Published in the Last Week

• Identity Theft Resource Center’s 2021 Annual Data Breach Report Sets New Record for Number of Compromises - ITRC (idtheftcenter.org)

• Experian plc - Experian’s Annual Future of Fraud Forecast Predicts Five Key Threats for Businesses and Consumers in 2022

• Aqua Security Reports Large Increase in Supply Chain Attacks (infoq.com)

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Other News

• Cyber Security: 11 Steps To Take As Threat Levels Increase | ZDNet

• Right of Boom: Can Your MSP Really Survive A Cyber Attack? - MSSP Alert

• Are You Prepared to Defend Against a USB Attack? (darkreading.com)

• Prioritizing And Remediating Vulnerabilities In The Wake Of Log4J and Microsoft's Patch Tuesday Blunder | CSO Online

• VW Fired Senior Employee After They Raised Cyber Security Concerns | Financial Times

• Microsoft Outlook RCE Zero-Day Exploits Now Selling For $400,000 (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Hackers Are Taking Over CEO Accounts With Rogue OAuth Apps (bleepingcomputer.com)

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Advisory – LockBit Ransomware Now Actively Targeting VMware ESXi Hosts

Black Arrow Cyber Advisory – LockBit Ransomware Now Actively Targeting VMware ESXi Hosts

Executive Summary

LockBit, a ransomware gang that first came to prominence in 2021, has made improvements to its Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS), advertising that it will now actively target VMware ESXi virtual machines. VMware ESXi is a highly popular virtualisation platform and is found in most business environments globally and allows for the consolidation of software servers and services onto a single physical machine, saving both space and costs. The new LockBit features include the ability to find all running Virtual Machines (VMs) and manipulate their power states to ensure they are encrypted successfully.

What’s the risk to me or my business?

Due to the popularity of ESXi, there is an increased risk to those running the platform. The changes demonstrate that RaaS operators are keenly aware that businesses present lucrative targets, actively implementing features that have the greatest potential for harm in an enterprise environment.

What can I do?

Ensure that your systems and services across your network remain up-to-date and current. Attackers will often use a combination of bugs, vulnerabilities and misconfigurations to breach an environment before going on to exploit other devices. For ESXi specifically, consider disabling Secure Shell (SSH) if enabled, and ensure the use of TLS (HTTPS) on any exposed web interfaces.

Need help understanding your gaps, or just want some advice? Get in touch with us.

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 05 November 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

500 Million Attempted Ransomware Attacks (So Far) in 2021, With No Sign Of Slowing

So far, 2021 is stacking up to be the most costly and dangerous year on record for the volume of ransomware attacks, SonicWall said in a new report.

The security provider has logged nearly 500 million attempted ransomware attacks through September, 2021, with 1,748 attempts per customer in that nine-month period. The overall total of 495 million to date amounts to a 148 percent surge as compared to the same period last year. SonicWall expects to record 714 million attempted ransomware attacks by the close of 2021, a 134 percent skyrocket over last year’s totals. https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/500-million-attempted-ransomware-attacks-so-far-in-2021/

Top 10 Ways Attackers Are Increasing Pressure On Their Ransomware Victims To Pay

Sophos researchers have detailed how ransomware attackers are implementing a wide range of ruthless pressure tactics to persuade victims to pay the ransom.

Their research is based on evidence and insight from a team of 24/7 incident responders who help organisations under active cyberattack. It highlights the shift in ransomware pressure techniques from solely encrypting data to including other pain points, such as harassing employees.

Since organisations have become better at backing up their data and restoring encrypted files from backups, attackers are supplementing their ransom demands with additional extortion measures that increase the pressure to pay.

For example, the Sophos Rapid Response team has seen cases where attackers email or phone a victim’s employees, calling them by their name and sharing personal details they’ve stolen – such as any disciplinary actions or passport information – with the aim of scaring them into demanding their employer pays the ransom. This kind of behavior shows how ransomware has shifted from a purely technical attack targeting systems and data into one that also targets people. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/11/04/attackers-pressure-ransomware-victims/

40% Of Organisations Suffered A Cloud-Based Data Breach In The Past 12 Months

Despite increasing cyber attacks targeting data in the cloud, 83% of businesses are still failing to encrypt half of the sensitive data they store in the cloud, raising even greater concerns as to the impact cyber criminals can have. 40% of organisations have experienced a cloud-based data breach in the past 12 months, according to a study conducted by 451 Research.

Cloud adoption is on the rise and businesses are continuing to diversify the way they use cloud solutions. Globally, 57% of respondents reported they make use of two or more cloud infrastructure providers, whilst 24% of organisations flagged that the majority of their workloads and data now reside in the cloud. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/11/02/experienced-cloud-based-data-breach/

Midsize Business Cyber Attacks: A Security Reality Check

Ransomware bombshells hit large enterprises. Carpet-bomb cyberattacks target MSP software supply chains and their small business customers. But what’s the state of cybersecurity among midsize businesses?

Actually, that landscape also faces its share of digital bombshells. Indeed, nearly two in three midsize organisations have suffered a ransomware attack in the past 18 months and 20 percent of them spent at least $250,000 to recover from it, according to research by UncommonX, an MSSP that leans heavily on its own SaaS-based solutions..

The Chicago-based MSSP’s newly released State of Cybersecurity for Midsize Organisations found that smaller companies are often not properly prepared to fend off a cyber attack nor do they engage in adequate network monitoring. In short, cybersecurity is often not enough of a priority within midsize companies. https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-news/midsize-business-cyberattacks-a-security-reality-check/

70% Of Dev Teams Admit To Skipping Security Steps

According to a new study by Invicti Security, 70% of development teams always or frequently skip security steps due to time pressures when completing projects. This explains why, in the average organisation, 33% of security issues in remediation at any given time come from production code.

Security and development teams spend every day inside a catch-22: relentless demand for continued digital innovation amid increasing security threats to a sprawling attack surface. While there are some bright spots emerging on the road to secure innovation, these professionals are stressed — and too often make bad choices. https://venturebeat.com/2021/10/27/report-70-of-dev-teams-admit-to-skipping-security-steps/

79% Of IT Teams Have Seen Increase In Endpoint Security Breaches

According to a new report by HP Wolf Security, 79% of IT teams have seen an increase in rebuild rates, indicating that hackers are becoming more successful at breaching the endpoint and compromising organisations’ devices and data.

This sudden increase in rebuild rates is particularly affecting enterprises with 1,000 employees or more — organisations of this kind have the highest average number of rebuilds per month at 67.3. The study also highlights that employees are clicking on more malicious emails. Whether this is because people are less vigilant working from home or because they find it harder to determine what is safe to open, the rising number of rebuilds suggests that hackers have become more successful at breaching the endpoint through malicious links. https://venturebeat.com/2021/10/28/report-79-of-it-teams-have-seen-increase-in-endpoint-security-breaches/

Enterprises With Subsidiaries More Prone To Cyber Attacks, Study Says

Global enterprises with multiple subsidiaries are more exposed to cybersecurity threats and have more difficulty managing risk than companies with no, or fewer, subsidiaries, according to an Osterman Research report commissioned by CyCognito.

