Cyber Security News & Trends

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This week, SonicWall talks protecting non-profits, new cybercrime laws are proposed, and old cybercrime laws are criticized.

SonicWall Spotlight

Don’t Let Cyber Hygiene Become an Afterthought – Nonprofit Technology News

  • With most of the big headlines concentrating on breaches and cyberattacks on large companies, SonicWall CEO Bill Conner, writing in Nonprofit Technology News, reminds us that cybercriminals know that SMBs and smaller non-profits often do not budget adequately for cybersecurity and can leave themselves open.

The Big Picture: SonicWall Sets Sights on the Enterprise Market – Tahawultech

  • SonicWall’s Terry Greer-King sits down with Security Advisor ME to discuss the history of SonicWall, personal highlights in the company so far, and what the future holds.

Cybersecurity News

Cyberattack on a Major Bank Would Have Ripple Effect: Study – BankInfoSecurity

  • A new study, Cyber Risk and the U.S. Financial System: A Pre-Mortem Analysis, has found that if a cyberattack disrupting money transfers was successfully carried out on any of the five most active U.S. banks, there would be huge, rippling damage to the financial network in general.

Analysis Ties Hacking of Bezos’ Phone to Saudi Leader’s Account – New York Times

  • A forensic analysis of Jeff Bezos’ cellphone has found with “medium to high confidence” that the Amazon chief’s device was hacked after he received a video from a WhatsApp account reportedly belonging to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia.

Secret Service to Launch Private-Sector Cybercrime Council – Cyberscoop

  • The United States Secret Service has recently hand-picked a small group of private-sector cybersecurity experts to advise the agency’s investigations team on how it can better take down cybercriminals. Members were selected to represent a wide array of experiences including law enforcement, computer scientists, network security, malware, ransomware, identity theft and more.

Cybercrime Laws Need Urgent Reform to Protect UK, Says Report – The Guardian

  • A new report in the UK has found that the current cybercrime laws, dating back to 1990, are not fit for purpose and “crying out for reform.” As it stands, the act exposes cybersecurity professionals to prosecution for carrying out intelligence research against cybercriminals and foreign state actors.

US Could Appoint a Cybersecurity Leader for Each State – InfoSecurity Magazine

  • US Legislators are proposing the Cybersecurity State Coordinator Act of 2020, which would improve intelligence sharing between state and federal governments and appoint an employee in each state to serve as cybersecurity state coordinator.

GDPR: 160,000 Data Breaches Reported Already, so Expect the Big Fines to Follow – ZDNet

  • It has been 18 months since GDPR regulation came into force but there’s no sign of breach notifications slowing, in fact they are currently rising with an average of 278 per day.
And Finally

Euro Cup and Olympics Ticket Reseller Hit by MageCart – Bleeping Computer

  • Magecart continues its reign of terror as an Olympics and Euro Cup ticketing reseller site is the latest to be infected by the card skimmer.

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Cyber Security News & Trends

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This week, SonicWall experts explain why the Dustman attack likely originates from Iran, the NSA publishes a major exploit in Microsoft ECC Certs, and Emotet makes a return after a holiday-season break.

SonicWall Spotlight

Security Advisor January 2020 – Tahulwheltech

  • SonicWall’s VP for EMEA Sales, Terry Greer-King, sits down with Security Advisor Middle East, and sheds some light on how SonicWall has become a major cybersecurity player in the Enterprise space with a “direct touch” approach and unrivaled security innovations.

The US is Worried about Iran Retaliating with a Cyberattack – Vox

  • As tensions between the US and Iran simmered in recent days, eyes have turned to Iran’s arsenal of cyberattack capabilities. Speaking to Vox SonicWall CEO Bill Conner stresses that American businesses must use the situation to bolster their cyberdefenses.

