Publications

AUSCERT 30 Years 30 Stories – Peter Degotardi AUSCERT member in the education industry, Peter Degotardi is the Manager of Cyber Security Capability at the University of Technology Sydney. Joining the University in 2015, Peter has benefited from the information his AUSCERT membership provides. Keeping his organisation up-to-date and ahead of the game, Peter’s AUSCERT story is one of community and collaboration. What are some of the key benefits you’ve experienced as an AUSCERT member? The main benefit I receive from AUSCERT is the community and the sense of camaraderie we have. This community is a sight to behold; everyone talks to each other and trusts one another. The information we receive is phenomenal, giving great value out of the membership. Often, we’re alerted to vulnerable hosts before we’re even aware it’s happened. We can’t live without [phishing] site takedown services, along with phishing emails that AUSCERT handles for us. How has AUSCERT evolved over the years? I was involved with AUSCERT before I started in the cyber security sector, and I’ve always dreamed of going to the AUSCERT conference. Initially, AUSCERT was a ‘techie’ organisation but now it’s evolved to helping businesses secure themselves. Although technology is one part of the AUSCERT offering, they now focus on the governance and risk management services. What advice would you give to someone considering becoming an AUSCERT member, and why do you believe that membership is valuable for organisations of all sizes and industries? Be ready to ingest a huge amount of information; you’re going to receive a lot. The value is in the information sharing you receive, not just from AUSCERT itself but other members – everyone helps everyone else. What do you think the future holds for AUSCERT? Everything evolves – technology, processes, people, organisations, but no matter what changes, it needs to be secured. I’m looking at AUSCERT to provide timely information to be able to do just that – provide recommendations to stay one step ahead of the baddies. What do you believe sets AUSCERT apart from other organisations in the cyber security space? AUSCERT is Australian born and bred and it has the connections to its equivalents across the world. AUSCERT gives me the information I don’t have readily accessible, which will help us to develop a better security position for the organisation.

Greetings, Thirty-five years ago the ‘Morris Worm’ carved a path of destruction and chaos that inadvertently triggered a ripple effect of events, paving the way for the thriving cyber security industry we have today. Prior to this incident, cyber security wasn’t really a consideration by the public. However, this event, along with subsequent ones, quickly changed peoples' perspectives. Although many within the field already familiar with the story may see it as a ‘ho-hum’ history tale, it’s important to remember that understanding our history is crucial for building a stronger future. Robert Morris Jr, intent on discovering how big the internet was, accidentally set loose the first ever internet worm upon thousands of computers. The young grad student was completing his graduate degree at Cornell when he launched the experiment that would change the cyber world forever. Previously no attack had affected so many computers, taking down systems in government facilities, hospitals, and military bases in addition to privately owned computers. The experiment resulted in US$100,000 – 10,000,000 dollars’ worth of damage, taking hundreds of people days to clean up the mess left in its wake. This event became a tale of caution to many students studying in the field as probing vulnerabilities out of curiosity can have huge detrimental and unintended consequences. In response to incidents like the Morris Worm, the concept of Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) emerged, highlighting the need for coordinated efforts to respond to and mitigate cyber incidents. Some key takeaways from incidents like the Morris Worm include the importance of proactive measures, the need for rapid incident response teams and the continuous evolution of security measures to stay ahead of emerging threats. In the context of growth and development we should not dismiss the past but instead learn from it. Click here to read more insights about the event from industry luminary Gene Spafford. What better way to create your own ripple effect in the community than by contributing your time and expertise to our upcoming AUSCERT2024 conference? Your knowledge and skills have the potential to create a significant impact and further advance the industry. Call for Tutorials submissions portal is closing today, so don’t miss out! Presentation submissions will be opening on November 16, next week! We invite anyone within the industry interested in speaking at the conference to submit a proposal. We offer excellent benefits such as travel and accommodation, as well as mentoring support for speakers. Additionally, sponsorship opportunities are also now available on our website. Critical Atlassian Confluence bug exploited in Cerber ransomware attacks Date: 2023-11-06 Author: Bleeping Computer Attackers are exploiting a recently patched and critical severity Atlassian Confluence authentication bypass flaw to encrypt victims' files using Cerber ransomware. Described by Atlassian as an improper authorization vulnerability and tracked as CVE-2023-22518, this bug received a 9.1/10 severity rating, and it affects all versions of Confluence Data Center and Confluence Server software. Veeam warns of critical bugs in Veeam ONE monitoring platform Date: 2023-11-06 Author: Bleeping Computer [AUSCERT has directly notified members about this vulnerability where possible] Veeam released hotfixes today to address four vulnerabilities in the company's Veeam ONE IT infrastructure monitoring and analytics platform, two of them critical. The company assigned almost maximum severity ratings (9.8 and 9.9/10 CVSS base scores) to the critical security flaws since they let attackers gain remote code execution (RCE) and steal