Curated stories about cybersecurity news and trends from major news outlets, trade pubs and infosec bloggers.

A fresh batch of articles for SonicWall News surfaced this week from nearly every business sector, plus quotes from SonicWall CEO and President, Bill Conner, and General Director of SonicWall in Iberia, Sergio Martínez. Our biggest problem this week for Industry News was deciding what to leave out. From Forbes, a guide on how to inspire your employees to care about cybersecurity. From Bleeping Computer, ransomware gang Black Basta attacks VMware ESXi servers. Then from the BlackBerry Threat Vector blog, a new Linux malware called “Symbiote” that’s almost impossible to detect. Next, from Dark Reading, the Emotet banking trojan resurfaces—and skates past email security. And finally, a compiled reading from CNN, MIT Technology Review, and PC Magazine on Chinese hackers breaking into “major” telecom firms.

As always, click through to the links in the headlines to see the full stories from our sources. And remember, cybersecurity is everyone’s business. Be safe!

SonicWall News

An Update from SonicWall on ICSA Certification

Security Brief (Asia), SonicWall in the News: Ken joins us today to discuss SonicWall’s recent ICSA certification and also current threat detection research that is currently taking place.

How Can Small Businesses Protect Themselves from Cyber Threats?

Insurance Business America, Threat Report Mention: Separate data gathered by cybersecurity firm SonicWall has shown that there were almost 421.5 million ransomware attempts against US businesses in 2021 – a figure that dwarfed that of second-placer Germany, which registered about 34.3 million hits.

An Update From SonicWall On ICSA Certification

Security Brief (Asia), SonicWall news: “Ken joins us today to discuss SonicWall’s recent ICSA certification and also current threat detection research that is currently taking place.”

How Can Small Businesses Protect Themselves from Cyber Threats?

Insurance Business America, Threat Report Mention: Separate data gathered by cybersecurity firm SonicWall has shown that there were almost 421.5 million ransomware attempts against US businesses in 2021 – a figure that dwarfed that of second-placer Germany, which registered about 34.3 million hits.

Why is Ransomware Getting the Better of Us?

Security Boulevard, Threat Report Mention: The ransom crisis is particularly bad in the UK. A SonicWall report found that UK-based organizations faced the second-highest number of ransomware attacks in the world in the first half of 2021. According to SonicWall, ransomware attacks increased by 234% across Europe in that time, while CyberEdge’s 2022 Cyberthreat Defense Report found that 80% of UK organizations had been successfully targeted in the past year.

Special Cloud Security

ComputerWorld CSO (Spain), SonicWall Quote: Sergio Martínez, general director for Iberia at SonicWall, gives his vision, in the gallery Ensuring the availability of information, the pillar of the contingency plan, on new security strategies in a context in which there are more and more devices connected to business networks.

Ransomware Losses, Frequency Increase Rates: Howden

Business Insurance, Threat Report Mention: London-based Howden Broking Group Ltd. said in its report that the annualized number of globalized ransomware incidents was up 235% in 2021 compared with 2019, and average U.S. ransom payments increased by 370% over the same period. It was citing data from San Jose, California-based cybersecurity company SonicWall Inc. and ransomware incident response company Westport, Connecticut-based Coveware Inc.

Contractors Beset by Ransomware Threats Have Too Few Options

Bloomberg Law, Bill Conner Quote: The contracting community is aware of the confusion. Chester Wisniewski at Sophos, Carolyn Crandall at SentinelOne, and Bill Conner at SonicWall all outlined suggestions to Bloomberg Government in a series of interviews. Conner, SonicWall’s president and CEO, said he wants the government to install so-called “cyber czars” at each federal agency to better streamline communication.

SonicWall Recognizes APAC Partners and Distributors at FY2022 Partner Awards

Channel Life (Australia), SonicWall News: SonicWall has recognized its distributors and partners for their efforts in producing the company’s most successful year to date. The recent SonicWall FY2022 Partner Awards recognized companies for their commitment to demonstrating excellence, innovation and leadership in cybersecurity during the fiscal year. They are also thanked for continuing to drive digital transformation for businesses that leverage SonicWall solutions.

Industry News

Inspire Your Employees to Care About Cybersecurity

Forbes: We spent a lot of time talking about how humans are the weak link in cybersecurity. First, let’s recognize that a company’s employees are a significant vulnerability due to the increasing complexity and threat of cybersecurity. With more than 15 billion devices in circulation, including computers, servers and mobile phones operating worldwide—digital fluency and literacy remain challenges in the transforming cybersecurity landscape.

Many functions are performed by devices that we don’t even know about. These functions include tracking and storing location information, saving passwords and sharing information with apps, and listening to our conversations. Today, organizations have greater responsibility for cybersecurity to protect their interests and that of their employees.

It is essential to communicate basic cybersecurity expectations to raise awareness. For example, employees need to be familiarized with complex password requirements, multi-factor authentication (2FA/multi-factor authentication), screen locks, and the importance of keeping current with software updates. Understanding cybersecurity requires that you know the basics.

If your team is not in person, create attention-grabbing graphics that include slogans and statistics about the company’s cybersecurity policies. Then, share the policies by any means throughout the workforce environment. Growing threats means educating employees about cyber threats while taking steps to protect their data.

Black Basta Ransomware Attacks VMware ESXi Servers

Bleeping Computer: Black Basta is the latest ransomware gang that supports encryption of VMware ESXi virtual machine (VM) on enterprise Linux servers. Ransomware groups have been focusing their attacks on ESXi VMs because this strategy aligns with their enterprise targets. They can encrypt multiple servers faster with one command. So it makes sense to encrypt VMs, as many companies recently switched to virtual machines. From purely a business perspective, hackers now have the dual benefits of simpler device management and more efficient resource use.

Linux ransomware encryptions are not new. BleepingComputer has reported similar encryptions by numerous other gangs, including LockBit and HelloKitty, BlackMatter and REvil, AvosLocker and RansomEXXX.

However, Black Basta’s ransomware will search for the /vmfs/volumes containing the virtual machines stored on compromised ESXi server servers. And if no such folders are present, the ransomware exits. Additionally, this encryptor does not have command-line arguments that can target other encryption paths, indicating that it is only designed to target ESXi servers.

Ransomware employs the ChaCha20 algorithm for encrypting files. Additionally, multithreading is used to speed up encryption by using multiple processors.

The ransomware will encrypt encrypted files by adding the .basta extension and creating ransom notes called readme.txt within each folder. Notes include a chat support panel link, which unique ID victims can use to communicate directly with the attackers.

Symbiote — The New Linux Malware That’s Almost Impossible To Detect

BlackBerry ThreatVector Blog: As if Linux’s malware problems couldn’t get any worse, recent reports have revealed that Symbiote is a new type of Linux malware that’s “almost impossible to detect.”

This rootkit-level hack is being called Symbiote by the research team, which includes lead members from Intezer and BlackBerry. It has the parasitic ability to act like a shared object (SO) and loads on all processes via LD_PRELOAD native function. This is why it’s so terrible.

Researchers say the shared object library “parasitically compromises” a target machine. Once its claws are embedded deep in the system, malware gives attackers rootkit functionality.

