Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 01 July 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

• Ransomware Is the Biggest Global Cyber Threat. And The Attacks Are Still Evolving

Ransomware is the biggest cyber security threat facing the world today, with the potential to significantly affect whole societies and economies – and the attacks are unrelenting, the head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has warned.

"Even with a war raging in Ukraine – the biggest global cyber threat we still face is ransomware. That tells you something of the scale of the problem. Ransomware attacks strike hard and fast. They are evolving rapidly, they are all-pervasive, they're increasingly offered by gangs as a service, lowering the bar for entry into cyber crime," said Lindy Cameron, CEO of the NCSC in a speech at Tel Aviv Cyber Week.

She added that the NCSC has dealt with "nationally significant incidents" along with hundreds of general cyber incidents that "affect the UK more widely every year".

While she didn't detail any specific instances of responding to ransomware incidents, Cameron warned that "these complex attacks have the potential to affect our societies and economies significantly", and implied that if it weren't for the work of NCSC incident responders, alongside their counterparts in the industry and international counterparts, the attacks could have had a major impact.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-attacks-are-the-biggest-global-cyber-threat-and-still-evolving-warns-cybersecurity-chief/

• Study Reveals Traditional Data Security Tools Have a 60% Failure Rate Against Ransomware and Extortion

Titaniam, Inc., the data security platform, announced the ‘State of Data Exfiltration & Extortion Report.’ The survey revealed that while over 70% of organisations have an existing set of prevention, detection, and backup solutions, nearly 40% of organisations have been hit with ransomware attacks in the last year, and more than 70% have experienced one in the previous five years, proving existing solutions to be woefully inadequate in managing the risks and impacts from these attacks.

Data exfiltration during ransomware attacks is up 106% relative to where it was five years ago. We are seeing the emergence of a new trend where cyber criminals are no longer limiting themselves to just encrypting entire systems—they are making sure to steal data ahead of the encryption so that they can have additional leverage on the victim. The survey found that 65% of those who have experienced a ransomware attack have also experienced data theft or exfiltration due to the incident. Of those victims, 60% say the hackers used the data theft to extort them further, known as double extortion. Most of them, i.e., 59% of victims, paid the hackers, implying that they were not helped by their backup or data security tools to prevent this fate.

Data is being exposed for theft and extortion in other ways too. Nearly half (47%) uncovered publicly exposed data in their systems in the last 24 months. It was found that respondents have a mix of data security & protection (78%), prevention & detection (75%), and backup and recovery (73%) in their cyber security stacks. Still, exposure and extortion numbers imply a missing puzzle piece regarding attacks.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/study-reveals-traditional-data-security-tools-have-a-60-failure-rate-against-ransomware-and-extortion

• Patchable and Preventable Security Issues Lead Causes of Q1 Attacks

Attacks against companies spiked in Q1 2022 with patchable and preventable external vulnerabilities responsible for the bulk of attacks.

Eighty-two percent of attacks on organisations in Q1 2022 were caused by the external exposure of known vulnerabilities in the victim’s external-facing perimeter or attack surface. Those unpatched bugs overshadowed breach-related financial losses tied to human error, which accounted for 18 percent.

The numbers come from Tetra Defense and its quarterly report that sheds light on a notable uptick in cyber attacks against United States organisations between January and March 2022.

The report did not let employee security hygiene, or a lack thereof, off the hook. Tetra revealed that a lack of multi-factor authentication (MFA) mechanisms adopted by firms and compromised credentials are still major factors in attacks against organisations.

https://threatpost.com/lead-causes-of-q1-attacks/180096/

• Three in Four Vulnerability Management Programs Ineffective

How at risk are organisations to unsecured vulnerabilities in their networks? NopSec, a threat and exposure management provider, gives us the answers in a new study of some 430 cyber security professionals.

Are security teams finding successful approaches to their vulnerability management, or are “open doors around their attack surface” leaving them susceptible to disaster in their organisation? The answer, as it turns out, is that some organisations are better at detection, response and remediation of their vulnerabilities.

Perhaps more importantly, others are not as locked down as they believe, according to the report. Keeping track of known vulnerabilities and responding quickly is one thing, but locating flaws they did not previously know existed is quite another.

Seventy percent of respondent say their vulnerability management program (VMP) is only somewhat effective or worse, blind spots and shadow IT remain top challenges, and vulnerabilities take too long to patch.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/three-in-four-vulnerability-management-programs-ineffective-study-finds/

• EMEA Continues to Be a Hotspot for Malware Threats

Ransomware detections in the first quarter of this year doubled the total volume reported for 2021, according to the latest quarterly Internet Security Report from the WatchGuard Threat Lab. Researchers also found that the Emotet botnet came back in a big way, the infamous Log4Shell vulnerability tripled its attack efforts and malicious cryptomining activity increased.

Although findings from the Threat Lab’s Q4 2021 report showed ransomware attacks trending down year over year, that all changed in Q1 2022 with a massive explosion in ransomware detections. While Q4 2021 saw the downfall of the infamous REvil cybergang, WatchGuard analysis suggests that this opened the door for the LAPSUS$ extortion group to emerge, which along with many new ransomware variants such as BlackCat – the first known ransomware written in the Rust programming language – could be contributing factors to an ever-increasing ransomware and cyber-extortion threat landscape.

The report also shows that EMEA continues to be a hotspot for malware threats. Overall regional detections of basic and evasive malware show WatchGuard Fireboxes in EMEA were hit harder than those in North, Central and South America (AMER) at 57% and 22%, respectively, followed by Asia-Pacific (APAC) at 21%.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/30/emea-malware-threats/

• A New, Remarkably Sophisticated Malware Is Attacking Home and Small Office Routers

An unusually advanced hacking group has spent almost two years infecting a wide range of routers in North America and Europe with malware that takes full control of connected devices running Windows, macOS, and Linux, researchers reported on June 28.

So far, researchers from Lumen Technologies' Black Lotus Labs say they've identified at least 80 targets infected by the stealthy malware, including routers made by Cisco, Netgear, Asus, and DrayTek. Dubbed ZuoRAT, the remote access Trojan is part of a broader hacking campaign that has existed since at least the fourth quarter of 2020 and continues to operate.

The discovery of custom-built malware written for the MIPS architecture and compiled for small-office and home-office routers is significant, particularly given its range of capabilities. Its ability to enumerate all devices connected to an infected router and collect the DNS lookups and network traffic they send and receive, and remain undetected, is the hallmark of a highly sophisticated threat actor.

"While compromising small office/home office (SOHO) routers as a vector to gain access to an adjacent LAN is not a novel technique, it has seldom been reported," Black Lotus Labs researchers wrote. "Similarly, reports of person-in-the-middle style attacks, such as DNS and HTTP hijacking, are even rarer and a mark of a complex and targeted operation. The use of these two techniques congruently demonstrated a high level of sophistication by a threat actor, indicating that this campaign was possibly performed by a state-sponsored organisation."

The campaign comprises at least four pieces of malware, three of them written from scratch by the threat actor. The first piece is the MIPS-based ZuoRAT, which closely resembles the Mirai internet-of-things malware that achieved record-breaking distributed denial-of-service attacks that crippled some Internet services for days. ZuoRAT often gets installed by exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities in SOHO devices.

https://www.wired.com/story/zuorat-trojan-malware-hacking-routers/

• What Are Shadow IDs, and How Are They Crucial in 2022?

Just before last Christmas, in a first-of-a-kind case, JPMorgan was fined $200M for employees using non-sanctioned applications for communicating about financial strategy. No mention of insider trading, naked shorting, or any malevolence. Just employees circumventing regulation using, well, Shadow IT. Not because they tried to obfuscate or hide anything, simply because it was a convenient tool that they preferred over any other sanctioned products (which JPMorgan certainly has quite a few of.)

Visibility into unknown and unsanctioned applications has been required by regulators and also recommended by the Center for Internet Security community for a long time. Yet it seems that new and better approaches are still in demand. Gartner has identified External Attack Surface Management, Digital Supply Chain Risk, and Identity Threat Detection as the top three trends to focus on in 2022, all of which are closely intertwined with Shadow IT.

"Shadow IDs," or in other words, unmanaged employee identities and accounts in third-party services, are often created using a simple email-and-password-based registration. Cloud access security broker (CASB) and corporate single-sign-on (SSO) solutions are limited to a few sanctioned applications, and are not widely adopted on most websites and services either. This means, that a large part of an organisation's external surface - as well as its user identities - may be completely invisible.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/06/what-are-shadow-ids-and-how-are-they.html

• Zero-Days Aren't Going Away Anytime Soon, and What Leaders Need to Know

Few security exploits are the source of more sleepless nights for security professionals than zero-day attacks. Just recently, researchers discovered a new vulnerability enabling hackers to achieve remote code execution within Microsoft Office. Dubbing the evolving threat the Follina exploit, researchers say all versions of Office are at risk. And because the internal security teams have no time to prepare or patch their systems to defend against these software vulnerabilities, crafty threat actors can take advantage, taking their time after they've accessed an organisation's environment to observe and exfiltrate data while remaining completely unseen.

And though sophisticated threat actors and nations have exploited zero-days for nearly two decades, last year saw a historic rise in the number of vulnerabilities detected. Both Google and Mandiant tracked a record number of zero-days last year, with the caveat that more zero-days are being discovered because security companies are getting better at finding them — not necessarily because hackers are coming up with new vulnerabilities. Not all zero-days are created equal, though. Some require sophisticated and novel techniques, like the attack on SolarWinds, and others exploit simple vulnerabilities in commonly used programs like Windows. Thankfully, there's some basic cyber hygiene strategies that can keep your organisation sufficiently prepared to mitigate zero-day exploits.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/zero-days-aren-t-going-away-anytime-soon-and-what-leaders-need-to-know

• Half of 2022's Zero-Days Are Variants of Previous Vulnerabilities

Google Project Zero has observed a total of 18 exploited zero-day vulnerabilities in the first half of 2022, at least half of which exist because previous bugs were not properly addressed.

According to Google Project Zero researcher Maddie Stone, nine of the in-the-wild zero-days seen so far this year could have been prevented had organisations applied more comprehensive patching.

“On top of that, four of the 2022 zero-days are variants of 2021 in-the-wild zero-days. Just 12 months from the original in-the-wild zero-day being patched, attackers came back with a variant of the original bug,” Stone says.

The most recent of these issues is the Follina vulnerability in the Windows platform. Tracked as CVE-2022-30190, it is a variant of an MSHTML zero-day tracked as CVE-2021-40444.

CVE-2022-21882 is another Windows vulnerability that is a variant of an in-the-wild zero-day that was improperly resolved last year, namely CVE-2021-1732.

An iOS IOMobileFrameBuffer bug (CVE-2022-22587) and a type confusion flaw in Chrome’s V8 engine (CVE-2022-1096) are two other zero-days that are variants of exploited security flaws found last year – CVE-2021-30983 and CVE-2021-30551, respectively.

Other 2022 zero-days that are variants of improperly addressed security defects are CVE-2022-1364 (Chrome), CVE-2022-22620 (WebKit), CVE-2021-39793 (Google Pixel), CVE-2022-26134 (Atlassian Confluence), and CVE-2022-26925 (Windows flaw called PetitPotam).

https://www.securityweek.com/google-half-2022s-zero-days-are-variants-previous-vulnerabilities

• Human Error Remains the Top Security Issue

Human error remains the most effective vector for conducting network infiltrations and data breaches.

The SANS Institute security centre issued its annual security awareness report Wednesday, which was based on data from 1,000 infosec professionals and found that employees and their lack of security training remain common points of failure for data breaches and network attacks. The report also tracked the maturity level of respondents' security awareness programs and their effectiveness in reducing human risk.

"This year's report once again identifies what we have seen over the past three years: that the most mature security awareness programs are those that have the most people dedicated to managing and supporting it," the cyber security training and education organisation said.

"These larger teams are more effective at working with the security team to identify, track, and prioritise their top human risks, and at engaging, motivating, and training their workforce to manage those risks."

The SANS Institute study ranked maturity by five levels, from lowest to highest: nonexistent, compliance-focused, promoting awareness and behaviour change, long-term sustainment and culture change, and metrics framework. The report found that while approximately 400 respondents said their programs promote awareness and behaviour change - the highest such response for any maturity level - the number represented a 10% decrease from the previous year's report.

https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/252522226/SANS-Institute-Human-error-remains-the-top-security-issue

• Carnival Cruises Torpedoed by US States, Agrees to Pay $6m After Wave of Cyber Attacks

Carnival Cruise Lines will cough up more than $6 million to end two separate lawsuits filed by 46 states in the US after sensitive, personal information on customers and employees was accessed in a string of cyber attacks.

A couple of years ago, as the coronavirus pandemic was taking hold, the Miami-based business revealed intruders had not only encrypted some of its data but also downloaded a collection of names and addresses; Social Security info, driver's license, and passport numbers; and health and payment information of thousands of people in almost every American state.

It all started to go wrong more than a year prior, as the cruise line became aware of suspicious activity in May 2019. This apparently wasn't disclosed until 10 months later, in March 2020.

Back in 2019, the security operations team spotted an internal email account sending spam to other addresses. It turned out miscreants had hijacked 124 employee Microsoft Office 365 email accounts, and were using them to send phishing emails to harvest more credentials. This, we're told, gave the intruders access to personal data on 180,000 Carnival employees and customers. It's likely the miscreants first broke in using phishing mails or brute-forcing passwords; either way, there was no multi-factor authentication.

Then in August 2020, the company said it was hit with the aforementioned ransomware, and copies of its files were siphoned. In January 2021, it was infected again with malware, and again sensitive information – specifically, customer passport numbers and dates of birth, and employee credit card numbers – were downloaded. And in March that year, a staffer's work email account was compromised again to send out a phishing email; more sensitive information was exposed.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/28/carnival-cybersecurity-fines/

• Uber Ex-Security Chief Accused of Hacking Coverup Must Face Fraud Charges, Judge Rules

A federal judge on Tuesday said a former Uber Technologies Inc. security chief must face wire fraud charges over his alleged role in trying to cover up a 2016 hacking that exposed personal information of 57 million passengers and drivers.

The US Department of Justice had in December added the three charges against Joseph Sullivan to an earlier indictment, saying he arranged to pay money to two hackers in exchange for their silence, while trying to conceal the hacking from passengers, drivers and the US Federal Trade Commission.

https://www.reuters.com/business/uber-ex-security-chief-accused-hacking-coverup-must-face-fraud-charges-judge-2022-06-28/

Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware market evolution results in fewer variants, but rise in off-the-shelf cyber crime kits continues | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)

• Record-Breaking Year for Ransomware Attacks, WatchGuard Research Predicts - MSSP Alert

• Cyber Security Experts Warn of Emerging Threat of "Black Basta" Ransomware (thehackernews.com)

• 5 years after NotPetya: Lessons learned | CSO Online

• AstraLocker 2.0 infects users directly from Word attachments (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Mitel VoIP Bug Exploited in Ransomware Attacks | Threatpost

• Black Basta Ransomware Gang Attacks 50 Companies, Cybereason Reports - MSSP Alert

• How Dangerous Is BlackBasta Ransomware? (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• LockBit 3.0 Debuts With Ransomware Bug Bounty Program (darkreading.com)

• Black Basta Ransomware Operators Expand Their Attack Arsenal With QakBot Trojan and PrintNightmare Exploit (trendmicro.com)

• Son of Conti: Ransomware tries its hand at politics - The Record by Recorded Future

• Kaseya Ransomware - Cyber Leader’s Thoughts & Learnings One Year Later (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Are Protection Payments the Future of Ransomware? (tripwire.com)

• Conti vs. LockBit: A Comparative Analysis of Ransomware Groups (trendmicro.com)

• This new malware is at the heart of the ransomware ecosystem | ZDNet

• Macmillan Publishing shuts down systems after likely ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Walmart denies being hit by Yanluowang ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Fake copyright infringement emails install LockBit ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Cisco Talos techniques uncover ransomware sites on dark web (techtarget.com)

• RansomHouse gang claims to have some stolen AMD data • The Register

• 'Prolific' NetWalker extortionist pleads guilty • The Register

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Google Warns About Hacker-for-Hire Services Trying to Phish Users (pcmag.com)

• Clever phishing method bypasses MFA using Microsoft WebView2 apps (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Cyber Attacks via Unpatched Systems Cost Orgs More Than Phishing (darkreading.com)

• How phishing attacks are becoming more sophisticated - Help Net Security

• How Evilnum Cyber Attacks Target Microsoft Office Files - MSSP Alert

• New Matanbuchus Campaign drops Cobalt Strike beacons - Security Affairs

• Kaspersky Reveals Phishing Emails That Employees Find Most Confusing (darkreading.com)

• Ukraine arrests cyber crime gang operating over 400 phishing sites (bleepingcomputer.com)

Malware

• Microsoft finds Raspberry Robin worm in hundreds of Windows networks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft Exchange servers worldwide backdoored with new malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft warning: This malware that targets Linux just got a big update | ZDNet

• ZuoRAT Hijacks SOHO Routers From Cisco, Netgear (darkreading.com)

• XFiles info-stealing malware adds support for Follina delivery (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Raccoon Stealer is back with a new version to steal your passwords (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Minors Use Discord Servers To Earn Extra Pocket Money Through Spreading Malware (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• PyPi python packages caught sending stolen AWS keys to unsecured sites (bleepingcomputer.com)

Mobile

• Android Spyware 'Revive' Upgraded to Banking Trojan - Infosecurity Magazine

• Google warns Hermit spyware is infecting phones. What is it and how do you protect yourself from it? | Mashable

• Phone Hackers: 9 Ways To Tell If You Have Fallen Victim (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Apple revokes certificates for Hermit spyware app - 9to5Mac

• Google Warns of New Spyware Targeting iOS and Android Users - IT Security Guru

Internet of Things – IoT

• Swarm of malfunctioning driverless taxis brings traffic to a halt for hours (telegraph.co.uk)

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Millions of free VPN user records leaked | TechRadar

• Leaky Access Tokens Exposed Amazon Photos of Users | Threatpost

• California gun dashboards expose 10 years of personal data • The Register

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• The strange business of cyber crime | CSO Online

• Russia-China cyber criminal collaboration could “destabilize” international order | CSO Online

• Canadian admits to hacking spree with Russian cyber-gang - BBC News

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• Pentagon finds concerning vulnerabilities on blockchain | TechRepublic

• Threat actors sell access to tens of vulnerable networks compromised by exploiting Atlassian 0daySecurity Affairs

• Hackers steal $100m from another breached crypto bridge | TechRadar

• Santander Warns of 87% Surge in UK Crypto Scams - Infosecurity Magazine

• Dozens of cryptography libraries vulnerable to private key theft | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)

• Missing Cryptoqueen: FBI adds Ruja Ignatova to top ten most wanted - BBC News

• Singapore warns of ‘brutal, unrelentingly hard’ crypto regs • The Register

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Rogue HackerOne employee steals bug reports to sell on the side (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Japanese worker loses city's personal data in USB fail • The Register

• How you handle independent contractors may determine your insider threat risk | CSO Online

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Threat actors increasingly use third parties to run their scams - Help Net Security

• Santander Warns of 87% Surge in UK Crypto Scams - Infosecurity Magazine

• Evolving online habits have paved the way for fraud. What can we do about it? - Help Net Security

Insurance

• Cyber Insurance: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - IT Security Guru

Software Supply Chain

• It's a Race to Secure the Software Supply Chain — Have You Already Stumbled? (darkreading.com)

• Over a Decade in Software Security: What Have We learned? - IT Security Guru

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

• Russian hacktivists take down Norway govt sites in DDoS attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

Attack Surface Management

• Digital Shadows Weaken Your Attack Surface (securityintelligence.com)

Shadow IT

• Shadow IT Spurs 1 in 3 Cyber Attacks (darkreading.com)

• What is Shadow IT and why is it so risky? (thehackernews.com)

Open Source

• CISA Warns of Active Exploitation of 'PwnKit' Linux Vulnerability in the Wild (thehackernews.com)

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

• RansomHouse Hackers Claim to Breach AMD With Bad Passwords (gizmodo.com)

• Breaking Down the Zola Hack and Why Password Reuse is so Dangerous (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Raccoon Stealer is back with a new version to steal your passwords (bleepingcomputer.com)

Social Media

• Verified Twitter accounts hacked to send fake suspension notices (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Facebook Business Pages Targeted via Chatbot in Data-Harvesting Campaign (darkreading.com)

• New YTStealer malware steals accounts from YouTube Creators (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Facebook 2FA phish arrives just 28 minutes after scam domain created – Naked Security (sophos.com)

Training, Education and Awareness

• Time Constraints Hamper Security Awareness Programs (darkreading.com)

Privacy

• ‘Supercookies’ Have Privacy Experts Sounding the Alarm | WIRED

• UK should immediately ban use of live facial recognition, warns report | Financial Times (ft.com)

• Snoopers’ Charter Ruled Partially Unlawful - Infosecurity Magazine

• We must stop sleepwalking towards a surveillance state | Financial Times (ft.com)

Parental Controls and Child Safety

• How parents can talk about online safety and personal info protection with their kids - Help Net Security

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• Manx government department fined over data breach - BBC News

• Clearview fine: The unacceptable face of modern surveillance - Help Net Security

• UK security services must seek approval to access telecoms data, judges rule | UK security and counter-terrorism | The Guardian

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

• Global Police Crack Down on Online Sexual Exploitation - Infosecurity Magazine

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

• Lethal drinking water, runs on banks and panic buying: What a real Undeclared War cyber attack could mean (inews.co.uk)

• Microsoft's Defending Ukraine report offers fresh details on digital conflict and disinformation | CSO Online

• Clear Rules Needed to Prevent Conflict and Struggle in Cyber Space, Says NCSC Chief - Infosecurity Magazine

• NATO to create cyber rapid response force, increase cyber defence aid to Ukraine - CyberScoop

• Could the Russian cyber attack on Lithuania draw a military response from NATO? | World News | Sky News

• Evilnum hackers return in new operation targeting migration orgs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Commercial cyber products must be used responsibly, says NCSC CEO (computerweekly.com)

• G7 to tackle cyber threats and disinformation from Russia: communique | Reuters

• Google Warns of New Spyware Targeting iOS and Android Users - IT Security Guru

• Apple revokes certificates for Hermit spyware app - 9to5Mac

• China lured graduate jobseekers into digital espionage | Ars Technica

• FCC commissioner calls TikTok Chinese spyware and wants it pulled from mobile app stores (androidpolice.com)

• Google warns Hermit spyware is infecting phones. What is it and how do you protect yourself from it? | Mashable

Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Ukraine targeted by almost 800 cyber attacks since the war started (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Russia-linked actors may be behind an explosion at a liquefied natural gas plant in Texas - Security Affairs

• Russian Hacker Group Says Cyber Attacks Continue On Lithuania (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• Russian hacktivists take down Norway govt sites in DDoS attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Russia's Killnet hacker group says it attacked Lithuania | Reuters

Nation State Actors – China

• Chinese Threat Actor Targets Rare Earth Mining Companies in North America, Australia | SecurityWeek.Com

• Chinese Hackers Target Building Management Systems | SecurityWeek.Com

• China lured graduate jobseekers into digital espionage | Ars Technica

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• Experts blame North Korea-linked Lazarus APT for Harmony hack - Security Affairs

Vulnerability Management

• 18 Zero-Days Exploited So Far in 2022 (darkreading.com)

• Why more zero-day vulnerabilities are being found in the wild | CSO Online

• Cyber Attacks via Unpatched Systems Cost Orgs More Than Phishing (darkreading.com)

• Solving the indirect vulnerability enigma - fixing indirect vulnerabilities without breaking your dependency tree (thehackernews.com)

• Microsoft's quiet mishandling of vulnerabilities is becoming a public mess - OnMSFT.com

Vulnerabilities

• MITRE shares this year's list of most dangerous software bugs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Critical ManageEngine ADAudit Plus Vulnerability Allows Network Takeover, Mass Data Exfiltration (darkreading.com)

• How and why threat actors target Microsoft Active Directory | CSO Online

• Atlassian Confluence Exploits Peak at 100K Daily (darkreading.com)

• Patch Now: Linux Container-Escape Flaw in Azure Service Fabric (darkreading.com)

• Zoho ManageEngine ADAudit Plus bug gets public RCE exploit (bleepingcomputer.com)

• OpenSSL 3.0.5 awaits release to fix potential security flaw • The Register

• CISA: Adopt Modern Auth now for Exchange Online • The Register

• CISA Warns of Active Exploitation of 'PwnKit' Linux Vulnerability in the Wild (thehackernews.com)

• CISA orders agencies to patch Windows LSA bug exploited in the wild (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Mitel VoIP Bug Exploited in Ransomware Attacks | Threatpost

• Log4Shell Vulnerability in VMware Leads to Data Exfiltration and Ransomware (trendmicro.com)

• Jenkins discloses dozens of zero-day bugs in multiple plugins (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New UnRAR Vulnerability Could Let Attackers Hack Zimbra Webmail Servers (thehackernews.com)

Sector Specific

Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

• Stress and Burnout Could Lead to Exodus of CNI Cyber Security Leaders - Infosecurity Magazine

Financial Services Sector

• Android Spyware 'Revive' Upgraded to Banking Trojan - Infosecurity Magazine

FinTech

• A Fintech Horror Story: How One Company Prioritizes Cyber Security (darkreading.com)

• Security and compliance concerns limit ‘open finance’ expansion, say executives (scmagazine.com)

Telecoms

• Why the next-gen telecom ecosystem needs better regulations (techtarget.com)

OT, ICS, IIoT, SCADA and Cyber-Physical Systems

• APT Hackers Targeting Industrial Control Systems with ShadowPad Backdoor (thehackernews.com)

• Cyber-Physical Security: Benchmarking to Advance Your Journey | SecurityWeek.Com

• Critical Security Flaws Identified in CODESYS ICS Automation Software (thehackernews.com)

• Microsoft Exchange bug abused to hack building automation systems (bleepingcomputer.com)

• 5 Cyber Security Tips for Smart Buildings - IT Security Guru

• Chinese Hackers Target Building Management Systems | SecurityWeek.Com

• OT security: Helping under-resourced critical infrastructure organisations - Help Net Security

Energy & Utilities

Oil, Gas and Mining

Chinese Threat Actor Targets Rare Earth Mining Companies in North America, Australia | SecurityWeek.Com

Food and Agriculture

• Wiltshire Farm Foods Cyberattack (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

Education and Academia

• Threat Actor Claims Responsibility For IBM and Stanford University Hack - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Web3

• Securing the Metaverse and Web3 | SecurityWeek.Com

• Cyber security and the metaverse: Identifying the weak spots | VentureBeat

Reports Published in the Last Week

• State of Email Security | Mimecast

• Q1 2022 Incident Response Insights from Tetra Defense | Arctic Wolf

• State of Data Exfiltration and Extortion 2022 - Titaniam

• SANS 2022 Security Awareness Report: Human Risk Remains the Biggest Threat to Your Organisation’s Cyber Security | SANS Institute

• Defending Ukraine: Early Lessons from the Cyber War - Microsoft On the Issues

Other News

• Cyber Attacks Gain Steam in Early '22: Tetra Defense Report - MSSP Alert

• FBI warns crooks are using deepfake videos in job interviews • The Register

• Destructive firmware attacks pose a significant threat to businesses - Help Net Security

• 48% of security practitioners seeing 3x increase in alerts per day - Help Net Security

• Adversarial machine learning explained: How attackers disrupt AI and ML systems | CSO Online

• Companies are desperate for cyber security workers—more than 700K positions need to be filled | Fortune

• 82% Cyber Breaches In Verizon’s Report Preventable, Says MyCena (informationsecuritybuzz.com)

• SolarWinds hack explained: Everything you need to know (techtarget.com)

• Properly securing APIs is becoming increasingly urgent - Help Net Security

• 97% Of UK Business Leaders Expect Quantum Computing to Disrupt Their Sectors - Infosecurity Magazine

• LGBTQ+ folks warned of dating app extortion scams • The Register

• What is Zero Trust and why would you want it? • The Register

• Tencent admits to poisoned QR code attack on QQ accounts • The Register

• Exploring the insecurity of readily available Wi-Fi networks - Help Net Security

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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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 24 June 2022

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

• The NCSC Sets Out the UK’s Cyber Threat Landscape

The current state of the UK’s cyber threat landscape was outlined by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), during a keynote address on the final day of Infosecurity Europe 2022.

They described the cyber threats posed by nation-states, particularly Russia and China. Russia remains “one of the world’s most prolific cyber actors and dedicates significant resources to conducting cyber operations across the globe.”  The NCSC and international partner organisations have attributed a number of high-profile attacks related to the conflict to Russian state actors, including the Viasat incident on the eve of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Therefore, the NCSC recommends that organisations prepare for a dynamic situation that is liable to change rapidly.

The NCSC emphasised that a more significant long-term threat comes from China, citing GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming’s assertion that “Russia is affecting the weather, but China is shaping the climate.” She described the nation’s “highly sophisticated” activities in cyberspace, born out of its “increasing ambitions to project its influence beyond its borders.” This includes a keen interest in the UK’s commercial secrets.

In addition to nation-state attacks, the NCSC noted that cyber crime is continuing to rise, with ransomware a continuing concern. Attacks are expected to grow in scale, with threat actors likely to increasingly target managed service providers (MSPs) to gain access to a wider range of targets. More generally, cyber capabilities will become more commoditised over the next few years, meaning they are increasingly available to a larger group of would-be attackers who are willing to pay.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ncsc-uk-cyber-threat-landscape/

• We're Now Truly in The Era of Ransomware as Pure Extortion Without the Encryption

Increasingly cyber crime rings tracked as ransomware operators are turning toward primarily data theft and extortion – and skipping the encryption step altogether. Rather than scramble files and demand payment for the decryption keys, and all the faff in between in facilitating that, simply exfiltrating the data and demanding a fee to not leak it all is just as effective. This shift has been ongoing for many months, and is now virtually unavoidable.

The FBI and CISA this month warned about a lesser-known extortion gang called Karakurt, which demands ransoms as high as $13 million. Karakurt doesn't target any specific sectors or industries, and the gang's victims haven't had any of their documents encrypted and held to ransom. Instead, the crooks claim to have stolen data, with screenshots or copies of exfiltrated files as proof, and they threaten to sell it or leak it publicly if they don't receive a payment.

Some of these thieves offer discounted ransoms to corporations to encourage them to pay sooner, with the demanded payment getting larger the longer it takes to cough up the cash (or Bitcoin, as the case may be).

Additionally, some crime groups offer sliding-scale payment systems. So you pay for what you get, and depending on the amount of ransom paid you get a control panel, you get customer support, you get all of the tools you need."

https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/25/ransomware_gangs_extortion_feature/

• 5 Social Engineering Assumptions That Are Wrong

Social engineering is involved in the vast majority of cyber attacks, but a new report from Proofpoint has revealed five common social engineering assumptions that are not only wrong but are repeatedly subverted by malicious actors in their attacks.

1. Threat actors don’t have conversations with targets.

2. Legitimate services are safe from social engineering abuse.

3. Attackers only use computers, not telephones.

4. Replying to existing email conversations is safe.

5. Fraudsters only use business-related content as lures.

Commenting on the report’s findings, Sherrod DeGrippo, Proofpoint’s Vice-President Threat Research and Detection, stated that the vendor has attempted to debunk faulty assumptions made by organisations and security teams so they can better protect employees against cyber crime. “Despite defenders’ best efforts, cyber criminals continue to defraud, extort and ransom companies for billions of dollars annually. Security-focused decision makers have prioritised bolstering defences around physical and cloud-based infrastructure, which has led to human beings becoming the most relied upon entry point for compromise. As a result, a wide array of content and techniques continue to be developed to exploit human behaviours and interests.”

Indeed, cyber criminals will go to creative and occasionally unusual lengths to carry out social engineering campaigns, making it more difficult for users to avoid falling victim to them.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3664932/5-social-engineering-assumptions-that-are-wrong.html#tk.rss_news

• Gartner: Regulation, Human Costs Will Create Stormy Cyber Security Weather Ahead

Security teams should prepare for what researchers say will be a challenging environment through 2023, with increased pressure from government regulators, partners, and threat actors.

Gartner kicked off its Security & Risk Management Summit with the release of its analysts' assessments of the work ahead, which Richard Addiscott, the company's senior director analyst, discussed during his opening keynote address.

“We can’t fall into old habits and try to treat everything the same as we did in the past,” Addiscott said. “Most security and risk leaders now recognise that major disruption is only one crisis away. We can’t control it, but we can evolve our thinking, our philosophy, our program, and our architecture.”

Topping Gartner's list of eight predictions is a rise in the government regulation of consumer privacy rights and ransomware response, a widespread shift by enterprises to unify security platforms, more zero trust, and, troublingly, the prediction that by 2025 threat actors will likely have figured out how to "weaponise operational technology environments successfully to cause human casualties”, the cyber security report said.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/gartner-regulation-human-cost-stormy-cybersecurity-weather

• Ransomware Attacks - This Is the Data That Cyber Criminals Really Want to Steal

There are certain types of data that criminals target the most, according to an analysis of attacks.

Data theft and extortion has become a common – and unfortunately effective – part of ransomware attacks, where in addition to encrypting data and demanding a ransom payment for the decryption key, gangs steal information and threaten to publish it if a payment isn't received.

These so-called double extortion attacks have become an effective tool in the arsenal of ransomware gangs, who leverage them to force victims to pay up, even in cases where data could be restored from offline backups, because the threat of sensitive information being published is too great.

Any stolen data is potentially useful to ransomware gangs, but according to analysis by researchers at cyber security company Rapid7, of 161 disclosed ransomware incidents where data was published, some data is seen as more valuable than others.

According to the report, financial services is the sector that is most likely to have customer data exposed, with 82% of incidents involving ransomware gangs accessing and making threats to release this data. Stealing and publishing sensitive customer information would undermine consumer trust in financial services organisations: while being hacked in the first place would be damaging enough, some business leaders might view paying a ransom to avoid further damage caused by data leaks to be worth it.

The second most-leaked type of file in ransomware attacks against financial services firms, featuring in 59% of disclosures from victims, is employee personally identifiable information (PII) and data related to human resources. 

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-attacks-this-is-the-data-that-cyber-criminals-really-want-to-steal/

• Cloud Email Threats Soar 101% in a Year

The number of email-borne cyber-threats blocked by Trend Micro surged by triple digits last year, highlighting the continued risk from conventional attack vectors.

The vendor stopped over 33.6 million such threats reaching customers via cloud-based email in 2021, a 101% increase. This included 16.5 million phishing emails, a 138% year-on-year increase, of which 6.5 million were credential phishing attempts.

Trend Micro also blocked 3.3 million malicious files in cloud-based emails, including a 134% increase in known threats and a 221% increase in unknown malware.

The news comes as Proofpoint warned in a new report of the continued dangers posed by social engineering, and the mistaken assumptions many users make. 

Many users don’t realise that threat actors may spend considerable time and effort building a rapport over email with their victims, especially if they’re trying to conduct a business email compromise (BEC) attack, it said.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cloud-email-threats-soar-101-in-a/

• 80% of Firms Suffered Identity-Related Breaches in Last 12 Months

Rapidly growing employee identities, third-party partners, and machine nodes have companies scrambling to secure credential information, software secrets, and cloud identities, according to researchers.

In a survey of IT and identity professionals from Dimensional Research, almost every organisation — 98% — experienced rapid growth in the number of identities that have to be managed, with that growth driven by expanding cloud usage, more third-party partners, and machine identities. Furthermore, businesses are also seeing an increase in breaches because of this, with 84% of firms suffering an identity-related breach in the past 12 months, compared with 79% in a previous study covering two years.

The number and complexity of identities organisations are having to manage and secure is increasing. Whenever there is an increase in identities, there is a corresponding heightened risk of identity-related breaches due to them not being properly managed and secured, and with the attack surfaces also growing exponentially, these breaches can occur on multiple fronts.

For the most part, organisations focus on employee identities, which 70% consider to be the most likely to be breached and 58% believe to have the greatest impact, according to the 2022 "Trends in Securing Digital Identities" report based on the survey. Yet third-party partners and business customers are significant sources of risk as well, with 35% and 25% of respondents considering those to be a major source of breaches, respectively.

https://www.darkreading.com/operations/identity-related-breaches-last-12-months

• After Being Breached Once, Many Companies Are Likely to Be Hit Again

Cymulate announced the results of a survey, revealing that two-thirds of companies who have been hit by cyber crime in the past year have been hit more than once, with almost 10% experiencing 10 or so more attacks a year.

Research taken from 858 security professionals surveyed across North America, EMEA, APAC and LATAM across a wide range of industries including technology, banking, finance and government, also highlighted larger companies hit by cyber crime are experiencing shorter disruption time and damage to business with 40% reported low damage compared with medium-size businesses (less than 2,500 employees) which had longer recovery times and more business affecting damage.

Other highlights

• 40% of respondents admitted to being breached over the past 12 months.

• After being breached once, statistics showed they were more likely to be hit again than not (66%).

• Malware (55%), and more specifically ransomware (40%) and DDoS (32%) were the main forms of cyber attacks experienced by those surveyed.

• Attacks primarily occurred via end-user phishing (56%), via third parties connected to the enterprise (37%) or direct attacks on enterprise networks (34%).

• 22% of companies publicly disclosed cyber attacks in the worst-case breaches, with 35% needing to hire security consultants, 12% dismissing their current security professionals and 12% hiring public relations consultants to deal with the repercussions to their reputations. Top three best practices for cyber attack prevention, mitigation and remediation include multi-factor authentication (67%), proactive corporate phishing and awareness campaigns (53%), and well-planned and practiced incident response plans (44%). Least privilege also ranked highly, at 43%.

• 29% of attacks come from insider threats – intentionally or unintentionally.

• Leadership and cyber security teams who meet regularly to discuss risk reduction are more cyber security-ready – those who met 15 times a year incurred zero breaches whereas those who suffered six or more breaches met under nine times on average.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/21/companies-hit-by-cybercrime/

• Do You Have Ransomware Insurance? Look at the Fine Print

Insurance exists to protect the insured party against catastrophe, but the insurer needs protection so that its policies are not abused – and that's where the fine print comes in. However, in the case of ransomware insurance, the fine print is becoming contentious and arguably undermining the usefulness of ransomware insurance.

In recent years, ransomware insurance has grown as a product field because organisations are trying to buy protection against the catastrophic effects of a successful ransomware attack. Why try to buy insurance? Well, a single, successful attack can just about wipe out a large organisation, or lead to crippling costs – NotPetya alone led to a total of $10bn in damages.

Ransomware attacks are notoriously difficult to protect against completely. Like any other potentially catastrophic event, insurers stepped in to offer an insurance product. In exchange for a premium, insurers promise to cover many of the damages resulting from a ransomware attack.

Depending on the policy, a ransomware policy could cover loss of income if the attack disrupts operations, or loss of valuable data, if data is erased due to the ransomware event. A policy may also cover you for extortion – in others, it will refund the ransom demanded by the criminal.

The exact payout and terms will of course be defined in the policy document, also called the "fine print." Critically, fine print also contains exclusions, in other words circumstances under which the policy won't pay out. And therein lies the problem.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/06/do-you-have-ransomware-insurance-look.html

• The Price of Stolen Info: Everything on Sale on The Dark Web

What is the price for personal information, including credit cards and bank accounts, on the dark web?

Privacy Affairs researchers concluded that criminals using the dark web need only spend $1,115 for a complete set of a person’s account details, enabling them to create fake IDs and forge private documents, such as passports and driver’s licenses.

Access to other information is becoming even cheaper. The Dark Web Price Index 2022 – based on data scanning dark web marketplaces, forums, and websites, revealed:

• Credit card details and associated information cost between $17-$120

• Online banking login information costs $45

• Hacked Facebook accounts cost $45

• Cloned VISA with PIN cost $20

• Stolen PayPal account details, with minimum $1000 balances, cost $20.

In December 2021, about 4.5 million credit cards went up for sale on the dark web, the study found. The average price ranged from $1-$20.

Scammers can buy full credit card details, including CVV number, card number, associated dates, and even the email, physical address and phone number. This enables them to penetrate the credit card processing chain, overriding any security countermeasures.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/22/stolen-info-sale-dark-web/

• How Companies Are Prioritising Infosec and Compliance

New research conducted by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), examines the impact of the compliance budget on security strategy and priorities. It describes areas for which companies prioritise information security and compliance, which leaders control information security spending, how compliance has shifted the overall security strategy of the organisation, and the solutions and tools on which organisations are focusing their technology spending.

The findings cover three critical areas of an organisation’s security and compliance posture: information security and IT audit and compliance, data security and data privacy, and security and compliance spending.

One key takeaway is that merging security and compliance priorities addresses regulatory control gaps while improving the organisation’s security posture. Respondents revealed insights on how they handle compliance, who is responsible for compliance and security responsibilities, and what compliance-related security challenges organisations face.

Additional findings:

• Companies found the need to shift their information security strategy to address compliance priorities (93%).

• Information security and IT compliance priorities are generally aligned (89%).

• Existing security tools have to address data privacy considerations going forward (76%).

• Managing an organisation’s multiple IT environments and the controls that govern those environments is the greatest challenge in the IT audit and compliance space (39%).

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/24/companies-infosec-compliance-priorities/

• Businesses Risk ‘Catastrophic Financial Loss’ from Cyber Attacks, US Watchdog Warns

A US Government watchdog has warned that private insurance companies are increasingly backing out of covering damages from major cyber attacks — leaving businesses facing “catastrophic financial loss” unless another insurance model can be found.

The growing challenge of covering cyber risk is outlined in a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which calls for a government assessment of whether a federal cyber insurance option is needed.

The report draws on threat assessments from the National Security Agency (NSA), Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Department of Justice, to quantify the risk of cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, identifying vulnerable technologies that might be attacked and a range of threat actors capable of exploiting them.

Citing an annual threat assessment released by the ODNI, the report finds that hacking groups linked to Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea pose the greatest threat to US infrastructure — along with certain non-state actors like organised cyber criminal gangs.