NTLM hashes from vulnerable servers. The remaining two are medium-severity bugs that require user interaction or have limited impact. Hacker Leaks 35 Million Scraped LinkedIn User Records Date: 2023-11-07 Author: Hack Read The scraped LinkedIn database was leaked in two parts: one part contained 5 million user records, while the second part contained 35 million records. A LinkedIn database, holding the personal information of over 35 million users, was leaked by a hacker operating under the alias USDoD. The database was leaked on the infamous cybercrime and hacker platform, Breach Forums. Government looks at passwordless access for myGov Date: 2023-11-09 Author: iTnews The federal government intends to change how citizens authenticate to the myGov system from next year, moving to passwordless approaches such as passkeys and facial recognition. At the press conference, government services minister Bill Shorten said the government planned to "upgrade the security of the myGov system." He said myGov "will benefit from a number of changes to how customers can sign-in, ensuring that accounts and personal information remain protected.” New Microsoft Exchange zero-days allow RCE, data theft attacks Date: 2023-11-03 Author: Bleeping Computer Microsoft Exchange is impacted by four zero-day vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit remotely to execute arbitrary code or disclose sensitive information on affected installations. The zero-day vulnerabilities were disclosed by Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) yesterday, who reported them to Microsoft on September 7th and 8th, 2023. Despite Microsoft acknowledging the reports, its security engineers decided the flaws weren't severe enough to guarantee immediate servicing, postponing the fixes for later. ESB-2023.6043.3 – UPDATED ALERT Cisco iOS XE Software: CVSS (Max): 10.0 Cisco provided fixes as a result of an ongoing investigation into observed exploitation of the web UI feature in Cisco IOS XE software. The investigation determined that the treat actors exploited two previously unknown issues documented in CVE-2023-20198 and CVE-2023-20273. ESB-2023.6313.2 – UPDATED ALERT Confluence Data Center and Server: CVSS (Max): 10.0 Atlassian observed several active exploits and reports of threat actors using ransomware in relation to Confluence. Atlassian has released fixes to mitigate this threat in new versions of Confluence Data Center and Server. ESB-2023.6480 – Jira: CVSS (Max): 10.0 Certain versions of Jira Service Management Data Center and Server allowed authenticated attackers to initiate an XML External Entity Injection attack using job descriptions. Atlassian has released fixes to mitigate this vulnerabiliy in new versions of Jira Service Management Data Center and Server. ESB-2023.6481 – cacti: CVSS (Max): 9.8 Multiple security vulnerabilities have been discovered in Cacti, a web interface for graphing of monitoring systems, which could result in cross-site scripting, SQL injection, an open redirect or command injection. Updating cacti packages addresses these vulnerabilies. ESB-2023.6438 – webkit2gtk3: CVSS (Max): 8.8 SUSE released an update that solves eight vulnerabilities and contains two security fixes which addresses issues where processing malicious web content could lead to arbitrary code execution. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

AUSCERT 30 Years 30 Stories – Bek Cheb Hard-working Bek Cheb embodies the heart of AUSCERT’s passion and community and is responsible for keeping the business side of AUSCERT running. As Business Manager, Bek oversees AUSCERT’s events, marketing, communications, and membership. Read on to discover Bek’s fondest AUSCERT moments and where she sees the future of AUSCERT headed. Whilst working at AUSCERT, is there a memorable experience that stands out? Not surprisingly, many of my memorable moments have been at the AUSCERT conference. AUSCERT attracts plenty of big-industry names that I’ve fanned over for years.  To meet these inspirations face-to-face and feel their human compassion is amazing. Adam Spencer is our MC, and each year I still get excited to hang out with Adam for a few days. This year Rachel Tobac, an expert in the world of social engineering, was AUSCERT’s keynote. To have such expertise on stage and learn from them is just magical. What would you say to someone considering becoming an AUSCERT member? Every organisation should become an AUSCERT member and I’m not just saying that because I work for AUSCERT. I understand the pressure there is on individuals and businesses to understand cyber security. Knowing that you’ve got a community ready to assist you, let alone the value in the individual services, builds confidence. There are many obvious services that AUSCERT are known for such as security bulletins and early warning SMS, but recently phishing takedowns are requested more often; where AUSCERT acts as an extension of your team. Where do you see AUSCERT going in the future? Thinking about AUSCERT’s future is thrilling – I think we have a lot of opportunities. Because we’re not owned by the government, the best part of AUSCERT is our agility. We can grow and change to whatever our members need us to be – so the growth opportunities for AUSCERT are endless. Education is going to play a big role in our future, innovating how we can expand our courses and offerings. There’s a high demand for new skill sets and growth within our industry, so I can’t wait to see our numbers grow. What sets AUSCERT apart from other organisations in the cyber security space? Every organisation needs to consider their network of cyber security partners. There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to protection, and you can’t put all your eggs in one basket. It’s important to have a layered approach by ensuring you’ve got different people representing your business on different issues. AUSCERT is that important piece of the puzzle, where you won’t find a sales pitch. We’re not trying to make an extra buck in our sales targets that month – instead we’re part of the cyber security community.

