Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 02 February 2022
Welcome to this week’s Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing – a weekly digest, collated and curated by our cyber experts to provide senior and middle management with an easy to digest round up of the most notable threats, vulnerabilities, and cyber related news from the last week.
Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week
Cyber Change Outpaces Boardroom Engagement
We all know the story of the past two years. Mass digital investments in SaaS collaboration suites, cloud infrastructure and other tools helped to keep organisations operational when they needed it most. The money continues to flow today, as those same companies realize they must keep on pumping funds into digital to stay competitive amidst rising customer expectations. Gartner predicted public cloud spending growth would hit 23% year-on-year in 2021 and increase 20% this year to top $397bn.
From a cyber security perspective, these business decisions are loaded with risk if protections are not built into projects from the start. A recent global poll revealed that of 90% of business and IT decision makers are concerned about the impact of ransomware. It also found generally poor levels of cyber-awareness among board members. Less than half (46%) of respondents claimed concepts like “cyber risk” and “cyber risk management” were known extensively in their organisation.
The truth is that many board leaders do understand the need for greater investment in security as a strategic growth driver. But they find it hard to keep pace with a threat landscape that moves at the speed of light. Vulnerabilities used to go months or years before they were exploited, for example, but today threat actors are working on exploits for bugs like Log4Shell within hours of their discovery. That makes the fast-changing risk landscape difficult to grasp for even tech-savvy C-suite leaders. As a result, cyber risk continues to be managed reactively, which puts the organisation perpetually on the back foot.
https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/research/22/b/why-cyber-change-outpaces-boardroom-engagement.html
NCSC Alerts UK Orgs to Brace for Destructive Russian Cyber Attacks
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is urging organisations to bolster security and prepare for a potential wave of destructive cyber attacks after recent breaches of Ukrainian entities.
The NCSC openly warns that Russian state-sponsored threat actors will likely conduct the attacks and reminds of the damage done in previous destructive cyber attacks, like NotPetya in 2017 and the GRU campaign against Georgia in 2019.
These warnings come after Ukrainian government agencies and corporate entities suffered cyber attacks where websites were defaced, and data-wiping malware was deployed to destroy data and make Windows devices inoperable.
The cause for the resurgence of attacks is the tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and attempts to negotiate a way out of the Ukraine crisis have failed so far.
Ukraine and Russia have engaged in cyber warfare for many years, but recent Russian military mobilization was accompanied by new waves of attacks, with European countries and the USA expected to be targeted next.
Over Half of Ransomware Attacks are Targeting Financial Services, Utilities and Retail
Three sectors have been the most common target for ransomware attacks, but researchers warn "no business or industry is safe".
Over half of ransomware attacks are targeting one of three industries; banking, utilities and retail, according to analysis by cyber security researchers – but they've also warned that all industries are at risk from attacks.
The data has been gathered by Trellix – formerly McAfee Enterprise and FireEye – from detected attacks between July and September 2021, a period when some of the most high-profile ransomware attacks of the past year happened.
According to detections by Trellix, banking and finance was the most common target for ransomware during the reporting period, accounting for 22% of detected attacks. That's followed by 20% of attacks targeting the utilities sector and 16% of attacks targeting retailers. Attacks against the three sectors in combination accounted for 58% of all of those detected.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-over-half-of-attacks-are-targeting-these-three-industries/
Third of Employees Admit to Exfiltrating Data When Leaving Their Job
Nearly one-third (29%) of employees admitted taking data with them when they leave their job, according to new research from Tessian.
The findings follow the ‘great resignation’ of 2021, when workers quit their jobs in huge waves following the COVID-19 pandemic. Unsurprisingly, close to three-quarters (71%) of IT leaders believe this trend has increased security risks in their organisations.
In addition, nearly half (45%) of IT leaders said they had seen incidents of data exfiltration increase in the past year due to staff taking data with them when they left.
The survey of 2000 UK workers also looked at employees' motives for taking such information. The most common reason was that the data would help them in their new job (58%). This was followed by the belief that the information belonged to them because they worked on the document (53%) and to share it with their new employer (44%).
The employees most likely to take data with them when leaving their job worked in marketing (63%), HR (37%) and IT (37%).
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/third-employees-exfiltrating-data/
Massive Social Engineering Waves Have Impacted Banks in Several Countries
A massive social engineering campaign has been delivered in the last two years in several countries, including Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, the UK, and France. According to Segurança Informática publication, the malicious waves have impacted banking organisations with the goal of stealing the users’ secrets, accessing the home banking portals, and also controlling all the operations on the fly via Command and Control (C2) servers geolocated in Brazil.
In short, criminal groups are targeting victims’ from different countries to collect their home banking secrets and payment cards. The campaigns are carried out by using social engineering schemas, namely smishing, and spear-phishing through fake emails.
Criminals obtain lists of valid and tested phone numbers and emails from other malicious groups, and the process is performed on underground forums, Telegram channels or Discord chats.
