Cyware Monthly Threat Intelligence

Monthly Threat Briefing • September 30, 2019
Monthly Threat Briefing • September 30, 2019
The Good
September just rolled by, and it’s time to recollect the happenings of the past month in cyberspace. Microsoft, Hewlett Foundation, MasterCard, and other corporations have jointly launched the ‘CyberPeace Institute’, a non-profit organization that protects victims from cyberattacks. A new technique called ‘Splintering’ that makes hacking passwords more difficult has been developed by researchers at Tide. In other news, the United States Department of Defense has launched a counter-insider threat program to educate analysts on malicious insider risks.
Microsoft, Hewlett Foundation, MasterCard, along with other major corporations have launched the non-profit organization called the CyberPeace Institute, which is designed to protect victims against cyberattacks.
Researchers at Tide have developed a new technique dubbed ‘Splintering’ to protect usernames and passwords. This technique takes encrypted passwords within an authentication system, breaks them up into multiple fragments, and stores them on a decentralized distributed network from where they can be reassembled when required. Researchers claim that Splintering is 14 million percent more difficult to hack when compared to other techniques.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has launched a counter-insider threat program. The objective of this program is to educate analysts on how to identify potential insider threats and detect suspicious behavior. The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency's Center for Development of Security Excellence has also provided resources for employees about insider threats.
Hitachi Europe Ltd. has announced a new biometric technology dubbed ‘Hand gesture biometric authentication’. This technology couples Hitachi's proven secure finger vein technology with any device that has a camera. This authentication system replaces passwords, fingerprint scanning, and facial recognition systems for authorizing transactions.
The United States Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC) has launched a cybersecurity matrix for information sharing. This online resource, called the Health Industry Cybersecurity Matrix of Information Sharing Organizations (HIC-MISO), provides a list of organizations that facilitate information sharing. Each of these sources comes with its mission and other related details.
The Joint Artificial Intelligence Center is creating a framework for collecting, sharing and storing the military’s cybersecurity data, which will lay the foundation for AI-powered cyber defense tools. This would help train AI to monitor military networks for potential threats.
The Bad
This month saw a fair number of cyber attacks and data exposures. An unsecured server with at least 419 million records of phone numbers linked to various Facebook users was discovered by researchers. Meanwhile, a notorious hacker who goes by the name Gnosticplayers has hacked the popular word puzzle game called ‘Words With Friends’, compromising the data of more than 218 million users. On the other hand, a leaky Elasticsearch database belonging to a consulting company called Novaestrat exposed the personal information of over 20 million Ecuador citizens.
New Threats
Various new malware activities and vulnerabilities were reported in September. The infamous threat group Fancy bear has reappeared in the threat landscape with an updated set of tools. Emotet botnet has also returned after a break since June. On the other hand, the TrickBot trojan has been distributed in a massive phishing attack targeting various U.S. states.