November 17, 2023 at 02:54AM
U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence agencies have issued a joint advisory about a cybercriminal group called Scattered Spider, known for using sophisticated phishing tactics. The group engages in data theft for extortion and has recently used BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware. Scattered Spider relies on social engineering techniques and has connections to the Gen Z cybercrime ecosystem. The FBI is aware of several members of the group. The group impersonates IT and help desk staff to gain access to networks and uses legitimate remote access tunneling tools and stealers. The U.S. government recommends implementing phishing-resistant MFA and other security measures.
Key Takeaways from the Meeting Notes:
1. U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence agencies have issued a joint advisory about a cybercriminal group known as Scattered Spider. The group uses sophisticated phishing tactics to infiltrate targets.
2. Scattered Spider engages in data theft for extortion and has recently started using BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware alongside their usual tactics.
3. The group is also known as Muddled Libra, Octo Tempest, 0ktapus, Scatter Swine, Star Fraud, and UNC3944.
4. Scattered Spider specializes in social engineering and relies on phishing, prompt bombing, and SIM swapping attacks to obtain credentials, install remote access tools, and bypass multi-factor authentication (MFA).
5. Scattered Spider is part of a larger cybercrime ecosystem called the Com, which includes violent activities and swatting attacks.
6. The U.S. FBI is aware of the identities of at least a dozen members of Scattered Spider.
7. The group impersonates IT and help desk staff to target employees and gain elevated access to networks.
8. Scattered Spider deploys legitimate remote access tools like Fleetdeck.io, Ngrok, and Pulseway, as well as remote access trojans and stealers.
9. The group utilizes living-off-the-land (LotL) techniques to avoid detection and steal sensitive information for extortion.
10. Scattered Spider often joins incident remediation and response calls to gather information on how security teams are hunting them and develop new intrusion methods.
11. The group acts as an affiliate for the BlackCat ransomware gang, monetizing their access to victims for ransomware and data theft.
12. The U.S. government advises companies to implement phishing-resistant MFA, have a recovery plan, maintain offline backups, and enforce application controls to prevent unauthorized software execution on endpoints.
Please note that this is a summary of the meeting notes and does not include all the details.