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Today — 26 June 2024Main stream
Yesterday — 25 June 2024Main stream

LockBit Claims Ransomware Attack on U.S. Federal Reserve

25 June 2024 at 15:16
LockBit ransomware Federal Reserve

The LockBit ransomware group is claiming that it hacked into systems at the U.S. Federal Reserve and stole 33TB of data that it will begin leaking as early as Tuesday if the institution doesn’t pay the unspecified ransom. The notorious cybercriminals announced the attack on its dark web leak site on June 23, giving the..

The post LockBit Claims Ransomware Attack on U.S. Federal Reserve appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Before yesterdayMain stream

Millions and Millions of Fraud Domains: China attacks Illegal Gambling and Telecom Fraud

24 June 2024 at 11:10

Last week I was reviewing a publication by the United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime published in January 2024, titled "Casinos, Money Laundering, Underground Banking, and Transnational Organized Crime in East and Southeast Asia: A Hidden and Accelerating Threat."

(URL to the UNODC report: UNODC: Casinos, Money Laundering, Underground Banking ... full report)

(URL to the USIP report: https://www.usip.org/node/160386 )


The reason I was looking into the report is that this 106 page report is about how Chinese organized crime has planted themselves in Casino complexes across Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, the Philippine, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The same modus operandi that we associate with the crypto investment scams that use the horrible name "pig butchering" to describe the financial grooming that leads to the complete financial devastation of so many Americans. In fact, I discovered the UN report, only by seeing it quoted in he report by the United States Institute of Peace, "Transnational Crime in Southeast Asia: A Growing Threat to Global Peace and Security" where it was mentioned in a footnote.

Examining Chinese Ministry of Public Security reports

The UNODC report shares statistics from a Ministry of Public Security of China note, without providing a URL, that "between January to November 2023, authorities in the country successfully resolved 391,000 cases related to telecommunications and network fraud, totaling the arrest of 79,000 suspects, including 263 'backbone members or paymasters' of cyberfraud groups" (in the countries mentioned above.) This included:

  • interception of 2.75 BILLION fraud calls
  • interception of 2.28 BILLION fraud messages
  • the removal of 8.36 million fraud-related domain names
  • and 328.8 billion yuan (US $46 billion) in funds related to fraud cases.

Since I am working on a project that we call "Twenty Targets for Takedown" that is attempting to shut own illicit websites by terminating their domain registrations and hosting arrangements, the number "8.36 million fraud-related domains" made me shudder.
I am fortunate to count among my network some of the leading experts in domain-name related fraud and abuse, the number seemed overwhelmingly high, and I asked my colleagues from CAUCE, the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email, for assistance in looking into it. One quick opinion was that this could include a definition of domain name that would be more akin to a hostname, similar to what we have on Blogspot. "garwarner.blogspot.com" is a hostname on the domain "blogspot.com" ... but some would call it a "fully qualified domain name" and consider it a separate FQDN than other xyz.blogspot.com or abc.blogspot.com "domains."

John Levine helped me solve the "did they really mean millions, or is this possibly a bad translation" by helping me find the Ministry of Public Security site where the article was coming from and share several updated versions of these statistics.



18 Million Websites! 

The latest article we can find, dated 31MAY2024, quotes Li Guozhong ( 李国中 ) the Spokesman for China's Ministry of Pubic Security describing their successes over the past five years.  In 2021, they established a National Anti-Fraud Center which sent out 660 million notices and were able to help stop fraud against 18.44 million people. This most recent article, which is focused on fraud and doesn't mention gambling at all, says that they have "handled 18 million domain names and websites."  That's a machine translation of ( 处置涉案域名网址1800万个 ).  I can confirm the 18 million ... written as 1800 ten thousands - 1800万个.  Handled is perhaps better rendered "disposed of" 处置  (Chǔzhì).  Still unsure how to interpret 域名 ( Yùmíng - Domain name) 网址 (Wǎngzhǐ - website), but I think for now, I'm going to assume it means "URLs" or "FQDNs" as opposed to only registered domains 

The Anti-Fraud Center has intercepted 6.99 billion fraud calls and 6.84 billion text messages and intercepted 1.1 trillion yuan of funds. At current exchange rates, that would be around $151 Billion US Dollars!   

Just since July 2023, 49,000 cyber fraud suspects have been transferred to China from northern Myanmar. 82,000 criminal suspect have been arrested, including 426 key "financial backers" behind the fraud groups.  