Given the wide and increasingly skilled range of actors willing to target US entities, the number of cyber incidents is rising at an alarming rate.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/23/23180115/gao-infrastructure-catastrophic-financial-loss-cyberattacks-insurance

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Threats

Ransomware

• Attackers exploited a Mitel VOIP zero-day to compromise a network Security Affairs

• Chinese hackers use ransomware as decoy for cyber espionage (bleepingcomputer.com)

• If you don't store valuable data, ransomware is impotent • The Register

• Ransomware-as-a-Service: Learn to Enhance Cyber security Approaches (analyticsinsight.net)

• Mitigate Ransomware in a Remote-First World (thehackernews.com)

• Delivery Firm Yodel Scrambling to Restore Operations Following Cyber attack | SecurityWeek.Com

• Black Basta Ransomware Becomes Major Threat in Two Months | SecurityWeek.Com

• These hackers are spreading ransomware as a distraction - to hide their cyber spying | ZDNet

• Conti ransomware hacking spree breaches over 40 orgs in a month (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Conti effectively created an extortion-oriented IT company, says Group-IB - Help Net Security

• Conti ransomware finally shuts down data leak, negotiation sites (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Conti ransomware group's pulse stops, but did it fake its own death? | Malwarebytes Labs

• Without Conti on the Scene, LockBit 2.0 Leads Ransomware Attacks (darkreading.com)

• Cyber attack: Gloucester council services still not back to normal - BBC News

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Your email is a major source of security risks and it's getting worse | ZDNet

• New Phishing Attack Infects Devices with Cobalt Strike- IT Security Guru

• Voicemail phishing emails steal Microsoft credentials • The Register

• The Risk of Multichannel Phishing Is on the Horizon (darkreading.com)

• Cops arrests nine suspected of stealing millions via email • The Register

• Cyber criminals Use Azure Front Door in Phishing Attacks - Security Affairs

• Microsoft Exchange servers hacked by new ToddyCat APT gang (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Cyber attackers Abuse QuickBooks Cloud Service in 'Double-Spear' Campaign (darkreading.com)

Other Social Engineering

• Proofpoint: Social engineering attacks slipping past users (techtarget.com)

• #InfosecurityEurope2022: Actions Not Words: Hacking the Human Through Social Engineering - Infosecurity Magazine

• Inside a large-scale phishing campaign targeting millions of Facebook users - Help Net Security

Malware

• RIG Exploit Kit Now Infects Victims' PCs With Dridex Instead of Raccoon Stealer (thehackernews.com)

• Organisations Battling Phishing Malware, Viruses the Most (darkreading.com)

• This Linux botnet has found a novel way of spreading to new devices | ZDNet

• New 'Quantum' Builder Lets Attackers Easily Create Malicious Windows Shortcuts (thehackernews.com)

• NSA warns against silly mistake in the fight against Windows malware | TechRadar

Mobile

• This Android malware is so dangerous, even Google is worried | TechRadar

• Google is notifying Android users targeted by Hermit government-grade spyware | TechCrunch

• Google Says ISPs Helped Attackers Infect Targeted Smartphones with Hermit Spyware (thehackernews.com)

• This phone-wiping Android banking trojan is getting nastier | ZDNet

• BRATA Android Malware Group Now Classified As Advanced Persistent Threat - Infosecurity Magazine

• Spurred by Roe overturn, senators seek FTC probe of iOS and Android tracking | Ars Technica

Internet of Things – IoT

• Hackers can target Eufy Homebase 2 to spy on you (komando.com)

• Vulnerabilities in the Jacuzzi SmartTub app could allow to access users’ data - Security Affairs - Security Affairs

Data Breaches/Leaks

• US Bank Data Breach Impacts Over 1.5 Million Customers - Infosecurity Magazine

• CafePress fined $500,000 for breach affecting 23 million users (bleepingcomputer.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs/Blockchain

• Hackers steal $100 million from California cryptocurrency firm - CNN

• DARPA study finds blockchain not as decentralised as assumed • The Register

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Former Amazon Worker Convicted of Capital One Data Breach - Infosecurity Magazine

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Why Fraud On Linkedin A ‘Significant Threat’ To Platform And Consumer – Information Security Buzz

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• IT pros are not very confident in their organisation's supply chain security - Help Net Security

• #InfosecurityEurope2022: Tackling Widespread Data Breaches from Third Parties - Infosecurity Magazine

Cloud/SaaS

• Risk Disconnect in the Cloud (darkreading.com)

• Microsoft 365 Users in US Face Raging Spate of Attacks (darkreading.com)

• 7 Steps to Stronger SaaS Security (darkreading.com)

• Getting a Better Handle on Identity Management in the Cloud (darkreading.com)

• Researchers Uncover Ways to Break the Encryption of 'MEGA' Cloud Storage Service (thehackernews.com)

Identity and Access Management

• Risky behaviour reduced when executives put focus on identity security - Help Net Security

• Access management issues may create security holes (techtarget.com)

• IAM Research: Inadequate Programs Leave Organisations Open to Cyber Attacks - MSSP Alert

• Why 84% Of US Firms Hit With Identity-Related Breaches In 2021 – Information Security Buzz

Open Source

• Open-source software risks persist, according to new reports | CSO Online

• Less Than Half of Organisations Have Open Source Security Policy - Infosecurity Magazine

• Blind trust in open source security is hurting us: Report | ZDNet

Training, Education and Awareness

• #InfosecurityEurope2022: Security Awareness Must Be in the Moment - Infosecurity Magazine

Privacy

• Privacy-focused Brave Search grew by 5,000% in a year (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade reversal sparks calls for strengthening privacy - CyberScoop

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• Do Privacy and Data Protection Regulations Create as Many Problems as They Solve? | SecurityWeek.Com

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

• Phishing gang behind millions in losses dismantled by police (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Euro Police Target Crime Groups Grooming Ukrainian Refugees Online - Infosecurity Magazine

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

• Microsoft: Russian Cyber Spying Targets 42 Ukraine Allies | SecurityWeek.Com

• Italian spyware firm is hacking into iOS and Android devices, Google says | Computerworld

• NSO claims 'more than 5' EU states used its Pegasus spyware • The Register

• #InfosecurityEurope2022: Geopolitical Tensions a “Danger” to Cyber security - Infosecurity Magazine

• Examples of Cyber Warfare #TrendTalksBizSec (trendmicro.com)

• Ukraine deploys a DDoS protection service to survive the cyberwar | VentureBeat

• Lithuania warns of rise in DDoS attacks against government sites (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Russia's APT28 Launches Nuke-Themed Follina Exploit Campaign (darkreading.com)

• Ukrainian cyber security officials disclose two new hacking campaigns - IT Security Guru

• Scalper bots out of control in Israel, selling state appointments (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Research questions potentially dangerous implications of Ukraine's IT Army - CyberScoop

• Lithuania under cyber-attack after ban on Russian railway goodsSecurity Affairs

• #InfosecurityEurope2022: Disinformation Warfare – How Do We Tackle Fake News? - Infosecurity Magazine

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Microsoft reveals extent of attacks by Russian hackers on Ukraine allies - and why Estonia is striking exception | World News | Sky News

• Russia Steps Up Cyber-Espionage Against Ukraine Allies - Infosecurity Magazine

• Ukrainian organisations warned of hacking attempts using CredoMap malware, Cobalt Strike beacons | ZDNet

• Fancy Bear Uses Nuke Threat Lure to Exploit 1-Click Bug | Threatpost

• Russian APT28 hacker accused of the NATO think tank hack in Germany - Security Affairs

• Russia fines Google for spreading ‘unreliable’ info defaming its army (bleepingcomputer.com)

Nation State Actors – China

• Chinese APT 'Bronze Starlight' Uses Ransomware to Disguise Cyberespionage | SecurityWeek.Com

• Chinese Tropic Trooper APT spreads a hacking tool laced with a backdoor - Security Affairs

• Chinese hackers target script kiddies with info-stealer trojan (bleepingcomputer.com)

Nation State Actors – Iran

• False Air Raid Sirens in Israel Possibly Triggered by Iranian Cyber Attack | SecurityWeek.Com

Nation State Actors – Misc APT

• Elusive ToddyCat APT Targets Microsoft Exchange Servers | Threatpost

• APT Groups Swarming on VMware Servers with Log4Shell (darkreading.com)

• How APTs Are Achieving Persistence Through IoT, OT, and Network Devices (darkreading.com)

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Vulnerability Management

• Why We're Getting Vulnerability Management Wrong (darkreading.com)

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Vulnerabilities

• Cisco warns of security holes in its security appliances • The Register

• Citrix Releases Security Updates for Hypervisor | CISA

• Google Patches 14 Vulnerabilities With Release of Chrome 103 | SecurityWeek.Com

• Cisco will not address critical RCE in end-of-life Small Business RV routers - Security Affairs

• Google expert detailed a 5-Year-Old flaw in Apple Safari exploited in the wild - Security Affairs

• Oracle spent 6 months to fix 'Mega' flaws in the Fusion Middleware - Security Affairs

• Researchers criticize Oracle's vulnerability disclosure process (techtarget.com)

• Critical PHP Vulnerability Exposes QNAP NAS Devices to Remote Attacks (thehackernews.com)

Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

• Flagstar Bank discloses data breach impacting 1.5 million customers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• 7 Cyber security Best Practices for Financial Services Firms - MSSP Alert

• Why Financial Institutions Must Double Down on Open Source Investments (darkreading.com)

• 10 Biggest Data Breaches in Finance | UpGuard

SMBs – Small and Medium Businesses

• How tool sprawl is becoming a common issue for SMEs - Help Net Security

• Middle market companies under attack: Threats coming from all directions - Help Net Security

• #InfosecurityEurope2022: How Should SMEs Defend Against Cyber-Risks? - Infosecurity Magazine

Legal

• #InfosecurityEurope2022: Lawyers Update Security for New Ways of Working - Infosecurity Magazine

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• Healthcare breaches on the rise in 2022 (techtarget.com)

Retail/eCommerce

• Magecart attacks are still around. And they are becoming more stealthy | ZDNet

• Newly Discovered Magecart Infrastructure Reveals the Scale of Ongoing Campaign- IT Security Guru

Manufacturing

• Automotive fabric supplier TB Kawashima announces cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Researchers disclose 56 vulnerabilities impacting thousands of OT devices - Help Net Security

• Operational Technology (OT) Security and Cyber attacks: Research Reveals Key Trends - MSSP Alert

• How To Minimise Your OT Blind Spots – Information Security Buzz

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• State of Open Source Security 2022 | Snyk

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Other News

• Threat Intelligence Services Are Universally Valued by IT Staff (darkreading.com)

• #InfosecurityEurope2022 Firms Face Emerging Threats as Bad Actors Evade Defences - Infosecurity Magazine

• Security pros increasingly plan to adopt MDR services in the next 12 months - Help Net Security

• Board members and the C-suite need secure communication tools - Help Net Security

• Adobe Acrobat may block antivirus tools from monitoring PDF files (bleepingcomputer.com)

• 7 Ways to Avoid Worst-Case Cyber Scenarios (darkreading.com)

• 3 threats dirty data poses to the enterprise (techtarget.com)

• Data recovery depends on how good your backup strategy is - Help Net Security

• Unsecured APIs Could Be Costing Firms $75bn Per Year - Infosecurity Magazine

• The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of the Presumption of Compromise (darkreading.com)

• AI Is Not a Security Silver Bullet (darkreading.com)

• #InfosecurityEurope2022: Are You Prepared For The Next Big Crisis? - Infosecurity Magazine

• Ongoing PowerShell security threats prompt a call to action (techtarget.com)

• Despite known security issues, VPN usage continues to thrive - Help Net Security

• Space-based assets aren’t immune to cyber attacks | CSO Online

• Cyber security expert on how $13K of fuel was stolen from station (wtvr.com)

• Cloudflare Outage Knocks Hundreds of Websites Offline - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.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.

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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 17 June 2022

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

• How Organisations Can Protect Themselves in The Emerging Risk Landscape

ThoughtLab’s 2022 cyber security benchmarking study ‘Cyber Security Solutions for a Riskier World’ revealed that the pandemic has brought cyber security to a critical inflection point. The number of material breaches that respondents suffered rose 20.5% from 2020 to 2021, and cyber security budgets as a percentage of firms’ total revenue jumped 51%, from 0.53% to 0.80%.

During that time, cyber security has become a strategic business imperative, requiring CEOs and their management teams to work together to meet the higher expectations of regulators, shareholders, and the board.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/13/cybersecurity-strategic-business-imperative-video/

• Phishing Reaches All-Time High in Early 2022

The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) Phishing Activity Trends Report reveals that in the first quarter of 2022 there were 1,025,968 total phishing attacks—the worst quarter for phishing observed to date. This quarter was the first time the three-month total has exceeded one million. There were 384,291 attacks in March 2022, which was a record monthly total.

In the first quarter of 2022, OpSec Security reported that phishing attacks against the financial sector, which includes banks, remained the largest set of attacks, accounting for 23.6 percent of all phishing. Attacks against webmail and software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers remained prevalent as well, while attacks against retail/ecommerce sites fell from 17.3 to 14.6 percent after the holiday shopping season.

Phishing against social media services rose markedly, from 8.5 percent of all attacks in 4Q2021 to 12.5 percent in 1Q2022. Phishing against cryptocurrency targets—such as cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet providers—inched up from 6.5 in the previous quarter to 6.6 percent of attacks.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/15/2022-total-phishing-attacks/

• Ransomware Attacks Are Surging, with More Dangerous Hybrid Attacks to Come. Is Your Cyber Security Up to Date?

Time to reassess your cyber security strategies. Again.

Ransomware attacks on businesses have increased by one-third in the past year, according to a recent report by the Boston-based cyber security company Cybereason. 

Most (73 percent of businesses) were hit by at least one ransomware attack in the past year, and 68 percent of businesses that paid a ransom were hit again in less than a month for a higher ransom, according to the survey, which polled 1,456 cyber security professionals at global companies with 700 or more employees.

These attacks have big implications: Thirty-seven percent of companies were forced to lay off employees after paying ransoms, and 33 percent were forced to temporarily suspend business.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, cyber security experts have insisted businesses improve their lines of defence to protect against an increased risk of ransomware attacks from Russia. ​Ransomware attacks have also increased since the start of the pandemic--the rise of remote work increased vulnerability for many businesses, which hackers have taken advantage of, a 2020 FBI memo noted. So, enterprises of all sizes are at risk from many more points of attack.

https://www.inc.com/rebecca-deczynski/ransomware-attacks-increasing-cyber-security-advice.html

• The Challenges of Managing Increased Complexity as Hybrid IT Accelerates

SolarWinds released the findings of its ninth annual IT Trends Report which examines the acceleration of digital transformation efforts and its impact on IT departments. The report found the acceleration of hybrid IT has increased network complexity for most organisations and caused several worrisome challenges for IT professionals.

Hybrid and remote work have amplified the impact of distributed and complex IT environments. Running workloads and applications across both cloud and on-premises infrastructure can be challenging, and many organisations are increasingly experiencing—and ultimately hindered by—these pain points.

As more and more mission-critical workloads move to connected cloud architectures that span public, private, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments, enterprises recognise they need to invest in the tools that will help them ensure consistent policies and performance across all platforms and end users. However, they simultaneously face challenges such as budget, time constraints, and barriers to implementing observability as a strategy to keep pace with hybrid IT realities.

However professionals feel less confident in their organisation’s ability to manage IT. While 54% of respondents state they leverage monitoring strategies to manage this complexity, 49% revealed they lack visibility into the majority of their organisation’s apps and infrastructure. This lack of visibility impacts their ability to conduct anomaly detection, easy root-cause analysis, and other critical processes to ensure the availability, performance, and security of business-critical applications.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/16/hybrid-it-acceleration-challenges/

• 72% Of Middle Market Companies Expect to Experience a Cyber Attack

Middle market companies face an increasingly volatile cyber security environment, with threats coming from more directions than ever before and more skilled criminals targeting the segment, according to an RSM US and US Chamber of Commerce report.

However, there is good news as the number of breaches reported in the last year among middle market companies slightly decreased with protections becoming more available and executives understanding the consequences related to potential incidents. Twenty-two percent of middle market leaders claimed that their company experienced a data breach in the last year, representing a drop from 28% in last year’s survey, suggesting that even with enhanced protections in place and the decrease in attacks, companies cannot afford to let their guard down.

The middle market encountered a roller coaster of risks in the last year, from lingering threats related to the COVID-19 pandemic to geopolitical conflicts and economic uncertainty.

The small drop in reported breaches is encouraging, and largely attributed to middle market companies beginning to implement better identity and access management controls. Yet, even with the decline in reported attacks, companies recognise the risks posed by the current dynamic threat environment, with 72% of executives anticipating that unauthorised users will attempt to access data or systems in 2022, a sharp rise from 64% last year and the highest number since RSM began tracking data in 2015.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/16/middle-market-companies-cybersecurity/

• Malware's Destruction Trajectory and How to Defeat It

Malware and targeted attacks on operating systems and firmware have become increasingly destructive in nature, and these more nefarious attack methods are rising in prevalence. And just to add insult to injury, there are more of them. Today’s attacks are hitting more often, and they are hitting harder.

In the first three decades of its existence, malware was primarily restricted to mischief and attempts by virus creators to discover if their creations would work. But now the threat landscape has changed from simple vandalism to lucrative cyber crime and state-sponsored attacks.

Wiper malware, in particular, has gained traction in recent months. The FortiGuard Labs research team has seen at least seven different malware attacks targeting Ukrainian infrastructure or Ukrainian companies so far this year. The primary reason for using Wiper malware is its sheer destructiveness – the intent is to cripple infrastructure. What does the increased presence of Wiper malware strains indicate? And what do security leaders need to know and do to keep their organisation safe? Read more…

https://www.securityweek.com/malwares-destruction-trajectory-and-how-defeat-it

• Which Stolen Data Are Ransomware Gangs Most Likely to Disclose?

If your organisation gets hit by a ransomware gang that has also managed to steal company data before hitting the “encrypt” button, which types of data are more likely to end up being disclosed as you debate internally on whether you should pay the ransomware gang off?

Rapid7 analysed 161 data disclosures performed by ransomware gangs using the double extortion approach between April 2020 and February 2022, and found that:

• The most commonly leaked data is financial (63%), followed by customer/patient data (48%)

• Files containing intellectual property (e.g., trade secrets, research data, etc.) are rarely disclosed (12%) by ransomware gangs, but if the organisation is part of the pharmaceutical industry, the risk of IP data being disclosed is considerably higher (43%), “likely due to the high value placed on research and development within this industry.”

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/17/ransomware-data-disclosed/

• Threat Actors Becoming More Creative Exploiting the Human Factor

Threat actors exhibited "ceaseless creativity" last year when attacking the Achilles heel of every organisation—its human capital—according to Proofpoint's annual The Human Factor 2022 report. The report, released June 2, draws on a multi-trillion datapoint graph created from the company's deployments to identify the latest attack trends by malicious players.

"Last year, attackers demonstrated just how unscrupulous they really are, making protecting people from cyber threats an ongoing—and often eye-opening—challenge for organisations,” Proofpoint said in a statement.

The combination of remote work and the blurring of work and personal life on smartphones have influenced attacker techniques, the report notes. During the year, SMS phishing, or smishing, attempts more than doubled in the United States, while in the UK, 50% of phishing lures focused on delivery notifications. An expectation that more people were likely working from home even drove good, old-fashioned voice scams, with more than 100,000 telephone attacks a day being launched by cyber criminals.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3663478/threat-actors-becoming-more-creative-exploiting-the-human-factor.html#tk.rss_news

• 66% Of Organisations Store 21%-60% Of Their Sensitive Data in The Cloud

A Thales report, conducted by 451 Research, reveals that 45% of businesses have experienced a cloud-based data breach or failed audit in the past 12 months, up 5% from the previous year, raising even greater concerns regarding the protection of sensitive data from cyber criminals.

Globally, cloud adoption and notably multicloud adoption, remains on the rise. In 2021, organisations worldwide were using an average amount of 110 software as a service (SaaS) applications, compared with just eight in 2015, showcasing a startlingly rapid increase.

With increasing complexity of multicloud environments comes an even greater need for robust cyber security. When asked what percentage of their sensitive data is stored in the cloud, 66% said between 21-60%. However, only 25% said they could fully classify all data.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/16/cloud-based-data-breach-video/

• Travel-related Cyber Crime Takes Off as Industry Rebounds

An upsurge in the tourism industry after the COVID-19 pandemic grabs the attention of cyber criminals to scam the tourists.

Researchers are warning a post-COVID upsurge in travel has painted a bullseye on the travel industry and has spurred related cyber crimes.

Criminal activity includes an uptick in adversaries targeting the theft of airline mileage reward points, website credentials for travel websites and travel-related databases breaches, according to a report by Intel 471.

The impact of the attacks are hacked accounts stripped of value. But also, researchers say the consequences of recent attacks can also include flight delays and cancelations as airlines grapple with mitigating hacks.

https://threatpost.com/travel-related-cybercrime-takes-off/179962/

• How Should You Think About Security When Considering Digital Transformation Projects?

Digital transformation helps businesses keep operating and stay competitive. Here are the ways to think about security so that businesses reap the benefits without taking on associated risks.

Multiple factors contribute to the sheer number of digital transformation projects underway today: the proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT), expanding artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, the sudden shift to a remote workforce prompted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the rapid rate of cloud migration. Digital transformation is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have in order to survive and thrive in today’s business world.

CISOs and their security teams need to think about security in the digital age from both an internal and an external perspective. For the former, security teams should introduce and adopt digital enablers to transform the information security organisation. Digital enablers include the cloud, IoT, AI/machine learning (ML), and automation to transform the information security organisation.

For the latter, they should address potential risks as new digital enablers are introduced by the business to drive growth.

Here are five specific areas security teams should prioritise to achieve security-first digital transformation:

1. Security operations modernisation

2. Developer-centric security

3. Cloud strategy and execution

4. Connected devices

5. Big data and analytics

As important as it is to keep the business operating and competitive, organisations must transform securely. Keeping security at the forefront gives the business the benefits of digital transformation without the associated risks.

https://www.darkreading.com/edge-ask-the-experts/how-should-i-think-about-security-when-considering-digital-transformation-projects-

• Internet Explorer Now Retired but Still an Attacker Target

Microsoft's official end-of-support for the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application on June 15 relegated to history a browser that's been around for almost 27 years. Even so, IE still likely will provide a juicy target for attackers.

That's because some organisations are still using Internet Explorer (IE) despite Microsoft's long-known plans to deprecate the technology. Microsoft meanwhile has retained the MSHTML (aka Trident) IE browser engine as part of Windows 11 until 2029, allowing organisations to run in IE mode while they transition to the Microsoft Edge browser. In other words, IE isn't dead just yet, nor are threats to it.

Though IE has a negligible share of the browser market worldwide these days (0.52%), many enterprises still run it or have legacy applications tied to IE. This appears to be the case in countries such as Japan and Korea. Stories in Nikkei Asia and Japan Times this week quoted a survey by Keyman's Net showing that nearly 49% of 350 Japanese companies surveyed are still using IE. Another report in South Korea's MBN pointed to several large organisations still running IE.

https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/internet-explorer-will-likely-remain-an-attacker-target-for-some-time

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Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware attacks are increasing with more dangerous hybrids ahead | CSO Online

• Why do organisations need to prioritize ransomware preparedness? - Help Net Security

• Ransomware and Phishing Remain IT's Biggest Concerns (darkreading.com)

• The attacker’s toolkit: Ransomware-as-a-service | VentureBeat

• Ransomware gang publishes stolen victim data on the public Internet - Help Net Security

• Researchers Discover Way to Attack SharePoint and OneDrive Files with Ransomware | SecurityWeek.Com

• ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware gang starts publishing victims' data on the clear web - Security Affairs

• Ransomware gang creates site for employees to search for their stolen data (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft: Exchange servers hacked to deploy BlackCat ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Conti's Attack Against Costa Rica Sparks a New Ransomware Era | WIRED UK

• Hello XD ransomware now drops a backdoor while encrypting (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Alphv ransomware gang ups pressure with new extortion scheme (techtarget.com)

• Costa Rica Chaos a Warning That Ransomware Threat Remains | SecurityWeek.Com

• DeadBolt ransomware takes another shot at QNAP storage • The Register

• The many lives of BlackCat ransomware - Microsoft Security Blog

• Atlassian Confluence Flaw Being Used to Deploy Ransomware and Crypto Miners (thehackernews.com)

• BlackCat Ransomware affiliates target unpatched Microsoft Exchange servers - Security Affairs

• Ransomware gangs target Japan as a feeding ground | Financial Times (ft.com)

• Africa's biggest supermarket hit by ransomware attacks | TechRadar

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• NakedPages Phishing Toolkit is Now Available on Cyber crime Forums - Infosecurity Magazine

• New phishing attack infects devices with Cobalt Strike (bleepingcomputer.com)

Other Social Engineering

• How social engineering attacks are evolving beyond email - Help Net Security

• 2,000 People Arrested Worldwide for Social Engineering Schemes | SecurityWeek.Com

• Facebook Messenger Scam Duped Millions | Threatpost

• Heineken giving away free beer for Father's Day? It's a WhatsApp scam (bitdefender.com)

Malware

• Businesses are leaving bot attacks unchallenged for almost four months - Help Net Security

• New Syslogk Linux rootkit uses magic packets to trigger backdoor (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Linux Malware Deemed ‘Nearly Impossible’ to Detect | Threatpost

• Authorities Shut Down Russian RSOCKS Botnet That Hacked Millions of Devices (thehackernews.com)

• PSA: Beware of Clipboard Malware | NiceHash

• New Emotet Variant Stealing Users’ Credit Card Information From Google Chrome – Information Security Buzz

• Akamai Warns Of "Panchan" Linux Botnet That Leverages Golang Concurrency, Systemd - Phoronix

• Websites Hosting Fake Cracks Spread Updated CopperStealer Malware (trendmicro.com)

Mobile

• Over a billion Google Play Store app downloads could be infected by malware | TechRadar

• Android malware on the Google Play Store gets 2 million downloads (bleepingcomputer.com)

• MaliBot: A New Android Banking Trojan Spotted in the Wild (thehackernews.com)

• Cyber security Researchers Find Several Google Play Store Apps Stealing Users Data - Infosecurity Magazine

• Chinese Hackers Distribute Backdoored Web3 Wallets for iOS and Android Users (thehackernews.com)

• Android Spyware 'Hermit' Discovered in Targeted Attacks (darkreading.com)

Internet of Things - IoT

• Anker Eufy smart home hubs exposed to RCE attacks by critical flaw (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Researcher Shows How Tesla Key Card Feature Can Be Abused to Steal Cars | SecurityWeek.Com

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Unsecured Elasticsearch server leaks a million records • The Register

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Cyber Criminals Smuggle Ukrainian Men Across Border - Infosecurity Magazine

• iCloud hacker gets 9 years in prison for stealing nude photos (bleepingcomputer.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs

• Atlassian Confluence Flaw Being Used to Deploy Ransomware and Crypto Miners (thehackernews.com)

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• At Second Trial, Ex-CIA Employee Defends Himself in Big Leak | SecurityWeek.Com

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) Fraud Alert as Account Takeovers Surge - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• INTERPOL raids hundreds of scammy call centers in sweep - CyberScoop

• Fraud trends and scam tactics consumers should be aware of - Help Net Security

Dark Web

• 24 Billion Usernames And Passwords Found On The Dark Web – Information Security Buzz

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• How confident are IT pros in the security of their organisation's supply chain? - Help Net Security

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

• A tiny botnet launched the largest DDoS attack on record | ZDNet

• Cloudflare Saw Record-Breaking DDoS Attack Peaking at 26 Million Request Per Second (thehackernews.com)

• DDoS Subscription Service Operator Gets 2 Years in Prison (darkreading.com)

Cloud/SaaS

• Increased cloud complexity needs stronger cyber security - Help Net Security

• Beware the 'Secret Agent' Cloud Middleware (darkreading.com)

• SaaS security: How to avoid “death by 1000 apps” - Help Net Security

• Quantifying the SaaS Supply Chain and Its Risks (darkreading.com)

• 83% of IT pros are using either hybrid or multi-cloud - Help Net Security

Privacy

• Location data poses risks to individuals, organisations | CSO Online

Passwords, Credential Stuffing & Brute Force Attacks

• 24+ Billion Credentials Circulating on the Dark Web in 2022 — So Far (darkreading.com)

• Strong passwords still a priority strategy for enterprises - Help Net Security

• The future is passwordless. What's slowing it down? - Help Net Security

• Brute-Force Attacks: How to Defend Against Them - MSSP Alert

• Staffing Firm Robert Half Says Hackers Targeted Over 1,000 Customer Accounts | SecurityWeek.Com

Travel

• Cyber Criminals Capitalizing on Resurgence in Travel (darkreading.com)

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• Privacy Watchdog Set to Keep Millions in Fines for Legal Costs - Infosecurity Magazine

• Canada wants companies to report cyber attacks and hacking incidents | Reuters

• A closer look at the US SEC Cyber Security Disclosure rule - Help Net Security

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

• Interpol anti-fraud op leads to 2,000 arrests, $50m seized • The Register

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

• Chinese Threat Actor Employs Fake Removable Devices as Lures in Cyber-Espionage Campaign (darkreading.com)

• Sophisticated Android Spyware 'Hermit' Used by Governments | SecurityWeek.Com

• Chinese 'Gallium' Hackers Using New PingPull Malware in Cyberespionage Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Vladimir Putin forced by cyber attack in Russia to delay keynote speech | The Independent

• Iranian hacking campaign that included former US ambassador exposed - CyberScoop

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Russia Reportedly Warns of "Direct Military Clash" if Cyber-Attacks on its Infrastructure Continue - IT Security Guru

• Russian hackers start targeting Ukraine with Follina exploits (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Mixed results for Russia's aggressive Ukraine information war, experts say - CyberScoop

Nation State Actors – China

• Chinese Gallium hackers backdoor finance, govt orgs using new PingPull malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• China-linked APT Flew Under Radar for Decade | Threatpost

• Chinese APT exploited Sophos Firewall Zero-Day before it was fixed - Security Affairs

Nation State Actors – Iran

• New Iranian Spear-Phishing Campaign Hijacks Email Conversations- IT Security Guru

• State-Sponsored Phishing Attack Targeted Israeli Military Officials | Threatpost

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Vulnerability Management

• Only 10% of vulnerabilities are remediated each month - Help Net Security

• Vulnerability management mistakes CISOs still make | CSO Online

• Mind the gap: How to ensure your vulnerability detection methods are up to scratch - Help Net Security

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Vulnerabilities

• Microsoft fixes Follina and 55 other CVEs - Help Net Security

• Details of Twice-Patched Windows RDP Vulnerability Disclosed | SecurityWeek.Com

• New Hertzbleed side-channel attack affects Intel, AMD CPUs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Time to throw out those older, vulnerable Cisco SMB routers • The Register

• Critical Citrix Bugs Impact All ADM Servers, Agents (darkreading.com)

• Time to update: Google patches seven Chrome browser bugs, four rated 'high' risk | ZDNet

• Critical Flaw in Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager Lets Attackers Bypass Authentication (thehackernews.com)

• Cisco fixed a critical Bypass Authentication flaw in Cisco ESA and Secure Email and Web Manager- Security Affairs

• Why Log4j Is Still The Problem When The Patch Is Released 6 Months Ago? – Information Security Buzz

• Atlassian Confluence Flaw Being Used to Deploy Ransomware and Crypto Miners (thehackernews.com)

• Sophos Firewall zero-day bug exploited weeks before fix (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Researchers Disclose Rooting Backdoor in Mitel IP Phones for Businesses (thehackernews.com)

• NinjaForms WordPress plugin, actively exploited in wild, receives forced security update • Graham Cluley

• How to mitigate Active Directory attacks that use the KrbRelayUp toolset | CSO Online

• Hertzbleed disclosure raises questions for Intel (techtarget.com)

• Critical Atlassian Confluence flaw remains under attack (techtarget.com)

• Hackers exploit three-year-old Telerik flaws to deploy Cobalt Strike (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Technical Details Released for 'SynLapse' RCE Vulnerability Reported in Microsoft Azure (thehackernews.com)

• Zimbra bug allows stealing email logins with no user interaction (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft takes months to fix critical Azure Synapse bug (techtarget.com)

• PACMAN, a new attack technique against Apple M1 CPUs - Security Affairs

• Critical Code Execution Vulnerability Patched in Splunk Enterprise | SecurityWeek.Com

• High-Severity RCE Vulnerability Reported in Popular Fastjson Library (thehackernews.com)

• This Security Exploit Could Have Major PS5 And PS4 Implications (slashgear.com)

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Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

• Chinese GALLIUM Expands Targeting Across Telecommunications, Government and Finance Sectors With New PingPull Tool (paloaltonetworks.com)

Telecoms

• Chinese GALLIUM Expands Targeting Across Telecommunications, Government and Finance Sectors With New PingPull Tool (paloaltonetworks.com)

Government

• Chinese GALLIUM Expands Targeting Across Telecommunications, Government and Finance Sectors With New PingPull Tool (paloaltonetworks.com)

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• Ransomware Risk in Healthcare Endangers Patients | Threatpost

• Kaiser Permanente Says Data Breach Hit 69,000 Patients (gizmodo.com)

Transport and Aviation

• Cyber Criminals Capitalizing on Resurgence in Travel (darkreading.com)

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Tackling 5 Challenges Facing Critical National Infrastructure Today (darkreading.com)

• State of OT Security in 2022: Big Survey Key Insights (trendmicro.com)

• Over a Dozen Flaws Found in Siemens' Industrial Network Management System (thehackernews.com)

• Eight ICS Zero Days Could Open Doors for Hackers - Infosecurity Magazine

Web3

• Web3 and IAM: Marching toward disruption | CSO Online

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• Voice of the CISO 2022 | Proofpoint

• 3 Big Takeaways From the Verizon DBIR 2022 (darkreading.com)

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• Other News

• Why We Need Security Knowledge and Not Just Threat Intel (darkreading.com)

• Once is never enough: The need for continuous penetration testing - Help Net Security

• CISOs Gain False Confidence in the Calm After the Storm of the Pandemic (darkreading.com)

• 9 ways hackers will use machine learning to launch attacks | CSO Online

• API security warrants its own specific solution - Help Net Security

• Cyber Security Courses Ramp Up Amid Shortage of Professionals | SecurityWeek.Com

• How Russian sanctions may be helping US cyber security (techtarget.com)

• UK Security Practitioners Lack The Confidence To Stop Attacks – Information Security Buzz

• How Can Security Partnerships Help to Mitigate the Increasing Cyber Threat? (darkreading.com)

• 45% of cyber security pros are considering quitting the industry due to stress - Help Net Security

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

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

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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 10 June 2022

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

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

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

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

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

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

• Ransomware Attacks Setting New Records

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Paying Ransomware Paints Bigger Bullseye on Target’s Back

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

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

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

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

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

• Organisations Fix Only 1 in 10 Vulnerabilities Monthly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Cyber Attack Surface "Spiralling Out of Control"

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Phishing Hits All-Time High in Q1 2022

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

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

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

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

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

• Ransomware's ROI Retreat Will Drive More BEC Attacks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Why Smishing and Vishing Attempts Surged In 2021

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

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

Key Findings:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Notably:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Small Businesses Struggle with an Increase in Cyber Attacks

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

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

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

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Threats

Ransomware

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BEC – Business Email Compromise

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

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

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

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

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

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

Other Social Engineering

• Smishing and Vishing Attempts Surged in 2021 - Infosecurity Magazine

Malware

• Symantec sees more malware operators exploiting Follina • The Register

• Potent Emotet Variant Spreads Via Stolen Email Credentials | Threatpost

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mobile

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

IoT

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

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

Data Breaches/Leaks

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

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

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

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs

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

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

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

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

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

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

• Apple Release 2021 Fraud Prevention Analysis- IT Security Guru

AML/CFT/Sanctions

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

Insurance

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

Dark Web

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

Software Supply Chain

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

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

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

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

Cloud/SaaS

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

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

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

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

• Getting to grips with SaaS security - Help Net Security

Attack Surface Management

• Taming the Digital Asset Tsunami | Threatpost

Open Source

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

Privacy

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

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

Parental Controls and Child Safety

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

Law Enforcement Action and Take Downs

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

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

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

• Russian Ministry Website Reportedly Hacked- IT Security Guru

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

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

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

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

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

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

Nation State Actors – China

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

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

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

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

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

Nation State Actors – Iran

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

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

Nation State Actors – Misc APT

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

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Vulnerability Management

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

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

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

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Vulnerabilities

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

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

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

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

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

• Vulnerability discovered in Apple M1 chip • The Register

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

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

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Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

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

Telecoms

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

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

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

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

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

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

Retail/eCommerce

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

Energy & Utilities

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

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

Education and Academia

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

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

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• The Human Factor Report 2022 | Proofpoint US

• Router security report 2021 | Securelist

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Other News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 03 June 2022

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

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

• Turbulent Cyber Insurance Market Sees Rising Prices And Sinking Coverage

As insurers and brokers reckon with unexpected losses, they're charging more for policies and setting higher requirements.

Chaos reigns in the cyber insurance market. Brokers and cyber insurance carriers — the companies that actually offer the policies — are tightening requirements on what applicants need to do to obtain policies due to losses the insurers have suffered from ransomware coverage. During the past year, premiums grew 18% in the first quarter of 2021 and were up 34% in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to Jess Burn, senior analyst at Forrester.

Organisations often find they cannot obtain cyber insurance, are not being renewed for coverage they already have, or are faced with soaring prices and shrinking coverage. Despite the value many organisations put on cyber insurance — in some cases, they're required to carry it to comply with regulations — obtaining such policies is getting more difficult.

While raising premiums, some insurers are reducing coverage. If an organisation bought $10 million worth of coverage for a given price in 2021, for example, renewing that policy in 2022 might see the coverage amount fall to $3 million and the premiums for that lower coverage rise. This phenomenon is due, in part, to insurers trying to strike the right balance of customers' risk profile versus their risk-mitigation efforts.

https://www.darkreading.com/edge-articles/turbulent-cyber-insurance-market-sees-rising-prices-and-sinking-coverage

• Ransomware Attacks Still The #1 Threat To Businesses And Organisations

In 2021, ransomware attacks continued to be one of the most prominent threats targeting businesses and organisations worldwide.

High-profile attacks disrupted operations of companies in various sectors.

For example, the Colonial Pipeline attack interrupted critical infrastructure, the JBS Foods attack influenced food processing, and the CNA breach disrupted the insurance industry.

Following the attacks, pressure of law enforcement on ransomware gangs intensified, though simultaneously these threat actors continued to evolve.

They are not only becoming more technologically sophisticated but are also extensively leveraging the growing cyber crime ecosystem looking to find new partners, services and tools for their operations.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/30/ransomware-trends-video/

• Third Of UK Firms Have Experienced A Security Breach Since 2020

Cyber threats are behind soaring fraud and economic crime in the UK, where rates are now second only globally to South Africa, according to PwC.

The consulting giant’s latest Global Economic Crime Survey revealed that nearly two-thirds (64%) of UK businesses experienced fraud, corruption or other economic/financial crime during the past 24 months, a significant increase on the 56% recorded in 2020, and 50% in 2018.

It’s also much higher than the 2022 global average of 46%, PwC said.

Cyber crime was the most commonly reported fraud type, although figures here dropped from 42% in 2020 to 32% in 2022. Included for the first time in the report, supply chain incidents accounted for 19%.

Most (51%) reported fraud cases in the UK were traced back to external parties, versus just 43% globally. The top three culprits were cited as customers, hackers and vendors/suppliers.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/third-uk-security-breach-2020/

• There Is No Good Digital Transformation Without Cyber Security

Network engineers and CIOs agree that cyber security issues represent the biggest risk for organisations that fail to put networks at the heart of digital transformation plans. According to research commissioned by Opengear, 53% of network engineers and 52% of CIOs polled in the US, UK, France, Germany, and Australia rank cyber security among the list of their biggest risks.

The concerns are fuelled by an escalating number of cyber attacks. In fact, 61% of CIOs report an increase in cyber security attacks/breaches from 2020-21 compared to the preceding two years. For digital transformation of networking, 70% of network engineers say security is the most important focus area, and 31% say network security is their biggest networking priority.

Digital transformation is a priority, but cyber security risk remains. CIOs also understand the importance of the issues. 51% of network engineers say their CIOs have consulted them on investments to deliver digital transformation plans, the highest priority in the survey.

What’s more, 41% of CIOs rank cyber security among their organisation’s most important investment priorities over the next year, with 35% stating it is among the biggest over the next five years. In both cases, cyber security ranks higher than any other factor.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/31/digital-transformation-cybersecurity-risk/

• Ransomware Gang Now Hacks Corporate Websites To Show Ransom Notes

A ransomware gang is taking extortion to a new level by publicly hacking corporate websites to publicly display ransom notes.

This new extortion strategy is being conducted by Industrial Spy, a data extortion gang that recently began using ransomware. As part of their attacks, Industrial Spy will breach networks, steal data, and deploy ransomware on devices. The threat actors then threaten to sell the stolen data on their Tor marketplace if a ransom is not paid.

When ransomware gangs extort a victim, they typically give them a short window, usually a few weeks, to negotiate and pay a ransom before they start leaking data.

During this negotiation process, the threat actors promise to keep the attack secret, provide a decryption key, and delete all data if a ransom is paid.

After this period, the threat actors will use various methods to increase pressure, including DDoS attacks on corporate websites, emailing customers and business partners, and calling executives with threats.

These tactics are all done privately or with minimal exposure on their data leak sites, which are usually only visited by cyber security researchers and the media.

However, this is the first time we have seen a ransomware gang defacing a website to very publicly display a ransom note.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ransomware-gang-now-hacks-corporate-websites-to-show-ransom-notes/

• Attackers Are Leveraging Follina, A Critical Microsoft Windows Vulnerability Affecting Nearly All Versions of Windows and Windows Server. What Can You Do?

As the world is waiting for Microsoft to push out a patch for CVE-2022-30190, aka “Follina”, attackers around the world are exploiting the vulnerability in a variety of campaigns.