Researchers discovered the first sample in November 2021. It appears that it was created to attack Latin American financial institutions. Researchers aren’t sure if Symbiote has been used in broad or targeted attacks because it is still new malware. However, Symbiote is full of interesting features. The malware employs Berkeley Packet Filter hooking (BPF), a function that hides malicious traffic from infected machines. BPF is also used in malware created by Equation Group. BPF bytecode can be injected into the kernel to determine which packets are captured. Administrators use BPF to start any packet capture software on infected machines. Symbiote then adds its own bytecode to the kernel to filter out any network traffic it does not want the packet-capturing program to see.

Symbiote can facilitate everything, from data scrapes to backdoors. Hackers can use Symbiote to stealthily harvest credential information from hacked Linux devices by hooking the “libcread” function. This is an important mission for targeting Linux servers in high-value networks. Hackers can gain unimpeded lateral movement and unlimited access by stealing administrator account credentials. Symbiote allows remote SHH access for its operators via the PAM service. It also allows the threat actor or a hacker to gain root privileges.

Many IT and cybersecurity bloggers have reported on this story. Keep an eye out for new developments.

Emotet Banking Trojan Resurfaces, Skates Past Email Security

Dark Reading: After being taken down by a joint international task force in January 2020, the malware botnet Emotet is back in an advanced form. The Emotet malware was a prolific threat during the pandemic. It originated as a trojan for banks in 2014. Its creators were the first to offer malware-as-a-service (MaaS) to criminal organizations.

Although it still uses many of the same attack methods it used in the past, Emotet has seen a rise in its ability to collect and use stolen credentials. According to the report, hackers can use these stolen credentials to distribute malware binaries. In addition, attackers are using hijacked email threads to use those accounts as a launch pad and trick victims into activating macros in attached malicious office documents.

Emotet also uses 64-bit shell code, advanced PowerShell and more advanced active scripts. Nearly a fifth of malicious samples exploits the 2017 Microsoft vulnerability CVE-2018-11882.

The attacks were mainly focused on Japan’s victims, but the focus has shifted to targets in the United States of America and Italy since March.

Chinese Hackers Breach “Major” Telecom Firms

Compiled Reading: The report is compiled from multiple sources offering a slightly different perspective: CNN, MIT Technology Review, and PCMagazine.

First, CNN’s headline: Chinese government-backed hackers have breached major telecommunications companies, among other targets, the US CISA warned this week. Cyber defenders often overlook these devices as they struggle to keep up with the routine software patching of Internet services and endpoint devices. CISA, FBI, and NSA did not identify the hackers; the advisory appears to focus on getting organizations aligned on security measures and updating their software and equipment. CNN named devices manufactured by Cisco, Fortinet, or other vendors.

MIT Technology Review included Netgear and Citrix security vendors. All vulnerabilities were publicly known, including a five-year-old critical flaw in Netgear equipment that allows attackers to bypass authentication checks to execute any code they want. This will enable them to take over the entire device and gain unrestricted access to the victim’s network. MIT says the campaign’s success shows how dangerous software flaws can be even after being made public. Zero-day attacks—hacks exploiting previously unknown weaknesses—pack a punch and demand our full attention. Plus, known flaws are still dangerous because it can be hard to update and secure networks and devices with limited resources, personnel and money.

PCMagazine stated that the vulnerabilities allowed actors to access victim accounts via publicly available exploit codes against VPN services and public-facing applications without using any unique or identifying malware.

In Case You Missed It

SonicWall CEO Bill Conner Selected as SC Media Excellence Award Finalist – Bret Fitzgerald

Cybersecurity in the Fifth Industrial Revolution – Ray Wyman

What is Cryptojacking, and how does it affect your Cybersecurity? – Ray Wyman

Why Healthcare Must Do More (and Do Better) to Ensure Patient Safety – Ken Dang

SonicWall Recognizes Partners, Distributors for Outstanding Performance in 2021 – Terry Greer-King

Anti-Ransomware Day: What Can We Do to Prevent the Next WannaCry? – Amber Wolff

CRN Recognizes Three SonicWall Employees on 2022 Women of the Channel List – Bret Fitzgerald

Enjoy the Speed and Safety of TLS 1.3 Support – Amber Wolff

Four Cybersecurity Actions to Lock it All Down – Ray Wyman

Understanding the MITRE ATT&CK Framework and Evaluations – Part 2 – Suroop Chandran

Five Times Flawless: SonicWall Earns Its Fifth Perfect Score from ICSA Labs – Amber Wolff

NSv Virtual Firewall: Tested and Certified in AWS Public Cloud – Ajay Uggirala

How SonicWall’s Supply-Chain Strategies Are Slicing Wait Times – Amber Wolff

SonicWall SMA 1000 Series Earns Best-Of Enterprise VPNs Award from Expert Insights – Bret Fitzgerald

World Backup Day: Because Real Life Can Have Save Points Too – Amber Wolff

CRN Honors SonicWall With 5-Star Rating in 2022 Partner Program Guide – Bret Fitzgerald

Cyberattacks on Government Skyrocketed in 2021 – Amber Wolff

Meeting the Cybersecurity Needs of the Hybrid Workforce – Ray Wyman

Third-Party ICSA Testing – Perfect Score Number 4 – Kayvon Sadeghi

Ransomware is Everywhere – Amber Wolff

Shields Up: Preparing for Cyberattacks During Ukraine Crisis – Aria Eslambolchizadeh

Your weekly digest of cybersecurity news stories and trends curated from leading news outlets, trade journals, and infosec bloggers.

It was a big week for SonicWall news with another strong showing of quotes and citations in trade journals and blogs. This week’s crop of industry news was also thick with new information, all highly informative and worthy of our attention. First up is a report from Vice’s Motherboard News about hackers who posed as “internal support” at Verizon and managed to steal a sizable database of employee information. The follow-up report is one from Tech Radar about employees ignoring cybersecurity advice; we added notations regarding the vulnerability of the healthcare sector which, according to the HHS, is acute. Hacker News posted a new story about hackers using browser automation frameworks to advance malicious activities. Next, Reuters posted one about a UK hack that appears to reveal interesting tidbits about the Brexit campaign. We highlighted an article from Protocol titled “AI + Ransomware = Terrifying” because it is terrifying. Then finally, from Bleeping Computer, it’s a weird twist of irony when hackers are successfully phishing Russian government agencies with RATs.

Remember, cybersecurity is everyone’s business. Be safe!

SonicWall News

Russia-Based Conti Made $77 Million From Ransomware In 21 Months

CryptoSaurus, SonicWall in the News: In 2021 alone, ransomware attacks nearly doubled to 623 million cases globally, according to US cyber security company SonicWall. This is an increase of 105% year-on-year, and various analyzes and experts have highlighted that hackers linked to Russia are responsible for the majority.

Ransomware Attack Exposes Data of 500,000 Chicago Students and Staff

Tech.co, Threat Report Mention: But these online threats aren’t just confined to the education sector. Ransomware attacks across the US have grown 67.5% year on year, according to a recent report by SonicWall. What’s more, the majority of these attacks are leveraged against small-to-medium-sized businesses because they’re assumed to have weaker end-point security.

Navigating The Cyber Arms Race, Expert Weighs In

Information Security Buzz, Bill Conner quote: It’s an arms race, because as good as we’ve gotten, the bad guys have gotten even better and more efficient in their threat- actually moving at a faster pace than, than we can defend right now. The bad guys have gotten more sophisticated tools that enable smarter ways to store stock – for example in the cloud and around the world in multiple places. And now, with the proliferation of cryptocurrency, this has enabled a whole new dark side.

