Over the past year or so, organizations have rapidly accelerated their digital transformation by employing technologies like cloud and containers to support the shift to IoT and address the expanding remote workforce. This digital shift calls for a new approach to asset visibility as traditional asset administration responsibilities like inventory, software support, and license oversight are often the purview of IT and addressed with IT inventory-focused tools.

It is nearing the mid-year point of 2021, and already it can be characterized as” the year of the breach.” Many companies and institutions saw their security perimeters pierced by hackers including the mega-breaches of Solar Winds and the Colonial Pipeline. The scale of penetration and exfiltration of data by hackers and the implications are emblematic of the urgency for stronger cybersecurity.

Credential abuse and compromised user accounts are serious concerns for any organization. Credential abuse is often used to access other critical assets within an organization, subsidiaries, or another partner corporation. Once an account is compromised, it can be used for data exfiltration, or to further promote the agenda of a threat actor.

AT&T Alien Labs recently analyzed the Linux version of the Darkside ransomware, one of the most active ransomware in the last quarter. Shortly after hitting Colonial Pipeline, Darkside developers announced they would be closing operations.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) systems have become the norm for using client data to provide recommendations to customers. As more people are working from home and conducting business online, it is imperative that fraud detection software is used to protect user information. But these protective systems also utilize ML to automate the process and understand when a potential attack is taking place.

This is the third of three blogs in a series to help the energy and utility industries. You can read the first blog on Ransomware and Energy and Utilities and the second blog on Threat Intelligence and Energy and Utilities as well.

In the cybersecurity field, Zero Trust is becoming a widely used model. Data breaches taught organizations to stay cautious regarding security, especially when it comes to information protection - and a Zero Trust model may be the best option. Nobody, including clients inside the firewall, should be trusted, per Zero Trust. Internal threats are a huge concern. And for many attackers, penetrating the barrier is a simple operation, thanks to easy access to leaked credentials.

Remote workforces accessing applications and data that are located anywhere is the “new normal.” Across the globe, organizations of all sizes are struggling to modernize their infrastructures to accommodate this new reality while accelerating their digital transformation initiatives.

AT&T Alien Labs has observed the Mirai variant botnet, known as Moobot, scanning for known but uncommon vulnerabilities in Tenda routers, resulting in a considerable peak in our internal telemetry. The research associated with this peak resulted in the discovery of a malware hosting domain, providing several different Mirai variants, like Moobot and Satori.

It is increasingly common to hear about cyber threats to energy and utility industries. These are malicious acts by adversaries that target our data, intellectual property, or other digital assets. All too often it seems as though energy and utility companies are put in a defensive position to battle it out with these cyber intruders. How can the industry switch to a more offensive position when it comes to understanding these threats?