Working from home (WFH) has brought with it advantages such as flexibility and access to global talent, but it has also introduced new security threats to organizations. The shift to a remote or hybrid workforce has forced companies to adopt more software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, which has caused almost 40% of companies to lose control of their IT and security environments, according to data from a Cloudflare study.
With so much of an attack riding on a cybercriminals ability to gain access to systems, applications and data, experts predict the trend of rising impersonation is only going to get worse.
We live in a highly digitized world, and small businesses and solopreneurs have become prime targets for cybercriminals. The 2023 Business Impact Report, conducted by the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), sheds light on a concerning trend: a sharp rise in cyberattacks on these smaller entities. This annual report reveals that 73% of small business owners and leaders experienced data breaches or cyberattacks in the past year, a significant increase.
With November demonstrating multiple increases when compared to various previous time periods, new data signals that we may be in for a bumpy ride in 2024. It’s nice when we get to see reports that are published relatively quickly to let us get a sense of where cyberattacks are today versus, say, a quarter or two ago (or even last year!). The NCCGroup’s Cyber Threat Intelligence Report was just published and covers ransomware attacks through November of this year.
Top tips is a weekly column where we highlight what’s trending in the tech world and list ways to explore these trends. This week we’re looking at three ways you can avoid falling victim to a vishing attack. Huge discounts, massive promotional campaigns, and a cheerful festive spirit—the holiday season is officially in full swing! ‘Tis the season of joy and giving, but it looks like some people may have missed the memo.
Did you know that nine out of 10 companies detected software supply chain risks in the past 12 months? The increase in the number of dependencies in a supply chain has extended the attack surface for adversaries. It has also caused threat actors to shift their focus from the downstream chain affecting just end users to the upstream chain affecting vendors, customers, and end users alike.
Cybercriminals are increasingly using QR codes in their phishing campaigns to trick users and obtain their email account information, credentials, or sensitive data. This tactic to obtain credentials known as quishing, or QR code phishing, was first observed at scale in May of this year, when a group of cybercriminals spoofed Microsoft security alerts asking employees across multiple industries to scan a QR code to update their account security settings.
A recent article from The Hacker News highlights the challenges and significance of cybersecurity awareness training within organizations. As companies budget for 2024, many are allocating funds for employee security awareness training. However, the effectiveness of such training has come into question, given the behaviors in the workplace including phishing attacks and social engineering.
As more cybercriminal gangs continue to enter the game, the massive increase in unique types of malware means it will become increasingly difficult to identify and stop attacks. Blackberry just put out their Global Threat Intelligence Report in November, covering June through August of this year. According to the report, the number of attacks identified and stopped in the three-month period covered equates to an average of 26 attacks per minute.
An email account takeover is a type of account takeover attack in which a cybercriminal gains unauthorized access to a user’s email account. Cybercriminals can gain access by stealing your email’s login credentials or finding them on the dark web. When a cybercriminal has gained access to your email account, they can lock you out of your account, monitor your activity, access your sensitive information, take over other accounts and impersonate you.
Read also: Microsoft takes legal action against cybercrime syndicate, the UK imposed first-ever sanctions for cyber fraud, and more.
The exploitation of the CitrixBleed vulnerability in Netscale by a variety of ransomware groups has led to a widespread disruption of services across several industry sectors, including financial services, healthcare and real estate. Dozens of companies are now trying to recover from these attacks, with some being unable to conduct operations due to the severity of the attack. The other reason could be they did not have a good incident response and recovery plan in place.
On December 14, 2023, the Ledger Connect Kit was compromised, allowing attackers to drain users’ wallets on dozens of decentralized apps. Fireblocks’ customers were not impacted by the attack. Fireblocks dApp Protection, the latest security feature in our DeFi solution, detected and prevented customers from unknowingly interacting with the impacted dApps.