The study surveyed 201 organisations with at least 10 subsidiaries and at least 3,000 employees or $1 billion in annual revenue.

Despite being extremely confident about running effective subsidiary risk management, about 67% of respondents said their organisations had either experienced a cyberattack where the attack chain included a subsidiary, or that they lacked the ability or information to rule out the possibility.

About half of the respondents acknowledged that they wouldn't be surprised if a cyberbreach were to occur "tomorrow." https://www.csoonline.com/article/3639014/enterprises-with-subsidiaries-more-prone-to-cyberattacks-study-says.html

Cisco Talos Reports New Variant Of Babuk Ransomware Targeting Exchange Servers

Cisco Talos has a warning out for companies about a new variant of the Babuk ransomware. The security researchers discovered the campaign in mid-October and think that the variant has been active since July 2021. The new element in this attack is an unusual infection chain technique.

The researchers think that the initial infection vector is an exploitation of ProxyShell vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server through the deployment of China Chopper web shell.

Babuk can affect several hardware and software platforms but this version is targeting Windows. The ransomware encrypts the target's machine, interrupts the system backup process and deletes the volume shadow copies. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/cisco-talos-reports-new-variant-of-babuk-ransomware-targeting-exchange-servers/

Ransomware Gangs Target Corporate Financial Activities

The FBI is warning about a fresh extortion tactic: threatening to tank share prices for publicly held companies.

Ransomware gangs are zeroing in on publicly held companies with the threat of financial exposure in an effort to encourage ransom payments, the FBI is warning.

In an alert issued this week the Bureau said that activity over the course of the past year shows a trend toward targeting companies when they’re coming up to “significant, time-sensitive financial events,” such as quarterly earnings reports and mandated SEC filings, initial public offerings, M&A activity, and so on. The idea is to ratchet up the extortion thumb-screws by threatening to leak stolen information relevant to these events if the target doesn’t pay up.

Impending events that could affect a victim’s stock value, such as announcements [or] mergers and acquisitions, encourage ransomware actors to target a network or adjust their timeline for extortion. https://threatpost.com/ransomware-corporate-financial/175940/

Web Of Deceit: The Rising Threat Of Ransomware

With payouts of almost £260m last year alone, it has become the biggest – and easiest – money-earner available to hackers.

Heists at famous jewellers usually involve masked men, guns, shouting and terrified staff and customers. That was indeed the scene in August 2009 at the London branch of Graff, the famous diamond merchants, when a gang stole around £40million worth of jewels. They were caught not long after.

But the latest heist on Graff, revealed recently, was quieter. No guns, no masks, no shouting. Instead the company – which supplies a dizzying parade of top-name stars such as the Beckhams, Tom Hanks and Tamara Ecclestone – faced a demand, displayed on a computer screen, for millions of pounds, payable to a group of Russian hackers.

Graff, like hundreds of companies around the world, had been hit by “ransomware”: an attachment to an email delivered a malicious program which let in hackers, who scrambled all the files on its computer systems using an uncrackable computer code, for which they had the digital “key”.

They’d hand it over in exchange for a payment worth millions of pounds in untraceable cryptocurrency such as bitcoin, where transactions are made between digital “wallets” that do not pass through any bank and are not tied to any identity.

Without the key, the systems are useless. The option is to restore the system from backups – but frequently the hackers will have targeted those too. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/06/web-deceit-rising-threat-ransomware/

While Businesses Are Ramping Up Their Risk Mitigation Efforts, They Could Be Doing More

Zurich North America and Advisen have released a survey of corporate risk managers and insurance buyers revealing current views about information security and cyber risk management.

The survey results indicate that risk professionals are increasingly aware of their intensifying cyber risks and the need to manage them using risk mitigation and risk transfer. However, a deeper dive into the numbers found that there is much room for improvement in building cyber resilience.

Sixty-five percent of respondents have invested in cyber security solutions to mitigate risk, which means that 35 percent of respondents still have not. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/11/03/gaps-risk-mitigation-efforts/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware Attacks Increased 148% In Q3 2021, Showing No Sign Of Slowing - Help Net Security

• Conti Group Leak Celebs’ Data After Ransom Attack on Jeweller - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Babuk Ransomware Seen Exploiting ProxyShell Vulnerabilities | SecurityWeek.Com

• Toronto Subways Hit By Ransomware As US Lawmakers Slam 'Burdensome' Cyber Security rules | ZDNet

• FBI Says Ransomware Gangs Are Using Future Merger And Acquisition Info To Pressure Victims - The Record By Recorded Future

• BlackMatter Ransomware Moves Victims To LockBit After Shutdown (Bleepingcomputer.Com)

Phishing

• Phishing Attack Blends Spoofed Amazon Order and Fraudulent Customer Service Agents (darkreading.com)

Other Social Engineering

• Consumers Warned About Rise in Call Center Threats - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• “Customer Complaint” Email Scam Preys On Your Fear Of Getting Into Trouble At Work – Naked Security (Sophos.Com)

• Voice Phishing Attack Spoofs Amazon To Steal Credit Card Information - Techrepublic

Malware

• Stealthier Version Of Mekotio Banking Trojan Spotted In The Wild (Bleepingcomputer.Com)

• 77% Of Rootkits Are Used For Espionage Purposes - Help Net Security

Mobile

• Why You Should Delete Google Chrome On Your Phone (forbes.com)

• Phishing Attacks Are Harder To Spot On Your Smartphone. That's Why Hackers Are Using Them More | ZDNet

• Android Patches Actively Exploited Zero-Day Kernel Bug | Threatpost

• Stealthy Trojan That Roots Android Devices Makes Its Way On App Stores | CSO Online

• Android Hit By AbstractEmu Malware • The Register

Vulnerabilities

• Apple macOS Flaw Allows Kernel-Level Compromise | Threatpost

• BrakTooth Bluetooth Bugs Bite: Exploit Code, PoC Released | Threatpost

• Get Patching: Cisco Warns Of These Critical Product Vulnerabilities | ZDNet

• 50% Of Internet-Facing Gitlab Installations Are Still Affected By A RCE Flaw - Security Affairs

• Critical RCE Vulnerability Reported in Linux Kernel's TIPC Module (thehackernews.com)

Data Breaches/Leaks

• UK Labour Party Blames Breach Of Members’ Data On Third-Party Cyber Attack | Techcrunch

• Medical School Exposes Personal Data Of Thousands Of Students | ZDNet

Cryptocurrency/Cryptojacking

• Squid Game Crypto Scammers Rip Off Investors for Millions | Threatpost

• Threat Actors Stole $55m Worth Of Cryptocurrency From bZx DeFi Platform - Security Affairs

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Keeping An Eye On Critical Infrastructure And Industrial Sys • The Register

