Insights blog.

From the start, it was clear that the Log4j vulnerability, also referred to as Log4Shell, would be widespread and present major challenges for organizations. But, why is addressing Log4j so challenging?

Bitsight has been collecting FluBot infection telemetry data since March 2021. In total, we have identified 1.3 million IPs used by infected Android devices. Of them, over half (61%) are in Germany and Spain. Additionally, we are tracking an increase in IPs over time, which likely indicates an increase in infected devices.

Learn what the disturbing ransomware trends means for your organization and third-party vendors.

As internet use continues moving toward a mobile-centric experience, it has become essential to consider mobile applications when crafting a security strategy. Bitsight’s latest research demonstrates exactly why. We are excited to announce that Bitsight Insights: Mobile Application Risk Report is available now.

Ransomware attacks are on the rise, doubling in the last year alone. But why has ransomware emerged as the weapon of choice for bad actors? The answer comes down to time and money.

Thanks to the proliferation of ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS), ransomware attacks are significantly cheaper to execute and require less skill than other forms of breaches. They are also highly profitable.

A critical vulnerability that allows for unauthenticated remote code execution has been discovered in Apache Log4j 2, an open source Java logging tool. The Apache Software Foundation has identified the vulnerability as CVE-2021-44228.

“34% of companies [in portfolios] we examined had at least one exposed Java-based server. Not all of those use Log4j, but that gives a rough sense of the scale of exposure,” said Ethan Geil, Senior Director, Data and Research.

The last two years have introduced new challenges to organizations across the globe -- from managing business operations through an ongoing pandemic; to a rapid-fire pivot to a digital mode of work; to an increase in cyber attacks targeting businesses directly, and through their supply chains.

There are many ways that a bad actor can infiltrate your IT infrastructure and begin sifting through your data. These vulnerable entry points are known as risk vectors and include insecure endpoints, unsupported mobile devices, unpatched systems, and more.

Recent Bitsight research shows that 75% of retail businesses may be at increased risk of ransomware attacks as indicated by poor TLS/SSL configuration management. With the holiday shopping season upon us, it's more important than ever for retailers to evaluate their security posture.

Large retail businesses may have hundreds or even thousands of TLS/SSL certificates identifying specific Internet-connected devices. Plus, many lack an organization-wide framework for discovering, cataloging, and managing TLS/SSL configurations. Instead, management is conducted on an ad hoc basis, usually at a departmental level.

Today, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 22-01, Reducing the Significant Risk of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities, to drive urgent and prioritized remediation of vulnerabilities that are being actively exploited by adversaries.

This directive includes an update to CISA's catalog of “known exploited vulnerabilities,” part of an ongoing effort encourage organizations to reduce risk within their attack surface. Bitsight is proud to partner with CISA on these critical efforts.

In the past few weeks, Bitsight has conducted research on two of the vulnerabilities in the CISA list: CVE-2021-41773 and CVE-2021-42013. These vulnerabilities were introduced via a recent Apache Server update and highlight the importance of an effective software update and patch management strategy as well as the need for third-party risk management.

Facebook and the apps under its umbrella, including Instagram and WhatsApp, were inaccessible for hours on Monday.

Recent Bitsight research shows healthcare organizations that display poor patching cadence can be up to 7x more likely to experience ransomware. 

In early September, a threat actor leaked nearly 500,000 Fortinet VPN login names and passwords that were allegedly scraped from vulnerable devices last summer. The leaked credentials could allow hackers to access an exposed network to perform data exfiltration, install malware, and perform ransomware attacks. Bitsight was able to verify that 98% of the IP addresses in the leaked files were, in fact, running Fortinet VPN servers within the past 12 months.

It’s a question more people are asking with each passing day:

It happened again - another disruptive ransomware attack. On July 2, 2021 Kaseya, a Florida-based software provider that provides Remote Management Monitoring, warned of its software being abused to deploy ransomware on end-customers' systems.