Shell Breach Incident Score: Analysis & Impact (AST-TESHE1773679185)

In this Rankiteo incident briefing, we review the Shell breach identified under incident ID AST-TESHE1773679185.

The analysis begins with a detailed overview of Shell's information like the linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shell, the number of followers: 7479637, the industry type: Oil and Gas and the number of employees: 185291 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 827 and after the incident was 835 with a difference of 8 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 Shell and their customers.

On 07 June 2024, Companies House disclosed Data Exposure issues under the banner "Companies House Security Flaw Exposes Private Data of UK Business Directors".

A critical vulnerability in the UK’s Companies House WebFiling system exposed sensitive details of directors at millions of registered businesses, including AstraZeneca, Shell, and Tesco.

The disruption is felt across the environment, affecting Companies House WebFiling system, and exposing Dates of birth, residential addresses, contact details (emails, addresses).

In response, moved swiftly to contain the threat with measures like Temporary shutdown of WebFiling system, and began remediation that includes System review and restoration, while recovery efforts such as Service restored on Monday morning continue, and stakeholders are being briefed through Advisory to businesses to verify registered details.

The case underscores how Ongoing, and recommending next steps like Businesses urged to verify registered details; enhanced security reviews for system updates, with advisories going out to stakeholders covering Businesses advised to verify registered details and file complaints if misuse is suspected.

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 Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) with high confidence (90%), supported by evidence indicating critical vulnerability in the UK’s Companies House WebFiling system. Under the Credential Access tactic, the analysis identified Unsecured Credentials: Credentials in Registry (T1552.006) with moderate confidence (60%), supported by evidence indicating flaw allowed logged-in users to access confidential data without consent. Under the Collection tactic, the analysis identified Data from Local System (T1005) with high confidence (90%), supported by evidence indicating exposed sensitive details of directors...dates of birth, residential addresses and Data from Information Repositories (T1213) with moderate to high confidence (80%), supported by evidence indicating access confidential data...from the 5 million companies on the register. Under the Exfiltration tactic, the analysis identified Exfiltration Over C2 Channel (T1041) with moderate confidence (50%), supported by evidence indicating no evidence of unauthorized data access or alterations has been found (implied risk). Under the Impact tactic, the analysis identified Defacement: Internal Defacement (T1491.001) with moderate to high confidence (80%), supported by evidence indicating permitted unauthorized changes to directors’ contact details...without consent and Data Manipulation: Stored Data Manipulation (T1565.001) with moderate to high confidence (70%), supported by evidence indicating unauthorized changes to directors’ contact details, including addresses and emails. Under the Defense Evasion tactic, the analysis identified Valid Accounts (T1078) with moderate to high confidence (80%), supported by evidence indicating flaw allowed logged-in users to access confidential data. These correlations help security teams understand the attack chain and develop appropriate defensive measures based on the observed tactics and techniques.