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TECHNOLOGY

Majority of business execs in SEA anticipate data theft, APT, ransomware attacks  

August 3, 2022 8:04 p.m.

With the many news reports highlighting the damages of cyberattacks against businesses and countries as a whole, Kaspersky’s fresh study revealed the heightened awareness of business executives in Southeast Asia (SEA) about the sophisticated risks online.

Data theft, alongside Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) attacks and ransomware infections, are the highest on their list of concerns.

The study titled “How business executives perceive ransomware threat” surveyed a total of 900 senior non-IT management (such as CEOs, VP, and Director level) and business owners or partners at companies with 50—1000 employees. Conducted last April, the study was done globally with 100 executives from SEA.

When asked to assess the possibility of different types of cybersecurity incidents, data theft, also known as data breach, is the threat that the respondents from SEA are most concerned about (77%).

This does not come as a surprise as news about data breaches across the region were being reported almost regularly with wide victimology from e-commerce companies, digital services provider, hotel chains, insurance and health companies, and even government agencies.

Data theft – the illegal transfer or storage of personal, confidential, or financial information – is closely followed by an APT attack (75%), and a ransomware attack (73%).

An APT attack uses continuous, clandestine, and sophisticated hacking techniques to gain access to a system and remain inside for a prolonged period of time, with potentially destructive consequences.

Because of the level of effort needed to carry out such an attack, APTs are usually leveled at high-value targets, such as nation states and large corporations, with the ultimate goal of stealing information over a long period of time.

Ransomware, as the name suggests, is malicious software designed to block access to a computer system or encrypt its data until a sum of money (a ransom) is paid.

These attacks have been carried out on individuals or corporations.

The anticipation for these three damaging attacks is higher among SEA-based business leaders as compared to the global average by more or less double-digit margins.

However, the same study revealed that while the majority of the respondents anticipate a ransomware attack, almost 7 in every 10 (65%) of them believe that “the possibility of my organization being exposed to a ransomware attack is too small to worry about”.

A majority (81%) of the surveyed non-IT executives in SEA also trust that the security measures they have in place are enough to protect them from a ransomware attempt.

“At first glance, it is good to see that the business executives here are confident about their security posture to defend their organizations against damaging online attacks such as ransomware. We should, however, be careful about not letting confidence breed complacency because the reality is a ransomware attack is not something too small for enterprises to be worried about,” comments Yeo Siang Tiong, General Manager for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky.

“Even though 72% of our respondents from SEA believe that ransomware attacks are being shown as a bigger threat than they actually are by the media, this type of threat is actually evolving and is transforming into a bigger menace that our security systems and IT staffs should be ready for,” adds Yeo.

Since 2020, Kaspersky experts have been warning about “Ransomware 2.0”. Almost always a “targeted ransomware”, Ransomware 2.0 refers to cybercriminal groups who moved from hostaging data to exfiltrating data coupled with blackmailing.

The aftermaths of a successful attack include significant monetary loss and damaging reputation loss.

This type of attack goes beyond kidnapping a company’s or an organization’s data. These groups are utilizing the increasingly valued digital reputation to force their prey to pay a hefty ransom.

As of 2020, at least 61 entities from the region were breached by targeted ransomware groups including companies from light industry – including the manufacturing of clothes, shoes, furniture, consumer electronics and home appliances; public service, media and Technology, heavy industry – including oil, mining, shipbuilding, steel, chemicals, machinery manufacturing; finance, and logistics.

The infamous ransomware groups Kaspersky experts closely monitor include REvil, LockBit, Conti, and more.

