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The Rise and Growth of Malware-as-a-Service

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A deep dive into the minds of the hackers and their new and profitable business model.

Imagine you’re part of a group of hackers, and you spend hours upon hours coding the perfect malware package. Then, you and your team successfully hit a few companies with ransomware. Of course, once you collect your ransom, other groups would get their hands on your hard work and try to replicate your success — but your work is done.

But imagine if you could offer your hard work as a service to those other groups for a fee? You’ve now tipped into the world of malware-as-a-service (MaaS).

To understand the present malware crisis, we must get into the minds of the hackers who do the hard work of creating the tools of their trade. The first part of that journey is to recognize that malware is software and software is business. Some of it is brilliant, albeit misguided. And hack-as-a-service? Well, that’s just next-level genius.

The Proof is in the Numbers

As many of us have only just begun our education in cybersecurity, people are still reasonably astonished that hackers came up with a business model to support their “industry.” Why be surprised? After all, this is the same community that figured out how to hack our networks and devices and generate a global security crisis. And proof of their effectiveness is in the numbers.

Four months ago, SonicWall released its widely quoted Mid-Year Update on the 2021 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report with alarming news of the sharp rise in ransomware and other malicious attacks. Unfortunately, news from the third quarter was not much better: ransomware’s rise has not slowed.

Image that explains the rise of ransomware in Europe and North America

This year was already proving to be the most active year for ransomware on record. According to the latest data, activity continues to climb with no sign of slowing down. After posting a groundbreaking 188.9 million ransomware attacks in the second quarter, attacks continued and broke another record of 190.4 million in the third quarter. The total 495.1 million attacks represent a 148% increase over 2020, making 2021 the most costly and dangerous year on record.

Maas Is a Demonstrative Business Model

Many other corporate software companies — Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Salesforce, to name a few — are available to consumers as a software service; thus, software-as-a-services (SaaS). The business model puts creators in the development and maintenance side of the equation of customizable applications that manage all sorts of tasks.

The arrangement is a big help to organizations that do not have the software skills or willingness to develop their own applications. Similarly, hacker groups with expertise can offer their malware-as-a-service (MaaS) to people who want to make money from hacking, which leads us to “ransomware-as-a-service.” Both labels are apt descriptions of the activities taken by well-known hacker gangs such as Circus Spider, Conti, DarkSide, REvil.

There are dozens of other groups that have franchised their skills to other gangs that have complementary expertise and capabilities in such areas as phishing, social engineering, encryption tools, server power, ransom collection — and they do it all under agreements to share revenues generated from their joint activities.

The fact we can call it a business model at all spells out how lethal the situation has become. With the ransomware crisis still raging on, wannabe attackers of all skill levels can now rise as major global cyberthreat gangs. Anyone with a grudge and enough time on their hands can chase after government agencies, major enterprise networks – and even smaller players like the average home office user.

Maas As a Turnkey Threat Asset

In effect, MaaS is a turnkey threat. And within SonicWall’s latest threat data is another sign of what that could mean: a 73% increase in unique malware variants.

SonicWall used its patented RTDMI™ (Real-Time Deep Memory Inspection) technology embedded in its cloud-based Capture Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) sandbox service to uncover 307,516 never-before-seen malware variants during the first three quarters of 2021. This unsettling discovery means that cybercriminals are releasing an average of 1,126 new malware versions per day.

Dcorativ Imag

The rise in variants points coupled with the increase in activity shows that the “hacker industry” has learned how to rapidly diversify the software they use to attack networks and computers. The result is that businesses, governments and individuals will find it increasingly difficult to protect themselves. Clearly, the combination of security weaknesses demonstrated by previous attacks and the rise of MaaS/RaaS has excited a whole new threat level.

Learning the New Threat Landscape

Considering how quickly the threat landscape has grown this year, network operators of all sizes are in a race against time to get ahead of the crisis with better cybersecurity. Therefore, effective vulnerability management and is the essential core of everyone’s mission.

Here’s your invitation to find out what thought leaders in cybersecurity know about this emerging threat. Explore how cybercriminals are leveraging the software-as-a-service business model to establish a rapidly growing ‘hacker economy.’ This webcast will include insights on new trends, define the MaaS/RaaS business model, and what you can do to protect your business.

Presented by Simon Wikberg, SonicWall Cybersecurity Expert, the webcast will also dive into deep business data behind MaaS and known examples that have been uncovered.

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Cybersecurity News & Trends – 12-10-21

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As the year winds down, SonicWall’s threat reports stand out as reliable sources for US and European news organizations wanting to show the scope of attacks this year. Industry News proves that the crisis continues, and IT managers worldwide are on alert. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and ten countries conducted a simulated global attack on the global financial system (and the results were awful). In other news, a post-attack assessment reveals that the hackers saved the Irish Health System, Chinese hackers almost shut down power for three million Australians, and Lloyds of London quits cybersecurity insurance policies.

SonicWall in the News

Why Cybersecurity Must Be First

ARN Net (Australia): Why cybersecurity first should resonate with everyone is all over the news. Ransomware attacks rose to 304.6 million during the first six months in 2020, up 62% over 2019, according to our own widely quoted Mid-Year Update on the 2021 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report.

Retail’s Looming Holiday Threat: Ransomware

Politico: Part of a trend: Malware has long been a Black Friday and Cyber Monday concern. In 2019, security threat researchers at SonicWall estimated that cybergangs and individuals deployed 129.3 million malware attacks during the week of Thanksgiving, a 63 percent increase from the year before.

