Fraud Management & Cybercrime , Ransomware , Video
Ransomware Evolution: Smaller Actors, Bigger Impact
Cisco Talos' Nick Biasini on Why a Defense-in-Depth Approach Is KeyThe ransomware threat landscape has undergone an alarming evolution - transitioning from opportunistic hackers driven by swift financial gains to sophisticated, targeted campaigns that jeopardize individuals, enterprises and essential infrastructure. In this evolving environment, small-time threat actors are entering the ransomware space and targeting small and medium-sized businesses.
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Nick Biasini, head of outreach at Cisco Talos, attributed this trend to the leaking of source code and builders from established ransomware groups. "The small-time groups who aren't able to write ransomware from scratch are able to take the code created by the ransomware authors that came before them, modify it a little bit, and have a lot of success launching attacks with it," he said.
Biasini said organizations must adopt a defense-in-depth approach, bolstering their security controls and focusing on endpoint security to defend against this evolving threat landscape. Educating employees and building proper access controls are vital steps to detect early signs of intrusion, he said.
In this video interview with Information Security Media Group at Black Hat USA 2023, Biasini also discussed:
- Why larger, established ransomware groups are shifting away from deploying ransomware and focusing solely on data exfiltration extortion;
- How the escalating diversity of ransomware is creating new challenges for cyber defenders;
- How security teams can enhance their strategies to detect threat actors faster as they navigate between systems.
At Cisco Talos, Biasini leads a team of threat researchers tasked with finding cutting-edge threats. He began his career defending the national airspace and has held a variety of technical roles in both public and private industries.