Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

There’s a new ransomware gang targeting critical infrastructure, government organizations, educational institutions, and energy sectors. Their name? Hellcat. But who exactly are they? Hellcat is a new ransomware gang that has surfaced across dark web forums in 2024. Hellcat employs a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model, offering ransomware tools and infrastructure to affiliates in exchange for a share of the profits.

Ransomware is one of the most prominent cybersecurity threats today, often spreading via phishing emails, malicious links, infected attachments, or exploiting software vulnerabilities. It is a type of malware designed to block access to files, data, or entire systems until a ransom is paid, usually in cryptocurrency. Beyond the financial impact, ransomware causes operational disruption and long-term reputational damage. The frequency and scale of ransomware attacks have surged in recent years.

Account takeover of a third-party service provider may put millions of airline users worldwide at risk.

Investment scams are a growing problem. Modern cybercriminals are increasingly using this technique to swindle money out of unsuspecting victims. It’s easy to understand why: investment scams are remarkably effective. Research from Barclays even found that they accounted for a staggering 33% of all money lost to scammers in 2023. It’s clear then that many people don’t know how to identify an investment scam.

In the early part of 2024, the Center for Internet Security (CIS) released the latest version of the well-respected Critical Security Controls (CSC). The new version, 8.1, adds contours to the prior versions, making it more comprehensive and timely in today’s challenging cybersecurity environment.

AI is advancing at lightning speed, but it’s also raising some big questions, especially when it comes to security. The latest AI making headlines is DeepSeek, a Chinese startup that’s shaking up the game with its cost-efficient, high-performing models. But it’s also raising red flags for cybersecurity pros. DeepSeek overnight became a top contender, mostly driven by curiosity.

In the 2024 SE Labs Enterprise Advanced Security (EDR) Ransomware Test, the CrowdStrike Falcon platform achieved a perfect score of 100% in detection, protection, and accuracy, earning the prestigious AAA Award for Advanced Security EDR Protection for the third time in a row. The Falcon platform detected and blocked 100% of ransomware files and protected endpoints across multiple stages during all simulated ransomware attacks.

Happy New Year! As we usher in a year with some pleasant mathematical properties, I wanted to take a brief look back at one of the stories that was most interesting to me as a security data nerd from last year: our dependency on the National Institute of Standards and Technologies’s (NIST) National Vulnerability Database(NVD), and what the degradation in service has meant to the flow of information about new CVEs. TL:DR.

If you need to reach PCI DSS 4.0 compliance, GitGuardian has solutions that can help.