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Stay ahead of cyber threats in 2024 with Ace Data’s blog on ransomware trends. Explore must-watch insights to fortify your cybersecurity strategy. OR Ransomware trends you must watch for – Ransomware actors are specializing. Ransomware attackers are resorting to double extortion. Ransomware groups are getting more sophisticated and attacks are becoming more targeted. According to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), 14 of 16 critical U.S. Government sectors including education, finance, and e There has been a steep increase in ransomware threats in the year 2022 and it is not likely to slow down any time soon. Ransomware in itself is becoming a major part of the IT industry challenging IT Security every day. According to IDC, 33% of organizations globally have been a victim of ransomware threats. Ransomware groups are getting more sophisticated and attacks are becoming more targeted. According to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), 14 of 16 critical U.S. Government sectors including education, finance, and energy have been facing ransomware incidents. So, let’s look at ransomware trends for 2023. Traditionally, ransomware attacks have been encrypting your files and demanding a ransom to get you your data back. The trends are changing now. Ransomware groups have been formed. These groups start with access brokers who sell the initial access of compromised machines and networks to ransomware groups. This makes it faster and easier for the groups to work. Ransomware groups are able to focus more on developing more threats and negotiating the ransom. The next new ransomware trends coming up is a diverse set of specialized groups working each on a different piece of the ransomware attack lifestyle. Developers are acquiring additional skills to execute a successful attack. Ransomware Actors develop and sell various parts of the attack chain: network access, compromised credentials, cash-out services, and more. Mechanisms have been developed to settle disputes between cybercriminals. Arbitration services let the threat purchaser file for compensation if malware authors fail to meet the SLAs. Data Exfiltration is the new focus area for ransomware attackers. Data Exfiltration means data extrusion, data exportation, or data theft which is also defined as unauthorized data transfer from one computer to another device. It is generally performed by cybercriminals targeted with the intent of gaining access to a network or a machine to locate and copy specific data. Attackers can extort money directly or sell your exfiltrated data by placing usernames and passwords for sale on a darknet forum. Under Double-Extortion attacks, threat actors hold your data for ransom as well as threaten to publish it. This also is the new ransomware trend and as per the threat intelligence company, Digital Shadows, they have uncovered 11 such new extortion groups in the year 2022. The remote workforce is another key contributor to the rise in attacks. According to data governance company Veronis, ransomware attacks have increased 148% this year over the last due to the rise in remote work. Attackers have started using Corona Virus-themed emails for phishing attacks on the remote office worker’s system. The home network is far away from the Enterprise network and is relatively less secure. The increased attacks on remote workforce had more to do with spammers than the ransomware attackers. These just helped flourish and provided low-level cybercriminals with an avenue to enter the underground market easily. The Internet Of Things could be another target. Embedded devices handle a variety of tasks that support day to day functioning of many critical businesses. Attacks on such devices and services have the potential to cause severe consumer pain and can help extract an easy ransom. Once these become common, threat actors can easily access an organization’s networks and demand to be paid for not attacking. This could be another way of ransom probably without damaging or leaking your information. Sophisticated ransomware actors avoid using software tools because they can trigger alerts that could give an early warning and help extract a ransom. SaaS applications could be another point of target soon. Most attacks currently are on on-premise applications. With the increase in cloud adoptions, developers/attackers are looking into opportunities and areas to attack the data stored on SaaS applications. Ransomware is there and has been there. In the coming years, it is going to grow. Organizations need to create not only a defensive but also an offensive strategy to take the threats head-on. Regular password rotations, rotating access keys, using non-standard ports, enabling multi-factor authentication, and updated backups stored on a different network could be some of the quick ways to safeguard yourself. You can rely on Ace Data backup as a service that provides 24×7 monitoring and protection against ransomware with secure AI-based bidirectional scanning of data being backed up and recovered. Prevents zero-day attacks attempting to penetrate backup & recovery streams.

Security breaches and subsequent data loss are increasingly becoming common in the current digital world. This is not a question of “when” but “how prepared are you” if a disaster strikes. Therefore, organizations should find ways of ensuring that their information /data is protected and readily accessible all through. This necessitates the importance of data backup and disaster recovery strategy. Common Issues of CloudBackup & Disaster Recovery Plans Interestingly, more than 96% of business workstations don’t have data backup and recovery systems, which predisposes large amounts of sensitive information. However, businesses have slowly started appreciating the importance of backup and disaster recovery systems, especially using cloud services. Initially, companies only factored in on-site challenges, such as power outages, server failures, and data loss in their backup and disaster recovery plan. However, with the world becoming a global village, thanks to advancing technology and widespread internet use, these ideas are extremely outdated. Currently, your strategy should factor in situations where you can’t connect to the internet. Developing a Cloud Backup and Disaster Recovery Strategy You should access all the weak points in your business to develop a fail-proof backup and disaster recovery plan. You can handle any arising issue by identifying where mishaps can occur. This is where it comes to cloud backup options. Even though the aspect of cloud computing isn’t entirely new, some businesses haven’t boarded this bandwagon yet. The best thing about using cloud backup is that you don’t have to reinvent your strategy entirely. You can maintain your data backup and disaster recovery strategy after integrating cloud computing into your business. Simply put, the cloud offers a virtual way that businesses can store all their important information. All the sensitive data are kept in offsite data centers. Therefore, if there is an outage in your premise, your essential data can still be accessed. What makes cloud backup attractive for small and medium-sized businesses is the low operation costs. Businesses with limited resources for maintaining data centers and IT teams can use the cloud. Cloud backup also significantly reduces the recovery time, as businesses don’t have to endure the lengthy software patching processes synonymous with traditional backup and data recovery options. However, you should consider several factors before switching to cloud backup & disaster recovery startegy. Concerns to address include; Also Read: 4 Things to Consider, before choosing a Cloud Backup Service Provider Note that there are no one-size-fits-all cloud backup and disaster recovery services. Therefore, find what suits your business depending on your industry.