Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

The high profile MGM Resorts hack by ransomware group ALPHV/BlackCat has served as a wake up call to the hospitality industry, demonstrating that the industry is a lucrative target for cybercriminals. The hack was hugely impactful to MGM making for sensational headlines in mainstream media, however what struck security experts were the social engineering methods used by the threat actors and how effective they were in bypassing security controls and technologies.

We've all been there: You're away from home when you notice your phone's battery is dangerously low. For most people, the quick solution is to find a public charging station and restore their battery power. However, this may not be the safest option!

As part of our ongoing tracking of the threat actor TA4557 (also known as Venom Spider), the Arctic Wolf Labs team discovered a new campaign targeting corporate human resources departments and recruiters. The threat group uses phishing techniques to drop an enhanced version of a potent backdoor called More_eggs onto victim devices.

The UK retail market has been thrown into turmoil in recent weeks, with three of that nation's highest-profile retailers being targeted allegedly by the well-known threat group Scattered Spider in at least one of the most disruptive incidents.

Beginning in early April 2025, Kroll has observed a large wave of malicious activity surrounding "PDFast" software. Initial access for the campaign appeared to begin either through a new install of the application, through drive-by compromise on the site pdf-fastcom, or via pre-installed versions of the application that have since been updated with a malicious version.

When you hear the word “ransomware,” many people think of a lone hacker launching a complex cyberattack. However, ransomware attacks that paralyze businesses worldwide have evolved into the product of a highly organized, industrialized criminal ecosystem. Their secret weapon? Ransomware-as-a-Service, or RaaS.

According to the 2024 State of Ransomware report by Sophos, there was a 500% increase in ransom bills in the last 12 months. Moreover, an analysis by Comparitech revealed 181 confirmed ransomware incidents targeting healthcare providers in 2024, with 25.6 million records compromised. Meanwhile, there were 42 more confirmed attacks on healthcare organizations not involved in direct care provision. These additional attacks amounted to over 115 million compromised records.

In the summer of 2024, a Russian ransomware gang launched an attack on a UK pathology services provider. However, the group didn’t just encrypt the organization’s data and demand a ransom. It exfiltrated data from more than 300 million patient interactions with the National Health Service (NHS), and when the victim organization refused to pay the hefty ransom, the group released all the stolen data on the dark web.

For Managed Service Providers (MSPs), ransomware attacks aren’t just a security issue, they’re a business-killing risk. In 2020, the average cost of downtime caused by ransomware was $274,200 — nearly double what it was the year before. Now, imagine you’re an MSP responsible for multiple clients, each relying on your service for their critical operations.

Kroll continues to observe widespread attempted initial access through CLEARFAKE via fake CAPTCHA pop-ups across a wide range of industry sectors. As detailed in previous Kroll reporting, CLEARFAKE is a malicious in-browser JavaScript framework deployed on compromised webpages as part of drive-by compromise campaigns. Although CLEARFAKE continues to show the same themes surrounding its use alongside fake CAPTCHA pop-ups, there are also a wide range of nuances that have appeared in the past few months.