Last week, WaterISAC shared a use case about the recent plan of the East Cherry Creek Valley Water and Sanitation District to upgrade its PLCs, RTUs, radios, SCADA system—and cybersecurity—in its water treatment system.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has published the following ICS vulnerability advisories, as well as alerts, updates, and bulletins:
ICS Vulnerability Advisories:
The holidays are many peoples’ favorite time of year, this is especially true for scammers. This year’s holiday season is no different, with scam campaigns looking to trick you into providing confidential information. Thus, in the spirit of holiday sharing, WaterISAC is highlighting three current scams for our members’ awareness.
New research from Trend Micro sheds light on the potential factors behind the recent surge in ransomware attacks, namely, cyber-criminal marketplaces offering initial access to threat actors. Over the past two years, demand for initial access has grown so much that many dark web markets now have a dedicated “Access-as-a-Service” section. The researchers divided access brokers into three categories: opportunistic sellers, dedicated brokers whose services are often used by smaller ransomware groups, and online shops that provide RDP and VPN credentials.
A small electric cooperative was the apparent victim of a ransomware attack that caused significant disruption and damage last month. On November 7, Delta-Montrose Electric Association (DMEA) discovered a breach on its internal enterprise network. As a result of the attack, the utility lost 90 percent of its enterprise network functions and large amounts of data, including saved documents and spreadsheets.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has published the following ICS vulnerability advisories, as well as alerts, updates, and bulletins:
ICS Vulnerability Advisories:
Amid greater adoption of anti-phishing software and increased awareness of phishing scams, threat actors are increasingly incorporating low-tech phone scams to spoof unknowing victims. A recent campaign involves emailing fake Amazon and Apple invoices informing recipients they have just purchased a very expensive item. The recipients are prompted to call a number in the email if they wish to get refund – a ploy that has a great deal of success as victims hastily want to stop/prevent a high-dollar charge.
The nefarious Emotet malware, which recently reappeared, continues to evolve its propagation methods. The malware is now being delivered by malicious Windows App Installer packages that profess to be Adobe PDF software. WaterISAC previously reported on the reemergence of this malware that spreads via phishing emails and malicious attachments, and often leads to ransomware attacks.
With control systems at water and wastewater utilities having been installed before cybersecurity was even a thing 20 - 30+ years ago, many utilities are now faced with having to replace those aged, insecure, and obsolete systems and devices. However, after such longevity, could there be a concern that once systems start being replaced, these new OT devices will follow a similar fate as their IT counterparts and commence on a path of having to be replaced every 5 years or less? Not necessarily.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has published the following ICS vulnerability advisories, as well as alerts, updates, and bulletins:
ICS Vulnerability Advisories:
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