To help organizations protect their systems from ransomware and other sophisticated attacks, Kaspersky experts recommend the following:

  • Always keep up-to-date copies of your files so you can replace them in case they are lost (e.g. due to malware or a broken device). These should be stored not only on a physical device but also in cloud storage for greater reliability. Make sure you can quickly access your backups in the event of an emergency.
  • Keep your OS and software patched and up to date.
  • Train all employees on cybersecurity best practices while they work remotely. 
  • Only use secure technologies for remote connection.
  • Carry out a security assessment on your network.
  • Enterprise companies are recommended to use anti-APT and EDR solutions, enabling capabilities for advanced threat discovery and detection, investigation and timely remediation of incidents, as well as to have access to the latest threat intelligence. An MDR provider could help to effectively hunt any advanced ransomware attack. All of the above is available within Kaspersky Expert Security.
  • Follow the latest trends via premium threat intelligence subscriptions, like Kaspersky APT Intelligence Service.
  • Know your enemy: identify new undetected malware on premises with Kaspersky Threat Attribution Engine.
  • If you become a victim, never pay the ransom. It won’t guarantee you get your data back but will encourage criminals to continue their business. Instead, report the incident to your local law enforcement agency. Try to find a decryptor on the internet – you can find some of these available at nomoreransom.org.
  • Never follow the demands of the criminals. Do not fight alone – contact Law Enforcement, CERT, security vendors like Kaspersky.  

For companies looking to improve the expertise of their in-house digital forensics and incident response teams, as well as for IT security practitioners looking to upgrade relevant skills, Kaspersky has also expanded its online expert training portfolio. 

The Windows Incident Response training was developed by experts from the company’s Global Emergency Response Team (GERT) with more than 12 years’ experience in the field. 

The self-guided training course includes 40 video lessons and 100 hours of virtual lab time for hands-on learning. The estimated training duration is 15 hours, but participants will have six months of access to the platform to finish the traini

More information about the Windows Incident Response course is available via this link.

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TECHNOLOGY

LG’s Inverter Direct Drive motor reaches milestone with 100M units produced

March 14, 2023 11:32 a.m.

A Key Component of Premium LG Washing Machines for More than Two Decades, Company’s Innovative Motor Technology Continues to Evolve for Excellence

LG Electronics (LG) announces that production of its Inverter Direct Drive™ (DD™) motor has exceeded 100 million units. The company’s differentiated motor technology is a major factor in the strong, reliable performance and continuing global popularity of LG’s industry-leading laundry solutions.

From 1998 to the end of 2022, the company produced, on average, over 12,000 Inverter DD motors per day. LG’s Inverter DD motor connects directly to the washing drum, an innovation that helps make LG washing machines more durable and dramatically reduces noise and energy consumption during operation.

LG has refined the Inverter DD motor over four generations, continuously improving the technology and its performance capabilities to deliver greater customer value. The company holds over 240 Inverter DD motor related technology patents in Korea and internationally. In 2019, the company applied Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the Inverter DD motor to further enhance its efficiency and effectiveness. Used in LG’s premium washing machines and dryers, the AI DD motor leverages deep learning technology to detect the weight of each load and the types of fabrics being washed. It then selects the optimal combination of drum movements from the company’s proprietary 6 Motion tech – which enables six discrete drum movements – to care and clean for users’ laundry.

Last year, LG brought its advanced Inverter DD motor to its dryers for the first time. Like the company’s washers, LG dryers also offer 6 Motion (Tumble, Swing, Rolling, Stepping, Scrubbing, and Filtration) technology to boost drying performance and minimize fabric damage. LG’s inverter motor technology – specifically, the AI DD – became the first home appliance technology to earn Deep Learning AI Verification from global safety science company, (UL) Underwriters Laboratories.

“The number of Inverter DD motors produced points to the excellence of the motor technology LG has developed for its premium laundry solutions,” said Kim Yang-sun, head of the Component Solution Business Unit at LG Electronics Home Appliance & Air Solution Company. “We will continue to create highly efficient core components that boost the performance and reliability of our products while also reducing carbon emissions during operation.”

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TECHNOLOGY

Kaspersky study reveals basic cybersecurity terms unfamiliar to C-level executives in SEA

February 20, 2023 3:05 p.m.

Every fourth business executive in Southeast Asia (SEA) prefers not to flag lack of understanding when discussing cybersecurity issues. A recent Kaspersky study also reveals one in ten C-level managers have never heard of threats such as Botnet, APT and Zero-Day exploit.

