Threat watch: The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war continues to pose both direct and indirect risks to enterprise networks, says Michael Baker, vice president and IT CISO of IT services and consulting firm DXC Technology. He also discusses recruiting and retaining new talent.
The public-private Ransomware Task Force last year issued numerous recommendations for battling ransomware, and task force member Marc Rogers of Okta says that while the problem persists, better mechanisms are helping to blunt such criminal activity.
Ransomware continues to pummel organizations, with the average ransom payment reaching $925,000 so far this year, but the aggregate financial impact of business email compromise attacks is even worse, says Wendi Whitmore, head of Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks.
Ransomware groups such as Conti are beginning to move away from encrypting systems. Instead, they are stealing data, especially from public companies, and threatening to leak it publicly to extort ransom payments, says cybercrime expert Vitali Kremez, CEO of AdvIntel.
As Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, it's notable that Ukraine's government - and much of the country - has remained connected to the internet. That's happening despite fierce Russian cyberattacks, says cybersecurity expert Mikko Hypponen, who highlights Ukraine's defensive mojo.
Personal data allegedly obtained during a cyberattack using BlackCat ransomware was published on a typosquatted open internet website. This new extortion technique shows an escalation by ransomware groups in their willingness to use personal data to bludgeon victims into paying extortion money.
The disruption of the Netwalker ransomware group in January 2021 by U.S. and Bulgarian authorities highlights how blockchain can be an Achilles' heel for cryptocurrency-using criminals, says Jackie Burns Koven, cyberthreat intelligence lead at Chainalysis.
The dangers associated with compromising critical infrastructure assets burst into public view with the May 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack, prompting significant investment from both the government and the private sector, according to Claroty Chief Product Officer Grant Geyer.
As the Russia-Ukraine war continues, and analysts watch for retaliatory cyberattacks against Ukraine's allies, cybercrime tracker Jon DiMaggio of Analyst1 says there's good news, in that Russian cybercriminals seem to have little or no incentive to move against U.S. critical infrastructure.
Darknet markets continue to thrive despite regular disruption by law enforcement agencies and exit scams by administrators because they offer easy access to services such as tools for laundering cryptocurrency, says Kimberly Grauer, head of research at blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
An Arizona medical center that suffered a ransomware attack in April has begun notifying 700,000 individuals of a data breach compromising sensitive medical and personal information. The incident is among the latest major health data breaches involving ransomware.
An operator deploying BlackCat ransomware, also known as ALPHV, appears to have claimed the University of Pisa as its latest victim. University officials reportedly face a ransom demand of $4.5 million, a "discount price" that will jump to $5 million after Thursday.
Every second of downtime after a ransomware attack costs businesses in industries such as retail and e-commerce large sums of cash. Business continuity is therefore vital even before determining whether ransomed data or systems can be recovered, says VMware Security General Manager Kal De.
Security leaders shouldn't ignore current geopolitical tensions, which are going to infiltrate into private sectors, says Troy Leach of the Cloud Security Alliance. And John Kindervag of ON2IT Cybersecurity says - for that reason - organizations need to stop being cheap on cybersecurity.
Top Russian diplomat Andrei Krutskikh is pressuring the U.S. to back down in cyberspace after the director of U.S. Cyber Command, Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, acknowledged America has conducted a "full spectrum" of virtual operations in support of Ukraine.
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