Enterprise Safety, Crucial Infrastructure
Hacktivism is nothing new, however the more and more fuzzy strains between conventional hacktivism and state-backed operations make it a stronger risk
19 Jun 2024
•
,
5 min. learn
Hacktivism surged again into mainstream consciousness with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Lower than two years later, politically-motivated teams and people had been out in drive once more, this time ostensibly to make their level amid the Israel-Hamas battle. Worryingly, hacktivists have been noticed utilizing more and more subtle and aggressive ways to deliver their agendas to public consideration.
Maybe much more disconcerting is the chance that many teams are, actually, both backed by, and even encompass, nation-state actors. Certainly, the strains between state-sponsored cyber operations and conventional hacktivism have change into fuzzy. In a world increasingly characterized by geopolitical instability and an erosion of the previous rules-based order, organizations, particularly these operating in critical infrastructure, ought to contemplate constructing the hacktivist risk into their threat modelling.
What’s new in hacktivism?
At its most elementary, hacktivism is the act of launching cyberattacks for political or social causes. As a sign of the seriousness with which it’s now considered, the Red Cross last year issued eight rules for “civilian hackers” working throughout wartime, all whereas noting that hacktivists are more and more inflicting disruption to non-military targets comparable to hospitals, pharmacies and banks.
READ ALSO: ESET APT Activity Report Q4 2023–Q1 2024
Predictably, there’s been little signal of hacktivists adhering to the rules issued by the Crimson Cross. Certainly, with attribution nonetheless troublesome on-line, the professionals of participating in hacktivist exercise nonetheless largely outweigh the cons – particularly if assaults are secretly backed by nation states.
The previous and the brand new
The present Israel-Hamas battle has drawn unprecedented numbers of activists onto streets around the globe. And, in lockstep, it has led to a surge in on-line exercise. A lot of that is much like the ways we’ve seen in earlier hacktivist campaigns, together with:
- DDoS assaults: In accordance with some sources, hacktivist-driven DDoS exercise final yr peaked in October at “report ranges, following the battle between Israel and Hamas.” This made Israel the nation most focused by hacktivists; with 1,480 DDoS assaults recorded in 2023, together with some big-name organizations.
- Net defacement: Over 100 hacktivists launched over 500 net defacement assaults on Israeli web sites within the week following the October 7 raids, in line with Cambridge College researchers. Related low-level net defacements proceed to at the present time.
- Stolen information: Some teams claimed to have stolen and printed information from Israel and allied organizations. In different phrases, hacktivists can infiltrate company techniques to pilfer delicate info earlier than releasing it publicly to embarrass or hurt the goal.
Nonetheless, there are additionally indicators that hacktivism is changing into extra focused and complex:
- One report steered hacktivist group AnonGhost exploited an API vulnerability within the “Crimson Alert” app, which gives real-time missile alerts for Israeli residents. The group “efficiently intercepted requests, uncovered susceptible servers and APIs, and employed Python scripts to ship spam messages to some customers of the app,” it famous. The group even managed to ship faux messages to civilians a few nuclear bomb.
- Different reports famous that hacktivist had posted screenshots indicating they’d entry to Israeli water techniques’ SCADA units. The researchers had been unable to confirm these claims, however steered that hacktivists might have been conducting reconnaissance operations focusing on the sector.
When nation states become involved
Hacktivists with extra superior technical know-how and/or entry to instruments and data on the cybercrime underground might have been behind the latter assaults. Nonetheless, nation state backing can’t be dominated out. Many nations have geopolitical and ideological causes to attack other countries and their allies beneath the camouflage of hacktivism.
Actually, suspected Russia-affiliated teams appear to have a protracted historical past of doing so, together with beneath the Anonymous Sudan moniker, which has taken down many targets within the West. The group claimed the assault on The Jerusalem Publish and a number of other others focusing on industrial management techniques (ICS), together with the Israeli International Navigational Satellite tv for pc Methods, Constructing Automation and Management Networks and Modbus ICS. One other pro-Russian group, Killnet, claimed to have taken down an Israeli authorities web site and the web site of safety company Shin Wager.
Whereas these assaults are notably excessive profile, there are hints of extra insidious state-backed efforts masquerading as hacktivism. Disinformation efforts embrace the use of AI-generated images purporting to show missile strikes, tanks rolling by means of ruined neighborhoods, or households combing by means of rubble for survivors.
The main focus right here is to generate photos that create a powerful emotional response – comparable to one among a baby crying amidst bomb wreckage, which went viral late final yr. Faux social media and Telegram accounts amplify the disinformation. In a single case, X proprietor Elon Musk apparently promoted a put up from a faked account that was considered 11 million instances earlier than deleting it.
Safety researchers have noticed suspiciously coordinated exercise following the Hamas assault – presumably suggesting state involvement. One research claimed a minimum of 30 hacktivist teams instantly pivoted exercise to the battle inside 48 hours.
How organizations can handle hacktivist dangers
In some ways, whether or not the hacktivist risk comes from real teams, these aligned with state pursuits or covert nation state operatives themselves, the risk stays the identical. Such teams are more and more focusing on personal sector organizations with the audacity to talk out on political delicate points. In some instances, they might achieve this merely if there’s a notion that the group is aligned to 1 facet or one other. Or as a smokescreen for extra shadowy nation state targets.
Regardless of the rationale, organizations can observe these fundamental high-level steps to mitigate the hacktivist threat:
- Ask the fitting questions: Are we a goal? What belongings are in danger? What’s the extent of our attack surface? Are present measures sufficient to mitigate hacktivist threat? That is the place an intensive cyber-risk evaluation of externally going through infrastructure can assist.
- Plug any gaps revealed by such an evaluation, together with vulnerabilities or misconfigurations – ideally this ought to be executed in a steady and automatic method.
- Guarantee belongings are shielded from threats at an e mail, endpoint, community and hybrid cloud layer and constantly monitor for threats with XDR/MDR tools.
- Improve id and entry administration with zero trust architecture and multi-factor authentication (MFA) and and maintain an eye fixed out for suspicious information entry patterns.
- Use threat intelligence to assemble, analyze, and act on details about present and rising threats.
- Apply strong encryption, each at relaxation and in transit, to guard delicate information from being learn or modified by unauthorized events.
- Run steady worker training and awareness training programs.
- Companion with a trusted third-party for DDoS mitigation.
- Construct and check a complete incident response plan.
Hacktivism is nothing new. However the more and more blurred strains between ideologically/politically motivated teams and authorities pursuits makes it a stronger risk. It could be time to rethink your threat administration planning.
