Category Archives: Threat Research

The C-Suite Is Optimistic About Ransomware. Are They Right?

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The majority of C-suite executives are confident in their organization’s protection against ransomware attacks. At least, that’s what a recent research report from ISC2 shows. In fact, just 15% express a lack of confidence. Does this confidence take into account the nearly 53% rise in double extortion ransomware attacks between January and February? Are the […]

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Countdown to Ransomware: Analysis of Ransomware Attack Timelines

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This research was made possible through the data collection efforts of Maleesha Perera, Joffrin Alexander, and Alana Quinones Garcia. Key Highlights The average duration of an enterprise ransomware attack reduced 94.34% between 2019 and 2021:  2019: 2+ months — The TrickBot (initial access) to Ryuk (deployment) attack path resulted in a 90% increase in ransomware […]

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Black Basta Besting Your Network?

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This post was written with contributions from Chris Caridi and Kat Weinberger. IBM Security X-Force has been tracking the activity of Black Basta, a new ransomware group that first appeared in April 2022. To date, this group has claimed attribution of 29 different victims across multiple industries using a double extortion strategy where the attackers […]

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ITG23 Crypters Highlight Cooperation Between Cybercriminal Groups

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IBM Security X-Force researchers have continually analyzed the use of several crypters developed by the cybercriminal group ITG23, also known as Wizard Spider, DEV-0193, or simply the “Trickbot Group”. The results of this research, along with evidence gained from the disclosure of internal ITG23 chat logs (“Contileaks”), provide new insight into the connections and cooperation […]

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X-Force Research Update: Top 10 Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities of 2021

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From 2020 to 2021, there was a 33% increase in the number of reported incidents caused by vulnerability exploitation, according to the 2022 X-Force Threat Intelligence Index. A large percentage of these exploited vulnerabilities were newly discovered; in fact, four out of the top five vulnerabilities in 2021 were newer vulnerabilities. Vulnerability exploitation was the […]

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X-Force Research Update: Top 10 Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities of 2021

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From 2020 to 2021, there was a 33% increase in the number of reported incidents caused by vulnerability exploitation, according to the 2022 X-Force Threat Intelligence Index. A large percentage of these exploited vulnerabilities were newly discovered; in fact, four out of the top five vulnerabilities in 2021 were newer vulnerabilities. Vulnerability exploitation was the […]

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Hive0117 Continues Fileless Malware Delivery in Eastern Europe

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Through continued research into the ongoing cyber activity throughout Eastern Europe, IBM Security X-Force identified a phishing email campaign by Hive0117, likely a financially motivated cybercriminal group, from February 2022, designed to deliver the fileless malware variant dubbed DarkWatchman. The campaign masquerades as official communications from the Russian Government’s Federal Bailiffs Service, the Russian-language emails […]

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Where Everything Old is New Again: Operational Technology and Ghost of Malware Past

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This post was written with contributions from IBM Security’s Sameer Koranne and Elias Andre Carabaguiaz Gonzalez. Operational technology (OT) — the networks that control industrial control system processes — face a more complex challenge than their IT counterparts when it comes to updating operating systems and software to avoid known vulnerabilities. In some cases, implementation […]

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CaddyWiper: Third Wiper Malware Targeting Ukrainian Organizations

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On March 1, 2022, ESET reported a third destructive data wiper variant used in attacks against Ukrainian organizations dubbed as CaddyWiper. CaddyWiper’s method of destruction is by overwriting file data with “NULL” values. This is the fourth sample of malware IBM Security X-Force has released public content for which has been reportedly targeted systems belonging […]

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Trickbot Group’s AnchorDNS Backdoor Upgrades to AnchorMail

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IBM Security X-Force researchers have discovered a revamped version of the Trickbot Group’s AnchorDNS backdoor being used in recent attacks ending with the deployment of Conti ransomware. The Trickbot Group, which X-Force tracks as ITG23, is a cybercriminal gang known primarily for developing the Trickbot banking Trojan, which was first identified in 2016 and initially […]

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