Microsoft has described CVE-2022-30190 as a Microsoft Windows Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT) remote code execution vulnerability, confirmed it affects an overwhelming majority of Windows and Windows Server versions, and advised on a workaround to be implemented until a patch is ready.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/03/patch-cve-2022-30190/

• Ransomware Attacks Need Less Than Four Days To Encrypt Systems

The duration of ransomware attacks in 2021 averaged 92.5 hours, measured from initial network access to payload deployment. In 2020, ransomware actors spent an average of 230 hours to complete their attacks and 1637.6 hours in 2019.

This change reflects a more streamlined approach that developed gradually over the years to make large-scale operations more profitable.

At the same time, improvements in incident response and threat detection have forced threat actors to move quicker, to leave defenders with a smaller reaction margin.

The data was collected by researchers at IBM's X-Force team from incidents analysed in 2021. They also noticed a closer collaboration between initial access brokers and ransomware operators.

Previously, network access brokers might wait for multiple days or even weeks before they found a buyer for their network access.

In addition, some ransomware gangs now have direct control over the initial infection vector, an example being Conti taking over the TrickBot malware operation.

Malware that breaches corporate networks is quickly leveraged to enable post-exploitation stages of the attack, sometimes completing its objectives in mere minutes.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ransomware-attacks-need-less-than-four-days-to-encrypt-systems/

• 57% Of All Digital Crimes In 2021Were Scams

Group-IB shares its analysis of the landscape of the most widespread cyber threat in the world: scams. Accounting for 57% of all financially motivated cyber crime, the scam industry is becoming more structured and involves more and more parties divided into hierarchical groups.

The number of such groups jumped to a record high of 390, which is 3.5 times more than last year, when the maximum number of active groups was close to 110. Due to SaaS (Scam-as-a-Service), in 2021 the number of cyber criminals in one scam gang increased 10 times compared to 2020 and now reaches 100.

Traffic has become the circulatory system of scam projects: researchers emphasise that the number of websites used for purchasing and providing “grey” and illegal traffic and that lure victims into fraudulent schemes has increased by 1.5 times. Scammers are going into 2022 on a new level of scam attack automation: no more non-targeted users. Scammers are now attracting specific groups of victims to increase conversion rates. Social media are more often becoming the first point of contact between scammers and their potential victims.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/31/scams-widespread-cyber-threat/

• Intelligence Is Key To Strategic Business Decisions

Businesses have a growing need for greater relevance in the intelligence they use to inform critical decision-making. Currently just 18% of professionals responsible for security, risk, or compliance in their organisation feel that the intelligence they receive is “very specific and focused on their business”, a S-RM research reveals.

6 in 10 respondents also say the intelligence they receive takes too much time to analyse, meaning it does not always result in better informed decision making. This was the top reason behind dissatisfaction with external intelligence, identified by over 200 professionals working at companies with revenues of over $250 million.

The second most likely reason was that information was not tailored to business needs (47%), followed by too much information (35%).

Growing demand for the use of strategic intelligence has been prompted by increasing cyber (51%) and regulatory concerns (50%). And while these two factors have been climbing the boardroom agenda for years, geopolitical uncertainty has made the need to respond to these developments more acute. In particular, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has created a complex sanctions regime for businesses to operate.

Additionally, navigating the complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a key challenge for businesses in the past three years, with 40% citing this as a catalyst in driving a growing need for strategic intelligence.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/03/intelligence-decision-making/

• How Cyber Criminals Are Targeting Executives At Home And Their Families

Top executives and their families are increasingly being targeted on their personal devices and home networks, as sophisticated threat actors look for new ways to bypass corporate security and get direct access to highly sensitive data.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/06/01/cybercriminals-targeting-executives-video/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Cyber criminals Expand Attack Radius and Ransomware Pain Points | Threatpost

• FBI, CISA warn: Don't get caught in Karakurt's web • The Register

• Conti ransomware targeted Intel firmware for stealthy attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• GoodWill Ransomware victims have to perform socially driven activities to decryption their dataSecurity Affairs

• YourCyanide Ransomware Propagates With PasteBin, Discord, Microsoft Links (darkreading.com)

• Conti Leaks Reveal Ransomware Gang's Interest in Firmware-based Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Evil Corp switches to LockBit ransomware to evade sanctions (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ransomware attack sends New Jersey county back to 1977 • The Register

• Ransomware roundup: System-locking malware dominates headlines | CSO Online

• What if ransomware evolved to hit IoT in the enterprise? • The Register

• How Costa Rica found itself at war over ransomware | CSO Online

• Experts warn of ransomware attacks on government orgs of small states - Security Affairs

• Foxconn confirms ransomware attack disrupted production in Mexico (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Hanesbrands says it suffered a ransomware attack on May 24 and has informed law enforcement - MarketWatch

• Why Ransomware Timeline Shrinks By 94%? – Information Security Buzz

• Hundreds of Elasticsearch databases targeted in ransom attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

BEC – Business Email Compromise

• Why Stopping Business Email Compromise (BEC) Needs To Be A Priority For MSPs - MSSP Alert

• Language-based BEC attacks rising - Help Net Security

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Watch out for phishing emails that inject spyware trio • The Register

• Existential Phishing Schemes | The New Yorker

• Telegram’s blogging platform abused in phishing attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

Other Social Engineering

• Hacker steals Verizon employee database after tricking worker into granting remote access (bitdefender.com)

• Vishing attacks: What they are and how organisations can protect themselves - Help Net Security

• Beware the Smish! Home delivery scams with a professional feel… – Naked Security (sophos.com)

Malware

• New XLoader Botnet Version Using Probability Theory to Hide its C&C Servers (thehackernews.com)

• LuoYu APT delivers WinDealer malware via man-on-the-side attacks - Security Affairs

• EnemyBot malware adds enterprise flaws to exploit arsenal • The Register

• Researchers Uncover Malware Controlling Thousands of Sites in Parrot TDS Network (thehackernews.com)

• Logic bombs explained: Definition, examples, and prevention | CSO Online

Mobile

• Top 10 Android banking trojans target apps with 1 billion downloads (bleepingcomputer.com)

• WhatsApp accounts hijacked by call forwarding | Malwarebytes Labs

• SideWinder Hackers Use Fake Android VPN Apps to Target Pakistani Entities (thehackernews.com)

• SMSFactory Android malware sneakily subscribes to premium services (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Phishers Having a Field Day on WhatsApp, Telegraph (darkreading.com)

• Apple blocked 1.6 millions apps from defrauding users in 2021 (bleepingcomputer.com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• FBI warns of Ukrainian charities impersonated to steal donations (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Euro Cops Bust $47m Money Laundering Operation - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Three Nigerian Users of Agent Tesla RAT Arrested | SecurityWeek.Com

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs

• Americans report losing over $1 billion to cryptocurrency scams (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Clipminer malware gang stole $1.7M by hijacking crypto payments (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Bored Ape Yacht Club, Otherside NFTs stolen in Discord server hack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• WatchDog hacking group launches new Docker cryptojacking campaign (bleepingcomputer.com)

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• $39.5 billion lost to phone scams in last year - Help Net Security

• Fast loan scam: Here's how it works and why Lloyds Bank has put out an urgent warning | This is Money

• Britain's biggest bank issues 'urgent warning' over new scam (telegraph.co.uk)

• Scams account for most of all financially motivated cyber crime - Help Net Security

AML/CFT/Sanctions

• Evil Corp Pivots LockBit to Dodge US Sanctions | Threatpost

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• To better manage cyber security risk, extend zero-trust principles to third parties | TechCrunch

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

• DDoS threats growing in sophistication, size, and frequency - Help Net Security

• DDoS attackers continue to innovate, devising new threats and altering attack strategies - Help Net Security

Open Source

• Linux malware is on the rise—6 types of attacks to look for | CSO Online

• The Open Source Software Security Mobilization Plan: Takeaways for security leaders | CSO Online

Privacy

• Vodafone plans carrier-level user tracking for targeted ads (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Europe's hope to scan devices for unlawful files criticized • The Register

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• Why are many businesses still not using a password manager? - Help Net Security

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• ExpressVPN Removes Servers in India After Refusing to Comply with Government Order (thehackernews.com)

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

• NSA general confirms US offensive cyber ops in Ukraine war • The Register

• Deadly Secret: Electronic Warfare Shapes Russia-Ukraine War | SecurityWeek.Com

• Anonymous: Operation Russia after 100 days of war - Security Affairs

• Chinese LuoYu hackers deploy cyber-espionage malware via app updates (bleepingcomputer.com)

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Germany issues fresh warning to banks of cyber attacks due to Ukraine war | Reuters

Nation State Actors – China

• China-linked TA413 group actively exploits Microsoft Follina Zero-Day flawSecurity Affairs

• Chinese state media propaganda found in 88% of Google, Bing news searches - CyberScoop

• Chinese LuoYu Hackers Using Man-on-the-Side Attacks to Deploy WinDealer Backdoor (thehackernews.com)

• How Beijing’s surveillance cameras crept into Britain’s corridors of power (telegraph.co.uk)

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• The day the NHS was held to ransom by North Korean cyber hackers (telegraph.co.uk)

Nation State Actors – Iran

• Microsoft Disables Iran-Linked Lebanese Hacking Group Polonium (darkreading.com)

• Iranian hackers planned attack on Boston Children's Hospital last summer, FBI director says - CyberScoop

Nation State Actors – Misc APT

• Microsoft blocks Polonium hackers from using OneDrive in attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Snake carried out over 1,000 attacks since April 2020 - Security Affairs

• SideWinder Hackers Launched Over a 1,000 Cyber Attacks Over the Past 2 Years (thehackernews.com)

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Vulnerability Management

• Focus resources on patching most threatening vulns: research • The Register

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Vulnerabilities

• CISA adds 75 vulnerabilities to catalogue in 3 days- IT Security Guru

• Fighting Follina: Application Vulnerabilities and Detection Possibilities (darkreading.com)

• Yet another zero-day (sort of) in Windows “search URL” handling – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Microsoft Releases Workarounds for Office Vulnerability Under Active Exploitation (thehackernews.com)

• Actively Exploited Atlassian Zero-Day Bug Allows Full System Takeover (darkreading.com)

• Microsoft Azure vulnerabilities pose new cloud security risk - Protocol

• GitLab Issues Security Patch for Critical Account Takeover Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)

• New Unpatched Horde Webmail Bug Lets Hackers Take Over Server by Sending Email (thehackernews.com)

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Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

• Germany issues fresh warning to banks of cyber attacks due to Ukraine war | Reuters

Government

• Experts warn of ransomware attacks on government orgs of small states - Security Affairs

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• Twice as Many Healthcare Organisations Now Pay Ransom - Infosecurity Magazine

• Novartis says no sensitive data was compromised in cyber attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Costa Rica’s public health agency hit by Hive ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)

Transport and Aviation

• Turkish airline suffers 6.5TB data leak - IT Security Guru

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Vendor Refuses to Remove Backdoor Account That Can Facilitate Attacks on Industrial Firms | SecurityWeek.Com

• Industrial IoT ransomware attacks control systems directly (scmagazine.com)

• Researchers Demonstrate Ransomware for IoT Devices That Targets IT and OT Networks (thehackernews.com)

Food and Agriculture

• JBS Foods cyber attack highlights industry vulnerabilities to Russian hackers - ABC News

Web3

• Why web3 companies get hacked so often, according to crypto VC Grace Isford | TechCrunch

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Other News

• How Failing to Prioritize Cyber Security can Hurt Your Company (analyticsinsight.net)

• Cyber security needs a whole-of-society effort | The Hill

• 40% of enterprises don't include business-critical systems in their cyber security monitoring - Help Net Security

• Bad news: The cyber security skills crisis is about to get even worse | ZDNet

• Nearly Three-Quarters of Firms Suffer Downtime from DNS Attacks - Infosecurity Magazine

• CIOs and network engineers rank cyber security among the biggest risks - Help Net Security

• How USB Drives Can Be a Danger to Your Computer (howtogeek.com)

• Australian digital driver's licenses hackable in minutes • The Register

• Over 3.6 million MySQL servers found exposed on the Internet (bleepingcomputer.com)

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 27 May 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

• How Confident Are Companies In Managing Their Current Threat Exposure?

Crossword Cybersecurity has released a report based on the findings of a survey of over 200 CISOs and senior UK cyber security professionals. The paper reveals companies are more concerned and exposed to cyber threats than ever before, with 61 percent describing themselves as at best only “fairly confident” at managing their current cyber security threat exposure, which should raise some eyebrows around the boardroom.

Respondents also feared their cyber strategy would not keep pace with the rate of tech innovation and changes in the threat landscape. 40 percent of organisations believe their existing cyber strategy will be outdated in two years, and a further 37 percent within three years. Additional investment is needed to address longer term planning, with 44 percent saying they only have sufficient resources in their organisation to focus on the immediate and mid-term cyber threats and tech trends.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/26/organizations-cyber-strategy/

• 'There's No Ceiling': Ransomware's Alarming Growth Signals A New Era, Verizon DBIR Finds

Ransomware has become so efficient, and the underground economy so professional, that traditional monetisation of stolen data may be on its way out.

The past year has seen a staggering acceleration in ransomware incidents, with 25% of all breaches containing a ransomware component.

That's the top-line finding in the 2022 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), which found that ransomware events in conjunction with breaches ballooned 13% in the past year — last year's report found that just 12% of incidents were ransomware-related. That translates into a rate of increase that's more than the previous five years of growth combined.

The 15th annual DBIR analysed 23,896 security incidents, of which 5,212 were confirmed breaches. About four in five of those were the handiwork of external cyber criminal gangs and threat groups, according to Verizon. And according to Alex Pinto, manager of the Verizon Security Research team, these nefarious types are finding it easier and easier to earn an ill-gotten living with ransomware, making other types of breaches increasingly obsolete.

"Everything in cyber crime has become so commoditised, so much like a business now, and it's just too darn efficient of a methodology for monetising their activity," he tells Dark Reading, noting that with the emergence of ransomware as-a-service (RaaS) and initial-access brokers, it takes very little skill or effort to get into the extortion game.

"Before, you had to get in somehow, look around, and find something worth stealing that would have a reseller on the other end," he explains. "In 2008 when we started the DBIR, it was by and large payment-card data that was stolen. Now, that has fallen precipitously because they can just pay for access someone else established and install rented ransomware, and it's so much simpler to reach the same goal of getting money."

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/ransomware-alarming-growth-verizon-dbir

• Paying Ransom Doesn’t Guarantee Data Recovery

A Veeam report has found that 72% of organisations had partial or complete attacks on their backup repositories, dramatically impacting the ability to recover data without paying the ransom.

Additionally, 76% of organisations admitted to paying the ransom. But while 52% paid the ransom and were able to recover data, 24% paid the ransom but were still not able to recover data.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/24/paying-ransom-recover-data-video/

• Report: Frequency Of Cyber Attacks in 2022 Has Increased By Almost 3M

Kaspersky has released a new report revealing a growing number of cyber attacks on small businesses in 2022 so far. Researchers compared the period between January and April 2022 to the same period in 2021, finding increases in the numbers of Trojan-PSW detections, internet attacks and attacks on Remote Desktop Protocol.

In 2022, the number of Trojan-PSW (Password Stealing Ware) detections increased globally by almost a quarter compared to the same period in 2021 一 4,003,323 to 3,029,903. Trojan-PSW is a malware that steals passwords, along with other account information, which then allows attackers to gain access to the company network and steal sensitive information.

Internet attacks grew from 32,500,000 globally in the analysed period of 2021 to almost 35,400,000 in 2022. These can include web pages with redirects to exploits, sites containing exploits and other malicious programs, botnet command & control centres and more.

The number of attacks on Remote Desktop Protocol grew in the U.S. (while dropping slightly globally), going from 47.5 million attacks in the first trimester of 2021 to 51 million in the same period of 2022. With the widespread shift toward remote work, many companies have introduced Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), a technology that enables computers on the same corporate network to be linked together and accessed remotely, even when the employees are at home.

With small business owners typically handling numerous responsibilities at the same time, cyber security is often an afterthought. However, this disregard for IT security is being exploited by cyber criminals. The Kaspersky study sought to assess the threats that pose an increasing danger to entrepreneurs.

https://venturebeat.com/2022/05/20/report-frequency-of-cyberattacks-in-2022-has-increased-by-almost-3m/

• New Zoom Flaws Could Let Attackers Hack Victims Just By Sending Them A Message

Popular video conferencing service Zoom has resolved as many as four security vulnerabilities, which could be exploited to compromise another user over chat by sending specially crafted Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) messages and execute malicious code.

With Zoom's chat functionality built on top of the XMPP standard, successful exploitation of the issues could enable an attacker to force a vulnerable client to masquerade a Zoom user, connect to a malicious server, and even download a rogue update, resulting in arbitrary code execution stemming from a downgrade attack.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/05/new-zoom-flaws-could-let-attackers-hack.html

• VMware, Airline Targeted As Ransomware Chaos Reigns

Global ransomware incidents target everything from enterprise servers to grounding an airline, with one India-based group even taking a Robin Hood approach to extortion with the "GoodWill" strain.

Ransomware incidents are on the rise and this week proved no exception, with the discovery of a Linux-based ransomware family called Cheerscrypt targeting VMware ESXi servers and an attack on SpiceJet, India’s second largest airline.

Meanwhile, an oddball "GoodWill" variant purports to help the needy.

The Cheerscrypt ransomware variant was uncovered by Trend Micro and relies on the double-extortion scheme to coerce victims to pay the ransom – i.e., stealing data as well and threatening to leak it if victims don’t pay up.

Because of the popularity of ESXi servers for creating and running multiple virtual machines (VMs) in enterprise settings, the Cheerscrypt ransomware could be appealing to malicious actors looking to rapidly distribute ransomware across many devices.

Meanwhile, low-cost carrier SpiceJet faced a ransomware attack this week, causing flight delays of between two and five hours as well as rendering unavailable online booking systems and customer service portals.

While the company’s IT team announced on Twitter that it had successfully prevented the attempted attack before it was able to fully breach all internal systems and take them over, customers and employees are still experiencing the ramifications.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/vmware-airline-targeted-as-ransomware-chaos-reigns

• Crypto Hacks Aren't A Niche Concern; They Impact Wider Society

Million-dollar crypto heists are becoming more common as the currency starts to go mainstream; prevention and enforcement haven't kept pace.

The attack against the Ronin Network in March was quickly speculated to be one of the largest cryptocurrency hacks of all time. Approximately $540 million was stolen from the cryptocurrency and NFT games company in a combination of USDC and Etherium, with $400 million of the stolen funds owned by customers playing the game Axie Infinity.

This attack was the latest in a string of thefts perpetrated against crypto and should be a jolt to both the digital asset and cyber security communities to bring the security of cryptocurrencies into line.

The current vogue of large-scale crypto heists goes as far back as the 2014 Mt. Gox hack (another cryptocurrency exchange built around a game, Magic: The Gathering), which went into bankruptcy after losing $460 million of assets.

However, the trend has been gathering pace. In the months leading up to the Ronin Network attack, cyber criminals stole nearly $200 million worth of cryptocurrency from the crypto trading platform BitMart, attacked 400 Crypto.com users, and orchestrated NFT-related scams, to name but a few incidents.

There is often an uncomfortable tendency to see these attacks as something that takes place in isolation in a remote part of the Internet when they actually have a huge impact on thousands of people.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/crypto-hacks-aren-t-a-niche-concern-they-impact-wider-society

• State Of Cyber Security Report 2022 Names Ransomware And Nation-State Attacks As Biggest Threats

Ransomware is the biggest concern for cyber security professionals, according to results of the Infosecurity Group’s 2022 State of Cybersecurity Report, produced by Infosecurity Europe and Infosecurity Magazine.

Cyber Security Professionals' Number One Concern: Ransomware.

This attack vector was voted as the biggest cyber security trend (28%) by the survey respondents (including CISOs, CTOs, CIOs and academics), marking a significant change from the previous report in 2020, where ransomware did not break the top three. This follows surging ransomware incidents in 2021, with ransom demands and payments growing significantly last year. A number of these attacks have also impacted critical industries, for example, taking down the US’ largest fuel pipeline.

The survey respondents also highlighted the evolving tactics and capabilities of ransomware attackers. This includes threat actors becoming more sophisticated as they evolve into loosely coupled service-based operations.

A number of cyber security professionals believe that cyber-criminal groups will become more guarded in their approach due to new initiatives by governments and law enforcement to tackle these activities.

Cyber Security Professionals' Number Two Concern: Nation-State Attacks.

The second biggest concern for survey respondents was geopolitics/nation-state attacks (24%), particularly the shifting hostilities from the Russia-Ukraine conflict into cyberspace. Russia already had a reputation for conducting offensive cyber operations prior to the conflict, and the Ukrainian government and critical services have experienced numerous attacks both before and since the war began.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/2022-state-industry-report/

• Vishing (Voice Phishing) Cases Reach All Time High

Vishing (voice phishing) cases have increased almost 550 percent over the last twelve months (Q1 2021 to Q1 2022), according to the latest Quarterly Threat Trends & Intelligence Report from Agari and PhishLabs.

In Q1 2022, Agari and PhishLabs detected and mitigated hundreds of thousands of phishing, social media, email, and dark web threats targeting a broad range of enterprises and brands. The report provides an analysis of the latest findings and insights into key trends shaping the threat landscape.

According to the findings, vishing attacks have overtaken business email compromise (BEC) as the second most reported response-based email threat since Q3 2021. By the end of the year, more than one in four of every reported response-based threat was a vishing attack, and this makeup continued through Q1 2022.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/24/vishing-cases-increased/

• DeFi (Decentralised Finance) Is Getting Pummelled By Cyber Criminals

Decentralised finance lost $1.8 billion to cyber attacks last year — and 80% of those events were the result of vulnerable code, analysts say.

Decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms — which connect various cryptocurrency blockchains to create a decentralised infrastructure for borrowing, trading, and other transactions — promise to replace banks as a secure and convenient way to invest in and spend cryptocurrency. But in addition to attracting hordes of new users with dreams of digital fortune, cyber criminals have discovered them to be an easy target, wiping out wallets to zero balances in a moment, tanking whole markets while profiting, and more, according to a new report.

Analysts with Bishop Fox found that DeFi platforms lost $1.8 billion to cyber attacks in 2021 alone. With a total of 65 events observed, 90% of the losses came from unsophisticated attacks, according to the report, which points to the lax cyber security practices of the sector.

DeFi averaged five attacks per week last year, with most of them (51%) coming from the exploitation of "smart contracts" bugs, the analysts found. Smart contracts are essentially records of transactions, stored on the blockchain.

Other top DeFi attack vectors include cryptowallets, protocol design flaws, and so-called "rug-pull" scams (where investors are lured to a new cryptocurrency project that is then abandoned, leaving targets with a worthless currency). But taken together, 80% of all events were caused by the use (and re-use) of buggy code, according to the report.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/defi-pummeled-by-cybercriminals

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Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware Attacks Increasing at “Alarming” Rate - Infosecurity Magazine

• VMware, Airline Targeted as Ransomware Chaos Reigns (darkreading.com)

• Clop ransomware gang is back, hits 21 victims in a single month (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Link Found Connecting Chaos, Onyx and Yashma Ransomware | Threatpost

• Ransomware demands three good demands to restore files • The Register

• Ransomware Cheerscrypt targets VMware ESXi systems • The Register

• New Chaos Malware Variant Ditches Wiper for Encryption (darkreading.com)

• CLOP Ransomware Activity Spiked in April (darkreading.com)

• Industrial Spy data extortion market gets into the ransomware game (bleepingcomputer.com)

• BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware asks $5 million to unlock Austrian state (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Conti Ransomware Operation Shut Down After Splitting into Smaller Groups (thehackernews.com)

• Suspected phishing email crime boss arrested in Nigeria • The Register

BEC – Business Email Compromise

• Interpol arrests alleged leader of the SilverTerrier BEC gang (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Cyber security breach at the city of Portland led to fraudulent $1.4M transaction | KATU

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Intuit warns of QuickBooks phishing threatening to suspend accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)

• NCSC Report Reveals Phishing Lures Increasingly Disguised as Vaccine Appointments - Infosecurity Magazine

• Suspected phishing email crime boss arrested in Nigeria • The Register

Other Social Engineering

• Vishing Attacks Reach All Time High, According to Latest Agari and PhishLabs Report (darkreading.com)

Malware

• BPFDoor malware uses Solaris vulnerability to get root privileges (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Snake Keylogger Spreads Through Malicious PDFs | Threatpost

• New Windows Subsystem for Linux malware steals browser auth cookies (bleepingcomputer.com)

• This Windows malware uses PowerShell to subvert Chrome • The Register

• Hackers have found a new way to smuggle malware onto your device | TechRadar

• Cyber Security Community Warned of Fake PoC Exploits Delivering Malware | SecurityWeek.Com

• Popular Python and PHP libraries hijacked to steal AWS keys (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New Attack Shows Weaponized PDF Files Remain a Threat (darkreading.com)

Mobile

• Microsoft finds severe bugs in Android apps from large mobile providers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Google warns Android smartphones targeted by dangerous Predator spyware | TechRadar

• New ERMAC 2.0 Android malware steals accounts, wallets from 467 apps (bleepingcomputer.com)

BYOD

• Spring Cleaning Checklist for Keeping Your Devices Safe at Work (darkreading.com)

Data Breaches/Leaks

• GM Discloses Data Breach of Cars' Locations, Mileage, Service (gizmodo.com)

• MGM Resorts' customer data now leaked on Telegram for free • The Register

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• REvil prosecutions reach a 'dead end,' Russian media reports - CyberScoop

• Scammer Behind $568M International Cyber Crime Syndicate Gets 4 Years (darkreading.com)

• Multi-Continental Operation Leads to Arrest of Cyber Crime Gang Leader - Infosecurity Magazine

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs

• Hacker Steals $1.4 Million in NFTs From Collector In One Sweep (vice.com)

• 8 ways to avoid NFT scams (techtarget.com)

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• 68% of Legal Sector Data Breaches Caused by Insider Threats - Infosecurity Magazine

• Verizon Report: Ransomware, Human Error Among Top Security Risks | Threatpost

Dark Web

• Military cyber weapons could become available on dark web: Interpol (cnbc.com)

• Darknet market Versus shuts down after hacker leaks security flaw (bleepingcomputer.com)

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• Use of Obfuscated Beacons in ‘pymafka’ Supply Chain Attack Signals a New Trend in macOS Attack TTPs - SentinelOne

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

• Cybergang Claims REvil is Back, Executes DDoS Attacks | Threatpost

• DDoS Extortion Attack Flagged as Possible REvil Resurgence (darkreading.com)

• Anatomy of a DDoS amplification attack - Microsoft Security Blog

Cloud/SaaS

• Security has become more difficult, IT leaders say - Help Net Security

Attack Surface Management

• Where is attack surface management headed? - Help Net Security

Open Source

• Open source is becoming a national security risk | CSO Online

Privacy

• Twitter fined $150M for misusing 2FA data (techtarget.com)

• Zuckerberg sued by DC attorney general over Cambridge Analytica data scandal | Meta | The Guardian

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• Strong Password Policy Isn't Enough, Study Shows (darkreading.com)

• Verizon DBIR: Stolen credentials led to nearly 50% of attacks (techtarget.com)

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• How to navigate GDPR complexity - Help Net Security

• GDPR Anniversary, Expert Insight On What Lead To GDPR Fines – Information Security Buzz

• Indian stock markets given ten day deadline to file reports • The Register

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

• Network of hyperlocal Russian Telegram channels spew disinformation in occupied Ukraine - CyberScoop

• Predator spyware uses in Chrome, Android zero-day exploits • The Register

• Unknown APT group is targeting Russian government entities - Security Affairs

• Hackers target Russian govt with fake Windows updates pushing RATs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Remote bricking of Ukrainian tractors raises agriculture security concerns | CSO Online

• Anonymous Declares Cyber-War On Pro-Russian Hacker Gang Killnet – Information Security Buzz

• Ex-spymaster and fellow Brexiteers' emails stolen, leaked • The Register

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Fronton: Russian IoT Botnet Designed to Run Social Media Disinformation Campaigns (thehackernews.com)

• Russian Hackers Believed to Be Behind Leak of Hard Brexit Plans - Infosecurity Magazine

• Russian Gamaredon APT could fuel a new round of DDoS attacks - Security Affairs

• Putin aimed cyber attack at me, says former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove | News | The Times

Nation State Actors – China

• Trend Micro Patches Vulnerability Exploited by Chinese Cyber Spies | SecurityWeek.Com

• Chinese "Twisted Panda" Hackers Caught Spying on Russian Defense Institutes (thehackernews.com)

Nation State Actors – Iran

• Pro-Iran Group ALtahrea Hits Port of London Website by DDoS Attack (hackread.com)

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Vulnerabilities

• CISA ‘Strongly Urges’ You To Patch 75 Actively Exploited Security Bugs (forbes.com)

• CISA adds 41 vulnerabilities to list of bugs used in cyber attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Exploit released for critical VMware auth bypass bug, patch now (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Zoom Patches ‘Zero-Click’ RCE Bug | Threatpost

• Zyxel addresses four flaws affecting APs, AP controllers, and firewalls - Security Affairs

• Critical New Google Chrome Security Warning For All Users, Update Now (forbes.com)

• Patching the latest Active Directory vulnerabilities is not enough | CSO Online

• Microsoft Elevation-of-Privilege Vulnerabilities Spiked Again in 2021 (darkreading.com)

• Tails OS Users Advised Not to Use Tor Browser Until Critical Firefox Bugs are Patched (thehackernews.com)

• 'Fixed' Chrome extension flaw could allow hackers to record both your webcam and desktop feeds | PC Gamer

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Sector Specific

SMBs – Small and Medium Businesses

• Small Business Cyber Security: Do SMB Owners Underestimate Risk? - MSSP Alert

Legal

• 68% of Legal Sector Data Breaches Caused by Insider Threats - Infosecurity Magazine

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• teiss - News - American healthcare tech giant Omnicell suffers a major ransomware attack

• Web app attacks on the rise in healthcare as insider challenges remain (scmagazine.com)

Retail/eCommerce

• Microsoft: Credit card stealers are getting much stealthier (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft warns of new highly evasive web skimming campaigns - Security Affairs

Transport and Aviation

• Hundreds Stranded After Ransomware Attack on Indian Airline | SecurityWeek.Com

• SpiceJet airline passengers stranded after ransomware attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Taking the Danger Out of IT/OT Convergence (darkreading.com)

• Critical Flaws in Popular ICS Platform Can Trigger RCE | Threatpost

Energy & Utilities

• Can we trust the cyber security of the energy sector? - Help Net Security

Oil, Gas and Mining

• Oil and gas companies take cyber resilience pledge - IT Security Guru

Education and Academia

• FBI: compromised US academic credentials available on crime forums - Security Affairs

• Ed tech illegally tracked school children during pandemic - IT Security Guru

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report | Verizon

• State of Cyber Security Report 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine

• 2022 Voice of the CISO | Proofpoint US

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Other News

• IP and cyber security disputes are top legal concerns for tech companies | TechCrunch

• Verizon DBIR: Stolen credentials led to nearly 50% of attacks (techtarget.com)

• Managed Detection and Response (MDR): Who's Responsible for the R? - MSSP Alert

• Survey Evidences Leaders Lack Confidence in Cyber-Risk Management - Infosecurity Magazine

• Flaw in PayPal can allow attackers to steal money from users' account - Security Affairs

• When it comes to remote work, 71% of IT leaders say security is the main challenge - Help Net Security

• Most organisations do not follow data backup best practices - Help Net Security

• There are systems 'guarding' your data in cyberspace – but who is guarding the guards? (theconversation.com)

• Why are current cyber security incident response efforts failing? - Help Net Security

• Nation-state malware will be a commodity on dark web soon, Interpol warns - Security Affairs

---

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 20 May 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

• Fifth of Businesses Say Cyber Attack Nearly Broke Them

A fifth of US and European businesses have warned that a serious cyber attack nearly rendered them insolvent, with most (87%) viewing compromise as a bigger threat than an economic downturn, according to Hiscox.

The insurer polled over 5000 businesses in the US, UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium to compile its annual Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report.

It revealed the potentially catastrophic financial damage that a serious cyber-attack can wreak. The number claiming to have nearly been brought down by a breach increased 24% compared to the previous year.

Nearly half (48%) of respondents said they suffered an attack over the past 12 months, a 12% increase from the previous report’s findings. Perhaps unsurprisingly, businesses in seven out of eight countries see cyber as their biggest threat.

Yet perception appears to vary greatly depending on whether an organisation has suffered a serious compromise or not. While over half (55%) of total respondents said they view cyber as a high-risk area, the figure among companies that have not yet suffered an attack is just 36%.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/fifth-of-businesses-cyber-attack/

• Weak Security Controls and Practices Routinely Exploited for Initial Access

Cyber actors routinely exploit poor security configurations (either misconfigured or left unsecured), weak controls, and other poor cyber hygiene practices to gain initial access or as part of other tactics to compromise a victim’s system. A joint Cybersecurity Advisory by the cyber security authorities of the United States, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom identifies commonly exploited controls and practices and includes best practices to mitigate the issues.

Malicious cyber actors often exploit the following common weak security controls, poor configurations, and poor security practices to employ the initial access techniques.

• Multifactor authentication (MFA) is not enforced

• Incorrectly applied privileges or permissions and errors within access control lists

• Software is not up to date

• Use of vendor-supplied default configurations or default login usernames and passwords

• Remote services, such as a virtual private network (VPN), lack sufficient controls to prevent unauthorised access

• Strong password policies are not implemented

• Cloud services are unprotected

• Open ports and misconfigured services are exposed to the internet

• Failure to detect or block phishing attempts

• Poor endpoint detection and response.

https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ncas/alerts/aa22-137a

• How Do Ransomware Attacks Impact Victim Organisations’ Stock?

Ransomware has developed into an extremely lucrative business model with little risk involved for the threat actors. Couple this with the willingness of most victim organisations to pay the ransom demand under the assumption it will return business operations to normal - ultimately encouraging more attacks - and we have a big problem with no easy remedies.

Back in 2021, Cybereason published a report titled Ransomware Attacks and the True Cost to Business that revealed the various costs that organisations face after falling victim to a ransomware attack. Here are some of the most significant findings that stood out:

• Two-thirds of ransomware victims said that they endured a significant loss of revenue following the attack

• More than half (53%) of organisations suffered damage to their brand and reputation after a ransomware infection

• A third of those who fell to ransomware lost C-level talent in the attack’s aftermath

• Three in 10 organisations had no choice but to lay off employees due to the financial pressures resulting from a ransomware incident

• A quarter of ransomware victims said that they needed to suspend operations.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-guests/how-do-ransomware-attacks-impact-victim-organizations-stock/

• Prioritise Patching Vulnerabilities Associated with Ransomware

In the last quarter, ransomware attacks have made mainstream headlines on a near-daily basis, with groups like Lapsus$ and Conti’s names splashed across the page. Major organisations like Okta, Globant and Kitchenware maker Meyer Corporation have all fallen victim, and they are very much not alone. The data indicates that increasing vulnerabilities, new advanced persistent threat (APT) groups and new ransomware families are contributing to ransomware’s continued prevalence and profitability.

The top stats include:

• 22 new vulnerabilities and nine new weaknesses have been associated with ransomware since January 2022; of the 22, a whopping 21 are considered of critical or high risk severity

• 19 (out of 22) of the newly-added vulnerabilities are associated with the Conti ransomware gang

• Three new APT groups (Exotic Lily, APT 35, DEV-0401) and four new ransomware families (AvosLocker, Karma, BlackCat, Night Sky) are deploying ransomware to attack their targets

• 141 of CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEVs) are being used by ransomware operators – including 18 newly identified this quarter

• 11 vulnerabilities tied to ransomware remain undetected by popular scanners

• 624 unique vulnerabilities were found within the 846 healthcare products analysed.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/19/increase-ransomware-vulnerabilities/

• Researchers Warn of Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Data Leaks as Serious Threats Against UK Financial Sector

Researchers say that geopolitical tension, ransomware, and cyber attacks using stolen credentials threaten the UK's financial sector.

KELA's security team published a report examining the cyber security issues and attacks that surfaced in 2021 and early 2022, specifically focused on the United Kingdom's banks and other financial services.

The UK was one of the first countries to stand with Ukraine after the invasion by Russia. This could make UK organisations a tempting target for threat actors siding with Russia - whether by state-sponsored advanced persistent threat (APT) groups or hacktivists. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) previously warned businesses to shore up their cyber security following Russia's assault.

APTs are often responsible for attacking the financial sector: account credentials, card numbers, and the personally identifiable information (PII) of customers are useful not only in social engineering and identity theft but also to make fraudulent purchases or for card cloning.

APTs target organisations worldwide, and those located in the UK are no exception. Over the past few years, APTs, including the Chinese APT40 and APT31, have utilised vulnerabilities, including ProxyLogon, to compromise UK businesses.

"In general, APTs may target the financial sector to commit fraud, burglarise ATMs, execute transactions, and penetrate organisations' internal financial systems," KELA says. "Although specific threats to the UK financial sector have not been identified, there is no doubt that the UK has occasionally been a target of APT groups during 2021."

Exposed corporate information and leaked credentials are also of note. After browsing Dark Web forums, the researchers found that UK data is "in demand" by cyber criminals who are seeking PII, access credentials, and internal data.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/researchers-warn-of-apts-data-leaks-as-serious-threats-against-uk-financial-sector/

• Remote Work Hazards: Attackers Exploit Weak WiFi, Endpoints, and the Cloud

Infoblox unveils a global report examining the state of security concerns, costs, and remedies. As the pandemic and uneven shutdowns stretch into a third year, organisations are accelerating digital transformation projects to support remote work. Meanwhile, attackers have seized on vulnerabilities in these environments, creating more work and larger budgets for security teams.

1,100 respondents in IT and cyber security roles in 11 countries – United States, Mexico, Brazil, United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Australia, and Singapore – participated in the survey.

The surge in remote work has changed the corporate landscape significantly – and permanently. 52% of respondents accelerated digital transformation projects, 42% increased customer portal support for remote engagement, 30% moved apps to third party cloud providers, and 26% shuttered physical offices for good. These changes led to the additions of VPNs and firewalls, a mix of corporate and employee owned devices as well as cloud and on-premises DDI servers to manage data traffic across the expanded network.

The hybrid workforce reality is causing greater concerns with data leakage, ransomware and attacks through remote access tools and cloud services. Respondents indicate concerns about their abilities to counter increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks with limited control over employees, work-from-home technologies, and vulnerable supply chain partners. The sophistication of state-sponsored malware also is a source of worry for many.

Organisations have good reason to worry: 53% of respondents experienced up to five security incidents that led to at least one breach.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/17/state-of-security/

• Small Businesses Under Fire from Password Stealers

Password-stealing malware and other cyber attacks have increased significantly against small businesses over the past year, according to Kaspersky researchers.

An assessment released this week detailed the number of Trojan Password Stealing Ware (PSW) detections, internet attacks and attacks on Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) between January and April 2022, compared with the same time frame from 2021. Kaspersky's research showed a jump in the detection of password stealers within small business environments, as well as increases in other types of cyber attacks.

According to Kaspersky, the biggest increase in threats against small businesses was password stealers, specifically Trojan PSWs. There were nearly 1 million more detected Trojan PSWs targeting small and medium-sized businesses in the first trimester of 2022 than the first of 2021, increasing from 3,029,903 to 4,003,323.

https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/252518442/Small-businesses-under-fire-from-password-stealers

• Email Is the Riskiest Channel for Data Security

Research from Tessian and the Ponemon Institute reveals that nearly 60% of organisations experienced data loss or exfiltration caused by an employee mistake on email in the last 12 months.

Email was revealed as the riskiest channel for data loss in organisations, as stated by 65% of IT security practitioners. This was closely followed by cloud file-sharing services (62%) and instant messaging platforms (57%).

The research surveyed 614 IT security practitioners across the globe to also reveal that:

• Employee negligence, because of not following policies, is the leading cause of data loss incidents (40%)

• 27% of data loss incidents are caused by malicious insiders

• It takes up to three days for security and risk management teams to detect and remediate a data loss and exfiltration incident caused by a malicious insider on email

• 23% of organisations experience up to 30 security incidents involving employees’ use of email every month (for example, email was sent to an unintended recipient).

The most common types of confidential and sensitive information lost or intentionally stolen include: customer information (61%); intellectual property (56%); and consumer information (47%). User-created data (sensitive email content, text files, M&A documents), regulated data (credit card data, Social Security numbers, national ID numbers, employee data), and intellectual property were identified as the three types of data that are most difficult to protect from data loss.

The top two consequences for data loss incidents were revealed as non-compliance with data protection regulations (57%) and damage to an organisation’s reputation (52%). Furthermore, a previous study from Tessian found that 29% of businesses lost a client or customer because of an employee sending an email to the wrong person.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/20/data-loss-email/

• Phishing Attacks for Initial Access Surged 54% in Q1

Threat actors doubled down on their use of phishing emails as an initial attack vector during the first quarter of 2022 — and in many cases then used that access to drop ransomware or to extort organisations in other ways.

Researchers from Kroll recently analysed data gathered from security incidents they responded to in the first three months of this year. The analysis showed a 54% increase in incidents of phishing for initial access compared with the same period last year.

For the first time since Microsoft disclosed the so-called ProxyLogon set of vulnerabilities in Exchange Server in the first quarter of 2021, incidents tied to email compromises surpassed those related to ransomware. Kroll described the sharp increase in phishing activity as likely the result of a surge in activity tied to Emotet and IceID malware — threat actors have been using both to drop other malware.

https://www.darkreading.com/risk/phishing-attacks-for-initial-access-surged-q1

• Fears Grow for Smaller Nations After Ransomware Attack on Costa Rica Escalates

Conti demanded $20M in ransom — and the overthrow of the government.

It’s been a rough start for the newly elected Costa Rica president Rodrigo Chaves, who less than a week into office declared his country “at war” with the Conti ransomware gang.

“We’re at war and this is not an exaggeration,” Chaves told local media. “The war is against an international terrorist group, which apparently has operatives in Costa Rica. There are very clear indications that people inside the country are collaborating with Conti.”

Conti’s assault on the Costa Rican government began in April. The country’s Finance Ministry was the first hit by the Russia-linked hacking group, and in a statement on May 16, Chaves said the number of institutions impacted had since grown to 27. This, he admitted, means civil servants wouldn’t be paid on time and will impact the country’s foreign trade.