Privacy

• Facebook Kills Its Facial Recognition System, Citing 'Societal Concerns,' Uncertain Rules From Regulators - CyberScoop

Parental Controls

• 44% of Parents Struggle to Follow Tech Rules They Set for Their Kids (darkreading.com)

• Annual Cost of Child Identity Fraud Almost $1Bn - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• Report: More Than Half Of Organisations Do Not Effectively Defend Against Cyberattacks - TechRepublic

• Cyber Security Threat Landscape Growing In Sophistication, Complexity And Impact - Help Net Security

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Other News

• Hackers Are Stealing Data Today So Quantum Computers Can Crack It In A Decade | MIT Technology Review

• Another Cyber Security Awareness Month Has Passed and Little Has Changed | SecurityWeek.Com

• Magecart Credit Card Skimmer Avoids VMs to Fly Under the Radar | Threatpost

• Organisations Seldom Prioritize Cyber Security Over Business Outcomes - Help Net Security

• Are Your Passwords On The Dark Web? How To Check What Leaked After A Data Breach - CNET

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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 03 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.

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week 

Ransomware Attacks Soar 288% in First Half of 2021

The number of ransomware attacks surged by 288% between the first and second quarters of 2021 as double extortion attempts grew, according to the latest data.

Nearly a quarter (22%) of data leaks in the second quarter came from the Conti ransomware group, who typically gain initial network access to victim organisations via phishing emails.

It’s an unfortunate fact that no organisation in any sector is safe from ransomware today.

Targets range from IT companies and suppliers to financial institutions and critical national infrastructure providers, with ransomware-as-a-service increasingly being sold by ransomware gangs in a subscription model. https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ransomware-attacks-soar-half-2021/  

Ransomware Costs Expected To Reach $265 Billion By 2031

Think ransomware is expensive now? It’s not predicted to get any cheaper over the next decade. Ransoms could cost victims a collective total of $265 billion by 2031. The estimate is based on the prediction that the price tag will increase 30% every year over the next 10 years. https://securityintelligence.com/news/ransomware-costs-expected-265-billion-2031/ 

Brute Force Email Attacks and Account Takeover Attempts Rise 671%, Reaching Unprecedented Levels, Causing Financial And Reputational Damage

A new Email Threat Report for Q3 2021 examines the escalating adverse impact of socially-engineered and never-seen-before email attacks, and other advanced email threats—both financial and reputational—to organisations worldwide. The report surveyed advanced email attacks across eight major industry sectors, including retail and consumer goods, manufacturing, technology, energy and infrastructure services, medical, media and television, finance, and hospitality.

The report also finds 61% of organisations experienced a vendor email compromise/supply chain attack in Q2 2021.

Key report findings include:

• 32.5% of all companies were targeted by brute force attacks in early June 2021

• 137 account takeovers occurred per 100,000 mailboxes for members of the C-suite

• 61% of organisations experienced a vendor email compromise attack this quarter

• 22% more business email compromise attacks since Q4 2020

• 60% chance of a successful account takeover each week for organisations with 50,000+ employees

• 73% of all advanced threats were credential phishing attacks

• 80% probability of attack every week for retail and consumer goods, technology, and media and television companies

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/brute-force-email-attacks-account-120100299.html  

Investigation Into Hacked "Map" Of UK Gun Owners

Gun-selling site Guntrader announced a data breach affecting more than 100,000 customers in July. This week, reports emerged that an animal rights activist blog had published the information. The group had formatted the data so it could be easily imported into mapping software to show individual homes. The National Crime Agency, which has been investigating the data breach and its fallout, said it "is aware that information has been published online as a result of a recent data breach which impacted Guntrader". https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-58413847 

Eight US Financial Services Firms Given Six-Figure Fines Over BEC Data Breaches

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sanctioned multiple financial services firms for cyber security failures that led to the compromise of corporate email accounts and the personal data of thousands of individuals. The case was brought after the unauthorised takeover of cloud-based email accounts at Seattle-based KMS Financial Services, and subsidiaries of California-headquartered Cetera Financial Group and Iowa-based Cambridge Investment Group. https://portswigger.net/daily-swig/eight-us-financial-services-firms-given-six-figure-fines-over-bec-data-breaches

Ransomware Has Been A ‘Game Changer’ For Cyber Insurance

Ransomware attacks accounted for nearly one quarter of all cyber incidents globally last year, according to a software company. The researchers “think of December 2019 as the tipping point for when we started to see ransomware take hold”. The U.S. was hit by a barrage of ransomware attacks in 2019 that impacted at least 966 government agencies, educational establishments, and healthcare providers at a potential cost in excess of $7.5 billion. All of this has a massive knock-on affect for the Insurance firms. https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2021/08/30/628672.htm 

Getting Ahead Of A Major Blind Spot For CISOs: Third-Party Risk

For many CISOs and security leaders, it was not long ago that their remit focused on the networks and digital ecosystems for their organisation alone. In today’s digital world, those days are a thing of the past with a growing number of businesses relying on third-party vendors to scale, save time and outsource expertise to stay ahead. With this change, new security risks affiliated with third-party vendors are more prevalent than ever before. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/09/01/getting-ahead-of-a-major-blind-spot-for-cisos-third-party-risk/ 

WhatsApp Hit With $267 Million GDPR Fine For Bungling User Privacy Disclosure

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission fined Facebook-owned messenger WhatsApp for $225 million for failing to provide users enough information about the data it shared with other Facebook companies.

The fine is the largest penalty that the Irish regulator has waged since the European Union data protection law, the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, went into effect in 2018. https://www.cyberscoop.com/whatsapp-hit-with-267-million-gdpr-fine-for-bungling-user-privacy-disclosure/  

Microsoft Warns About Open Redirect Phishing Campaign

Microsoft’s Security Intelligence team is warning over phishing campaigns using open redirector links, links crafted to subvert normal inspection efforts. Smart users know to hover over links to see where they're going to lead, but these links are prepared for that type of user and display a safe destination designed to lure targets into a false sense of security. Click the link and you'll be redirected to a domain that appears legit (such as a Microsoft 365 login page, for example) and sets the stage for you to voluntarily hand over credentials to bad actors without even realising it until it's too late. https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-warns-about-open-redirect-phishing-campaign

Previous Employees With Access To Corporate Data Remain A Threat To Businesses

Offboarding employees securely is a key problem for business leaders, with 40% concerned that employees who leave a company retain knowledge of passwords that grant access to corporate data. This is according to a report, which found few organisations are implementing access management solutions that work with all applications, meaning most lack the ability to revoke access to all corporate data as soon as an employee leaves. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/09/02/previous-employees-access-data/

BEC Scammers Seek Native English Speakers On Underground

Looking for work? Speak fluent English? Capable of convincingly portraying a professional – as in, somebody a highly ranked corporate leader would talk to? If you lack scruples and disregard those pesky things called “laws,” it could be your lucky day: Cyber Crooks are putting up help-wanted ads, looking for native English speakers to carry out the social-engineering elements of business email compromise (BEC) attacks. https://threatpost.com/bec-scammers-native-english-speakers/169092/

