Information Technology

Cyberattacks against healthcare organizations have doubled during the coronavirus pandemic, research suggests. 

On Wednesday, IBM released the company’s annual X-Force Threat Intelligence Index, which analyzed data from the previous year to track the evolution of new threats, malware development, and cyberattacks. 
The 2021 index includes some notable trends, perhaps the most significant being how many threat actors pivoted their campaigns toward organizations involved in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020. 
According to IBM researchers, attacks against organizations crucial to coronavirus research and treatment experienced double the ‘usual’ rate of attacks in 2020. These entities include hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturers, medical companies, and energy firms involved in the COVID-19 supply chain. 
IBM believes that this change in focus is due to cyberattackers banking on the fact that these organizations could not — and still cannot — afford any downtime that could impact COVID-19 programs. As a result, victims may be more likely to pay up, for example, when ransomware is deployed. 
According to the tech giant, manufacturing and the energy sector were second only to finance and insurance when it comes to the most attacked industries worldwide last year. Of particular note, too, is a close to 50% increase in attacks exploiting vulnerabilities in industrial control systems (ICS).

“In essence, the pandemic reshaped what is considered critical infrastructure today, and attackers took note. Many organizations were pushed to the front lines of response efforts for the first time — whether to support COVID-19 research, uphold vaccine and food supply chains, or produce personal protective equipment,” commented Nick Rossmann, Global Threat Intelligence Lead at IBM Security X-Force. “Attackers’ victimology shifted as the COVID-19 timeline of events unfolded, indicating yet again, the adaptability, resourcefulness, and persistence of cyber adversaries.”

Over the course of 2020, ransomware became the most popular attack method, claiming 23% of all incidents analyzed by IBM. Sodinokibi was the most prolific ransomware family in use, raking in a “conservative estimate” of at least $123 million in the past year for its operators — and with up to two-thirds of victims giving in, and paying up.
Double extortion, in which a victim organization’s systems are infected with ransomware, a blackmail payment is demanded, and attackers threaten to leak stolen data, is also becoming more popular. 
The report also found a 40% increase in Linux-based malware families and a 500% surge in malware written in the Go programming language. 
“Similar to hybrid cloud’s playbook to “write once, run anywhere,” attackers are using malware that can more easily run on various platforms, including cloud environments,” IBM added. 
Other points of interest include:
Collaboration tool spoofing: Many of the most spoofed brands over 2020 offer remote collaboration tools, including Google, Dropbox, and Microsoft.
Open source: Threat actors are turning to open source malware more frequently than before, with APT28, APT29 and Carbanak among users.
Cryptomining: Over 2020, there was a 13% increase in new code in Linux cryptocurrency mining malware.
Scanning: Scan-and-exploit attack vectors were the most common way for threat actors to compromise a system last year, surpassing phishing for the first time in years. 
Previous and related coverage
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In terms of money, Red Hat buying StackRox probably isn’t that big a deal. Sources say it was just above $100 million. Big money to you and me, but peanuts for big tech companies. But, when it comes to securing Kubernetes, this is an enormous deal not just for Red Hat and its in-house Kubernetes distro, OpenShift, but for all Kubernetes distros and services.

Open Source

That’s because StackRox’s software does an exceptional job of providing visibility across Kubernetes clusters by deploying components for enforcement and data collection directly into the Kubernetes cluster infrastructure. StackRox also provides a policy engine that includes hundreds of built-in controls to enforce security best practices, industry standards, and configuration management.
With StackRox, Red Hat said it would focus on improving security for cloud-native workloads by expanding and refining Kubernetes’ native controls, and shifting security into the container build and CI/CD phase.
Best of all, Red Hat will be open-sourcing StackRox’s technology. In addition to OpenShift, StackRox will continue to support multiple Kubernetes platforms, including Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service, Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service, and Google Kubernetes Engine.
Red Hat is also expected to integrate StackRox’s security measures with its container registry Quay. This will enable you to ensure security in your application pipelines, including your existing container image scanning and continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous deployment (CI/CD) programs.
Red Hat will also be getting KubeLinter, StackRox’s newly open-sourced lint-style analysis program for Kubernetes YAML files and Helm charts. This will also prove very useful for both securing and cleaning up cloud-native programs.
After all, as Red Hat CEO Paul Cormier said, “Securing Kubernetes workloads and infrastructure cannot be done in a piecemeal manner; security must be an integrated part of every deployment, not an afterthought. Red Hat adds StackRox’s Kubernetes-native capabilities to OpenShift’s layered security approach, furthering our mission to bring product-ready open innovation to every organization across the open hybrid cloud across IT footprints.”

