Over 100 public-sector ransomware attacks were reported in the US in 2019, roughly double the amount in 2018. The actual number of attacks, however, is likely much larger; many are never reported to federal law enforcement.
Jackson County, Georgia paid $400,000 in March to retrieve the county's data from the hackers that stole it, rather than rebuild its networks altogether. The city of Riviera Beach, Florida, paid $600,000 in a similar case in June. These are just two of the many poorly-secured local governments, businesses, and schools that have been forced to hand over millions of dollars to hackers who can buy ransomware as a service kits for cheap on the dark web.
In an effort to respond to the problem, the FBI quietly invited corporate ransomware experts to a two-day, closed-door conference in September. It was an unprecedented admission by the federal agency that it must rely on the private sector for more data to better investigate ransomware cases.
FBI cyber division section chief Herb Stapleton said the goal of this "Ransomware Summit" was for corporate executives to "help us fill in some of the gaps in the intel" on ransomware threats: "There are probably thousands of attacks every year that aren't reported to the FBI."
The most popular ransomware strains targeting UK businesses Ransomware attacks on UK businesses soar 195% 40% of cybersecurity professionals think paying ransomware demands should be illegal
One executive estimated that the companies in attendance represented more than half of key responders to enterprise ransomware attacks. Among them were representatives from tech giant IBM and law firm Kroll, sharing their knowledge from tracking attackers to helping victims recover. Additionally, cyber insurance companies and a cryptocurrency-tracing Silicon Valley startup claimed seats at the table.
Many details from the summit fall under the "TLP Amber" designation, which prohibits attendees from sharing sensitive information. However, Stapleton told CyberScoop that the FBI requested executives to anonymise victim data and share it with federal officials to "round out" the bureau's picture of the threat.
According to Stapleton, executives asked for a list of the types of information they could provide the FBI to assist in future investigations. In exchange, the bureau updated them on the current climate of ransomware threats.
"Some of these private-sector entities have a lot broader reach than the FBI does," Stapleton admitted. "They have clients who are already concerned with these types of things and there's an opportunity [via the conference] for a unified message about instituting proper back-up protocols for your data."
One attendee, Coveware CEO Bill Siegel, praised the conference for fostering cooperation between federal and private ransomware specialists. Such discussions, he said, can "greatly augment investigations [and] recovery".
Stapleton agreed that the forum will lay the foundation for more thorough discourse between federal officials and the private sector on how to respond to future ransomware threats.
-
US gov makes $2bn investment in domestic quantum firmsNews The Department of Commerce says it wants to strengthen the country's presence in this critical technology sector
-
Data center industry faces ticking power time bombNews Technical and regulatory hurdles make colocation unscalable for most developers, Wood Mackenzie has warned
-
Instructure chose to a pay ransom following the Canvas cyber attack – research shows more than half of security leaders would follow suitAnalysis Opting to pay ransoms creates huge risks for enterprises – you’re relying on the word of criminals
-
Ransomware negotiator sentenced for role in major cyber crime groupNews Deniss Zolotarjovs was a key player in a group associated with Conti
-
Threat actors ditch ‘spray and pray’ attacks in shift to targeted exploitationNews A dip in ransomware volumes points to a more targeted approach focused on vulnerability exploitation
-
Security leaders overconfident about ransomware recoveryNews Few manage to recover all their data, and many experience business disruption
-
German authorities want your help finding the hackers behind GandCrab and REvilNews Daniil Maksimovich Shchukin and Anatoly Sergeevitsch Kravchuk are believed to have made millions from ransomware as a service schemes
-
The rise of teen hackers ‘makes for a good headline’, but cyber crime activities peak later in life
News With family responsibilities and mortgages to pay, it's not teenagers dishing out malware or carrying out cyber extortion
-
Ransomware gangs are using employee monitoring software as a springboard for cyber attacks
News Two attempted attacks aimed to exploit Net Monitor for Employees Professional and SimpleHelp
-
Ransomware gangs are sharing virtual machines to wage cyber attacks on the cheap – but it could be their undoingNews Thousands of attacker servers all had the same autogenerated Windows hostnames, according to Sophos