War Between Russia and Ukraine Reaches the Metaverse!

Diario del Huila (Colombia), Threat Report Mention: According to SonicWall’s 2022 cyber threat report, in 2021 there were 623.3 million ransomware attacks worldwide, increasing by 105% compared to previous years. Colombia is in the top 10 of the countries, with 11 million threats detected.

Our Channel Will Help the SME face the worst: Sergio Martínez, from SonicWall

Channel Partner (Spain), SonicWall quote: Sergio Martinez confirms that his 60 channel partners, four wholesalers and 900 registered distributors are his allies to serve SMEs and the enterprise sector, which face worse and worse dangers such as encrypted threats.

SonicWall Honors Its Partners and Distributors Who Achieved Outstanding Lines In 2021

IT Reseller (Deut), SonicWall in the News: Cybersecurity specialist SonicWall has honored its most important partners and distributors of 2021. The SonicWall FY2022 Security Awards are awarded to one partner per region and, according to the manufacturer, are based on various factors such as annual sales, portfolio distribution, online activities, project success rate, certification level, the degree of commitment and feedback from their team.

GCHQ Advisor: It’s A Cyberarms Race as Ransomware Builder Emerges

IT Supply Chain (UK), Bill Conner quote: It’s an arms race, because as good as we’ve gotten, the bad guys have gotten even better and more efficient in their threat- actually moving at a faster pace than, than we can defend right now. The bad guys have gotten more sophisticated tools that enable smarter ways to store stock – for example in the cloud and around the world in multiple places.

Industry News

Hackers Pose as Internal Support, Steals Database of Hundreds of Employees

Vice: Raise your hand if you have heard this story before. Hackers posing as Internal Support went through a list of Verizon employees until they found one that gave them access to their computer and ultimately, the company’s internal network.

Hackers reportedly stole a database that contained the complete name, email addresses, corporate ID numbers, phone numbers, and contact information of hundreds of employees.

Motherboard (Vice’s own cybersecurity team) confirmed that a significant portion of the data that was harvested was legitimate. They called the phone numbers listed in the database. One former employee was understandably upset about the breach and had some unkind words about Verizon’s cybersecurity culture. It certainly relates to an industry-wide concern about employee behavior and attitudes toward cyber hygiene.

The hacker(s) also reportedly sent an email to the company and threatened to leak Verizon’s entire employee database unless the company agreed to pay $250,000 in ransom. Verizon spokeswoman confirmed the communication.

Your Staff is Ignoring Cybersecurity Advice

Tech Radar: Since we’re talking about cybersecurity culture, here’s a report that reminds us how vulnerable businesses are to cyberattack. More than 90% of successful attacks were facilitated through “human interaction” (e.g., employees). Employees are the primary entry point to breach secure networks. Threat actors rarely use brute force to break in. They don’t have to. They can merely evade network security with a bit of social engineering that gets an errant click, or a password tossed their way.

Tech Radar says that cybercriminals view your employees as reliable portals to sensitive corporate information and other data. Many organizations have taken steps to combat this trend by implementing security awareness training. However, implementation is not perfect nor is it consistent. Tech Radar cites a survey that showed only 28% of organizations currently offer comprehensive training programs twice per year.

Organizations around the globe are facing a disengaged, often indifferent workforce, even when training is more frequent. Users continue to engage in risky behavior and ignore security best practices. 42% of users admit to downloading malware, and 56% let their friends and family use the devices their employers give them.

A separate risk report conducted by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) backs Tech Radar’s findings, pointing out that successful attacks usually come from negligent insider threats than from brute force attacks.

Among the alarming findings from the HHS report, researchers analyzed 3 billion files across 58 healthcare companies and found that all employees could access 20% of the files. That means tens of thousands of sensitive files related to patient healthcare are available for all to see. Add to that, 77% of healthcare organizations have 500 accounts or more with passwords that never expire.

As noted in SonicWall’s 2022 Cyber Threat Report, the healthcare sector experienced a 121% increase in malware in 2021. Expect to see that number rise in the coming year.

Hackers Increasingly Using Browser Automation Frameworks for Malicious Activities

Hacker News: Cybersecurity researchers have discovered that a free browser automation framework is being used increasingly by threat actors. Hackers can use many features of the framework to enable a wide range of malicious activities. The framework’s technical requirements are low.

Underground actors have been able to advertise their willingness to help create bespoke tooling. Researchers found that C2-IP addresses of command-and-control (C2) are linked to malware like Bumblebee and BlackGuard. These IP addresses establish connections to the download domain of Bablosoft (maker of Browser Automation Studio). Bablosoft can automate tasks in Google Chrome using legitimate tools such as Selenium and Puppeteer.

Russian Hackers Linked to New Brexit Leak Website

Reuters: According to a Google cybersecurity official and former head of UK foreign Intelligence, a new website published leaked emails of several prominent proponents of the Brexit plan that led to Britain leaving the European Union.

The website, titled “Very English Coop d’Etat,” claims it has published emails from Richard Dearlove (ex-British spymaster), Gisela Stuart (leading Brexit campaigner), and Robert Tombs (pro-Brexit historian) and other supporters of Britain’s exit from the EU.

According to the site, not only is this group the hardline pro-Brexit booster, the members also collaborate in secretly make political decisions in the United Kingdom.

Reuters couldn’t immediately confirm the authenticity of the emails. However, two victims of Wednesday’s leak confirmed that hackers had targeted them and blamed Russia for their actions.

According to the “English Coop” website, several allegations are made, including that Dearlove was involved in a plot by Brexit hardliners to replace Theresa May (who had negotiated a withdrawal deal with the European Union at the beginning of 2019) with Johnson, who takes a more uncompromising stance.

Dearlove stated that the emails were a “legitimate lobbying exercise which, seen through this antagonistic optic, is now subject to distortion.”

Officials did not respond to emails seeking comment from the Russian embassies in Washington and London. Moreover, the Foreign Office of Britain, which deals with media inquiries for MI6, declined to comment. Others who are believed to have been disseminated via the website’s email list also did not reply to emails requesting comment.

AI + Ransomware = “Terrifying”

Protocol: The article quotes the 2022 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report, but that’s not the only reason it caught our attention. While the number of ransomware attacks have doubled year-over-year in 2021, ransomware has been getting more successful. And that’s what makes this article a worthy if not terrifying read.

Cybercriminals and defenders are engaged in a constant struggle for advantage. However, defenders have had an advantage that has helped them stay one step ahead of most attacks: AI and machine learning that allows administrators to automate much of their work, particularly when it comes to detection and responding to attacks. Although this advantage has not been enough to stop ransomware from spreading, it is still a significant advantage over what cybercriminals are capable of doing.

The greatest barrier for cybergangs is that AI requires high-level expertise that they do not have. But now, after two years of record-breaking breaches, the one thing they do have is a lot of money. Ransomware gang Conti pulled in $182 million in ransom payments during 2021, according to blockchain data platform Chainalysis. Leaks of Conti’s chats suggest that the group may have invested some of its revenue in pricey “zero day” vulnerabilities and hiring penetration testers.

Protocol speculates that given the windfall some ransomware gangs have amassed, it’s only a matter of time that they will deploy AI ransomware.

