Researchers disclose top flaws abused by ransomware gangs
Easy-to-follow list may give organizations time to prepare for ransomware attacks


Security researchers have prepared a list of flaws commonly used by cyber crime gangs in ransomware attacks to infiltrate victim’s networks.
Last weekend, Allan Liska, a member of Recorded Future's CSIRT, tweeted the call to action to fellow security professionals. He asked his followers to send in the vulnerabilities they often see used to gain access to networks.
In the space of day, various contributors listed security flaws found in several products from hardware and software vendors. Pancek3, another researcher on Twitter, created and later tweeted out, a simple diagram of flaws commonly used in ransomware attacks that should enable organizations to prioritize points of their infrastructure that need defending.
Among the flaws used by ransomware attacks are ones found in Pulse SecureVPN, Citrix, Microsoft Exchange, Fortinet, and SonicWall, to name a few.
Liska and others’ efforts over the last few days come after various government and private company initiatives to fend off the growing surge in ransomware attacks.
Last month, CISA, Microsoft, Google Cloud, and AWS, launched a Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC), to guard critical infrastructure against ransomware.
RELATED RESOURCE
Earlier this year, CISA published a new module for its Cyber Security Evaluation Tool (CSET) to enable organizations to assess their security posture concerning ransomware attacks.
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
Eoin Keary, CEO and founder of Edgescan told IT Pro that what is important to note is a significant number of the vulnerabilities are two to three years old.
“Industrialized cyber crime is not leveraging ‘zero day’ payloads or exploits, but rather focusing on the ‘old reliables.’ This brings me to the conclusion that we have a lot of work to do in terms of both continuous visibility, vulnerability detection and mitigation of discovered vulnerabilities, such as good patching cadence. The days of singular point-in-time penetration tests are over, and organizations need to move towards a more continuous model,” he said
Keary added: "Many ransomware attacks begin with a human-led breach followed by pivoting across the network and exploitation. It is also necessary to discuss ‘internal’ or non-public cyber security postures.”
“Prevention is important, but we also need more focus on resilience. Resilience can mean good vulnerability management, network segmentation, monitoring, and visibility as a start. In addition, simple activities like frequent backups can reduce the impact of a successful ransomware attack.”
Rene Millman is a freelance writer and broadcaster who covers cybersecurity, AI, IoT, and the cloud. He also works as a contributing analyst at GigaOm and has previously worked as an analyst for Gartner covering the infrastructure market. He has made numerous television appearances to give his views and expertise on technology trends and companies that affect and shape our lives. You can follow Rene Millman on Twitter.
-
How to implement a four-day week in tech
In-depth More companies are switching to a four-day week as they look to balance employee well-being with productivity
-
Intelligence sharing: The boost for businesses
In-depth Intelligence sharing with peers is essential if critical sectors are to be protected
-
Hackers breached a 158 year old company by guessing an employee password – experts say it’s a ‘pertinent reminder’ of the devastating impact of cyber crime
News A Panorama documentary exposed hackers' techniques and talked to the teams trying to tackle them
-
The ransomware boom shows no signs of letting up – and these groups are causing the most chaos
News Thousands of ransomware cases have already been posted on the dark web this year
-
Everything we know about the Ingram Micro cyber attack so far
News A cyber attack on Ingram Micro severely disrupted operations and has been claimed by the SafePay ransomware group.
-
A prolific ransomware group says it’s shutting down and giving out free decryption keys to victims – but cyber experts warn it's not exactly a 'gesture of goodwill'
News The Hunters International ransomware group is rebranding and switching tactics
-
Swiss government data published following supply chain attack – here’s what we know about the culprits
News Radix, a non-profit organization in the health promotion sector, supplies a number of federal offices, whose data has apparently been accessed.
-
Ransomware victims are getting better at haggling with hackers
News While nearly half of companies paid a ransom to get their data back last year, victims are taking an increasingly hard line with hackers to strike fair deals.
-
LockBit data dump reveals a treasure trove of intel on the notorious hacker group
News An analysis of May's SQL database dump shows how much LockBit was really making
-
‘I take pleasure in thinking I can rid society of at least some of them’: A cyber vigilante is dumping information on notorious ransomware criminals – and security experts say police will be keeping close tabs
News An anonymous whistleblower has released large amounts of data allegedly linked to the ransomware gangs