Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

Interlock ransomware: what you need to know

Interlock is a relatively new strain of ransomware, that first emerged in late 2024. Unlike many other ransomware families it not only targets Windows PCs, but also systems running FreeBSD. If you are impacted, you will find that your files have not only been encrypted but have also had ".interlock" appended to their filenames. For example, a file named report.xlsx would become report.xlsx.interlock, visibly signaling that it has been encrypted by Interlock.

Ep 9: The New Frontline

Colonial Pipeline was a warning shot. Now, Chinese hackers are inside the digital guts of hundreds of Colonial equivalents across the U.S.—power, water, transportation, and more. The question isn’t if they’re in. It’s why. And what happens next. Is this digital coercion? A warning to stay out of Taiwan? Is an invasion imminent—and are we ready for the cyber fallout that could come with it?

PureHVNC RAT Using Fake High-level Job Offers from Fashion and Beauty Brands

In recent months, the Netskope Threat Labs team has observed several different campaigns delivering the PureHVNC RAT and its plugins. In 2024, the same malware was observed being delivered via a Python chain, and a few days ago, it was also observed using genAI sites to lure victims. In this blog post, we’ll describe an infection chain using different methods to lure the victim and successfully deliver the PureHVNC RAT.

What Is a Remote Access Trojan (RAT), and Why Should You Care?

According to our 2025 State of the Underground report—in which we take a look back at cybercrime on the deep and dark web from the past year—384 unique varieties of malware were sold in 2024, an increase from 349 in 2023. To determine this number, our research team examined malware and hacking tools for sale on the top three criminal forums, and as a result, we found that Remote Access Trojans (RATs) were the second most common form of malware in 2024, just behind stealer malware.

PhaaS the Secrets: The Hidden Ties Between Tycoon2FA and Dadsec's Operations

Since September 2023, Trustwave’s Threat Intelligence Team has been tracking a large-scale phishing campaign distributed via email, attributed to "Storm-1575". Storm-1575 is known for developing and distributing a PhaaS platform with adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) capabilities, known as "Dadsec". The team’s recent investigations have revealed that the infrastructure used by Dadsec is also connected to a new campaign leveraging the "Tycoon2FA" Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS) platform.

May 27, 2025 Cyber Threat Intelligence Briefing

This week’s briefing covers: Joint Cybersecurity Advisory released on KTA007 (APT28) A joint advisory has been released warning of Russian-attributed threat actors targeting western logistics entities and technology companies since 2022. Microsoft leads global action to disrupt LUMMASTEALER Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit has recently seized and facilitated the takedown, suspension, and blocking of approximately 2,300 malicious domains that formed the backbone of LUMMASTEALER infrastructure.

What Is Extortionware? Going Beyond Ransomware

Extortionware involves stealing sensitive data from an organization and threatening to leak it. It’s become a core tactic in the modern ransomware playbook, and if your business holds valuable or confidential information, it’s a threat you can’t afford to ignore. Today, we’re taking a closer look at what extortionware is, how it works, and why it’s become one of the most difficult cyber threats to defend against.
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Why Codefinger represents a new stage in the evolution of ransomware

Forget typical ransomware! Codefinger hijacked cloud keys directly, exposing backup flaws and shared responsibility risks. Time to rethink defence. If you didn't pay much attention to news of the recent Codefinger ransomware attack, it's possibly because ransomware has become so prevalent that major incidents no longer feel notable. But Codefinger is not just another ransomware breach to add to the list of incidents where businesses lost sensitive data to attackers. In key respects, Codefinger represents a substantially new type of ransomware attack.

3AM Ransomware Attackers Pose as IT Support to Compromise Networks

Cybercriminals are getting smarter. Not by developing new types of malware or exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities, but by simply pretending to be helpful IT support desk workers. Attackers affiliated with the 3AM ransomware group have combined a variety of different techniques to trick targeted employees into helping them break into networks. It works like this.