Greetings, This week, many of us excitedly dusted off our costumes and indulged in Halloween celebrations. The tradition is gradually gaining more traction in Australia, with an increasing number of children embracing the thrill of trick-or-treating. Both youngsters and adults enthusiastically engage in the festivities, dressing in a wide variety of costumes ranging from monsters to fairies. This festive time also provides a good opportunity for our children to learn about the various personas people can adopt in our community and digital world, some helpful and some unfortunately harmful. Cyber security threats can be highly detrimental to an organisation’s reputation, financial stability and overall success. Gone are the days of cyber security being solely the IT department’s responsibility. Today, leadership at all levels must actively support policies and practices throughout the organisation. Fostering a progressive and active cyber security culture within the workplace is crucial for achieving organisational resilience. Leaders and senior executives are now expected to possess a comprehensive understanding of cyber security risk management to ensure the safety and well-being of their organisation and its stakeholders. In a surprising development on Monday that has spooked some in the cybersecurity community, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged SolarWinds and its CISO Timothy Brown with fraud and internal control failures for allegedly misleading investors about its cyber security practices and known risks. While this case is still unfolding, it serves as a valuable learning experience for us all. It underlines the critical importance of actively implementing strong cyber security risk management practices. Leadership plays a pivotal role in ensuring the safety of their organisation by possessing a comprehensive understanding of the cyber security risks relevant to them, and leading accordingly. Instead of jumping to conclusions, we should utilise this case as an opportunity to reflect on the significance of cyber security risk within organisations and the detrimental impacts that deceptive behaviour can have. AUSCERT recognizes the increasing demands and pressures on leadership to possess cyber security risk management knowledge and skills. Therefore, we have launched a new training course designed to empower leaders in this critical area. The Cyber Resilience for Senior Executives course equips participants with the knowledge and skills required to effectively lead their organisation’s strategic response to the cyber security challenge and improve their organisational resilience. This course is suitable for any senior executives, with any background and no technical knowledge is required. Critical vulnerability found in Atlassian Confluence software Date: 2023-11-01 Author: iTnews [AUSCERT has identified the impacted members (where possible) and contacted them via email. Also please see our bulletin: https://portal.auscert.org.au/bulletins/ESB-2023.6313 ] The company’s advisory for CVE-2023-22518 attributed a message to the company’s CISO, Bala Sathiamurthy, saying the users are “vulnerable to significant data loss” if the vulnerability is exploited. “There are no reports of active exploitation at this time; however, customers must take immediate action to protect their instances,” Sathiamurthy wrote. RCE exploit for Wyze Cam v3 publicly released, patch now Date: 2023-10-30 Author: Bleeping Computer A security researcher has published a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit for Wyze Cam v3 devices that opens a reverse shell and allows the takeover of vulnerable devices. Wyze Cam v3 is a top-selling, inexpensive indoor/outdoor security camera with support for color night vision, SD card storage, cloud connectivity for smartphone control, IP65 weatherproofing, and more. Security researcher Peter Geissler (aka bl4sty) recently discovered two flaws in the latest Wyze Cam v3 firmware that can be chained together for remote code execution on vulnerable devices. 3,000 Apache ActiveMQ servers vulnerable to RCE attacks exposed online Date: 2023-11-01 Author: Bleeping Computer Over three thousand internet-exposed Apache ActiveMQ servers are vulnerable to a recently disclosed critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability. Apache ActiveMQ is a scalable open-source message broker that fosters communication between clients and servers, supporting Java and various cross-language clients and many protocols, including AMQP, MQTT, OpenWire, and STOMP Citrix Bleed: Mass exploitation in progress (CVE-2023-4966) Date: 2023-10-30 Author: Help Net Security [Please see AUSCERT bulletin: https://portal.auscert.org.au/bulletins/ESB-2023.5826.2] CVE-2023-4966, aka “Citrix Bleed”, a critical information disclosure vulnerability affecting Citrix NetScaler ADC/Gateway devices, is being massively exploited by threat actors. According to security researcher Kevin Beaumont’s cybersecurity industry sources, one ransomware group has already distributed a Python script to automate the attack chain to their operators, and other groups have started leveraging a working exploit. New CVSS 4.0 vulnerability severity rating standard released Date: 2023-11-01 Author: Bleeping Computer The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) has officially released CVSS v4.0, the next generation of its Common Vulnerability Scoring System standard, eight years after CVSS v3.0, the previous major version. CVSS is a standardized framework for assessing software security vulnerabilities' severity used to assign numerical scores or qualitative representation (such as low, medium, high, and critical) based on exploitability, impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability, and required privileges, with higher scores denoting more severe vulnerabilities. ESB-2023.6234.3 – UPDATED ALERT BIG-IP Configuration Utility: CVSS (Max): 9.8 F5 is warning BIG-IP admins about recently disclosed Configuration utility unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2023-46747) ESB-2023.6266 – IBM Security QRadar SIEM: CVSS (Max): 9.8 IBM QRadar SIEM contains components that have been identified as vulnerable and can potentially be exploited using automated tools. However, IBM has taken the necessary steps to address the relevant CVEs. ESB-2023.6321 – Zavio IP Camera: CVSS (Max): 9.8 Users of Zavio IP cameras are strongly urged to change their devices since proper updates to patch these vulnerabilities will not be available. ESB-2023.6344 – ALERT Tenable Security Center: CVSS (Max): 9.8 Tenable has discovered vulnerabilities in Tenable Security Center, and released a critical patch to address these issues. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

