How worried should we be and how can we prevent a social engineering attack?
HPE, MGM, Trans-Northern Pipelines, United Health, AT&T – ransomware attacks have hit some of the most recognizable names in our world.
Ransomware activity dramatically increased by 50% in the first half of 2023, driven largely by the emergence of Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) kits. Shockingly, these kits are available for no more than the cost of a standard tank of gas.
The global losses from ransomware attacks exceed $1 billion U.S. annually. Each year, we’re losing millions of dollars to meticulously-orchestrated, social engineering attacks.
Allison Nixon, Chief Research Officer from Unit 221b, said it best “The level of cybercrime has risen to the point where it feels overwhelming. And every year it gets worse. And it feels like as defenders we're-- it's almost like we're winning every battle and losing the war.”
So, what can we do as cybersecurity leaders to protect our organization from the growing and evolving threat landscape?
Let’s take a look at the actors behind these attacks, their methods, and explore strategies to effectively mitigate these challenges. 👇
It’s important to understand who we’re dealing with. Ransomware has been around since the era of floppy disks and Cheers. But, up until the last several years, bad actors focused on attacking a large number of individual users.
Today? “Big-game hunting” is their modus operandi, which involves attacking larger corporations to extort larger sums of money.
Scattered Spider is the most notable group of cybercriminals – a young, interconnected web of hackers with a distinctly "Westernized" background.
Now, why’s that important?
Scattered Spider’s initial access point is typically through a customer’s cloud environment, where they “use multiple social engineering techniques, especially phishing, push bombing, and subscriber identity module (SIM) swap attacks, to obtain credentials, install remote access tools, and/or bypass multi-factor authentication (MFA).” (CISA)
We’re no longer in the age of “we can spot a phishing email from a mile away.” These Western cybercriminals (who may be working in conjunction with other notorious groups like BlackCat), are using social networks, predominantly LinkedIn, to find information they then use when sending highly-personalized phishing emails.
They sound like, act like, and interact like those around us because well, they’re living around us.
Becoming resilient is a two-pronged approach – preparing employees for inevitable attacks and fortifying networks with an out-of-the-box, layered anti-ransomware solution. 👇
With the growing shortage of cybersecurity professionals, the World Econonic forum stated, “Gartner predicts that a lack of talent or human failure will be responsible for over half of significant cyber incidents by 2025.”
What’s the point of investing millions of dollars into a security stack if someone inside leaves the door wide open?
Without skilled professionals, it’s nearly impossible to predict and prevent attacks.
Red Canary, a leading MDR provider, echoes this sentiment and developed Readiness Exercises, which is a learning experience platform that enables teams to continuously train for real-world situations, so they can get ready and stay ready for today’s top cyber threats.
Red Canary’s scenarios are inspired by real-world threat intelligence and adversary research gathered from millions of investigations each year. They align this expertise with industry standards like NIST and MITRE ATT&CK® to prepare teams for the most critical scenarios, including those making headlines.
But here's the kicker: their Readiness Exercises aren't your run-of-the-mill training. They combine training, tabletop exercises, and atomic tests into one seamless experience tailored to your environment. This hands-on approach ensures that lessons are relevant and impactful.
💡Ready to stay ahead of adversaries? Contact [email protected] to schedule a free demo!
Ransomware cybercriminals such as Scattered Spider are pilfering resources from compromised environments to discover additional entry points and penetrate deeper into networks. They systematically target each layer of defense and move laterally once inside.
So, with a dynamic and strategic attack approach comes the need for a layered defense solution that can’t be circumvented.
The Halcyon Anti-Ransomware Platform, is the first ransomware resilience platform that “combines multiple advanced prevention engines along with AI models focused specifically on stopping ransomware.”
Easy to employ and seamless to integrate with your current endpoint solution, it’s unique, multi-layered approach:
✅ “Detects and blocks both known (+ unknown) ransomware via multi-layer, AI-powered prevention, detection and response engines.
✅ Delivers built-in endpoint agent hardening, and ensures existing solutions are protected from bypass and unhooking techniques.
✅ Provides redundant resiliency features through autonomous host isolation and encryption key capture for swift automated recovery.”
👍Ready for a conflict-free, no surprises solution? Email Collin at [email protected].
Castor Security is a leading cybersecurity partner dedicated to providing innovative, transparent security solutions. They strategically identify security gaps, disjointed processes, and vulnerabilities, implementing tailored solutions to fortify your defenses and ensure seamless integration with your existing infrastructure.
To learn more about our customizable solutions, please email Collin McKinzie at [email protected].