Mozy downloading selected files to different computer

In a massive December - Scarab ransomware first seen in November, comes with the option for infected victims to negotiate a price for retrieving their encrypted files. A white hat hacker developed a working ' ransomcloud ' strain, which encrypts cloud email accounts like Office in real-time.

If a white hat can do this, so can a black hat. Watch out for this attack in the near future. While not yet a widespread payment method for distributors of ransomware, there are a number of examples of ransomware demanding their fee for unlocking be paid in Monero, such as Kirk ransomware.

February - Recently, cryptomining related attacks have become more popular than ransomware for many attackers. The good news is Bleeping Computer has encryption instructions. March - A massive survey of nearly 1, IT security practitioners and decision makers across 17 countries reveals that half the people who fell victim to ransomware infections and chose to pay in were able to recover their files.

This is why backups are so important, there is never a guarantee your files will be recovered even if you pay the ransom. In other words, get your users trained yesterday! A new ransomware-as-a-service dubbed GandCrab showed up mid-month. Yaniv Balmas, a security researcher at Check Point compares GandCrab to the notorious Cerber family , and the expert also added that GandCrab authors are adopting a full fledged agile software development approach , the first time in ransomware history.

More technical details at the Security Affairs blog. Zenis ransomware discovered by the MalwareHunterTeam not only not encrypts your files, but also purposely deletes your backups. The latest version utilizes AES encryption to encrypt the files, unfortunately at this time there is no way to decrypt them.

The infection affected several internal and customer-facing applications, such as the online systems that residents used to pay city bills or access court documents. This strain is believed to have the ability to get access to systems and wait weeks before an attack, making it easier to strike twice.

AVCrypt ransomware , discovered by BleepingComputer, tries to uninstall your existing security software such as AV before it encrypts files. However, it looks like no encryption key is sent to a remote server so it's unclear whether this is true ransomware or a wiper. April - Hackers are working hard at making ransomware less predictable in order to avoid detection.

Changes to the encryption process, the code itself, and even delivery methods are just a few of the 11 ways ransomware is evolving. Verizon's Data Breach Incident Report lists ransomware as the most common type of malware carried by phishing attacks. Healthcare has always been targeted as an industry by hackers trying to get their hands on valuable PII.

This is just another indicator that a ransomware infection is seen as a HIPAA data breach and needs to be reported. May - A new strain called Blackheart drops its payload alongside the perfectly legitimate AnyDesk remote desktop tool, highly likely as a way to evade detection. If that sounds familiar, similar tool TeamViewer was infected with malware in a similar way in BitKangoroo is another new strain using AES encryption that deletes your files if you do not pay.

Once it deletes a file, it will reset the timer back to 60 minutes. This is the same exploit associated with a previous WannaCry Ransomware campaign. SamSam , the ransomware strain that crippled several cities and school districts in the U. This strain has three new ways to avoid detection: It decrypts the payload only at run-time, making it nearly impossible to identify and analyze. It requires a password to be entered by the threat actor to run in the first place.

T his new strain of SamSam is designed for targeted attacks. July - GandCrab v4 — a more dangerous and invasive newly released strain of the notorious ransomware is back with more power in its pincers: i t no longer needs a C2 server, it functions without Internet access, can spread via the SMB exploit EternalBlue and i t appears to hunt for unpatched machines.

Still, there are easy ways to avoid an attack. SonicWall released a mid-year update to their Cyber Threat Report with some sobering statistics about the state of ransomware this year:. Also this month LabCorp, one of the largest clinical labs in the U. The attack was contained quickly and didn't result in a data breach. However, before the attack was fully contained, 7, systems and 1, servers were impacted. Of those 1, servers, were production servers.

If you're in health care SamSam is definitely something to watch out for and it can have devastating consequences. A new literature review from Marshall University describes the problem as well as prevention methods in great detail. September - KnowBe4 released a new version of our popular Ransomware Simulator tool that now tests against 13 ransomware scenarios and 1 cryptomining scenario. Cryptomining is just another means to a financial end for cybercriminals. J ust like ransomware, remote access trojans RATs , and other types of malware, the cybercriminal needs to somehow infect a machine.

