CISA Releases Capacity Enhancement Guides to Enhance Mobile Device Cybersecurity for Consumers and Organizations 24 Nov 2021, 5:00 pm

CISA has released actionable Capacity Enhancement Guides (CEGs) to help users and organizations improve mobile device cybersecurity.

• The CEG: Mobile Device Cybersecurity Checklist for Consumers provides steps for consumers, including using strong authentication and enabling automatic operating system updates.
• The CEG: Mobile Device Cybersecurity Checklist for Organizations provides steps to help organizations secure mobile access to enterprise resources.

CISA encourages users and administrators to review the guidance and apply the recommendations.

VMware Releases Security Updates 24 Nov 2021, 4:58 pm

VMware has released security updates to address multiple vulnerabilities in vCenter Server and Cloud Foundation. A remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability to obtain access to sensitive information.

CISA encourages users and administrators to review VMware Security Advisory VMSA-2021-0027 and apply the necessary updates.

Reminder for Critical Infrastructure to Stay Vigilant Against Threats During Holidays and Weekends 22 Nov 2021, 3:00 pm

As Americans prepare to hit the highways and airports this Thanksgiving holiday, CISA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are reminding critical infrastructure partners that malicious cyber actors aren’t making the same holiday plans as you. Recent history tells us that this could be a time when these persistent cyber actors halfway across the world are looking for ways—big and small—to disrupt the critical networks and systems belonging to organizations, businesses, and critical infrastructure. 

There are actions that executives, leaders, and workers in any organization can take proactively to protect themselves against cyberattacks, including possible ransomware attacks, during the upcoming holiday season—a time during which offices are often closed, and employees are home with their friends and families. Although neither CISA nor the FBI currently have identified any specific threats, recent 2021 trends show malicious cyber actors launching serious and impactful ransomware attacks during holidays and weekends, including Independence Day and Mother’s Day weekends.

CISA and the FBI strongly urge all entities–especially critical infrastructure partners–to examine their current cybersecurity posture and implement best practices and mitigations to manage the risk posed by cyber threats. Specifically, CISA and the FBI urge users and organizations to take the following actions to protect themselves from becoming the next victim:

• Identify IT security employees for weekends and holidays who would be available to surge during these times in the event of an incident or ransomware attack. 
• Implement multi-factor authentication for remote access and administrative accounts.
• Mandate strong passwords and ensure they are not reused across multiple accounts. 
• If you use remote desktop protocol (RDP) or any other potentially risky service, ensure it is secure and monitored. 
• Remind employees not to click on suspicious links, and conduct exercises to raise awareness. 

Additionally, CISA and the FBI recommend maintaining vigilance against the multiple techniques cybercriminals use to gain access to networks, including:

• Phishing scams, such as unsolicited emails posing as charitable organizations.
• Fraudulent sites spoofing reputable businesses—it is possible malicious actors will target sites often visited by users doing their holiday shopping online.
• Unencrypted financial transactions.

Finally—to reduce the risk of severe business/functional degradation should your organization fall victim to a ransomware attack—review and, if needed, update your incident response and communication plans. These plans should list actions to take—and contacts to reach out to—should your organization be impacted by a ransomware incident. Note: for assistance, review available incident response guidance, such as the Ransomware Response Checklist in the CISA-MS-ISAC Joint Ransomware Guide, the Public Power Cyber Incident Response Playbook, and the new Federal Government Cybersecurity Incident and Vulnerability Response Playbooks.

CISA and the FBI urge users and organizations to take these actions immediately to protect themselves against this threat. For a comprehensive overview, see the joint Cybersecurity Advisory Ransomware Awareness for Holidays and Weekends. For more information and resources on protecting against and responding to ransomware, visit StopRansomware.gov, a centralized, whole-of-government webpage providing ransomware resources and alerts.

Updated: APT Exploitation of ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus Vulnerability 19 Nov 2021, 9:04 pm

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), CISA, and Coast Guard Cyber Command (CGCYBER) have updated the Joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) published on September 16, 2021, which details the active exploitation of an authentication bypass vulnerability (CVE-2021-40539) in Zoho ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus—a self-service password management and single sign-on solution.

The update provides details on a suite of tools APT actors are using to enable this campaign: 

• Dropper: a dropper trojan that drops Godzilla webshell on a system 
• Godzilla: a Chinese language web shell 
• NGLite: a backdoor trojan written in Go 
• KdcSponge: a tool that targets undocumented APIs in Microsoft’s implementation of Kerberos for credential exfiltration  

Note: FBI, CISA, and CGCYBER cannot confirm the CVE-2021-40539 is the only vulnerability APT actors are leveraging as part of this activity, so it is key that network defenders focus on detecting the tools listed above in addition to initial access vector.

