From the cybersecurity vulnerabilities and breaches front,

• HHS’s Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center posted a Sector Alert about a “Critical Vulnerability in Fortinet FortiSIEM Platform” on November 22, 2023.
  • “Fortinet has identified a vulnerability in its FortiSIEM platform, which is utilized by the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) sector. This vulnerability enables a threat actor to execute commands on the target system, allowing for a potentially wide-scale and impactful cyberattack. HC3 recommends that all healthcare organizations operating FortiSIEM prioritize the upgrade of these platforms in a timely manner.”

• The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency added one more known exploited vulnerability to its catalog on November 21, 2023.

• Dark Reading points out,
  • “A widely popular social engineering campaign previously only targeting Windows systems has expanded and is now using fake browser updates to distribute Atomic Stealer, a dangerous information stealer, to macOS systems.
  • “Experts say this could be the first time they’ve observed a dominant social engineering scam previously aimed specifically at Windows make the shift to macOS.
  • “The malware, also referred to as AMOS, surfaced earlier this year on a dedicated Telegram channel. Criminals, who can rent the malware on a subscription basis for about $1,000 a month, have used a variety of means to distribute the malware since then. The most common tactic has been to distribute the malware via installers for popular apps or via purportedly cracked versions of Microsoft Office and other widely used applications.”

• Health IT Security notes,
  • “The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) completed a HIPAA investigation into New York-based Saint Joseph’s Medical Center following claims that the organization had impermissibly disclosed COVID-19 patients’ protected health information (PHI) to a news reporter. Saint Joseph’s Medical Center agreed to pay $80,000 to OCR and implement corrective actions.
  • “OCR launched the investigation following the publication of an article by the Associated Press about the academic medical center’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The article included photographs and information about three COVID-19 patients, including diagnoses, current medical statuses and prognoses, vital signs, and treatment plans.
  • “Further investigation determined that Saint Joseph’s had provided the information to the Associated Press without first obtaining written consent from the three patients.”

• The HHS Inspector General warns us “about a fraud scheme involving monthly billing for remote patient monitoring.”

From the ransomware front,

• Cybersecurity Dive reports on November 22, 2023,
  • “Criminal threat groups and nation-state actors are exploiting a critical vulnerability in Citrix Netscaler ADC and Netscaler Gateway to launch attacks, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and FBI warned on Tuesday.
  • “Affiliates of LockBit 3.0 exploited the vulnerability — dubbed CitrixBleed by researchers — to gain access into Boeing’s parts and distribution unit and exfiltrate data, as part of a suspected ransomware attack, according to federal authorities.
  • “CISA, through its ransomware vulnerability warning program, has notified almost 300 organizations they were running vulnerable instances of the devices and needed to take mitigation measures before they were attacked, Eric Goldstein, executive assistant director of cybersecurity at CISA, said during a conference call with reporters.” 
• Here is a link to the CISA analysis of CitrixBleed.

• Cyberscoop provides its perspective on this and related schemes.
  • “Jon DiMaggio, the chief security strategist with Analyst1 who has written extensively on the internal workings of LockBit, said that while there are only a few groups with the “skill and talent and creative ability to do some of these more advanced attacks,” these crews, particularly those associated with the AlphV attacks, are becoming much better at social engineering.
  • “Many major companies still have problems with the cybersecurity basics, DiMaggio said, let alone building help desks that are tough to manipulate. “It’s tough, but they have to change,” DiMaggio said. “Trying to focus on helping people and helping your clients can’t always be number one anymore.” 
  • “That might slow response times, he noted, but that’s “a lot better than having to lose ungodly amounts of money, having your reputation destroyed and everything else.”

From the cybersecurity defenses front,

• CISA discusses how the agency has re-envisioned its Cybersecurity Insurance and Data Analysis Working Group to help reduce cybersecurity risk.
  • “When we re-launch the CIDAWG in December, the working group will partner with Stanford’s Empirical Security Research Group, a research lab in Stanford’s Computer Science Department, with the intent to correlate data with cybersecurity controls to understand their effectiveness. CISA will ask working group members to collaborate with Stanford to improve analysis of the aggregated, anonymized loss data and link it with controls effectiveness. This analysis will be a resource both for insurers to inform their risk analysis and for CISA to better understand whether efforts like the Cyber Performance Goals (CPGs) and the Secure by Design initiative are translating to reduced cyber risk exposure for organizations that adopt them.”

• The Wall Street Journal explains why storytelling can improve cybersecurity training.
  • “I recently wrote about the “phishing tests” that many companies use to train (well, scare) employees into being more cyber-vigilant. They send around a phony phishing email, and measure how many people click on it. But my research shows that these tests can actually be harmful. They create fear, stress and distrust among employees, and in the end they don’t improve phishing resistance much.
  • “When I wrote that article, a number of readers wrote in asking a simple question: If phishing tests don’t work, what does?
  • “I believe a better way to train people is to have their peers tell them stories about their experience with scams. Humans have an innate ability to learn from stories about other people—even if they are just casual stories that fall into the middle of a conversation. My research on the topic has found just how effective stories can be when applied to cybercrime: Hearing about somebody else getting snagged by phishing, or narrowly avoiding it, makes people more likely to take security seriously and avoid the mistakes they have heard about.”