AUSCERT 30 Years 30 Stories – Peter Newman Utilising AUSCERT’s services in the gambling industry, Peter Newman has a long history with AUSCERT. Initially working for University of Queensland (UQ), Peter Newman is now the Head of Threat at The Lottery Corporation. Providing insight into AUSCERT’s services and predicting its future, check out Peter’s AUSCERT connection story. What motivated your organisation to become a member? The Lottery Corporation is only a year old, recently splitting from Tabcorp. As a flow-on organisation of Tabcorp we utilise the same services. As Tabcorp were already AUSCERT members, we decided to continue the same framework with an AUSCERT membership for The Lottery Corporation. As an AUSCERT member, what are the key benefits? The Lottery Corporation use the bulletin service, which is a primary feed into our vulnerability management program. We also use AUSCERT’s seven-day feed for malware URLs. With this resource, we look at the domains our users are visiting, and if that domain is listed as a malicious URL, we investigate further. How has AUSCERT evolved over the years? When I began with AUSCERT, they were focused on incident response. Currently, AUSCERT have been developing its threat intelligence resources and feeds associated with that. Another aspect that AUSCERT has done well over the years, is maintaining relationships with other certs around the world – enabling them to become highly efficient at phishing take downs. What advice would you give to someone considering becoming an AUSCERT member? Understanding what AUSCERT can do for you is a challenge; a lot of the people that become members only use one or two services. Knowing everything AUSCERT can do for your business is the best advice I can give. What do you think the future holds for AUSCERT? AUSCERT will need to continually pivot even though its staples are solid. As a community organisation, AUSCERT must keep adjusting to the community itself and how it changes. I predict AUSCERT will continue to grow in the threat intelligence area and more in education. What sets AUSCERT apart from other organisations in the cyber security space? Being vendor-agnostic specifically sets AUSCERT apart – everybody in cyber security is trying to sell you something. Although AUSCERT is selling you something, it’s in a not-for-profit method. Due to this, AUSCERT can leverage their community to feedback on itself.

AUSCERT 30 Years 30 Stories – David Stockdale With a professional and ethical approach to delivering cyber security throughout Australia, the AUSCERT 30 Years 30 Stories would be incomplete without sitting down with current AUSCERT Director, David Stockdale. Praising AUSCERT’s trust and influential community, David’s insight into what sets our organisation apart is a heart-warming read. How did you first become involved with AUSCERT, and what motivated you to apply for your position? The Director of AUSCERT position was included in a job that I applied for at the University of Queensland. It was the area I least understood in the role, and yet it’s become the piece I adore most. How do you think AUSCERT has evolved over the years? What do you think our future holds? AUSCERT has experienced plenty of change in the last three decades – 30 years ago, AUSCERT was one of the first computer emergency response teams in the world. What AUSCERT provided then was unique, but there are now many big players in the sector. We’ve evolved to provide new and niche offerings, that other companies are not able to provide. As AUSCERT is a not-for-profit organisation, we’re not government-aligned nor commercial, we’re able to establish an element of trust. This trust is our superpower and means we can provide services others can’t. What are the key benefits of being a part of the AUSCERT community? AUSCERT transcends more than just its members, age, services and employees; it’s much bigger than that. To be part of an organisation that aims to provide good services and lift the security of our community – is a fantastic cause. What advice would you give to a prospective AUSCERT member? Do it! Looking at the low cost of our services, it’s easy to assume that they are not worth a lot. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Once you start using AUSCERT and leveraging our offerings, you’ll find there’s value-upon-value-upon-value. That said, the real value of being an AUSCERT member is not necessarily the services, but the community we create, whether it’s through our conference, or events. We connect sectors together, and it’s this quality that separates us from others. When you’re an AUSCERT member, you become part of a trusted community. What do you believe sets AUSCERT apart from other organisations in the cybersecurity space? It’s AUSCERT’s not-for-profit qualities – we aren’t aligned to any vendors so we are, in some ways, a trusted free spirit. This trust is what sets AUSCERT apart; and we do the best cybersecurity conference in Australia, without a doubt. AUSCERT, Happy 30th Birthday! You are the best organisation I’ve ever known, and I’m so proud to be part of it.  