Dustman Attack Underscores Iran’s Cyber Capabilities – Dark Reading

  • A malware known as Dustman attacked Bahrain’s national oil company in a cyberattack in late December. SonicWall’s Dmitiry Ayrapetov explains to Dark Reading why an Iran-backed group is likely the likely source of the attack as they investigate the attack.

Landry’s Malware Attack Highlights Need for Stronger Data Security – Channel Futures

  • SonicWall CEO Bill Conner explains to Channel Futures that the recent attack on Landry’s is just one of several attacks that should not even be happening because large companies have the budget to afford the best in cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity News

Cybersecurity Threats Call for a Global Response – IMF Blog

  • The International Monetary Fund calls for a unified worldwide response to cyberthreats, listing four areas where the international community can come together to work better – understanding of the risks; improving collaboration; consistent regulatory approaches, and being ready for cyberattacks when they do happen.

60% of US politicians haven’t upgraded their cybersecurity since 2016 – MIT Technology Review

  • Despite controversy over alleged cyberattacks in the 2016 US Presidential campaign, a new poll of 500 high-risk users found that 60% of them have not upgraded their cybersecurity in the intervening years.

Proof-of-Concept Exploits Published for the Microsoft-NSA Crypto bug – ZDNet

  • Microsoft released a security update this week that includes a fix to a dangerous bug discovered and reported to them by the NSA. With the bug being described as “seriously, seriously bad” it only took 48 hours for two proof-of-concept exploits for the vulnerability to be published.

Unprotected Medical Systems Expose Data on Millions of Patients – SecurityWeek

  • New research and analysis has found that hundreds of internet-connected and unprotected medical imaging systems worldwide are exposing data of millions of patients. The most badly affected country is the USA where over 800 institutions have been exposed.

Renewed Emotet Phishing Activity Targets UN, Government and Military Users – SC Magazine

  • After a massive drop in attacks in December 2019, the Emotet botnet and banking trojan renewed attacks in January 2019, launching a massive phishing campaign targeting high profile organizations like the United Nations.

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Cyber Security News & Trends

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This week, SonicWall warnings about school districts under cyberattack prove prophetic as a new bill to protect K-12 districts is introduced, and do you know that the first ransomware attack was 30 years ago?

SonicWall Spotlight

US Senators Introduce Bill to Protect Schools Against Cyber-Threats – Infosecurity Magazine

  • SonicWall CEO Bill Conner weighs in on the importance of cybersecurity in school districts, commenting on a new bill introduced to the US House of Representatives this week. The bill is designed to enhance the cybersecurity of K–12 schools in a year where they have suffered heavily under cyberattacks.

Cybersecurity News

Hackers Steal Data for 15 Million Patients, Then Sell It Back to Lab That Lost It – Ars Technica

  • Canada’s biggest provider of lab testing services has confirmed it suffered a data breach, with info as old as 2016 accessed. It has also admitted that it made “a payment” to the hackers to retrieve the data, without disclosing exactly how much was paid.

Oil and Gas Industry Risks Escalate, Cybersecurity Should Be Prioritized – HelpNetSecurity

  • A new in-depth report draws on a decade’s worth of cyberattack data in the oil and gas industries, calling for a strengthening of cybersecurity as the risks continue to escalate.

Mobile Devices Account for 41% of DDoS Attack Traffic – Dark Reading

  • While the image DDoS attacks conjure up might be one of racks of computers all being harnessed, the reality right now is that around half of the traffic is now coming from mobile and IoT devices. A newly released report on DDoS attacks looking deeply into the current DDoS threat landscape also finds that China, Turkey, the US, and South Korea are the main sources of the attacks.

WhatsApp Updated to Patch Bug That Allows Attacker to Crash Group Chats – Washington Times

  • Another WhatsApp bug has been discovered and patched. This particular vulnerability allowed a user to send a malicious message to a group chat that would cause the app on every participant’s mobile device to continuously crash.