At EvCC, ‘The Wall’ Teaches Students How to Thwart Cybercrime

Herald NET: Everett college is the first in the nation to have a tool that can model cyber attacks aimed at vital infrastructure. During the first six months of 2021, there were more than 305 million attempted ransomware attacks compared to 306 million attempts in all of 2020, according to a mid-year 2021 SonicWall Cyber Threat report. Some three-quarters of those attempts targeted US organizations, the report said. “It’s gotten so bad that insurance companies are raising their rates on cyber liability coverage or dropping coverage altogether,” Hellyer said. “This sort of training is very important to our national and local security and economic interests.”

Do You Know Who is Responsible for Disaster Recovery in the Cloud?

MeriTalk: Ransomware is a disaster that isn’t rare. The 2021 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report found a 158% increase in ransomware attacks in North America in 2020. As a result, agencies that may have been slow to migrate to the cloud are now looking to the cloud as a cost-effective backup and disaster recovery solution to protect Federal systems against cyberattacks and data loss.

Ransomware Set To Break Records This Black Friday 2021

Information Security Buzz (Australia): Dmitriy Ayrapetov, Vice President Platform Architecture for SonicWall, offered expert commentary on cybercrime activity. He cited data from SonicWall’s recent threat reports, including 495 million global ransomware attacks logged this year to date, an increase of 148%.

12 Days of Phish-mas: A Festive Look at Phishing

Hashed Out: Experimenting with phishing examples using Microsoft products, the author received a fake request for a quote that contains a potentially malicious Microsoft Office file attachment. Office files, including Word docs and Excel spreadsheets, commonly spread malware and embedded phishing links via email. The author notes that SonicWall’s research shows that weaponized Microsoft Office files increased 67% in 2020.

Cybersecurity Terms & Definitions Integrators Should Know

CEPro: In the first six months of 2021, globally, the education sector saw a 615% spike in ransomware incidents compared to 151% across all industries, according to a study from SonicWall.

700M Attacks in 2021 and Counting: Can Businesses Fight the Ransomware Tsunami?

Toolbox: Asking whether businesses are investing enough into technology or “organizational culture” is to blame, the writer observes surprise at the enormous rise in breaches this year. They also cite SonicWall’s recently released Q3 Threat Report. From the scale of the attacks, we get a peek into how cybercriminals leverage ransomware as their weapon of choice to hit anyone.

SonicWall Applauded by Frost & Sullivan

Business Chief: SonicWall is recognized for delivering excellent and reliable cybersecurity tools to worldwide organizations. The publication also mentions that Frost & Sullivan recognized SonicWall’s industry-leading network firewall solutions that enhance organizational security, efficiency, and reliability.

The True Cost Of Rising Cyber Threats

Forbes: The actual cost of ignoring rising cyber threats and ‘being too late’ is not lost on today’s business leaders, and cybersecurity is annually rated as a top priority for company IT budgets. SonicWall predicted that by the end of 2021, the ransomware attack total would be near 714 million, a 134% year-on-year increase.

How to Cut Down on Data Breach Stress and Fatigue

Security Intelligence: If you’re tired of hearing the words’ data breach’, you’re not alone. It’s looking like 2021 might end up becoming the year with the most ransomware attacks on record. In August, SonicWall reported that the global ransomware attack volume had increased 151% during the first six months compared to 2020.

Industry News

IMF, 10 Countries Simulate Cyberattack on Global Financial System

Reuters: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) along with the national banks from 10-countries simulated a major cyberattack on the global financial system. The program, called “Collective Strength,” was intended to increase global cooperation that could help minimize any potential damage to financial markets and banks. The simulated “war game,” as Israel’s Finance Ministry called it, was planned over the past year and evolved over ten days. The simulation result ended with sensitive financial data emerging on the Dark Web and resulted in fake news reports that caused chaos in global markets and a run on banks. Participants in the initiative included treasury officials from Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Thailand, as well as representatives from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Bank of International Settlements.

New Policy Gives Some Federal Agencies 24 Hours to Assess Major Cyberattacks

The Hill: A new policy recently rolled out by the White House gives certain federal agencies as little as 24 hours to assess the impact of a cyberattack and report the attack if it rises to a significant level of concern. According to a copy of the memo issued by the White House National Security Council (NSC), the policy applies to national security and intelligence agencies, including the FBI. The new policy gives agencies only 24 hours to report a cyberattack they assess as “a national security concern” to the White House.

The Irish Health System Was Saved By The Hackers

BBC: In March, someone working in the offices of the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) opened a spreadsheet that had been sent to them by email two days earlier. The file was compromised with malware, and the gang behind it spent the next two months hacking their way through the networks and laying out data traps. There were multiple warning signs at work, but no investigation was launched, which meant IT managers missed a crucial opportunity to intervene. So, when the criminals unleashed their ransomware, the impact was devastatingly total. However, three months later, the attackers posted a link to a key so that the department managers could decrypt their files. The hackers gave no reasons, nor did they make any statements. Maybe the hackers had a change of heart; perhaps it was a test for something much worse. Nevertheless, this one act of mercy by the hackers allowed Irish health to embark on the road to recovery. According to an independent assessment report, without the decryption key, “it is unknown whether systems could have been recovered fully, or how long it would have taken to recover systems from back-ups, but it is highly likely that the recovery timeframe would have been considerably longer.”

