Ransomware

Scattered Spider, a cybercrime gang whose targets include banks, has seen five of its members arrested for SIM-swapping and phishing schemes that stole millions.

The crypto trading platform said the hackers bribed contractors or employees outside the U.S. to steal sensitive customer data and then demanded a $20 million ransom.

Dave Cunningham, senior case manager for Alvaka shares insights on ransomware attacks, how to avoid them and what victims should do if they are targeted.

The credit union suffered a ransomware attack in June 2024 that affected nearly all of its banking systems.

The group was still the most active such gang last year, but its activity appears to have been severely hampered by law enforcement.

The four lawsuits allege that attackers stole members' Social Security numbers, among other data. Patelco has not yet confirmed whether any data was stolen.

Ransomware group LockBit threatened on Sunday to publish the stolen data Tuesday evening. Ransomware experts said it was likely that the group was bluffing.

Though law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Europe gained valuable intel on ransomware groups, many believe the hackers are likely to regroup and rebrand.

The gang allegedly had been involved in some of the highest-profile ransomware attacks against financial institutions of recent years.

Many of the attack vectors, including ransomware and phishing, will likely continue to plague the industry through 2024.

A third-party provider for credit unions failed to fix a long-patched vulnerability, according to a cybersecurity researcher who has studied the situation.

The cybercriminals said a new SEC rule required loan software company MeridianLink to report last week's breach, but the rule does not take effect until next month.

The market stayed open four extra hours to allow participants to reroute trades Thursday after an attack by cybercrime group Lockbit.

The new rules also expand the use of "proven protections," such as multifactor authentication, according to Adrienne Harris, superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services.

The bank suffered its third breach in three years, this time by virtue of a vulnerability in Progress Software's file-transfer system. But Flagstar is only one of many such victims.

In a Wednesday Congressional hearing, an assistant superintendent explained why her school district decided to pay a ransom to cyber criminals. It's a cautionary tale for banks, which are often targets.

Two federal agencies recently released a warning about a strain of ransomware called Snatch, which has adopted the successful tactics of other variants.

Ongoing disruptions and a reported ransom payment highlight the complexity of cybercrime networks and the pitfalls of paying ransoms.

The botnet of 700,000 computers — many in the U.S. — had assisted in major ransomware attacks, with the financial sector as its primary target.

The attack on AvidXchange, which the company said it learned about in early April, exposed its bank account numbers and some embarrassing security practices. It's part of a growing trend of data exfiltration attacks.