Cisco Talos discovered a sophisticated attack on critical infrastructure by ToyMaker and Cactus, using the LAGTOY backdoor to orchestrate a relentless double extortion scheme.

• In 2023, Cisco Talos discovered an extensive compromise in a critical infrastructure enterprise consisting of a combination of threat actors.
• From initial access to double extortion, these actors slowly and steadily compromised a multitude of hosts in the network using a combination of various dual-use remote administration, SSH and file transfer tools.
• The initial access broker (IAB), whom Talos calls “ToyMaker” and assesses with medium confidence is a financially motivated threat actor, exploits vulnerable systems exposed to the internet. They deploy their custom-made backdoor we call “LAGTOY” and extract credentials from the victim enterprise. LAGTOY can be used to create reverse shells and execute commands on infected endpoints.
• A compromise by LAGTOY may result in access handover to a secondary threat actor. Specifically, we’ve observed ToyMaker handover access to Cactus, a double extortion gang who employed their own tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) to carry out malicious actions across the victim’s network.

Despite their hacktivist front, CyberAv3ngers is a rare state-sponsored hacker group bent on putting industrial infrastructure at risk—and has already caused global disruption.
The intermittent cyberwar between Israel and Iran, stretching back to Israel's role in the creation and deployment of the Stuxnet malware that sabotaged Iran's nuclear weapons program, has been perhaps the longest-running conflict in the era of state-sponsored hacking. But since Hamas' October 7 attack and Israel's retaliatory invasion of Gaza, a new player in that conflict threatens not just digital infrastructure in Israel but also critical systems in the US and around the world.
The group known as CyberAv3ngers has, in the last year and a half, proven to be the Iranian government's most active hackers focused on industrial control systems. Its targets include water, wastewater, oil and gas, and many other types of critical infrastructure. Despite being operated by members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to US officials who have offered a $10 million bounty for information leading to their arrest, the group initially took on the mantle of a “hacktivist” campaign.

CISA and the FBI said attackers deploying Ghost ransomware have breached victims from multiple industry sectors across over 70 countries, including critical infrastructure organizations.
#CISA #Computer #Cring #Critical #FBI #Ghost #InfoSec #Infrastructure #Ransomware #Security

A record number of cyber incidents impacted Britain’s critical drinking water supplies this year without being publicly disclosed, according to information obtained by Recorded Future News.

The exact nature of these incidents is unclear, and they may include operational failures as well as attacks. Under British cybersecurity laws — known as the NIS Regulations — critical infrastructure companies are required to report “significant incidents” to the government within three days or face a fine of up to £17 million ($21 million).

A federal grand jury indictment unsealed today charges two Sudanese nationals with operating and controlling Anonymous Sudan, an online cybercriminal group responsible for tens of thousands of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against critical infrastructure, corporate networks, and government agencies in the United States and around the world.

(6 Months later CZAT 7 Server is offline or changed to another ip address , this post was written 6 months ago, published today 9/2/2024)

I’m a big fan of trains, i like them, but never tough that someday i would take over train traction power substation located in Poland from my home in Costa Rica.

I’m not a train expert/engineer and i had no idea how the train management works , I’m a cyber security professional doing research in the internet about OT Industrial equipment exposed potentially vulnerable or misconfigured.

Everything explained here is just what i learned reading official documentation from the Elester-pkp website . https://elester-pkp.com.pl/

Data centres in the UK are to be classified as critical national infrastructure, joining the emergency services, finance and healthcare systems, and energy and water supplies.
It means they would get extra government support during a major incident, such as a cyber attack, an IT outage or extreme weather, in order to minimise disruption.

Threat actors in the cyberespionage ecosystem are using ransomware for financial gain, disruption, distraction, misattribution, and the removal of evidence.

The agency found no evidence that hackers exfiltrated information but noted the intrusion “may have resulted in the potential unauthorized access” to security plans, vulnerability assessments and user accounts within a national system to protect the chemicals sector.

The French government said it would seek “a national solution” to protect Atos, a debt-burdened company that serves nuclear programs and the military.

Today, CISA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA), #StopRansomware: Phobos Ransomware, to disseminate known tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and indicators of compromise (IOCs), which are from incident response investigations tied to Phobos ransomware activity from as recently as February, 2024.

U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence agencies have warned of Phobos ransomware attacks targeting government and critical infrastructure entities, outlining the various tactics and techniques the threat actors have adopted to deploy the file-encrypting malware.

"Structured as a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model, Phobos ransomware actors have targeted entities including municipal and county governments, emergency services, education, public healthcare, and critical infrastructure to successfully ransom several million in U.S. dollars," the government said.

Authorities have declined to comment on the reported ransomware attack ten days on Serbia's public energy company EPS.

At least 6000 computer systems have been impacted by the Ukrainian Blackjack-led Russian water utility cyberattack.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Security Agency (NSA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD)—hereafter referred to as "the authoring agencies"—are disseminating this joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) to highlight continued malicious cyber activity against operational technology devices by Iranian Government Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-affiliated Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) cyber actors.

HSE, Slovenia's largest power utility, has been targetted by a cyberattack that started on Wednesday night and escalated on Friday night. In-house and external experts are working to resolve the situation. The supply of electricity is not jeopardised.

NoEscape promises 'colossal wave of problems' if IJC doesn't pay up

The International Joint Commission, a body that manages water rights along the US-Canada border, has confirmed its IT security was targeted, after a ransomware gang claimed it stole 80GB of data from the organization.

Chinese state-sponsored actor Volt Typhoon is using stealthy techniques to target US critical infrastructure, conduct espionage, and dwell in compromised environments.

Rules for industries and governments aim to prevent all-out cyber breakdown.