Greetings, AUSCERT2024 has officially launched! The countdown is on for another year of exciting tutorials, presentations, workshops and more! This year’s theme; ‘Pay it Forward’, is about discovering the power of amplifying your impact in the realm of cyber security and highlighting the significant influence that everyone’s actions can create. It promotes the idea of how sharing knowledge and collaborating can cause a ripple effect, strengthening the broader community. This year, consider paying it forward by sharing your knowledge and expertise at our conference, either through tutorials or presentations. Your insights have the potential to create a significant impact and further advance the industry. Call for Tutorials is now open and will run until November 10th. Once tutorial submissions close, we will then open the Call for Presentations. We extend a warm invitation to anyone within the industry interested in speaking at the conference to submit a proposal. We offer excellent mentoring support for speakers to ensure a successful experience. Additionally, sponsorship opportunities are also now available, and you can access the sponsorship prospectus for more information on how you can get involved. In other news, AUSCERT recently participated in the 2023 ASEAN Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) Incident Drill (ACID). This annual drill hosted by Singapore since 2006, tests incident response capability and strengthens cyber security preparedness and cooperation among CERTs in ASEAN member states and Dialogue Partners. This year’s ACID tested the CERTs’ preparedness against multi-pronged attacks arising from hacktivism. This theme was chosen due to the increasing frequency and sophistication of global cyber attacks that are motivated by ideological beliefs. Such attacks typically include multi-pronged attacks using a combination of Distributed Denial-of-Service, data breaches and wiper wares against government websites, financial institutions, media outlets etc This year, SingCERT moderated a new exercise using realistic real-world scenarios as a practical way to test participants’ knowledge and expertise in the field. AUSCERT takes pride in participating in this drill annually, as it plays a pivotal role in enhancing cooperation, facilitating the exchange of experiences, and fostering awareness of emerging cyber attack trends. Critical RCE flaws found in SolarWinds access audit solution Date: 2023-10-20 Author: Bleeping Computer Security researchers found three critical remote code execution vulnerabilities in the SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM) product that remote attackers could use to run code with SYSTEM privileges. SolarWinds ARM is a tool that enables organizations to manage and audit user access rights across their IT environments. It offers Microsoft Active Directory integration, role-based access control, visual feedback, and more. VMware fixes critical code execution flaw in vCenter Server Date: 2023-10-25 Author: Bleeping Computer [AUSCERT has also identified the impacted members (where possible) and contacted them via email] VMware issued security updates to fix a critical vCenter Server vulnerability that can be exploited to gain remote code execution attacks on vulnerable servers. The vulnerability (CVE-2023-34048) was reported by Grigory Dorodnov of Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative and is due to an out-of-bounds write weakness in vCenter's DCE/RPC protocol implementation. US energy firm shares how Akira ransomware hacked its systems Date: 2023-10-23 Author: Bleeping Computer In a rare display of transparency, US energy services firm BHI Energy details how the Akira ransomware operation breached their networks and stole the data during the attack. BHI Energy, part of Westinghouse Electric Company, is a specialty engineering services and staffing solutions provider supporting private and government-operated oil & gas, nuclear, wind, solar, and fossil power generation units and electricity transmission and distribution facilities. Rockwell Automation Warns Customers of Cisco Zero-Day Affecting Stratix Switches Date: 2023-10-24 Author: Security Week [Please see AUSCERT bulletin: https://portal.auscert.org.au/bulletins/ESB-2023.6197] The cybersecurity community discovered tens of thousands of compromised systems shortly after Cisco disclosed the existence of the first zero-day. Rockwell informed customers last week that its Stratix 5800 and 5200 managed industrial Ethernet switches, which use the Cisco IOS XE operating system, are affected by CVE-2023-20198. The devices are only impacted if the IOS XE web UI feature is enabled. 