Several maps help to demonstrate what's going on in Southeast Asia: 
(Source: Figure 1 from the afore-mentioned USIP report) 

Source: afore-mentioned UNODC report -- note the Myanmar/China border, which is where most of the Chinese rescues and raids have been conducted.


How Much Fraud? $64 Billion to $157 Billion per year!


The US Institute of Peace report estimates that there are as many as 500,000 scammers deployed in the region, earning potentially $64 Billion per year in fraud. The methodology they used for this calculation came from the UNODC report above. On p. 55 of that report, the UN said that they estimated each scammer was earning between $300 and 400 per day, and that they believed there were 80,000 to 100,000 scammers working six days per week in one unnamed Mekong country.  Using that estimate, they gave a "range" of $7.5 Billion to $12.5 billion in scam revenue for that country.  These numbers were calculated consistently with a Chinese MPS report about an initiative they called "Operation Chain Break" which estimated that scam compounds, including gambling and cyber scams, were generating $157 Billion per year. 

China's Ministry of Public Security is actively conducting military style raids to help recover these fraud suspects from northern Myanmar, where China shares a long border with the country, which remains deeply embroiled in a state of civil war. MPS is also working collectively with other Southeast Asian countries and says it has "destroyed 37 overseas fraud dens." 

China Launches Month of National Anti-Fraud Action

Today (24JUN2024) China launched a new month-long "National Anti-Fraud Action" with a nation-wide campaign that declares "Beware of new fraud methods and don't be a tool for telecom fraud."  The campaign uses what China calls a "Five-In" approach, meaning that Chinese citizens will see and spread anti-fraud messages in Communities, Rural Areas, Families, Schools, and Businesses.  Students will be provided materials to share with their families, Employees will be encouraged to share anti-fraud messages and materials with their families and communities, and Chinese Communist Party offices in rural areas and civic organizations will make sure the message is spread in those areas as well. The materials being prepared will be written separately to address the awareness needs of merchants, accounting personnel, minors, and the elderly, describing each fraud typology and helping to describe methods to safeguard from these typologies. A major objective will also be to help understand how to avoid becoming a "tool" or an "accomplice" of these fraud rings, who prey on the financially vulnerable to help them launder the proceeds of their crime.  The Ministry of Public Security will jointly publish the "Overseas Telecom Network Fraud Prevention Handbook with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education to help improve prevention awareness especially for overseas students and diaspora Chinese communities. Major news media and new media platforms will continuously feature anti-fraud reports to strengthen and educate the public on fraud prevention and "continue to set off a new wave of anti-fraud among the whole people the whole society." 

Gee, doesn't that sound like REACT's Erin West and Operation Shamrock -- but with the full cooperation of the Government and Society? 


The announcement of the month of National Anti-Fraud Action concludes with some more recent statistics about the work of the National Anti-Fraud Center.  Just since 2023, today's report says that they have: 
  • pushed out 420 million warning and dissuasion instructions
  • met with 14.77 million people face-to-face to give warnings 
  • made 310 million phone calls to warn vitims 
  • sent 230 million dissuasion text messages
  • intercepted 3.7 billion fraud calls 
  • intercepted 2.96 billion fraud-related text messages
  • blocked 11.619 million fraud-related domain names -- BLOCKED - this may mean "prevented access via Chinese Internet -- which may mean the sites are still available to victimize foreigners
  • intercepted 452.9 billion yuan of funds ($62 Billion USD) 
What does this mean to those of us in the United States?  If China is doing an all-hands "Five-In" awareness campaign and deploying police for face-to-face dissuasion, the fraudsters may very realistically need to INCREASE their targeting of overseas victims to make up for the projected revenue hit this new effort may create. 

To quote Director Easterly at CISA: SHIELDS UP! 

The post Millions and Millions of Fraud Domains: China attacks Illegal Gambling and Telecom Fraud appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Change Healthcare to Start Notifying Customers Who Had Data Exposed in Cyberattack

20 June 2024 at 21:51

Change Healthcare is starting to notify hospitals, insurers and other customers that they may have had patient information exposed in a massive cyberattack.

The post Change Healthcare to Start Notifying Customers Who Had Data Exposed in Cyberattack appeared first on SecurityWeek.

EU Aims to Ban Math — ‘Chat Control 2.0’ Law is Paused but not Stopped

20 June 2024 at 12:43
“Oh, won’t somebody please think of the children?”

Ongoing European Union quest to break end-to-end encryption (E2EE) mysteriously disappears.

