The Institute for Security and Technology (IST) — in partnership with a broad coalition of experts in industry, government, law enforcement, nonprofits, cybersecurity insurance, and international organizations — is launching a new Ransomware Task Force (RTF) to tackle this increasingly prevalent and destructive type of cybercrime.
Nearly two-thirds of workers who have been working remotely during the pandemic would like to continue to do so. While working from home, the boundaries between work and life can decrease or disappear altogether, as employees are using their corporate devices for personal use more than ever before. As we enter the holiday season, IT teams can expect this work/life blend to translate into increased online shopping on corporate devices, which in turn exposes the network to additional cybersecurity threats.
The author discusses his company’s first-hand account of ransomware that hit the organization and how they navigated this difficult situation that many enterprises have found themselves in.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury has placed businesses on notice that payment of ransoms to certain cyberattackers could get a company in trouble under U.S. sanctions laws and regulations for helping to finance sanctioned organizations. Sanctions violations carry significant civil and criminal penalties, as well as reputational and other risks. So how should your company handle ransomware?
A new Joint Cybersecurity Advisory, coauthored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), assess malicious cyber actors are targeting kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12) educational institutions, leading to ransomware attacks, the theft of data, and the disruption of distance learning services.
Verizon cybersecurity leaders evaluated which states’ businesses fare best after cyberattacks. To determine the odds of a business recovering from a cyberattack in any given state, they analyzed a host of factors, including internet privacy laws and the number of cyberattacks businesses within each state suffer each year. Here’s what they found.
When we hear the term “critical infrastructure,” we want to believe that the assets – whether they are physical or digital – are extremely secure. Our minds conjure images of the vaults of Fort Knox, which are protected from every angle. However, critical infrastructure of the digital variety is not necessarily any more secure than any other digital asset. It all comes down to how meticulous the organization is in looking for and quickly closing vulnerabilities and security gaps that expose an attack surface for a bad actor to exploit.
Yes, you need one. But who do you turn to? Inept ransomware negotiators have left companies in worse shape than they found them in by inciting threat actors to do even more damage. The best approach is to engage a ransomware negotiator before you’re attacked, so they can work with you to create a sound crisis response plan. What should you look for when hiring a ransomware expert to drive crisis planning and response at your enterprise?
A cold reality in today’s enterprise is that ransomware is looming and threatening organizations constantly – like a lion behind the tall grass waiting patiently for its prey. It has unequivocally become the biggest threat to an enterprise alongside malware and phishing, even more so than a natural disaster or hardware failure, or a zero-day attack.
Ransomware penetrates an organization’s IT infrastructure through phishing emails or endpoint vulnerabilities and then encrypts files, holding data hostage until a fee is paid to decrypt them. The FBI has deemed ransomware the fastest growing malware threat, causing significant revenue loss, business downtime and reputational damage. It’s critical organizations protect their data by following the best practices.
