Nothing is more difficult than making predictions. Instead of trowing out wild ideas what might be coming, will be making educated guesses based on what has happened during the last 12 months and several years before that.
The past year has seen a rapid increase in the adoption of up-and-coming technologies. Everyday items are getting
smarter and more connected. Companies are saving millions with new technologies and cities are racing to
implement smart solutions. 5G promises to bring wireless high speed broadband to everywhere. On the other hand those solutions add new kinds of vulnerabilities. Competing in today’s digital marketplace requires that organizations are cyber-savvy. 2020 is when cybersecurity gets even weirder, so get ready.
Here are some trends and predictions for cyber security in 2020:
Cyber Attacks: Cyberattacks grow in volume and complexity.Many countries that are going to emerge as major threats in the 2020s. Nation-state backed cyber groups have been responsible for major incidents over the last decade. And now more countries want the same power. Cyberattacks range from targeting your database to steal information that can be sold on the dark web, to hijacking unused CPU cycles on your devices to mine for cryptocurrencies, or trying to infect vulnerable systems so they can be used later as part of a botnet.
IoT security: IoT security is still getting worse until it starts to get better. IoT security is an extremely hot topic right now and will be hot for many years to come. Industrial IoT risk has been discussed a lot. Physics dictates local application deployment, because the control rate of most industrial systems is 10 milliseconds or below. Smart Building Security Awareness Grows. The risks of the IoT in financial services are great. An explosion in IoT devices significantly raises the threat level. Gartner predicted that the world will see nearly 21 billion IoT devices by next year and it would be nice if all of them would be secure, but many of them unfortunately are not secure. Hackers are continually looking for ways to exploit device vulnerabilities. From smart TV’s, IP cameras, and smart elevators, to hospital infusion pumps and industrial PLC controllers, IoT and OT (Operational Technology) devices are inherently vulnerable and easy to hack. Why? Because IoT security is complicated and security should consider and integrated with IoT deployments. Gartner Says Worldwide IoT Security Spending Will Reach $1.9 Billion in 2019, and will raise to $ 3.1 billion in 2021, making it one of the fastest growing segments in cybersecurity industry. IoT landscape is complex, and so are the security solutions. These tackle the different challenges of IoT- device hardening, encryption, discovery, data protection, malware and anomaly detection, policy enforcement and more. You might have to do a little work with your internet of things devices to stay secure. A failure by many IoT device manufacturers to follow cryptographic best practices is leaving a high proportion of the devices vulnerable to attack. One in every 172 active RSA certificates are vulnerable to attack. It is a good idea to build a separate network segments for IoT devices so that they are isolated from the normal office network. FBI recommends that you keep your IoT devices on a separate network.
IoT privacy: Silicon Valley Is Listening to Your Most Intimate Moments. The world’s biggest companies got millions of people to let temps analyze some very sensitive recordings made by your “smart” speakers and smart phones. A quarter of Americans have bought “smart speaker” devices such as the Echo, Google Home, and Apple HomePod. Consulting firm Juniper Research Ltd. estimates that by 2023 the global annual market for smart speakers will reach $11 billion, and there will be about 7.4 billion voice-controlled devices in the wild. That’s about one for every person on Earth. The question is, then what? Having microphones that listen all the time is concerning. Also some attackers are terrifying homeowners and making them feel violated in their own homes.
Medical systems security: Cyberattacks on Medical Devices Are on the Rise—and Manufacturers Must Respond. Attacks on networked medical devices, and the data they collect and transmit, can be costly. Patient safety is a critical concern, especially with devices such as defibrillators and insulin pumps that could cause patient harm or death if they malfunction. It’s shocking that a few years after WannaCry and NotPetya, the healthcare industry is still not prepared to deal with ransomware attacks. Many hospitals and healthcare networks that have been hit by ransomware over the past few months.
Surveillance cameras: Surveillance cameras are capturing what we do on the streets, at airports, in stores, and in much of our public space. China’s Orwellian video surveillance gets a bad rap but the US isn’t far behind as US has nearly the same ratio of security cameras to citizens as China.And the numbers are growing all over the world. One billion surveillance cameras will be deployed globally by 2021, according to data compiled by IHS Markit. Russia is building one of the world’s largest facial recognition networks and it may even be bigger than China’s 200 million camera system. China’s installed base is expected to rise to over 560 million cameras by 2021, representing the largest share of surveillance devices installed globally, with the US rising to around 85 million cameras. Now US, like China, has about one surveillance camera for every four people (in 2018 China had 350 million cameras and USA 70 million). Surveillance cameras are getting better, smaller and cheaper and can be installed almost anywhere. It would be very easy to sneak another device onto a hotel’s Wi-Fi network, stream that video over the internet to the computer.
Facial recognition: Private companies and governments worldwide are already experimenting with facial recognition technology. Facial recognition software is touted as making us safer. But mass surveillance has downsides of major proportions. Massive errors found in facial recognition tech. Facial recognition systems can produce wildly inaccurate results, especially for non-whites. Russia is building one of the world’s largest facial recognition networks. Individuals, lawmakers, developers – and everyone in between – should be aware of the rise of facial recognition, and the risks it poses to rights to privacy, freedom, democracy and non-discrimination.
Shut off Internet: Worrying worldwide trend employed by various governments: preventing people from communicating on the web and accessing information. Amid widespread demonstrations over different issues many countries have started cutting Internet connections from people. Some countries, namely China, architected their internet infrastructure from the start with government control in mind. Russia is aiming to this direction. Iran, India, Russia. For better or worse, an internet blackout limits the government’s ability to conduct digital surveillance on citizens.
Security First: Implementing Cyber Best Practices Requires a Security-First Approach. Competing in today’s digital marketplace requires that organizations be cyber-savvy. The best defense is to start with a security-driven development and networking strategy that builds a hardened digital presence from the ground up. This not only ensures that your online services and web applications are protected from compromise, but also enables security to automatically evolve and adapt right alongside the development of your digital presence, rather than it having to be constantly rigged and retrofitted to adapt to digital innovation.
Zero Trust Network Access: Many of the most damaging breaches have been the result of users gaining access to unauthorized levels of network resources and devices. Zero Trust is an enforceable, identity-driven access policy that includes seamless and secure two-factor/OTP authentication across the organization. Zero Trust Network Access ensures that all users and devices are identified, profiled, and provided appropriate network access. It also ensures that new devices are automatically assigned to appropriate network segments based on things like device profiles and owners. When combined with Network Access Control (NAC), organizations can also discover, identify, grant appropriate access, and monitor devices, thereby enhancing your access and segmentation strategy.
Anti-virus software: Only Half of Malware Caught by Signature AV. The percentage of malware that successfully bypassed signature-based antivirus scanners at companies’ network gateways has increased significantly, either by scrambling
code known as “packing” using basic encryption techniques or by the automatic creation of code variants. It seems that new approaches like machine learning and behavioral detection are necessary to catch threats. Meanwhile, network attacks have risen, especially against older vulnerabilities.
