MIS 5212-Advanced Penetration Testing

MIS 5212 - Section 001 - Wade Mackey

Fox School of Business

Donald Hoxhaj

‘Highly critical’ Drupal security flaw prompts urgent patch

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https://www.cyberscoop.com/drupalgeddon2-patch-security-flaw/

Drupal content management system powers major websites of the world. On Wednesday, a critical security patch has been released for it.  It solves the problem of remote code execution vulnerability that allows hackers to use the multiple systems of Drupal to be hacked. This problem was discovered by an employee of Drupal security auditing firm.  The bug is being named as Dupalgeddon2.  The first time it came to know about in 2014. Even an election security center has been affected and attacked due to this vulnerability.

Cyber-attacks are continuously increasing. These attacks need to be thwarted. Through the vulnerability, the attacker can easily reach the page and modify or even delete the data. This is a major security breach released by Drupal. It’s fortunate that no major attack has happened so far through this vulnerability but there is every chance in future to get such thing happen.  The message from developers is to patch everything. There is need to protect crucial data from attackers and hackers. These crimes are increasing day by day so there is need to be cautious from outset. This kind of vulnerabilities needs to be removed.

McAfee: 26% of companies have suffered cloud data theft

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https://venturebeat.com/2018/04/15/mcafee-26-of-companies-have-suffered-cloud-data-theft/

With the advent of cloud storage, many companies have come to trust this storage method and transferred crucial information from their hard-drives to the ‘cloud’. However, not everyone is equally impressed!

In its third annual meeting on cloud security, leading cybersecurity firm McAfee presented a thrilling report on the security risks pertaining to cloud storage. The report stated that about 26 percent of companies using cloud storage have faced data thefts.

According to the words of Raj Samani, the chief scientist at McAfee “This year’s study demonstrates that there are firms ramping up cloud adoption and increasing investment to manage the risks, and conversely a larger number of organizations that are taking a more cautious approach,”

NCSC unveils new cyber attack classification system

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http://www.itpro.co.uk/national-cyber-security-centre-ncsc/30926/ncsc-unveils-new-cyber-attack-classification-system

In order to enforce a more efficient mechanism to fight cyber crimes and fortify cybersecurity, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has announced the launch of a new cyber categorization system. The purpose of this new categorization would be to classify the various cyber attacks in accordance with a list of priority.

The NCSC, which is the leading cyber defense body in the UK, believes that based on the nature of the attacks, once the priorities are set, it would be easier for law-enforcing agencies to plan their move. In his statement, Paul Chichester, the director of NCSC said: “This new joint approach, developed in partnership with UK law enforcement, will strengthen the UK’s ability to respond to the significant, growing and diverse cyber threats we face”.

U.S. Sees Wave of New Cyber Attacks on Energy Infrastructure

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https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/US-Sees-Wave-Of-New-Cyber-Attacks-On-Energy-Infrastructure.html

United States has recently seen cyber-attacks on 7 natural gas pipeline operators. The attackers targeted 3rd party communications system Latitude Technologies. The result was that several services broke down. It’s still unclear whether any customer data was stolen in these attacks. Additionally, 4 pipeline providers namely Oneok, Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, Energy Transfer Partners and Eastern Shore Natural Gas confirmed that even they were attacked. This is a double-edged sword because energy industry continues to grow and increasingly become more and more dependent on automation and internet. The industry is particularly vulnerable to these attacks because of the invaluable amounts of customer information, profiles of customers, energy strategies, and business data.

Cybersecurity experts say that these hackers could potentially cause spills, fires, and service disruptions all from the comfort of their own home.

FireEye sees repeat cyber-attacks rising in Indian companies

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https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/fireeye-sees-repeat-cyber-attacks-rising-in-indian-companies/articleshow/63623311.cms

One of the reports published by FireEye says that many Indian companies are subjected to cyber-attacks and are quite repetitive. Out of all the industries, Education and Telecommunication industries have been the most common targets. Seems like over 49% of the customers in India and the APAC region have been victims of cyber-attacks in a year. Tim Wellsmore, director for threat intelligence-APAC at FireEye briefs that India is in a difficult position. Organisations are increasingly being re-targeted and there is a certain lack of skill shortage making governments and organisations ill-equipped to handle sophisticated attacks.

