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Date: 08/31/2023
A recent vulnerability in Barracuda Email Security Gateway appliances (ESG) was thought to be patched but the fixes have been deemed ineffective by the FBI as they warn about active compromise from Chinese hacking groups. The vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2023-2868 (CVSS score: 9.8) is a remote command injection vulnerability, impacting versions 5.1.3.001 through 9.2.0.006, and allows for unauthorized execution of system commands with administrator privileges.
Attackers have been exploiting this vulnerability to copy malicious code to ESG appliances that allow for various functions such as establishing persistent access, email scanning, credential harvesting, and potentially data acquisition.
Barracuda is recommending that affected customers replace the Barracuda appliance. Affected customers would have received a user interface notification or been contacted by support. Affected appliances still in place should be isolated.
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A study by ReliaQuest has shown the most observed malware loaders thus far in 2023. QakBot” (aka QBot, QuackBot, Pinkslipbot), “SocGholish,” and “Raspberry Robin” were the most popular loaders and this group accounted for 80% of incidents observed by ReliaQuest. Othe notable loaders include “Gootloader,” “Guloader,” “Chromeloader,” and “Ursnif”.
Potential Impact
Malware loaders are a method of initial access and used to establish persistence and support additional activities such as deploying ransomware or other malware. Defending against malware loaders can sometimes be difficult as different loaders have different methods of initial infection. It should be noted that the detection of a loader does not always mean full compromise and that detection could occur in the early stages where impact is minimized.
Defending against loaders requires a defense-in-depth approach. This includes:
Implement egress filtering so that systems located on the internal network can only communicate with the Internet over the needed ports and services (likely only web services for most users).
Sources
https://www.reliaquest.com/blog/the-3-malware-loaders-behind-80-of-incidents
Last week saw customers of two different cloud hosting companies suffer service disruptions because of attacker activity. Leaseweb reported to its customers on August 24th that it was taking “certain critical systems” offline in order to restore them after “detecting unusual activity within certain areas of our cloud environments.” Leasweb is working with a digital forensics company to investigate the incident.
Customers of affiliated Danish hosting firms CloudNordic and AzeroCloud suffered disruptions as a result of a ransomware attack. A notice on AzeroCloud’s site stated that “the majority of our customers have lost all data.” The notice suggests that Azero will retore web servers and email servers for customers “without data”.
Many companies see the move to the cloud as a means of ensuring uptime for critical services, and assume that cloud services will always be available, and thus pay scant attention to business continuity planning (or none at all) in the face of cloud service outages. Customers of AzeroCloud and CloudNordic who have made this mistake may find themselves devastated.
Ensure that business continuity plans address potential outages of cloud services, regardless of published service level agreements. Consider a multi-cloud approach for critical services, and ensure that critical data is backed up in such a way that your business has access to backup data without needing to rely on a single cloud service provider to retrieve it.
Sources
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/leaseweb-is-restoring-critical-systems-after-security-breach/
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hosting-firm-says-it-lost-all-customer-data-after-ransomware-attack/
Microsoft’s threat intelligence team published a report on August 24, 2023 on observations of stealthy techniques used by the “Flax Typhoon” threat actor group. “Living-off-the-land” is a common threat actor technique by which attackers use tools and utilities that already exist on victim systems. Examples described in this blog post include using Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), and PowerShell. Furthermore, Flax Typhoon threat actors achieve persistence by “Living-On-Standard-Tools” such as installing VPN software to establish command and control. It is insightful to read this blog post to understand how stealthy attackers operate.
Thus far, Flax Typhoon has been focused on espionage. The techniques described in this blog post, however, can be used by attackers to achieve any impact, from data leakage to ransomware deployment.
Ensure that threat hunting teams pay attention to user behavior. If WMIC and PowerShell commands are being run on systems, ensure that they are part of routine IT administration activity. Maintain a configuration management database detailing all software used within your organization, and alert on any new software usage, especially software that can provide remote connectivity services. Incident responders at GreyCastle security routinely see threat actors install remote access programs such as Anydesk or Atera as means of persistence. Because these programs are not normally flagged as malicious, they can be overlooked by unaware security personnel.
Sources
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Ho Chin is Chief Financial Officer at GreyCastle Security. In this role, Ho leads Finance, HR, IT and Professional Development. As part of the executive leadership team, Ho works to establish the company’s overall strategy and ensure proper execution of the supporting initiatives pertaining to the above areas of responsibility.
Prior to joining GreyCastle Security, Ho led finance and administrative functions at multiple private equity and venture-backed portfolio companies across multiple industries. Ho holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University in Centre County, Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Michael Stamas is an entrepreneur, board member, Vice President and a founder of GreyCastle Security. With more than two decades of experience in the technology sector, Mike pairs his management and business development skills with a deep understanding of cybersecurity. Mike brings a unique brand of risk-based advising to GreyCastle clients and prospects.
Mike holds certifications in numerous security and technology related areas, including the Department of Homeland Security and other security technologies like Symantec, Cisco and Microsoft.
