NCIIPC Newsletter Oct19

VOLUME 3 ISSUE 4 @ NC I I P C
NCIIPC Newsletter
October 2019 Message from the NCIIPC Desk
Dear Readers,
There has been a surge in ransomware attacks on Government IT

infrastructure all over the world. States with meagre budget for
cyber security have become an easy prey for cyber criminals.
Inside This Issue
The increasing vulnerabilities in Government Sector are a matter
1 Message from NCIIPC Desk of concern. If not mitigated, these could adversely impact the
2 News Snippets - National Digital India and e-governance initiatives.
3 News Snippets - Threats like Mirai and suspected backdoors in plethora of devices
International need to be addressed on priority. With ubiquitous proliferation of
6 Trends IoT devices and ushering of newer technologies like 5G on the
anvil, the attack surface is going to significantly increase. Reports
8 Malware Bytes
suggest that by 2020, India will have around 1.9 billion connected
11 Learning
IoT devices.
17 Vulnerability Watch
The vanishing divide between OT and the ICT infrastructure
20 Security App
presents a larger attack surface. Most Critical Sectors are heavily
21 NCIIPC Initiatives
dependent on legacy ICS/SCADA systems. The known security
25 Mobile Security gaps need to be looked into.
27 Upcoming Events – Global
We also see the rise of attacks on the financial sector in India
28 Upcoming Events - India especially the use of Dtrack malware. Though the click-through
rates on phishing links have shown a decline, there is a
corresponding increase in the susceptibility of mobile users.
NCIIPC has been periodically conducting cyber security

awareness and sensitization workshops for critical sector entities.
NCIIPC has also released a set of Guidelines for Identification of
NCIIPC has also Critical Information Infrastructure (CII). These Guidelines will help
released a set of Enterprises, Regulators, Ministries and other Stakeholders to have
Guidelines for a consistent and standardised approach for identification and
Identification of representation of CII within and across all the Critical Sectors.
Critical Information
NCIIPC extends its greetings and best wishes to the readers for
Infrastructure (CII).
the upcoming festivities.
Comments, suggestions and feedback are solicited from the

readers. Selected letters shall also be published. You may write to
us at [email protected]
PAGE 2 NCIIPC NEWSLETTER
News Snippets - National

India-Estonia Signed Cooperation Agreement on Cyber Security
Source: www.baltictimes.com
The Estonian Information System Authority (RIA) on 21st Aug

signed a cooperation agreement with India, under which the
two countries will start working towards more effective protection
in cyber-security. The memorandum was signed by RIA Director
General Margus Noormaa with India's Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology. Spokesperson for RIA conveyed that
under the agreement, RIA's incident response department CERT-
EE and the cyber-security unit of India performing similar tasks will
launch regular exchange of information, advice, assistance and Image Source: https://www.crossed-flag-
exchange of experts if necessary. pins.com
25 Government Websites were hacked till May 2019

Source: https://english.newstracklive.com/
Talking to reporters in Parliament on 11th July, Information

Technology and Telecommunications Minister Sh. Ravi Shankar
Prasad said that in the past five months, 25 central ministries and
state government websites were targeted by hackers. Sh. Prasad
informed the Parliament, on the basis of information provided by
the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, that in 2016,
2017, 2018 and 2019 (till May), 199, 172, 110 and 25 websites
Cyberattacks have
respectively of the Central Ministries/Departments and States
were hacked. He further expressed concern that cyberattacks become a global
have become a global problem since the expansion of problem since the
information and technology services. expansion of
information and
technology services
India’s National Cybersecurity Strategy will be released in
January 2020
Source: www.varindia.com
“India’s National Cybersecurity Strategy 2020 will be released in

January 2020. The government’s vision of a USD 5-trillion
economy will be helped to a great extent by this effort,” said Lt
Gen Rajesh Pant, National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC), at
an event. The most important requirement for internet safety is
increased effective coordination between ministries that are
overseeing various aspects of cyber security, proper critical Lt Gen Rajesh Pant, National Cyber
infrastructure protection and public-private partnership, he said. Security Coordinator (NCSC)
He further added that the critical information infrastructure does
not only lie with the government, so that partnership with private
sector becomes essential.
NCIIPC NEWSLETTER PAGE 3
News Snippets - International

Various Cities of United States Hit by Ransomware Attacks
Source: www.scmagazine.com, www.zdnet.com
Access to Riviera City data was locked on May 29, when a

police department employee opened an email and unleashed
ransomware on the city's network. Three weeks later the city
council voted to pay more than $600,000 ransom to recover
data. On June 10, the Lake City was targeted by a malware
attack known as “Triple Threat.” As a result of this attack, many
City systems were out of order. After two weeks the city opted
The United States to pay a $460,000 ransom. Baltimore officials approved using
$10 million in excess revenue to cover ongoing expenses
Conference of Mayors
related to a ransomware attack that immobilized several of the
has issued a resolution
cities computer systems in early May. The officials refused to
at its annual meeting
pay the ransom. Georgia's Judicial Council and Administrative
to stand united
Office of the Courts was another victim of ransomware attack.
against paying
All La Porte County government emails, and the county
ransoms when website, remained out of commission following a malware virus
municipalities are hit attack that affected the system on July 6. The County paid
by ransomware $130,000 ransom to recover data on computer systems
attack. impacted by ransomware. The United States Conference of
Mayors has issued a resolution at its annual meeting to stand
united against paying ransoms when municipalities are hit by
ransomware attack. A Puerto Rico-based medical centre and
a related women and children's hospital were victims of
ransomware attack impacting the data of more than 522,000
individuals. Louisiana Governor activated a state-wide state of
Louisiana Governor emergency in response to a wave of ransomware infections
activated a state-wide that hit multiple school districts. The Georgia Department of
state of emergency in Public Safety was hit by a ransomware infection on July 26 that
response to a wave of affected state patrol, capitol police and the Georgia Motor
ransomware infections Carrier Compliance Division. Twenty-three local Texas
that hit multiple school governments were infected with ransomware. The attack took
districts. place on August 16, when several smaller local Texas
governments reported problems with accessing their data to
the Texas Department of Information Resources. The Rockville
Centre, N.Y. School District paid $88,000 ransom to regain
access to files that were encrypted by Ryuk ransomware on
July 25. By finding ways to restore some of data, the ransom
demand went from approximately $176,000 to $88,000.
Hackers for SSL VPNs Manufactured by Fortinet/Pulse Secure

Source: www.govinfosecurity.com
Hackers are hunting for SSL VPNs manufactured by both Fortinet

and Pulse Secure that have yet to be updated to fix serious
security flaws.
There's been a surge in scanning attempts by attackers to

locate and automatically hack these devices, exploiting known Honeypots had
flaws that allow them to steal passwords and other sensitive detected
data. With stolen passwords in hand, attackers can potentially opportunistic, large-
gain full, remote access to organizations' networks. Troy Mursch scale mass scanning
of Chicago-based threat intelligence firm Bad Packets warned activity by hackers
that his firm's honeypots had detected opportunistic, large-
looking for Pulse
scale mass scanning activity by hackers looking for Pulse Secure
Secure VPN SSL servers
VPN SSL servers vulnerable to CVE-2019-11510.
UN Investigating North Korean Cyber-attacks for Money

Source: www.fifthdomain.com
U.N. experts are investigating at least 35 instances in 17

countries of North Korean using cyber-attacks to illegally raise
South Korea is hardest-
money for weapons of mass destruction programs. North Korea
hit, the victim of 10
illegally acquired as much as $2 billion from its increasingly
sophisticated cyber activities against financial institutions and North Korean cyber-
cryptocurrency exchanges. South Korea is hardest-hit, the attacks, followed by
victim of 10 North Korean cyber-attacks, followed by India with India with three
three attacks, and Bangladesh and Chile with two each. attacks
Thirteen countries suffered one attack each — Costa Rica,
Gambia, Guatemala, Kuwait, Liberia, Malaysia, Malta, Nigeria,
Poland, Slovenia, South Africa, Tunisia and Vietnam. The report
cites three main ways by which the North Korean cyber hackers
operate:
 Attacks through the Society for Worldwide Interbank