Half Of Businesses Can't Spot These Signs Of Insider Cyber Security Threats

Most businesses are struggling to identify and detect early indicators that could suggest an insider is plotting to steal data or carry out other cyber attacks. Research suggests that over half of companies find it impossible or very difficult to prevent insider attacks. These businesses are missing indicators that something might be wrong. Those include unusual amounts of files being opened, attempts to use USB devices, staff purposefully circumventing security controls, masking their online activities, or moving and saving files to unusual locations. All these and more might suggest that a user is planning malicious activity, including the theft of company data. https://www.zdnet.com/article/half-of-businesses-cant-spot-these-signs-of-insider-cybersecurity-threats/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Conti Ransomware Now Hacking Exchange Servers With ProxyShell Exploits

• First Ransomware to Use Intermittent Encryption Revealed

• Ransomware: It's Only A Matter Of Time Before A Smart City Falls Victim, And We Need To Take Action Now

• LockFile Ransomware Bypasses Protection Using Intermittent File Encryption

• FBI, CISA: Ransomware Attack Risk Increases On Holidays, Weekends

• How Ransomware Runs The Underground Economy

• LockBit Jumps Its Own Countdown, Publishes Bangkok Air Files

Phishing

• This Phishing Attack Is Using A Sneaky Trick To Steal Your Passwords, Warns Microsoft

• Report Analysis On Phishing Campaign Utilizing Vzwpix

Malware

• Cyber Attackers Are Now Quietly Selling Off Their Victim's Internet Bandwidth

• Cyber Criminal Sells Tool To Hide Malware In AMD, NVIDIA GPUS

• Cyber Criminals Abusing Internet-Sharing Services To Monetise Malware Campaigns

Mobile

• Snowden Slams Apple CSAM: Warns iPad, iPhone, Mac Users Worldwide

• Kaspersky Lab Has Reported About Android Viruses Designed To Steal Money Automatically

• Dangerous Android Malware Is Spreading — Beware Of Text Message Scam

Vulnerabilities

• ProxyToken: Another Nail-Biter From Microsoft Exchange

• New BrakTooth Flaws Leave Millions Of Bluetooth-Enabled Devices Vulnerable

• Atlassian Confluence Flaw Under Active Attack

• Meltdown-Like Vulnerability Disclosed For AMD Zen+ And Zen 2 Processors

• NPM Package With 3 Million Weekly Downloads Had A Severe Vulnerability

• Cisco Patches Critical Authentication Bug With Public Exploit

• QNAP Working On Patches For OpenSSL Flaws Affecting Its NAS Devices

• This Top TP-Link Router Ships With Some Serious Security Flaws

Data Breaches/Leaks

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• The Consumerisation Of The Cyber Crime-As-A-Service Market

• Chinese Authorities Arrest Hackers Behind Mozi IOT Botnet Attacks

Dark Web

• Data From Fujitsu Is Being Sold On The Dark Web

DoS/DDoS

• Cloudflare Says It Stopped The Largest DDoS Attack Ever Reported

• UK VoIP Telco Receives 'Colossal Ransom Demand', Reveals REvil Cyber Crooks Suspected Of 'Organised' DDoS Attacks On UK VoIP Companies

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Nine Cyber Attacks On UK's Transport Sector Missed By Mandatory Reporting Laws

Cloud

• “Worst Cloud Vulnerability You Can Imagine” Discovered In Microsoft Azure

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Other News

• Why Zero-Trust Models Should Replace Legacy VPNs

• T-Mobile CEO Calls Latest Data Breach ‘Humbling,’ Claims It’s Committed To Security

• China Restricts Kids’ Online Gaming To Three Hours A Week

• Unpatched Exchange Servers An Overlooked Risk

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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 06 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.

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Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Ransomware Volumes Hit Record Highs As 2021 Wears On

Ransomware has seen a significant uptick so far in 2021, with global attack volume increasing by 151 percent for the first six months of the year as compared with the year-ago half. Meanwhile, the FBI has warned that there are now 100 different strains circulating around the world. From a hard-number perspective, the ransomware scourge hit a staggering 304.7 million attempted attacks. To put that in perspective, the firm logged 304.6 million ransomware attempts for the entirety of 2020.

https://threatpost.com/ransomware-volumes-record-highs-2021/168327/

Ransomware Gangs Recruiting Insiders To Breach Corporate Networks

The LockBit 2.0 ransomware gang is actively recruiting corporate insiders to help them breach and encrypt networks. In return, the insider is promised million-dollar payouts. Many ransomware gangs operate as a Ransomware-as-a-Service, which consists of a core group of developers, who maintain the ransomware and payment sites, and recruited affiliates who breach victims' networks and encrypt devices. Any ransom payments that victims make are then split between the core group and the affiliate, with the affiliate usually receiving 70-80% of the total amount. However, in many cases, the affiliates purchase access to networks from other third-party pentesters rather than breaching the company themselves. With LockBit 2.0, the ransomware gang is trying to remove the middleman and instead recruit insiders to provide them access to a corporate network.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/lockbit-ransomware-recruiting-insiders-to-breach-corporate-networks/

More Than 12,500 Vulnerabilities Disclosed In First Half Of 2021

Two new reports were released, covering data breaches and vulnerabilities in the first half of 2021, finding that there was a decline in the overall number of reported breaches but an increase in the number of vulnerabilities disclosed.  The company's data breach report found that there were 1,767 publicly reported breaches in the first six months of 2021, a 24% decline compared to the same period last year. The number of reported breaches grew in the US by 1.5% while 18.8 billion records were exposed year to date, a 32% decline compared to the 27.8 billion records leaked in the first half of 2020.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/more-than-12500-vulnerabilities-disclosed-in-first-half-of-2021-risk-based-security/

New DNS Vulnerability Allows 'Nation-State Level Spying' On Companies

Security researchers found a new class of DNS vulnerabilities impacting major DNS-as-a-Service (DNSaaS) providers that could allow attackers to access sensitive information from corporate networks.

DNSaaS providers (also known as managed DNS providers) provide DNS renting services to other organisations that do not want to manage and secure yet another network asset on their own.