• The Hackers News recommends six steps to accelerate cybersecurity incident response.

• ISACA offers a report on optimizing risk transfer for systematic resilience.

Happy Veterans Day! Thanks to all those who served our country.

From the cybersecurity policy front,

• Health IT Security reports,
  • “US Senators Mark Warner (D-VA), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) launched a bipartisan Senate healthcare cybersecurity working group. The group will focus on proposing legislative solutions within the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee to strengthen healthcare cybersecurity.
  • “We are seeing a disturbing rise in cyberattacks on our health care system. These attacks not only put patients’ sensitive health data at risk but can delay life-saving care,” Cassidy stated. “Just like a strong military and police force defends us against physical attacks, we must ensure health institutions can safeguard against increasing cyber threats and protect Americans’ crucial health data.”

• Cyberscoop Informs us,
  • “[On November 2, 2023,] [f]ormer National Security Agency Executive Director Harry Coker told members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that if he’s confirmed as the next national cyber director, he’d largely continue along the same path as his predecessors.
  • “Coker, who also spent 17 years at the Central Intelligence Agency and had made few public appearances before Thursday’s hearing, expressed appreciation for previous Office of the National Cyber Director work, including the National Cybersecurity Strategy, the subsequent implementation plan and the National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy.
  • “If confirmed, I would frankly continue the good work that ONCD has done with its partners,” Coker said. He noted in his opening statement he’s “seen the need for stronger partnerships and collaboration between the public and private sectors” and that collaboration would be “the north star” under his leadership.”

• The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced that
  • “Director Jen Easterly and the Republic of Korea’s Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) Baek Jong-wook signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) outlining areas for collaboration under the bilateral Cyber Framework signed by President Biden and Republic of Korea President Yoon in April.   
  • “The Framework affirms cooperation with Korea in key CISA mission areas, to include sharing technical and operational cyber threat information and best practices in cyber crisis management.  In June, senior leaders from both countries determined that CISA and NIS would co-lead a Framework Action Group on critical infrastructure. This Action Group will also bring together Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT and other USG departments and agencies. ” 

• The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) informed us on November 9, 2023,
  • “The final public draft of NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-171r3 (Revision 3), Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Systems and Organizations, is now available for public review and comment.  * * *
  • “Concurrently, the initial public draft (ipd) of NIST SP 800-171Ar3 (Revision 3), Assessing Security Requirements for Controlled Unclassified Information, is also available.
  • “The public comment period for both drafts is open through January 12, 2024. We strongly encourage you to use the comment template available on each publication details page, and submit your comments to 800-171comments@list.nist.gov.”

• NextGov offers an overview of the NIST’s final draft publications.

• On November 9, 2023, CISA, the National Security Agency and their partners released.
  • Securing the Software Supply Chain: Recommended Practices for Software Bill of Materials Consumption. Developed through the Enduring Security Framework (ESF), this guidance provides software developers and suppliers with industry best practices and principles, including managing open source software and software bills of materials (SBOM), to maintain and provide awareness about the security of software.
  • Organizations can use this guide to assess and measure their security practices relative to the software lifecycle; the suggested practices may be applied across the acquisition, deployment, and operational phases of a software supply chain.
  • CISA encourages cybersecurity defenders to review this guidance and to speak to their software vendors about implementing its recommendations.

From the cybersecurity breaches and vulnerabilities front,

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “Business software maker SolarWinds is denying charges that it lacked adequate cybersecurity controls in the build up to a significant hack of its products in 2020, and accused the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of misrepresenting facts in its complaint.
  • “On Oct. 30, the SEC announced that it had filed charges against SolarWindsalleging the firm defrauded investors by repeatedly misleading them about its cyber vulnerabilities and the ability of attackers to penetrate its systems. 
  • “The SEC’s lawsuit is fundamentally flawed—both legally and factually—and we plan to defend vigorously against the charges,” SolarWinds said. The SEC declined to comment.”

• Cybersecurity Dive points out,
  • Mortgage servicing provider Mr. Cooper Group shut down multiple systems after it determined a threat actor accessed certain technology systems on Oct. 31, according to a Thursday [November 2, 2023] filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
  • The company initiated precautionary containment measures in response to the cyberattack, a move that’s temporarily halting recurring payments and leading customers to make one-time loan payments online, via phone, email or third parties. The status of customers’ loans were last updated Oct. 31.
  • Mr. Cooper is the third-largest mortgage servicer in the U.S. with more than 4.3 million customers, according to the company.

• TechCrunch adds,
  • Mr. Cooper, the mortgage and loan giant with more than four million customers, has confirmed customer data was compromised during a recent cyberattack.
  • In an updated notice on its website published Thursday [November 9, 2023], Mr. Cooper said that it was “still investigating what data may have been exposed,” though it remains unclear what kind of cyberattack hit Mr. Cooper’s system

• CISA added another known exploited vulnerability to its catalog on November 7 and one more on November 8, 2023.