The post EU Aims to Ban Math — ‘Chat Control 2.0’ Law is Paused but not Stopped appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Using LLMs to Exploit Vulnerabilities

17 June 2024 at 07:08

Interesting research: “Teams of LLM Agents can Exploit Zero-Day Vulnerabilities.”

Abstract: LLM agents have become increasingly sophisticated, especially in the realm of cybersecurity. Researchers have shown that LLM agents can exploit real-world vulnerabilities when given a description of the vulnerability and toy capture-the-flag problems. However, these agents still perform poorly on real-world vulnerabilities that are unknown to the agent ahead of time (zero-day vulnerabilities).

In this work, we show that teams of LLM agents can exploit real-world, zero-day vulnerabilities. Prior agents struggle with exploring many different vulnerabilities and long-range planning when used alone. To resolve this, we introduce HPTSA, a system of agents with a planning agent that can launch subagents. The planning agent explores the system and determines which subagents to call, resolving long-term planning issues when trying different vulnerabilities. We construct a benchmark of 15 real-world vulnerabilities and show that our team of agents improve over prior work by up to 4.5×...

The post Using LLMs to Exploit Vulnerabilities appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Alleged Boss of ‘Scattered Spider’ Hacking Group Arrested

15 June 2024 at 19:40

A 22-year-old man from the United Kingdom arrested this week in Spain is allegedly the ringleader of Scattered Spider, a cybercrime group suspected of hacking into Twilio, LastPass, DoorDash, Mailchimp, and nearly 130 other organizations over the past two years.

The Spanish daily Murcia Today reports the suspect was wanted by the FBI and arrested in Palma de Mallorca as he tried to board a flight to Italy.

A still frame from a video released by the Spanish national police shows Tylerb in custody at the airport.

“He stands accused of hacking into corporate accounts and stealing critical information, which allegedly enabled the group to access multi-million-dollar funds,” Murcia Today wrote. “According to Palma police, at one point he controlled Bitcoins worth $27 million.”

The cybercrime-focused Twitter/X account vx-underground said the U.K. man arrested was a SIM-swapper who went by the alias “Tyler.” In a SIM-swapping attack, crooks transfer the target’s phone number to a device they control and intercept any text messages or phone calls sent to the victim — including one-time passcodes for authentication, or password reset links sent via SMS.

“He is a known SIM-swapper and is allegedly involved with the infamous Scattered Spider group,” vx-underground wrote on June 15, referring to a prolific gang implicated in costly data ransom attacks at MGM and Caesars casinos in Las Vegas last year.

Sources familiar with the investigation told KrebsOnSecurity the accused is a 22-year-old from Dundee, Scotland named Tyler Buchanan, also allegedly known as “tylerb” on Telegram chat channels centered around SIM-swapping.

In January 2024, U.S. authorities arrested another alleged Scattered Spider member — 19-year-old Noah Michael Urban of Palm Coast, Fla. — and charged him with stealing at least $800,000 from five victims between August 2022 and March 2023. Urban allegedly went by the nicknames “Sosa” and “King Bob,” and is believed to be part of the same crew that hacked Twilio and a slew of other companies in 2022.

Investigators say Scattered Spider members are part of a more diffuse cybercriminal community online known as “The Com,” wherein hackers from different cliques boast loudly about high-profile cyber thefts that almost invariably begin with social engineering — tricking people over the phone, email or SMS into giving away credentials that allow remote access to corporate internal networks.

One of the more popular SIM-swapping channels on Telegram maintains a frequently updated leaderboard of the most accomplished SIM-swappers, indexed by their supposed conquests in stealing cryptocurrency. That leaderboard currently lists Sosa as #24 (out of 100), and Tylerb at #65.

0KTAPUS

In August 2022, KrebsOnSecurity wrote about peering inside the data harvested in a months-long cybercrime campaign by Scattered Spider involving countless SMS-based phishing attacks against employees at major corporations. The security firm Group-IB called the gang by a different name — 0ktapus, a nod to how the criminal group phished employees for credentials.

The missives asked users to click a link and log in at a phishing page that mimicked their employer’s Okta authentication page. Those who submitted credentials were then prompted to provide the one-time password needed for multi-factor authentication.

These phishing attacks used newly-registered domains that often included the name of the targeted company, and sent text messages urging employees to click on links to these domains to view information about a pending change in their work schedule. The phishing sites also featured a hidden Telegram instant message bot to forward any submitted credentials in real-time, allowing the attackers to use the phished username, password and one-time code to log in as that employee at the real employer website.

One of Scattered Spider’s first big victims in its 2022 SMS phishing spree was Twilio, a company that provides services for making and receiving text messages and phone calls. The group then pivoted, using their access to Twilio to attack at least 163 of its customers.

