www.seconcyber.com What the Hack? August 2022
Robert Gupta, Secon CEO, said, “We’re very excited to be awarded a place in the G-Cloud 13 digital marketplace. This will enable more public sector organisations to access our cyber security services through this platform. We look forward to bringing greater value to our existing and new public sector clients.”
On 18 August, Apple released urgent security updates for macOS (12.5.1), iOS (15.6.1), and iPad OS (15.6). This was due to a security flaw which allowed bad actors to gain full admin access to a device. If you haven’t updated any of your Apple devices to the latest OS, we’d strongly recommend updating as soon as possible.
2. Cisco hacked by Yanluowang ransomware gang
News surfaced of attacks affecting the NHS and South Staffordshire Plc (the parent company of South Staffs Water and Cambridge Water) this month. Additionally, on 15 August, an inquiry into who was behind the theft of £1.1 million from a Luton Borough Council bank account concluded that a “highly sophisticated and organised criminal group” was responsible.
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3. Multiple UK public services hit by cyber attacks
This month Cisco announced that it was breached by the Yanluowang ransomware group back in May. Cisco has said they immediately took action to contain the attack, and no customer data or sensitive data was divulged. The gang gained access to Cisco’s network via stolen credentials from an employee’s personal Google account. Although the user had MFA in place, they still granted access, which could be a sign of a MFA fatigue attack.
The G-Cloud 13 framework goes live on 9 November 2022 and our service listing will be available under Lot 3 Cloud Support. For more information about our inclusion in G-Cloud 13, or what services we will be listing, please contact us here.
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Secon approved as a supplier on Crown Commercial Service’s G-Cloud 13
At Secon, we’re always on your side. That means we’re always looking for new ways to meet our clients’ needs and adapt to their changing procurement requirements. That’s why we’re excited to announce we have been awarded a place on the Crown Commercial Service’s new G-Cloud 13 G-Cloudframework.13 allows public sector organisations to “buy cloudbased computing services such as hosting, software and cloud support, including many off-the-shelf, pay-as-you-go cloud solutions” (source: Crown Commercial Service).
August’s top cyber security news
1. iOS, iPad OS, and macOS Monterey vulnerabilities
• Provide domain registrars with the evidence they need to initiate takedowns
We know it takes a long time to build your brand’s reputation, but unfortunately a bad actor can break down this credibility in seconds by creating a lookalike domain and launching a phishing attack. That’s where we come in.
• Monitor each newly registered domain to spot any potential lookalikes
In this webinar, Secon is joined by our partner Red Sift to discuss how we can help you rapidly uncover and take down any impersonation domains across the internet. We’ll also discuss Red Sift’s OnDOMAIN platform, which provides you with a userfriendly interface that offers clear threat visualisation and takedown initiation. Register for this webinar today to learn how we can help you:
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Upcoming webinar Why email is still your biggest security problem
Did you know a new phishing site launches every 20 seconds? Anyone can register a new domain name (and make it look extremely similar to your own) to try and deceive your users, suppliers, and customers. Since the scale of this problem is incredibly immense (150 million new domains and subdomains are registered every day), there’s no way you can manually monitor each new domain that’s designed to look like yours.
• Discover the use of counterfeit brand assets across impersonation domains using machine vision-based logo detection
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• Protect your brand image and retain your customers’ trust Register now of data breaches are caused by emailsphishing269%90% increase in the number of unique phishing sites worldwidedetectedbetween2020and2021
Browse our current library of stories by clicking the button below (and check back each week as we continue to introduce new members of our team).
Always on together. Our stories
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Secon provides security solutions and services for an always on world. We’re different because we don’t hide behind a virtual wall. We deal in the real world. With real people. Figuring out real problems. Our aim is to remove the barriers of software and screens to get to the root of what people actually need. We do this by building genuine, lasting relationships with our clients, and each other. To help us in this ongoing pursuit, we’d like to introduce you to the people who power Secon. Each week, we share our stories. These stories explore our personal journeys, how we broke into cyber security, and how we weave the concept of being always on into our daily interactions with colleagues, clients, and partners.
We believe in human connections.
2. What’s the most common threat vector for cyber crime in 2022? Answer: Phishing. The DCMS’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2022 found that phishing attempts accounted for 83% of all UK cyber attacks.
Answer from Realyn: Despite the risks that come with unsupported, unpatched operating systems, we still see multiple customers/ organisations that are using End-of-Life Operating System (i.e. Windows 7, Windows Server 2008!) on their production environment. The challenge most customers highlight for keeping these are legacy applications/ programs that are not compatible on newer version of Windows. As Security Service Leads, we completely understand this dilemma but at the same time, we consistently remind our clients to think of the repercussions should a successful security breach happen because of this.
3. According to our Service Management Team Leader Realyn Vasquez, what are the most common security risks our customers face in their environments?
2. According to new research, 80% of ransomware attacks can be traced to: 3. Featured question from the Secon team: Raymund Taylan, Senior Security Advisor, works closely with our clients to help them uncover their cyber risks. Based on the majority of Cyber Risk Assessments Raymund has been involved with, what do most organisations lack visibility and control over? a. over 600 b. over 2600 c. over 4600 a. Common configuration errors b. Weak password management c. Lack of user awareness training/user gullibility
1. 2013 saw the release of the first version of our Managed Detection and Response, but what name did it go by when it launched? Answer: Godfrey
Temporary mitigating options that are available to customers include paying for Microsoft’s extended support, but this comes at a hefty cost. Another recommendation we provide is to add an extra layer of security on customer’s environment. This means having a file integrity solutions in place to support the legacy system or host-based intrusion prevention software installed on legacy servers/endpoints.
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Can you hack this?
Guest question from Raymund Taylan (pictured above) Last month, we announced the beginning of our monthly ‘What the Hack?’ quiz to help you learn more about Secon, our team, and what we think are the most interesting facets of cyber security. Here are the answers from July’s issue: This month’s questions: 1. How many cases did our SOC open in the last month?
www.seconcyber.comContactwww.seconcyber.comus: Email: Phone:hello@seconcyber.com+44(0)2076570707