Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

Phishing Attacks Will Likely Follow Last Week's Global IT Outage

Organizations should expect to see phishing attacks exploiting the global IT outage that occurred last Friday, the Business Post reports. I recently wrote my thoughts about the outage that was caused by a faulty CrowdStrike update that was extremely disruptive globally. The outage was caused by a faulty CrowdStrike update that crashed Windows systems, disrupting airlines, banks, hospitals, governments, and businesses around the world.

78% of Organizations Are Targets of Ransomware Attacks Two or More Times in Twelve Months

New data puts the spotlight on the frequency and impact of modern ransomware attacks, highlighting the overconfidence organizations are showing in their ability to defend and respond to attacks. If you’re like one of the organizations surveyed in Halcyon’s latest Ransomware CISO Survey report, the findings were quite eye opening.

CrowdStrike Phishing Attacks Appear in Record Time

I have been the CEO of an anti-virus software developer. We had a special acronym for catastrophic events like this, a so-called "CEE". As in Company Extinction Event. Within hours of mass IT outages on Friday, a surge of new domains began appearing online, all sharing one common factor: the name CrowdStrike. As the company grapples with a global tech outage that has delayed flights and disrupted emergency services, opportunistic cybercriminals are quick to exploit the chaos.

7 in 10 Organizations Experienced a Business Email Compromise Attack in the Last 12 Months

Despite ransomware getting the lion’s share of the tech pub headlines, business email compromise (BEC) attacks are alive and well… and having a material impact. New data from Arctic Wolf’s 2024 State of Cybersecurity report shows that BEC attacks – whether attempted or successful – are far more widely felt than previously thought.

Change Healthcare Ransomware Attack May Cost Nearly $2.5 Billion

The ransomware attack against UnitedHealth Group’s Change Healthcare platform is expected to cost the company up to $2.45 billion, more than a billion dollars more than was previously estimated, Cybersecurity Dive reports. The incident has already cost the firm nearly $2 billion.

New Ransomware Threat Group Calls Attack Victims to Ensure Payments

Analysis of new ransomware group Volcano Demon provides a detailed look into how and why calling victims ups the chances of ransomware payment. Security researchers at Halcyon have uncovered a new ransomware threat group that initially follows traditional methods – harvesting admin credentials, data exfiltrated to a C2 server, logs cleared and data was encrypted using LukaLocker. However, Volcano Demon attacks take a different direction in the extortion phase.

SEC Fines Publicly Traded Company $2.125 Million For Negligence Before, During, and After a Ransomware Attack

According to the filing, the organization in question failed to devise controls to adequately detect, respond to, and disclose an attack that included data exfiltration and service disruption. Back in 2021, R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co.

Espionage-Intent Threat Groups Are Now Using Ransomware as a Diversion Tactic in Cyberattacks

A new report focused on cyber espionage actors targeting government and critical infrastructure sectors highlights the strategic use of ransomware for distraction or misattribution. It was inevitable: a threat group using a secondary attack type to cover their tracks – whether those “tracks” are the groups true intent, who’s responsible – or to simply make some additional money after they’re done with the initial attack.