Giacomo Lanzi
Critical ransomware: examples of successful attacks
There have been critical cases of ransomware of note lately. Tor Vergata University suffered an attack that knocked out about a hundred computers. Access to the systems by teachers and students has been blocked. The attack affected a number of documents related to COVID-19 research that were encrypted and then made inaccessible. In addition, two other noteworthy cases shook hospitals in September. The first took place in Germany, in Düsseldorf, where a woman lost her life following an attack that also blocked the machinery that kept her alive. The second happened in the USA and involved UHS (Universal Health Services). In that case, patient care was kept secure, but the IT applications were out of order.
For the uninitiated, ransomware-type attacks happen this way: attackers take possession of the data on a computer and remove or encrypt it. They ultimately render them unusable and require the victim to pay a ransom to free up the data again.
The costs of an attack
According to the Cost of a Data Breach report, a critical ransomware attack can cost an average of $ 4.44M. It is an impressive figure that should make us reflect on the value of data managed by companies and on their protection.
Let’s see in detail some attacks and what consequences they had.
A fatal ransomware
For the first time, a woman dies after a cyber attack on a hospital. On September 9, 2020, a critical ransomware attack, launched at a hospital in Düsseldorf, caused the vital systems to which the patient was connected to no longer function properly. The victim had to be transferred to another hospital as quickly as possible. For more than 30 kilometers, the paramedics fought for the victim’s life, but ultimately without success. Many questions remain pending regarding this case, first of all why the machines that kept the woman alive were connected to a hackable network. The investigations continue, however, showing how the network must be protected for the physical safety of users, to avoid tragic consequences.
An attack on research
The access of students and teachers was blocked at the University of Tor Vergata with a critical ransomware attack that made documents concerning the research on COVID-19 inaccessible. The attackers managed to break into systems within hours and encrypt files on hard drives. A month later, no ransom had yet been requested.
Such an attack could slow down the search, hampering the process. Even if no ransom was required, the damage would still be tangible.
Attack on UHS
Fortunately, it finished better than the attack in Düsseldorf, another episode hit areas close to health. Facilities using Universal Health Services (UHS) systems have seen access to the system freeze due to an attack. Fortunately, there were no casualties and patient care was guaranteed all the time, as stated by UHS itself.
Other critical ransomware attacks
Critical ransomware attacks happen all the time and can have non-immediate implications. For example, Fragomen, a New York law firm, suffered an attack and a consequent data breach involving the personal data of some Google employees.
Another attack hit Enel, which was asked for a ransom of € 14M in bitcoin. The attack refers to the download of private data, contacts, databases, financial and customer documents for a total of 4.5 TB. Enel did not provide any press release regarding the attack.
Run for cover
Unfortunately, ransomware attacks are among the most subtle and annoying, because they also leverage a psychological factor of the victim who sees a way out (payment) and tries to cover what happened in order not to lose reputation.Unfortunately, following a successful attack, the data is still breached and security has proved ineffective.
So how do you make sure these attacks are neutralized? Adequate security measures must be implemented to prevent attacks as much as possible and provide a quick response in critical situations.
Security services
Services such as those offered in partnership with Acronis and SOD’s SOCaaS are essential tools for defending your data and corporate network. The first proposed service secures data through backups and monitors file changes. As soon as an encryption attempt is detected, the data is locked and secured to avoid the worst. In the unfortunate event that the attack is successful, backups reduce the severity of the consequences and prevent actual data loss.
SOC as a Service is an all-round solution that monitors all the IT infrastructure referred to. The defense is not specific to a type of attack, but instead focuses on detecting anomalies, even in user behavior, which can indicate ongoing attacks of all kinds.
Prevention
Finally, to verify that your system is protected, it is possible to request preventive services such as Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Test. These test the infrastructures with controlled attacks in order to stimulate the security response and identify the areas that need to be reinforced. We recommend implementing this type of service regularly throughout the year as a preventative measure.
If you have any questions about the services or want to talk to us about your situation to request an intervention, do not hesitate to contact us, we will be happy to answer your questions.
Useful links:
Acronis Disaster Recovery Cloud
The most dangerous Ransomware in 2020
Acronis Active Protection: defense against ransomware
Contact us
Contact us
Share
RSS
More Articles…
- Secure Online Desktop 10 years later: our corporate anniversary
- Air-Fi: attacking computers that are disconnected and without network hardware is possible
- Examples of phishing: the latest campaigns mentioned by the CSIRT
- Event Overload? Our SOCaaS can help!
- Business email compromise (BEC) schemes
- XDR as an approach to security
- What is threat intelligence?