Financial Telecommunication
 Theft of cryptocurrency "through attacks on both exchanges

and users."
 And "mining of cryptocurrency as a source of funds for a

professional branch of the military”.
NSA is creating a Cybersecurity Directorate

The move is intended
Source: https://www.cyberscoop.com to allow the NSA to
The National Security Agency is creating a Cybersecurity better provide
Directorate to better protect the country against cyber threats information gleaned
from foreign adversaries. The move is intended to allow the NSA from signals
to better provide information gleaned from signals intelligence intelligence to
to agencies and the private sector in order to protect national agencies and the
critical infrastructure. One of the Cybersecurity Directorate’s private sector in order
jobs will be updating the NSA’s website as a one-stop-shop for to protect national
vulnerability information. critical infrastructure.
DHS Cyber Incident Response Teams Act

Source: https://www.nextgov.com
The House lawmakers on July 9 approved a bill that would

stand up a team of government cyber defenders who could
The DHS Cyber parachute in when networks come under attack. The DHS
Incident Response Cyber Incident Response Teams Act would create a
Teams Act would permanent group of security specialists that agencies and
industry could call on when their IT infrastructure gets
create a permanent
compromised. The teams, housed within the Cybersecurity and
group of security
Infrastructure Security Agency, would assist victims in containing
specialists that
the damage and restoring networks after digital attacks.
agencies and industry
Besides cleaning up after cyberattacks, the teams would be
could call on when
responsible for helping partners in the public and private sector
their IT infrastructure understand the latest cyber risks and create strategies for
gets compromised defending against attacks. Officials also have the option to
staff teams with cyber specialists from the private sector. After
four years, the officials would be required to provide the
Congress with statistics on the teams’ performance.
Multiple BGP Leak Events Disrupt the Major Internet Services

Source: arstechnica.com, blog.cloudflare.com
The traffic from various European mobile internet providers was

rerouted through China due to a route leak originating from a
Swiss ISP. The Switzerland-based company Safe Host improperly
updated its routers to advertise it was the proper path to reach
what eventually would become more than 70,000 Internet
routes comprising an estimated 368 million IP addresses. China
Telecom’s, which struck a network peering arrangement with
Safe Host, almost immediately echoed those routes. In short
order, a large number of big networks that connect to China
Telecom began following the route. As a result, much of the
As a result much of the traffic destined for telecommunications providers using the
traffic destined for affected IP addresses passed through China Telecom
telecommunications equipment before either being sent to their final stop or being
providers using the dropped during long waits caused by the roundabout paths. In
affected IP addresses another event a company in Northern Pennsylvania became a
passed through China preferred path of many Internet routes. An Internet Service
Telecom equipment Provider in Pennsylvania (DQE Communications) was using a
before either being BGP optimizer in their network, which meant there were a lot of
sent to their final stop more specific routes in their network. DQE announced these
specific routes to their customer (Allegheny Technologies Inc).
All of this routing information was then sent to their other transit
provider (Verizon), who proceeded to tell the entire Internet
about these “better” routes. Suddenly Verizon, Allegheny, and
DQE had to deal with a stampede of Internet users trying to
access those services through their network. None of these
networks were suitably equipped to deal with this drastic
increase in traffic, causing disruption in service.
Trends
Latest Technological Trends in Banking and Financial Services in
India
Sectoral Coordinator, BFSI
The latest banking industry trends have become much

technical today. It has moved from normal paper transactions
Today’s banking
to screen tap points. Today’s banking scenario works on
providing differentiated and delightful customer experience scenario works on
than merely just providing financial services. The financial providing
technology has revolutionized financial services in India as well differentiated and
as the banking sector. It has resulted in the introduction and delightful customer
advancement of several technology trends that have experience than
contributed to the transformation, growth, and advancement merely just providing
of these industries. Modern trends in banking system make it financial services.
easier, simpler, paperless, signature less and branchless with
various features like IMPS (Immediate Payment Service), RTGS
(Real Time Gross Settlement), NEFT (National Electronic Funds
Transfer), Online Banking, and Telebanking. Digitization has
created the comfort of “anywhere and anytime banking.”
Mobile banking future trends hint at the acquisition of IoT and
Voice-Enabled Payment Services to become the reality of
tomorrow. These voice-enabled services can be found in smart
televisions, smart cars, smart homes, and smart everything. Top
industry leaders are collaborating to adopt IoT-connected
networks to create mobile banking technologies that require
users’ voice to operate. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is one
Top industry leaders
of the fastest and most secure payment gateways that is
are collaborating to
developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)
and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India. There are adopt IoT-connected
approximately 39 apps and more than 50 banks supporting the networks to create
transaction system. There is an increasing use of Artificial mobile banking
Intelligence Robots by many Indian banks. These robots can technologies that
recognize fraudulent behaviour, collate surveys and feedback require users’ voice to
and assist in financial decisions in respect of customer. Cloud operate.
Computing in Banking has reduced the challenges being
faced by the banking industry in numerous ways, including
reduced cost of infrastructure, increased business agility, and
enhanced level of security.
References:
[1] https://www.enterpriseedges.com/banking-financial-
service-trends-india
[2] https://www.finoit.com/blog/banking-industry-trends-2018-
19/
Project from NSA to Protect Machines from Firmware Attacks

Source: https://www.cyberscoop.com
A multi-year project of National Security Agency that could

better protect machines from firmware attacks will soon be
available to the public. The project will increase security in
machines essentially by placing the machine’s firmware in a
container to isolate it from would-be attackers. A layer of
protection is being added to the System Management Interrupt
(SMI) handler — code that allows a machine to make
adjustments on the hardware level — as part of the open
source firmware platform Coreboot. The end product — known
When [STM-PE is] run, it as an SMI Transfer Monitor with protected execution (STM-PE) —
takes this code and will work with x86 processors that run Coreboot. The STM is a
puts it in a box such hypervisor, meaning it can isolate physical hardware from a
that it only can access computer’s operating system and can prevent meddling with
the device systems low-level code, such as power management. When [STM-PE is]
that it needs to runs, it takes this code and puts it in a box such that it only can
access. access the device systems that it needs to access.
More than 70% of Newly Registered Domains are “malicious” or

“suspicious” or “not safe for work”
Source: https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/newly-registered-
domains-malicious-abuse-by-bad-actors/
Newly registered domains (NRDs) are known to be favoured by

threat actors to launch malicious campaigns. Academic and
industry research reports have shown statistical proof that NRDs
are risky, revealing malicious usage of NRDs including phishing,
malware, and scam. Therefore, best security practice calls for
blocking and/or closely monitoring NRDs in enterprise traffic.
Analysis shows that more than 70% of NRDs are “malicious” or
“suspicious” or “not safe for work.” Also, most NRDs used for
malicious purposes are very short-lived. They can be alive only
They can be alive only for a few hours or a couple of days, sometimes even before any
for a few hours or a security vendor can detect it. This is why blocking NRDs is a
couple of days, necessary, preventive security measure for enterprises. NRDs
sometimes even are often times abused by bad actors for nefarious purposes,
before any security including but not limited to C2, malware distribution, phishing,
vendor can detect it. typo squatting, PUP/Adware, and spam.
US Secure and Anonymous Portal for Reporting Vulnerabilities

