As we approach the end of another exciting year in the world of cybersecurity, it's the perfect time to reflect on the stories, insights, and guidance that resonated most with our readers.2024 brought new challenges and opportunities with the rapid adoption of AI, evolving ransomware tactics, and an increased focus on proactive security measures. These trends shaped the conversations on Fortra’s...

In a co-ordinated international effort, the law enforcement agencies of 15 countries have made the holiday season a little less stressful for companies and consumers - by seizing control of some of the internet's most popular DDoS-for-hire services.Operation PowerOFF has disrupted what was anticipated to be a surge of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks over the Christmas period by taking...

What is 3AM?3AM (also known as ThreeAM) is a ransomware group that first emerged in late 2023. Like other ransomware threats, 3AM exfiltrates victims' data (threatening to release it publicly unless a ransom is paid) and encrypts the copies left on targeted organisations' computer systems.So it's the normal story with ransomware - exfiltrate, encrypt, extort?Pretty much - but there are some...

The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) has revealed details of Operation Destabilise, a years-long international law enforcement investigation into a giant Russian money laundering enterprise that handled billions of dollars for drug traffickers and ransomware gangs worldwide. The multi-billion dollar Smart and TGR networks are said to have used a complex system of cash handovers and cryptocurrency...

It's not a new technique, but that doesn't mean that cybercriminals cannot make rich rewards from SEO poisoning. SEO poisoning is the dark art of manipulating search engines to ensure that malware-laced adverts and dangerous websites appear high on users' results - often impersonating legitimate businesses and organisations. But the simplest way of all to get a malicious website in front of a...

What is Mimic?Mimic is family of ransomware, first found in-the-wild in 2022. In common with many other ransomware attacks, Mimic encrypts a victim's files, and demands a ransom payment in cryptocurrency for the release of a decryption key.Does Mimic also steal data?Yes, some variants of Mimic can also exfiltrate data from a user's computers before it is encrypted - the stolen data is typically...

When we think about our data being leaked onto the internet, we often picture it as our financial records, our passwords, our names and addresses... what is less often considered is the exposure of our private medical information.A French hospital has found itself in the unenviable position of learning that hackers have gained access to the medical records of over 750,000 patients following a...

What is ShrinkLocker?ShrinkLocker is a family of ransomware that encrypts an organisation's data and demands a ransom payment in order to restore access to their files. It was first identified by security researchers in May 2024, after attacks were observed in Mexico, Indonesia, and Jordan.So far, so normal. What makes it noteworthy?The ShrinkLocker ransomware is unusual because it uses VBScript...

Scammers have leapt at the opportunity to exploit vulnerable UK residents by sending bogus messages telling them they need to take action to receive help with their winter heating bills. In July, the UK's new Labour Government announced that it was limiting who was eligible for assistance with their winter fuel bills by making eligibility means-tested. The controversial decision appears to have...

As the United States of America enters the final days of the race for the White House, the FBI has warned that fraudsters are using the presidential election campaign to scam citizens out of their savings and personal data.According to a public service announcement published by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), scammers who have previously exploited state and local elections are targeting...

Historically, Mac users haven't had to worry about malware as much as their Windows-using cousins. Although malware targeting Apple devices actually predates viruses written for PCs, and there have been some families of malware that have presented a significant threat for both operating systems (for instance, the Word macro viruses that hit computers hard from 1995 onwards), it is generally the...

No-one would be bold enough to say that the ransomware problem is receding, but a newly-published report by Microsoft does deliver a slither of encouraging news amongst the gloom. And boy do we need some good news - amid reports that 389 US-based healthcare institutions were hit by ransomware last year - more than one every single day. The 114-page Microsoft Digital Defense Report (MMDR) looks at...

International law enforcement agencies have scored another victory against the LockBit gang, with a series of arrests and the seizure of servers used within the notorious ransomware group's infrastructure. As Europol has detailed in a press release, international authorities have continued to work on "Operation Cronos", and now arrested four people, seized servers, and implemented sanctions...

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has warned that malicious hackers continue to be capable of compromising industrial control systems (ICS) and other operational technology (OT) using "unsophisticated methods" - suggesting that much more still needs to be done to secure them properly.In an advisory posted on CISA's website yesterday, the agency said that internet...

A new ransomware operation has started to leak information it claims has been stolen from organisations it has compromised around the world.In recent days Valencia Ransomware has posted on its dark web leak site's so-called "Wall of shame" links to gigabytes of downloadable information that has seemingly been exfiltrated from a Californian municipality, a pharmaceutical firm, and a paper...

Developers of plugins and themes for WordPress.org have been told they are required to enable two-factor authentication (2FA) from October 1st.The move is intended to enhance security, helping prevent hackers from gaining access to accounts through which malicious code could be injected into code used by millions of websites running the self-hosted version of WordPress.The threat posed by supply...

What is the Cicada ransomware?Cicada (also known as Cicada3301) is sophisticated ransomware written in Rust that has claimed more than 20 victims since its discovery in June 2024.Why is the ransomware called Cicada?The criminals behind Cicada appear to have named it after the mysterious Cicada 3301 puzzles posted on the internet between 2012 and 2014, seemingly to recruit highly intelligent...

Who doesn't fancy earning US $2.5 million?That's the reward that's on offer from the US Department and State and Secret Service for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of a Belarusian man who allegedly was a key figure behind the development and distribution of the notorious Angler Exploit Kit.38-year-old Vladimir Kadariya is charged with a range of cybercrime offences which saw...

An investigation dating back almost ten years has seen the extradition this week to the United States of a man suspected to be the head of one the world's most prolific Russian-speaking cybercriminal gangs.The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) says it has been investigating a cybercriminal using the online handle "J P Morgan" since 2015, alongside parallel investigations run by the United States...

According to the FBI, billions of dollars have been lost through Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks in recent years, so you may well think that there is little in the way of good news.However, it has been revealed this week that police managed to recover more than US $40 million snatched in a recent BEC heist just two days after being told about it.As Interpol describes, police were contacted...