Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 24 August 2023

These updates are shared to help raise the situational awareness of Faith-Based organizations to best defend against, and mitigate the impacts from all-hazards threats including physical security, cybersecurity, and natural disasters.

Cole & Van Note Announces First Colony Church of Christ Data Breach Investigation.

Cole & Van Note, a leading consumer rights law firm, announced today its investigation of First Colony Church of Christ on behalf of its consumers/clients, arising out the company’s recent data breach. According to the company, the private information of a massive number of people may have been stolen in the hacking of its information network. It is currently unknown how many people have had their information used for criminal purposes.

Analyst Comment:

FBO’s continue to be a rich target for data breaches and other cyber attacks such as ransomware. Whether it’s due to the valuable data many FBO’s steward (making them a direct target) or vulnerabilities in cyber defenses (making them a target of opportunity) – or a combination of both, it’s important for FBO’s to secure the systems and educate staff to protect the data they are entrusted. One of the more practical resources to help FBO’s enhance cybersecurity are the CISA Cross-Sector Cybersecurity Performance Goals (CPGs). The CPGs are a baseline, prioritized set of manageable cybersecurity practices to improve cybersecurity maturity.

Suspected PRC Cyber Actors Continue to Globally Exploit Barracuda ESG Zero-Day Vulnerability

The FBI Cyber Division published a TLP:CLEAR FLASH (AC-000172-TT) emphasizing the Barracuda warning from early June to immediately replace impacted appliances.

As a part of the FBI investigation into the exploitation of CVE-2023-2868, a zero-day vulnerability in Barracuda Network’s Email Security Gateway (ESG) appliances, the FBI has independently verified that all exploited ESG appliances, even those with patches pushed out by Barracuda, remain at risk for continued computer network compromise from suspected PRC cyber actors exploiting this vulnerability. The FBI strongly advises all affected ESG appliances be isolated and replaced immediately.

Analyst Comment:

Action strongly suggested. Barracuda Email Security Gateway is a popular network security appliance. As such, faith-based organizations which use and have not already isolated or replaced impacted Barracuda Email Security Gateway (ESG) appliances are encouraged to address immediately. Members are highly encouraged to check with technology teams or service providers to confirm this has been addressed.

Although suspected Chinese PRC cyber actors are less likely to target an FBO, because this vulnerability is widely known, unprotected/unpatched/non-isolated appliances can become a target of opportunity from other types of cyber threat actors.