The Week in Breach News: 06/02/21 – 06/08/21

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This week we’re exploring why Cox TV & radio stations went dark because of cybercrime, how third-party danger ensnared New South Wales Health, what happened when nation-state cybercriminals visited New York and how you can notch quick wins by using specialized location and industry data to sell security.

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United States iConstituent

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-communications-vendor-compromised-ransomware-attack-n1269934

Exploit: Ransomware

IConstituent: Communications Services

Customers Impacted: Unknown

How It Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Ransomware against service providers has been a hot profit center for cybercriminals and they’re not letting up on potentially vulnerable targets.

ID Agent to the Rescue: Third-party and supply chain risks are growing exponentially. Learn strategies to fight back in our eBook Breaking Up with Third Party and Supply Chain Risk! DOWNLOAD IT>>

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United States – Cox Media Group

https://therecord.media/live-streams-go-down-across-cox-radio-tv-stations-in-apparent-ransomware-attack/

Exploit: Ransomware

Cox Media Group: TV & Radio Station Operator 

Individual Impact: No sensitive personal or financial information has been declared compromised in this incident and the investigation is ongoing.

Customers Impacted: Unknown

How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business Ransomware attacks against strategic targets like this are becoming all too common as ransomware gangs seek to cause maximum buzz for maximum profit.

ID Agent to the Rescue:  Find useful data to inform security decisions including our predictions for the biggest risks of 2021 in The Global Year in Breach 2021. READ IT NOW>>

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United States – Navistar International Corporation

https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-truck-maker-navistar-says-aware-it-breach-2021-06-07/

Exploit: Ransomware

Navistar International Corporation: Specialty Vehicle Manufacturer

Individual Impact: No sensitive personal or financial information has been declared compromised in this incident and the investigation is ongoing.

Customers Impacted: Unknown

How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business Ransomware is evolving, meaning every incident stands a chance of containing an even harder to stop new variant that could do lasting damage.

ID Agent to the Rescue:  Secure your data and systems against today’s nastiest threat with Ransomware 101, our most popular eBook, to guide you through how to secure your clients effectively. READ IT>>

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United States – New York Metropolitan Transit Authority (M.T.A.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/02/nyregion/mta-cyber-attack.html

Exploit: Nation-State hacking

New York Metropolitan Transit Authority (M.T.A.): Regional Transport Operator 

Individual Impact: No sensitive personal or financial information has been declared compromised in this incident and the investigation is ongoing.

Customers Impacted: Unknown

How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business Ransomware is evolving, meaning every incident stands a chance of containing an even harder to stop new variant that could do lasting damage.

ID Agent to the Rescue:  Secure your data and systems against today’s nastiest threat with Ransomware 101, our most popular eBook, to guide you through how to secure your clients effectively. READ IT>>

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United States – LineStar Integrity Services

https://www.wired.com/story/linestar-pipeline-ransomware-leak/

Exploit: Ransomware

LineStar Integrity Services: Pipeline Technology Services

Individual Impact: No sensitive personal or financial information has been confirmed as compromised in this incident although some sources are reporting that human resources data is in the mix.

Customers Impacted: Unknown

How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business Increasing frequency off cyberattacks on service providers show that cybercriminals are taking every chance to strike against linchpins of business services.

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United Kingdom – Furniture Village 

https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/04/furniture_village_confirms_cyberattack/

Exploit: Hacking

Furniture Village: Home Goods Retailer 

Individual Impact: At this time, no sensitive personal or financial information was announced as compromised in this incident, but the investigation is ongoing.

Customers Impacted: Unknown

How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Attacks on older systems are often easy money for cybercriminals looking for data to sell with a low overhead and fast turnaround time.

ID Agent to the Rescue: Make sure you’re protecting aging assets with strong security, including strong passwords with our Build Better Passwords eBook. GET IT>>

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Australia – New South Wales Health (NSW Health) 

https://www.zdnet.com/article/nsw-health-confirms-data-breached-due-to-accellion-vulnerability/

Exploit: Third-Party Data Breach 

New South Wales Health (NSW Health): Regional Healthcare Agency 

Customers Impacted: Unknown

How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Attacks on major data processors like this puts many businesses at risk. Cybercriminals are hungry for saleable information and these places are treasure troves.

