The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has released its annual ‘Cyber Security Breaches Survey’.

The survey is used to inform government policy on digital security, educate British businesses, and ensure UK cyber space remains safe.

Data collected across over 2,400 business and 850 charities produced some startling statistics concerning the ever-looming threat of cyber-attacks infiltrating UK businesses’ digital footprint.

The report discovered that 39% of UK businesses detected an incoming cyber-attack during 2021. Phishing attacks made up a fifth of all threats identified – the most frequent type of malicious attack.

Organisations also revealed that ransomware was being recognised as a serious digital threat with 56% of businesses stating they have installed or will be introducing a company policy to not pay ransoms to cyber criminals.

Whilst 58% of small and medium businesses disclosed to outsourcing their IT Support service, only 23% of surveyed businesses had a cybersecurity incident management strategy in place that is more advanced than a basic endpoint antivirus.

NCSC promote a blend of regular cyber security learning and training processes within your business to better inform the deployment of traditional cybersecurity software measures across all the organisation’s IT systems.

This multi-layered approach aims to counteract the report’s discovery that a lack of cyber technical expertise amongst UK businesses is to blame for threats going undetected.

Similarly, a company-wide policy of digital hygiene erodes the false assumption that managed cybersecurity strategies are a cost to the business rather than a strategic, protective investment.

31% of business admitted being attacked at least once a week showing that any weak link in an organisation’s cyber defence can have grievous financial implications.

To mitigate this, we recommend organisations follow the NCSC’s guidance and adopt Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials +. The scheme requires businesses to meet or exceed an assured set of security requirements each year to protect against common forms of online crime, technology dangers and digital threats.

It is estimated that a Cyber Essentials certification can reduce your organisation’s risk of a cyberattack by 98.5% – contact Lineal to assist with your organisation’s application and to help you meet the requirements for a successful certification or re-certification today.

Endpoint security specialist SentinelOne have isolated and demonstrated an installed instance of HermeticWiper malware currently destroying PCs across Ukraine.

First spotted on February 23rd, the 114kb ‘Hermetic Wiper’ malware gets its name from the (likely fictitious) ‘Hermetic Digital Ltd’ – a Cypriot company allegedly named on its digital certificate. The malware appears to have been circulated among a number of Ukrainian organisations, and abuses a partition management driver to begin corrupting a device’s physical drives.

Watch below as SentinelOne test-detonate an instance of Hermetic Wiper, first on an undefended PC, then with powerful endpoint protections in place:

Video Credit: SentinelOne.

Once activated, the malware initiates a device shutdown, making the system irretrievable and booting only as far as Windows’ ‘Your PC/Device needs to be repaired’ screen.

The timing and nature of the attack (crippling PCs in the short term, until they can be replaced) suggests an effort that has been coordinated with Russian military operations.

For cybersecurity advice and expertise, please contact Lineal today.

fake invoices

This week’s IT security alert from Lineal – fake invoices which ask users to run a dangerous piece of code.

The example above comes from a fake Word document emailed with a typical text line, such as ‘Please check this invoice’ or ‘Double check my numbers for me’, to an unsuspecting user.

Upon opening, the document appears to load a popup from Office 2016 prompting the user to ‘Enable Content’ for compatibility purposes, before they can view the detail of the ‘invoice.’

In fact, the display is just an image within the word file, and the ‘Enable Content’ content button instead runs a piece of Visual Basic code downloading unknown malware from the internet.

The scam relies on users’ curiosity at the unusual $1999.00 charge, and upon reaching a user still running an outdated version of Microsoft Office.

Several measures can be taken to prevent this kind of attack:

• Don’t click any popup that doesn’t visibly pop ‘open’ in Microsoft and don’t ‘Enable Content’ you can’t see in a document.

• Consider an email filtering service like Barracuda – in the above example, Barracuda had recognised this email as malicious and stripped the code from the document before placing it in the correct email inbox for the intended recipient.

• Invest in a high-quality antivirus and IT security software like ESET – using sophisticated heuristics and live scanning ESET can block this kind of threat, and advanced versions operate a comprehensive watchlist of fake ‘phishing’ scams which might try to imitate legitimate companies online.

• Move to Microsoft Office 365 – Microsoft’s cloud subscription model now ensures that you’ll always have the most up-to-date version of Microsoft Office, and therefore that if a document gives you this kind of message, it may be a scam.

For IT Security advice and guidance – speak to Lineal today.

Smartphone banking app malware hacks SMS codes

A dangerous new banking app malware has successfully bypassed smartphone security used by some of the world’s biggest banks.

Customers of Australia’s four biggest banks, and numerous New Zealand Banks, have all been declared at risk from the malware which activates when using a banking app, copying details from login screens.

Most worryingly, the malware can also divert two-factor authentication codes sent to a given smartphone by SMS – and pass the code to criminals, breaking a tried and trusted system used by many online financial apps around the world.

ESET security systems (commonly deployed by commercial clients for server and endpoint security) recently detected the extremely sophisticated malware, which downloads via fake Adobe Flash windows on video streaming websites.