Source: https://www.cyberscoop.com
The U.S. government is experimenting with a secure and

anonymous portal for reporting software vulnerabilities to
encourage closer collaboration with ethical hackers. The
initiative is recognition of the lingering reluctance that some
security researchers have felt in flagging bugs for federal
officials.
The project would use SecureDrop, the open-source software

that some news organizations rely on for anonymous tips, to
submit vulnerability information. The platform runs through Tor,
the anonymizing tool.
Malware Bytes
An ongoing Malware Campaign Linked to Threat Actor SWEED
Source: https://blog.talosintelligence.com/
Cisco recently identified an ongoing malware campaign linked

to threat actor SWEED. This threat actor includes malware such
as formbook, Lokibot and Agent Tesla. The actor primarily
targets to infect its victim by using spear phishing emails with
malicious attachments. The attacker placed droppers inside of
zip archive, and then attached those ZIPs to emails. In April
2018, Sweed began making use of previously disclosed office
exploit. In 2019, the campaigns associated with SWEED began
leveraging malicious Office macros. The excel attachment Victims' geographic dispersion
contains an obfuscated VBA macro, which executes a

PowerShell script using a WMI call. The downloaded binary is an SWEED also used typo
AutoIT-compiled script. One of the common characteristics squatting for the
associated with SWEED campaign is the use of various domains used to host
techniques to bypass User Account Control on infected the packed Agent
systems. SWEED also used typo squatting for the domains used
Tesla binaries that
to host the packed Agent Tesla binaries that have been
have been distributed
distributed. SWEED has been active for last three years. A user
with SWEED name has been active on various forums, IRC
channels and Discord Servers.
Emotet Botnet appear to have resumed Activity

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com
Command and control (C2) servers for the Emotet botnet

appear to have resumed activity and deliver binaries once
more. This comes after being inert since the beginning of June.
The botnet's C2 infrastructure revived again in August.
According to MaxMind geo-IP service, the servers seen to be
active are from the U.S., Hungary, France, Germany, India,
Belgium, Poland, Mexico, Argentina, and Australia. Although it
Servers seen to be
started as a banking Trojan in 2014, Emotet changed its course
active are from the
to becoming a botnet that delivers various malware strains.
U.S., Hungary, France,
Emotet is now one of the top threats, its infrastructure being
used to distribute Trickbot, another banking Trojan, and then Germany, India,
spread the Ryuk ransomware. This combination is dubbed 'triple Belgium, Poland,
threat' and has affected public administrations in the U.S. Mexico, Argentina,
and Australia
Operation Soft Cell Targeting Global Telecom Service Providers

Source: https://www.cybereason.com/
In 2018, the Cybereason Nocturnus team identified an

advanced, persistent attack named Operation Soft Cell
targeting global telecommunications providers. This multi-wave
attacks focused on obtaining data of specific, high-value
targets and resulted in a complete takeover of the network.
Operation Soft Cell has been active since at least 2012, though
some evidence suggests even earlier activity by the threat
actor against telecommunications providers. The attack was
aiming to obtain CDR records of a large telecommunications
provider. The threat actor was attempting to steal all data
The threat actor stored in the active directory, compromising every single
managed to infiltrate username and password in the organization, along with other
into the deepest personally identifiable information, billing data, call detail
segments of the records, credentials, email servers, geo-location of users, and
providers’ network, more. In an attempt to hide the contents of the stolen data, the
including some threat actor used winrar to compress and password-protect it.
isolated from the The winrar binaries and compressed data were found mostly in
Internet the Recycle Bin folder. The threat actor managed to infiltrate
into the deepest segments of the providers’ network, including
some isolated from the Internet, as well as compromise critical
assets.
Attack against the Government Sector in Central Asia

Source: https://www.fireeye.com
FireEye Labs recently observed an attack against the

government sector in Central Asia. The attack involved the new
HAWKBALL backdoor being delivered via well-known Microsoft
Office vulnerabilities CVE-2017-11882 and CVE-2018-0802.
HAWKBALL is capable of surveying the host, creating a named
pipe to execute native Windows commands, terminating
processes, creating, deleting and uploading files, searching for
files, and enumerating drives. HAWKBALL communicates to a
single hard-coded C2 server using HTTP. The C2 server is
obtained from the decrypted config file.
Decoy used in the attack
XENOTIME Probing the Networks of Electric Utility Organizations

Source: https://dragos.com
XENOTIME, the group behind the TRISIS event, previously

focused on oil and gas related targeting. In February 2019,
Dragos identified a change in XENOTIME behaviour: starting in
late 2018, XENOTIME began probing the networks of electric
utility organizations in the US and elsewhere using similar tactics
to the group’s operations against oil and gas companies.
Multiple ICS sectors now face the XENOTIME threat; this means
individual verticals – such as oil and gas, manufacturing, or XENOTIME is the only
electric – cannot ignore threats to other ICS entities because known entity to
they are not specifically targeted. XENOTIME is the only known specifically target
entity to specifically target Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) for Safety Instrumented
disruptive or destructive purposes. Electric utility environments Systems (SIS) for
are significantly different from oil and gas operations in several disruptive or
aspects, but electric operations still have safety and protection destructive purposes.
equipment that could be targeted with similar tradecraft.
Dtrack - Spy Tool Spotted in Indian Financial Institutions

Source: https://usa.kaspersky.com
Kaspersky discovered a previously unknown spy tool in Indian

financial institutions and research centres. Called Dtrack, this This spyware
spyware reportedly was created by the Lazarus group and is reportedly was
being used to upload and download files to victims’ systems, created by the Lazarus
record key strokes and conduct other actions typical of a group and is being
malicious Remote Administration Tool (RAT). In 2018, Kaspersky used to upload and
researchers discovered ATMDtrack – malware created to download files to
infiltrate Indian ATMs and steal customer card data. The two victims’ systems
strains share similarities with each other, but also with the 2013
DarkSeoul campaign.
Multistage Attack against Elasticsearch Databases

Source: https://blog.trendmicro.com
This year’s first quarter saw a surge of attacks against

Elasticsearch servers. These attacks mostly delivered
cryptocurrency-mining malware. The latest attack spotted
deviates from the usual profit-driven motive by delivering
backdoors as its payload. These threats can turn affected
targets into botnet zombies used in Distributed Denial-of-Service
(DDoS) attacks. The attack chain involves searching for The attack’s infection chain
exposed or publicly accessible Elasticsearch servers. The

malware would invoke a shell with an attacker-crafted search These threats can turn
query with encoded Java commands. Once this is successfully affected targets into
carried out, the first malicious script is downloaded from a botnet zombies used
domain, which appears to be expendable or easy-to-replace. in Distributed Denial-
The first-stage script will attempt to shut down the firewall as well of-Service (DDoS)
as competing and already-running cryptocurrency mining attacks.
activities and other processes. The second-stage script is then
retrieved, likely from a compromised website.
Learning
Medical Device Cyber Security
Sectoral Coordinator (Strategic & Public Enterprises), NCIIPC
All medical devices carry a certain amount of benefit and risk.