A Scattered Spider phishing lure sent to Twilio employees.

Among those was the encrypted messaging app Signal, which said the breach could have let attackers re-register the phone number on another device for about 1,900 users.

Also in August 2022, several employees at email delivery firm Mailchimp provided their remote access credentials to this phishing group. According to Mailchimp, the attackers used their access to Mailchimp employee accounts to steal data from 214 customers involved in cryptocurrency and finance.

On August 25, 2022, the password manager service LastPass disclosed a breach in which attackers stole some source code and proprietary LastPass technical information, and weeks later LastPass said an investigation revealed no customer data or password vaults were accessed.

However, on November 30, 2022 LastPass disclosed a far more serious breach that the company said leveraged data stolen in the August breach. LastPass said criminal hackers had stolen encrypted copies of some password vaults, as well as other personal information.

In February 2023, LastPass disclosed that the intrusion involved a highly complex, targeted attack against an engineer who was one of only four LastPass employees with access to the corporate vault. In that incident, the attackers exploited a security vulnerability in a Plex media server that the employee was running on his home network, and succeeded in installing malicious software that stole passwords and other authentication credentials. The vulnerability exploited by the intruders was patched back in 2020, but the employee never updated his Plex software.

Plex announced its own data breach one day before LastPass disclosed its initial August intrusion. On August 24, 2022, Plex’s security team urged users to reset their passwords, saying an intruder had accessed customer emails, usernames and encrypted passwords.

TURF WARS

Sosa and Tylerb were both subjected to physical attacks from rival SIM-swapping gangs. These communities have been known to settle scores by turning to so-called “violence-as-a-service” offerings on cybercrime channels, wherein people can be hired to perform a variety geographically-specific “in real life” jobs, such as bricking windows, slashing car tires, or even home invasions.

In 2022, a video surfaced on a popular cybercrime channel purporting to show attackers hurling a brick through a window at an address that matches the spacious and upscale home of Urban’s parents in Sanford, Fl.

January’s story on Sosa noted that a junior member of his crew named “Foreshadow” was kidnapped, beaten and held for ransom in September 2022. Foreshadow’s captors held guns to his bloodied head while forcing him to record a video message pleading with his crew to fork over a $200,000 ransom in exchange for his life (Foreshadow escaped further harm in that incident).

According to several SIM-swapping channels on Telegram where Tylerb was known to frequent, rival SIM-swappers hired thugs to invade his home in February 2023. Those accounts state that the intruders assaulted Tylerb’s mother in the home invasion, and that they threatened to burn him with a blowtorch if he didn’t give up the keys to his cryptocurrency wallets. Tylerb was reputed to have fled the United Kingdom after that assault.

KrebsOnSecurity sought comment from Mr. Buchanan, and will update this story in the event he responds.

Unlock Advanced Threat Correlation

By: Enzoic
13 June 2024 at 16:38

Try the Enzoic + ThreatQ Integration Free on the ThreatQ Marketplace Exciting news for cybersecurity teams: Enzoic and ThreatQuotient have partnered to offer a powerful integration that combines Dark Web monitoring with advanced threat intelligence. And now, you can now try this integration for free on the ThreatQ marketplace, giving your organization a unique opportunity […]

The post Unlock Advanced Threat Correlation appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Tile/Life360 Breach: ‘Millions’ of Users’ Data at Risk

13 June 2024 at 13:28
Life360 CEO Chris Hulls

Location tracking service leaks PII, because—incompetence? Seems almost TOO easy.

The post Tile/Life360 Breach: ‘Millions’ of Users’ Data at Risk appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Q1 2024: A Wake-up Call for Insider Threats

13 June 2024 at 11:37

The first quarter of 2024 painted a concerning picture of security threats for enterprise organizations: information leaks and breaches exposed sensitive data across major corporations.

The post Q1 2024: A Wake-up Call for Insider Threats appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Connecticut Has Highest Rate of Health Care Data Breaches: Study

13 June 2024 at 09:19
health care data breaches cybersecurity

It’s no secret that hospitals and other health care organizations are among the top targets for cybercriminals. The ransomware attacks this year on UnitedHealth Group’s Change Healthcare subsidiary, nonprofit organization Ascension, and most recently the National Health Service in England illustrate not only the damage to these organizations’ infrastructure and the personal health data that’s..

