National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) Breach Incident Score: Analysis & Impact (NAT1765526560)

In this Rankiteo incident briefing, we review the National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) breach identified under incident ID NAT1765526560.

The analysis begins with a detailed overview of National Protective Security Authority (NPSA)'s information like the linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-protective-security-authority, the number of followers: 13417, the industry type: Government Administration and the number of employees: 21 employees

After the initial compromise, the video explains how Rankiteo's incident engine converts technical details into a normalized incident score. The incident score before the incident was 758 and after the incident was 731 with a difference of -27 which is could be a good indicator of the severity and impact of the incident.

In the next step of the video, we will analyze in more details the incident and the impact it had on National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) and their customers.

UK Parliament recently reported "UK Parliament Members Targeted by Sophisticated Cyberattacks via WhatsApp and Signal", a noteworthy cybersecurity incident.

Members of the UK Parliament have been targeted by sophisticated cyberattacks, particularly via messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Signal.

The disruption is felt across the environment, affecting Personal devices of MPs and government officials and Messaging platforms (WhatsApp, Signal), and exposing Potential access to sensitive parliamentary and personal data.

In response, teams activated the incident response plan, moved swiftly to contain the threat with measures like Advisories to MPs on securing personal devices, and began remediation that includes Guidance on avoiding phishing scams, and stakeholders are being briefed through Direct letter from Speaker of the House to parliamentarians.

The case underscores how Ongoing, teams are taking away lessons such as Messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Signal are increasingly exploited for cyberattacks, requiring heightened vigilance and security measures for high-profile targets. State-sponsored actors continue to evolve their tactics, necessitating adaptive cybersecurity strategies, and recommending next steps like Enhanced cybersecurity training for MPs and government officials, Implementation of multi-factor authentication (MFA) for messaging platforms and Regular security audits of personal and official devices, with advisories going out to stakeholders covering NCSC and Speaker of the House have issued warnings to MPs and officials.

Finally, we try to match the incident with the MITRE ATT&CK framework to see if there is any correlation between the incident and the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

The MITRE ATT&CK framework is a knowledge base of techniques and sub-techniques that are used to describe the tactics and procedures of cyber adversaries. It is a powerful tool for understanding the threat landscape and for developing effective defense strategies.

Rankiteo's analysis has identified several MITRE ATT&CK tactics and techniques associated with this incident, each with varying levels of confidence based on available evidence. Under the Initial Access tactic, the analysis identified Phishing (T1566) with high confidence (95%), with evidence including spear-phishing campaigns against parliamentarians, and hackers exploited messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Signal and Phishing: Spearphishing Link (T1566.001) with high confidence (90%), with evidence including fraudulent messages claiming WhatsApp accounts face suspension, and trick victims into following malicious instructions. Under the Credential Access tactic, the analysis identified Steal Application Access Token (T1528) with moderate to high confidence (80%), with evidence including account hijacking via malicious instructions, and potential access to sensitive parliamentary and personal data and Brute Force: Password Guessing (T1110.001) with moderate to high confidence (70%), supported by evidence indicating impersonation of customer support representatives to compromise accounts. Under the Execution tactic, the analysis identified User Execution: Malicious Link (T1204.001) with moderate to high confidence (85%), supported by evidence indicating victims prompted to follow malicious instructions leading to malware installation. Under the Defense Evasion tactic, the analysis identified Masquerading (T1036) with high confidence (90%), with evidence including hackers impersonate customer support representatives, and fraudulent messages claiming account suspension and Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Tools (T1562.001) with moderate to high confidence (70%), supported by evidence indicating attackers evading Metas AI-driven fraud protections. Under the Exfiltration tactic, the analysis identified Exfiltration Over C2 Channel (T1041) with moderate to high confidence (80%), with evidence including potential access to sensitive parliamentary and personal data, and motivation includes espionage and data theft. These correlations help security teams understand the attack chain and develop appropriate defensive measures based on the observed tactics and techniques.