The latest data from Coveware shows a slowing of attack efficacy, a decrease in ransom payments being made, and a shift in initial access tactics. According to Coveware’s Q2 2024 Ransomware Quarterly Report, we see a few interesting trends: A new data point brought to light this quarter is the data exfiltration only (DXF) payment trend, which is relatively flat despite fluctuating between 53% in Q1 of 2022 when tracking began, down to a low of 23% in Q1 of this year.

File-sharing phishing attacks have skyrocketed over the past year, according to a new report from Abnormal Security. “In file-sharing phishing attacks, threat actors exploit popular platforms and plausible pretexts to impersonate trusted contacts and trick employees into disclosing private information or installing malware,” the report says.

Researchers at ThreatFabric warn that a phishing campaign is distributing the Chameleon Android malware by impersonating a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) app. The campaign is currently targeting users in Canada and Europe, but may expand to other regions. “The naming used for the dropper and the payloads clearly shows that the intended victims of the campaign are hospitality workers and potentially B2C business employees in general,” ThreatFabric says.

Researchers at Menlo Security warn that a phishing campaign is exploiting Google Drawings to evade security filters. The phishing emails inform the user that their Amazon account has been suspended, instructing them to click on a link in order to update their information and reactivate their account. The phishing page is crafted with Google Drawings, which makes it more likely to fool humans while evading detection by security technologies.

For the fifth year in a row, we've been honored with the TrustRadius Tech Cares Award! This recognition is a testament to our unwavering commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the incredible efforts of our team. What makes this recognition so special is that it celebrates companies that go above and beyond in their CSR programs. At KnowBe4, we've always believed that our responsibility extends far beyond our products and services.

Just when we thought we had something special with our very own North Korean hacker, it turns out this type of fraud has made it to the Volunteer State. A recent arrest in Nashville, Tennessee is just another example of this global tactic finding its way into U.S. organizations. Fortunately, the authorities caught up with this one. According to the tech news site Cyberscoop, authorities arrested a 38-year-old man for allegedly getting himself hired by U.S. and British companies under false identities.

The financial repercussions of the May 2024 ransomware attack on the electronics manufacturing services firm Key Tronic underscores just how costly these attacks are. Key Tronic makes parts for a number of sectors, including computer, telecom, medical, industrial, automotive and aerospace. They were struck in May with a ransomware attack by Black Basta, which claimed to have stolen 500 GB of data.

New analysis shows users can be convinced to copy and paste malicious code on behalf of the attacker. I first saw this kind of attack earlier this month – where the user is asked to launch the Run dialog box and paste in a malicious command. I never thought I'd see something similar again, but I was wrong.

A report from Darktrace has found that 62% of phishing emails in the first half of 2024 were able to bypass DMARC verification checks in order to reach users’ inboxes. “Building on the insights from the 2023 End of Year Threat Report, an analysis of malicious emails detected by Darktrace / EMAIL in 2024 underscores the implication that email threats are increasingly capable of circumventing conventional email security tools,” the report says.

Researchers at Malwarebytes spotted a malvertising campaign that abused Google Ads to target people searching for Google Authenticator. If someone typed “Google Authenticator” into Google, the malicious ad would be at the top of the search results. The ad copied the website description from the real Google Authenticator, but would redirect users to a phishing site. “We can follow what happens when you click on the ad by monitoring web traffic,” the researchers explain.