Publications

Greetings, Australians have recently been subjected to situations that have tested the resilience and resolve of most of us. Weather events, the lingering presence of COVID and, as seen recently, cyber-attacks, have individually and collectively, taken their toll. The spate of security breaches, including Optus and Medibank, doesn’t only concern identity theft or money. An individual’s mental health can also be affected, with feelings of vulnerability, anger, and being violated. IDCARE is Australia and New Zealand’s national identity and cyber support service, assisting those that have been impacted by data breaches, through effective response and mitigation. If you or someone you know might need help, it’s worth reaching out. Digital billboards are now commonplace, going beyond Times Square in New York, and popping up in cities and suburbia alike. Recently, a billboard in Brisbane was hacked, showing pornographic images, visible to passers-by on a busy road, for three minutes. This case demonstrates a vulnerability with the convergence of information technology (IT) systems and operational technology (OT) as part of the global digital transformation. Integrating cloud computing, e-commerce, industrial control systems, automated manufacturing and more, the benefits of convergence between IT and OT systems are many, but so are the potential cybersecurity threats for the converged environment. A Forbes article published earlier in the year discusses potential strategies to help bridge the cybersecurity gap of ITOT Convergence. With all this going on concurrently, evolving and stretching out for indefinite periods, it may be hard to know where to look for answers. Luckily, AUSCERT’s podcast series, Share Today, Save Tomorrow features episodes ‘ITOT Convergence’, ‘Understanding and Combatting Cyber Attacks’ and our brand new episode ‘Digital Forensics and Incident Response’, to name but a few. So, peruse what’s on offer, there’s sure to be something for everybody! Essential Eight Maturity Model Date: 2022-11-24 Author: Cyber.gov.au [ACSC has updated the Essential Eight Maturity Model] The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has developed prioritised mitigation strategies, in the form of the Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Security Incidents, to help organisations protect themselves against various cyber threats. The most effective of these mitigation strategies are the Essential Eight. Hackers breach energy orgs via bugs in discontinued web server Date: 2022-11-22 Author: Bleeping Computer Microsoft said today that security vulnerabilities found to impact a web server discontinued since 2005 have been used to target and compromise organizations in the energy sector. As cybersecurity company Recorded Future revealed in a report published in April, state-backed Chinese hacking groups (including one traced as RedEcho) targeted multiple Indian electrical grid operators, compromising an Indian national emergency response system and the subsidiary of a multinational logistics company. WhatsApp data leak: 500 million user records for sale Date: 2022-11-24 Author: Cybernews On November 16, an actor posted an ad on a well-known hacking community forum, claiming they were selling a 2022 database of 487 million WhatsApp user mobile numbers. The dataset allegedly contains WhatsApp user data from 84 countries. Threat actor claims there are over 32 million US user records included. Another huge chunk of phone numbers belongs to the citizens of Egypt (45 million), Italy (35 million), Saudi Arabia (29 million), France (20 million), and Turkey (20 million). The dataset for sale also allegedly has nearly 10 million Russian and over 11 million UK citizens’ phone numbers. NSW govt eyes law change to spur ‘good faith’ hacking Date: 2022-11-22 Author: Innovation Aus The New South Wales government will push for changes to Commonwealth criminal laws to prevent cybersecurity researchers being prosecuted for reporting potential bugs and vulnerabilities, including in the systems of public sector agencies, in “good faith”. Customer Service and Digital Government minister Victor Dominello is planning to pursue the changes before he retires from politics in March 2023, to pave the way for the state’s first whole-of-government policy framework for cyber security vulnerability disclosure. Google releases 165 YARA rules to detect Cobalt Strike attacks Date: 2022-11-21 Author: Bleeping Computer The Google Cloud Threat Intelligence team has open-sourced YARA Rules and a VirusTotal Collection of indicators of compromise (IOCs) to help defenders detect Cobalt Strike components in their networks. Security teams will also be able to identify Cobalt Strike versions deployed in their environment using these detection signatures. Lorenz Ransomware Alert: Risk to Healthcare, Public Sector Date: 2022-11-24 Author: Bankinfo Security Large healthcare and public sector organizations are continuing to get hit by attackers wielding Lorenz ransomware, cybersecurity experts warn. “It is used to target larger organizations in what is called ‘big-game hunting,’ and publishes data publicly as part of pressuring victims in the extortion process,” according to a new security alert from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Relatively little is known about Lorenz as compared to many other ransomware operators,” says HHS’ Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center, or HC3. ESB-2022.6094 – Git: CVSS (Max): 8.8 Kevin Backhouse discovered that Git incorrectly handled certain command strings. An attacker could possibly use this issue to arbitrary code execution. ESB-2022.6112 – IBM QRadar: CVSS (Max): 9.8 IBM QRadar Network Security is affected by multiple vulnerabilities. ESB-2022.6133 – Ruby: CVSS (Max): 8.8 Ruby 2.7.7 has been released and this release includes a few security fix. ESB-2022.6139 – nginx: CVSS (Max): 7.4 SUSE released an update that fixed the ALPACA attack that limiting the number of errors after closing a connection. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

LISTEN HERE: AUSCERT “Share Today, Save Tomorrow”, Digital Forensics and Incident Response In this episode, AUSCERT features the following guests: Shanna Daly, Cosive Mark Carey-Smith, AUSCERT With the changing threat surface presenting new and evolving challenges, Anthony speaks with Shanna Daly to discuss her views on digital forensics and incident response. They delve into the ‘how’ and ‘why’, which requires looking for proof of how something happened, from low-level investigations to evidence-based hypotheses of what is likely to have occurred. Shanna explains how understanding the connection between digital forensics and incident response helps help paint a picture of attribution that is factually accurate but also, identifies oversights or errors that can be removed or minimised. The discussion then turns to cognitive bias with implications of it being ignored or dismissed, having the potential to impact individuals, businesses and, the industry as a whole. Co-host Bek then chats with Principal Analyst Mark about next year’s AUSCERT conference and the goal to improve diversity and inclusion. A new element is a focus on first-time speakers with an initiative to encourage potential speakers to help identify subjects they can speak about and provide a mentorship initiative that will help guide an individual through the process that will have their voice and perspective heard and understood. This episode was hosted by Anthony Caruana and Bek Cheb. Our podcasts aim to provide fascinating insights, great stories from the field and lessons you can take back to your workplace. If you have any ideas or suggestions for what we can talk about, please let us know! The AUSCERT podcast can also be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