Ransomware attacks: Ransomware will remain a major threat in the coming year, as the criminal business model continues to flourish. That’s a move that security professionals have long condemned, warning that paying the ransom in a ransomware attack could end up causing more turmoil for victims – as well as inspire other cybercriminals to launch ransomware attacks. Microsoft never encourage a ransomware victim to pay. What to do with this is question. How much does a large-scale ransomware attack cost, as opposed to just hiring an adequate number of skilled IT personnel, and having disaster recovery plans in place? There is no complete security solution that could stop all attacks, but you should have decent protection. It would seem prudent to have adequate staff and offline BACKUPS to deal with this kind of situation, so decent recovery would be possible. Having no backup system is the gamble many companies and public entities seem to be playing. Good backups helps to recover from ransom attacks. There are new tactics coming to use in ransomware. A new Snatch ransomware strain that will reboot computers it infects into Safe Mode to disable any resident security solutions. Another new tactic by ransomware developers is to release a victim’s data if they do not pay the ransom – they will publish data that they steal to a competitor if the ransom is not paid.
Public sector: Public Sector Security Is Lagging. The state of cybersecurity and resilience in the public sector needs an
urgent boost in many countries. U.S. citizens rely on state governments and local municipalities to provide a host of services everything from access to public records, law enforcement protection, education and welfare to voting and election services. Cybercriminals have been targeting state and local governments with ransomware tools, which infect an organization’s computer networks and lock up critical files.
Consumer confidence: Winning consumer confidence is crucial to the development of new digital services. In a PwC study, consumers are prepared to share personal information if it is of sufficient value to them. On the other hand, consumer confidence also needs to be earned that you keep the information safe.
API security: APIs now account for 40% of the attack surface for all web-enabled apps. It’s a good time to pay attention to API security, since some recent high-profile breaches have involved API vulnerabilities. OWASP, the Open Web Application Security Project known for its top 10 list of web application vulnerabilities, published the release candidate version of its API Security Top 10 list at the end of September 2019. Also it’s almost 2020 and some sysadmins are still leaving Docker admin ports exposed on the internet.
Skills gap: Security teams are already grappling with serious challenges due to the growing cybersecurity skills gap, are being tasked to secure an ever-expanding network footprint. Security teams are often left to secure virtual and cloud environments, the implementation of SaaS services, DevOps projects, the growing adoption of IoT, mobile workers, and an expanding array of personal connected devices after they have already been implemented. They often do not have enough people and enough knowledge on those new technologies to do their work well. The cybersecurity unemployment rate is zero, with over 1 million jobs currently unfilled, a number that is expected to climb to 3.5 million by 2021. 145% Growth is Needed to Meet Global Demand.
Think Like Your Adversary: Cybersecurity leaders need to access the potential vulnerabilities (from the mindset of the adversary) and devise effective defensive countermeasures unique to their company’s needs. Programmers Should Think like Hackers. Security must be taken into account in all programming steps.
Third party security: Most Companies Don’t Properly Manage Third-Party Cyber Risk. It’s been established that good cybersecurity requires not just an internal assessment of an organization’s own security practices, but also a close look at the security of the partners that businesses rely upon in today’s modern, interconnected world. Developing a Third-Party Cyber Risk Management (TPCRM) strategy is becoming more common with every news headline regarding a major breach that stemmed from a company’s relationship with a third-party.
Privacy and surveillance: Fears Grow on Digital Surveillance. Americans are increasingly fearful of monitoring of their online and offline activities, both by governments and private companies. More than 60 percent of US adults believe it is impossible to go about daily life without having personal information collected by companies or the government. Google and Facebook help connect the world and provide crucial services to billions. But their system can also be used for surveillance. Amnesty International says Facebook and Google’s omnipresent surveillance is inherently incompatible with the right to privacy and is a danger to human rights. The claim is that the companies’ surveillance-based business model is inherently incompatible with the right to privacy and poses a threat to a range of other rights including freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of thought, and the right to equality and non-discrimination. Amnesty International has called for a radical transformation of the tech giants’ core business model and said that Google and Facebook should be forced to abandon what it calls their surveillance-based business model because it is “predicated on human rights abuse.”
5G: Forecasting that 2020 will be “the year of 5G” no longer qualifies as a bold prediction. Billions of dollars’ worth of 5G rollouts are scheduled for the coming year, which will bring the emergent technology to countries around the world. The arrival of 5G will fuel an explosion of never-before-seen IoT machines, introducing uncharted vulnerabilities and opening the door for cyber-criminals to compromise our increasingly intertwined cities. Claims that 5G offers “better security” for IoT may not ring true.
5G security: The new 5G mobile networks will be the backbone of future digitalized operations. Therefore, it is also important to ensure the security and immunity of 5G networks.The Council of the European Union has warned member states that the introduction of 5G networks poses increased security risks while also bringing economic and infrastructure benefits. ENISA, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity has published a ThreatLandscape for 5G Networks, assessing the threats related to the fifth generation of mobile telecommunications networks (5G). Organised cybercrime, rogue insiders and nation-state-backed hackers are among the groups that could soon be targeting 5G networks. Claims that 5G offers “better security” for IoT may not ring true – with the technology remaining vulnerable to SIM-jacking attacks within private Industry 4.0-style deployments. 5G SIM-swap attacks could be even worse for industrial IoT than now. Criminals can convince telcos to port a victim’s number to a new SIM card controlled by the criminal. Trust your hardware or operator? Pah, you oughta trust nobody. Do not put all your security and identification to this SIM card.
DNS Over HTTPS (DoH): DoH encrypted DNS queries are already set to arrive in Chrome and Firefox web browsers. Microsoft Will Bring DNS Over HTTPS (DoH) to Windows 10 in an attempt to keep user traffic as private as possible. DoH support in Windows means encrypted DNS queries. Microsoft says that DoH doesn’t require DNS centralization if adoption is broad among operating systems and Internet service providers alike.
Firewall configuration: Now, more than ever, it is important to automate firewall processes to prevent misconfigurations and data breaches. Gartner has warned that “50% of enterprises will unknowingly and mistakenly have exposed some IaaS storage services, network segments, applications or APIs directly to the public internet, up from 25% at YE18.”. This is a human problem, not a firewall problem.
Bot attacks: Bots are being used to take over user accounts, perform DDoS attacks, abuse APIs, scrape unique content and pricing information and more. Organizations are Failing to Deal With Rising Bot Attacks.
Network security: Networks are continually growing in complexity and the cyberattack surface is constantly expanding. The network perimeter of today is elastic, expanding and contracting with the demands of both users and the business. In a rush to adopt digital business practices, many of these new network expansion projects are often being implemented ad hoc by individual lines of business. Routers sit at the edge of the network and see everything and they can be utilized to Making the Network the First Line of Defense. A critical step in building a stronger security posture and more robust data protection strategy is a 24×7 facility whose mission is to monitor, detect, investigate and resolve active threats. Cybercriminals only need to be successful once in finding a way to access the network – but the security team needs to monitor everything on the network and be right all the time to ensure security. Today’s core network is continually adapting to the introduction of new devices, applications, and workflows, along with shifting network configurations to support business requirements, requiring the use of advanced, intent-based segmentation.