Ashesh Badani Red Hat’s senior VP of Cloud Platforms, added after the deal was completed that:

Over the past several years we have paid close attention to how our customers are securing their workloads, as well as the growing importance of GitOps to organizations. Both of these have reinforced how critically important it is for security to “shift left” – integrated within every part of the development and deployment lifecycle and not treated as an afterthought. With StackRox, we will be working to add security into container build and CI/CD processes. This helps to more efficiently identify and address issues earlier in the development cycle while providing more cohesive security up and down the entire IT stack and throughout the application lifecycle. 

It’s not just Red Hat that thinks well of this acquisition. 451 Research likes it too. “For those looking to secure complex environments, they need more than security features alone — there’s a need for visibility across many environments, compliance management, threat detection, incident response, and much more,” it said. That’s exactly what StackRox software offerings will give Red Hat and other companies’ Kubernetes-based hybrid-clouds and programs.
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A new Online Safety Bill that extends the cyber takedown function to adults and cuts takedown response times in half has made its way into Australian Parliament.
As detailed in the Online Safety Bill 2021, the new scheme, based on the existing cyber bullying scheme for children, provides a mechanism for those experiencing the most seriously harmful online abuse to have this material removed from the internet. It empowers Australia’s eSafety Commissioner to order the removal of such material when websites, social media, and other online services fail to do so after a complaint is made.
The eSafety Commissioner will have the power to issue takedown notices directly to the services, and also to the end users responsible for the abusive content.
“The sharing of intimate images without consent is a terrible thing to do and causes great distress to victims,” Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said, introducing the Bill on Wednesday.  
The Bill also expands the cyberbullying scheme for children, enabling eSafety to order the removal of material from further online services such as games, websites, messaging, and hosting services — not just social media platforms.
Online platforms will also now see the amount of time that they have to pull down content after receiving a missive from eSafety halved — from 48 hours down to 24.
If a website or app systemically ignores takedown notices for class one material under the online content scheme, such as child sexual abuse material, the eSafety Commissioner can require search engines and app stores to remove access to that service.

