Many ransomware-wielding attackers - including big-name groups - have been collectively shooting themselves in the foot by resorting to "amateur" tactics, including decryptors that fail to decrypt as well as gangs re-extorting the same victims. Cue fewer victims opting to pay a ransom.
Fallout from the hack of Australian health insurer Medibank continues to worsen as the company twice this week acknowledged a wider set of affected individuals. Hackers had access to the personal data of 4 million individuals and significant amounts of health claims data.
Nearly one month after a ransomware attack on the nation's fourth-largest hospital network, CommonSpirit Health is still struggling to bring online the various IT systems - including electronic medical records, prescriptions and patient appointment scheduling - affected at many of its facilities.
One of Australia's largest private testing laboratories announced a data breach affecting 223,000 Australians. Ransomware-as-a-service group Quantum took credit for the incident, posting an 86-gigabyte file in June. "There is no evidence of misuse of any of the information," says Medlab Pathology.
Ransomware-wielding gang Vice Society, living up to its name, continues to test new strategies to take down more victims. If those bona fides aren't bad enough, the group has a predilection for hitting schools and threatening to dump stolen student data on its dedicated data leak site.
The U.K. Information Commissioner levied a nearly $5 million fine against Interserve Group Limited for its lack of security protections in the run-up to a 2020 ransomware attack. The firm kept employee data on servers running obsolete versions of Windows and used outdated antivirus software.
Beware ransomware and data extortion shakedowns that trace to a cybercrime gang called Daixin Team, which is especially targeting the healthcare sector, as well as wielding phishing emails and a proficiency with VMware server environments, warns a new U.S. government cybersecurity advisory.
Is Australia's data breach wave a coincidence, bad luck or intentional targeting? Maybe all three. But the security weaknesses that have led to the incidents are not exotic. And the people behind these attacks are most likely workaday cybercriminals, not top-level nation-state attackers.
Many entities fight an uphill battle against increasingly clever phishing and related scams that lead to serious data compromises, say former CIA analyst Eric Cole and former Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General David Kris, who are both advisers at security firm Theon Technology.
Australia's largest private health insurer has transformed over a week from being confident that it repelled a cyber incident to being apologetic after disclosing that hackers got away with up to 200 gigabytes of customer data. Australian Federal Police are investigating the incident at Medibank.
The latest edition of the ISMG Security Report discusses how Russian-speaking ransomware gangs have their eyes on a new target, offers the latest on Australia's data security reckoning and the government’s response, and outlines emerging trends in customer identity and access management.
More Russian-speaking, ransomware-wielding attackers are gunning for Russian businesses and government agencies, researchers report. The unwritten rule of Russian cybercrime has historically been to never attack inside Russia or neighboring allies.
Australian health insurer Medibank says it received a ransomware demand from hackers asserting to have stolen data during a cybersecurity incident the company detected on Oct. 12. "Based on our ongoing forensic investigation we are treating the matter seriously at this time," the company says.
Ransomware groups come and go, but the individuals behind them often take their skills to fresh operations, like Evil successors Ransom Cartel, BlogXX and Spectre and Conti spinoffs Quantum, Roy/Zeon and Silent Ransom. Conti successors have latched onto "callback phishing" to boost fraying profits.
Cyberattacks on healthcare entities result in poor patient outcomes, including delayed procedures and even a rise in mortality, according to a recent survey conducted by research firm the Ponemon Institute. Ryan Witt of Proofpoint, which sponsored the study, discusses the findings.
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