Cyber Defense eMagazine January Edition for 2022

to create “zero-touch” threats that don’t require victim interaction. However, serious remote
vulnerabilities have existed against these devices, though harder to find.
Meanwhile, mobile devices present a very enticing target to state-sponsored cyber teams due to
both the devices’ capabilities and information contained in them. As a result, groups selling to
state-sponsored organizations are mostly responsible for funding much of the sophisticated
threats and vulnerabilities targeting mobile devices. Unfortunately, like in the case of Stuxnet,
when these more sophisticated threats leak, criminal organizations learn from them and copy the
attack techniques.
Next year, we believe we’ll see an increase in sophisticated cybercriminal mobile attacks due to
the state-sponsored mobile attacks that have started to come to light.
2. News of Hackers Targeting Space Hits the Headlines
With renewed government and private focus on the “Space Race” and recent cybersecurity
research concentration on satellite vulnerabilities, we believe a “hack in space” will hit the
headlines in 2022.
Recently, satellite hacking has gained investigative attention from the cybersecurity community
among researchers and at conferences like DEF CON. While satellites might seem out of reach
from most threats, researchers have found they can communicate with them using about $300
worth of gear. Furthermore, older satellites may not have focused on modern security controls.
Meanwhile, many private companies have begun their space race, which will greatly increase the
attack surface in orbit. Between those two trends, plus the value of orbital systems to nation
states, economies, and society, we suspect governments have quietly started their cyber defense
campaigns in space already. Don’t be surprised if we see a space-related hack in the headlines
soon.
3. Spear SMSishing Hammers Messenger Platforms
Text-based phishing, known as SMSishing has increased steadily over the years. Like email
social engineering, it started with untargeted lure messages being spammed to large groups of
users, but lately has evolved into more targeted texts that masquerade as messages from
someone you know. In parallel, the platforms we prefer for short text messages have evolved as
well.
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