Be Cyber Safe | Issue 211
March 7, 2025
In this issue of Be Cyber Safe
Happy St. Patrick’s Day a few days early! Here is what’s in this week’s Be Cyber Safe!
- Triple Threat: Is Triple Extortion the Future of Ransomware?
- The Cyber Alert Level – GUARDED
- Up to $75M needed to fix up rural hospital cybersecurity as ransomware gangs keep scratching at the door
- Ransomware gang encrypted network from a webcam to bypass EDR
- In Cyber Security Humor – Not an option in 2025!
- Commonwealth Sentinel expands our social media presence
In the next few weeks, we will unveil an exciting opportunity to empower your organization to improve cyber security through training. Look for more information shortly!
Have a great weekend and #BeCyberSafe!
Triple Threat: Is Triple Extortion the Future of Ransomware?
You’ve probably heard of ransomware, but have you heard of triple extortion ransomware? Ransomware is a type of cybercrime where attackers use encryption to prevent users from accessing their sensitive data until a ransom is paid, which is often substantial.
In recent months, we have written a lot about Double Extortion Ransomware. That’s when cyber criminals encrypt sensitive user data and threaten to publish it on the dark web, sell it to the highest bidder, or permanently restrict access if the ransom is unpaid by a deadline. Organizations can often recover lost information from previous backups, but it’s much more challenging to stop sensitive data from leaking after this attack.
Now, a third layer is being added to the mix to increase pressure on the victim to make more or higher payments. In a triple extortion attack, ransomware actors up the ante.
What Is Triple Extortion?
There are three layers to the attack. The first is the ransomware itself: Pay a fee or lose your data forever. The second is threatening to release your private information, either on the Dark Web or to the public, unless you give them even more money.
On March 12, the Cyber Threat Alert Level was evaluated and is remaining at Blue (Guarded) due to multiple vulnerabilities in Google, Fortinet, Microsoft, Adobe, and Mozilla products.
Cyber Security News Worth Reading!
FROM THE REGISTER
Up to $75M needed to fix up rural hospital cybersecurity as ransomware gangs keep scratching at the door
It will cost upward of $75 million to address the cybersecurity needs of rural US hospitals, Microsoft reckons, as mounting closures threaten the lives of Americans.
Hospitals are routinely targeted by cybercriminals because system availability is acutely linked to mortality rates, and rural facilities are often the least secure with 93 percent of malicious activity stemming from phishing and ransomware.
When attacks strike, Microsoft research suggests 20 percent of hospitals experience increased patient mortality following a cyberattack, and when rural hospital numbers are declining rapidly, patient outcomes are also affected by having to travel farther to receive the required care.
Microsoft said it would cost an estimated $30,000 to $40,000 per rural hospital to raise its security posture to basic standards. This would include implementing MFA, unified identity management, and separating user and privileged accounts so that the most common attacks could be largely mitigated.
FROM BLEEPING COMPUTER
Ransomware gang encrypted network from a webcam to bypass EDR
The Akira ransomware gang was spotted using an unsecured webcam to launch encryption attacks on a victim’s network, effectively circumventing Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), which was blocking the encryptor in Windows.
Cybersecurity firm S-RM team discovered the unusual attack method during a recent incident response at one of their clients.
Notably, Akira only pivoted to the webcam after attempting to deploy encryptors on Windows, which were blocked by the victim’s EDR solution.
Cyber Security Humor