ID Agent to the Rescue: Are your clients maintaining strong security? The Security Awareness Champion’s Guide shows you how to close vulnerabilities fast! GET IT>>

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Japan – Fulifilm

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/fujifilm-confirms-ransomware-attack-disrupted-business-operations/

Exploit: Ransomware

 Fujifilm: Film & Photo Technology Developer 

Individual Impact: At this time, no sensitive personal or financial information was announced as compromised in this incident, but the investigation is ongoing.

Customers Impacted: Unknown

How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Business disruptions from ransomware attacks can be costly even if no business or customer data is stolen, and extra costs for recovery can add up.

ID Agent to the Rescue: Fight back against the primary delivery system for ransomware: phishing email. Improved security awareness training can reduce the chance of a cybersecurity incident like this up to 70%! SEE HOW>>

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Go Inside the Ink to Get the Inside Scoop on Cybercrime

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Are you up to date on the latest news that can impact your business and your customers? Here’s a recap:

• 10 More Ransomware Facts That You Need to Know 
• Why Single Sign-On is the Unsung Hero of Security 
• Are You Safe from Malicious Insider Threats by Remote Workers? 
• Phishing with Government Bait Hooks Unwary Employees 
• The Week in Breach: 05/19/21 – 05/25/21

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What’s So Special About Zero Trust? Find Out Now!

Everyone’s talking about the benefits of adopting a zero-trust security strategy in today’s volatile cybercrime landscape. How can you capitalize on this opportunity? In this webinar, Amelia Paro of ID Agent and Danny Jenkins of ThreatLocker give you an introduction to zero trust security and show you how to capitalize on the trend. You’ll learn:

• Why zero trust is the big buzzword right now
• The advantages that zero trust brings to the table
• How to use this concept to secure your clients effectively

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• Show Clients Compromised Employee Credentials – See how to use powerful prospecting tools to quickly impress clients and prospects by producing their compromised credentials in minutes! WATCH IT>>
• Sell and Deliver Security Awareness Training – Notch your next sales win and protect your clients more effectively with essential security awareness training that features phishing resistance! WATCH IT>>

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Are Your Clients Prepared for Unexpected Risk Modifiers?

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Cybersecurity isn’t a one size fits all proposition. Every organization has unique needs based on the way that they do business. In addition, those needs can be impacted by the prospect of third party and supply chain risk creating complications that must be addressed. Plus regulations regarding compliance, industry standards, legal requirements, general threat intelligence, workforce makeup and a host of other issues can impact the security calculus for companies. Not to mention the value of your data or potential profitability as a ransomware target. But are you certain that you’re taking every risk factor into account when determining the right way forward? There are also a few unexpected variables that add risk modifiers, presenting security obstacles that businesses need to overcome – and they can with a little expert help.

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INDUSTRY VARIABLES

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Every industry is at risk for cybercrime, but some are just a little bit more imperiled than others. A special focus or added stressor on an industry can cause threat to surge and recede fast as cybercriminals look for ways to maximize their profits. For example, risk increased dramatically for drug companies, laboratories, hospitals and other medical targets in turn during the initial COVID-19 pandemic and race for the vaccine. By the end of that road, even cold storage and transport companies had a turn in the spotlight. some industries are simply more likely targets for cybercrime, and that’s something that needs to be a focus for security planning.

Using the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, we gathered data on the 10 most common industries to experience a data breach in 2020 and then broke that down by company size to illustrate how industry variables can impact an organization’s cybersecurity needs.