• BusinessTech discusses the vulnerability management lifecycle.

From the ransomware front,

• Because Bleeping Computer did not publish the Week in Ransomware yesterday, here is a notable attack featured in Cybersecurity Dive:
  • “A U.S. subsidiary of China’s largest bank was hit by a ransomware attack Wednesday that resulted in disruption to certain financial services systems, the bank announced Thursday [November 9, 2023].
  • “The hack disrupted the trading of U.S. Treasuries, forcing the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Financial Services to send required settlement details to certain parties by a messenger carrying a USB stick, according to Bloomberg.
  • “The New York City-based firm said it reported the incident to law enforcement and successfully cleared U.S. Treasury trades executed Wednesday and repo financing trades done Thursday.

• Dark Reading adds,
  • “The disruptive ransomware attack on the world’s largest bank this week, the PRC’s Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), may be tied to a critical vulnerability that Citrix disclosed in its NetScaler technology last month. The situation highlights why organizations need to immediately patch against the threat if they haven’t done so already.
  • “The so-called “CitrixBleed” vulnerability (CVE-2023-4966) affects multiple on-premises versions of Citrix NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway application delivery platforms.
  • “* * * The exploit activity has prompted the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to issue fresh guidance and resources this week on addressing the CitrixBleed threat. CISA warned of “active, targeted exploitation” of the bug in urging organizations to “update unmitigated appliances to the updated versions” that Citrix released last month.”

• HHS’s health sector cybersecurity coordination center issued an analyst note on Blacksuit ransomware:
  • “A relatively new ransomware group and strain known as BlackSuit, with significant similarities to the Royal ransomware family, will likely be a credible threat to the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) sector. Discovered in early May 2023, BlackSuit’s striking parallels with Royal, the direct successor of the former notorious Russian-linked Conti operation, potentially places the group with one of the most active ransomware groups in operation today. Both Royal and the now-defunct Conti are known to have aggressively targeted the HPH sector, and if their purported ties to BlackSuit prove to be verified, then the sector will likely continue to be attacked profoundly. What follows [in the note] is an overview of the potential new group, possible connections to other threat actors, an analysis of its ransomware attacks, its target industries and victim countries, impact to the HPH sector, MITRE ATT&CK techniques, indicators of compromise, and recommended defense and mitigations against the group.”

• The HIPAA Journal notes,
  • “A new report from Sophos on healthcare cybersecurity trends indicates data encryption occurred in 75% of ransomware attacks on healthcare organizations. Only 24% of surveyed healthcare organizations were able to detect an attack in progress and disrupt it before files were encrypted. Sophos says this is the highest rate of encryption and the lowest rate of disruption the company has seen in the past 3 years. Last year, healthcare organizations disrupted 34% of attacks before files were encrypted.
  • “To me, the percentage of organizations that successfully stop an attack before encryption is a strong indicator of security maturity. For the healthcare sector, however, this number is quite low—only 24%. What’s more, this number is declining, which suggests the sector is actively losing ground against cyber attackers and is increasingly unable to detect and stop an attack in progress,” said Chester Wisniewski, director, field CTO, Sophos.”

From the cybersecurity defenses front,

• An ISACA expert discusses how “Cyber Advisors, Security Services Providers Can Use Zero-Sum Game Theory Framework to Benefit Clients.”

• Dark Reading explains “How to Outsmart Malware Attacks That Can Fool Antivirus Protection. One of the main challenges for Android users is protecting themselves from malicious applications that can damage devices or perform other harmful actions.”

From the cybersecurity policy front,

• The National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced,
  • “NIST is issuing one new proposed control and two control enhancements with corresponding assessment procedures for an expedited 2-week public comment period for October 17–31, 2023. All interested users are invited to provide real-time input to SP 800-53 controls, participate in public comment periods, and plan for future changes to the catalog at the website for Public Comments on SP 800-53 Controls. Review and submit comments on the proposed new control and enhancements by selecting the “Candidates” button. 
  • “NIST will also issue a patch release — SP 800-53 Release 5.1.1 — in early November 2023 via the Cybersecurity and Privacy Reference Tool to help organizations better manage cybersecurity and privacy risks to identity and access management systems. The changes included will not be issued as a new PDF publication at this time, and organizations will have the option to defer implementing the changes included in Patch Release 5.1.1 until SP 800-53, Release 6.0.0 is issued. 
  • “For more information, see the News Item and FAQ about SP 800-53 Comment Period Release 5.1.1.”

• Yesterday, “the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced next steps for ongoing engagement with industry and government to update the National Cyber Incident Response Plan (NCIRP). As directed by the President’s 2023 National Cybersecurity Strategy, CISA, in close coordination with the Office of the National Cyber Director, is embarking on a process to gather input from public and private sector partners– including the federal interagency, Sector Risk Management Agencies (SRMAs), regulators, and critical infrastructure organizations, to identify key changes for incorporation into the updated NCIRP.”
  • Here is a link to the related CISA fact sheet. “CISA encourages all organizations to read the fact sheet and visit CISA’s NCIRP webpage to learn about this long-term effort and stay updated on the development of the NCIRP 2024.”

