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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 05 March 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 05 March 2021: New Strain Of Ransomware Implements Self-Spreading Capabilities; One In Four People Use Work Passwords For Consumer Websites; Massive Rise In Threats Across Expanding Attack Surfaces; Half of Orgs Concerned Remote Working Puts Them at Greater Risk of Cyber Attacks; Microsoft Patches Four Zero-Day Exchange Server Bugs; A Booming Trade In Bugs Is Undermining Cyber Security; Weaponized Spectre Exploit Discovered; Solarwinds Security Fiasco May Have Started With Simple Password Blunders

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

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay


Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

New Strain Of Ransomware Implements Self-Spreading Capabilities

French experts spotted a new Ryuk ransomware variant that implements self-spreading capabilities to infect other devices on victims’ local networks.

This new version has a new attribute that allows it to self replicate over the local network allowing the malware to propagate itself – machine to machine – within the Windows domain. Once launched, it will spread itself to every Windows machine it can reach.

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/115064/reports/ryuk-ransomware-self-spreading-capabilities.html

One In Four People Use Work Passwords For Consumer Websites

The report found that one in four consumers admit to using their work email or passwords to log in to consumer websites and applications such as food delivery apps, online shopping sites and even dating apps. The report found that consumers are neglecting to implement fundamental security safeguards across smart IoT devices at home, which could have serious security ramifications on both the individual and the enterprise amid increased and ongoing remote work spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/02/26/use-work-passwords-for-consumer-websites/

Massive Rise In Threats Across Expanding Attack Surfaces

New malware samples nearly doubled: New ransomware samples increased 106% year-over-year. Trojans increased 128%, with threat actors using trojans to exploit lower-severity vulnerabilities. Sophisticated, multi-staged attacks and malware-as-a-service have become the norm. Vulnerabilities hit a new high: 18,341 new vulnerabilities in 2020 have been reported. To stay ahead of attacks, security and risk leaders need sophisticated insights into which vulnerabilities are high-risk and remediation options for all assets, including non-patching options.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/02/26/expanding-attack-surfaces/

Half of Organisations Concerned Remote Working Puts Them at Greater Risk of Cyber Attacks

Half of organizations are concerned that the shift to remote work is putting them a greater risk of Cyber Attacks, according to a new study with IDG. A survey of UK CIOs, CTOs and IT decision makers revealed that insecure practices are regularly taking place among remote workers, providing more opportunities for Cyber Criminals to strike.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/half-orgs-remote-working-risk/

Microsoft Patches Four Zero-Day Exchange Server Bugs

Microsoft has been forced to release out-of-band patches to fix multiple zero-day vulnerabilities being exploited by Chinese state-backed threat actors. The unusual step was taken to protect customers running on-premises versions of Microsoft Exchange Server.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/microsoft-patch-four-zeroday/

A Booming Trade In Bugs Is Undermining Cyber Security

If you discover that a favourite vending-machine dispenses free chocolate when its buttons are pressed just so, what should you do? The virtuous option is to tell the manufacturer, so it can fix it. The temptation is to gorge.

https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2021/03/06/a-booming-trade-in-bugs-is-undermining-cyber-security

Is Your Browser Extension A Botnet Backdoor?

A company that rents out access to more than 10 million Web browsers so that clients can hide their true Internet addresses has built its network by paying browser extension makers to quietly include its code in their creations. This story examines the lopsided economics of extension development, and why installing an extension can be such a risky proposition.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/03/is-your-browser-extension-a-botnet-backdoor/

Cyber Attack Shuts Down Online Learning At 15 UK Schools

A threat actor was able to access the trust's central network infrastructure and while an investigation took place, all existing phone, email, and website communication had to be pulled. Students are still learning remotely in England. Schools are set to reopen on March 8, but in the meantime, only a small subset of children are attending school physically, such as the children of key workers.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/cyberattack-shuts-down-online-learning-at-15-uk-schools/

First Fully Weaponized Spectre Exploit Discovered Online

A fully weaponized exploit for the Spectre CPU vulnerability was uploaded on the malware-scanning website VirusTotal last month, marking the first time a working exploit capable of doing actual damage has entered the public domain. The exploit was discovered and targets Spectre, a major vulnerability that was disclosed in January 2018. According to its website, the Spectre bug is a hardware design flaw in the architectures of Intel, AMD, and ARM processors that allows code running inside bad apps to break the isolation between different applications at the CPU level and then steal sensitive data from other apps running on the same system.

https://therecord.media/first-fully-weaponized-spectre-exploit-discovered-online/

Solarwinds Security Fiasco May Have Started With Simple Password Blunders

We still do not know just how bad the SolarWinds security breach is. We do know over a hundred US government agencies and companies were cracked. "The largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen," with more than a thousand hackers behind it. It may have all started when an intern first set an important password to "'solarwinds123." Then, adding insult to injury, the intern shared the password on GitHub.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/solarwinds-security-fiasco-may-have-started-with-simple-password-blunders/


Threats

Ransomware

Phishing

Malware

Mobile

Vulnerabilities

Data Breaches

Organised Crime

Dark Web

Supply Chain

Nation-State Actors

Privacy




 

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

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

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

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

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Is Just Purchasing Cyber Security Tools Enough? Cyber Tip Tuesday Video

Is Just Purchasing Cyber Security Tools Enough? Cyber Tip Tuesday Video

Welcome to this week's Cyber Tip Tuesday - this week James talks about how purchasing security tools does not in itself increase security.

It’s fair to say that there are plenty of things you can do for little or no cost that will greatly decrease your attack surface or increase your security posture.

With the sheer number of products on offer promising a complete solution, it’s easy to fall in to the trap of wanting a quick fix for security.

However, simply purchasing a product is unlikely to offer any benefit without appropriate configuration or in many cases the expertise to interpret the output.

A good example is Microsoft 365 which offers many passive security features as well as some of the most accessible and competitive security tools on the market for businesses of all sizes.

However, in order to take advantage of these features they must first be configured and then maintained and monitored with oversight by a security specialist.

Security is not a tool or even a collection of tools but a mindset of deliberate and regular actions.

If you'd like to know more about how you can protect yourself or your company, contact us today.

Is Just Purchasing Cyber Security Tools Enough? Cyber Tip Tuesday Video

Welcome to this week's Cyber Tip Tuesday - this week James talks about how purchasing security tools does not in itself increase security.

It’s fair to say that there are plenty of things you can do for little or no cost that will greatly decrease your attack surface or increase your security posture.

With the sheer number of products on offer promising a complete solution, it’s easy to fall in to the trap of wanting a quick fix for security.

However, simply purchasing a product is unlikely to offer any benefit without appropriate configuration or in many cases the expertise to interpret the output.

A good example is Microsoft 365 which offers many passive security features as well as some of the most accessible and competitive security tools on the market for businesses of all sizes.

However, in order to take advantage of these features they must first be configured and then maintained and monitored with oversight by a security specialist.

Security is not a tool or even a collection of tools but a mindset of deliberate and regular actions.

If you'd like to know more about how you can protect yourself or your company, contact us today.

