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Providing you the latest industry-specific news and insights.

  • article

    Fool Us Once … BlackMatter Initial Access Tactics Point to a Possible REvil Association

    BY CYBER THREAT INTELLIGENCE TEAM Arete observed an overlap between a recent BlackMatter case and a Q1 2021 REvil case. In both instances, the actors leveraged the NodeJS-based Gootloader to deliver a CobaltStrike payload. In a March 2021 insight,…

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  • article

    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…

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  • report

    Q2 2021 Crimeware Report: Crime and No Punishment

    Like legitimate businesspeople, threat actors are always looking for ways to optimize operations and boost profits. With time and impunity on their side, some started to get more creative in Q2 2021.

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  • article

    Teach 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…

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  • article

    Dear 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…

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  • article

    Fundamentals of Ransomware: What to Do Before and After Ransomware Strikes

    By Raj Sivaraju   Amid the pandemic and as more people began working from home via unsecure networks, India saw a 31 percent rise in ransomware attacks.[i] What’s more, according to the Sophos “State of Ransomware 2020” study, of 300…

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  • article

    DasH into the Future of Cybercrime

    By Jaycee Roth  It is 6:30AM on a Monday morning, you are startled awake by your phone receiving a call. It is Veronica, a long-time employee complaining that she cannot access any of the data on the shared D: drive – a critical drive to the…

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  • report

    Q1 2021 Crimeware Report: Post-Mortem Analysis of a Dumpster Fire

    Unique insight into the state of ransomware based on data from more than 1,500 incident response and forensics cases.

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  • article

    Six Decrees of Kevin Baker: Top Tips to Improve Cybersecurity Today

    When I work with clients, I mention a good many things they can do to improve their security. Sometimes I’ll advise on an area I think they need to understand about their company. Sometimes I’ll suggest implementing specific security controls. Some…

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  • podcast

    Election Security with Jim Jaeger

    Kevin Smith speaks with president and co-founder of Arete, Jim Jaeger about the upcoming 2020 U.S. Elections, the risks we face, and answers the biggest question of all: Just how safe and accurate is this election going to be?

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  • podcast

    Nation State Threats with Jim Jaeger

    In this episode, Kevin Smith and Stephen Ramey talk to Arete's chief cyber strategist, Jim Jaeger, about nation state threats, ways to keep your business safe from ransomware, and more!

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  • podcast

    Threat Intelligence, with Evgueni Erchov and Stephen Ramey, Part 2

    Kevin Smith, Marc Belicher, Evgueni Erchov, and Stephen Ramey to continue their discussion on Threat Intelligence.

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