Maze Ransomware Gang Dumps Purported Victim List – BankInfoSecurity

  • In the latest escalation of ransomware attacks, the gang behind the Maze ransomware is threatening to name and shame victims if they do not pay the ransom. Proving they can make good on their threat, last month the gang published data stolen from a security services firm who did not pay.

10 Cybersecurity Stories in 2019 That Make Us Feel Less Secure – Tech Republic

  • Before looking to the future, we have to look to the past. Tech Republic lists the top 10 2019 cybersecurity stories that worry them the most, including the Capital One breach, juice jacking, and the number of adware attacks like xHelper and Joker in the Android ecosystem.
And Finally

30 Years of Ransomware: How One Bizarre Attack Laid the Foundations for the Malware Taking Over the World – ZDNet

  • Thirty years ago, the first ransomware attack was launched… on a floppy disk… with a PO Box to pay the ransom by postal order or check.

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Cyber Security News & Trends

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This week, SonicWall Capture Threat Labs releases data on cyberattacks over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday period, and the cybercriminals involved in the attacks put the stolen data up for sale.

SonicWall Spotlight

Veiled Threats: The Growing Cyberattack Vectors Few People Talk About – Forbes

  • While many people are aware that malware attacks like ransomware can happen through a phishing email or an infected USB key, less well known are the attacks that use encryption or launch using non-standard ports. SonicWall CEO Bill Conner discusses the growth of these veiled threats, and how SonicWall protects from them, in his latest Forbes Technology Council post.

Black Friday Cyberattacks: Businesses Face Surge of Malware, Ransomware on U.S. Shopping Holiday – SonicWall Blog

  • The SonicWall Capture Threat Labs threat researchers releases data on cyberattacks across the 2019 Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday period. In general, there was as much as a 63% surge in malware attacks over the shopping window, with attackers concentrating more on Black Friday than on Cyber Monday.

SonicWall and Veeam Enhance Managed Service Support – Computer Weekly

  • SonicWall’s recently launched My Workspace is covered by Computer Weekly, including SonicWall’s Terry Greer-King explaining why the technology is needed as more customers plan to move to a shared model or fully MSSP mode.

Cybersecurity News

The FBI Is Warning That Your Smart Home Devices Aren’t Secure. Here’s What You Should Do About It – Inc

  • Despite a recent FBI warning about cyberthreats attacking via the Internet of Things, the truth is that most smart devices currently have almost no cybersecurity. With this in mind, Inc takes a look how to protect your network from cyberattacks, with reference to SonicWall firewalls.

A $200,000 Internet Fraud: Will Anyone Investigate? – BankInfoSecurity

  • The story of a $200,000 phony bank scam exposes the difficulty in getting law enforcement agencies to investigate all but the highest profile internet fraud.

The Case for Cyber Insurance – Security Week

  • As the ongoing case between Mondelez and Zurich American Insurance highlights the complexities in deciding whether or not a cyberattack can be defined as a nation state attack, Security Week makes the case for specifically buying cyber insurance.

TrickBot Gang Is Now a Malware Supplier for North Korean Hackers – ZDNet

  • A newly published report finds that he authors of Trickbot, one of today’s top three malware botnets, has been linked to a North Korea state-sponsored hacking group known as Lazarus.

Cost of Data Breaches in 2019: The 4 Worst Hits on the Corporate Wallet – Security Boulevard

  • British Airways, Capital One, Marriott… some of the biggest breaches in recent times only started to affect the companies involved in 2019. These are not the biggest data breaches by volume, but by cost.
And Finally

Joker’s Stash Celebrates Turkey Day With Stolen Card Data – BankInfoSecurity

  • This week, a huge batch of card details stolen over the Thanksgiving shopping period appeared for sale online, with a price tag of half a million dollars. Successful use of Magecart card-skimming software is the most likely to blame.

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Cyber Security News & Trends

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This week, SonicWall strengthens MSSP security offerings, cyberthreats to the upcoming census, and the end of decade lists begin.