1Password detects “suspicious activity” in its internal Okta account Date: 2023-10-24 Author: Ars Technica 1Password, a password manager used by millions of people and more than 100,000 businesses, said it detected suspicious activity on a company account provided by Okta, the identity and authentication service that disclosed a breach on Friday. “On September 29, we detected suspicious activity on our Okta instance that we use to manage our employee-facing apps,” 1Password CTO Pedro Canahuati wrote in an email. “We immediately terminated the activity, investigated, and found no compromise of user data or other sensitive systems, either employee-facing or user-facing.” ESB-2023.6140 – Atlassian Products: CVSS (Max): 10.0 Atlassian has identified multiple vulnerabilities in their products, with 2 being classified as critical. To ensure the security of their customers, Atlassian strongly advises upgrading to the latest version ASB-2023.0221 – Okta support case management system Okta has recently experienced a cyber incident concerning their support case management system. In response to this, AUSCERT recommends that its members promptly implement the suggested mitigation measures to address any potential risks ESB-2023.6197 – ALERT Rockwell Automation Stratix 5800 and Stratix 5200: CVSS (Max): 10.0 Rockwell Automation has issued patches to address a critical vulnerability found in Stratix 5800 and Stratix 5200. If successfully exploited, this vulnerability could potentially grant unauthorized control of the affected system to an attacker without authentication. It is strongly advised to apply the provided patches to mitigate this risk ESB-2023.6234 – ALERT BIG-IP Configuration Utility: CVSS (Max): 9.8 A control plane issue which allows the attacker to execute arbitrary system commands has been fixed in BIG-IP Configuration Utility component Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

AUSCERT 30 Years 30 Stories – Heath Marks Partnering with AUSCERT for 13 years, Heath Marks is the CEO of the Australian Access Federation (AAF), which provides the National Authentication Framework for Australian Higher Education Research. Assisting the Federal Government’s National Research Infrastructure Strategy, Heath leads development in the trust and identity sector. Through a mutual partnership with AUSCERT, Heath shares the benefits of aligning with cooperative communities like ours. What is your biggest takeaway from AUSCERT’s service? Working in the trust and identity environment, we are naturally linked to cyber security. Being aligned with AUSCERT’s deliverables and leveraging their services is highly important to us. Additionally, joining the community and further advancing the cyber security industry as a national strategy is considered invaluable to us at AAF. An initiative that the AAF and AUSCERT have partnered together from the beginning is the establishment of the Australasian Higher Education Cyber Security Service. Together with the entire AHECS group, we collectively advance cyber security initiatives within the sector. How long have you been an AUSCERT member? The AAF have been AUSCERT members from the very beginning.  We began with the certificate service and later continued that relationship throughout the years. AUSCERT provide training, support, engagement and a number of useful services that we enjoy engaging with as a team. What advice would you give to those considering to become an AUSCERT member? Why do you think the AUSCERT membership is valued in organisations? It’s critical that we’re part of initiatives like AUSCERT A key distinction of AUSCERT is that it’s a service delivered for the sector, by the sector. AUSCERT is a shared, cost-effective service. The membership costs are very low, for the value you receive. There’s a plethora of cyber security services available, the majority of which are expensive and often questionable. Being part of a passionate community, catered to sharing intelligence and knowledge on cyber security is vital and important – it’s the reason why we’re AUSCERT members. As AUSCERT turns 30, do you want to add anything else? Congratulations, AUSCERT, for making 30 years! AUSCERT is an integral part of the sector and we appreciate everything you do in supporting us, delivering what we need for our customers, our colleagues, and our daily jobs. Thank you very much.