Greetings, With the increasing frequency and, in some cases severity, of recent cyber attacks in Australia, now might be the time to look back at this year’s AUSCERT2022 conference presentations. Covering a range of topics from Incident Response and Handling to Governance, Risk Management and Compliance and of course, Cybercrime, there is a wealth of knowledge and experience from over 50 presenters available for your education and enjoyment! As Australia’s growing digital economy requires individuals to increase the frequency and amount of personal and sensitive data to access services, greater reforms and protection for consumers are needed. This has been made abundantly clear and reinforced by recent cyber attacks. The New South Wales government has recently launched a pilot program, part of a 2015 strategy, that will allow individuals to store their encrypted information on their own device, not held by a government agency or private entity. In case you weren’t aware, November 18 (that’s today) is the 94th birthday of the world’s most famous mouse, Mickey! That’s right, the perennial favourite of children and the young at heart, Mickey Mouse, has been around for almost a century. From the ground-breaking short film ‘Steamboat Willie’ (which was released on this day) to the global sensation he is today, this icon can inspire joy, elicit smiles, and spark the imagination. Mickey’s birthday is the perfect excuse to enjoy some family fun by grabbing some snacks and watching a classic animated film! Advanced threat predictions for 2023 Date: 2022-11-14 Author: Securelist It is fair to say that since last year’s predictions, the world has dramatically changed. While the geopolitical landscape has durably shifted, cyberattacks remain a constant threat and show no signs of receding – quite the contrary. No matter where they are, people around the world should be prepared for cybersecurity incidents. A useful exercise in that regard is to try to foresee the future trends and significant events that might be coming in the near future. We polled our experts from the GReAT team and have gathered a small number of key insights about what APT actors are likely to focus on in 2023. But first, let’s examine how they fared with the predictions for 2022. Why CVE Management as a Primary Strategy Doesn’t Work Date: 2022-11-12 Author: Dark Reading While IT and security teams dislike CVEs because of the threat they pose and the mountain of remediation work they create for them, what troubles me is the way our modern security procedures relate to CVEs. Our mitigation strategies have become too focused on “vulnerability management” and are too CVE-centric, when what we really need is a hacker-centric approach to effectively reduce our exposure. Unpatched Zimbra Platforms Are Probably Compromised, CISA Says Date: 2022-11-15 Author: Dark reading Security teams running unpatched, Internet-connected Zimbra Collaboration Suites (ZCS) should just go ahead and assume compromise, and take immediate detection and response action. That’s according to a new alert issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which flagged active Zimbra exploits for CVE-2022-24682, CVE-2022-27924, CVE-2022-27925, which are being chained with CVE-2022-37042, and CVE-2022-30333. The attacks lead to remote code execution and access to the Zimbra platform. Australia sets up 100-strong permanent ‘operation’ to target hackers Date: 2022-11-12 Author: iTnews Australia will set up a permanent operation comprising around 100 police and defence personnel to “hack the hackers”, with an immediate priority to target ransomware groups. Updated RapperBot malware targets game servers in DDoS attacks Date: 2022-11-16 Author: Bleeping Computer The Mirai-based botnet ‘RapperBot’ has re-emerged via a new campaign that infects IoT devices for DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks against game servers. The malware was discovered by Fortinet researchers last August when it used SSH brute-forcing to spread on Linux servers. By tracing its activities, the researchers found that RapperBot has been operational since May 2021, but its exact goals were hard to decipher. The recent variant uses a Telnet self-propagation mechanism instead, which is closer to the approach of the original Mirai malware. MFA Fatigue attacks are putting your organization at risk Date: 2022-11-15 Author: Bleeping Computer The rapid advancement of technology in all industries has led to the threat of ever-increasing cyberattacks that target businesses, governments, and individuals alike. A common threat targeting businesses is MFA fatigue attacks—a technique where a cybercriminal attempts to gain access to a corporate network by bombarding a user with MFA prompts until they finally accept one. MFA refers to multi-factor authentication, a layered end-user verification strategy to secure data and applications. For a user to log in, an MFA system needs them to submit various combinations of two or more credentials. Misconfigurations, Vulnerabilities Found in 95% of Applications Date: 2022-11-16 Author: Dark Reading Nearly every application has at least one vulnerability or misconfiguration that affects security and a quarter of application tests found a highly or critically severe vulnerability, a new study shows. Weak SSL and TLS configuration, missing Content Security Policy (CSP) header, and information leakage through server banners topped the list of software issues with security implications, according to findings in software and hardware tools conglomerate Synopsys’ new Software Vulnerabilities Snapshot 2022 report published today. While many of the misconfigurations and vulnerabilities are considered to be of medium severity or less, at least 25% are rated highly or critically severe. ESB-2022.5996 – F5 Products: CVSS (Max): 8.8 BIG-IP and BIG-IQ are vulnerable to cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks through iControl SOAP (CVE-2022-41622) ESB-2022.5982 – Firefox: CVSS (Max): 9.8* Multiple security issues were discovered in Firefox. If a user were tricked into opening a specially crafted website, an attacker could potentially exploit these to cause a denial of service, spoof the contents of the addressbar, bypass security restrictions, cross-site tracing or execute arbitrary code ESB-2022.5843 – Intel DCM: CVSS (Max): 8.8 A potential security vulnerability in the Intel Data Center Manager (DCM) software may allow escalation of privilege. Intel is releasing software updates to mitigate this potential vulnerability ESB-2022.6008 – asterisk: CVSS (Max): 9.8 Multiple security vulnerabilities have been found in Asterisk, an Open Source Private Branch Exchange. Buffer overflows and other programming errors could be exploited for information disclosure or the execution of arbitrary code. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

