Malware

15 Mar

Beware of Bank-Related Scams

Attacks, Insights, Malware

In light of recent bank failures, CISA warns consumers to beware of potential scams requesting your money or sensitive personal information. Exercise caution in handling emails with bank-related subject lines, attachments, or links. In addition, be wary of social media pleas, texts, or door-to-door solicitations relating to any failed bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the “Receiver” of failed banks, would never contact you asking for personal details, such as bank account information, credit…

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15 Mar

WaterISAC Releases Advisory for Microsoft DCOM Patch

Attacks, Insights, Malware

The Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (WaterISAC) has released an advisory, Potential for Mandatory Microsoft DCOM Patch to Disrupt SCADA. ICS/OT/SCADA engineers and operators should assess the use of the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) protocol in their industrial environments. According to WaterISAC, “failure to address could result in loss of critical communications between impacted ICS/OT/SCADA devices.” CISA urges operators to review the WaterISAC advisory and apply recommended compensating controls. See Microsoft KB5004442—Manage changes for…

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15 Mar

CISA Releases SCuBA Hybrid Identity Solutions Architecture Guidance Document for Public Comment

Attacks, Insights, Malware

CISA has released a draft Secure Cloud Business Applications (SCuBA) Hybrid Identity Solutions Architecture guidance document for public comment. The request for comment period is open until April 17, 2023. Comments may be submitted to CyberSharedServices@cisa.dhs.gov. In accordance with Executive Order 14028, CISA’s SCuBA project aims to develop consistent, effective, modern, and manageable security that will help secure agency information assets stored within cloud operations. This guidance will help federal civilian departments and agencies securely…

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15 Mar

Beyond Identity launches Zero Trust Authentication to align verification with zero-trust principles

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

Multifactor authentication (MFA) provider Beyond Identity has announced the launch of Zero Trust Authentication — a sub-category of zero trust security that the firm says aligns verification with zero-trust principles. Zero Trust Authentication has several key features including passwordless capability and phishing resistance that allow businesses to verify the identities of people and devices with zero-trust-level certainty, according to Beyond Identity. Without such enhanced verification capacities, organizations cannot truly implement zero trust security, it said.…

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15 Mar

Trustwave teams up with Trellix for better managed security

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

Managed detection and response (MDR) company Trustwave said Wednesday that it will be partnering with extended detection and response (XDR) company Trellix. The partnership calls for Trustwave to support Trellix endpoint security and to sell  MDR with Trellix, Trustwave said. MDR, as offered by Trustwave, essentially works as a remote, third-party security operations center. The idea is, given the growing complexity of modern security threat landscapes, to let end user companies simply offload key parts…

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14 Mar

DNS data shows one in 10 organizations have malware traffic on their networks

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

During every quarter last year, between 10% and 16% of organizations had DNS traffic originating on their networks towards command-and-control (C2) servers associated with known botnets and various other malware threats, according to a report from cloud and content delivery network provider Akamai. More than a quarter of that traffic went to servers belonging to initial access brokers, attackers who sell access into corporate networks to other cybercriminals, the report stated. “As we analyzed malicious…

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14 Mar

Government Entities Attacked by Threat Actor Using Recent Fortinet Exploit

Attacks, Malware

As always, companies should patch as soon as their vulnerability management process allows. Additionally, this is a reminder that the true criticality of a CVE is dependent on multiple factors, and depending on an organization’s specific environment, threat model, and attack surface area the vulnerability may be more relevant or dangerous than the assigned CVSS score. For detection, companies may be able to leverage netflow data compared against a baseline of normal netflow to identify…

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14 Mar

LA Housing Authority Discloses Data Breach After Ransomware Attack

Attacks, Malware

It is highly recommended that individuals who may have been affected by the breach to monitor their financial accounts and credit reports for any signs of fraudulent activity. Affected individuals should also take steps to protect themselves from identity theft, such as placing a fraud alert or security freeze on their credit reports. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/la-housing-authority-discloses-data-breach-after-ransomware-attack/

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14 Mar

Today, CISA is announcing the…

Attacks, Insights, Malware

Today, CISA is announcing the creation of the Ransomware Vulnerability Warning Pilot (RVWP). Through the RVWP, CISA:      Proactively identifies information systems—belonging to critical infrastructure entities—that contain vulnerabilities commonly associated with ransomware intrusions. Notifies the owners of the affected information systems, which enables the owners to mitigate the vulnerabilities before damaging intrusions occur.  Review the RVWP webpage for details, including information on the authorities and services CISA leverages to enable RVWP notifications.  

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14 Mar

Universities and colleges cope silently with ransomware attacks

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

Although some cybersecurity researchers say that ransomware attacks are on the downswing as cybercriminals face declining payments, a spate of recent ransomware attacks makes it feel like the scourge is continuing at the same, or even an elevated, pace. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the higher education sector, with at least eight colleges and universities in North America reporting ransomware attacks since December 2022. Among recent incidents are: On December 30, 2022 Bristol…

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