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.
Huntsville City Schools in Alabama will remain closed for the week amid a ransomware cyberattack. According to a school spokesperson the district immediately responded after finding out about the breach.
Baltimore County Schools said schools will be closed for students through at least Tuesday, December 1, as a result of the ransomware cyberattack that forced schools to close last week. The threat actors behind the ransomware attack has not been reported.