Medical devices are increasingly connected to the Internet,
hospital networks, and other medical devices to provide
features that improve health care and increase the ability of
health care providers to treat patients. These same features
Image Source: also increase the risk of potential cybersecurity threats. Medical
www.todaysmedicaldevelopments.com devices, like other computer systems, can be vulnerable to
security breaches, potentially impacting the safety and
effectiveness of the device. As medical device technology
continues to evolve it is inevitable that more use will be made
Medical devices, like of commoditized hardware and software. Most medical device
other computer cyber risk issues will fall under the three categories, which make
systems, can be for easier understanding of why a particular technical control or
vulnerable to security process has been implemented:-
breaches, potentially
 Confidentiality
impacting the safety
and effectiveness of  Integrity
the device.  Availability
Medical Device Risk: Medical devices will often contain

complex electronics (often electromechanical) with supporting
software or firmware. The latter is often used to control specific
features of a device and will often be loaded directly onto a
chipset. Historically firmware was rarely updatable, but
manufacturers are aware now that updateable firmware
makes a device easier to support and update against cyber
related threats. There are a large number of potential risks to
Flawed or defective
medical devices, but the common ones are:
software and
firmware, a significant  Flawed or defective software and firmware, a significant
interruption of service interruption of service could result in harm to patients or even
could result in harm to loss of life
patients or even loss of  Incorrectly configured network services.
life
 Security and privacy issues
 Poor data protection, which maintain a wide range of

sensitive patient records
 Improper disposal or loss of the device with on-board

memory still containing patient data
Mitigating Cyber security Risks: In addition to below steps,

healthcare organisation and medical device manufacturers
should ensure appropriate safeguards are in place:-
 Changing or strengthening the device’s default credentials

makes the device less prone to unauthorized access
 Enabling the device’s firewall, if available, or deploying

intrusion detection and prevention systems to mitigate
incursion attempts.
 Review IOT devices to ensure they support the latest security

protocols and standards and disable older insecure
protocols. (check the vendors websites for updates &
patches)
 Educate engineers and developers on the importance of

data protection and cyber security and ensure that software
engineers are recognized for building secure, robust code.
References:
[1] https://www.himss.org/file/1317711/download?token=FpOap
XsF
[2] https://www.finoit.com/blog/banking-industry-trends-2018-19/
Cyber Security Threats and Solutions for IoT Devices Used in

Power Sector
Sectoral Coordinator (Power and Energy), NCIIPC
The IoT security is the technology area concerned with

safeguarding connected devices and networks in the Internet
of Things (IoT). IoT devices are used in interrelated cyber
physical systems which are widely used in Power Sector.
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are
widely used in the power sector as means to automate
industrial processes in Power Systems.
Its functions included supervision of the operation of Remote

Terminal Units (RTUs) & programmable logic controllers (PLCs) by
collecting data about the underlying processes, analysing the Smart meters are
data, and sending commands to control the processes. Smart another example of
meters are another example of IoT, with its ability to deliver near
IoT, with its ability to
real-time consumption data and connect and/or disconnect
deliver near real-time
customers, both without visiting the customer location.
consumption data
Operational technology like SCADA and smart meters have to
and connect and/or
be complemented with information and communication
disconnect customers,
technology (ICT) like Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and
enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems for an IoT solution.
both without visiting
Due to convergence of IT & OT technologies, the possibility of the customer location.
threats in Power Sector increases. Attack surface is also
increased due to inclusion of IoT devices, communication
channels, applications & software.
Devices: Huge number of heterogeneous devices is used for

sensing. This increases the attack surface.
Communication Channels: Attacks can originate from the

channels that connect IoT components with one another
Applications and Software: Vulnerabilities in web applications

and related software such as firmware for IoT devices can lead
to compromised systems.
For IoT security following security measures may be adopted:
 All data being gathered and information being stored

should be monitored for anomaly detection.
 Each device being connected to the network should be

configured with security in mind.
 Machine to machine whitelisting and authentication may be

adopted.
 The organization’s security strategy should be built on the

assumption of compromise.
 Each device should be physically secured.
References
[1] https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/in/security/news/intern
et-of-things/the-iot-attack-surface-threats-and-security-
solutions
[2] https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/350011
/sdwp-48.pdf
National Security Operation Centre

Director (NSAC), NCIIPC
Across the Globe it is being realised that cyber security has to

follow a tiered approach and no single entity in isolation can
protect the critical assets of the country without having
redundancy and multiple layers with appropriate trust and
coherence as a pre-requisite.
National Security Operation Centres (NSOCs) are collaborative

efforts to converge and analyse vast amount and variety of
data for threat sharing at National level. At National level, the
aim is to analyse, evolve, predict, and disseminate cyber threat
alerts/advisories to the stakeholders. National threat pictures
give the Government insight into the threats faced by the CII
(Critical Information Infrastructures), which helps them to shape
the Cyber Security Framework, Policies and SOPs accordingly
for the protection of CII. The aim is to have mechanisms in
place where National institutions entrusted with the
responsibility of running NSOCs should have a broad picture of
malicious activity (if any) between Global Cyber space and
networks of the individual CIIs. This enables the NSOC to pro-
actively do the correlation across Data Centres (DCs) of these
CIIs at the national level, to pro-actively inform all the CIIs as
soon as any malicious activity is witnessed in the logs of any of
these critical entities.
NSOC - Beyond SIEM and SOC: Over the decade, Cyber

Security industry has witnessed a change in the way Cyber Dynamic DevOps
Security Operations of the networks are dealt. Monitoring the which deals with all
logs by the organisation through Syslog servers has been the the software updates
standard practice, with addition of SIEM (Security Incident and and upgrades specific
Event Management) solutions, which are now transiting to Next
to the operational
Gen-SIEM along with SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation
requirement of the
and Response) capabilities. However, CIIs having pan country
Organisation
presence with interconnected networks have found it useful to
managing the NSOC is
have dedicated teams for the protection of the same, hence
vital to keep them
moving to the SOC (Security Operations Centre) with
abreast of the latest
dedicated manpower to manage identified processes with
proper escalation matrixes in place. These CIIs have also started technological
moving on to the Next Gen SOC for automation of threat trends/developments
hunting and analytics which can be quite complex if the catering the needs of
volume of monitored logs is quite huge. automation, analytics,
visualization and
The NSOC has some extra features (specific to perimeter logs),
reporting.
which give the cross CII correlation overview of the data in
terms of the threat witnessed in one organisation or repetition in
the type of attack patterns witnesses in data log sets. The
evolution of features is depicted in Figure, which also highlights
components like indigenous Threat feeds, which may also
include the inputs from cross country bilateral arrangements.
One component of Dynamic DevOps, which deals with all the
software updates and upgrades specific to the operational
requirement of the Organisation managing the NSOC, is vital to
keep them abreast of the latest technological trends/
developments catering the needs of automation, analytics,
visualization and reporting.
Key Parameters for Designing NSOC: NSOC should be balance

of People, Process, Technology and Data as highlighted in
Figure.
It must play an active role in protecting Critical Information

Infrastructures in near real time with mentioned key parameters:
Signature Based Detection: This primarily focuses of detection of

malicious activities based on known malicious IPs/ Domains/
CnCs (Command and Controls) received from Third Party
Intelligence (TPI) feeds.
Anomaly Based Detection: This detection is about anomaly in

behaviour witnessed in logs, flagged due to deviation in known
or white-listed baseline activities. Main aim is threat hunting
related to unknown malicious IPs, with support of AI (Artificial
Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning).
Predictive: This is complex feature which requires the cross-log

correlation across the CII stakeholders for threat attribution and
also predicting the scenario where threat campaign in the
nascent stage is trying to establish its foothold across the CIIs.
Dynamic DevOps: This component is mandatory if the NSOC

has to be adaptive in nature with the changing landscape of
NSOC should the technological trends in the field of Incident Response (IR),
coordinate, share, Reverse Engineering/Analytics and SOC. This feature caters
monitor, collect, customization and development requirements as per the
analyse and forecast analytics required at the National Level SOCs.
national level cyber Big Data: Scalability issues in terms of processing and storage
threats aimed towards can be efficiently tackled with the mentioned technology
CIIs by envisaging having negligible/minimal downtime.
solutions which are
Conclusion: NSOC should coordinate, share, monitor, collect,
actionable, flexible analyse and forecast national level cyber threats aimed
and dynamic to cater towards CIIs by envisaging solutions which are actionable,
for the changing flexible and dynamic to cater for the changing needs of Cyber
needs of Cyber Security for the protection of CIIs in near real time (NRT). It
Security for the should also provide the adequate environment with the right
protection of CIIs in combination of people, process, technology and data to carry
near real time (NRT). out necessary analysis for early detection of anomalies across
CIIs of the Nation.
References
[1] https://nciipc.gov.in/documents/Rules_procedure_new201
8.pdf
[2] https://www.blackhat.com
[3] https://www.defcon.org
[4] https://www.enisa.europa.eu
[5] https://www.sans.org
[6] https://www.mitre.org
[7] https://nvlpubs.nist.gov
[8] https://blogs.gartner.com
[9] https://www.researchgate.net
Importance of Cyber Security Control Automation