Mike plays an active role in his community and serves as a board member and Vice President of InfraGard Albany as well as an advisory board position with the Capital Region YMCA.
Mike has been recognized for his numerous achievements through various honors including the Albany Business Review’s prestigious 40 Under 40 award.
Dan Kalil is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Board Chairman at GreyCastle Security. In this role, Dan provides vision, leadership and strategies that drive GreyCastle Security’s position as an industry leader. With an emphasis on customer success, Dan’s profitable growth model leverages a customer-centric business approach that balances employee wellbeing and social responsibility.
Prior to becoming CEO, Dan served as the company’s Chief Strategy Officer, during which he supported multiple acquisitions and helped the organization achieve substantial sales growth. In addition to serving as CEO at GreyCastle Security, Dan continues to hold the position of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Assured information Security (AIS) in Rome, New York, a company he co-founded in 2001.
Over the course of the last 22 years, Dan has been committed to advancing the state of cybersecurity and has played an instrumental role in the identification and development of critical, next-generation cyber capabilities. He has held positions in almost every facet of cybersecurity, beginning as a computer forensic examiner and progressing through the management and executive leadership ranks. In addition to co-founding AIS, Dan has facilitated multiple cybersecurity startups, raised investment capital and has served in various lead and support roles toward the acquisition of five companies in the last eight years.
Dan has a bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity and a master’s degree in Cybersecurity from Utica College in Utica, New York.
Dan Maynard serves as GreyCastle Security’s Chief Operating Officer, where he currently leads Sales, Marketing and Legal.
Dan has enjoyed a 30+ year career in the Information Technology and Telecommunications industry, during which time he has held various leadership positions for organizations such as Rochester Tel/RCI, Citizens Communications (Frontier), PAETEC Communications, IntegraOptics, tw telecom/Level3 and Centurylink.
In addition to various voice and data technology platforms, he possesses a strong background in leadership development, sales and marketing leadership, transformational leadership and strategic planning. Dan has a thirst for knowledge and as a committed lifelong learner, he encourages and supports professional development initiatives for his teams and continues his involvement with Vistage International.
Dan holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he was selected as a member of their Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016.
When not at work, Dan enjoys traveling, golfing, attending Utica Comets hockey games and relaxing in the Adirondacks on beautiful Canada Lake with family and friends.
Dan Didier is the Vice President of Solutions and board member at GreyCastle Security.
Dan has been a cybersecurity practitioner for more than 20 years and uses his knowledge and experience to develop cybersecurity solutions that ensure readiness and preparedness.
Dan received his bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications from SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, New York, and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a master’s degree in Information Assurance from Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont.
Our Computer Incident Response Teams (CIRTs) have responded to hundreds of breaches, intrusions, malware infections, thefts, employee investigations, fraud cases and other incidents. Our highly-certified experts have extensive experience in command, coordination and correction of incidents in nearly every industry throughout North America, from local businesses to Fortune 500 international conglomerates.
800-403-8350Francesca LoPorto-Brandow is Director of Culture at GreyCastle Security. In this role, Francesca leads all social responsibility efforts and partnerships and develops effective strategies that promote organizational-wide behaviors and attitudes consistent with a culture of safety, inclusion, teamwork, motivation and high-performance.
Prior to this role, Francesca was Director of People & Culture at GreyCastle and with her leadership, the company’s culture has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as a Nationally recognized Best Workplace, Albany Business Review Best Places to Work and Albany Times Union Top Workplaces.
Before joining GreyCastle Security, Francesca worked as an OD consultant and focused on strategic culture change at The Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group, Inc. for more than six years. There, she facilitated client education sessions, coached leaders and teams, developed and executed consulting interventions and served as strategy project leader on various client engagements. Her work has taken her into Fortune 100 companies and across borders including Panama, Singapore and beyond.
Francesca is a Lean Six Sigma–certified Green Belt, a proud YWCA-GCR board member and in 2013, she coordinated and emceed the inaugural TEDx Troy—a livestream of TEDCity 2.0. Since 2012, she has coordinated and emceed the Troy 100 Forum, a biannual forum for government, religious and community leaders to discuss issues vital to the future of Troy, New York.
Bilingual in English and Italian, Francesca holds a bachelor’s degree in Management and Technology from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lally School of Management & Technology. She was awarded Cybersecurity Recruiter of the year North America in 2017 by the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards.
Jamie Aiello is Senior Vice President of Services and Product Management at GreyCastle Security. In this position, Jamie is responsible for leading a high performing and well-balanced team that is ultimately responsible for the identification, selection, execution and successful performance of our company’s diverse portfolio of cybersecurity offerings.
Prior to joining GreyCastle Security, Jamie has held leadership positions with Annese and Associates, ConvergeOne and BlueSky IT Partners with a focus on delivering cost effective information technology solutions for companies across multiple verticals.
Jamie holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, a master’s degree in Business Administration from Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina and a master’s degree in Computer Information Systems from University of Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona.