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 26 February 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 26 February 2021: Cyber Crime Could Cost The World $10.5 Trillion Annually By 2025; 119,000 Threats Per Minute Detected In 2020; 78% Of Top Security Leaders Say Their Organisations Are Unprepared For A Cyber Attack; Uk Faced Millions Of Cyber Attacks Last Year; New Tier Of APT Actors That Behave More Like Cyber Criminals; US Calls North Korean Hackers ‘World’s Leading Bank Robbers’; Sequoia Capital, One Of Silicon Valley's Most Notable VC Firms, Told Investors It Was Hacked; Poor Hardware Disposal Practices Posing A Risk To Data Security

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 Crime Could Cost The World $10.5 Trillion Annually By 2025

In a world that is becoming increasingly reliant on technology, cyber security is an extremely important priority for entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses. And it's become even more essential in the wake of the pandemic. In June 2020, a report revealed that small and medium-sized businesses were at an especially high risk of data breaches and cyber attacks during the pandemic.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/364015

119,000 Threats Per Minute Detected In 2020

The number of cyber-threats identified and blocked by Trend Micro rose by 20% in 2020 to more than 62.6 billion. Averaging out at 119,000 cyber-threats per minute, the huge figure was included in the company's annual roundup, Email-borne threats such as phishing attacks accounted for 91% of the 62.6 billion threats blocked by Trend Micro last year. Nearly 14 million unique phishing URLs were detected by the company in 2020, with home networks a primary target.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/119k-threats-per-minute-detected/

78% Of Top Security Leaders Say Their Organisations Are Unprepared For A Cyber Attack

Seventy-eight percent of senior IT and security leaders believe their organizations lack sufficient protection against cyber attacks. The high level of concern expressed by these leaders resulted in 91% of organizations increasing their cyber security budgets in 2021 — a figure that nearly matches the 96% that boosted IT security spending in 2020.

https://www.scmagazine.com/home/security-news/network-security/78-percent-of-top-security-leaders-say-their-organizations-are-unprepared-for-a-cyberattack/

UK Faced Millions Of Cyber Attacks Last Year

The UK faced millions of Covid-19-related cyber security threats last year, but generally managed to mitigate attacks effectively. A total of 16.4 million Covid-19-related threats were recorded last year, with four percent (563,571) identified in the UK. The US suffered the highest volume of attacks by a significant margin: more than 6.5 million. Germany was second with 2.3 million, and France rounded out the top three with just over one million attacks.

https://www.itproportal.com/news/uk-faced-millions-of-cyberattacks-last-year/

New Malformed URL Phishing Technique Can Make Attacks Harder To Spot

Warning of a new form of phishing attack that makes malicious messages more likely to get through filters and harder for the average person to detect by sight. By hiding phishing information in the prefixes of URLs, attackers can send what looks like a link to a legitimate website, free of misspellings and all, with a malicious address hidden in the prefix of the link.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/new-malformed-url-phishing-technique-can-make-attacks-harder-to-spot/

Hackers Share Details Of Canadian Military Spy Plane On Dark Web

Hackers have shared details of a Canadian military spy plane after its manufacturers seemingly refused to pay a cyber ransom. Aerospace firm Bombardier, whose Global 6000 plane is used for Saab’s GlobalEye spy system, says it was the victim of a “limited cyber security breach.” That saw detailed plans of the airborne early warning system developed by the Swedish defence company Saab being dumped on the dark web site CLOP^_-LEAKS.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hackers-spy-plane-bombardier-saab-b1807037.html

Cisco Points To New Tier Of APT Actors That Behave More Like Cyber Criminals

Cisco Talos suggests that maybe it is time to start thinking of hacker groups as more than either advanced persistent threat or criminal attackers. It is already well established that some APTs operate as criminals. Several international governments, including the United States, have identified North Korean state-sponsored hackers as stealing on behalf of the government, and other groups have been identified by vendors as state-sponsored groups with actors who occasionally freelance as criminals.

https://www.scmagazine.com/home/security-news/apts-cyberespionage/cisco-points-to-new-tier-of-apt-actors-that-behave-more-like-cybercriminals/

These Hackers Sell Network Logins To The Highest Bidder. And Ransomware Gangs Are Buying

A growing class of cyber criminals are playing an important role on underground marketplaces by breaching corporate networks and selling access to the highest bidder to exploit however they please. The buying and selling of stolen login credentials and other forms of remote access to networks has long been a part of the dark web ecosystem, but according to analysis by cyber security researchers, there has been a notable increase in listings by 'Initial Access Brokers' over the course of the past year.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/these-hackers-sell-network-logins-to-the-highest-bidder-and-ransomware-gangs-are-buying/

U.S. Calls North Korean Hackers ‘World’s Leading Bank Robbers’

North Korea was accused of being behind the 2014 hack of an internal computer network of Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., an audacious attack that exposed Hollywood secrets and destroyed company data.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-17/u-s-charges-3-north-koreans-linked-to-sony-hack-in-new-scheme

Sequoia Capital, One Of Silicon Valley's Most Notable VC Firms, Told Investors It Was Hacked

One of Silicon Valley's oldest and most venerable VC firms was hacked. Sequoia Capital told its investors on Friday that some personal and financial information may have been accessed by a third party after one of its employees fell victim to a successful. Phishing attack, according to a report in Axios Friday. Sequoia told investors that it has not yet seen any indication that compromised information is being traded or otherwise exploited on the dark web, Axios reported.

https://www.businessinsider.com/vc-firm-sequoia-capital-told-investors-it-was-hacked-2021-2?utmSource=twitter&utmContent=referral&utmTerm=topbar&referrer=twitter

Poor Hardware Disposal Practices Posing A Risk To Data Security

Many business leaders are not paying much attention to the way they dispose of old and obsolete hardware, opening their organizations up to possible data breaches. Of the 1,029 people polled for the report, a fifth said their employer disposed of various IT hardware over the last 12 months. However, less than half (40 percent) thought this hardware did not contain confidential data when it was disposed of.

https://www.itproportal.com/news/poor-hardware-disposal-pratice-posing-a-risk-to-data-security/


Threats

Ransomware

Phishing

Malware

Mobile

Vulnerabilities

Organised Crime

Dark Web

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

Nation-State Actors

Denial of Service

Privacy


Reports Published in the Last Week



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

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

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

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

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 19 February 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 19 February 2021: Masslogger Swipes Outlook & Chrome Credentials; Phishers trick LinkedIn users; Solarwinds Attack ‘Largest And Most Sophisticated Attack’ Ever; Ransomware gangs are running riot, paying them off doesn’t help; Most security bugs in the wild are years old; Hacker Claims Files Stolen from Prominent Law Firm; 100+ Financial Services Firms Targeted in Ransom DDoS Attacks in 2020; 14 million alleged Amazon and eBay account details sold online; Think backups will protect you from ransomware? What do you think gets attacked first?

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


Image by Lukas Bieri from Pixabay

Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

Masslogger Swipes Microsoft Outlook, Google Chrome Credentials

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

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

Phishers tricking users via fake LinkedIn Private Shared Document

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Most security bugs in the wild are years old

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

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

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

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

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

Former Spy Chief Calls For Military Cyber Attacks On Ransomware Hackers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

14 million alleged Amazon and eBay account details sold online

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

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


Threats

Ransomware

BEC

Phishing

Malware

Mobile

IOT

Vulnerabilities

Data Breaches

Organised Crime

Insider Threats

Supply Chain

OT, ICS, IIoT and SCADA

Nation-State Actors

Privacy


Reports Published in the Last Week


Other News

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

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

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

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

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Our latest piece in the Guernsey Press - The new GFSC Cyber Security Rules: What the GFSC demands of firms, and why leaving it all to your IT provider won't make you compliant

Our latest piece in the Guernsey Press - The new GFSC Cyber Security Rules: What the GFSC demands of firms, and why leaving it all to your IT provider won't make you compliant

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

New Cyber Rules just released by the GFSC - and how Black Arrow can help you become compliant

Welcome to this week's Black Arrow Cyber Tip Tuesday, this week Tony is talking about the new cyber rules that the GFSC have just released and which are now in force for regulated financial services firms in the Bailiwick.

The GFSC have now released the new cyber rules and all regulated financial will need to be able to demonstrate compliance with these new regulations.

The regulations are built around compliance or adherence to the internationally recognised NIST cyber security framework and the five pillars contained therein, being identify, protect, detect, respond and recover.

We can assist any firm by producing a gap analysis against the NIST standard, and therefore the GFSC rules, to identify any areas of non-compliance or areas where firms will need to bolster their existing security arrangements.

Remember that cyber and information encompasses a lot more than just IT but is rather requires a holistic approach across people, operations and technology.

Leaving this solely to your IT team or IT provider likely won’t provide the coverage the GFSC now expects from firms.

