Organizations are falling victim to ransomware attacks where data is stolen, but the victim isn’t being told about it. I have a theory as to why this is happening.
Many assume data is being exfiltrated as part of a ransomware attack and it’s going to be used as part of the extortion component of the attack. But according to Arctic Wolf’s The State of Cybersecurity: 2024 Trends Report, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
I recently covered that ransomware is now felt by 91% of organizations – half of them within the last 12 months, according to Arctic Wolf. But, of the victim organizations, only 57% were notified of the data exfiltration by the ransomware perpetrators!
I believe the reason for this is espionage.
I also recently talked about how espionage-intent threat groups are using ransomware as a diversion tactic in cyberattacks. In essence, the goal is to steal secrets, but to cover their tracks, threat actors launch ransomware.
But, regardless of the motivation, the lack of notification can just as easily be motivated by maintaining persistence to sell the access to another threat group. Regardless of the reason, all this makes the case of why it’s critical to ensure your organization has the highest level of controls in place – which should include new-school security awareness training.
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