STE WILLIAMS

Here’s a top tip: Don’t trust the new guy – block web domains less than a month old. They are bound to be dodgy

IT admins could go a long way towards protecting their users from malware and other dodgy stuff on the internet if they ban access to any web domain less than a month old.

This advice comes from Unit 42, the security branch of networking house Palo Alto Networks. To be exact, the recommendation is that any domain created in the past 32 days ought to be blocked. This comes after the gang studied newly-registered domains – NRDs for short – and found that more than 70 per cent fell under the classification of “suspicious,” “not safe for work,” or “malicious.”

“While this may be deemed a bit aggressive by some due to potential false-positives, the risk from threats via NRDs is much greater,” noted Unit 42’s Zhanhao Chen, Jun Javier Wang, and Kelvin Kwan. “At the bare minimum, if access to NRDs are allowed, then alerts should be set up for additional visibility.”

According to Unit 42’s study of new domains created on 1,530 different top level domains (TLDs) from March to May of this year, just 8.4 per cent of NRDs could be confirmed as hosting only benign pages. 2.32 per cent were confirmed not safe for work, while 1.27 per cent of the domains were classified as malicious, meaning they were found to host malware, phishing, or botnet, command and control tools.

The solid majority of the domains, 69.73 per cent to be exact, fell under the label of “suspicious,” meaning the domains appear to have been parked, had insufficient content to be verified as legit, or were considered “questionable,” or “high risk,” but not flat-out malicious. 18.2 per cent were classified as just “other,” rather unhelpfully.

In other words, just under three quarters of new domains are used for sites that vary from completely empty, to shady at best, to verified as attack sites.

Athens, Greece

Sea Turtle hackers head to the Mediterranean, snag Greece’s TLD registrar as a souvenir

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The numbers can also vary by TLD, with “.com” or “.org” sites far more likely to be hosting legit content than lesser-known TLDs where it is easier to acquire a domain.

Given these numbers, the Unit 42 crew concluded that when it comes to blocking new domains, the potential benefits far outweigh the risks. As a rule, they believe newly created domains ought to be walled off from end users for 32 days.

“Our own analysis has indicated that the first 32 days is the optimal time frame when NRDs are detected as malicious,” the team explained, noting that after 32 days most scams and attack sites have run their course and moved on, meaning the domains in use become far more likely to be legit.

Those who want to go even further, and aren’t as bothered by the prospect of blocking legit sites, could even apply the rules to entire top level domains, such as “.to”, “.ki” and “.nf” that are, by and large, much more likely to host malicious sites. ®

Article source: http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2019/08/21/palo_alto_domain_blocking/

  • 21/08/2019
  • adm

Here’s a top tip: Don’t trust the new guy – block web domains less than a month old. They are bound to be dodgy

IT admins could go a long way towards protecting their users from malware and other dodgy stuff on the internet if they ban access to any web domain less than a month old.

This advice comes from Unit 42, the security branch of networking house Palo Alto Networks. To be exact, the recommendation is that any domain created in the past 32 days ought to be blocked. This comes after the gang studied newly-registered domains – NRDs for short – and found that more than 70 per cent fell under the classification of “suspicious,” “not safe for work,” or “malicious.”

“While this may be deemed a bit aggressive by some due to potential false-positives, the risk from threats via NRDs is much greater,” noted Unit 42’s Zhanhao Chen, Jun Javier Wang, and Kelvin Kwan. “At the bare minimum, if access to NRDs are allowed, then alerts should be set up for additional visibility.”

According to Unit 42’s study of new domains created on 1,530 different top level domains (TLDs) from March to May of this year, just 8.4 per cent of NRDs could be confirmed as hosting only benign pages. 2.32 per cent were confirmed not safe for work, while 1.27 per cent of the domains were classified as malicious, meaning they were found to host malware, phishing, or botnet, command and control tools.

The solid majority of the domains, 69.73 per cent to be exact, fell under the label of “suspicious,” meaning the domains appear to have been parked, had insufficient content to be verified as legit, or were considered “questionable,” or “high risk,” but not flat-out malicious. 18.2 per cent were classified as just “other,” rather unhelpfully.

In other words, just under three quarters of new domains are used for sites that vary from completely empty, to shady at best, to verified as attack sites.

Athens, Greece

Sea Turtle hackers head to the Mediterranean, snag Greece’s TLD registrar as a souvenir

READ MORE

The numbers can also vary by TLD, with “.com” or “.org” sites far more likely to be hosting legit content than lesser-known TLDs where it is easier to acquire a domain.