SonicWall Spotlight

SonicWall Strengthens MSSP Security Offerings, Simplifies Account Management, Product Registration, Licensing Control. – SonicWall Press Release

553: Opening a Spin-off’s Liberated Growth Chapter – CFO Thought Leader podcast

  • How do you take a business unit, extract it, and set it up to be a running company on its own, all within one year? SonicWall CFO Ravi Chopra sits down with the CFO Thought Leader podcast and explains exactly how he did it with SonicWall. He also discusses his career path, his experiences in the dot com crash, and how he learns from his mentors.

Cybersecurity Should Be the Core Pillar of Any Modern Digital Hospital: Dmitriy Ayrapetov – The Economic Times of India

  • SonicWall’s Dmitriy Ayapetov is interviewed talking about the impact of cyberattacks on the health industry – with ransomware attacks growing and the rise of the Cloud and Internet of Things devices leading to potentially many new entry points for a cybercriminal, he stresses the need for greater cybersecurity awareness.

Cybersecurity News

Black Friday UK: Just One in 20 Discounts Are Genuine, Research Finds – The Guardian (UK)

  • Research by consumer group Which? Has found that the majority of Black Friday deals are sold at the same price or cheaper throughout the year. SonicWall figures on ransomware are also referred to, highlighting the increase in cyberattacks around the Black Friday period.

Special Report: 2020 U.S. Census Plagued by Hacking Threats, Cost Overruns – Reuters

  • An in-depth investigation into the upcoming 2020 US census has found that despite a major technology overhaul, fears of hacking attempts are running high and a lack of adequate training and understanding of cybersecurity risks internally is not helping.

Report Highlights Nation-State Cyberthreats Facing SMBs in 2020 – Tech Republic

  • A new survey of over 1000 cybersecurity officials working at SMBs has found that more than 60% of respondents intend to increase their cybersecurity budgets next year due to growing fears of cyberattacks from both at home and abroad, especially during the upcoming elections.

India Plans Security Audit of WhatsApp After Hacking Attempt – Reuters

  • The Indian government is pushing for a security audit of WhatsApp after revelations emerged last month that spyware inserted by surveillance groups allowed access to the phones of roughly 1400 users.

44 Million Microsoft Users Reused Passwords in the First Three Months of 2019 – ZDNet

  • Microsoft has completed an audit of their accounts and found that 44 million people are still using usernames and passwords that were leaked online in 2019. A forced password reset has been enacted to help solve the problem.

FBI Issues Smart TV Cybersecurity Warning – Infosecurity Magazine

  • The Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued a warning to holiday shoppers over the cyber-risks an unsecured smart TV might pose to a household. Default passwords should be changed, and a familiarization of all connection options is recommended at a bare minimum.
And Finally

A Decade of Malware: Top Botnets of the 2010s – ZDNet

  • It’s the end of a decade, and with it comes the lists! ZDNet round up some of the biggest, in both size and infamy, botnets that hit throughout the 2010s, including those old favorites, Emotet, Trickbot, and Dridex.

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Cyber Security News & Trends

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This week, SonicWall is looking for Beta Testers for the SonicWall Community, Ransomware-as-a-Service is put under the spotlight, and Disney+ accounts are hacked only hours after going live.

SonicWall Spotlight

SonicWall Leads Series a Round Funding in Zero-Trust Security Provider Perimeter 81 – SonicWall Press Release

  • SonicWall has signed a commercial agreement for the development of joint solutions with Perimeter 81. This agreement means that we are able to provide a wide range of businesses, from SMBs to Fortune 500s and governments, with SonicWall’s award-winning Capture Cloud Platform and real-time breach detection and prevention solutions, while also allowing them to adopt a zero-trust security architecture that delivers tremendous efficacy in securing the modern organization.

