Latest findings from the field of remote ransomware: Research by security specialists has already revealed a massive 2023 percent year-on-year increase in remote encryption attacks by the end of 62. In new telemetry data analysis, Sophos X-Ops records a 50 percent increase in 2024 and a cumulative increase of 141 percent since 2022.
While remote encryption isn't new, it's becoming increasingly common among modern ransomware groups because of its ability to bypass many endpoint security products. In these attacks, attackers compromise an unmanaged or inadequately protected endpoint and use that access to encrypt data on managed, domain-joined computers. The danger of this type of attack lies in the scalability of remote ransomware. A single unmanaged or inadequately protected endpoint can render the entire corporate environment vulnerable to remote encryption—even if endpoint security is in place on other endpoints.
Advertising
Perfect SME cybersecurity
How small and medium-sized enterprises defend against AI-led attacks with tailored security
Ransomware groups rely on remote encryption
"Remote encryption has become one of the successful models of many ransomware groups. Almost every company and organization has blind spots that are recognized as vulnerabilities by ransomware criminals and immediately exploited. Therefore, companies should be extremely vigilant and, above all, have a complete overview of their entire IT device inventory. Only then can they detect suspicious file activity and actively counter potential attacks," says Chester Wisniewski, Director and Global Field CISO at Sophos.
To protect yourself from remote ransomware, Sophos recommends four key aspects:
Advertising
Subscribe to our newsletter now
Read the best news from B2B CYBER SECURITY once a month
Expand for details on your consent
It goes without saying that we handle your personal data responsibly. If we collect personal data from you, we process it in compliance with the applicable data protection regulations. Detailed information can be found in our
Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time. You will find a corresponding link in the newsletter. After you have unsubscribed, your data will be deleted as soon as possible. Recovery is not possible. If you would like to receive the newsletter again, simply order it again. Do the same if you want to use a different email address for your newsletter. If you would like to receive the newsletter offered on the website, we need an e-mail address from you as well as information that allows us to verify that you are the owner of the e-mail address provided and that you agree to receive the newsletter. Further data is not collected or only collected on a voluntary basis. We use newsletter service providers, which are described below, to process the newsletter.
CleverReach
This website uses CleverReach to send newsletters. The provider is CleverReach GmbH & Co. KG, Schafjückenweg 2, 26180 Rastede, Germany (hereinafter “CleverReach”). CleverReach is a service that can be used to organize and analyze the sending of newsletters. The data you enter for the purpose of subscribing to the newsletter (e.g. email address) will be stored on the CleverReach servers in Germany or Ireland. Our newsletters sent with CleverReach enable us to analyze the behavior of the newsletter recipients. This can include It is analyzed how many recipients have opened the newsletter message and how often which link in the newsletter was clicked. With the help of so-called conversion tracking, it can also be analyzed whether a previously defined action (e.g. purchase of a product on this website) took place after clicking on the link in the newsletter. Further information on data analysis by CleverReach newsletter is available at:
https://www.cleverreach.com/de/funktionen/reporting-und-tracking/. The data processing takes place on the basis of your consent (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). You can revoke this consent at any time by unsubscribing from the newsletter. The legality of the data processing operations that have already taken place remains unaffected by the revocation. If you do not want an analysis by CleverReach, you must unsubscribe from the newsletter. For this purpose, we provide a corresponding link in every newsletter message. The data you have stored with us for the purpose of subscribing to the newsletter will be stored by us or the newsletter service provider until you unsubscribe from the newsletter and deleted from the newsletter distribution list after you have canceled the newsletter. Data stored by us for other purposes remain unaffected. After you have been removed from the newsletter distribution list, your e-mail address may be stored by us or the newsletter service provider in a blacklist if this is necessary to prevent future mailings. The data from the blacklist is only used for this purpose and is not merged with other data. This serves both your interest and our interest in complying with the legal requirements when sending newsletters (legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR). Storage in the blacklist is not limited in time.
You may object to the storage if your interests outweigh our legitimate interest.
For more information, see the privacy policy of CleverReach at:
https://www.cleverreach.com/de/datenschutz/.
Data processing
We have concluded a data processing agreement (DPA) for the use of the above-mentioned service. This is a contract mandated by data privacy laws that guarantees that they process personal data of our website visitors only based on our instructions and in compliance with the GDPR.
- Conduct active asset management
- Identify unmanaged computers and, if possible, isolate or shut them down
- Use security solutions to monitor file content and transfers across the entire network
- Practicing good cybersecurity hygiene
Sophos also offers further details on remote ransomware in a German-language white paper.
More at Sophos.com
About Sophos
More than 100 million users in 150 countries trust Sophos. We offer the best protection against complex IT threats and data loss. Our comprehensive security solutions are easy to deploy, use and manage. They offer the lowest total cost of ownership in the industry. Sophos offers award-winning encryption solutions, security solutions for endpoints, networks, mobile devices, email and the web. In addition, there is support from SophosLabs, our worldwide network of our own analysis centers. The Sophos headquarters are in Boston, USA and Oxford, UK.
Matching articles on the topic