Hackers Target the Russian Govt With Fake Windows Updates by Pushing RATs

Bleeping Computer: In the weirdest twist of irony, hackers successfully targeted Russian government agencies with phishing emails that pretended to be Windows security updates to install remote access trojans, or RATs.

Russian Government agencies were targeted by hackers using phishing emails claiming to be Windows security updates. These attacks are being carried out by a previously unknown APT (advanced persistent threat) group. They are believed to be operating in China and are connected to a series of spear-phishing campaigns.

The operations took place between February 2022 and April 2022. The goal was to infect Russian Federation government entities with malware. The custom-made RATs were most likely used in espionage operations.

The first of four campaigns started in February 2022, just a few days following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The RAT was distributed at that time under the name interactive map UA.exe.

The group apparently planned more elaborate and well-thought-out campaigns and schemed to lure targets and convince them of the legitimacy and authenticity of the phishing email attacks. The tar.gz archive, which was supposed to contain a fix to the Log4Shell vulnerability, was sent to the Russian Ministry of Digital Development, Telecommunications and Mass Communications. Another wave of phishing attacks saw malicious actors pretend to be Rostec, a Russian defense conglomerate.

In the final wave of attacks, Chinese hackers focused their attention on a macro-infected Word file that contained a fake job offer from Saudi Aramco, a major oil and natural gas company. The document targeted candidates interested in filling the “Strategy and Growth Analyst” position. It used a remote template injection technique to retrieve the malicious template and then drop the VBS script onto them.

In Case You Missed It

SonicWall CEO Bill Conner Selected as SC Media Excellence Award Finalist – Bret Fitzgerald

Cybersecurity in the Fifth Industrial Revolution – Ray Wyman

What is Cryptojacking, and how does it affect your Cybersecurity? – Ray Wyman

Why Healthcare Must Do More (and Do Better) to Ensure Patient Safety – Ken Dang

SonicWall Recognizes Partners, Distributors for Outstanding Performance in 2021 – Terry Greer-King

Anti-Ransomware Day: What Can We Do to Prevent the Next WannaCry? – Amber Wolff

CRN Recognizes Three SonicWall Employees on 2022 Women of the Channel List – Bret Fitzgerald

Enjoy the Speed and Safety of TLS 1.3 Support – Amber Wolff

Four Cybersecurity Actions to Lock it All Down – Ray Wyman

Understanding the MITRE ATT&CK Framework and Evaluations – Part 2 – Suroop Chandran

Five Times Flawless: SonicWall Earns Its Fifth Perfect Score from ICSA Labs – Amber Wolff

NSv Virtual Firewall: Tested and Certified in AWS Public Cloud – Ajay Uggirala

How SonicWall’s Supply-Chain Strategies Are Slicing Wait Times – Amber Wolff

SonicWall SMA 1000 Series Earns Best-Of Enterprise VPNs Award from Expert Insights – Bret Fitzgerald

World Backup Day: Because Real Life Can Have Save Points Too – Amber Wolff

CRN Honors SonicWall With 5-Star Rating in 2022 Partner Program Guide – Bret Fitzgerald

Cyberattacks on Government Skyrocketed in 2021 – Amber Wolff

Meeting the Cybersecurity Needs of the Hybrid Workforce – Ray Wyman

Third-Party ICSA Testing – Perfect Score Number 4 – Kayvon Sadeghi

Ransomware is Everywhere – Amber Wolff

Shields Up: Preparing for Cyberattacks During Ukraine Crisis – Aria Eslambolchizadeh

Cybersecurity News & Trends

This week, SonicWall emerged with excellent “in the news” quotes and citations. Note the articles about “AI-Powered Ransomware.” Industry news produced findings about Bluetooth vulnerabilities that could shake the consumer markets from automotive to home security. The Justice Department says that it will no longer prosecute “good faith researchers” who hack software and devices to find vulnerabilities. The US government is also reportedly remanding government agencies slow to fix bugs that hackers are currently exploiting. The Costa Rican government reports that Russian hacking cartels are attacking their agencies and infrastructure. Finally, leave it to the Bank of Zambia to come up with a creative way to troll hackers. Stay safe and remember that cybersecurity is everyone’s business.

SonicWall News

Ruling Voice on Ransomware – SonicWall Takes its Place at NCSC Cyber Conference

FinTech Herald, SonicWall in the News: SonicWall, global leader in cybersecurity solutions and publisher of the world’s most quoted ransomware threat intelligence, is set to take centre stage at the UK Government’s flagship cybersecurity event, CYBERUK 2022, taking place on 10–11 May in the ICC Wales in Newport.

Providers Experienced 121% Spike in Malware Attacks In 2021

DotMed Healthcare Business News, Threat Report Mention/Immanuel Chavoya Quote: The HHS breach report highlights all reported cases of a breach in the health sector under investigation, of which there are currently 151 for 2022. What’s more alarming is that at the time of this report, there appears to be a staggering 8 million individuals affected for the year of 2022,” Immanuel Chavoya, threat detection and response strategist for SonicWall, told HCB News.

Ransomware is already out of control. AI-powered ransomware could be ‘terrifying.’

Protocol, SonicWall in the News: Currently, ransomware attacks are often very tailored to the individual target, making the attacks more difficult to scale, Driver said. Even still, the number of ransomware attacks doubled year-over-year in 2021, SonicWall has reported — and ransomware has been getting more successful as well. The percentage of affected organizations that agreed to pay a ransom shot up to 58% in 2021, from 34% the year before, Proofpoint has reported.

Finalists: Security Executive of the Year

SC Magazine, SonicWall in the News: Bill Conner has been named a finalist In the Best Security Executive of the Year by SC Magazine. Executives recognized in this category are the veterans and perennial influencers in the cybersecurity development community, with a history of leadership in companies that have their pulse on the needs of users and have a proven track record in delivery of products and services that meet the requirements of businesses large and small.

Russia-Based Conti Made $77 Million From Ransomware In 21 Months

CryptoSaurus, SonicWall in the News: In 2021 alone, ransomware attacks nearly doubled to 623 million cases globally, according to US cyber security company SonicWall. This is an increase of 105% year-on-year, and various analyzes and experts have highlighted that hackers linked to Russia are responsible for the majority.

AI + ransomware = “terrifying”

Protocol, SonicWall in the News: The number of ransomware attacks doubled year-over-year in 2021, SonicWall has reported — and ransomware has been getting more successful as well.

Industry News

Vulnerabilities Found in Bluetooth Low Energy Devices

TechRepublic: A critical flaw found in Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) receivers may grant cybercriminals entry to anything from personal devices, such as phones or laptops, to even cars and houses. The new findings from cybersecurity company NCC Group detail how BLE uses proximity to authenticate the user near the device. Researchers were able to fake the authentication, which could affect everyone, from the average consumer to organizations seeking to lock the doors to their premises.

This issue is believed to be something that the industry can’t easily patch since it is more than a simple error in Bluetooth specification. Moreover, the flaw could be an exploit that could affect millions of people. According to NCC Group experts cited in the article, BLE-based proximity authentication was not originally designed to be used by critical systems such as locking mechanisms in smart locks.

To quote NCC Group’s findings, “by forwarding data from the baseband at the link layer, the hack gets past known relay attack protections, including encrypted BLE communications, because it circumvents upper layers of the Bluetooth stack and the need to decrypt.”