Source: https://securitycommunity.tcs.com,
https://www.idtheftcenter.org
Cyber Security Controls have become an outline to help Chief

Information Security Officers (CISOs) and Chief Information
Officers (CIOs) to deploy the most effective processes and tools
to secure computer systems according to risk. By following any
of the Framework/Guideline (NIST/COBIT/ISO), an organization
can reduce or protect cyber risks.
Organizations can use an automation tool to control testing

approaches where a tool is run on the systems
(desktops/laptops/servers etc.,) to download control data from
tables and structures and algorithms are stored in the repository
to read controls to start the automation process.
Framework for Preventing Cyber Attacks: Three pillars (People,

Processes and Technology) are important to build Effective
Information Security Management System (ISMS). There are
multiple cyber security frameworks and standards like NIST,
ISO/IEC 27001, COBIT etc., which provides a common language
to understand, manage the risk. The frameworks and standards
can be used to help identify and prioritize actions for reducing
cybersecurity risks and regulators compliance requirements like Automation tools can
SoX, PCI, HIPAA, FFIEC, FISMA, NERC-CIP, SWIFT, GDPR, CDM, be used to produce
CJIS etc.
an automated,
Automation tools can be used to produce an automated, complete inventory of
complete inventory of systems on the network. This tool scans systems on the
any IP enabled device, including servers, desktops, laptops, network. This tool
routers, switches and firewalls. Keeping track of IT assets and scans any IP enabled
automatically identify whether unapproved or harmful software device, including
or hardware is installed. Automation tool makes it easier to see servers, desktops,
where potential risks may exist, so they can be prevented laptops, routers,
before major problems arise, such as illegal/unauthorized
switches and firewalls.
software, outdated software and unauthorized/malicious
downloads. Keeping systems and assets compliant will help to
prevent/reduce cyber threat and support compliance
requirements.
Sysmon Now Supports Logging of DNS Queries

Source: https://medium.com/
Sysmon, the System Monitoring tool from Microsoft now supports

logging of DNS queries. By default, the DNS queries are not
logged. To enable this config-dnsquery.xml file needs to be
created with the following contents.
<Sysmon schemaversion="4.21">
<EventFiltering>
<DnsQuery onmatch="exclude" />
Sysmon EventLog DNS Query
</EventFiltering>
</Sysmon>
Type the command Sysmon.exe -c config-dnsquery.xml to

apply the settings. This starts logging DNS queries. Sysmon logs
are all located in the Applications and Services Log >
Microsoft > Windows > Sysmon Operational. A log of DNS
queries has an event ID of 22.
Vulnerability Watch
Insecure Implementation of CAN Bus Networks Affecting Aircraft
Source: https://www.us-cert.gov/ics/alerts/ics-alert-19-211-01
US Agency CISA issued an alert regarding insecure

implementation of CAN bus networks affecting aircraft. An
attacker with physical access to aircraft could attach a device
to an avionics CAN bus that could be used to inject false data,
resulting in incorrect readings in avionic equipment. With this
engine telemetry readings, compass and attitude data,
Image used courtesy of the Infosec
altitude, airspeeds, and angle of attack could all be
Institute
manipulated to provide false measurements to the pilot. A pilot
relying on instrument readings would be unable to distinguish
A pilot relying on
between false and legitimate readings, which could result in
instrument readings
loss of control of the affected aircraft. Aircraft owners should
would be unable to
restrict access to planes to the best of their abilities. Safeguards
distinguish between such as CAN bus-specific filtering, whitelisting, and segregation
false and legitimate should also be evaluated by aircraft manufacturers.
readings
Hackers can bypass the Limits on Visa Contactless Cards

Source: https://www.ptsecurity.com
Now hackers can bypass the payment limits on Visa contactless

cards. The attack works by manipulating two data fields that
are exchanged between the card and the terminal during a
contactless payment. A device acts as a proxy and is known to
conduct Man in the Middle (MITM) attacks. First, the device tells
the card that verification is not necessary and then tells the
terminal that verification has already been made by another
means. The attack can also be done using mobile wallets such
as GPay, where a Visa card has been added to the wallet.
Multiple Vulnerabilities in Schneider Electric's Modicon M580
Source: https://blog.talosintelligence.com/2019/06/vulnerability-
spotlight-multiple.html
The Modicon M580 is the latest in Schneider Electric's Modicon

line of programmable automation controllers having various
vulnerabilities. The majority of the bugs exist in UMAS requests
made while operating the hardware. It can lead to a variety of
conditions, including denial of service and the disclosure of
sensitive information.
Critical Vulnerability in NPM Package Gitlabhook
Source: https://hackerone.com/reports/685447
NPM package gitlabhook version 0.0.17 is vulnerable to

Command Injection vulnerability.
It allows execution of arbitrary code on the remote server that

waits for instructions from gitlab. Function "ExecFile" at line 146
executes commands without any sanitization. User input gets
passed directly to this command. An attacker can achieve
Remote Code Execution (RCE) without any conditions.
Exploit
Critical Vulnerability in Cisco REST API Virtual Service Container
Source: https://nvd.nist.gov/
Vulnerability in the Cisco REST API virtual service container for

Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote
attacker to bypass authentication on the managed Cisco IOS An attacker could exploit
XE device. The vulnerability is due to an improper check this vulnerability by
performed by the area of code that manages the REST API submitting malicious HTTP
authentication service. An attacker could exploit this requests to the targeted
vulnerability by submitting malicious HTTP requests to the device.
targeted device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker
to obtain the token-id of an authenticated user. This token-id
could be used to bypass authentication and execute
privileged actions through the interface of the REST API virtual
service container on the affected Cisco IOS XE device.
Critical Vulnerability in NVIDIA Windows GPU Display Driver
NVIDIA Windows GPU Display Driver (all versions) contains

vulnerability in DirectX drivers, in which a specially crafted
shader can cause an out of bounds access of an input texture
array, which may lead to denial of service or code execution.
Critical Vulnerability in Firefox and Thunderbird

Insufficient vetting of parameters passed with the “Prompt:

Open” IPC message between child and parent processes can
result in the non-sandboxed parent process opening web
content chosen by a compromised child process. When
combined with additional vulnerabilities this could result in
executing arbitrary code on the user's computer. This
vulnerability affects Firefox ESR < 60.7.2, Firefox < 67.0.4, and
Thunderbird < 60.7.2.
Multiple Vulnerabilities were found in the Nortek Linear eMerge
Source: https://www.applied-risk.com/resources/ar-2019-005
Multiple vulnerabilities were found in the Nortek Linear eMerge

E3-Series Access Control Platform.
These include Default Credentials, Directory Traversal, File

Inclusion, Cross-Site Scripting, Command Injection, Unrestricted
File Upload, Privilege Escalation, Authorization Bypass, Insecure
Storage of Sensitive Information, Hard-coded Credentials,
Cross-Site Request Forgery, Version Control Failure, Stack-based
Buffer Overflow and Root Access over SSH. The vulnerabilities
have been discovered and validated in Linear eMerge E3-
Series version 1.00-06 and before. By leveraging these
vulnerabilities an unauthenticated user can gain full system
By leveraging these
access. Nortek Security & Control, LLC is a leader in wireless
vulnerabilities an
security, home automation and personal safety systems and
unauthenticated user
devices.
can gain full system
access.
Quarterly Vulnerability Analysis Report
Source: cvedetails.com
A total of 4896 vulnerabilities were observed from the month of