Call for Beta Testers – The SonicWall Community

  • SonicWall is delighted to announce that it will be launching the SonicWall Community in 2020. The community will be a place where our customers, partners and product experts can collaborate to share knowledge, experiences, resources and opinions. Do register your interest if you are want to be a beta tester for our pilot community.

The CyberWire Daily Podcast – The Cyberwire

  • The CyberWire Daily Podcast rounds up the cybersecurity news each day and SonicWall CEO Bill Conner makes an appearance on Thursday 21st of November, discussing the Q3 threat intelligence data from SonicWall Capture Labs.

Ransomware-as-a-Service: SaaS for Cyber Criminals – SC Magazine (UK)

  • Ransomware’s simplicity and lucrativeness as a form of cyberattack has led to a growth in what is known as Ransomware-as-a-Service – a user-friendly version of ransomware that can easily be deployed with minimal technical knowledge. SonicWall CEO Bill Conner explains how it works, why it is so popular, and how to fight it in SC Magazine.

Cybersecurity News

1.2 Billion Records Found Exposed Online in a Single Server – Wired

  • A researcher has found a database containing over a billion records on an easily accessed, unsecured server. The data does not contain passwords or financial information, but does contain phone numbers, social profiles, and work histories of the huge number of those affected.

Thousands of Hacked Disney+ Accounts Are Already for Sale on Hacking Forums – ZDNet

  • Hackers hijacked Disney+ accounts and put them up for sale within hours of the service launching this week. Prices for the details of account vary from $3 to $11 on online forums, in comparison to a legitimate subscription that costs a user $7 a month.

WhatsApp Remote Code Execution Triggered by Videos – Threat Post

  • A newly discovered vulnerability in WhatsApp was discovered and quietly patched this week. The flaw would allow an attacker to target a user simply by sending them an MP4 file by WhatsApp. There is no evidence that the vulnerability had been exploited in the wild before the patch was sent out.

Attacks on Healthcare Jump 60% in 2019 – so Far – Dark Reading

  • A new report has named the healthcare system as the seventh-most targeted industry by malware, but also an industry that is still dragging its heels when it comes to preparedness, with a large number of legacy hardware and software systems still in use.

Financial Advisors Need to Put Cybersecurity Plans to the Test – CNBC

  • The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has released cybersecurity guidance for financial advisory firms. The simple message of this notice is that no firm is too small to have cybersecurity protections in place, and no firm should be so confident in their systems that they do not regularly test them.
And Finally

Influencer Marketing Comes to Cybersecurity – Axios

  • Perhaps it was only a matter of time, but the popular culture world of influencers has finally caught up with the usually more scientific world of cybersecurity. Eagle-eyed watchers of social-media have noticed an uptick in follower-rich cybersecurity Twitter accounts running individualized adverts. Other popular accounts have since come out and denounced accepting payments for adverts as unethical in the world of cybersecurity.

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Cyber Security News & Trends

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This week, SonicWall meets a Russian ransomware cell, the first 2020 cyber-predictions are coming in, and cybersecurity has a color.

SonicWall Spotlight

Mindhunter: Meeting a Russian Ransomware Cell – SonicWall Webinar

  • On November 19, SonicWall will proudly present Mindhunter: my two-week conversation with a ransomware cell. Join SonicWall security expert Brook Chelmo as he gives you an inside look into the human-side of a modern ransomware cell, their advice on how to stop them from infiltrating your organization, encrypting your endpoints, and spreading to other drives and segments of your network.

Retail’s Weakness Is Cyber Crime’s Opportunity – Retail Technology Review

  • The festive shopping season is about to kick off with Black Friday 2019. Writing in Retail Technology Review, SonicWall CEO Bill Conner details the size and scale of cyberattacks over the same period last year and offers advice on to retailers on how to best protect themselves.

Attack on Labour Shows Need for DDoS Defence but Should Alarm Few – Computer Weekly (UK)

  • The UK Labour party’s website suffered a DDoS attack this week. While Cloudflare successfully prevented any major damage from occurring, the attack acts as a reminder that modern election campaigns need to ensure that their cybersecurity is prepared for anything. SonicWall’s Terry Greer-King provides commentary.