- Data Loss Prevention: definition and uses
Categories …
- Backup as a Service (2)
- Acronis Cloud Backup (11)
- Veeam Cloud Connect (4)
- Cloud Conference (3)
- Cloud CRM (1)
- Cloud Server/VPS (20)
- Conferenza Cloud (4)
- ICT Monitoring (4)
- Log Management (2)
- News (18)
- ownCloud (4)
- Privacy (6)
- Secure Online Desktop (14)
- Security (11)
- Ethical Phishing (6)
- SOCaaS (18)
- Vulnerabilities (83)
- Web Hosting (15)
Tags
Dark Reading:
- Don't Get Stymied by Security Indecision June 16, 2021You might be increasing cyber-risk by not actively working to reduce it.
- Thousands of VMware vCenter Servers Remain Open to Attack Over the Internet June 15, 2021Three weeks after company disclosed two critical vulnerabilities in the workload management utility, many organizations have not patched the technology yet, security vendor says.
- Microsoft Disrupts Large-Scale BEC Campaign Across Web Services June 15, 2021Attackers had used the cloud-based infrastructure to target mailboxes and add forwarding rules to learn about financial transactions.
- Security Experts Scrutinize Apple, Amazon IoT Networks June 15, 2021Both companies have done their due diligence in creating connected-device networks, but the pervasiveness of the devices worries some security researchers.
- Andariel Group Targets South Korean Entities in New Campaign June 15, 2021Andariel, designated as a sub-group of the Lazarus Group APT, has historically targeted South Korean organzations.
- Deloitte Buys Terbium Labs to Expand Threat Intel Capabilities June 15, 2021Terbium Labs' products and services will become part of Deloitte's Detect & Respond lineup, the company confirms.
- What Industrial Control System Vulnerabilities Can Teach Us About Protecting the Supply Chain June 15, 2021Older technologies used in industrial and critical infrastructure leave the sector highly vulnerable to attack, but organizations can take steps to better protect themselves.
- How President Biden Can Better Defend the US From Russian Hacks June 15, 2021Wilson Center cybersecurity expert Meg King pinpoints five ambitious steps the administration should take, including a comprehensive national data breach notification protocol.
- How Does the Government Buy Its Cybersecurity? June 15, 2021The federal government is emphasizing cybersecurity regulation, education, and defense strategies this year.
- VPN Attacks Surged in First Quarter June 14, 2021But volume of malware, botnet, and other exploit activity declined because of the Emotet botnet takedown.
Full Disclosure
- Backdoor.Win32.Zombam.gen / Information Disclosure June 15, 2021Posted by malvuln on Jun 15Discovery / credits: Malvuln - malvuln.com (c) 2021 Original source: https://malvuln.com/advisory/ff6516c881dee555b0cd253408b64404_D.txt Contact: malvuln13 () gmail com Media: twitter.com/malvuln Threat: Backdoor.Win32.Zombam.gen Vulnerability: Information Disclosure Description: Zombam malware listens on TCP port 80 and deploys an unsecured HTML Web UI for basic remote administration capability. Third-party attackers who can reach an infected...
- Backdoor.Win32.VB.pld / Unauthenticated Remote Command Execution June 15, 2021Posted by malvuln on Jun 15Discovery / credits: Malvuln - malvuln.com (c) 2021 Original source: https://malvuln.com/advisory/6ff35087d789f7aca6c0e3396984894e_B.txt Contact: malvuln13 () gmail com Media: twitter.com/malvuln Threat: Backdoor.Win32.VB.pld Vulnerability: Unauthenticated Remote Command Execution Description: The malware listens on TCP port 4000. Third-party attackers who can reach infected systems can connect to port 4000 and run commands made available […]
- Backdoor.Win32.VB.pld / Insecure Transit June 15, 2021Posted by malvuln on Jun 15Discovery / credits: Malvuln - malvuln.com (c) 2021 Original source: https://malvuln.com/advisory/6ff35087d789f7aca6c0e3396984894e.txt Contact: malvuln13 () gmail com Media: twitter.com/malvuln Threat: Backdoor.Win32.VB.pld Vulnerability: Insecure Transit Description: The malware listens on TCP port 4000 and has a chat feature "Hnadle-X Pro V1.0 Text Chat". Messages are passed in unencrypted plaintext across the network. […]
- popo2, kernel/tun driver bufferoverflow. June 15, 2021Posted by KJ Jung on Jun 15Linux kernel 5.4 version. latest. __tun_chr_ioctl function of ~/drivers/net/tun.c has a stack buffer overflow vulnerability. it get's arg, ifreq_len, and copy the arg(argp) to ifr(ifreq struct) and this steps are no bounds-checking. if cmd == TUNSETIFF or TUNSETQUEUE or and so on condition then it's enter copy_from_user function area.