Greetings, AUSCERT is seeking a new team member in our security systems admin and development area to lead engineering efforts and coordinate projects across our Analyst Team. If you're interested in security automation, infrastructure-as-a-service and cybersecurity-specific open source projects such as MISP, apply now – applications close this Sunday! AUSCERT’s Senior Manager, Mike Holm delivered a presentation on how to digest MISP data and draw meaningful conclusions from it during the 2022 AHECS Cybersecurity Summit held on the 7th-9th November in Canberra. The AHECS Cybersecurity Summit is a conference developed by the sector with a focus on the Higher Education and Research Cybersecurity, Identity Management and Privacy Community. In Cyber security news this week, criminals released files on a dark web forum that are believed to contain stolen Medibank customer data. Australian Federal Police announced the expansion of Operation Guardian to protect Medibank Private customers whose personal data was unlawfully released to the internet. Operation Guardian was set up in September this year to deliver specialised protection to current and former Optus customers from identity crime and financial fraud following the Optus cybercrime incident. AUSCERT advises its members who are impacted by the recent data breaches to be alert for any phishing scams via email, texts, voice calls or post and verify any communications received to ensure that they are from a legitimate source. In other news this week, our celestial neighbour glowed a spectacular red colour as the last total lunar eclipse for three years illuminated the sky on Tuesday night. While most parts of Australia had a clear view of the total lunar eclipse, the stargazers from our neighbours across the ditch had the most spectacular full show. The next total lunar eclipse is expected to grace our skies on March 14, 2025. Last but not least, AUSCERT acknowledges Remembrance Day and remembers the armed forces members who gave their lives in the line of duty to protect the nation. Have a good weekend! Experts Find URLScan Security Scanner Inadvertently Leaks Sensitive URLs and Data Date: 2022-11-07 Author: The Hacker News Security researchers are warning of "a trove of sensitive information" leaking through urlscan.io, a website scanner for suspicious and malicious URLs. Nation-State Hacker Attacks on Critical Infrastructure Soar: Microsoft Date: 2022-11-07 Author: Security Week According to Microsoft’s 2022 Digital Defense Report, nation-state hacker attacks on critical infrastructure have soared, largely due to Russian cyber operations targeting Ukraine and its allies. Between June 2020 and June 2021, 20% of all nation-state attacks observed by Microsoft were aimed at critical infrastructure. That percentage increased to 40% in the period between July 2021 and June 2022. Microsoft November 2022 Patch Tuesday fixes 6 exploited zero-days, 68 flaws Date: 2022-11-08 Author: Bleeping Computer Today is Microsoft's November 2022 Patch Tuesday, and with it comes fixes for six actively exploited Windows vulnerabilities and a total of 68 flaws. Eleven of the 68 vulnerabilities fixed in today's update are classified as 'Critical' as they allow privilege elevation, spoofing, or remote code execution, one of the most severe types of vulnerabilities. ‘Cyberspace has become a battleground,’ warns Australian Cyber Security Centre Date: 2022-11-04 Author: The Record The Australian Cyber Security Centre received over 76,000 cybercrime reports during the last financial year — an increase of nearly 13% — and warned in its latest annual report that “cyberspace has become a battleground.” The agency also warned that the regional dynamics in the Indo-Pacific were “increasing the risk of crisis” and cautioned that “cyber operations are likely to be used by states to challenge the sovereignty of others.” Several Cyber Attacks Observed Leveraging IPFS Decentralized Network Date: 2022-11-09 Author: The Hacker News A number of phishing campaigns are leveraging the decentralized Interplanetary Filesystem (IPFS) network to host malware, phishing kit infrastructure, and facilitate other attacks. "Multiple malware families are currently being hosted within IPFS and retrieved during the initial stages of malware attacks," Cisco Talos researcher Edmund Brumaghin said in an analysis shared with The Hacker News. The research mirrors similar findings from Trustwave SpiderLabs in July 2022, which found more than 3,000 emails containing IPFS phishing URLs as an attack vector, calling IPFS the new "hotbed" for hosting phishing sites. Medibank hackers target high-profile drug and mental health patients as AFP steps up action Date: 2022-11-09 Author: ABC News Medibank customers remain in the dark about whether any of their personal information is among that leaked onto the dark web by hackers overnight. It appears the cybercriminals have published what they have termed "naughty" and "nice" lists of prominent people amongst the leaked data. ASB-2022.0199.5 – UPDATE Medibank Cyber Security Incident : Medibank released further information on the Medibank cyber security incident and confirmed that customer data has been released on a dark web forum. ESB-2022.5782 – Nessus : CVSS (Max): 9.8 Tenable released Nessus Version 8.15.7 to address multiple vulnerabilities in its third-party components. ASB-2022.0234 – ALERT Exchange Server: CVSS (Max): 8.8 Microsoft's most recent security patch update includes a fix to resolves 4 vulnerabilities across Microsoft Exchange Server. ASB-2022.0233 – ALERT Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008: CVSS (Max): 8.8* Microsoft has released its patch update for the month of November 2022 which resolves 24 vulnerabilities in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008. ASB-2022.0231 – ALERT Windows and Windows Server: CVSS (Max): 8.8* Microsoft released fixes for 40 vulnerabilities across Windows 8.1, 10, 11 and Windows Server 2012, 2016, 2019, 2022. ESB-2022.5792.2 – UPDATE iOS and iPadOS: CVSS (Max): 8.2 Apple released iOS 16.1.1 and iPadOS 16.1.1 to address issues in libxml which if exploited could result in arbitrary code execution or denial of service. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

