Security News
Fortinet's threat intelligence from the second half of 2021 reveals an increase in the automation and speed of attacks demonstrating more advanced persistent cybercrime strategies that are more destructive and unpredictable. New and evolving attack techniques span the entire kill chain but especially in the weaponization phase, showing an evolution to a more advanced persistent cybercrime strategy that is more destructive and unpredictable.
Threat analysts expect 2022 to be the tipping point for a shift in the focus of hackers from large companies back to consumers. The trend we see now is targeting consumers who hold something valuable, and asking for small ransom payments from a larger number of victims.
Interpol cybercrime director Craig Jones set forward this idea at Acronis's #CyberFit Summit in Singapore on Thursday, dispelling the stereotype of a lone threat actor in a hoodie hunched over a keyboard in favour of an integrated criminal ecosystem. "We are now looking at a business model. Because we've evolved, the criminals have evolved as well in our digital space," said Jones.
As the number of ransomware attacks continue to rise, Blackberry has found as a part of its annual threat report that there may be a shared economy amongst cyber criminals that is growing. "This infrastructure has also incubated a criminal shared economy, with threat groups sharing and outsourcing malware allowing for attacks to happen at scale. In fact, some of the biggest cyber incidents of 2021 look to have been the result of this outsourcing."
A research released by Computer Services suggests growing concerns among bank executives around recruiting and retaining talent as well as fighting cybercrime threats. In the survey, which collected responses from 279 executives from financial institutions across the nation, bankers ranked cybersecurity threats and recruiting/retaining employees as their top issues in 2022.
The FBI has formally linked the Diavol ransomware operation to the TrickBot Group, the malware developers behind the notorious TrickBot banking trojan. A month later, IBM X-Force researchers established a stronger connection between Diavol ransomware and other TrickBot Gang's malware, such as Anchor and TrickBot.
A coordinated law enforcement operation has resulted in the arrest of 11 members allegedly belonging to a Nigerian cybercrime gang notorious for perpetrating business email compromise attacks targeting more than 50,000 victims in recent years. The disruption of the BEC network is the result of a ten-day investigation dubbed Operation Falcon II undertaken by the Interpol along with participation from the Nigeria Police Force's Cybercrime Police Unit in December 2021.
Blocked from legitimate courts, cybercriminals have set up their own system for settling disputes, handing over ultimate decision-making to senior underground forum administrators who have awarded claims totaling as much as $20 million. A new report from Analyst1 details activities inside these underground systems and found more than 600 requests for mediation on just one Russian-language forum alone, tackling disputes ranging from missing affiliate payments to contract violations.
Trend Micro released a research detailing the murky cybercrime supply chain behind much of the recent surge in ransomware attacks. "Media and corporate cybersecurity attention have been focused only on the ransomware payload when we need to focus first on mitigating the activity of initial access brokers," said David Sancho, senior threat researcher for Trend Micro.
The European Cybercrime Centre has again acted against credit card fraud and is poised to reveal success on a similar scale to its 2020 campaign that prevented €40 million of losses. Credit card fraud has also persisted, with crims conducting ongoing campaigns to acquire card numbers and use them to make unauthorised purchases.