Security-Driven Networking: Security-Driven Networking is a new, strategic approach to security that enables the seamless expansion of network environments and services without ever compromising on security. Essentially, it begins by crafting a comprehensive security policy that covers the entire organization. It outlines the protocols, enforcement and inspection technologies, policies, and protections required to be in place before any new network environment or solution is even placed on the drawing board. It requires the selection and full integration of security tools that not only work together to share and correlate intelligence and coordinate a unified response to threats, but that also work seamlessly across the widest variety of environments possible.
Critical infrastructure: Determined threat actors have, for some time, been extending their toolsets beyond Windows, and even beyond PC systems. In recent years, we have seen a number of high-profile attacks on critical infrastructure facilities and these have typically been aligned to wider geo-political objectives. Expect targeted attacks on critical infrastructure facilities to increase. APT33 has shifted targeting to industrial control systems software. We need to be worried about Cyber-Physical Security of the Power Grid. To protect this infrastructure you need to prioritize strategic risks that affect critical infrastructure: Concern yourself with the most important hacks, Understand the critical pieces of your infrastructure and Know your inter-dependencies.
Payment security: Payment security backslides for second straight year in 2019. Verizon’s 2019 Payment Security Report found that full compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) fell to36.7% globally, down from 52.5% in 2018. At the same time EU’s PSD2 (Payments Services Directive) lays down regulatory requirements for companies that provide payment services, including the use of personal data by new fintech companies that are not part of the established banking community. Security of online, including mobile, payments is a key aspect of the legislation. Nevertheless, as banks will be required to open their infrastructure and data to third parties. Although SSLv3 has been considered obsolete and insecure for a long time, a large number of web servers still support its use.
Election security: Nowadays, no elections can be held any longer without debate on influencing voters through online services. There are on-going accusations of Russian interference in US elections and fears about a possible reboot of this in the run-up to the 2020 elections. U.S. military cyber experts are plotting strategy in a fight against potential Russian and other cyberattacks ahead of the 2020 American and Montenegrin elections. As the 2020 Presidential election looms closer in the United
States, a key focus will be on securing election infrastructure to prevent tampering. Most of the largest US voting districts are still vulnerable to email spoofing. Also disinformation campaigns for political purposes are deeply rooted in cybercriminal endeavors. It’s quite possible that we will see changes to legislation and policy, as governments look to define more clearly what is and what isn’t allowed. Hacking is considered to be the biggest tech threats to 2020 elections in USA. Legislators are working on new laws, but it is not going to be enough in an era when technology is turning out entirely new attack surfaces.
False Flags: The use of false flags has become an important element in the playbook of several APT groups. This can be used to try to deflect attention away from those responsible for the attack or what is really happening.
Common attack tools: Cyber actors continually use commodity malware, scripts, publicly available security tools or administrator software during their attacks and for lateral movement, making attribution increasingly difficult.
Vulnerability disclosure: Most “white hat” cyber engineers seem to be driven by a sense of social responsibility best expressed as, “If you find something, say something.” Across the industry, the ethos is to share information quickly, whether the problem is a newly discovered exploit or an evolving cyber threat. The goal is to impel the affected vendor—hardware or software—to take quick action and produce a fix. There are good and bad ways to make vulnerabilities known. A premature “full disclosure” of a previously unknown issue can unleash the forces of evil, and the “black hats” often move faster than vendors or enterprise IT teams. The preferred path is a “responsible” or “coordinated” disclosure that happens behind the scenes. Public announcements occur after a specified period of time—typically 90 or 120 days. But things don’t work this way always.
Ransomware: Cybercriminals have become more targeted in their use of ransomware. It is inevitable that the cybercriminals will also attempt to diversify their attacks to include other types of devices besides PCs or servers. There is a Ransomware ‘Crisis’ in US Schools and in many cities in USA.
Supply chain: Use of supply chains will continue to be one of the most difficult delivery methods to address. It is likely that attackers will continue to expand this method through manipulated software containers, for example, and abuse of packages and libraries. Medium-sized companies are being targeted even more heavily by cyber criminals. They are often the weakest link in supply chains that include large corporations. There is the growth of counterfeit electronics.
Mobile: The main storage for our digital lives has moved from the PC to mobiles over last 10 years. Several countries have started demanding their own software (maybe in some cases also malware) to be installed to all smart phones. Putin signs law making Russian apps mandatory on smartphones, computers.
Android: Today 80% of Android apps are encrypting traffic by default. To ensure apps are safe, apps targeting Android 9 (API level 28) or higher automatically have a policy set by default that prevents unencrypted traffic for every domain. The heterogeneity of the Android versions will continue to be a problem in the coming year.
DDoS attacks: DNS amplification attacks continue to dominate distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, while mobile devices make up a larger share of traffic. The number of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks rose 86% in the third quarter compared to a year ago. DNS amplification attacks accounted for 45% of the attacks, while HTTP
floods and TCP SYN attacks accounted for 14%. Mobile Devices Account for 41% of DDoS Attack Traffic.
Business security: Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) increasingly recognize that a reactive security posture is no longer sufficient for protecting their networks. Breaches will happen. Companies should treat cyberattacks “as a matter of when” and not “whether.” Inside threads are still a big issue as Employees are one of your biggest assets, but human beings are the weakest link in the security chain. Data leaks help attackers to craft more convincing social engineering attacks. Plan proper incident management because Quick, reliable, multichannel communication is a vital part of any incident management solution. Cybercriminals often choose very small companies as their targets because small businesses rarely spend significant money on security systems. Medium-sized companies are being targeted even more heavily by cyber criminals. They are often the weakest link in supply chains that include large corporations.
Cyber insurance: Cyber Has Emerged as a Risk That is Not Specifically Covered by Other Insurance Policies. Since business is now urged to take a risk management approach to cyber security, it is natural and inevitable that cyber insurance should be considered as part of the mix. Cyber insurance is set to grow.
New encryption: The problem with encrypted data is that you must decrypt it in order to work with it. There is a powerful solution to this scenario: homomorphic encryption. Homomorphic encryption makes it possible to analyze or manipulate encrypted data without revealing the data to anyone. Just like many other populr forms of encryption, homomorphic encryption uses a public key to encrypt the data. There are three main types of homomorphic encryption: partially homomorphic encryption (keeps sensitive data secure by only allowing select mathematical functions to be performed on encrypted data); somewhat homomorphic encryption (supports limited operations that can be performed only a set number of times); fully homomorphic encryption (this is the gold standard of homomorphic encryption that keeps information secure and accessible). Cryptographers have known of the concept of homomorphic encryption since 1978 but Gentry established the first homomorphic encryption scheme in 2009.The biggest barrier to widescale adoption of homomorphic encryption is that it is still very slow. Duality, a security startup co-founded by the creator of homomorphic encryption, raises $16M.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): The buzzword for 2019 that we have all heard a thousand times was Artificial Intelligence, AI. The term AI is often interchanged with machine learning. There is a lot of research to examine AI applications on cyber security. As cyberattacks grow in volume and complexity, hopefully artificial intelligence (AI) is helping under-resourced security operations analysts stay ahead of threats. Cybersecurity tools currently use this data aggregation and pattern analysis in the field of heuristic modeling: THE TRUE FUNCTION OF AI WILL BE TO DETERMINE WITH A LONG ARC OF TIME AND DATA, WHAT “NORMAL” LOOKS LIKE FOR A USER. AI can act as an advisor to analysts, helping them quickly identify and connect the dots between threats. Finnish cyber security company F-Secure is making research on AI agents and on that Mikko Hyppönen says that AI should not used to try to imitate humans and that artificial intelligence-based attacks are expected in the near future. Another Finnish cyber security company Nixu says that Artificial intelligence is going to revolutionize cyber security. According to Orlando Scott-Cowley from Amazon Web Services machine learning is the new normal in cyber security. Advanced Machine Learning layers are to be integrated into the latest Windows cybersecurity products. Leaders in artificial intelligence warn that progress is slowing, big challenges remain, and simply throwing more computers at a problem isn’t sustainable.
