Intelligence & Analytics September 1, 2022

Raspberry Robin and Dridex: Two Birds of a Feather

8 min read - IBM Security Managed Detection and Response (MDR) observations coupled with IBM Security X-Force malware research sheds additional light on the mysterious objectives of the operators behind the Raspberry Robin worm. Based on a comparative analysis between a downloaded Raspberry Robin…

CISO August 24, 2022

The Ransomware Playbook Mistakes That Can Cost You Millions

8 min read - If there is one type of cyberattack that can drain the color from any security leader’s face, it’s ransomware. A crippling, disruptive, and expensive attack to recover from, with final costs rarely being easy to foretell. Already a prevalent threat,…

Malware August 18, 2022

From Ramnit To Bumblebee (via NeverQuest): Similarities and Code Overlap Shed Light On Relationships Between Malware Developers

26 min read - A comparative analysis performed by IBM Security X-Force uncovered evidence that suggests Bumblebee malware, which first appeared in the wild last year, was likely developed directly from source code associated with the Ramnit banking trojan. This newly discovered connection is…

Zero Trust August 17, 2022

Healthcare Breaches Costliest for 12 Years Running, Hit New $10.1M Record High

8 min read - IBM Security and the Ponemon institute release an annual report known as one the most significant industry benchmarks. The Cost of a Data Breach analysis examines real-world breaches in great detail, producing insights into the factors that impact the cost…

Energy & Utility August 16, 2022

X-Force 2022 Insights: An Expanding OT Threat Landscape

9 min read - This post was written with contributions from Dave McMillen. So far 2022 has seen international cyber security agencies issuing multiple alerts about malicious Russian cyber operations and potential attacks on critical infrastructure, the discovery of two new OT-specific pieces of…

Endpoint August 10, 2022

How to Compromise a Modern-Day Network

8 min read - An insidious issue has been slowly growing under the noses of IT admins and security professionals for the past twenty years. As companies evolved to meet the technological demands of the early 2000s, they became increasingly dependent on vulnerable technology…

Software Vulnerabilities August 9, 2022

Controlling the Source: Abusing Source Code Management Systems

13 min read - For full details on this research, see the X-Force Red whitepaper “Controlling the Source: Abusing Source Code Management Systems”. This material is also being presented at Black Hat USA 2022. Source Code Management (SCM) systems play a vital role within…

Advanced Threats August 2, 2022

Black Hat 2022 Sneak Peek: How to Build a Threat Hunting Program

4 min read - You may recall my previous blog post about how our X-Force veteran threat hunter Neil Wyler (a.k.a “Grifter”) discovered nation-state attackers exfiltrating unencrypted, personally identifiable information (PII) from a company’s network, unbeknownst to the security team. The post highlighted why…

Intelligence & Analytics July 27, 2022

What’s New in the 2022 Cost of a Data Breach Report

6 min read - The average cost of a data breach reached an all-time high of $4.35 million this year, according to newly published 2022 Cost of a Data Breach Report, an increase of 2.6% from a year ago and 12.7% since 2020.

Intelligence & Analytics July 7, 2022

Unprecedented Shift: The Trickbot Group is Systematically Attacking Ukraine

13 min read - Following ongoing research our team, IBM Security X-Force has uncovered evidence indicating that the Russia-based cybercriminal syndicate “Trickbot group” has been systematically attacking Ukraine since the Russian invasion — an unprecedented shift as the group had not previously targeted Ukraine.…