The recent escalation of tensions between Israel and Hamas has not only led to a surge in physical violence but has also raised concerns about the potential for increased cyber-attacks. As the conflict intensifies, Australia as a close ally of Israel has been targeted by a threat actor group named ‘IRoX Team’ [1][2][3]. According to emerging reports, Australia has been identified as a specific target for potential cyber-attacks on October 25 [1]. These attacks are expected to involve Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) techniques [2][3]. While the credibility of the reports is unknown to us, we strongly recommend that our members enhance their vigilance and situational awareness during this period of uncertainty. We also encourage our members to practice good cyber hygiene to ensure the security of their systems and promptly report any suspicious activities or information to the relevant authorities for further investigation. Reference: [1] https://cyberknow.substack.com/p/irox-team-declares-global-hacktivist [2] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/11/israel-hamas-war-cyber-attacks-cyberx [3] https://cybercx.com.au/blog/hamas-israel-conflict/

AUSCERT 30 Years 30 Stories – Duke Erdenebat One of AUSCERT’s security analysts, Duke Erdenebat, shares how AUSCERT enables him to make positive contributions to the cybersecurity industry. Duke’s day-to-day work involves writing code, scripting, automation and a multitude of services that assist AUSCERT members. Inspired by AUSCERT’s goodwill, check out Duke’s AUSCERT connection story. Within your time in your role, what are the key benefits you’ve experienced? The main benefit has undoubtedly been AUSCERT’s not-for-profit status, with a focus on its members. This focus doesn’t just end with members but extends to the whole of Australia and the globe. We attempt to reach people who are in danger and try to enrich them. What do you envision for AUSCERT within the next 5 to 10 years? The current AUSCERT service is fantastic. But recently, we’re trying to integrate Malware Information Sharing Platform (MISP) in an attempt to share more information. This is an area where individuals can share threat activity and threat actors, helping others find compromise indicators. In the future, I believe our MISP integration will be strong enough to encourage members to check threats themselves. What advice would you give to someone considering becoming an AUSCERT member? Those considering an AUSCERT membership should research what AUSCERT services could benefit them and contact our team directly. Simply look through AUSCERT’s services – there are educational programs and plenty more – and see what AUSCERT is doing differently from other security companies. What does the AUSCERT community mean to you? AUSCERT has been around for 30 years – which means the community is robust. There are plenty of people who know about AUSCERT, and who AUSCERT know personally. If there’s a new source of information or incident, there’s open communication and sharing of that information, which makes it a great community to be a part of. What do you believe sets AUSCERT apart from other organisations in the cyber security space? AUSCERT has utmost respect for its members and there’s open communication of information, through Slack channels, MISP events and emails.

Greetings, Yesterday we successfully launched our new Cyber Resilience for Senior Executives training course in Brisbane. Conducted by one of our most experienced Principal Analysts and a highly knowledgeable industry partner, participants had the valuable opportunity to grasp key concepts through real-world examples. Senior executives play a key role in making strategic decisions that impact their organisations’ risk management. Understanding the importance of cyber resilience allows them to factor cyber security considerations into long-term planning, investment, and resource allocation decisions. This course empowers leaders on the importance of adapting and evolving their approach to cyber security risk management to ensure organisational resilience. Ransomware continues to be a persistent threat, disrupting critical services, businesses, and communities on a global scale. Alarmingly, a significant number of these incidents are carried out by ransomware actors exploiting well-documented vulnerabilities. Because of this, it’s essential to acknowledge that organisations may be unaware of the existence of these vulnerabilities within their networks. CISA identifies and documents vulnerabilities that are known to be used by ransomware operators. Recently they have also updated their KEV catalogue to include a new entry that identifies if the vulnerability has been exploited in ransomware attacks. This information has been incorporated into AUSCERT Security Bulletins. CISA have also released a second resource that serves as a companion to the KEV; a list of misconfigurations and weaknesses exploited by ransomware operators that are not CVE-based. To conclude we would like to bring your attention to an exciting upcoming event that is being held jointly by AWSN, Queensland Police and APIO – “Brisbane’s Hacking the Human: Understanding Social Attacks. This session is designed to unveil the secrets behind social engineering attacks and instruct participants on the tactics employed by cyber-criminals to exploit human vulnerabilities. Our Principal Analyst, Mark Carey-Smith, will be among the experts who will guide you through the fundamental aspects of these attacks. Additionally, you’ll gain insights into the legal aspects associated and the role of law enforcement in combatting cybercrime. By the end of this session, you’ll be equipped to identify common social engineering tactics and develop effective defence strategies to protect your personal and professional data. Threat Actors Exploit Atlassian Confluence CVE-2023-22515 for Initial Access to Networks Date: 2023-10-16 Author: CISA The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) are releasing this joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) in response to the active exploitation of CVE-2023-22515. This recently disclosed vulnerability affects certain versions of Atlassian Confluence Data Center and Server, enabling malicious cyber threat actors to obtain