Tag Archive for: flashpoint

Flashpoint Year In Review: 2022 Breaches and Malware Threat Landscape

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KEY TAKEAWAYs

This blog highlights trends in notable observed advertisements on illicit forums for breached data, including databases or claims of network access; hacking services; and various strains and types of malware from January 1, 2022 through November 30, 2022.

  • The most frequently reported-on targeted sectors in 2022 were the government, financial, and retail industries.
  • The United States was the most-targeted geographic region in breach reporting this year.
  • Threat actors most commonly advertised and discussed hacking services, malware, and exploits on the popularly used forums Breach Forums, Exploit, and XSS.
  • Phishing pages were some of the most popular offerings within hacking service and malware advertisements.

Data breach landscape

Mostly motivated by greed, threat actors will target any organization regardless of sector. Therefore, data breaches provide key insights into the methods and tactics of hackers—since they will do whatever it takes to gain illegal access into their target’s network—using the plethora of advertised malware and hacking services available on illicit marketplaces.

As such, studying data breaches can help organizations and their security teams improve their security controls and incident response plans. Understanding who breaches affect, as well as where they take place, helps you gain visibility into your risk profile.

Here’s how the data breach landscape played out in 2022.

Most impacted sectors

According to our research team, there were a total of 4,146 reported global data breach events that occurred this year. Of those events, the top three sectors that experienced the most breaches were government, financial, and retail:

Figure 1: Top targeted sectors in breaches reporting this year

However, although sectors such as Healthcare and Technology also had been impacted by breach events, there was a fourth category that experienced the next most activity—”Unknown.” The unknown category represents datasets (whether advertised or leaked) where the victim’s identity was unavailable—either because that information was not disclosed, or because the data itself or the shared sample lacked any kind of identifiable information.

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Under Biden, Balkans to Remain Flashpoint in US-Russia Relations

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With Syria and Ukraine relatively quiet, it’s more likely that Putin will focus on Kosovo as the frontline of Russia’s anti-American agenda.

Putin has a simmering resentment of NATO’s 1999 intervention in Kosovo, as well as Washington’s role coordinating Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008. He wants to prevent countries from integrating into the EU and NATO, and adopting Western-style democracy.

To this end, the Kremlin vigorously obstructs Kosovo’s efforts to gain greater global recognition. It uses its permanent membership in the UN Security Council, UNSC, where Russia has a veto, to block Kosovo from joining the world body.

It also undermines the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue led by the EU and supported by the United States. Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, insists the UNSC approve any deal between Serbia and Kosovo.

In addition to its diplomatic backing, Russia has armed Serbia with sophisticated offensive weapons. These include MiG-29 jets, with modern missiles, radar, and communication systems, as well as tanks and armoured reconnaissance vehicles. Serbia also seeks BUK anti-aircraft systems and S-300 surface to air missiles.

Extensive commercial ties include the energy sector. Serbia imports nearly two-thirds of its oil and gas from Russia. Gazprom, a Russian multinational energy corporation, has a significant position in Serbia’s state-owned energy company. Gazprom is Russia’s largest company in terms of revenue.

The Balkans are a tinderbox. Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia threatened to boil over in January 2017 when Belgrade provocatively sent a Russian-manufactured train to Mitrovica, in north Kosovo, that was decorated with signs in Cyrillic and Russian declaring “Kosovo is Serbia.” When the Kosovo government objected, Serbia threatened military action.

Kosovo Serbs also built a wall in Mitrovica and threatened to secede. They covered the wall with posters of Putin. Tensions were exacerbated by anti-NATO propaganda spread by Sputnik, a Kremlin-financed media conglomerate with a major hub in Belgrade. The Serbian information ecosystem is inundated with anti-NATO propaganda.

What Russia says is a disaster relief centre in Nis, southern…

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Gulf region emerges as a cyber conflict flashpoint – FierceGovernmentIT

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Gulf region emerges as a cyber conflict flashpoint
FierceGovernmentIT
The Gulf region of the Middle East has emerged as a flashpoint for cyber conflict after becoming infected with targeted advanced malware such as Stuxnet and as area governments have also become sensitized to the Internet's new role as a protest …

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