Krebs: Cyberattacks Could Be Used To “Disrupt” Decision-Making

Axios: Former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Christopher Krebs told Axios at an event Thursday that America’s adversaries could use cyberattacks in the future to “disrupt” US decision-making. The big picture: Krebs, using China as an example, said that future cyber attacks could be part of “a larger, more complex approach by an adversary.” What he’s saying: “If things get hot in Taiwan, there’s a possibility that the Chinese government could use some sort of cyber capability to make us focus here rather than over there.”

Chinese Cyberattack Almost Shut Off Power for THREE MILLION Australians

Daily Mail: Chinese hackers came within minutes of shutting off power to three million Australian homes but were thwarted at the final hurdle. The Communist regime launched a ‘sustained’ ransomware attack on CS Energy’s two thermal coal plants in Queensland on November 27 – showing what Beijing could be capable of in a wartime scenario. There were panic stations within the energy firm as employees lost access to their emails and other critical internal data. IT specialists came up with a brilliant last-minute move to stop Beijing from gaining access by separating its corporate and operational computer systems. Once IT managers cut the network in half, hackers had no way of seizing control of the generators. Sources with knowledge of the hack attempt said the cyber-attackers were less than 30 minutes away from shutting down power.

Lloyd’s of London Calls it Quits for Cyber Insurance

CPO Magazine: Major insurance firm Lloyd’s of London has issued a bulletin indicating that its cyber insurance products will no longer cover the fallout of cyberattacks exchanged between nation-states. The insurer said last week that they would no longer cover damages from “cyber war” between countries and that this definition extends to operations that have a “major detrimental impact on the functioning of a state.” So, the looming question, if the cyber insurance firm no longer covers the fallout of digital war, do attacks infrastructure count? Quick to answer from Lloyd’s: No. The firm says that it no longer wants to deal in losses that result from “cyber war,” which the firm includes attacks that have a “major detrimental impact” on a state’s function, implying attacks on critical infrastructure.

The Top Data Breaches Of 2021

Security Magazine: A list of 2021’s top 10 data breaches and exposures and a few other noteworthy mentions. Particularly important is how the manufacturing and utilities sector was deeply impacted, with 48 compromises and a total of 48,294,629 victims. The healthcare sector followed, with 78 compromises resulting in more than 7 million victims. Other sectors that were hit resulted in 3.5 million victims, including financial services (1.6 million victims), government (1.4 million victims) and professional services (1.5 million victims). As SonicWall threat data has also shown, this is the year of the ransomware, and we still have four weeks to go!

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Cybersecurity News & Trends – 12-03-21

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SonicWall’s widely quoted threat reports are still pulling in massive attention from the US and European news organizations, helped along by the Agence France-Presse (AFP). Several news outlets also noted SonicWall’s launch of the Gen7 NGFW products and winning the Frost & Sullivan’s 2021 Global Competitive Strategy Leadership Award. Meanwhile, in Industry News, the FBI netted international arrests by selling a “secure” communication app, damage from ‘Double-Extortion’ ransomware rises 935%, and civilians find themselves in the crossfire of a rising cyberwar between Iran and Israel.

SonicWall in the News

China’s Missile Turducken

Politico: In 2019, security threat researchers at SonicWall Capture Labs estimated that ransomware gangs deployed 129.3 million malware attacks during the week of Thanksgiving, a 63% increase from the year before.

700M Attacks in 2021 and Counting: Can Businesses Fight the Ransomware Tsunami?

Toolbox: Asking whether businesses are investing enough into technology, or “organizational culture” is to blame, the writer observes surprise at the enormous rise in breaches this year. They also cite SonicWall’s recently released Q3 Threat Report. From the scale of the attacks, we get a peek into how cybercriminals leverage ransomware as their weapon of choice to hit anyone.

SonicWall Applauded by Frost & Sullivan

Business Chief: SonicWall is recognized for delivering excellent and reliable cybersecurity tools to worldwide organizations. The publication also mentions that Frost & Sullivan recognized SonicWall’s industry-leading network firewall solutions that enhance organizational security, efficiency, and reliability.

The True Cost Of Rising Cyber Threats

Forbes: The actual cost of ignoring rising cyber threats and ‘being too late’ is not lost on today’s business leaders, and cybersecurity is annually rated as a top priority for company IT budgets. SonicWall predicted that by the end of 2021, the ransomware attack total would be near 714 million, a 134% year-on-year increase.

Frost & Sullivan recognizes SonicWall

Yahoo Finance: Based on its recent analysis of the network firewall market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes SonicWall with the Frost & Sullivan’s 2021 Global Competitive Strategy Leadership Award for redefining and leading the network market roadmap.

Did the Cybersecurity Stakes Get Even Higher in 2021?

Government Technology: In 2021, cybersecurity will get more serious. Already a growing threat, ransomware exploded, with attacks becoming more frequent and costly. The volume of ransomware attacks against US targets rose 185 percent year over year in the first half of 2021, according to Internet security solutions provider SonicWall.

SonicWall’s new firewall models protect enterprises from the most advanced cyberattacks

ITWire: SonicWall adds three new firewall models— NSa 5700, NSsp 10700, and NSsp 11700—to its Generation 7 cybersecurity evolution, touted to be the most extensive product launch in the company’s 30-year history.

