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.
It started as a slow ransomware news week but slowly picked up pace with the Department of Justice announcing indictments on TrickBot and Conti operations members. [...]
The Ragnar Locker ransomware gang has claimed responsibility for an attack on Israel's Mayanei Hayeshua hospital, threatening to leak 1 TB of data allegedly stolen during the cyberattack. [...]
Cisco is warning of a zero-day vulnerability in its Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) that is actively exploited by ransomware operations to gain initial access to corporate networks. [...]
These new sanctions follow a first wave in February 2023, where seven Russians involved with Trickbot and Conti were also sanctioned
The USA and the United Kingdom have sanctioned eleven Russian nationals associated with the TrickBot and Conti ransomware cybercrime operations. [...]