In a message posted to its dark web leaks blog, Conti urged the citizens of Costa Rica to pressure their government to pay the ransom, which the group doubled from an initial $10 million to $20 million. In a separate statement, the group warned: “We are determined to overthrow the government by means of a cyber attack, we have already shown you all the strength and power.”

Conti is among the most prolific hacking groups. The FBI warned earlier this year that the gang was among “the three top variants” that targeted businesses in the United States, and it has been blamed for ransomware attacks targeting dozens of businesses, including Fat Face, Shutterfly and the Irish healthcare service.

But Conti has picked up its pace in recent months: In January and February it published 31 victims on its leaks blog. In March and April, it posted 133 victims.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/20/costa-rica-ransomware-attack/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware Gangs Rely More on Weaponizing Vulnerabilities (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ransomware Gang Extorted 725 BTC in One Attack, On-Chain Sleuths Find (coindesk.com)

• 5 Critical Questions to Test Your Ransomware Preparedness - Help Net Security

• “Alarming” Surge in Conti Group Activity This Year - Infosecurity Magazine

• Why AI-Powered Ransomware Cyber Attacks Could Be Coming Soon - Protocol

• Nikkei Says Customer Data Likely Impacted in Ransomware Attack | SecurityWeek.Com

• Wizard Spider Hackers Hire Cold Callers to Scare Ransomware Victims Into Paying Up | ZDNet

• Greenland Hit by Cyber Attack, Finds Its Health Service Crippled (bitdefender.com)

• Conti Ransomware Shuts Down Operation, Rebrands into Smaller Units (bleepingcomputer.com)

• No One Is Slowing Down BlackByte Ransomware Gang • The Register

• President Rodrigo Chaves says Costa Rica is at war with Conti hackers - BBC News

• Engineering Firm Parker Discloses Data Breach After Ransomware Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• US links Thanos and Jigsaw ransomware to 55-year-old doctor (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Russian Conti Ransomware Gang Threatens to Overthrow New Costa Rican Government (thehackernews.com)

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• This Phishing Attack Delivers Three Forms of Malware. And They All Want to Steal Your Data | ZDNet

• HTML Attachments Remain Popular Among Phishing Actors In 2022 (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Chatbot Army Deployed in Latest DHL Shipping Phish (darkreading.com)

• Phishing Gang That Stole Over 400,000 Euros Busted in Spain (tripwire.com)

• Long Lost @ Symbol Gets New Life Obscuring Malicious URLs | Malwarebytes Labs

• Spanish Police Dismantle Phishing Gang That Emptied Bank Accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)

Malware

• Emotet is the Most Common Malware - Help Net Security

• Microsoft Identifies Botnet Variant Targeting Windows and Linux Systems - Infosecurity Magazine

• Activity of the Linux XorDdos bot increased by 254% over the last 6 monthsSecurity Affairs

• Fake Domains Offer Windows 11 Installers - But Deliver Malware Instead | ZDNet

• Bruised but Not Broken: The Resurgence of the Emotet Botnet Malware (trendmicro.com)

• Malicious PyPI Pymafka Package Opens Backdoors On Windows, Linux, and Macs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• April VMware Bugs Abused to Deliver Mirai Malware, Exploit Log4Shell | Threatpost

Mobile

• 6 Scary Tactics Used in Mobile App Attacks (darkreading.com)

• Researchers Find Potential Way to Run Malware on iPhone Even When it's OFF (thehackernews.com)

• Google TAG: Cytrox's Predator Spyware Used to Target Android Users | WIRED

IoT

• New Bluetooth Hack Could Let Attackers Remotely Unlock Smart Locks and Cars (thehackernews.com)

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Cornwall Council Data Breach - Information Security Buzz

• Pharmacy Giant Hit By Data Breach Affecting 3.6 Million Customers - Infosecurity Magazine

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Ukrainian Hacker Jailed for 4-Years in U.S. for Selling Access to Hacked Servers (thehackernews.com)

• US Recovers a Record $15m from the 3ve Ad-Fraud Crew • The Register

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs

• How Cryptocurrencies Enable Attackers and Defenders (techtarget.com)

• Monero-Mining Sysrv Botnet Targets Windows, Linux Web Servers • The Register

• US Brings First-Of-Its-Kind Bitcoin Sanctions-Busting Case • The Register

• Fake Pixelmon NFT Site Infects You with Password-Stealing Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Hackers Compromise a String of NFT Discord Channels (vice.com)

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Popularity Of Online Payment Goes Hand-In-Hand with Fraud - Help Net Security

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• MITRE Creates Framework for Supply Chain Security (darkreading.com)

• The Four Horsemen of Software Supply Chain Attacks - MSSP Alert

• Recovering From a Cyber Security Earthquake: The Lessons Organisations Must Learn - Help Net Security

Cloud/SaaS

• 7 Key Findings from the 2022 SaaS Security Survey Report (thehackernews.com)

• New Research Identifies Poor IAM Policies as The Greatest Cloud Vulnerability - CyberScoop

• Are You Investing in Securing Your Data in the Cloud? (thehackernews.com)

• 380K Kubernetes API Servers Exposed to Public Internet | Threatpost

Open Source

• The Industry Must Better Secure Open Source Code From Threat Actors (darkreading.com)

Privacy

• How To Ensure That the Smart Home Doesn’t Jeopardize Data Privacy? - Help Net Security

• Privacy. Ad Bidders Haven't Heard of It, Report Reveals • The Register

• Third-Party Web Trackers Log What You Type Before Submitting (bleepingcomputer.com)

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• The Most Insecure and Easily Hackable Passwords - Help Net Security

• Half of IT Leaders Store Passwords in Shared Docs - Infosecurity Magazine

Cyber Bullying and Cyber Stalking

• UK Sextortion Cases Doubled in 2021 - Infosecurity Magazine

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• Europe Moves Closer to Stricter Cyber Security Standards • The Register

• EU's NIS 2 Directive to Strengthen Cyber Security Requirements For Companies - Help Net Security

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

• Google TAG: Cytrox's Predator Spyware Used to Target Android Users | WIRED

• Britain can legally launch cyber attacks against hostile states, says Attorney General (telegraph.co.uk)

• How Mobile Networks Have Become a Front in the Battle for Ukraine (darkreading.com)

• China-linked Twisted Panda Caught Spying on Russian R&D Orgs • The Register

• Pro-Russian Hackers Spread Hoaxes to Divide Ukraine, Allies | SecurityWeek.Com

• A custom PowerShell RAT Targets Germany Using Crisis in Ukraine as Bait - Security Affairs

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Putin Promises to Bolster Russia's IT Security in Face of Cyber Attacks | Reuters

• Russian Hackers Declare War On 10 Countries After Failed Eurovision DDoS attack | IT PRO

• Pro-Russian Information Operations Escalate in Ukraine War (darkreading.com)

• Russian Undersea Cable Threat Shifts Tech Business to UK (telegraph.co.uk)

• Russians Allegedly Storm Ukrainian ISP, Blackmail It to Switch To Russian Networks - CyberScoop

• Russia-linked Sandworm Continues to Conduct Attacks Against Ukraine - Security Affairs

• Russian Cyber Attack on Eurovision Foiled By Italian Authorities (bitdefender.com)

• This Russian Botnet Does Far More Than DDoS Attacks - And on A Massive Scale | ZDNet

Nation State Actors – China

• Chinese ‘Space Pirates’ are Hacking Russian Aerospace Firms (bleepingcomputer.com)

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• FBI Warns of North Korean Spies Posing as Foreign IT Workers • The Register

Nation State Actors – Iran

• US Charges Venezuelan Doctor with Selling Ransomware Used By Iranian Group | Reuters

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Vulnerability Management

• APTs Overwhelmingly Share Known Vulnerabilities Rather Than Attack O-Days | Threatpost

• How Micropatching Could Help Close the Security Update Gap (techtarget.com)

• Partial Patching Still Provides Strong Protection Against APTs (darkreading.com)

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Vulnerabilities

• QNAP Urges Users to Update NAS Devices to Prevent Deadbolt Ransomware Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Cisco Fixes an IOS XR Flaw Actively Exploited in The Wild - Security Affairs

• 2 Vulnerabilities With 9.8 Severity Ratings Are Under Exploit. A 3rd Looms | Ars Technica

• Microsoft Rushes a Fix After May Patch Tuesday Breaks Authentication (darkreading.com)

• Microsoft Fixes New PetitPotam Windows NTLM Relay Attack Vector (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Apple Patches Zero-Day Kernel Hole and Much More – Update Now! – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Two Business-Grade Netgear VPN Routers Have Security Vulnerabilities That Can't Be Fixed - Help Net Security

• SharePoint RCE Bug Resurfaces Three Months After Being Patched by Microsoft | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)

• High-Severity Bug Reported in Google's OAuth Client Library for Java (thehackernews.com)

• Over 20,000 Zyxel Firewalls Still Exposed to Critical Bug - Infosecurity Magazine

• Apple Fixes the Sixth Zero-Day Since The Beginning of 2022 - Security Affairs

• Apache Releases Security Advisory for Tomcat | CISA

• Mozilla Patches Wednesday’s Pwn2Own Double-Exploit… on Friday! – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Critical Vulnerability in Premium WordPress Themes Allows for Site Takeover | Threatpost

• Critical Jupiter WordPress Plugin Flaws Let Hackers Take Over Sites (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Apple Finally Patches Exploited Vulnerabilities in macOS Big Sur, Catalina | SecurityWeek.Com

• NVIDIA Fixes Ten Vulnerabilities in Windows GPU Display Drivers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Gmail-Linked Facebook Accounts Vulnerable to Attack Using A Chain Of Bugs—Now Fixed | Malwarebytes Labs

• New Brute Force Attacks Against SQL Servers Use PowerShell Wrapper | SecurityWeek.Com

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Sector Specific

Retail/eCommerce

• How Crooks Backdoor Sites and Scrape Credit Card Info • The Register

• Digital Skimming is Now the Preserve of Non-Magecart Groups - Infosecurity Magazine

Energy & Utilities

• Water Companies Are Increasingly Uninsurable Due To Ransomware, Industry Execs Say - CyberScoop

• UK Announces Nuclear Cyber Security Strategy - IT Security Guru

Education and Academia

• Ransomware Attack Exposes Data of 500,000 Chicago Students (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Higher Education Institutions Being Targeted for Ransomware Attacks | TechRepublic

• “Incompetent” Council Leaks Details of Students With Special Educational Needs • Graham Cluley

• Researchers Find Backdoor in School Management Plugin for WordPress (thehackernews.com)

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• Q2 2022 State of Fraud & Account Security Report - Arkose Labs

• 2022 SaaS Security Survey Report (adaptive-shield.com)

• 2021-2022 UK Financial Sector Dark Web Threat Landscape Report - Kela (ke-la.com)

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Other News

• UK Government: Lack of Skills the Number One Issue in Cyber Security - Infosecurity Magazine

• Malicious Hackers Are Finding It Too Easy to Achieve Their Initial Access (tripwire.com)

• NIST’s Cyber Security Framework Has Become The Common Language For International Cyber Security (scmagazine.com)

• How Threat Actors Are a Click Away From Becoming Quasi-APTs (darkreading.com)

• Cyber Security: Global Food Supply Chain at Risk From Malicious Hackers - BBC News

• Cyber Security Agencies Reveal Top Initial Access Attack Vectors (bleepingcomputer.com)

• 50% of Orgs Rely on Email to Manage Security (darkreading.com)

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 13 May 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 Intelligence Agencies Warn Managed Service Providers, including External IT Providers, Are Now Prime Targets for Cyber Attacks

The Five Eyes coalition of international cyber security authorities, this week issued an advisory to warn managed service providers (MSPs), including external IT providers, of an escalating threat of attack from both everyday cyber criminals and state-sponsored threat actors.

MSPs provide or operate information and communications technology services.

With input from cyber security leaders from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US, the NSA provided recommendations to help bolster their cyber defences, including:

• Finding and disabling dormant accounts.

• Implementing and enforcing multifactor authentication on accounts.

• Ensuring contracts clearly map out who owns and is responsible for securing data.

Malicious actors are targeting MSPs to break into their customers' networks and deploy ransomware, steal data, and spy on them, the Five Eyes authorities have formally warned in a joint security alert.

"The UK, Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, and US cyber security authorities expect malicious cyber actors — including state-sponsored advanced persistent threat (APT) groups — to step up their targeting of MSPs in their efforts to exploit provider-customer network trust relationships," the alert warned.

These types of supply-chain or "island-hopping" attacks can prove very lucrative for cyber criminals because once they break into an MSP, they gain access to all of the customers' networks and data being managed, and in turn commit computer crimes and fraud against those customers' customers.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/nsa-warns-managed-service-providers-are-now-prime-targets-for-cyberattacks

• Wannacry – 5 Years On, 68% Of Enterprises Are Still at Risk

5 years on from one of the world’s most damaging ransomware attacks, research from network detection and response leader ExtraHop has found that 68% of enterprises are still running insecure protocol that were exploited by the North Korean ransomware.

The events of 12 May 2017 live on in cyber security lore. WannaCry revealed just how extensive the damage caused by ransomware can be if deployed in large scale – from downtime to ransom paid to reputational damage. Yet despite the danger, huge numbers of organisations are still running SMBv1, the protocol exploited in the WannaCry attacks that has been publicly deprecated since 2014.

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/expert-comments/wannacry-5-years-on-68-of-enterprises-are-still-at-risk/

• You Can’t Eliminate Cyber Attacks, So Focus on Reducing the Blast Radius

Given it is impossible to prevent all cyber attacks, many organisations should look to reduce the size of the company’s attack surface and the limit the “blast radius” of a potential attack.

There is a danger that the biggest risk concerning cyber attacks is that we’re becoming desensitised to them. After all, businesses experience a ransomware attack every 11 seconds—the majority of which the public never hears about. Faced with this reality, it may seem like efforts to safeguard the enterprise are futile. But that’s all the more reason to strengthen your resolve—and switch up your cyber defence strategy.

The core of this strategy should be the concept of “reducing the blast radius” of an attack, and since you can’t completely eliminate cyber attacks, you need to take steps to contain the impact.

This strategy should contain basic blocking and also consider things such as Zero Trust for remote access, traffic inspection, software-based micro-segmentation and other practical measures to reduce your attack surface.

https://threatpost.com/cyberattacks-blast-radius/179612/

• Just In Time? Bosses Are Finally Waking Up to The Cyber Security Threat

Boardrooms have a reputation for not paying much attention to cyber security, but it could be that executives are finally keen to take more interest in securing the systems and networks their businesses rely on.

Senior figures from American, British and Australian cyber security agencies have said that business execs are now more aware of cyber threats and are actively engaging with their chief information security officer (CISO) and information security teams.

Chief execs are starting to ask their CISOs the right questions, rather than leaving them to it because they don't have to understand complex technology. It does feel like a much more engaging strategic conversation, but there can still be a disconnect between knowing what needs to happen, then actually budgeting for and implementing a cyber security strategy.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/just-in-time-bosses-are-finally-waking-up-to-the-cybersecurity-threat/

• Most Organisations Hit by Ransomware Would Pay Up If Hit Again

Almost nine in 10 organisations that have suffered a ransomware attack would choose to pay the ransom if hit again, according to a new report, compared with two-thirds of those that have not experienced an attack.

The findings come from a report titled "How business executives perceive ransomware threat" by security company Kaspersky, which states that ransomware has become an ever-present threat, with 64 percent of companies surveyed already having suffered an attack, but more worryingly, that executives seem to believe that paying the ransom is a reliable way of addressing the issue.

The report is based on research involving 900 respondents across North America, South America, Africa, Russia, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. The respondents were in senior non-IT management roles at companies between 50 and 1,000 employees.

Kaspersky claims that in 88 percent of organisations that have had to deal with a ransomware incident, business leaders said they would choose to pay the money if faced with another attack. In contrast, among those that have not so far suffered a ransomware attack, only 67 percent would be willing to pay, and they would be less inclined to do so immediately.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/13/organizations_pay_ransomware/

• 31,000 FTSE 100 Logins Found on Dark Web

Researchers with Outpost24 are reporting over 31,000 corporate credentials for many of the UK’s leading FTSE 100 firms on the dark web. These are the 100 biggest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange by market capitalisation. The researchers used their threat monitoring and auditing tool Blueliv to search dark web sites for the breached credentials.

Key findings from stolen and leaked credentials study:

• The majority (81%) of the companies within the FTSE 100 had at least one credential compromised and exposed on the dark web

• 31,135 total stolen and leaked credentials detected for FTSE 100 companies, with 38% disclosed on the underground in the past 12 months

• Nearly half (42%) of FTSE 100 companies have more than 500 compromised credentials exposed on the dark web

• Up to 20% of credentials are stolen via malware infection and stealers

• 11% disclosed in the last 3 months (21% in the last 6 months and over 68% have been exposed for over 12 months)

• Over 60% of stolen credentials came from 3 industries – IT/Telecom (23%), Energy and Utility (22%) and Finance (21%)

• IT/Telecoms industry is the most at risk with the highest total amount (7,303) and average stolen credentials per company (730), they are most affected by malware infection and have the most amount of stolen credentials disclosed in the last 3 months

• On average, healthcare has the highest number of stolen credentials per company (485) from data breach as they found themselves increasingly in the cyber criminals’ crosshairs since the pandemic.

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/expert-comments/31000-ftse-100-logins-found-on-dark-web/

• Ransomware: How Executives Should Prepare Given the Current Threat Landscape

As the number of ransomware attacks continue to increase, the response at C-level must be swift and decisive.

Top executives are increasingly dreading the phone call from their fellow employee notifying them that their company has been hit by a cyber attack. Nearly every week in 2021 and early 2022, a prominent organisation has been in the media spotlight as their public relations team struggles to explain how they were attacked and how they can regain consumer confidence. A recent survey showed that 37 percent of organisations surveyed had been affected by ransomware attacks in the last year.

Worse, the days when executive leadership teams could fully delegate responsibility to a CISO are over. Regardless of reality, surveys have shown that about 40 percent of the public perception of fault for a ransomware attack lands squarely on the CEO’s shoulders, and that 36 percent of attacks result in the loss of C-level talent. While executive involvement in the security program does not guarantee a successful defence, it does give the executive leadership team (ELT) a degree of ownership of the final product, as well as the ability to speak confidently and knowledgeably to the public.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/ransomware-how-executives-should-prepare-given-the-current-threat-landscape/

• What Your Cyber Insurance Application Form Can Tell You About Ransomware Readiness

The annual cyber insurance application form shows what the carriers think you should be doing to best prevent and recover from ransomware attacks. Pay attention.

If it’s the time of year for you to fill out the annual cyber insurance policy application, you will see how the focus for insurance firms is changing. Each year you can get an insight into what insurance vendors are using to rate the risks and threats to your business and what they are stressing firms should have in place as best practice or what they are expecting you should have in place as a baseline set of controls. Not having them in place could affect insurance rates, whether you are able to get cyber coverage at all, or crucially whether they would pay out in the event of you having to make a claim.

This year you might find more questions specifically around ransomware prevention techniques and protections, from Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) to Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), and email filtering protections to the robustness of your backups.

Make sure to review your cyber insurance policy and its related questionnaire. And ask whether you are doing everything you can to protect your firm and tailoring your actions to align with what your insurance provider has deemed as a best practice.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3659831/what-your-cyber-insurance-application-form-can-tell-you-about-ransomware-readiness.html#tk.rss_news

• NCSC Shut Down 2.7 Million Scams in 2021

The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) removed 2.7 million online scams last year, it was revealed this week, four times as many scams compared to 2020.

The announcement comes as the security agency shared the most recent data from its Active Cyber Defence initiative at the CYBERUK summit earlier in the week.

According to the NCSC, neutralised scams included fake celebrity endorsements and spoof extortion emails.

It has also been revealed that fraud campaigns used common themes, with NHS vaccines and vaccine passports being particularly popular.

Some cyber criminals even posed as NCSC CEO Lindy Cameron – victims received an email claiming the NCSC had prevented £5m of their money from being stolen, and were urged to supply personal information to retrieve the funds.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/05/10/ncsc-shut-down-2-7-million-scams-in-2021/

• Security Threats Targeting Remote Workers

Remote work offers great benefits, like reduced commute time, increased freedom, and more time to spend with loved ones. But there can be security downsides if sufficient controls are not in place to protect remote workers against the digital threats that come with working via unsecured connections.

Being on a home network lacks the layered network security of the company environment. Remote work itself is not new, but the dramatic shift to working from home over the past two years means there are more security-naive people who are not in the office.

Not all security threats are the fault of technology. Much of it also comes from human error.

Remote work greatly exacerbates human-activated risk, and people are working in more distracting environments where they may have to answer the door for deliveries or might multitask with household chores. That means mistakes are more likely to happen, like sending an email to the wrong recipient or falling for a malicious email attack.

Recent research by Egress found that 77% of IT leaders said they have seen an increase in security compromises since going remote two years ago.

https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/top-6-security-threats-targeting-remote-workers

• Password Reuse Is Rampant Among Employees in All Sectors

SpyCloud published an annual analysis of identity exposure among employees of Fortune 1000 companies in key sectors such as technology, finance, retail and telecommunications.

Drawing on a database of over 200 billion recaptured assets, researchers identified over 687 million exposed credentials and PII tied to Fortune 1000 employees, a 26% increase from last year’s analysis.

Analysis of this data showed a 64% password reuse rate, widespread use of easy-to-guess passwords, and a spike in malware-infected devices –– all sources of cyber risk for both employers and consumers who rely on businesses to safeguard their personal data. With remote work blurring the lines between work and personal device use, a larger attack surface compounds the risk of cyber attacks proliferating beyond compromised employee and consumer identities to penetrate corporate networks.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/11/fortune-1000-identity-exposure/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Costa Rica Shows the Damage Ransomware Can Do to a Country - The Washington Post

• Ransomware-as-a-Service: Understanding The Cyber Crime Gig Economy And How To Protect Yourself - Microsoft Security Blog

• Ransomware Works Fast, You Need to Be Faster To Counter It - Help Net Security

• A Closer Look At Today’s Ransomware Attack Landscape - MSSP Alert

• Ransomware Is a National Security Threat, So Please Tell Us About Attacks, Says Government | ZDNet

• 5 Years That Altered the Ransomware Landscape (darkreading.com)

• Colonial Pipeline Faces Nearly $1m Fine After Ransomware • The Register

• These Ransomware Attackers Sent Their Ransom Note to The Victim's Printer | ZDNet

• New Malware Samples Indicate Return of REvil Ransomware | SecurityWeek.Com

• How to Avoid Falling Victim to PayOrGrief's Next Rebrand (darkreading.com)

• Examining the Black Basta Ransomware’s Infection Routine (trendmicro.com)

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Novel Phishing Trick Uses Weird Links to Bypass Spam Filters | Threatpost

• New Email Security Tool Launched to Help Organisations Check Their Defences - NCSC.GOV.UK

• TA578 Using Thread-Hijacked Emails to Push ISO Files For Bumblebee Malware - SANS Internet Storm Center

Malware

• Novel ‘Nerbian’ Trojan Uses Advanced Anti-Detection Tricks | Threatpost

• Low-rent Remote Access Trojan (RAT) Worries Researchers | Threatpost

• Eternity Malware Kit Offers Stealer, Miner, Worm, Ransomware Tools (bleepingcomputer.com)

• It costs $7 to Rent DCRat Malware to Backdoor Your Network • The Register

• Shopping For Malware: $260 Gets You a Password Stealer... • The Register

• Microsoft: Sysrv Botnet Targets Windows, Linux Servers with New Exploits (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Google Drive Emerges as Top App For Malware Downloads - Help Net Security

• Stealthy Linux Implant BPFdoor Compromised Organizations Globally For Years | CSO Online

• Malware Builder Leverages Discord Webhooks | Threatpost

• Malware Attacks Getting More Regional, Claims Netskope • The Register

• 5-Buck DCRat Malware Foretells a Worrying Cyber Future (darkreading.com)

• Threat Actors Use Telegram to Spread ‘Eternity’ Malware-as-a-Service | Threatpost

• German Automakers Targeted in Year-Long Malware Campaign (bleepingcomputer.com)

Data Breaches/Leaks

• PII Of 21M SuperVPN, GeckoVPN Users Leaked On Telegram - Information Security Buzz

• Victims of Horizon Actuarial Data Breach Exceed 1M (techtarget.com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Crypto Robber Who Lured Victims Via Snapchat and Stole £34,000 Jailed (bleepingcomputer.com)

• NCSC Shut Down 2.7 Million Scams in 2021- IT Security Guru

• Crook Jailed for Selling Stolen Credentials On Dark Web • The Register

• UK Government Hackers Destroyed Hundreds of Thousands of Stolen Credit Card Details Held By Criminals | Science & Tech News | Sky News

• US Agrees to International Electronic Cyber Crime Evidence Swap (darkreading.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs

• NFT Scams, Toxic ‘Mines’ And Lost Life Savings: The Cryptocurrency Dream Is Fading Fast | David A Banks | The Guardian

• NFTs Emerge as the Next Enterprise Attack Vector (darkreading.com)

• Fake Binance NFT Mystery Box Bots Steal Victim's Crypto Wallets (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Possible $1 Billion Crypto Ponzi Scheme Probed by Tax Investigators - Bloomberg

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Angry IT Admin Wipes Employer’s Databases, Gets 7 Years in Prison (bleepingcomputer.com)

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• How Can Your Business Defend Itself Against Fraud-as-a-Service? (darkreading.com)

• Scammers Impersonate Britain’s Top Cyber Crime Chief in Fake £5m Heist (telegraph.co.uk)

• Caramel Credit Card Stealing Service Is Growing in Popularity (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Hackers Are Exploiting WordPress Themes, Plugins to Hawk Scams (gizmodo.com)

• Thousands of WordPress Sites Hacked to Redirect Visitors to Scam Sites (thehackernews.com)

Insurance

• Multi-Factor Authentication: A Key to Cyber Risk Insurance Coverage (tripwire.com)

• How Cyber Liability Insurance Can Help Protect Your Business Reputation - MSSP Alert

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• Five Eyes Urges Organisations to Secure Supply Chains - IT Security Guru

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

• Why Are DDoS Attacks So Easy to Launch and So Hard to Defend Against? - Help Net Security

Cloud

• The SaaS-to-SaaS Supply Chain Is a Wild, Wild Mess - Help Net Security

Open Source

• Tech Giants Pledge Multimillion Down Payment to Secure Open Source | Cybersecurity Dive

Travel

• Historic Hotel Stay, Complementary Emotet Exposure included (bleepingcomputer.com)

Parental Controls and Child Safety

• Europe Proposes Tackling Child Abuse by Killing Encryption • The Register

Cyber Bullying and Cyber Stalking

• Another ex-eBay Exec Pleads Guilty to Cyber Stalking Critics • The Register

Regulations, Fines and Legislation

• India’s Battle with Pegasus Tells a Bigger Tale Of Tech Laws • The Register

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

• Wars Start in Cyberspace Well Before Shots Are Fired • The Register

• #CYBERUK22: Cyber Trends from the Russia-Ukraine War - Infosecurity Magazine

• US Pledges to Help Ukraine Keep the Internet and Lights On (darkreading.com)

• Cyber-Espionage Attack Drops Post-Exploit Malware Framework on Microsoft Exchange Servers (darkreading.com)

• Chinese CCTV Cameras On Our Streets Have Hidden Microphones That Could Be Spying on You (telegraph.co.uk)

• Spain’s Spy Chief Sacked Over Pegasus Scandal - Infosecurity Magazine

• OpRussia Update: Anonymous Breached Other Organizations - Security Affairs

• Pro-Russian Hacktivists Target Italy Government Websites - Security Affairs

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Russian Hackers Targeting Opponents Of Ukraine Invasion, Warns GCHQ Chief | Hacking | The Guardian

• Western Intelligence Blames Russia for Europe-Wide Cyber Attack - Infosecurity Magazine

• State Department Says Russian Cyber War Against Ukraine Began in January | The Independent

• Ukraine War: Don’t Underestimate Russia Cyber-Threat, Warns US - BBC News

Nation State Actors – China

• Experts Uncovered a New Wave Of Attacks Conducted By Mustang Panda - Security Affairs

• China-Backed Winnti Hackers Attacked Manufacturers Globally, Cybereason Alleges - MSSP Alert

Nation State Actors – Iran

• Iranian Hackers Leveraging BitLocker and DiskCryptor in Ransomware Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Iran-Linked OilRig APT Caught Using New Backdoor | SecurityWeek.Com

• Iran-linked COBALT MIRAGE Group Uses Ransomware in Its Operations - Security Affairs

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Vulnerability Management

• US Cyber Boss Wants Software Patches to Be Like Car Recalls • The Register

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Vulnerabilities

• Critical F5 BIG-IP Vulnerability Exploited to Wipe Devices (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft Patch Tuesday updates for May 2022 fixes 3 zero-days, 1 under active attack - Security Affairs

• Adobe Warns of 'Critical' Security Flaws in Enterprise Products | SecurityWeek.Com

• Log4Shell Exploit Threatens Enterprise Data Lakes, AI Poisoning (darkreading.com)

• Intel Emits Raft of Firmware Patches For Security Flaws • The Register

• Actively Exploited Zero-Day Bug Patched by Microsoft | Threatpost

• Hundreds of Thousands of Konica Printers Vulnerable to Hacking via Physical Access | SecurityWeek.Com

• HP Fixes Bug Letting Attackers Overwrite Firmware in Over 200 Models (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Zyxel Fixes Firewall Flaws That Could Lead to Hacked Networks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft Releases Fixes for Azure Flaw Allowing RCE Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Researchers Find Flaws in Word, PDF Script Handling • The Register

• SonicWall Releases Patches for New Flaws Affecting SSLVPN SMA1000 Devices (thehackernews.com)

• Microsoft: May Windows Updates Cause AD Authentication Failures (bleepingcomputer.com)

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Sector Specific

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• Ransomware Group Strikes Second US Health Care System in The Last Two Months - CyberScoop

• Is That Health App Safe to Use? A New Framework Aims To Provide An Answer - Help Net Security

Manufacturing

• German Automakers Targeted in Year-Long Malware Campaign (bleepingcomputer.com)

• China-Backed Winnti Hackers Attacked Manufacturers Globally, Cybereason Alleges - MSSP Alert

Education and Academia

• A US College Is Shutting Down for Good Following A Ransomware Attack (yahoo.com)

• Fraudulent 'Bot-driven' College Enrolment up 50%, New Study Finds (darkreading.com)

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• How Business Executives Perceive Ransomware Threat | Kaspersky official blog

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Other News

• An Offensive Mindset Is Crucial for Effective Cyber Defence - Help Net Security

• Zero-Click Attacks Explained, And Why They Are So Dangerous | CSO Online

• Britain Must Upgrade Cyber Defences ‘Or Be Hit By 9/11-Style Attack’ (telegraph.co.uk)

• Everything We Learned From the LAPSUS$ Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Threat Actors Are Stealing Data Now to Decrypt When Quantum Computing Comes (darkreading.com)

• Prepare for What You Wish For: More CISOs on Boards | SecurityWeek.Com

• Ready, IAM, Fire: How Weak Identity and Access Management (IAM) Makes You a Target (darkreading.com)

• How Privileged Access Management (PAM) Must Evolve - MSSP Alert

• Secure Your CMS-Based Websites Against Pervasive Attacks - Help Net Security

• Threats To Hardware Security Are Growing - Help Net Security

• Government’s “Whole of Society” Cyber Strategy Takes Shape - 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.

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 05 May 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 Scams Cost Victims $6.9b-Plus Worldwide in 2021

Cyber-scams cost victims around the globe at least $6.9 billion last year, according to the FBI's latest Internet Crime Report.

Since 2017, the bureau's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received an average of 552,000 complaints per year. This includes reports of extortion, identity theft, phishing, fraud, and a slew of other nefarious schemes that cost victims no less than $18.7 billion in losses over the five-year period.

Unsurprisingly, the volume of these crimes — and related costs — have grown every year; 2021 set records for the total number of complaints (847,376) as well as losses exceeding $6.9 billion, a jump from the $4.2 billion reported a year earlier.

As with earlier years, phishing attacks were by far the most commonly reported crimes, with 323,972 last year. A subset of this category, business email compromise (BEC), is proving very lucrative and cost victims almost $2.4 billion from 19,954 victims, according to the Feds.

BEC involves a cyber criminal compromising a legitimate email account, and then tricking a business or individual into transferring funds, sending employees' personal data, or unlocking cryptocurrency wallets. The fraudster then steals the cash, drains the crypto wallet and/or sells employees' identities and credentials on the dark web.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/05/fbi_cyber_scams/

• Bad Actors Are Maximising Remote Everything

The rise of remote work and learning opened new opportunities for many people – as we’ve seen by the number of people who have moved to new places or adapted to “workcations.” Cyber criminals are taking advantage of the same opportunities – just in a different way. Evaluating the prevalence of malware variants by region reveals a sustained interest by cyber adversaries in maximising the remote work and learning attack vector.

As hybrid work and learning become embedded paradigms in our culture, there are fewer layers of protection between malware and would-be victims. And bad actors are gaining access to more tools to help them pull off their nefarious deeds – like exploit kits. At the same time, the attack surface has rapidly expanded and continues to do so.

That means enterprises must take a work-from-anywhere approach to their security. They need to deploy solutions capable of following, enabling and protecting users no matter where they are located. They need security on the endpoint (EDR) combined with zero trust network access (ZTNA) approaches.

https://threatpost.com/bad-actors-remote-everything/179458/

• This Sneaky Hacking Group Hid Inside Networks For 18 Months Without Being Detected

A previously undisclosed cyber-espionage group is using clever techniques to breach corporate networks and steal information related to mergers, acquisitions and other large financial transactions – and they've been able to remain undetected by victims for periods of more than 18 months.

Detailed by cyber security researchers at Mandiant, who've named it UNC3524, the hacking operation has been active since at least December 2019 and uses a range of advanced methods to infiltrate and maintain persistence on compromised networks that set it apart from most other hacking groups. These methods include the ability to immediately re-infect environments after access is removed. It's currently unknown how initial access is achieved. 

One of the reasons UNC3524 is so successful at maintaining persistence on networks for such a long time is because it installs backdoors on applications and services that don't support security tools, such as anti-virus or endpoint protection.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-sneaky-hacking-group-hid-inside-networks-for-18-months-without-being-detected/

• FBI: Business Email Compromise: The $43 Billion Scam

According to the FBI, business email compromise (BEC) and email account compromise (EAC) losses have surpassed $43 billion globally. BEC/EAC is a sophisticated scam that targets both businesses and individuals who perform legitimate transfer-of-funds requests.

The BEC/EAC scam continues to grow and evolve, targeting small local businesses to larger corporations, and personal transactions. Between July 2019 and December 2021, there was a 65% increase in identified global exposed losses, meaning the dollar loss that includes both actual and attempted loss in United States dollars.

The following information was derived from filings with financial institutions between June 2016 and December 2021:

• Domestic and international incidents: 241,206

• Domestic and international exposed dollar loss: $43,312,749,946

The following BEC/EAC statistics were reported in victim complaints to the IC3 between October 2013 and December 2021:

• Total US victims: 116,401

• Total US exposed dollar loss: $14,762,978,290

• Total non-US victims: 5,260

• Total non-US exposed dollar loss: $1,277,131,099

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/expert-comments/fbi-business-email-compromise-the-43-billion-scam/

• Disgruntled Employees Cashing in On Confidential Information Over Dark Web

Disgruntled employees are making hundreds of thousands of dollars by leaking confidential information over a new platform on the so-called dark web, cyber researchers have said.

Hidden in a part of the internet that is only accessible using special software, the Industrial Spy platform promises huge payouts to staff willing to hand over "dirty secrets" to competitors, according to experts at intelligence business Cyberint.

Industrial Spy currently has data on twelve companies from a range of industries available to people who sign up, Cyberint said.

The platform recently managed to sell two tranches of company data for $400,000 (£318,236) and $750,000 each.

An individual has advertised the platform to potential purchasers of the data on the dark web.

The post said: "With our information you could refuse partnership with an unscrupulous partner, reveal dirty secrets of your competitors and earn millions of dollars using insider information."

Cyber criminals have long approached employees individually and offered a bribe to release sensitive information such as internal data and passwords to access computer systems.

But this new platform allows employees to act on their own initiative to steal data and sell it online.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/05/02/disgruntled-employees-cashing-confidential-information-dark/

• Google Sees More APTs Using Ukraine War-Related Themes

Researchers at Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) say the number of advanced threat actors using Ukraine war-related themes in cyber attacks went up in April with a surge in malware attacks targeting critical infrastructure.

According to Google, known state-backed APT groups from China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, along with various unattributed groups have been using war-related themes in phishing and malware distribution campaigns.

Looking at the cyber attacks that target Eastern Europe, however, a new Google report notes there hasn't been a significant change from the normal levels of activity, despite the increased adoption of lures related to the Ukraine war.

https://www.securityweek.com/google-sees-more-apts-using-ukraine-war-related-themes

• Cryptocurrency Regulators Are Scrambling to Catch Up with Hackers Who Are Swiping Billions

Just four months in, 2022 has been a banner year for hackers, and fraudsters targeting the industry have swindled more than $1 billion from cryptocurrency investors, according to separate estimates by cryptocurrency analysis firm Immunefi.

The rise in fraud has put US regulators on the offensive. The US Securities and Exchange Commission, which has positioned itself as the industry’s main regulator and enforcer, announced on Tuesday that it was going to double its staff working to resources to combat the rise in fraud.

“Crypto markets have exploded in recent years, with retail investors bearing the brunt of abuses in this space. Meanwhile, cyber-related threats continue to pose existential risks to our financial markets and participants,” Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement said in a statement. “The bolstered Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit will be at the forefront of protecting investors and ensuring fair and orderly markets in the face of these critical challenges.”

https://www.cyberscoop.com/cryptocurrency-sec-cybersecurity-bitcoin-regulation-enforcement/

• Tackling the Threats Posed by Shadow IT

While remote technologies have allowed businesses to shift their workforces online, this flexibility has created a swathe of challenges for IT teams who must provide a robust security framework for their organisation – encompassing all the personnel and devices within their remit. In addition to the ever-increasing number of personal devices, corporate devices and programs, more and more applications are moving to the cloud as workloads become increasingly distributed across public clouds and software-as-a-service (SaaS).

This means IT teams are even harder pressed to secure and manage the complex environments they operate in. The unsanctioned use of corporate IT systems, devices, and software – known as shadow IT – has increased significantly during the shift to remote work, and recent research found almost one in seven (68%) are concerned about information security because of employees following shadow IT practices.

Shadow IT can allow hackers to steal employee and customer identities, company intellectual property, and cause companies to fail compliance audits. It can also open the door to enterprises accidentally breaking laws and exposes organisations to data exfiltration, malware, and phishing.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/05/shadow-it-risk/

• Hackers Used the Log4j Flaw to Gain Access Before Moving Across a Company's Network, Say Security Researchers

State-backed hacking groups are some of the most advanced cyber attack operations in the world - but criminals don't need to rely on them if they can exploit unpatched cyber security flaws.

A North Korean hacking and cyber espionage operation breached the network of an engineering firm linked to military and energy organisations by exploiting a cyber security vulnerability in Log4j.

First detailed in December, the vulnerability (CVE-2021-44228) allows attackers to remotely execute code and gain access to systems that use Log4j, a widely used Java logging library.

The ubiquitous nature of Log4j meant cyber security agencies urged organisations globally to apply security updates as quickly as possible, but months on from disclosure, many are still vulnerable to the flaw.

According to cyber security researchers at Symantec, one of those companies that was still vulnerable was an undisclosed engineering firm that works in the energy and military sectors. That vulnerability resulted in the company being breached when attackers exploited the gap on a public-facing VMware View server in February this year. From there, attackers were able to move around the network and compromise at least 18 computers.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-hackers-used-the-log4j-flaw-to-gain-access-before-moving-across-a-companys-network/

• New Hacker Group Pursuing Corporate Employees Focused on Mergers and Acquisitions

[Explanatory note from Black Arrow: When a group of cyber attackers is identified by the cyber security community, it is given a code name usually composed of letters and digits. These groups are also sometimes referred to as APTs., or Advanced Persistent Threats, because the groups are highly skilled and are persistent in their attacks; they are often supported by their state government].

A newly discovered suspected espionage threat actor has been targeting employees focusing on mergers and acquisitions as well as large corporate transactions to facilitate bulk email collection from victim environments.

Mandiant is tracking the activity cluster under the uncategorised moniker UNC3524, citing a lack of evidence linking it to an existing group. However, some of the intrusions are said to mirror techniques used by different Russia-based hacking crews like APT28 and APT29.

"The high level of operational security, low malware footprint, adept evasive skills, and a large Internet of Things (IoT) device botnet set this group apart and emphasise the 'advanced' in Advanced Persistent Threat," the threat intelligence firm said in a report.