Industry​	Total breaches​	1 – 1000​	1000+​	unknown​
Public​	885​	13​	30​	842​
Professional​	630​	76 ​	121​	433​
Healthcare  ​	472​	32​	19 ​	421​
Finance ​	467 ​	26 ​	14 ​	427​
Information   ​	381 ​	35​	21 ​	325​
Education   ​	344​	17 ​	13  ​	314​
Mining   ​	335 ​	2 ​	3 ​	330​
Manufacturing ​	270​	13​	27​	230​
Retail	165​	10​	19 ​	136​
Entertainment  ​	109​	6​	1​	102​

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LOCATION VARIABLES

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Can a company’s geographic location impact its threat landscape? Yes. Geography is especially likely to impact the motivations of potential threat actors whether they’re internal or external. In these scenarios, we focused on malicious threats to organizations (the top non-malicious threat to cybersecurity is eternally human error). Using data drawn from the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, we plotted out the variables that can impact cybersecurity for companies including what types of data attackers want the most in three major regions.

APAC

• Incidents Examined: 5,255 incidents, 1,495 with confirmed data disclosure ​
• Top Threats: Social Engineering, Basic Web Application Attacks and Miscellaneous Errors represent 98% of breaches ​
• Types of Threat Actors: External (95%), Internal (6%)
• Threat Actor Motives: Financial (96%), Espionage (3%), Fun/Personal (1%) 
• Most Commonly Stolen Data: Credentials (96%), Personal (3%), Other (2%), Corporate Secrets (1%) ​

EMEA

• Incidents Examined: 5,379 incidents, 293 with confirmed data disclosure ​
• Top Threats: Basic Web Application Attacks, System Intrusion and Social Engineering patterns represent 83% of breaches ​
• Types of Threat Actors: External (83%), Internal (18%) ​
• Threat Actor Motives: Financial (89%), Espionage (8%), Fun/Personal (1%), Grudge (1%)
• Most Commonly Stolen Data: Credentials (70%), Corporate/Business Internal (52%), Personal (22%), Other (16%)​

North America (US & Canada)

• Incidents Examined: 13,256 incidents, 1,080 with confirmed data disclosure ​
• Top Threats: Social Engineering, System Intrusion and Basic Web Application Attacks represent 92% of breaches ​
• Types of Threat Actors: External (82%), Internal (19%), Multiple (2%), Partner (1%)  ​
• Threat Actor Motives: Financial (96%), Espionage (3%), Grudge (2%), Fun/Personal (1%)
• Most Commonly Stolen Data: Credentials (58%), Personal (34%), Other (27%), Internal (11%) ​

Regional differences have a noticeable impact on the threat landscape in different parts of the world. Social engineering continues to be a leader, emerging as the top general threat category faced by companies in North America, Asia and Australia, but for European firms, social engineering clocks in third and the top threat type is actually web application attacks. In North America and the Asia Pacific region including Australia, 96% of the bad actors involved in data breach incidents are looking for just one thing: money. While that is still the largest motivator for bad actors in Europe, that figure drops to 89%. Interestingly, a grudge against the company is the motive behind 2% of the actions of threat actors in data breaches in North America and Europe, but it doesn’t even make the list in Asia.

As an added bonus, We thought you’d enjoy seeing what the top actions were in all the threats that were in the pool for consideration. It’s not a list that packs great surprises. Every one of these actions packs a punch that can send businesses reeling. There may be more than one action that leads to a breach, a fact reflected in the percentages quoted here. This information is also culled from the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report.

Top Action Types

1. Phishing (social engineering)                                         40%​
2. Use of stolen credentials (hacking)                                30%​
3. Ransomware (malware)                                                  30%​
4. Misconfiguration (error)                                                 20%​
5. Brute force (hacking)                                                    >10%

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Cybercriminals Are Subject to Location Variables Too

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Regional threat probabilities aren’t a one-way street. The industry that a business is in can dramatically impact its risk for phishing. In a recent study on the geographic factors in phishing-based cybercrime conducted by Columbia University, researchers were able to pinpoint the most likely locales in which phishing emails originate. The countries that generate a higher volume of phishing emails (more than 1,000 emails in the dataset) are clustered in just a few regions.

