Threatpost spoke with Check Point Research Director of Threat Intelligence Research Maya Horowitz, who highlighted a rising trend of cybercriminal groups joining forces and bolstering the underground cybercriminal economy through their coordinated activities. “In some cases, it’s just an as-a-service model, so the groups don’t necessarily have to know each other. But in many cases, the cooperation is so tight, that we have to assume that there’s something there behind the scenes, that these groups actually communicate and complete each other’s gaps in the attack chain,” Horowitz said. Actors would likely split the profit after a successful attack or provide payment for services. Their reasons could range from capitalizing on some groups’ expertise in certain parts of the attack chain, or as a smokescreen to confound researchers looking into their methods and tools, Horowitz said. Horowitz also touched on the top malware families expected to emerge after the dismantling of Emotet, naming Phorpiex, Dridex and QBot as potential top malwares for 2021.
Jill Aitoro leads editorial for SC Media, and content strategy for parent company CyberRisk Alliance. She 20 years of experience editing and reporting on technology, business and policy.
Only 3% of organizations around the world were reported to be completely ready to deal with increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity threats, including ransomware attacks and supply chain intrusions, reports SiliconAngle.
Severely lacking military coordination and recruitment for U.S. cybersecurity efforts have prompted the Foundation for Defense of Democracies to urge Congress to immediately advance an independent Cyber Force that would ensure the country's cyber defense readiness, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.
Cyberespionage operations have been conducted by a pair of Chinese advanced persistent threat groups against organizations in countries part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations since January, The Hacker News reports.