Why cyber attacks are becoming more dangerous

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https://www.intheblack.com/articles/2018/04/01/cyber-attacks-more-dangerous

Ashely Wearne, the head of Cyber Security group Sophos, recently said that current game plan against digital lawbreakers is to hit them smart, hit them fast, and hit them early.

With the advent of the digital age, suddenly, attacks or even wars are not only fought at the border. Rather, these attacks have found their way right into our offices, and homes, while we are altogether oblivious to it.

Last year, a North Korean ransomware which is essentially a crypto worm by nature, and aptly named as WannaCry, played havoc around the world by incapacitating more than 200,000 computers. The attack was not restricted to any target countries, but rather over 150 countries suffered from this attack.

This attack was condemned by many countries, but repercussions of such threats loom large on Cyber Security companies, whose existence lies in defending us from suck attack. In the words of Wearne, “If we have one bad day, we’re out of business. It’s a very thin line.”

Businesses facing increase in ‘brute force’ cyber attacks

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http://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2018/04/15/businesses-facing-increase-in–brute-force–cyber-attacks

Brute force attacks have become quite common in Carolina. The way a brute force works is by identifying the IP address of the system and then attempts to take control of the system by using a virtual dictionary of probable usernames and passwords. Small business as we know have been particularly vulnerable to such attacks because of lack of resources and efficient security systems to prevent cyber-attacks. Tom Blanchard, CEO of Sterling Technology Solutions says that Small to medium size business can often choose their own security policy and they may have chosen to have password requirements reduced for convenience purposes so they can remember their password more easily.

Companies, be it large or small, essentially should have long and complex passwords to ensure that it is not easily attacked.

Russia bombards Western allies with cyber attacks in Syria defence

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https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/russia-bombards-western-allies-with-cyber-attacks-in-syria-defence-20180416-p4z9yk.html

Russia has been increasingly involved in cyber-crimes especially towards its western allies i.e. the United States. Some of the supporters of Russia and bots were involved in spreading false information on the internet that there was no chemical attack on Duoma. Despite confirmation from the WTO (World Trade Organization), medics, independent journalists regarding the chemical attacks in Duoma, Russia constantly denied any chemical attacks. NATO’s East Stratcom Task Force said that ‘Immediately after the reports of a suspected chemical attack in Syrian Douma appeared, Russia reignited its disinformation campaign on the use of chemical weapons in Syria’

Kremlin tried to mislead the users and repeatedly flooded the internet with false information. Surprisingly, it was found that Russian disinformation accounted for two out of every three articles about the Skripal case shared on social media. Cyber-attacks needs to be controlled and regulated through information disclosure and boundaries forming the protocols.

ATM Jackpot Malware stealing cash from ATM

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https://www.hackread.com/atmjackpot-malware-stealing-cash-from-atms/

Netskope Threat Research Labs has identified a new malware which can steal money from the ATM’s (Automated Teller Machine), they also said that it is unclear or unknown that how this malware works as just got developed in March 28, 2018 as it’s batch time states. The Malware’s GUI is too basic to find more details and it only displays the hostname and information about the service providers.

AtmJackpotting, in simple words it is installing a piece of code into ATM’s system which will provide the attacker the information about how much money is dispensing at a particular ATM at any given time. Security professionals stated that, consumers are not affected by this malware because as of now there is no proof that it is accessing any private information about the consumer. It is known that a notorious Carbanak group is involved in stealing an amount of $1.2 million from ATM’s and the suspected head of the group is arrested this previous month.

Malware attack on vendor at heart of Delta, Sears data breaches

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https://www.ciodive.com/news/breaches-galore-malware-attack-on-vendor-at-heart-of-delta-sears-data-bre/520724/

Malware attack on Delta Airlines and Sears Holding Corp. were list in this week’s security breach A software vendor, naming [24]7 which provides the two companies with online chat and services, was holding a malware in its system. Fortune reported that, the companies disclosed data breaches affecting payment information of their customers.

In this case, the company [24]7’s security was compromised and so it’s customers. There were several cyber-attacks which were made on companies that focused less on security. The data breach was known to be happened somewhere in between September 26 and October 12 in the year of 2017, and said that all the customer’s credit card information was comprised used in that time frame. This is not the first time that Tech vendors let the company’s to data breach, there were reports saying that a few companies have tasted this bit of bitterness by not taking the vendor’s security level. It can only be controlled by focusing on Cybersecurity practices.