The spear-phishing campaigns try to lure victims with fake emails that impersonate the banking institutions. The emails are extremely similar to the originals, exception their content, mainly related to debts or lack of payments.
https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/127516/cyber-crime/massive-social-engineering-banks.html
Ransomware is Terrifying – But Never Underestimate the Damage an Employee with Unmonitored Access Can Do
Is the biggest threat to your data a mysterious ransomware merchant or an advanced persistent threat cartel?
Or is it a security system that will show you that data has been exfiltrated from your organisation – but only after the fact, leaving open the possibility that your valuable IP could have already been shared with unauthorized parties?
It was the latter scenario that allegedly resulted in 12,000 internal documents being lifted from Pfizer’s systems by a soon-to-depart employee last year. Those documents reportedly included details of COVID-19 vaccine research and a new melanoma drug.
The incident shows how today’s cloud infrastructure can exacerbate security gaps and why simply detecting a potential data leak isn’t enough. Companies need to have deep insight into what their employees are doing, as well as technology that can actively enforce policy and prevent unencrypted data from ever leaving the enterprise.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/03/ransomware_terrifying/
People Working in IT Related Roles Equally Susceptible to Phishing Attempts as the General Population
Phishing emails that mimic HR announcements or ask for assistance with invoicing get the most clicks from recipients, according to a study from F-Secure.
The study, which included 82,402 participants, tested how employees from four different organisations responded to emails that simulated one of four commonly used phishing tactics.
22% of recipients that received an email simulating a human resources announcement about vacation time clicked, making emails that mimic those sent by HR the most frequent source of clicks in the study.
An email asking the recipient to help with an invoice (referred to as CEO Fraud in the report) was the second most frequently engaged with email type, receiving clicks from 16% of recipients.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/02/03/phishing-emails-clicks/
FBI Says More Cyber Attacks Come from China than Everywhere Else Combined
US Federal Bureau of Investigation director Christopher Wray has named China as the source of more cyber-attacks on the USA than all other nations combined.
In a Monday speech titled Countering Threats Posed by the Chinese Government Inside the US, Wray said the FBI is probing over 2,000 investigations of incidents assessed as attempts by China's government "to steal our information and technology."
"The Chinese government steals staggering volumes of information and causes deep, job-destroying damage across a wide range of industries – so much so that, as you heard, we're constantly opening new cases to counter their intelligence operations, about every 12 hours or so."
Wray rated China's online offensive as "bigger than those of every other major nation combined," adding it has "a lot of funding and sophisticated tools, and often joining forces with cyber criminals – in effect, cyber mercenaries."
https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/03/fbi_china_threat_to_usa/
Managing Detections is Not the Same as Stopping Breaches
Enterprises interested in managed detection and response (MDR) services to monitor endpoints and workloads should make sure the providers have rock-solid expertise in detecting and responding to threats.
The fundamental challenge in cyber security is that adversaries move quickly. We know from observation that attackers go from initial intrusion to lateral movement in a matter of a couple hours or less.
If security teams are going to successfully stop a breach, they need to operate within the same timeframe, containing and remediating threats within minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Such constant vigilance can be challenging for in-house staff. This is why many organisations engage a provider of managed detection and response (MDR) security services, which monitors endpoints, workloads, and other systems to detect and monitor threats.
Unfortunately, even most managed services have several fundamental flaws that prevent them from executing on the core mission of stopping breaches.
https://www.darkreading.com/crowdstrike/managing-detections-is-not-the-same-as-stopping-breaches
From War to Web Security, Protect Your Attack Surface from the Weakest Link
With the rapid proliferation of data, increasing number of domains and subdomains as well as rise in third-party providers, the number of entry points through which attackers can infiltrate a company’s web environment is endless. Attacks are increasingly causing consequences felt beyond the perimeter of an organisation, as demonstrated earlier this year with the Colonial Pipeline breach, which caused fuel prices along the US East Coast to soar, and the attack on software provider Kaseya that forced hundreds of grocery stores in the Nordics to shut down business for days.
Security breaches often happen through an avenue that no one saw coming — a server no one knew existed, an old landing page, weak passwords or an application that was missing a patch. It’s perhaps never been clearer than today that a company is only as strong as the weakest link in its growing attack surface.
https://thenewstack.io/from-war-to-web-security-protect-your-attack-surface-from-the-weakest-link/
Number of Data Compromises Reaching All-Time High
According to an Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) report, the overall number of data compromises (1,862) is up more than 68 percent compared to 2020.
The new record number of data compromises is 23 percent over the previous all-time high (1,506) set in 2017. The number of data events that involved sensitive information (Ex: Social Security numbers) increased slightly compared to 2020 (83 percent vs. 80 percent). However, it remained well below the previous high of 95 percent set in 2017.
