The Social & Psychological Impacts of Ransomware

When a ransomware gang attacks, it’s not just a problem for IT professionals, it impacts everyone. A ransomware attack triggers a chain reaction. Not only is it damaging to the entity, but it can also impact its employees, third-party [...]

2023-02-20T20:29:10-08:00February 2nd, 2023|

Impact of Cyber Attacks on Water Infrastructure

We hear a lot about critical infrastructure and how important it is to secure it. But few categories of infrastructure are more critical to human existence than water and wastewater processing and transport systems. Next to the air we [...]

2023-01-31T15:06:09-08:00January 12th, 2023|

Why Ransomware Targets Education and Healthcare Sectors

Nowadays, tech and ransomware go hand in hand. Hackers look for two characteristics when they scope out their next target: first, an organization or individual with valuable information and assets; and second, someone who is fairly easy to attack. [...]

2022-12-16T17:41:34-08:00November 21st, 2022|

U.S. Department of State’s $10M Bounty on Conti Ransomware

The U.S. Department of State announced last week that it is offering a $10,000,000 bounty for information on the identification or location of five highly ranked members of Wizard Spider, the Conti ransomware syndicate. Since the emergence of Conti in [...]

2022-12-15T00:57:47-08:00August 24th, 2022|

The EPA Adds Cybersecurity Rules for Water Sector

As cyber attacks continue suppressing critical infrastructure sectors like water and wastewater systems, implementing proper cybersecurity practices is becoming more vital in protecting against highly disruptive cybersecurity incidents. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), these threats on process control [...]

2022-12-15T00:58:31-08:00August 17th, 2022|

Windows 11’s New Update Defends Against Compromised Credentials

Passwords protect our identity in the digital space, allowing for safe and secure interactions. Despite the strength and efficacy of any given sophisticated password, private data is at risk when credentials are compromised. To combat these online attacks, Microsoft is [...]

2023-02-20T21:14:22-08:00August 1st, 2022|

AstraLocker 2.0 Ransomware is a Smash & Grab Variant

A version of AstraLocker, AstraLocker 2.0 ransomware, has just been released. This updated version is what some threat analysts call a rapid attack, or smash-and-grab style of ransomware. The AstraLocker 2.0 developers use Microsoft Word attachments in emails to distribute [...]

2022-12-15T01:00:38-08:00July 1st, 2022|

LAPSUS$: The New Extortion Group Causing a Scene

A new threat actor group is behind an infamous wave of attacks impacting companies like Microsoft, Nvidia, Okta, and most recently Globant, among others. LAPSUS$, tracked as DEV-0537 by Microsoft, is relatively less sophisticated than other hacking and extortion groups [...]

2022-04-08T17:40:39-07:00April 1st, 2022|

Cybersecurity Transformations Since the Russia/Ukraine Conflict

In the past few days since the Russia/Ukraine conflict, there have been some changes in the cybersecurity landscape. Below are some of my personal observations from our Ransomware Recovery business unit. I am curious if other incident response professionals, ransomware [...]

2022-03-04T12:27:57-08:00March 2nd, 2022|