These protections will be backed by civil penalties — up to AU$550,000 for companies and AU$111,000 for individuals.
The Bill also introduces basic online safety expectations for digital platforms, Fletcher said. These expectations will apply to service providers including social media, messaging apps and games, and designated internet services, such as websites, he explained.
The Bill allows the responsible minister to determine the details of these expectations by legislative instrument. The minister may also determine that the expectations apply to specific services.
“We expect that service providers will take reasonable steps to ensure that Australians are able to use their service in a safe manner,” Fletcher said. “We expect that services are not able to be used to bully abuse or humiliate Australians, and we expect the service providers will provide clear and readily identifiable mechanisms for users to report and lodge complaints about unacceptable use.”
See also: Australian Senators want digital giants ‘reined in’ beyond Media Bargaining Code
eSafety also receives the power to publish statements about the performance of digital platforms in meeting the government’s expectations.
“The intent is to drive an improvement in the online safety practices of digital platforms where they fall short,” Fletcher continued.
“The Australian government believes the digital industry must step up and do more to keep their users safe.”
As a result, the Bill will require new and updated industry codes to be developed, such as those preventing children from setting up online accounts without the consent of an adult, providing access to a filtered internet service if desired by a user, and providing information about online safety and procedures for dealing with prohibited and illegal online content.
“We expected each section of the online industry will produce updated and strengthened industry codes within six months of the commencement of this Bill,” the minister said.
The Bill reforms the online content scheme so that class one material or material which is so abhorrent that it would be refused classification will no longer need to be reviewed and classified by the classification board before eSafety can order its removal.
It also provides the commissioner with the power to issue takedown notices to providers of particularly egregious illegal content such as child sexual exploitation material that is hosted outside of Australia, and which can be accessed by end users in Australia.
The commissioner will also receive the capability to prevent search engines from being the conduit to illegal online content, giving the power to issue a link deletion notice requesting the search engine cease providing a link to the material within 24 hours.
Further, the Bill allows eSafety to issue app removal notices that give app stores one day to remove apps that facilitate the posting of class one material.
Following the eSafety Commissioner in September 2019 issuing a direction to the nation’s ISPs to continue blocking websites that host the video of the Christchurch terrorist attack, and agreeing on new protocols with ISPs in March to block such content, the new Bill offers further action.
It introduces a specific and targeted power for the eSafety Commissioner to direct ISPs to block certain domains containing terrorist or extreme violent material, for time-limited periods, in the event of an online crisis event.
“The commissioner would need to consider the nature and likely reach of the material depicting, promoting, inciting, or instructing in abhorrent violent conduct and be satisfied that it would likely cause significant harm to the Australian community, and that an urgent response is required,” Fletcher said.
Where anonymous accounts are used to exchange disturbing or illegal content, or to hurl abuse, the Bill clarifies and strengthens the information gathering and investigative powers of eSafety to unmask their identities.
It allows the commissioner to require that social media services, relevant electronic services, and designated internet services provide identity and contact information about end users in relation to cyber bullying, cyber abuse, image-based abuse, or prohibited online content.
Civil penalties will apply to services that fail to comply with a written notice from the commissioner.
“We all enjoy standards of behaviour and civility in the town square that keep us safe and there are appropriate mechanisms and sanctions for those who break those rules; the Australian government believes that the digital town square should also be a safe place, and that there should be consequences for those who use the internet to cause others harm,” Fletcher said. “This Bill contains a comprehensive set of measures designed in accordance with this belief.”
Introduced simultaneously was the Online Safety (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Bill 2021 [PDF], which repeals the Enhancing Online Safety Act 2015 upon commencement of the new Online Safety Act.
“The Online Safety Bill will become the new enabling legislation for Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, and will strengthen and extend the commissioner’s powers to keep Australians safe online,” Fletcher said, noting many factions will be transitioned to the new Act to create a single Act.
Among other things, the Bill increases maximum penalties from three years imprisonment to five years. Making changes to parts of the Criminal Code Act 1995, the Act seeks to punish offenders that continue to offend with higher penalties.
“These changes reflect the Australian public’s expectation that the punishment for this type of conduct should be commensurate with the seriousness of the offence,” Fletcher said.
The draft consultation on the Bill received 370 submissions.
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Image: SAAB
Canadian airplane manufacturer Bombardier has disclosed today a security breach after some of its data was published on a dark web portal operated by the Clop ransomware gang.

“An initial investigation revealed that an unauthorized party accessed and extracted data by exploiting a vulnerability affecting a third-party file-transfer application, which was running on purpose-built servers isolated from the main Bombardier IT network,” the company said in a press release today.
While the company did not specifically name the appliance, they are most likely referring to Accellion FTA, a web server that can be used by companies to host and share large files that can’t be sent via email to customers and employees.
In December 2020, a hacking group discovered a zero-day in the FTA software and began attacking companies worldwide. Attackers took over systems, installed a web shell, and then stole sensitive data.
In a press release yesterday, Accellion said that 300 of its customers were running FTA servers, 100 got attacked, and that data was stolen from around 25.
The attackers then attempted to extort the hacked companies, asking for ransom payments, or they’d make the stolen data public, according to security firm FireEye.
Starting earlier this month, data from some old FTA customers began appearing on a “leak site” hosted on the dark web, where the Clop ransomware gang would usually shame the companies who refused to pay its decryption fees.