Cybersecurity News

Predictions 2020: This Time, Cyberattacks Get Personal – ZDNet

  • The first cyber predictions for 2020 have started rolling in. Initial contenders include the weaponizing of mergers and acquisitions data, deepfake scams, and the closing off of AI and Machine Learning data from outsiders.

Breach Affecting 1 Million Was Caught Only After Hacker Maxed out Target’s Storage – Ars Technica

  • A hacker breached an IT provider in May 2014, stealing data and creating a data archive on their server that went unnoticed for almost two years. The hack was only noticed in 2016 when the hackers archive grew so big the server ran out of disk space. The company have now been fined for failing to detect the breach.

Cybersecurity: Why More Needs to Be Done to Help Older People Stay Safe Online – ZDNet

  • Internet users are no longer just the young or most technologically up-to date. ZDNet argues that not enough is being done to protect less tech-savvy elderly people online.

As 5G Rolls out, Troubling New Security Flaws Emerge – Wired

  • 5G is entering use in major urban domains worldwide, and its uptake is likely only to increase rapidly. Despite this, major security vulnerabilities continue to be found, including 11 design flaws in a single recent study.

Cybersecurity Is an Asset, Not a Nuisance – Forbes

  • Forbes argues that a good way to think about cybersecurity is not as a nuisance but like the braking system on a race car. Without it, the potential top speed of the car would be considered reckless.

The Time to Tackle Cybersecurity in Self-Driving Cars is Now – Newsweek

  • Upcoming self-driving cars contain a myriad of computers connected both to each other and to many external networks. With cyberattacks a constant threat to systems worldwide, Newsweek argues that cybersecurity should be integral to the very design of cars from the ground up, not as an add-on at a later point.
And Finally

What Color Is Cybersecurity? – Forbes

  • A new large-scale study into how cybersecurity is talked about and advertised online has found the color code #235594 to be dominant in imagery.

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Cyber Security News & Trends

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This week, ransomware in Spain, a doomsday cybersecurity exercise, and why rebooting your computer won’t rid it of malware.

SonicWall Spotlight

Spanish Ryuk Ransomware Attack Hints at New WannaCry – IT Pro (UK)

  • With several institutions and businesses in Spain currently under attack by a strain of the Ryuk ransomware, there is a fear that a problem of the scale of WannaCry is at risk of being unleashed. SonicWall CEO Bill Conner talks to IT Pro on the similarities between the two ransomwares, and how to best protect your business from them.

How Healthy Is Your Web of Connected Devices? – Security Boulevard

  • There are over 25 billion Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices currently in the world, and this number is rising. Security Boulevard uses SonicWall Cyber Threat Intelligence to demonstrate the dangers of, and from, these devices if they are not shielded from cyberthreats.

Cybersecurity News

The Financial Industry Just Finished Its Annual ‘Doomsday’ Cybersecurity Exercise — Here’s What They Imagined Would Happen – CNBC

  • The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association recently held a worst-case scenario cybersecurity simulation dubbed Quantum Dawn. The fictional event centered around a financial giant being attacked by malicious ransomware.

Ransomware Is Crippling Schools. What Can They Do About It? – EdSurge

  • Tech and education website EdSurge takes a look at the recent rise in ransomware attacks on educational institutions. It explains how ransomware works, why education is being attacked, and how to protect against cyberattacks.

Cybersecurity Risk Is Growing, and We Are Not Ready – Infosecurity Magazine

  • In a new survey of over 4 thousand people in 140 countries, cybersecurity is named as the biggest worry to companies. Between a skills shortage and a general lack of understanding of the threats, many companies are simply unprepared for cyberattacks.

