While you were barbecuing on the holiday,
We made sure the client didn't get burned!
While most of the country was busy grilling over the coals, an overseas hacker thought he had found the perfect timing to strike. He sat quietly inside the system for months, learned the corporate language, and waited for the holidays—the moment he thought the guard would be down—to deploy ransomware to hundreds of organizations. Good thing the OFEK IR response team is always on guard.
What actually happened?
A hacker breached the email account of an employee at one of the clients. He was in no hurry. He sat inside the system for months, learned the organization's language, tracked documents, and traced personal relationships with clients. At the peak of the attack, he sent 1,589 messages to 252 different organizations. These weren't just spam messages, but personalized outreaches with fake investment documents containing spyware.
What helped us?
The attacker already entered in February from Spain, and in April performed a "dry run" with automatic deletion rules so the user wouldn't notice anything was happening. Because standard systems (like Microsoft) have a limited memory of only one month, the initial entry vector was lost. Without a watchful eye in real time, it is very difficult to reconstruct the exact invasion path. Upon Ofek's recommendation, shortly before the incident, the client agreed to implement an Adlumin SIEM/SOC system. This is precisely what triggered the red flag in our operations center when abnormal message sending began.
Do not leave an open door to your supply chain
This attack is a painful reminder of collateral damage. When your account is compromised, you become the "Trojan horse" for your clients and suppliers. The trust they place in you is the hacker's most powerful tool. What did we do? Using Adlumin, the response team identified the incident in the middle of the holiday, performed immediate containment, password resets, deletion of malicious apps, and a thorough cleanup. Beyond the technology, we accompanied the client in managing the attack vis-à-vis their customers, minimized the damage, and restored routine in a short time.
Self-assessment question:
When was the last time you checked how a breach on your end affects your customers? Do you have a way to monitor far enough back and understand the attack vector should one occur?
In conclusion
The recent event proves once again that your security is only as strong as your least monitored link in the chain. While attackers look for vulnerabilities in quiet time windows and gaps in corporate logs, Adlumin's monitoring system combined with OFEK IR from Ofek gives you the ability to go back in time, understand the full attack vector, and stop the spread before it reaches your customer. In an era of complex supply chain attacks, the ability to see everything, at any moment, is not a luxury—it is your insurance policy.
For any questions, please contact us at any time: [email protected]