Cyber security for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) is a particularly daunting challenge. These companies face many of the same cyber security threats that the largest global enterprises deal with—but often with a fraction of the resources. Aside from the obvious disadvantages smaller organizations face, there are also a number of misconceptions about security that can get in the way of better protection.
The Bitdefender Threat Debrief (BDTD) is a new monthly series analyzing ransomware news, trends, and research from the previous month.
The potential dangers of ransomware are top of mind for cyber security and IT leaders around the world. The threat of these attacks continues to rise with no organization completely safe. Ransomware attacks have been reported by businesses of all sizes and vertical industries.
Healthcare providers are operating in a time of extraordinary pressure. Whether it's recovering their operations from a devastating pandemic year or it's the pace that their organization is embracing a rapid digital transformation aimed to optimize and modernize their systems. The last thing healthcare organizations needed this past year was an increase in ransomware and other types of attacks — but that's precisely what they experienced.
Update: July 13, 2021 -- Kaseya issued a critical security update for VSA users that is available on their site - Kaseya Critical Security Update. We recommend users follow Kaseya's recommended updates as soon as possible.
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We continue to monitor and analyze the attack using Kaseya Software to deploy a variant of REvil ransomware into a victim’s environment. The attack targeted Kaseya’s managed service provider (MSP) customers, which often provide IT support to small- to medium-size businesses. By targeting MSPs, attackers also seek to access and infiltrate the MSP’s customers computer networks.
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.
