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Ransomware hackers leak 500GB of data stolen from LAUSD school system
Monday, October 3, 2022
It’s not an uncommon warning by cybersecurity researchers to avoid capitulating to ransom demands from ransomware gangs. The reasons are that it does not guarantee that the data will not be released, and because the data was stolen, it will most certainly be sold or used in further cyberattacks. Ransomware gangs then use funds to fund their next attack.
“We should expect a further surge of ransomware campaigns that are relatively simple to run, are hardly investigable by law enforcement agencies, and bring huge profits, being a perfect ‘business’ compared to other cyberattacks,” Dr. Ilia Kolochenko, founder of ImmuniWeb, told SiliconANGLE. “With the new extortion tactics, not just the breached companies are blackmailed – but all the individuals whose contact details are available within the stolen data.”
Kolochenko pointed out that what’s most important about these outcomes isn’t whether or not a company or government agency pays a ransom, but how damage to the victims is prevented and operations are restored. In the end, if the data was stolen, recovery is going to be difficult, if not impossible, so looking to minimize the impact of the breach should be the top priority.
“Of note, a data leak is not necessarily the worst outcome of a ransomware attack: Many cases are known when even after paying the ransom, the data was nonetheless leaked for different reasons,” added Kolochenko. “Therefore, I would refrain from blaming any breached companies whose data eventually end up on the dark web. What counts is how they mitigate the harm and implement necessary security mechanisms and controls to avoid similar incidents in the future.” Read Full Article
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