Saturday, July 3, 2021

"US companies hit by 'colossal' cyber-attack"

 From the BBC, July 3:

About 200 US businesses have been hit by a "colossal" ransomware attack, according to a cyber-security firm.

Huntress Labs said the hack targeted Florida-based IT company Kaseya before spreading through corporate networks that use its software.

Kaseya said in a statement on its own website that it was investigating a "potential attack".

Huntress Labs said it believed the Russia-linked REvil ransomware gang was responsible.

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, a federal agency, said in a statement that it was taking action to address the attack.

The cyber-breach emerged on Friday afternoon as companies across the US were clocking off for the long Independence Day weekend.....

....MUCH MORE 

Presentational grey line

The two big things that are keeping cyber-security professionals up at night lately are ransomware attacks and supply chain attacks. This latest incident combines both nightmares into one big Independence Holiday weekend-ruining event for hundreds of US IT teams.

Ransomware is the scourge of the internet. Multiple organised criminal gangs are constantly attempting to gain access to computer networks to hold them hostage. The rate of attack is relentless but it can take a lot of time and effort on the criminals part to successfully hijack one victim's computer system.

In this latest incident the hackers showed that by going after the software supplier of multiple organisations they can pop dozens, perhaps hundreds of victims in one go. We've seen horrendous supply chain attacks in the past but this one has the potential to be the biggest incident involving ransomware yet.

It shows that ransomware gangs are thinking creatively about how to have the most impact possible and command the biggest ransom possible.

Presentational grey line