This kind of attack isn't going anywhere. The results show 64 percent of respondents do not know what ransomware is. In times like this you really need to step your users through new-school security awareness training to prevent such attacks.

This is the latest attempt to extend the ransomware attack beyond the simple act of extortion. It is likely that the group is more interested in the credentials than ransom payments.

Four new strains of Dharma ransomware were discovered that evade detection by all but one antivirus solutions on the market. Researchers observed a malicious executable dropped through a.

There is no decryption available, even if ransom is paid an encryption key is generated locally so it's a fake key. There should be no question by now that Mac and iOS devices are targets for attacks.

Most organizations have a group of users that use Macs, usually the creative types. December - New sextortion attacks take a dark turn and infect people with GandCrab ransomware.

The email claims cybercriminals have a video of you watching an inappropriate website, and that you can download that video and see it for yourself.

A server outage at a major newspaper publishing company prevented the distribution of many leading U. It looks like this was a targeted ransomware attack using the specialized Ryuk ransomware family. This strain is the latest incarnation of the earlier HERMES ransomware which is attributed to the capable and active Lazarus Group that operates out of a Chinese city just north from North Korea and reportedly controlled by the N.

Unit spy agency. January - A new malware attack was detected in the wild that combines two known pieces of malware: the Vidar data harvesting malware followed by GandCrab ransomware. Running an infostealer before deploying the ransomware ensures some money for the adversary even if the victim does not pay the ransom.

See how the attack works here. With each infection, the message goes beyond just asking for bitcoin, but instead attempts to compel victims to pay the ransom with the claim that the money will go to a fictitious charity. Ransomware is using a variety of methods to reduce or nullify the effectiveness of data backups such as attacking shared network drives, Windows shadow copies, and any files that have backup file extensions.

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein released a report on Thursday that highlights the impact of data breaches on the state in , and paired the report with a bipartisan bill to strengthen breach notifications to include ransomware attacks.

A new strain dubbed Anatova was discovered in a private peer-to-peer p2p network and targets consumers by using the icon of a game or application to trick the user into downloading it. Anatova is packed with functionality that is also difficult to analyze, a telling sign this was created by experienced bad actors.

Average numbers of paid ransom and downtime resulting from an attack backups compromised are all up over the previous quarter. Torrent sites are banning CracksNow, a popular source of torrent uploads, after discovering that the uploader of cracks and keygens was distributing GandCrab ransomware. March - A new strain called LockerGoga infects aluminum producer Norsk Hydro , and Hexion and Momentive chemical plants, effectively shutting them down for days and go on manual operation, causing them to buy hundreds of new computers.

In an interview at the RSA Conference , Josh Zelonis, senior analyst at Forrester Research, discusses the next great security threats to enterprises. According to Zelonis, a new trend of victims paying off the ransoms could reverse the wane in ransomware attacks that has been seen in the last year or so. Matrix ransomware has been around since , but according to a new report from Sophos , the malware has undergone major recent improvements that allow it to perform a wide range of attack tasks.

It uses RDP-based brute force attacks to gain an initial foothold. The malware contains several payload executables including some legitimate admin tools — each used to either infect the initial endpoint, or connect to remote machines via RDP and spread within the network. Their code even includes efforts to disable AV software on endpoints. The attack on backups to decrease an organization's ability to recover instead of paying the ransom mixed with the ransom increase shows that cybercriminals know they have victims painted into a corner.

The infection forced most of the local government's IT systems offline, with the exception of its website and emergency system. April - vxCrypter ransomware is possibly the first strain to delete duplicate files. As the ransomware encrypted other files, if it encountered the same SHA hash, it would delete the file instead of decrypting it. An email extortion scam threatening victims with DDoS attacks and WannaCry ransomware according to researchers at Avast.

