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.
Cybercriminals use legal search terms to ensnare unwitting victims, then launch ransomware or business email compromise attacks.
Black Hat speaker and 13-year-old ethical hacker Marco Liberale talks about his interest in cybersecurity, and what opportunities he has in Saudi Arabia.
Organizations from the Middle East and Africa have typically escaped public ransoms, but that's changing amid heightened geopolitical conflicts and digitalization initiatives.
In a rare instance of an overseas arrest of ransomware perpetrators, four other high-profile gang members were also seized.
The company's power production remains in operation, and authorities have been notified of the attack.
Fawry confirms addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth, leaked online.
More than two dozen hospitals have been impacted by the breach and are diverting emergency care for patients to other healthcare facilities.
More than two dozen hospitals have been impacted by the breach and are diverting emergency care for patients to other healthcare facilities.