Jun-Aug 2019. Most of the vulnerabilities had a score ranging
from 4-5. 61 percent of total vulnerabilities reported were of
medium severity. Cpanel, Microsoft, Oracle, Google and IBM
were the top five vendors sharing around 21 percent of total
reported vulnerabilities.
Severity Score Number of Vulnerabilities Total
June July Aug
Low 0-1 1 7 1 9
1-2 2 7 12 21 561
2-3 57 79 71 207
3-4 78 90 156 324
Medium 4-5 299 474 610 1383 2998
5-6 188 301 318 807
6-7 211 265 332 808
High 7-8 222 288 346 856 1337
8-9 15 9 11 35
9-10 190 109 147 446
Total 1263 1629 2004 4896
S. No. Vendor March April May Total

1. Cpanel 0 38 277 315
2. Microsoft 88 78 88 254
3. Oracle 1 157 0 158
4. Google 116 14 24 154
5. IBM 66 39 41 146
6. Adobe 4 11 118 133
7. HP 108 3 8 119
8. Cisco 32 26 51 109
9. Qualcomm 27 50 0 77
10. Debian 7 24 42 73
11. Linux 13 21 39 73
12. Magento 0 0 71 71
13. Jenkins 9 27 24 60
14. Redhat 21 17 12 50
15. Mozilla 0 47 0 47
Security App
Firefox for Android Added Support for Web Authentication API
Source: https://blog.mozilla.org/security/
Joining the league of Google, Microsoft and Dropbox, Firefox

for Android (Fennec) has now added support for Web
Security App
Authentication API (Version 68). With this capability, one can
use his/her device’s built-in biometric scanners for
authentication. Security keys that support Bluetooth, NFC can
also be used. To tackle credential phishing, one can enrol
his/her fingerprint as a security key and then login by using that
fingerprint without requiring any password. This level of anti-
phishing account security can be achieved by blending public-
key cryptography into web application logins.
Elastic SIEM
Source: https://www.elastic.co/blog/
Levering on Elastic Stack, Elastic SIEM (Security Information and

Event Management) has been introduced at Elasticsearch
Service with a new set of data integrations for security use
cases and a new app in Kibana. The Timeline Event Viewer in
the new SIEM app in Elastic SIEM allows gathering and storing of
evidence and share them among analysts all within Kibana. The
new 7.2 version of Timeline Event Viewer also brings support for
Sysmon in Winlogbeat, Cisco ASA and Palo Alto firewalls.
ElectionGuard: Microsoft’s Solution for Defending Democracy

Source: https://www.zdnet.com/, https://blogs.microsoft.com/
Under its Defending Democracy Program, at Aspen Security

Forum, Microsoft has demonstrated its first voting system
ElectionGuard in the era of secure, verifiable voting. This will
make voting easier for persons with disabilities and also more
affordable to local governments while improving security. With
the help of Microsoft Surface or using Xbox Adaptive Controller,
one can access his/her voting rights. With the help of tracking
code, one can later verify at election website whether his/her
vote has been counted or not. It doesn’t reveal the voting With the help of
information to third parties. Microsoft has also developed a tracking code, one
homomorphic encryption which is used with ElectionGuard to can later verify at
allow counting of votes while keeping the votes encrypted. election website
Currently the technology is being tested in a controlled whether his/her vote
environment and later this year, it will be released on GitHub has been counted or
not.
Suspicious Site Reporter Extension in Chrome

Source: https://blog.chromium.org/
To protect naive users from deceptive websites, two new

features have been added to Chrome. With the help of Google
Search’s web crawler, Google creates list of safe and unsafe
websites which helps in creating a Safe Browsing list. Now with
the help of newly added Suspicious Site Reporter Extension in
Chrome, one can also report these suspicious sites which will
help millions of internet users avoid browsing those. Another
way of deceiving users can be done by using a confusing URL.
This is like accessing “go0gle.com” instead of “google.com”.
With Chrome 75, users will be warned before accessing these
deceptive websites by analysing users’ recently visited sites.
NCIIPC Initiatives
Guidelines for Identification of Critical Information Infrastructure
https://nciipc.gov.in/documents/Guidelines_for_Identification_of_CII.p
df
NCIIPC has released a set of guidelines for Identification and

Assessment of CII. These guidelines explain the parameters that
are to be used to assess the criticality of functions and services
provided by an Organization/ Entity and the magnitude of
impact on National Security, National Economy, Public Health
or Public Safety in case of incapacitation/ destruction of its ICT
infrastructure.
NCIIPC at the Industry Forum on Security and Defence in

Mumbai
NCIIPC participated at the Industry Forum on Security and

Defence held on 19 Sep in Mumbai. Sh. Lokesh Garg, Director
(West), NCIIPC was in a panel discussion on Homeland Security
and Defence.
Two Day Training Program on Cyber Security for Power Systems
India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF) in participation with NCIIPC and

VJTI organized a two-day training Program on Cyber Security
for Power Systems on 29-30 Aug at Royal Plaza Hotel, New Delhi.
Dr Ajeet Bajpai, Director General, NCIIPC delivered the Special
Address during the Training. The course was attended by 36
participants primarily from Utilities, Academic Institutions and
Research Organizations to understand the threats and attacks
Dr Ajeet Bajpai, DG NCIIPC on smart grids, Indian and International case studies, standards
delivering the Special Address and business models.
NCIIPC at Honeywell India Users Summit 2019

Sh. Lokesh Garg, Director (West), NCIIPC delivered a talk at the
Honeywell India Users Summit 2019 held on 25-26 July at
Mumbai. The Honeywell India Users Summit is the gathering of
Honeywell process control and industrial automation user
community in India. This two-day summit combines educational
presentations focused on industry innovations and
advancements.
A Two Day DTF Event for BFSI Sector at New Delhi

NCIIPC along with Information Sharing and Analysis Centre
(ISAC) organized DTF 7th edition for BFSI Sector on 25-26 July at
New Delhi.
NCIIPC Responsible Vulnerability Disclosure Program
http://nciipc.gov.in/RVDP.html
The NCIIPC Responsible Vulnerability Disclosure Program

provides opportunity for researchers to disclose vulnerability
observed in Nation’s Critical Information Infrastructure. NCIIPC Col. K. Pradeep Bhat (Retd)
acknowledges the following researchers for their contributions addressing the participants
at the two-day DTF event at
towards disclosure of vulnerabilities for protection of National New Delhi
Critical Information Infrastructure:
 Aamir Usman Khan  Aman Rawat

 Abhinav Awasthi  Aman Sarathi
 Abhishek Shiroti  Ambati Manoj Kumar Reddy
 Abhishek Sidharth  Amit Biswas
 Abhishek Tiwari  Amit Yadav
 Abhishek Zaveri  Amruthmohithe S
 Adel Alhakami  Anand Kumar Sharma
 Adesh Nandkishor Kolte  Andri Wahyudi
 Aditya Nama  Anil Tom
 Ahad Ansari  Aniruddha Anil Kale NCIIPC acknowledges
 Aishwarya  Aniruddha Khadse the researchers for
 Ajay Patil  Ankit Kumar their contributions
 Ajay Shrimali  Ankit Saxena towards protection of
 Ajith Kumar Joel T  Ankit Thakur National Critical
 Akash Kundu  Anshaj Goyal Information
 Akash Sharma  Anuj Yadav Infrastructure.
 Akash Yadav  Aravind Reddy
 Akash.H.C  Arun Kumar
 Akshansh Kumar Jaiswal  Ashish Mathur
 Akshatha  Ashish Ramamoorthy
 Akshay Nayak  Ashutosh
 Ali Sayed  Ashutosh Barot
 Alwoares  Avishek Nayal
 Ayan Saha  Jagadeesh V  Nishant Pawar