The initial access route is unknown but upon gaining a foothold, attack chains involving UNC3524 culminate in the deployment of a novel backdoor called QUIETEXIT for persistent remote access for as long as 18 months without getting detected in some cases.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/05/new-hacker-group-pursuing-corporate.html

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Threats

Ransomware

• Lockbit 2.0, Conti Dominate Ransomware Attack Activity - MSSP Alert: Cyber Security News for MSSPs & MDR Service Providers

• Twitter May Have Given User's Private Data to A Ransomware Hacker, Who Then Ran a Researcher Offline - CyberScoop

• US DoS Offers a Reward of Up To $15M For Info on Conti Ransomware Gang - Security Affairs

• Trend Micro Discovers AvosLocker Can Disable Antivirus Software (techtarget.com)

• Experts Analyse Conti and Hive Ransomware Gangs' Chats with Their Victims (thehackernews.com)

• New Ransomware Strains Linked to North Korean Govt Hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ransomware Attacks: Why Case Studies Provide Rare Learning Opportunities - MSSP Alert: Cybersecurity News for MSSPs & MDR Service Providers

• REvil Revival: Are Ransomware Gangs Ever Really Gone? (darkreading.com)

• What We've Learned in the 12 Months Since the Colonial Pipeline Attack (darkreading.com)

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• MSPs Need a Layered Defence Against Phishing - MSSP Alert: Cyber Security News for MSSPs & MDR Service Providers

• Google SMTP Relay Service Abused for Sending Phishing Emails (bleepingcomputer.com)

• US DoD Scammed Out of $23M in Phishing Attack on Jet-Fuel Vendors (darkreading.com)

• 1000s of Phishing Emails Sent from NHS Inboxes - IT Security Guru

Malware

• This New Fileless Malware Hides Shellcode in Windows Event Logs (thehackernews.com)

• Raspberry Robin Spreads Via Removable USB Devices - Security Affairs

• Hackers Using PrivateLoader PPI Service to Distribute New NetDooka Malware (thehackernews.com)

Mobile

• Android Monthly Updates Are Out – Critical Bugs Found in Critical Places! – Naked Security (sophos.com)

IoT

• Unpatched DNS Bug Affects Millions of Routers and IoT Devices (bleepingcomputer.com)

• What Should I Know About Defending IoT Attack Surfaces? (darkreading.com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Scammer Infects His Own Machine with Spyware, Reveals True Identity (darkreading.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs

• Crypto Hackers Stole More Than $370 Million In April Alone (vice.com)

• Ferrari Subdomain Hijacked to Push Fake Ferrari NFT Collection (bleepingcomputer.com)

Supply Chain

• NIST Issues Guidance for Addressing Software Supply-Chain Risk (darkreading.com)

Open Source

• Open-Source Security: It's Too Easy to Upload 'Devastating' Malicious Packages, Warns Google | ZDNet

• How Linux Became the New Bullseye for Bad Guys | SecurityWeek.Com

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• Good End User Passwords Begin with A Well-Enforced Password Policy - Help Net Security

• 55% of People Rely on Their Memory To Manage Passwords - Help Net Security

• A Security Researcher Easily Found My Passwords and More: How My Digital Footprints Left Me Surprisingly Over-Exposed | ZDNet

• A Third of Americans Use Easy-to-Guess Pet Passwords (darkreading.com)

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

• Mandiant CEO: False-flag Ops a Red Line For Nation-States • The Register

• Anonymous and Ukraine IT Army Continue to Target Russian Entities - Security Affairs

• Pro-Ukraine Hackers Use Docker Images to DDoS Russian Sites (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Chinese Hackers Caught Stealing Intellectual Property from Multinational Companies (thehackernews.com)

• Russia Hammered by Pro-Ukrainian Hackers Following Invasion | Ars Technica

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Russia-Linked APT29 Targets Diplomatic and Government Organisations - Security Affairs

• Russian Ransomware Group Claims Attack on Bulgarian Refugee Agency - CyberScoop

• Russia Cyber Attacks Raise Questions About Hacking Red Lines - Bloomberg

• Putin Threatens Supply Chains with Counter-Sanction Order • The Register

• Russian Hackers Targeting Diplomatic Entities in Europe, Americas, and Asia (thehackernews.com)

• China-linked APT Curious Gorge Targeted Russian Govt Agencies - Security Affairs

• Russia-Ukraine War Prompts Security Best Practices Refresher (techtarget.com)

Nation State Actors – China

• China-Linked Winnti APT Group Silently Stole Trade Secrets for Years: Report | SecurityWeek.Com

• State-Backed Chinese Hackers Target Russia - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Chinese "Override Panda" Hackers Resurface With New Espionage Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Experts Uncover New Espionage Attacks by Chinese 'Mustang Panda' Hackers (thehackernews.com)

• China Not Happy With South Korea Joining NATO Cyber Defense Center | SecurityWeek.Com

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• Security Researchers: Here's How the Lazarus Hackers Start Their Attacks | ZDNet

• US Sanctions Cryptocurrency Mixer Blender for Helping North Korea Launder Millions (thehackernews.com)

• VHD Ransomware Variant Linked to North Korean Cyber Army (darkreading.com)

Nation State Actors – Misc

• Stealthy APT Group Plunders Very Specific Corporate Email Accounts - Help Net Security

• UNC3524 APT Uses IP Cameras to Deploy Backdoors and Target Exchange - Security Affairs

• 1,000+ Attacks in 2 Years: How the SideWinder APT Sheds Its Skin (darkreading.com)

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Vulnerabilities

• CISA Adds Five Known Exploited Vulnerabilities to Catalogue | CISA

• Aruba and Avaya Network Switches Are Vulnerable to RCE Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Cisco Issues Patches for 3 New Flaws Affecting Enterprise NFVIS Software (thehackernews.com)

• F5 Warns of a New Critical BIG-IP Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)

• May 2022 Patch Tuesday Forecast: Look Beyond Just Application and OS Updates - Help Net Security

• Critical Cisco VM-Escape Bug Threatens Host Takeover (darkreading.com)

• Researchers Disclose Years-Old Vulnerabilities in Avast and AVG Antivirus (thehackernews.com)

• QNAP Releases Firmware Patches for 9 New Flaws Affecting NAS Devices (thehackernews.com)

• Multiple Vulnerabilities in Firefox Products Could Allow for Arbitrary Code Execution (cisecurity.org)

• Critical RCE Bug Reported in dotCMS Content Management Software (thehackernews.com)

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Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

• German Finance Watchdog Sees 'Very Big' Risk of Cyber Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com

Telecoms

• Top Ransomware Attack Targets: Telecom Leapfrogs Healthcare - MSSP Alert: Cybersecurity News for MSSPs & MDR Service Providers

• Chinese Hackers Caught Exploiting Popular Antivirus Products to Target Telecom Sector (thehackernews.com)

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• Healthcare and Education Sectors Most Susceptible to Cyber Incidents - Infosecurity Magazine

• Phishing Operation Hits NHS Email Accounts • The Register

Education and Academia

• April Ransomware Attacks Slam US Universities (techtarget.com)

• Healthcare and Education Sectors Most Susceptible to Cyber Incidents - Infosecurity Magazine

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Other News

• WordPress Sites Getting Hacked ‘Within Seconds’ of TLS Certificates Being Issued | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)

• Heroku: Cyber Attacker Used Stolen OAuth Tokens to Steal Customer Account Credentials (darkreading.com)

• Car Rental Company Sixt Hit by a Cyber Attack that Caused Disruptions - Security Affairs

• White House Says To Prepare For Cryptography-Cracking Quantum Computers - Information Security Buzz

• CMS-Based Sites Under Attack: The Latest Threats and Trends - Help Net Security

• Mozilla Finds Mental Health Apps Fail 'Spectacularly' at User Security, Data Policies | ZDNet

• Renew Focus on Web Application Security - MSSP Alert: Cybersecurity News for MSSPs & MDR Service Providers

• UK to Place Security Requirements on App Developers and Store Operators - 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.

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 29 April 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

• Ransomware Attacks Surged to New Highs in 2021

Ransomware attacks are getting more frequent, more successful and more expensive.

Sixty-six percent of the organisations surveyed by Sophos for its annual State of Ransomware report admitted that they were hit with a ransomware attack last year, up from 37% in 2020. And 65 percent of those attacks were successful in encrypting their victims' data, up from 54 percent the year before.

On top of that, the average ransom paid by organisations for their most significant ransomware attack grew by nearly five times, to just over $800,000, while the number of organisations that paid ransoms of $1 million or more tripled to 11%, the UK-based cybersecurity company said. For its annual report, Sophos surveyed 5,600 organisations from 31 countries. A total of 965 of those polled shared details of their ransomware attacks.

The numbers aren't a huge surprise after a year of epic ransomware attacks that shut down everything from a major oil pipeline to one of the largest meat processors in the US. While both Colonial Pipeline and JBS US Holdings paid millions in ransom, the attacks paused their operations long enough to spark panic buying and drive prices up for consumers.

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/ransomware-attacks-surged-to-new-highs-in-2021/#ftag=CAD-09-10aai5b

• NCSC and Allies Publish Advisory on The Most Commonly Exploited Vulnerabilities In 2021

The UK and international partners have published an advisory for public and private sector organisations on the 15 most commonly exploited vulnerabilities in 2021.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a part of GCHQ, has jointly published an advisory with agencies in the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, showing that malicious cyber actors aggressively targeted newly disclosed critical software vulnerabilities across the public and private sectors worldwide.

Threat actors often geared their efforts towards targeting internet-facing systems, such as email and virtual private network (VPN) servers.

It also indicates that, to a lesser extent, actors continue to exploit publicly known – and often dated – vulnerabilities, some of which were routinely exploited in 2020 or earlier.

The advisory directs organisations to follow specific mitigation advice to protect against exploitation, which includes applying timely patches, using a centralised patch management system and replacing any software no longer supported by the vendor.

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/news/ncsc-and-allies-publish-advisory-on-the-most-commonly-exploited-vulnerabilities-in-2021

•  Network Attacks Increased to a 3-Year High

WatchGuard Technologies’ Internet Security Report for Q4 2021 revealed all threats were up, whether they’re network attacks or malware.

When the pandemic started, their research team saw a big drop in malware being detected by network security devices. In this period, tech based jobs moved to remote work, which meant a lot of users were no longer browsing the internet and encountering bad things through the network security control at the office. That’s probably why network detection for malware dropped quite a bit at the beginning of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, network attacks continued to rise even through the pandemic, since the servers still lived at the offices and the cloud, and network security still protected those.

The big takeaway in Q4 2021 is that malware rose significantly, returning to normal levels. The reason might be the holiday season, but it’s most probably the fact that, at the end of last year, a lot of tech-based offices started reopening and offering employees to come back in, and thus there’s a bigger chance for network security controls to catch malware.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/04/25/network-attacks-q4-2021-video/

• World War Three Is Far More Likely Than Anyone Is Prepared to Admit

A Telegraph article looks at the Russia-Ukraine conflict and considers risks posed by new weapons and how the West’s failure to understand our enemies are raising the chances of a horrific conflict.

The fact is the world is becoming more, rather than less, dangerous: there are plenty of other wannabe Putins, and they are better equipped to sow death and destruction. Not only traditional and nuclear threats but bioterrorism is a growing worry and a major cyber attack or assault on transatlantic cables could be so devastating to an internet-based economy as to be seen as a declaration of war.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/04/27/world-war-three-far-likely-anyone-prepared-admit/

• The Ransomware Crisis Deepens, While Data Recovery Stalls

Higher probabilities of attack, soaring ransoms, and less chance of getting data back — the ransomware plague gets worse, and cyber insurance fails to be a panacea.

When it comes to ransomware, more companies are seeing attacks and have had data encrypted, according to research out this week. And even though more companies are backing up or paying ransom demands, less data was recovered in 2021 compared with the previous year.

For instance, in its "State of Ransomware 2022" report, cybersecurity firm Sophos found that 66% of surveyed companies had encountered ransomware in 2021, with two-thirds of those firms — or 43% overall — suffering from an actual attack that encrypted data. In its previous report covering 2020, the frequency of successful attacks was much smaller, with about 20% overall resulting in encryption.

The deteriorating cyberthreat landscape is largely due to the evolution of ransomware groups and their techniques, says Sean Gallagher, senior threat researcher with Sophos.

"Over the past couple of years, there has been a massive transition from ransomware to ransomware-as-a-service," he says. "There are very well-established [groups] that are doing these attacks, and as a result, the number of attacks companies are seeing has gone up."

Ransomware continues to plague companies with business-disrupting attacks and defy efforts by cybersecurity experts to rein in the operators behind the criminals’ campaigns. Not only did the portion of companies affected by ransomware more than double last year, but the mean ransomware payment more than quadrupled to $812,000, according to the Sophos report.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/ransomware-crisis-deepens-data-recovery-stalls

• Ransoms Only Make Up 15% of Ransomware Costs

New research suggests that paying ransoms is only the tip of the cost iceberg when it comes to ransomware attacks.

Researchers at Check Point have revealed that the collateral damage of ransomware attacks make up costs roughly seven times higher than the ransom demanded by threat actors.

The costs include financial implications caused by incident response efforts, system restoration, legal fees, monitoring costs and the overall impact of business disruption.

Ransomware attacks are an increasingly popular attack method, typically involving stealing data from the victim, encrypting data and forcing them to pay for decryption and avoiding a data leak.

Check Point said in the report:

“Most other losses, including response and restoration costs, legal fees, monitoring costs, etc., are applied whether the extortion demand was paid or not. The year 2020 showed that the average total cost of a ransomware attack was more than seven times higher than the average ransom paid.”

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/04/28/ransoms-only-make-up-15-of-ransomware-costs/

• Defending Your Business Against Russian Cyber Warfare

We are likely to see Russian state sponsored attacks escalate as the West continues to increase sanctions and support Ukraine.

The eyes of the world are focused on the war in Ukraine. As expected, Russia has targeted Ukraine with cyber attacks first, and much of the West is wondering when Russia will also retaliate against countries supporting Ukraine. Most agree that some attacks are already in progress, and the attacks against western entities are sure to escalate as the war continues and more sanctions are put in place. 

The first wave of companies targeted by the Russian state, and threat actors it supports, will be those that suspend Russian operations or take direct action to support Ukraine. Information operations and subversion against these companies will likely ensue. In the event of Russian cyberwarfare, reviewing the industries, styles, and objectives of their attacks can help organisations to prepare and implement more robust defences. These defences include actions both inside and outside an enterprise's perimeter.

https://www.securityweek.com/defending-your-business-against-russian-cyberwarfare

• 5-Year Vulnerability Trends Are Both Surprising and Sadly Predictable

What 5,800+ pentests show us: Companies have been struggling with the same known and preventable security bugs year over year. Bandwidth stands at the heart of the problem.

Cyber crime can cause major disruption when it comes to the sustainability and long-term success of companies. Teams want to have robust security but often struggle to meet that objective. It's crucial for security professionals to leverage insights into emerging trends in cybersecurity to pinpoint which vulnerabilities put organisations at the greatest risk, and Cobalt's "State of Pentesting" reports explore how to achieve efficiency to strengthen security.

The "State of Pentesting 2022" surveyed 602 cybersecurity and software development professionals and analysed data from 2,380 pentests conducted over the course of 2021 to pull key insights that are relevant to security and development teams when it comes to fixing vulnerabilities.

As a result of the data collected, the top five most common vulnerability categories outlined in this year's "State of Pentesting" report include:

·       Server Security Misconfigurations

·       Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

·       Broken Access Control

·       Sensitive Data Exposure

·       Authentication and Sessions

Surprisingly — yet predictably — these vulnerability categories have stayed at the top of the list for at least the last five years in a row. They're also recognisable to those who are familiar with OWASP Top 10 list for Web Application Security Risks.

The majority of these findings are connected to missing configurations, outdated software, and a lack of access management controls — all common and easily preventable security flaws. So, what's holding companies back from preventing well-known security flaws? Why does this come as a surprise?

https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/5-year-vulnerability-trends-are-both-surprising-and-sadly-predictable

• Cisco Talos Observes 'Novel Increase' in APT Activity in Q1

Advanced persistent threat actors have been busy over the past few months, according to Cisco Talos.

The security vendor released its Quarterly Trends report, which examined incident response trends from engagements in the first quarter of 2022. While ransomware remained the top threat, as it has for the past two years now, Cisco observed a new trend of increased APT activity. The Cisco Talos Incident Response (CTIR) team attributed some of the increase to groups like Iranian state-sponsored Muddywater and China-based Mustang Panda.

One suspected Chinese APT, dubbed "Deep Panda," was connected to exploitation of the Log4j flaw that was discovered last year in the widely used Java logging tool. Log4j exploitation was the second most common threat for Q1 behind ransomware, indicating the bug is a growing threat despite a patch being available.

https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/252516380/Cisco-Talos-observes-novel-increase-in-APT-activity-in-Q1

• Deepfakes Set to Be Used in Organised Crime

New research from Europol suggests that deepfakes will be used extensively in organised crime operations.

Europol has warned of a projected rise in the use of deepfake technology by organised crime organisations.

Deepfakes involve the use of artificial intelligence to create realistic audio and audio-visual content “that convincingly shows people saying or doing things they never did, or create personas that never existed in the first place.”

Law enforcement and the challenge of deepfakes is the first published analysis of the Europol Innovation Lab’s Observatory function, warning that law enforcement agencies must rapidly improve skills and technologies utilised by officers in order to keep up with criminal deepfake use.

The analysis report highlighted how deepfakes are used primarily in disinformation, non-consensual pornography and document fraud campaigns, which will grow more realistic in years to come.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/04/29/deepfakes-set-to-be-used-in-organised-crime/

• Smart Contract Developers Not Really Focused on Security. Who Knew?

"Smart contracts," which consist of self-executing code on a blockchain, are not nearly as smart as the label suggests.

They are at least as error-prone as any other software, where historically the error rate has been about one bug per hundred lines of code.

And they may be shoddier still due to disinterest in security among smart contract developers, and perhaps inadequate technical resources.

Multi-million dollar losses attributed to smart contract bugs – around $31m stolen from MonoX via smart contract exploit and ~$34m locked into a contract forever due to bad increment math, to name a few – illustrate the consequences.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/26/smart_contract_losses/

• Tractor-Trailer Brake Controllers Vulnerable to Remote Hacker Attacks

We’ve been predicting this for a while now and the move to more and more connected systems, autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles, how long until someone is subject to threats to disconnect a vehicle’s brakes as they are driving along a motorway? Who wouldn’t pay the ransom demand in that scenario?

A report this week is related to articulated lorries but this is something that will be affecting all vehicles unless safeguards are put in place.

Researchers have analysed the cyber security of heavy vehicles and discovered that the brake controllers found on many tractor-trailers in North America are susceptible to remote hacker attacks.

The research was conducted by the US National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA), which is a non-profit organisation that represents roughly 500 motor freight carriers, in collaboration with Assured Information Security, Inc.

NMFTA has been analysing the cyber security of heavy vehicles since 2015 and it has periodically disclosed its findings. The latest report from the organisation came in early March, when the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) also issued an advisory to describe two vulnerabilities affecting trailer brake controllers.

The flaws described in the CISA advisory are related to the power line communications (PLC) between tractors and trailers, specifically the PLC4TRUCKS technology, which uses a standard named J2497 for bidirectional communications between the tractor and trailer without adding new wires.

https://www.securityweek.com/tractor-trailer-brake-controllers-vulnerable-remote-hacker-attacks

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Threats

Ransomware

• Prevent HEAT Attacks to Foil Ransomware Incidents - Help Net Security

• 4-Hour Time-to-Ransom Seen in Quantum Attack as Accelerated Ransomware Increasingly Common | SecurityWeek.Com

• Conti Ransomware Operations Surge Despite Recent Leak - Security Affairs

• Beware: Onyx Ransomware Destroys Files Instead of Encrypting Them (bleepingcomputer.com)

• FBI says BlackCat Rust-Based Ransomware Scratched 60+ Orgs • The Register

• REvil Ransomware Attacks Resume, But Operators Are Unknown (techtarget.com)

• Fake Windows 10 Updates Infect You with Magniber Ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New Black Basta Ransomware Springs into Action with A Dozen Breaches (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Companies Can't Get Enough of Good Ol' Tape Storage For Ransomware Resistance | PC Gamer

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Phishing Goes KISS: Don’t Let Plain and Simple Messages Catch You Out! – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Phishing Attacks Benefiting from Shady SEO Practices (techtarget.com)

• Cyber Criminals Deliver IRS Tax Scams and Phishing Campaigns by Mimicking Government Vendors - Help Net Security

Malware

• Emotet Malware Now Installs Via Powershell in Windows Shortcut Files (bleepingcomputer.com)

• It’s Called BadUSB for a Reason - Security Affairs

• New RIG Exploit Kit Campaign Infecting Victims' PCs with RedLine Stealer (thehackernews.com)

• Emotet Tests New Attack Techniques: Sign of Things to Come? | CSO Online

• Cyber Criminals Using New Malware Loader 'Bumblebee' in the Wild (thehackernews.com)

• New Powerful Prynt Stealer Malware Sells for Just $100 Per Month (bleepingcomputer.com)

Mobile

• These Are Signs That Your Phone Could Be Infected with Malware - PhoneArena

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Interpol: We Can't Arrest Our Way Out of Cyber Crime • The Register

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking/NFTs

• Scammers Are Copying News Sites To Push Elon Musk-themed Crypto Scams - Information Security Buzz

• Why Did Hackers Target DeFi L1, L2 Solutions for a $1.2 Billion Theft in 2022? (watcher.guru)

• Intuit Sued Over Phishing Attack Targeting Trezor Crypto Wallet Users - Decrypt

• Crypto Trading Fund Partners Accused of Fraud - Infosecurity Magazine

• LemonDuck Botnet Evades Detection in Cryptomining Attacks (techtarget.com)

• Bored Ape Yacht Club Instagram Hacked, NFTs Worth Millions Stolen (vice.com)

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Don't Ignore Risks Lurking Within Your Own Network - Help Net Security

AML/CFT

• Two More Indicted Over North Korean Sanctions Evasion Plot - Infosecurity Magazine

• FCA: Challenger Banks Failing to Spot Money Launderers - Infosecurity Magazine

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

• Cloudflare Stomps On 15.3 Million Requests Per Second DDoS • The Register

• How a New Generation of IoT Botnets Is Amplifying DDoS Attacks | CSO Online

• Attackers Remain Persistent and Indiscriminate As Multi-Vector DDoS Attacks Continue To Rise - Help Net Security

• DDoS Attacks Target Healthcare, Education Markets, Research Finds - MSSP Alert

Cloud

• Is Cloud Critical Infrastructure? Prep Now for Provider Outages (techtarget.com)

• Shadow IT Is A Top Concern Related To SaaS Adoption - Help Net Security

• Security Turbulence in the Cloud: Survey Says… | Threatpost

Travel

• Finnish Hotels' Data Compromised - Infosecurity Magazine

Parental Controls and Child Safety

• Hackers Sexually Extort Kids with Stolen Data: Report (gizmodo.com)

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

• The Hybrid War in Ukraine - Microsoft On the Issues

• Data-Wiper Malware Strains Surge Amid Ukraine Invasion • The Register

• Russia Is Being Hacked at an Unprecedented Scale | WIRED

• Chinese Hackers Targeting Russian Military Personnel with Updated PlugX Malware (thehackernews.com)

• Cyber Attacks Rage in Ukraine, Support Military Operations | Threatpost

• Ongoing DDoS Attacks from Compromised Sites Hit Ukraine - Security Affairs

• Anonymous Hacked Russian PSCB Commercial Bank and Energy Firms - Security Affairs

• Russia-Linked Threat Actors Launched Hundreds of Cyber Attacks on Ukraine - Security Affairs

• Russian Hacktivists Launch DDoS Attacks on Romanian Govt Sites (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Cyber Espionage APT Now Identified as Three Separate Actors | Threatpost

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Microsoft Documents Over 200 Cyber Attacks by Russia Against Ukraine (thehackernews.com)

• Russian Govt Impersonators Target Telcos in Phishing Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• The Subject of Trusting ‘Russian’ Applications - Information Security Buzz

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• Nation-state Hackers Target Journalists with Goldbackdoor Malware | Threatpost

Nation State Actors – Iran

• Iran's Rocket Kitten Likely Behind VMware Exploitation • The Register

Nation State Actors – Misc

• Case Study: Why It's Difficult To Attribute Nation-State Attacks (techtarget.com)

• Experts Detail 3 Hacking Teams Working Under the Umbrella of TA410 Group (thehackernews.com)

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Vulnerability Management

• Five Eyes Nations Reveal 2021's Fifteen Most-Exploited Flaws • The Register

• Experts Warn of A Surge In Zero-Day Flaws Observed And Exploited in 2021 - Security Affairs

• Cyber Criminals are Feasting Over 'Zero-day Hacks' While the World Watches (analyticsinsight.net)

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Vulnerabilities

• CISA Adds 7 Vulnerabilities to List Of Bugs Exploited In Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Cisco Patches 11 High-Severity Vulnerabilities in Security Products | SecurityWeek.Com

• Update Now! Critical Patches for Chrome and Edge | Malwarebytes Labs

• Microsoft Patches Pair of Dangerous Vulnerabilities in Azure PostgreSQL (darkreading.com)

• Log4j Attack Surface Remains Massive (darkreading.com)

• Microsoft Discovers New Privilege Escalation Flaws in Linux Operating System (thehackernews.com)

• Millions of Java Apps Remain Vulnerable to Log4Shell | Threatpost

• Organisations Warned of Attacks Exploiting WSO2 Vulnerability | SecurityWeek.Com

• Critical Vulnerabilities Leave Some Network-Attached Storage Devices Open to Attack (darkreading.com)

• Vulnerability Found in WordPress Anti-Malware Firewall (searchenginejournal.com)

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Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

• Private Investigator Admits Role in Hedge Fund Hack - Infosecurity Magazine

Government

• Governments Under Attack Must Think Defensively - Help Net Security

• Data Breach Disrupts UK Army Recruitment - Infosecurity Magazine

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• French Hospital Group Disconnects Internet After Hackers Steal Data (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Medical Software Firm Fined €1.5M for Leaking Data of 490k Patients (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Data breach at US healthcare provider ARcare impacts 345,000 individuals | The Daily Swig (portswigger.net)

• DDoS Attacks Target Healthcare, Education Markets, Research Finds - MSSP Alert

• Smile Brands Breach Impacts 2.5 Million Individuals - Infosecurity Magazine

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Why Is It So Easy To Break Into The Systems That Run The World’s Most Critical, Expert Weighs In - Information Security Buzz

• Chickens Baked Alive Due to Computer Glitch - Infosecurity Magazine

Education and Academia

• Universities Lose Over £2m to Ransomware - IT Security Guru

• DDoS Attacks Target Healthcare, Education Markets, Research Finds - MSSP Alert

Gaming/Gambling

• New APT Group Earth Berberoka Targets Gambling Websites With Old and New Malware (trendmicro.com)

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• Cisco Talos Intelligence Group - Comprehensive Threat Intelligence: Quarterly Report: Incident Response trends in Q1 2022

• Internet Security Report - Q4 2021 | WatchGuard Technologies

• State of Pentesting Report 2022 | Cobalt

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Other News

• SolarWinds Breach Lawsuits: 6 Takeaways for CISOs | CSO Online

• 41% Of Businesses Had an API Security Incident Last Year - Help Net Security

• Security Leaders Relying More Heavily on MSPs Amid Talent Crunch - Help Net Security

• 2022 Security Priorities: Staffing and Remote Work (darkreading.com)

• GitHub: How Stolen OAuth Tokens Helped Breach Dozens of Orgs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Why Companies Should Focus on Preventing Privilege Escalation (techtarget.com)

• German Wind Turbine Firm Hit by 'Targeted, Professional Cyber Attack' | SecurityWeek.Com

• 308,000 Exposed Databases Discovered, Proper Management Is Key - Help Net Security

• Lapsus$ targeting SharePoint, VPNs and virtual machines (techtarget.com)

• Indian Govt Orders Organisations to Report Security Breaches Within 6 Hours to CERT-In (thehackernews.com)

• Top Five Post-Pandemic Priorities for Cyber Security Leaders - Help Net Security

• Security Spending Set to Hit $198bn by 2025 - Infosecurity Magazine

• Companies Poorly Prepared to Meet CCPA, CPRA and GDPR Compliance Requirements - Help Net Security

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 22 April 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

• Why Ransomware Attacks Prefer Small Business Targets Rather Than Rich Enterprises

Enterprise businesses with 25,000 employees+ are less likely to get hit by a ransomware attack than smaller businesses — even though big companies typically can afford to pay higher ransoms, the 2022 CyberEdge Cyberthreat Defense Report concluded.

What explains hackers taking aim at small businesses more frequently than enterprise giants?  The answer: Damaging a critical infrastructure facility or similar disruptions are certain to catch the eye of federal law enforcement, or national governments — something that no hacker wants, CyberEdge said. Smaller to medium-sized firms, as it turns out, get hit more frequently by ransomware attacks, on average at roughly 70 percent, the report said.

Overall, some 71 percent of organisations have been bitten by ransomware in 2022, up a point and a half from last year and by 8.5 points in 2020. It’s companies of 10,000 to 24,999 employees that are the sweet spot for ransomware hackers, nearly 75 percent of which are victimised by cyber extortionists.

The extensive study, which surveyed 1,200 security decision makers and practitioners employed by companies of greater than 500 people in 17 countries across 19 industries, is geared to helping gauge their internal practices and investments against those of their counterparts in other parts of the world.

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/why-ransomware-attacks-prefer-small-business-targets-rather-than-rich-enterprises/

• Ransomware Plagues Finance Sector as Cyber Attacks Get More Complex

Cyber criminals have evolved from hacking wire transfers to targeting market data, as ransomware continues to hit financial firms, says a new VMware report. Here's what to do about it.

Ransomware plagues financial institutions as they face increasingly complex threats over previous years owing to the changing behaviour of cyber criminal cartels, according to VMware's latest Modern Bank Heists report.

This has happened as the cyber crime cartels have evolved beyond wire transfer frauds to target market strategies, take over brokerage accounts, and island-hop into banks, according to the report.

For the report, VMware surveyed 130 financial sector CISOs and security leaders from across different regions including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Central and South America, and Africa.

Report findings were consistent with observations by other security experts. "The Secret Service, in its investigative capacity to protect the nation's financial payment systems and financial infrastructure, has seen an evolution and increase in complex cyber-enabled fraud," says Jeremy Sheridan, former assistant director at the US Secret Service. "The persistent, inadequate security of systems connected to the internet provides opportunity and methodology."

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3657875/ransomware-plagues-finance-sector-as-cyberattacks-get-more-complex.html

• 76% of Organisations Worldwide Expect to Suffer a Cyber Attack This Year

Ransomware, phishing/social engineering, denial of service (DoS) attacks, and the business fallout of a data breach rank as the top concerns of global organisations, a new study shows.

The newly published Cyber Risk Index, a study by Trend Micro and the Ponemon Institute, shows that more than three-quarters of global organisations expect to suffer a cyber attack in the next 12 months — 25% of which say an attack is "very likely."

More than 80% of the 3,400 CISO and IT professionals and managers surveyed say their organisations were hit with one or more successful cyber attacks in the past 12 months, and 35% suffered seven or more attacks, according to the report, which covers the second half of 2021.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/76-of-organizations-worldwide-expect-to-suffer-a-cyberattack-this-year

• Most Email Security Approaches Fail to Block Common Threats

A full 89 percent of organisations experienced one or more successful email breaches during the previous 12 months, translating into big-time costs.

On overwhelming number of security teams believe their email security systems to be ineffective against the most serious inbound threats, including ransomware.

That’s according to a survey of business customers using Microsoft 365 for email commissioned by Cyren and conducted by Osterman Research, which examined concerns with phishing, business email compromise (BEC), and ransomware threats, attacks that became costly incidents, and preparedness to deal with attacks and incidents.

“Security team managers are most concerned that current email security solutions do not block serious inbound threats (particularly ransomware), which requires time for response and remediation by the security team before dangerous threats are triggered by users,” according to the report, released Wednesday.

Less than half of those surveyed said that their organisations can block delivery of email threats. And, correspondingly, less than half of organisations rank their currently deployed email security solutions as effective.

https://threatpost.com/email-security-fail-block-threats/179370/

• Financial Leaders Grappling with More Aggressive and Sophisticated Attack Methods

VMware released a report which takes the pulse of the financial industry’s top CISOs and security leaders on the changing behaviour of cyber criminal cartels and the defensive shift of the financial sector.

The report found that financial institutions are facing increased destructive attacks and falling victim to ransomware more than in years past, as sophisticated cyber crime cartels evolve beyond wire transfer fraud to now target market strategies, take over brokerage accounts and island hop into banks.

In the Modern Bank Heists report, 63% of financial institutions admitted experiencing an increase in destructive attacks, with cyber criminals leveraging this method as a means to burn evidence as part of a counter incident response.

Additionally, 74% experienced at least one ransomware attack over the past year, with 63% paying the ransom. When asked about the nation-state actors behind these attacks, the majority of financial instructions stated that Russia posed the greatest concern, as geopolitical tension continues to escalate in cyberspace.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/04/21/cybercriminal-cartels-financial-sector/

• Hackers Sneak Malware into Resumes Sent to Corporate Hiring Managers

A new set of phishing attacks delivering the ‘more_eggs’ malware has been observed striking corporate hiring managers with bogus resumes as an infection vector, a year after potential candidates looking for work on LinkedIn were lured with weaponised job offers.

"This year the more_eggs operation has flipped the social engineering script, targeting hiring managers with fake resumes instead of targeting jobseekers with fake job offers," eSentire's research and reporting lead, Keegan Keplinger, said in a statement.

The Canadian cyber security company said it identified and disrupted four separate security incidents, three of which occurred at the end of March. Targeted entities include a US-based aerospace company, an accounting business located in the UK, a law firm, and a staffing agency, both based out of Canada.

The malware, suspected to be the handiwork of a threat actor called Golden Chickens (aka Venom Spider), is a stealthy, modular backdoor suite capable of stealing valuable information and conducting lateral movement across the compromised network.

"More_eggs achieves execution by passing malicious code to legitimate windows processes and letting those windows processes do the work for them," Keplinger said. The goal is to leverage the resumes as a decoy to launch the malware and sidestep detection.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/04/hackers-sneak-moreeggs-malware-into.html

• West Warns of Russian Cyber Attacks as Concerns Rise Over Putin’s Nuclear Rhetoric

Cyber crime groups have publicly pledged support for Russia, western officials worry about Putin’s reliance on nuclear threats and the battle for Mariupol in Ukraine grinds on.

The US and four of its closest allies have warned that “evolving intelligence” shows that Russia is contemplating cyber attacks on countries backing Ukraine, as the Kremlin’s frustration grows at its failure to make military gains.

Vladimir Putin used the launch on Wednesday of a powerful new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), capable of carrying ten or more warheads, to make nuclear threats against western countries.

The Sarmat has long been in development and test flights were initially due to start in 2017. The Pentagon confirmed that the US had been given notice of the test and was not alarmed. Western officials are more concerned by the increasing emphasis Moscow puts on its nuclear arsenal as its conventional forces have faltered in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian army continued to put up resistance in the besieged and devastated city of Mariupol, but Putin’s Chechen ally, Ramzan Kadyrov, predicted that the last stand of the port’s defenders at the Azovstal steel works would fall on Thursday.

The Kremlin has made repeated threats against the many countries that have been supplying Ukraine’s army with modern weapons, and members of the “Five Eyes” intelligence sharing network – the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – predicted Moscow could also work with cyber crime groups to launch attacks on governments, institutions and businesses.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/21/west-warns-of-russian-cyber-attacks-as-concerns-rise-over-putins-nuclear-rhetoric

• Criminals Adopting New Methods To Bypass Improved Defences, Says Zscaler

The number of phishing attacks worldwide jumped 29 percent last year as threat actors countered stronger enterprise defences with newer methods, according to researchers with Zscaler's ThreatLabz research team.

Cyber criminals have adapted to multi-factor authentication (MFA), employee security awareness training, and security controls by broadening who and where they will attack.

While the United States remained the country with the most phishing attempts, others are seeing faster growth in the number of incidents – exploiting new vectors like SMS and lowering the barrier of entry for launching attacks through pre-built tools made available on the market.

"Phishing attacks continue to remain one of the most prevalent attack vectors, often serving as a starting point for more advanced next stage attacks that may result in a large-scale breach," Deepen Desai, CISO and vice president of security research and operations at Zscaler, told The Register.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/20/phishing-attempts-on-rise-zscaler/

• Cyber Criminals Are ‘Drinking the Tears’ of Ukrainians

In biology, when an insect drinks the tears of a large creature, it is called lachryphagy. And in cyberspace, malicious actors are likewise “drinking tears” by exploiting humanitarian concerns about the war in Ukraine for profit. Different forms of deception include tricking people into donating to bogus charities, clicking on Ukraine-themed malicious links and attachments, and even impersonating officials to extort payment for rescuing loved ones.

It is an unfortunate reality that cyber opportunists are engaging in lachryphagy to exploit humanitarian concerns about the war for profit or data collection. To date, one of the largest cryptocurrency scams involving fraudulent Ukrainian relief payments totalled $50 million in March, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Immediately following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, cybersecurity companies warned the public that criminals were preying on Ukrainian relief fundraising efforts with cryptocurrency scams. Bitdefender Labs reports that cyber criminals have impersonated Ukrainian government entities and charitable organisations such as UNICEF, and the Australian humanitarian agency, Act for Peace. “Some [scammers] are even pretending to be Wladimir Klitschko, whose brother Vitali is mayor of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv,” according to the BBC.

https://thehill.com/opinion/cybersecurity/3273636-cyber-criminals-are-drinking-the-tears-of-ukrainians/?rl=1

• Hackers For Hire Attempt to Destroy Hedge Fund Manager's Reputation

Hackers bombarded a British hedge fund manager with 3,000 emails and fake news stories about his mortgage in an effort to destroy his reputation after being hired by a corporate rival.

Criminals even sought to gain personal information about Matthew Earl by pretending to be his sister in a three-year campaign when he raised concerns over the controversial German payments company Wirecard.

Mr Earl, a former City analyst who runs the hedge fund ShadowFall, said he was targeted by a group called Dark Basin.

This group has been linked to Aviram Azari, who this week pleaded guilty in New York to a conspiracy to target journalists and critics of Wirecard using phishing emails.

Mr Earl said the hacking attempts started in 2016 after ShadowFall, nicknamed the “dark destroyer” in the City, criticised the financial performance of Wirecard. The German company was later mired in a series of accounting scandals and went bust.

He said: “I was being sent very targeted emails, which were crafted with personal information about my interests, friends and family’s details. They were very specific.”

Mr Earl received news stories that appeared to be from media outlets such as Reuters and Bloomberg. Another email appeared to be sent by his sister, sharing family photographs, he added.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/04/21/reign-terror-hackers-hire-ramp-corporate-espionage/

• New Threat Groups and Malware Families Emerging

Mandiant announced the findings of an annual report that provides timely data and insights based on frontline investigations and remediations of high-impact cyber attacks worldwide. The 2022 report––which tracks investigation metrics between October 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021—reveals over 1,100 new threat groups and 733 new malware families.

The report also notes a realignment and retooling of China cyber espionage operations to align with the implementation of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan in 2021. The report warns that the national-level priorities included in the plan “signal an upcoming increase in China-nexus actors conducting intrusion attempts against intellectual property or other strategically important economic concerns, as well as defence industry products and other dual-use technologies over the next few years.”

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/04/22/adversaries-innovating-and-adapting/

Economic Warfare: Attacks on Critical Infrastructure Part of Geopolitical Conflict

We’ve known for years that since at least March of 2016, Russian government threat actors have been targeting multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors including the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), and other agencies have acknowledged this for quite some time in many of their technical alerts and statements.