According to the cybersecurity company, these Bluetooth systems are used to lock items such as vehicles or residences that are using Bluetooth proximity authentication mechanisms that hackers can easily break with cheap off-the-shelf hardware. As a proof of concept, it was found by Khan that a link-layer relay attack conclusively defeats existing applications of BLE-based proximity authentication. According to the report, the following device categories are vulnerable:

• Cars with automotive keyless entry
• Laptops with Bluetooth proximity unlock feature
• Mobile phones
• Residential smart locks
• Building access control systems
• Asset and medical patient tracking

One of the specified vehicles affected by this exploit is the Tesla Models 3 and Y.

Justice Dept. Says ‘Good Faith Researchers’ No Longer Face Hacking Charges

Washington Post: On Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department stated that it would not use its country’s anti-hacking law to prosecute cybersecurity researchers trying to find security flaws. This is a move that both protects and validates a practice still vilified by many officials and companies.

Top Justice officials issued a five-page policy statement to federal prosecutors. They said that local U.S. Attorneys should not be charged when “good faith” researchers exceed “authorized” access. This vague phrase is from the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, interpreted as covering routine practices such as automated downloading of Web content.

TechCrunch also reported that the DoJ stated that “good-faith research” includes anyone who conducts their activity “in a manner designed to avoid harm to individuals and the public.” It also concludes that such information “primarily promotes the security or safety the class of devices or machines to which the computer belongs, as well as those who use such machines, devices, or services.”

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (or CFAA) was enacted into law in 1986 and predate the modern internet and current cyber threats. Federal law defines computer hacking, specifically “unauthorized” access to a computer system. However, the CFAA has been criticized over its vague and outdated language, which fails to distinguish between malicious actors who (for example) extort companies and good-faith researchers who work to uncover vulnerabilities before people are exploited by them.

US Officials Order Government Agencies to Fix Serious Software Bugs

CNN: US cybersecurity officials on Wednesday ordered all federal civilian agencies to fix flaws in widely used software that officials said foreign government-linked hackers are likely moving to exploit.

“These vulnerabilities pose an unacceptable risk to federal network security,” US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly said.

The “emergency directive” from CISA gives agencies five days to either update the vulnerable software or remove it from their networks. However, the directive does not apply to the Pentagon computer networks, not under CISA’s jurisdiction. The vulnerabilities are in a type of software made by VMware, a California-based technology giant whose products are widely used by the US government.

VMware, on April 6, issued a fix for the software flaws, which could allow hackers to access computer files and burrow further into a network remotely. Within two days of the fix’s release, hackers had figured out a way to break into computers using the vulnerabilities, according to CISA. Then, on Wednesday, VMWare released software updates for newly discovered vulnerabilities that CISA has ordered agencies to address.

The agency did not identify the hackers or what systems they had targeted.

Russian Hacking Cartel Attack Costa Rican Government Agencies

New York Times: A Russian hacking cartel carried out an extraordinary cyberattack against the government of Costa Rica, crippling tax collection and export systems for more than a month so far and forcing the country to declare a state of emergency.

The ransomware gang Conti, based in Russia, claimed credit for the attack, which began on April 12, and threatened to leak the stolen information unless it was paid $20 million. Experts who track Conti’s movements said the group had recently begun to shift its focus from the United States and Europe to Central and South American countries, perhaps to retaliate against nations that have supported Ukraine.

Some experts also believe Conti feared a crackdown by the United States and sought fresh targets, regardless of politics. According to estimates from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the group is responsible for more than 1,000 ransomware attacks worldwide that have led to earnings of more than $150 million.

The BBC also reports that the Costa Rican Treasury told civil servants that the hack had affected automatic payment services. It warned that they would not be paid on time and would need to apply for their salaries by email or on paper by hand.

The ministry said: “Due to the temporary downturn of the institutional systems, the service of issuing certificates regarding the amounts of salaries owed to the civil servants of the Central Administration is suspended.

“All applications received via email or in the windows of the National Accountancy will be attended to once systems are restored.”

According to the government, the attacks also affected its foreign trade by hitting its tax and customs systems.

‘Security researchers’ make $800k in prize money for Hacking Windows 11

PCGamer: Contestants in a hacking contest have netted over $800K in prize money after finding exploits in Windows 11, Microsoft Teams, and other enterprise software on the first day. During this 15th annual Pwn2Own Vancouver hacking competition, the teams discovered 16 zero-day bugs on multiple products like Firefox, Oracle Virtualbox, Windows 11, and other popular enterprise software.

Pwn2Own Vancouver 2022 is a three-day-long hacking competition sponsored by Microsoft, Zoom, and other big tech companies. Teams of hackers or ‘security researchers’ attempt to find zero-day vulnerabilities in their software for prize money.

Think of it like bug bounties except with more money and kudos. A zero-day is a software exploit or vulnerability that an attacker could discover. The software makers aren’t already aware; there’s no patch, and the attack will likely succeed. Known bugs or exploits are not valid for rewards.

National Bank of Zambia Hit by Ransomware Then Trolls Hackers

Bleeping Computer: Leave it to the executives at the Bank of Zambia to leave us grinning. After suffering a ransomware attack by the Hive operation, the Bank of Zambia made it clear to the hackers that they were not going to pay – by posting a picture of male genitalia and telling the hackers to s… (and here, you’ll have to fill in the colorful language they used).

Last week, the Bank of Zambia, the country’s central bank, disclosed that recent technical outages resulted from a cyberattack. While the Bank of Zambia did not disclose the details of the cyberattack, BleepingComputer learned that the attack was conducted by the Hive ransomware operation, which claimed to have encrypted the bank’s Network Attached Storage (NAS) device.

Today, Bloomberg reported that the Bank’s Technical Director, Greg Nsofu, said they had protected the bank’s core systems, so it was unnecessary to engage with the threat actors.

In Case You Missed It

What is Cryptojacking, and how does it affect your Cybersecurity? – Ray Wyman

Why Healthcare Must Do More (and Do Better) to Ensure Patient Safety – Ken Dang

SonicWall Recognizes Partners, Distributors for Outstanding Performance in 2021 – Terry Greer-King

Cybersecurity in the Fifth Industrial Revolution – Ray Wyman

Anti-Ransomware Day: What Can We Do to Prevent the Next WannaCry? – Amber Wolff

CRN Recognizes Three SonicWall Employees on 2022 Women of the Channel List – Bret Fitzgerald

Enjoy the Speed and Safety of TLS 1.3 Support – Amber Wolff

Four Cybersecurity Actions to Lock it All Down – Ray Wyman

Understanding the MITRE ATT&CK Framework and Evaluations – Part 2 – Suroop Chandran

Five Times Flawless: SonicWall Earns Its Fifth Perfect Score from ICSA Labs – Amber Wolff

NSv Virtual Firewall: Tested and Certified in AWS Public Cloud – Ajay Uggirala

How SonicWall’s Supply-Chain Strategies Are Slicing Wait Times – Amber Wolff

SonicWall SMA 1000 Series Earns Best-Of Enterprise VPNs Award from Expert Insights – Bret Fitzgerald

World Backup Day: Because Real Life Can Have Save Points Too – Amber Wolff

CRN Honors SonicWall With 5-Star Rating in 2022 Partner Program Guide – Bret Fitzgerald

Cyberattacks on Government Skyrocketed in 2021 – Amber Wolff

Meeting the Cybersecurity Needs of the Hybrid Workforce – Ray Wyman

Third-Party ICSA Testing – Perfect Score Number 4 – Kayvon Sadeghi

Ransomware is Everywhere – Amber Wolff

Shields Up: Preparing for Cyberattacks During Ukraine Crisis – Aria Eslambolchizadeh

Cybersecurity News & Trends

More hot news for SonicWall with lots of coverage for the 2022 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report and the astounding five consecutive perfect results in third-party certification tests (100% detection and zero false positives). In global cybersecurity news, security experts recently gained significant data that is already illuminating the inner workings of ransomware gangs based in Russia and elsewhere. Just in time too with the return of Emotet, “the most dangerous malware in the world.” Krebs dropped a report about Russia using “tech-savvy” prisoners for the benefit of Russian corporations. And finally, a stunning story about Chinese hackers who have (so far) stolen “trillions” in intellectual property from 30 multinational companies.

