Tag Archive for: Nov.

Ransomware Payments Down By 40% in 2022 | Is Ransomware Still on the Rise? | by Dominic Alegrete | Nov, 2023

/in


Ransomware groups extorted $456.8 million from organizations in 2022, less than the last two years.

2022 saw a lot of attacks such as phishing, DDoS, and ransomware, specifically ransomware groups extorting $456.8 million from companies. This marked a drop in money extorted by 40% from the previous two years that saw record-breaking highs with it being $765 million.

The decline in ransomware profits isn’t from fewer attacks but is stimulated by victims deciding not to pay the hackers. Ransomware in general was very active in 2022, with thousands of file-encrypting malware strains targeting organizations of all sizes and sectors.

Due to payments decreasing this also resulted in the average lifespan of a ransomware strain dropping from 153 days in 2021 to just 70 in 2022. Despite multiple extortion tactics such as leaking data and file encryption of DDoS attacks, victims are still refusing to pay the ransom and meet the attacker’s demands.

Coveware a cyber threat intelligence firm has identified the trend since 2019 and stated that the victim paying rates are constantly going down. In 2019 76% of victims decided to pay the ransom while 26% decided to not pay and deal with the consequences. Since then each year the percentage of victims paying has gone down and the victims that did not pay has gone up by 19=20%.

Ransomware attacks can have severe consequences on organizations ranging from files stolen, loss of revenue, and a tarnished reputation due to the severity of the attack. Many popular groups like LockBit, Hive, Cuba, Royal, Ragar, and BlackCat emerged through 2022 as the new ransomware-as-a-service groups. All the main groups I mentioned above make up 75% of all ransomware strains distributed to victims.

This past year has taken a turn for the better, 2022 was the first year that more ransomware victims did not pay. The approach changing stems from victims realizing that paying the ransom does not guarantee their files will be given back or not deleted. Another reason is that the perception of ransomware attacks has matured, and companies know what kind of news it brings if they were to pay to cause their reputation to be tarnished. Lastly, organizations may be implementing…

Source…

Keeping your computer safe is topic of Nov. 14 Friends of Oak Ridge National Lab lecture

/in


“How to keep your computer (and you) safe” is the topic of the next Friends of Oak Ridge National Laboratory monthly noon lecture meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 14.

The speaker will be James A. “Jim” Rome, a retired ORNL researcher who has expertise on computer security and is a webmaster for several nonprofit organizations, including FORNL.

James A. "Jim" RomeJames A. "Jim" Rome

James A. “Jim” Rome

He will deliver his lecture at the UT Resource Center, 1201 Oak Ridge Turnpike. Attendees may bring their own lunch to eat. To view the virtual noon lecture, click on the talk title on the homepage of the www.fornl.org website and then click on the Zoom link near the top of the page describing the lecture.

“Computer crime is a multi-trillion dollar business,” Rome said. “Unfortunately, the bad guys are winning. I will speak on how to proactively take steps to remain safe on the internet and how to protect your devices.”

Rome, who calls himself “a computer security paranoid,” spent the latter part of his career at ORNL providing computer security for classified systems.

After receiving four degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he started his career in 1971 at ORNL as a theoretical plasma physicist with the Fusion Energy Division, where he conducted research for 25 years. He specialized in doing configuration design and following charged particle orbits in fusion devices.

In the 1970s when personal computers first became available, Rome co-write a scientific graphics program, called GraphiC, for PCs.

He later moved to ORNL’s Computer Science and Mathematics Division, where he specialized in air traffic analysis and worked on making computer workstations “multi-level secure.”

He managed ORNL computer security for the National Science Foundation’s TeraGrid, a high-speed network that connected supercomputers and facilities at many universities. He also created a public key infrastructure to enable secure, encrypted logins and access to online Lab Notebooks.

