Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

Rapid7 reports an interesting social engineering scheme that easily bypasses content filtering defenses and creatively uses a fake help desk to supposedly “help” users put down the attack. The Black Basta ransomware group, also covered in a recent CISA warning bulletin, floods a victim’s email inbox with many, many emails. The emails are often otherwise legitimate emails, such as newsletter confirmation emails, which most email content filtering gateways would not block.

At Rubrik, our mission is to secure the world’s data. Data is complex and it comes in many forms (structured, unstructured, sensitive, transient, etc. ) and it is critical for every enterprise to protect it. Our systems that backup and store huge amounts of data also get subjected to extreme situations – enormous scale & stress, aging and faults.

Here is the story of how we caught a ransomware attack in our research honeypot. Ransomware attacks on enterprise organizations lead the news. See Change Healthcare and Ascension. Attackers spend their time on the victim’s network, exfiltrate gigabytes of sensitive data, then lock victim’s systems — and ask for millions of dollars in ransom payment. We also hear news about how AI is used maliciously.

In 2023, international law enforcement agencies intensified their efforts against ransomware, resulting in the decline of groups such as Hive, Ragnar Locker, and the collapse of ALPHV (BlackCat). These actions underscore the growing challenges faced by ransomware groups. The significant operation in February 2024 targeting LockBit, which included arrests and the seizure of data leak sites and servers, represents one of the largest law enforcement actions taken against a major ransomware operation.

New analysis of Q1’s ransomware attacks uncovers a single group responsible for the majority and discusses what makes them so successful. This sort of analysis helps to establish threat landscape trends and keeps our collective focus on the places where cyber attacks are working.

Trend analysis of ransomware attacks in the first quarter of this year reveals a continual increase in the number of "unknown" initial attack vectors, and I think I might understand why. There are two reports that you should be keeping an eye on—the updated Verizon Data Breach Report and ransomware response vendor Coveware’s Quarterly Ransomware Reports. In their latest report covering Q1 of this year, we see a continuing upward trend in “unknown” as the top initial attack vector.

Just when you think bad actors cannot sink any lower, they find a way to. In a recent chilling evolution of ransomware tactics, attackers are now also targeting the families of corporate executives to force compliance and payment. Mandiant's Chief Technology Officer, Charles Carmakal, highlighted this disturbing trend at RSA last week: criminals engaging in SIM swapping attacks against executives' children.

On May10th, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) issued an urgent advisory about malicious threat activity involving the Black Basta ransomware variant. Detailed information about these threats and the associated IOCs and TTPs can be seen on #StopRansomware: Black Basta.

One of the largest phishing-as-a-service platforms, LabHost, was severely disrupted by law enforcement in 19 countries during a year-long operation that resulted in 37 arrests. According to a recent Europol announcement, the folks behind the LabHost Phishing as a Service (PhaaS) platform were arrested last month. In a coordinated search over three days, 37 suspects were apprehended, disrupting the well-known service.

Boeing recently confirmed that in October 2023, it fell victim to an attack by the LockBit ransomware gang, which disrupted some of its parts and distribution operations. The attackers demanded a whopping $200 million not to release the data they had exfiltrated. On Wednesday, Boeing admitted it was the company described as the "multinational aeronautical and defense corporation headquartered in Virginia" in a recently unsealed U.S. Department of Justice indictment.