Given these numbers, the Unit 42 crew concluded that when it comes to blocking new domains, the potential benefits far outweigh the risks. As a rule, they believe newly created domains ought to be walled off from end users for 32 days.

“Our own analysis has indicated that the first 32 days is the optimal time frame when NRDs are detected as malicious,” the team explained, noting that after 32 days most scams and attack sites have run their course and moved on, meaning the domains in use become far more likely to be legit.

Those who want to go even further, and aren’t as bothered by the prospect of blocking legit sites, could even apply the rules to entire top level domains, such as “.to”, “.ki” and “.nf” that are, by and large, much more likely to host malicious sites. ®

Article source: http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2019/08/21/palo_alto_domain_blocking/

  • 21/08/2019
  • adm

State-Sponsored Cyberattacks Target Medical Research

Cancer research is a particular target among Chinese espionage groups, says security firm FireEye.

Online attackers from Russia, Vietnam, and especially China are targeting healthcare data and stealing intellectual property from hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and research universities, according to a new report published today by security firm FireEye. 

While cybercriminals continue to be the most prolific attackers, many of the most significant attacks appear to be intelligence operations aimed at stealing research or gathering information on specific individuals, states the “Beyond Compliance: Cyber Threats and Healthcare” report. In particular, Chinese espionage groups appear to be focused on procuring cancer-related research, which the company argues is driven by increasing cancer mortality in China and the associated costs.

“There is not just one group focused on this, but multiple Chinese groups conducting these operations,” says Luke McNamara, principal intelligence analyst at FireEye. “Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in China, and there is a big focus on improving cancer treatments on the part of their pharmaceutical industry.”

The report collects both FireEye’s internal research and open source intelligence on threats. The company found the most frequent threat is that of opportunistic cybercriminals compromising systems and and destructive attacks, such as ransomware.

In the last quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019, the company found multiple databases from healthcare organizations on sale on online black market forums. For example, a 4.31-gigabyte file of healthcare records from a US organizations, including patient data, driver’s licenses, and insurance information, was being sold for $2,000. Personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI) are often used to conduct fraud or to craft more focused attacks.

“Actors buying and selling PII and PHI from healthcare institutions and providers in underground marketplaces is very common, and will almost certainly remain so due to this data’s utility in a wide variety of malicious activity ranging from identity theft and financial fraud to crafting of bespoke phishing lures,” the report states.

The healthcare industry is a popular target for online criminals and nation-state operators. In June, a number of medical-testing service providers, such as LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics, announced a breach of their collections-service partner, American Medical Collection Agency, resulted in almost 20 million patient records being stolen.

Yet attackers are also focusing heavily on research data, including information on research participants and pharmaceutical and biomedical intellectual property, FireEye’s McNamara says. The purpose of the attacks likely falls into “two buckets,” he says. 

“Some are focused on entities that have access to large data sets — those attacks are about getting large-scale data collection in furtherance of intelligence operations and finding specific people,” McNamara says. “Then there is the targeting of medical researchers by Chinese espionage groups. You see it going across multiple APT groups going back many years.”

The second category of cyber operations is particularly focused on cancer research, according to FireEye’s report. In April, a China-linked espionage group attacked a US-based health center focused on cancer research, attempting to lure researchers into clicking on a document that referenced a research conference. 

Such attacks are not uncommon. One Chinese espionage group, APT22, targeted the same institution for many years. An advanced persistent threat (APT) group is the industry term for sophisticated attackers that specifically target certain companies, organizations, or agencies. 

Another Chineses group, APT41, targeted biotech companies and the medical subsidiary of a large corporation, FireEye stated. 

China is not the only actor targeting biomedical research. At least two Russian APT groups and a Vietnam-based group have conducted operations that have either targeted healthcare organizations or had a focus on the biological sciences. For example, one group — APT 28, sometimes called “Fancy Bear” — attacked the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA), which tests Olympic athletes for use of banned drugs and supplements.

The report also underscores the threat posed by attacks that aim to have a cyber-physical impact, such as ransomware that attempts to halt operations or the targeting of medical devices to harm patients.

“Looking forward, the increasing number of biomedical devices used for critical functions within hospitals and healthcare providers presents a growing security challenge,” the report concluded. “Furthermore — given their importance and value — a growing willingness by cyber crime, or, in a period of heightened geopolitical tensions, nation state actors — to deploy disruptive and destructive tools may significantly increase the impact from these threats we have observed to date.”

