December 2017

On the 12th day of December, Verismic sent to me … Top 10 Breaches of 2017!

Throughout this year we have been breaking some of the worst IT security breaches of 2017, which have impacted millions of users worldwide.  We continue to advise our clients the single most important decision you can make to achieve a level of protection for your organization is to onboard a tool like Syxsense to automate the detection of all devices and to automate a rigorous patching processes.  If you need help, please download our Avoiding Patch Doomsday whitepaper or get in touch.

Here are our top 10 IT security breaches for 2017: 

1. TeamViewer Exploited.  A new vulnerability within TeamViewer has been making news across the internet. In an official statement by the company, they revealed that a GitHub user discovered a vulnerability in TeamViewer’s set of permissions.
2. Worldwide Malware Attack: Exploring WannaCry.  WannaCry is the worst malware attack of 2017.  As computer virus outbreaks go, this ransomware attack is being called one of the biggest cyberattacks in history and continues to spread worldwide.
3. Equifax Hack – Cyberattack.  Criminals gained access to certain files in Equifax’s system from mid-May to July by exploiting a weak point in website software affecting 143 million customers worldwide.
4. Hyatt Hack: Major Data Breach.  41 of its hotels spread across 13 countries confirmed unauthorized access to payment card information.  Hyatt suffered a similar breach affecting 250 hotels located in 50 countries back in 2015.
5. HBO – Game of Thrones series stolen.  The recent HBO hack may have exposed up to 1.5 terabytes of data.  This is 7 times what Sony lost in the 2014 cyberattack.
6. CIA Hacks.  Wikileaks recently published the article “Vault 7: CIA Hacking Tools Revealed.”   This list of compromised software includes Notepad++.  When Notepad++ is launched, the original scilexer.dll is replaced by a modified scilexer.dll built by the CIA.
7. BadRabbit: Newest Ransomware to Target Corporate Networks.  The outbreak began in Russia, infecting big Russian media outlets, but it has already spread.  Several US and UK firms, with corporate entities in the Ukraine and Russia, have already been infected.
8. Hidden Cobra: North Korea’s History of Hacking.  Since 2009, Hidden Cobra actors have leveraged their capabilities to target and compromise a range of victims; some intrusions have resulted in the exfiltration of data while others have been disruptive in nature.
9. Invasion of the Body Hackers.  On August 29th, the FDA issued an alert regarding Abbott pacemakers.  Formerly known as St. Jude Medical, the Abbott pacemakers have vulnerabilities in their software.
10. BitPaymer Ransomware Hits NHS.  The hack caused major disruption, leading to thousands of cancelled appointments.

BREAKING NEWS: 1.4 Billion credentials leaked on the Dark Web!

A huge data dump has been found on the dark web containing 1.4 clear text credentials.  At over 41 gigabytes in size, this will take some time to pass through however you can be assured sophisticated programs will be ready soon to exploit software, apps or websites you are using.  Robert Brown, Director of Services at Verismic said, “No matter how complex your passwords are, it is not going to be complex enough if your password is discovered in this data dump.  Two-factor authentication has been around for years, and Syxsense has been using Two-factor since the beginning to protect our customer identity.  Two-factor authentication within Syxsense requires an additional automatically generated password be entered via email or Google Authenticator ensuring no single password gives you full access to the system.  We would highly encourage our clients to leave it enabled as it is enabled by default.”

Companies Plan to Change Third-Party Vendors that Pose Highest Risks!

Global consulting firm Protiviti and the Shared Assessments Program’s annual Vendor Risk Management Benchmark Study finds that a majority (53 percent) of organizations surveyed are likely to exit or change (de-risk) relationships with some vendors due to heightened risk levels.  The study finds that 71 percent of these organizations will likely change their high-risk relationships over the next 12 months.  Robert Brown, Director of Services for Verismic said, “Deployment of Third-party updates to bring them into compliancy is simple if you are using the right systems management toolset & the right approach to deployment of detected updates.”  The full article can be found here.

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