Accenture has acknowledged that it was the victim of a ransomware attack on July 30 in what it described as a "security incident." As reported by Cyberscoop, the hackers (a gang known as LockBit) began leaking stolen data and threatened to release further compromised information. LockBit first emerged in 2019 and its ransomware cyberattacks primarily target large corporations, from which it hopes to extort large sums of money.

Increasingly, companies are becoming aware of the importance of building threat detection and hunting capabilities that avoid putting their businesses at risk. Now more than ever, when it comes to both protecting enterprise cybersecurity and delivering effective IT security solutions and services, organizations and MSPs can no longer simply act when cyberattacks occur, but long before they even pose a threat.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds a layer of security to logins that is essential to prevent unwanted access. This verification process uses a second device (owned by the user) as an additional identity verification element to which a token is sent (or generated) that certifies access veracity. The most secure MFA systems use applications to generate temporary codes, but many still rely on sending text messages to mobile phones (OTP).

The U.S. government aims to tackle cybercrime, in particular attacks targeting critical infrastructure. For this purpose, the U.S. State Department has announced a reward of up to $10 million to anyone who offers valid information about any potential cyberattacks on critical infrastructure supported by foreign states.