[ad_1]
Friday to go to Memorial Day weekend this year, it was a huge JBS for meat processing. It was the Friday before the fourth of July Kaseya computer management software company and, by extension, more than a thousand businesses of different sizes. It remains to be seen whether it will be seen on Labor Day dismantling high-profile ransomware as well, but one thing is clear: hackers love the holidays.
Really, ransomware hackers also love regular weekends. But long? When they all live remotely with family and friends and avoid anything related to the office? That’s a good thing. While not a new trend, this week’s joint warning from the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency underscores how serious the threat has become.
The attraction for attackers is pretty straightforward. Ransomware can take time to spread across the network, as hackers work to increase the privileges to gain maximum control of most systems. The more time it takes for anyone to notice, the more damage it can do. “Generally, threat actors spread their ransomware when people are less likely to start pulling plugs,” says Brett Callow, a threat analyst at Emsisoft’s anti-virus company. “Less chance of detecting and stopping an attack.”
Even if they get caught up fairly quickly, many of those responsible for dealing with it may be in the pool or at least more difficult to get on a regular Tuesday afternoon. “Intuitively, it makes sense for advocates to be less vigilant during the holidays, largely because staff have dwindled,” says Katie Nickels, director of intelligence for the Red Canary security company. “If a major incident occurs during the holidays, it can be more difficult for advocates to bring in the staff needed to respond quickly.”
These are the major incidents that caught the attention of the FBI and CISA; In addition to the JBS and Kaseya events, Destructive attack on the Colonial Pipeline was celebrated on Mother’s Day weekend. (It’s not a three-day weekend, but it remains the biggest obstacle.) Agencies have said they don’t report any “specific threats” that a similar attack will occur on Labor Day weekend, but it shouldn’t come under any circumstances. if such a surprise.
It’s important to remember that ransomware is a constant threat, and that there are dozens of small businesses for every gasoline shortage that catches the headline to send bitcoins to cybercriminals at any given time. Victims reported 2,474 ransomware incidents to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center in 2020, 20% more than the previous year. Hacker requests tripled in the same period of time, according to IC3 data. These attacks were not concentrated on three-day weekends and Hallmark holidays.
In fact, as the CISA and the FBI acknowledge, weekends in general tend to be targeted by criminals. Callow warns that what was sent to ID Ransomware — a service created by security investigator Michael Gillespie that allows you to upload rescue notes or encrypted files to find out exactly what happened to you — tends to be overwhelming on Mondays when victims return to their offices to find their data. encrypted.
Hacker’s strategic time also takes other forms. Attacks on schools end in late spring and summer, Callow says, with much less need to be linked to recovery. When He stole $ 81 million from the Bangladesh bank, Lazarus Group of North Korea he timed the robbery Not only to take advantage of the differences between Bangladesh and the US weekends – the previous ones being Friday and Saturday – but also the New Year of the Moon, a holiday all over Asia.
[ad_2]
Source link
