News November 18, 2024

Research finds 56% increase in active ransomware groups

4 min read - Any good news is welcomed when evaluating cyber crime trends year-over-year. Over the last two years, IBM’s Threat Index Reports have provided some minor reprieve in this area by showing a gradual decline in the prevalence of ransomware attacks — now…

News October 21, 2024

Has BlackCat returned as Cicada3301? Maybe.

4 min read - In 2022, BlackCat ransomware (also known as ALPHV) was among the top malware types tracked by IBM X-Force. The following year, the threat actor group added new tools and tactics to enhance BlackCat’s impact. The effort paid off — literally.…

Risk Management April 11, 2024

Ransomware payouts hit all-time high, but that’s not the whole story

3 min read - Ransomware payments hit an all-time high of $1.1 billion in 2023, following a steep drop in total payouts in 2022. Some factors that may have contributed to the decline in 2022 were the Ukraine conflict, fewer victims paying ransoms and…

News May 22, 2023

Google’s bug bounty hits $12 million: What about the risks?

4 min read - Bug bounty numbers have never been better. In 2022, Google rewarded the efforts of over 700 researchers from 68 different countries who helped improve the security of the company’s products and services. The total amount of awards grew from $8.7…

Data Protection April 20, 2023

Triple extortion and erased data are the new ransomware norm

4 min read - The old days of “honest” ransomware gangs are long gone. In the past, ransomware groups pressured each other to honor file decryption promises after the ransom was paid. However, their motives were far from altruistic. They thought victims would be…

News March 15, 2023

Good guys decrypt ransomware targeting charitable groups

4 min read - Imagine you’re an IT manager amid a ransomware attack. While your team scrambles for solutions, the intruders demand a ransom. Of course, you don’t want to pay; you just want your files back. But as time ticks by and the…

Risk Management December 27, 2022

The most prolific ransomware gangs of 2022

3 min read - As we look forward to 2023, we can find many ransomware lessons in looking back at 2022. The year brought us numerous attacks by many of the same gangs we’ve watched for years, as well as some newcomers. Many ransomware…

Government October 11, 2022

How the US government is fighting back against ransomware

6 min read - As ransomware-related payments surged toward $600 million in the first half of 2021, the U.S. government knew it needed to do more to fight back against cyber criminals. For many years, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had…

Risk Management October 4, 2022

Why do ransomware gangs keep coming back from the dead?

4 min read - Ransomware gangs are major players in the cybersecurity space, especially in recent years. ZDNet reported that ransomware gangs increased their payments by over 311% from 2019 to 2020, with totals for all groups exceeding $350 million in 2020. Ransoms continued…

Malware May 19, 2022

ITG23 crypters highlight cooperation between cyber criminal groups

25 min read - IBM Security X-Force researchers have continually analyzed the use of several crypters developed by the cybercriminal group ITG23, also known as Wizard Spider, DEV-0193, or simply the “Trickbot Group”. The results of this research, along with evidence gained from the…