How to Cut Down on Data Breach Stress and Fatigue

Security Intelligence: If you’re tired of hearing the words’ data breach’, you’re not alone. It’s looking like 2021 might end up becoming the year with the most ransomware attacks on record. In August, SonicWall reported that the global ransomware attack volume had increased 151% during the first six months compared to 2020.

SonicWall’s new firewalls: Trimmed for throughput

Market Research Telecast: SonicWall adds the three firewalls NSa 5700, NSsp 10700 and NSsp 11700 to its cybersecurity portfolio MSSPs (Managed Security Service Providers). The design goal of the new products was primarily performance.

Act now to protect yourself against cybercrime, says former hacker Marshal Webb

Daily Record (UK): Cybercrime is a fast-growing threat to every organisation online. According to the 2021 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report, in the first half of this year, there were 304.7 million ransomware threats – a rise of more than 150% on the same time last year. Former hacker turned cybersecurity expert Marshal Webb is calling for organisations to protect themselves and their customers.

Cryptocrimes Proliferate: Ransomware, New Threat Campaigns

BankInfo Security: The cryptocurrency sector has witnessed ransomware incidents, malware campaigns and a cryptocurrency address-altering attack. SonicWall security researcher Dmitriy Ayrapetov said, “The new campaign is another example of how relentless cybercriminals are in their search for profit.”

Tech 2022 trends: Meatless meat, Web 3.0, Big Tech battles

AFP, Dunyan News (India): Cybersecurity company SonicWall wrote in late October: “With 495 million ransomware attacks logged by the company this year to date, 2021 will be the most costly and dangerous year on record.”

Trends for 2022: Big Tech battles

AFP, Manila Times (Philippines): The spike toward record ransomware attacks and data leaks in 2021 looks likely to spill over into the coming year. Cybersecurity company SonicWall wrote in late October: “With 495 million ransomware attacks logged by the company this year to date, 2021 will be the most costly and dangerous year on record.”

Tech 2022 trends: Web 3.0 and crypto, Big Tech battles

AFP, ET Telecom (India): After a year that made the terms like ‘work from home’ and metaverse instantly recognizable, cybersecurity company SonicWall reported that 495 million ransomware attacks were logged by the company this year. They said that “2021 will be the most costly and dangerous year on record.”

Industry News

How a Complicated Cybersecurity Story Got More Complicated

Slate: In one of the more unusual cybersecurity policing stories of the past year, the FBI announced in June that it had created its own company, called ANOM, to sell devices with a pre-installed encrypted messaging app to criminals. They marketed the ANOM app as providing end-to-end encrypted messaging, comparable to the security protections offered by services like Signal, WhatsApp, and iMessage. However, the messages were intercepted by law enforcement, which had designed the app for precisely that purpose. The effort’s success surprised even the FBI with more than 12,000 ANOM devices and services sold. The operation, named Operation Trojan Shield, led to the arrests of 800 people worldwide along with the seizure of contraband, 250 firearms, and more than $48 million.

Ransomware attack on Planned Parenthood steals data of 400,000 patients

ARS Technica: Hackers broke into a Planned Parenthood network and accessed medical records or sensitive data for more than 400,000 patients. The organization says that the intrusion and data theft were limited to Planned Parenthood’s Los Angeles chapter patients. Organization personnel first noticed the hack on October 17 and investigated.

‘Double-Extortion’ Ransomware Damage Skyrockets 935%

Threat Post: The ransomware business is booming, and researchers say that inadequate corporate security and a flourishing ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) affiliate market are to blame. Access to compromised networks is cheap, thanks to a rise in the number of initial-access brokers, and RaaS tools can turn everyday petty crooks into full-blown cybercriminals in an afternoon for just a few bucks.

New Ransomware Variant Could Become Next Big Threat

Dark Reading: Yanluowang is one among numerous new ransomware variants that have surfaced this year. Just this week, Red Canary researchers reported observing a threat actor exploiting the ProxyShell set of vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange to deploy a new ransomware variant called BlackByte, which others, such as TrustWave’s SpiderLabs, have recently warned about as well.

Israel and Iran Broaden Cyberwar to Attack Civilian Targets

New York Times: Iranians couldn’t buy gas. Israelis found their intimate dating details posted online. As a result, the Iran-Israel shadow war is now hitting ordinary citizens. Millions of ordinary people in Iran and Israel recently found themselves caught up in the crossfire of a cyberwar between their countries. The escalation comes as American authorities have warned of Iranian attempts to hack hospitals’ computer networks and other critical infrastructure in the United States. As hopes fade for a diplomatic resurrection of the Iranian nuclear agreement, such attacks are only likely to increase.

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How to Protect Your Business During a Global Health Crisis

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While governments and healthcare organizations work to contain and stop the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), businesses are working to keep employees safe and operations running. Consider these best practices when challenged by disaster or unforeseen circumstances.

Expand your remote workforce, securely

Organizations, businesses and enterprises are protecting their workforce and allowing employees to work remotely. Increasingly, this is becoming a mandated policy and potentially the sign of a new remote future.

Precautions like these, however, are causing unexpected increases in mobile and ‘work-from-home’ employees; many organizations don’t have enough virtual private network (VPN) licenses to accommodate the increase of users. This is a serious risk as employees will either not have access to business resources or, worse, they will do so via non-secure connections.

For this reason, security-conscious organizations should have scalable secure mobile or remote access solution in place (e.g., VPN) that can accommodate an influx of users (and the respective license requirements).