initial access to Confluence instances by creating unauthorized Confluence administrator accounts. Threat actors exploited CVE-2023-22515 as a zero-day to obtain access to victim systems and continue active exploitation post-patch. Atlassian has rated this vulnerability as critical; CISA, FBI, and MS-ISAC expect widespread, continued exploitation due to ease of exploitation. CISA Now Flagging Vulnerabilities, Misconfigurations Exploited by Ransomware Date: 2023-10-13 Author: SecurityWeek The US cybersecurity agency CISA is stepping up its efforts to prevent ransomware by making it easier for organizations to learn about vulnerabilities and misconfigurations exploited in these attacks. The first of these resources is a new column in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which flags flaws that CISA is aware of being associated with ransomware campaigns. The other new resource CISA is offering now is a new table on the StopRansomware project’s website, which lists information on the misconfigurations and weaknesses that ransomware operators have been observed targeting in their attacks. Over 10,000 Cisco devices hacked in IOS XE zero-day attacks Date: 2023-10-17 Author: Bleeping Computer Attackers have exploited a recently disclosed critical zero-day bug to compromise and infect more than 10,000 Cisco IOS XE devices with malicious implants. The list of products running Cisco IOS XE software includes enterprise switches, aggregation and industrial routers, access points, wireless controllers, and more. Ransomware Attacks Double: Are Companies Prepared for 2024’s Cyber Threats? Date: 2023-10-13 Author: The Hacker News Ransomware attacks have only increased in sophistication and capabilities over the past year. From new evasion and anti-analysis techniques to stealthier variants coded in new languages, ransomware groups have adapted their tactics to effectively bypass common defense strategies. Russia and China-linked hackers exploit WinRAR bug Date: 2023-10-19 Author: The Record Hackers connected to the governments of Russia and China are allegedly using a vulnerability in a popular Windows tool to attack targets around the world, including in Ukraine and Papua New Guinea. Google’s Threat Analysis Group’s said that in recent weeks it has seen multiple government-backed groups exploiting CVE-2023-38831, a vulnerability affecting the Windows file archiver tool WinRAR. The bug, which has been patched, was initially exploited by criminal groups throughout early 2023. ESB-2023.6043 – ALERT Cisco iOS XE Software: CVSS (Max): 10.0 A Critical vulnerability has been identified in Cisco IOS XE software. AUSCERT has sent MSINs to the affected members regarding this vulnerability. ESB-2023.6064 – Jira Service Management Server and Data Center: CVSS (Max): 8.4 An XXE vulnerability in Jira products has been addressed by Atlassian ESB-2023.6078 – Google Chrome: CVSS (Max): None Google has released updates to Chrome which includes 1 security fix ASB-2023.0192 – ALERT Oracle PeopleSoft: CVSS (Max): 9.8 This critical patch update contains 5 new security patches for Oracle PeopleSoft Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

  AUSCERT 30 Years 30 Stories – Mark Carey-Smith A staff member of AUSCERT for the past two and a half years, but long-time member, Mark Carey-Smith is AUSCERT’s Principal Analyst. As an organisation whose sole focus is to benefit its members and wider community, Mark is a proud AUSCERT employee, and continues to improve AUSCERT’s educational offerings and other services. What motivated you to apply for a job at AUSCERT? With thanks to the conference, I had six or seven years of experience with AUSCERT. I knew some of AUSCERT’s main employees and had developed a good relationship with them over the years. I wanted to pursue cyber security education more, so I spoke with AUSCERT about how I could contribute to the development and improvement of AUSCERT’s educational services. What are some of the key benefits you’ve experienced being a part of the AUSCERT community? Community is the main word – at events, when we’ve run into members, community always comes up. A tight-knit community is certainly how I envisaged AUSCERT both before I was a staff member and now that I am, and there’s no doubt a micro-community between AUSCERT, its staff and members. How has AUSCERT evolved over the years that you’ve been with them? With my experience with AUSCERT as both a member and now employee, I’ve been involved with AUSCERT for about eight years in total. Some of the ways that we’ve evolved have been in the maturing of existing services and the development of new services. There are many ways AUSCERT remains true to its roots and community. I think in more recent times, there’s been a focus on getting in touch with our members and understanding their needs. We focus our future development on what our members need from us. What do you think the future holds for AUSCERT? I hope that in some ways it’s more of the same. I hope that we expand our range of educational offerings in particular so they suit member needs, and we continue to grow while maintaining our focus on community. Many vendors have no interest in community and just want to take money. With AUSCERT, we’re much more concerned with creating a space that works for the community. What do you believe sets AUSCERT apart from other organisations in the cyber security industry? Compared to other vendors, AUSCERT is not-for-profit, meaning we operate in a space where the focus is on our member’s needs. Without a focus on profit margins, we don’t cut corners, dissemble or exaggerate. Unfortunately, the cyber security vendor space is one where there’s some unethical behaviour. The focus on behaving ethically and supporting our mission, which is member-focused, is a main differentiator. As a staff member, I also think one of our differentiators is the way in which we support one another, providing a positive and friendly environment. What does AUSCERT mean to you? It all comes back to community. There are different ways you can interpret that word, and there are different ways in which we facilitate and nurture community. The conference is certainly not the only community-focused offering, but it’s a beautiful example of how we collectively create a community space.