These DNS flaws provide threat actors with nation-state intelligence harvesting capabilities with a simple domain registration.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/new-dns-vulnerability-allows-nation-state-level-spying-on-companies/

Constant Review Of Third Party Security Critical As Ransomware Threat Climbs

Enterprises typically would give their third-party suppliers "the keys to their castle" after carrying out the usual checks on the vendor's track history and systems, according to a New York-based Forrester analyst who focuses on security and risk. They believed they had done their due diligence before establishing a relationship with the supplier, but they failed to understand that they should be conducting reviews on a regular basis, especially with their critical systems suppliers. Third-party suppliers should have the ability to deal with irregular activities in their systems and the appropriate security architecture in place to prevent any downstream effects, he added.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/constant-review-of-third-party-security-critical-as-ransomware-threat-climbs/

Kaseya Ransomware Attack Sets Off Race To Hack Service Providers

A ransomware attack in July that paralyzed as many as 1,500 organisations by compromising tech-management software from a company called Kaseya has set off a race among criminals looking for similar vulnerabilities, cyber security experts said. An affiliate of a top Russian-speaking ransomware gang known as REvil used two gaping flaws in software from Florida-based Kaseya to break into about 50 managed services providers (MSPs) that used its products, investigators said. Now that criminals see how powerful MSP attacks can be, "they are already busy, they have already moved on and we don’t know where," said head of the non-profit Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure, which warned Kaseya of the weaknesses before the attack.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/kaseya-ransomware-attack-sets-off-race-hack-service-providers-researchers-2021-08-03/

‘It’s Quite Feasible To Start A War’: Just How Dangerous Are Ransomware Hackers?

Secretive gangs are hacking the computers of governments, firms, even hospitals, and demanding huge sums. But if we pay these ransoms, are we creating a ticking time bomb? They have the sort of names that only teenage boys or aspiring Bond villains would dream up (REvil, Grief, Wizard Spider, Ragnar), they base themselves in countries that do not cooperate with international law enforcement and they don’t care whether they attack a hospital or a multinational corporation. Ransomware gangs are suddenly everywhere, seemingly unstoppable – and very successful.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/aug/01/crypto-criminals-hack-the-computer-systems-of-governments-firms-even-hospitals

Joint UK/US Advisory Detailing Top 30 Vulnerabilities Include Plenty Of Usual Suspects

A joint advisory from law enforcement agencies in the US, UK, and Australia this week tallied the 30 most-frequently exploited vulnerabilities. Perhaps not surprisingly, the list includes a preponderance of flaws that were disclosed years ago; everything on the list has a patch available for whoever wants to install it. But as we've written about time and again, many companies are slow to push updates through for all kinds of reasons, whether it's a matter of resources, know-how, or an unwillingness to accommodate the downtime often necessary for a software refresh. Given how many of these vulnerabilities can cause remote code execution—you don't want this—hopefully they'll start to make patching more of a priority.

https://www.wired.com/story/top-vulnerabilities-russia-nso-group-iran-security-news/

Average Total Cost Of A Data Breach Increased By Nearly 10% Year Over Year

Based on in-depth analysis of real-world data breaches experienced by over 500 organisations, the global study suggests that security incidents became more costly and harder to contain due to drastic operational shifts during the pandemic, with costs rising 10% compared to the prior year. Businesses were forced to quickly adapt their technology approaches last year, with many companies encouraging or requiring employees to work from home, and 60% of organisations moving further into cloud-based activities during the pandemic. The new findings suggest that security may have lagged behind these rapid IT changes, hindering organizations’ ability to respond to data breaches.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/07/29/total-cost-data-breach/

65% Of All DDoS Attacks Target US And UK

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are common for cyber criminals who want to disrupt online-dependent businesses. According to the data analysed by a VPN team, 65% of all distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are directed at the US or UK. Computers and the internet industry are the favourite among cyber criminals. The United States was a target for 35% of all DDoS attacks in June 2021. Cyber criminals launched DDoS attacks against Amazon Web Services, Google, and other prominent US-based companies in the past. The United Kingdom comes second as it fell victim to 29% of all DDoS attacks. As the UK has many huge businesses, they often are targeted by hackers for valuable data or even a ransom. China was threatened by 18% of all DDoS attacks in June 2021. Assaults from and to China happen primarily due to political reasons, to interrupt some government agency.

https://www.pcr-online.biz/2021/08/05/65-of-all-ddos-attacks-target-us-and-uk/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware Attempt Volume Sets Record, Reaches More Than 300 Million For First Half Of 2021: SonicWall

• Ransomware Attacks Rise Despite US Call For Clampdown On Cyber Criminals

• Isle Of Wight Schools Hit By Ransomware Attack

• BlackMatter Ransomware Gang Rises From The Ashes Of DarkSide, Revil

• Criminals Are Using Call Centres To Spread Ransomware In A Crafty Scheme

Phishing

• Phishing Campaign Dangles SharePoint File-Shares

• Microsoft Warns Office 365 Users Over This Sneaky Phishing Campaign

• Spear Phishing Now Targets Employees Outside The Finance And Executive Teams, Report Says

Other Social Engineering

• Bazarcaller – The Malware Gang That Talks You Into Infecting Yourself

Malware

• A Wide Range Of Cyber Attacks Leveraging Prometheus TDS Malware Service

• Several Malware Families Targeting IIS Web Servers With Malicious Modules

• Cyber Criminals Spoof Brave Browser Website To Push Malware

• Microsoft: This Windows And Linux Malware Does Everything It Can To Stay On Your Network

• Discord Once Again Found To Be Hosting Malware Payloads

Mobile

• An Explosive Spyware Report Shows Limits Of IOS, Android Security

• This Android Malware Steals Your Data In The Most Devious Way

• The Latest Android Bank-Fraud Malware Uses A Clever Tactic To Steal Credentials

Vulnerabilities

• Code Execution Flaw Found In Cisco Firepower Device Manager On-Box Software

• Cisco Issues Critical Security Patches To Fix Small Business VPN Router Bugs

• Decade-Long Vulnerability In Multiple Routers Could Allow Network Compromise

• Security Researchers Warn Of TCP/IP Stack Flaws In Operational Technology Devices

• PwnedPiper PTS Security Flaws Threaten 80% of Hospitals In The U.S.

• Researchers Highlight Windows Laptop TPM Vulnerabilities

Data Breaches

• Threat Actors Leaked Data Stolen From EA, Including FIFA Code

• Hackers Breach San Diego Hospital, Gaining Access To Patients'... Well, Uh, Everything

• Amazon Fined $886M For Alleged Data Breach

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Novel Meteor Wiper Used In Attack That Crippled Iranian Train System

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Critical Cobalt Strike Bug Leaves Botnet Servers Vulnerable To Takedown

Cryptocurrency/Cryptojacking

• Raccoon Stealer-As-A-Service Will Now Try To Grab Your Crypto Currency

Supply Chain

• Supply Chain Attacks Are Getting Worse, And You Are Not Ready For Them

Nation State Actors

• Here's 30 Servers Russian Intelligence Uses To Fling Malware At The West, Beams RiskIQ

• Russian Federal Agencies Were Attacked With Chinese Webdav-O Virus

• New Chinese Spyware Being Used In Widespread Cyber Espionage Attacks

• Suspected Chinese Hackers Took Advantage Of Microsoft Exchange Vulnerability To Steal Call Records

• Iranian APT Lures Defense Contractor In Catfishing-Malware Scam

• Chinese Hackers Target Major Southeast Asian Telecom Companies

Cloud

• The Rise Of Cloud Is Creating Security Blind Spots

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• APT Trends Report Q2 2021

• Spam and Phishing in Q2 2021

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Other News

• It's Time To Improve Linux's Security

• Leaked Document Says Google Fired Dozens Of Employees For Data Misuse

• Hybrid Work Is Here To Stay – But What Does That Mean For Cyber Security?