• The American Hospital Association News adds that federal agencies this week issued “updated guidance to help software manufacturers demonstrate their commitment to secure by design principles and customers ask for products that are secure by design.”

From the cybervulnerabilities and breaches front,

• Dark Reading tells us,
  • “Eight newly discovered vulnerabilities in the SolarWinds Access Rights Manager Tool (ARM) — including three deemed to be of critical severity — could open the door for attackers to gain the highest levels of privilege in any unpatched systems.
  • “As a broad IT management platform, SolarWinds occupies a uniquely sensitive place in corporate networks, as the world learned the hard way three years ago. Its power to oversee and affect critical components in a corporate network is nowhere better epitomized than in its ARM tool, which administrators use to provision, manage, and audit user access rights to data, files, and systems.
  • “So, admins should take note that on Thursday [October 19], Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) revealed a series of “High” and “Critical”-rated vulnerabilities in ARM. As Dustin Childs, head of threat awareness at the ZDI, explains, “The most severe of these bugs would allow a remote unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code at system level. They could completely take over an affected system. While we did not look at exploitability, the potential of these vulnerabilities is about as bad as it gets.”

• Per Cybersecurity Dive,
  • Cisco will release a security fix Sunday [October 22] to address a critical zero-day vulnerability in Cisco IOS XE software, a spokesperson told Cybersecurity Dive, citing an updated bulletin from the company. 
  • An unidentified hacker exploited the web user interface in Cisco IOS XE and installed malicious backdoors in about 42,000 devices worldwide, security researchers estimate.

• American Hospital News informs us,
  • The CISA, FBI and Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center this week alerted organizations to a critical vulnerability affecting certain versions of the Atlassian Confluence Data Center and Server that enables malicious actors to obtain access to victim systems and continue active exploitation post-patch. The agencies strongly encourage network administrators to immediately apply the recommended upgrades and recommended responses to indicators of compromise.”

• CISA added one more known exploited vulnerability to its catalog on October 16 and two more on October 19.

• HHS’s Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center issued on October 18 an Analyst Note titled “Summary of Findings on Potential ServiceNow Vulnerability.”
  • “On October 14, 2023, a cybersecurity researcher claimed that there is a potential data exposure issue within ServiceNow’s built-in capability that could allow unauthenticated users to extract data from records.
  • “ServiceNow is a cloud computing platform to help companies manage digital workflows for enterprise operations, including the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) sector. Types of data likely exposed include names, e-mail addresses, and internal documents from potentially thousands of companies.
  • “One cybersecurity company stated that around 70% of total instances seem to be affected in ServiceNow’s capability. The vulnerability has yet to be exploited by threat actors, but the likelihood that it will be is probable.”

• Bleeping Computer reports,
  • “Security researchers found that IT administrators are using tens of thousands of weak passwords to protect access to portals, leaving the door open to cyberattacks on enterprise networks.
  • “Out of more than 1.8 million administrator credentials analyzed, over 40,000 entries were “admin,” showing that the default password is widely accepted by IT administrators.”

From the ransomware front,

• On October 19,
  • “CISA, the National Security Agency (NSA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) released an updated version of the joint #StopRansomware Guide. The update includes new prevention tips such as hardening SMB protocols, revised response steps, and added threat hunting insights.
  • “Developed through the U.S. Joint Ransomware Task Force (JRTF), #StopRansomware Guide is designed to be a one-stop resource to help organizations minimize the risks posed by ransomware incidents through best practices to detect, prevent, respond, and recover, including step-by-step approaches to address potential attacks.
  • “CISA and its partners encourage organizations to implement the recommendations in the guide to reduce the likelihood and impact of ransomware incidents. For more information, visit CISA’s Stop Ransomware page.”

• Here’s a link to Bleeping Computer’s The Week in Ransomware.
  • “Cybersecurity researchers released interesting reports on ransomware, including:
    • “A new GhostLocker ransomware-as-a-service run by GhostSec.
    • “BlackCat ransomware use of a new ‘Munchkin’ Linux virtual machine in attacks.
    • “More ransomware gangs targeting Confluence servers.
    • “Analysis of Akira’s MegaZord encryptor variant.”

From the cybersecurity defenses front,

• The FEHBlog noticed that Security Week published a series of articles on this topic in October.
  • “Lost and Stolen Devices: A Gateway to Data Breaches and Leaks; By implementing strong security practices, organizations can significantly reduce the risks associated with lost and stolen computers and safeguard their sensitive information.
  • Applying AI to API Security; While there is quite a bit of buzz and hype around AI, it is a technology that can add tremendous value to security programs.
  • Addressing the People Problem in Cybersecurity; Addressing the people problem with effective approaches and tools for users and security practitioners will enable us to work smarter, and force attackers into a position where they must work harder.

• HHS’s Office for Civil Rights, which enforces the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rule, released its October 2023 Cybersecurity Newsletter, which concerns how sanctions policies can support HIPAA compliance.

