Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 29 September 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. 

September 2023 Threat Level Statement Update – Threat Levels Remain at GUARDED – FB-ISAO (faithbased-isao.org)

The FB-ISAO Cyber Threat Intelligence, Operational Resilience (together, the Threat and Incident Response) working groups actively monitor and share information, reports, and perspective regarding our threat environment. We have reviewed the September 2023 Department of Homeland Security Homeland Threat Assessment and considered it alongside our continued observance of a broad array of general threats and hostility to people and places of faith. These include widespread acts of faith-based hostilities and open threats to faith-based organizations based on their religious and political beliefs – (including antisemitism, islamophobia, anti-Christian and anti-Sikh sentiment, etc.), regularly occurring acts of violence such as arson, vandalism, and low-level attacks including Swatting and bomb threats, as well as commodity cyberattacks seen in all communities including Business Email Compromise (BEC) and ransomware. Additionally, the TIG is closely monitoring the COVID-19 threat, events and rhetoric relating to the 2024 U.S. election season, along with other considerations that may pose direct or indirect risks to organizations.

Based on this review, we have determined to maintain threat levels at GUARDED, meaning that FB-ISAO is aware that a general risk of incidents exists, but there are no target or time specific threats requiring an escalation in our overall preparedness at this time.

• The Physical Threat Level is “GUARDED.” GUARDED means that FB-ISAO is unaware of any specific impending terrorism events although a general risk of incidents exists.
• The Cyber Threat Level is “GUARDED.” GUARDED means FB-ISAO is unaware of any specific or targeted cyber attacks, but a general and pervasive risk of cyber attacks exists.

Analyst Comments:

See the above link for more details on why the Physical Threat Level and Cyber Threat Level remain “GUARDED.” 

FBI/IC3 Industry Alert

This Private Industry Notification PDF from FBI/IC3 covers Two or More Ransomware Variants Impacting the Same Victims and Data Destruction Trends

In addition to information on the new variants, this notification provides very useful general information on:

• Preparing for Cyber Incidents
• Identity and Access Management
• Protective Controls and Architecture
• Vulnerability and Configuration Management

Analyst Comment:

The above guidance can assist Faith-Based Organizations (FBO) in protecting their cyber operation, even if they do not have cybersecurity staff. Most of the recommendations can be used by non-technical members of FBOs.

In addition, here are four foundational cybersecurity best practices every organization can implement now to enhance their cyber defenses:

• Use strong passwords and a password manager.
• Turn on multifactor authentication (MFA).
• Recognize and report phishing.
• Update Software.

In a related item, CISA Kicks Off 20th Anniversary of Cybersecurity Awareness Month with New Public Awareness Campaign to Secure Our World.

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