Greetings, This week saw trick-or-treaters and people of all ages flock to the streets in ‘spooky’ costumes in celebration of Halloween. The history of trick-or-treating goes back to Scotland and Ireland, where the tradition began as people would go door to door staging performances that were rewarded with food and sweets. Speaking of candy, today is the National Candy Day! Of course, this is mostly celebrated in the US, but why not make it into an excuse to dig into the leftover Halloween treats? Whether it is chewy, gummy, hard, fruit-flavoured or the ones that melt in your mouth, candy has always been a source of universal happiness. On a more serious topic, The OpenSSL Project released OpenSSL 3.0.7 to address two high-severity security flaws in its cryptographic library amid a big storm of hype in the Cyber Security world. These flaws were initially listed as “critical” but were downgraded to “high” following additional testing. The vulnerabilities affect OpenSSL versions 3.0.0 to 3.0.6. AUSCERT strongly recommends the deployment of OpenSSL 3.0.7 as soon as possible to impacted applications and servers to avoid potential Denial of Service or Remote Code Execution attacks. In other news this week, Australia took part in the Counter Ransomware Initiative (CRI) Summit hosted by the White House on 31 October to 1 November 2022. The participating governments released a set of planned actions including the establishment of the Voluntary International Counter Ransomware Task Force, led by Australia that will encourage threat information sharing and better coordination of the international actions aimed at tracking ransomware criminals' financial activities. Last but not least, AUSCERT would like to remind everyone to be mindful of current threats and vulnerabilities, with the recent spate of data breaches and ransomware attacks targeting Australian organisations. Have a good weekend! … Microsoft releases out-of-band updates to fix OneDrive crashes Date: 2022-10-29 Author: Bleeping Computer Microsoft has released out-of-band updates to address a known issue causing OneDrive and OneDrive for Business to crash after installing recent Windows 10 updates. The issue occurs when signing out or unlinking OneDrive accounts or sites and folders from Microsoft Teams and SharePoint. "After installing KB5018410 or later updates, OneDrive might unexpectedly close," Redmond explained in a Windows health dashboard update on Friday. OpenSSL fixes two high severity vulnerabilities Date: 2022-11-01 Author: Bleeping Computer The OpenSSL Project has patched two high-severity security flaws in its open-source cryptographic library used to encrypt communication channels and HTTPS connections. The vulnerabilities (CVE-2022-3602 and CVE-2022-3786) affect OpenSSL version 3.0.0 and later and have been addressed in OpenSSL 3.0.7. CVE-2022-3602 is an arbitrary 4-byte stack buffer overflow that could trigger crashes or lead to remote code execution (RCE), while CVE-2022-3786 can be exploited by attackers via malicious email addresses to trigger a denial of service state via a buffer overflow. Australian Defence Department caught up in ransomware attack Date: 2022-10-31 Author: ABC News A communications platform used by military personnel and Defence Department public servants has been hit by a ransomware attack. Hackers have targeted the ForceNet service, which is run by an external ICT provider, but Defence has been told no data of current or former personnel appears to have been compromised. Dropbox discloses breach after hacker stole 130 GitHub repositories Date: 2022-11-01 Author: Bleeping Computer Dropbox disclosed a security breach after threat actors stole 130 code repositories after gaining access to one of its GitHub accounts using employee credentials stolen in a phishing attack. The company discovered the attackers breached the account on October 14 when GitHub notified it of suspicious activity that started one day before the alert was sent. "To date, our investigation has found that the code accessed by this threat actor contained some credentials—primarily, API keys—used by Dropbox developers," Dropbox revealed on Tuesday. Govt counter-ransomware taskforce in works Date: 2022-11-02 Author: FST Media Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security, Clare O’Neil, said the taskforce will be convened by the Department of Home Affairs Cyber and Critical Technology Coordination Centre after members of the international initiative agreed to establish a unit at the Counter Ransomware Summit in Washington earlier this week. “The cyber incident involving Medibank Private is a blunt reminder that we need a globally focused capability to combat cyber threats, including ransomware,” Minister O’Neil said. ESB-2022.5595 – Red Hat Single Sign-On 7.6.1 security update on RHEL 9 Multiple security fixes introduced with the latest version of Red Hat Single Sign On address remote code execution, denial of service and XSS vulnerabilities. ASB-2022.0229.2 – OpenSSL Critical Patch Update for 3.0.x It was discovered that OpenSSL incorrectly handled certain X.509 Email Addresses. If a certificate authority were tricked into signing a specially-crafted certificate, a remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause OpenSSL to crash, resulting in a denial of service. ESB-2022.5303.2 – APPLE-SA-2022-10-24-1 iOS 16.1 and iPadOS 16 Multiple security updates were released by Apple for iOS 16.1 and IPadOS 16 that addressed vulnerabilities relating to arbitrary code execution, app privilege levels and disclosure of user information. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

Greetings, Episode 16 of our podcast has landed and features a chat between Anthony Caruana and Alex Tilley of Secureworks about understanding and combatting cyberattacks – timely given the recent spate of Australians impacted by several large-scale data breaches. Later, the AUSCERT team discuss the intangible nature of cyber threats and the need for greater awareness of their relevance and potential impact. To improve understanding of what can be done in this regard, the discussion then focuses on education and learning, including AUSCERT’s training courses. The first of November of each year sees the culturally significant celebration Dia de los Muertos, also known as the Day of the Dead, across Mexico. Unlike Halloween, Dia de los Muertos isn’t about scaring or being frightened but celebrates the lives of loved ones who have passed away. Day of the Dead combines the ancient Aztec custom of celebrating ancestors with All Souls’ Day, a holiday that Spanish invaders brought to Mexico starting in the early 1500s and has become a joyful time that helps people remember the deceased and celebrate their memory. This time of year also typically sees shades of purple dominate streetscapes across Australia with the Jacaranda trees flowering. The captivating and vibrant Jacaranda is an iconic tree in Australia but is native to Central and South America. Here at The University of Queensland, they’re even part of local lore, signifying the end-of-year exams and are celebrated with the BLOOM Festival. There’s a lot to see, including interactive exhibits, live music, pop-up picnics and indigenous foods. Gov invokes emergency coordination as Medibank breach worsens Date: 2022-10-26 Author: IT News The government has invoked a Covid-era response mechanism, bringing together federal, state and territory agencies to coordinate on the worsening Medibank data breach. Minister for cyber security Clare O’Neil said the national coordination mechanism (NCM) was activated on Saturday. The activation came as Medibank announced that the attackers who breached its ahm and international student systems had provided a file which demonstrated compromise of customer records under its main brand as well. Security experts targeted with malicious CVE PoC exploits on GitHub Date: 2022-10-24 Author: Security Affairs A team of researchers at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (Soufian El Yadmani, Robin The, Olga Gadyatskaya) discovered thousands of repositories on GitHub that offer fake proof-of-concept (PoC) exploits for multiple vulnerabilities. The experts analyzed PoCs shared on GitHub for known vulnerabilities discovered in 2017-2021, some of these repositories were used by threat actors to spread malware. The experts pointed out that public code repositories do not provide any guarantees that any given PoC comes from a trustworthy source. Prepare Now for Critical Flaw in OpenSSL, Security Experts Warn Date: 2022-10-28 Author: Dark Reading [Refer AUSCERT Bulletin ASB-2022.0229 ] Organizations have five days to prepare for what the OpenSSL Project on Oct. 26 described as a “critical” vulnerability in versions 3.0 and above of the nearly ubiquitously used cryptographic library for encrypting communications on the Internet. On Tuesday, Nov. 1, the project will release a new version of OpenSSL (version 3.0.7) that will patch an as-yet-undisclosed flaw in current versions of the technology. The characteristics of the vulnerability and ease with which it can be exploited will determine the speed with which organizations will need to address the issue. Why Retail Stores Are More Vulnerable Than Ever to Cybercrime Date: 2022-10-27 Author: Dark Reading When we think about cybercrime and retail it is natural to focus on websites being targeted with attacks. Indeed, there has been a shocking rise in the number of cyberattacks perpetrated against online retailers in the past year. Dakota Murphey explains why store owners and security managers need to also protect their physical locations from the cyber threat, too, however. Figures from SonicWall’s Biannual Report revealed that e-commerce and online retail businesses saw a 264% surge in the past 12 months in ransomware attacks alone. These kinds of statistics are extremely worrying for retail businesses, so it is unsurprising that websites and digital security are at the forefront of retailers’ minds. However, for those retailers that have a physical store as well as an online presence, there might be an assumption that the cybersecurity in-store doesn’t need to be considered as a top priority. Well, doing so could be a big mistake. Third quarter of 2022 reveals increase in cyberattacks and unexpected developments in global trends Date: 2022-10-26 Author: Check Point Highlights: Global attacks increased by 28%in the third quarter of 2022 compared to same period in 2021. The average weekly attacks per organization worldwide reached over 1,130 The most attacked industry in the third quarter of the year was the Education/Research sector, with an average of 2,148 attacks per organization every week, an increase of 18% compared to third quarter of 2021 The Healthcare sector was the most targeted industry for ransomware during the third quarter of 2022, with one in 42 organizations impacted by ransomware, a 5% increase YoY Australian Clinical Labs says patient data stolen in ransomware attack Date: 2022-10-27 Author: Bleeping Computer Australian Clinical Labs (ACL) has disclosed a February 2022 data breach that impacted its Medlab Pathology business, exposing the medical records and other sensitive information of 223,000 people. ESB-2022.5278 – Apache Commons Text : CVSS (Max): 9.8 Apache Software Foundation has reported a vulnerability in Apache Commons Text and recommends the users to upgrade Commons Text to 1.10.0. ESB-2022.5300 – ALERT macOS Ventura: CVSS (Max): 9.8* Apple has released macOS Ventura 13 which fixes a number of issues across a range of products. ASB-2022.0199.4 – UPDATE Medibank Cyber Security Incident Medibank announced a further development in the Medibank data breach incident. AUSCERT continues to keep its members updated as further information is released. ASB-2022.0228 – Energy Australia Data Breach Energy Australia announced a cyber incident which involved unauthorised access to their online platform. AUSCERT is aware of the incident and will share further information with members as they become available. ASB-2022.0229 – OpenSSL OpenSSL version 3.0.7 is scheduled for Tuesday, 1 November 2022 and includes a patch for a critical vulnerability. AUSCERT strongly recommends the administrators to apply the patch when it is released. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

LISTEN HERE: AUSCERT “Share Today, Save Tomorrow”, Episode 16, Understanding and Combatting Cyber Attacks In this episode, AUSCERT features the following guests: Alex Tilley, SecureWorks Mark Carey-Smith, AUSCERT Australia has recently seen several cyber-attacks that impacted millions of Australians with the fallout still expanding and likely to be experienced for some time. It’s timely that this month’s podcast features a chat with Alex Tilley who shares his experience combatting cyber experience and insights into the evolution of this growing aspect of modern society. Continuing with the thread of security breaches, Bek chats with Mark about the intangible nature of cyber threats and the need for greater awareness of their relevance and potential impact. To improve understanding of what can practically be done in this regard, the discussion then focuses on education and learning, including AUSCERT’s very own training courses. This episode was hosted by Anthony Caruana and Bek Cheb. Our podcasts aim to provide fascinating insights, great stories from the field and lessons you can take back to your workplace. If you have any ideas or suggestions for what we can talk about, please let us know! The AUSCERT podcast can also be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

Greetings, AUSCERT has been receiving reports of various Request For Quote (RFQ) scams spoofing Australian Universities and targeting several small vendors via the spoofed domain. Our recent blog post delves into the current methods being used to help identify potential scams and recommendations on what can be done, should you be the victim of such a scam. AUSCERT aims to inform and educate how and when we can, including through our training sessions, aimed at anyone that looks after their organisation’s cyber security. We have three courses currently available for the remainder of 2022, as per the below: Intro to Cyber for IT Professionals | October 24 and 25 (it’s not too late to register!) Cyber Security Risk Management | October 31 and November 1 Incident Response Planning | December 6 and 7 All courses are delivered online in two half-day sessions from 9 am to 12:30 pm each day. For more information on each course or, to book online, visit our Education page. Diwali, also known as the Festival of lights or Deepavali, will commence on Monday, October 24 and is a five-day-long celebration. It is revered as a day to light the lamp of power, knowledge, and virtues within each of us and signifies the victory of good over evil. Watch out for the celebrations with entertainers, fireworks displays, dancing performances, music, henna and more throughout the city in many shopping centres, King George Square and Indian restaurants. You can learn more about this cultural festival, including a feast consisting of special dishes, by clicking here. Speaking of food, today is International Day of the Nacho. Yes, there is an official day to indulge and overeat the tasty corn chip or tortilla-based treat, layered with guacamole, beans, minced beef and cheese! Invented in 1943, nachos