- Onapsis Security Advisory 2021-0014: Missing authorization check in SAP Solution Manager LM-SERVICE Component SP 11 PL 2 June 14, 2021Posted by Onapsis Research via Fulldisclosure on Jun 14# Onapsis Security Advisory 2021-0014: Missing authorization check in SAP Solution Manager LM-SERVICE Component SP 11 PL 2 ## Impact on Business Due to a missing authorization check in SAP Solution Manager LM-SERVICE component a remote authenticated attacker could be able to execute privileged actions in the […]
- Onapsis Security Advisory 2021-0013: [CVE-2020-26829] - Missing Authentication Check In SAP NetWeaver AS JAVA P2P Cluster communication June 14, 2021Posted by Onapsis Research via Fulldisclosure on Jun 14# Onapsis Security Advisory 2021-0013: [CVE-2020-26829] - Missing Authentication Check In SAP NetWeaver AS JAVA P2P Cluster communication ## Impact on Business A malicious unauthenticated user could abuse the lack of authentication check on SAP Java P2P cluster communication, in order to connect to the respective TCP […]
- Onapsis Security Advisory 2021-0012: SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence lack of server side validations leads to RCE June 14, 2021Posted by Onapsis Research via Fulldisclosure on Jun 14# Onapsis Security Advisory 2021-0012: SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence lack of server side validations leads to RCE ## Impact on Business By abusing a Code Injection in SAP MII, an authenticated user with SAP XMII Developer privileges could execute code (including OS commands) on the server. […]
- Onapsis Security Advisory 2021-0011 Missing authorization check in SolMan End-User Experience Monitoring June 14, 2021Posted by Onapsis Research via Fulldisclosure on Jun 14# Onapsis Security Advisory 2021-0011: Missing authorization check in SolMan End-User Experience Monitoring ## Impact on Business Any authenticated user of the Solution Manager is able to craft/upload and execute EEM scripts on the SMDAgents affecting its Integrity, Confidentiality and Availability. ## Advisory Information - Public Release […]
- Onapsis Security Advisory 2021-0010: File exfiltration and DoS in SolMan End-User Experience Monitoring June 14, 2021Posted by Onapsis Research via Fulldisclosure on Jun 14# Onapsis Security Advisory 2021-0010: File exfiltration and DoS in SolMan End-User Experience Monitoring ## Impact on Business The End-User Experience Monitoring (EEM) application, part of the SAP Solution Manager, is vulnerable to path traversal. As a consequence, an unauthorized attacker would be able to read sensitive […]
- Onapsis Security Advisory 2021-0009: Hard-coded Credentials in CA Introscope Enterprise Manager June 14, 2021Posted by Onapsis Research via Fulldisclosure on Jun 14# Onapsis Security Advisory 2021-0009: Hard-coded Credentials in CA Introscope Enterprise Manager ## Impact on Business Unauthenticated attackers can bypass the authentication if the default passwords for Admin and Guest have not been changed by the administrator. This may impact the confidentiality of the service. ## Advisory […]
Customers
Twitter FEED
Recent activity
-
SecureOnlineDesktop
Ten years ago, on June 16, 2011, Secure Online Desktop was born. Many things have changed in ten years and we have… https://t.co/DN23n6BK7q
-
SecureOnlineDesktop
Dieci anni fa, il 16 giugno del 2011, nasceva Secure Online Desktop. Sono cambiate moltissime cose in dieci anni e… https://t.co/H7TPlWJ5Pk
-
SecureOnlineDesktop
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes The term shoulder surfing might conjure up images of a little surfer on his… https://t.co/3poUTq9MUc
-
SecureOnlineDesktop
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes I ricercatori della sicurezza hanno appena digerito il protocollo HTTP/2, ma gl… https://t.co/XsFsgBTpia
-
SecureOnlineDesktop
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes Security researchers have just digested the HTTP / 2 protocol, but web innova… https://t.co/FBPWe1pBx5
Newsletter
Products and Solutions
Partners
Cloud Models
News
- Secure Online Desktop 10 years later: our corporate anniversary June 16, 2021
- Air-Fi: attacking computers that are disconnected and without network hardware is possible May 17, 2021
- Examples of phishing: the latest campaigns mentioned by the CSIRT May 10, 2021
- Event Overload? Our SOCaaS can help! May 3, 2021
- Business email compromise (BEC) schemes April 28, 2021
Google Reviews
About
Copyright © 2011 Secure Online Desktop s.r.l. All Rights Reserved.
VAT: 07485920966 “Cloud Computing services - Software cloud - Cloud server - VPS” Terms of ServicePrivacy Policy
ISO Certifications