The Lumma Stealer InfoStealer: The Details

Original Article published Decmber 2023. Update May 22nd 2025: The FBI has seized user panels and other Lumma C2 infrastructure. As of now, we don’t see the Lumma info-stealer disappearing from the arena. Our team is on guard to check and analyze the changes. This case shares similarities with the so called seizure of infrastructure of RedLine and Metta info stealers in October 2024 by the FBI, DOJ, Dutch authorities, etc.

CrowdStrike Collaborates with U.S. Department of Justice on DanaBot Takedown

Effective collaboration is essential when confronting today's sophisticated cyber adversaries, particularly those operating with state tolerance or direction. At CrowdStrike, we routinely work alongside law enforcement agencies and industry partners to identify, monitor, and mitigate cyber threats. Recently, we provided technical assistance to the U.S.

SafeBreach Coverage for US CERT AA25-141B (Sticky Werewolf)

On May 21, 2025, the FBI and CISA released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA), designated AA25-141B, warning about the rise in attacks leveraging LummaC2, attributed to a threat group referred to internally as Sticky Werewolf, this cyber espionage campaign has used LummaC2 malware since at least April 2023 to target Russian and Belarusian government agencies, science centers, and aviation manufacturers.

The Ransomware Threat: Still Alive and Kicking

Many organizations, after a period of relative quiet, might believe the ransomware bubble has burst. The headlines may have shifted, and other emerging cyber threats might seem to dominate the news cycle, but recent data from Marsh's 2024 UK cyber insurance claims report suggests otherwise. It paints a stark picture of an ongoing and evolving threat landscape. While claims decreased by 20% compared to 2023, they remained significantly higher than in previous years.

Health-ISAC 2025 Report: Ransomware Still Reigns as #1 Threat to Healthcare

Health-ISAC recently released their 2025 Health Sector Cyber Threat Landscape Report, a comprehensive outline of the malicious activity aimed at healthcare in the previous year. Not surprisingly, ransomware was cited by security professionals in the industry as the number one threat of 2024 and the top area of concern coming into 2025 (followed by third-party breaches, supply chain attacks, and zero-day exploits). Some things never change. However, when it comes to ransomware, they do evolve.

Reviewing Penetration Test Pricing In 2025: A Practical Guide for UK and EU Buyers

Penetration testing costs in the UK and EU can range from a few thousand pounds to well over £20,000. At a glance, many of these tests look the same. So why the price gap? In 2025, pricing models haven't changed much. Most tests are still priced per day, but the complexity of what's being tested has changed. The rise of custom internal tools (many "vibe coded" by non-IT or security teams), shadow IT, SaaS stacks, and cloud sprawl means that scoping a pen test properly takes more time and care.

Cato CTRL Threat Research: Suspected Russian Threat Actors Leverage Tigris, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and Scaleway to Target Privileged Users with Lumma Stealer

Imagine walking into a trusted bank, only to be handed counterfeit money by employees who don’t realize it’s fake. This is similar to a growing trend that’s emerging in the threat landscape. Threat actors are leveraging trusted cloud infrastructure platforms to host fake reCAPTCHA pages designed to deceive unsuspecting victims into executing malicious commands through the Windows Run dialog—specifically targeting high-access users within organizations to escalate privileges.

Lumma Stealer is Out... of business!

Since mid-2024, Bitsight has been collaborating with Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit and other partners to dismantle the operational capabilities of Lumma Stealer (LummaC2) — currently the most widely distributed information stealer. Early this week, a coordinated action was carried out to disrupt its operations and take down the supporting malware infrastructure.

Trustwave SpiderLabs Report Highlights Ransomware and Dark Web Dangers for the Hospitality Sector

The summer travel season is almost here, and travelers worldwide are in the process of booking their holidays, thus placing some of their most vital personal and financial information into the hands of the hospitality industry. A fact not lost to threat actors who thrive on gaining access and stealing this data.