Rome is author or co-author of 155 publications, and a fellow of the American Physical Society.  You can learn more about him on his jamesrome.net website.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Keeping your computer safe is…

Source…

Racing to the finish: How cyberwarfare could end everything | Nov. 23-29, 2022

/in


‘This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race’ By Nicole Perlroth | 2020 | Hardcover, $30 | Nonfiction, political science | Available at the Seattle Public Library

Nicole Perlroth is a cybersecurity journalist for the New York Times. The title of her 2020 book, “This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends,” is intended to make it crystal clear just how dangerous of a situation we are facing. Reading like a fast-paced novel, this is a story you don’t want to ignore: How the evolution of cybercrimes and cyberespionage is leading to cyberwarfare. 

Perlroth begins by telling how, years before the current invasion, Russia cyber-attacked Ukraine repeatedly, shutting down government agencies, railways, ATMs, gas stations and even heat and power in the dead of winter. During a national election, Russian hackers stole campaign emails and voter data, deleted files and implanted malware, severely disrupting the election. This was a proving ground for future Russian attacks elsewhere, including in the United States. 

In telling this story, Perlroth defines key cybercrime terms, such as “zero-days,” which are a software or hardware flaw for which there is no existing patch. “Zero-days are the most critical tool in a hacker’s arsenal,” she writes — and these flaws can go undiscovered for years. Who’s the biggest exploiter of zero-days? The National Security Agency (NSA). Government-sponsored hackers such as the NSA absolutely love zero-days. 

As the biggest culprit of cyberattacks, the NSA has an elite hacking division focused on exploiting technology for use in surveillance. One tactic the agency uses is putting “back doors” into computer chips, which allow unauthorized entry into “nearly every piece of commercial hardware and software on the market.” Perlroth reports that the NSA has attacked almost “every major app, social media platform, server, router, firewall, antivirus software, iPhone, Android phone, BlackBerry phone, laptop, desktop and operating system.” The NSA has hacking tools that let them “break into and spy on devices when they were offline, or even turned off. The agency can skirt most…

Source…

Live Rogue Valley music, wineries, Clayfolk Show & Sale and more: Nov. 18 – Medford News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News

/in


Mugs are a perennial favorite at the annual Clayfolk Show & Sale. See listing. Courtesy photo

*Note: To submit your event to Tempo, email information to [email protected].

Friday, Nov. 18

Clayfolk Show & Sale: The 47th annual Fall Clayfolk Show and Sale will be held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 18-19, and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 20, at the Medford Armory, 1701 S. Pacific Highway, Medford. Look for everything from functional housewares to jewelry and sculpture created by more than 60 artists from throughout the Pacific Northwest. Also look for day demonstrations by ceramic artists. Admission is free. A portion of sales go towards annual scholarships for ceramics artists enrolled at a college or art school, as well as ceramics books and videos donated to Jackson and Josephine county libraries. See clayfolk.org.

Spanish Language Group: English speakers with at least an intermediate knowledge of Spanish can meet at 11 a.m. Fridays, at the Santos Community Center, 701 N. Columbus Ave., Medford. Look for casual, supportive conversation and interpretation. Native speakers are welcome to help. Call 541-499-6646.

Medford Garden Club: The club will meet at 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18, at Ascension Lutheran Church, 675 Black Oak Drive, Medford. The guest speaker will be Marsha Waite, local Master Garden Association expert and Plant Clinic leader, who will present “Controlling Your Least Favorite Garden Pests.” This presentation will review a few of the worst garden insect pests in our area and how to control them, using mechanical and organic means. See Medford Oregon Garden Club on Facebook or call 541-773-6884.

Adult Crafternoon: Adults 18 and older can meet to learn how to personalize a set of cloth napkins for fall with a leaf print, using locally-gathered leaves at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18, at the Talent library, 101 Home St. All materials will be provided. For further details see jcls.org and click on Programs & Events and then JCLS Calendar or call 541-535-4163.

Gold Hill Book Club: The Gold Hill Library Book Club…

Source…