• NIST “interviewed NIST’s Michael Ogata (Computer Scientist) and Paul Watrobski (IT Security Specialist) about the importance of updating software.”

• On October 18, CISA “National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) today published “Phishing Guidance, Stopping the Attack Cycle at Phase One” to help organizations reduce likelihood and impact of successful phishing attacks. It provides detailed insight into malicious actor techniques, as well as technical mitigations and best practices to help prevent successful phishing attempts.”  

• Dark Reading discusses “Change From Within: 3 Cybersecurity Transformation Traps for CISOs to Avoid.”

From the cybersecurity policy front,

• Per Cybersecurity Dive,
  • Federal authorities are trying to strengthen the security of open-source software used by critical infrastructure providers in a bid to improve risk management, particularly across operational technology and industrial control system vendors. 
  • Critical infrastructure providers have faced heightened risks of malicious attack in recent years, both from nation-state threat actors and criminal ransomware groups, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and other federal agencies said Tuesday in an open-source security guide.   

• Forbes tells us about the top ten cybersecurity trends In 2024 that everyone must be ready for now.

From the cybersecurity vulnerabilities and breaches front,

• Cyberscoop reports,
  • “Distributed denial of service attacks just keep getting bigger. On Tuesday, a coalition of tech giants revealed the biggest one yet, a DDoS campaign from August that compressed a month’s worth of Wikipedia traffic into a two-minute deluge and exploited a flaw in the fundamental technology powering the internet to do it. 
  • “At its peak, the DDoS campaign described by Google, Cloudflare and Amazon AWS reached more than 398 million requests per second (RPS) — more than eight times larger than the biggest DDoS attack previously observed by Google, which clocked in at 46 million RPS, according to the firm. The new attack uses a novel method that exploits a zero-day vulnerability dubbed “HTTP/2 Rapid Reset,” which takes advantage of the protocol that manages how computers request data from websites.
  • “For a sense of scale, this two-minute attack generated more requests than the total number of article views reported by Wikipedia during the entire month of September 2023,” Google said Tuesday.
  • “The DDoS attacks using the vulnerability have been ongoing since August and have targeted major infrastructure providers like Google Cloud, Cloudflare and Amazon Web Services.”

• The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency added five known exploited vulnerabilities to its catalog on Tuesday, October 10, 2023.

From the ransomware front,

• Per Cybersecurity Dive,
  • “Threat actors can break into an organization’s infrastructure to initiate ransomware attacks in many ways, but vulnerability exploits remain an effective and productive tool for financially-motivated cybercriminals, data from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency shared Thursday illustrates.
  • “Nearly 1 in 5 exploited common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVE) are also known to be used in ransomware attacks, according to CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog.
  • “The database of 1,019 exploited CVEs, some dating back to 2002, was updated Thursday to include those with known ransomware exploits. At least 184 CVEs have known use in ransomware attacks, according to CISA.
  • “Of those, more than 2 in 5 of the vulnerabilities exploited by threat actors to conduct ransomware are linked to Microsoft products, which are ubiquitous in the enterprise.”

• Here’s a link to the referenced CISA report, which was released on October 12, 2023.

• CISA “released [on October 11, 2023] a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA), #StopRansomware: AvosLocker Ransomware (Update) to disseminate known indicators of compromise (IOCs), tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), and detection methods associated with the AvosLocker variant identified through FBI investigations as recently as May 2023.”

• HHS’s Healthsector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) issued an Analyst Note on NoEscape Ransomware on October 12.
  • “A relatively new threat actor and ransomware to the cybercriminal community, NoEscape ransomware emerged in May 2023, but is believed to be a rebrand of Avaddon, a now-defunct ransomware group shut down in 2021. Unlike many of its contemporaries, however, the unknown developers of this ransomware claim that in lieu of using source code or leaks from other established ransomware families, they have constructed their malware and its associated infrastructure entirely from scratch. Using unique features and aggressive multi-extortion tactics, in just under a year, it has targeted multiple industries, including the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) sector. Their recent activities highlight the prominence and influence they have as a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) group. What follows is an overview of the group, possible connections to the Avaddon threat group, an analysis of NoEscape’s ransomware attacks, its target industries and victim countries, sample MITRE ATT&CK techniques, and recommended defense and mitigations against the ransomware.”

• Bleeping Computer’s The Week in Ransomware” returned this week.
  • Researchers and government agencies released some interesting news this week:
    • “A new Q3 2023 Ransomware Trends Summary shows that ransomware continues to explode, with Q3 being the most successful quarter ever recorded.
    • “The FBI shared technical details, defense tips, and IOCs for the AvosLocker ransomware, which has not been active lately.
    • “Ransomware attacks have now started to target unpatched WS_FTP servers. However, these attacks are more encryption-focused rather than for data theft.”

From the cybersecurity defenses front.

• HC3 offers a PowerPoint on cybersecurity incident response plans.

• Forbes points out the top 10 cybersecurity trends to prepare you for next year and explains why 18 factors and metrics can prove the value of cybersecurity initiatives.

• Health IT Security reports on three best practices for maturing healthcare third party risk management.