SonicWall News

Providers Experienced 121% Spike in Malware Attacks In 2021

DotMed, Threat Report Mention/Immanuel Chavoya Quote: The HHS breach report highlights all reported cases of a breach in the health sector under investigation, of which there are currently 151 for 2022. What’s more alarming is that at the time of this report, there appears to be a staggering 8 million “individuals affected” for the year of 2022,” Immanuel Chavoya, threat detection and response strategist for SonicWall, told HCB News.

How To Be Proactive in The Face of Growing Cyber Threats

Security Magazine, SonicWall Threat Report Mention: SonicWall reported that in 2020, the number of malware variants detected grew by 62%. Identity, email, endpoint security and antivirus are all important, but they are not enough.

A Cybersecurity Stock with Monster Tailwinds

Guru Focus, SonicWall Threat Report Mention: With the rising price of cryptocurrency, this has caused these types of attacks to increase in popularity from 66,000 cases in 2020 to 436,000 in the UK alone, according to data from SonicWall.

Negate The Quantum Cyber Threat to Safely Unlock the Potential of Quantum Computers

Inside Quantum Technology News, SonicWall Threat Report Mention: Ransomware, encrypted threats and cryptojacking are just a few attack methods found to have significantly increased in number over the past year, according to SonicWall’s 2022 Cyber Threat Report.

Ransomware Hits 2 Colleges at Semester’s End. What Can Others Do?

Higher Ed Dive, SonicWall in the News: Ransomware attacks doubled worldwide and in North America last year, according to a recent report from SonicWall, a cybersecurity firm. And software company Emsisoft said at least 26 U.S. colleges and universities were hit with ransomware last year.

Cyberattacks Growing in Frequency, Severity, and Complexity

Triple I Blog, SonicWall in the News: In 2021, there were 623.3 million cyberattacks globally, with U.S. cyberattacks rising by 98 percent, according to cybersecurity firm SonicWall. Almost every threat increased in 2021, particularly ransomware, encrypted threats, Internet of Things (IoT) malware, and cryptojacking, in which a criminal uses a victim’s computing power to generate cryptocurrency.

Cyber Prevention or Mitigation… Why Can’t It Be Both?

IDG Connect, SonicWall in the News: As it stands, ransomware remains the biggest threat to organisations. According to SonicWall, the past year witnessed 623.3 million ransomware attacks across the world, a 105% increase compared to the previous year.

SonicWall Capture ATP Once Again Receives the Highest Score in the ICSA Labs Test

InfoPointSecurity (Deut), SonicWall in the News: SonicWall has received an astonishing five consecutive perfect results in the test against some of the most unknown and rigorous threats – unprecedented performance among the tested providers, said Bill Conner, President and CEO of SonicWall.

Cyberwar Zone: Biden, Experts Warn Business Attacks are Coming

Virginia Business, SonicWall in the News: “But many cybercrimes go unreported, and private sector numbers paint a far worse picture. Cybersecurity firm SonicWall reports that its researchers recorded 623.3 million ransomware attacks worldwide in 2021 — a 105% increase from 2020.”

Cyberwar Zone: Biden, Experts Warn Business Attacks are Coming

Virginia Business, SonicWall in the News: But many cybercrimes go unreported, and private sector numbers paint a far worse picture. Cybersecurity firm SonicWall reports that its researchers recorded 623.3 million ransomware attacks worldwide in 2021 — a 105% increase from 2020.

What Should You Do If Your Brand is the Target of a Data Breach?

TFL, Threat Report Mention: The same is true in the U.S., with ransomware attacks, alone, rising by almost 100 percent in 2021 according to SonicWall’s 2022 Cyber Threat Report.

Industry News

Experts Analyze Conti and Hive Ransomware Gangs’ Chats with Their Victims

Hacker News: A four-month analysis of chat logs that spans more than 40 conversations between Conti and Hive ransomware operators and victims is giving cybersecurity analysts new insights into the inner workings of negotiations. One exchange claims that the Conti Team significantly decreased ransom demand from $50 million to $1million, a 98% drop. This suggests a willingness to settle with a lower amount.

The report explains that both Hive and Conti are quick to lower ransom demand, routinely offering substantial decreases multiple times during negotiations. It shows that ransomware victims have at least some negotiating power, contrary to popular belief.

Conti and Hive are among the most prevalent ransomware strains in the threat landscape, cumulatively accounting for 29.1% of attacks detected during the three months between October and December 2021.

Conti Ransomware Source Code Leaked on Twitter Out Of Revenge

Bleeping Computer: After the much of the people behind the Conti Ransomware operation supported Russia in the invasion of Ukraine, a Ukrainian researcher called ‘ContiLeaks’ decided to leak source code and data belonging to the ransomware group as his revenge. The leaked source code was a modified version of the Conti ransomware operations, according to the report.

The researcher also published nearly 170,000 chat messages between Conti ransomware gang members last month. These conversations, spanning 2021 and part of 2022, illuminates the operational processes, their activities, how members are involved, and even some insight into organizational structure and the distribution of money.

The researcher leaked the Conti ransomware source code on September 15, 2020. Although the code was quite old, it enabled researchers and law enforcement to understand the malware’s workings better. He then leaked Conti version 3 with a last mod date of January 25, 2021.

Washington Post also noted that thanks to the leaks, authorities now have a better picture of cybercriminals’ personalities, quirks, and habits that have run rampant over U.S. institutions. It also shows how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has split some criminal gangs.

Emotet is Back From ‘Spring Break’ With New Nasty Tricks

Threat Report: Emotet malware attacks are back after a 10-month “spring break” – with criminals behind the attack rested, tanned and ready to launch a new campaign strategy. According to recent research, that new approach includes more targeted phishing attacks, unlike the previous spray-and-pray campaigns.

According to a Tuesday report, Proofpoint analysts linked this activity to the threat actor known as TA542, which since 2014 has leveraged the Emotet malware with great success.

Emotet, once dubbed “the most dangerous malware,” is being leveraged in its most recent campaign to deliver ransomware. For years, those behind distributing the malware have been in law enforcement’s crosshairs. In January 2021, authorities in Canada, France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States worked together to take down hundreds of botnet servers supporting Emotet as part of “Operation LadyBird.”

Bleeping Computer also reported that the Japan CERT had released a new version of their EmoCheck utility to detect new 64-bit versions of the Emotet malware that began infecting users this month. The new 64-bit loader and stealer versions make existing detections less useful. Furthermore, the EmoCheck tool could no longer detect the new 64-bit Emotet versions with this switch. Last week, JPCERT released EmoCheck 2.2 to support the new 64-bit versions and can now catch them, which is safely downloadable from Japan CERT’s GitHub repository.