CISA encourages organizations to review the November 19 update and apply the recommended mitigations. CISA also recommends reviewing the relevant blog posts from Palo Alto Networks, Microsoft, and IBM Security Intelligence. 

NSA and CISA Release Guidance on Securing 5G Cloud Infrastructures 19 Nov 2021, 6:44 pm

CISA has announced the joint National Security Agency (NSA) and CISA publication of the second of a four-part series, Security Guidance for 5G Cloud Infrastructures. Part II: Securely Isolate Network Resources examines threats to 5G container-centric or hybrid container/virtual network, also known as Pods. The guidance provides several aspects of pod security including limiting permissions on deployed containers, avoiding resource contention and denial-of-service attacks, and implementing real-time threat detection.

This series is being published under the Enduring Security Framework (ESF), a public-private cross-sector working group led by NSA and CISA.

CISA encourages 5G providers, integrators, and network operators to review the guidance and consider the recommendations.

Drupal Releases Security Updates 18 Nov 2021, 4:21 pm

Drupal has released security updates to address vulnerabilities that could affect versions 8.9, 9.1, and 9.2. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system.

CISA encourages users and administrators to review Drupal Security Advisory SA-CORE-2021-011 and apply the necessary updates.

NCSC Releases 2021 Annual Review 18 Nov 2021, 3:15 pm

The United Kingdom (UK) National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has released its Annual Review 2021, which focuses on its response to evolving and challenging cyber threats.

The publication contains highlights of NCSC’s collaboration with trusted cybersecurity partners, including CISA. Examples include:

• Joint Cybersecurity Advisory: Top Routinely Exploited Vulnerabilities
• Joint Cybersecurity Advisory NSA-CISA-NCSC-FBI Joint Cybersecurity Advisory on Russian GRU Brute Force Campaign
• Joint Cybersecurity Advisory: Further TTPs Associated with SVR Cyber Actors
• Joint Cybersecurity Advisory: Technical Approaches to Uncovering and Remediating Malicious Activity

CISA encourages users to review NCSC’s Annual Review 2021 and learn more about their key developments and highlights between September 1, 2020 and August 31, 2021.

CISA Adds Four Known Exploited Vulnerabilities to Catalog 17 Nov 2021, 8:35 pm

CISA has added four new vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, which require remediation from federal civilian executive branch (FCEB) agencies by December 1, 2021. CISA has evidence that threat actors are actively exploiting the vulnerabilities listed in the table below. These types of vulnerabilities are a frequent attack vector for malicious cyber actors of all types and pose significant risk to the federal enterprise. 

Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 22-01: Reducing the Significant Risk of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities established the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog as a living list of known CVEs that carry significant risk to the federal enterprise. BOD 22-01 requires FCEB agencies to remediate identified vulnerabilities by the due date to protect FCEB networks against active threats. See the BOD 22-01 Fact Sheet for more information.

Although BOD 22-01 only applies to FCEB agencies, CISA strongly urges all organizations to reduce their exposure to cyberattacks by prioritizing timely remediation of Catalog vulnerabilities as part of their vulnerability management practice. CISA will continue to add vulnerabilities to the Catalog that meet the meet the specified criteria.

Iranian Government-Sponsored APT Cyber Actors Exploiting Microsoft Exchange and Fortinet Vulnerabilities 17 Nov 2021, 2:00 pm

CISA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), and the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)  have released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory highlighting ongoing malicious cyber activity by an advanced persistent threat (APT) group that FBI, CISA, ACSC, and NCSC assess is associated with the government of Iran.  FBI and CISA have observed this Iranian government-sponsored APT exploit Fortinet and Microsoft Exchange ProxyShell vulnerabilities to gain initial access to systems in advance of follow-on operations, which include deploying ransomware.

Joint Cybersecurity Advisory AA21-321A provides observed tactics and techniques, as well as indicators of compromise that FBI, CISA, ACSC, and NCSC assess are likely associated with this Iranian government-sponsored APT activity. FBI, CISA, ACSC, and NCSC urge critical infrastructure organizations to apply the recommendations listed in the advisory to mitigate risk of compromise from Iranian government-sponsored cyber actors. 

CISA also recommends reviewing its Iran Cyber Threat Overview and other Iran-related Advisories.

Google Releases Security Updates for Chrome 16 Nov 2021, 3:11 pm

Google has released Chrome version 96.0.4664.45 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. This version addresses vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit to take control of an affected system. 

CISA encourages users and administrators to review the Chrome Release Note and apply the necessary updates as soon as possible.