Government Agencies Falling Victim to Ransomware Daily, Warns Study
Government organizations are targeted by attackers who know agencies cannot afford disruption to public services
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Government organizations are targeted by attackers who know agencies cannot afford disruption to public services
A U.S. government agency paid $1M to Kairos, a group focused on data theft and extortion rather than ransomware, Ransom-ISAC reports. A new case study from Ransom-ISAC reconstructs a complete data-extortion incident involving a U.S. government body and a threat actor called Kairos, using a leaked negotiation transcript and blockchain tracing of the ransom payment. […]
A U.S. government entity paid about $1 million to keep stolen files from being leaked, according to a new case study by Rakesh Krishnan for Ransom-ISAC, built on a leaked negotiation chat and the blockchain trail the payment left
A 5-year study on the Ransomware Economy found that 30,515 exposed databases were hit by ransom attacks, causing massive damage despite victims never paying. Database extortion doesn’t look like the ransomware stories that usually grab headlines. There’s no slick branding, no leak-site countdown, no gang posting memes on Telegram. In most cases, there’s just a […]
Health Researchers Often Overlook Security of Historical DatasetsAn August 2025 ransomware attack on the University of Hawaii Cancer Center's epidemiology division has affected 1.2 million individuals, including personal information such as Social Security numbers of certain research study participants dating back more than 30 years.
University of Hawaii says a ransomware gang breached its Cancer Center in August 2025, stealing data of study participants, including documents from the 1990s containing Social Security numbers. [...]
Analysis of Seized LockBit Data Suggests Victims Who Pay Enjoy More Media CoverageBad news for any organization that's ever paid a ransom in a bid to avoid their breach coming to light, or for a promise from attackers to delete stolen data, with a study of seized LockBit data finding that victims who paid a ransom were more likely to see the attack get detailed in the media.
Even AI has doubts about the claim that '80% of ransomware attacks are AI-driven' Do 80 percent of ransomware attacks really come from AI? MIT Sloan has now withdrawn a working paper that made that eyebrow-raising claim after criticism from security researcher Kevin Beaumont.…
The company likely failed to completely clean out attackers from a previous breach and now is a case study for the high cost of ransomware.
Stolen devices are a bigger cause of data loss than stolen credentials or ransomware, according to a new Blancco study
It involves a number close to three or six depending on the fiend Ransomware operators jack up their ransom demands by a factor of 2.8x if they detect a victim has cyber-insurance, a study highlighted by the Netherlands government has confirmed.…
Incident Reporting Low, Government Study FindsRansomware attacks targeting U.K. organizations continued to rise last year concluded the British government despite a low reporting rate by victims. The findings come as the government is considering banning public sector organization from paying ransom and mandating incident reporting.
CISOs at Organizations That Fell Victim Have a Different Story, 451 Research FindsAre your defenses against ransomware good enough to survive contact with the enemy? Don't be so sure. A new study from market researcher 451 Research finds that "overconfidence in security tooling remains an issue in the face of ransomware" for organizations that haven't yet fallen victim.
Most accomplished cybercriminals go out of their way to separate their real names from their hacker handles. But among certain old-school Russian hackers it is not uncommon to find major players who have done little to prevent people from figuring out who they are in real life. A case study in this phenomenon is "x999xx," the nickname chosen by a venerated Russian hacker who specializes in providing the initial network access to various ransomware groups.
It's critical for CISOs to study what went wrong in major ransomware IT disruptions and breaches hitting the healthcare sector and to look closely within their own organizations for similar gaps or vulnerabilities, said Michael Prakhye, CISO of Adventist HealthCare.
A study investigating the impact of ransomware attacks on hospitals and the ripple effect on nearby facilities is a call to action for policymakers to seriously address how those assaults can be better handled in the health sector, said researchers Rahi Abouk and David Powell.
The rise in ransomware and AI generated attacks has contributed to accelerate investment into cyber defenses, Infosecurity Europe found in a new study
How Attacks Have Changed; New Insights Into How an Attack Affects the BusinessThe fifth annual Sophos State of Ransomware Report combines year-on-year insights with brand-new areas of study. It includes a deep dive into ransom demands and ransom payments and shines new light on the role of law enforcement in ransomware remediation.
Thales latest report also suggests less than half of organizations have a formal ransomware response plan
Emergency Services Are Suspended as Digital Systems Are Pulled OfflineRansomware operators disrupted emergency healthcare services over the weekend, crippling operations in nearly two dozen hospitals in Romania and France. Ransomware attacks increase the in-hospital mortality rate for already-admitted patients, a recent study concluded.