Remember too taking a proactive approach should always be about preventing an attack or breach, many firms do not survive a significant cyber event, and for those that do recovery invariably costs a lot more than it would have cost to put appropriate controls in place to prevent the breach happening in the first place.

Boards are expected to show good governance over cyber and information security as they would be expected to do with any older and longer established risks.

It is clear from the new rules that the GFSC also agree that the responsibility for cyber and information security clearly sits with Boards, not IT.

Talk to us today to see how we can help you demonstrate compliance or become compliant with the new GFSC cyber rules.

Welcome to this week's Black Arrow Cyber Tip Tuesday, this week Tony is talking about the new cyber rules that the GFSC have just released and which are now in force for regulated financial services firms in the Bailiwick.

The GFSC have now released the new cyber rules and all regulated financial will need to be able to demonstrate compliance with these new regulations.

The regulations are built around compliance or adherence to the internationally recognised NIST cyber security framework and the five pillars contained therein, being identify, protect, detect, respond and recover.

We can assist any firm by producing a gap analysis against the NIST standard, and therefore the GFSC rules, to identify any areas of non-compliance or areas where firms will need to bolster their existing security arrangements.

Remember that cyber and information encompasses a lot more than just IT but is rather requires a holistic approach across people, operations and technology.

Leaving this solely to your IT team or IT provider likely won’t provide the coverage the GFSC now expects from firms.

Remember too taking a proactive approach should always be about preventing an attack or breach, many firms do not survive a significant cyber event, and for those that do recovery invariably costs a lot more than it would have cost to put appropriate controls in place to prevent the breach happening in the first place.

Boards are expected to show good governance over cyber and information security as they would be expected to do with any older and longer established risks.

It is clear from the new rules that the GFSC also agree that the responsibility for cyber and information security clearly sits with Boards, not IT.

Talk to us today to see how we can help you demonstrate compliance or become compliant with the new GFSC cyber rules.

Read More
Antony Cleal Antony Cleal

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 12 February 2021

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


Top Cyber Stories of the Last Week

2020 Sees Ransomware Increase By Over 400 Percent

A new study from Cyber Security company, finds that last year malware increased by 358 percent overall and ransomware increased by 435 percent as compared with 2019. The report which analyzes millions of attacks taking place across the year finds distribution of the Emotet malware skyrocketed by 4,000 percent, while malware threats attacking Android phones increased by 263 percent. July saw the largest increase in malicious activity, up by 653 percent compared with the previous year. Microsoft Office documents are the most manipulated document attack vector and these attacks were up by 112 percent.

https://betanews.com/2021/02/10/ransomware-increase-400-percent/

Remote Desktop Protocol Attacks Surge By 768%

Remote desktop protocol (RDP) attacks increase by 768% between Q1 and Q4 last year, fuelled by the shift to remote working. However, a slower rate of growth was observed in the final quarter of the year, indicating that organizations have enhanced their security for remote users.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/remote-desktop-protocol-attacks/

Even Minor Phishing Operations Can Distribute Millions Of Malicious Emails Per Week

Even small-scale phishing campaigns are capable of distributing millions and millions of malicious emails to victims around the world, according to a new report. Describing the most popular styles of phishing attack, criminal today rely on fast-churning campaigns. They create a single phishing email template (usually in English) and send it out to anywhere between 100 and 1,000 targets.

https://www.itproportal.com/news/even-small-phishing-operations-can-distribute-millions-of-malicious-emails-per-week/

With One Update, This Malicious Android App Hijacked Millions Of Devices

With a single update, a popular barcode scanner app on Google Play transformed into malware and was able to hijack up to 10 million devices. Lavabird Ltd.'s Barcode Scanner was an Android app that had been available on Google's official app repository for years. The app, accounting for over 10 million installs, offered a QR code reader and a barcode generator -- a useful utility for mobile devices.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/with-one-update-this-malicious-android-app-hijacked-10-million-devices/

Cd Projekt Hit By Ransomware Attack, Refused To Pay Ransom, Data Reportedly Sold Off By Hackers

Polish video game maker CD Projekt, which makes Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher, has confirmed it was hit by a ransomware attack. In a statement posted to its Twitter account, the company said it will “not give in nor negotiate” with the hackers, saying it has backups in place. “We have already secured our IT infrastructure and begun restoring data,” the company said.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/09/cd-projekt-red-hit-by-ransomware-attack-refuses-to-pay-ransom/

Hacked Florida Water Plant Used Shared Passwords And Windows 7 PCs

The Oldsmar, Florida water plant hacked earlier this week used outdated Windows 7 PCs and shared passwords, the Associated Press has reported. A government advisory also revealed that the relatively unsophisticated attack used the remote-access program TeamViewer. However, officials also said that the hacker’s attempt to boost chemicals to dangerous levels was stopped almost immediately after it started.

https://www.engadget.com/hacked-water-plant-computer-had-shared-passwords-andofdate-windows-os-082552973.html

Top Web Hosting Provider Shuts Down Following Cyber Attack

Cybercriminals often attack websites in order to extort a ransom from their victims but a recent cyberattack against the web hosting company No Support Linux Hosting took quite a different turn. After a hacker managed to breach the company's internal systems and compromise its entire operation, No Support Linux Hosting has announced that it is shutting down. The company alerted its customers to the situation before shutting down its website in a message.

https://www.techradar.com/news/top-web-hosting-provider-shuts-down-following-cyberattack

High Demand For Hacker Services On Dark Web Forums

Nine in 10 (90%) users of dark web forums are searching for a hacker who can provide them with a particular resource or who can download a user database. This is according to new research by Positive Technologies, which analyzed activity on the 10 most prominent forums on the dark web, which offer services such as website hacking and the buying/selling of databases. The study highlights the growing demand for hackers’ services and stolen data, exacerbated by the increased internet usage by both organizations and individuals since the start of COVID-19.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/demand-hacker-services-dark-web/

Facebook Phishing Campaign Tricked Nearly 500,000 Users In Two Weeks

A recent investigation uncovered a large scale phishing operation on Facebook. The Facebook phishing campaign is dangerous and targets user personal information. The phishing scam “Is that you” currently on Facebook has been around in multiple forms for years. The whole trouble starts with a “friend” sending you a message claiming to have found a video or image with you in it. The message is usually a video and after clicking, it takes you through a series of websites. These websites have malicious scripts that get your location, device type, and operating system.

https://www.gizchina.com/2021/02/09/facebook-phishing-campaign-tricked-nearly-500000-users-in-two-weeks/

Hackers Are Tweaking Their Approach To Phishing Attacks In 2021

Cyber criminals are a creative bunch, constantly coming up with new ways to avoid detection and advance their sinister goals. A new report from cyber security experts at BitDam describes a few fresh techniques used in the wild so far in 2021. According to the report, email protection solutions tend to trust newly created email domains that are yet to be flagged as dangerous. Criminals are now increasingly exploiting this fact to increase the chances that phishing, and malware emails make it into victims' inboxes.

https://www.itproportal.com/news/hackers-are-tweaking-their-approach-to-phishing-attacks-in-2021/


Threats

 Ransomware

Phishing

Malware

Mobile

IOT

Vulnerabilities

Data Breaches

Organised Crime

Supply Chain

Nation-State Actors

Privacy




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

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

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

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

Read More
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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 05 February 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 05 February 2021: Ransomware Gangs Made At Least $350 Million In 2020; Widening Security Shaped Gulf Between Firms And Remote Workers; 3.2 Billion Emails And Passwords Exposed; Account Takeover and Data Leakage Attacks Spiked In 2020; Automated Tools Increasingly Used to Launch Cyber Attacks; 93% Of Workers Overshare Online, Causing Social Engineering Risks;

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 Gangs Made At Least $350 Million In 2020