• An ISACA expert delves into “Quantum-Resistant Cryptography.”
  • “Crypto-agility was introduced in this year’s Gartner Hype Cycle, an annual analysis released for data security and emerging technologies. Gartner added both crypto-agility and post-quantum cryptography for the first time this year. The presence of data-in-use technologies in the Hype Cycle reflects the focus on data-in-transit security.
  • “It is imperative that organizations watch this space closely and upgrade encryption algorithms used in real time, because sovereign data strategies and digital communications governance are crucial areas to develop. In fact, CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) was already urging organizations to prepare for the dawn of this new age in August.”

From the cybersecurity policy front,

• The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program has two sets of regulations — OPM’s rules found at 5 CFR Part 890 and because federal procurement contracts create FEHB plans, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) at 48 CFR Chap. 1 and OPM’s implementing FEHB Acquisition Regulation (FEHBAR)found at 48 CFR Chap. 16. It’s worth noting that the FAR was first issued forty years ago.
• The Holland and Knight law firm discusses two proposed FAR cybersecurity rules published on October 3, 2023. The first one (FAR Case No. 2021-17) captioned “Cyber Threat and Incident Reporting and Information Sharing will apply to the FEHB Program as it generally imposes obligations on federal contractors. The other rule (FAR Case No. 2021-19 captioned “Standardizing Cybersecurity Requirements for Unclassified Federal Information Systems” will not apply to the FEHB because carrier systems are not federal information systems. The public comment deadline for the two proposed rules is December 4, 2023.  

• The National Security Agency announced on October 5, 2023,
  • “The National Security Agency (NSA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are releasing a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) highlighting the top ten most common cybersecurity misconfigurations found in large organizations’ networks. The CSA details tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) that cyber actors could use to compromise these networks, as well as mitigations to defend against this threat. * * *
  • “As indicated in the CSA, these most common misconfigurations illustrate a trend of systemic weaknesses in several large organizations and the importance of software manufacturers embracing secure-by-design principles to reduce the risk of compromise.
  • “Some of the misconfigurations mentioned in the CSA include default configurations of software and applications, weak or misconfigured multifactor authentication (MFA) methods, and unrestricted code execution.
  • “NSA and CISA encourage network defenders and software manufacturers to implement the recommendations found within the Mitigations section of this advisory to reduce the risk of compromise. The agencies also recommend network owners and operators examine their networks for similar misconfigurations even when running other software not specifically mentioned in the advisory.”

• The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced on October 4, 2023,
  • “CISA and the National Security Agency (NSA) published Identity and Access Management: Developer and Vendor Challenges, authored by the Enduring Security Framework (ESF), a CISA- and NSA-led working panel that includes a public-private cross-sector partnership. ESF aims to address risks that threaten critical infrastructure and national security systems.
  • “This publication, which follows ESF’s Identity and Access Management Recommended Best Practices Guide for Administrators, assesses and addresses challenges developers and technology manufacturers face in identity and access management (IAM). The guidance specifically addresses technology gaps that limit the adoption and secure employment of multifactor authentication (MFA) and single sign-on (SSO) technologies within organizations.
  • “Although the publication primarily addresses challenges facing large organizations, it also provides recommendations applicable to smaller organizations. CISA encourages cybersecurity defenders to review this guidance and to speak to their software vendors about implementing its recommendations.”

• The Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) released on October 4, 2023, a sector alert about securing remote access and management software.
  • “Cybersecurity and law enforcement agencies such as CISA, MS-ISAC, CIS, and the FBI have been reporting on increased misuse of remote access software to target organizations and critical infrastructure sectors.
  • “For implications to the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) sector, remote access solutions keep healthcare professionals connected while also providing increased flexibility and convenience. But the same solutions used to operate, maintain, and secure healthcare systems and networks can also be turned against their own infrastructure. Mitigating the risk associated with them is not as simple as deploying a patch or reconfiguring an application.”

• The Health Sector Council released an updated Health Industry Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management Guide – Version 2023 (HIC-SCRiM-v2)
  • The HIC-SCRiM is a toolkit for small to mid-sized healthcare institutions to better ensure the security of the products and services they procure through an enterprise supply chain cybersecurity risk management program.

From the cybersecurity breaches and vulnerabilities front,

• HC3 announced on October 6, 2023,
  • “Cisco recently released an update that fixes a critical vulnerability in their Emergency Responder communications platform, a system that is utilized in the health sector. The exploitation of this vulnerability allows for a cyberattacker to completely compromise a vulnerable system and then utilize it for further cyberattacks across an enterprise network. HC3 recommends healthcare organizations identify vulnerable systems in their infrastructure and prioritize the implementation of this update.”

• HC3 posted its report on September vulnerabilities of interest to the health sector on October 5, 2023.
  • In September 2023, vulnerabilities to the health sector have been released that require attention. This includes the monthly Patch Tuesday vulnerabilities released by several vendors on the second Tuesday of each month, along with mitigation steps and patches. Vulnerabilities for September are from Microsoft, Google/Android, Cisco, Apple, Mozilla, SAP, Fortinet, VMWare, Progress Software, and Adobe.
  • A vulnerability is given the classification as a zero-day when it is actively exploited with no fix available or if it is publicly disclosed.
  • HC3 recommends patching all vulnerabilities with special consideration to the risk management posture of the organization.