Cybersecurity Landscape in 2025: All You Need to Know as a Business Owner

When the Digital Revolution started, we knew big changes were bound to come, but who knew just how big? With the rapid development of cyberspace, our world has expanded immensely, and new possibilities have come knocking at our doors. Still, we often forget about the dark side of the Internet and all its dangers.

Making Generative AI Transparent with Gabrielle Hibbert

• • In this episode of Data Security Decoded, host Caleb Tolin sits down with Gabrielle Hibbert, a social policy expert and researcher, about her innovative work developing a nutrition labeling system for generative AI tools. This framework aims to bridge the gap between complex AI technology and consumer understanding, while addressing critical transparency and data privacy concerns. What You'll Learn.

Government Organizations Lose Nearly a Month in Downtime for Every Ransomware Attack

Recent research by Comparitech reveals the shocking truth about ransomware attacks on government entities; they have a longer impact than anyone thought. Tracking over 1100 government-targeted ransomware attacks over a period of six years, researchers discovered that each day of downtime cost entities nearly $83,600, and that in each attack the downtime lasted for an average of 27.8 days.

What Is Scattered Spider? Inside the Rise of Identity-Based Attacks

If you’ve been following major cybersecurity incidents over the past couple of years, chances are you’ve come across the name Scattered Spider. From massive casino breaches to healthcare system outages, this threat actor has become a name that CISOs don’t take lightly. But what is Scattered Spider, really? And why is this group of cybercriminals getting so much attention? Scattered Spider is a financially motivated group that came into focus around 2022.

It's Time to Prepare as Scattered Spider Spreads Its Web to the US

Scattered Spider, aka UNC3944, is switching the focus of its retail-oriented attacks from the UK market to the US, according to published reports. At this time, no US retailers have been named as targets, but the alleged Scattered Spider activity is a clear sign retailers in the US and worldwide need to prepare.

Top Cybersecurity Trends in 2025: 9 Trends to Watch

When I started learning about cybersecurity, I thought it was only about firewalls and antivirus software. I didn’t know how fast things change and threats evolve. Whenever I felt like I had a handle on things, something new came in headlines: ransomware, phishing kits, zero-day attacks. It’s a lot. If you work in tech, you’ve probably felt that too. Even if cybersecurity isn’t your full-time job, it still touches everything. And keeping up with everything is not easy.

Building a Ransomware Response Plan with Fidelis Elevate XDR: Technical Guide

Ransomware attacks are projected to occur every 2 seconds by 2031, up from every 11 seconds in 2021. Organizations paid approximately $813.55 million to ransomware groups in 2024. Email remains the primary attack vector, with malicious attachments twice as common as phishing links. Organizations with compromised backups face $3M average recovery costs, with 45% requiring more than a month to recover. Active ransomware groups increased 55% from Q1 2023 (29) to Q1 2024 (45).

RVTools Supply Chain Attack Delivers Bumblebee Malware

Arctic Wolf has recently observed the distribution of a trojanized RVTools installer via a malicious typosquatted domain. The domain matches the legitimate domain, however, the Top Level Domain (TLD) is changed from.com to.org. RVTools is a widely used VMware utility for inventory and configuration reporting, developed by Robware. Once the malicious installer was downloaded, the installer attempts to make outbound connections to known command and control infrastructure.

A Sting on Bing: Bumblebee delivered through Bing SEO poisoning campaign

Bumblebee is a downloader malware which has become known for its sophistication and effectiveness. The malware was first discovered in 2022 and was believed to be a tool for ransomware groups due to the developer’s close ties with Conti. Since then, it has been used in various attacks and has been delivered through multiple methods, including phishing emails, malicious documents, and SEO poisoning.

