Tag: email compromise
Cybercriminals pose as law enforcement agencies
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued an urgent warning to business and law enforcement agencies that cybercriminals are using genuine stolen US and foreign government email addresses to hack into companies. As of August this year, the FBI has observed an increase in posts on criminal forums relating to fraudulent emergency data requests. In August 2024, a cyber-criminal known to the FBI offered for sale, “High Quality .gov emails for espionage/social engineering/data extortion requests, etc”, that included official US credentials. The cyber-criminals also offered to guide buyers through emergency data requests and to sell real stolen subpoena documents to allow the buyer(s) to pose as law enforcement officers.
Organizations’ staff are their biggest security risk
Careless employees are the main root cause of data loss in organizations. According to the cybersecurity and compliance company Proofpoint, almost three-quarters (74 percent) of CISOs believe human error is their biggest cyber vulnerability. This is up from 60 percent in 2023 and 56 percent in 2022. Even more (80 percent) believe human risk and employee negligence will be the key cybersecurity concerns for the next two years. “Our research shows that CISOs generally believe their people are aware of their critical role in defending the business from cyber threats. That CISOs still see their people as the primary risk factor suggests a disconnect between employees’ understanding of cyber threats and their ability to keep them at bay,” says Proofpoint.
Millions of emails distributing LockBit ransomware
Affiliates of the infamous ransomware group LockBit have launched a potentially devastating new weaponized email tactic designed to cause maximum disruption to millions of companies in the US and around the world. At the end of April this year, researchers at cybersecurity firm Proofpoint began to observe high-volume ransomware campaigns sending out millions of fraudulent emails over a one-week period, facilitated by the Phorpiex botnet. In all cases, email messages purported to come from “Jenny Green” with the email address Jenny@gsd[.]com. These contained an attached ZIP file capable of downloading the LockBit Black ransomware payload from Phorpiex botnet infrastructure.
Ransomware drives corporate cyber-crime
Cybercriminals are getting greedier. According to Google subsidiary Mandiant’s M-Trends 2024 Special Report, the proportion of financially motivated intrusions grew from more than a quarter of all investigations (26 percent) in 2022 to over a third (36 percent) in 2023. Ransomware-related intrusions represented almost two-thirds of financially motivated intrusions and 23 percent of all 2023 intrusions; the remaining financially motivated intrusions included business email compromise (BEC) fraud and cryptocurrency theft. In 70 percent of cases, organizations learned of ransomware-related intrusions from external sources. In three-quarters of those cases, organizations were notified of a ransomware incident by an attacker ransom message. The remaining quarter came from external partners, such as law enforcement or cybersecurity companies. “This is consistent with the extortion business model in which attackers intentionally and abruptly notify organizations of a ransomware intrusion and demand payment,” says Mandiant.
The UK Warns on AI-Generated Malware from Nation-States – January 25th
According to the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), AI-generated malware built to avoid detection could be a serious threat inflicted by nation-state threat actors this year. The NCSC further stated that based on their investigations, they believe nation-state groups hold repositories of malware large enough to effectively train an AI model to bolster ransomware attack capabilities.
Russia-Backed Hackers Infiltrate Microsoft’s Corporate Email System – January 22nd
Microsoft announced on a blog post that the email intrusion attack began in November 2023 and was discovered on January 12th, 2024. Microsoft deduced that the attack originated from a Russian nation-state hacking group. The Microsoft blog post stated the attack gained access to a small percentage of Microsoft corporate email accounts, consisting of Microsoft leadership, security, and IT team members. The incident is still under investigation and reported to the SEC, Microsoft vowed to take any further necessary action while being as transparent as possible.
CISA and FBI Release IOCs Associated with Androxgh0st Malware – January 17th
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a joint cybersecurity advisory (CSA) containing the Indicators of Compromise (IOC) associated with the Androxgh0st malware. The joint CSA also contained the dangerous Androxgh0st malware tactics, techniques, and procedures associated with the malware's threat actors. The malware establishes a botnet for victim identification, exploits vulnerable networks, targets the theft of sensitive data, and may lead to remote code execution.
Storm gathers over the cloud
News of the mass exploitation of ownCloud customers as a result of a zero-day vulnerability follows revelations earlier this month of a critical security vulnerability in Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. Reports of gaping security flaws in cloud services come at a bad time for cloud service providers in general and Microsoft in particular. The Seattle-based computing giant is currently doing its utmost to persuade the US, UK, and Australian governments that its Azure Government Cloud is the best way for the AUKUS trio to securely update cross-border information and enhance mutual collaboration. This might prove problematic for Microsoft, whose Azure platform was recently proven to have a critical vulnerability, and some of whose government clients suffered a series of serious breaches earlier this year.