{"id":65210,"date":"2024-08-13T14:30:57","date_gmt":"2024-08-13T06:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=65210"},"modified":"2024-08-13T14:30:59","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T06:30:59","slug":"ransomware-groups-weaponize-stolen-data-sophos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2024\/08\/13\/ransomware-groups-weaponize-stolen-data-sophos\/","title":{"rendered":"Ransomware groups weaponize stolen data – Sophos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sophos<\/a>, a global player of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, recently released a new dark web report, \u201cTurning the Screws: The Pressure Tactics of Ransomware Gangs<\/a>,\u201d which details how cybercriminals are weaponizing stolen data to increase pressure on targets who refuse to pay. This includes sharing the contact details or doxing the family members of targeted CEOs and business owners, as well as threatening to report any information about illegal business activities uncovered in stolen data to the authorities.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the report, Sophos X-Ops shares posts found on the dark web that show how ransomware gangs refer to their targets as \u201cirresponsible and negligent,\u201d and in some cases, encourage individual victims whose personal information was stolen to pursue litigation against their employer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn December 2023, in the wake of the MGM casino breach, Sophos began taking note of ransomware gangs\u2019 propensity to turn the media<\/a> into a tool they can use to not only increase pressure on their victims but take control of the narrative and shift the blame. We are also seeing gangs singling out the business leaders they deem \u2018responsible\u2019 for the ransomware attack at the companies they target. In one post we found, the attackers published a photo of a business owner with devil horns, along with their social security number. In a different post, the attackers encouraged employees to seek \u2018compensation\u2019 from their company, and, in other cases, the attackers threatened to notify customers, partners and competitors about data breaches. These efforts create a lightning rod for blame, increasing the pressure on businesses to pay up and potentially exacerbating the reputational damage from an attack,\u201d said Christopher Budd, director, threat research, Sophos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophos X-Ops also found multiple posts by ransomware attackers detailing their plans to search for information within stolen data that could be used as leverage if companies don\u2019t pay. For example, in one post, the WereWolves ransomware actor notes that any stolen data is subject to \u201ca criminal legal assessment, a commercial assessment and an assessment in terms of insider information for competitors.\u201d In another example, the ransomware group Monti noted that it found an employee at a targeted company searching for child sexual abuse material and threatened to go to the police with the information if the company didn\u2019t pay the ransom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These posts align with a broader trend of criminals seeking to extort companies with increasingly sensitive data relating to employees, clients or patients, including mental health records, the medical records of children, \u201cinformation about patients\u2019 sexual problems\u201d and \u201cimages of nude patients.\u201d In one ransomware case, the Qiulong ransomware group posted the personal data of a CEO\u2019s daughter, as well as a link to her Instagram profile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRansomware gangs are becoming increasingly invasive and bold about how and what they weaponize. Compounding pressure for companies, they\u2019re not just stealing data and threatening to leak it, but they\u2019re actively analyzing it for ways to maximize damage and create new opportunities for extortion. This means that organizations have to not only worry about corporate espionage and loss of trade secrets or illegal activity by employees, but also about these issues in conjunction with cyberattacks,\u201d said Budd.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full report \u201cTurning the Screws: The Pressure Tactics of Ransomware Gangs\u201d on Sophos.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the report, Sophos X-Ops shares posts found on the dark web that show how ransomware gangs refer to their targets as \u201cirresponsible and negligent,\u201d and in some cases, encourage individual victims whose personal information was stolen to pursue litigation against their employer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":61338,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[286,54,2103,206,96,2727,1656],"class_list":["post-65210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-white-papers","tag-it-security","tag-security","tag-security-breach","tag-sophos","tag-technology","tag-technology-adaption","tag-technology-investment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}