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

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

Home Working Increases Cyber Security Fears

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

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

3.2 Billion Emails And Passwords Exposed Online

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

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

Account Takeover Attacks Spiked In 2020

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

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

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

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

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

Data Leakage Attacks Saw Huge Rise In 2020

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

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

Automated Tools Increasingly Used to Launch Cyber Attacks

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

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

A Second SolarWinds Hack Deepens Third-Party Software Fears

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

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

93% Of Workers Overshare Online, Causing Security Risks

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

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

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

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

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


Threats

Ransomware

Other Social Engineering

Malware

Mobile

Vulnerabilities

Data Breaches

Nation-State Actors



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

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

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

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

Read More
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Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 29 January 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 29 January 2021: Phishing Attacks Show High-Ranking Execs ‘Most Valuable Asset’ and ‘Greatest Vulnerability’; Paying Ransomware Funding Organised Crime; Police take down botnet that hacked millions of computers; After SolarWinds Hack, Who Knows What Cyber Dangers We Face; Russian businesses warned of retaliatory cyber attacks; iOS vulns actively exploited; Top Cyber Attacks of 2020

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

Top Cyber Headlines of the Week

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

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

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

Insurers 'Funding Organised Crime' by Paying Ransomware Claims

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Top Cyber Attacks of 2020

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

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


Threats

Ransomware

BEC

Phishing

Other Social Engineering

Malware

Mobile

Vulnerabilities

Data Breaches

Charities

Insider Threats

Nation-State Actors

Denial of Service

Privacy




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

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

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

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

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 22 January 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 22 January 2021: Ransomware Biggest Cyber Concern; Ransomware Payments Grew 311% In 2020; Cyber Security Spending To Soar In 2021; Ransomware Provides The Perfect Cover For Other Attacks; Gdpr Fines Skyrocket As Eu Gets Tough On Data Breaches; Popular Pdf Reader Has Database Of 77 Miliion Users Leaked Online; Malware Incidents On Remote Devices Increase

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


Top Cyber Headlines of the Week

Ransomware is now the biggest Cyber Security concern for CISOs

Ransomware is the biggest cyber security concern facing businesses, according to those responsible for keeping organisations safe from hacking and cyberattacks. A survey of chief information security officers (CISOs) and chief security officers (CISOs found that ransomware is now viewed as the main cyber security threat to their organisation over the course of the next year. Almost half – 46% – of CISOs and CISOs surveyed said that ransomware or other forms of extortion by outsiders represents the biggest cyber security threat.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-is-now-the-biggest-cybersecurity-concern-for-cisos/

Crypto ransomware payments grew 311% in 2020

Crypto payments associated with ransomware grew at least 311% in 2020. “Ransomware” refers to a category of malicious computer programs that force users into paying ransoms. Just 0.34% of all cryptocurrency transactions last year were criminal, down from 2.1% in 2019. But that number is bound to go up, said the firm.

https://decrypt.co/54648/crypto-crime-ransomware-chainalysis-report-2020

The SolarWinds hackers used tactics other groups will copy

One of the most chilling aspects of Russia's recent hacking spree—which breached numerous United States government agencies among other targets—was the successful use of a “supply chain attack” to gain tens of thousands of potential targets from a single compromise at the IT services firm SolarWinds. But this was not the only striking feature of the assault. After that initial foothold, the attackers bored deeper into their victims' networks with simple and elegant strategies. Now researchers are bracing for a surge in those techniques from other attackers.

https://www.wired.com/story/solarwinds-hacker-methods-copycats/

Global Cyber Security spending to soar in 2021

The worldwide cyber security market is set to grow by up to 10% this year to top $60bn, as the global economy slowly recovers from the pandemic. Double-digit growth from $54.7bn in 2020 would be its best-case scenario. However, even in the worst case, cyber security spending would reach 6.6%. That would factor in a deeper-than-anticipated economic impact from lockdowns, although the security market has proven to be remarkably resilient thus far to the pandemic-induced global economic crisis. That said, SMB spending was hit hard last year, along with certain sectors like hospitality, retail and transport.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/global-cybersecurity-spending-to/

Cyber criminals publish more than 4,000 stolen Sepa files

Sepa rejected a ransom demand for the attack, which has been claimed by the international Conti ransomware group. Contracts, strategy documents and databases are among the 4,000 files released. The data has been put on the dark web - a part of the internet associated with criminality and only accessible through specialised software.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-55757884

Ransomware provides the perfect cover for other attacks

Look at any list of security challenges that CISOs are most concerned about and you’ll consistently find ransomware on them. It’s no wonder: ransomware attacks cripple organizations due to the costs of downtime, recovery, regulatory penalties, and lost revenue. Unfortunately, cybercriminals have added an extra sting to these attacks: they are using ransomware as a smokescreen to divert security teams from other clandestine activities behind the scenes

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/01/21/ransomware-cover/

Popular PDF reader has database of 77 million users hacked and leaked online

A threat actor has leaked a 14 GB database online containing over 77 million records relating to thousands of users of the Nitro PDF reader software, with users' email addresses, full names, hashed passwords, company names, IP addresses, and other system-related information.

https://www.techradar.com/au/news/popular-pdf-reader-has-database-of-77-miliion-users-hacked-and-leaked-online

Ransomware victims that have backups are paying ransoms to stop hackers leaking their stolen data

Some organisations that fall victim to ransomware attacks are paying ransoms to cyber-criminal gangs despite being able to restore their own networks from backups, in order to prevent hackers publishing stolen data. Over the course of the past year, many of the most successful ransomware gangs have added an additional technique in an effort to coerce victims into paying ransoms after compromising their networks – publishing stolen data if a payment isn't received.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-victims-that-have-backups-are-paying-ransoms-to-stop-hackers-leaking-their-stolen-data/

GDPR fines skyrocket as EU gets tough on data breaches

Europe’s new privacy protection regime has led to a surge in fines for bad actors, according to research published today. Law firm DLA Piper says that, since January 28th, 2020, the EU has issued around €158.5 million (around $192 million) in financial penalties. That’s a 39-percent increase on the previous 20-month period Piper examined in its report, published this time last year. And as well as the increased fines, the number of breach notifications has shot up by 19 percent across the same 12-month period.

https://www.engadget.com/gdpr-fines-dla-piper-report-144510440.html

Malware incidents on remote devices increase

Devices compromised by malware in 2020, 37% continued accessing corporate emails after being compromised and 11% continued accessing cloud storage, highlighting a need for organizations to better determine how to configure business tools to ensure fast and safe connectivity for all users in 2021.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/01/18/malware-incidents-remote-devices/




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

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

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

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

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 15 January 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 15 January 2021: Two Thirds of Employees Don’t Consider Security Whilst Working from Home; Ransomware Gangs Targeting Top Execs; Microsoft emits 83 security fixes – and miscreants are already exploiting vulnerabilities in Windows Defender; Android malware gives hackers full control of your smartphone; Massive fraud campaign sees millions vanish from online bank accounts

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


Top Cyber Headlines of the Week

Two-Thirds of Employees Don’t Consider Security Whilst Home Working

More than two-thirds (68%) of UK workers do not consider the cyber security impact of working from home, according to a new study. The survey of 2043 employees in the UK demonstrated a lack of awareness about how to stay secure whilst working remotely, which is putting businesses at risk of attacks. The shift to home working as a result of COVID-19 means that staff in many organizations are operating across insecure devices and networks, providing opportunities for cyber-criminals.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/two-thirds-employees-security-home/


Ransomware Gangs Scavenge for Sensitive Data by Targeting Top Executives

In their attempt to extort as much money as quickly as possible out of companies, ransomware gangs know some effective techniques to get the full attention of a firm’s management team. And one of them is to specifically target the sensitive information stored on the computers used by a company’s top executives, in the hope of finding valuable data that can best pressure bosses into approving the payment of a sizeable ransom.

https://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/featured/ransomware-gangs-scavenge-sensitive-data-targeting-executives/


Microsoft emits 83 security fixes – and miscreants are already exploiting one of the vulnerabilities in Windows Defender