Data from geo-spatial data company Fugro, tech firm Danaher, Singapore’s largest telco Singtel, and US law firm Jones Day was published on the site so far.
Today, Bombardier’s name was added to the list, which prompted the airplane maker to go public with its security breach.
Data shared on the site included design documents for various Bombardier airplanes and plane parts. No personal data was shared, but the airplane maker is most likely livid that some of its private intellectual property is now being offered as a free download on the dark web.
FireEye said in a report today that the FTA hacking campaign and the subsequent extortion efforts are carried out by a major cybercrime group which the company is tracking as FIN11, a group that has had its fingers in various forms of cybercrime operations for the past years. More

Security software makers McAfee, which went public in October, this afternoon reported Q4 revenue that topped Wall Street’s expectations, while missing on the bottom line, and an outlook for revenue this quarter higher as well. 
The report initially sent McAfee shares up 7% in late trading. 
CEO Peter Leav called attention to what he referred to as McAfee’s “significant increases in revenue, subscribers, profitability and cash flow to close out the year,” in particular, “23% revenue growth in our consumer business, 14% growth in total net revenue, and strong growth in adjusted EBITDA in Q4.”
Added Leav, “We secure our customers’ ever increasing digital footprint as people are living more of their lives online.
“I am very pleased with our team’s execution, which is a testament to the dedication of McAfee employees worldwide,” said Leav.
McAfee’s CFO, Venkat Bhamidipati, commented that “across the business, results exceeded expectations driven by strong execution and increased demand for our security offerings.” 
Bhamidipati noted the company “saw robust demand in the large, critical, and growing personal protection market” while in the enterprise segment, the McAfee was able to increase both revenue and profit “by focusing on core enterprise and government customers while prioritizing our investment spending and rationalizing costs.”

Revenue in the three months ended in December rose 14%, year over year, to $777 million, yielding a net loss of 73 cents a share.
Analysts had been modeling $739 million and a 31-cent profit per share.
For the current quarter, the company sees revenue of $725 million to $735 million, compared to consensus for $724 million.
McAfee may sound familiar. It’s been bouncing around for awhile. You may recall its red software boxes on store shelves at CompUSA back in the day, if you remember what CompUSA was. McAfee was founded in 1987 and was acquired by Intel in 2011, and became the computer security unit of the chip maker. 
In 2016, Intel agreed to spin out McAfee as a joint venture between itself and private equity firm TPG Capital. Intel retained a 49% stake. That joint venture is what went public in October.

Tech Earnings More

Following the SolarWinds attack, it’s clear there needs to be more information sharing and better public-private sector coordination, lawmakers and tech leaders agreed in a Senate hearing Tuesday. The federal government should consider imposing reporting requirements on entities that fall victim to cyber intrusions, they said. 

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Testifying at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Microsoft President Brad Smith said it’s time to impose a “notification obligation on entities in the private sector.” 
It’s “not a typical step when somebody comes and says, ‘Place a new law on me,'” he told lawmakers. “I think it’s the only way we are going to protect the country.”  
Both Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) agreed that Congress should consider mandating certain types of reporting, potentially with some limited liability protection. 
“We must improve the information sharing,” Rubio said. One important question that “everyone has struggled with,” he said, is “who can see the whole field here on this.”
Warner floated the idea of establishing an investigative agency analogous to the National Transportation Safety Board, which could “immediately examine major breaches to see if we have a systemic problem.”
The lawmakers commended cybersecurity firm FireEye for first disclosing in December that they were the victims of a sophisticated, state-sponsored cyber attack. Democrats and Republicans on the committee also expressed their displeasure that Amazon Web Services declined to attend Tuesday’s hearing. 

