Malware

Exposed Secrets: Unmasking Data Breaches, Stolen Credentials & Illicit Dark Web Bazaars

Published

4 months ago

January 24, 2024

Infostealer malware is a significant and often underestimated threat to corporate information security teams. These malicious programs infect computers, steal credentials saved in browsers, along with active session cookies and other data, and send it back to the attacker’s command and control infrastructure. In some cases, the malware even self-terminates after completing its mission.

In this article, we’ll discuss how cybercriminals use stolen credentials to gain unauthorized access to privileged IT infrastructure, leading to data breaches and ransomware attacks. But infostealers aren’t the only threat; leaked credentials from more traditional sources continue to pose substantial risks to organizations.

It’s no secret that people often reuse the same password across multiple applications, creating a perfect opportunity for hackers to brute force their way into software-as-a-service (SaaS) and on-premises applications.

At IT Services, we currently monitor over forty million stealer logs. This number is growing by millions every month, with an expected increase in 2024. Additionally, we monitor over 14 billion leaked credentials found in data dumps across the dark web.

This unique perspective allows us to see firsthand how threat actors acquire, distribute, and use leaked credentials.

Understanding Leaked Credentials

To better comprehend leaked credentials, we can categorize them into tiers based on the method of leakage and the risk they pose to organizations. This approach, pioneered by Jason Haddix, helps security professionals clearly communicate credential leak risks to managers and corporate executives.

Tier 1 Leaked Credentials

Tier 1 leaked credentials result from third-party application or service breaches. When these breaches occur, all users of the affected service have their passwords compromised and distributed in a data dump on the dark web. This is the most common type of leaked credential.

For example, imagine a fictional corporation called Scatterholt with user logins for hundreds of thousands of consumers. If attackers breach Scatterholt and access the identity and access management system, they could steal these credentials and leak them onto the dark web.

Scatterholt could force a password reset for all users, but it’s likely that many users have reused the same password across other services. This leak gives threat actors the opportunity to use brute force techniques to gain access to other applications that share the same password.

Defending Against Tier 1 Leaked Credentials

Organizations can employ several well-researched defenses to reduce risk. First and foremost: monitor a leaked credentials database for corporate employee emails. This single action can make a massive difference as threat actors deliberately target passwords associated with corporate email addresses to facilitate data breaches.

Secondly, require users to routinely reset passwords on a schedule, ensuring that if a specific password is breached, they will have already rotated other corporate credentials.

Finally, we recommend using a password manager with a policy requiring employees to randomize passwords for various applications and store them securely, reducing the risk of employees making only minor changes to passwords.

The Special Case of Combolists

Combolists are collections of credential pairs, organized by service or geographically, used by cybercriminals in combination with brute force tools to attempt to gain access to various services.

Screenshot of combolist
Source: IT Services

These credentials often come from previous known breaches, stealer logs, or are entirely fabricated. The exact source is never entirely clear, but the sheer volume of credentials available through combolists, combined with frequent password reuse, makes them a significant attack vector.

Tier 2 Leaked Credentials

Tier 2 leaked credentials pose a unique risk to companies. These credentials are harvested directly from users through infostealer malware that steals all passwords saved in the browser.

We consider tier 2 leaked credentials to be of significantly increased risk to both the company and the user for the following reasons:

A single stealer log will contain all of the credentials the user saved in their browser. This creates a perfect opportunity for threat actors to socially engineer the victim, the IT help desk, or even the company using the victim’s information.

These logs contain the plain text username, password, and host for the credentials, often for hundreds of different logins. Threat actors have an enormous advantage when they can see dozens of password variations that the user uses.

These logs often contain form-fill data with answers to secret questions, which can be effectively used to bypass websites with secret questions.

**Screenshot of the information stealer logs can contain, including cookies, passwords, and other sensitive information**
*Source: IT Services*

Tier 3 Leaked Credentials

This tier of leaks, also from stealer logs, poses an extreme risk to organizations. Fresh stealer logs often contain active session cookies, which threat actors can easily use for session hijacking attacks. In these attacks, they impersonate the victim and potentially bypass two-factor authentication (2FA) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) controls.

Discovering a fresh stealer log with corporate credentials should immediately prompt an incident investigation, as it’s highly likely that the passwords are working and that threat actors could directly access corporate resources.