Review your business continuity plan

Disaster strikes in all forms. Whether malicious cyberattacks, inclement weather, power outages or pandemic, organizations should have built-in scenarios that help ensure business continuity in the face of uncertainty.

Organizations, SMBs and enterprises are encouraged to review their business continuity plans on a yearly basis. This should account for everything for communication channels, leadership, infrastructure, technology and more. Reference SonicWall’s ‘5 Core Practices to Ensure Business Continuity” as a helpful primer.

Defend against fear-based cyberattacks

Cybercriminals know how to successfully capitalize on trends, fears and human behavior. And the coronavirus outbreak is a prime opportunity for them to launch fear-based phishing campaigns, mobile malware, social-engineering attacks and more.

A range of phishing attacks were launched to take advantage of coronavirus fears, including phishing emails appearing to come from the World Health Organization. Organizations should ensure they have strong secure email security in place to mitigate aggressive phishing attacks.

In cases where phishing links are clicked by employees, staff, partners and contractors, cloud application security, Office 365 security and advanced endpoint protection solutions are required to mitigate malware from compromising networks or stealing credentials.

Protect your many endpoints

The new normal has waves of remote employees roaming outside the safety of the network perimeter. In some cases, this is a new experience and they may behave in the same manner as if they were protected by network security controls.

Organizations need to be prepared for an influx of attacks impacting endpoints. A single employee — either working remotely or bored from mandated quarantine — could click a phishing link that could lock data via ransomware, steal credentials or gain access to the corporate network.

A sound security strategy for remote workforces always includes proactive endpoint protection (or next-generation antivirus) that mitigates attacks before, during and after they execute. More advanced approaches include automated rollback to return infected Windows PCs to a previously clean state.

Work-from-Home VPN Solutions for Remote Workforces

To help organizations cost-effectively implement VPN technology for their rapidly expanding work-from-home employees, SonicWall is making its remote access products and services available to both new and existing customers via deeply discounted rates. We’re also bundling critical security solutions for new enterprise and SMB customers.

This special offer provides free Secure Mobile Access (SMA) virtual appliances sized for enterprises and SMBs, and also includes aggressive discounts on Cloud App Security and Capture Client endpoint protection when paired with SMA.

These packages were bundled to include everything needed to protect employees outside the network:

  • Free Secure Mobile Access (SMA) virtual appliance
  • Aggressive discounts on Capture Client endpoint protection
  • Aggressive discounts on Cloud App Security
  • Aggressive discounts on support contracts and Remote Implementation Services when you bundle a virtual appliance
  • New 30- and 60-day VPN spike licenses for existing SMA 100 and 1000 series customers

Seven Layers of Protection from Hacked Websites

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In January 2015, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver announced that his website, which attracts 10 million visitors per month, had been compromised. This followed an announcement by Forbes that a month earlier, in December of 2014, the highly visible “Thought of the Day” flash widget had been compromised as well. In both of these, the hacked website was simply the first step in a complex process that is carefully engineered to make money off of unsuspecting internet users.

Most people are surprised to learn that the Hollywood perpetuated stereotype of the cyber-criminal is a myth. We imagine an evil genius sitting in a dark room, typing feverishly to hack into the good guy’s networks in real time, guessing passwords and avoiding law enforcement through well-timed keystroke sequences as he goes. The reality is much less intriguing. The tools that are used for these exploits are often generic off-the-shelf software developed by third-party developers and then sold on the black market. The sale of criminal tools – exploit kits, malware droppers, malware itself and more — has become a big business in itself. In fact, according to researchers, in the case of the Jamie Oliver website, a popular and widely available hacking tool named Fiesta was used to scan visitors’ computers and look for vulnerabilities that could be exploited to deliver the malware. Our own  SonicWall threat research shows that Angler was the most commonly used exploit kit in 2014, resulting in over 60 percent of the exploits that we saw last year.

To add to the problem, NSS labs estimates that 75 percent of the world’s computers and 85 percent of the computers in North America are poorly protected against these exploits. Even worse, anti-virus (AV) software that is typically used to protect computers provides only adequate security at best.

How do websites get compromised?

The attacker will generally target websites with vulnerabilities that allow them to modify the HTML on the web page. A prime target for cybercriminals is a website that is highly trusted and high volume like Forbes.com. In many cases, attackers will look to compromise ad servers which generate a huge amount of views. After a webpage with a vulnerability is identified, users can be tricked into clicking links to a separate landing page on a rogue web server that hosts the exploit kit. In the more disturbing case of a so-called drive-by download, an exploit kit automatically loads content from the malware server with zero end user interaction required.

The exploit kit then attempts to scan the user’s computer looking for vulnerabilities in common applications. We know that most people ignore OS patches, and even more people ignore browser, Java and Flash patches. A sophisticated attacker may independently find a vulnerability, but more likely he or she will use published vulnerabilities. The level of sophistication of these exploit kits varies, but some will even check IP addresses to ensure that the target computer matches the desired profile, for example a residential PC.

Once a vulnerable application is discovered, the exploit is launched and if successful the chosen malware payload is finally downloaded to the victim’s computer. While one common payload delivers malware that takes control of the victim’s computers (this is called a bot as in robot or zombie), other malware can be used to steal data, log keystrokes, or launch distributed DOS attacks on other websites. Another common payload is called ransomware because it encrypts all data on the victim’s computer and holds it until the data owner provides a valid credit card number and pays to unlock the data. The reality with these attacks is that anybody and everybody is a target – the mom and pop business owner, gas station attendant, grandma and grandpa, business executive or school teacher – everyone is a potential victim.

