Malware

The voluntary, collaborative posture taken by different private and public stakeholders is what sets this takedown apart from others.

Cybercriminals have been using a phishing kit featuring fake Office 365 password alerts as a lure to target the credentials of chief executives, business owners and other high-level corporate leaders – often companies' biggest security liabilities.

Depending on how widespread the compromises were, it could potentially taint some research and defensive strategies that threat intelligence firms share with businesses and other organizations.

Today’s columnist, Ofer Israeli of Illusive Networks, says ransomware attacks like the one last year on George Washington University Hospital won’t subside when the pandemic finally ends. He argues that security teams need to take on a tough, new mindset he calls ‘Triple Zero’ to lock down organizations.

While the threat actor’s motives are not fully apparent, researchers believe it was an effort to conduct reconnaissance for future campaigns.

The effort encourages governments, schools and private companies to take steps to protect their systems and data from ransomware.

Based on the malware features, the researchers said the attackers use the compromised systems for further attacks, spreading laterally across the victim company’s network, or launching attacks on outside targets while masquerading as the compromised company.