The same proportion appeared to be unfamiliar with cyber security concepts like DecSecOps, ZeroTrust, SOC and Pentesting.

According to a PwC’s study, while backing cybersecurity in every business decision has already become the norm in every other company, more than half of executives lack confidence that their cyber spending is being allocated to the most significant risks their organization is facing. Kaspersky conducted their own research to help IT and C-level find common ground and explore the root of their misunderstandings, where a total of 300 executives from the SEA region were surveyed.

The Kaspersky poll indicates that C-suite sometimes struggle to understand their IT security peers and are not always ready to show their confusion. Thus, 26% of non-IT executives here say they would not feel comfortable flagging that they don’t understand something during a meeting with IT and IT security. 

Although most of them hide their confusion because they prefer to clarify everything after the meeting or choose to figure everything out by themselves, more than half (55%) don’t ask additional questions because they don’t believe the IT peers will be able to explain it in a clear way. Almost two-in-five also feel embarrassed revealing they don’t understand the topic and 42% don’t want to look ignorant in front of their IT colleagues.

Also, even though all surveyed top-managers from SEA regularly discuss security related issues with IT security managers more than one-in-ten respondents have never heard of threats such as Zero-Day exploit (11%), Botnet (9%), and APT (9%). At the same time Spyware, Malware, Trojan and Phishing appeared to be more familiar for top-managers.

More than one-in-ten top managers here admit they have never heard of cybersecurity terms like DecSecOps (10%), SOC (10%), Pentesting (10%), and ZeroTrust (6%). 

“Non-IT top management do not have to be experts in complex cybersecurity terminology and concepts and IT security executives should keep this in mind when communicating with the board,” comments Sergey Zhuykov, Solution Architect at Kaspersky. 

“To establish efficient cooperation CISO should be able to focus C-level attention precisely on meaningful details and clearly explain what exactly the company is doing to minimize cybersecurity risks. In addition to communicating clear metrics to stakeholders, this approach requires offering solutions instead of problems,” says Zhuykov.

“On the other end of the communications spectrum, only 6% of IT security professionals in SEA admit facing difficulty in discussing aspects of their work to the C-level. This means the majority of our technical workforce deem that their updates are understood by the decision makers. To bridge this dangerous gap, security teams should also incorporate effective tools – real life examples and use of reports and numbers – to ensure that discussions are done effectively,” adds Chris Connell, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Kaspersky. 

To ease the communication between IT security and business functions within the company, Kaspersky recommends the following: 

  • IT security should be positioned as a driver for growth and innovation in the organization. To achieve this the IT security team should move away from prohibitive tactics and rather explain how the business can achieve its goals while mitigating cybersecurity risks.
  • CISO should actively engage in operational activities and build relationships with the company’s stakeholders. While fewer than 20% of CISOs have established partnerships with key executives in sales, finance, and marketing, it is hard for them to stay abreast of the needs of the business. 
  • When communicating with the board, use arguments based on an overview of threats by experts, your company’s attack status and best practices. 
  • Explain to the board what the main responsibilities of the IT security team are. If possible, provide them with an opportunity to walk in a CISO’s shoes to get insights on the most relevant IT security challenges. 
  • Allocate cybersecurity investments in tools with proven efficacy and ROI. This means tools that lower the level of false positives, and reduce times of attack detection, the time spent per case and other metrics are important to any IT security team.

Kaspersky in Southeast Asia also has launched a Buy 1 Free 1 promo to help SMBs and midrange enterprises in beefing their cybersecurity capabilities. Businesses can now enjoy two years of enterprise-grade endpoint protection for the price of 1 with Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business or Cloud or Kaspersky Endpoint Detection and Response Optimum, with 24×7 phone support. Interested customers can reach out to sea.sales@kaspersky.com.  

The full report and more insights on communications issues between C-level and IT security managers are available via the link.

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TECHNOLOGY

Kaspersky Threat Intelligence enhances its threat data feeds, threat analysis, brand protection capabilities

February 4, 2023 9:41 a.m.

