Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

Launched in September 2019 and formerly known as 'ABCD', LockBit is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) threat that was updated in June 2021 and improved on the group’s earlier claims of having the fastest encryption process on the ransomware scene (Figure 1). Much like other RaaS offerings, LockBit operates an affiliate profit sharing program in which up-to eighty percent of a ransom payment can be earned whilst the operators claim the remainder.

Believed active since mid-2020, Conti is a big game hunter ransomware threat operated by a threat group identified as Wizard Spider and offer to affiliates as a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) offering. Following the lead of other big game hunter ransomware groups, Conti adopted the double extortion tactic, also known as 'steal, encrypt and leak', in order to apply additional pressure on victims to pay their ransom demands and avoid sensitive or confidential data being exposed.

Recently published by Lionel Gilles, an offensive security researcher based in France, 'PetitPotam' is a proof-of-concept (PoC) tool used for NT LAN Manager (NTLM) relay attacks that, when executed properly, grants threat actors the ability to take over a Windows Active Directory (AD) domain, including domain controllers (DC), where Active Directory Certificate Services (ADCS) are used. Similar to classic in-the-middle (ITM) or replay attacks, PetitPotam applies similar concepts to its relay attack.

Cyberint Research observed a number of unsolicited malicious email (malspam) campaigns throughout July 2021 in which Agent Tesla has been used to deliver 'Oski Stealer' to a variety of targets worldwide. First observed around November 2019, Oski Stealer is a popular threat, used to gather credentials and/or financial data from victims, and is readily available to purchase on various cybercriminal forums, typically advertised by a threat actor known as 'oski_seller', for around US$70-100.

First coming to light as a local elevation of privilege vulnerability affecting pre-release versions of Windows 11 (Figure 1), subsequent investigations into the issue, namely sensitive registry hive files being accessible to all users when 'System Protection' is enabled, confirm that it also affects Windows 10. Initially dubbed 'HiveNightmare' and 'SeriousSAM' by security researchers, CVE-2021-36934 has been assigned to this vulnerability although the CVSS score has yet to be determined.

Seemingly favored by many big game hunter ransomware threat groups, VPN and network infrastructure devices are regularly used as the initial attack vector, especially given that some organizations neglect to include 'hardware' appliances within their patch and update regimes.

Following the July 3, 2021 news of a ransomware attack targeting Kaseya, a US-based software developer that supplies managed service providers (MSP), more information about the incident, including additional indicators of compromise (IOC) have now been shared. Reportedly the "biggest ransomware attack on record" according to some, initial reports suggested that Kaseya themselves were compromised and their network management software, VSA, was compromised to deploy a ransomware threat to their customers.

Whilst originally thought to be a local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Windows Print Spooler, identified as CVE-2021-1675 and patched during Microsoft's June Patch Tuesday, Microsoft increased the severity of this issue on June 21 as well as reclassifying it as a 'remote code execution' (RCE) threat.

News has been surfacing throughout the day on July 3, 2021, of a seemingly large ransomware attack affecting hundreds of organizations following a software supply chain compromise at the supplier of software to managed service providers (MSPs).

Business decision-makers are inundated today with messages about the importance of digital transformation and innovation. If you want to stay ahead of the competition, you're told, you need to take full advantage of the cloud, move to microservices, replace your VMs with containers and so on. Yet what often gets lost or overlooked in those conversations is the digital risk that goes hand-in-hand with digital transformation.