Repost: ransomware and Zero Trust, how to secure your organization from cyber threats

Every ransomware incident should be reported to the U.S. government. Victims of ransomware incidents can report their incident to the FBI, CISA, or the U.S. Secret Service. A victim only needs to report their incident once to ensure that all the other agencies are notified.

In this second edition of the Ransomware Threat Report, Unit 42 threat researchers and incident responders provide on-the-ground threat analysis of top ransomware groups, the range of cases handled by the team and an in-depth analysis of the newer tactics the groups are using to shame their victims into paying ransoms.

Repost: ransomware

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This is not a problem that any one entity can solve. Over 60 experts from industry, government, law enforcement, civil society, and international organizations worked together to produce this comprehensive framework, which breaks down siloed approaches and advocates for a unified, aggressive, comprehensive, public-private anti-ransomware campaign. These recommendations are informed by a deep bench of experts and are immediately actionable, together forming a framework to reduce this criminal enterprise.

We felt an urgent need to bring together world-class experts across all relevant sectors to create a ransomware framework that government and industry can pursue, and ensure the continued faith of the general public in its institutions.

The RTF report includes 48 recommendations that together form a comprehensive framework to address ransomware. Among those, these priority recommendations are the most foundational and urgent, and many of the other recommendations were developed to facilitate or strengthen these core actions.

The framework is organized around four goals: deter ransomware attacks through a nationally and internationally coordinated, comprehensive strategy; disrupt the ransomware business model and reduce criminal profits; help organizations prepare for ransomware attacks; and respond to ransomware attacks more effectively.

These goals are interlocking and mutually reinforcing. For example, actions to disrupt the ransomware payments system will decrease the profitability of ransomware, thereby helping to deter other actors from engaging in this crime. Thus, this framework should be considered as a whole, not merely a laundry list of disparate actions.

The number of actors capable of conducting ransomware attacks is large and growing, and to curb the growth of this threat in the long-term, steps must be taken to systemically discourage ransomware attacks. This deterrence must be multilayered and rely on all instruments of national power.

Ransomware is overwhelmingly a financially motivated crime, and as long as the profits outweigh the risks, attacks will continue. To effectively disrupt this threat, government and industry stakeholders must work collaboratively across borders to reduce the profitability of this criminal enterprise and increase the risk of ransomware execution. Governments can take diverse actions to:

Any organization can fall victim to ransomware, creating catastrophic disruption for the organization and those it serves. Yet despite extensive press coverage and content on this topic, the threat is poorly understood by many public- and private-sector leaders, and the majority of organizations lack an appropriate level of preparedness to defend against these attacks. Even firms that have invested in cybersecurity broadly may be unaware of how to prepare for, and defend specifically against, ransomware attacks, and information available is in many cases oversimplified or excessively complicated.

The report, titled Ransomware: The True Cost to Business Study 2022, tapped the experiences of more than 1,400 global cybersecurity professionals and revealed that 73% of organizations suffered at least one ransomware attack in 2022, compared with just 55% in the 2021 study.

Given the ongoing threat that these attacks pose to organizations, this second annual study examines how ransomware continues to impact the business, the outcomes organizations are reporting after having been the target of a ransomware attack, and the strategies companies large and small are implementing to better prepare for an attack.

The full report can be found here: Ransomware: The True Cost to Business Study 2022. See also our recent report Ransomware: Inside Complex RansomOps and the Ransomware Economy for a deep-dive into modern ransomware operations.

Cybereason is dedicated to teaming with defenders to end ransomware attacks on the endpoint, across enterprise, to everywhere the battle is taking place. Learn more about predictive ransomware defense here or schedule a demo today to learn how your organization can benefit from an operation-centric approach to security.

One in three retailers attacked will pay the ransom, but less than ten percent will receive all their data back, and 80% of victims who pay the ransom end up getting hit with another attack Why are retailers such an attractive target when it comes to ransomware?

Protecting your organization from ransomware attacks requires the latest strategies for both readiness and response. The faster you can identify and contain ransomware, the less impact an attack will have on your business.

Ransomware attacks started as a novelty but have now become a clear and present danger to entities of every size and function. The number of ransomware attacks and the price of demanded ransoms have escalated steeply since 2018. Legislation and policy have not kept up. Policymakers have sought to shape the incentive structure for victims to incentivize defense and disincentivize ransom payments. While they are sympathetic to businesses who fall victim to these attacks, which can sometimes be existentially threatening, few policymakers (or their staff) have ever experienced the shock of an attack firsthand and, as a result, are searching with incomplete information for the right combination of carrots and sticks that will help victims and hurt attackers.

In 2020, ransomware threat groups embraced sophisticated tactics like double-extortion to exploit victims for even more money than the year before, with the average ransom paid increasing by 171% year-over-year.

Ransomware is a form of malicious software designed to encrypt files on a device and render data and systems unusable. Malicious actors then demand ransom payments in exchange for restoring access to the locked data and systems. A ransomware attack is not a single event but occurs in stages (see figure).

The Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), FBI, and Secret Service provide assistance in preventing and responding to ransomware attacks on state, local, tribal, and territorial government organizations. For example:

Other federal agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Guard Bureau, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Department of the Treasury have a more indirect role. These agencies provide ransomware assistance to nonfederal entities through administering cybersecurity grants, issuing guidance to manage ransomware risk, or pursuing sanctions to disrupt ransomware activity.

The officials from government organizations that GAO interviewed were generally satisfied with the prevention and response assistance provided by federal agencies. They had generally positive views on ransomware guidance, detailed threat alerts, quality no-cost technical assessments, and timely incident response assistance. However, respondents identified challenges related to awareness, outreach, and communication. For example, half of the respondents who worked with the FBI cited inconsistent communication as a challenge associated with the agency's ransomware assistance.

Specifically, the agencies generally addressed the practice of identifying leadership by designating agency leads for technical- and law enforcement-related ransomware response activities. However, the agencies could improve their efforts to address the other six practices. For instance, existing interagency collaboration on ransomware assistance to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments was informal and lacked detailed procedures.

Recognizing the importance of formalizing interagency coordination on ransomware, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 required CISA to establish a Joint Ransomware Task Force, in partnership with other federal agencies. Among other responsibilities, the task force is intended to facilitate coordination and collaboration among federal entities and other relevant entities to improve federal actions against ransomware threats. Addressing key practices for interagency collaboration in concert with the new ransomware task force can help ensure effective delivery of ransomware assistance to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments.

The Department of Homeland Security has reported that ransomware is a serious and growing threat to government operations at the federal, state, and local levels. In recent years, there have been numerous reported ransomware attacks on hospitals, schools, emergency services, and other industries.

GAO was asked to review federal efforts to provide ransomware prevention and response assistance to state, local, tribal, and territorial government organizations. Specifically, this report addresses (1) how federal agencies assist these organizations in protecting their assets against ransomware attacks and in responding to related incidents, (2) organizations' perspectives on ransomware assistance received from federal agencies, and (3) the extent to which federal agencies addressed key practices for effective collaboration when assisting these organizations. 2ff7e9595c