Pictured: Fabian Wosar, CTO of Emsisoft, who says that due to threats he receives thanks to his ransomware-disruption efforts, he tries to keep photographs of himself from circulating.

Alert for Ransomware Attack Victims: Here's How to Respond

Mathew J. Schwartz • July 23, 2021

As ransomware continues to pummel organizations, if they do get hit, then from an incident response standpoint, what are the essential steps they should take to smooth their recovery? Veteran ransomware-battler Fabian Wosar, CTO of Emsisoft, shares essential steps and guidance for recovery.

Business Continuity Management / Disaster Recovery

Leak of Alleged Pegasus Target List Restokes Spyware Debate

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Application Security

Mercenary Hacking Group Deploys Android Malware

Akshaya Asokan • July 24, 2021

Hack-for-hire group StrongPity deployed Android malware to target Syria's e-government site visitors as part of its latest cyberespionage campaign, a new report by security firm Trend Micro details.

Business Continuity Management / Disaster Recovery

IoT Security Dangers Loom as Office Workers Return

Doug Olenick • July 24, 2021

With corporate America beginning to ask employees to come back to their offices in the fall, cybersecurity teams have a huge task before them to ensure their work environment is safe. This is particularly true of IoT devices, as many have been left unprotected for months.

Cyberwarfare / Nation-State Attacks

ISMG Editors’ Panel: Examining the Pegasus Project

Anna Delaney • July 23, 2021

In the latest weekly update, four editors at Information Security Media Group discuss important cybersecurity issues, including the use of commercially available spyware and security risk management in the telecom sector.

Business Continuity Management / Disaster Recovery

Resiliency Is Key to Surviving a CDN Outage

Doug Olenick • July 23, 2021

A short-lived outage at the content delivery network supplier Akamai on Thursday which briefly knocked offline many corporate websites, is another indicator that companies need resiliency built into their systems. That means they should avoid relying on just one CDN provider, security experts say.

Application Security

Analysis: Implications of the Pegasus Spyware Investigation

Anna Delaney • July 23, 2021

This edition of the ISMG Security Report features an analysis of ongoing investigations into the use of NSO Group's Pegasus spyware to spy on dissidents, journalists, political rivals, business leaders and even heads of state - and discussion of whether the commercial spyware business model should be banned.

Fraud Management & Cybercrime

Saudi Aramco Traces Data Leak to Attack on Supplier

Scott Ferguson • July 22, 2021

Saudi Aramco, one of the world's largest oil and natural gas firms, has confirmed that company data was leaked after one of its suppliers was breached. Extortionists are reportedly demanding a $50 million ransom - payable in monero cryptocurrency - for a promise to delete the stolen data.

Governance & Risk Management

Patch Roundup: Windows, Linux, Oracle, Juniper

Prajeet Nair • July 22, 2021

A patch is forthcoming for a privilege escalation vulnerability in the Windows operating system that can allow hackers to gain a foothold. Meanwhile, Linux OS users also need to adopt system upgrades to fix a flaw, and Oracle and Juniper have announced product patches.

Fraud Management & Cybercrime

Has REvil Disbanded? White House Says It Doesn't Know

Mathew J. Schwartz • July 22, 2021

What's up with REvil? Questions have been mounting since the notorious ransomware operation went quiet on July 13, not long after unleashing a mega-attack via remote management software vendor Kaseya's software. The Biden administration has welcomed REvil's online shutdown but says it doesn't know the cause.

Business Email Compromise (BEC)

Microsoft Disrupts Business Email Compromise Domains

Doug Olenick • July 21, 2021

Microsoft has announced the takedown of 17 domains that an unnamed threat group operating out of West Africa used to host fake Microsoft websites when conducting business email compromise attacks.

Network Detection & Response

Cybereason, Rapid7 and Microsoft Announce Acquisitions

Doug Olenick • July 21, 2021

Cybereason, Rapid7 and Microsoft announced acquisitions this week designed to boost their security capabilities. Meanwhile, DevOps security firm Sysdig made a move to add infrastructure-as-code security to its portfolio.

Business Continuity Management / Disaster Recovery

Law Firm Serving Fortune 500 Firms Hit by Ransomware

Prajeet Nair • July 20, 2021

Campbell Conroy & O’Neil, a Boston-based law firm that serves Fortune 500 firms, including Apple and Pfizer, is continuing its investigation of a ransomware attack in February that resulted in unauthorized access to certain data about its clients.

Business Continuity Management / Disaster Recovery

Case Study: A REvil Ransom Negotiation

Doug Olenick • July 20, 2021

The blockchain analysis firm Elliptic offers a step-by-step case study, based on its research, of how one victim of the REvil ransomware gang negotiated a lower ransom payment. The study offers insights into how REvil operated before its online infrastructure disappeared last week.