In the intervening years, with the acceleration of digital transformation, cyber criminals and nation-state actors have increasingly set their sights on these sectors. The convergence of physical and digital assets brings competitive advantage but also inevitable risks. Attacks against hospitals, oil pipelines, food supply chains, and other critical infrastructure, have brought into sharp focus the vulnerability of cyber-physical systems (CPS) and the impact on lives and livelihoods when they are disrupted. Now, overwhelming signs indicate critical infrastructure companies are in the bullseye of geopolitical conflict.

https://www.securityweek.com/economic-warfare-attacks-critical-infrastructure-part-geopolitical-conflict

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Threats

Ransomware

• How Ready Are Organisations to Manage and Recover From A Ransomware Attack? - Help Net Security

• FBI: BlackCat Ransomware Breached At Least 60 Entities Worldwide (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ransomware: This Gang Is Getting a Lot Quicker at Encrypting Networks | ZDNet

• Hive Hackers Are Exploiting Microsoft Exchange Servers in Ransomware Spree | ZDNet

• REvil's TOR Sites Come Alive to Redirect To New Ransomware Operation (bleepingcomputer.com)

• PYSA Ransomware Attacks: Here's What MSSPs Need to Know - MSSP Alert

• An Investigation of the BlackCat Ransomware via Trend Micro Vision One

• REvil Resurrected? Ransomware Crew Appears to Be Back • The Register

• FBI Warning: Ransomware Gangs Are Going After This Lucrative but Unexpected Target | ZDNet

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• LinkedIn Brand Takes Lead as Most Impersonated In Phishing Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• FBI Warns of 'Reverse' Instant Payments Phishing Schemes | SecurityWeek.Com

• Spreading Malware Through Community Phishing - Help Net Security

Malware

• Windows Malware Can Steal Social Media Credentials and Banking Logins (komando.com)

• Emotet Botnet Switches to 64-bit Modules, Increases Activity (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New SolarMarker Malware Variant Using Updated Techniques to Stay Under the Radar (thehackernews.com)

• Emotet Reestablishes Itself at The Top Of The Malware World • The Register

Mobile

• Millions of Android Users at Risk Of Attack After Widespread Security Issue Uncovered | TechRadar

BYOD

• 60% of Companies using BYOD Face Serious Security Risks - Help Net Security

IoT

• How to Secure Smart Home (IOT) Devices | Reviews by Wirecutter (nytimes.com)

• New Stealthy BotenaGo Malware Variant Targets DVR Devices (bleepingcomputer.com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Russian Hackers Are Seeking Alternative Money-Laundering Options (bleepingcomputer.com)

• How Russia Is Isolating Its Own Cyber Criminals (darkreading.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

• Hackers Hammer SpringShell Vulnerability In Attempt To Install Cryptominers | Ars Technica

• Beanstalk DeFi Platform Loses $182 Million In Flash-Loan Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Yet Another Phishing Attack? Terra Users Lose $4.3 Million, According To Security Firm (watcher.guru)

• Hackers Steal $655K After Picking MetaMask Seed from iCloud Backup (bleepingcomputer.com)

• LemonDuck Botnet Plunders Docker Cloud Instances in Cryptocurrency Crime Wave | ZDNet

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Security Lessons From a Payment Fraud Attack (darkreading.com)

• Scammers Snatch Up Expired Domains, Vexing Google | TechCrunch

Insurance

• Cyber Insurance and the Changing Global Risk Environment - Security Affairs

Dark Web

• Experts Spotted Industrial Spy, A New Stolen Data Marketplace - Security Affairs

Supply Chain and Third Parties

• Strength in Unity: Why It's Especially Important to Strengthen Your Supply Chain Now (darkreading.com)

• More Than Half of Initial Infections in Cyber Attacks Come Via Exploits, Supply Chain Compromises (darkreading.com)

Cloud

• IT Leaders Require Deeper Security Insights to Confidently Manage Multi-Cloud Workloads - Help Net Security

• Rethinking Cyber-Defence Strategies in the Public-Cloud Age | Threatpost

• Cyber Criminals Are Shifting Their Gaze To Kubernetes - Information Security Buzz

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• What Is Peppering in Password Security and How Does It Work? (makeuseof.com)

Digital Transformation

• The Price of An Accelerated Digital Transformation - Help Net Security

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

• Moving Towards Defence in Depth Under The Grey Skies Of Conflict - Help Net Security

• Locked Shields ‘Live Fire’ Cyber Drills to be Held as War in Ukraine Continues - Bloomberg

• Russian-Linked Shuckworm Crew Ups Attacks on Ukraine • The Register

• Russian Gamaredon APT Continues to Target Ukraine - Security Affairs

• Phishing Attacks Using the Topic "Azovstal" Targets Entities in Ukraine - Security Affairs

• Hackers Claim to Target Russia with Cyber Attacks and Leaks - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

• The Anonymous Collective Hacked Other Russian Organisations - Security Affairs

• Spyware Was Used Against Catalan Targets and UK Prime Minister and Foreign Office | CSO Online

• Stalkerware Detection Trends: Monitor and Spyware Findings - MSSP Alert

• Catalan Chief Accuses Spain's Intelligence Agency of Hacking | SecurityWeek.Com

• Anomaly 6 Tracked NSA and CIA Spies as Product Demo: Report (gizmodo.com)

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• Five Eyes Nations Warn of Russian Cyber Attacks Against Critical Infrastructure (thehackernews.com)

• NATO Locked Shields War Games Prep for Real Russian Cyber Attack (gizmodo.com)

• The Russian Cyber Threat Is Here to Stay and NATO Needs To Understand It | Fox News

• A Russian Cyber Attack Is Coming —Lawmakers and Citizens Must Prepare | The Hill

• US Officials Increase Warnings About Russian Cyber-Attacks - Infosecurity Magazine

• Work From Home Software 'At Risk of Russian Cyber Attacks' (telegraph.co.uk)

• US Officials Preparing for Potential Russian Cyber Attacks - CBS News

• After Foiled Sandworm Attack, US Critical Infrastructure Should Stand Guard | CSO Online

Nation State Actors – China

• Chinese Hackers Behind Most Zero-Day Exploits During 2021 (bleepingcomputer.com)

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• North Korea Funds Nuclear Program with Cyber Crime- IT Security Guru

• North Korea Aims 'TraderTraitor' Malware at Cryptocurrency Workers (cyberscoop.com)

• Blockchain Companies Warned of North Korean Hackers - IT Security Guru

Nation State Actors – Misc

• State Actors Drive Record Number of Zero-Day Exploits in 2021 - Infosecurity Magazine

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Vulnerability Management

• Vulnerabilities That Kept Security Leaders Busy in Q1 2022 - Help Net Security

• How Fast Do Cyber Criminals Capitalize on New Security Weaknesses? - Help Net Security

• Zero-Day Exploit Use Exploded in 2021 (darkreading.com)

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Vulnerabilities

• VMware, Chrome Flaws Added to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalogue - Security Affairs

• Hackers Exploiting Recently Reported Windows Print Spooler Vulnerability in the Wild (thehackernews.com)

• Cisco Releases Security Patches for TelePresence, RoomOS and Umbrella VA (thehackernews.com)

• Time to get patching: Oracle's quarterly Critical Patch Update arrives with 520 fixes | ZDNet

• 7-Zip Zero-Day Vulnerability Grants Privilege Escalation | TechSpot

• When “Secure” Isn’t Secure at All: High‑Impact UEFI Vulnerabilities Discovered in Lenovo Consumer Laptops | WeLiveSecurity

• QNAP Warns of New Bugs in Its Network Attached Storage Devices – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Cisco Umbrella Default SSH Key Allows Theft of Admin Credentials (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Researcher Releases PoC for Recent Java Cryptographic Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)

• Critical Cryptographic Java Security Blunder Patched – Update Now! – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Atlassian Drops Patches for Critical Jira Authentication Bypass Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)

• Unpatched Bug in RainLoop Webmail Could Give Hackers Access to all Emails (thehackernews.com)

• Zero-Day Exploits Found And Disclosed Hit A Record High In 2021, Google Project Zero says - CyberScoop

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Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

• Modern Bank Heists 5.0: The Escalation from Dwell to Destruction (vmware.com)

• Two-Thirds of Global Banks Witness Surge in Destructive Attacks - Infosecurity Magazine

FinTech

• Ransomware in Fintech: Cyber Criminals Adopt New Means as Theft Gives Way To Sabotage - Help Net Security

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• The New Cyberthreat To Healthcare: Killware - Information Security Buzz

• Many Medical Device Makers Skimp on Security Practices (darkreading.com)

Transport and Aviation

• Cyber-Attackers Hit Sunwing Airlines - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• Modern Bank Heist 5.0 (vmware.com)

• 3 Key Takeaways from the 2022 ConnectWise MSP Threat Report - MSSP Alert

• Discover The Anatomy of An External Cyber Attack Surface With New RiskIQ Report - Microsoft Security Blog

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Other News

• Why Companies Should Make ERP Security a Top Priority (techtarget.com)

• The Evolving Role of The Lawyer in Cyber Security - Help Net Security

• Cyber Security Litigation Risks: 4 Top Concerns for CISOs | CSO Online

• Ponemon Research - Businesses to Invest $172b On Cyber Security In 2022 - Information Security Buzz

• T-Mobile Admits Lapsus$ Hackers Gained Access to its Internal Tools and Source Code (thehackernews.com)

• Funkypigeon.com Suspends Orders After 'Cyber Security Incident' | Business News | Sky News

• The SEC Is About To Force CISOs Into America’s Boardrooms (forbes.com)

• Data Breaches, Ransomware Attacks Leave Security Teams “Exhausted” - MSSP Alert

• When Attacks Surge, Turn to Data to Strengthen Detection and Response | SecurityWeek.Com

• What Can Someone Do with Your IP Address? (makeuseof.com)

• Attacker Accessed Dozens of Repositories After OAuth Token Theft - Information Security Buzz

• 7 Best Practices for Web3 Security Risk Mitigation (techtarget.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.

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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 15 April 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 Security Is Getting Harder: More Threats, More Complexity, Fewer People

Splunk and Enterprise Strategy Group released a global research report that examines the security issues facing the modern enterprise. More than 1,200 security leaders participated in the survey, revealing they’ve seen an increase in cyber attacks while their teams are facing widening talent gaps.

According to the report, 65% of respondents say they have seen an increase in attempted cyber attacks. In addition, many have been directly impacted by data breaches and costly ransomware attacks, which have left security teams exhausted:

·       49% of organisations say they have suffered a data breach over the past two years, an increase from 39% a year earlier.

·       79% of respondents say they’ve encountered ransomware attacks, and 35% admit that one or more of those attacks led them to lose access to data and systems.

·       59% of security teams say they had to devote significant time and resources to remediation, an increase from 42% a year ago.

·       54% of respondents report that their business-critical applications have suffered from unplanned outages related to cyber security incidents on at least a monthly basis, with a median of 12 outages per year. The median time to recover from unplanned downtime tied to cyber security incidents is 14 hours. Respondents estimated the cost of this downtime averaged about $200,000 per hour.

·       64% of security professionals have stated that it’s challenging to keep up with new security requirements, up from 49% a year ago.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/04/13/modern-enterprise-security-issues/

• Terrible Cloud Security Is Leaving the Door Open for Hackers. Here's What You're Doing Wrong

A rise in hybrid work and a shift to cloud platforms has changed how businesses operate - but it's also leaving them vulnerable to cyber attacks.

Cloud applications and services are a prime target for hackers because poor cyber security management and misconfigured services are leaving them exposed to the internet and vulnerable to simple cyber attacks.

Analysis of identity and access management (IAM) polices taking into account hundreds of thousands of users in 18,000 cloud environments across 200 organisations by cyber security researchers at Palo Alto Networks found that cloud accounts and services are leaving open doors for cyber criminals to exploit – and putting businesses and users at risk.

The global pandemic pushed organisations and employees towards new ways of remote and hybrid working, with the aid of cloud services and applications. While beneficial to businesses and employees, it also created additional cyber security risks – and malicious hackers know this.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/terrible-cloud-security-is-leaving-the-door-open-for-hackers-heres-what-youre-doing-wrong/

• More Organisations Are Paying the Ransom. Why?

Most organisations (71%) have been hit by ransomware in 2021, and most of those (63%) opted for paying the requested ransom, the 2022 Cyberthreat Defense Report (CDR) by the CyberEdge Group has shown.

The research company says that possible explanations for the steady yearly rise of the percentage of organisations that decided to pay the ransom may include: the threat of exposing exfiltrated data, increased confidence for data recovery, and the fact that many organisations find that paying a ransom is significantly less costly than system downtime, customer disruption, and potential lawsuits.

“72% of ransom-paying victims recovered their data [in 2021], up from 49% in 2017. This increased confidence for successful data recovery is often factored into the ransom-paying decision,” the company noted.

Similarly, BakerHostatler’s 2022 Data Security Incident Response Report says that in ransomware incidents the US-based law firm was called in to manage in 2021, ransomware groups provided decryptors and stuck to their promise to not publish stolen data 97% of the time.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/04/11/organizations-paying-ransom/

• Cyber Attack Puts City Firms on High Alert to Bolster Defences

Experts warn a combination of 'ignorance and arrogance' makes City executives vulnerable to attacks.

City firms on high alert for cyber attacks were sent a clear warning recently, bolstering concerns of the potential for breaches from Russia.

Ince Group, the London-listed law firm, last month fell prey to hackers who infiltrated its computer systems and stole confidential data. The company's security systems detected the intrusion on March 13, prompting the IT team to shut down servers to try and prevent widespread damage.

But soon after, the hackers demanded a ransom for stolen data and threatened to publish it on the dark web if Ince Group, which has clients in the shipping, energy and healthcare sectors, didn't pay up.

The incident has intensified worries of possible breaches after warnings that City firms could be targeted by Russian hackers following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Julia O'Toole, chief executive of MyCena Security Solutions, says executives should be "very concerned" about any news of a cyber attack at a rival company.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/04/11/cyber-attack-puts-city-firms-high-alert-bolster-defences/

• More Than 60% of Organisations Suffered a Breach in the Past 12 Months

Firms focus too narrowly on external attackers when it's insiders, third parties, and stolen assets that cause many breaches, new study shows.

The majority of companies — 63% — have suffered at least one breach in the past 12 months. The global average breach cost $2.4 million — a price tag that increases to $3.0 million for companies unprepared to respond to compromises.

The new data from Forrester Research, released on April 8 in a report titled "The 2021 State Of Enterprise Breaches," found that the number of breaches and the cost of breaches varied widely depending on the geographic location of the business and to what degree the organisation is prepared to respond to breaches. Companies in North America had the largest disparity between the haves and have-nots: While the average organisation required 38 days to find, eradicate, and recover from a breach, companies that failed to adequately prepare for security challenges took 62 days.

The difference in response resulted in a large difference in cost as well, with the average North American company paying $3.0 million to recover from a breach, a bill that rises to $4.0 million if the company suffered from a lack of incident-response preparation.

"The misalignment between the expectation and the reality of breaches has become very important," says Allie Mellen, an analyst with Forrester's Security and Risk group. "On a global scale, there is a big disparity of about $600,000 between those who are prepared to respond to a breach and those who are not."

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/more-than-60-of-organizations-suffered-a-breach-in-the-past-12-months

• Account Takeover Poised to Surpass Malware as The No. 1 Security Concern

As most researchers and financial executives can attest, virtually all types of fraud have dramatically risen over the past two years. However, attackers taking over legitimate financial accounts have become even more of a favourite with cyber criminals than most fraud schemes.

Many major recent research reports have pointed out that account takeover (ATO), a form of identity theft where bad actors access legitimate bank accounts, change the account information and passwords, and hijack a real customer’s account, has skyrocketed since last year. According to Javelin Research’s annual "Identity Fraud Study: The Virtual Battleground" report, account takeover increased by 90% to an estimated $11.4 billion in 2021 when compared with 2020 — representing roughly one-quarter of all identity fraud losses last year.

Like many types of financial fraud, cyber thieves are betting on the fact that if they attempt to seize a large number of legitimate accounts, eventually they will get a payoff.

Account takeovers are a numbers game, the more accounts that an organisation has, the bigger their risk that some of them will be compromised.

Account takeovers often piggyback off of previous attacks, making these crimes a way for hackers to make the most out of stolen information. Diskin pointed out that account takeovers most commonly happen when a password is “taken from another data leak and reused for different accounts. But there are a variety of risky scenarios that can lead to compromise.”

https://www.scmagazine.com/analysis/cybercrime/account-takeover-poised-to-surpass-malware-as-the-no-1-security-concern

• Security Research Reveals 42% Rise in New Ransomware Programs In 2021

Critical infrastructure in the crosshairs: operational technology vulnerabilities jump 88% .

Threat intelligence analysts at Skybox Research Lab uncovered a 42% increase in new ransomware programs targeting known vulnerabilities in 2021. The Silicon Valley cyber security company released its annual 2022 Vulnerability and Threat Trends Report, revealing how quickly cyber criminals capitalise on new security weaknesses – shrinking the window that organisations have to remediate vulnerabilities ahead of an attack.

With 20,175 new vulnerabilities published in 2021, Skybox Research Lab witnessed the most vulnerabilities ever reported in a single year. And these new vulnerabilities are just the tip of the iceberg. The total number of vulnerabilities published over the last 10 years reached 166,938 in 2021 — a three-fold increase over a decade. These cumulative vulnerabilities, piling up year after year, represent an enormous aggregate risk, and they’ve left organisations struggling with a mountain of cyber security debt. As the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) highlights in its Top Routinely Exploited Vulnerabilities list, threat actors are routinely exploiting publicly disclosed vulnerabilities from years past.

The sheer volume of accumulated risks — hundreds of thousands or even millions of vulnerability instances within organisations — means they can’t possibly patch all of them. To prevent cyber security incidents, it is critical to prioritise exposed vulnerabilities that could cause the most significant disruption, then, apply appropriate remediation options including configuration changes or network segmentation to eliminate risk, even before patches are applied or in cases where patches aren’t available.

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/study-research/skybox-security-research-reveals-42-rise-in-new-ransomware-programs-in-2021/

• Fraudsters Stole £58m with Remote Access Trojans (RATs) in 2021

2021 saw victims of Remote Access Tool (RAT) scams lose £58m in 2021, official UK police figures show.

RAT scams involve scammers taking control of a victim’s device, typically in order to access bank accounts.

Some 20,144 victims fell for this type of scam in 2021, averaging around £2800 stolen per incident.

Typically, RAT attacks begin with a victim being inundated with pop-ups claiming there is a problem with the computer. Users are often then asked to call a “hotline” number, when a scammer will persuade them to download a RAT.

RAT scams are often compared to the classic “tech support” scams. Modern RAT scams are typically more devious, however, with scammers often cold-calling their victims pretending to work for their bank and claiming that they need computer access to investigate a fraudulent transaction.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/04/11/fraudsters-stole-58m-with-rats-in-2021/

• As State-Backed Cyber Threats Grow, Here's How the World Is Reacting

With the ongoing conflict in Eurasia, cyber warfare is inevitably making its presence felt. The fight is not only being fought on the fields. There is also a big battle happening in cyberspace. Several cyber-attacks have been reported over the past months.

Notably, cyber attacks backed by state actors are becoming prominent. There have been reports of a rise of ransomware and other malware attacks such as Cyclops Blink, HermeticWiper, and BlackCat. These target businesses as well as government institutions and nonprofit organisations. There have been cases of several attempts to shut down online communications and IT infrastructure.

The ongoing list of significant cyber incidents curated by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) shows that the number of major incidents in January 2022 is 100% higher compared to the same period in the previous year. With the recent activities in cyberspace impacted by the emergence of the geopolitical tumult in February, it is not going to be surprising to see an even more dramatic rise in the number of significant incidents.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/04/as-state-backed-cyber-threats-grow.html

• Q1 Reported Data Compromises Up 14% Over 2021

The Identity Theft Resource Center published a First Quarter 2022 Data Breach Analysis which found that Q1 of 2022 began with the highest number of publicly reported data compromises in the past three years.

Publicly reported data compromises totalled 404 through March 31, 2022, a 14 percent increase compared to Q1 2021.

This is the third consecutive year when the number of total data compromises increased compared to Q1 of the previous year. It also represents the highest number of Q1 data compromises since 2020.

https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/expert-comments/q1-reported-data-compromises-up-14-over-2021/

• Europol Announces Operation to Hit Russian Sanctions-Evaders

European police have announced a major new operation designed to crack down on Russian oligarchs and businesses looking to circumvent sanctions.

Operation Oscar will run for at least a year as an umbrella initiative that will feature many separate investigations, Europol explained.

The policing organisation’s European Financial and Economic Crime Centre will work to exchange information and intelligence with partners and provide operational support in financial crime investigations.

A key focus appears to be on illicit flows of money, which Russian individuals and entities will be trying to move around the region in order to bypass sanctions imposed since President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Europol will centralise and analyse all information contributed under this operation to identify international links, criminal groups and suspects, as well as new criminal trends and patterns,” Europol said.

“Europol will further provide tailor-made analytical support to investigations, as well as operational coordination, forensics and technical expertise, and financial support to the relevant national authorities.”

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/europol-hit-russian/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware: These Two Gangs Are Behind Half of All Attacks | ZDNet

• Clueless Hackers Spent Months Inside a Network And Nobody Noticed. But Then a Ransomware Gang Turned Up | ZDNet

• Conti Ransomware Leak Shows Group Operates Like a Normal Tech Company, with an HR Department, Performance Reviews and an ‘Employee of the Month’ (cnbc.com)

• Don't Let Ransomware Gangs Spend Months in Your Network • The Register

• Dismantling ZLoader: How Malicious Ads Led to Disabled Security Tools And Ransomware - Microsoft Security Blog

• Analysis of the SunnyDay Ransomware - Security Affairs

• Karakurt Data Thieves Linked to Larger Conti Hacking Group | CSO Online

• Conti Ransomware Gang Claims Responsibility for The Nordex Hack - Security Affairs

• OldGremlin Ransomware Gang Targets Russia with New Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Conti Ransomware Offshoot Targets Russian Organisations | Malwarebytes Labs

Other Social Engineering

• FBI: Payment App Users Targeted in Social Engineering Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• These Hackers Pretend to Poach, Recruit Rival Bank Staff In New Cyber Attacks | ZDNet

Malware

• Credential-Stealing Malware Disguises Itself As Telegram, Targets Social Media Users | Malwarebytes Labs

• Microsoft Sounds The Alarm Over New Cunning Windows Malware | TechRadar

• Spring4Shell Under Active Exploit by Mirai Botnet Herders • The Register

• Haskers Gang Gives Away ZingoStealer Malware to Other Cyber Criminals for Free (thehackernews.com)

• Hackers Hijack Adult Websites to Infect Victims With Malware | TechRadar

• Qbot Malware Switches To New Windows Installer Infection Vector (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Windows 11 tool to Add Google Play Secretly Installed Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Over 16,500 Sites Hacked to Distribute Malware via Web Redirect Service (thehackernews.com)

• Researchers Warn of FFDroider and Lightning Info-Stealers Targeting Users in The Wild (thehackernews.com)

• Enemybot: a New Mirai, Gafgyt Hybrid Botnet Joins The Scene | ZDNet

Mobile

• Android Banking Malware Intercepts Calls to Customer Support (bleepingcomputer.com)

• How to Stop Octo Malware From Remotely Accessing Your Android (lifehacker.com)

IoT

• New EnemyBot DDoS Botnet Recruits Routers and IoTs Into Its Army (bleepingcomputer.com)

• 3 Reasons Connected Devices are More Vulnerable than Ever (bleepingcomputer.com)

Data Breaches/Leaks

• GitHub Says Hackers Breached Dozens of Organisations Using Stolen OAuth Access Tokens (thehackernews.com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• New Industrial Spy Stolen Data Market Promoted Through Cracks, Adware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Google Files Suit Against Cameroonian Cyber Criminal Who Used Puppies as Lures - CyberScoop

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

• 10 NFT and Cryptocurrency Security Risks That CISOs Must Navigate | CSO Online

• A Practical Reason Why Crypto Might Not Work for Large-Scale Sanctions Evasion - CyberScoop

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Who Is Your Biggest Insider Threat? | CSO Online

• Former DHS Acting IT Chief Convicted in Software, Database Theft Scheme (darkreading.com)

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Cyber Criminals Do Their Homework for Latest Banking Scam • The Register

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

• New Fodcha DDoS Botnet Targets Over 100 Victims Every Day (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New EnemyBot DDoS Botnet Borrows Exploit Code from Mirai and Gafgyt (thehackernews.com)

Cloud

• 99% Of Cloud Identities Are Overly Permissive, Opening Door to Attackers | CSO Online

• The Perils of SaaS Misconfigurations - Help Net Security

• Top Attack Techniques for Breaching Enterprise And Cloud Environments - Help Net Security

• Finding Attack Paths in Cloud Environments (thehackernews.com)

• The Two Words You Should Never Forget When You’re Securing a Cloud - Help Net Security

Privacy

• Muting Your Mic Reportedly Doesn’t Stop Big Tech from Recording Your Audio (thenextweb.com)

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

• Preparing for Armageddon: How Ukraine Battles Russian hackers | Ars Technica

• Ukraine Proves Cyber War Has No Borders - MSSP Alert

• Hackers Target Ukrainian Govt with IcedID Malware, Zimbra Exploits (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Russia’s Sandworm Hackers Attempted a Third Blackout In Ukraine | Ars Technica

• The Unceasing Action of Anonymous Against Russia - Security Affairs

• European Officials Reportedly Targeted by NSO Spyware • The Register

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• CISA Warns Orgs of WatchGuard Bug Exploited by Russian State Hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)

Nation State Actors – China

• China-Linked Hafnium APT Leverages Tarrask Malware to Gain Persistence - Security Affairs

• China ‘Decodes’ An Orbiting US Satellite; Claims Expertise In Automatically Detecting & Fixing Security Flaws In Outer Space (eurasiantimes.com)

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• US Gov Believes Lazarus APT is Behind Ronin Validator Cyber Heist - Security Affairs

• Feds Offer $5m Reward for Info on North Korean Cyber Crooks • The Register

• FBI Links Largest Crypto Hack Ever to North Korean Hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Symantec: North Korea's Lazarus Targets Chemical Companies • The Register

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Vulnerabilities

• Microsoft Issues Patches for 2 Windows Zero-Days and 126 Other Vulnerabilities (thehackernews.com)

• Google Issues Third Emergency Fix For Chrome This Year • The Register

• Critical HP Teradici PCoIP Flaws Impact 15 Million Endpoints (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Critical Windows RPC Vulnerability Raises Alarm (techtarget.com)

• VMware Workspace One Flaw Actively Exploited in The Wild (techtarget.com)

• Adobe Patches Gaping Security Holes in Acrobat, Reader, Photoshop | SecurityWeek.Com

• Cisco Vulnerability Lets Hackers Craft Their Own Login Credentials (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Critical VMware Cloud Director Bug Could Let Hackers Takeover Entire Cloud Infrastructure (thehackernews.com)

• Several Vulnerabilities Allow Disabling of Palo Alto Networks Products | SecurityWeek.Com

• Cisco Patches Critical Vulnerability in Wireless LAN Controller | SecurityWeek.Com

• Critical Flaw in Elementor WordPress Plugin May Affect 500k Sites (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Critical Apache Struts RCE Vulnerability Wasn't Fully Fixed, Patch Now (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Attackers Are Exploiting VMware RCE to Deliver Malware (CVE-2022-22954) - Help Net Security

• These D-Link Routers Are Vulnerable To Remote Hacks And Should Be Retired Immediately | HotHardware

• Upgrades for Spring Framework Have Stalled (darkreading.com)

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Sector Specific

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• CISA Alert on ICS, SCADA Devices Highlights Growing Enterprise IoT Security Risks (darkreading.com)

• Pipedream Malware: Feds Uncover 'Swiss Army Knife' for Industrial System Hacking | WIRED

• New Malware Tools Pose 'Clear and Present Threat' to ICS Environments (darkreading.com)

• US Warns of APT Hackers Targeting ICS/SCADA Systems with Specialized Malware (thehackernews.com)

• Flaws in ABB Network Interface Modules Expose Industrial Systems to DoS Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com

Energy & Utilities

• US Agencies Warn of Custom-Made Hacking Tools Targeting Energy Sector Systems - The Record by Recorded Future

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• The 2021 State Of Enterprise Breaches | Forrester

• First Quarter 2022 Data Breach Analysis Report | Identity Theft Resource Centre
  

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Other News

• Singapore To License Infosec Service Providers • The Register

• What Is the Cyber Kill Chain? A Model for Tracing Cyber Attacks | CSO Online

• Cyber Defense: Prioritized By Real-World Threat Data - Help Net Security

• How Can You Spot Fake News? And What Should We, As A Society, Do About Mass Disinformation? - Information Security Buzz

• The Cyber Criminal Isn’t Necessarily Who You Think… | Mind Matters

• Consumer Trust Is in The Doldrums: Indifference Towards Data Exposure Is Widespread - Help Net Security

• How Cryptocurrency Gave Birth to the Ransomware Epidemic (vice.com)

• Dark Data Is a Pain Point For Many Security Leaders - Help Net Security

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 08 April 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

• Nearly Two-Thirds of Ransomware Victims Paid Ransoms Last Year, Finds "2022 Cyberthreat Defense Report"

CyberEdge Group, a leading research and marketing firm serving the cyber security industry’s top vendors, announced the launch of its ninth annual Cyberthreat Defense Report (CDR). The award-winning CDR is the standard for assessing organisations’ security posture, gauging perceptions of information technology (IT) security professionals, and ascertaining current and planned investments in IT security infrastructure – across all industries and geographic regions.

A record 71% of organisations were impacted by successful ransomware attacks last year, according to the 2022 CDR, up from 55% in 2017. Of those that were victimised, nearly two-thirds (63%) paid the requested ransom, up from 39% in 2017.

https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/nearly-two-thirds-of-ransomware-victims-paid-ransoms-last-year-finds-2022-cyberthreat-defense-report-

• New Android Banking Malware Remotely Takes Control of Your Device

A new Android banking malware named Octo has appeared in the wild, featuring remote access capabilities that allow malicious operators to perform on-device fraud.

Octo is an evolved Android malware based on ExoCompact, a malware variant based on the Exo trojan that quit the cyber crime space and had its source code leaked in 2018.

The new variant has been discovered by researchers at ThreatFabric, who observed several users looking to purchase it on darknet forums.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/new-android-banking-malware-remotely-takes-control-of-your-device/

• Network Intrusion Detections Skyrocketing

A WatchGuard report shows a record number of evasive network malware detections with advanced threats increasing by 33%, indicating a higher level of zero day threats than ever before.

Researchers detected malware threats in EMEA at a much higher rate than other regions of the world in Q4 2021, with malware detections per Firebox at 49%, compared to Americas at 23% and APAC at 29%. The trajectory of network intrusion detections also continued its upward climb with the largest total detections of any quarter in the last three years and a 39% increase quarter over quarter.

Researchers suggest that this may be due to the continued targeting of old vulnerabilities as well as the growth in organisations’ networks. As new devices come online and old vulnerabilities remain unpatched, network security is becoming more complex.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/04/08/network-malware-detections/

• Organisations Underestimating the Seriousness of Insider Threats

Imperva releases data that shows organisations are failing to address the issue of insider threats during a time when the risk is at its greatest.

New research, conducted by Forrester, found that 59% of incidents in EMEA organisations that negatively impacted sensitive data in the last 12 months were caused by insider threats, and yet 59% do not prioritise insider threats the way they prioritise external threats. Despite the fact that insider events occur more often than external ones, they receive lower levels of investment.

This approach is at odds with today’s threat landscape where the risk of malicious insiders has never been higher. The rapid shift to remote working means many employees are now outside the typical security controls that organisations employ, making it harder to detect and prevent insider threats.

Further, the Great Resignation is creating an environment where there is a higher risk of employees stealing data. This data could be stolen intentionally by people looking to help themselves in future employment, because they are disgruntled and want revenge, or it could be taken unintentionally when a careless employee leaves the business with important information.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/04/08/organizations-insider-threats-issue/

• Watch Out for Phishing Emails from Genuine Mailing Lists, Following Mailchimp Hack

A Mailchimp hack means that you’ll want to be even more vigilant than usual about phishing emails. Attackers have taken a clever approach to making their emails appear genuine …

When you subscribe to an email list, there’s a decent chance that the emails you received are actually sent by a company called Mailchimp, rather than directly by the company itself. Mailchimp offers companies a range of tools that make it easy to manage email databases, and send marketing emails and newsletters.

Hackers managed to gain access to more than 100 Mailchimp customer accounts, giving them the ability to send emails that would appear to have come from any one of those businesses.

Users will need to be more vigilant when receiving emails and avoid clicking on links in emails, even if they appear genuine.

https://9to5mac.com/2022/04/05/mailchimp-hack-phishing-alert/

• SpringShell Attacks Target About One in Six Vulnerable Orgs

Roughly one out of six organisations worldwide that are impacted by the Spring4Shell zero-day vulnerability have already been targeted by threat actors, according to statistics from one cyber security company.

The exploitation attempts took place in the first four days since the disclosure of the severe remote code execution (RCE) flaw, tracked as CVE-2022-22965, and the associated exploit code.

According to Check Point, who compiled the report based on their telemetry data, 37,000 Spring4Shell attacks were detected over the past weekend alone.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/springshell-attacks-target-about-one-in-six-vulnerable-orgs/

• New Threat Group Underscores Mounting Concerns Over Russian Cyber Threats

Crowdstrike says Ember Bear is likely responsible for the wiper attack against Ukrainian networks and that future Russian cyber attacks might target the West.

As fears mount over the prospects of a “cyberwar” initiated by the Russian government, the number of identified Russian threat actors also continues to climb. Last week CrowdStrike publicly revealed a Russia-nexus state-sponsored actor that it tracks as Ember Bear.

CrowdStrike says that Ember Bear (also known as UAC-0056, Lorec53, Lorec Bear, Bleeding Bear, Saint Bear) is likely an intelligence-gathering adversary group that has operated against government and military organisations in eastern Europe since early 2021. The group seems “motivated to weaponize the access and data obtained during their intrusions to support information operations (IO) aimed at creating public mistrust in targeted institutions and degrading government ability to counter Russian cyber operations,” according to CrowdStrike intelligence.

Despite its state-sponsored Russia nexus, Ember Bear differs from its better-known kin such as Fancy Bear or Voodoo Bear because CrowdStrike can’t tie it to a specific Russian organisation. Its target profile, assessed intent, and technical tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) are consistent with other Russian GRU cyber operations.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3655976/new-threat-group-underscores-mounting-concerns-over-russian-cyber-threats.html

• Consumer Fraud Tripled in The Last Two Years

Reported cases of consumer fraud more than tripled in the years 2020-2021 from prior years, finds a new report by Accenture, presenting a growing challenge for public safety agencies to find new strategies to counter the trend.

The report compiled data from eight developed nations (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States) on consumer fraud, defined as any fraud directly targeting citizens and excluding fraud targeting government agencies and companies. Reports of such fraud increased at an estimated 6.8% rate annually during 2013-2019 and then increased to a 22.5% annual growth rate yearly during 2020-2021 in parallel with the large shift of workers and consumers to digital channels and greater use of technology during the pandemic.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/04/08/consumer-fraud-tripled/

• Borat RAT: Multiple Threat of Ransomware, DDoS and Spyware

A new remote access trojan (RAT) dubbed "Borat" doesn't come with many laughs but offers bad actors a menu of cyberthreats to choose from.

RATs are typically used by cyber criminals to get full control of a victim's system, enabling them to access files and network resources and manipulate the mouse and keyboard. Borat does all this and also delivers features to enable hackers to run ransomware, distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) and other online assaults and to install spyware, according to researchers at cyber security biz Cyble.

"The Borat RAT provides a dashboard to Threat Actors (TAs) to perform RAT activities and also has an option to compile the malware binary for performing DDoS and ransomware attacks on the victim's machine," the researchers wrote in a blog post, noting the malware is being made available for sale to hackers.

Borat – named after the character made famous by actor Sacha Baron Cohen in two comedy films – comes with the standard requisite of RAT features in a package that includes such functions as builder binary, server certificate and supporting modules.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/04/borat-rat-ransomware-ddos/

• Bank Had No Firewall License, Intrusion or Phishing Protection – Guess the Rest

An Indian bank that did not have a valid firewall license, had not employed phishing protection, lacked an intrusion detection system and eschewed use of any intrusion prevention system has, shockingly, been compromised by criminals who made off with millions of rupees.

The unfortunate institution is called the Andra Pradesh Mahesh Co-Operative Urban Bank. Its 45 branches and just under $400 million of deposits make it one of India's smaller banks.

It certainly thinks small about security – at least according to Hyderabad City Police, which last week detailed an attack on the Bank that started with over 200 phishing emails being sent across three days in November 2021. At least one of those mails succeeded in fooling staff, resulting in the installation of a Remote Access Trojan (RAT).

Another technology the bank had chosen not to adopt was virtual LANs, so once the RAT went to work the attackers gained entry to the Bank's systems and were able to roam widely – even in its core banking application

https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/05/mahesh_bank_no_firewall_attack/

• Global APT Groups Use Ukraine War for Phishing Lures

Security researchers have detected multiple APT campaigns leveraging Ukraine war-themed documents and news sources to lure victims into clicking on spear-phishing links.

Check Point Research said victim locations ranged from South America to the Middle East, with malware downloads designed to perform keylogging and screenshotting and execute commands.

The threat groups in question include El Machete, which is targeting the financial and government sectors in Nicaragua and Venezuela with malicious macro-laden Word documents containing articles on the war.

One of the docs was an article written by the Russian ambassador to Nicaragua titled: “Dark plans of the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine.”

Another is Lyceum, an Iranian state-linked group targeting the energy sector with emails about war crimes in Ukraine that link to a malicious document hosted elsewhere. Its victims so far have been in Israel and Saudi Arabia, according to Check Point.

One email contained a link to an article from The Guardian hosted on the news-spot[.]live domain, alongside several malicious docs about the war.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/global-apt-ukraine-war-phishing/

• Paying Ransom Doesn’t Guarantee Data Recovery

OwnBackup announced the findings of a global survey conducted by Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) that reveals a staggering 79% of respondent organisations have been targeted by ransomware within the past 12 months. Of those organisations, nearly three quarters said the attack was successful, meaning that it disrupted business operations.

Other key findings

·       Of the respondents that said their organisation paid a cyber ransom to regain access to data, applications, and/or systems after an attack, only 14% were able to recover all of their data.

·       87% of respondents who made ransom payments said that they experienced additional extortion attempts beyond the initial ransomware demand.

·       31% of respondent organisations targeted by ransomware indicated that application user and permission misconfigurations were the initial point of compromise.

·       87% of respondents are very or somewhat concerned about their backups being infected by ransomware attacks.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/04/07/organizations-targeted-by-ransomware/

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Threats

Ransomware

• March Ransomware Attacks Strike Finance, Government Targets (techtarget.com)

• Why Paying The Ransom Isn’t The Answer For Ransomware Victims - Information Security Buzz

• Companies Are More Prepared to Pay Ransoms Than Ever Before (tripwire.com)

• Conti Ransomware Deployed in IcedID Banking Trojan Attack (techtarget.com)

• Researchers Connect BlackCat Ransomware with Past BlackMatter Malware Activity (thehackernews.com)

• Notorious Hacking Group FIN7 Adds Ransomware to Its Repertoire - CyberScoop

• BlackCat Purveyor Shows Ransomware Operators Have 9 Lives (darkreading.com)

• FIN7 Hackers Evolve Toolset, Work with Multiple Ransomware Gangs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• LockBit Ransomware Attack Costs CRM Services Provider Over $42 Million - MSSP Alert

• Snap-on Discloses Data Breach Claimed by Conti Ransomware Gang (bleepingcomputer.com)

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Phishing Hook: Are you on the line? Cyber Security Experts Explain How the Criminals Lure You In. (winknews.com)

Other Social Engineering

• Hackers Employ Voicemail Phishing Attacks On WhatsApp Users | TechRepublic

Malware

• Borat RAT Malware: A 'Unique' Triple Threat That Is Far from Funny | ZDNet

• Multiple Hacker Groups Capitalizing on Ukraine Conflict for Distributing Malware (thehackernews.com)

• Experts Shed Light on BlackGuard Infostealer Malware Sold on Russian Hacking Forums (thehackernews.com)

• Malicious Web Redirect Service Infects 16,500 Sites to Push Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Researchers Uncover How Colibri Malware Stays Persistent on Hacked Systems (thehackernews.com)

Mobile

• 44 Vulnerabilities Patched in Android With April 2022 Security Updates | SecurityWeek.Com

• Fake Versions of Real Smartphone Apps Are Being Used To Spread Malware. Here's How to Stay Safe | ZDNet

• Samsung Security Flaw Left Phones Exposed for Years (androidpolice.com)

• Six 'Antivirus' Apps Were Caught Spreading Malware That Steals Banking Info — Here Are the Culprits | Laptop Mag

• SharkBot Android Malware Continues Popping Up on Google Play | SecurityWeek.Com

• Android Apps With 45 Million Installs Used Data Harvesting SDK (bleepingcomputer.com)

• New Android Spyware Uses Turla-Linked Infrastructure | SecurityWeek.Com

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Cyber Criminals Taking Advantage of The Ukraine Crisis To Create Charity Donation Scams - Help Net Security

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

• Crypto 2022: Hackers Have Nabbed $1.22 Billion Already (yahoo.com)

• Malicious Crypto Miners Can Make A Profit In A Few Hours - Help Net Security

• Malicious Actors Targeting the Cloud For Cryptocurrency-Mining Activities - Help Net Security

• Cryptocurrency-Mining AWS Lambda-Specific Malware Spotted • The Register

• MailChimp Breached, Intruders Conducted Phishing Attacks Against Crypto Customers - Security Affairs

• Turkey Seeks 40,000-Year Sentences for Alleged Cryptocurrency Exit Scammers | ZDNet

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• New Insider Threat: Bad Business Decisions That Put IP At Risk | CSO Online

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Traditional Identity Fraud Losses Soar, Totalling $52 Billion in 2021 - Help Net Security

• Online Fraud Up 233% - Infosecurity Magazine

• Internal Auditors Stepping Up to Become Strategic Advisors In The Fight Against Fraud - Help Net Security

• South African and US Officers Swoop on Fraud Gang - Infosecurity Magazine

Insurance

• 18% Of the Top 99 Insurance Carriers Have A High Susceptibility To Ransomware - Help Net Security

Supply Chain

• The Blurring Line, and Growing Risk, Between Physical and Digital Supply Chains (darkreading.com)

Cloud

• The Importance of Understanding Cloud Native Security Risks - Help Net Security

• 15 Cyber Security Measures for the Cloud Era - Security Affairs

Privacy

• How You’re Still Being Tracked on the Internet - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

• Using Google's Chrome Browser? This New Feature Will Help You Fix Your Security Settings | ZDNet

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• Attack on Ukraine Telecoms Provider Caused by Compromised Employee Credentials - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• FIN7 Hackers Leveraging Password Reuse and Software Supply Chain Attacks (thehackernews.com)

Travel

• Hotels In Hackers’ Sights as Technology Replaces Personal Touch | Financial Times (ft.com)

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

• Hackers Use Conti's Leaked Ransomware to Attack Russian Companies (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Hacking Group Claim It Has Leaked More Than 900,000 Emails from Russian State Media | The Independent

• What Is the Risk Of Retaliation For Taking A Corporate Stance on Russia? | CSO Online

• Anonymous and the IT ARMY of Ukraine Continue to Target Russian Entities - Security Affairs

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• The Russian Cyber Attack Threat Might Force a New IT Stance | Computerworld

• FBI Operation Aims to Take Down Massive Russian GRU Botnet | TechCrunch

• Microsoft Sinkholes Russian Hacking Group's Domains Targeting Ukraine (darkreading.com)

• FBI Disrupts Russian Military Hackers, Preventing Botnet Amid Ukraine War | Fox News

• Russia (still) Trying To Weaponize Facebook Amid Ukraine War • The Register

Nation State Actors – China

• Symantec: Chinese APT Group Targeting Global MSPs | SecurityWeek.Com

• Chinese Hackers Are Using VLC Media Player to Launch Malware Attacks (androidpolice.com)

• Hacked: Inside the US-China Cyberwar | Cybersecurity | Al Jazeera

• China Uses AI Software to Improve Its Surveillance Capabilities | Reuters

Nation State Actors – Misc

• Israeli Officials Are Being Catfished by APT-C-23 Hackers | ZDNet

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Vulnerabilities

• CISA Warns of Active Exploitation of Critical Spring4Shell Vulnerability (thehackernews.com)

• Palo Alto Networks firewalls, VPNs vulnerable to OpenSSL bug (bleepingcomputer.com)

• A Vulnerability in Zyxel Firewall Could Allow for Authentication Bypass (cisecurity.org)

• Citrix Releases Security Updates for Hypervisor | CISA

• Spring4Shell Patching Is Going Slow but Risk Not Comparable To Log4Shell | CSO Online

• VMware Releases Critical Patches for New Vulnerabilities Affecting Multiple Products (thehackernews.com)

• Apple Leaves Big Sur, Catalina Exposed to Critical Flaws: Intego | SecurityWeek.Com

• A Mirai-Based Botnet Is Exploiting the Spring4Shell Vulnerability - Security Affairs

• Steady Rise in Severe Web Vulnerabilities - Help Net Security

• ACF WordPress Plugin Vulnerability Affects Up To +2 Million Sites (searchenginejournal.com)

• Zero Days Are for Life, Not Just For Christmas. Here’s How to Deal With Them • The Register

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Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

• March Ransomware Attacks Strike Finance, Government Targets (techtarget.com)

FinTech

• Server-Side-Request-Forgery Enabled Administrative Account Takeover on FinTech Platform - IT Security Guru

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• 49% of Small Medical Practices Lack a Cyber Attack Response Plan - Help Net Security

Manufacturing

• A Cyber Attack Forced The Wind Turbine Manufacturer Nordex Group To Shut Down Some of IT Systems - Security Affairs

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Europe Warned About Cyber Threat to Industrial Infrastructure | SecurityWeek.Com

• BlackCat Ransomware Targets Industrial Companies | SecurityWeek.Com

Energy & Utilities

• Spanish Energy Giant Hit by Data Breach - IT Security Guru

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• Cyberthreat Defense Report 2021 - CyberEdge Group (cyber-edge.com)

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Other News

• Okta CEO Says Lapsus$ Hack is 'Big Deal,' Aims to Restore Trust (yahoo.com)

• 86% of Developers Don't Prioritise Application Security - Help Net Security

• Digital Transformation Requires Security Intelligence - Help Net Security

• Government Officials: AI Threat Detection Still Needs Humans (techtarget.com)

• The Original APT: Advanced Persistent Teenagers – Krebs on Security

• Scan This: There's Danger in QR Codes (darkreading.com)

• How Many Steps Does It Take for Attackers To Compromise Critical Assets? - Help Net Security

• Cyber Talent Shortage Remains A Top Problem For Sec Pros – CEO Perspective - Information Security Buzz

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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 01 April 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

• One Tenth of UK Staff Bypass Corporate Security

A new study from Cisco has found that a tenth of UK employees actively circumvent their organisation’s security measures.

