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Date: 9/19/2022
In an attack that compromised a broad range of systems at ride-sharing company Uber, a single attacker claims to have compromised the company through a tactic known as MFA exhaustion. The attacker’s public claim reads:
“I was spamming (an) employee with push auth for over an hour. I then contacted him on WhatsApp and claimed to be from Uber IT, told him if he wants it to stop he must accept it. And well, he accepted and I added my device”.
The attacker further describes finding an administrative credential in a script stored on an open network share. Screenshots posted by the attacker on social media make it apparent that the attacker had access to Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Uber source code, and other resources inside the company.
It is unclear whether or not the attacker leaked sensitive data from Uber. Furthermore, it is unlikely that the public will find out soon.
Users should consider their personal data stored with Uber to be leaked, and that it may be leveraged in future phishing and social engineering attacks.
Although attackers often defeat multifactor authentication, it is still a critical security control.
Consider stories such as this when training users about passwords and MFA security.
MFA is only one piece of a security program; favoring number-matching methods over push notification and SMS (text) messages MFA will provide some hardening. FIDO2 keys such as Yubikey, smartcards, and virtual smartcards using Trusted Platform Modules (TPM) provide the greatest level of security but can involve significant overhead.
The full impact of this attack on Uber is yet unknown.
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Recent updates from Microsoft fix several vulnerabilities with potentially high impact. Several security vendors discovered zero-day exploitation of CVE-2022-37969, a privilege escalation bug. Critical vulnerabilities include a TCP/IP Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability, as well as bugs in Internet Key Exchange (IKE), and Microsoft Dynamics 365 (on-premises). CVE-2022-37969 was added to CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities last week.
Considering the current exploitation of CVE-2022-37969 and the critical nature of other vulnerabilities this month, organizations must ensure that systems are up to date with these patches.
Sources
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-september-2022-patch-tuesday-fixes-zero-day-used-in-attacks-63-flaws/
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
Trends have been discovered indicating malicious actors are targeting both recently disclosed and older vulnerabilities in OracleWeb Logic to install crypto-mining software. Notably, the latest attacks have targeted CVE-2020-14882 (CVSS score: 9.8), an older remote code execution vulnerability. This campaign has also targeted misconfigured open Docker Daemon API ports to launch crypto-mining processes.
Though the impact of crypto-mining software is mostly on system resources, CVE-2020-14882 has previously been exploited by botnets to install backdoors on affected systems. Malicious processes could also be executed in memory, making detection and root cause analysis difficult. Other indicators that CVE-2020-14882 has been successfully exploited include removal of the system log, security features being turned off, and abnormal cron jobs.
Administrators should ensure WebLogic servers are up to date. Furthermore, protections against Docker container threats should include filtering traffic to only necessary hosts and monitoring traffic with IPS and web filtering functionality. Lastly, it is recommended that systems are protected with Endpoint Detection & Response software that will allow for anomalous detection of security threats.
Sources
https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/fr/security/news/virtualization-and-cloud/misconfigured-docker-daemon-api-ports-attacked-for-kinsing-malware-campaign
https://thehackernews.com/2022/09/hackers-targeting-weblogic-servers-and.html
A zero-day vulnerability in the WordPress Premium WPGateway plugin is being actively exploited. The WPGateway plugin provides a central dashboard for administrators to manage WordPress plugins and themes. Tracked as CVE-2022-3180 (CVSS score: 9.8), the vulnerability exposes functionality to unauthenticated users that allows for the addition of administrator users.
Successful exploitation will allow malicious actors to completely take over affected sites. This can be exploited from an unauthenticated perspective and in an automated fashion. Due to widespread and automated exploitation, finding indicators of compromise (i.e., a malicious administrator user created) does not necessarily mean that attackers performed additional actions. Further investigation is needed to identify any actions taken with a malicious administrator account.
It is recommended to check for indicators of compromise, which include a new administrator user account or requests to “//wp-content/plugins/wpgateway/wpgateway-webservice-new.php?wp_new_credentials=1” in access logs. Note that presence of these web requests does not always indicate successful exploitation.
Additionally, The WPGateway plugin should be removed until a patch is available. If successful exploitation is noticed, the account should be disabled/removed, and the actions taken with that account should be reviewed.
Sources
https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2022/09/psa-zero-day-vulnerability-in-wpgateway-actively-exploited-in-the-wild/
https://thehackernews.com/2022/09/over-280000-wordpress-sites-attacked.html
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