Russia to Rent Tech-Savvy Prisoners to Corporate IT?

Krebs on Security: Faced with a brain drain of smart people fleeing the country following its invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Federation is floating a new strategy to address a worsening shortage of qualified information technology experts: Forcing tech-savvy people within the nation’s prison population to perform low-cost IT work for domestic companies.

Multiple Russian news outlets published stories on April 27 saying the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service had announced a plan to recruit IT specialists from Russian prisons to work remotely for domestic and commercial companies.

Russians sentenced to forced labor will serve out their time at one of many correctional centers across dozens of Russian regions, usually at the center that is closest to their hometown. Alexander Khabarov, deputy head of Russia’s penitentiary service, said his agency had received proposals from businesspeople in different regions to involve IT specialists serving sentences in correctional centers to work remotely for commercial companies.

Khabarov told Russian media outlets that under the proposal, people with IT skills at these facilities would labor only in IT-related roles but would not be limited to working with companies in their own region.

The 10 Largest Data Breaches Ever Reported in Healthcare

Beckers Hospital Review: Data breaches in healthcare can cause widespread damage, including the loss of medical records, financial losses for the organization, identity theft and fraud, lawsuits, and a loss of patient trust. Now the industry is more at risk of severe cyberattacks than ever before. The report goes on to list the biggest data breaches ever reported. The story was also reported by Pulse Headlines.

Chinese Hackers Took Trillions in Intellectual Property From About 30 Multinational Companies

CBS News: A yearslong malicious cyber operation spearheaded by the notorious Chinese state group, APT 41, has siphoned off estimated trillions of dollars in intellectual property theft from approximately 30 multinational companies within the manufacturing, energy and pharmaceutical sectors.

The story was chiefly compiled by cybersecurity firm, Cybereason, and reveals a malicious campaign — dubbed Operation CuckooBees — exfiltrating hundreds of gigabytes of intellectual property and sensitive data, including blueprints, diagrams, formulas, and manufacturing-related proprietary data from multiple intrusions, spanning technology and manufacturing companies in North America, Europe, and Asia.

The report explains that the intellectual property stolen includes blueprint diagrams of fighter jets, helicopters, missiles, and drugs around diabetes, obesity, and depression. But, the worst part, the campaign reportedly has not yet been stopped.

In a related story reported by The Hacker News, the China-based threat actor known as Mustang Panda has been observed refining and retooling its tactics and malware to strike entities located in Asia, the European Union, Russia, and the U.S. The group has targeted a wide range of organizations since at least 2012, with the actor primarily relying on email-based social engineering to gain initial access to drop PlugX, a backdoor predominantly deployed for long-term access.

In Case You Missed It

Enjoy the Speed and Safety of TLS 1.3 Support – Amber Wolff

Four Cybersecurity Actions to Lock it All Down – Ray Wyman

Understanding the MITRE ATT&CK Framework and Evaluations – Part 2 – Suroop Chandran

Five Times Flawless: SonicWall Earns Its Fifth Perfect Score from ICSA Labs – Amber Wolff

NSv Virtual Firewall: Tested and Certified in AWS Public Cloud – Ajay Uggirala

How SonicWall’s Supply-Chain Strategies Are Slicing Wait Times – Amber Wolff

SonicWall SMA 1000 Series Earns Best-Of Enterprise VPNs Award from Expert Insights – Bret Fitzgerald

World Backup Day: Because Real Life Can Have Save Points Too – Amber Wolff

CRN Honors SonicWall With 5-Star Rating in 2022 Partner Program Guide – Bret Fitzgerald

Cyberattacks on Government Skyrocketed in 2021 – Amber Wolff

Meeting the Cybersecurity Needs of the Hybrid Workforce – Ray Wyman

Third-Party ICSA Testing – Perfect Score Number 4 – Kayvon Sadeghi

Ransomware is Everywhere – Amber Wolff

Shields Up: Preparing for Cyberattacks During Ukraine Crisis – Aria Eslambolchizadeh

Capture Client 3.7: Rapid Threat Hunting with Deep Visibility and Storylines – Suroop Chandran

2021 Threat Intelligence Shows Attacks Rising Across the Board – Amber Wolff

Break Free with SonicWall Boundless 2022 – Terri O’Leary

SonicWall’s Bob VanKirk, HoJin Kim & David Bankemper Earn 2022 CRN Channel Chief Recognition – Bret Fitzgerald

Cybersecurity News & Trends

This week, SonicWall is on a winning streak with another strong showing in general news and industry press. There were continued mentions of the 2022 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report, new product reviews, and partner news. In industry news, the Tenet healthcare network suffered a cyberattack that disrupted operations at two hospitals in Palm Beach, FL. While cyberattacks rage in Ukraine, US Intel warns of fresh attacks on US targets by state-sponsored cyber gangs from China, Russia, and North Korea. Krebs is following a developing situation where hackers are using fake Emergency Data Requests (EDRs) to gain fraudulent law enforcement actions that can compromise companies and agencies. Meanwhile, JPMorgan is getting sued for a hack, the US State Department antes $10M for information about Russian hackers, the malware loader Bumblebee is loose, and experts examine predictive analytics for cybersecurity.

SonicWall News

Cyberwar Zone: Biden, Experts Warn Business Attacks are Coming

Virginia Business, News: But many cybercrimes go unreported, and private sector numbers paint a far worse picture. Cybersecurity firm SonicWall reports that its researchers recorded 623.3 million ransomware attacks worldwide in 2021 — a 105% increase from 2020.

What Should You Do If Your Brand is the Target of a Data Breach?

TFL, Threat Report Mention: The same is true in the U.S., with ransomware attacks, alone, rising by almost 100 percent in 2021 according to SonicWall’s 2022 Cyber Threat Report.

SonicWall Virtual Firewall Tested and Certified in AWS Public Cloud – Ideal for Distributed Networks

Markets Insider, News: SonicWall today announced a new report by The Tolly Group, which detailed the testing and analysis of the performance of the SonicWall NSv 470 virtual firewall. Using Keysight’s CyPerf cloud-native testing solution to provide the test infrastructure for standardized, repeatable performance tests, Tolly benchmarked the throughput and connection performance of the virtual firewall in Amazon Web Services (AWS).

For Over 30 Years, Jeff Dann Has Had the People, Process, And Technology To Ensure Their Customers Are Protected

MSP Success, Threat Report Mention: SonicWall reports there were 304.7 million ransomware attacks, 51.1 million crypto-jacking attacks, and 32.2 million IoT malware attacks in 2021. The report states that attackers targeted web applications with financial and personal information for a big payday.

The Industry Takes Stock of Cyberattacks In Hawaii

Pacific Inno, News: Each year, the SonicWall Cyber Threat Report uncovers insights extracted from global cyberthreat data collected and analyzed by expert researchers. SonicWall calls its report “the world’s most quoted ransomware threat intelligence,” and it is an annual snapshot of the threat landscape, helping business and government leaders make informed decisions about cybersecurity.