Related Content:

Check out The Edge, Dark Reading’s new section for features, threat data, and in-depth perspectives. Today’s top story: “How to Avoid Technical Debt in Open Source Projects.”

 

 

Veteran technology journalist of more than 20 years. Former research engineer. Written for more than two dozen publications, including CNET News.com, Dark Reading, MIT’s Technology Review, Popular Science, and Wired News. Five awards for journalism, including Best Deadline … View Full Bio

Article source: https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/state-sponsored-cyberattacks-target-medical-research/d/d-id/1335590?_mc=rss_x_drr_edt_aud_dr_x_x-rss-simple

  • 21/08/2019
  • adm

State-Sponsored Cyberattacks Target Medical Research

Cancer research is a particular target among Chinese espionage groups, says security firm FireEye.

Online attackers from Russia, Vietnam, and especially China are targeting healthcare data and stealing intellectual property from hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and research universities, according to a new report published today by security firm FireEye. 

While cybercriminals continue to be the most prolific attackers, many of the most significant attacks appear to be intelligence operations aimed at stealing research or gathering information on specific individuals, states the “Beyond Compliance: Cyber Threats and Healthcare” report. In particular, Chinese espionage groups appear to be focused on procuring cancer-related research, which the company argues is driven by increasing cancer mortality in China and the associated costs.

“There is not just one group focused on this, but multiple Chinese groups conducting these operations,” says Luke McNamara, principal intelligence analyst at FireEye. “Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in China, and there is a big focus on improving cancer treatments on the part of their pharmaceutical industry.”

The report collects both FireEye’s internal research and open source intelligence on threats. The company found the most frequent threat is that of opportunistic cybercriminals compromising systems and and destructive attacks, such as ransomware.

In the last quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019, the company found multiple databases from healthcare organizations on sale on online black market forums. For example, a 4.31-gigabyte file of healthcare records from a US organizations, including patient data, driver’s licenses, and insurance information, was being sold for $2,000. Personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI) are often used to conduct fraud or to craft more focused attacks.

“Actors buying and selling PII and PHI from healthcare institutions and providers in underground marketplaces is very common, and will almost certainly remain so due to this data’s utility in a wide variety of malicious activity ranging from identity theft and financial fraud to crafting of bespoke phishing lures,” the report states.

The healthcare industry is a popular target for online criminals and nation-state operators. In June, a number of medical-testing service providers, such as LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics, announced a breach of their collections-service partner, American Medical Collection Agency, resulted in almost 20 million patient records being stolen.

Yet attackers are also focusing heavily on research data, including information on research participants and pharmaceutical and biomedical intellectual property, FireEye’s McNamara says. The purpose of the attacks likely falls into “two buckets,” he says. 

“Some are focused on entities that have access to large data sets — those attacks are about getting large-scale data collection in furtherance of intelligence operations and finding specific people,” McNamara says. “Then there is the targeting of medical researchers by Chinese espionage groups. You see it going across multiple APT groups going back many years.”

The second category of cyber operations is particularly focused on cancer research, according to FireEye’s report. In April, a China-linked espionage group attacked a US-based health center focused on cancer research, attempting to lure researchers into clicking on a document that referenced a research conference. 

Such attacks are not uncommon. One Chinese espionage group, APT22, targeted the same institution for many years. An advanced persistent threat (APT) group is the industry term for sophisticated attackers that specifically target certain companies, organizations, or agencies. 

Another Chineses group, APT41, targeted biotech companies and the medical subsidiary of a large corporation, FireEye stated. 

China is not the only actor targeting biomedical research. At least two Russian APT groups and a Vietnam-based group have conducted operations that have either targeted healthcare organizations or had a focus on the biological sciences. For example, one group — APT 28, sometimes called “Fancy Bear” — attacked the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA), which tests Olympic athletes for use of banned drugs and supplements.

The report also underscores the threat posed by attacks that aim to have a cyber-physical impact, such as ransomware that attempts to halt operations or the targeting of medical devices to harm patients.

“Looking forward, the increasing number of biomedical devices used for critical functions within hospitals and healthcare providers presents a growing security challenge,” the report concluded. “Furthermore — given their importance and value — a growing willingness by cyber crime, or, in a period of heightened geopolitical tensions, nation state actors — to deploy disruptive and destructive tools may significantly increase the impact from these threats we have observed to date.”

Related Content:

Check out The Edge, Dark Reading’s new section for features, threat data, and in-depth perspectives. Today’s top story: “How to Avoid Technical Debt in Open Source Projects.”