 Bathini Vijaysimha Reddy  Janamejaya Swain  Nitin D Bangera
 Bhagavan Bollina  Jatan A Vora  P.Hema
 Bhavana Gaikwad  Jimada Shivaram  P.Prakash Kumar
 Bijay Kumar  Jitendra Hingu  Parag Bagade
 Chaman Kumar  Jitesh Kumar  Paras Arora
 Chandan M N  Joby Y Daniel  Paresh Mishra
 Chandan Singh Ghodela  Jubyl Tigga  Paridhi Gupta
 Chandana P.R  Juli Agarwal  Paritosh Gadling
 Charan Yadav Np  Junaid Farhan  Pawan Chhabria
 Charan.M  Kamsala Bhanu Sai Achari  Pethuraj M
 Chirakala Sravya  Kanchan Punwatkar  Piyush Chhiroliya
 Chittaranjan Kumar  Kapil Rankawa  Piyush Raj
 Chowdhari M  Kartik Kaushik Joshi  Pooja Shetty
 D. Yatish Bhat  Kaustubh Kale  Poonam Behera
 D.V.Sree Charan  Kaustubh Rasam  Prachi Singh
 Damini Soni  Kavisha Sheth  Pradeep Kumar Singh
 Danish Raja  Ketan Madhukar Mukane  Prakash Mohan
 Darshan Panwar  Kirti Kharb  Prathima
 Deepak Choudhary  Konark Modi  Pratik Dabhi
 Deepak Krishna Joshi  Krantikumar Patil  Pratik Jagtap
 Deepak Kumar  Kunal Gambhir  Praveen Singh Rawat
 Deepak Panchal  Kunal Gujar  Pritam Das
 Devendra Kumar Sinha  Kushalveer Singh Bachchas  Punit Darji
 Dhanush Reddy Kn  Lavanya Srivastava  Rahul
 Dhruv Trivedi  Mahendra Purbia  Rahul Batra
 Dipak Panchal  Manoj  Rahul Tripathi
 Dipak Prajapati  Manoj S K  Raj Sharma
 Durgesh Pandey  Mayank Singh  Rajiv
 Ediga Indu Meghana  Mayur Parmar  Raju Kumar
 Eshan Singh  Mayuresh Barbade  Ramandeep Singh
 Fatrat  Md Danish Raja  Ravi Ashok Prajapati
 Feroz Khan  Midhun  Rishabh Nigam
 Ganagalla Jeevan Kumar  Mitesh Patil  Ritik Sahni
 Gaurav  Mitesh Wani  Rohit Soni
 Genius Anand  Mohammed Abdullah Anas  Rohit Vashistha
 Gitti Ravi  Mohammed Shine  Ronak Nahar
 Gopisetty Srinivas  Mohd Mustafa Choudhary  Rupesh Kokare
 Goveend Pareek  Mrigendra Soni  Sachin Gupta
 Harsh D Ranjan  Mukesh Patidar  Sachin Wagh
 Harsh Joshi  Nachiket Gupta  Saddam Hussain
 Harsh Mukeshbhai Joshi  Nagamarimuthu  Sahil Kataria
 Harshit Chari  Natvar Singh  Sai Deepak
 Harshit Gupta  Naveenkumar TG  Sai Kumar
 Hina Rawal  Nikhil Bharat Ahire  Sai Niharika
 Hrishikesh Panse  Nishant  Salman Sajid Khan
 Jafar Hasan  Nishant Kumar  Sampurna Raj
 Sandeep Kumar Singh  Siddhanth Dwivedi  Vallala Sathwik Mohan

 Sanjay Kumar  Smith Gonsalves,  Varshil Patel
 Sanjeet Mishra  Sonam Patil  Varun Joshi
 Sankalp R. Kelaskar  Sourabh Adhikari  Vasantha Kumar.S.P
 Sanskar Sharma  Sourajeet Majumder  Venkateswara Reddy
 Sarath Kumar  Srinivas  Vijay Balaji M
 Sasket Taneja  Subhamoy Guha  Vikash Kumar
 Saurabh Sawant  Sumana  Vinay
 Saurabh Singh  Sumeet Thakur  Vinay Varma Mudunuri
 Savan Khurana  Sumit Dwivedi  Viral Nagda
 Sayak Nakar  Sumukha BS  Vishal Jadhav
 Shaikh Arshe Azam  Suraj Kumar  Vishnu Prasad P G
 Shail Sudhirkumar Shah  Surendiran  Vishnuraj.K
 Shantanu Kul  Suresh  Vivek A
 Sheth Kavisha  Surya Prasanth  Vivek Asokan
 Shishant Kumar  Sushant Dhekane  Vivek Yadav
 Shiv Charan Kataria  Sushma Ahuja  Yash Jangid
 Shivam Khambe  Swapnil Kotawadekar  Yash Sarode
 Shivam Lohani  Tarang Parmar  Yash Swarup
 Shivam Pandya  Tarun N  Yatin Sharma
 Shivanand Jha  Tirtha Mandal  Yatish Patil
 Shivaraj Channagoudar  Tolesh Kumar Jangid  Yogesh Khandge
 Shreyas R Gurjar  Tushar Anand  Yogesh Surve
 Shubham Dupare  Tushar Balu Shinde  Zeel Chavda
 Shubham Gupta  Ujawal Kumar  Zishan Ahamed Thandar
 Shubham Maheshwari  Vaibhav V. Kamble
 Sibivasan M  Vaishali Singh
Mobile Security
Cerberus: A New Android Banking Malware in town
Source: https://www.threatfabric.com/blogs/
According to ThreatFabric, after Anubis and RedAlert Trojans

there is a new android banking malware named “Cerberus”
available for rent in underground forums. After installation, the
malware hides itself from the App drawer and asks for
accessibility service privilege. After granting this permission, it
abuses by granting itself additional permissions and also
disables Play Protect to avoid detection. It then executes
commands as demanded by a C2 server. Like other banking
One of the interesting Trojans, Cerberus uses overlaying attacks to trick victims provide
evasion techniques of additional information. It leverages on keylogging and has SMS
this malware is the use control and contact list harvesting mechanism. One of the
of accelerometer interesting evasion techniques of this malware is the use of
sensor, which accelerometer sensor, which implements a pedometer to
implements a measure victim’s movement. The idea is if the victim is a real
pedometer to person, then sooner or later he/ she will move around. Using a
measure victim’s pre-configured threshold and by measuring step count, the
movement. malware executes itself. Thus, it prevents itself from running in
sandboxes and test devices by security researchers. The
malware also has an official twitter handler called
@AndroidCerberus.
URL Scheme Abuse in iOS Devices
Source: https://thehackernews.com/, https://blog.trendmicro.com/
Security Researchers at Trend Micro have discovered that

vulnerability in the implementation of Custom URL scheme exists
in iOS devices which allow a malicious app to steal sensitive
information from other apps via App-in-the-Middle attack. One
of the most common techniques of app communication in
Apple devices is URL scheme or Deep Linking which allows the
launching of apps through URLs like
facetime://, whatsapp://, fb-messenger:// etc. Apple doesn’t
define the exact usage of keywords in URL scheme which may
lead to multiple apps using a single custom URL. The
vulnerability exits when a malicious app ‘M’ requests for login
by abusing the URL scheme of a genuine app ‘G’. As the
checking of which app sends the login request by abusing URL
scheme is absent, ‘M’ receives the secret login token from the
server. With the login token, ‘M’ can request for a login in app
‘G’ and can steal sensitive information. App developers are
requested to review their apps and validate fix for untrusted
requests.
SimJacker: Hacking Phones by Sending SMS