• CISA added one known exploited vulnerability to its catalog on October 2, another one on October 3, two more on October 4 (and deleted five catalog entries) and three more on October 5, 2023.

From the cybersecurity defenses front,

• Cybersecurity Dive discusses what to consider when choosing cybersecurity providers.

• Dark Reading proposes “five steps [by which] organizations can develop stronger security practices and make the inevitable breaches inconsequential.

• An ISACA expert explains how to comply with multiple security standards and frameworks.

• Another ISACA expert discusses common privacy dark patterns and ways to improve digital trust.

From the cybersecurity policy front,

• The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency announced
  • “[T]he kickoff of the 20th Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Throughout October, CISA and the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) will focus on ways to “Secure Our World” by educating the public on how to stay safe online. “Secure Our World” will also be the enduring theme for throughout the year as we work to drive behavioral change around core cybersecurity habits by providing everyone with the knowledge and tools they need. 
  • “As cyber threats become more sophisticated, individuals and families, small and medium businesses, and large companies all have an important role to play to in keeping our digital world safe and secure,” said CISA Director Jen Easterly. “This Cybersecurity Awareness Month we are asking everyone to do their part to ‘Secure Our World’ by adopting key behaviors that promote online safety and security.” * * *
  • “CISA encourages everyone to explore the resources on our Cybersecurity Awareness Month website, which includes a toolkit, tip sheets, and animated videos.”

• Cyberscoop also reports on CISA’s campaign.

• The National Institutes of Standards and Technology tells us
  • “The Human-Centered Cybersecurity program (formerly Usable Cybersecurity) is part of the Visualization and Usability Group at NIST. It was created in 2008, but we’ve known for quite some time that we needed to rename our program to better represent the broader scope of work we provide for the cybersecurity practitioner and IT professional communities. We made the decision to update the name to Human-Centered Cybersecurity to better reflect our new (but long-time practiced) mission statement, “championing the human in cybersecurity.” With our new name, we hope to highlight that usability still (and always) will be a very important focus for us, but it is just one component within the broader arena of work in which we specialize.   
  • “Our multi-disciplinary team conducts research at the intersection of cybersecurity, human factors, cognitive science, and psychology. We seek to better understand and improve people’s interactions with cybersecurity systems, products, and services. 
  • “To learn more about our latest projects, watch our latest videos, meet the team, or to view our publications, visit our revamped website https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/human-centered-cybersecurity.” 

From the cybersecurity vulnerabilities and breaches front,

• Cybersecurity Dive reports,
  • “Progress Software quietly alerted customers to eight vulnerabilities in WS_FTP Server, another file-transfer service from the company behind MOVEit.
  • “The company shared the news the day after its fiscal third-quarter earnings call.
  • “Two of the eight vulnerabilities are critical, with CVSS scores of 10 and 9.9 out of 10, CVE-2023-40044 and CVE-2023-42657, respectively. All versions of the file-transfer service, which allows customers to remotely manage their service from any internet connection, are impacted, the company said Wednesday. Thousands of IT teams use WS_FTP Server, according to a product page.
  • “There’s no indication any of the vulnerabilities in WS_FTP Server have been exploited, a Progress Software spokesperson told Cybersecurity Dive.”

• Yesterday, the Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) issued a related Sector Alert.
  • “Progress Software, the maker of the MOVEit file transfer software, which was widely exploited by the CL0P ransomware-as-a-service (Raas) group, has released a new advisory regarding multiple vulnerabilities in the WS_FTP Server, a file transfer product. Two of the vulnerabilities were rated as critical and are being tracked as CVE-2023-40044, which can allow an attacker to execute remote commands, and as CVE- 2023-4265, which is a directory traversal vulnerability. Due to the recent and malicious targeting of Progress Software’s products to compromise Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) sector entities, HC3 strongly encourages patching and upgrading these devices to prevent serious damage to the HPH sector.”

• Dark Reading also discusses this development.

• Also on Friday, HC3 issued an Analyst Note on LokiBot malware.
  • “Active since 2015 and among the most prevalent and persistent strains of malware families since 2018, LokiBot has matured to target multi-sector industries. Despite its apolitical targeting of critical infrastructure, the malware’s adverse effect on the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) sector shows its reach.
  • “In March 2020, a multi-threat actor spearphishing campaign to spread LokiBot malware with a false World Health Organization trademark image solidified its threat to the HPH sector. In addition to other malware analyses, HC3 reported this specific cyberattack in a 2020 HC3 Sector Note on LokiBot. The malware has been widely used for years, and it takes a lot of effort to monitor because of behavior changes. However, some best practices exist for protecting against LokiBot and managing its impact.
  • “What follows [in the analyst note] is an update to the previous HC3 analysis of LokiBot, a timeline of multi-sector targeted applications, detection strategies, sample MITRE ATT&CK techniques, indicators of compromise, and recommended defenses and mitigations against the malware.”