Learn how NLP Can Help to Understand the Cyber-Exposure And The Silent Cyber

Intelligent Insurer, Threat Report Mention: Corporate IT teams handled 623 million ransomware attacks in 2021, up 105% year on year, according to security vendor SonicWall. The firm reports an 1,885 percent increase in attacks on government targets, healthcare (755 percent), education (152 percent) and retail (21 percent).

Cyber Threats to Media Companies Are on The Rise

E&P, Threat Report Mention: Reporter Amiah Taylor explained ransomware research by SonicWall, an internet cybersecurity company, and its 2022 Cyber Threat Report, which offers some alarming statistics about ransomware attacks, in particular governments worldwide saw a 1,885% increase in ransomware attacks, and the health care industry faced a 755% increase in those attacks in 2021.

How To Choose the Best VPN For Security and Privacy

CSO Magazine, Product Mention: For example, SonicWall’s Mobile Connect supports Ping, Okta and OneLogin identity providers.

Privacy Coin Monero’s Use in Ransomware Fuels Growing Security Concerns

PYMNTS.com, Threat Report Mention: That comes as ransomware is exploding, with attacks up 105% last year, according to the 2022 Cyber Threat Report released in February by cybersecurity company SonicWall.

Industry News

Tenet Says, ‘Cybersecurity Incident’ Disrupted Hospital Operations

Healthcare Dive: Tenet is one of the largest US for-profit health systems. It reported that it suffered a cybersecurity incident last week, which disrupted some acute care operations. According to the statement issued Tuesday by the Texas-based operator, most critical functions have been restored, and affected facilities are beginning normal operations. Tenet did not disclose the nature or extent of the incident or the affected facilities. It also didn’t say whether hackers accessed any patient data.

SC Media and CBSNews affiliate WEPC offered additional details on the incident, reporting that the attack forced caregivers to chart patient care using paper because the network’s phone and computer systems were down. As a result, the company’s “acute care operations” at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach and St. Mary’s Medical Center were temporarily interrupted.

Cyberattacks Rage in Ukraine, Support Military Operations

Threat Post: At most, five advanced persistent threats (APTs) are believed to be behind attacks tied to ground campaigns that aim to harm Ukraine’s digital infrastructure. Five state-sponsored APT groups are behind the attacks on Ukraine that started in February. The groups used the cyberattacks against Ukraine strategically to support the ground campaign. Microsoft published research on Wednesday that revealed that Russia had state-sponsored the APTs in the campaign.

Separate reports this week shed light on cyberattacks against Ukrainian digital assets carried out by APTs linked to Russia. Microsoft researchers have found that six distinct Russia-aligned threat agents carried out 237 cyber operations, resulting in threats to civilian welfare. They also attempted to launch dozens of cyber espionage attempts against Ukrainian targets.

US Intel, Google Warn of Cyberattacks from China, Russia, North Korea

Newsweek: In the past month, intelligence agencies, President Joe Biden and large companies such as Google all issued the same warning — sounding alarms about the growing threat of cyberattacks coming from foreign governments. Christopher Wray, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, stated that the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party are the biggest threats to the country’s counterintelligence. He said they target our innovation, trade secrets, and intellectual property at a scale never before seen in history. According to Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG), Iran, North Korea and Russia are the top cyberattacks on the US.

Fighting Fake EDRs with ‘Credit Ratings’ for Police

Krebs On Security: The Krebs security team recently examined how cybercriminals used hacked email accounts of police departments worldwide to obtain warrantless Emergency Data Requests from technology providers and social media companies. Many security experts called it an insurmountable problem. Matt Donahue is a former FBI agent who recently left the agency to start a startup to help tech companies screen out fraudulent law enforcement data requests. This includes assigning credit ratings or trustworthiness to law enforcement agencies worldwide.

Manufacturer Sues JPMorgan After Cybercriminals Stole $272m

Computer Weekly: Essilor Manufacturing sued JP Morgan, alleging that the bank failed to report suspicious activity, leading cybercriminals to steal $272 million. According to reports, Ray-Ban sunglasses’ French manufacturer claimed that the bank failed to notify them of suspicious activity in New York. As a result, the manufacturer claimed an increase in money transactions and money sent to offshore companies in high-risk countries in papers filed in Manhattan federal court.

State Dept Offering $10 Million For Information on Russian Cybercriminals

The Hill: The State Department has announced it is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on a group of Russian cybercriminals. The department released a press release on Tuesday stating that its Rewards for Justice program (RFJ) is looking for information about six people who are allegedly involved in a criminal conspiracy involving malicious hacking activities that affect the critical infrastructure of the United States. According to the State Department, these individuals were part of a criminal conspiracy that infected computers with destructive malware in June 2017. The malware was called NotPetya.

Cybercriminals Using New Malware Loader’ Bumblebee’ in the Wild

Hacker News: The cybercriminals who were previously seen delivering IcedID and BazaLoader as part of their malware campaigns may have switched to a new loader called Bumblebee, which is currently actively being deployed. Researchers report that Bumblebee may be the new multifunctional tool of choice for spreading malware based on cybercriminals’ timing and early proliferation of the loader. The new loader was distributed in March 2022. There are overlaps between malicious activity and Conti ransomware deployments.

Predictive Analytics could be the Future of Cybersecurity

Analytics Insight: While it might not be possible to prevent every data breach, it is possible to minimize the risk. Even the most skilled cyber professionals admit that it is impossible to control all data breaches. It is impossible to stop determined hackers from getting into systems. This is not because they are too sophisticated; even the most experienced security professionals fall prey to human error. Nevertheless, it is possible to minimize the risk, which is good news. Organizational leaders must accept this fact as soon as possible. It is best to assume that data breaches will happen and set up cyber defenses to reduce the damage. A crisis checklist can help prepare for the worst.

In Case You Missed It

Five Times Flawless: SonicWall Earns Its Fifth Perfect Score from ICSA Labs – Amber Wolff

NSv Virtual Firewall: Tested and Certified in AWS Public Cloud – Ajay Uggirala

How SonicWall’s Supply-Chain Strategies Are Slicing Wait Times – Amber Wolff

SonicWall SMA 1000 Series Earns Best-Of Enterprise VPNs Award from Expert Insights – Bret Fitzgerald

World Backup Day: Because Real Life Can Have Save Points Too – Amber Wolff

CRN Honors SonicWall With 5-Star Rating in 2022 Partner Program Guide – Bret Fitzgerald

Cyberattacks on Government Skyrocketed in 2021 – Amber Wolff

Meeting the Cybersecurity Needs of the Hybrid Workforce – Ray Wyman

Third-Party ICSA Testing – Perfect Score Number 4 – Kayvon Sadeghi

Ransomware is Everywhere – Amber Wolff

Shields Up: Preparing for Cyberattacks During Ukraine Crisis – Aria Eslambolchizadeh

Capture Client 3.7: Rapid Threat Hunting with Deep Visibility and Storylines – Suroop Chandran

2021 Threat Intelligence Shows Attacks Rising Across the Board – Amber Wolff

Break Free with SonicWall Boundless 2022 – Terri O’Leary

SonicWall’s Bob VanKirk, HoJin Kim & David Bankemper Earn 2022 CRN Channel Chief Recognition – Bret Fitzgerald

Don’t Let Global Supply Chain Issues Impact Your Security – Kayvon Sadeghi

Unpacking the U.S. Cybersecurity Executive Order – Kayvon Sadeghi

Everything Old Is New Again: Remote Access Comes Full Circle – James Whewell