Category: Sophos

Mutual fraud seems lucrative: Sophos X-Ops investigation uncovers own industry in cybercrime forums in which cybercriminals cheat each other out of millions of dollars. Now there are even Darknet arbitration procedures for this. Law, order and chaos: Cyber criminals cheat each other out of millions of dollars and even take their complaints about the fraud to their own arbitration boards, reports Sophos in the first part of the four-part series "The Scammers Who Scam Scammers on Cybercrime Forums". The report also describes how attackers use classic techniques, some of which are decades old, to carry out their frauds. These include…

Organized Cybercrime: Cybercrime as a Service

30 December 2022

In the old game of cat and mouse between cybersecurity and cybercrime, it all comes down to who can come up with a smart move. Cybercriminals often take advantage of good ideas from IT or security to massively expand their machinations: cybercrime as a service. During 2022, the major cybercrime groups have built an entire ecosystem of services for well-funded criminals and other cronies that, as far as we know today and much to the chagrin of victims, is well organized. Even more: the as-a-service approach in cybercrime has led to comparatively inexperienced cybercrooks having effective attack tools at their disposal that…

Ransomware attacks: malicious code with valid certificates

20 December 2022

Sophos thwarts ransomware attacks with a rare, malicious driver, but signed with a valid Microsoft digital certificate. The driver targets Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) processes. The attack is linked to the Cuba Ransomware Group. Sophos found malicious code in several drivers signed with legitimate digital certificates. The new report, Signed Driver Malware Moves up the Software Trust Chain, details the investigation that began with an attempted ransomware attack. The attackers used a malicious driver that was bundled with a legitimate Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility Publisher digital certificate.

Threat Report 2023: Cybercrime as Big Business

19 December 2022

Cybercrime is increasingly flourishing as a business model, ransomware and ransomware-as-a-service are innovation drivers and stolen access data are increasingly acting as a cash cow. According to Sophos, the year 2023 also awaits companies in cyber defense. Sophos has published its 2023 Threat Report. Among other things, the report describes a new degree of commercialization within cybercrime, as a result of which low-threshold introductory offers are increasingly available for potential attackers: almost all scenarios can be bought. A booming cybercrime-as-a-service market caters to a criminal audience ranging from the highly tech-savvy to the completely ignorant. The topics of the current Sophos threat…

Plan Proactively: Guide to Responding to Security Incidents

7 December 2022

In an environment of ever increasing and more targeted cyber threats, every organization is at risk. Sophos provides guidance on how to proactively plan for security incident response. It's the middle of the night and you're awakened by the news that your company has been attacked by ransomware. Response time is important – the decisions you make in the seconds, minutes and hours that follow have long-term operational and regulatory ramifications that fundamentally impact business operations and, in turn, your business reputation. Security incidents: little time to react This is not a hypothetical scenario –…

The right questions about managed security services

1 December 2022

Before companies choose an IT security solution, they should ask the provider of managed security services four critical questions. This is the only way you can be sure of finding a reliable partner to protect your company. The cybersecurity threat landscape is incredibly volatile. Cyber criminals are becoming more and more professional, specializing and even competing with other groups. As a result, companies are exposed to attacks not just once but repeatedly within months, weeks or days - sometimes even simultaneously. Labor shortages demand solutions The global cybersecurity labor shortage…

IT security study: Lack of skilled workers as a challenge

23 November 2022

According to a study in management levels in DA-CH, the availability of specialists is the greatest challenge - in Austria this even applies to external expertise. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the problems differ significantly, according to Sophos. Cyber security in companies has become even more important in the recent past due to various factors. These include technological developments or the growing complexity of IT infrastructures. But also those factors that are characterized by agile and mobile working, home office availability, the professionalization of cybercrime and an increased international threat situation are increasingly taking…

Ransomware: Manufacturing and production pays the highest ransom

7 November 2022

The Sophos State of Ransomware study shows that manufacturing and manufacturing companies worldwide paid rare ransoms, averaging over $2 million, but at the same time more than twice as much as companies in other industries. A frightening development. Sophos released this year's industry study, The State of Ransomware in Manufacturing and Production, which specifically looked at the manufacturing and production space. The study shows that this sector has the highest average ransom payments of any industry studied. Affected companies raised $2.036.189 for the extortionist's demands, while companies in other industries...

MDR Service open to cyber security technologies from other manufacturers

28 October 2022