No single tool or technique is guaranteed to stop these attacks, but there are a variety of tactics that can be utilized to minimize the chance of a successful exploit.

  1. Gateway malware protection. Modern firewalls, also known as next-generation firewalls, provide much more intensive packet scanning than legacy firewalls. Deep packet inspection is used to inspect not only the header portion of the packet but also the payload, searching for viruses, Trojans and intrusion attempts. This level of inspection will often block the download of the malware payload.
  2. Patch management. Since most of the known exploits take advantage of vulnerable versions of applications, it is critical that you continuously apply the latest versions of software to all of your servers, PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, smartphones, tablets, printers, networking gear and other connected non-computing devices. Whew! Systems management solutions automate this patching for larger organizations.
  3. Automatically updated desktop AV clients. Standard desktop anti-virus clients provide a level of protection from the malware payloads that are used in these attacks, but it is critical that the desktop client is kept up-to-date. Ideally, if you are in charge of security, you would have a way to enforce the use of the clients because users love to turn off AV when they perceive that it slows down their computer. And unfortunately, in some cases malware disables AV or uses advanced methods to avoid detection so this is just one layer in the overall security strategy.
  4. Internet/web content filtering. There are a wide variety of solutions on the market that allow an organization to filter the URLs that can be accessed by users inside the network. Filtering in many cases will block the redirect to the malware server, and is a standard feature on most next-generation firewalls.
  5. Botnet filtering. Deep packet inspection also provides the ability to determine if connections are being made to or from botnet command and control servers. Many next-generation firewalls have continuously updated lists of these servers. Botnet filtering is a layer of security that will block communications to and from already compromised computers participating in botnets from behind the firewall.
  6. GeoIP filtering. Another feature of next-generation firewalls that can be useful in preventing bots from communicating with their command and control server is to restrict communications based on geography. GeoIP data includes the country, city, area code and much more. This is useful if an organization can exclude geographies that are known cyber-security risks such as Russia or China.
  7. Outbound email protection. Attackers will often use the computers that they are able to exploit as spambots to send spam mail as part of a larger spam campaign. These computers are often called zombies because they are remotely controlled by another person, in this case the spam botmaster. Email security solutions can scan outbound mail for signals that the computer has been compromised and determine that a system has been compromised.

Security professionals realize the complexity of the risks posed by compromised websites. Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet to preventing exploits, but a layered approach to security can minimize the risk to your organization.

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

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Cyber Monday and Black Friday are the proverbial holiday shopping seasons for cybercriminals and their strategic cyberattacks, including malware, ransomware and phishing attacks. Eager online shoppers are hurried to fill holiday dreams — often at the detriment of cybersecurity best practices and common sense.

According to Adobe Analytics, consumers spent $7.4 billion online during this year’s Black Friday event, up $1.2 billion over 2018. Those numbers jumped for Cyber Monday, where retailers collected $9.4 billion in online sales on the frantic shopping holiday.

That kind of volume — in terms of both people and dollars — makes for a lucrative target for the modern cybercriminal. In 2018, SonicWall Capture Labs threat researchers discovered a spike in ransomware attacks during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping events, as well as a 45% jump in phishing attacks.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2019 resulted in much of the same. SonicWall Capture Labs threat researchers recorded* a double-digit malware spike (63%) in the U.S. between the eight-day holiday shopping window from Nov. 25 to Dec. 2.

  • 129.3 million malware attacks (63% increase over 2018)
  • 639,355 ransomware attacks (14% decrease over 2018)
  • 51% increase in phishing attacks on Black Friday (compared to the average day in 2019)

Cyber Monday attacks dips, Black Friday takes the hit

Cybercriminals weren’t waiting until Cyber Monday to launch their campaigns, either. In the U.S., both malware (130%) and ransomware attacks (69%) were up on Black Friday compared to 2018. This trend continued on Cyber Sunday with increases in malware (107%) and ransomware (9%).

Interestingly, ransomware attacks were down on Cyber Monday (-41%) and Small Business Saturday (-55%), resulting in an overall 14% decrease in U.S. ransomware attacks during the eight-day shopping window.

Malicious Android apps spotted during Black Friday

It’s no secret that much of holiday shopping is done on mobile apps. Busy online shoppers often leverage mobile apps that keep track of deals, provide discount coupons and offer the convenience of skipping long lines at shopping malls.

To diversify their attack strategies, cybercriminals and malware writers use this opportunity to spread malware under the guise of shopping and deal-related apps — particularly during this eight-day Thanksgiving holiday shopping window.

In the past few weeks alone, SonicWall Capture Labs threat researchers observed a number of malicious Android apps that use the shopping theme to trick users into downloading and installing these apps.

One of the more notable malicious apps is this Amazon Shopping Hack, which is tied to a range of survey scams that attempt to steal user data and sensitive information.

Name: Amazon Shopping Hack
Package: com.amazon.mShop.android.shopping.hack
SHA: fa87b95eead4d43b2ca4b6d8c945db082b4886b395b3c3731dee9b7c19344bfa

After execution, this app shows a human verification page to continue using this app. This “verification” essentially leads to survey-related scams that attempt to extract sensitive user information, such as email address, credit card details, address, etc.