**Screenshot from Telegram of a malware store**
*Source: IT Services*

Defending Against Tier 3 Leaked Credentials

Limit the time-to-live (TTL) for corporate applications to reduce the risk of session cookies remaining valid if distributed as a result of an infostealer infection.

Multi-Factor Authentication Isn’t a Silver Bullet

Not monitoring leaked credentials likely means that many of your employees use single-factor authentication, as their passwords may have been exposed. Many people believe that enabling 2FA is sufficient protection against stolen credentials, but the reality is that threat actors are aware of the obstacle 2FA presents and have developed techniques to overcome it.

Whether through social engineering of employees, using 2FA bots to capture one-time codes/passwords from victims, or even SIM-swapping, there are many ways to bypass MFA controls that are actively used in the wild.

The best defense against these types of attacks involves using authenticator apps, which feature temporary rotating codes instead of one-time passwords received via email or SMS. These applications are usually more secure and ensure that the user controls a second device to some extent.

Concerned about Credentials? We Can Help

IT Services monitors more than 14 billion leaked credentials distributed on the dark web and hundreds of millions leaked through infostealer malware.

Our platform sets up in 30 minutes and provides robust detection for leaked employee credentials across hundreds of forums, channels, and marketplaces.

Check out our free trial.

Sponsored and written by IT Services.

Up Next

Exposed Secrets: Unmasking Data Breaches, Stolen Credentials & Illicit Dark Web Bazaars

Don't Miss

Exposed Secrets: Unmasking Data Breaches, Stolen Credentials & Illicit Dark Web Bazaars

Click to comment

Malware

Exclusive: Post-Millennial Data Breach Exposes 26 Million People’s Sensitive Information

Discover how a data breach at The Post Millennial exposed personal data of 26 million users, including emails, phone numbers, and usernames. Learn about the hacker’s motives and subsequent arrest, as well as steps taken to mitigate the damage and prevent future cyberattacks. Stay informed about online security and protect your digital assets.

Published

16 hours ago

May 20, 2024

zendzipr

Exclusive: Post-Millennial Data Breach Exposes 26 Million People's Sensitive Information 25

Massive Data Leak Affects Millions of News Website Users

Have you ever had that sinking feeling when you realize your personal information has been exposed in a data breach? Well, 26,818,266 people are experiencing that feeling right now, as their data was leaked in a recent hack of The Post Millennial, a conservative news website.

The Post Millennial is a Canadian online news magazine that’s part of the Human Events Media Group, which also operates the American ‘Human Events’ news platform. Earlier this month, both news platforms were hacked, and their front pages were defaced with fake messages, supposedly from The Post Millennial’s editor, Andy Ngo.

What was stolen and leaked?

The hackers claimed to have stolen the company’s mailing lists, subscriber database, and personal details of its writers and editors. They even shared links to the stolen data on the defaced pages. The data quickly spread online, appearing in torrents and hacking forums, making it easy for anyone to download and potentially misuse.

The exposed data includes:

Full Names

Email addresses

Usernames

Account Passwords

IP addresses

Phone numbers

Physical addresses

Genders

This data is said to belong to writers, editors, and subscribers of the sites, which could pose significant privacy and security risks to those affected.

Have I Been Pwned steps in to help

Yesterday, Troy Hunt added the data to the Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) data breach notification service. However, it should be noted that the data hasn’t been confirmed to have been stolen directly from Human Events or The Post Millennial.

Despite this uncertainty, Hunt decided to add the data to HIBP to alert affected users. According to HIBP’s post, the breach resulted in the defacement of the website and links to three different sets of data. Some of these data sets included personal information of writers, editors, and subscribers, while others contained millions of email addresses from mailing lists allegedly used by The Post Millennial.

As Troy Hunt tweeted, although the data was leaked during The Post Millennial defacement, it’s unclear where it originally came from.

No official statement yet from The Post Millennial

As of writing this, The Post Millennial hasn’t issued a public statement about the site’s defacement or warned its subscribers about potential data exposure. We have contacted both The Post Millennial and Human Events for a comment but have not received a reply.

What can you do if you’re affected?

In the meantime, if you’re a subscriber to the mentioned news outlets, we recommend resetting your passwords and monitoring your account activity closely. Also, be extra vigilant with all communications, such as emails, calls, and SMS, especially if they’re related to your account on these websites.

