Welcome to the Threat Context Monthly blog series where we provide a comprehensive roundup of the most relevant cybersecurity news and threat information from KrakenLabs, Outpost24’s cyber threat intelligence team. Here’s what you need to know from September.

Crystal Rans0m is a previously undocumented hybrid ransomware family developed in Rust programming language seen for the first time in the wild on September 2nd, 2023. Interestingly, it does not only encrypt victim’s files, demanding a ransom for their release, but also steals sensitive information from the infected systems. This dual-threat approach means that attackers can double their leverage over victims, potentially increasing their chances of monetizing their attacks.

Increasing digitalization and connectivity mean the attack surfaces of most organizations are growing. This means more IT assets to track and manage, plus more potential attack routes for threat actors to target. The threat situation is constantly increasing, especially in the area of vulnerabilities – last year over 30,000 new vulnerabilities were published. So how can you get an accurate view of your attack surface and where it might be open to exploitation?