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.
New ransomware operations continue to be launched this week, with the new Luna ransomware found to be targeting both Windows and VMware ESXi servers. [...]
Digital security giant Entrust has confirmed that it suffered a cyberattack where threat actors breached their network and stole data from internal systems. [...]
Luna, Black Basta add to rapidly growing list of malware tools targeted at virtual machines deployed on VMware's bare-metal hypervisor technology.
Details have emerged on how the Conti ransomware gang breached the Costa Rican government, showing the attack's precision and the speed of moving from initial access to the final stage of encrypting devices. [...]
Identify your business's security posture and head off ransomware attacks with third-party risk management and vendor security assessments.
Manufacturers were the hardest hit in the quarter
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced the seizure of $500,000 worth of Bitcoin from North Korean hackers who extorted digital payments from several organizations by using a new ransomware strain known as Maui
A threat actor is promoting a new version of their free-to-use 'Redeemer' ransomware builder on hacker forums, offering unskilled threat actors an easy entry to the world of encryption-backed extortion attacks. [...]
Law enforcement hopes that retuning ransom payments to impacted businesses will demonstrate that working with the feds following a cybersecurity breach is "good business."
Money paid by healthcare facilities to North Korean group traced through blockchain and Chinese launderers Federal law enforcement officials this week said they seized about $500,000 that healthcare facilities in the United States paid to the Maui ransomware group.…
The U.S. Department of Justice has announced the seizure of approximately $500,000 in Bitcoin, paid by American health care providers to the operators of the Maui ransomware strain. [...]
The group has become the new face of ransomware, taking advantage of vulnerabilities and poor encryption.
Aamir Lakhani, with FortiGuard Labs, answers the question; Why is the Conti ransomware gang targeting people and businesses in Costa Rica?
Kaspersky security researchers have disclosed details of a brand-new ransomware family written in Rust, making it the third strain after BlackCat and Hive to use the programming language
A new ransomware family dubbed Luna can be used to encrypt devices running several operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and ESXi systems. [...]
Payments were made by at least two healthcare providers
The Knauf Group has announced it has been the target of a cyberattack that has disrupted its business operations, forcing its global IT team to shut down all IT systems to isolate the incident. [...]
The gang's members have moved into different criminal activities, and could regroup once law-enforcement attention has simmered down a bit, researchers say.
Researchers have observed signs of overlap between several ransomware gangs and Conti
The conventional wisdom that virtual container environments were somehow immune from malware and hackers has been upended.