Southern Illinois Healthcare oversees the operations of Harrisburg Medical Center (HMC), a not-for-profit community hospital with over 70 beds and 140 physicians. They are partnered with other clinics in the area, providing a comprehensive healthcare network for residents in the region. HMC suffered a network data breach nearly a year ago.
Software package hijacking has become a prominent concern for individuals, businesses, and the cybersecurity community at large. We’ve seen this new threat trend rise over the past couple of years, with the potential to severely impact the software supply chain by attackers exploiting software packages to execute malicious code. This blog post details a case study conducted by our security research team, in an effort to trace the typical time before a package hijack is detected.
Researchers at Nisos warn that North Korean threat actors are impersonating skilled job seekers in order to obtain remote employment at US companies. “The identified personas claim to have highly sought-after technical skills and experience and often represent themselves as U.S.-based teleworkers, but Nisos investigators found indications that they are based abroad,” the researchers write.
APT28 exploits a critical Outlook vulnerability, QR phishing campaigns grow more complex, and an SQL brute force attack results in BlueSky ransomware.
Even when looking at the various kinds of risks to business, cyber attacks still remain the biggest problem. But new data shows there may be a lesson to be learned to minimize losses. Aon’s Global Risk Management Survey, nearly 3,000 organizations across 61 countries were asked about sources of business risk. In the report, “Cyber Attack/Data Breach” was the #1 current risk and #1 future risk seen by organizations.
Cybersecurity breaches are at epidemic proportions; in the last two years, cybercriminals have stolen over 2.6 billion consumer records from thousands of organizations. The breaches target more than individuals—they target data from healthcare networks, academic institutions, small businesses, and governments. The attacks come at a destructive cost. Where criminals use personal information for extortion, and the trust of the public is ever-decreasing.
During a cyber attack, malicious actors often breach an organization’s perimeter security with tactics like vulnerability exploitation and phishing. Once inside, they attempt to navigate the organization’s network to escalate their privileges and steal or encrypt data—but here they often face sophisticated endpoint detection and response (EDR) systems designed to identify and prevent this type of activity.
An identity-based attack is a type of cyber attack that targets and compromises the digital identity of individuals and organizations. In this type of attack, a cybercriminal tries to steal, alter and misuse an individual’s identity-related information such as their login credentials, domain names, personal data or digital certificates.
On November 25, the U.S. municipal water authority in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania confirmed that one of its booster stations had suffered an attack by a threat actor group that supports Iranian geopolitical interests. The attack by a cyber group known as CyberAv3ngers compromised a programmable logic controller (PLC) for a water pressure monitoring and regulation system. Officials, however, have made it clear that the incident did not threaten local drinking water or water supplies.
East River Medical Imaging (ERMI) has three locations in New York City and Westchester County. ERMI is a “multi-modality radiology center,” including patient-centered solutions like MRIs, CTs, ultrasounds, imaging, radiology, fluoroscopy, and x-rays. They have served New York since 1970 and have a long history of high-quality patient care. At the end of August, an unauthorized actor accessed their network—exposing sensitive information from employees and patients.
Over sixty credit unions across the United States have been taken offline following a ransomware attack at one of their technology providers - demonstrating once again the damage that can be caused by a supply-chain attack. There are a few moving parts here, so here’s a quick summary: Trellance - A provider of solutions and services used by credit unions, and the parent company of FedComp. FedComp - a provider of software and services that enable credit unions to operate around the world.
The attack last week on the Municipal Water Authority in Aliquippa, Penn., that gave threat actors access to a portion of the facility’s pumping equipment has spurred the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)and WaterISAC to each issue incident reports and raised multiple questions regarding the site’s security and potential danger to similar plants.
In 2015, Family Dollar acquired its biggest competitor, Dollar Tree. Family Dollar is one-half of a consumer’s dream; they offer low-priced goods for families in 8,200 locations nationwide. The other half of the business offers even lower deals. Dollar Tree provides options for $1 purchases at 15,000 locations throughout the states. Now, branches are sporting both company’s colors, wares, and deals.
