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.
Progress has issued a second patch for additional SQL flaws that are distinct from the zero-day that Cl0p ransomware gang is exploiting.
Security teams should be empowered with the right amount of intelligence to track new and emerging threats and connect that intel to historical data.
The Texas city's networks have returned to 90% functionality following the May 3 Royal ransomware attack.
Ransomware continues its runaway growth with median payments reaching $50,000 per incident.
Some billion-dollar organizations have already been identified as victims of the prolific ransomware group's latest exploit, amidst ongoing attacks.
With the leak of information such as Social Security numbers, in addition to other protected information, 600,000 of the nearly 2.5 million affected are at risk for identity theft.