Russian Threat Actor FIN7 Targeting the Automotive Industry with Spear Phishing Attacks

The cybercriminal threat actor FIN7 is launching spear phishing attacks against the automotive industry in the United States, according to researchers at BlackBerry.

The threat actor identifies IT employees at automotive companies and attempts to trick them into downloading a Trojanized version of a free IP scanning tool.

FIN7 is a Russia-based financially motivated threat actor that carries out a variety of cybercrime activities, including ransomware attacks. Their attacks have grown more sophisticated and targeted over the past few years.

“In recent years, FIN7 has shifted their efforts from targeting the masses to the more precise targeting of large entities, a practice known as big game hunting,” BlackBerry says. “The group usually deploys ransomware as the end payload. Detection of a FIN7 intrusion early in the infection process can mitigate full network compromise and the typically large financial losses that ransomware can inflict.”

BlackBerry offers the following recommendations to help organizations thwart these attacks:

• “Conduct Regular Security Training. This remains one of the very best ways to protect businesses from phishing attacks. Teach employees basic red flags that are the hallmark of phishing attempts. Workers need to know how to verify the authenticity of emails and avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments from unknown or suspicious sources
• Social Engineering Awareness. This is the next step, but an important one. Expand your employee’s training to include sessions on how to recognize social engineering tactics, which may include the attacker attempting to engage with them via social platforms, phone, text, or even video call
• Phishing Report System. Put a system in place to allow employees to immediately report attempted phishing attacks to your SOC or IT security team. Adding a ‘Report phishing’ button to your email system is a good first step. Enforce a culture of trust so that users feel comfortable reporting phishing incidents.
• Multi-Factor Authentication. Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) on all user accounts. This makes it harder for an attacker to access an employee’s account and gain entry to your network, even if they steal password and login details.”

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BlackBerry has the story.