Four zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Servers have been linked to more than 30,000 cyber attacks taking place in the week following their discovery. Prior to the flaws being revealed, Chinese nation-state threat actors had already exploited them to infiltrate numerous companies and access their data. Even since a patch was released, many other threat groups have found success using the vulnerabilities (including in ransomware attacks). This rapidly drove up the number of daily attacks between 11 and 17 of March 2021: from 700 to 7,200. Compounding the problem are proof of concept (PoC) exploit codes published on GitHub, which cybercriminals quickly shared on forums. The widespread use of the servers and distribution of PoCs will likely lead to persistent targeting of unpatched Exchange Servers in the short-term future (one to three months).
Most Recent Flipbooks
Weekly Intelligence Summary 27th August
The well-established “Mozi” peer-to-peer (P2P) botnet has developed new persistence capabilities.
Weekly Intelligence Summary 20th August
A configurable, malicious Traffic Direction System (TDS) has been enabling widespread malware attacks.
Weekly Intelligence Summary 13th August
A years-long reconnaissance campaign against an employee of a US aerospace defense company was discovered and attributed to “TA456”, an Iranian state-backed advanced persistent threat (APT) group.
Weekly Intelligence Summary 6th August
The new “BlackMatter”, “Haron”, and “El_Cometa” ransomware groups, which surfaced in the past three weeks, bear significant similarities to ransomware groups that disappeared last month
Weekly Intelligence Summary 9th July
A vulnerability in Kaseya’s virtual system/server administrator (VSA) software has been exploited to deliver the “REvil” ransomware to multiple managed service providers.
Weekly Intelligence Summary 2nd July 2021
The 14th Five Year Plan (FYP) adopted by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in March 2021 has laid out key areas of focus for the country that are likely to prompt nation-state cyber espionage.
Weekly Intelligence Summary 25 June
Several Clop members were arrested in association with money laundering, and the officials seized infrastructure the group has used in ransomware attacks globally.
Weekly Intelligence Summary 11 June
The notorious Russia-based ransomware group “REvil” (aka Sodinokibi) has been blamed for the latest high-profile ransomware attack, on the world’s largest meat supplier.
Weekly Intelligence Summary 04 June
The latest work of the notorious Russian state-associated “NOBELIUM” threat group is an email phishing campaign against multiple countries and sectors.
Weekly Intelligence Summary 28 May
US President Joe Biden recently signed an executive order (EO) aimed at strengthening network security for US federal government departments, and agencies and contractors working with them.
Weekly Intelligence Summary 21 May
A “Conti” ransomware attack on Ireland’s healthcare system, the Health Service Executive (HSE), significantly delayed the delivery of medical laboratory results and affected many outpatient services.
Weekly Intelligence Summary 14 May
Colonial Pipeline Company fell victim to a cyber attack that resulted in 5,500 miles of its US fuel pipelines being shut down, causing public distress and fears of fuel shortages.
Weekly Intelligence Summary 07 May
Security researchers discovered two unrelated cyber-threat campaigns targeting Microsoft SharePoint.