One of the domains contacted by this app during execution is mobverify.com. A quick search about this domain revealed a number of other survey related pages:

The mobverify.com domain is associated with a number of malevolent apps, survey scam links and malicious executables. During analysis, we observed a GET request to mobverify.com, which downloads a json file containing a list of different survey scams:

For additional examples of malicious Android apps, please review the in-depth findings of the Capture Labs threat team: Malicious Android Apps Observed During Thanksgiving Season 2019.

Intelligence for this report was sourced from real-world data gathered by the SonicWall Capture Threat Network, which securely monitors and collects information from global devices and resources including more than 1 million security sensors in nearly 215 countries and territories.

* As a best practice, SonicWall routinely optimizes its methodologies for data collection, analysis and reporting. This includes improvements to data cleansing, changes in data sources and consolidation of threat feeds. Figures published in previous reports may have been adjusted across different time periods, regions or industries.

Webinar: Prep Your Business to Face 2019’s Most Advanced Cyber Threats

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Cyber threat intelligence is a must-have component for any security-conscious organizations. And for those who couldn’t get enough of the mid-year update to the 2019 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report, SonicWall security experts hosted an exclusive webinar to go inside the exclusive threat data, ask questions about the threat landscape and offer best practices for improving your security posture.

This edition, “Prep Your Business to Face 2019’s Most Advanced Cyber Threats,” was hosted by Brook Chelmo, a charismatic storyteller who will help you make sense of the numbers. Watch the exclusive on-demand webinar to gain a better understanding of what’s at stake. You’ll explore:

About Brook Chelmo

Brook handles all product marketing responsibilities for SonicWall security services and serves as SonicWall’s ransomware tsar.

Fascinated in the growth of consumer internet, Brook dabbled in grey-hat hacking in the mid to late ‘90s while also working and volunteering in many non-profit organizations. After spending the better part of a decade adventuring and supporting organizations around the globe, he ventured into the evolving world of storage and security. He serves humanity by teaching security best practices, promoting and developing technology.

RTDMI Evolving with Machine Learning to Stop ‘Never-Before-Seen’ Cyberattacks

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If I asked you, “How many new forms of malware did SonicWall discover last year?” What would be your response?

When I pose this question to audiences around the world, the most common guess is 8,000. People are often shocked when they hear that SonicWall discovered 45 million new malware variants in 2018, as reported in the 2019 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report.

The SonicWall Capture Labs threat research team was established in the mid-‘90s to catalog and build defenses for the massive volume of malware they would find each year. Because our threat researchers process more than 100,000 malware samples a day, they have to work smart, not hard. This is why SonicWall Capture Labs developed technology using machine learning to discover and identify new malware. And it continues to evolve each day.

How Automation, Machine Learning Stops New Malware

Released to the public in 2016, the SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) sandbox service was designed to mitigate millions of new forms of malware that attempt to circumvent traditional network defenses via evasion tactics. It was built as a multi-engine architecture in order to present the malicious code different environments to detonate within. In 2018, this technology found nearly 400,000 brand new forms of malware, much of which came from customer submissions.

In order to make determinations happen faster with better accuracy, the team developed Real-Time Deep Memory InspectionTM (RTDMI), a patent-pending technology that allows malware to go straight to memory and extract the payload within the 100-nanosecond window it is exposed. The 2019 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report also mapped how the engine discovered nearly 75,000 ‘never-before-seen’ threats in 2018 alone — despite being released (at no additional cost to Capture ATP customers) in February 2018.

‘Never-Before-Seen’ Attacks Discovered by RTDMI in 2018

Image source: 2019 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report

Using proprietary machine learning capabilities, RTDMI has become more and more efficient at identifying and mitigating cyberattacks never seen by anyone in the cybersecurity industry. Since July 2018, the technology’s machine learning capabilities caught more undetectable cyberattacks in every month except one. In January 2019, this figure eclipsed 17,000 and continues to rise in 2019.

Year of the Processor Vulnerability

Much like how Heartbleed and other vulnerabilities in cryptographic libraries introduced researchers and attackers to a new battleground in 2014, so were the numerous announcements of vulnerabilities affecting processors in 2018.

Since these theoretical (currently) attacks operate in memory, RTDMI is well positioned to discover and stop these attacks from happening. By applying the information on how a theoretical attack would work to the machine learning engine, RTDMI was able to identify a Spectre attack within 30 days. Shortly thereafter, it was hardened for Meltdown. With each new processor vulnerability discovered (e.g., Foreshadow, PortSmash), it took RTDMI less and less time to harden against the attack.

Then, in March 2019, while much of the security world was at RSA Conference 2019 in San Francisco, the Spoiler vulnerability was announced. With the maturity found within RTDMI, it took the engine literally no time at all to identify if the vulnerability was being exploited.

Although we have yet to see these side-channel attacks in the wild, RTDMI is primed for the fight and even if there is a new vulnerability announced tomorrow with the ability to weaponize it, this layer of defense is ready to identify and block side-channel attacks against processor vulnerabilities.

Image source: 2019 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report

Scouting for New Technology

Now, if you are not a SonicWall customer yet and are evaluating solutions to stop unknown and ‘never-before-seen’ attacks (i.e., zero-day threats), ask your prospective vendors how they do against these types of attacks. Ask how they did on Day 1 of the WannaCry crisis. As for the volume of attacks their solutions are finding, ask for evidence the solution works in a real-world situation, not just as a proof of concept (POC) in a lab.

If you are a customer, Capture ATP, which includes RTDMI, is available as an add-on purchase within many of our offerings from the firewall, to email, to the wireless access point. You read that correctly: right on the access point.