 

 

Veteran technology journalist of more than 20 years. Former research engineer. Written for more than two dozen publications, including CNET News.com, Dark Reading, MIT’s Technology Review, Popular Science, and Wired News. Five awards for journalism, including Best Deadline … View Full Bio

Article source: https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/state-sponsored-cyberattacks-target-medical-research/d/d-id/1335590?_mc=rss_x_drr_edt_aud_dr_x_x-rss-simple

  • 21/08/2019
  • adm

Ransomware Hits Fortnite Players

Ransomware masquerading as game “cheats” is hitting Fortnite players. Fortunately, there are ways to recover without paying a ransom.

Take one of the world’s most popular online games with tens of millions of users — Fortnite. Add a ransomware attack, and build that ransomware on an open source platform. You have the recipe for a major security problem, one that’s beginning to be seen around the world.

Researchers Maharlito Aquino and Kervin Alintanahin have published a blog post detailing Syrk, a piece of ransomware built from tools openly available on the Internet. Syrk masquerades as a game hack tool, promising to deliver more accurate aiming and knowledge of other players’ whereabouts — tools known as aimbots and ESP, in the language of gamers.

Syrk generates a sense of urgency by encrypting files on the victims’ computer every two hours. Fortunately, Aquino and Alintanahin report that the encryption method is simple, and they provide two means for recovering files without paying the demanded ransom.

Syrk is still active on Fortnite gamer sites.

For more, read here.

Dark Reading’s Quick Hits delivers a brief synopsis and summary of the significance of breaking news events. For more information from the original source of the news item, please follow the link provided in this article. View Full Bio

Article source: https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/ransomware-hits-fortnite-players/d/d-id/1335591?_mc=rss_x_drr_edt_aud_dr_x_x-rss-simple

  • 21/08/2019
  • adm

Ransomware Hits Fortnite Players

Ransomware masquerading as game “cheats” is hitting Fortnite players. Fortunately, there are ways to recover without paying a ransom.

Take one of the world’s most popular online games with tens of millions of users — Fortnite. Add a ransomware attack, and build that ransomware on an open source platform. You have the recipe for a major security problem, one that’s beginning to be seen around the world.

Researchers Maharlito Aquino and Kervin Alintanahin have published a blog post detailing Syrk, a piece of ransomware built from tools openly available on the Internet. Syrk masquerades as a game hack tool, promising to deliver more accurate aiming and knowledge of other players’ whereabouts — tools known as aimbots and ESP, in the language of gamers.

Syrk generates a sense of urgency by encrypting files on the victims’ computer every two hours. Fortunately, Aquino and Alintanahin report that the encryption method is simple, and they provide two means for recovering files without paying the demanded ransom.

Syrk is still active on Fortnite gamer sites.

For more, read here.

Dark Reading’s Quick Hits delivers a brief synopsis and summary of the significance of breaking news events. For more information from the original source of the news item, please follow the link provided in this article. View Full Bio

Article source: https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/ransomware-hits-fortnite-players/d/d-id/1335591?_mc=rss_x_drr_edt_aud_dr_x_x-rss-simple

  • 21/08/2019
  • adm

eSentire Blends Managed Detection Response With Machine Learning

While many infosec pros believe they’re getting managed detection response (MDR) from their managed security service providers, that’s not necessarily the case, according to Eldon Sprickerhoff, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of eSentire. Adding machine learning to the mix helps automate MDR, strengthening an organization’s security posture.

Article source: https://www.darkreading.com/esentire-blends-managed-detection-response-with-machine-learning/v/d-id/1335546?_mc=rss_x_drr_edt_aud_dr_x_x-rss-simple

  • 21/08/2019
  • adm

eSentire Blends Managed Detection Response With Machine Learning

While many infosec pros believe they’re getting managed detection response (MDR) from their managed security service providers, that’s not necessarily the case, according to Eldon Sprickerhoff, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of eSentire. Adding machine learning to the mix helps automate MDR, strengthening an organization’s security posture.

Article source: https://www.darkreading.com/esentire-blends-managed-detection-response-with-machine-learning/v/d-id/1335546?_mc=rss_x_drr_edt_aud_dr_x_x-rss-simple

  • 21/08/2019
  • adm

‘Box Shield’ Brings New Security Controls

New controls and threat detection capabilities built into Box aim to prevent accidental data leakage and misuse.

Box today released a new set of security controls called Box Shield that detects when data hosted by the cloud-based service is accidentally shared or misused as it travels inside and outside an organization.

