Ransomware criminals are escalating tactics in chilling new ways—and executives across industries should take note. Details are reported in the Venture Beat article linked below.
Gist of the piece:
1) Christopher Budd, a director at the Threat Response Joint Task Force, advised that “One thing is clear: Attackers are looking not just at technical levers to pull but human levers…”
2) These include tactics such as “Posting sensitive data about executives’ family members. Making prank calls to law enforcement...Snitching on organizations that don’t pay. Scouring stolen data for evidence of enterprise or employee wrongdoing.”
3) “Ultimately, threat actors are “increasingly comfortable” leaking…extremely sensitive data such as medical records (including those of children), blood test data and even nude images.”
4) “Also…they are using phone calls and swatting — that is, making fake calls alleging violence or open shooters at a certain address. This has resulted in at least one death and serious injury.”
5) “In another shift, attackers are now not just locking up data or carrying out a denial of service attack, ‘They’re stealing the data and now they’re looking into it to see what they can find,’ said Budd. For instance, many claim they assess stolen data for evidence of illegal activity, regulatory noncompliance and financial misdoings or discrepancies.”
6) “(A)ttackers also turn the tables on target organizations by reporting them to police or regulatory bodies when they don’t pay up… ‘It may seem somewhat ironic that threat actors are weaponizing legislation to achieve their own illegal objectives,” (Sophos)X-Ops researchers write, “and the extent to which this tactic has been successful is unclear.”
7) “To make themselves appear grassroots or altruistic — and apply further pressure — some cybercriminals are also encouraging victims whose personally identifiable information…has been leaked to ‘partake in litigation’…attackers will name specific individuals and executives that they claim are ‘responsible for data leakage.’ Sophos X-Ops researchers point out that this can serve as a ‘lightning rod’ for blame; cause reputational damage; and ‘menace and intimidate’ leadership.”
Dave’s take: The aggressive new tactics of cybercriminals should be on everyone’s radar screen. Who knew that cybergangs had started putting out press releases and giving detailed interviews to unleash reputational damage and criminal investigations in order to shake companies down?
The fact that attackers might identify actual bad actors within an company to blackmail the organization really ought to emphasize the need not only for tighter cybersecurity, but also for more robust compliance measures to weed out such vulnerabilities in the first place.
https://lnkd.in/gmkKQCQ6
