MITRE-Lite | SME Threat Intelligence Dashboard

Threat Landscape

Active Threat Actors Targeting UK Financial Services

Active Threat Actor Groups

Confirmed targeting UK fin. services SMEs

Techniques in Active Use

From SME-relevant ATT&CK subset

New Techniques This Month

Apple macOS Screen Sharing authentication bypass — unauthenticated network access

CISA KEV Entries

SME-relevant this month — Apple macOS, Microsoft IKE, SharePoint auth bypass

What is MITRE ATT&CK? It's a publicly-maintained library of every known attack technique used by criminal groups and state-sponsored hackers — think of it as a documented playbook of everything attackers try. This dashboard filters it down to the techniques that realistically threaten businesses like yours: small financial services firms, insurance brokers, and professional services companies in the UK.

Actor / Group	Origin	Primary Method	Active Techniques (ATT&CK IDs)	SME Risk
Scattered Spider aka UNC3944, Octo Tempest	CYBERCRIME	SIM-swapping and social engineering to bypass MFA; targets IT helpdesks to gain access.	T1078 T1566.001 T1621	HIGH
ALPHV / BlackCat Ransomware-as-a-Service group	CYBERCRIME	Ransomware deployment following stolen credentials and VPN exploitation. Known to target professional services firms.	T1486 T1190 T1657	HIGH
APT29 / Cozy Bear SVR, Russian Foreign Intelligence	RUSSIA / STATE	Spearphishing and supply chain compromise. Primarily targets government and finance. Sophisticated, long-dwell operations.	T1566.002 T1195 T1071.001	MEDIUM
APT40 / BRONZE MOHAWK Chinese MSS-linked group	CHINA / STATE	Exploitation of internet-facing services and VPNs. Actively targeting financial data and intellectual property.	T1190 T1133 T1041	MEDIUM
MuddyWater STATIC KITTEN, Iranian MOIS	IRAN / STATE	Phishing and exploitation of web frameworks (Laravel, Zimbra). Targeting professional services and finance for espionage.	T1566.001 T1190 T1059	MEDIUM
LockBit 3.0 Affiliates Ransomware-as-a-Service network	CYBERCRIME	Access brokers sell network entry to affiliates who then deploy LockBit ransomware. SMEs frequently targeted as easier entry points.	T1486 T1078 T1083	HIGH
TA4903 (BEC Specialists) Business Email Compromise group	CYBERCRIME	Impersonation of senior staff, solicitors, and payment processors to redirect bank transfers. Primary threat vector for insurance brokers.	T1566.002 T1534 T1078	HIGH

Coverage Metrics

How Much of This Does GET-IT Cover?

Techniques Covered

GET-IT stack addresses these directly

64%

Coverage Rate

Of the 14 active techniques this week — unchanged

Uncovered Techniques

Honest gap — not covered by current stack

Partial

Exfiltration Coverage

Monitoring detects data movement; cannot always block it

We show you the gaps honestly. No security provider covers everything. The 5 uncovered techniques below include areas where mitigations depend on human behaviour (staff training) or third-party dependencies (your cloud provider, your line-of-business software vendor). We flag them so you know what to ask about — and so you can factor them into cyber insurance conversations.

Coverage by Tactic

Initial Access

75% 3 of 4 techs

Execution

80% 4 of 5 techs

Persistence

67% 2 of 3 techs

Lateral Movement

50% 1 of 2 techs

Exfiltration

33% 1 of 3 techs

Impact

100% 3 of 3 techs

Exfiltration gap — what this means for your insurance: If an attacker reaches your data and moves it slowly out via legitimate cloud services (Microsoft OneDrive, SharePoint, or email), detection requires behavioural monitoring that goes beyond standard endpoint protection. Many cyber insurance policies include data exfiltration in their coverage — but only where you can demonstrate attempted prevention. Speak to us if this concerns you.

