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Fraud and cybercrime vulnerabilities on AIM Research into the risks impacting the top 200 AIM listed businesses Audit / Tax / Advisory / Risk Smart decisions. Lasting value. 2 Contents Introduction 5 Key findings 6 Case studies and examples 12 What should organisations do? 18 Organisations and authors profile 20 Appendices 23 Fraud and cybercrime vulnerabilities on AIM 3 Introduction Key findings Ransomware Risk1 47.5% of companies had at least one external 1 internet service exposed, which would place them at a higher risk of a ransomware attack. Email Spoofing 91.5% of companies analysed were 2 exposed to having their email addresses spoofed. Vulnerable Services 85% of companies were running at least one 3 service, such as an email server or web server, with a well-known vulnerability to a cyber attack. Out of Date Software 41.5% of companies had at least one service 4 that was using software which was out of date, no longer supported and vulnerable to cyber attack. Certificate Issues 31.5% of companies had at least 5 one internet security certificate which had expired, been revoked or distrusted. Domain registration risks 64% of companies had at least one domain 6 registered to a personal or individual email address. 1 A new category of risk that was not included in the previous KYND / Crowe analysis of legal firms. Please see ‘Ransomware Risk’ in this report for further context. 4 Introduction There has been a surge in fraud and cybercrime in the UK and AIM listed businesses are not immune. Irrespective of size, listed businesses The impact of a cyber attract cybercriminals due to their visibility and the opportunity to breach could be use share price as leverage to devastating, including extract ransom payments. financial loss and The impact of a significant reputational damage. breach on a listed business Although businesses are well aware of can sometimes knock the issue, basic vulnerabilities persist. the confidence of fragile Crowe, KYND and the University of investors. Portsmouth’s Centre for Counter Fraud Studies undertook research The operational impacts of a breach in February 2020 to establish how can result in a loss of service and vulnerable AIM listed businesses an inability to deliver goods and are to cybercrime. The research services to clients and customers. focused on the internet domains of Valuable management time is lost the top 200 AIM listed businesses, reacting to fraud and cybercrime and by market capital, and examined the distracts from a business’s mission. cyber risk exposure of each business at that point in time. The research The amount of money businesses are utilised KYND’s pioneering cyber losing to cybercrime is increasing. risk management technology. Ransomware attacks alone increased by 350% in 2018, with global The KYND technology tracks down ransomware damage costs expected all domains relating to an organisation to double to $20 billion by 2021. and the externally facing software and services running on those The threat is constantly evolving domains. It highlights risks to the and businesses need to continue organisation relating to domain evaluating and improving their cyber registration, service vulnerabilities, resilience. The Department for Digital, security certificates and more. Culture, Media and Sport’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2019 found The findings of the research 32% of UK businesses identified are stark. The vast majority cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months. The findings also of top 200 AIM listed suggest that, in cases where cyber businesses have significant security breaches have resulted in a unaddressed cyber risks. business losing data or assets, the financial costs from such incidents have consistently risen since 2017. Fraud and cybercrime vulnerabilities on AIM 5 Key findings Key findings Ransomware Risk of companies had at least one external service exposed, which would place them at 47.5% a higher risk of a ransomware attack. Ransomware is an emerging form of Commonly exploited services are those malware that locks the user out of their used for file sharing or remote access, for files or their device, then demands an example File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Secure anonymous online payment to restore Shell (SSH), Server Message Block (SMB) access. Such attacks saw a 350% increase and Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). in 2018, with global ransomware damage Having these types of service externally costs predicted to hit £20 billion in 2021, exposed can result in ransomware – once up from £11.5 billion in 2019. This past year target services have been identified, bore witness to ransomware impacting hackers will typically gain access by companies large and small, public and brute-forcing passwords in order to login private. A more recent twist is not only as the administrator. They will then encrypt encryption of the network for a ransom, data and demand a ransom payment, but if the victim refuses to pay, then the typically in cryptocurrency (e.g. Bitcoin) attackers release sensitive company data on for the business to regain access. the internet – turning a ransomware-based business disruption into a data breach. What can you do? One of the most utilised attack vectors These types of services should not be for hackers carrying out ransomware accessible or visible on the public internet attacks is simply to scan the public and should immediately be hidden behind internet for specific open ports relating a firewall or the port should be closed. to services, which would allow external access if not securely configured. 6 Email spoofing of the organisations analysed are exposed to having their email addresses spoofed and used 91.5% to send spam, phishing or otherwise fraudulent emails (either internally or externally). Standard inbox spam filters and vigilant Email spoofing can result in: staff will catch most phishing by spotting • exposure to malware and ransomware an incorrect originating email address. • phishing of employees Spoofed emails appear to be sent from an • phishing of clients. organisation’s legitimate address and will not be flagged as spam. It is far harder to spot. Companies at risk of email spoofing What can you do? do not have the correct email • Start by creating a statement, known as a Sender security configurations in place. Policy Framework (SPF) record, specifying all the infrastructure that sends emails on your behalf. Organisations using external email security • Publish the SPF record within a policy services may mistakenly assume they known as Domain Message Authentication are protected. Such services can be Reporting and Conformance (DMARC). effective at protecting an organisation • Begin by using your DMARC to monitor emails being from internal spoofing (an organisation’s sent on your behalf. If you get to this point, well done. own domains used to send spoof emails You’re now aware of any spoofing attempts that are to employees), but they are not effective being made on your organisation’s email addresses. at preventing external spoofing (an organisation’s domains used to send spoof • Based on these reports, over time you’ll be able to emails to customers and suppliers). slowly progress your DMARC policy to first warn recipients of illegitimate emails, before progressing Incorrect configurations suggest there further to stop those emails from being received at all! may be insufficient oversight of cyber security in the organisation or a lack It’s worth noting that many organisations may be of knowledge and skills to correctly on this journey of understanding and monitoring implement the protection that is available. their emails with minimal settings, which is why they are currently spoofable. They’ll be aware of any Of the 200 organisations analysed, 182 attempts to do so, and in time will be able to refine of them (91%) were wide open to having their settings to become increasingly resilient. their domains spoofed and used to send spam, phishing or otherwise fraudulent emails either internally or externally. Fraud and cybercrime vulnerabilities on AIM 7 Key findings Vulnerable services of organisations were running at least one service with a well-known vulnerability – putting them at high 85% risk of attack from cybercriminals who specifically target services with known vulnerabilities. Newly discovered software vulnerabilities are disclosed publicly as part of the disclosure and resolution process for software developers. Cybercriminals use these public repositories of software vulnerabilities and identify websites using services with known vulnerabilities. Running vulnerable services can • ransomware – a malicious program result in: that removes access to electronic • theft of data – hackers can files, usually by encryption exploit vulnerabilities to directly • malware – software specifically access sensitive data designed to disrupt, damage or • loss of control of website – gain unauthorised access to a website owners and visitors can be computer system also known unaware that the site and traffic to as a virus, bug or worm. the site has been compromised 8 Out-of-date services of organisations had at least one internet service that was using software which was out of date and 41.5% no longer supported by its developer, putting them at higher risk of cyber attack and service failure. Older versions of services are no longer supported or maintained by What can you do? the vendor and any newly discovered • Have a register that includes vulnerabilities are only patched in the details of all software used, where new release versions of the software. it is used, and who is responsible for keeping it up to date. Running old or out-of-date versions of • Have a procedure to regularly services makes a business extremely check software is up to date. vulnerable to attack and service failure. • Do not delay or ignore messages Running out-of-date services to update services when prompted can have the same impact as by software providers. running vulnerable services.