have been a go-to dish for many with unknown and seemingly unlimited variations seen in their near 80-year history. To see how others eat their nachos, or, to learn more about this Tex-Mex culinary delight, click here. Adobe patches critical Magento XSS that puts sites at takeover risk Date: 2022-10-14 Author: The Daily Swig A super-critical vulnerability in Adobe Magento could allow attackers to fully compromise e-commerce platforms, according to the security researcher who unearthed the bug. Adobe has urged users to update their systems to protect their websites from abuse of the flaw, which has been assigned the maximum possible severity (CVSS) score of 10. Woolworths says 2.2m MyDeal customers’ data hacked Date: 2022-10-15 Author: Financial Review [Refer AUSCERT Bulletin: ASB-2022.0200.2] In the third major corporate security breach in as many weeks, Woolworths is scrambling to contact 2.2 million customers of its MyDeal online marketplace arm whose data has been accessed by an unauthorised user using “compromised” credentials, the supermarkets giant says. The hack follows telecoms group Optus in owning up to data breaches affecting millions of consumers. Health insurer Medibank Private also disclosed a data breach but said it had no evidence of any customer data being accessed, although it was still investigating the hack. Apache Commons Text RCE flaw — Keep calm and patch away Date: 2022-10-19 Author: Bleeping Computer [Refer AUSCERT Bulletin: ESB-2022.5278] A remote code execution flaw in the open-source Apache Commons Text library has some people worried that it could turn into the next Log4Shell. However, most cybersecurity researchers say it is nowhere near as concerning. Apache Commons Text is a popular open-source Java library with an “interpolation system” that allows developers to modify, decode, generate, and escape strings based on inputted string lookups. For example, passing the string lookup ${base64Decoder:SGVsbG9Xb3JsZCE=} to the interpolation system would cause the library to convert it to its base64 decoded value of ‘HelloWorld!’. Microsoft Office 365 email encryption could expose message content Date: 2022-10-14 Author: Bleeping Computer Security researchers at WithSecure, previously F-Secure Business, found that it is possible to partially or fully infer the contents of encrypted messages sent through Microsoft Office 365 due to the use of a weak block cipher mode of operation. Organizations use Office 365 Message Encryption to send or receive emails, both external and internal, to ensure confidentiality of the content from destination to source. However, the feature encrypts the data using the Electronic Code Book (ECB) mode, which allows inferring the plaintext message under certain conditions. Police tricked a ransomware gang into handing over its decryption keys. Here’s how they did it Date: 2022-10-17 Author: ZDNET Police tricked a ransomware gang into handing over decryption keys, providing victims with the ability to unlock their encrypted data for free. Working alongside cybersecurity company Responders.NU, the Dutch National Police obtained 150 decryption keys from ransomware group Deadbolt. With the decryption keys now in the hands of law enforcement, some victims of Deadbolt ransomware attacks can retrieve encrypted files and servers without the need to pay cyber-criminal extortionists. Medibank’s alleged attackers threaten data release, extortion Date: 2022-10-20 Author: iTnews [Refer AUSCERT Bulletin: ASB-2022.0199.3] Medibank has entered a trading halt after being contacted by a group claiming to have copied customer data. The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday reported it had heard from the alleged attackers, who were threatening to release patient data from a “200 gigabyte” haul. The threats included selling the data, or releasing information like diagnoses about the most prominent people found in the database. In an market disclosure late yesterday, the health insurer said it was “a new development” that will “cause concerns for customers”. ESB-2022.5278 – Apache Commons Text : CVSS (Max): 9.8 Apache Software Foundation has reported a critical vulnerability in Apache Common Text and recommends its users to upgrade to version 1.10.0. ASB-2022.0199.3 – UPDATE Medibank Cyber Security Incident Medibank has reported that the alleged hacking group has provided a sample of records for 100 policies. Australian Federal Police is investigating the issue as a crime. ASB-2022.0200.2 – UPDATE MyDeal Data Breach The hacker involved in the MyDeal data breach has reportedly released samples of the stolen data to a hacking forum. MyDeal customers are encouraged to reset their passwords. ASB-2022.0220 – Oracle PeopleSoft: CVSS (Max): 8.1* Multiple vulnerabilities have been identified in Oracle PeopleSoft. The vendor has released a critical patch update which contains 8 new security patches. ASB-2022.0201 – Oracle Commerce Platform: CVSS (Max): 9.8 The critical patch update for October 2022 contains 3 new security patches for Oracle Commerce. ESB-2022.5232 – Jenkins Plugins: CVSS (Max): 8.8 Jenkins Security Advisory for October 2022 announces vulnerabilities in Jenkins plugins. Security updates have been released for most of the plugins. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

RECENT TARGETS AUSCERT has been receiving reports of various RFQ scams spoofing Australian Universities and targeting vendors via the spoofed domain. THE TRIED AND TESTED METHOD A scammer creates an identical-looking domain impersonating a university. The spoofed domain with active MX records is then used to send emails to various vendors asking for quotes for the products they sell. The MX record allows email replies to be directed back to the scammer. The email address usually impersonates a staff member on the executive level. In some cases, the emails may be blocked or quarantined depending on the vendor’s security policy. Hence, small, and medium-sized companies are targeted as they might have a lower maturity level in their security policies. When such reports are sent to AUSCERT, it can be acted upon quickly if we are provided with email headers as evidence, and the domain registrar will usually suspend the domain successfully with such details. HOW IT HAS CHANGED Some scammers have now changed their methods of delivering such RFQ scams. To avoid the quarantine of emails and to avoid being taken down by the registrar (as the registrar usually requires email headers in such cases), scammers now use the built-in web forms located on the websites of small-medium-sized companies. The submitted email address is an address from the spoofed domain. In such cases, it is difficult for the targeted university to reach out to the companies asking for more information. Furthermore, since no email headers are recorded, submitting a takedown request to the domain registrar is difficult without much evidence. WHAT THE UNIVERSITY CAN DO Submit as much information as possible in such a situation. It is also recommended that the university should also reach out to the company that communicated with the scammer to obtain any related information. For e.g., the webform chat in this case. If the university is unable to contact the vendor, AUSCERT might be able to assist.

