New data suggests that the gangs and toolkits behind current ransomware attacks are materially improving their abilities, resulting in a speeding up of attacks before defenses kick in. It’s the last thing we want to hear; the threat actors are winning. But, according to Sophos’ 2023 Active Adversary Report for Tech Leaders report – at least when looking at threat actor dwell time – it seems to be the case.

As a principal security researcher on Corelight’s Labs team, I help to solve difficult network security research problems at scale. Corelight’s customers might recognize some of my work if you see the packages “VPN Insights” or “App ID” on your sensors. Outside of my day-to-day role, I have a hobby podcast called eCrimeBytes where we lightheartedly discuss an electronic crime case each week.

One thing is becoming evident as ransomware attacks increase in frequency and impact: businesses can take additional precautions. Unfortunately, many companies are failing to do so. Most victims are sufficiently warned about potential weaknesses yet unprepared to recover when hit. Robust ransomware prevention is more important than ever. This becomes very clear when you consider what causes the majority of ransomware attacks nowadays. Some are caused by errors that are easily avoidable.

It’s not a mystery that eBPF (Extended Berkeley Packet Filter) is a powerful technology, and given its nature, it can be used for good and bad purposes. In this article, we will explore some of the offensive capabilities that eBPF can provide to an attacker and how to defend against them.

British Intelligence has come up with a potentially very effective means to disrupt ransomware attacks, but there seems to still be a few kinks in the system. The phone rings at your U.K. office and it’s the U.K. government’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) letting you know they’ve detected a potential cyberattack.