2020 problems: Has your business prepared for the ‘2020 problem’? Software updates for Windows 7 will end on January 14, 2020. As of Jan. 14, 2020, Windows 7 and Server 2008 technical support and software updates will no longer be available from Windows Update. There will no longer be updates for Office 2010. Some business users can buy extended security update support with extra money for some time. Python will stop supporting Python version 2 on January 1, 2020. Beginning on January 1, 2020, un-patched Splunk platform instances will be unable to recognize timestamps from events where the date contains a two-digit year. December 2019 Patch Tuesday was the last time Microsoft ever offered security updates for devices running Windows 10 Mobile.
Crypto wars continue: A decades-old debate: Government officials have long argued that encryption makes criminal investigations too hard. Governments all over the world say that Encrypted communication is a huge issue for law enforcement and the balance between the privacy of citizens and effective policing of criminal activity is top of mind for governments, technology companies, citizens and privacy organisations all over the world. The international police organization Interpol plans to condemn the spread of strong encryption. Top law enforcement officials in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, the larger group will cite difficulties in catching child sexual predators as grounds for companies opening up user communications to authorities wielding court warrants. Congress warns tech companies: Take action on encryption, or we will. US lawmakers are poised to “impose our will” if tech companies don’t weaken encryption so police can access data.
Do not weaken encryption: Companies, they say, should build in special access that law enforcement could use with a court’s permission. Technologists say creating these back doors would weaken digital security for everyone. Unfortunately, every privacy protection mechanism is subject to abuse by the morally challenged. That’s just a truth that must be accepted and overcome. Invading the privacy of the masses in order to catch criminals is unacceptable. Remember three things: One, that strong encryption is necessary for personal and national security. Two, that weakening encryption does more harm than good. And three, law enforcement has other avenues for criminal investigation than eavesdropping on communications and stored devices. If back-doors are added to encryption, they will be abused. If You Think Encryption Back Doors Won’t Be Abused, You May Be a Member of Congress. Bad encryption can have business consequences. Apple and Facebook told the committee that back doors would introduce massive privacy and security threats and would drive users to devices from overseas. In Australia 40% of firms say they have lost sales say they have lost sales or other commercial opportunities as a result of the encryption law being in place.
2FA: The second authentication factor might be a minor inconvenience, but it provides a major security boost. With past years riddled with security breaches, it is high time we evaluated the way we secure our online presence. Two factors are much better than one, but can still be hacked. Attacks that phish 2FA to access email accounts cost $100-$400; such attacks can be prevented with physical security keys. Also some physical security keys can be hacked as they turn to be less secure that what they were told to be in the advertisements.
Myth of sophisticated hacker in news: It’s the latest lexical stretch for an adjective that’s widely used in reports of cybersecurity incidents — and widely loathed by researchers as a result. If everything is sophisticated, nothing is sophisticated.
New security models: Google moved from perimeter-based to cloud-native security. Google’s architecture is the inspiration and template for what’s widely known as “cloud-native” today—using microservices and containers to enable workloads to be split into smaller, more manageable units for maintenance and discovery. Google’s cloud-native architecture was developed prioritizing security as part of every evolution.
Hacktivists: Hacktivists seek to obtain private information about large companies in order to embarrass or expose the company’s controversial business practices. Many companies are a treasure trove for personal information, whether they realize it or not. Experian is predicting that the emerging cannabis industry will experience an increase in data breaches and cybersecurity threats in 2020.
RCS messaging: RCS, expanded as Rich Communications Services, is a protocol that aims to replace SMS.RCS messaging has rolled out to Android users in the US. The update brings a lot of new features like chat, send hi-res videos and photos and create group chat. One criticism of RCS is that it doesn’t provide end-to-end encryption. RCS could be also better in many other security aspects. Researchers have discovered that the RCS protocol exposes most users to several cyber attacks. These risks are said to be mitigated by implementing the protocol with the security perspective in mind. The standard itself allows for poor security implementation, but GSMA advises its members to deploy rcs with the most secure settings possible.
Data breaches: Billions of Sensitive Files Exposed Online all the time. During the first six months of 2019, more than 4 billion records were exposed by data breaches. That’s a shocking statistic that’s made even more so when you realize that passwords were included in droves. On December 4, a security researcher discovered a treasure trove of more than a billion plain-text passwords in an unsecured online database. Many businesses wrongly assume they are too small to be on the radar of the threat actors. The truth is that it is all about the data, and small businesses often have less well-guarded data stores. All organizations are exposed to security breaches: from large multinationals to SMEs and public administrations. A common thread is unsecured cloud-based databases that left the sensitive information wide open for anyone to access online.
Phishing: Phishing remains 1 of the most pervasive online threats. Phishing emails are still managing to catch everyone out. Phishing e-mails which are used to steal credentials usually depend on user clicking a link which leads to a phishing website that looks like login page for some valid service. Google Chrome now offers better protection against it as safe Browsing displays warning messages to users ahead of visiting dangerous websites and before downloading harmful applications. New advanced ways to phish are taken to use.With dynamite phishing, the cyber criminals read the email communication from a system already infected with an information stealer. The infected user’s correspondents then receive malicious emails that quote the last “real” email between the two parties and look like a legitimate response from the infected user. Attacks that phish 2FA to access email accounts cost $100-$400; such attacks can be prevented with physical security keys.
Windows: Microsoft Doesn’t Back Up the Windows Registry Anymore. It’s still possible to perform Windows Registry backups, but the option is disabled by default. It’s time to disconnect RDP from the internet as brute-force attacks and BlueKeep exploits usurp convenience of direct RDP connection. Microsoft is ready to push a full-screen warning to Windows 7 users
who are still running the OS after January 14.
Linux: Support for 32 bit i386 architecture will be dropped by many Linux distributions. It turns out that there are essentially no upstream development resources dedicated to x86_32 Linux. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was badly broken.
Drones: Turkey is getting military drones armed with machine guns. Drone hacking happens. There is now Dronesploit – Metasploit for drones. Metasploit-style CLI framework tailored for tinkering with everybody’s favourite unmanned flying objects.
World market war: China tells government offices to remove all foreign computer equipment. China has ordered the replacement of all foreign PC hardware and operating systems in state offices over the next three years. This will mean that China to ditch all Windows PCs by 2022.China has already some of their own Linux distros like Kylin and Deepin. Many western countries are more or less banning Huawei teleocm equipment.