AUSCERT was delighted to sponsor the Best Security Student Award at the recent Women in Security Awards held in Sydney. Five outstanding finalists were in the running, each achieving success with their respective pursuits, with Elena Scifleet from CyberCX declared the winner! Congratulations to all the winners and everyone that contributed to such a successful and enjoyable event – we can’t wait for 2023! To see who else was recognised, visit the Women in Security Awards 2022 winners page. Members of the AUSCERT team were in attendance for the occasion with Analyst, Vishaka, providing a summary of her experience, below: It was a privilege to have been able to attend the Australian Women in Cyber Security Gala night 2022 along with my colleagues, on the evening of Wednesday, October 12. The event kicked off with a Cocktail networking hour. It was exciting to see so many familiar faces and meet new ones who are either pursuing their higher education in Cyber Security or just stepping into a career in Cyber Security. This year’s celebrations saw a staggering 826 nominations with 81 finalists, 19 winners, 17 Highly Commended and 2 Special Recognition recipients for 18 different award categories including Best Female Secure Coder, Protective Security Champion, IT Security Champion and Australia’s Most Outstanding Woman in IT Security. Kudos to AUSCERT’s former employee, Laura Jiew for taking the Best Volunteer award home! I felt absolutely honoured to witness the talented women who received awards for their accomplishments, value, and contributions to Cyber Security – most of them had a truly inspirational and motivational story to share! While celebrating women in Cyber Security, the event also acknowledged male counterparts in the field who have contributed to eliminating gender-based discrimination and bias in the workplace and promoting equality in the IT security industry. Dushyant Sattiraju and Dave O’Loan were recognised as Highly Commended in the Male Champion of Change category while Clive Rees bagged the award. Throughout the event, the importance and need of being a mentor for other women in the field were highlighted. Thank you to Abigail Swabey and her team for pulling off such a successful and fabulous event and thank you to the AUSCERT management for giving me an opportunity to participate in the event.

Greetings, As Marie Antoinette is said to have proclaimed, “Let them eat cake!”, for today, October 14 is National Dessert Day. Given the need to celebrate such an auspicious occasion, it’s official that today is the day when calories don’t count. As such, we implore everyone to consider their preferred sugary, tasty treat to indulge in and if you’re stuck for ideas, the following site may be able to assist. Simply click HERE. The Optus saga moves forward with ongoing commentary made about the situation which only increases as more details and issues arise, seemingly every day. A recent article in the Financial Review posits that “Companies and individuals don’t rise to the occasion. They fall to their level of preparedness.” The comment comes as banks, such as the CBA, experience an increase in the number of calls received each day from concerned customers about their financial security. The article also states that whilst risks can never be completely removed, those responsible should be aware of the risks and plan for how to respond should an incident occur. We’d like to remind those that wish to share their thoughts, experience, and insights into the dynamic and ever-changing landscape of cyber security that the annual BDO and AUSCERT Cyber Security Survey is now open! The annual BDO and AUSCERT cyber security survey identifies the current cyber security trends, issues and threats facing organisations across Australia and New Zealand. Zimbra remote code execution vulnerability actively exploited in the wild Date: 2022-10-10 Author: The Daily Swig [AUSCERT has been in touch with the affected members] A zero-day remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in Zimbra is being actively exploited in the wild. The bug was assigned the tracker CVE-2022-41352 in late September. Issued a CVSS severity score of 9.8, the critical issue can be exploited to plant a shell in the software’s root directly, achieving RCE and enabling attackers to wreak havoc on a vulnerable system. Zimbra, once known as the Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS), is an open source email suite. The software is relied upon by millions of users and is designed for managing enterprise and SMB email and collaboration tools. Fortinet says critical auth bypass bug is exploited in attacks Date: 2022-10-10 Author: Bleeping Computer [See also ASB-2022.0192.2] Fortinet has confirmed today that a critical authentication bypass security vulnerability patched last week is being exploited in the wild. The security flaw (CVE-2022-40684) is an auth bypass on the administrative interface that enables remote threat actors to log into FortiGate firewalls, FortiProxy web proxies, and FortiSwitch Manager (FSWM) on-premise management instances. “An authentication bypass using an alternate path or channel vulnerability [CWE-288] in FortiOS, FortiProxy and FortiSwitchManager may allow an unauthenticated atttacker to perform operations on the administrative interface via specially crafted HTTP or HTTPS requests,” Fortinet said in an advisory issued today. Medibank takes systems offline after ‘cyber incident’ Date: 2022-10-13 Author: iTnews [See also ASB-2022.0199 ] Investigates extent of unauthorised access. Medibank has taken two customer-facing systems offline “to reduce the likelihood of damage to systems or data loss” stemming from a cyber security incident. The insurer said that policy management systems covering its ahm brand as well as international students are now offline, and would remain that way “for most of the day”. It did not detail what had exactly occurred, aside from the detection of “unusual activity on its network.” Optus data breach response ‘cracking’ as cyber support charity fields 15,000 queries and counting Date: None Author: ABC News A national identity and cyber support charity say they are enduring the “toughest” period in the organisation’s history following the Optus data breach. IDCARE fielded a months’ worth of calls in just three days following the incident, and in the past three weeks has dealt with more than 15,000 interactions with no signs of slowing down. Darkweb market BidenCash gives away 1.2 million credit cards for free Date: 2022-10-09 Author: Bleeping Computer [AUSCERT has been in touch with the affected members] A dark web carding market named ‘BidenCash’ has released a massive dump of 1,221,551 credit cards to promote their marketplace, allowing anyone to download them for free to conduct financial fraud. Carding is the trafficking and use of credit cards stolen through point-of-sale malware, magecart attacks on websites, or information-stealing malware. BidenCash is a stolen cards marketplace launched in June 2022, leaking a few thousand cards as a promotional move. Indicators