The idea is to better secure cloud-based content as more businesses move data and operations to the cloud. Many employees use Box to store information and collaborate on projects. Box’s goal is not to change the way people around the world use it, says chief product officer Jeetu Patel. It’s to simplify security without slowing processes or interrupting employees’ jobs.

“With Box Shield, enterprises will receive intelligence alerts and unlock insights into their content security with new capabilities built natively in Box, enabling them to deploy simple, effective controls and act on potential issues in minutes,” Patel says of the new tools, which currently are in private beta.

Organizations can automatically or manually label files and folders and then create access policies based on those labels that adhere to one or more security controls. For example, “shared link restriction” dictates who can access shared links and whether links can be shared outside the business. “External collaborator restriction” limits external access to approved domains, or blocks it based on the content. “Download restriction” restricts the downloads of files or folders across specific applications, and “application restriction” limits which third-party and custom apps can download sensitive content from Box.

Box Shield aims to strike the delicate balance between security and user experience. Label-based controls let admins protect content from unauthorized access or sharing without interfering with employees using it.

Admins can also stay in the loop on security alerts. Box Shield sends notifications when it detects data access from suspicious locations, unusual downloads that may signify theft, or a potentially compromised account based on a rapid and unlikely change in employee location. If someone accesses a file from London and sends it from Singapore an hour later, for example, it’s likely their account was compromised.

The tool integrates with several security products so contextual alerts from Box Shield can be integrated with SIEM products from Sumo Logic, ATT Cybersecurity, and IBM, as well as cloud access security broker platforms from Symantec, McAfee, Palo Alto Networks, and Netskope.

Box Shield will be generally available in the fall.

Related Content:

Kelly Sheridan is the Staff Editor at Dark Reading, where she focuses on cybersecurity news and analysis. She is a business technology journalist who previously reported for InformationWeek, where she covered Microsoft, and Insurance Technology, where she covered financial … View Full Bio

Article source: https://www.darkreading.com/cloud/box-shield-brings-new-security-controls-/d/d-id/1335593?_mc=rss_x_drr_edt_aud_dr_x_x-rss-simple

  • 21/08/2019
  • adm

‘Box Shield’ Brings New Security Controls

New controls and threat detection capabilities built into Box aim to prevent accidental data leakage and misuse.

Box today released a new set of security controls called Box Shield that detects when data hosted by the cloud-based service is accidentally shared or misused as it travels inside and outside an organization.

The idea is to better secure cloud-based content as more businesses move data and operations to the cloud. Many employees use Box to store information and collaborate on projects. Box’s goal is not to change the way people around the world use it, says chief product officer Jeetu Patel. It’s to simplify security without slowing processes or interrupting employees’ jobs.

“With Box Shield, enterprises will receive intelligence alerts and unlock insights into their content security with new capabilities built natively in Box, enabling them to deploy simple, effective controls and act on potential issues in minutes,” Patel says of the new tools, which currently are in private beta.

Organizations can automatically or manually label files and folders and then create access policies based on those labels that adhere to one or more security controls. For example, “shared link restriction” dictates who can access shared links and whether links can be shared outside the business. “External collaborator restriction” limits external access to approved domains, or blocks it based on the content. “Download restriction” restricts the downloads of files or folders across specific applications, and “application restriction” limits which third-party and custom apps can download sensitive content from Box.

Box Shield aims to strike the delicate balance between security and user experience. Label-based controls let admins protect content from unauthorized access or sharing without interfering with employees using it.

Admins can also stay in the loop on security alerts. Box Shield sends notifications when it detects data access from suspicious locations, unusual downloads that may signify theft, or a potentially compromised account based on a rapid and unlikely change in employee location. If someone accesses a file from London and sends it from Singapore an hour later, for example, it’s likely their account was compromised.

The tool integrates with several security products so contextual alerts from Box Shield can be integrated with SIEM products from Sumo Logic, ATT Cybersecurity, and IBM, as well as cloud access security broker platforms from Symantec, McAfee, Palo Alto Networks, and Netskope.

Box Shield will be generally available in the fall.

Related Content:

Kelly Sheridan is the Staff Editor at Dark Reading, where she focuses on cybersecurity news and analysis. She is a business technology journalist who previously reported for InformationWeek, where she covered Microsoft, and Insurance Technology, where she covered financial … View Full Bio

Article source: https://www.darkreading.com/cloud/box-shield-brings-new-security-controls-/d/d-id/1335593?_mc=rss_x_drr_edt_aud_dr_x_x-rss-simple

  • 21/08/2019
  • adm