Specially Crafted ZIP Files Used to Bypass Secure Email Gateways – Bleeping Computer

  • A new malware campaign has been discovered by researchers that hides the payload in a complex system of compressed files and archive restructuring. It appears to have been specifically designed by bypass secure email scanners, although at the cost of not always extracting correctly.

Feds Warn Against Hidden Cobra’s Hoplight Malware – SC Magazine

  • US federal agencies released a notification about Hoplight, a new sophisticated data collecting malware being used by North Korean cyberattack group Hidden Cobra.
And Finally

Experts: Don’t Reboot Your Computer After You’ve Been Infected With Ransomware – ZDNet

In a turnaround from the traditional “have you tried turning it off and on again” line, cybersecurity experts are not recommending rebooting your computer if caught by ransomware. The line of thinking is that if something has gone wrong with the ransomware, rebooting a computer might allow it try again, successfully this time.

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Cyber Security News & Trends

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This week, the financial cost in a worst-case scenario cyberattack, a nuclear power plant is targeted, and SonicWall figures are used to look at the Internet of Things.

SonicWall Spotlight

Intelligent Living: The Smart Home and IoT – Silicon (UK)

  • Silicon investigate the future of smart homes and rise of Internet of Things (IoT). When looking at the security risks they defer to SonicWall CEO Bill Conner and SonicWall research.

A Sneaky Online Security Threat: Encrypted Malware in SSL – Security Boulevard

  • Security Boulevard tackles the double-edged sword of encryption, used by both cybersecurity experts and cybercriminals alike. They refer to the 2019 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report for details on the rising number of cyberattacks coming in on encrypted channels.

Cybersecurity News

One Cyber Attack Can Cost Major APAC Ports $110B – ZDNet

  • A new study has laid out a possible “extreme” scenario where a single software virus infecting 15 ports across five Asian markets can result in losses totaling $110 billion. 92% of these costs are currently uninsured.

Indian Nuke Plant’s Network Reportedly Hit by Malware Tied to N. Korea – Arstechnica

  • A cyberattack on India’s Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant that took place in September of 2019 has been linked, through the use of the “Dtrack” malware, to a known North Korean government hacking group. Officials at the plant have stated that there was never any risk of losing control of the plant as the control systems are neither connected to the administrative network or any other networks in general.

ICS Attackers Set to Inflict More Damage With Evolving Tactics – ThreatPost

  • New research claims that future attacks on industrial control system (ICS) networks, such as the power grid, may inflict even more damage in the long run as attackers will learn from previous cyberattacks. Analysts expect attacks to evolve from immediate, direct impact to stealthy attacks with multiple infection stages.

Muhstik Ransomware: A Hack-Back Story – Security Boulevard

  • While ransomware is making headlines for the large targets, like government and multinational industries, there are still small scale ransomware attacks being launched. Security Boulevard report on one victim who, caught by Muhstik Ransomware, decided to hack back and took down the entire ransomware network, releasing a complete set of decryption keys in the process.

21 Million Stolen Fortune 500 Credentials for Sale on Dark Web – SecurityWeek

  • A new study on leaked data used deep-learning techniques to sift through millions of leaked credentials on the darkweb. After removing duplicates, anomalies and default passwords it still found around 21 million different credentials belonging to the Fortune 500 companies; more than 16 million of which were compromised during the last 12 months. All the results were cleartext passwords, either because they were never encrypted, or hackers had decrypted them already.

Ohio Establishes ‘Cyber Reserve’ to Combat Ransomware – NextGov

  • Ohio has become the first state to set up a “Cyber Reserve” force; five volunteer teams of 10 people apiece who are ready to be called into service in a cybersecurity emergency.

Why the EU Is About to Seize the Global Lead on Cybersecurity – Forbes

  • The European Commission has made cybersecurity a “high priority” and proposed that the cybersecurity budget for 2021-27 include €2 billion to fund “safeguarding the EU’s digital economy, society and democracies through polling expertise, boosting EU’s cybersecurity industry, financing state-of-the-art cybersecurity equipment and infrastructure.” Forbes argues that similar US legislation and programs have been left in a segmented and fragmentary state with little national or international cohesion to them.

