The IT Nerd

Yesterday, I posted a story where I asked if password manager LastPass had been pwned. This was based on reports of multiple attempted logins using correct master passwords from various locations. This came via multiple users in a Hacker News forum who have shared that their master passwords for LastPass appear to be compromised. 

When LastPass initially commented on this to BleepingComputer, they had this to say:

LogMeIn Global PR/AR Senior Director Nikolett Bacso-Albaum told BleepingComputer that “LastPass investigated recent reports of blocked login attempts and determined the activity is related to fairly common bot-related activity, in which a malicious or bad actor attempts to access user accounts (in this case, LastPass) using email addresses and passwords obtained from third-party breaches related to other unaffiliated services.”

“It’s important to note that we do not have any indication that accounts were successfully accessed or that the LastPass service was otherwise compromised by an unauthorized party. We regularly monitor for this type of activity and will continue to take steps designed to ensure that LastPass, its users, and their data remain protected and secure,” Bacso-Albaum added.

However, users receiving these warnings have stated that their passwords are unique to LastPass and not used elsewhere. BleepingComputer has asked LastPass about these concerns but has not received a reply as of yet.

I was suspicious of that statement, and now that LastPass has released a new statement to The Verge, it really makes me wonder what the truth actually is:

As previously stated, LastPass is aware of and has been investigating recent reports of users receiving e-mails alerting them to blocked login attempts.

We quickly worked to investigate this activity and at this time we have no indication that any LastPass accounts were compromised by an unauthorized third-party as a result of this credential stuffing, nor have we found any indication that user’s LastPass credentials were harvested by malware, rogue browser extensions or phishing campaigns. 

However, out of an abundance of caution, we continued to investigate in an effort to determine what was causing the automated security alert e-mails to be triggered from our systems. 

Our investigation has since found that some of these security alerts, which were sent to a limited subset of LastPass users, were likely triggered in error. As a result, we have adjusted our security alert systems and this issue has since been resolved. 

These alerts were triggered due to LastPass’s ongoing efforts to defend its customers from bad actors and credential stuffing attempts. It is also important to reiterate that LastPass’ zero-knowledge security model means that at no time does LastPass store, have knowledge of, or have access to a users’ Master Password(s).  

We will continue to regularly monitor for unusual or malicious activity and will, as necessary, continue to take steps designed to ensure that LastPass, its users and their data remain protected and secure.

I have to say that I am not buying this. Was it an attack as per the earlier statement? Or was it a screw up that caused this as per their later statement? And this does not explain why reports of multiple attempted logins using correct master passwords from various locations started to pop up. This whole situation is a bit of a mess and some clarity is needed here.

My advice goes something like this: In the absence of hard facts, assume your LastPass account has been pwned. If you stick with LastPass, you need to do the following:

• Users should change their passwords AND enable two-factor authentication
• Then users should keep an eye out for suspicious login attempts.

But if you’re really uneasy about staying with LastPass, you should migrate to another password manager ASAP and delete your LastPass account. Hopefully LastPass comes out with a statement and facts to back it up which bring clarity to this situation and peace of mind to LastPass users.

Today I have some 2021 Reflections and 2022 Predictions that relate to how to protect your company from cybercrime from Mihir Shah, CEO of StorCentric, Surya Varanasi, CTO of StorCentric, and JG Heithcock, General Manager of Retrospect, a StorCentric company.

Here are their 2021 Reflections: 

Mihir Shah, CEO, StorCentric (www.storcentric.com):

• Cybercriminals and ransomware are evolving: from hitting only single organizations and/or individuals to attacking MSPs, where they could target multiple organizations with one fell swoop (e.g., Kaseya ransomware attack perpetrated by the REvil group). 

• Cyber insurance became increasingly critical: and it wasn’t just for large enterprises anymore. Small and medium sized enterprises invested, many for the very first time. Yet, confusion and frustration over what it does and does not cover continues. 

• Enterprises recognized the need to protect themselves against a ransomware-related class action lawsuit: and began preparations for a worst-case scenario. Enterprises also increased their focus on data protection, particularly PII, as well as their ability to demonstrate that every possible precaution was taken to prevent and recover from an attack

Surya Varanasi, CTO, StorCentric (www.storcentric.com):

• Unbreakable Backup became an indispensable solution for ransomware attack recovery: thwarting cyber criminals ‘attack the backups first’ strategy. 

• Backup copy immutability became non-negotiable: meaning at least one backup copy must be immutable, unable to be deleted, corrupted or changed in any way, even if the ransomware has already infiltrated your organization, and integrated itself into the backup process

JG Heithcock, GM, Retrospect a StorCentric company (www.retrospect.com):  

• Ransomware as a service (RaaS) is a huge business with attacks continuing to grow at an alarming pace. Businesses at every size are increasingly exposed to ransomware attacks.

• Cyber criminals are attacking backups first: and then once under their control, coming after production data. This means that many enterprises are feeling a false sense of security, until it is already too late.

