Ransomware Attacks: How to Identify False Attack Claims.

Amongst the cybercrime underground, there are dedicated cliques of threat actors that specialise in effecting ransomware attacks against organisations. These ransomware groups will employ various techniques to obtain confidential data or control over infrastructure. Thereafter, a message is issued to the victim with a threat, demands, deadline, and usually some sample data to verify the claims.

The signification ramifications that ensue a data breach creates fear; threat actors can falsify their claims with a fair chance that victims succumb to the faked threat.

How can you identify when a ransomware attack is credible, or staged?

Verify the evidence: Has the sample data been faked? Is it possible the sample data emanated from another organisation? Could the sample data shared be publicly available information?

Check for Indicators of Compromise: Review unusual network activity or unexpected file changes across systems. Evaluate the integrity of data backups. Utilise cyber security professionals to proficiently analyse infrastructure.

Threat Intelligence solutions are highly effective for assessing the credibility of ransomware claims.

Investigations can be conducted upon the threat actor to recognise their credibility or to authenticate the provided sample data. For instance, there is a possibility that historically exposed data is used by a malicious actor to fabricate a current data breach.

KELA excel in this area as world leaders of cybercrime intelligence. They have achieved a formidable level of visibility into the cyber underworld, to benefit and educate organisations on threats and attack vectors in real-time.

If you would like more information, contact CyberWhite for more information.