The number of victims continues to decrease (down five (5) percent in 2021 compared to the previous year) as identity criminals focus more on specific data types rather than mass data acquisition. However, the number of consumers whose data was compromised multiple times per year remains alarmingly high.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/01/31/data-compromises-up/
Threats
Ransomware
Aggressive BlackCat Ransomware on the Rise (darkreading.com)
A Look At The New Sugar Ransomware Demanding Low Ransoms (bleepingcomputer.com)
BlackCat Ransomware - What You Need To Know | The State of Security (tripwire.com)
KP Snacks Giant Hit By Conti Ransomware, Deliveries Disrupted (bleepingcomputer.com)
Hacker Group 'Moses Staff' Using New StrifeWater RAT in Ransomware Attacks (thehackernews.com)
Financially Motivated Hackers Use Leaked Conti Ransomware Techniques in Attacks | SecurityWeek.Com
FBI Shares Lockbit Ransomware Technical Details, Defense Tips (bleepingcomputer.com)
BlackCat (ALPHV) Ransomware Linked To BlackMatter, DarkSide Gangs (bleepingcomputer.com)
Over 500,000 People Impacted By A Ransomware Attack That Hit Morley - Security Affairs
Scottish Agency Still Recovering from 2020 Ransomware Attack - Infosecurity Magazine
Conti Ransomware Encrypted 80% of Ireland's HSE IT Systems (bleepingcomputer.com)
Ransomware Wants You to Like and Subscribe, Or Else (vice.com)
Ransomware Means Your Database IS The Front Line. How Are You Defending It? • The Register
Phishing
Low-Detection Phishing Kits Increasingly Bypass MFA | Threatpost
MFA Adoption Pushes Phishing Actors To Reverse-Proxy Solutions (bleepingcomputer.com)
Intuit Warns Of Phishing Emails Threatening To Delete Accounts (bleepingcomputer.com)
Strong Authentication Protects Against Phishing. So Why Aren't More People Using It? | ZDNet
Microsoft Blocked Billions Of Brute-Force And Phishing Attacks Last Year (bleepingcomputer.com)
Other Social Engineering
Malware
Malicious CSV Text Files Used To Install BazarBackdoor Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
New Malware Used by SolarWinds Attackers Went Undetected for Years (thehackernews.com)
Microsoft: This Mac Malware Is Getting Smarter And More Dangerous | ZDNet
Data Breaches/Leaks
The 3 Most Common Causes of Data Breaches in 2021 (darkreading.com)
British Council Exposed More Than 100,000 Files With Student Records (bleepingcomputer.com)
Insider Risk and Insider Threats
Fraud, Scams & Financial Crime
Supply Chain
DoS/DDoS
CNI, OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA
Nation State Actors
Russian 'Gamaredon' Hackers Use 8 New Malware Payloads In Attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
State Hackers' New Malware Helped Them Stay Undetected For 250 Days (bleepingcomputer.com)
Charming Kitten Sharpens Its Claws with PowerShell Backdoor | Threatpost
FBI's Warning About Iranian Firm Highlights Common Cyber Attack Tactics | CSO Online
Cloud
Passwords & Credential Stuffing
Spyware, Espionage & Cyber Warfare
Ukraine Continues to Face Cyber Espionage Attacks from Russian Hackers (thehackernews.com)
Gamaredon (Primitive Bear) Russian APT Group Actively Targeting Ukraine (paloaltonetworks.com)
Hackers Exploited 0-Day Vulnerability in Zimbra Email Platform to Spy on Users (thehackernews.com)
Cyber Spies Linked To Memento Ransomware Use New PowerShell Malware (bleepingcomputer.com)
NSO Group's Pegasus Spyware and Phantom Encryption Cracker Trigger Fresh Concerns - MSSP Alert
Vulnerabilities
Apple, SonicWall, Internet Explorer Vulnerabilities Added To CISA List | ZDNet
Samba 'Fruit' Bug Allows RCE, Full Root User Access | Threatpost
Tens of Thousands of Websites Vulnerable to RCE Flaw in WordPress Plug-in (darkreading.com)
Cisco Fixes Critical Bugs In SMB Routers, Exploits Available (bleepingcomputer.com)
UEFI Firmware Vulnerabilities Affect At Least 25 Computer Vendors (bleepingcomputer.com)
Google Patches 27 Vulnerabilities With Release of Chrome 98 | SecurityWeek.Com
Intel Patched 226 Vulnerabilities in 2021 | SecurityWeek.Com
600K WordPress Sites Impacted By Critical Plugin RCE Vulnerability (bleepingcomputer.com)
Critical Log4j Vulnerabilities Are the Ultimate Gift for Cyber Criminals (darkreading.com)
ESET Antivirus Bug Let Attackers Gain Windows SYSTEM Privileges (bleepingcomputer.com)
Sector Specific
Financial Services Sector
Retail
Transport and Aviation
Reports Published in the Last Week
Other News
Hackers Went Wild in 2021 — Every Company Should Do These 5 Things in 2022 (darkreading.com)
Rush To Remote Work Left Sysadmins Struggling To Keep Businesses Safe - Help Net Security
Telco Fined €9 Million For Hiding Cyber Attack Impact From Customers (bleepingcomputer.com)
90% of Security Leaders Warn of Skills Shortage - Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)
Hundreds Of Thousands Of Routers Exposed To Eternal Silence Campaign Via UPnP - Security Affairs
Social Security Numbers Most Targeted Sensitive Data - Infosecurity Magazine
NIST's New Cyber-Resiliency Guidance: 3 Steps For Getting Started | CSO Online
Organisations Neglecting Microsoft 365 Cyber Security Features - Help Net Security
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