• Recovery capabilities became the #1 ransomware strategy: while prevention and detection remained indispensable, recovery capabilities became the top priority.

Here are their 2022 Predictions:

Surya Varanasi, CTO, StorCentric (www.storcentric.com): “Massive data growth combined with significant changes in the way we work today and a rapid rise in cybercrime has driven increased challenges for data center managers. In 2022, it will be critical to respond to these demands, and to pursue and achieve digital transformation strategies that enable organizations to store, manage and protect data at scale. And I predict that in 2022, data center managers will find that the ideal way to do this will be to start with the right data storage foundation. 

In 2022, organizations will seek a data storage foundation that enables them to support a mix of workloads. The storage will allow for flexible configurations and simplified expansion to meet a wide variety of capacity and performance requirements. Next, organizations will seek a solution that provides multi-protocol support. Certainly, at a minimum, the storage will support block (iSCSI, FC) and file (NFS, CIFS/SMB). However, given the increasing desire to run cloud-native applications, backup and restore critical data, as well as archive data in the cloud, S3 object storage support will become a must-have as well. 

Today’s digital transformation strategies would be remiss if data protection and business continuity were not at the top of the list of considerations as well. This is especially true in 2022, when data center managers are not just concerned with equipment malfunction, but also insider threats and external cybercriminal activity, such as ransomware attacks. So, capabilities such as immutable volume and file system snapshots that deliver secure point-in-time copies; object locking for bucket or object-level protection for specified retention periods; and pool-scrubbing to detect and remediate bit rot and data corruption will be deemed essential.”

JG Heithcock, GM, Retrospect a StorCentric company (www.retrospect.com): “Today, more than ever, data can be lost by accident, damaged by a natural disaster, or fall victim to cybercrime. In 2022, with ransomware continuing to grow as a threat, data protection will become the most indispensable component of every organization’ digital transformation strategy. In 2022, the 3-2-1 backup rule will continue to be the golden rule of complete data protection. This means that organizations will keep three copies of data saved across at least two media types, with one more copy saved offsite. In 2022, ROI will also remain the name of the game, so organizations will seek a proven solution that makes this easy and affordable to implement. The ideal backup solution will enable a backup script to a local destination and a backup transfer script to an offsite target. Using a transfer script to copy backups to a second location enables the administrator to perform the operation offline, without the original source needing to be used. In 2022, there will be various options available for implementing 3-2-1 workflows. The first possibility will be disk and cloud. Combining local disks and cloud storage locations is a common pattern for a backup strategy. An available backup on a local disk translates into very fast recovery time, as the local network allows for much higher bandwidth. A remote backup on a cloud storage location insulates the organization’s data from disaster, malware, and other problems that arise. The second option will be network-attached storage (NAS) and cloud. NAS devices are an affordable on-site storage location for backups. Leveraging an on-site NAS ensures a large, dedicated storage pool and high bandwidth for backups. Transferring those backups to the cloud as an offline process allows administrators to avoid touching the original source multiple times. The third option will be disk and tape. Disk remains the most common storage media, and tape continues to make strides in speed and storage capacity. With a local disk, the administrator can quickly back up their environment and have the backups available for fast restore. Using a tape library for offsite storage enables the administrator to store their backups in a safe location (like a security deposit box or a third-party storage locker) that – unlike the cloud – the administrator has physical access to. Of course, in 2022, going beyond the 3-2-1 backup rule will provide organizations with extra insurance to protect their digital transformation initiatives. Organizations can choose to utilize a second cloud storage location (i.e., 3-2-2 strategy) or NAS, tape and/or cloud (i.e., 3-3-2 strategy) for added redundancy. Finally, in 2022, utilizing WORM storage in the cloud with Immutable Backups will provide the best protection against ransomware attacks. With a locked backup, malware cannot delete your critical data, enabling the administrator to recover if the worst does happen. By combining the 3-2-1 backup with immutable backups in the cloud, administrators can ensure their organization’s data is protected against the latest threat landscape.”

Photography and personalized photo giant Shutterfly has suffered a Conti ransomware attack that allegedly encrypted thousands of devices and stole corporate data:

On Friday, a source told BleepingComputer that Shutterfly suffered a ransomware attack approximately two weeks ago by the Conti gang, who claims to have encrypted over 4,000 devices and 120 VMware ESXi servers.

While BleepingComputer has not seen the negotiations for the attack, we are told that they are underway in progress and that the ransomware gang is demanding millions of dollars as a ransom.

Before ransomware gangs encrypt devices on corporate networks, they commonly lurk inside for days, if not weeks, stealing corporate data and documents. These documents are then used as leverage to force a victim to pay a ransom under the threat that they will be publicly released or sold to other hackers.

Given that the group behind this is the notorious Conti ransomware as a service gang, this is going to a huge problem for Shutterfly as they have to make a call as to whether to pay up or not. This will be one to watch as this like a lot of Conti attacks is pretty high profile.