83 vulnerabilities in its software, which does not include the 13 flaws fixed in its Edge browser last week. That's up from 58 repairs made in December, 2020, a relatively light month by recent standards. Affected applications include: Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based), Microsoft Office and Microsoft Office Services and Web Apps, Microsoft Windows Codecs Library, Visual Studio, SQL Server, Microsoft Malware Protection Engine, .NET Core, .NET Repository, ASP .NET, and Azure.

https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/12/patch_tuesday_fixes/


This Android malware claims to give hackers full control of your smartphone

The 'Rogue' remote administration tool (RAT) infects victims with a keylogger, allowing attackers to easily monitor the use of websites and apps in order to steal usernames and passwords, as well as financial data. The low cost of the malware reflects the increasing sophistication of the criminal ecosystem that is making it possible for wannabe crooks with limited technical skills to acquire the tools to stage attacks.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-android-malware-claims-to-give-hackers-full-control-of-your-smartphone/


Massive fraud campaign sees millions vanish from online bank accounts

Researchers have uncovered an extensive fraud campaign that saw millions of dollars drained from victims’ online bank accounts. The operation was discovered by experts at IBM Trusteer, the IT giant’s security division, who described the attack as unprecedented in scale. To gain access to online banking accounts, the fraudsters are said to have utilized a piece of software known as a mobile emulator, which creates a virtual clone of a smartphone.

https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/massive-fraud-campaign-sees-millions-vanish-from-online-bank-accounts


SolarWinds Hack Followed Years of Warnings of Weak Cyber Security

Congress and federal agencies have been slow or unwilling to address warnings about cyber security, shelving recommendations that are considered high priority while investing in programs that have fallen short. The massive cyber-attack by suspected Russian hackers, disclosed in December, came after years of warnings from a watchdog group and cyber security experts. For instance, the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, which was created by Congress to come up with strategies to thwart sizable cyber-attacks, presented a set of recommendations to Congress in March that included additional safeguards to ensure more trusted supply chains.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-13/solarwinds-hack-followed-years-of-warnings-of-weak-cybersecurity


Threats

Ransomware

Hacker used ransomware to lock victims in their IoT chastity belt  

Ransomware Attack Costs Health Network $1.5m a Day

Dassault Falcon Jet reports data breach after ransomware attack

IOT

Cyber experts say advice from breached IoT device company Ubiquiti falls short

Phishing

Iranian cyber spies behind major Christmas SMS spear-phishing campaign

Malware

macOS malware used run-only AppleScripts to avoid detection for five years

Going Rogue – a Mastermind Behind Android Malware Returns with a New Remote Access Trojan (RAT)

Emotet Tops Malware Charts in December After Reboot

Vulnerabilities

Windows 10 bug corrupts your hard drive on seeing this file's icon

Sophisticated Hacks Against Android, Windows Reveal Zero-Day Trove

Adobe fixes critical code execution vulnerabilities in 2021's first major patch round

Data Breaches

Over 16,000 customers seeking compensation for British Airways data breach

New Zealand Central Bank Breach Hit Other Companies

Massive Parler data leak exposes millions of posts, messages and videos

Millions of Social Profiles Leaked by Chinese Data-Scrapers

Hackers leak stolen Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine data online

United Nations data breach exposed over 100k UNEP staff records

Organised Crime

Europol shuts down the world's largest dark web marketplace

Nation State Actors

Third malware strain discovered in SolarWinds supply chain attack

Privacy

Whatsapp Privacy Controversy Causes ‘Largest Digital Migration In Human History’, Telegram Boss Says As He Welcomes World Leaders


Reports Published in the Last Week

Microsoft Digital Defense Report



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

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

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

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

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Is Just Purchasing Cyber Security Tools Enough? - Cyber Tip Tuesday

Welcome to this week's Black Arrow Cyber Tip Tuesday, this week James is talking about how purchasing security tools does not in itself increase security.

It’s fair to say that there are plenty of things you can do for little or no cost that will greatly decrease your attack surface or increase your security posture. With the sheer number of products on offer promising a complete solution, it’s easy to fall in to the trap of wanting a quick fix for security. However, simply purchasing a product is unlikely to offer any benefit without appropriate configuration or in many cases the expertise to interpret the output.

Welcome to this week's Black Arrow Cyber Tip Tuesday, this week James is talking about how purchasing security tools does not in itself increase security.

It’s fair to say that there are plenty of things you can do for little or no cost that will greatly decrease your attack surface or increase your security posture. With the sheer number of products on offer promising a complete solution, it’s easy to fall in to the trap of wanting a quick fix for security. However, simply purchasing a product is unlikely to offer any benefit without appropriate configuration or in many cases the expertise to interpret the output.

A good example is Microsoft 365 which offers many passive security features as well as some of the most accessible and competitive security tools on the market for businesses of all sizes. However, in order to take advantage of these features they must first be configured and then maintained and monitored with oversight by a security specialist.

Security is not a tool or even a collection of tools but a mindset of deliberate and regular actions.

If you'd like to know more about how you can protect yourself or your company, contact us today.

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Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 08 January 2021

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 08 January 2021: Ryuk gang estimated to have made more than $150 million from ransomware; China's hackers move to ransomware; Amid hardened security, attackers seek softer targets; Hackney Council files leaked online after cyber attack; PayPal users targeted in new SMS phishing campaign; the rise of cyber-mercenaries; Declutter Your Devices to Reduce Security Risks

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


Top Cyber Headlines of the Week

Ryuk gang estimated to have made more than $150 million from ransomware attacks

In a joint report published today, threat intel company Advanced Intelligence and cyber security firm HYAS said they tracked payments to 61 Bitcoin addresses previously attributed and linked to Ryuk ransomware attacks. "Ryuk receives a significant amount of their ransom payments from a well-known broker that makes payments on behalf of the ransomware victims," the two companies said. "These payments sometimes amount to millions of dollars and typically run in the hundreds of thousands range."

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ryuk-gang-estimated-to-have-made-more-than-150-million-from-ransomware-attacks/

China's APT hackers move to ransomware attacks

Security researchers investigating a set of ransomware incidents at multiple companies discovered malware indicating that the attacks may be the work of a hacker group believed to operate on behalf of China. Although the attacks lack the sophistication normally seen with advanced threat actors, there is strong evidence linking them to APT27, a group normally involved in cyber espionage campaigns, also known as TG-3390, Emissary Panda, BRONZE UNION, Iron Tiger, and LuckyMouse.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/chinas-apt-hackers-move-to-ransomware-attacks/

SolarWinds hack: Amid hardened security, attackers seek softer targets

Reported theories by SolarWinds hack investigators that federal agencies and private companies were too busy focusing on election security to recognize vulnerabilities tied to the software supply chain are unfair and misleading. And yet, those same experts acknowledge that such accusations offer an important cyber security lesson for businesses: organizations must ensure that their entire attack surface receives attention.

https://www.scmagazine.com/home/solarwinds-hack/solarwinds-hack-amid-hardened-security-attackers-seek-softer-targets/

Hackney Council files including alleged passport documents leaked online after cyber attack

The council in East London was hit by what it described as a "serious cyber attack" in October. It reported itself to the data watchdog due to the risk criminals accessed staff and residents' data. The council said it was working with the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Ministry of Housing to investigate and understand the impact of the incident.

https://news.sky.com/story/hackney-council-files-including-alleged-passport-documents-leaked-online-after-cyber-attack-12181017

PayPal users targeted in new SMS phishing campaign

Now, at first glance the message may not seem all that suspicious since PayPal may, in fact, impose limits on sending and withdrawing money. The payment provider usually does so when it suspects that an account has been accessed by a third party without authorization, when it has detected high-risk activities on an account, or when a user has violated its Acceptable Use Policy. However, in this case it really is a case of SMS-borne phishing, also known as Smishing. If you click on the link, you will be redirected to a login phishing page that will request your access credentials. Should you proceed to “log in”, your credentials will be sent to the scammers behind the ruse and the fraudulent webpage will attempt to gather further information, including the full name, date of birth address, and bank details.

https://www.welivesecurity.com/2021/01/04/paypal-users-targeted-new-sms-phishing-campaign/

