Russian Wi-Fi Hacks, Baltic Cable Sabotage, and Security Skills Poll Results

Forecast: Stormy skies with APT28's Wi-Fi exploits and rough seas in the Baltics as undersea cables are mysteriously cut.

‍

In this episode of Storm⚡️Watch, we review the fascinating poll results that reveal communication with non-technical leaders as the most undervalued skill in modern security, garnering 220 votes across three social media platforms and significantly outpacing other critical abilities like incident report writing, OSINT, and threat hunting.

The crew then examines a groundbreaking cyber attack technique dubbed the "Nearest Neighbor Attack," executed by Russian APT28. This sophisticated operation allowed attackers to breach a U.S. organization's network by exploiting nearby Wi-Fi networks through a series of calculated steps, including password spraying and compromising adjacent organizations. The attack, occurring just before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, showcases a novel vector that combines the advantages of physical proximity with remote operation capabilities.

Maritime security takes center stage as we explore two major undersea cable cuts in the Baltic Sea this November. The BSC East-West Interlink between Sweden and Lithuania and the C-Lion1 connecting Finland and Germany were severed, causing notable network latency increases. A Chinese vessel, Yi Peng 3, has drawn attention in the investigation, with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius suggesting these incidents were deliberate hybrid actions rather than accidents.

We round out the episode with updates from our respective organizations, including Censys's 2024 State of the Internet Report, VulnCheck's analysis of CISA's top exploited vulnerabilities, and GreyNoise's latest insights on critical infrastructure risks and technical challenges involving null bytes.

Storm Watch Homepage >>

Learn more about GreyNoise >>