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Not too long ago, there was a clear separation between the operational technology (OT) that drives the physical functions of a company – on the factory floor, for example – and the information technology (IT) that manages a company's data to enable management and planning.  As IT assets became increasingly connected to the outside world via the internet, OT remained isolated from IT – and the rest of the world. However, the spread of Industrial IoT (IIoT) as well as the need for constant monitoring and tracking information from manufacturing and assembly lines mean the connection between IT and OT systems has greatly expanded. OT is no longer isolated. OT is now just as exposed to the outside world as IT is. What does this mean for OT security, where hard-to-access devices needed for 24/7 production are difficult to patch? Let's take a look. The Air Gap Is Gone Not so long ago, any data exchange between IT and OT operated via a "sneaker net." An operator would p...

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has  published  three Industrial Control Systems (ICS) advisories about multiple vulnerabilities in software from ETIC Telecom, Nokia, and Delta Industrial Automation. Prominent among them is a set of three flaws affecting ETIC Telecom's Remote Access Server (RAS), which "could allow an attacker to obtain sensitive information and compromise the vulnerable device and other connected machines," CISA said. This includes CVE-2022-3703 (CVSS score: 9.0), a critical flaw that stems from the RAS web portal's inability to verify the authenticity of firmware, thereby making it possible to slip in a rogue package that grants backdoor access to the adversary. Two other flaws relate to a directory traversal bug in the RAS API (CVE-2022-41607, CVSS score: 8.6) and a file upload issue (CVE-2022-40981, CVSS score: 8.3) that can be exploited to read arbitrary files and upload malicious files that can compromise th...

A new analysis of tools put to use by the Black Basta ransomware operation has identified ties between the threat actor and the  FIN7  (aka Carbanak) group. This link "could suggest either that Black Basta and FIN7 maintain a special relationship or that one or more individuals belong to both groups," cybersecurity firm SentinelOne  said  in a technical write-up shared with The Hacker News. Black Basta, which  emerged  earlier this year, has been attributed to a ransomware spree that has claimed over 90 organizations as of September 2022, suggesting that the adversary is both well-organized and well-resourced. One notable aspect that makes the group stand out, per SentinelOne, is the fact that there have been no signs of its operators attempting to recruit affiliates or advertising the malware as a RaaS on darknet forums or crimeware marketplaces. This has raised the possibility that the Black Basta developers either cut out affiliates from the chain a...

Every SaaS app user and login is a potential threat; whether it's bad actors or potential disgruntled former associates,  identity management and   access control  is crucial to prevent unwanted or mistaken entrances to the organization's data and systems.  Since enterprises have thousands to tens of thousands of users, and hundreds to thousands of different apps, ensuring each entrance point and user role is secure is no easy feat. Security teams need to monitor all identities to ensure that user activity meets their organization's security guidelines.  Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions administer user identities and control access to enterprise resources and applications. As identities became the new perimeter, making sure this area is governed by the security team is vital. Gartner has recently named a new security discipline called Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) that incorporates detection mechanisms that investigate suspiciou...

A French-speaking threat actor dubbed  OPERA1ER  has been linked to a series of more than 30 successful cyber attacks aimed at banks, financial services, and telecom companies across Africa, Asia, and Latin America between 2018 and 2022. According to Singapore-headquartered cybersecurity company Group-IB, the attacks have led to thefts totaling $11 million, with actual damages estimated to be as high as $30 million. Some of the more recent attacks in 2021 and 2021 have singled out five different banks in Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast, and Senegal. Many of the victims identified are said to have been compromised twice, and their infrastructure subsequently weaponized to strike other organizations. OPERA1ER, also called by the names DESKTOP-GROUP, Common Raven, and NXSMS, is known to be active since 2016, operating with the goal of conducting financially motivated heists and exfiltration of documents for further use in spear-phishing attacks. "OPERA1ER often operates du...

The operators of RomCom RAT malware are continuing to evolve their campaigns by distributing rogue versions of software such as SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor, KeePass password manager, and PDF Reader Pro via fake copycat websites. Targets of the operation consist of victims in Ukraine and select English-speaking countries like the U.K. To be noted, the malicious software in question is not related to any product developed or released by SolarWinds, and is instead an unlicensed, "cracked" version of an old product. "Given the geography of the targets and the current geopolitical situation, it's unlikely that the RomCom RAT threat actor is cybercrime-motivated," the BlackBerry Threat Research and Intelligence Team  said  in a new analysis. The latest findings  come  a week after the Canadian cybersecurity company disclosed a spear-phishing campaign aimed at Ukrainian entities to deploy a remote access trojan called RomCom RAT. The unknown threat ac...

Popular short-form video-sharing service TikTok is revising its  privacy policy  for European users to make it explicitly clear that user data can be accessed by some employees from across the world, including China. The ByteDance-owned platform, which currently stores European user data in the U.S. and Singapore, said the revision is part of its ongoing data governance efforts to limit employee access to users in the region, minimize data flows outside of it, and store the information locally. The privacy policy update applies to users located in the U.K., the European Economic Area (EEA), and Switzerland, and goes into effect on December 2, 2022, according to  The Guardian . "Based on a demonstrated need to do their job, subject to a series of robust security controls and approval protocols, and by way of methods that are recognised under the GDPR, we allow certain employees within our corporate group located in Brazil, Canada, China, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Phili...