Ransomware encrypts or steals data to disrupt operations and extort victims, making backups, access controls, and incident response essential.
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Background for this topic.
Ransomware is malware used to deny access to systems or data, usually by encrypting files and demanding payment for decryption. Many operations also steal sensitive information and threaten to publish it, so an attack can create both an availability crisis and a privacy or disclosure risk. Initial access may involve phishing, stolen credentials, exposed remote services, or exploitation of unpatched vulnerabilities; attackers may then move through the network before deploying the payload.
Defenses should combine vulnerability management, phishing-resistant authentication where practical, endpoint and network monitoring, and backups that are isolated from routine administrator access and regularly tested for recovery. Organizations should also limit privileges and segment critical systems to reduce the blast radius. An incident requires rapid containment, preservation of forensic evidence, restoration from known-good backups, and assessment of notification, legal, and regulatory obligations. Threat intelligence can help identify relevant criminal infrastructure or tactics, but it does not replace sound access control, patching, detection, and recovery practices.
British auction house Christie's is notifying individuals whose data was stolen by the RansomHub ransomware gang in a recent network breach. [...]
Frontier Communications is warning 750,000 customers that their information was exposed in a data breach after an April cyberattack claimed by the RansomHub ransomware operation. [...]
Frontier Communications is warning 750,000 customers that their information was exposed in a data breach after an April cyberattack claimed by the RansomHub ransomware operation. [...]
A new ransomware operation named 'Fog' launched in early May 2024, using compromised VPN credentials to breach the networks of educational organizations in the U.S. [...]
Researchers observed a new Linux variant of the TargetCompany ransomware family that targets VMware ESXi environments using a custom shell script to deliver and execute payloads. [...]
The FBI urges past victims of LockBit ransomware attacks to come forward after revealing that it has obtained over 7,000 LockBit decryption keys that they can use to recover encrypted data for free. [...]
A ransomware attack that hit pathology services provider Synnovis on Monday and impacted several major NHS hospitals in London has now been linked to the Qilin ransomware operation. [...]
Security researchers analyzing the relatively new RansomHub ransomware-as-a-service believe that it has evoloved from the currently defunct Knight ransomware project. [...]
A ransomware attack affecting pathology and diagnostic services provider Synnovis has impacted healthcare services at multiple major NHS hospitals in London. [...]