SolarWinds, top executives hit with class action lawsuit over Orion software breach

SolarWinds and some of its top executives have been hit with a class action lawsuit by stockholders, who allege the company lied and materially misled them about security practices leading up to a massive breach of its Orion management software that has reverberated throughout the public and private sector.

https://www.scmagazine.com/home/solarwinds-hack/solarwinds-top-executives-hit-with-class-action-lawsuit-over-orion-software-breach/

The rise of cyber-mercenaries poses a growing threat for both governments and companies

These days, 21st century mercenaries are as likely to be seated behind a computer screen, wreaking havoc for their paymasters’ enemies as slugging it out on a real-world battlefield. But the rapid rise of cyber-mercenaries - or Private Sector Offensive Actors (PSOAs) - is vexing some of the biggest names in the global technology industry, and for good reason. Globally, the cyber security industry is already vast, raking in an estimated $156bn in revenues in 2019. It is set to nearly double in size by 2027.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/01/07/privatisation-cyber-security-growing-threat-governments-companies/

Declutter Your Devices to Reduce Security Risks

Everyone should set aside time to review what they’ve installed on their various devices—typically apps, but that can also include games and addons. In fact, this should be an annual cleaning, at minimum.

You’re not just doing this because you want your device to look good. That’s one benefit you get from cleaning up your digital life, but it’s not the most important one. You’re also doing this to bolster your digital security. Yes, security.

https://lifehacker.com/declutter-your-devices-to-reduce-security-risks-1845991606


Threats

Ransomware

New Year, New Ransomware: Babuk Locker Targets Large Corporations

Phishing

This new phishing attack uses an odd lure to deliver Windows trojan malware

Facebook ads used to steal 615000+ credentials in a phishing campaign

Malware

North Korean hackers launch RokRat Trojan in campaigns against the South

Thousands infected by trojan that targets cryptocurrency users on Windows, Mac and Linux

A hacker’s predictions on enterprise malware risk

Vulnerabilities

Google Warns of Critical Android Remote Code Execution Bug

Hackers are actively exploiting this leading VPN, so patch now

Data Breaches

Hacker posts data of 10,000 American Express accounts for free

Vodafone's ho. Mobile admits data breach, 2.5m users impacted

The gaming industry under attack, Over 500,000 credentials for the top two dozen leading gaming firms, including Ubisoft, leaked on online.

T-Mobile data breach: ‘Malicious, unauthorized’ hack exposes customer call information
Exclusive Networks hit by cyberattack on New Year's Eve

Up to half a million victims of BA data breach could be eligible for compensation

Nation State Actors

Even Small Nations Have Jumped into the Cyber Espionage Game

Denial of Service

Ransom DDoS attacks target a Fortune Global 500 company

Privacy

Telegram feature exposes your precise address to hackers

Whatsapp Competitor Signal Stops Working Properly As Users Rush To Leave Over Privacy Update

Google Chrome browser privacy plan investigated in UK

Singapore police can access COVID-19 contact tracing data for criminal investigations

Other News

Feds Issue Recommendations for Maritime Cybersecurity


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

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

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

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

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 31 December 2020

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 31 December 2020: SolarWinds hack may be much worse than originally feared; Threat actor selling 368.8 million records from 26 data breaches; The Worst Hacks of 2020; Nasty Strain of malware is back and hits 100K recipients per day; Ransomware in 2020: A Banner Year for Extortion; Russia’s global hacking efforts are going to unwind in 2021

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


Top Cyber Headlines of the Week

SolarWinds hack may be much worse than originally feared

The Russia-linked SolarWinds hack which targeted US government agencies and private corporations may be even worse than officials first realized, with some 250 federal agencies and business now believed affected.

Microsoft has said the hackers compromised SolarWinds’ Orion monitoring and management software, allowing them to “impersonate any of the organisation’s existing users and accounts, including highly privileged accounts.” The Times reports that Russia exploited layers of the supply chain to access the agencies’ systems.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/2/22210667/solarwinds-hack-worse-government-microsoft-cybersecurity

Threat actor is selling 368.8 million records from 26 data breaches

Security experts reported that a threat actor is selling user records allegedly stolen from twenty-six companies on a hacker forum.

The total volume of data available for sale is composed of 368.8 million stolen user records.

For some of these companies, the data breaches have not been previously disclosed, including Teespring.com, MyON.com, Chqbook.com, Anyvan.com, Eventials.com, Wahoofitness.com, Sitepoint.com, and ClickIndia.com.

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/112842/data-breach/data-breaches-records-sale.html

The Worst Hacks of 2020, a Surreal Pandemic Year

WHAT A WAY to kick off a new decade. 2020 showcased all of the digital risks and cybersecurity woes you've come to expect in the modern era, but this year was unique in the ways Covid-19 radically and tragically transformed life around the world. The pandemic also created unprecedented conditions in cyberspace, reshaping networks by pushing people to work from home en masse, creating a scramble to access vaccine research by any means, generating new fodder for criminals to launch extortion attempts and scams, and producing novel opportunities for nation-state espionage.

https://www.wired.com/story/worst-hacks-2020-surreal-pandemic-year/

A Nasty Strain of malware is back and hits 100K recipients per day

The Emotet banking trojan has been active at least since 2014, the botnet is operated by a threat actor tracked as TA542. In the middle-August, the malware was employed in fresh COVID19-themed spam campaign Recent spam campaigns used messages with malicious Word documents, or links to them, pretending to be an invoice, shipping information, COVID-19 information, resumes, financial documents, or scanned documents.

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/112650/malware/december-emotet-redacted.html

Ransomware in 2020: A Banner Year for Extortion

From attacks on the UVM Health Network that delayed chemotherapy appointments, to ones on public schools that delayed students going back to the classroom, ransomware gangs disrupted organizations to inordinate levels in 2020. Remote learning platforms shut down. Hospital chemotherapy appointments cancelled. Ransomware attacks in 2020 dominated as a top threat vector this past year. Couple that with the COVID-19 pandemic, putting strains on the healthcare sector, and we witnessed ransomware exact a particularly cruel human toll as well. Attacks had an impact on nearly all sectors of the global economy – costing business $20 billion collectively and creating major cybersecurity headaches for others.

https://threatpost.com/ransomware-2020-extortion/162319/

Ransomware Is Headed Down a Dire Path

AT THE END of September, an emergency room technician in the United States gave WIRED a real-time account of what it was like inside their hospital as a ransomware attack raged. With their digital systems locked down by hackers, health care workers were forced onto backup paper systems. They were already straining to manage patients during the pandemic; the last thing they needed was more chaos. "It is a life-or-death situation," the technician said at the time.

The same scenario was repeated around the country this year, as waves of ransomware attacks crashed down on hospitals and health care provider networks, peaking in September and October. School districts, meanwhile, were walloped by attacks that crippled their systems just as students were attempting to come back to class, either in person or remotely. Corporations and local and state governments faced similar attacks at equally alarming rates.

https://www.wired.com/story/ransomware-2020-headed-down-dire-path/

Russia’s global hacking efforts are going to unwind in 2021

Russia has become adept at using cyberattacks and digital-media manipulation to influence events in other countries. We know there was Russian digital interference in the 2016 US general election and the 2017 presidential election in France: both involved fake social-media accounts and “hack-and-leak” operations to steal emails. The UK government has not investigated whether, as must be probable, Russia had also been using its tools of covert subversion during the Scottish independence and Brexit referenda, but it has said that it is almost certain that Russian actors sought to interfere in the 2019 general election through the online dissemination of illicitly acquired government documents, thought to relate to US/UK trade negotiations.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/uk-us-russia-hacking



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

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

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

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

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 25 December 2020

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 25 December 2020: The Cyber Threat Is Real and Growing; Ransomware Attacks Surge in Q3; In 2021 there will be a cyber attack every 11 seconds; The West has suffered a massive cyber breach and it's hard to overstate how bad it is; Big tech companies including Intel, Nvidia, and Cisco were all infected during the SolarWinds hack

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


Top Cyber Headlines of the Week

The Cyber Threat Is Real and Growing

The SolarWinds breach could be one of the most significant cyber incidents in history. Russian intelligence—likely the SVR, the foreign-intelligence branch—infiltrated and sat undetected on U.S. and other government networks for nearly 10 months. It was a sophisticated, smart and savvy attack that should alarm the public and private sectors.

