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.
Kaspersky cracks the code, so get busy before the next update comes Good news for ransomware victims: Kaspersky security researchers say they've cracked the Conti ransomware code and released a decryptor tool after uncovering leaked data belonging to the notorious Russian crime group.…
Victim offered two years of credit monitoring for ransomware exposure A cancer patient whose nude treatment photos and medical records were posted online after they were stolen in a ransomware attack, has sued the healthcare provider for allowing a "preventable" and "seriously damaging" incident.…
Not-so-smart SmartScreen flagged up by Googlers Criminals are exploiting a Microsoft SmartScreen bug to deliver Magniber ransomware, potentially infecting hundreds of thousands of devices, without raising any security red flags, according to Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG).…
Different CVE, same root security problem Criminals are exploiting a Microsoft SmartScreen bug to deliver Magniber ransomware, potentially infecting hundreds of thousands of devices, without raising any security red flags, according to Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG).…
If this ransomware gang can nab it all, who else can? Ransomware gang Lockbit has boasted it broke into Maximum Industries, which makes parts for SpaceX, and stole 3,000 proprietary schematics developed by Elon Musk's rocketeers.…