Security News
A new politically-motivated hacker group named "Moses Staff" has been linked to a wave of targeted attacks targeting Israeli organizations since September 2021 with the goal of plundering and leaking sensitive information prior to encrypting their networks, with no option to regain access or negotiate a ransom. "The group openly states that their motivation in attacking Israeli companies is to cause damage by leaking the stolen sensitive data and encrypting the victim's networks, with no ransom demand," Check Point Research said in a report published Monday.
A new hacker group named Moses Staff has recently claimed responsibility for numerous attacks against Israeli entities, which appear politically motivated as they do not make any ransom payment demands. In general, Moses Staff isn't putting much effort into this aspect of their operation, as the main thing they aim for is to cause chaos in the targeted Israeli operation and not to ensure that the encrypted drives are irrecoverable.
The BlackShadow hacking group attacked the Israeli hosting provider Cyberserve to steal client databases and disrupt the company's services. Cyberserve is an Israeli web development firm and hosting company used by various organizations, including local radio stations, museums, and educational institutions.
Over 70% of Wi-Fi networks from a sample size of 5,000 were hacked with "Relative ease" in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, highlighting how unsecure Wi-Fi passwords can become a gateway for serious threats to individuals, small businesses, and enterprises alike. CyberArk security researcher Ido Hoorvitch, who used a Wi-Fi sniffing equipment costing about $50 to collect 5,000 network hashes for the study, said "The process of sniffing Wi-Fis and the subsequent cracking procedures was a very accessible undertaking in terms of equipment, costs and execution."
A joint announcement from the Ministry of Health and the National Cyber Directorate in Israel describes a spike in ransomware attacks over the weekend that targeted the systems of nine health institutes in the country. In the joint announcement, the Israeli government states that the attempts resulted in no damage to the hospitals and the medical organizations, thanks to national-level coordination and the quick and decisive response of the local IT teams.
An emerging threat actor likely supporting Iranian national interests has been behind a password spraying campaign targeting U.S., E.U., and Israeli defense technology companies, with additional activity observed against regional ports of entry in the Persian Gulf as well as maritime and cargo transportation companies focused in the Middle East. Microsoft is tracking the hacking crew under the moniker DEV-0343.
Swedish digital rights organisation Qurium has alleged that an Israeli company called Bright Data has helped the government of the Philippines to DDOS local human rights organisation Karapatan. In July, Qurium reported that the Philippines Department of Science and Technology and Army had conducted DDOS attacks on local media critical of the nation's government, and targeted Karapatan.
IT and communication companies in Israel were at the center of a supply chain attack campaign spearheaded by an Iranian threat actor that involved impersonating the firms and their HR personnel to target victims with fake job offers in an attempt to penetrate their computers and gain access to the company's clients. ClearSky theorized that the attacks' focus on IT and communication companies suggest they are intended to facilitate supply chain attacks on their clients.
Hackers associated with the Iranian government have focused attack efforts on IT and communication companies in Israel, likely in an attempt to pivot to their real targets. The campaigns have been attributed to the Iranian APT group known as Lyceum, Hexane, and Siamesekitten, running espionage campaigns since at least 2018 [1, 2]. In multiple attacks detected in May and July, the hackers combined social engineering techniques with an updated malware variant that would ultimately give them remote access to the infected machine.
Authorities from multiple agencies of the Israeli government paid a visit the offices of the NSO Group as part of a new investigation into claims that the secretive firm is selling its spyware to threat actors for targeted attacks, according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Specifically, Israeli agents visited NSO Group's offices in Herzliya, near the city of Tel Aviv, according to a post by analyst firm Recorded Future's The Record.