• Huawei To America: You're Not Taking Cyber Security Seriously Until You Let China Vouch For Us

• Windows 11's Strict Hardware Requirements Cannot Be Bypassed, Microsoft Admits, "We Know It Sucks... We Will Still Block You"

• Trusted Platform Module Security Defeated In 30 Minutes, No Soldering Required

• NSA Warns Public Networks Are Hacker Hotbeds

• Credit-Card-Stealing, Backdoored Packages Found In Python's PyPi Library Hub

• Apple Plans To Scan US IPhones For Child Abuse Imagery

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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 30 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.

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

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Many Workers Ignore Security Risks To Maximize Productivity

A large proportion of employees often take shortcuts to optimize productivity at work, despite understanding the security risks, new data suggests. According to a survey which polled 8,000 workers worldwide, almost four in five (79%) have engaged in one or more “risky activity” in the past twelve months. In a third of cases (35%), this involved saving passwords to their browser. A similar percentage admitted to using a single password across multiple online accounts, while 23% connected personal devices to corporate networks.

https://www.itproportal.com/news/many-workers-ignore-security-risks-to-maximize-productivity/

Financial Services Accounting For Nearly 40% Of All Phishing URLs

A report was released for H1 2021, which revealed that there has been a major jump in phishing attacks since the start of the year with a 281 percent spike in May and another 284 percent increase in June, for a total of 4.2 billion phishing emails detected for June alone. For this 6-month window researchers identified Crédit Agricole as the most impersonated brand, with 17,555 unique phishing URLs, followed by Facebook, with 17,338, and Microsoft, with 12,777.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/07/22/financial-services-phishing/

Half Of Organisations Are Ineffective At Countering Phishing And Ransomware Threats

Half of organisations are not effective at countering phishing and ransomware threats. The findings come from a study compiled from interviews with 130 cyber security professionals in mid-sized and large organisations. “Phishing and ransomware were already critical enterprise security risks even before the pandemic hit and, as this report shows, the advent of mass remote working has increased the pressure of these threats,”. “Organisations need multi-layered defences in place to mitigate these risks.”

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/07/19/countering-phishing-and-ransomware/

36% Of Organisations Suffered A Serious Cloud Security Data Leak Or A Breach In The Past Year

As cloud adoption accelerates and the scale of cloud environments grows, engineering and security teams say that risks—and the costs of addressing them—are increasing. The findings are part of the State of Cloud Security 2021 survey. The survey of 300 cloud pros (including cloud engineers; security engineers; DevOps; architects) found that 36% of organisations suffered a serious cloud security data leak or a breach in the past 12 months, and eight out of ten are worried that they’re vulnerable to a major data breach related to cloud misconfiguration. 64% say the problem will get worse or remain unchanged over the next year.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/07/27/cloud-security-data-leak/

HP Finds 75% Of Threats Were Delivered By Email In First Six Months Of 2021

According to the latest HP Report, email is still the most popular way for malware and other threats to be delivered, with more than 75% of threats being sent through email messages.  The report -- covering the first half of 2021 -- is compiled based on customers who opt to share their threat alerts with the company. HP's researchers found that there has been a 65% rise in the use of hacking tools downloaded from underground forums and filesharing websites from H2 2020 to H1 2021. Some of the tools can solve CAPTCHA challenges using computer vision techniques.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/hp-finds-75-of-threats-were-delivered-by-email-in-first-six-months-of-2021/

Data Breach Costs Hit Record High Due To Pandemic

Data breaches have always proved costly for victimized organisations. But the coronavirus pandemic made a bad situation even worse. A report released Wednesday looks at how and why the average cost of dealing with a data breach has jumped to a new high. The average cost of a data breach among companies surveyed reached $4.24 million per incident, the highest in 17 years.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/data-breach-costs-hit-record-high-due-to-pandemic/

Top 30 Critical Security Vulnerabilities Most Exploited By Hackers

Intelligence agencies in Australia, the U.K., and the U.S. issued a joint advisory on Wednesday detailing the most exploited vulnerabilities in 2020 and 2021, once again demonstrating how threat actors can swiftly weaponize publicly disclosed flaws to their advantage. The top 30 vulnerabilities span a wide range of software, including remote work, virtual private networks (VPNs), and cloud-based technologies, that cover a broad spectrum of products from Microsoft, VMware, Pulse Secure, Fortinet, Accellion, Citrix, F5 Big IP, Atlassian, and Drupal.

https://thehackernews.com/2021/07/top-30-critical-security.html

Average Time To Fix High Severity Vulnerabilities Grows From 197 Days To 246 Days In 6 Months: Report

A recent report has found that the remediation rate for severe vulnerabilities is on the decline, while the average time to fix is on the rise. The report, which is compiled monthly, covers window of exposure, vulnerability by class and time to fix. The latest report found that the window of exposure for applications has increased over the last six months while the top-5 vulnerability classes by prevalence remain constant, which the researchers behind the report said was a "systematic failure to address these well-known vulnerabilities." According to researchers, the time to fix vulnerabilities has dropped 3 days, from 205 days to 202 days. The average time to fix is 202 days, the report found, representing an increase from 197 days at the beginning of the year. The average time to fix for high vulnerabilities grew from 194 days at the beginning of the year to 246 days at the end of June.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/average-time-to-fix-high-vulnerabilities-grows-from-197-days-to-246-days-in-6-months-report/

Why Remote Working Leaves Us Vulnerable To Cyber Attacks

An industry survey found 56% of senior IT technicians believe their employees have picked up bad cyber security habits while working from home. For Example. A cyber-crime group known as REvil took meticulous care when picking the timing for its most recent attack - US Independence Day, 4 July. They knew many IT specialists and cyber-security experts would be on leave, enjoying a long weekend off work. Before long, more than 1,000 companies in the US, and at least 17 other countries, were under attack from hackers. Many firms were forced into a costly downtime period as a result. Among those targeted during the incident was a well-known software provider, Kaseya. REvil used Kaseya as a conduit to spread its ransomware - a malware that can scramble and steal an organisation's computer data - through other corporate and cloud-based networks that use the software.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57847652

Stop Mitigating Cyber Security Threats And Start Preventing Them

The impacts of a successful cyber attack can be devastating. Through multiple forms of extortion, criminals can use stolen data and other business-critical assets, including sensitive financial and customer data to hold companies hostage with just one campaign. The average cost of a phishing attack last year was $832,500, with zero-day attacks costing around $1,238,000. Spending this amount of money to recover from a cyber attack could bring a company to its knees. Today’s cyber attacks present very real existential threats to businesses and C-level executives are beginning to fully realize the gravity of these threats. It is critical that organizations invest in solutions that are going to help stop these attackers before they enter their environments.