Cloud security: Traditional security tools and methodologies are ill-suited to protect cloud native’s developer-driven and infrastructure-agnostic multicloud patterns. The vision as laid out by these renown analysts is straightforward. The legacy “data center as the center of the universe” network and network security architecture are obsolete and has become an inhibitor to the needs of digital business. They describe the underpinning shift to cloud infrastructure, a digital transformation that has been underway for ten years. They also point out that the corporate network cannot protect end users who consume cloud applications from any location and any device without the contorting, expensive, backhaul of traffic through the corporate data center. Gartner coins a new term for the future of security and networks, SASE (pronounced sassy), Secure Access Service Edge, which is not anything really new. SASE promises to create a ubiquitous, resilient, and agile secure network service—globally. Most of the stolen data incidents in the cloud are related to simple human errors rather than concerted attacks. Expect that through 2020, 95% of cloud security failures will be the customer’s fault. A common thread is unsecured cloud-based databases that left the sensitive information wide open for anyone to access online. Also it’s almost 2020 and some sysadmins are still leaving Docker admin ports exposed on the internet.
Autocracy as a service: Now Any Government Can Buy China’s Tools for Censoring the Internet. “Autocracy as a service” lets countries buy or rent the technology and expertise they need, as they need it. China offers a full-stack of options up and down the layers of the internet, including policies and laws, communications service providers with full internet.
Geopolitics: US-China Tech Divide Could Cause Havoc. It is possible that world’s next major conflict can start in cyberspace. USA has ordered to ban certain hardware from China (Huawei and ZTE). China orders ban on US computers and software. Chinese government to replace foreign hardware and software within three years. Who needs who more?
International cyber politics: Lack of international standards for proper behavior in cyberspace prevents the United States and allies from policing adversaries as they wish to. US can’t ‘enforce standards that don’t exist’. We have international norms in the maritime; we don’t have those in cyber. It makes it difficult to enforce standard that don’t exist, and to therefore hold nations accountable for nefarious behavior. NATO did confirm in 2017 that it could invoke Article 5 of its charter should one or more member nations find themselves under a serious cyberattack that threatens critical military and civilian infrastructure.
Sources:
https://pentestmag.com/iot-security-its-complicated/
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https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/12/09/dronesploit_framework/
https://www.securityweek.com/blunt-effect-two-edged-sword-vulnerability-disclosures
https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/8.0.0/ReleaseNotes/FixDatetimexml2020
https://threatpost.com/email-voted-a-weak-link-for-election-security-with-dmarc-lagging/150909/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/12/04/council_of_eu_5g_risks/
https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/05/major-voting-districts-vulnerable-email-security/
https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2019/12/241053-hack-for-hire/fulltext
http://read.uberflip.com/i/1180978-siliconexpert-growth-of-counterfeit-electronics-3/0?acctid=6759
https://www.zdnet.com/article/2020-is-when-cybersecurity-gets-even-weirder-so-get-ready/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/12/09/china_orders_ban_on_us_computers_and_software/
https://www.securityweek.com/case-cyber-insurance
https://www.eetimes.eu/ai-will-empower-industry-4-0-when-it-arrives/
https://www.pandasecurity.com/mediacenter/security/2019-the-ransomware-tsunami/
https://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/2019/12/cloud-native-security-platform-age/
https://github.com/dhondta/dronesploit/
https://www.zdnet.com/article/1-in-every-172-active-rsa-certificates-are-vulnerable-to-exploit/
https://nationalcybersecurity.com/hacking-the-biggest-tech-threats-to-2020-elections/
https://www.welivesecurity.com/2019/12/17/bluekeep-time-disconnect-rdp-internet/
https://www.eff.org/wp/behind-the-one-way-mirror
https://www.gdatasoftware.com/blog/2019/12/35671-early-detection-and-repulsion-of-dangerous-attacks
https://www.is.fi/digitoday/tietoturva/art-2000006342803.html
https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/30/duality-cybersecurity-16-million/
https://www.wired.com/story/sobering-message-future-ai-party/
https://security.googleblog.com/2019/12/an-update-on-android-tls-adoption.html?m=1
https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-all-android-users-in-the-us-just-got-rcs-next-gen-sms/
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2019/12/scaring_people_.html
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2019-June/001261.html
https://lwn.net/ml/oss-security/CALCETrW1z0gCLFJz-1Jwj_wcT3+axXkP_wOCxY8JkbSLzV80GA@mail.gmail.com/
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-australia-46463029
https://cyware.com/news/rcs-technology-most-users-are-vulnerable-to-hacking-b53f9a6f
https://hub.packtpub.com/core-python-team-confirms-sunsetting-python-2-on-january-1-2020/
https://www.cnet.com/news/congress-warns-tech-companies-take-action-on-encryption-or-we-will/
https://cyware.com/news/rcs-technology-most-users-are-vulnerable-to-hacking-b53f9a6f
https://edri.org/facial-recognition-and-fundamental-rights-101/
https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/10/insider-threats-startups-protect/
https://uk.pcmag.com/windows-10/121518/microsoft-doesnt-back-up-the-windows-registry-anymore
https://threatpost.com/ransomware-attack-new-jersey-largest-hospital-system/151148/
https://chiefexecutive.net/bridge-cybersecurity-skills-gap/
https://systemagic.co.uk/has-your-business-prepared-for-the-2020-problem/
https://news.yahoo.com/massive-errors-found-facial-recognition-tech-us-study-215334634.html
https://www.securityweek.com/most-companies-dont-properly-manage-third-party-cyber-risk
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2019/11/21/hyoty-panee-jakamaan-tietonsa-luottamus-ratkaisee/
https://pentestmag.com/advice-for-a-cybersecurity-leader-think-like-your-adversary/
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/11/google-facebook-surveillance-privacy/
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol30/1404/2019/en/
https://www.securityweek.com/compromised-connection-5g-will-unite-cities-and-also-put-them-risk
https://www.securityweek.com/amnesty-international-calls-facebook-google-rights-abusers
https://www.securityweek.com/microsoft-will-bring-dns-over-https-doh-windows
https://www.securityweek.com/cybersecurity-workforce-gap-145-growth-needed-meet-global-demand
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2019/11/19/successful-soc/
https://www.securityweek.com/making-network-first-line-defense
https://techbeacon.com/security/how-prioritize-strategic-risks-affect-critical-infrastructure
https://www.securityweek.com/transitioning-security-driven-networking-strategy
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/16/5g_iot_report/
https://www.securityweek.com/us-montenegro-plot-cyber-warfare-ahead-2020-elections
https://www.securityweek.com/fears-grow-digital-surveillance-us-survey
https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/attack-on-online-retail/31786/
https://www.securityweek.com/implementing-cyber-best-practices-requires-security-first-approach
https://securelist.com/advanced-threat-predictions-for-2020/95055/
https://www.darkreading.com/cloud/smart-building-security-awareness-grows/d/d-id/1336597
https://www.cisomag.com/the-future-of-ai-in-cybersecurity/
https://www.ibm.com/security/artificial-intelligence
https://www.welivesecurity.com/2019/12/13/2fa-double-down-your-security/
https://cannatechtoday.com/experian-predicts-an-increase-in-global-cannabis-industry-data-breaches/
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2019/11/21/f-secure-tutkimaan-tekoalyagentteja/
https://www.securityweek.com/ongoing-research-project-examines-application-ai-cybersecurity
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10151-mikko-hypponen-tekoalyn-ei-pida-matkia-ihmista
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10124-nixu-selvitti-tekoaly-mullistaa-kyberturvan
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10120-kyberturvassa-koneoppiminen-on-uusi-normaali
https://www.is.fi/digitoday/tietoturva/art-2000006316233.html
https://www.cyberscoop.com/apt33-microsoft-iran-ics/
https://blog.malwarebytes.com/exploits-and-vulnerabilities/2019/11/exploit-kits-fall-2019-review/
https://www.enisa.europa.eu/news/enisa-news/enisa-draws-threat-landscape-of-5g-networks/
https://systemagic.co.uk/has-your-business-prepared-for-the-2020-problem/
https://smartgrid.ieee.org/newsletters/november-2019/the-cyber-physical-security-of-the-power-grid
https://www.wired.com/story/un-secretary-general-antonio-guterres-internet-risks/
https://codastory.com/authoritarian-tech/russia-facial-recognition-networks/
https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/9/21002515/surveillance-cameras-globally-us-china-amount-citizens
https://www.wired.com/story/iran-internet-shutoff/
https://www.zdnet.com/article/fbi-recommends-that-you-keep-your-iot-devices-on-a-separate-network/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-interpol-encryption-exclusive-idUSKBN1XR0S7
https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/to-the-point/does-facial-recognition-software-threaten-our-freedom
1,468 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Researchers Can Duplicate Keys from the Sounds They Make in Locks
Jason Kottke Aug 18, 2020
https://kottke.org/20/08/researchers-can-duplicate-keys-from-the-sounds-they-make-in-locks
Researchers have demonstrated that they can make a working 3D-printed copy of a key just by listening to how the key sounds when inserted into a lock. And you don’t need a fancy mic — a smartphone or smart doorbell will do nicely if you can get it close enough to the lock.