of Behavior and the Diminishing Value of IOCs Date: 2022-10-12 Author: Cyber reason How secure is your organization if you can only stop attacks that have already been detected in other environments based on Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)? Secure enough, if those were the only attacks you needed to be concerned with. But what about targeted attacks with bespoke tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) that have never been documented because they were designed only to be used against your organization? In today’s threat landscape that’s what’s happening: zero-day exploits, never-before-seen malware strains, and advanced techniques developed specifically for high-value targets are plaguing security teams. ASB-2022.0199 – Medibank Cyber Security Incident AUSCERT shares information on a security incident targeting Medibank. AUSCERT will continue to share further information as they become available. ASB-2022.0192.2 – UPDATED ALERT FortiOS,FortiProxy and FortiSwitchManager: CVSS (Max): 9.6 Fortinet reported a critical vulnerability in 3 of its products which may allow an unauthenticated attacker to perform operations on the compromised devices. Fortinet released important mitigation information as well as security updates. ESB-2022.5034 – wordpress: CVSS (Max): 9.8 Several security vulnerabilities were discovered in WordPress for which a security patch has been released. ASB-2022.0195 – ALERT Azure: CVSS (Max): 10.0 Microsoft’s monthly security patch update for October included an update to resolves 3 vulnerabilities in Azure. ASB-2022.0193 – ALERT Windows and Windows Server: CVSS (Max): 8.8 Microsoft’s most recent patch update fixes 68 vulnerabilities in Windows and Widows Server. ESB-2022.5091 – Google Chrome: CVSS (Max): None Google announced updates to the Google Chrome Stable channel and Extended stable channel. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

Greetings, It’s Cyber Security Awareness Month in October which, given the recent breadth and severity of data leaks seen in Australia, is an opportune reminder to be mindful of current threats and vulnerabilities. Now in its seventh year, the BDO and AUSCERT Cyber Security Survey allows organizations to benchmark their approach to cyber risk. The information provided will then provide the chance to assess and optimise organizational cyber security. There’s also the chance to win one of two Apple Airpod Pros so be sure to complete your survey before Friday, November 18! It was announced yesterday that a proposal by the federal government had been made to allow Australian banks temporary access to government identification details by telcos in the wake of the Optus data breach. The move is to assist in preventing fraud, but banks would need to adhere to strict requirements to reduce the risk of further compromise of customer data. This Monday, October 10 will see the next full moon, referred to as the Pink Moon, signifying the arrival of the first spring flowers. Apart from the pink moon, the other October full moon names in the southern hemisphere are Egg Moon, Seed Moon, and Waking Moon whilst in the northern hemisphere, they will experience the Hunter’s Moon. The name derives from a time when the full moon signified the time to start preparing for the coming winter by hunting animals and preserving meat. If you live north of the equator, be sure to learn how you can view one of the year’s most stunning celestial events! Cisco Patches High-Severity Vulnerabilities in Communications, Networking Products Date: 2022-10-06 Author: SECURITY WEEK Cisco announced on Wednesday that it has patched potentially serious vulnerabilities in some of its networking and communications products, including Enterprise NFV, Expressway and TelePresence. Windows 11 22H2 breaks provisioning with 0x800700b7 errors Date: 2022-10-06 Author: Bleeping Computer Microsoft says the Windows 11 2022 Update is breaking provisioning, leaving Windows 11 enterprise endpoints partially configured and failing to finish installing. Meta sues app dev for stealing over 1 million WhatsApp accounts Date: 2022-10-06 Author: BLEEPING COMPUTER Meta has sued several Chinese companies doing business as HeyMods, Highlight Mobi, and HeyWhatsApp for developing and allegedly using “unofficial” WhatsApp Android apps to steal over one million WhatsApp accounts starting May 2022. Sydney man charged for allegedly trying to scam Optus breach victims – Telco/ISP – iTnews Date: 2022-10-06 Author: ITNEWS A 19-year-old Sydney man has been charged with allegedly trying to blackmail Optus customers whose data was leaked onto the internet as proof of a data breach. Optus ups number of Medicare cards breached – Security Date: 2022-10-07 Author: ITNEWS Optus has revised the number of its customers whose Medicare card numbers were exposed in a recent data breach to 43,000. Microsoft Updates Mitigation for Exchange Server Zero-Days Date: 2022-10-05 Author: Dark Reading [AUSCERT Bulletin: ASB-2022.0191.2] Microsoft today updated its mitigation measures for two recently disclosed and actively exploited zero-day vulnerabilities in its Exchange Server technology after researchers found its initial guidance could be easily bypassed. Microsoft’s original mitigation for the two vulnerabilities — CVE-2022-41040 and CVE-2022-41082 — was to apply a blocking rule to a specific URL path using the URL Rewrite Module on IIS Server. According to the company, adding the string “.*autodiscover\.json.*\@.*Powershell.*” would help block known attack patterns against the vulnerabilities. It’s Telstra’s Turn for a Data Breach, This Time It’s Staff That Are Affected Date: 2022-10-04 Author: Gizmodo The term ‘data breach’ has, in the last few weeks, worked its way into everyday conversation in Australia, thanks mostly to the failings of Optus. But now, details have emerged of another data breach affecting the Aussie telco sector – this time, it’s Telstra and it is employees that are at risk. Brought to our attention first by The Australian, Telstra reportedly sent out a memo to staff over the weekend informing them of the data breach. It has since been confirmed by Telstra, with a spokesman telling Gizmodo Australia that the data breach affecting a third party included “limited” Telstra employee information from 2017. It is understood the third party handled Telstra’s rewards program for staff. ESB-2022.4906 – chromium: CVSS (Max): None Debian has released a new Chromium package version that fixes arbitrary code execution, denial of service or information disclosure. ESB-2022.4967 – nodejs: CVSS (Max): 9.8 Debian has released an update for nodejs that address multiple vulnerabilities. ESB-2022.5007 – LibreOffice: CVSS (Max): 8.8 Ubuntu has released a new package version that fixes several security issues in LibreOffice. ASB-2022.0191.3 – ALERT Microsoft Exchange Server: CVSS (Max): 8.8 Microsoft has made significant updates to its advisory regarding Exchange Server Zero-Day Vulnerabilities which could lead to remote code execution. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team