Without a doubt, the increased frequency and intensified scale of ransomware attacks are becoming a significant issue for tens of thousands of companies worldwide. For example, between January 2020 and July 2022, companies in the United States were the target of over half of all publicly confirmed ransomware attacks worldwide, according to data gathered by NordLocker.
Exploring the widespread impacts of ransomware attacks, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center published its 2021 Internet Crime Report, which revealed that ransomware assaults climbed by 82% between 2019 and 2021. In addition, the overall cost of assaults grew by 449 percent within the same period. In 2021, ransomware was responsible for $49 million in damages, according to the FBI. However, these losses are probably definitely an underestimation since they do not account for expenses that were not disclosed to the FBI. Neither does this figure cover the cost of lost data, time, money, equipment, or third-party clean-up.
Multiple threat actors exploit cybersecurity flaws to encrypt the data of all types of organizations, ranging from commercial companies to government agencies. PhishLabs' report by Fortran found that ransomware assaults are expanding by more than 100 % annually. The research explains that ransomware operators are vandalizing critical systems and uploading stolen data in record numbers. Firms that fall victim to an assault often feel helpless to find a solution due to the threat's constant growth. In addition, the cost of ransomware assaults is rising, with the average ransom demand reaching $220,298 in 2021 and related recovery expenses totaling $1.8 million.
Cloudwards estimates that 37% of all enterprises and organizations were affected by ransomware in 2021, with 32% paying the ransom but recovering just 65% of their data. Furthermore, because of the substantial profits that can be made via ransomware attacks and the intense rivalry between ransomware gangs, ransomware and its agents are continuously adapting their strategies and developing new ones.
Before actually encrypting a company's data, some ransomware gangs now use a strategy involving the ransomware operator stealing confidential information from the targeted business. Then, if the demanded ransom amount is not paid, the ransomware group will threaten to publish the encrypted data publicly. Sometimes ransomware operators take threats even further by using the third stage of extortion, which may involve placing threatening phone calls to workers or initiating denial-of-service (DoS) assaults on the websites of businesses.
As time has progressed, ransomware has gone from being a simple, pre-programmed threat to a sophisticated, human-driven, adaptable, and globally-focused one. Modern ransomware attacks sometimes incorporate extensive data theft in addition to encryption to increase the potential damage to the victim and, by extension, the attacker's chances of collecting a larger compensation. With double extortion, attackers threaten to reveal sensitive data they have stolen if the victims do not pay the ransom. As a result, victims of successful ransomware operations may suffer irreparable harm.
Human-operated ransomware assaults are one of the most hazardous types of cyberattacks now trending because they use a variety of techniques to succeed, one of which is the use of command and control (C2) infrastructure. These attacks often begin with the recipient opening a spear-phished email containing a malicious attachment. This attachment typically contacts a C2 server to get further instructions and execute any necessary payloads. Subsequently, these payloads stay put on the device. They communicate with a set of C2s periodically, waiting for instructions and control from a human operator as part of ransomware-as-a-service. After the first hands-on-keyboard phase, post-exploitation frameworks are often controlled from a distant C2 to carry out activities, including reconnaissance, privilege escalation, lateral movement throughout the network, data exfiltration, and bulk file encryption.
Uncovering the Impact of Ransomware Attacks on Businesses
Let us look at the potential harm a ransomware assault might bring to a small or medium-sized firm.
Every company should include penetration testing in its cybersecurity strategy. Working closely with a penetration testing partner will aid in streamlining the operation, swiftly identifying vulnerabilities, and providing direction for implementing risk mitigation solutions against ransomware assaults.
Attackers often use weaknesses to spread ransomware. To fight ransomware, it is necessary to identify these weaknesses. The penetration testing process involves the following:
While ransomware prevention is focused on attempting to prevent and trying to defeat attacks, the objective of a disaster recovery (D.R.) solution is to guarantee that data and/or infrastructure are accessible to restore operations as soon as possible, with the least amount of information loss and the lowest amount of downtime.
To help enterprises get ahead of cyber hazards, the Truvantis penetration testing team employs a hands-on strategy with specialized technologies. Through working with us, your company will be able to not only fix the problems we find but also locate noncompliance issues and resolve them, create better rules and regulations and establish a practical security system.
Truvantis® is a cybersecurity consulting organization providing best-in-class cybersecurity services to secure your organization's infrastructure, data, operations and products. We specialize in helping our customers improve their cybersecurity posture by implementing, testing, auditing and operating information security programs.