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.
Ransomware, AI, secure software, digital IDs – there's something for everyone in the presidential directive Analysis Joe Biden, in the final days of his US presidency, issued another cybersecurity order that is nearly as vast in scope as it is late in the game.…
Pastes allegedly stolen documents on leak site with £600K demand Another year and yet another UK local authority has been pwned by a ransomware crew. This time it's Gateshead Council in North East England at the hands of the Medusa group.…
That's in addition to the $4.5M fine paid to three state AGs last year Enzo Biochem has settled a consolidated class-action lawsuit relating to its 2023 ransomware incident for $7.5 million.…
Stronger proposals may also see private sector applying for a payment 'license' A total ban on ransomware payments across the public sector might actually happen after the UK government opened a consultation on how to combat the trend of criminals locking up whole systems and taxpayers footing the bill.…
Ransomware 'not off the table,' Arctic Wolf threat hunter tells El Reg Miscreants running a "mass exploitation campaign" against Fortinet firewalls, which peaked in December, may be using an unpatched zero-day vulnerability to compromise the equipment, according to security researchers who say they've observed the intrusions.…
'Codefinger' crims on the hunt for compromised keys A new ransomware crew dubbed Codefinger targets AWS S3 buckets and uses the cloud giant's own server-side encryption with customer provided keys (SSE-C) to lock up victims' data before demanding a ransom payment for the symmetric AES-256 keys required to decrypt it.…
PLUS: Data broker leak reveals extent of info trading; Hot new ransomware gang might be all AI, no bark; and more Infosec in brief Gravy Analytics, a vendor of location intelligence info for marketers which reached a settlement with US authorities last year over its alleged unlawful sale of location, has reportedly been hacked – potentially exposing millions of smartphone users.…