https://www.itproportal.com/features/stop-mitigating-cybersecurity-threats-and-start-preventing-them/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Babuk Ransomware Decryptor Causes Encryption 'Beyond Repair'

• Ransomware Can Penetrate Quickly, Significantly Damaging An Organisation

• BlackMatter Ransomware Targets Companies With Revenue Of $100 Million And More

• LockBit Ransomware Now Encrypts Windows Domains Using Group Policies

• FBI Tracking More Than 100 Active Ransomware Groups

• The World's Top Ransomware Gangs Have created A cyber Crime "Cartel"

Social Engineering

• Average Organisation Targeted By Over 700 Social Engineering Attacks Each Year: Report

• These Hackers Built An Elaborate Online Profile To Fool Their Targets Into Downloading Malware

• FIN7’s Liquor Lure Compromises Law Firm With Backdoor

Malware

• Cisco Researchers Spotlight Solarmarker Malware

• Hackers Exploit Microsoft Browser Bug To Deploy VBA Malware On Targeted PCs

• Some Windows 11 Installers Infect Your PC With Malware

• Microsoft Warns Of LemonDuck Malware Targeting Windows and Linux Systems

• Discord CDN And API Abuses Drive Wave Of Malware Detections

• Japanese Computers Hit By A Wiper Malware Ahead Of 2021 Tokyo Olympics

Mobile

• New Android Malware Uses VNC To Spy And Steal Passwords From Victims

• UBEL Is The New Oscorp — Android Credential Stealing Malware Active In The Wild

Vulnerabilities

• Microsoft Warns Of Credential Stealing NTLM Relay Attacks Against Windows Domain Controllers

• VPN Servers Seized By Ukrainian Authorities Weren’t Encrypted

• Web Applications Have Become A Security Liability

• Hackers Have Found Yet Another Way To Attack Kubernetes Clusters

• Windows 10 Printer Problems Persist Following Latest Security Update

• Microsoft Rushes Fix For ‘PetitPotam’ Attack PoC

• Apple Releases Urgent 0-Day Bug Patch For Mac, iPhone And iPad Devices

• Researchers Warn Of Unpatched Kaseya Unitrends Backup Vulnerabilities

• New Linux Kernel Bug Lets You Get Root On Most Modern Distros

• Dozens Of Web Apps Vulnerable To DNS Cache Poisoning Via ‘Forgot Password’ Feature

• Nasty MacOS Malware XCSSET Now Targets Google Chrome, Telegram Software

Data Breaches

• Over 80 US Municipalities’ Sensitive Information, Including Resident’s Personal Data, Left Vulnerable In Massive Data Breach

• Gun Owners' Fears After Firearms Dealer Data Breach

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Threat Actor Offers Clubhouse Secret Database Containing 3.8b Phone Numbers

• Number Of Hacking Tools Increasing As Cyber Criminals Become More Organised

Dark Web

• How The Dark Web Enables Access To Corporate Networks

Supply Chain

• Kaseya Denies Paying Ransom For Decryptor, Refuses Comment On NDA

DoS/DDoS

• DSoS Attacks Are Up, With Ever-Greater Network Impact

Nation State Actors

• Chinese Hackers Implant PlugX Variant On Compromised MS Exchange Servers

• APT Group Hits IIS Web Servers With Deserialization Flaws And Memory-Resident Malware

Privacy

• Behind The Mercenary Spyware Industry

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• DDoS Attack Trends For 2021 Q2

• Spear Phishing: Top Threats And Trends Volume 6

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Other News

• PunkSpider—The Search Engine For Web Exploits—Rises From the Dead

• Biden Warns A ‘Real Shooting War’ Could Come From Cyber Breach

• Hackers Turning To 'Exotic' Programming Languages For Malware Development

• Discord Is Now An Essential Tool For Hackers

• Research Roadblock? Security Pros Weigh In On China’s New Vulnerability Disclosure Law

• For Hackers, Space Is The Final Frontier

• A DNS Outage Just Took Down A Large Chunk Of The Internet

• Ireland Sees Biggest Rise In Cyber Security 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 25 June 2021

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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

BEC Losses Top $1.8B As Tactics Evolve

Business email compromise (BEC) attacks ramped up significantly in 2020, with more than $1.8 billion stolen from organisations with these types of attacks last year alone — and things are getting worse. BEC attacks are carried out by cyber criminals either impersonating someone inside an organisation, or masquerading as a partner or vendor, bent on financial scamming. A new report from Cisco’s Talos Intelligence examined the tactics of some of the most dangerous BEC attacks observed in the wild in 2020 and reminded the security community that in addition to technology, smart users armed with a healthy scepticism of outside communications and the right questions to ask are the best line of defence. “The reality is, these types of emails and requests happen legitimately all over the world every day, which is what makes this such a challenge to stop,” the report said.

https://threatpost.com/bec-losses-top-18b/167148/

30M Dell Devices At Risk For Remote BIOS Attacks, Remote Code Execution

A high-severity series of four vulnerabilities can allow remote adversaries to gain arbitrary code execution in the pre-boot environment on Dell devices, researchers said. They affect an estimated 30 million individual Dell endpoints worldwide. According to analysis the bugs affect 129 models of laptops, tablet, and desktops, including enterprise and consumer devices, that are protected by Secure Boot. Secure Boot is a security standard aimed at making sure that a device boots using only software that is trusted by the device original equipment manufacturer (OEM), to prevent rogue takeovers.

https://threatpost.com/dell-bios-attacks-rce/167195/

Bad Employee Behaviours Picked Up During Remote Working Pose Serious Security Risks in the New Hybrid Workplace

Most employers are wary that the post-pandemic hybrid workforce would bring bad cyber security behaviours. More than half (56%) of employers believed that employees had picked bad security practices while working remotely. Similarly, nearly two-fifths (39%) of employees also admitted that their employee behaviours differed significantly while working from home compared to the office. Additionally, nearly a third (36%) admitted discovering ‘workarounds’ since they started working remotely. Younger workers were more prone to these bad employee behaviours, with 51% of 16-24, 46% of 25-34, and 35% of 35-44-year-olds using ‘workarounds.’ Close to half (49%) of workers adopted the risky behaviour because they felt that they were not being watched by IT departments. Nearly a third (30%) said they felt that they could get away with the risky employee behaviours while working away from the office.

https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/bad-employee-behaviors-picked-up-during-remote-working-pose-serious-security-risks-in-the-new-hybrid-workplace/

7 Ways Technical Debt Increases Security Risk

Two in three CISOs believe that technical debt, the difference between what's needed in a project and what's finally deployed, to be a significant cause of security vulnerability, according to the 2021 Voice of the CISO report. Most technical debt is created by taking shortcuts while placing crucial aspects such as architecture, code quality, performance, usability, and, ultimately, security on hold. Many large organisations are carrying tens or hundreds of thousands of discovered but un-remediated risks in their vulnerability management systems,. In many sectors there's this insidious idea that underfunded security efforts, plus risk management, are almost as good as actually doing the security work required, which is dangerously wrong.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3621754/7-ways-technical-debt-increases-security-risk.html

