Cybersecurity Saturday

David Ermer–Cybersecurity–

From the ransomware front

The HHS Cybersecurity Program released a PowerPoint presentation on ransomware trends in the first quarter of this year.

Here’s a link to Bleeping Computers’ The Week in Ransomware.

Ransomware operations continue to evolve, with new groups appearing and others quietly shutting down their operations or rebranding as new groups. * * * [For example,] the notorious REvil ransomware operation has returned amidst rising tensions between Russia and the USA, with new infrastructure and a modified encryptor allowing for more targeted attacks.

Bleeping Computer adds

The US Department of State is offering up to $15 million for information that helps identify and locate leadership and co-conspirators of the infamous Conti ransomware gang.

Up to $10 million of this reward are offered for info on Conti leaders’ identity and location, and an additional $5 million for leading to the arrest and/or convictions of individuals who conspired or attempted to participate in Conti ransomware attacks.

From the vulnerabilities front

  • The HHS Cybersecurity Program issued a bulletin on “April Vulnerabilities of Interest to the Health Sector”

The FBI has warned that business email compromise (BEC) fraud cost businesses around the world $43 billion in losses during the period between June 2016 and December 2021.  The FBI’s Internet Crime Center (IC3) logged a whopping 241,206 complaints in the four-and-a-half-year period, with losses totaling $43 billion, according to a new public service announcement. 

From the cyberdefenses front, CISA “is beginning a month-long mission to rock the message that multifactor authentication keeps you more secure! So, join us for MFA May!” Throughout the month of May:

Follow CISA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram for rocking content all month on MFA.

Tell us on social media that your business or personal devices are now protected by MFA with the hashtag #EnableMFA!  We’ll do our best to Pour Some Sugar on your posts!

And since we all get by With A Little Help from Our Friends, challenge your friends, family, co-workers, and fellow rockers to #EnableMFA too.

For What it’s Worth, you can always learn more about multi-factor authentication at https://www.cisa.gov/mfa