However, some countries had a much higher probability of being the birthplace of a phishing message. Email that had a higher probability of phishing originated from these locales (in descending order):   

• Lithuania 
• Latvia 
• Serbia 
• Ukraine 
• Russia 
• Bahamas 
• Puerto Rico 
• Colombia 
• Iran 
• Palestine 
• Kazakhstan 

Very few of the emails that the researchers studied originated in the United States or Canada. The study cited an example that showed that even though 129,369 phishing emails in the dataset were sent from the US, there’s still only a 0.02% probability of receiving a phishing email sent from the US or Canada. The researchers also noted that Great Britain and most of the EU were also unlikely points of origin for phishing messages. Worldwide, most countries had a phishing origin probability of 10% or less.  Further illustrating the necessity of security awareness training that emphasizes phishing resistance, an estimated 1 in 99 emails that a business receives are phishing messages.

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How Can You Use This Data to Sell More Security?

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Data like this is valuable for several reasons. When planning a cybersecurity strategy, this data can help make sure that unique risks like an abundance of social engineering threats delivered via phishing are figured into the equation in order to tailor defensive measures appropriately and allocate funds accurately. This information is useful when considering a security overhaul, an incident response plan or changes to a security stack. It’s also a great way to start conversations around security and the need for security adjustments while making that need relatable and easy to quantify. Plus, having this knowledge at hand is a great way to boost client and prospect confidence in your expertise.

Put Protection in Place That Never Varies for a Strong Universal Defense

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The powerful 1 -2 punch of BullPhish ID and Passly is the perfect combo to knock out heightened cyberattack risk and increase cyber resilience to keep systems and data secure and companies functioning in any conditions.

Passly offers the functionality of 3 solutions in one affordable package, including:

• Multifactor authentication (MFA)  stops 99% of password-based cybercrime and teamed up with single sign-on (SSO), this dynamic duo provides strong access control.
• Simple remote management and secure shared password vaults make it easy for IT teams to respond quickly in an emergency to isolate a compromised account.
• Automated password resets eliminate the constant wave of reset tickets, saving time, money and stress.

BullPhish ID is the streamlined, user-friendly solution to every training challenge, including:

• A frequently updated library of plug-and-play phishing simulation kits that can be scheduled to run automatically.
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• Simple, clear reporting that enables everyone to clearly see employee progress and measure the value of training

We’re here to help if you would like to learn more about ways that you can protect your business and your clients from today’s nastiest cybersecurity nightmares. Let’s get together and talk about it: SCHEDULE A CONSULTATION>>

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June 15: Deploy Your Secret Weapon: Security-Savvy Employees REGISTER NOW>>

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Industry & Regional Dangers Can Complicate Your Security

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While you’re considering your security needs, are you also considering your unique threats by industry or region? Cybersecurity isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition in any business. you may face a higher incidence of certain threats depending on your region, as some cybercrime types are more prevalent by locale. In North America, Asia and Australia, social engineering through things like phishing reign as the leading regional cause of danger, but for European firms that factor changes to web application attacks, with social engineering in third place.

The reasons why companies are attacked change by region as well. Malicious insiders and cybercriminals have different motivations for undertaking cyberattacks in different parts of the world, and that can add variables that change your risk calculation. In North America and the Asia Pacific region including Australia, over 96% of the bad actors involved in data breach incidents are in it for the dough. While that is still the largest motivator for bad actors in Europe, that figure drops to 89%.

Considering regional and industry risks is also important when you’re forming relationships with new vendors to determine what level of risk they may be bringing to the table. Unaddressed vulnerabilities in a supplier or service provider’s cybersecurity can have a negative impact n your business too. One great way to mitigate that risk is to add multifactor authentication (MFA) to your credentials to provide extra protection against intrusion with a stolen or compromised credential. An affordable secure identity and access management solution like Passly includes MFA and more tools to help you guard your systems and data from third-party risk.

To make sure that you’re protecting your organization correctly and completely, schedule a cybersecurity tuneup at least once per year. By going over your resources and determining where you may have unexpected vulnerabilities because if regional variances, you’ll increase your company’s cyber resilience making it more able to withstand a dangerous cybersecurity landscape.

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ID Agent Partners: Feel free to re-use this blog post (in part or in its entirety) for your own social media and marketing efforts. Please send an email to [email protected] to let us know – we love to hear about how our content works for you!

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