Resources
Providing you the latest industry-specific news and insights.
Cybersecurity Trends: What We Saw in 2020, What We Expect to See in 2021
Where change seems a constant, perhaps the biggest and most surprising cybersecurity issue of 2020 was a lack of change. But before we get to that, let’s look at some other key cybersecurity trends. A CONTINUED RISE IN RANSOMWARE ATTACKS Kidnapping…
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Egregor: The Ghost of Soviet Bears Past Haunts On
Egregor ransomware, a sophisticated RaaS platform, uses data exfiltration and brazen negotiation tactics to target major sectors like manufacturing and retail and caters to experienced affiliates.
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WastedLocker Ransomware Insights
WastedLocker is a new ransomware variant with encryption capabilities that some researchers believe to be linked to the sanctioned “Evil Corp” group. However, Arete's analysis determined that evidence of the connection is not conclusive.
Read moreThe Road Back: Recovery from a Malware Attack in the Long Term
Arete Incident Response is currently answering the call of duty for about 60 companies per month who have experienced malware intrusions. These are mostly ransomware or business email compromise attacks. Arete’s primary goal is to restore what was…
Read moreRansomware Decryptors for a (varying) fee
Ransomware attacks wreak havoc on business operations. Destroying recovery options, instilling fear and panic, and most often creating high levels of stress for IT staff, owners, and operators. A simple, but often costly fix is to just pay the…
Read moreNo One Is Immune to Cyberattacks
On December 8, 2020, the New York Times reported that FireEye (NASDAQ:FEYE) was hacked. Moments later, almost every major news outlet, security blogger, U.S. government agency, and security company released additional articles and opinions on the…
Read moreAnti-virus or AI driven Endpoint Protection?
Stephen Ramey Arete investigates a lot of ransomware attacks. In fact, 90% of our business is helping organizations big and small, recover from and investigate ransomware attacks. Variants like Maze, Sodinokibi, WastedLocker, Ryuk,…
Read moreSodinokibi Labels Keys with “Black Lives Matter”
OVERVIEW Since January 2020, the Arete IR practice has responded to forty-one (41) Sodinokibi engagements. The industry has seen two big changes with Sodinokibi/REvil from their shift to exfiltrating data as of January 2020, and more, recently with…
Read moreUS Government Alerts of Imminent Attacks Against the Healthcare Sector by Trickbot Group
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Last week, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the following alert: AA20-302A…
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AKO Ransomware – Analysis
Dive into AKO ransomware's methods and impact, including its unique data encryption and extortion techniques. This analysis provides an in-depth look at AKO’s rise and the challenges it presents for organizations and security professionals.
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Conti Ransomware is the New Ryuk?
Based on forensic analysis, Arete’s Threat Intelligence team observed that Conti ransomware could be a rebrand of Ryuk ransomware, as both variants have similar tactics, including leveraging the TrickBot banking trojan to deploy ransomware.
Read moreUniversal Encryption
Ransomware variants like Ryuk, WastedLocker, and Dopplepaymer are also file level encryption. These groups will gain access to the network and perform reconnaissance to identify the victim, understand their business, identify critical systems, and…
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