https://m-cacm.acm.org/news/246744-picking-locks-with-audio-technology/fulltext
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to quickly run a basic security audit against docker & secure the host
https://pentestmag.com/how-to-quickly-run-a-basic-security-audit-against-docker-secure-the-host/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://artkond.com/2017/03/23/pivoting-guide/
Tomi Engdahl says:
10 cybersecurity myths you need to stop believing
We hear about cybercrime so often that it can quickly turn into white noise. That’s a mistake
https://www.foxnews.com/tech/10-cybersecurity-myths-you-need-to-stop-believing
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/report-unskilled-hackers-can-breach-3-out-of-4-of-companies/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Exploiting Blind SQL Injections in ‘UPDATE’ and ‘INSERT’ Statements Without Stacked Queries
https://pentestmag.com/exploiting-blind-sql-injections-update-insert-statements-without-stacked-queries-sina-yazdanmehr/
#pentest #magazine #pentestmag #pentestblog #PTblog #exploiting #blind #SQL #injections #cybersecurity #infosecurity #infosec
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ettercap and Middle-attacks Tutorial
https://pentestmag.com/ettercap-tutorial-for-windows/
#pentest #magazine #pentestmag #pentestblog #PTblog #Ettercap #middleattack #tutorial #tool #cybersecurity #infosecurity #infosec
Tomi Engdahl says:
The 5 Most Strategic Ways to Protect Your Biggest Assets in the 2020 and Beyond
https://pentestmag.com/the-5-most-strategic-ways-to-protect-your-biggest-assets-in-the-new-year-and-beyond/
#pentest #magazine #pentestmag #pentestblog #PTblog #strategic #ways #assets #protection #cybersecurity #infosecurity #infosec
Tomi Engdahl says:
Porn? It’s just for protection from the spying government.
“Border Patrol will “acquire a mirror copy of the data on the device” they take from a traveler and store it locally. Before uploading it to their network they check to make sure there’s no porn on it”
[https://viewfromthewing.com/us-border-patrol-says-they-can-create-central-repository-of-traveler-emails-keep-them-for-75-years/](https://viewfromthewing.com/us-border-patrol-says-they-can-create-central-repository-of-traveler-emails-keep-them-for-75-years/)
Tomi Engdahl says:
Purple Team Like You’re Preparing For War
https://pentestmag.com/purple-team-like-youre-preparing-for-war/
#pentest #magazine #pentestmag #pentestblog #PTblog #PurpleTeam #purpleteaming #cybersecurity #infosecurity #infosecurity
Tomi Engdahl says:
Threats to Digital Identity from Within
https://pentestmag.com/threats-to-digital-identity-from-within/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://github.com/DrizzleRisk/NTPDoser
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://nullbyte.pro/2020/08/20/how-to-lock-down-what-websites-can-access-on-your-computer/
Tomi Engdahl says:
You weren’t hacked because you lacked space-age network defenses. Nor because cyber-gurus picked on you. It’s far simpler than that
Three little words: Patches, passwords, policies
https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/13/pentest_networks_fail/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Call Me Maybe: Eavesdropping Encrypted LTE Calls With ReVoLTE
https://revolte-attack.net/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.fedscoop.com/nist-finalized-zero-trust-guidance/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.yrittajat.fi/uutiset/632283-jounin-tyohuoneen-rajahdysmainen-tulipalo-muistutti-tarkeasta-toimenpiteesta-joka?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=some_ad&utm_campaign=sy_jatkuva#04e53249
Lähes 30 vuotta yrittäjänä toiminut Porokka haluaa varoittaa yllättävän tulipalon riskeistä.
– Haluan painottaa, miten tärkeää on ottaa dokumenteista sähköiset kopiot. Itse vältyin pahimmalta, mutta paljon historiaa paloi mukana. Vahingot nousevat kymmeniin tuhansiin euroihin.
Hän kehottaa turvaamaan tärkeät tiedot esimerkiksi pilvipalveluun.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://pentestmag.com/ettercap-tutorial-for-windows/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rockwell – Somebody’s Watching Me
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2204579521/permalink/10160692694109522/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.internetgovernance.org/2020/08/18/icann-whois-and-global-data-governance/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://pentestmag.com/amazon-eks-security-5-hacks-and-tricks/
Tomi Engdahl says:
If the NSA has been hacking everything, how has nobody seen them coming?
https://blog.thinkst.com/p/if-nsa-has-been-hacking-everything-how.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet Society Statement on U.S. Clean Network Program
https://www.internetsociety.org/news/statements/2020/internet-society-statement-on-u-s-clean-network-program/
We are very disappointed. The United States, the country that funded the early development of the Internet, is now considering policies that would fracture it into pieces. This is part of a larger disturbing trend where governments directly interfere with the Internet, attempting to score short-term political points without regard to the long-term damage that results.
The Internet is a global network of networks, where networks interconnect on a voluntary basis with no central authority. It is this architecture that has made the Internet so successful. Today’s announcement of the U.S. Clean Network program challenges this architecture at its very core.
