European Defense Companies the Target of Cyber Espionage Over LinkedIn

By Byron Mühlberg for CPO Magazine
Friday, July 3, 2020

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Furthermore, while ESET was unable to reveal the identity of the attackers responsible for the cyber espionage attempts, it did tentatively point to the high-profile North Korean hacking group Lazarus.

Cyber espionage a persistent threat

The lure of financial gain and the promise of the sensitive national information in the hands of defense companies has led HR to become a prime target for cybercriminals over the past years. According to Ilia Kolochenko, the founder and chief executive at the web security company ImmuniWeb, such attacks are “particularly dangerous” because they “aptly leverage inherent human weaknesses” in order to steal valuable trade secrets and conduct economic cyber espionage.

“Often, you don’t even need any hacking but to stumble upon a talkative or disgruntled employee who will readily share a great wealth of confidential information either unwittingly or maliciously,” explained Kolochenko.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has only heightened the situation further, Kolochenko said. “It suffices to breach and backdoor their machines to get virtually unlimited access to corporate trade secrets,” he explained. “Some threat actors knowingly exploit the COVID-19 mess to cover some inconsistencies or other red flags during an interviewing process, for example, to convincingly explain why they cannot meet in person or send a formal employment proposal.”

As a result of this, according to Kolochenko, the path toward detection and mitigation is relatively clear-cut for organizations. Employee training and security awareness should be made a vital part of the onboarding process, at defense companies in particular, and in organizations in general.

In addition, work-from-home infrastructure should be properly inventoried and monitored, with access to corporate data only being provided on the “as-needed” basis with a proactive monitoring of any anomalies. “Last but not least, it won’t hurt to hire an external law firm to review your confidentiality and intellectual property clauses in employment contracts,” Kolochenko added. Read Full Article