We may not know the full extent of the damage for some time. Don’t be surprised if more government entities disclose that they too were victims of this attack. Don’t be surprised either if it emerges that private companies were hit. SolarWinds says it has more than 300,000 customers, including 400 companies in the Fortune 500. That’s a lot of potential victims.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-cyber-threat-is-real-and-growing-11608484291

Ransomware Attacks Surge in Q3 as Cyber Criminals Shift Tactics

A record growth in ransomware attacks took place in Q3 of 2020 compared to Q2, from 39% to 51% of all malware attempts according to a new study. The study also found that hacking accounted for 30% of all attacks during Q3, with cyber criminals reducing their emphasis on social engineering tactics compared with earlier this year. The researchers noted that the percentage of social engineering attacks using COVID-19 as a lure fell from 16% in Q2 to just 4% in Q3, which they attribute to people becoming more accustomed to this crisis. Additionally, social engineering attacks targeting organizations fell from 67% of all attempts in Q1 to under half (45%) in Q3.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ransomware-attacks-surge-q3/

In 2021, there will be a cyber attack every 11 seconds. Here’s how to protect yourself

Experienced outdoor athletes know that with winter rapidly approaching, the secret to success lies in protecting the core. That is, the body’s core temperature through layering, wicking and a host of ever-improving technical fabrics that prevent the cold, snow and ice from affecting performance. The same could be said for cyber security. With organizations and workers now in their ninth month of COVID-19, the time has come to prepare as the threat of cyber attacks becomes even more menacing.

https://theprint.in/tech/in-2021-there-will-be-a-cyberattack-every-11-seconds-heres-how-to-protect-yourself/565616/

The US, and much of the West, has suffered a massive cyber breach. It's hard to overstate how bad it is

Recent news articles have all been talking about the massive Russian cyber-attack against the United States, but that’s wrong on two accounts. It wasn’t a cyber-attack in international relations terms, it was espionage. And the victim wasn’t just the US, it was the entire world. But it was massive, and it is dangerous.

Espionage is internationally allowed in peacetime. The problem is that both espionage and cyber-attacks require the same computer and network intrusions, and the difference is only a few keystrokes. And since this Russian operation isn’t at all targeted, the entire world is at risk – and not just from Russia. Many countries carry out these sorts of operations, none more extensively than the US. The solution is to prioritize security and defense over espionage and attack.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/23/cyber-attack-us-security-protocols

Big tech companies including Intel, Nvidia, and Cisco were all infected during the SolarWinds hack

Last week, news broke that IT management company SolarWinds had been hacked, possibly by the Russian government, and the US Treasury, Commerce, State, Energy, and Homeland Security departments have been affected — two of which may have had emails stolen as a result of the hack. Other government agencies and many companies are investigating due to SolarWinds’ extensive client list. The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that some big tech companies have been infected, too.

Cisco, Intel, Nvidia, Belkin, and VMware have all had computers on their networks infected with the malware. There could be far more: SolarWinds had stated that “fewer than 18,000” companies were impacted, as if that number is supposed to be reassuring, and it even attempted to hide the list of clients who used the infected software. Today’s news takes some of SolarWinds’ big-name clients from “possibly affected’’ to “confirmed affected.”

https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/21/22194183/intel-nvidia-cisco-government-infected-solarwinds-hack

Researchers share the lists of victims of SolarWinds hack

Security experts started analyzing the DGA mechanism used by threat actors behind the SolarWinds hack to control the Sunburst/Solarigate backdoor and published the list of targeted organizations. Researchers from multiple cybersecurity firms published a list that contains major companies, including Cisco, Deloitte, Intel, Mediatek, and Nvidia. The researchers decoded the DGA algorithm used by the backdoor to assign a subdomain of the C2 for each of the compromised organizations.

https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/112555/hacking/solarwinds-victims-lists.html


Threats

Ransomware

Ransomware: Attacks could be about to get even more dangerous and disruptive

IOT

New Critical Flaws in Treck TCP/IP Stack Affect Millions of IoT Devices

Malware

Emotet Returns to Hit 100K Mailboxes Per Day

Microsoft has discovered yet more SolarWinds malware

3 million users hit with infected Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge extensions

Vulnerabilities

Windows zero-day with bad patch gets new public exploit code

Script for detecting vulnerable TCP/IP stacks released

New SUPERNOVA backdoor found in SolarWinds cyberattack analysis

Smart Doorbell Disaster: Many Brands Vulnerable to Attack

Zero-day exploit used to hack iPhones of Al Jazeera employees

Signal: Cellebrite claimed to have 'cracked' chat app's encryption

Data Breaches

There's been a Nintendo Switch data leak, according to reports

Data breach hits 30,000 signed up to workplace pensions provider

Thousands of customer records exposed after serious data breach

Organised Crime

Cyber criminals have started indexing the dark web

Joker’s Stash Carding Site Taken Down

International sting shuts down 'favourite' VPN of cyber criminals

Dark Web Pricing Skyrockets for Microsoft RDP Servers, Payment-Card Data

NSA Warns of Hacking Tactics That Target Cloud Resources

Denial of Service

Cloudflare has identified a new type of DDoS attack inspired by an acoustic beat

Privacy

The pandemic has taken surveillance of workers to the next level

Other News

Dozens of Al Jazeera journalists allegedly hacked using Israeli firm's spyware

Cyber Insurance Market Expected to Surge in 2021


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

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

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

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

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 18 December 2020

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 18 December 2020: The great hack attack - SolarWinds breach exposes big gaps in cyber security; A wake-up for the world on cyber security; White House activates cyber emergency response; US nuclear weapons agency targeted; UK companies targeted; Increasing Risk of Cyber Attacks; millions of users install malicious browser extensions; C19 Vaccines sold on dark web

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

Top Cyber Headlines of the Week

The great hack attack: SolarWinds breach exposes big gaps in cyber security

Until this week, SolarWinds was a little known IT software group from Texas. Its deserted lobby has a framed magazine article from a few years ago when it was on a list of America’s “Best Small Companies”.

Now the Austin-based company is at the heart of one of the biggest and most startling cyber hacks in recent history, with ramifications that extend into the fields of geopolitics, espionage and national security.

For nine months, sophisticated state-backed hackers have exploited a ubiquitous SolarWinds software product in order to spy on government and business networks around the world, including in the US, UK, Israel and Canada. Wielding innovative tools and tradecraft, the cyber spies lurked in email services, and posed as legitimate staffers to tap confidential information stored in the cloud.

The bombshell revelations have sent 18,000 exposed SolarWinds customers scrambling to assess whether outsiders did indeed enter their systems, what the damage was and how to fix it.

https://www.ft.com/content/c13dbb51-907b-4db7-8347-30921ef931c2

A wake-up for the world on cyber security

Imagine intruders break into your home and loiter undetected for months, spying on you and deciding which contents to steal. This in essence is the kind of access that hackers, assumed to be Russian, achieved in recent months at US government institutions including the Treasury and departments of commerce and homeland security, and potentially many US companies. If the fear in the Cold War was of occasional “moles” gaining access to secrets, this is akin to a small army of moles burrowing through computer systems. The impact is still being assessed, but it marks one of the biggest security breaches of the digital era.

https://www.ft.com/content/d3fc0b14-4a82-4671-b023-078516ea714e

US government, thousands of businesses now thought to have been affected by SolarWinds security attack

Thousands of businesses and several branches of the US government are now thought to have been affected by the attack on software firm SolarWinds.

The Austin-based company has fallen victim to a massive supply chain attack believed to be the work of state-sponsored hackers.

