Tag: critical infrastructure
Employment Screening Provider Data Breach Affects 3.3M Individuals – February 28th
DISA Global Solutions, Inc., a provider of employment screening services, confirmed a data breach impacting over 3.3 million individuals. The breach, which occurred between February 9 and April 22, 2024, granted an unauthorized third party access to names, Social Security numbers, driver’s license details, financial account information, and other sensitive data. While forensics could not confirm the exact extent of the stolen data, the exposure raises concerns over identity theft risks for affected individuals.
DragonForce Ransomware Hits Saudi Firm, 6TB of Data Leaked – February 27th
A Riyadh-based real estate and construction company has fallen victim to a ransomware attack by DragonForce, resulting in the theft of 6TB of sensitive data. The attackers initially set a February 27 ransom deadline, one day before the start of Ramadan, but upon non-compliance, published the stolen data on a dedicated leak site (DLS). DragonForce operates as a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) group, equipping cybercriminals with attack tools in exchange for a share of ransom payments. Their leak platform also employs advanced CAPTCHA mechanisms to evade security firms.
Ransomware attacks on industrial systems double in one year
Ransomware attacks on the operational technology (OT) and industrial control systems (ICS) that run industrial facilities almost doubled in 2024. According to Washington DC-based industrial cybersecurity company Dragos, ransomware attacks on industrial organizations in 2024 increased by a staggering 87 percent over the previous year. The main industries targeted were: electricity and water; industrial manufacturing; telecommunications; oil and gas; food and beverage; chemical manufacturing; mining, transportation, and logistics. Manufacturing, which accounted for 69 percent of all ransomware attacks targeting 1,171 manufacturing entities, was by far the worst hit.
Healthcare cyber-attacks now “a national security threat”
Search engine giant's Google Threat Intelligence Group reports that cybercriminal and state-backed cyber-attacks on the healthcare sector in countries such as the US and UK have escalated to a level where they are actually costing lives. “Healthcare's share of posts on data leak sites has doubled over the past three years, even as the number of data leak sites tracked by Google Threat Intelligence Group has increased by nearly 50% year over year. The impact of these attacks means that they must be taken seriously as a national security threat, no matter the motivation of the actors behind it,” says Google.
‘Dark Unicorns’ target US healthcare
Ransomware attacks on the healthcare sector have risen by a third in 2024 with the US the prime target. Cybersecurity company Black Kite reports 374 incidents in the past year, a 32.16 percent rise in the number of attacks on the industry over 2023. Healthcare is now among the top targets for ransomware, surpassed only by manufacturing and professional services. The rapid rise in ransomware attacks on the healthcare sector is the result of increasing ruthlessness on the part of ransomware gangs. Until relatively recently, some sectors, such as healthcare and education, were considered off-limits. According to Black Kite, if an affiliated criminal gang attacked a healthcare organization, the core ransomware group would frequently step in, apologizing to the victim organization -sometimes even decrypting the ransomed data for free.
‘Hellcat’ is new breed of cybercriminal
A ransomware gang, Hellcat, that emerged in 2024 is being seen as representative of a new type of threat actor using off-the-shelf malware and innovative extortion techniques. According to cybersecurity company Cato Networks: “Hellcat’s emergence in 2024 marks a troubling shift in the landscape of cybercrime. By leveraging a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model and utilizing double extortion tactics, Hellcat has not only increased the accessibility of ransomware but also heightened the psychological impact on its victims.”
HPE Investigating Hacker Breach Claims – January 21st
Following claims from the IntelBroker group on BreachForums of having access to large amounts of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) company data, HPE has begun its investigations. The breach allegedly includes private GitHub repositories, Docker builds, and source codes. Arctic Wolf researchers helped HPE uncover the potential breach, and are continuing to work on validating the claim.
US takes on Chinese hackers
A man alleged to be behind the recent Salt Typhoon US telecoms network and US Treasury department breaches has been sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Yin Kecheng “has been a cyber actor for over a decade and is affiliated with the People’s Republic of China Ministry of State Security (MSS)”, says the Treasury Office. Yin is alleged to have had direct and associated involvement in both breaches. Two key individuals in President Donald Trump’s new administration, Elon Musk, and the president’s nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, have specifically cited the two devastating breaches as the prime examples of why the nation’s cybersecurity strategy is in pressingly urgent need of being overhauled.
Fresh Focus on Cyber-Attacks for CISA
One of the greatest challenges now facing President Trump’s new administration is to protect the US’s critical infrastructure and its economy from the rapidly growing menace of cyber-attacks. On Friday, the president’s nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, signalled a new direction for America’s main cybersecurity agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which, she says, urgently needs to be realigned away from focusing on misinformation and curtailing free speech and more towards preventing cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure in the US.
WEF predicts perfect storm for cybercrime
The World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025 reports that several compounding factors are creating an increasingly complex and risky business environment. These include the growing complexity of supply chains, rising geopolitical tensions, cybercriminal's increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI), and the entry of traditional organized crime groups into cybercrime. Ransomware remains the top organizational cyber risk year on year, with 45 percent of respondents ranking it as a top concern in this year’s survey. Over half of the large organizations surveyed worldwide, 54 percent, identified supply chain challenges as the most challenging barrier to achieving cyber resilience, citing the increasing complexity of supply chains, coupled with a lack of visibility and oversight into the security levels of suppliers.
FBI unplugs Chinese hackers
The US Justice Department and FBI have completed a law enforcement operation to delete Chinese malware from approximately 4,258 U.S.-based computers and networks. The international operation was led by French law enforcement and France-based private cybersecurity company Sekoia.io. According to court documents unsealed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a group of hackers paid by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), known as “Mustang Panda” and “Twill Typhoon,” used a version of PlugX malware to infect, control, and steal information from victim computers. Since at least 2014, Mustang Panda hackers have infiltrated thousands of computer systems in campaigns targeting US victims, European and Asian governments and businesses, and Chinese dissident groups.
Fake job offer scams gather pace
The New Year has begun with further news of a particularly cynical fraud campaign aimed at jobseekers. Lucrative-seeming fake job offers are being sent by email to individuals working in targeted organizations and in companies operating in critical industries. This month, cybersecurity company Crowdstrike has identified an email phishing campaign exploiting its recruitment branding to deliver malware disguised as an "employee CRM application." The fake email impersonates Crowdstrike recruitment and directs recipients who are curious about the personalized job offer to a malicious website. But Crowdstrike also reports that the cybersecurity company is also aware of a number of other fake job offer scams currently taking place.