Ransomware has been a thorn in the side of IT security practitioners for the better part of three decades, and it shows no signs of dissipating. This form of data theft extortion continues to run rampant through organizations of all types and sizes.
Although ransomware methods and tactics have grown increasingly sophisticated in recent years, the typical attack still follows a consistent series of steps, beginning with malware distribution and culminating in extortion. A thorough understanding of the ransomware lifecycle can give security teams important insight into defending against such attacks.
The ransomware lifecycle usually includes the following stages.
1. Malware distribution and infection
To launch the ransomware lifecycle, operators must distribute malware that lets them access an organization’s data and eventually hold it hostage.
The most common method of ransomware distribution is email — specifically, malicious attached documents and embedded URLs in phishing emails. Cybercriminals use social engineering tactics to make these emails appear legitimate. When an unsuspecting user downloads and opens an attached file or clicks on a malicious link, it initiates the endpoint infection process.
Other ransomware distribution methods include exploitation of unpatched software vulnerabilities; exploitation of Remote Desktop Protocol; credential theft; infection of removable devices, such as USB thumb drives; and infection of pirated software.
A thorough understanding of the ransomware lifecycle can give security teams important insight into defending against such attacks.
2. Command and control
Once malware has successfully infected a target device, it typically begins communicating with what’s known as a command-and-control server (C&C server), located externally on the internet. This server, which threat actors control, is responsible for sending encryption keys to the target device. It might also download additional malware and network-probing software to facilitate discovery and lateral movement activity in the next phase of the attack.
The time between the initial infection stage and the command-and-control stage varies. In some cases,…
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Device lifecycle management helps agencies by cataloging minute details of each device in the agency’s environment. Device lifecycle management also can be part of a larger IT asset management system that involves software and networking equipment.
It is a key tool for IT leaders to know where each device is in its lifecycle and when it might be time to refresh or retire the asset.
As far as compliance is concerned, device lifecycle management is a way for IT leaders to know where the agency’s information lives and how it’s secured.
“One of the biggest things is taking security into account in the entire lifecycle,” Frazier says. “We still think of things as secure after the fact. We put it out there and oh, by the way, let’s make it secure. We can’t do that.
“As IT leaders, we have to be thinking for everything we build, from the time that we have it as a thought in our brain, we should be planning what the security is for that architecture,” he says. “We have to be thinking about the security implications.”
Conversations on device lifecycles often revolve around software because, as Frazier notes, “device lifecycle is software lifecycle,” and keeping both up to date is “a never-ending prospect.”
Process and policy are foundational to IT asset management, write David Comings and Randi Coughlin of CDW in a blog post. “They can ensure that unapproved or malicious downloads are discovered on the network and help automate security and compliance practices.”
Finances can be a limiting factor when establishing a device lifecycle management system. The agency must consider the cost of acquiring new devices and the cost of managing them, including efforts to maintain security and compliance.
On one hand, keeping devices in use for a longer time lowers the overall cost of ownership, but it extends the energy and resources of the IT team to manage them.
“The longer you’re hanging on to devices, the more types of things you’re likely to be supporting — the more varieties of desktop models or…
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Patni Computer Systems (BSE: PATNI COMPUT, NSE: PATNI, NYSE: PTI), a leading global IT and BPO services provider, today announced a new solution to complete the lifecycle management of financial data for diversified, global financial institutions …
