An advisory issued jointly this week by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center, National Security Agency, U.S. Secret Service, and the Republic of Korea’s National Police Agency alerted organizations about an emerging threat from the Gunra ransomware group and provided guidance on detection and mitigation.
ransomware
Philadelphia Casino Data Breach: Some Claims Win, Others Lose
A recent federal decision shows how data-breach claims can turn on the connection between the exposed information and the alleged harm. In Volio v. Sugarhouse HSP Gaming, L.P., No. 2:25-cv-00039 (E.D.Pa. Aug. 7, 2026), current and former employees and casino patrons sued after Rivers Casino Philadelphia allegedly discovered unauthorized access to its network and…
Verizon’s 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report Highlights
I am a big fan of Verizon’s yearly Data Breach Investigations Report. I follow it closely, as it confirms what we are seeing in the field, and provides validation for defense strategies employed to protect against attacks. The 2026 Report was recently published, and as I have mentioned before, it is well worth reading.…
Mandiant M-Trends 2026 Report: Threat Actors Using AI in Attacks
Mandiant recently issued its M-Trends 2026 Report, a must read for all cybersecurity professionals. The report provides several conclusions and insights, including that both nation states and run of the mill financially motivated threat actors are “integrating AI to accelerate the attack lifecycle.” These threat actors are “increasingly relying on large language models (LLMs) as…
Privacy Tip #467 – Employee Access of Malicious Website Causes Nevada Breach
Nevada suffered a ransomware attack in August 2025 that caused a significant disruption in services. The attackers deleted the state’s backups, encrypted virtual machines, and deployed ransomware that affected 60 state agencies, including the Departments of Health and Human Services, Public Safety, and Motor Vehicles.
Despite the significance of the attack, Nevada refused to pay…
Akira Still Using SonicWall Devices for Attacks
Although SonicWall has provided a patch for a vulnerability for its VPN affecting its Gen5, Gen6, and Gen7 firewall appliances (which allowed threat actors unauthorized access to SonicWall appliances), Rapid7 has reported that “an Akira ransomware campaign [recently] kicked off targeting SonicWall devices.” SonicWall has provided an advisory to customers related to the campaign, which…
DOJ Seizes $2.8M in Cryptocurrency + Cash From Zeppelin Operator
On August 14, 2025, the Department of Justice announced that it unsealed six warrants “authorizing the seizure of over $2.8 million in cryptocurrency, $70,000 in cash, and a luxury vehicle.” According to the press release, “all of the cryptocurrency was seized from a cryptocurrency wallet controlled by Ianis Aleksandrovich Antropenko, who is charged by indictment…
Law Enforcement Disrupts BlackSuit (Royal) Gang
In this line of work, I am often asked if law enforcement is ever successful in finding and punishing the threat actors who have wreaked havoc on U.S. businesses and stolen millions of dollars in ransomware attacks. I am so pleased to report that—although few and far between, and very difficult to accomplish—there are wins…
Joint Alert Warns of Medusa Ransomware
On March 12, 2025, a joint cybersecurity advisory was issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center to advise companies about the tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs), and indicators of compromise (IOCs) to protect themselves against Medusa ransomware.
According to the advisory:…
Criminal Charges Lodged Against Alleged Phobos Ransomware Affiliates
Unfortunately, I’ve had unpleasant dealings with the Phobos ransomware group. My interactions with Phobos have been fodder for a good story when I educate client employees on recent cyber-attacks to prevent them from becoming victims. The story highlights how these ransomware groups, including Phobos, are sophisticated criminal organizations with managerial hierarchy. They use common slang…