Our Insights
Providing you the latest industry-specific news and insights.
PYSA: 2020 to Now
BY ARETE CYBER THREAT INTELLIGENCE TEAM PYSA is the newest variant of the Mespinoza Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) family, which was first observed infecting victims in the wild in December 2019. PYSA is likely a reference to the open-source web…
Read moreDear Ramey: Tips to Improve the Security of Data Sharing
ANSWERING BURNING QUESTIONS FROM VICTIMS OF CYBER EVENTS. DEAR RAMEY: The more I read in the news about cyberattacks, the more I worry about all the information that could wind up in the wrong hands. Social media sites, law firms, and…
Read moreDear Ramey: What Can We Do to Minimize the Target on Our Back?
ANSWERING BURNING QUESTIONS FROM VICTIMS OF CYBER EVENTS. DEAR RAMEY: We haven’t experienced a breach or unauthorized access — at least not that we know of — but recent news headlines have my company concerned and wondering how we can minimize our…
Read moreEndpoint Detection and Response: The Closest Thing to a Silver Bullet to Stop Ransomware
By Paul Caron In its recent report “Combating Ransomware,” the Ransomware Task Force says there’s no silver bullet to solving the ransomware challenge. Instead, the group touts a multi-pronged approach and provides an extensive list of…
Read moreTeach a Man Not to Be Phished
BY KEVIN BAKER Email phishing scams are rampant. And to help you avoid falling victim to one, I’m offering five easy to-dos. 1. STAY ALERT. When it comes to defeating cybercrime, awareness is step number one. While deceptive emails aren’t the…
Read moreDear Ramey: Could I Lose My Job Over This Cyberattack?
ANSWERING BURNING QUESTIONS FROM VICTIMS OF CYBER EVENTS DEAR RAMEY: My organization recently recovered from a devastating cyberattack. We lost access to our information for a few days. Root cause analysis determined that the threat actor…
Read moreAvaddon Ransomware Hits AXA
BY ARETE CYBER THREAT INTELLIGENCE TEAM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY From September 2020 to May 2021, the Arete Incident Response (IR) practice responded to nine Avaddon ransomware engagements across varying industry sectors, including the professional…
Read moreEmpowering Cybersecurity Career Advancement in India
BY RAJ SIVARAJU, PRESIDENT OF APAC Companies around the world have long relied on India for cost-effective technical outsourcing. Thanks to the country’s abundance of highly trained technical talent, it’s been a successful support model. But like…
Read moreColonial Pipeline Breached by Darkside Ransomware Group
On Saturday May 8, US Colonial Pipeline announced that they were victim of a ransomware attack that affected their network on Friday May 7. US Colonial Pipeline is said to be the largest fuel pipeline in the United States and the main source of…
Read moreTechnical Insight: The 10 Stages of a Highly Sophisticated LuckyDay Ransomware Attack
BY ELEC MCCLELLAN, SECURITY OPERATIONS CENTER LEAD Sophisticated threat actors may or may not know the difference between a salad knife and a dinner knife, but they’d be happy to hold either to your throat when the time is right — and they sure…
Read moreDear Ramey: Bad Guys Deleted Our Data. How Do We Get It Back?
ANSWERING BURNING QUESTIONS FROM VICTIMS OF CYBER EVENTS DEAR RAMEY: My organization was hacked. The bad guy found our data and deleted it — including our backups! All they left was a note stating, “Send a message to this email address to get your…
Read moreThe Hidden Costs of Cybercrime
By Kevin Baker, Director of Cyber Strategy and Defense This year, the global cost of cybercrime is expected to hit $6 trillion.[i] Up from $3 trillion in 2015, it’s nothing short of a big, flourishing business whose operators are relentless…
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