Keep coming back to learn more

As an AI with expertise in cybersecurity, my mission is to help you stay informed and protected. To keep up with the latest news and advice, make sure to check our IT Services regularly. And don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Malware

Europol Verifies Web Portal Hack: Asserts No Crucial Data Compromised

Europol has confirmed that its public web portal was breached, but claims no operational data was stolen. The European Union law enforcement agency stated that the attack was quickly contained and that security measures have been reinforced to prevent further incidents.

Published

20 hours ago

May 20, 2024

zendzipr

Europol Verifies Web Portal Hack: Asserts No Crucial Data Compromised 27

Update: May 13, 12:09 EDT: Europol sent IT Services a follow-up statement saying the attackers likely breached the EPE web portal using stolen credentials.

Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, recently confirmed that its Europol Platform for Experts (EPE) portal was breached. The agency is now investigating the incident after a threat actor claimed they stole For Official Use Only (FOUO) documents containing classified data.

EPE is an online platform that law enforcement experts use to “share knowledge, best practices, and non-personal data on crime.”

“Europol is aware of the incident and is assessing the situation. Initial actions have already been taken. The incident concerns a Europol Platform for Expert (EPE) closed user group,” Europol told us.

“No operational information is processed on this EPE application. No core systems of Europol are affected and therefore, no operational data from Europol has been compromised.”

We also asked when the breach occurred and whether it is true FOUO and classified documents were stolen as claimed by the threat actor, but a response was not immediately available.

The hardcopy personnel records of Catherine De Bolle, Europol’s executive director, and other senior agency officials had also leaked before September 2023, as reported by Politico in March.

“On Sep. 6, 2023, the Europol Directorate was informed that personal paper files of several Europol staff members had disappeared,” a note dated September 18 and shared on an internal message board system said.

“Given Europol’s role as law enforcement authority, the disappearance of personal files of staff members constitutes a serious security and personal data breach incident.”

At publication time, the EPE website was offline, and a message said the service was unavailable because it was under maintenance.

*Europol EPE under maintenance (IT Services)*

IntelBroker, the threat actor behind the data breach claims, describes the files as being FOUO and containing classified data.

The threat actor says the allegedly stolen data includes information on alliance employees, FOUO source code, PDFs, and documents for recon and guidelines.

They also claim to have gained access to EC3 SPACE (Secure Platform for Accredited Cybercrime Experts), one of the communities on the EPE portal, hosting hundreds of cybercrime-related materials and used by over 6,000 authorized cybercrime experts from around the world, including:

Law enforcement from EU Member States’ competent authorities and non-EU countries;

Judicial authorities, academic institutions, private companies, non-governmental and international organizations;

Europol staff

IntelBroker also says they compromised the SIRIUS platform used by judicial and law enforcement authorities from 47 countries, including EU member states, the United Kingdom, countries with a cooperation agreement with Eurojust, and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO).

SIRIUS is used to access cross-border electronic evidence in the context of criminal investigations and proceedings

Besides leaking screenshots of EPE’s online user interface, IntelBroker also leaked a small sample of an EC3 SPACE database allegedly containing 9,128 records. The sample contains what looks like the personal information of law enforcement agents and cybercrime experts with access to the EC3 SPACE community.

“PRICING: Send offers. XMR ONLY. Message me on the forums for a point of contact. Proof of funds is required. I am only selling to reputable members,” the threat actor says in a Friday post on a hacking forum.

Who is IntelBroker?

Since December, this threat actor has been leaking data he allegedly stole from various government agencies, such as ICE and USCIS, the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Army.

It is unclear whether these incidents are also connected to the alleged April 2024 Five Eyes data leak, but some of the data dumped in the ICE/USCIS forum post overlaps with the Five Eyes post.

IntelBroker became known after breaching DC Health Link, which manages health care plans for U.S. House members, staff, and families.

The breach led to a congressional hearing after the personal data of 170,000 affected individuals, including U.S. House of Representatives members and staff, was exposed.

Other cybersecurity incidents linked to this threat actor are the breaches of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Home Depot, the Weee! grocery service, and an alleged breach of General Electric Aviation.

Earlier this week, IntelBroker also started selling access information to the network of cloud security company Zscaler (i.e., “logs packed with credentials, SMTP Access, PAuth Pointer Auth Access, SSL Passkeys & SSL Certificates”).

Zscaler later confirmed they discovered an “isolated test environment” exposed online, which was taken offline for forensic analysis even though no company, customer, or production environments were impacted. Zscaler has also hired an incident response firm to run an independent investigation.

