- US brokerage firms warned of widespread survey phishing attacks
October 7, 2020
The U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has issued a notice warning member brokerage firms of widespread phishing attacks using surveys to harvest information. FINRA is a non-profit organization and self-regulatory body authorized by the U.S. government to regulate exchange markets and brokerage firms. According to FINRA, the organization supervises over 624,000 brokers across the country and ...
- French companies Under Attack from Clever BEC Scam
October 6, 2020
The highly anonymous and often secretive nature of the internet has led to the proliferation of scams aimed at separating people and organizations from their money. Trend Micro has been following these scams over the years and have seen many of them evolve from simplistic schemes to more sophisticated campaigns. One of the most dangerous ...
- Inside the Bulletproof Hosting Business – Cybercriminal Methods and OpSec
October 6, 2020
Many cybercriminal operations have some level of organization, planning, and some form of foundation that reflects the technical acumen of the individual or group behind them. The use of underground infrastructure is inherent to the modus operandi of a cybercriminal. In our Underground Hosting series, we have differentiated how cybercrime goods are sold in marketplaces ...
- New ransomware vaccine kills programs wiping Windows shadow volumes
October 4, 2020
A new ransomware vaccine program has been created that terminates processes that try to delete volume shadow copies using Microsoft’s vssadmin.exe program, Every day, Windows will create backups of your system and data files and store them in Shadow Volume Copy snapshots. These snapshots can then be used to recover files if they are mistakenly changed or ...
- New Jersey hospital paid ransomware gang $670K to prevent data leak
October 3, 2020
University Hospital New Jersey in Newark, New Jersey, paid a $670,000 ransomware demand this month to prevent the publishing of 240 GB of stolen data, including patient info. The attack on the hospital occurred in early September by a ransomware operation known as SunCrypt, who infiltrates a network, steals unencrypted files, and then encrypts all of ...
- Ransomware: Gangs are shifting targets and upping their ransom demands
October 2, 2020
Ransomware attacks continue to grow, according to data from IBM, which also suggests that ransomware gangs are upping their ransomware demands and getting more sophisticated about how they calculate the ransom they try to extort. The number of ransomware attacks IBM’s Security X-Force Incident Response team were called in to deal with tripled in the second ...
- Researchers Mixed on Sanctions for Ransomware Negotiators
October 2, 2020
Ransomware negotiators may have to pay up in new ways if they intercede with cybercriminals on companies’ behalf. Several researchers weighed in on the wisdom of the move, with mixed reactions. The U.S. Department of the Treasury said Thursday that companies that facilitate ransomware payments to cyber-actors on behalf of victims may face sanctions for encouraging ...
- Emotet malware takes part in the 2020 U.S. elections
October 2, 2020
Emotet is now taking part in the United States 2020 Presidential election with a new spam campaign pretending to be from the Democratic National Convention’s Team Blue initiative. When the Emotet gang sends out spam, their main goal is to convince recipients to open the attached malicious document. This is usually done through email themes that ...
- Egregor Ransomware Threatens ‘Mass-Media’ Release of Corporate Data
October 2, 2020
A freshly discovered family of ransomware called Egregor has been spotted in the wild, using a tactic of siphoning off corporate information and threatening a “mass-media” release of it before encrypting all files. Egregor is an occult term meant to signify the collective energy or force of a group of individuals, especially when the individuals are ...
- Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 Discovers 27 New Vulnerabilities Across Microsoft Products
October 2, 2020
Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 threat researchers have been credited with discovering 27 new vulnerabilities addressed by the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), as part of its last nine months of security update releases. Vulnerabilities The Microsoft vulnerabilities discovered included 27 vulnerabilities rated “important,” including Remote Code Execution, Privilege Elevation, Information Disclosure and one Denial of Service ...