Barracuda Security Incident

Threat Spotlight: Ransomware trends Topics: Aug. 12, 2021 | Fleming Shi Post Share Share Share Subscribe Post Share Share Share Subscribe Ransomware attacks have surged in 2021, with the number of attacks increasing dramatically and ransom amounts continuing to skyrocket. Cybercriminals are also expanding their targets, shifting their focus to our critical infrastructure and evolving into deep-rooted software supply chain attack campaigns, which can cause long-lasting devastation. The grim outlook for the future of ransomware leaves no one spared from financial damage or brand-crushing headlines. Ransomware criminals are penetrating the foundation of our digital economy, from trusted software vendors to IT service providers. Many of these attacks are being led by a handful of high-profile ransomware gangs. Our analysis of ransomware attacks that occurred between August 2020 and July 2021 showed that REvil accounted for 19% of attacks, and DarkSide is known to be the cause of 8%. In this Threat Spotlight, we will examine the ransomware attack patterns we identified in our analysis of attacks over the past 12 months and share our insights on prevention and recovery. Highlighted Threat Ransomware Cybercriminals use malicious software, often delivered as an email attachment or link, to infect the network and lock email, data, and other critical files until a ransom is paid. These evolving and sophisticated attacks are damaging and costly. They can cripple day-to-day operations, cause chaos, and result in financial losses from downtime, ransom payments, recovery costs, and other unbudgeted and unanticipated expenses. Recently, criminals have refined their tactics to create a double extortion scheme. They base their ransom demands on research they perform ahead of the attack . They steal sensitive data from their victims and demand payment in exchange for a promise to not publish or sell the data to other criminals. Since criminals cannot be trusted, victims who pay...

... (truncated for display)