This Week in Security News - April 2, 2021
Alleged Members of Egregor Ransomware Cartel Arrested and Cybercriminals Home in on Manufacturers
Welcome to our weekly roundup, where we share what you need to know about cybersecurity news and events that happened over the past few days. This week, read about the arrests of three alleged Egregor Ransomware cartel members and how Trend Micro helped law enforcement in the investigation. Also, read why smart factories are being targeted by cybercriminals.
Read on:
Alleged Members of Egregor Ransomware Cartel Arrested
Three alleged members of the Egregor ransomware cartel were apprehended in Ukraine in a crackdown conducted by the French and Ukrainian authorities last month. The arrests were made possible with the help of private-public sector partnerships, and Trend Micro served as one of the cybersecurity partners of law enforcement authorities involved in the investigation.
Cybercriminals Home in on Manufacturers
Weak security implementations and flawed organizational structures are opening manufacturing floors as lucrative targets for cybercriminals, with more than half of manufacturers saying they have experienced disruptive cyberattacks in a new survey from Trend Micro. According to Trend Micro researchers, this encompasses virus infections, unauthorized operations that exploit system vulnerabilities, or unauthorized accesses to systems.
Protecting LoRaWAN Hardware from Attacks in the Wild
In this blog, Trend Micro details the dangerous hardware attacks that could affect organizations using LoRaWAN technology. Since many LoRaWAN devices are deployed out in the open, such as sensors deployed on vast tracts of agricultural land or across entire cities, it is possible for malicious actors to attack unprotected LoRaWAN devices found in the wild.
Pandemic Threats: The Common Threads in COVID-19 Scams and Criminal Schemes
In a recent Trend Micro report, researchers explore how cybercriminals have exploited the coronavirus pandemic over the past year. As new platforms spring up to cater to consumer, economic, and medical needs, threat actors are pivoting to campaigns designed to impersonate legitimate sources in the hopes of malware deployment and data theft.
EU, Japan, and the US Conducted Joint Cybersecurity Training
The EU, Japan, and the US recently conducted a joint cybersecurity training program as part of a series of dialogues on digital policies. The training program was developed over the past year aiming to establish a connectivity partnership based on sustainability as a shared value, quality infrastructure, and belief in the benefits of a level playing field, tackling the security of devices, systems, networks, and controls used in industrial processes.
Moving from DevOps to CloudOps: The Four-Box Problem
In this article, Trend Micro’s EVP of Network Defense and Cloud Security, Steve Quane, explains how the two-box problem between security teams and developers grew into a three-box problem with the introduction of DevOps – now, it’s a four-box problem with the introduction of CloudOps. This constant evolution of organizational structure and security responsibility requires all teams to have a ‘security person's mindset’ to work within their organization and ensure business data remains secure.
Since 2017, Trend Micro has been conducting research on smart factories and discovered vulnerabilities in automation programs that define the behavior of industrial robots. In this blog series, Trend Micro analyzes the design security risks involved in legacy languages and risk mitigation measures that all users of industrial robots can take. In part one, learn the characteristics of industrial robots and the background, purpose, scope, and survey method used to conduct this research.
New, Critical Vulnerability Discovered That Could Let Attackers Gain Entry to SolarWinds Systems
Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) team has been working closely with SolarWinds to help security teams respond to the massive hack. Last week, researchers from Trend Micro found two remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities, one of which rated as Critical, that could allow an attacker to take over SolarWinds Orion systems.
The State of Industrial Cybersecurity
Trend Micro’s latest survey of manufacturers in the US, Germany and Japan revealed the state of industrial cybersecurity in factories – showing a gap of awareness between IT and OT. Stronger collaboration between IT and OT teams is important for manufacturing companies to survive and grow their business while promoting digital transformation.
The Latest Malware Hiding in Video Game Cheat Codes
Hackers are targeting video game players and PC modders, lacing malware hidden in seemingly legitimate files that users can download to run game patches, tweaks or modding tools. The malware hackers are using in this campaign, XtremeRAT, can capture audio or video through victims’ microphones or web cameras, take screenshots, upload and download files, or log keystrokes.
New Advancements in 5G, Autonomous Vehicles to Drive Market Growth
Sony, NTT DOCOMO, Hyundai, Singtel, and Ford recently unveiled their latest ventures combining automobiles and 5G. These advancements could lead to better technologies that improve the connected cars of the future and drive further growth in the autonomous vehicle market.
Injecting Deception Mid-Pandemic: COVID-19 Vaccine Related Threats
Now that COVID vaccines are in the spotlight, with more than 319 million doses administered, cybercriminals are using this as a social engineering lure. Late last year, INTERPOL issued a global alert regarding organized crime networks that target COVID-19 vaccines. This blog details some of Trend Micro’s findings on malware, spam, phishing schemes, malicious websites, and illicit markets related to COVID-19 vaccines.
Which news from this week do you find most interesting? Share your thoughts in the comments below or follow me on Twitter to continue the conversation: @JonLClay.