Ransomware encrypts or steals data to disrupt operations and extort victims, making backups, access controls, and incident response essential.
Search across headline titles and summaries.
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.
Two new extortion gangs named 'TommyLeaks' and 'SchoolBoys' are targeting companies worldwide. However, there is a catch — they are both the same ransomware gang. [...]
A new Windows zero-day allows threat actors to use malicious JavaScript files to bypass Mark-of-the-Web security warnings. Threat actors are already seen using the zero-day bug in ransomware attacks. [...]
Cybersecurity researchers did not disappoint, with reports linking RansomCartel to REvil, on OldGremlin hackers targeting Russia with ransomware, a new data exfiltration tool used by BlackByte, a warning that ransomware actors are exploiting VMware vulnerabilities, and finally, our own report on the Venus Ransomware. [...]
CISA, the FBI, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) warned that a cybercrime group known as Daixin Team is actively targeting the U.S. Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) Sector sector in ransomware attacks. [...]
Security researchers observed malicious campaigns leveraging a critical vulnerability in VMware Workspace One Access to deliver various malware, including the RAR1Ransom tool that locks files in password-protected archives. [...]
Security researchers observed malicious campaigns leveraging a critical vulnerability in VMware Workspace One Access to deliver various malware, including the RAR1Ransom tool that locks files in password-protected archives. [...]
A BlackByte ransomware affiliate is using a new custom data stealing tool called 'ExByte' to steal data from compromised Windows devices quickly. [...]
OldGremlin, one of the few ransomware groups attacking Russian corporate networks, has expanded its toolkit with file-encrypting malware for Linux machines. [...]
Threat analysts have connected the pieces that link the Ransom Cartel RaaS (ransomware-as-a-service) to the REvil gang, one of the most notorious and prolific ransomware groups in recent years. [...]
Health insurance provider Medibank has confirmed that a ransomware attack is responsible for last week's cyberattack and disruption of online services. [...]
German newspaper 'Heilbronn Stimme' published today's 28-page issue in e-paper form after a Friday ransomware attack crippled its printing systems. [...]
Threat actors behind the relatively new Venus Ransomware are hacking into publicly-exposed Remote Desktop services to encrypt Windows devices. [...]