We believe in the technology so much that we place it in everything to protect your networks and endpoints, such as laptops and IoT devices. This is why large enterprises, school districts, SMBs, retail giants, carrier networks and service providers, and government offices and agencies trust this technology to safeguard their networks, data and users every day.

On-Demand Webinar: The State of the Cyber Arms Race

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There are two kinds of cybersecurity enthusiasts in this world.

Person 1: I anxiously set my alarm to be the first one to download the new 2019 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report. I await its glorious arrival every spring and have already read it cover-to-cover 34 times. What else can I learn?

Person 2: I, too, value the actionable cyberattack intelligence and research from SonicWall Capture Labs threat researchers. I downloaded it (hopefully), but just haven’t had a chance to absorb all it has to offer. I need more.

SonicWall obviously supports both approaches, but we know different types of people digest content in different ways.

For this reason, we hosted an exclusive webinar that explored the key findings, discussed intricacies of the data, provided updates and answered many questions.

Watch the on-demand replay to learn about the findings, intelligence, analysis and research from the 2019 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report.

The exclusive session, “The State of Cyber Arms Race: Unmasking the Threats Coming in 2019,” will help you improve your security preparations and posture through 2019 and beyond. Pro tip: Download the full report now so you’re primed for the webinar.

Hosted by SonicWall’s John Gordineer, the convenient 60-minute webinar explored the complete report, which covers key trends and findings from 2018, such as:

  • Global Malware Volume
  • UK, India Harden Against Ransomware
  • Dangerous Memory Threats & Side-Channel Attacks
  • Malicious PDF & Office Files Beating Legacy Security Controls
  • Attacks Against Non-Standard Ports
  • IoT Attacks Escalating
  • Encrypted Attacks Growing Steady
  • Rise & Fall of Cryptojacking
  • Global Phishing Volume Down, Attacks More Targeted

About the Presenter

John Gordineer
Director, Product Marketing

John is responsible for technical messaging, positioning and evangelization of SonicWall network security, email security, and secure remote access solutions to customers, partners, the press and industry analysts. John has more than 20 years of experience in product marketing, product management, product development and manufacturing engineering. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Montana State University.

2019 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report: Unmasking Threats That Target Enterprises, Governments & SMBs

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The launch of the annual SonicWall Cyber Threat Report always reminds us why we’re in this business.

Our engineers and threat researchers dedicate months to the project in order to shed light on how people, businesses and organizations online are affected by cybercrime.

What they found is telling. Across the board, cyberattacks are up. Criminals aren’t relenting. Hackers and nefarious groups are pushing attacks to greater levels of volume and sophistication. And the 2019 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report outlines how they’re doing it and at what scale.

To understand the fast-changing cyber arms race, download the complimentary 2019 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report. The unification, analysis and visualization of cyber threats will empower you and your organization to fight back with more authority, determination and veracity than ever before. So, let’s take a look at what’s included.

Malware Volume Still Climbing

In 2016, the industry witnessed a decline in malware volume. Since then, malware attacks have increased 33.4 percent. Globally, SonicWall recorded 10.52 billion malware attacks in 2018 — the most ever logged by the company.

UK, India Harden Against Ransomware

SonicWall Capture Lab threat researchers found that ransomware was up in just about every geographic region but two: the U.K. and India. The report outlines where ransomware volume shifted, and which regions were impacted most by the change.

Dangerous Memory Threats, Side-Channel Attacks Identified Early

The report explores how SonicWall Real-Time Deep Memory InspectionTM (RTDMI) mitigates dangerous side-channel attacks utilizing patent-pending technology. Side-channels are the fundamental vehicle used to exploit and exfiltrate data from processor vulnerabilities, such as Foreshadow, PortSmash, Meltdown, Spectre and Spoiler.

Malicious PDFs & Office Files Beating Legacy Security Controls

Cybercriminals are weaponizing PDFs and Office documents to help malware circumvent traditional firewalls and even some modern day network defenses. SonicWall reports how this change is affecting traditional malware delivery.

Attacks Against Non-Standard Ports

Ports 80 and 443 are standard ports for web traffic, so they are where many firewalls focus their protection. In response, cybercriminals are targeting a range of non-standard ports to ensure their payloads can be deployed undetected in a target environment. The problem? Organizations aren’t safeguarding this vector, leaving attacks unchecked.

IoT Attacks Escalating

There’s a deluge of Internet of Things (IOT) devices rushed to market without proper security controls. In fact, SonicWall found a 217.5 percent year-over-year increase in the number of IoT attacks.

Encrypted Attacks Growing Steady

The growth in encrypted traffic is coinciding with more attacks being cloaked by TLS/SSL encryption. More than 2.8 million attacks were encrypted in 2018, a 27 percent increase over 2017.

The Rise & Fall of Cryptojacking

In 2018, cryptojacking diminished nearly as fast is it appeared. SonicWall recorded tens of millions of cryptojacking attacks globally between April and December. The volume peaked in September, but has been on a steady decline since. Was cryptojacking a fad or is more on the way?

Global Phishing Volume Down, Attacks More Targeted

As businesses get better at blocking email attacks and ensuring employees can spot and delete suspicious emails, attackers are shifting tactics. They’re reducing overall attack volume and launching more targeted phishing campaigns. In 2018, SonicWall recorded 26 million phishing attacks worldwide, a 4.1 percent drop from 2017.