The network technology company polled over 1000 UK professionals working for organisations that allow hybrid working, in order to better understand the potential security risks of the modern, flexible workplace.

The research has revealed that many hybrid workers do not see cyber security as their responsibility, with many actively finding workarounds or engaging in risky behaviours such as password reuse.

19% of employees said they reuse passwords for multiple accounts and applications, with only 15% using password managers.

The problem seems to stem from user friction in existing security measures. Only 44% of survey participants said they found it easy to securely access their IT equipment.

A majority said they would be willing to use biometric authentication, a reflection of how enterprise security is still catching up to consumer functionality.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/03/28/one-tenth-of-uk-staff-bypass-corporate-security/

• Majority Of Data Security Incidents Caused by Insiders

New research from Imperva has revealed that 70% of EMEA organisations have no insider risk strategy, despite 59% of data security incidents being caused by employees.

The shocking revelation comes as part of a wider study carried out by Forrester: Insider Threats Drive Data Protection Improvements. The study involved interviewing 150 security and IT professionals in EMEA.

An insider threat is defined by Imperva as originating from “inappropriate use of legitimate authorised user accounts” by either their rightful owner or a threat actor who has managed to compromise them.

The study found that insider threats were responsible for 59% of incidents impacting sensitive data in the past 12 months. This supports a previous Imperva analysis of the most significant breaches of the past five years, revealing that 24% were caused by either human error or compromised credentials.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/04/01/majority-of-data-security-incidents-caused-by-insiders/

• One-Third of UK Firms Suffer a Cyber Attack Every Week

Cyber attacks and related incidents at UK organisations continue their seemingly unstoppable upward trajectory, with new statistics from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) revealing that 31% of businesses and 26% of charity organisations now experience incidents on a weekly basis.

The data, contained in the annual cyber security breaches survey report, paints a stark picture of the scale of the threat facing the average organisation, and the urgent need to boost standards and defences.

It is vital that every organisation takes cyber security seriously as more and more business is done online and we live in a time of increasing cyber risk.  No matter how big or small your organisation is, you need to take steps to improve digital resilience.

Some 20% of businesses and 19% of charities said they had experienced a negative outcome as a direct consequence of an attack. The average cost of an attack, spread out across all organisations, now works out at £4,200, or £19,400 if only medium and large businesses are considered, although there is probably a vast amount of under-reporting, so the true figures are certainly higher.

Meanwhile, 35% of businesses and 38% of charities said they had experienced some kind of negative impact during the incident, such as service downtime.

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252515288/One-third-of-UK-firms-suffer-a-cyber-attack-every-week

• Russia's Cyber Criminals Fear Sanctions Will Erase Their Wealth

Punitive economic sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine had crooks discussing the best ways to adapt to the new reality.

Members of Russian-language underground forums are not immune to the latest news. Russia's invasion of Ukraine and subsequent economic sanctions against Moscow got forum users to discuss how to live in this new world they find themselves in.

According to a report by the Digital Shadows Photon team, dark web forums are teeming with questions on how to ensure the safety of funds held in Russia-based accounts.

One user sought advice on what to do with dollars held in a Russian bank, with others suggesting converting dollars to rubles for a few months.

"I hope you were joking about [holding the funds in rubles for] half a year? After half a year, your rubles will only be good for lighting a fire, they will not be good for anything else," a forum user responded.

https://cybernews.com/news/russias-cybercriminals-fear-sanctions-will-erase-their-wealth/

• 86% Of Organisations Believe They Have Suffered a Nation-State Cyber Attack

A new study by Trellix and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has revealed that 86% of organisations believe they have fallen victim to a nation-state cyber attack.

The research surveyed 800 IT decision-makers in Australia, France, Germany, India, Japan, the UK and US.

It has also been revealed that 92% of respondents have faced, or suspect they have faced, a nation-state backed cyber attack in the past 18 months, or anticipate one in the future.

Russia and China were identified as the most likely suspects behind said attacks. 39% of organisations that believe they have been hit with a nation-state cyber attack believe Russia were the perpetrators.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/03/29/86-of-organisations-believe-they-have-suffered-a-nation-state-cyberattack/

• Multiple Hacking Groups Are Using the War in Ukraine as A Lure in Phishing Attempts

Hostile hacking groups are exploiting Russia's invasion of Ukraine to carry out cyber attacks designed to steal login credentials, sensitive information, money and more from victims around the world.

According to cyber security researchers at Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG), government-backed hackers from Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, as well as various unattributed groups and cyber criminal gangs, are using various themes related to the war in Ukraine to lure people into becoming victims of cyber attacks.

In just the last two weeks alone, Google has seen several hacking groups looking to take advantage of the war to fulfil their malicious aims, whether that's stealing information, stealing money, or something else.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-multiple-hacking-groups-are-using-the-war-in-ukraine-as-a-lure-in-phishing-attempts/

• 4 Ways Attackers Target Humans to Gain Network Access

Since the day we started receiving email, we hope that our antivirus or endpoint protection software alerts us to problems. In reality, it often does not. When technology fails, it’s likely because the attacker made an end run around it by targeting humans. Here are four ways they do it:

1. The targeted human attack

2. Fraudulent wire transfer email

3. Tricking users into handing over credentials

4. Bypassing multi-factor authentication

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3654850/4-ways-attackers-target-humans-to-gain-network-access.html#tk.rss_news

• Security Incidents Reported to FCA Surge 52% in 2021

The number of cyber security incidents reported to the UK’s financial regulator surged by over 50% last year after a significant increase in cyber-attacks, according to new figures from Picus Security.

The security vendor submitted Freedom of Information (FoI) requests to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to compile its latest report, Cyber Security Incidents in the UK Financial Sector.

The 52% year-on-year increase in “material” security incidents reported to the FCA seems to have been driven by cyber-attacks, which comprised nearly two-thirds (65%) of these reports.

Picus Security claimed that the rest are likely explained by “system and process failures and employee errors.”

In addition, a third of incident reports were about corporate or personal data breaches, and a fifth involved ransomware.

Picus Security explained that to qualify as a material incident, there needs to have been a significant loss of data, operational IT outages, unauthorized IT access, and/or an impact on a large number of customers.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/security-incidents-reported-fca/

• NCSC Suggests Rethinking Russian Supply Chain Risks

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) of the UK has urged organisations to reconsider the risks associated with “Russian-controlled” parts of their supply chains.

Ian Levy, technical director of the NCSC argued that “Russian law already contains legal obligations on companies to assist the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), and the pressure to do so may increase in a time of war. We also have hacktivists on each side, further complicating matters, so the overall risk has materially changed.”

Levy has suggested that while there is currently nothing to suggest that the Russian state intends to force commercial providers to sabotage UK interests, that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.

https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2022/03/30/ncsc-suggests-rethinking-russian-supply-chain-risks/

• 25% Of Workers Lost Their Jobs in The Past 12 Months After Making Cyber Security Mistakes: Report

For business leaders, there is never a good time for their employees to make mistakes on the job. This is especially true now for workers who have anything to do with the cyber security of their companies and organisations. Given the growing risks of cyber attacks across the world and the increased threats posed by Russia in the aftermath of their invasion of Ukraine, these are certainly perilous times.

Indeed, a new study released by email security company Tessian found that one in four employees (26%) lost their job in the last 12 months after making a mistake that compromised their company’s security.

According to the second edition of Tessian’s Psychology of Human Error report, people are falling for more advanced phishing scams—and the business stakes for mistakes are much higher.

The study also found that:

• Two-fifths (40%) of employees sent an email to the wrong person, with almost one-third (29%) saying their business lost a client or customer because of the error

• Over one-third (36%) of employees have made a mistake at work that compromised security and fewer are reporting their mistakes to IT.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsegal/2022/03/29/25-of-workers-lost-their-jobs-in-the-past-12-months-after-making-cybersecurity-mistakes-report/?sh=d47cdfa49b26

• Attackers Compromise 94% of Critical Assets Within Four Steps of Initial Breach

New research from XM Cyber analysing the methods, attack paths, and impacts of cyber attacks has discovered that attackers can compromise 94% of critical assets within just four steps of initial breach points. The hybrid cloud security company’s Attack Path Management Impact Report incorporates insights from nearly two million endpoints, files, folders, and cloud resources throughout 2021, highlighting key findings on attack trends and techniques impacting critical assets across on-prem, multi-cloud, and hybrid environments.

The findings showed that 75% of an organisation’s critical assets are open to compromise in their current security state, while 73% of the top attack techniques used last year involved mismanaged or stolen credentials. Just over a quarter (27%) of most common attack techniques exploited a vulnerability or misconfiguration.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3655633/attackers-compromise-94-of-critical-assets-within-four-steps-of-initial-breach.html

• UK Spy Chief Warns Russia Looking for Cyber Targets

A UK intelligence chief warned that the Kremlin is hunting for cyber targets and bringing in mercenaries to shore up its stalled military campaign in Ukraine.

Jeremy Fleming, who heads the GCHQ electronic spy agency, praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “information operation” for being highly effective at countering Russia’s massive disinformation drive spreading propaganda about the war.

While there were expectations that Russia would launch a major cyber attack as part of its military campaign, Fleming said such a move was never a central part of Moscow’s standard playbook for war.

“That’s not to say that we haven’t seen cyber in this conflict. We have — and lots of it,” Fleming said in a speech in Canberra, Australia, according to a transcript released in London on Wednesday.

He said GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre has picked up signs of “sustained intent” by Russia to disrupt Ukrainian government and military systems.

“We’ve seen what looks like some spillover of activity affecting surrounding countries,” Fleming said. “And we’ve certainly seen indicators which suggest Russia’s cyber actors are looking for targets in the countries that oppose their actions.”

He provided no further details. He said the UK and other Western allies will continue to support Ukraine in beefing up its cyber security defences.

https://www.securityweek.com/uk-spy-chief-warns-russia-looking-cyber-targets

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Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware Payments Hitting New Records In 2021 - Help Net Security

• UK Ransomware Attacks Double In Past Year, Expert Insight - Information Security Buzz

• Ransomware, Endpoint Risks Are Top Concerns for DFIR Professionals | CSO Online

• Not Enough Businesses Have A Formal Ransomware Plan In Place - Help Net Security

• Ukraine, Conti, and the law of unintended consequences | CSO Online

• FBI Investigating More than 100 Ransomware Variants - Infosecurity Magazine

• Precursor Malware Is an Early Warning Sign for Ransomware (darkreading.com)

• Cyber Blackmail Gains Traction in Ransomware Hijackers' Tool Set - MSSP Alert

• Services Giant Admits $42m Fallout from Ransomware Attack - Infosecurity Magazine

• Hive Ransomware Uses New 'IPfuscation' Trick to Hide Payload (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Shutterfly, Hit By Conti Ransomware Group, Warns Staff Their Data Has Been Stolen • Graham Cluley

• FBI: Ransomware Attacks Are Piling Up The Pressure On Public Services | ZDNet

BEC – Business Email Compromise

• FBI Disrupts BEC Cyber Crime Gangs Targeting Victims Worldwide (bleepingcomputer.com)

Phishing & Email Based Attacks

• Calendly Actively Abused in Microsoft Credentials Phishing (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Phishing Attacks: Malicious URLs May Outpace Email Attachment Risks - MSSP Alert

• Hackers Hijack Email Reply Chains on Unpatched Exchange Servers to Spread Malware (thehackernews.com)

• Phishing uses Azure Static Web Pages to impersonate Microsoft (bleepingcomputer.com)

Other Social Engineering

• 5 Old Social Engineering Tricks Employees Still Fall For, And 4 New Gotchas | CSO Online

• Fraudsters Use 'Fake Emergency Data Requests' To Steal Info • The Register

Malware

• A Third of Malware Infections Used Log4Shell- IT Security Guru

Mobile

• Russian-Linked Android Malware Records Audio, Tracks Your Location (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Malware Disguised As Cryptocurrency Wallets Used To Steal From iOS and Android Users (androidpolice.com)

IoT

• Wyze Cam Flaw Lets Hackers Remotely Access Your Saved Videos (bleepingcomputer.com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Sanctions Hitting Russian Cyber-Criminals Hard - Infosecurity Magazine

• Secret World of Pro-Russia Hacking Group Exposed in Leak - WSJ

• UK Police Charges Two Teenagers for Their Alleged Role in Lapsus$ Group - Security Affairs

• LAPSUS$ Hacks Globant. 70GB of Data Leaked from IT Firm (bitdefender.com)

• Man Linked to Multi-Million Dollar Ransomware Attacks Gets 66 Months In Prison For Online Fraud | ZDNet

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

• How CISOs can Mitigate Cryptomining Malware (trendmicro.com)

• Ronin Blockchain Hit With $620 Million Crypto Heist - IT Security Guru

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Yale Finance Director Stole $40m In Computers to Resell • The Register

• Making Security Mistakes May Come With A High Price For Employees - Help Net Security

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• How To Avoid Investment Scams On Social Media, As 25% Of UK Victims Are Youths Online - Information Security Buzz

• Europol Dismantles Massive Call Centre Investment Scam Operation (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Scammers Turn Attention to Hard-Up Students • The Register

• Emily Maitlis Opens Up About Terrifying Bank Scam: ‘I Feel Sick’ | The Independent

Supply Chain

• A Large-Scale Supply Chain Attack Distributed Over 800 Malicious NPM Packages (thehackernews.com)

Denial of Service DoS/DDoS

• DDoS Attacks Becoming Larger And More Complex, Finance Most Targeted Sector - Help Net Security

• Number of DDoS Attacks in 2021 Reached 9.75 Million - Help Net Security

• Beastmode Botnet Boosts DDoS Power With New Router Exploits (bleepingcomputer.com)

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• What Is Credential Stuffing? And How To Prevent It? Security Affairs

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare

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Russian Invasion of Ukraine

• Anonymous Targets Oligarchs' Russian Businesses - Security Affairs

• With War Next Door, EU is Warned on Cyber Security Gaps | SecurityWeek.Com

• Ukraine Intelligence Leaks Names of 620 Alleged Russian FSB Agents - Security Affairs

• Russian Credential Thieves Target NATO, European Military • The Register

• Viasat Confirms Satellite Modems Were Wiped with AcidRain Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Internet Provider to Ukrainian Military Hit With Major Cyber Attack - WSJ

• GhostWriter APT Targets State Entities of Ukraine with Cobalt Strike Beacon - Security Affairs

• Hacked WordPress Sites Force Visitors to DDoS Ukrainian Targets (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Russia Facing Internet Outages Due to Equipment Shortage (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Anonymous Is Working On A Huge Data Dump That Will Blow Russia Away - Security Affairs

• Phishing Campaign Targets Russian Govt Dissidents With Cobalt Strike (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Leaked Hacker Logs Show Weaknesses of Russia’s Cyber Proxy Ecosystem | CSO Online

• Russian Aviation Authority Switches to Paper After Losing 65TB of Data | CyberNews

• Anonymous Hacked Russian Thozis Corp, But Denies Attacks on Rosaviatsia - Security Affairs

• ZTE Whistleblower: Chinese Companies Will Sell to Russia • The Register

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors – Russia

• UK Spy Boss Warns About Russia-China Tech Collaboration • The Register

• UK Cyber Security Centre Advises Review of Russian Tech • The Register

• You're Going To See Russian Activity Directed Against Government And Military Capabilities: Fmr. NSA director (cnbc.com)

• Russia Ranks Top For State-Linked Online Misinformation • The Register

• Google: Russian phishing attacks target NATO, European military (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Russian Spies Unmasked In Embarrassing Blow For Vladimir Putin (telegraph.co.uk)

Nation State Actors – China

• Chinese Hackers Deep Panda Return With Log4Shell Exploits, New Fire Chili Rootkit | ZDNet

• China APT Group Uses COVID-19, Russia in Phishing Scams • The Register

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Vulnerabilities

• CISA Adds 66 Vulnerabilities to 'Must Patch' List | SecurityWeek.Com

• Apple Rushes Out Patches for Two 0-days Threatening iOS and macOS Users | Ars Technica

• Zero-day Attacks Doubled in 2021 - Infosecurity Magazine

• Chrome Browser Gets Major Security Update | SecurityWeek.Com

• Critical SonicOS Vulnerability Affects SonicWall Firewall Appliances (thehackernews.com)

• Log4JShell Used to Swarm VMware Servers with Miners, Backdoors | Threatpost

• Experts Warn Defenders: Don't Relax on Log4j | SecurityWeek.Com

• Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge Updated to Close Security Hole • The Register

• RCE Bug in Spring Cloud Could Be the Next Log4Shell, Researchers Warn | Threatpost

• Spring4Shell: No need To Panic, But Mitigations Are Advised - Help Net Security

• Sophos Firewall Affected by A Critical Authentication Bypass Flaw - Security Affairs

• CVE-2022-1162 Flaw in GitLab Allowed Threat Actors To Take Over Accounts - Security Affairs

• Trend Micro Fixed High Severity Flaw In Apex Central Product Console - Security Affairs

• Zyxel Urges Customers To Patch Critical Firewall Bypass Vulnerability | ZDNet

• QNAP Warns of OpenSSL Infinite Loop Vulnerability Affecting NAS Devices (thehackernews.com)

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Sector Specific

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

Washington Health District Suffers Another Data Breach - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Hive Ransomware Group Claims Partnership HealthPlan of California Data Breach | CSO Online

LockBit Victim Estimates Cost of Ransomware Attack To Be $42 Million (bleepingcomputer.com)

Retail/eCommerce

Shopping Trap: The Online Stores’ Scam That Hits Users Worldwide - Security Affairs

Automotive

Automaker Cyber Security Lagging Behind Tech Adoption, Experts Warn | Threatpost

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

The Spectre of Stuxnet: CISA Issues Alert on Rockwell Automation ICS Vulnerabilities | ZDNet

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

• Psychology of Human Error 2022 | Research Report | Tessian

• 2022 Attack Path Management Impact Report (xmcyber.com)

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Other News

• Protecting Your Organisation Against a New Class of Cyber Threats: HEAT (darkreading.com)

• Why Do Organisations Need To Prioritize Cyber Resiliency? - Help Net Security

• How Security Complexity Is Being Weaponized (darkreading.com)

• In Charts: Cyber Security Risks And Companies’ Readiness | Financial Times (ft.com)

• CISA Warns of Attacks Against Internet-Connected UPS Devices | CSO Online

• New UK Study Shows Just 1/3rd Of Orgs Use MFA Auth, Practice Cyber Compliance - Information Security Buzz

• Hackers Posing as Police Convinced Apple and Meta to Share Basic Subscriber Info (softpedia.com)

• Exploring the Intersection of Physical Security and Cyber Security (darkreading.com)

• The Current State Of Enterprise Backup And Recovery - Help Net Security

• Why Metrics Are Crucial To Proving Cyber Security Programs’ Value | CSO Online

• COVID Bounce: A Massive 2021 Resurgence of Cyber Threats - Help Net Security

• Rapid7 Finds Zero-Day Attacks Surged In 2021 (techtarget.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 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.

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

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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 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

Sharp Rise in SMB Cyber Attacks by Russia and China

SaaS Alerts, a cloud security company, unveiled the findings of its latest report which analysed approximately 136 million security events across 2,100 small and medium businesses (SMBs) globally and identified cyber trends negatively impacting businesses.

The findings of the report take into account security events occurring across more than 120,000 user accounts during the period of January 1st to December 31st, 2021 and shows that the vast majority of attacks on top SaaS platforms such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack and Dropbox are originating from Russia and China. The data set is statistically significant and enables solution providers managing a portfolio of SaaS applications with pertinent data and trends to support defensive IT security re-alignments as required.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/09/saas-security-events-smbs/

We're Seeing An 800% Increase in Cyber Attacks, Says One Managed Service Provider

Revenge and inflation are believed to be key drivers behind an 800 percent increase in cyber attacks seen by a single managed services provider since the days before the onset of Russia's invasion of Ukraine last month.

The attacks are coming not only from groups inside of Russia but also from elsewhere within the region as well from Russia allies like North Korea and Iran, historically sources of global cyber-threats.

The MSP serves about 2,400 companies around the world, most of them small businesses and midsize enterprises and most in North America. The MSP said it has seen the spike in cyber attacks throughout its customer base.

The sharp rise has been attributed to pro-Russian cyber criminal groups linked to nation states lashing out at countries – first Ukraine and then Western countries – angry at the sanctions being levelled against Russia. At the same time, the sharp inflation that is spreading around the world is also hitting hackers, who need to make money to keep up with rising costs.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/11/russia-invasion-cyber-war-rages/

Internet Warfare: How the Russians Could Paralyse Britain

The collapse of critical national infrastructure is a science fiction staple. Fifty years ago, actively switching off a country’s water and power networks would have required huge physical damage to power stations and the sources of those services. Today, however, many of the tools we use every day are connected to the internet.

All of those things now have remote access — and therefore, all of them could be vulnerable.

Ukraine has been blitzed by cyber attacks since the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and they have increased in the lead-up to the invasion. As Russia marched into Ukraine, British officials were concerned about “spillover” from any cyber offensives targeted thousands of miles away.

In today’s interconnected digital world, the reality is that distance from the conflict zone makes no difference.

As the West fears a cyber-reprisal, what would a successful attack look like in Britain — and how likely is a complete “network failure”?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russia-cyberattack-uk-what-would-happen-l3dt98dmb

Just 3% Of Employees Cause 92% Of Malware Events

A small group of employees is typically responsible for most of the digital risk in an organisation, according to new research.

The report, from cybersecurity company Elevate Security and cyber security research organisation Cyentia, also found that those putting their companies at risk from phishing, malware, and insecure browsing are often repeat offenders.

The research found that 4% of employees clicked 80% of phishing links, and 3% were responsible for 92% of malware events.

Four in five employees have never clicked on a phishing email, according to the research. In fact, it asserts that half of them never see one, highlighting the need to focus anti-phishing efforts on at-risk workers.

The malware that phishing and other attack vectors deliver also affects a small group of employees. The research found that 96% of users have never suffered from a malware event. Most malware events revolve around the 3% of users who suffered from two malware events or more, reinforcing the notion that security awareness messages just aren't getting through to some.

https://www.itpro.co.uk/security/malware/366011/just-3-of-employees-cause-92-of-malware-events

70% Of Breached Passwords Are Still in Use

A new report examines trends related to exposed data. Researchers identified 1.7 billion exposed credentials, a 15% increase from 2020, and 13.8 billion recaptured Personally Identifiable Information (PII) records obtained from breaches in 2021.

Through its analysis of this data, it was found that despite increasingly sophisticated and targeted cyber attacks, consumers continue to engage in poor cyber practices regarding passwords, including the use of similar passwords for multiple accounts, weak or common passwords and passwords containing easy-to-guess words or phrases connected to pop culture.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/08/exposed-data-trends/

Organisations Taking Nearly Two Months to Remediate Critical Risk Vulnerabilities

Edgescan announces the findings of a report which offers a comprehensive view of the state of vulnerability management globally. This year’s report takes a more granular look at the trends by industry, and provides details on which of the known, patchable vulnerabilities are currently being exploited by threat actors.

The report reveals that organisations are still taking nearly two months to remediate critical risk vulnerabilities, with the average mean time to remediate (MTTR) across the full stack set at 60 days.

High rates of “known” (i.e. patchable) vulnerabilities which have working exploits in the wild, used by known nation state and cybercriminal groups are not uncommon.

Crucially, 57% of all observed vulnerabilities are more than two years old, with as many as 17% being more than five years old. These are all vulnerabilities that have working exploits in the wild, used by known nation state and cybercriminal groups. Edgescan also observed a concerning 1.5% of known, unpatched vulnerabilities that are over 20 years old, dating back to 1999.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/10/state-of-vulnerability-management/

Android Malware Escobar Steals Your Google Authenticator MFA Codes

The Aberebot Android banking trojan has returned under the name 'Escobar' with new features, including stealing Google Authenticator multi-factor authentication codes.

The new features in the latest Aberebot version also include taking control of the infected Android devices using VNC, recording audio, and taking photos, while also expanding the set of targeted apps for credential theft.

The main goal of the trojan is to steal enough information to allow the threat actors to take over victims' bank accounts, siphon available balances, and perform unauthorised transactions.

Like most banking trojans, Escobar displays overlay login forms to hijack user interactions with e-banking apps and websites and steal credentials from victims.

The malware also packs several other features that make it potent against any Android version, even if the overlay injections are blocked in some manner.

The authors have expanded the set of targeted banks and financial institutions to a whopping 190 entities from 18 countries in the latest version.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/android-malware-escobar-steals-your-google-authenticator-mfa-codes/

Smartphone Malware Is on The Rise - Here's How to Stay Safe

The volume of malware attacks targeting mobile devices has skyrocketed so far this year, cyber security researchers are saying.

A new report from security company Proofpoint claims that the number of detected mobile malware attacks has spiked 500% in the first few months of 2022, with peaks at the beginning and end of February.

Much of this malware aims to steal usernames and passwords from mobile banking applications, Proofpoint says. But some strains are even more sinister, recording audio and video from infected devices, tracking the victim's location, or exfiltrating and deleting data.

https://www.techradar.com/nz/news/smartphone-malware-is-coming-for-more-and-more-of-us

Russia May Use Ransomware Payouts to Avoid Sanctions’ Financial Harm

FinCEN warns financial institutions to be wary of unusual cryptocurrency payments or illegal transactions Russia may use to ease financial hurt from Ukraine-linked sanctions.

Russia may ramp up ransomware attacks against the United States as a way to ease the financial hurt it’s under due to sanctions, U.S. federal authorities are warning. Those sanctions have been levied against the nation and Vladimir Putin’s government due to its invasion of Ukraine.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a FinCEN Alert (PDF) on Wednesday advising all financial institutions to remain vigilant against potential efforts to evade the expansive sanctions and other U.S.-imposed restrictions related to the current conflict. One way this may be done is to move cryptocurrency funds through ransomware payments collected after Russian state-sponsored actors carry out cyberattacks.

“In the face of mounting economic pressure on Russia, it is vitally important for financial institutions to be vigilant about potential Russian sanctions evasion, including by both state actors and oligarchs,” said FinCEN Acting Director Him Das in a press statement.

https://threatpost.com/russia-ransomware-payouts-avoid-sanctions/178854/

How An 8-Character Password Could Be Cracked in Less Than an Hour

Security experts keep advising us to create strong and complex passwords to protect our online accounts and data from savvy cybercriminals. And “complex” typically means using lowercase and uppercase characters, numbers and even special symbols. But complexity by itself can still open your password to cracking if it doesn’t contain enough characters, according to research by security firm Hive Systems.

As described in a recent report, Hive found that an 8-character complex password could be cracked in just 39 minutes if the attacker were to take advantage of the latest graphics processing technology. A seven-character complex password could be cracked in 31 seconds, while one with six or fewer characters could be cracked instantly. Shorter passwords with only one or two character types, such as only numbers or lowercase letters, or only numbers and letters, would take just minutes to crack.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-an-8-character-password-could-be-cracked-in-less-than-an-hour/

Cyber Insurance and Business Risk: How the Relationship Is Changing Reinsurance & Policy Guidance

Cyber insurance is a significant industry and growing fast — according to GlobalData, it was worth $7 billion in gross written premiums in 2020. The cyber-insurance market is expected to reach $20.6 billion by 2025. Over the past few years, the cyber-insurance market was competitive, so premiums were low and policies were comprehensive. Over the past year, that has changed — the volume of claims has gone up and led to more payouts, which affected the insurance companies' profitability.

The recent Log4j issue will affect how insurance and reinsurance companies write their policies in future. Already, we're seeing discussions about Log4j-related issues being excluded from reinsurance policies in 2022, as many policies came up for renewal on Dec. 31, 2021. This will affect the policies that insurance companies can offer to their customers.

What does this mean for IT security teams? For practitioners, it will make their work more important than before, as preventing possible issues would be more valuable to the business. Carrying out standard security practices like asset inventory and vulnerability management will be needed, while examining software bills of materials for those same issues will help on the software supply chain security side. These practices will also need to be highly automated, as business must be able to gain accurate insights within hours, not months, to deal with future threats while reducing the cost impact.

For those responsible for wider business risk, these developments around cyber insurance will present a more significant problem. Cyber-insurance policies will still be available — and necessary where needed — but the policies themselves will cover less ground. While the past few years had pretty wide-ranging policies that would pay out on a range of issues, future policies will deliver less coverage.

https://www.darkreading.com/risk/cyber-insurance-and-business-risk-how-the-relationship-is-changing-reinsurance-policy-guidance-

Security Teams Prep Too Slowly for Cyber Attacks

Attackers typically take days or weeks to exploit new vulnerabilities, but defenders are slow to learn about critical issues and take action, requiring 96 days on average to learn to identify and block current cyber threats, according to a new report analysing training and crisis scenarios.

The report, Cyber Workforce Benchmark 2022, found that cybersecurity professionals are much more likely to focus on vulnerabilities that have garnered media attention, such as Log4j, than more understated issues, and that different industries develop their security capabilities at widely different rates. Security professionals in some of the most crucial industries, such as transport and critical infrastructure, are twice as slow to learn skills compare to their colleagues in the leisure, entertainment, and retail sectors.

The amount of time it takes for security professionals to get up to speed on new threats matters. CISA says that patches should be applied within 15 days, sooner than that if the vulnerability is being exploited, says Kevin Breen, director of cyber threat research at Immersive Labs.

https://www.darkreading.com/risk/security-teams-prep-too-slowly-for-cyberattacks

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Threats

Ransomware

• Inside Conti leaks: The Panama Papers of Ransomware - The Record by Recorded Future

• Leaks of Conti Ransomware Group Paint Picture of a Surprisingly Normal Tech Start-Up... Sort Of - Check Point Research

• Oh, The Irony! Conti Ransomware Gang, Which Leaked Ransomware Victims’ Data, Has Its Own Data Leaked (grahamcluley.com)

• CISA Added 98 Domains To The Joint Alert Related To Conti Ransomware Gang - Security Affairs

• Ragnar Locker Ransomware - What You Need To Know (tripwire.com)

• Conti Ransomware Group Spent Millions In 2021 - IT Security Guru

• Ragnar Locker Ransomware Hits Critical Infrastructure • The Register

• Ukrainian Man Arrested for Alleged Role in Ransomware Attack on Kaseya, Others (darkreading.com)

• FBI: Ransomware Gang Breached 52 US Critical Infrastructure Orgs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Alleged REvil Ransomware Hacker Extradited And Arraigned In Texas | CSO Online

• Bridgestone Americas Confirms Ransomware Attack, LockBit Leaks Data (bleepingcomputer.com)

Phishing & Email

• How Phishing Email Are Evading Email Security - MSSP Alert

• Watch Out For This Phishing Attack That Hijacks Your Email Chats To Spread Malware | ZDNet

• The Most Impersonated Brands In Phishing Attacks - Help Net Security

Malware

• Nvidia's Stolen Data Is Being Used To Disguise Malware As GPU Drivers | PC Gamer

• Qakbot Botnet Sprouts Fangs, Injects Malware into Email Threads | Threatpost

• Emotet Botnet Is Rapidly Growing, +130K Bots Spread Across 179 Countries - Security Affairs

• Raccoon Stealer Crawls Into Telegram | Threatpost

• All About the Bots: What Botnet Trends Portend for Security Pros | SecurityWeek.Com

Mobile

• Smartphone malware is on the rise, here's what to watch out for | ZDNet

• Samsung Confirms Hackers Stole Galaxy Devices Source Code (bleepingcomputer.com)

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Cyber Criminals Are Posing As Ukraine Fundraisers To Steal Cryptocurrency - CyberScoop

• Cyber Criminals Compromise Users With Malware Disguised As Pro-Ukraine Cyber Tools - Cisco Talos Intelligence Group

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

• Russians Liquidating Crypto In The UAE As They Seek Safe Havens | Reuters

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Consumers Worried About Digital Banking Security - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Shipping Fraud Quickly Emerging As One Of The Top Fraud Types - Help Net Security

Insurance

• The Cyber Insurance Market Needs More Money (hbr.org)

Supply Chain

• Major Tech Firms Launch Security First Initiative To Combat Third-Party Data Breaches - Help Net Security

DoS/DDoS

• Mitel VoIP Systems Used In Staggering DDoS Attacks • The Register

• In-The-Wild DDoS Attack Can Be Launched From A Single Packet To Create Terabytes Of Traffic | ZDNet

• Malware Posing as Russia DDoS Tool Bites Pro-Ukraine Hackers | Threatpost

• The Fight Against the Hydra: New DDoS Report from Link11 (darkreading.com)

• Imperva Thwarts 2.5 Million RPS Ransom DDoS Extortion Attacks (thehackernews.com)

Parental Controls and Child Safety

• Still Too Many Parents Don't Monitor Their Children's Online Activity - Help Net Security

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare

• ‘We are not ready’: a Cyber Expert on US Vulnerability to a Russian Attack | Cyberwar | The Guardian

• China-Aligned APT Renews Cyber Attack On European Diplomats, As War Rages | CSO Online

• European Lawmakers Launch Investigation Into Use Of Pegasus Spyware By EU States | TechCrunch

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Nation State Actors

Nation State Actors - Russia

• Jump In Cyber Attacks Since Start Of Ukraine Invasion (rte.ie)

• Will Russian Oil Ban Spur Increased Cyber-Attacks (trendmicro.com)

• Russia to Create Its Own Security Certificate Authority, Alarming Experts - CyberScoop

• Russian APTs Furiously Phish Ukraine – Google | Threatpost

• Russia Mulls Legalizing Software Piracy As It’s Cut Off From Western Tech | Ars Technica

• Ukrainian IT Army Hijacked by Infostealing Malware - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• Google: Russian Hackers Target Ukrainians, European Allies via Phishing Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• French Bank Denies Access to Russian Workforce - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

• New RURansom Wiper Targets Russia (trendmicro.com)

• Anonymous & its Affiliates Hacked 90% of Russian Misconfigured Databases (hackread.com)

• Anonymous Claims to Have Leaked Over 360,000 Files From Russian Federal Agency - Infosecurity Magazine

Nation State Actors - China

• Chinese Phishing Actors Consistently Targeting EU Diplomats (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Comment: Chinese Spies Hacked A Livestock App To Breach US State Networks - Information Security Buzz

• Chinese APT41 Hackers Broke into at Least 6 U.S. State Governments: Mandiant (thehackernews.com)

Nation State Actors – North Korea

• Targeted APT Activity: BABYSHARK Is Out for Blood - MSSP Alert

Nation State Actors - Iran

• Iranian Hackers Targeting Turkey and Arabian Peninsula in New Malware Campaign (thehackernews.com)

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Vulnerabilities

• Linux Has Been Bitten By Its Most High-Severity Vulnerability In Years | Ars Technica

• High Rates Of Known, Exploitable Vulnerabilities Still Found In The Wild, Report Reveals - IT Security Guru

• Microsoft Addresses 3 Zero-Days & 3 Critical Bugs for March Patch Tuesday | Threatpost

• New Exploit Bypasses Existing Spectre-V2 Mitigations in Intel, AMD, Arm CPUs (thehackernews.com)

• Google Attempts to Explain Surge in Chrome Zero-Day Exploitation | SecurityWeek.Com

• “Dirty Pipe” Linux Kernel Bug Lets Anyone Write To Any File – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Microsoft Azure Flaw Allowed Unauthorized Account Access • The Register

• Intel, AMD, Arm Warn Of New Speculative Execution CPU Bugs (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Adobe Patches 'Critical' Security Flaws in Illustrator, After Effects | SecurityWeek.Com

• Up to 30% of WordPress Plugin Bugs Don't Get Patched - IT Security Guru

• Within Hours of the Log4j Flaw Being Revealed, These Hackers Were Using It | ZDNet

• Critical Firefox Zero-Day Bugs Allow RCE, Sandbox Escape | Threatpost

• Microsoft Warns of Spoofing Vulnerability in Defender for Endpoint | SecurityWeek.Com

• Microsoft Fixes Critical Azure Bug That Exposed Customer Data (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Researchers Disclose New Spectre V2 Vulnerabilities (techtarget.com)

• Critical Bugs Could Let Attackers Remotely Hack, Damage APC Smart-UPS Devices (thehackernews.com)

• Over 40% of Log4j Downloads Are Vulnerable Versions of the Software (darkreading.com)

• HP Patches 16 UEFI Firmware Bugs Allowing Stealthy Malware Infections (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Critical RCE Bugs Found in Pascom Cloud Phone System Used by Businesses (thehackernews.com)

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Sector Specific

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• Medical and IoT Devices From More Than 100 Vendors Vulnerable to Attack (darkreading.com)

• Oklahoma Hospital Data Breach Impacts 92,000 People - Infosecurity Magazine

Transport and Aviation

• Finnish Govt Agency Warns Of Unusual Aircraft GPS Interference (bleepingcomputer.com)

Automotive

• Small Business Owners Worried About The Cyber Security Of Their Commercial Vehicles - Help Net Security

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• ICS Vulnerability Disclosures Surge 110% Over The Last Four Years - Help Net Security

• New Security Threats Target Industrial Control And OT Environments - CyberScoop

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• 2022 Vulnerability Statistics Report - Edgescan

• Pinpoint the Origins of Workforce Risk - Elevate Security

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Other News

• Why You Should Be Using CISA's Catalog of Exploited Vulns (darkreading.com)

• How Attackers Sidestep The Cyber Kill Chain | CSO Online

• How to Combat the No. 1 Cause of Security Breaches: Complexity (darkreading.com)

• Every Business Is A Cyber Security Business - Help Net Security

• Operationalising a “Think Like The Enemy” Strategy | CSO Online

• SpaceX Shifts Resources To Cyber Security To Address Starlink Jamming - SpaceNews

• Report: Cyber Security Teams Need Nearly 100 Days To Develop Threat Defenses | VentureBeat

• 6 Potential Enterprise Security Risks With NFC Technology (techtarget.com)

• BBC Targeted With 383,278 Spam, Phishing And Malware Attacks Every Day - Help Net Security

• Ubisoft Says It Experienced A ‘Cyber Security Incident’, And The Purported Nvidia Hackers Are Taking Credit - The Verge

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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 04 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.

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Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Cyber Criminals Exploit Invasion of Ukraine

Cyber criminals are exploiting Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine to commit digital fraud.

In a blog, researchers at Bitdefender Labs said they had witnessed “waves of fraudulent and malicious emails,” some of which were engineered to exploit the charitable intentions of global citizens towards the people of Ukraine.

Since March 1, researchers have been tracking two specific phishing campaigns designed to infect victims with Agent Tesla and Remcos remote access Trojans.

Agent Tesla is a malware-as-a-service (MaaS) Remote Access Trojan (RAT) and data stealer that can be used to exfiltrate sensitive information, including credentials, keystrokes and clipboard data from victims.

Remcos RAT is typically deployed via malicious documents or archives to give the attacker full control over their victims’ systems. Once inside, attackers can capture keystrokes, screenshots, credentials and other sensitive system data and exfiltrate it.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cyber-criminals-invasion-ukraine/

UK Data Watchdog Urges Vigilance Amid Heightened Cyber Threat

The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) reports a ‘steady and significant’ increase in cyber-attacks against UK firms over the past two years.

Employees should report any suspicious emails rather than delete them and firms must step up their vigilance against cyber-attacks in the face of a heightened threat from Russian hackers, the UK’s data watchdog has said.

John Edwards, the Information Commissioner, said a new era of security had begun where instead of blacking out windows, people needed to maintain vigilance over their inboxes.

Experts including the UK’s cyber security agency have said Russian hackers could target Britain, and the imposition of sanctions by London on Moscow has increased those fears.

Asked about the potential for a Russia-Ukraine cyber conflict spreading to the UK, Edwards said: “We have picked up on that heightened threat environment and we think it’s really important to take the opportunity to remind businesses of the importance of security over the data that they hold. This is a different era from blacking out the windows and keeping the lights off. The threats are going to come in through your inbox.”

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/mar/04/uk-data-watchdog-urges-vigilance-amid-heightened-cyber-threat

Phishing - Still a Problem, Despite All The Work

Phishing is a threat that most people know about. Emails designed to trick you into clicking a malicious link or divulge passwords and other credentials have become an everyday occurrence. Despite this familiarity, and the multitude of tools and techniques which purport to stop it, phishing remains the number one initial attack vector affecting organisations and individuals.

Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet. Phishing can only be dealt with using multiple complementary measures. This fact leads to some questions: Which measures are most (cost) effective? How should they be implemented? Can they be automated?

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/phishing-still-a-problem-despite-the-work

Phishing Attacks Hit All-Time High in December 2021

The Anti-Phishing Working Group international consortium (APWG) saw 316,747 phishing attacks in December 2021 — the highest monthly total observed since it began its reporting program in 2004. Overall, the number of phishing attacks has tripled from early 2020.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, the financial sector, which includes banks, became the most frequently attacked cohort, accounting for 23.2 percent of all phishing. Attacks against webmail and software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers remained prevalent as well. Phishing against cryptocurrency targets — such as cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet providers — inched up to represent 6.5 percent of attacks.