The “Clean Carrier” and “Clean Cable” programs alone would force vast amounts of Internet traffic to route into third countries, extending the distances data must traverse, increasing the potential for surveillance and manipulation of Internet traffic, increasing the risk of Internet outages, and in general increasing costs to everyone on the Internet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Collecting and Selling Mobile Phone Location Data
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2020/08/collecting_and_.html
The Wall Street Journal has an article about a company called Anomaly Six LLC that has an SDK that’s used by “more than 500 mobile applications.” Through that SDK, the company collects location data from users, which it then sells.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hackers can eavesdrop on mobile calls with $7,000 worth of equipment
VoLTE calls were supposed to be more secure. A fatal flaw can unravel that promise.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/08/your-mobile-calls-may-be-vulnerable-to-a-new-revolting-eavesdrop-attack/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Platform Embedded Security Technology Revealed
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4302-6572-6
Tomi Engdahl says:
Government 3.0: using monitoring for next-generation government IT
https://blog.paessler.com/using-monitoring-for-next-generation-government-it
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://revolte-attack.net/
We introduce ReVoLTE, an attack that exploits an LTE implementation flaw to recover the contents of an encrypted VoLTE call. This enables an adversary to eavesdrop on VoLTE phone calls. ReVoLTE makes use of a predictable keystream reuse, which was discovered by Raza & Lu. Eventually, the keystream reuse allows an adversary to decrypt a recorded call with minimal resources.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.ghacks.net/2020/08/11/check-whether-your-pc-is-infected-with-the-emotet-malware/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Printer Exploitation Toolkit – The tool that made dumpster diving obsolete
https://github.com/RUB-NDS/PRET
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google does evil. They are our adversary.
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an organization that fights to protect our privacy.
Surveillance capitalism is as dangerous as government surveillance. Knowledge is power. Power is always abused. Surveillance is the architecture oppression.
We need new laws with criminal penalties & civil liability to protect our privacy from businesses, government officials & private individuals. The NSA – National Security Agency storing our selfies is just as perverse, intrusive & criminal as a peeping Tom.
https://www.businessinsider.com/google-engineers-admit-privacy-settings-confuse-users-in-legal-docs-2020-8
Tomi Engdahl says:
IT departments around the world are struggling with a flood of phishing attacks as employees work from home, but sometimes testing and training programs can cause unexpected collateral damage.
Anti-Phishing Testers Put Themselves on the Hook
https://spectrum.ieee.org/riskfactor/computing/it/antiphishing-testers-put-themselves-on-the-hook
Do you want to break into computer networks or steal money from people’s bank accounts without doing all the tedious hard work of defeating security systems directly? Then phishing is for you, where a convincing email can be all that’s required to have victims serve up their passwords or personal information on a platter. With so many people working from home and doing business online thanks to Covid-19, this year is proving to be a phisher’s paradise, with a myriad of new opportunities to scam the unsuspecting. Solicitations from fake charities, along with emails purporting to be from government organizations like state unemployment agencies, health agencies, and tax collection agencies are flooding into people’s inboxes.
The urgency IT departments feel is understandable. Interpol predicts that phishing attacks—which already made up 59 percent of Covid-related threats reported to it by member countries—will be ramped up even more in the coming months. And the nature of the threat is evolving: for example, false invitations to videoconference meetings are a phisher’s new favorite for trying to steal network credentials, says the Wall Street Journal.
Mark Henderson, a security specialist with the Internal Revenue Service’s Online Fraud Detection and Prevention department told me that the problem of phishing email tests “going awry” seems to be proliferating. The IRS, for example, has seen an uptick in reports of phishing emails purporting to be from the IRS or Department of the Treasury that are not actual phishing attacks but mock attacks from organizations conducting internal phishing tests. On top of being illegal— Henderson points out that phishing emails are prohibited from using the IRS name, logo, or insignia in a manner that suggests association with or endorsement by the IRS—they can cause undue distress to those being tested, as well as increase the administrative workload for the IRS and Department of the Treasury and so divert attention from real threats.
The security industry has not come to a consensus on the sensitivities regarding pandemic-related bait. Cofense, an anti-phishing company, declared in March that it decided to remove all Covid-19-themed phishing templates from its repositories, and called on the anti-phishing industry to do the same.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to Secure Chromecast
https://pentestmag.com/how-to-secure-chromecast/
#pentest #magazine #pentestmag #pentestblog #PTblog #chromecast #security #cybersecurity #infosecurity #infosec
Tomi Engdahl says:
Security.txt – one small file for an admin, one giant help to a
security researcher
https://isc.sans.edu/forums/diary/Securitytxt+one+small+file+for+an+admin+one+giant+help+to+a+security+researcher/26510/
During the last few months, Ive noticed a significant increase in the
number of vulnerability reports for domains registered to some of our
customers. If youve ever found a vulnerability on a website, which
wasnt operated by you or your organization, chances are youve had a
bit of a difficult time finding the right person to report the
vulnerability to. If you lack this experience, just try to imagine how
easy (or difficult) it might be to get in touch with the responsible
department or person in your company if someone were to find a
vulnerability on the website of your organization.. Identifying the
right contact for domains registered by companies, which run their own
CSIRT or PSIRT, is usually quite straightforward, but for the rest of
them it can be quite a headache.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Malicious Attachments Remain a Cybercriminal Threat Vector Favorite
https://threatpost.com/malicious-attachments-remain-a-cybercriminal-threat-vector-favorite/158631/
Malicious attachments continue to be a top threat vector in the
cybercriminal world, even as public awareness increases and tech
companies amp up their defenses. While attachment threat vectors are
one of the oldest malware-spreading tricks in the books, email users
are still clicking on malicious attachments that hit their inbox,
whether its a purported job offer or a pretend critical invoice.. The
reason why threat actors are still relying on this age-old tactic,
researchers say, is that the attack is still working. Even with
widespread public awareness about malicious file attachments,
attackers are upping their game with new tricks to avoid detection,
bypass email protections and more.
Tomi Engdahl says:
60 Seconds In Cybersecurity: Heres What Happens In Just One Malicious
Internet Minute
https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2020/08/27/heres-what-happens-in-just-1-malicious-internet-minute-riskiq-threat-intelligence/
The latest security intelligence report from RiskIQ has the somewhat
provocative title of Evil Internet Minute 2020. However, by analyzing
its own global intelligence as an attack surface management company,
along with third-party research, RiskIQ has put together an
interesting overview of what can happen in just 60 malicious seconds
online. The headline numbers, and it really is all about the numbers
as you will probably have already guessed, make for sobering reading.
In just the single minute, RiskIQ suggests that a staggering 375 new
cybersecurity threats will emerge.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reverse Engineering and observing an IoT botnet
https://www.gdatasoftware.com/blog/2020/08/36243-reverse-engineering-and-observing-an-iot-botnet
IoT devices are everywhere around us and some of them are not up to
date with todays security standard. A single light bulb exposed to the
internet can offer an attacker a variety of possibilities to attack
companies or households. The possibilities are endless. If we think
about a router or follow the example with the light bulb, such a
hijacked device can be used for various malicious activities. For
example building a botnet and monetizing it by offering DDoS as a
service or using the IoT device as a gateway into a corporate network.
