An article by Josh Taylor of Fortra begins: Ransomware groups are increasingly inserting AI bots into the negotiation loop to triage victims, collect leverage and scale their operations. At Fortra, I have observed a growing trend of attackers deploying chatbots for first contact, with humans stepping in only after certain thresholds are met. This approach […]
Less than two weeks after Omni Hotels & Resorts admitted that they had been the victim of a cyberattack, a known ransomware gang has publicly claimed that they were responsible for the attack. A post on Daixin Team’s dark web leak site claimed they had “Sensitive data. (Including all records of all visitors from 2017 […]
Published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on March 5, 2024:
The attack on United Healthcare’s Change Healthcare unit continues to cause major problems. Pharmacies are struggling to fill prescriptions, patients cannot get their medications, and payment processes for providers are impacted. The problems began February 21 after hackers, subsequently identified as the AlphV (BlackCat) group, gained access to UnitedHealth’s Change Healthcare unit. How they gained […]
From the university’s press release about their research into factors related to whether ransomware victims decide to pay ransom or not — and how much they pay if they do decide to pay: The UT investigated the decision-making process of victims who had to pay ransoms during ransomware attacks. UT researcher Tom Meurs and his […]
New Ransomware Reporting Requirements Kick in as Victims Increasingly Avoid Paying
As 2023 drew to a close, a report by Emsisoft made the bold recommendation to impose a flat-out ban on ransom payments in the event of cyberattacks. Their suggestion has spawned a good deal of discussion, including a new report by incident response firm Coveware, who disagrees strongly with the recommendation. The following is just […]