While the FBI steps up its fight against ransomware, new guidelines leave a bit more room for companies that choose to pay, although the bureau says it’s still essential to notify authorities as soon as an attack takes place.
The Facebook data breach of 2018, probably the biggest of the year, illustrates better than any other example that no company, big or small, is immune to hackers. One would expect a company of Facebook’s size to sustain top-tier research and development for cybersecurity, but last year’s breaches prove it’s vulnerable anyway.
An activity alert by the US Department of Homeland Security and the FBI this week warns organizations from multiple industries in critical infrastructures that they are a top target for SamSam ransomware, also known as MSIL/Samas.A, and provides a list of guidelines to help prevent and mitigate these attacks.
Small and medium-sized businesses are still a top target for ransomware attacks, and the number of attacks will most likely increase in 2019, according to a recent survey of MSPs. Over half of MSPs confirmed their clients experienced at least one ransomware attack in the first half of the year, while 35 percent said their clients were attacked more than once a day, regardless of their operating system. In fact, the number of ransomware attacks targeting Apple devices has increased five-fold in the past year, the survey found.
While industry reports claim ransomware attacks have dropped, cybersecurity insurance company Beazley Breach Response (BBR) Services has reported otherwise. According to businesses benefiting from its insurance deals, there has been a surge in the number of reported ransomware attacks, especially in September, when incidents nearly doubled from a month earlier.
Chances that ransomware will go away any time soon are slim, so security experts can’t emphasize enough the importance for enterprises to seriously invest in cybersecurity and focus on developing risk mitigation strategies to avoid being caught off-guard. For some reason, the number of businesses ready to pay ransom to get their data back is increasing, opening up endless opportunities for hackers working on complex malicious software to further compromise corporate networks.
Despite considerable efforts to educate employees on ransomware, many organizations still don't know what to do if they fall victim to an attack. According to part 2 of Intermedia's Data Vulnerability Report, a record number of employees and their employers are paying ransom.
The findings of a new ISACA research report on the state of cyber security are quite sobering: a huge majority of the organizations the group surveyed for its study expect to be hit with a cyber attack this year, but many of them remain unprepared to defend against such attacks.
A substantial ransomware attack rocked many organizations throughout Europe and the United States this week. Here are seven of the best Tweets Tweeted about GoldenEye / PetrWrap
The latest data breach report from Verizon is out, and if you’re looking for good news about the cyber security landscape you might be disappointed.
Update 5/13/3017: Yesterday evening the WannaCryptor (WannaCry) ransomware family infected thousands of computers across the world. In just 24 hours, the number of infections has spiked to 185,000 machines in more than 100 countries. Analysis of the Bitcoin wallets hardcoded into the samples show that the group behind WannaCryptor managed to extort roughly $US 25,000 worth of Bitcoin.
A new family of ransomware called WannaCryptor has started targeting businesses in more than 70 countries around the world. Hospitals, telelcom companies or gas and utilities plants are just some of the verticals that suffered massive disruptions caused by data being held at ransom.
In 2016, the number of ransomware attacks increased 300 percent from 2015, with over 4,000 attacks detected per day, according to US government statistics. Ransomware is among the worst types of infection, as it not only encrypts network data, but in the end may cost victims all their data – even if they pay the ransom. It should be a priority for all businesses and organizations in 2017.
