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.
Weekly headline count for the current query.
The designations hit 1VPNS, its alleged Ukrainian administrator and a Belarusian who allegedly sold “cryptors” to disguise ransomware and other malware. The post Treasury sanctions First VPN Service, others for abetting ransomware gangs appeared first on CyberScoop.
Karen Vardanyan faces up to 15 years in federal prison and agreed to pay nearly $1.2 million in restitution. The post Armenian national pleads guilty to Ryuk ransomware attacks appeared first on CyberScoop.
Angelo Martino exploited his insider position and fed confidential information to ransomware co-conspirators to extort a combined $75.3 million from five U.S.-based victims. The post Former DigitalMint ransomware negotiator who duped clients sentenced to 70 months in jail appeared first on CyberScoop.
The AI agent didn’t accomplish every step in the late June 2026 attack, but it allowed the threat actor to significantly reduce complexity, speed up the tempo and gain operational advantages. The post Sysdig clocks first documented case of agentic ransomware appeared first on CyberScoop.
From outsourced labor to tiered pricing models, an inside look at how today's top ransomware threats operate less like rogue hackers and more like Fortune 500 companies. The post How ransomware syndicates weaponize corporate-style organization appeared first on CyberScoop.
Oleksii Lytvynenko, a 44-year-old Ukrainian national, admitted to joining the prolific cybercrime group in 2021. Officials said he engaged in cybercrime up until his arrest in Ireland in 2023. The post Conti ransomware group member pleads guilty, faces up to 20 years in prison appeared first on CyberScoop.
Fox Tempest, a financially-motivated threat group, allowed ransomware operators and other cybercriminals to slip malware-laced software past security controls. The post Microsoft disrupts cybercrime service that abused software verification systems en masse appeared first on CyberScoop.
The ransomware group Nitrogen claimed responsibility for the attack and said it stole 8 terabytes of data spanning more than 11 million files belonging to the company’s top customers. The post Major tech manufacturer Foxconn confirms cyberattack hit North American factories appeared first on CyberScoop.
Deniss Zolotarjovs was mostly tasked with putting pressure on the Russia-based crew’s victims, in one case leaking hundreds of children’s health records. The post Latvian national sentenced for ransomware attacks run by former Conti leaders appeared first on CyberScoop.
Ryan Goldberg and Kevin Martin attacked five companies in 2023 and extorted nearly $1.3 million from one of their victims. The post Former incident responders sentenced to 4 years in prison for committing ransomware attacks appeared first on CyberScoop.
Angelo Martino helped accomplices extort a combined $75.3 million in ransom payments from five victim companies. The post Former DigitalMint ransomware negotiator pleads guilty to extortion scheme appeared first on CyberScoop.
The ideas came up at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing, as health care ransomware attacks are on the rise. The post Lawmakers ponder terrorism designations, homicide charges over hospital ransomware attacks appeared first on CyberScoop.
A new report from Halcyon finds that the group also puts more effort than usual into developing working decryptors, likely to incentivize businesses to pay up. The post Akira ransomware group can achieve initial access to data encryption in less than an hour appeared first on CyberScoop.
A federal court in Indiana sentenced a Russian cybercriminal to 81 months in prison on charges related to his role as an initial access broker for ransomware groups. Aleksei Volkov, 26, of St. Petersburg, Russia, pleaded guilty in November 2025 to six federal charges stemming from his work with the Yanluowang ransomware group and other […] The post Russian access broker sentenced to over 6 years in prison for ransomware schemes appeared first on CyberScoop.
Google’s research report on ransomware activity last year underscores how cybercrime is evolving and clouding a collective understanding of its full impact and scale. The post The ransomware economy is shifting toward straight-up data extortion appeared first on CyberScoop.
Angelo Martino is accused of playing both sides — committing attacks and conducting ransomware negotiations on some of the same cases on behalf of his former employer. The post Feds say another DigitalMint negotiator ran ransomware attacks and helped extort $75 million appeared first on CyberScoop.
Hackers have cut their attack timelines from weeks to hours while the government spreads resources too thin. We need to stop pretending we can protect everything and start focusing on what would hurt us most. The post We’ve seen ransomware cost American lives. Here’s what it will actually take to stop it. appeared first on CyberScoop.