Active Techniques

Techniques in Use Against UK SMEs This Week

T1566.001 · T1566.002

Phishing — Email & Link-based

Attackers send fake emails pretending to be HMRC, your bank, a solicitor, or a trusted supplier. The email contains a malicious attachment or a link to a fake login page designed to steal your password.

T1190

Exploit Public-Facing Application

Attackers search for unpatched software on your internet-facing systems — VPNs, firewalls, web apps — and exploit known security holes to get in. This is the entry point for many ransomware campaigns. This week: Palo Alto PAN-OS VPN bypass (CVE-2026-0257) confirmed actively exploited.

T1078

Valid Accounts (Stolen Credentials)

An attacker who has obtained a username and password (from a previous breach, phishing, or the dark web) simply logs in using legitimate credentials. No hacking required — they look like a real user.

T1059

Command-Line Scripting (PowerShell / cmd)

Once inside, attackers use built-in Windows tools (PowerShell, command prompt) to run malicious commands without installing suspicious software. This makes them harder to detect because they're using your own tools against you.

T1621

MFA Fatigue Attack

An attacker who has your password sends dozens of multi-factor authentication (MFA) push notifications to your phone, hoping you'll accidentally approve one — or approve it just to make the alerts stop. This bypasses MFA entirely.

T1598.003

Messaging App Targeting (Spearphishing via Service)

Attackers harvest WhatsApp, Signal, and LinkedIn accounts of senior staff to build social engineering profiles — then impersonate trusted contacts to extract credentials or authorise fraudulent payments. NCSC issued a specific warning this week.

T1133

External Remote Services (VPN Abuse)

Attackers exploit or abuse your VPN, remote desktop (RDP), or remote access tools to maintain persistent access — often long after the initial breach is discovered. They effectively install a back door.

T1534

Internal Spearphishing

Having compromised one email account, attackers use it to send convincing phishing emails to other staff internally. A message appearing to come from your MD or finance director asking to approve an urgent payment.

T1041 · T1567

Data Exfiltration via Cloud Services

Attackers copy your files out through legitimate cloud services — SharePoint, OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive — because this traffic looks normal to most security tools. Data is gone before anyone notices.

T1486

Data Encryption for Ransom

The final step in most ransomware attacks — all your files are encrypted and you're locked out of your own systems. A ransom demand follows. UK SMEs paid an average of £47,000 per incident in 2025, with recovery taking 3–4 weeks.

T1657

Financial Theft (Business Email Compromise)

An attacker with access to a business email account monitors payment conversations and intercepts at the right moment — substituting their own bank account details. The #1 financial loss vector for UK insurance brokers and professional services firms.

Threat Severity

Current Risk Status for UK Financial Services SMEs

△

█ THREAT LEVEL: ELEVATED

Elevated — Agentic AI Risk Formalised by NCSC, SharePoint Pattern Continues, macOS Attack Surface Opens

RAG status Elevated/Amber for the August edition. The NCSC published formal guidance this month on managing the cyber risk of agentic AI (20 August 2026) — the first time the UK's national cybersecurity agency has published dedicated guidance on AI agents as a threat vector, confirming that agentic AI risk has moved from theoretical concern to operational priority. Microsoft SharePoint has its fourth confirmed exploited vulnerability in five months (CVE-2026-55040, authentication bypass) — the persistence of this pattern across consecutive CISA KEV cycles makes SharePoint the most consistently targeted SME platform of 2026. Apple macOS has a newly confirmed Screen Sharing authentication bypass (CVE-2026-65400), allowing unauthenticated network access — relevant for any business running Macs alongside Windows infrastructure. Microsoft IKE (Internet Key Exchange) remote code execution (CVE-2026-33824) is a VPN-layer vulnerability with significant implications for organisations using Microsoft's built-in VPN services. MITRE-Lite moves to monthly updates from this edition — content will be refreshed at the end of each month.