Along with the US treasury and commerce departments, the Department of Homeland Security is now thought to have been affected by the attack. In a statement to the SEC today, SolarWinds said it had notified 33,000 customers of its recent hack, but that only 18,000 of these used the affected version of its Orion platform.

https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/solarwinds-suffers-massive-supply-chain-attack

White House activates cyber emergency response under Obama-era directive

In the wake of the SolarWinds breach, the National Security Council has activated an emergency cyber security process that is intended to help the government plan its response and recovery efforts, according to White House officials and other sources.

The move is a sign of just how seriously the Trump administration is taking the foreign espionage operation, former NSC officials told CyberScoop.

The action is rooted in a presidential directive issued during the Obama administration known as PPD-41, which establishes a Cyber Unified Coordination Group (UCG) that is intended to help the U.S. government coordinate multiple agencies’ responses to the significant hacking incident.

The UCG is generally led by the Department of Justice — through the FBI and the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force — as well as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security.

https://www.cyberscoop.com/solarwinds-white-house-national-security-council-emergency-meetings/

Hackers targeted US nuclear weapons agency in massive cyber security breach, reports say

The National Nuclear Security Administration and Energy Department, which safeguard the US stockpile of nuclear weapons, have had their networks hacked as part of the widespread cyber espionage attack on a number of federal agencies.

Politico reports that officials have begun coordinating notifications about the security breach to the relevant congressional oversight bodies.

Suspicious activity was identified in the networks of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories in New Mexico and Washington, the Office of Secure Transportation, and the Richland Field Office of the Department of Energy.

Officials with direct knowledge of the matter said hackers have been able to do more damage to the network at FERC, according to the report.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/hackers-nuclear-weapons-cybersecurity-b1775864.html

Microsoft warns UK companies were targeted by SolarWinds hackers

Microsoft has warned that some of its UK customers have been exposed to the malware used in the Russia-linked SolarWinds hack that targeted US states and government agencies.

More than 40 of the tech giant's customers are thought to have used breached SolarWinds software, including clients in Britain, the US, Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Spain, Israel, and the UAE.

The company would not name the victims, but said they include government agencies, think tanks, non-governmental organisations and IT firms. Microsoft said four in five were in the US, with nearly half of them tech companies.

“This is not ‘espionage as usual,’ even in the digital age,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft's president. “Instead, it represents an act of recklessness that created a serious technological vulnerability for the United States and the world.”

The attackers, believed to be working for the Russian government, got into computer networks by installing a vulnerability in Orion software from SolarWinds.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2020/12/18/microsoft-warns-uk-companies-targeted-solarwinds-hackers/

Society at Increasingly High Risk of Cyber Attacks

Cyber attacks are becoming easier to conduct while conversely security is getting increasingly difficult, according to Kevin Curran, senior IEEE member and professor of cyber security, Ulster University, during a virtual media roundtable.

“Any company you can think of has had a data breach,” he commented. “Whenever a data breach happens it weakens our credentials because our passwords are often reused on different websites.”

He observed that the art of hacking doesn’t necessarily require a significant amount of technical expertise anymore, and bad actors can receive substantial help from numerous and readily accessible tools online. “You don’t have to spend seven years in college to learn how to hack, you just have to know about these sites and what terms to use,” noted Curran.

A number of legitimate online mechanisms that can help damaging attacks to be launched by hackers were highlighted by Curran in his presentation. These include Google Dorks, which are “search strings which point to website vulnerabilities.” This means vulnerable accounts can be identified simply via Google searches.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/society-increasingly-risk-cyber/

Three million users installed 28 malicious Chrome or Edge extensions

More than three million internet users are believed to have installed 15 Chrome, and 13 Edge extensions that contain malicious code, security firm Avast said today.

The 28 extensions contained code that could perform several malicious operations, including:

-redirect user traffic to ads

-redirect user traffic to phishing sites

-collect personal data, such as birth dates, email addresses, and active devices

-collect browsing history

-download further malware onto a user's device

But despite the presence of code to power all the above malicious features, Avast researchers said they believe the primary objective of this campaign was to hijack user traffic for monetary gains.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/three-million-users-installed-28-malicious-chrome-or-edge-extensions/

Vaccines for sale on dark web as criminals target pandemic profits

Black market vendors were offering coronavirus vaccines for sale on hidden parts of the internet days after the first Covid-19 shot was approved this month, as criminals seek to profit from global demand for inoculations.

One such offer on the so-called dark web, traced by cyber security company Check Point Software, was priced at $250 with the seller promising “stealth” delivery in double-wrapped packaging. Shipping from the US via post or a leading courier company would cost $20, with an extra $5 securing overnight delivery.

https://www.ft.com/content/8bfc674e-efe6-4ee0-b860-7fcb5716bed6

Threats

Ransomware

Phishing

IoT

Malware

Vulnerabilities

Data Breaches

Organised Crime

Nation State Actors

Privacy

Other News

Reports Published in the Last Week


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

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

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

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

Read More
Black Arrow Admin Black Arrow Admin

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 11 December 2020

Black Arrow Cyber Threat Briefing 11 December 2020: Cyber crime costs the world more than $1 trillion, 50% increase from 2018; One of the world's largest security firms breached; Chinese Breakthrough in Quantum Computing a Warning for Security Teams; Ransom payouts hit record-highs, surging 178% in a year; Ransomware Set to Continue to Evolve

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

Top Cyber Headlines of the Week

Cyber crime costs the world more than $1 trillion, a 50% increase from 2018

Cyber crime costs the world economy more than $1 trillion, or just more than one percent of global GDP, which is up more than 50 percent from a 2018 study that put global losses at close to $600 billion. Beyond the global figure, the report also explored the damage reported beyond financial losses, finding 92 percent of companies felt effects beyond monetary losses.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2020/12/07/cybercrime-costs-world/

FireEye, one of the world's largest security firms, discloses security breach

FireEye, one of the world largest security firms, said today it was hacked and that a "highly sophisticated threat actor" accessed its internal network and stole hacking tools FireEye uses to test the networks of its customers.

The firm said the threat actor also searched for information related to some of the company's government customers.

The attacker was described as a "highly sophisticated threat actor, one whose discipline, operational security, and techniques lead us to believe it was a state-sponsored attack."

https://www.zdnet.com/article/fireeye-one-of-the-worlds-largest-security-firms-discloses-security-breach/

Chinese Breakthrough in Quantum Computing a Warning for Security Teams

China’s top quantum-computer researchers have reported that they have achieved quantum supremacy, i.e., the ability to perform tasks a traditional supercomputer cannot. And while it’s a thrilling development, the inevitable rise of quantum computing means security teams are one step closer to facing a threat more formidable than anything before.

https://threatpost.com/chinese-quantum-computing-warning-security/161935/

Ransom payouts hit record-highs, surging 178% in a year

Average ransom payouts increased by 178% in the third quarter of this year, from $84,000 (£63,000) to almost £234,000, compared with the year before. Ransomware payments reached record-highs in 2020 as employees shifted to remote working to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, creating more attack vectors for hackers.

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/ransomware-payouts-hacking-computers-hit-record-highs-surging-134527988.html

Ransomware Set for Evolution in Attack Capabilities in 2021

Ransomware is set to evolve into a greater threat in 2021 as service offerings and collaborations increase. The year turned out “different than predicted” and the shift to working from home also impacted the e-crime landscape. “This created an industrialization of e-crime groups and their abilities to extend from single groups into business pipelines”

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ransomware-evolution-capabilities/

How Organisations Can Prevent Users from Using Breached Passwords

There is no question that attackers are going after your sensitive account data. Passwords have long been a target of those looking to compromise your environment. Why would an attacker take the long, complicated way if they have the keys to the front door?

https://thehackernews.com/2020/12/how-organizations-can-prevent-users.html

Threats

Ransomware

Phishing

IOT

Malware

Vulnerabilities

Data Breaches

Threat Actors

Insider Threats

Other News

Reports Published in the Last Week

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

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

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

 

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

 

Read More