Update May 13, 12:09 EDT: In an updated statement to IT Services, Europol says that the portal was not hacked through a vulnerability or a misconfiguration, but, instead, the attackers gained access to the data using stolen credentials.

The attempt took place recently and was discovered immediately. Neither Europol’s core system nor operational systems were hacked, which means no operational data from Europol has been compromised.

The Europol Expert Platform (EPE) was also not hacked. The only way to gain unauthorized access to the system was through email or password compromise. Only a small and limited part of the EPE (closed user group) could be accessed via the unauthorized access.

The Europol Expert Platform (EPE) holds neither operational nor confidential, nor personal data and no operational information is processed on the EPE. Rather, it is a collaborative web platform for specialists in various areas of law enforcement to exchange ideas. The EPE has a number of tools for content management, such as blogs or instant messaging forums, calendars and a wiki. The platform has over 20,000 users. — Europol

As we learn more about this breach and others like it, it’s crucial to stay informed and vigilant. At IT Services, we’re committed to keeping you updated on the latest cybersecurity news and helping you protect your personal and professional life. Be sure to stay connected with us for more information, and reach out if you need assistance with your cybersecurity needs!

Malware

Dell API Exploited: Shocking Theft of 49 Million Customer Records in Massive Data Breach

Cybercriminals have exploited a Dell API to breach the company’s customer support portal and steal 49 million records. Learn about the vulnerabilities that allowed the attack, Dell’s response, and how to protect your information from similar breaches. Stay vigilant with the latest security news from BleepingComputer.com.

Published

2 days ago

May 19, 2024

zendzipr

Dell API Exploited: Shocking Theft of 49 Million Customer Records in Massive Data Breach 30

Imagine waking up one morning to a notification that your personal data has been stolen in a data breach. That’s exactly what happened to millions of Dell customers recently when a threat actor, going by the name Menelik, scraped information of 49 million customer records using a partner portal API they accessed as a fake company.

We reported that Dell had begun to send notifications warning customers that their personal data was stolen in this data breach. The stolen data included customer order information, warranty details, service tags, customer names, installed locations, customer numbers, and order numbers.

So, How Did This Happen?

According to Menelik, they discovered a portal for Dell partners, resellers, and retailers that could be used to look up order information. The threat actor then registered multiple accounts under fake company names and gained access within two days without any verification.

With access to the portal, Menelik reportedly created a program that generated 7-digit service tags and submitted them to the portal page starting in March to scrape the returned information. The portal apparently did not include any rate limiting, allowing the threat actor to harvest information of 49 million customer records by generating 5,000 requests per minute for three weeks, without Dell blocking the attempts.

The stolen customer records included a hardware breakdown of monitors, Alienware notebooks, Chromebooks, Inspiron notebooks and desktops, Latitude laptops, Optiplex, Poweredge, Precision desktops and notebooks, Vostro notebooks and desktops, XPS notebooks, and XPS/Alienware desktops.

Menelik claims they emailed Dell on April 12th and 14th to report the bug to their security team, although they had already harvested 49 million records before contacting the company. Dell confirmed they received the threat actor’s emails but declined to answer any further questions, as the incident has become an active law enforcement investigation. The company claims they had already detected the activity before receiving the threat actor’s email.

APIs: A Growing Weakness in Data Security

Easy-to-access APIs have become a massive weakness for companies in recent years, with threat actors abusing them to scrape sensitive data and sell them to other threat actors. In 2021, threat actors abused a Facebook API bug to link phone numbers to over 500 million accounts. This data was leaked almost for free on a hacking forum, only requiring an account and paying $2 to download it.

Later that year, in December, threat actors exploited a Twitter API bug to link millions of phone numbers and email addresses to Twitter accounts, which were then sold on hacking forums. More recently, a Trello API flaw was exploited last year to link an email address to 15 million accounts, which were again put up for sale on a hacking forum.

While all of these incidents involved scraping data, they were allowed due to the ease of access to APIs and the lack of proper rate limiting for the number of requests that can be made per second from the same host.

What Can You Do About It?

As cybersecurity experts, we want to help you stay protected and informed. Don’t wait for the next data breach to happen. Stay up-to-date on cybersecurity news, tips, and advice by following our IT Services page. Knowledge is power, and we’re here to keep you in the loop. And if you have any questions or concerns about your own cybersecurity, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’re always here to help.