There is always a fine balance between usability and security, it all depends on your risk appetite. If you favour more security then you have to be willing to jump through more hoops to get to where you want to be, however it will cost you convenience and time. On the other hand, if you favour usability, it comes at a cost of getting compromised.
“Thanos is the first ransomware family observed that advertises the use of the RIPlace tactic. RIPlace is a Windows file system technique unveiled in a proof of concept (PoC) last year by researchers at Nyotron, which can be used to maliciously alter files and which allows attackers to bypass various anti-ransomware methods.”
“Ransomware gangs are teaming up to extort victims through a shared data leak platform, and the exchange of tactics and intelligence. In November 2019, the Maze Ransomware operators transformed ransomware attacks into data breaches after they released unencrypted data of a victim who refused to pay. Soon after, they launched a dedicated “Maze News” site used to shame their unpaid victims by publicly releasing stolen data.”
“Google is indexing the phone numbers of WhatsApp users that could be abused by threat actors for malicious activities. Even if Google Search only revealed the phone numbers and not the identities of associated users, ill-intentioned attackers could be able to see users’ profile pictures on WhatsApp and performing a reverse-image search the user’s profile picture to gather additional info on the potential victim (i.e. mining social media accounts where the victim use the same profile picture).”
“Hangover Group is a cyberespionage group that was first observed in December 2013 carrying on a cyberattack against a telecom corporation in Norway. Cybersecurity firm Norman reported that the cyberattacks were emerging from India and the group sought and carried on attacks against targets of national interest, such as Pakistan and China. However, there have been indicators of Hangover activity in the U.S. and Europe. Mainly focusing on government, military, and civilian organizations. The Hangover Group’s initial vector of compromise is to carry out spear-phishing campaigns. The group uses local and topical news lures from the South Asia region to make their victims more prone to falling into their social engineering techniques, making them download and execute a weaponized Microsoft Office document. After the user executes the weaponized document, backdoor communication is established between BackConfig and the threat actors, allowing attackers to carry on espionage activity, potentially exfiltrating sensitive data from compromised systems.”
