FS-ISAC report finds global cyber threats accelerate as cybercriminals and nation-state actors converge and collaborate 

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Third-party risk, zero-day vulnerability exploits, and ransomware will remain at the forefront  of the cyber threats facing financial institutions in 2022 

FS-ISAC, the only global cyber intelligence sharing  community solely focused on financial services, today announced the findings of its annual  Global Intelligence Office report, Navigating Cyber 2022. The report found that the rapid  digitization of the financial services sector has led to a rise in global cyber threats in 2021,  specifically the acceleration of high-profile cyber-attacks targeting third-party suppliers and  critical zero-day vulnerabilities. This led FS-ISAC to increase its Regional Cyber Threat  Levels an unprecedented three times in 2021. 

Looking ahead to 2022, FS-ISAC expects the trifecta of third-party risk, the growth in zero day vulnerabilities as an attack vector, and the ability of ransomware groups to adapt  despite increased scrutiny by law enforcement to complicate an already challenging cyber  threat environment. 

“As the threat landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace, cross-border intelligence  sharing is critical to help defend financial institutions against cyber threats,” said Steven Silberstein, CEO of FS-ISAC. “As the global fincyber utility, FS-ISAC enables industry wide cross-border sharing to pool resources, expertise, and capabilities to better manage  cyber risks that the global financial industry faces on a daily basis.”  

The report outlined top threats to the industry in 2022 and beyond, including: 

Third-Party Attacks: Several high-profile third-party incidents have impacted the  security and availability of products and services used by many financial firms,  resulting in significant resources expended. 

Zero-Day Vulnerability Exploits: In addition to rapid digitization, zero-day exploits  are growing due to the diversification of the kill chain. Criminals increasingly  specialize in different stages of cybercrime, making it easy to simply buy (or sell)  access to vulnerabilities without needing to know how to find them. 

Ransomware: Ransomware groups operating in safe-haven countries often shut  down temporarily to avoid international law enforcement, only to open months later  under new names with few repercussions.  

Member financial firms reported high levels of phishing and business email compromise,  which is the entry point for most attacks, as well as the persistence of notorious malware  strains often used to drop ransomware. 

“The macro level cyber landscape translates into increased cyber threat activity on a daily  basis, as cyber criminals are endlessly inventive in how they gain access and leverage to  extort victims,” said Teresa Walsh, Global Head of Intelligence at FS-ISAC. “Phishing schemes continue to be one of the most popular tactics threat actors use to access  networks. In fact, twenty-four percent of FS-ISAC member-reported incidents are phishing  campaigns targeting employees.” 

Methodology 

The Navigating Cyber 2022 report is sourced from FS-ISAC’s thousands of member financial  firms in more than 65 countries and further augmented by analysis by the Global  Intelligence Office. Multiple streams of intelligence were leveraged for the curation of the  round-up, which examined data from January 2021 to January 2022. The publicly accessible  version of the report can be found here. The full report is only available to member financial  institutions. 


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