Texas Tech University Data Breach

 

Yet another breach by a hospital.

The impact is limited(!) with 1,4 million people this time. The attackers claimed that they have stolen 2,5 terabytes of data. (OMG!)

Given the critical nature of the healthcare sector, robust countermeasures against cyberattacks are essential.

Texas Tech University is notifying over 1.4 million individuals that their personal information was stolen in a ransomware attack targeting its Health Sciences Center and Health Sciences Center El Paso.

After reviewing the stolen data, the university determined that personal information such as names, addresses, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, government ID numbers, and Social Security numbers were compromised.

Additionally, the attackers stole health insurance and medical information, including diagnosis and treatment details, and financial account information.

https://bit.ly/4ftH0DH

"After securing its systems, the university discovered that the attackers had access to its network from September 17 to September 29, 2024, and that they exfiltrated certain files and folders during that time."

"The university’s incident notice does not specifically say ransomware was used in the attack, but it does mention “temporary disruptions”, and the Interlock ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the incident.

In late October, the gang added Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center to its leak site, claiming the theft of roughly 2.5 terabytes of data, including patient information, medical research, and multiple SQL databases."

"However, Interlock is not the only ransomware group to claim an attack on Texas Tech University. In July, the Meow ransomware group was offering for sale five SQL databases allegedly containing emails, passwords, and other sensitive information from the university, along with a security vulnerability affecting the institution’s website."

BSI of Germany Disrupts BADBOX Malware

BSI of Germany did a really good job.

Germany's Federal Office of Information Security (BSI) has announced that it has disrupted a malware operation called BADBOX that came preloaded on at least 30,000 internet-connected devices sold across the country.

Whether you shop online or in-store, choose your retailer wisely when buying smart TVs, mobile phones, or tablets

https://bit.ly/4gCMBIS

"...Impacted devices include digital picture frames, media players, and streamers, and likely phones and tablets."

'What all of these devices have in common is that they have outdated Android versions and were delivered with pre-installed malware,' the BSI said in a press release."

"Once connected to the internet, the malware embedded into the devices can collect a wide range of data such as authentication codes, and install additional malware."

"...'Anyone can accidentally buy a BADBOX device online without ever knowing it was fake, plugging it in, and unknowingly opening this backdoor malware.'

The BSI said that devices compromised by BADBOX are also capable of acting as a residential proxy service, allowing other threat actors to route their internet traffic through them while simultaneously evading detection. They could also be used to create online accounts on Gmail and WhatsApp."

"These off-brand devices discovered to be infected were not Play Protect certified Android devices. If a device isn't Play Protect certified, Google doesn’t have a record of security and compatibility test results. Play Protect certified Android devices undergo extensive testing to ensure quality and user safety..."

"Cybersecurity Bitsight, in an analysis published December 17, 2024, said it identified 192,000 BADBOX infected devices, citing telemetry data, with most of them traced back to Yandex 4K QLED TV and T963 Hisense smartphone. The top affected countries are Russia, China, India, Belarus, Brazil, and Ukraine."

A Decade-Old Cisco ASA WebVPN Vulnerability

If your systems are still susceptible to a decade-old vulnerability, it's clear that your vulnerability or patch management systems are not functioning effectively, or perhaps both.

This is not a hypothetical situation, but a real-world occurrence. Actually it's no surprise, as many organizations still lack a proper vulnerability management system. The worst part is, some of them are unaware of the risks involved with not having a vulnerability management system.

https://bit.ly/3Vxf5vr

"Cisco on Monday (2 Dec 2024) updated an advisory to warn customers of active exploitation of a decade-old security flaw impacting its Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA).

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2014-2120 (CVSS score: 4.3), concerns a case of insufficient input validation in ASA's WebVPN login page that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct a cross-site scripting (XSS) attack against a targeted user of the appliance."

"The development comes shortly after cybersecurity firm CloudSEK revealed that the threat actors behind AndroxGh0st are leveraging an extensive list of security vulnerabilities in various internet-facing applications, including CVE-2014-2120, to propagate the malware."

Cyber Attacks on UK Drinking Water Supplies

Cybersecurity is paramount for all sectors, especially those critical to our infrastructure. The consequences can be catastrophic if critical infrastructures are compromised by cyberattacks. Imagine the chaos that would ensue if you were without water for even three days.

A record number of cyber incidents impacted Britain’s critical drinking water supplies in 2024 without being publicly disclosed.

https://bit.ly/4fRV0s2

"Across all regulated critical national infrastructure sectors, more NIS incidents have been reported this year than ever before, with the transport and drinking water sectors the most impacted. In 2024, there were at least six incidents affecting drinking water infrastructure, according to data collected by Recorded Future News using the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. In previous years there were no more than two."