Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

When you hear the words “brute force," subtlety is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. Indeed, classic brute-force cyber attacks use the most straightforward tactics—trial and error—to gain entry into a protected system. When brute force works, the attack's type, depth, and severity depend on the attacker's goals.

On Friday, May 27, 2022, Security vendor nao_sec identified a malicious document leveraging a zero-day remote code execution RCE vulnerability (CVE-2022-30190) in Microsoft Windows Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT). The actively exploited vulnerability exists when MSDT is called using the URL protocol from a calling application, such as Microsoft Word.

According to the 2021 IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index , the finance and insurance industry sector experienced the most cyber attacks for the fourth year in a row. It’s no mystery why: Hackers go where the money is. And according to Verizon's 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), financial gain was the most common motive in data breaches across all industries: 93 percent of breaches involving companies with fewer than 1,000 employees were financially motivated.

As the attack surface expands and cyber threats continue to evolve, most organizations make security awareness training a key part of their cybersecurity programs. Especially now with growing evidence that social engineering tactics reap big rewards for bad actors and cataclysmic outcomes for enterprises of every size. To wit, a study has found that 88% of all data breaches involve mistakes by employees.

Of the many industries attracting threat actor attention, the legal sector is gaining heightened interest from run-of-the-mill cybercriminals and nation-state actors alike. In late February, the State Bar of California disclosed that it experienced a breach allowing access to thousands of case records and case profile data, along with confidential court records.

On Wednesday, May 18, 2022, VMware published an advisory (VMSA-2022-0014) to address multiple vulnerabilities, including CVE-2022-22972, an authentication bypass vulnerability affecting VMware Workspace ONE Access, Identity Manager, and vRealize Automation. This vulnerability was assigned a CVSSv3 score of 9.8, making it a critical vulnerability.

On Thursday, May 12, 2022, Zyxel released a patch advisory for an unauthenticated remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in their line of Firewall products tracked as CVE-2022-30525. The exploitation of this vulnerability can allow a threat actor to modify specific files and execute code remotely on a vulnerable appliance. Proof of Concept (PoC) exploit code for this vulnerability has been made publicly available via multiple sources.

We are thrilled to announce that Arctic Wolf has made the 2022 CNBC Disruptor 50 list, the company’s tenth annual ranking of the most game-changing private companies using technology to advance their industry. This list identifies fast-growing, innovative start-ups and Arctic Wolf is recognized for its revolutionary role in bringing security operations to organizations of all sizes, leading the few cybersecurity companies included on this year’s list.

On Tuesday, May 10, 2022, security researcher Oliver Lyak published a PoC exploit for CVE- 2022-26923, a privilege escalation vulnerability impacting Active Directory Domain Services with a CVSS score of 8.8 and high severity. The vulnerability allows a threat actor who has already compromised a user account to elevate privileges to Domain Admin, if Active Directory Certificates Services is running on the domain. Microsoft patched the vulnerability in May’s Patch Tuesday release.

The constantly changing world of cybersecurity can leave you longing for an understanding of today's modern threats. A solid foundation of cybersecurity terminology is a great first step toward understanding the world of cyber threats and how to help minimize and mitigate risk for your organization. But with more acronyms added every year, it can be a daunting task to keep up. Thankfully, we're here to help.