The latest data from Coveware shows increases across the board in ransoms, downtime, and average cost of an attack. PayPal received a patent for ransomware detection technology. According to US patent number , issued on April 16, PayPal believes it can detect the early stages of a ransomware infection, and take one of two actions --to stop the encryption process, or to save a copy of the untainted original file to a remote server, before it gets encrypted, as a backup, so it can be restored later on.

They did attempt to recover their data, however the security company they worked with was only involved in forensics and couldn't recover the data. May - Sophos discovered a scary new strain of very sophisticated ransomware called MegaCortex. It was purpose-built to target corporate networks, and once penetrated, the attackers infect your entire network by rolling out the ransomware to all servers and workstations, using your own Windows domain controllers.

Not only has the frequency of attacks increased, but attackers are shifting focus, targeting larger organizations and demanding higher ransom payments. Security researchers have been finding that attackers use ransomware as an exit strategy to cover up more serious incidents like data breaches. The attack locked providers out of their system for almost two months, impacting their medical records system and appointment scheduling tool.

It wasn't the first time the health center had been hit, back in April another attack left their computer systems locked for about three weeks. After the first attack, they rebuilt their systems by using offsite backups and didn't pay the ransom, the second time they weren't so lucky. Four clinics resorted to writing down all patient information and storing it in boxes, operating as walk-in clinics, and asking patients for medical history from memory for seven weeks.

IT staff disconnected their systems within 10 minutes of infection, however the malware affected almost their entire network. The county's IT Director was blamed for failing to secure the network and taking too long to recover the data, he lost his job. According to Anomali, the threat detection vendor that discovered it, eCh0raix targets QNAP network-attached storage devices.

It scans the internet for publicly accessible QNAP devices and tries to break in via a brute-force credential attack, bypassing weak login credentials. The ransom note directs victims to pay a ransom in bitcoin via a website accessible with a Tor browser.

The latest data from ransomware recovery vendor, Coveware, outlines the current state of the cost, duration, and recovery rate of ransomware attacks today. These details paint a pretty exact picture of what to expect should your organization be hit by ransomware. C was discovered by ESET researchers.

It uses the victim's contact list to spread further using SMS messages that have malicious links. The hacker behind the malicious code has been posting links to a "sex simulator" app, telling users to try it out.

But in reality, the links will download the ransomware to the victim's phone. They did have backup servers, but the malware infected them as well. August - New GermanWiper ransomware doesn't encrypt files but instead it rewrites their content with zeroes, permanently destroying users' data.

In light of the recent string of attacks that seem to be targeting government agencies and municipalities, a new multi-agency press release led by the U.

The long-standing argument over whether or not victims should pay ransom to cybercriminals may have come to an end, with a resolution from the U. Conference of Mayors calling on cities to not pay up. DarkReading reported: "Ransomware masquerading as game "cheats" is hitting Fortnite players. Fortunately, there are ways to recover without paying a ransom.

The MegaCortex strain, first reported in May of , has a new version upgrading it from a manual, targeted form of ransomware, to one that can be spread and do damage enterprise-wide. M aterial declines in consumer ransomware detections occurred around the same time as very material increases in detected business ransomware attacks. McAfee Labs saw an average of new threats per minute in Q1 , and a resurgence of ransomware along with changes in campaign execution and code.

HelpNet Security has a good summary of the whole report. September - A new strain called Lilocked or Lilu ransomware has infected thousands of webservers and appears to target Linux-based systems only. The way the Lilocked gang breaches servers and encrypts their content is currently unknown. A thread on a Russian-speaking forum puts forward the theory that crooks might be targeting systems running outdated Exim email software.

It also mentions that the ransomware managed to get root access to servers by unknown means. October - The FBI issued a warning that healthcare organizations, industrial companies, and the transportation sector are being targeted with ransomware.

The attack methodologies continue to evolve, with cyber-criminals doing all they can to avoid detection. Ransomware is living its best life in A rash of successful attacks against municipalities, state and local government, and school districts is bad for organizations and great for cybercriminals. Respondents cited security solutions and backups as the two methods of ransomware preparation, with one-third of organizations having over twenty security solutions in place!

