Threat Intelligence September 15, 2021

X-Force report: No shortage of resources aimed at hacking cloud environments

4 min read - As cybercriminals remain steadfast in their pursuit of unsuspecting ways to infiltrate today’s businesses, a new report by IBM Security X-Force highlights the top tactics of cybercriminals, the open doors users are leaving for them and the burgeoning marketplace for…

Malware September 9, 2021

LockBit 2.0: Ransomware attacks surge after successful affiliate recruitment

7 min read - After a brief slowdown in activity from the LockBit ransomware gang following increased attention from law enforcement, LockBit is back with a new affiliate program, improved payloads and a change in infrastructure. According to IBM X-Force, a major spike in…

Artificial Intelligence September 8, 2021

More Organizations Saving Time and Costs on Data Breaches with Automation and AI

3 min read - Breaches of organizations that employ automation and AI in their security systems on average cost over $3 million less compared to businesses that have no such deployment. This takeaway comes from the latest annual Cost of a Data Breach report…

Advanced Threats September 3, 2021

Fighting Cyber Threats With Open-Source Tools and Open Standards

7 min read - Detecting cyber threats is usually the first critical step in the mitigation of cyber attacks. Common means to achieve this goal are rules or analytics that track network and system behaviors and raise alerts when potentially malicious attacks are identified.…

Incident Response September 3, 2021

Dissecting Sodinokibi Ransomware Attacks: Bringing Incident Response and Intelligence Together in the Fight

10 min read - Ransomware actors are specializing, collaborating and assisting each other to conduct sophisticated attacks that are becoming increasingly difficult to prevent. Combating these groups effectively similarly requires a team approach — specialization, understanding tactics and techniques and how to counter them…

Advanced Threats August 17, 2021

Analysis of Diavol ransomware reveals possible link to TrickBot gang

7 min read - Ransomware has become the number one cyber threat to organizations, making up nearly 25% of attacks IBM X-Force Incident Response remediated in 2020. Ransomware is making headlines on a regular basis due to the high impact of certain attacks on…

CISO August 11, 2021

A New Directive for Pipeline Operators Puts Cybersecurity in the Spotlight

3 min read - It’s no secret that cyberattacks against critical infrastructure are increasing. The recent attacks against water treatment plants, pipelines, vital hospital systems and food processing facilities have all made recent headlines and demonstrate the vulnerability of all types of critical infrastructure…

Threat Intelligence August 4, 2021

ITG18: Operational security errors continue to plague sizable Iranian threat group

5 min read - This blog supplements a Black Hat USA 2021 talk given August 2021.  IBM Security X-Force threat intelligence researchers continue to track the infrastructure and activity of a suspected Iranian threat group ITG18. This group’s tactics, techniques and procedures(TTPs) overlap with…

X-Force July 28, 2021

Data breach costs at record high, zero trust, AI and automation help reduce costs

6 min read - Data breaches have been growing in numbers and scale, taking longer to detect and contain. The average total cost of a data breach is at its highest of 17 years, at $4.24 million. The year over year increase of 10%…

X-Force July 28, 2021

What’s new in the 2021 Cost of a Data Breach Report

5 min read - Has cybersecurity ever been more important than it is right now? Even in these extraordinary times, with its focus on manufacturing vaccines and getting shots into arms, new research in the Cost of a Data Breach Report shows that the…