During Infosecurity Magazine's North American Online Summit, editorial director Eleanor Dallaway moderated a session dedicated to the most dangerous attack techniques in 2021. In her opening statement, she stated that the last two years have seen a huge amount of change and evolution, and cyber attack vectors and attack techniques have been no exception.
Dallaway was joined by an expert panel including Brad LaPorte, partner of High Tide Advisors, Miranda Richie, director of cyber threat operations at Orbia; and Michael F.D. Anaya, head of attack surface analysis, Palo Alto Networks & ex-cyber special agent, FBI.
Cyber Attacks and COVID-19
The opening question of the Q&A concerned the speed of cyber-attacks changing in the context of COVID-19. LaPorte brought up that crimeware-as-a-service (CaaS) has become widespread. He pointed out that around 2018, criminals changed their hacking approach. In effect, cyber-criminals have become managed service providers. The attack surface is now "everywhere" because of hybrid work models. Moreover, cyber-threat groups are more extensive and can now make a lot of money. Anaya responded to the question by stating that criminals will always find new opportunities. Phishing is still a big thing; it is easy to execute and will not disappear anytime soon, he noted. Richie raised the topic of initial access brokers, who she claims are enjoying rich pickings amid the COVID-19 chaos. LaPorte points out that alongside crime-as-a-service, DDoS-as-a-service and ransomware-as-a-service have become very popular during the pandemic. Additionally, hacker groups can easily break into companies and then sell the keys to the highest bidder.
Anaya, agreeing with the points raised by the other two panelists, emphasized that while it's true that threats are also evolving because of the amount of information sharing on the dark web, it's also happening on open forums. At this stage, Richie asks Anaya whether this typically goes beyond collaborative efforts. What about the mafia? Anaya claimed that it is hard for law enforcement to obtain the identities of threat actors because of the factor of anonymity.
Threat Actors and Competition
The second question concerned whether there is an ostensible competition between threats actors? Anaya gave a succinct response, claiming that, unlike most organizations that struggle to share information because of legal barriers, there are no obvious barriers between threat actors. However, this is something that needs to change, according to Anaya, because organizations must share information more freely and effectively.
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