The post Connecticut Has Highest Rate of Health Care Data Breaches: Study appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Network Equipment, IoT Devices are Big Security Risks: Forescout

11 June 2024 at 14:09
Forescout networking equipment IoT security risks

IT systems – and this year networking equipment in particular – continue to pose the most security risk for organizations, but it is the vulnerable Internet of Things (IoT) devices that are quickly moving up the ladder, according to researchers with Forescout’s Verdere Labs researchers. In this year’s Riskiest Connected Devices report released this week,..

The post Network Equipment, IoT Devices are Big Security Risks: Forescout appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Microsoft, Google Come to the Aid of Rural Hospitals

11 June 2024 at 11:56
CSPM, ASPM, CISA cybersecurity healthcare

Microsoft and Google will provide free or low-cost cybersecurity tools and services to rural hospitals in the United States at a time when health care facilities are coming under increasing attack by ransomware gangs and other threat groups. For independent rural and critical access hospitals, Microsoft will provide grants and as much as 75% discounts..

The post Microsoft, Google Come to the Aid of Rural Hospitals appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Ticketmaster is Tip of Iceberg: 165+ Snowflake Customers Hacked

11 June 2024 at 11:15
Snowflake CISO Brad Jones

Not our fault, says CISO: “UNC5537” breached at least 165 Snowflake instances, including Ticketmaster, LendingTree and, allegedly, Advance Auto Parts.

The post Ticketmaster is Tip of Iceberg: 165+ Snowflake Customers Hacked appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Don’t Panic, Take Action: What to Do If Your Data Leaks

Data leak

Recent high-profile data leaks, including incidents involving Santander and Ticketmaster, have highlighted the ongoing issue of data breaches affecting a wide array of industries, from banking and logistics to online stores and entertainment. While companies typically take steps to protect their affected clients, individuals can also enhance their digital security. Kaspersky experts offer advice on what to do if your data has been leaked. Data leaks often involve logins, passwords, addresses, and phone numbers. In some cases, they may include passport details and bank card information. While any data leak is concerning, it’s crucial not to panic. Instead, pause and consider the necessary steps to secure your information.

Data Leak? Immediate Actions to Take

1. Change Compromised Account Details: If you suspect your account details have been compromised, immediately change your password and enable two-factor authentication. If cybercriminals have already accessed your account, contact technical support to restore access and determine what other information might have been compromised. 2. Address and Phone Number Leaks: If sensitive data such as your address or phone number is leaked, it is usually not critical but still concerning. A leaked address typically doesn’t pose a threat unless it leads to targeted attacks like stalking. In such rare cases, contact the police promptly. For a leaked phone number, ensure accounts using that number as a login have two-factor authentication, change your password, and remain vigilant for potential fraud calls. 2. Passport or ID Leaks: If your passport or ID details become leaked, stay alert for potential social engineering attacks. Scammers might use your passport details to appear more credible. However, there is usually no need to obtain a new document. Using leaked passport data for fraud, such as taking out a loan, requires additional personal information and substantial criminal expertise. To mitigate future risks, avoid giving away your passport details unnecessarily—they are primarily needed for banking and e-government apps, and occasionally logistics services. 3. Bank Card Details: Act promptly if your bank card details are leaked: monitor bank notifications, reissue the card, and change your bank app or website password. Enable two-factor authentication and other verification methods. Some banks allow setting spending limits for added protection. If account and balance details are leaked, be extra vigilant against phishing emails, SMS, and calls. Cybercriminals might target you based on this information. In unclear situations, contact your bank directly. 4. Organizational Security Measures: Various types of leaked employee data can be used for OSINT (open-source intelligence) to further access internal systems. To counter these threats, organizations are advised to use advanced security solutions, implement strong cybersecurity policies, and conduct employee training. 5. Educating and Protecting Against Social Engineering: Amin Hasbini, Director of META Research Center Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) at Kaspersky, emphasizes the importance of being aware of data leakage risks and avoiding oversharing. He advises educating relatives, especially children and the elderly, about the dangers of social engineering attacks. "A crucial thing also is to educate your relatives, especially kids and elderly people. For example, explain that if someone refers to personal information, such as full name and even passport details, by telephone, messengers, social networks or e-mail, it’s not necessarily the bank or social service representatives, but might be scammers. In personal issues it’s advised to have a code word or question that only relatives know, while with organizations if some actions are required it’s better to use official contact information for double checking”, says Amin Hasbini, Director of META Research Center Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT), at Kaspersky. As data breaches continue to affect various industries, individuals need to take proactive steps to secure their personal information. By following these experts' advice, you can mitigate the risks associated with data leaks and protect yourself from potential cyber threats.
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