Explanation of the Current Alert Level of GUARDED
The alert level is the overall current threat level.
On November 23, the Cyber Threat Alert Level was evaluated and is remaining at Blue (Guarded) due to open source reports of sophisticated threat actors compromising networks to deploy malware. On November 16, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) published a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) regarding Iranian Government-sponsored APT Actors having compromised a Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) entity using a Log4shell vulnerability in an unpatched VMWare Horizon server and deployed XMRig coinminer and keylogger malware. Organizations and users are advised to update and apply all appropriate vendor security patches to vulnerable systems and to continue to update their antivirus signatures daily. Another line of defense includes user awareness training regarding the threats posed by attachments and hypertext links contained in emails especially from un-trusted sources.
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Advisories Released (Last 12 Months)
Hot Topic
In Q2 2019 the MS-ISACobserved a 55% increase in the quantity of reported breaches when compared to the previous quarter and 53% decrease year to year. The significant decrease year to year is attributed to the absence of third-party breaches affecting multiple educational entities. The education sector experienced the most breaches, accounting for 71% of the breaches in Q2. The most prolific identified vector in Q2 was phishing, accounting for a combined 30% of reported breaches. The MS-ISAC did not identify any reports of W2 phishing scams affecting SLTT governments in Q2 2019, scams of this nature typically phase out in the second half the year.
Top Malware Last Month
- Shlayer
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The information on this page is maintained by our Security Operations Center, which is part of MS-ISAC and EI-ISAC.
