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Stay updated on cyber extortion trends: threats, prevention tips, and incident responses. Protect your data with the latest info on digital ransom tactics.

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Background for this topic.

Extortion is coercion through threats: an attacker demands money or another concession while threatening harm if the victim refuses. In cybersecurity, this commonly involves encrypting systems and demanding payment for recovery, stealing data and threatening to publish it (often called double extortion), or threatening service disruption. The threatened harm may be real, exaggerated, or based on data the attacker did not actually obtain; payment does not guarantee data deletion, secrecy, or restoration.

Security teams should treat an extortion demand as a potential incident: preserve evidence, isolate affected systems, determine whether data was accessed, and involve legal and privacy specialists where notification or regulatory duties may apply. Offline, tested backups can reduce leverage from encryption, but they do not address stolen information. Reviewing exposed remote services, credentials, and unpatched internet-facing systems can help contain the access path, while threat intelligence may help assess the attacker’s claims and identify related activity.

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Sordid search history 'evidence' in case that could see him spend 35 years for extortion and wire fraud A former infrastructure engineer who allegedly locked IT department colleagues out of their employer's systems, then threatened to shut down servers unless paid a ransom, has been arrested and charged after an FBI investigation.…

More from The Register 30 Aug 2024, 6:30 a.m. Extortion FBI Fraud Investigation Microsoft Ransom Shut Down
The Register 1 year, 10 months ago

Alleged Karakut ransomware scumbag charged in US

Plus: Microsoft issues workaround for dual-boot crashes; ARRL cops to ransom payment, and more Infosec in brief Deniss Zolotarjovs, a suspected member of the Russian Karakurt ransomware gang, has been charged in a US court with allegedly conspiring to commit money laundering, wire fraud and Hobbs Act extortion.…

More from The Register 26 Aug 2024, 2:00 p.m. Extortion Fraud Microsoft Money Laundering Ransom Ransomware Russia