Despite the fact that the hackers behind Maze ransomware previously promised not to hit medical organizations during the coronavirus pandemic, it recently attacked a British medical lab that is slated to test COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic. The Maze hackers previously said publicly that it would “stop all activity versus all kinds of medical organizations … Continue Reading
Another city—Durham, North Carolina—has become the victim of a ransomware attack stemming from a Russian hacker group following a successful phishing scheme. After falling victim to the ransomware attack last weekend, the city shut down its network, including disabling access to the network by the Durham Police Department, the Sheriff’s Office and the communications center. … Continue Reading
Two Las Vegas casinos’ networks were down over the past week, with posted signs saying “Cash Only” throughout the casinos after a suspected ransomware attack. Electronic slot machines were silent as the casinos reacted to the security incident. The Nevada State Gaming Control Board was aware of the situation and disclosed that it is monitoring … Continue Reading
Scammers always go back to the good old scams, even when they are making bundles on new scams. Although our lives have been consumed of late with an onslaught of ransomware attacks, this past week, we have seen an uptick in good old wire fraud schemes. The uptick is so significant that it warrants a … Continue Reading
Criminal minds are creative, and new ransomware strains show just how creative cyber-attackers can be. A new strain of ransomware, dubbed Ransomwared, requests a different kind of payment from the victim than the typical bitcoin request. Instead of paying for the decryption of data, or to prevent cyber-attackers from releasing private photos they have obtained … Continue Reading
Confirming what we are seeing in the field, cybersecurity firm Cybersecurity Ventures has predicted that, globally, businesses in 2021 will fall victim to a ransomware attack every 11 seconds, down from every 14 seconds in 2019. That figure is based on historical cybercrime figures. It is estimated that the cost of ransomware to businesses will … Continue Reading
There’s nothing worse than paying criminals. And paying a ransom for data is just that—paying criminals for a criminal act. All you get out of the payment is access to your data. It doesn’t fix the vulnerability or the root problem. Let the record reflect that the FBI does not recommend paying ransoms to cyber … Continue Reading
A new report published by Coveware concludes that companies hit with ransomware attacks spend an average of 16 days recovering from the attack. Think about being offline and unable to do business for 16 business days. It is extremely disruptive and costly. It takes larger organizations longer to recover than smaller ones, and larger organizations … Continue Reading
I am on vacation this week in beautiful Jackson Hole. The skiing is epic, the restaurants amazing, 1921 silver dollars inlaid in the tops of two bars, elk and moose abound, and I’ve had a sighting of several coyotes, a badger, and owls. Sounds idyllic. It is for the most part, except for ransomware attacks. … Continue Reading
It’s getting difficult to keep up with the jargon of all of the new digital scams. The SaaSes in the beginning became regular business terms, such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and Business Processes-as-a-Service (BPaaS). But then the criminal enterprises came up with Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS), Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) and now Crime-as-a-Service (CaaS). A new Crime-as-a-Service offering is targeting … Continue Reading
Just hours after the shooting incident at the Pensacola Air Station last week, city officials in Pensacola discovered that the city was the victim of a ransomware attack. Many of the city’s computer systems were affected and were disconnected from the internet. City officials reported that all offices were open and that emergency services, including … Continue Reading
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards activated the State’s cybersecurity team recently after several State offices’ computers started acting strangely. The IT team identified an intrusion of Ryuk ransomware and which programs were affected, and shut down computers to avoid spread of the infection. During the outage, some state offices had no access to email, internet … Continue Reading
Security researchers Intezer and IBM X-Force have identified a new ransomware that is seriously vicious. It’s PureLocker—named because it is programmed in PureBasic language, which is apparently unusual. The scary thing about this ransomware being written in PureBasic programming language is that it can target different platforms and is transferable between different operating systems, including … Continue Reading
Cyberliability insurance provider Beazley Insurance Company has analyzed its internal breach response data and determined that in its experience, there has been a thirty-seven percent (37%) increase in ransomware attacks this most recent quarter from the last quarter of 2019. Twenty-five percent (25%) of those incidents were against managed service providers (MSPs). An MSP assists … Continue Reading
On October 13, 2019, TrialWorks, a legal case management software platform, announced to its customers, that it was experiencing a hosting outage at its data center and would provide updates as more was learned about the situation. The update issued the next day admitted that TrialWorks was in the midst of a ransomware attack. It … Continue Reading
The Federal Bureau of Investigations Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) recently issued a public service announcement warning private companies about the increasing numbers of ransomware attacks affecting private industry. According to the warning, “Although state and local governments have been particularly visible targets for ransomware attacks, ransomware actors have also targeted health care organizations, industrial … Continue Reading
July 2019 was the worst month in history for health care data breaches, with a total of 50 breaches that affected more than 500 records reported to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), according to HIPAA Journal. Those 50 reportable data breaches exposed more than 35 million individuals’ health care records. HIPAA Journal opines that … Continue Reading
It’s a busy time for colleges and universities as the fall semester starts and campuses are bustling with activity. It’s also the perfect time for cyber criminals to create mayhem for institutions of higher education with a cyber-attack. That is exactly what happened to Regis University in Denver, Colorado. The university had to shut down … Continue Reading
We have definitely seen an uptick in the number of ransomware attacks against municipalities around the country. Thus far, the attacks have been against single cities, towns, and court systems, and recently against a Louisiana school system. The pace and coordination of these attacks have magnified, as evidenced by the coordinated and simultaneous ransomware attacks this … Continue Reading
We’ve written a few times recently about municipalities, companies, and government agencies hit with ransomware attacks this year. In early July, it was reported that a court system in Georgia was attacked with ransomware, causing lawyers, court employees and the public to have to rely on “old school” paper to file pleadings and keep the … Continue Reading
We previously reported that the criminals behind the GandCrab Ransomware were retiring, and that a patch was discovered and companies are urged to implement the patch [view related post]. Why would cybercriminals who bilked more than $2 billion from companies with GandCrab retire when they have the resources and the ability to continue to steal? … Continue Reading
The tension with Iran has generally increased, and it has been reported that the U.S. has launched a cyber-attack against Iran. In retaliation, the risk of Iranian-backed wiper malware attacks against U.S. businesses and government agencies has increased, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS recently issued a warning to U.S. businesses to … Continue Reading
Security researchers have warned municipalities repeatedly about how they are being targeted with ransomware, that they are at high risk, and the need to make data security a high priority. Municipalities are unfortunately only taking heed now that recent ransomware campaigns are in the news and bringing some municipalities to their knees [view related posts … Continue Reading
The attackers behind the vicious ransomware known as GandCrab have made their money (loosely estimated at over $2 billion) and are retiring. Most of us work for a living and then retire, but these guys steal money to retire. A lot of money. Shortly after their announcement that they are retiring (no doubt to figure … Continue Reading