On Android, personal users can uninstall the malware manually via Settings > Apps > Flayer > Uninstall, and are advised to only accept approved downloads from trusted public sources such as Google Play.

Commercial clients should take similar precautions against banking app malware and similar, protecting company devices behind specialist security systems.

For IT security advice and support, contact Lineal today by clicking here.

Cyber crime is finally set to become the UK’s most common crime type, following inclusion in the latest crime figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This re-classification comes only days after news headlines emerged that an Eastern European crime group successfully used ‘Dridex’ malware to steal over £20m from UK bank accounts via thousands of infected PCs in the UK.

Cyber criminals are increasingly mounting more organised attacks on businesses, small and large – last year even U.S banking giant J.P Morgan suffered unfortunate press and a sudden plunge in its share price when digital thieves stole the personal information and contact details of more than 76 million customers.

The 2015 National Strategic Assessment from the National Crime Agency estimates that losses due to cyber crime in the UK now amount to a staggering £16 billion annually. The NCA also asserted that the theft of large amounts of private companies’ data still faces ‘considerable under reporting.’

Nowhere is this more threatening than for those in the financial services industry, where both reputations for reliability and access to funds make IT security of paramount importance, requiring compliance with the strictest procedures for identity validation, network safety and fraud detection.

All businesses need to be prepared for the future, where cyber crime is likely to become more sophisticated and UK companies may be expected to demonstrate greater data protection measures. This week Microsoft promoted it’s Financial Services Compliance program in connection with Office 365 – making assurances (aimed squarely at businesses in the financial sector) of direct access to staff and resources to ensure that Microsoft Office cloud services comply with financial security regulations.

Greater awareness of cyber crime amongst Government figures, the media and the public can only be a good thing, but ultimately it still remains very much up to the individual to ensure their IT systems are secure – before the worst happens.

More than 70% of businesses fail after significant data loss. Lineal can install a range of security measures to safeguard your business IT systems and data – enquire today via: http://www.lineal.co.uk/contact/

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How to keep your IT Secure

Data breaches can lead to a massive loss of trust among customers, so how do you ensure your IT remains secure?

Despite what many online sign-up forms would suggest, the ‘strongest’ password is not necessarily long and complicated. Whilst complexity makes a password harder to guess or crack with a ‘brute force’ testing of combinations, most security breaches occur from stolen passwords, either physically or by malware attacks.

Very complex passwords do not help in this respect: users still need other IT security, such as antivirus software, errors are more common when typing (particularly on handheld devices) and employees may find complex passwords harder to remember – undermining data security by writing down their login details. The ubiquitous sticky note attached to the monitor is still a trusted solution to working with complex password policies in some organisations!

Routine password changes are a sensible precaution for most businesses, but can make it harder for employees to remember their passwords, leading to the same problem in which users are locked out of work accounts, copy passwords across accounts, or write passwords down at risk of theft.

Phrases can help avoid this problem by making passwords easier to recall: ‘Lineal15theB3st’ is preferable to a 15-digit numeral because a touch of personality adds memorability. Beware profanity though – just imagine trying to explain it to technical support later on!

Here at Lineal we’d also advise against ‘Remember Me’ automated sign-in functions, as well as Windows 10’s new Wi-Fi password sharing ‘Wi-Fi Sense’ Feature, as these make your chosen password redundant.

If you want to see where the future of online security is going, follow the money: most online banking incorporates a two-stage authentication process, requiring both a password and a unique alert code texted to the customer’s mobile phone for identification. This is already a free optional setting for Google, Facebook, Twitter and other popular websites.

Lineal’s advice is to stick to the following basics:

Avoid physical theft:

• Don’t write your passwords down on a post-it note on your desk! Microsoft has a practical tip: if you absolutely must write a password down, do so in a safe place, without labeling it as a password or to which account it refers. Substitute words should also be used to hide the true password, for example writing ‘Fruit8£’ could refer to a password of ‘Apple8£’.

• Don’t use an easily guessed word, such as your name, your company’s name, 1234, the name of something on your desk, the word ‘password’, or anything similarly obvious.

• Never tell anyone your password, and change your password if you suspect it has been compromised.

Ease of Access:

• If you struggle to remember your passwords, use a password storage program to store some of them. Remember to use a secure password for the program.

• Mitigate against your own forgetfulness by setting up alternate password recovery options, allowing you to choose more varied, difficult passwords.

• Consider where users will need to log in from – take full advantage of using numbers and special characters ( ! , £, %, * etc.) for keyboard users.

Preventing digital theft:

• Use different passwords for your most important accounts, such as online banking.

• Use two-stage authentication.

• Maintain up to date anti-virus security software and firewalls on your work desktops, and don’t download untrusted software or open suspicious emails which could be phishing or contain password stealing malware.

• Consult IT specialists to ensure office networks are protected from outside attacks.

Your security should always be strong enough to give peace of mind. Lineal can provide expert advice and support for securing your IT systems: why not get in contact with us here?

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