Here’s the latest installment of the Hacks, Attacks and Breaches cybersecurity news update.
The Logically team provides top cyber security stories every week to keep you up to date on the latest news headlines on cybersecurity, hacking, computer security, ransomware and other cybersecurity threats.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Exploit: Account Takeover
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI): Federal Government Agency
Risk to Small Business: A shocking email security breach at the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) led to the takeover of a user account. The cybercriminals that accomplished the feat were able to use that compromised email account to send tens of thousands of fraudulent emails warning recipients of impending cyberattacks. Messages reached celebrities like Jay Z and journalists including investigative reporter Brian Krebs. The Bureau later confirmed that its Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP) was compromised in a cyberattack Friday. FBI officials were quick to stress the fact that the malicious emails originated from an FBI-operated server that was solely dedicated to pushing notifications for LEEP and not part of the FBI’s corporate email service.
How it Could Affect Your Business: This incident shows that no organization is immune to a cyberattack, and even the best defenses can fail.
West Virginia Parkways Authority
Exploit: Ransomware
West Virginia Parkways Authority: State Government Agency
Risk to Small Business: A suspected ransomware attack snarled operations at the West Virginia Parkways Authority last Friday. Officials announced that a cyberattack had hit the agency’s internal computer systems, knocking out email, telephones, and various non-critical applications for several hours. According to the statement, no data was extracted or exposed in the incident which only impacted operational technology. Systems have since been restored and the incident is under investigation.
How it Could Affect Your Business: Using ransomware against infrastructure targets to shut down their operations has become much more common.
Robinhood
Exploit: Phishing (Vishing)
Robinhood: Financial Services Platform
Risk to Small Business: Financial services platform Robinhood is in the news again after disclosing a data breach on 11/03. The company blamed the security incident on vishing. Threat actors obtained access to the organization’s customer support systems by obtaining systems access over the phone. This is the same technique that proved successful in the 2020 Twitter hack. According to reports, after accessing the data, the cybercriminals then demanded an extortion payment to keep the data safe. No word on the amount of this demand. The incident is under investigation.
How it Could Affect Your Business: Vishing threats are popping up more frequently as cybercriminals look to vary their approach to obtaining credentials in unexpected ways.
Hewlett Packer Enterprise (HPE)
Exploit: Credential Compromise
Hewlett Packer Enterprise: Business Technology Services
Risk to Small Business: Hewlett Packer Enterprise (HPE) just informed customers that use its Aruba networking unit that their information may have been exposed in a cyberattack on its Aruba Central cloud environment in late October. The company outlined the incident in a statement to the press “On 2 November, HPE discovered that an access key to data related to the network analytics and contact-tracing features of Aruba Central, our cloud-based network management and monitoring solution, was compromised and used by an external actor to access the environment over a period of 18 days between 9 and 27 October 2021.” HPE went on to specify that the data in question included “identifying device media access control (MAC) addresses, IP addresses, device operating systems type and hostnames, and usernames for Wi-FI networks where authentication is used, as well as dates, times, and physical Wi-Fi access points (APs) to which devices connected.” The incident is under investigation
How it Could Affect Your Business: Cybercriminals will do anything to obtain a legitimate user credential because it gives them the keys to the kingdom, enabling them to do massive damage quickly.
