Kroll Cyber Risk experts respond to over 3,000 cybersecurity events every year. We manage incidents of all types, complexity and severity for a wide range of organisations and industries in Singapore, Hong Kong, across Asia and worldwide. Companies from all over the world rely on our unique frontline experience, not only in response to a crisis, but also for proactive planning and mitigation strategies. Kroll’s Cyber Risk team has been recognised as a top service provider, preferred by major cyber insurers. We also offer client-friendly response retainers for peace of mind.
Whether it is an accidental data exposure or a malicious cyberattack, Kroll’s Cyber Risk team can respond immediately. Our global network of certified security and digital forensic experts can deploy remote solutions or be onsite within hours to help clients contain the situation and determine next steps.
Kroll is a world leader in cybersecurity, digital forensics and data breach response services. We offer end-to-end assistance to allow clients to make informed decisions at every stage, from proactive preparation to customer notification and remediation. We work alongside our clients’ counsel and insurance carriers to smoothly guide them toward recovery. Our goal is to leave organisations in the best defensible position, with their reputations intact and minimal disruption to their everyday operations.
Common Threats Addressed by Our Incident Response Team | |
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Business Email Compromise and Wire Fraud | Insider Threats and Accidental Data Loss |
Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) | Third Party and Vendor-Related Risks |
Malware, Keyloggers, and Backdoors | Cryptocurrency Theft |
Ransomware | Targeted Intellectual Property Theft |
Payment Card Fraud (PCI/PFI) | Web Application Attacks and Password Theft |
Gmail Phishing and Ransomware Distribution
Location: Singapore office of a software development company
Brief: A software development company engaged Kroll to investigate one of their computers, which the IT department suspected to be infected by malware. The investigation scope was to check for
Procedure
To preserve the evidence, the laptop was brought back to the lab for analysis and forensically imaged. To begin, we checked if there was live malware activity or unauthorised software on the computer. After forensically imaging the disk and memory, we checked for any trace of malware activities in .exes, DLLs and running processes and inspected the emails and other artefacts.
Virtualisation and network traffic monitoring were also used. Results showed that no “live” malware was running on the system.
We then extracted and inspected emails and internet artefacts such as cloud storage activities, as the client had highlighted these to us as showing evidence of “hacking” activity. Again no “live” malware existed on the system, but malware was detected in an email attachment.
With further examination, we found that the email was a phishing attempt containing Zeus malware not created by the user of the computer. Further examination showed that the email malware was set up to download ransomware onto the victim’s computer.
Outcome
With further examination of the malicious email, we found that the malicious email contained two phone numbers in the personal email signature of the user of the computer. Prior to the malicious email being sent, our client also received a “signed-in notification” from Google, which alerted our client that the account was signed in to from another country. These characteristics were identified as similar to a recent series of complex Gmail phishing activities occurring worldwide.
As in similar cases, the client had received a Gmail phishing email, clicked on it and then entered their username and password as requested. This phishing activity provided the hackers with access to the client’s Gmail account. The perpetrators then read emails and targeted several email recipients with specific emails claiming to be invoices in attachments. These attachments contained a type of malware (Zeus) which downloaded further ransomware, in turn encrypting the recipient’s computer.
Kroll was ultimately able to demonstrate that the client had been a victim of this Gmail phishing attack and that their account was being used to stage attacks and send ransomware to further clients.
Cyber threats are becoming exponentially more common and sophisticated. Our incident response and digital forensics team’s frontline experience can provide companies with a multifaceted and confident response anywhere, anytime.
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