ZeroFox Weekly Intelligence Brief – May 6, 2024

ZeroFox Weekly Intelligence Brief – May 6, 2024

ZeroFox’s Weekly Intelligence Briefing highlights the major developments and trends across the cyber threat landscape. 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 12:00 PM (EDT) on May 3, 2024; per cyber hygiene best practices, caution is advised when clicking on any third-party links.

Read the Brief

View the full report here

CISA Issues Guidelines to Mitigate Risks from AI to U.S. Critical Infrastructure

CISA has released new guidelines, including a four-part mitigation strategy, to fortify U.S. critical infrastructure against three significant types of risks from artificial intelligence (AI): AI-enabled attacks on infrastructure, direct assaults on AI systems, and flaws in AI design threatening infrastructure operations. The four-part strategy emphasizes organizational culture to manage AI risks effectively. It stresses the need for a culture prioritizing safety and security, promoting transparency, and integrating security into core business functions. Furthermore, the guidelines advocate for comprehensive mapping to tailor risk assessment and mitigation to individual organization's AI usage and risk profiles.

UK Passes New Law to Secure Smart Devices by Disabling Default Passwords

A new United Kingdom (UK) law, the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act, requires manufacturers of smart devices to stop supplying devices that use default passwords and provide a minimum length of time for important security updates.

Threat Actor Group R00tK1T Announces Return to Telegram

On April 28, 2024, pro-Russia and pro-Israel hacktivist group “R00TK1T” announced its return to Telegram under the same channel name, R00TK1TOFF. At the time of the post, the group claimed to currently have 8,750 members in the channel and announced its goal to reach at least 10,000 members. R00TK1T encouraged users to share the channel within their networks to help the group rebuild its Telegram presence.

Physical Security Intelligence: Global

Excluding the United States, there was a 7 percent decrease in mass casualty events this week from the previous week, with the top contributing countries being Ukraine, Palestine, and Lebanon, in that order; approximately 66 percent of these events were explosions, and 17 percent were bomb threats. Notably, this is the first time in several weeks that Palestine has not been the top contributor to the number of mass casualty events alerted; however, general alerts related to the Israel-Hamas war (including protests, raids, and involvement in neighboring countries) increased by 13 percent. Conversely, events related to the Ukraine conflict decreased by 24 percent. The top three most-alerted subtypes were explosions, which saw a 16 percent decrease from the previous week; gun violence, which increased by 3 percent; and bomb threats.

Physical Security Intelligence: United States

In the past week, the top three most-alerted incident subtypes were gun violence, natural disasters, and police activity; notably, these are the same top three as the two previous weeks. Gun violence alerts are instances in which there is a confirmed or likely confirmed victim (i.e., not simply shots fired). The top two states that had the most gun violence alerts were Illinois and California, which together made up over 20 percent of this week’s nationwide total. Gun violence across the United States increased by 12 percent from the week prior.