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Cyber Security News & Trends

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This week, SonicWall releases new threat intelligence data, one cybergang poses as a tougher cybergang, and jackpotting ATMs are spreading in the wild.

SonicWall Spotlight

SonicWall: Encrypted Attacks, IoT Malware Surge as Global Malware Volume Dips – SonicWall Blog

  • SonicWall releases new threat intelligence data from SonicWall Capture Labs revealing 7.2 billion malware attacks were launched in the first three quarters of 2019 as well as 151.9 million ransomware attacks, marking 15% and 5% year-over-year declines, respectively. Despite the drop in attacks overall, the figures also show a rise in encrypted and IoT attacks suggesting a larger attempt by cybercriminals to target specific individuals and companies rather than launching very broad attacks.

Spooky Cyber Threats – Ping: A Firewalls.com Podcast Episode 5 – Firewalls.com Podcast

  • SonicWall returns to the Ping podcast, this time Sales Engineer Daniel Kremers appears to discuss cyberthreats with the Firewalls.com team.

Cybersecurity Roundup: Splunk, SonicWall, Bugcrowd, Exabeam – Channel Futures

  • SonicWall CEO Bill Conner is quoted by Channel Futures, explaining the new threat intelligence data. The news is also covered in MSSPAlert and ComputerWeekly.

Cybersecurity News

Ransomware and Data Breaches Linked to Uptick in Fatal Heart Attacks – PBS

  • A disturbing new study has looked at the available data from hospitals that suffered from ransomware attacks and has found a correlation with deaths from heart attacks at the same institutions. The study has found that the time it took for a patient to receive an electrocardiogram increased by as much as 2.7 minutes after a data breach, and this lag remained as high as 2 minutes even after three to four years.

What Is Wrong With Cybersecurity and Why Is It Messing With My Operations? – Forbes Technology Council

  • In the latest Forbes Technology Council post, it is argued that cybersecurity should be seen as a form of warfare. To win the war constant movement, change and adaptation is needed in order to keep up with the cyber arms race.

The NCSC Annual Review 2019 – The National Cyber Security Centre (UK)

  • The NCSC Annual Review 2019 sheds a light on some of the work the GCHQ has done over the past year, revealing that it handled 658 cyber incidents in the last 12 months and provided support to almost 900 victims of cyberattacks. The report lists Russia, China, Iran and North Korea as hostile states actively targeting the UK with cyberattacks

A DDoS Gang Is Extorting Businesses Posing as Russian Government Hackers – ZDNet

  • A DDoS gang is trading on the Russian-government linked ransomware group Fancy Bear’s name by launching DDoS attacks and ransom demands, threatening further attacks if the ransom is not paid. The group is in reality not related to the Fancy Bear group.

‘Sensitive US Army Data ‘Exposed by Online Leak’ – BBC News

  • 179 GB of data was made accessible on an unsecured cloud server run by a travel services company Autoclerk. Data exposed includes full names, birth dates, addresses, phone numbers and travel itinerary details of a range of people, including US government and military personnel.

Avast Says Hackers Breached Internal Network Through Compromised VPN Profile – ZDNet

  • Avast has confirmed it suffered from a successful cyberattack after disclosing that a hacker attempted to insert malware into their CCleaner software. This is the second time CCleaner has suffered from supply-chain attack after hackers breached previous CCleaner owner, Piriform, in 2017.

And Finally:

Malware That Spits Cash out of ATMs Has Spread Across the World – Vice

  • “Jackpotting” malware attacks on ATM are spreading around the world with 10 incidents in Germany between February and November 2017 letting hackers to walk off with 1.4 million euro. Experts say that 2019 figures suggest that the attacks are only increasing.

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