Overall, the number of brands that were attacked in 4Q descended from a record 715 in September 2021, cresting at 682 in November for the Q4 period.

The solution provider Abnormal Security observed 4,200 companies, organisations, and government institutions falling victim to ransomware in Q4 2021, some 36 percent higher than in Q3 2021 and the highest number the company has witnessed over the past two years.

“The overall distribution of ransomware victims indicates that ransomware attacks are industry-agnostic,” said Crane Hassold, Director of Threat Intelligence at Abnormal Security.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/03/phishing-attacks-december-2021/

Ransomware Infections Top List of The Most Common Results of Phishing Attacks

A report from insider threat management software company Egress found some startling conclusions when it spoke to IT leadership: Despite the pervasive and very serious threat of ransomware, very few boards of directors consider it a top priority.

Eighty-four percent of organisations reported falling victim to a phishing attack last year, Egress said, and of those 59% were infected with ransomware as a result. If you add in the 14% of businesses that said they weren’t hit with a phishing attack, and you still end up at around 50% of all organisations having been hit with ransomware in 2021.

Egress said that its data shows there has been a 15% increase in successful phishing attacks over the past 12 months, with the bulk of the attacks utilising malicious links and attachments. Those methods aren’t new, but a 15% increase in successful attacks means that something isn’t working.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/ransomware-infections-top-list-of-the-most-common-results-of-phishing-attacks/

Social Media Phishing Attacks Are at An All Time High

Phishing campaigns continue to focus on social media, ramping up efforts to target users for the third consecutive year as the medium becomes increasingly used worldwide for communication, news, and entertainment.

The targeting of social media is the highlighted finding in the 2021 Phishing report by cybersecurity firm Vade, who analysed phishing attack patterns that unfolded throughout 2021.

As part of their report, Vade analysed 184,977 phishing pages to create stats based on a billion corporate and consumer mailboxes that the cyber security firm protects.

Vade also recorded a rise in the sophistication of phishing attacks, especially those targeting Microsoft 365 credentials, an evolution in the tech support scams, and the inevitable dominance of COVID-19 and item shipping lures.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/social-media-phishing-attacks-are-at-an-all-time-high/

Insurance Giant AON Hit by a Cyber Attack

Professional services and insurance giant AON has suffered a cyberattack that impacted a "limited" number of systems.

AON is a multinational professional services firm offering a wide array of solutions, including business insurance, reinsurance, cyber security consulting, risk solutions, healthcare insurance, and wealth management products.

AON generated $12.2 billion of revenue in 2021 and has approximately 50,000 employees spread throughout 120 countries.

In a filing with the US SEC, AON has disclosed that they suffered a cyberattack on February 25th, 2022.

AON has not provided any details of the attack other than that it occurred and affected a limited number of systems.

The company stated that although in the early stages of assessing the incident, based on the information currently known, the company did not expect the incident to have a material impact on its business, operations or financial condition.

In addition to being an insurance broker, AON is also a leading reinsurance company, meaning that they insure the insurance companies.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/insurance-giant-aon-hit-by-a-cyberattack-over-the-weekend/

How Prepared Are Organisations to Face Email-Based Ransomware Attacks?

Proofpoint released a report which provides an in-depth look at user phishing awareness, vulnerability, and resilience. The report reveals that attackers were more active in 2021 than 2020, with findings uncovering that 78% of organisations saw email-based ransomware attacks in 2021, while 77% faced business email compromise attacks (BEC) (18% YoY increase of BEC attacks from 2020), reflecting cyber criminals’ continued focus on compromising people, as opposed to gaining access to systems through technical vulnerabilities

This year’s report examines responses from commissioned surveys of 600 information and IT security professionals and 3,500 workers in the U.S., Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, and the UK. The report also analyses data from nearly 100 million simulated phishing attacks sent by customers to their employees over a one-year period, along with more than 15 million emails reported via the user-activated PhishAlarm reporting button.

Attacks in 2021 also had a much wider impact than in 2020, with 83% of survey respondents revealing their organisation experienced at least one successful email-based phishing attack, up from 57% in 2020. In line with this, 68% of organisations said they dealt with at least one ransomware infection stemming from a direct email payload, second-stage malware delivery, or other exploit. The year-over-year increase remains steady but representative of the challenges organisations faced as ransomware attacks surged in 2021.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/02/28/email-based-ransomware-attacks/

The Most Impersonated Brands in Phishing Attacks

Vade announced its annual ranking of the top 20 most impersonated brands in phishing. Facebook, which was in the second spot in 2020, rose to the top spot for 2021, representing 14% of phishing pages, followed by Microsoft, with 13%.

The report analysed 184,977 phishing pages linked from unique phishing emails between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021.

Key findings:

·         Financial services is the most impersonated industry

·         Microsoft is the most impersonated cloud brand and the top corporate brand

·         Facebook dominates social media phishing

·         35% of all phishing pages impersonated financial services brands

·         Mondays and Tuesdays are the top days for phishing

·         78% of phishing attacks occur on weekdays

·         Monday and Thursday are the top days for Facebook phishing

·         Thursday and Friday are the top days for Microsoft phishing

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/04/most-impersonated-brands-phishing/

As War Escalates in Europe, It’s ‘Shields Up’ For The Cyber Security Industry

In unprecedented times, even government bureaucracy moves quickly. As a result of the heightened likelihood of cyberthreat from Russian malactor groups, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) — part of the Department of Homeland Security — issued an unprecedented warning recommending that “all organisations — regardless of size — adopt a heightened posture when it comes to cyber security and protecting their most critical assets.”

The blanket warning is for all industries to take notice. Indeed, it’s a juxtaposition of sorts to think the cyber security industry is vulnerable to cyber attack, but for many nation state groups, this is their first port of call.

Inspired by the spike in attacks on cyber security agencies globally, a report from Reposify assessed the state of the cyber security industry’s external attack surface (EAS). It coincides with CISA’s warning, and highlights critical areas of concern for the sector and how they mirror trends amongst pharmaceutical and financial companies, providing vital insight into where organisations can focus their efforts, and reinforce the digital perimeter.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/02/as-war-escalates-in-europe-its-shields-up-for-the-cybersecurity-industry/

2022 May Be The Year Cyber Crime Returns Its Focus to Consumers

Threat analysts expect 2022 to be the tipping point for a shift in the focus of hackers from large companies back to consumers.

This prediction is the result of several factors that make consumers a lot more lucrative to threat actors today than in previous years.

ReasonLabs has compiled a detailed report on the status of consumer-level cyber security and what trends are most likely to emerge this year.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/2022-may-be-the-year-cybercrime-returns-its-focus-to-consumers/

Kaspersky Neutral Stance in Doubt As It Shields Kremlin

Kaspersky Lab is protecting the resources of the Russian Ministry of Defence and other high-value domains that are instrumental to the Russian propaganda machine – Russia Today, TASS news agency, Gazprom bank.

The company insists that they ‘never provide any law enforcement or government organisation with access to user data or the company's infrastructure.”

Eugene Kaspersky's refusal to condemn the Kremlin for its invasion of Ukraine set the cyber security community on fire. His company has tried to shake ties to the Russian government for years but hasn't succeeded quite yet. And recent events, it seems, only made things worse.

"We welcome the start of negotiations to resolve the current situation in Ukraine and hope that they will lead to a cessation of hostilities and a compromise. We believe that peaceful dialogue is the only possible instrument for resolving conflicts. War isn't good for anyone," Eugene Kaspersky tweeted when Russian and Ukrainian delegations met for peace talks near Ukraine's border with Belarus.

https://cybernews.com/security/kaspersky-neutral-stance-in-doubt-as-it-shields-kremlin/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Accelerated Ransomware Attacks Pressure Targeted Companies to Speed Response (darkreading.com)

• Toyota Japan Shutters 14 Plants After Probable Cyber Attack • The Register

• Bridgestone Still Struggling With Plant Closures Across North America After Cyber Attack | ZDNet

• Cyber Criminals Who Breached Nvidia Issue One Of The Most Unusual Demands Ever | Ars Technica

• Conti Ransomware's Internal Chats Leaked After Siding With Russia (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Conti Group Encrypts Karma Ransomware Extortion Notes - Infosecurity Magazine

Phishing & Email

• Unusual Sign-In Activity Mail Goes Phishing For Microsoft Account Holders | Malwarebytes Labs

Other Social Engineering

• 'Several Combinations Of Social Engineering' Used During Cyber Attack On Camera Maker Axis | ZDNet

• Instagram Scammers As Busy As Ever: Passwords And 2FA Codes At Risk – Naked Security (sophos.com)

Malware

• TrickBot Malware Gang Upgrades its AnchorDNS Backdoor to AnchorMail (thehackernews.com)

• Rebirth of Emotet: New Features of the Botnet and How to Detect it (thehackernews.com)

Mobile

• How Much Do Different Generations Trust Their Mobile Devices' Security? - Help Net Security

• TeaBot Android Banking Trojan Continues Its Global Conquest With New Upgrades | ZDNet

• This Nasty Android Malware Steals Your Passwords — What You Need To Know [Update] | Tom's Guide (tomsguide.com)

• SharkBot Malware Hides As Android Antivirus In Google Play (bleepingcomputer.com)

• A New Money-Stealing Malware Makes Rounds On Google Play Store Posing As An Innocent App With Over 50,000 Downloads - NotebookCheck.net News

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Hackers Leak 190GB Of Alleged Samsung Data, Source Code (bleepingcomputer.com)

• NVIDIA Data Breach Exposed Credentials Of Over 71,000 Employees (bleepingcomputer.com)

• 250,000-Plus Lawyer Disciplinary Records Leak • The Register

• Swiss Bank Requests Destruction of Documents - Infosecurity Magazine

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Ukraine-Russia Cyber Warzone Splits Cyber Underground | Threatpost

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

• Hackers Threaten To Turn Every Nvidia GPU Into A Bitcoin Mining Machine | TechRadar

• Beware of Ongoing Crypto Cyber War Amidst the Ukraine Russian War in 2022 (analyticsinsight.net)

• Log4shell Exploits Now Used Mostly For DDoS Botnets, Cryptominers (bleepingcomputer.com)

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Don’t Be Fooled Into Thinking You’re Too Smart To Be Scammed | News | The Sunday Times (thetimes.co.uk)

DoS/DDoS

• DDoSers Are Using A Potent New Method To Deliver Attacks Of Unthinkable Size | Ars Technica

• DDoS Attackers Have Found This New Trick To Knock Over Websites | ZDNet

• Hackers Begin Weaponizing TCP Middlebox Reflection for Amplified DDoS Attacks (thehackernews.com)

• Log4shell Exploits Now Used Mostly For DDoS Botnets, Cryptominers (bleepingcomputer.com)

Nation State Actors

• Responses to Russia's Invasion of Ukraine Likely to Spur Retaliation | Mandiant

• Charities, Aid Orgs In Ukraine Attacked With Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Cyber Attacks In Ukraine Could Reach Other Countries - IT Security Guru

• Microsoft Finds FoxBlade Malware Hit Ukraine Hours Before Russian Invasion (thehackernews.com)

• Ukraine Digital Army Brews Cyberattacks, Intel and Infowar | SecurityWeek.Com

• Ukraine Security Agencies Warn Of Ghostwriter Threat Activity, Phishing Campaigns | ZDNet

• Ukraine Asks ICANN To Revoke Russian Domains And Shut Down DNS Root Servers | Ars Technica

• IsaacWiper, The Third Wiper Spotted Since The Beginning Of Russian Invasion - Security Affairs

• Ukrainian Sites Saw A 10x Increase In Attacks When Invasion Started (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Cyber Attacks in Ukraine: New Worm-Spreading Data-Wiper With Ransomware Smokescreen | SecurityWeek.Com

• Chinese Malware Targeted Multiple Governments • The Register

• Iranian Hackers Using New Spying Malware That Abuses Telegram Messenger API (thehackernews.com)

Passwords & Credential Stuffing

• Microsoft Accounts Targeted by Russian-Themed Credential Harvesting | Threatpost

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare

• Cyber Attack on NATO Could Trigger Collective Defence Clause - Official | Reuters

• Ukraine Conflict Spurs Questions Of How To Define Cyberwar - CyberScoop

• How China Built A One-Of-A-Kind Cyber-Espionage Behemoth To Last | MIT Technology Review

• Russia's Space Chief Says Hacking Satellites 'A Cause For War' - POLITICO

• Ukraine Is Building An 'It Army' Of Volunteers, Something That's Never Been Tried Before | ZDNet

• China-linked Daxin Malware Targeted Multiple Governments in Espionage Attacks (thehackernews.com)

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Vulnerabilities

• Get Patching Now: CISA Adds Another 95 Flaws To Its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities List | ZDNet

• Cisco Patches Critical Vulnerabilities in Expressway, TelePresence VCS Products | SecurityWeek.Com

• Firefox Patches Two In-The-Wild Exploits – Update Now! – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• New Linux Kernel cgroups Vulnerability Could Let Attackers Escape Container (thehackernews.com)

• Critical Security Bugs Uncovered in VoIPmonitor Monitoring Software (thehackernews.com)

• New Security Vulnerability Affects Thousands of Self-Managed GitLab Instances (thehackernews.com)

• Log4Shell Threat Far From Gone: Attackers Continue To Target Vulnerability - Information Security Buzz

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Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

• Banks Brace For Retaliatory Ransomware Attacks From Russia | Bitcoinist.com

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• Conti And Karma Actors Attack Healthcare Provider At Same Time Through ProxyShell exploits – Sophos News

• Over 100,000 Medical Infusion Pumps Vulnerable To Years Old Critical Bug (bleepingcomputer.com)

CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

• Lack Of Visibility Plaguing ICS Environments - Help Net Security

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• Vade Releases 2021 Phishers' Favourites Report (darkreading.com)

• Salt Security releases State of API Security Report - IT Security Guru

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Other News

• Microsoft Teams Grows As Cyber Attack Vector - MSSP Alert

• Ukraine Conflict Puts Organisations’ Cyber-resilience To The Test - Information Security Buzz

• The Cyber Security Implications Of The Russia-Ukraine Conflict (forbes.com)

• Cyber Attackers Are Looking To Exploit People Who Want To Help Ukraine, Security Experts Warn | The Independent

• Multifactor Authentication Is Being Targeted by Hackers – The New Stack

• Attacks Abusing Programming APIs Grew Over 600% In 2021 (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Soaring Cyber Attacks On BBC – ‘No Industry Is Untouchable’ - Information Security Buzz

• Bad Actors Are Becoming More Successful At Evading AI/ML Technologies - Help Net Security

• Facebook, Twitter, Google Move To Intercept Russian Propaganda, Disinformation About Ukraine - CyberScoop

• Why the Shifting Nature of Endpoints Requires a New Approach to Security (darkreading.com)

• Open Source Security Fears Are Fading Away | ZDNet

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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 25 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

Britain Warns of Cyber Attacks as Russia-Ukraine Crisis Escalates

Britain warned of potential cyber attacks with "international consequences" this week after Russian President Vladimir Puitin ordered troops to two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.

Britain's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a part of the GCHQ eavesdropping intelligence agency, called on British organisations to "bolster their online defences" following the developments.

"While the NCSC is not aware of any current specific threats to UK organisations in relation to events in and around Ukraine, there has been an historical pattern of cyber attacks on Ukraine with international consequences," it said in a statement.

Last week, Ukranian banking and government websites were briefly knocked offline by a spate of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks which the United States and Britain said were carried out by Russian military hackers.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/britain-warns-cyberattacks-russia-ukraine-crisis-escalates-2022-02-22/

Ransomware Extortion Doesn't Stop After Paying The Ransom

A global survey that looked into the experience of ransomware victims highlights the lack of trustworthiness of ransomware actors, as in most cases of paying the ransom, the extortion simply continues.

This is not a surprising or new discovery, but when seeing it reflected in actual statistics, one can appreciate the scale of the problem in full.

The survey was conducted by cyber security specialist Venafi, and the most important findings that emerge from the respondents are the following:

• 18% of victims who paid the ransom still had their data exposed on the dark web.

• 8% refused to pay the ransom, and the attackers tried to extort their customers.

• 35% of victims paid the ransom but were still unable to retrieve their data.

As for the ransomware actor extortion tactics, these are summarized as follows:

• 83% of all successful ransomware attacks featured double and triple extortion.

• 38% of ransomware attacks threatened to use stolen data to extort customers.

• 35% of ransomware attacks threatened to expose stolen data on the dark web.

• 32% of attacks threatened to directly inform the victim's customers of the data breach incident.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ransomware-extortion-doesnt-stop-after-paying-the-ransom/

Ukraine Calls For Volunteer Hackers To Protect Its Critical Infrastructure And Spy On Russian Forces

The government of Ukraine is calling on the hacking community to volunteer its expertise and capabilities, following the invasion of the country by Russian forces.

Reuters reports that Yegor Aushev, the CEO of Kyiv-based Cyber Unit Technologies which has worked with Ukraine's government on the defence of critical infrastructure, claims to have been asked to post a digital call-to-arms after being asked by "a senior Defence Ministry official."

The message, which was posted on hacking forums by Aushev on Thursday, begins "Ukrainian cybercommunity! It’s time to get involved in the cyber defense of our country," and calls for cybersecurity experts and hackers to apply as a volunteer via a Google Docs link.  The page volunteers are directed to asks applicants to list their specialities, such as if they have developed malware, and professional references.

According to Aushev, volunteers will be divided into two groups - tasked with offensive and defensive cyber operations.

https://www.bitdefender.com/blog/hotforsecurity/ukraine-calls-for-volunteer-hackers-to-protect-its-critical-infrastructure-and-spy-on-russian-forces/

Study: UK Firms Most Likely To Pay Ransomware Hackers

Some 82% of British firms which have been victims of ransomware attacks paid the hackers in order to get back their data, a new report suggests.

The global average was 58%, making the UK the most likely country to pay cyber-criminals.

Security firm Proofpoint's research also found that more than three-quarters of UK businesses were affected by ransomware in 2021.

Phishing attacks remain the key way criminals access networks, it found.

Phishing happens when someone in a firm is lured into clicking on a link in an email that contains malware, which in turn can help cyber-criminals access company networks.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60478725

Conti Ransomware Group Announces Support of Russia, Threatens Retaliatory Attacks

An infamous ransomware group with potential ties to Russian intelligence and known for attacking health care providers and hundreds of other targets posted a warning Friday saying it was “officially announcing a full support of Russian government.”

The gang said that it would use “all possible resources to strike back at the critical infrastructures” of any entity that organises a cyberattack “or any war activities against Russia.” The message appeared Friday on the dark-web site used by ransomware group Conti to post threats and its victims’ data. Security researchers believe the gang to be Russia-based.

Conti ransomware was part of more than 400 attacks against mostly U.S. targets between spring 2020 and spring 2021, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI reported in September.

https://www.cyberscoop.com/conti-ransomware-russia-ukraine-critical-infrastructure/

91% of UK Organisations Compromised by an Email Phishing Attack in 2021

More than nine in 10 (91%) UK organizations were successfully compromised by an email phishing attack last year, according to Proofpoint’s 2022 State of the Phish report.

The study observed a significant rise in email-based attacks globally in 2021 compared to 2020. Over three-quarters (78%) of organizations were targeted by email-based ransomware attacks last year and 77% faced business email compromise (BEC) attacks, the latter an 18% year-on-year increase from 2020.

The survey of 600 information and IT security professionals and 3500 workers in the US, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Spain and the UK also found that attacks in 2021 were more likely to be successful than in 2020. More than four in five (83%) respondents said their organization experienced at least one successful email-based phishing attack last year, up from 57% in 2020. In addition, 68% of organizations admitted they had to deal with at least one ransomware infection stemming from a direct email payload, second-stage malware delivery or other exploit.

Worryingly, 60% of organizations infected with ransomware admitted to paying a ransom, with around a third (32%) paying additional sums to regain access to data and systems.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/uk-organizations-email-phishing/

Almost 100,000 New Mobile Banking Trojan Strains Detected In 2021

Researchers have found almost 100,000 new variants of mobile banking Trojans in just a year.

As our digital lives have begun to centre more on handsets rather than just desktop PCs, many malware developers have shifted part of their focus to the creation of mobile threats.

Many of the traditional infection routes are still workable -- including phishing and the download and execution of suspicious software -- but cyber attackers are also known to infiltrate official app stores, including Google Play, to lure handset owners into downloading software that appears to be trustworthy.

This technique is often associated with the distribution of Remote Access Trojans (RATs). While Google maintains security barriers to stop malicious apps from being hosted in its store, there are methods to circumvent these controls quietly.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/almost-100000-new-mobile-banking-trojans-detected-in-2021/

Anonymous Collective Has Hacked The Russian Defence Ministry And Leaked The Data Of Its Employees In Response To The Ukraine Invasion

A few hours after the Anonymous collective has called to action against Russia following the illegitimate invasion of Ukraine its members have taken down the website of the Russian propaganda station RT News and news of the day is the attack against the servers of the Russian Defense Ministry.

“Anonymous, a group of hacktivists, successfully hacked and leaked the database of the website of the Ministry of Defense of Russia.” reported the Pravda agency.

The website of the Kremlin (Kremlin.ru) is also unreachable, but it is unclear if it is the result of the Anonymous attack or if the government has taken offline it to prevent disruptive attacks.

The Russian Government’s portal, and the websites of other ministries are running very slow.

The collective is also threatening the Russian Federation and private organizations of attacks, it is a retaliation against Putin’s tyranny.

Anonymous pointed out that it is not targeting Russian citizens, but only their government.

“We want the Russian people to understand that we know it’s hard for them to speak out against their dictator for fear of reprisals.”

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/128428/hacking/anonymous-russian-defense-ministry.html

Email Remains Go-To Method for Cyber Attacks, Phishing Research Report Finds

If you don’t know what it is, if you can’t identify it and if you can’t make sure you don’t topple into its traps, then you can’t fight it, suggests a new report by security provider Proofpoint in its eighth annual State of the Phish report.

The “it” is email-based malware attacks, the kingpin of all hacking methods, that victims often fall for out of a lack of awareness, inadequate training or risky behaviours, such as using a company mobile device for home use.

Proofpoint’s report takes an in-depth look at user phishing awareness, vulnerability and resilience and comes away with some startling numbers: More than three-quarters of organizations associated with the 4,100 IT security professionals and staffers in the worldwide study were hit by email-based ransomware attacks in 2021 and an equal number were victimized by business email compromise attacks, an 18 percent spike from 2020.

What explains the year-over-year climb? Answer: Cyber criminals continue to focus on compromising people, not necessarily systems, Proofpoint said. Email remains cyber criminals’ go-to attack strategy, said Alan Lefort, Proofpoint security awareness training senior vice president and general manager. “Infosec and IT survey participants experienced an increase in targeted attacks in 2021 compared to 2020, yet our analysis showed the recognition of key security terminology such as phishing, malware, smishing (text-based ruse), and vishing (telephone trickery) dropped significantly,” said Lefort. “The awareness gaps and lax security behaviors demonstrated by workers creates substantial risk for organizations and their bottom line.”

https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-news/email-remains-go-to-method-for-cyberattacks-phishing-research-report-finds/

The Future of Cyber Insurance

In 2016, just 26% of insurance clients had cyber coverage. That number rose to 47% in 2020, according to a US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. But the demand for cyber coverage isn't the only thing soaring.

At the end of 2020, insurance prices jumped anywhere from 10% to 30%. In the third quarter of 2021, the average cost of cyber insurance premiums climbed a record 27.6%.

If the rates continue to rise, companies might decide it's not worth the cost. That is, if insurers continue to cover their industry.

https://www.darkreading.com/risk/the-future-of-cyber-insurance

Businesses Are at Significant Risk of Cyber Security Breaches Due to Immature Security Hygiene and Posture Management Practices

Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), a leading IT analyst, research, and strategy firm, and a division of TechTarget, Inc., today announced new research into security hygiene and posture management – a foundational part of a strong security program. The study reveals that many aspects of cyber security are managed independently and with antiquated tools, leaving organisations with limited visibility and weak defenses against an ever-evolving threat landscape. Since strong cybersecurity starts with the basics, like knowing about all IT assets deployed, this situation makes organisations vulnerable to advanced threats among strategic, yet often hurried, cloud and digital transformation initiatives.

The new report, Security Hygiene and Posture Management, summarizes a survey of 398 IT and cyber security professionals responsible for evaluating, purchasing, and utilizing products and services for security hygiene and posture management, including vulnerability management, asset management, attack surface management, and security testing tools. The data reveals that organisations must aim to further assess security posture management processes, examine vendor risk management requirements, and test security tool and processes more frequently.

https://www.darkreading.com/risk/businesses-are-at-significant-risk-of-cybersecurity-breaches-due-to-immature-security-hygiene-and-posture-management-practices

Microsoft Teams Is The New Frontier For Phishing Attacks

Even with email-based phishing attacks proving to be more successful than ever, cyberattackers are ramping up their efforts to target employees on additional platforms, such as Microsoft Teams and Slack.

One advantage is that in those applications, most employees still assume that they’re actually talking to their boss or coworker when they receive a message.

“The scary part is that we trust these programs implicitly — unlike our email inboxes, where we’ve learned to be suspicious of messages where we don’t recognize the sender’s address,” said anti-fraud technology firm Outseer.

Notably, traditional phishing has seen no slowdown: Proofpoint reported that 83% of organizations experienced a successful email-based phishing attack in 2021 — a massive jump from 57% in 2020. And outside of email, SMS attacks (smishing) and voice-based attacks (vishing) both grew in 2021, as well, according to the email security vendor.

However, it appears that attackers now view widely used collaboration platforms, such as Microsoft Teams and Slack, as another growing opportunity for targeting workers, security researchers and executives say. For some threat actors, it’s also a chance to leverage the additional capabilities of collaboration apps as part of the trickery.

https://venturebeat.com/2022/02/23/microsoft-teams-is-the-new-frontier-for-phishing-attacks/

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Threats

Ransomware

• Russia-Based Ransomware Group Conti Issues Warning To Kremlin Foes | Reuters

• Conti Ransomware 'Acquires' TrickBot as It Thrives Amid Crackdowns | SecurityWeek.Com

• Ransomware Is Top Attack Vector On Critical Infrastructure | CSO Online

• TrickBot Malware Operation Shuts Down, Devs Move To Stealthier Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Microsoft Exchange Servers Hacked To Deploy Cuba Ransomware (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Attackers Used Dridex To Deliver Entropy Ransomware, Code Resemblance Uncovered - Help Net Security

• Expeditors Shuts Down Global Operations After Likely Ransomware Attack (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Chipmaker Giant Nvidia Hit By A Ransomware Attack - Security Affairs

• Backups ‘No Longer Effective’ For Stopping Ransomware Attacks (computerweekly.com)

BEC – Business Email Compromise

• BEC-as-a-Service Campaigns Drive Surge in Email Fraud - Infosecurity Magazine

Phishing & Email

• Cyber Attackers Leverage DocuSign to Steal Microsoft Outlook Logins | Threatpost

• New Phishing Campaign Targets Monzo Online-Banking Customers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Devious Phishing Method Bypasses MFA Using Remote Access Software (bleepingcomputer.com)

Other Social Engineering

• Social Media Attacks Surged In 2021, Financial Institutions Targeted The Most - Help Net Security

Malware

• Over 2.7 Million Cases Of Emotet Malware Detected Globally - Japan Today

• Jester Stealer Malware Adds More Capabilities To Entice Hackers (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Beware: New Kraken Botnet Easily Fools Windows Defender And Steals Crypto Wallet Data - Neowin

• Threat Actors Target Poorly Protected Microsoft SQL Servers - Security Affairs

• New Golang Botnet Empties Windows Users’ Cryptocurrency Wallets (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Revamped CryptBot Malware Spread By Pirated Software Sites (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Social Media Hijacking Malware Spreading Through Gaming Apps on Microsoft Store (thehackernews.com)

Mobile

• New Xenomorph Android Malware Targets Customers Of 56 Banks (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Gaming, Banking Trojans Dominate Mobile Malware Scene | Threatpost

• Beware of ‘Zero-Click’ Hacks That Exploit Security Flaws in Phones’ Operating Systems (insurancejournal.com)

• Samsung Shipped '100m' Android Phones With Flawed Encryption • The Register

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Revealed: Credit Suisse Leak Unmasks Criminals, Fraudsters And Corrupt Politicians | Credit Suisse | The Guardian

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• Police Dismantled Gang That Used Phishing Sites To Steal Credit Cards - Security Affairs

• Nigerian Hacker Pleads Guilty To Stealing Payroll Deposits (bleepingcomputer.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

• North Korean Hackers Launder Crypto Using Sophisticated Techniques: Report (cryptopotato.com)

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• Employees Are Often Using Devices In Seriously Risky Ways - Help Net Security

• Insider Threats Are More Than Just Malicious Employees (darkreading.com)

• 83% Of Employees Continue Accessing Old Employer's Accounts - Help Net Security

• Motorola Case Shows Importance Of Detecting Insider IP Theft Quickly | CSO Online

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Think You Couldn't Be Duped By a Con Artist? Think Again | Psychology Today

• Sextortion Rears Its Ugly Head Again | Threatpost

• French Speakers Blasted By Sextortion Scams With No Text Or Links – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Digital Ad Fraud Set to Hit $68bn in 2022 - Infosecurity Magazine

Supply Chain

• Hackers Tried To Shatter The Spine Of Global Supply Chains In 2021 | ZDNet

Nation State Actors

• NCSC Advises Organisations to Act Following Russia’s Further Violation of Ukraine’s Territorial Integrity - NCSC.GOV.UK

• Russia-Backed Hackers Behind Powerful New Malware, UK and US Say | Russia | The Guardian

• Ransomware Used as Decoy in Destructive Cyber Attacks on Ukraine | SecurityWeek.Com

• Data Wiper Attacks On Ukraine Were Planned At Least In November - Security Affairs

• Russia’s Sandworm Hackers Have Built a Botnet of Firewalls | WIRED

• China-linked APT10 Target Taiwan's Financial Trading Industry - Security Affairs

• Iran's Hackers Are Using These Tools To Steal Passwords And Deliver Ransomware, say FBI and CISA | ZDNet

• US and UK Details a New Python Backdoor Used by MuddyWater APT - Security Affairs

Privacy

• What Is Browser Fingerprinting and How Does It Track You? | WIRED

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare

• CISOs, Beware Of Spyware Tools For Illicit Competitive Intelligence | CSO Online

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Vulnerabilities

• Cisco Firewall Customers Warned Of Need For Rapid Updates • The Register

• New Flaws Discovered in Cisco's Network Operating System for Switches (thehackernews.com)

• CISA Alerts on Actively Exploited Flaws in Zabbix Network Monitoring Platform (thehackernews.com)

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Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

• CrowdStrike CEO: Bank Execs ‘Very Concerned’ About Russia Cyber Attacks (cnbc.com)

Defence

• New "SockDetour" Fileless, Socketless Backdoor Targets US Defense Contractors (thehackernews.com)

Health/Medical/Pharma Sector

• Massive Ransomware Attack Could Cost Irish Health Exec €100m - Infosecurity Magazine

Construction

• Construction Companies Receive Cyber Security Guidance - IT Security Guru

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• 2022 State of the Phish Report - Stats, Trends & More | Proofpoint

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Other News

• The Threat of Cyber War Has Finally Arrived - The Atlantic

• War in Ukraine Risks Scrambling the Logic of Cyber Security | Financial Times (ft.com)

• Russia-Ukraine War: Phishing, Malware and Hacker Groups Taking Sides (thehackernews.com)

• 22 Very Bad Stats On The Growth Of Phishing, Ransomware | VentureBeat

• Data Leaks And Shadow Assets Greatly Exposing Organisations To Cyber Attacks - Help Net Security

• 50% of Websites Vulnerable to Hacking All Year in 2021, New Report Says - MSSP Alert

• ‘Betamax’ Police Forces Failing To Recognise The Digital ‘Crime Challenges Of Today’ (telegraph.co.uk)

• How Much Can You Trust Your Printer? - Help Net Security

• Is Multifactor Authentication Less Effective Than It Used To Be? (slate.com)

• How To Keep Pace With Rising Data Protection Demands - Help Net Security

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

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

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

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

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 18 February 2022

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

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Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Microsoft Teams Targeted With Takeover Trojans

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Companies Face Soaring Prices For Cyber Insurance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ransomware-Related Data Leaks Nearly Doubled in 2021: Report

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Poor Security Hygiene Organisations and Ransomware Attacks: Painful Math

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

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

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

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

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

Security Teams Expect Attackers to Go After End Users First

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The officials said Mr. Putin has laid the groundwork in recent days through a series of destabilizing activities and false-flag operations, long predicted by U.S. and allied officials and intended to make it look as if Ukraine has provoked Russia into a conflict, thus justifying the Russian invasion.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-troops-told-to-exercise-restraint-to-avoid-provoking-russian-invasion-11645185631

TrickBot Malware Targeted Customers of 60 High-Profile Companies Since 2020

The notorious TrickBot malware is targeting customers of 60 financial and technology companies, including cryptocurrency firms, primarily located in the U.S., even as its operators have updated the botnet with new anti-analysis features.

TrickBot is a sophisticated and versatile malware with more than 20 modules that can be downloaded and executed on demand.

In addition to being both prevalent and persistent, TrickBot has continually evolved its tactics to go past security and detection layers. To that end, the malware's "injectDll" web-injects module, which is responsible for stealing banking and credential data, leverages anti-deobfuscation techniques to crash the web page and thwart attempts to scrutinize the source code.

Also put in place are anti-analysis guardrails to prevent security researchers from sending automated requests to command-and-control (C2) servers to retrieve fresh web injects.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/02/trickbot-malware-targeted-customers-of.html

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Threats

Ransomware

• Ransomware’s Savage Reign Continues As Attacks Increase 105% - Help Net Security

• SonicWall CEO on ransomware: Every good vendor was hit in past 2 years - The Register

• Are You Prepared for 2022's More Destructive Ransomware? | SecurityWeek.Com

• CISA Advisory Cautions MSPs: Beware More Ransomware Attacks - MSSP Alert

• Conti Ransomware Gang Takes Over Trickbot Malware Operation (bleepingcomputer.com)

• Ransomware Gangs Are Changing Their Tactics. That Could Prove Very Expensive For Some Victims | ZDNet

• FBI Eyes Ransomware Profits With New Cryptocurrency Crimes Unit | TechCrunch

• FBI Warns BlackByte Ransomware Is Targeting US Critical Infrastructure | TechCrunch

• Ransomware Is A Clear And Present Danger. So Why Rely On Legacy DR To Recover From It? • The Register

BEC – Business Email Compromise

• FBI Warns of BEC Scams Abusing Virtual Meeting Platforms | SecurityWeek.Com

Phishing & Email

• LinkedIn Phishing Attacks Up 232% | Phishing | Egress

• Half Of All Emails In 2021 Were Spam- IT Security Guru

• Microsoft Warns of 'Ice Phishing' Threat on Web3 and Decentralized Networks (thehackernews.com)

Malware

• Emotet Now Spreading Through Malicious Excel Files | Threatpost

• A Modern Ninja: Evasive Trickbot Attacks Customers of 60 High-Profile Companies - Check Point Research

• PseudoManuscrypt Malware Spreading the Same Way as CryptBot Targets Koreans (thehackernews.com)

• Baby Golang-Based Botnet Already Pulling in $3K/Month for Operators | Threatpost

• 25 Years On, Microsoft Makes Another Stab At Stopping Macro Malware • Graham Cluley

• Three-Fifths of Cyber-Attacks in 2021 Were Malware-Free - Infosecurity Magazine

Data Breaches/Leaks

• Millions of Internet Society Personal Files Exposed In Data Leak | Laptop Mag

Organised Crime & Criminal Actors

• 74% of Ransomware Revenue Goes to Russia-Linked Hackers - BBC News

• Interpol Must Change With Cyber Crime, Says Director • The Register

• Attackers Hone Their Playbooks, Become More Agile (darkreading.com)

• Cyber Criminals Have Changed Tactics (darkreading.com)

Cryptocurrency/Cryptomining/Cryptojacking

• ‘Heist Of The Century’: US Bitcoin Case Tests Ability To Crack Down On Cyber Crime | Law (US) | The Guardian

• SIM-Swapping Attacks, Many Aimed at Crypto Accounts, Are on the Rise - WSJ

• FBI Says Crypto Payments Are a 'Huge Challenge' Amid Rise in Ransomware Attacks - Decrypt

Insider Risk and Insider Threats

• The Rise Of The Super Malicious Insider: Yes, We Need To Worry - Help Net Security

• Finance Officer Jailed After Stealing £200,000 from Charity - Infosecurity Magazine

• Ex IT Tech Jailed For Wiping School Network During Lockdown • The Register

Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime

• Barclays: Scams Surged in Final Quarter of 2021 - Infosecurity Magazine

• Fraud and Scam Activity Hits All-Time High - Help Net Security

• Soaring Losses Accelerate Investments In Anti-Fraud Tech - Help Net Security

• Threat Actors Still Love a Romance Scam - Infosecurity Magazine

• Singapore Introduces Strong Measures To Stop Online Scams • The Register

• 7 Tips for How To Spot a Scammer and Protect Yourself | Well+Good

DoS/DDoS

• Ukraine Defence and Bank Networks DDoS-ed - Infosecurity Magazine

• Carpet Bombing Attacks on the Rise - Infosecurity Magazine

Nation State Actors

• Russia’s Offensive Cyber Actions Should Be A Cause For Concern For CISOs | CSO Online

• Russia Stole US Defense Data From IT Systems, Says CISA • The Register

• Cyber Security: These Countries Are The New Hacking Threats To Fear As Offensive Campaigns Escalate | ZDNet

• Researchers Link ShadowPad Malware Attacks to Chinese Ministry and PLA (thehackernews.com)

• Chinese MI6 Informant Gave Information To MPs About Huawei Threat | Huawei | The Guardian

• Red Cross Attributes Server Breach To Nation-State Actor - CyberScoop

• Iranian Hackers Targeting VMware Horizon Log4j Flaws to Deploy Ransomware (thehackernews.com)

Cloud

• Report: 63% of IT Pros Say Cyber Threats Are Top Obstacle To Cloud Adoption Strategy | VentureBeat

• EU Watchdog To Probe Public Sector's Love Affair With Cloud • The Register

Privacy

• Facebook Agrees to Pay $90 Million to Settle Decade-Old Privacy Violation Case (thehackernews.com)

Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare

• How a Russia Cyber Attack On The UK Would Target Online Shopping, Card Payments And NHS Records (inews.co.uk)

• The Conflict In Ukraine Proves Cyber-Attacks Are Now Weapons Of War (thenextweb.com)

• Cyber, War and Ukraine: What Does Recent History Teach Us To Expect? | Science & Tech News | Sky News

• Cyber Warfare In Ukraine Poses A Threat To The Global System | Financial Times (ft.com)

• EU Data Protection Watchdog Calls for Ban on Pegasus-like Commercial Spyware (thehackernews.com)

• More Polish Opposition Figures Found To Have Been Targeted By Pegasus Spyware | Poland | The Guardian

• Using Mobile Networks For Cyber Attacks As Part Of A Warfare Strategy - Help Net Security

• Moses Staff Hackers Targeting Israeli Organisations for Cyber Espionage (thehackernews.com)

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Vulnerabilities

• Squirrelwaffle, Microsoft Exchange Server Vulnerabilities Exploited For Financial Fraud | ZDNet

• Attackers Can Crash Cisco Email Security Appliances by Sending Malicious Emails (thehackernews.com)

• New Chrome 0-Day Bug Under Active Attack – Update Your Browser ASAP! (thehackernews.com)

• Multiple Vulnerabilities Put 40 Million Ubuntu Users At Risk | TechRadar

• Critical Flaw Uncovered in WordPress Backup Plugin Used by Over 3 Million Sites (thehackernews.com)

• High-Severity Vulnerability Found in Apache Database System Used by Major Firms | SecurityWeek.Com

• VMware Fixes Holes That Could Allow Virtual Machine Escapes – Naked Security (sophos.com)

• Another Critical RCE Discovered in Adobe Commerce and Magento Platforms (thehackernews.com)

• T2 Mac Security Vulnerability: Passwords Can Now Be Cracked - 9to5Mac

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Sector Specific

Financial Services Sector

• Open Banking Innovation: A Race Between Developers And Cyber Criminals - Help Net Security

• Canada's Major Banks Go Offline In Mysterious Hours-Long Outage (bleepingcomputer.com)

Defence

• US Says Russian State Hackers Lurked In Defense Contractor Networks For Months | Ars Technica

Transport and Aviation

• Warning Over Mysterious Hackers That Have Been Targeting Aerospace And Defence Industries For Years | ZDNet

• Unskilled Hacker Linked To Years Of Attacks On Aviation, Transport Sectors (bleepingcomputer.com)

Energy & Utilities

• Energy, Oil And Utility Sector Most Likely To Pay Ransoms - Help Net Security

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Reports Published in the Last Week

• 2022 Global Threat Report: A Year of Adaptability and Perseverance (crowdstrike.com)

• Threat Intelligence Report 2022: Cyber Security Priorities - Truesec

• The Year of Living Dangerously: Details from the BlackBerry 2022 Threat Report

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Other News

• Over 28,000 Vulnerabilities Disclosed in 2021: Report | SecurityWeek.Com

• Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) Can't Give Organisations The Security They Need - Help Net Security

• How Challenging Is Corporate Data Protection? - Help Net Security

• Local Authority Sets Aside £380k for Cyber-Attack Recovery - Infosecurity Magazine

• Traditional MFA Is Creating A False Sense Of Security - Help Net Security

• Massive LinkedIn Phishing, Bot Attacks Feed on the Job-Hungry | Threatpost

• Be Flexible About Where People Work — But Not on Data Privacy (darkreading.com)

• Researchers Block “Largest Ever” Bot Attack - Infosecurity Magazine

• BadUSB: The Cyber Threat That Gets You To Plug It In – CloudSavvy IT

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

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

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

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