There have also been cases, where ransomware was used on IoT devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
43 COVID-19 Cybersecurity Statistics
https://www.pandasecurity.com/mediacenter/news/covid-cybersecurity-statistics/
In January 2020, the Coronavirus outbreak started to garner
international headlines. On March 11, 2020, the World Health
Organization declared COVID-19 a worldwide pandemic. That week, life
around the world changed. Bustling streets became empty, hospital beds
overflowed, and businesses were faced with the impossible decision of
whether or not to close their doors, in some cases, for good.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Emulation of Malicious Shellcode With Speakeasy
https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2020/08/emulation-of-malicious-shellcode-with-speakeasy.html
In order to enable emulation of malware samples at scale, we have
developed the Speakeasy emulation framework. Speakeasy aims to make it
as easy as possible for users who are not malware analysts to acquire
triage reports in an automated way, as well as enabling reverse
engineers to write custom plugins to triage difficult malware
families. Originally created to emulate Windows kernel mode malware,
Speakeasy now also supports user mode samples. The projects main goal
is high resolution emulation of the Windows operating system for
dynamic malware analysis for the x86 and amd64 platforms.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A quarter of the Alexa Top 10K websites are using browser
fingerprinting scripts
https://www.zdnet.com/article/a-quarter-of-the-alexa-top-10k-websites-are-using-browser-fingerprinting-scripts/
Academics also discover many new previously unreported JavaScript APIs
that are currently being used to fingerprint users. A browser
fingerprinting script is a piece of JavaScript code that runs inside a
web page and works by testing for the presence of certain browser
features. Today, browser fingerprinting is commonly used by online
advertisers as a next-gen user tracking mechanism. Advertisers run
different types of fingerprinting operations, create one or more
“fingerprints” for each user, and then use them to track the user as
he/she accesses other sites on the internet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Conti (Ryuk) joins the ranks of ransomware gangs operating data leak
sites
https://www.zdnet.com/article/conti-ryuk-joins-the-ranks-of-ransomware-gangs-operating-data-leak-sites/
More and more ransomware gangs are now operating sites where they leak
sensitive data from victims who refuse to pay the ransom demand. It
has now become a mainstream tactic for big ransomware groups to create
so-called “leak sites” where they upload and leak sensitive documents
from companies who refuse to pay the ransomware decryption fee. These
“leak sites” are part of a new trend forming on the cybercriminal
underground where ransomware groups are adopting a new tactic called
“double extortion.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dos and Donts for Charting Your Security Intelligence Journey
https://www.recordedfuture.com/threat-intelligence-journey/
For many organizations, moving toward a comprehensive security
intelligence philosophy begins with threat intelligence. Yet as were
exploring throughout this series, threat intelligence is extremely
versatile with myriad applications. This means your intelligence
journey will also be unique, and should reflect your organizations
specific needs and goals
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Search Fails Again: Recent Black Hat SEO Attacks Lead To
Malware And Porn
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbalaban/2020/08/25/google-search-fails-again-recent-black-hat-seo-attacks-lead-to-malware-and-porn/
There is no such thing as a flawless electronic system. Computers are
hackable, and networks are susceptible to remote compromise. The same
goes for search providers. Development slip-ups and security loopholes
can undermine the integrity and defenses of these services. All it
takes is a competent adversary with enough time and resources at their
disposal. Even Google that leverages state-of-the-art technologies to
thwart adverse manipulation cannot stop all black hat SEO stratagems
in their tracks. To hoodwink the tech giants sophisticated algorithms
and poison search results with dodgy content, though, malicious actors
must think outside the box.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bring Your Own Device – the new normal
https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/bring-your-own-device-the-new-normal
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) may not be a new topic but it has
renewed significance in light of the wholesale changes to working
practices instigated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the
pandemic, some organisations have already adapted for the future, by
taking the decision to allow their staff to work from home “forever”,
if they wish to. Whilst this may be an extreme example, home working
will continue to increase, and BYOD is a typical organisational answer
to this. Repeatedly the NCSC is asked to provide our view on this.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Five Reasons Voters and Election Officials Should Be Worried About
Ransomware
https://therecord.media/five-reasons-voters-and-election-officials-should-be-worried-about-ransomware/
In the run-up to the U.S. presidential election, federal officials
have raised concerns about how a well-timed ransomware attack could
disrupt voting or lock up electoral databases. Allan Liska, a
ransomware specialist at Recorded Future who has been analyzing
election security threats in recent months, said his research has left
him feeling bleak.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lifting the veil on DeathStalker, a mercenary triumvirate
https://securelist.com/deathstalker-mercenary-triumvirate/98177/
State-sponsored threat actors and sophisticated attacks are often in
the spotlight. Indeed, their innovative techniques, advanced malware
platforms and 0-day exploit chains capture our collective imagination.
Yet these groups still arent likely to be a part of the risk model at
most companies, nor should they be. Businesses today are faced with an
array of much more immediate threats, from ransomware and customer
information leaks, to competitors engaging in unethical business
practices. In this blog post, well be focusing on DeathStalker: a
unique threat group that appears to target law firms and companies in
the financial sector.
Tomi Engdahl says:
JAMK menestyi kansainvälisessä kriittisen infrastruktuurin
tietoturvakilpailussa
https://www.epressi.com/tiedotteet/koulutus/jamk-menestyi-kansainvalisessa-kriittisen-infrastruktuurin-tietoturvakilpailussa.html
JAMKin kyberturvallisuuden tutkimus-, kehitys- ja koulutuskeskus
JYVSECTEC on sijoittunut kolmanneksi kansainvälisessä Critical
Infrastructure Security Showdown 2020 Online -tietoturvakilpailussa.
Neljännen kerran järjestettävään kilpailuun osallistui 17 joukkuetta
ympäri maailmaa.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Top exploits used by ransomware gangs are VPN bugs, but RDP still
reigns supreme
https://www.zdnet.com/article/top-exploits-used-by-ransomware-gangs-are-vpn-bugs-but-rdp-still-reigns-supreme/
While some ransomware groups have heavily targeted Citrix and Pulse
Secure VPNs to breach corporate networks in H1 2020, most ransomware
attacks take place because of compromised RDP endpoints. Ransomware
attacks targeting the enterprise sector have been at an all-time high
in the first half of 2020. While ransomware groups each operate based
on their own skillset, most of the ransomware incidents in H1 2020 can
be attributed to a handful of intrusion vectors that gangs appear to
have prioritized this year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
APIs Are the Next Frontier in Cybercrime
https://threatpost.com/apis-next-frontier-cybercrime/158536/
API usage has exploded, and cybercriminals are increasingly taking
advantage of API security flaws to commit fraud and steal data. APIs
make everything a bit easier from data sharing to system connectivity
to delivery of critical features and functionality but they also make
it much easier for the bad actors (and the bad bots they deploy) to
carry out attacks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chromium DNS hijacking detection accused of being around half of all
root queries
https://www.zdnet.com/article/chromium-dns-hijacking-detection-accused-of-being-around-half-of-all-root-queries/
In an effort to detect whether a network will hijack DNS queries,
Google’s Chrome browser and its Chromium-based brethren randomly
conjures up three domain names between 7 and 15 characters to test,
and if the response of two domains returns the same IP, the browser
believes the network is capturing and redirecting nonexistent domain
requests.. This test is completed on startup, and whenever a device’s
IP or DNS settings change.