• According to a post on Wednesday,
  • “[T]he U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), along with the Japan National Police Agency (NPA) and the Japan National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity (NISC) released joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) People’s Republic of China-Linked Cyber Actors Hide in Router Firmware. The CSA details activity by cyber actors, known as BlackTech, linked to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The advisory provides BlackTech tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and urges multinational corporations to review all subsidiary connections, verify access, and consider implementing zero trust models to limit the extent of a potential BlackTech compromise.
  • “BlackTech has demonstrated capabilities in modifying router firmware without detection and exploiting routers’ domain-trust relationships to pivot from international subsidiaries to headquarters in Japan and the United States, which are the primary targets.
  • “CISA strongly recommends organizations review the advisory and implement the detection and mitigation techniques described to protect devices and networks. For additional guidance, see People’s Republic of China State-Sponsored Cyber Actors Exploit Network Providers and Devices and visit CISA’s China Cyber Threat Overview and Advisories page.”

• Cyberscoop lets us know,
  • North Korean cyberespionage operation targeted employees of an aerospace company in Spain using a previously unreported backdoor and a creative phishing campaign featuring a phony Silicon Valley recruiter, demonstrating a “significant advancement in malicious capabilities,” researchers with the cybersecurity firm ESET said Friday. 
  • Hackers linked with North Korea’s Lazarus Group — an umbrella term for a collection of North Korean cyber units — posed as a recruiter for Meta and contacted employees of the unnamed company via LinkedIn and sent two coding challenges supposedly part of the hiring process but which were in fact laced with malware, Peter Kálnai, an ESET researcher, wrote in a report published Friday.
  • The operation, carried out some time last year, is just the latest example of North Korean-linked cyber operations using phony job opportunities to target various professionals, including journalists, security researchers and software developers, among others. 

• Over the past week, CISA added three known exploited vulnerabilities to its catalog on Monday and another on Thursday.

• Per Health IT Security,
  • Advanced email attacks remain a top threat to organizations around the world, including those in the healthcare sector, Abnormal Security observed in its latest blog post. Abnormal saw a 167 percent increase in advanced email attacks in 2023, which included business email compromise (BEC), malware, credential phishing, and extortion.

From the ransomware front,

• BitDefender reported on Thursday,
  • “Johnson Controls, a multinational conglomerate that secures industrial control systems, security equipment, fire safety and air conditioning systems, has been hit by a massive cyber attack.
  • “The company, which employs over 100,000 people around the world, suffered a ransomware attack over the weekend which left data encrypted and caused it to shut down sections of its IT infrastructure.
  • “The Dark Angels ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the attack and claims to have exfiltrated over 25 TB of data from the organization.  The threat?  If a whopping $51 million ransom is not paid, Dark Angels say that the stolen data will be published on the “Dunghill Leaks” site.

• Here’s a link to Bleeping Computer’s Week in Ransomware. On top of the Johnson Control’s attack, Bleeping tells us
  • We also continue to see the effects of Clop’s massive MOVEit data-theft attacks, with the National Student Clearinghouse warning of a data breach that impacted 890 schools and the BORN Ontario child registry breach impacting 3.4 million people, including patients at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).
  • Cybersecurity firms, journalists, and law enforcement also released interesting reports this week:
    • A threat actor named ShadowSyndicate is linked to 7 ransomware operations.
    • Hackers are actively exploiting OpenFire flaws to encrypt servers.
    • The Snatch extortion gang left their server status page open, allowing anyone to see who was connecting to the server.
    • The FBI warned that ransomware affiliates are accelerating double-encryption attacks.
    • A look at Akira’s new PowerRanges variant, internally called Megazord.

From the cybersecurity defenses front,

• An ISACA expert discusses lessons learned from Microsoft’s “massive” data exposure incident.

• CIO explores the changing face of cybersecurity threats this year.

• The Wall Street Journal looks into why employees ignore workplace cybersecurity rules.
  • “People are able to justify their bad behavior with rationalizations. Companies need to tackle the lies we tell ourselves head on.”

• The GAO issued
  • “A Cybersecurity Program Audit Guide (CPAG) to be used in conducting cybersecurity performance audits. The intent of the guide is to arm cyber analysts and auditors with a set of methodologies, techniques, and audit procedures to evaluate components of agency cybersecurity programs and systems. GAO welcomes federal and other governmental organizations to use this guide to assess their cybersecurity programs.”

• The Wall Street Journal reports,
  • “It’s telling that, in a year that was pretty economically challenging, security didn’t plummet in terms of spending,” said Nick Kakolowski, director of research at IANS Research, a cybersecurity advisory group.
  • “Cyber budgets grew this year for the most part, but modestly, IANS found in a study with recruiting company Artico Search. After double-digit increases in 2020 and 2021, the average growth in cybersecurity budgets for 2023 was 6%, according to the survey of 550 security executives. As a portion of overall technology budgets, cyber accounted for 11.6%, the study found. Around 37% of respondents to the survey said their cyber budgets were flat or reduced, the survey found.”