Organisations Ill-Equipped To Deal With Growing BYOD Security Threats

A report shows the rapid adoption of unmanaged personal devices connecting to work-related resources (aka BYOD) and why organisations are ill-equipped to deal with growing security threats such as malware and data theft. The study surveyed hundreds of cyber security professionals across industries to better understand how COVID-19’s resulting surge of remote work has affected security and privacy risks introduced using personal mobile devices. The insights in this report are especially relevant as more enterprises are shifting to permanent remote work or hybrid work models, connecting more devices to corporate networks and, as a result, expanding the attack surface.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/06/17/byod-security/

Firewall Manufacturer SonicWall Sees 226.3 Million Ransomware Attack Attempts This Year

Firewall manufacturer SonicWall said it saw dramatic increases in almost every market, even in those such as the US and UK, where ransomware attacks were already common. The US saw a 149% spike, and the UK 69%. “The bombardment of ransomware attacks is forcing organisations into a constant state of defence rather than an offensive stance,” said the SonicWall CEO. “And as the tidal wave of ransomware attacks continues to crush company after company, there is a lot of speculation on how to keep individual organisations safe, but no real consensus on how to move forward when it comes to combating ransomware.

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252502854/SonicWall-sees-2263-million-ransomware-attack-attempts-this-year

Ransomware Criminals Look To Other Hackers To Provide Them With Network Access

According to a new report, cyber criminals distributing ransomware are increasingly turning to other hackers to buy access into corporate networks.

Researchers said a robust and lucrative criminal ecosystem exists where criminals work together to carry out ransomware attacks. In this ecosystem, ransomware operators buy access from independent cyber criminal groups who infiltrate major targets for part of the ransom proceeds.

Cyber criminal threat groups already distributing banking malware or other trojans may also become part of a ransomware affiliate network said researchers.

https://www.itpro.co.uk/security/ransomware/359919/ransomware-criminals-look-to-other-hackers-to-provide-them-with-network

5 Biggest Healthcare Security Threats For 2021

Cyber Attacks targeting the healthcare sector have surged because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting rush to enable remote delivery of healthcare services. Security vendors and researchers tracking the industry have reported a major increase in phishing attacks, ransomware, web application attacks, and other threats targeting healthcare providers. The trend has put enormous strain on healthcare security organisations that already had their hands full dealing with the usual volume of threats before the pandemic. “The healthcare industry is under siege from a range of complex security risks," says Terry Ray. Cyber Criminals are hunting for the sensitive and valuable data that healthcare has access to, both patient data and corporate data, he says. Many organisations are struggling to meet the challenge because they are under-resourced and rely on vulnerable systems, third-party applications, and APIs to deliver services.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3262187/biggest-healthcare-security-threats.html

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Threats

Ransomware

• What’s Making Your Company A Ransomware Sitting Duck

• Have We Reached Peak Ransomware? How The Internet's Biggest Security Problem Has Grown And What Happens Next

• Ransomware: Now Gangs Are Using Virtual Machines To Disguise Their Attacks

• Ransomware Gangs Get Paid Off As Officials Struggle For Fix

• Clop Ransomware Gang Doxes Two New Victims Days After Police Raids

• Wormable Bash DarkRadiation Ransomware Targets Linux Distros And Docker Containers

• Faux ‘DarkSide’ Gang Takes Aim At Global Energy, Food Sectors

• A Deep Dive Into The Operations Of The LockBIT Ransomware Group

• Fashion titan French Connection Says 'FCUK' Ss REvil-Linked Ransomware Makes Off With Data

BEC

• 71% Of Organisations Experienced BEC Attacks Over The Past Year

Phishing

• Phishing Attack's Unusual File Attachment Is A Double-Edged Sword

• Man Arrested After 26,000 'Phishing' Text Messages Sent Out In A Single Day

Other Social Engineering

• FIN7 Scammers Posed As Sec Officials, Sick Restaurant Customers To Hack Victims

Malware

• 50% Of Misconfigured Containers Hit By Botnets In Under An Hour

• Spam Downpour Drips New IcedID Banking Trojan Variant

• Dirtymoe Malware Has Infected More Than 100,000 Windows Systems

Mobile

• Flubot Seeks To Steal Financial Data On Android Phones

• 76% Of IT Decision Makers More Vulnerable To Mobile Attacks Than Just A Year Ago

Vulnerabilities

• Email Bug Allows Message Snooping, Credential Theft

• Google Confirms 7th Chrome ‘Zero Day’ Vulnerability, Upgrade Now

• Linux Marketplaces Vulnerable To RCE And Supply Chain Attacks

• Critical Palo Alto Cyber-Defense Bug Allows Remote ‘War Room’ Access

• Google Docs Is Being Weaponized By Hackers

• Sonicwall Bug Affecting 800k Firewalls Was Only Partially Fixed

• Hackers Are Using Unknown User Accounts To Target Zyxel Firewalls And VPNs

• SonicWall ‘Botches’ October Patch For VPN Bug

• Lexmark Printers Open To Arbitrary Code-Execution Zero-Day

• Misconfigurations In Most Active Directory Environments Create Serious Security Holes, Researchers Find

Data Breaches

• Tulsa’s Police-Citation Data Leaked By Conti Gang

• Cl0p Ransomware Group Dumps New Tranche Of Stolen Data

• Carnival Cruise Cyber-Torpedoed By Cyber Attack

Cryptocurrency

• Monero Emerges As Crypto Of Choice For Cyber Criminals

• Hackers Crack Pirated Games with Cryptojacking Malware

Dark Web

• Law Enforcement Secretly Ran Part Of The Dark Web, Again

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Hackers Tried To Poison California Water Supply In Major Cyber Attack

Nation State Actors

• Cyber Attacks Are Primary Funding Source For North Korea

• The Lazarus Heist: How North Korea Almost Pulled Off A Billion-Dollar Hack

• South Korea's Nuclear Research Agency Hacked Using VPN Flaw

• Cyber Espionage By Chinese Hackers In Neighbouring Nations Is On The Rise

• Cyber Attack On Polish Government Officials Linked To Russian Hackers

Cloud

• NATO's Cloud Platform Has Been Hacked

Privacy

• I spy: are smart doorbells creating a global surveillance network?

• EU Data Protection Authorities Call For Ban On Facial Recognition

• All The Ways Amazon Tracks You And How To Stop It

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Other News

• IT Leaders Say Cyber Security Funding Being Wasted On Remote Work Support

• Hackers Are Trying To Attack Big Companies. Small Suppliers Are The Weakest Link

• Only 7% Of Security Leaders Are Reporting To The CEO

• APNIC Left A Dump From Its WhoIS SQL Database In A Public Google Cloud bucket

• Average Time To Fix Critical Cyber Security Vulnerabilities Is 205 Days

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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.