At a high level, this sounds like organizations are taking the right steps to stop an attack, but it appears that ransomware attacks — which primarily start with phishing attacks — are still happening. November - PureLocker , a previously undetected server-encrypting malware, gives hackers an advantage as it is written in the PureBasic programming language. Security vendors often struggle to generate reliable detection signatures for malicious software written in this language.

PureBasic is also transferable between Windows, Linux, and OS-X, meaning attackers can more easily target different platforms. After a deadline was missed for receiving a ransom payment, the group behind Maze Ransomware has published almost MB worth of data and files stolen from a security staffing firm. With this escalated attack, ransomware victims now need to not only be concerned about recovering their encrypted files, but what would happen if their stolen unencrypted files were leaked to the public, and the fact that ransomware infections by now probably should be disclosed as a data breach with all related consequences.

D espite Chubb seeing increases in attacks, , they are still experiencing an increase in the percentage of cyber claims resulting from ransomware attacks. Once a forced restart is complete, and the system is in Safe Mode, those AV solutions not configured to run leave the system exposed and able to be encrypted. Researchers at Sophos also found it uses RDP as the initial attack vector, can exfiltrate, system information, monitor network traffic, install surveillance software and install remote access trojans RATs.

The payload for Snatch uses the open-source packer UPX to help obfuscate detection of its malicious code. This is very powerful and dangerous stuff here that has attack ramifications both immediately and in the future, depending on how patient the attacker is.

Threat actors behind REvil Ransomware are now threatening to release data if victims don't pay the ransom isn't paid. REvil goes on to say that if a company does not pay the ransom, the ransomware actors will publicly release the stolen data or sell it to competitors. It is in their opinion that this would be more costly to the victim than paying the ransom. The Maze ransomware gang just outed 8 victims and a limited amount of selected data on a public website.

A report released by Armor , a global security solutions provider, noted a substantial rise in ransomware attacks against schools and school districts since October According to the report, publicly announced ransomware victim organizations in the U. As of December , ransomware is 30 years old , but few will be celebrating the occasion. Instead, many are wondering what will come next.

Experts predict that ransomware will continue to grow and evolve, armed with tools like keyloggers, backdoors and droppers to cause further destruction. And as daily life becomes increasingly connected through the IoT, organizations will have to work even harder to keep ransomware out of their systems. Here are some shocking ransomware statistics just from the year , from Heimdal Security. January - Maze ransomware has gotten the attention of the FBI.

A warning to U. The warning provides technical indicators to detect Maze ransomware and asks victims to give them information that could help find the hackers. The bureau requests things like bitcoin wallets used by the hackers and the complete phishing email they sent to the victim.

New "leakware" attacks differ from traditional ransomware attacks by threatening to steal and publish data online unless a ransom is paid. The problem is if you don't pay, you're risking continued attacks on those whose personal data was included in the breach.

If you do pay, of course there's no guarantee the attackers won't sell the data to a third party and launch their own attacks. The City of Johannesburg and the State of Virginia are two victims of these types of attacks. In the beginning, ransomware used to only look for office files. Then backups became a secondary victim. Now, according to researchers at Kaspersky , attackers are looking for ways to directly target the NAS devices that host an organization's backups.

It makes sense to cybercriminals, their goal is to make an organization feel their only option is to pay the ransom. Encryption isn't the only problem when it comes to ransomware, there are many other nasty issues. Ransomware threat actors are doing more analysis, taking the time to maximize the potential damage and payoff.

What if suddenly encrypted would cause the most panic, pain, and operational disruption? Second, they find out how that data is backed up and what they can do to interfere with that process. They also know how many days of backup corruption they need, meaning they are getting better at encrypting backup data while it's online before it gets moved offline.

Hackers are now stealing the crown jewel data and threatening to leak it unless the ransom is paid, so even if you do get it back it's still in their hands. Data-stealing ransomware has become so common that it has its own subclass known as data-theft ransomware. See more about how ransomware has become much worse! Its network data was encrypted and their customers were unable to take orders.

