Ransomware and the Phishing Email

There has been some very high profile international cases of organisations getting infected with ransomware. Especially active is the LockBit gang.

LockBit ransomware infection hits Japan’s top cargo port • The Register

TSMC says IT supplier extorted by LockBit • The Register

We should assume these organisations – a world port and one of the world’s leading chip manufacturers (although it is a third party issue with TSMC) have procedures and tools in place to defend against ransomware. There is no mention in either report on how the breach started – but one possible method, which has proven successful many, many times is an infected phishing email. Opened by an unsuspecting employee.

This is an interesting quote from The Register:

“LockBit remains an especially prolific ransomware-as-a-service gang, and the group’s affiliates remains a global scourge, costing US victims alone more than $90 million from roughly 1,700 attacks since 2020…”

Jessica Lyons Hardcastle – The Register

Your Takeaway – The Phishing Email

You may not be a high profile target, the malicious email may not have been targeted at you. But with 1700 victims in the US alone, most of whom do not make the headlines, you could be a victim if someone in your team opens a rogue phishing email.

That is why we run our cyber security awareness training courses. Because we understand that “one-size” does not fit all we have a variety of ways of delivering it:

Cyber Security Awareness Training