Q2 2022 Financial Sector: Quarterly Threat Landscape Scorecard

Q2 2022 Financial Sector: Quarterly Threat Landscape Scorecard

Product Serial: S-2022-07-22a

TLP: WHITE

ZeroFox Intelligence is excited to announce the release of our Financial Quarterly Threat Landscape Scorecard for Q2 of 2022.

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View the full report here.

Scope Note

ZeroFox Intelligence is derived from a variety of sources, including—but not limited to—curated open-source accesses, vetted social media, proprietary data sources, and direct access to threat actors and groups through covert communication channels. Information relied upon to complete any report cannot always be independently verified. As such, ZeroFox applies rigorous analytic standards and tradecraft in accordance with best practices and includes caveat language and source citations to clearly identify the veracity of our Intelligence reporting and substantiate our assessments and recommendations. All sources used in this particular Intelligence product were identified prior to 5:00 PM (EDT) on July 21, 2022; per cyber hygiene best practices, caution is advised when clicking on any third-party links.

Executive Summary

Threat actors continued to exchange ideas on how to maneuver within the economic and political constraints brought on by the conflict in Ukraine. Social engineering campaigns remained a persistent threat to financial organizations, including increased use of fraudulent applications, fake Windows 11 upgrades, and employment-related scams to steal credentials and deploy banking trojans. Vulnerability exploitation also continued to grow, averaging almost 70 CVEs disclosed per day, up from 56 per day at the end of 2021. The pace of vulnerability disclosure likely represents a new normal. The threat from Initial Access Brokers showed signs of resurgence, particularly against financial organizations.

Botnet and malware deployment also remained high, including infostealers and banking trojans. Conversely, the threat to financial organizations from ransomware and digital extortion likely reduced slightly. Threat actors appear to be changing their extortion tactics due to struggles eliciting payment from victims. While the ongoing war in Ukraine continued to be the primary driver of geopolitical risk, possible EU and NATO expansion - and new sanctions on Russia - will likely trigger Russia state-leaning groups to target high profile entities.

Key Findings

• Cybercriminals are increasingly concerned with challenges converting cryptocurrency to fiat currency
• Social engineering campaigns increasingly used LNK shortcut files, fake Windows upgrades, and employment scams.
• The threat from Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures and previously unknown software vulnerabilities likely increased.
• The Initial Access Broker marketplace showed signs of resurgence.
• There was a negligible change in the threat from botnets, despite widespread media attention.