The Good

With cloud environments facing an ongoing battle against complex cyber threats, the NCSC stepped in to help SMBs enhance cloud service security. Account takeovers are the ultimate impersonation tactic and pose a significant threat. To tackle it, a research group devised a method to quickly identify account takeover vulnerabilities before criminals abuse them.

• The NCSC-U.K released a guideline, named Using Online Services Safely, to help SMBs reduce the likelihood of cyberattacks when using cloud services. Some of the recommendations include having a backup for critical data and protecting admin accounts. The guidelines aim to protect organizations’ data, assets, and reputations from rising cybercrimes.

• The Australian Cyber Security Center published a guideline on how business leaders can secure their devices, social media accounts, and communication channels from cyber threats. Some recommendations include enabling MFA, updating software and applications, installing programs from trusted sources, enabling security features on messaging apps, using screen locks on all devices, and backing up important files.

• Computer science researchers developed a new method to identify security weaknesses that make people vulnerable to account takeover attacks, where unauthorized access is gained to online accounts. They found that device manufacturers and app developers could adopt the method to understand complex hacking attacks and improve security measures.

• Amidst the surge in the adoption of AI technologies globally, the Aspen Institute, in collaboration with Global Cybersecurity Working Groups, released a list of cybersecurity recommendations for governments and industries to mitigate the security risks related to AI. Some of these recommendations include ensuring rules of engagement, reviewing logs, and improving understanding of AI software.

The Bad

It wasn’t a great month for some entities in the crypto industry including the likes of Orbit Chain and Ripple as millions were lost. Meanwhile, LockBit looked determined with several victims under its belt with Foxsemicon and Capital Health to name a few. Schneider Electric and Mercedes-Benz also suffered breaches in separate incidents.

• Ripple co-founder and executive chairman, Chris Larsen, fell victim to a cryptocurrency theft, losing around $112 million worth of XRP from his personal wallet. The hackers targeted Larsen's accounts, while the official @Ripple account remained unaffected. Larsen, along with support from other exchanges, swiftly detected the fraudulent activity and froze the compromised address. The theft involved an attempt to launder the stolen funds through various crypto exchanges and platforms.

• Concentra Health Services, a Texas-based therapy provider, disclosed a data breach impacting nearly 4 million patients due to a hack at Perry Johnson & Associates (PJ&A), a medical transcription vendor. The PJ&A incident, affecting at least 14 million patients, involved unauthorized access to PJ&A's network between March 27, 2023, and May 2, 2023. Concentra, Northwell Health, Crouse Health, and others were affected.

• The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) revealed that it experienced a ransomware attack. While services such as fixed-route buses and paratransit remain unaffected, call centers faced operational disruptions. The Medusa ransomware gang claimed responsibility for the attack and demanded $2 million in ransom. To extend the deadline for payment, the group has asked to pay $100,000/day.

• Schneider Electric suffered a data breach in its Sustainability Business division. The Cactus ransomware group claimed responsibility, asserting the theft of terabytes of corporate data. The incident disrupted Schneider Electric's Resource Advisor cloud platform services, while other company divisions remained unaffected. Notably, experts are unaware of the presence of the ransomware group’s leak site.

• Researchers from RedHunt Labs discovered a significant security lapse at Mercedes-Benz, where a private key and authentication token were unintentionally left accessible online. The exposed token could provide unrestricted access to the company's GitHub Enterprise Server, resulting in the exposure of source code, cloud access keys, blueprints, single sign-on passwords, API keys, and more. The affected repositories also contained Azure and AWS credentials.

• An unsecured storage instance leaked over 12TB of data, including 26 billion records, from several companies such as X, Tencent, Weibo, Dropbox, LinkedIn, Adobe, and Canva, among others. The leak also included records of various government organizations in the U.S., Brazil, Germany, Turkey, and the Philippines.

• A ransomware group called Slug claimed that it stole 1TB of data in an attack at AerCap, the world's largest aircraft leasing company. While the group revealed no further information, the firm claimed in the SEC filing that there was no financial loss and that all systems were under control.

• Semiconductor manufacturer Foxsemicon and healthcare service provider Capital Health fell victim to a LockBit ransomware attack last month. It threatened to leak 7TB of allegedly stolen data from Capital Health. In another instance, the group added two new victims to its dark web portal - Maisons de l’Avenir in France and Shinwa Co in Japan.

• A €10 million ($11 million) ransom demand followed after a crippling attack on the Calvià City Council in Majorca, Spain, impacting municipal services. Administrative deadlines were suspended until January 31. Forensic analysis was underway to understand the impact of the attack. While citizen services were reachable by phone, urgent document submissions can be made through the General State Administration portal. The mayor refused to pay the ransom.

• Melbourne-based travel agency Inspiring Vacations experienced a significant data leak, with a 26.8GB database left publicly accessible without any security measures. The database contained 112,605 records, including high-resolution passport images, travel visa certificates, itinerary or ticket files, and personal information of 13,684 customers. The incident also impacted internal company documents, including 17,000 tax invoices to partners and affiliates.

• A cyberattack at VF Corp affected the personal data of 35.5 million customers. The firm reported the data breach to regulators in a filing, however, there was no mention of the kind of data stolen in the attack. ALPHV (or BlackCat) ransomware group claimed credit for the breach.

• Documents belonging to the Swiss Air Force were leaked on the dark web following a data breach at U.S. security company Ultra Intelligence & Communications. The breach, attributed to the BlackCat ransomware group, exposed approximately 30GB of sensitive data, including a $5 million contract between the Swiss Department of Defence and Ultra Intelligence & Communications for encrypted communication technology.

• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia suffered a massive data breach that exposed the personal information of more than 1.4 million employees. The incident came to light after a threat actor named Zelda shared details of the data breach on a dark web forum, along with a 600MB file containing records of ID, GUID, Arabic names, display names, full names, associated departments, and job titles of employees.

• Orbit Chain lost $86 million in Ether, Dai, Tether, and USD Coin in a security breach. Although the identity and origin of the attackers could not be determined immediately, it is believed to be the work of state-sponsored attackers based out of North Korea. The blockchain platform was working with South Korean police authorities to track the stolen funds and warned users to be wary of phishing sites pretending to be connected with their wallets.

• A hacker group, identified as ‘irleaks’, claimed to have stolen more than 3TB of data associated with Snappfood, an online food delivery service in Iran. This included 130 million records containing details of over 20 million customers, data from 180 million devices, information of 35,000 bikers, and records of 240,000 vendors. The company acknowledged the breach.

New Threats

Threats against Ivanti VPN and solutions intensified with more vulnerabilities being reported around the end of the month. Separately, Phobos operators launched a new ransomware variant dubbed FAUST. Added to the macOS malware threats list is SpectralBlur. Watch out!

• While zero-day vulnerabilities in Ivanti Connect Secure VPN devices continue to face exploitation attempts, two newly discovered high-severity vulnerabilities surfaced in its Connect Secure and Policy Secure solutions. In an update, Ivanti clarified that the patches for the two zero-day vulnerabilities revealed earlier will be delayed. Thousands of systems have already been compromised by cybercriminals and more appear to be on the way if users don’t take precautionary measures.
• A threat actor was found uploading malicious packages to the PyPI repository, delivering an information-stealing malware called WhiteSnake Stealer. The campaign, tracked as PYTA31 by Checkmarx, aims to exfiltrate sensitive data, including crypto wallet information. While Windows systems infected with the packages deploy Whitesnake Stealer, Linux hosts run a Python script for information harvesting. The malware targets web browsers, cryptocurrency wallets, and other applications.
• FortiGuard Labs exposed a fresh attack vector involving the FAUST ransomware, a Phobos variant. The attackers employed a Visual Basic script in an Office document to propagate FAUST. They utilized the Gitea service to store encoded files, initiating a file encryption attack when injected into a system's memory. The ransomware employs advanced evasion tactics, adds persistence, and carries an exclusion list.
• Alpha, a newly discovered ransomware group emerged, launching its Dedicated/Data Leak Site (DLS) on the Dark Web. Despite its recent appearance. The ransomware appends a random 8-character alphanumeric extension to encrypted files, and its DLS, titled "MYDATA," is considered unstable and frequently offline. Victims, spanning various sectors in the U.K, the U.S., and Israel, were featured on the site.
• A sensitive security flaw in the GNU C library could allow malicious local attackers to gain full root access on Linux machines. Exploiting this flaw required specific conditions but could lead to significant consequences due to the widespread use of the affected library. The vulnerability impacts major Linux distributions, including Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora. Three additional flaws, including CVE-2023-6779, CVE-2023-6780, and a bug in the qsort() function, were also identified in glibc.
• Security researchers uncovered SpectralBlur, a new macOS backdoor linked to the North Korean malware family KandyKorn. The sample, which is believed to have links with the Lazarus group, was uploaded to VirusTotal in August 2023 but went undetected until recently. The malware’s capabilities include file operations, shell execution, and communication with a command-and-control server using RC4-encrypted sockets.
• Researchers discovered a supply chain attack called MavenGate that allowed hackers to hijack Java and Android apps by exploiting vulnerabilities in the dependency repositories. The attack impacted over 200 companies, including Google, Facebook, Signal, and Amazon. Researchers suggested using DNS TXT records for identity confirmation in group ID registration.
• Researchers discovered an updated version of a backdoor malware called LODEINFO, distributed through spear-phishing attacks. The malware, attributed to the Chinese nation-state actor Stone Panda, had evolved to include new features and anti-analysis techniques. It could execute arbitrary shellcode, take screenshots, and exfiltrate files.
• ESET researchers laid bare a sophisticated implant called NSPX30, developed by a new China-aligned APT group named Blackwood. It has been used in cyberespionage operations targeting individuals and companies in China, Japan, and the U.K. The implant includes an orchestrator, backdoor, and plugins, and can extract various data from compromised systems.
• Microsoft reported Mint Sandstorm, an Iranian APT35 subgroup, using spear-phishing to target researchers and university staff in the U.S., Belgium, France, Gaza, Israel, the and U.K. Employing custom phishing lures, the hackers deliver a new, evasive backdoor called MediaPl. This malware disguises itself as Windows Media Player, utilizing encrypted communication channels to interact with its command-and-control server.
• Security researchers discovered more than 178,000 SonicWall NGFW appliances vulnerable to potential DoS and RCE attacks. Two DoS security flaws, tracked as CVE-2022-22274 and CVE-2023-0656, affect these appliances. While SonicWall PSIRT claims no knowledge of these vulnerabilities being exploited in the wild, the exposure posed a significant risk.
• A new Python-based hacking called FBot was found targeting web servers, cloud services, CMS, and SaaS platforms such as AWS, Microsoft 365, PayPal, Sendgrid, and Twilio. Criminals appeared to hijack these services and harvest credentials to obtain initial access and monetize it by selling the access to other actors. Besides, the tool contains multiple utilities, such as an IP address generator and port scanner.