The SolarWinds attack relied in part on AWS infrastructure, Rubio said, but “apparently they were too busy to discuss that with us today.” 
It would be “most helpful in the future if they actually attended these hearings,” Warner said of AWS. 
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said that he “shared concern” over AWS’s refusal to participate in the hearing. “I think that’s a big mistake,” he said, adding that it “denies us a more complete picture” of the incident.
The breach, likely the work of Russian hackers, targeted a wide swath of US entities — nine federal government agencies, including the Treasury Department and Department of Commerce, as well as 100 private sector organizations. The attackers infiltrated these organizations in part by inserting malware into the Orion IT monitoring platform, a SolarWinds product. 
In addition to hearing from Microsoft’s Smith, lawmakers on Tuesday heard from FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia, SolarWinds CEO Sudhakar Ramakrishna and CrowdStrike President and CEO George Kurtz.
Mandia said he supported the idea of mandatory cyber-intrusion reporting, so long as it remained confidential. 
“I like the idea of confidential threat intelligence sharing to whatever agency has the means to push that out,” he said.

SolarWinds Updates More

Although the Flash Player app formally reached its end of life on December 31, 2020, Adobe has allowed a local Chinese company to continue distributing Flash inside China, where the application still remains a large part of the local IT ecosystem and is broadly used across both the public and private sectors.
Currently, this Chinese version of the old Flash Player app is available only via flash.cn, a website managed by a company named Zhong Cheng Network, the only entity authorized by Adobe to distribute Flash inside China.
But in a report published earlier this month, security firm Minerva Labs said its security products picked up multiple security alerts linked to this Chinese Flash Player version.
During subsequent analysis, researchers found that the app was indeed installing a valid version of Flash but also downloading and running additional payloads.
More precisely, the app was downloading and running nt.dll, a file that was loaded inside the FlashHelperService.exe process and which proceed to open a new browser window at regular intervals, showing various ad- and popup-heavy sites.

Image: Minerva Labs
The spammy behavior obviously didn’t go unnoticed. Both regular users and other security firms noticed it as well.
Users complaining that Flash has now started showing popups have been spotted on the Adobe support forum, several local blogs, and in many other places.

Furthermore, besides Minerva Labs, other security firms have also started picking up suspicious activity related to the FlashHelperService.exe. Cisco Talos ranked this process as its most widely detected threat for the weeks ending on January 14 and January 21, and the file also ranked in its Top 10 on the weeks ending on January 7, February 11, and February 18.
This particular threat doesn’t impact western users since the Flash version they download from flash.cn won’t work on systems outside China, but in light of Minerva’s report, they shouldn’t even try to test it, as this may lead to installing adware and compromising the security of their systems/networks. More

Image: Google
Android users can now take advantage of the Password Checkup feature that Google first introduced in its Chrome web browser in late 2019, the OS maker announced today.

On Android, the Password Checkup feature is now part of the “Autofill with Google” mechanism, which the OS uses to select text from a cache and fill in forms.
The idea is that the Password Checkup feature will take passwords stored in the Android OS password manager and check them against a database containing billions of records from public data breaches and see if the password has been previously leaked online.
If it has, a warning is shown to the user.
Google says that users have nothing to fear when it comes to this password-checking mechanism, which does not share their credentials in cleartext over the network, and works as follows:
Only an encrypted hash of the credential leaves the device (the first two bytes of the hash are sent unencrypted to partition the database)
The server returns a list of encrypted hashes of known breached credentials that share the same prefix
The actual determination of whether the credential has been breached happens locally on the user’s device
The server (Google) does not have access to the unencrypted hash of the user’s password and the client (User) does not have access to the list of unencrypted hashes of potentially breached credentials.
The Password Checkup feature is rolling out today for all Android 9+ users. To enable Password Checkup, users should make sure Autofill with Google is activated on their devices by following the steps below:
Open your phone’s Settings app
Tap System  > Languages & input  > Advanced
Tap Autofill service
Tap Google to make sure the setting is enabled
A similar password-checkup feature is already present in iOS 14 since last summer. Most web browsers also have similar password-breach-checking features for years, such as the ones found in Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. More