The latest release of Kaspersky Threat Intelligence service includes a range of improved feeds that contribute to a deeper understanding of cyberattackers’ behavior, tactics, techniques and procedures regardless of region or language.

It also contains new integrated elements allowing for the protection of companies’ brands on social networks and in marketplaces.

Cybercriminals can remain undetected in companies’ networks, obtaining sensitive information resulting in financial loss, reputational damage, and long-lasting system failures. According to statistics provided by Kaspersky Global Emergency Response Team, the average duration of a prolonged attack is 94.5 days before it is detected by an InfoSec specialist.

To protect businesses from hidden threats like these, companies should provide their security teams with reliable solutions that help them stay one step ahead of cybercriminals and eliminate cyber risks before they can do any harm.

To implement this goal, Kaspersky updated its Threat Intelligence with new Threat Hunting and Incident Investigation capabilities. Providing information in human- and machine-readable formats, the solution supports security teams with meaningful context throughout the incident management cycle, boosts incident investigations and informs strategic decision-making.

Advanced Threat Data Feeds for better protection

The latest release of Kaspersky Threat Intelligence contains new feeds on crimeware, cloud services and threats to open-source software. These feeds will help customers to detect or prevent confidential data leakage and mitigate risks of supply chain attacks and vulnerable or politically compromised software components.

It also introduces Industrial Vulnerability data feed in OVAL format. It allows customers to find vulnerable ICS software easily on Windows hosts in their networks by using popular vulnerability scanners.

The existing feeds are enriched with additional valuable and actionable information such as new threat categories, attack tactics and techniques in MITRE ATT&CK classification, which will help customers identify their adversary, investigate and respond to the threats faster and more efficiently.

Integration with Security information and event management (SIEM) solutions via Kaspersky CyberTrace is also enhanced with the automated parsing of indicators of compromise (IoCs) directly from emails and PDFs.

Moreover, CyberTrace now supports flexible export format of IoCs, allowing seamless integration of filtered Threat Data Feeds into third-party security controls.

Better visibility for in-depth investigation

Kaspersky Threat Intelligence extended its coverage to IP addresses and added new categories such as DDoS, Intrusion, Brute-force and Net scanners, as customers previously made many searches related to these types of threats.

The updated solution also supports filters that can help users specify criteria sources, sections and periods for automated schedule searches.

The Research Graph, a graphic visualization tool, was also updated to support two new nodes: actors and reports.

Users can apply them to find additional connections with IoCs. This option accelerates threat response and threat hunting activities by highlighting IoCs from high profile attacks described in APT, crimeware and industrial reports as well as in Actor profiles.

Reliable brand protection on social networks and marketplaces

Reliable brand protection on social networks and marketplaces

The brand protection capability of Threat Intelligence was improved by adding new notifications to the Digital Footprint Intelligence service. Now it supports real time alerts for Targeted Phishing, faked Social Networks accounts or applications in Mobile Marketplace.

It helps to track the appearance of the phishing website targeting their brand company name, online services or trademarks and provide relevant, accurate and detailed information about phishing activities. The updated solution also monitors and detects malicious mobile applications impersonating the customer’s brand and fake organization profiles on social networks.

Improved threat analysis tools

The updated Kaspersky Cloud Research Sandbox now supports Android OS and MITRE ATT&CK mapping, related metrics will be displayed on a dashboard of the Cloud Sandbox. It also provides all network activities across all protocols, including IP, UDP, TCP, DNS, HTTP(S), SSL, FTP, POP3, IRC. The user can now specify command lines and file parameters to launch the emulation in a tailored way.

“We have been focusing on threat research at Kaspersky for over two decades. With petabytes of rich threat data, advanced machine learning technologies and a unique pool of global experts we work to support customers with the latest threat intelligence from all over the world, helping them to defend themselves even from previously unseen cyberattacks,” comments Anatoly Simonenko, Head of Technology Solutions Product Management at Kaspersky.

Learn more about Kaspersky Threat Intelligence.

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