► Highest Severity Active Technique — August 2026 Edition

Authentication Bypass at Multiple Layers (T1078 / T1190) — macOS Screen Sharing, SharePoint, and Microsoft IKE All Confirmed Exploited

Three distinct authentication-layer vulnerabilities were confirmed exploited in August 2026 across products common in UK SME environments. CVE-2026-65400 (Apple macOS, added 18 August 2026) allows an unauthenticated attacker on the same network to authenticate to Screen Sharing without valid credentials — opening remote desktop access to any Mac without a password. This is particularly relevant for businesses running mixed Mac/Windows environments where Macs may be less tightly managed than Windows devices. CVE-2026-55040 (Microsoft SharePoint, added 18 August 2026) is the fourth SharePoint vulnerability confirmed exploited since April 2026 — this one a weak authentication flaw allowing unauthenticated network attackers to bypass security features. The SharePoint pattern across five months now represents the most persistent single-platform exploitation campaign in the SME-relevant CISA KEV data for 2026. CVE-2026-33824 (Microsoft IKE, added 18 August 2026) is a double-free vulnerability enabling remote code execution in Microsoft's Internet Key Exchange service — the component underpinning Windows VPN and IPSec connections. Remote code execution via the VPN layer is a high-severity finding for any organisation using Windows-native VPN. The NCSC published dedicated guidance on managing the cyber risk of agentic AI on 20 August 2026 — the first formal NCSC publication treating AI agents as an operational cyber risk rather than a future concern, and worth reading alongside the Jadepuffer agentic ransomware case documented in the Week 28 edition. VMware vCenter also appeared in CISA KEV this month (CVE-2026-59310), relevant for any organisation running VMware virtualisation infrastructure.

🔒

█ Ransomware Activity Indicator

ACTIVE — LockBit 3.0 Affiliates and ALPHV/BlackCat Successors Operational

Both ransomware-as-a-service ecosystems remain active with affiliate networks continuing to acquire access from initial access brokers. UK professional services firms make up approximately 18% of confirmed UK ransomware victims in Q1 2026 (NCSC data). Offline backups, patching cadence, and tested recovery plans are the three most effective mitigations at this level.

Intelligence Feed

Live Source Summary

■ NCSC UK Alerts

One NCSC advisory this month — formal guidance on managing the cyber risk of agentic AI (20 August 2026). First dedicated NCSC publication treating AI agents as an operational threat vector. Directly relevant to any organisation adopting AI tools in client-facing or operational processes.

Latest: 20 August 2026 → NCSC Agentic AI Guidance →

■ CISA KEV Entries (SME-Relevant)

Apple macOS Screen Sharing auth bypass (CVE-2026-65400); Microsoft SharePoint weak authentication (CVE-2026-55040) — fourth SharePoint KEV entry in 2026; Microsoft IKE remote code execution (CVE-2026-33824). Awareness: VMware vCenter, Zimbra, TrueConf Server also added.

Latest: 21 August 2026 → View CISA KEV →

■ Top Sector Affected This Month

Finance & Insurance

FCA warns consumers about unregulated loan notes and mini-bonds — two separate publications this month targeting high-risk unregulated investments. For regulated advisers and brokers: client enquiries about these products are likely to increase following FCA coverage. Know your position before a client asks.

FCA warning: 21 August 2026 → FCA →

Full Advisory Detail

For full advisory detail, vulnerability write-ups, and CISA KEV entries see the Threat Advisory page →

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Does Your Security Stack Cover These Techniques?

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Intelligence sourced from NCSC UK, the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, FCA ScamSmart, and the MITRE ATT&CK framework (licensed under CC BY 4.0). Technique descriptions are plain-English interpretations for SME audiences and are not verbatim reproductions of MITRE documentation. Coverage assessments reflect the GET-IT stack as configured for a typical SME client — actual coverage depends on your specific environment. This dashboard is updated weekly; data may not reflect events in the 24–48 hours prior to the last refresh date. GET-IT Solutions Ltd is not responsible for inaccuracies in third-party source data.

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