REVil is said to exfiltrate data before encrypting the network as an added extortion incentive for victims to either pay or have the possibility of their data going public.

A resulting cascade of nasty consequences for the victims include disclosure of PII, thus triggering data breach reporting requirements and the resulting governmental and third party legal headaches, potential crashing stock prices, fines, and the consequences of disclosure of confidential or proprietary information.

Travelex later had to warn its customers to be on the lookout for phishing scams in an update on its corporate holdings website. Phobos ransomware has been around since late and has morphed into a few strains, always targeting large organizations in hopes of getting a bigger payoff. It works to kill processes that may pose a threat, deletes Volume Shadow copies, disables Windows firewall, and prevents systems from booting into recovery mode. The real threat is on hw it's distributed as a Ransomware-as-a-Service business model.

Threat actors using Phobos today are less experienced and therefore there are delays when negotiating ransom, and there is potential for issues around decryption since they themselves have no control over the malware used in attacks. Nemty ransomware creators are now extorting victims by threatening to publish data to a blog if they don't pay. More new features have been added to the Ryuk strain, it now uses the Wake-on-Lan feature to turn on powered-off devices on a large compromised network to have greater success in encrypting them.

In conversations with BleepingComputer , Vitali Kremez, Head of SentinelLabs, stated that this evolution in Ryuk's tactics allow a better reach in a compromised network from a single device and shows the Ryuk operator's skill traversing a corporate network. It's also now able to hack Active Directory and infect a larger number of machines. Ryuk Stealer , another version of this malware, uses new keywords and filetypes to automatically find an organization's most valuable data that they can extort and get their ransom.

Microsoft end-of-support for Windows 7 means systems will remain unpatched, creating an opportunity for future ransomware attacks to wreak havoc. If you remember 's WannaCry , it was successful because of unpatched systems. So three things you can do to protect against this possibility are: update your OS, ensure continual updates, and educate your employees to avoid becoming victims by clicking on phishing emails. Apple's self service program will let you repair iPhones and Macs yourself This may be Apple's answer to right-to-repair measures.

Apple's colorful new HomePod mini is on sale for the first time ahead of Black Friday The latest orange, blue and yellow speakers get their first discount. Palladino , TD Pilot will let people with disabilities control iPads with their eyes Finally, an assistive eye-tracking option outside of Windows. Dent , Apple has tight control over states' digital ID cards Governments must devote resources and even marketing to iPhone IDs.

Plug in your guitar and choose from a van-load of amps, cabinets, and stompboxes. Design your dream bass rig. Customize your bass tone just the way you want it. Mix and match vintage or modern amps and speaker cabinets. You can even choose and position different microphones to create your signature sound. Drumroll please. GarageBand features Drummer, a virtual session drummer that takes your direction and plays along with your song.

Choose from 28 drummers and three percussionists in six genres. Shape your sound. Quickly and easily. Look, Mom — no wires.

Play any software instrument, shape your sound with Smart Controls, and even hit Stop, Start, and Record from across the room. Each drummer has a signature kit that lets you produce a variety of groove and fill combinations. Use the intuitive controls to enable and disable individual sounds while you create a beat with kick, snare, cymbals, and all the cowbell you want. If you need a little inspiration, Drummer Loops gives you a diverse collection of prerecorded acoustic and electronic loops that can be easily customized and added to your song.

Every synth features the Transform Pad Smart Control, so you can morph and tweak sounds to your liking. You can even get instant feedback on your playing to help hone your skills. Take your skills to the next level.

From any level. Facebook sends cease-and-desist letter asking for Unfollow Everything to be scrapped. Code execution bug patched in Imunify Linux server security suite. Data from millions of Brazilians exposed in Wi-Fi management software firm leak. Zoom lands more large customers in Q3, beats market estimates. DJI Mavic 3 in flight. Between the Lines 36, articles. Zero Day 10, articles. All About Microsoft 7, articles.