Source: https://thehackernews.com/
According to AdaptiveMobile Security, our smartphones can

be easily compromised by simply sending a SMS. The
vulnerability lies in SIM cards and is being dubbed as
“SimJacker”. Most of the SIM cards contain S@T Browser
(Simalliance Toolbox Browser) through which mobile carrier
provides some basic services, subscriptions etc. This browser
can be triggered by sending a SMS to the victim’s device and At least mobile
by triggering, the attacker gets the device’s location and IMEI devices from 30
information. The attacker can also send fake messages on countries of
behalf of the victim; perform DOS attack by disabling SIM cards, manufacturers like
spread malware by opening a malicious web page on the Apple, Samsung,
device. It is claimed that the victim will be completely unaware Motorola, and Huawei
that he/ she is being attacked. At least mobile devices from 30 are vulnerable to this
countries of manufacturers like Apple, Samsung, Motorola, and attack.
Huawei are vulnerable to this attack.
FinSpy targeting Myanmar

Kaspersky researchers have reported that an updated version
of German surveillance spyware, FinSpy is targeting iOS and
Android users in Myanmar. Though the spyware doesn’t work
properly on iOS devices without jailbreaking capabilities, it is
capable of stealing a large amount of personal information. In
Android devices, it tries to use DirtyCow exploit to gain root
privileges in unrooted devices allowing attackers to gain
remote access of the device. The module .chext in this spyware
is specifically designed to target messenger applications like
Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram etc.
MOONSHINE upon Tibetan users via WhatsApp

Poison Carp hacking group has been accused of
compromising iOS and Android devices by sending a malicious
web link to high-profile targets in Tibet via WhatsApp. After
opening the link, the victim’s web browser is exploited and
using privilege escalation vulnerability, a spyware is installed.
The campaign uses 8 distinct Android browser exploits to install
MOONSHINE spyware and one iOS exploit chain to install in
Apple devices. It is also believed to be behind the iOS
campaign targeting the Uyghur community.
Upcoming Events - Global

October 2019
• Cyber Security for Critical Assets, London 1-2 Oct
• SecureWorld Detroit 1-2 Oct
• Defend Your Organization: Cybersecurity in 1-2 Oct
Manufacturing Conference, Boston
• Threat Hunting & Incident Response 2 Oct
Training 2019, New Orleans
OCTOBER 2019
• ISACA Cyber Security Nexus, Geneva 16-18 Oct
S M T W T F S
• Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Cyber 21-24 Oct
1 2
1 3
2 4
3 5
4 6
5
Security Conference, USA
7
6 8
7 9
8 10
9 11
10 12
11 13
12
• Gartner Security & Risk Management, 28-29 Oct
14
13 15
14 16
15 17
16 18
17 19
18 20
19 Dubai
21
20 22
21 23
22 24
23 25
24 26
25 27
26 • Industrial Control Cyber Security Europe 29-30 Oct
Conference, London
28
27 29
28 30
29 30 31
November 2019
• Cyber Security Asia 2019, Cambodia 4 Nov
NOVEMBER 2019
• SANS DFIRCON 2019, Coral Gables, Florida 4-9 Nov
MAY 2019
S M T W T F S
• Aviation Cyber Security Summit, London 5-6 Nov
S M T W T F
1 S
2
1 2 3 4 • Health IT Summit – Southwest, Houston 14 Nov
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 • Operational Resilience in the Financial 18 Nov
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Sector, London
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 • CyberCon 2019, Anaheim, California 19-21 Nov
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 • International conference on advanced 20-22 Nov
26 27 28 29 30 31 communication systems and information security 2019,
Marrakech, Morocco
December 2019
• International Cyber Risk Management 4-6 Dec
Conference, Bermuda
• Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud 9-12 Dec
Conference 2019, Las Vegas, Nevada
• Utility Cyber Security Forum, Illinois 11 Dec
• SecureCISO Denver, Denver, Colorado 12 Dec
January 2020
• CPX 360 New Orleans 27-29 Jan
• NextGen SCADA, Berlin 27-31 Jan
Upcoming Events - India

• Nullcon Security Training, Delhi 9-10 Oct
• BSides Delhi 11 Oct
• Cyber Security Summit 2019 – Bangalore 11 Oct
• HAKON – International Information 13 Oct
Security Meet, Indore
• SANS Mumbai 2019 4-9 Nov
• Gartner Symposium ITXPO 2019, Goa 11-14 Nov
• BSides Ahmedabad 16 Nov
• International Conference on Cyberlaw, 20-22 Nov DECEMBER 2019

Cybercrime & Cybersecurity, New Delhi
S M T W T F S
• Cybersecurity Summit: Mumbai 21 Nov 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
• International Conference on Cryptology 15-18 Dec 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
in India, Hyderabad
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
• International Symposium on Security in 18-21 Dec
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Computing and Communications, Kerala
29 30 31
• International Conference on Information 19-21 Dec
Technology, Bhubaneswar
• Workshop on Cyber Security and 7 Jan JANUARY 2020
Blockchain, Bengaluru
S M T W T F S
• NULLCON, Goa 3-7 Mar 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31
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Feedback/Contribution
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VOLUME 3 ISSUE 4 @ NC I I P C

There has been a surge in ransomware attacks on Government IT

NCIIPC has been periodically conducting cyber security

Comments, suggestions and feedback are solicited from the

News Snippets - National

The Estonian Information System Authority (RIA) on 21st Aug

25 Government Websites were hacked till May 2019

Talking to reporters in Parliament on 11th July, Information

“India’s National Cybersecurity Strategy 2020 will be released in

News Snippets - International

Access to Riviera City data was locked on May 29, when a

Hackers for SSL VPNs Manufactured by Fortinet/Pulse Secure

Hackers are hunting for SSL VPNs manufactured by both Fortinet

There's been a surge in scanning attempts by attackers to

UN Investigating North Korean Cyber-attacks for Money

U.N. experts are investigating at least 35 instances in 17

 Attacks through the Society for Worldwide Interbank

 Theft of cryptocurrency "through attacks on both exchanges

 And "mining of cryptocurrency as a source of funds for a

NSA is creating a Cybersecurity Directorate

DHS Cyber Incident Response Teams Act

The House lawmakers on July 9 approved a bill that would

Multiple BGP Leak Events Disrupt the Major Internet Services

The traffic from various European mobile internet providers was

The latest banking industry trends have become much

Project from NSA to Protect Machines from Firmware Attacks

A multi-year project of National Security Agency that could

More than 70% of Newly Registered Domains are “malicious” or

Newly registered domains (NRDs) are known to be favoured by

US Secure and Anonymous Portal for Reporting Vulnerabilities

The U.S. government is experimenting with a secure and

The project would use SecureDrop, the open-source software

Cisco recently identified an ongoing malware campaign linked

contains an obfuscated VBA macro, which executes a

Emotet Botnet appear to have resumed Activity

Command and control (C2) servers for the Emotet botnet

Operation Soft Cell Targeting Global Telecom Service Providers

In 2018, the Cybereason Nocturnus team identified an

Attack against the Government Sector in Central Asia

FireEye Labs recently observed an attack against the

Decoy used in the attack

XENOTIME Probing the Networks of Electric Utility Organizations

XENOTIME, the group behind the TRISIS event, previously

Dtrack - Spy Tool Spotted in Indian Financial Institutions

Kaspersky discovered a previously unknown spy tool in Indian

Multistage Attack against Elasticsearch Databases

This year’s first quarter saw a surge of attacks against

exposed or publicly accessible Elasticsearch servers. The

All medical devices carry a certain amount of benefit and risk.

Medical Device Risk: Medical devices will often contain

 Poor data protection, which maintain a wide range of

 Improper disposal or loss of the device with on-board

Mitigating Cyber security Risks: In addition to below steps,

 Changing or strengthening the device’s default credentials

 Enabling the device’s firewall, if available, or deploying

 Review IOT devices to ensure they support the latest security

 Educate engineers and developers on the importance of

Cyber Security Threats and Solutions for IoT Devices Used in

The IoT security is the technology area concerned with