2025 Ransomware Update with Ryan Estes - The 443 Podcast - Episode 329

This week on the podcast, we bring on Ryan Estes from the WatchGuard Threat Lab to discuss the latest trends in ransomware operations. Ryan is an expert in ransomware analysis and currently owns the data behind WatchGuard's public Ransomware Tracker on the WatchGuard Security Center. The 443 Security Simplified is a weekly podcast that gets inside the minds of leading white-hat hackers and security researchers, covering the latest cybersecurity headlines and trends.

Mamona Ransomware (RAAS) - Offline Commodity Ransomware with Custom Encryption

A newly identified strain of commodity ransomware named Mamona has emerged in the cybercriminal underground. This threat diverges from typical ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) models by functioning entirely offline, relying on custom-built cryptographic routines and deploying no external command-and-control (C2) infrastructure.

Risks and Mitigation of Malware Explained: Top 5 Strategies

Malware—short for malicious software and malicious programs—is one of the most dangerous cybersecurity threats today. From computer viruses and spyware to ransomware and trojans, these harmful programs are designed to: Cybercriminals are constantly developing new and more advanced forms of malware. Every single day, over half a million new malware samples are discovered globally, showing just how fast these threats are evolving. For businesses, the consequences can be severe.

LockBit Ransomware Panel Breached: Database Dump Reveals Deep Insights into RaaS Infrastructure

The LockBit ransomware group's dark web infrastructure has suffered a major blow following a significant breach on May 7, 2025. This cyberattack targeted LockBit's onion-based infrastructure—including their affiliate and admin panels—and resulted in the complete defacement of the sites. The attackers left behind a taunting message: "Don't do crime, CRIME IS BAD xoxo from Prague," along with a link to a leaked MySQL database dump.

Ransomware Response Plan: What Steps Schools and Libraries Should Take After an Attack

In Part 1 of this blog series The Ransomware Threat: Preparing Schools and Libraries for Ransomware Attacks, we discussed creating a pre-incident plan that includes a backup process, asset management, identity and access management, risk-based vulnerability management, and security awareness training to minimize the risk of ransomware attacks.
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Why Conventional Disaster Recovery Won't Save You from Ransomware

The conventional formula for maintaining business continuity in the face of unexpected IT disruptions is as follows: Back up your data. Make a recovery plan. Test the recovery plan periodically. That approach may work well enough if your primary concern is defending against risks like server failures or data centre outages caused by natural disasters. But in the present age of widespread ransomware attacks, conventional backup and recovery planning aren't always enough.

You're Invited: Delivering malware via Google Calendar invites and PUAs

On March 19th, 2025, we discovered a package called os-info-checker-es6 and were taken aback. We could tell it was not doing what it said on the tin. But what's the deal? We decided to investigate the matter and initially hit some dead ends. But patience pays off, and we eventually got most of the answers we sought. We also learned about Unicode PUAs (No, not pick-up artists). It was a roller coaster ride of emotions!

How to Protect Your Business from Scattered Spider's Latest Attack Methods

Mandiant warns that the Scattered Spider cybercriminal group is using “brazen” social engineering attacks to target large enterprise organizations in a wide range of sectors. Specifically, the group targets “organizations with large help desk and outsourced IT functions which are susceptible to their social engineering tactics.” The threat actors impersonate employees and attempt to trick IT workers into granting them access. The group also poses as IT workers to target employees.

Risks of Using Public Wi-Fi for Crypto Transactions

As cryptocurrency adoption continues to rise, the ease of managing assets through mobile wallets and trading platforms has brought a new layer of convenience. However, this accessibility can also lead to overlooked security risks, especially when users rely on public Wi-Fi networks for transactions. Airports, coffee shops, hotels, and public transportation hubs may offer free internet access, but these networks present significant vulnerabilities that can expose sensitive information.

LockBit Ransomware Gang Breached, Secrets Exposed

Oh dear, what a shame, never mind. Yes, it's hard to feel too much sympathy when a group of cybercriminals who have themselves extorted millions of dollars from innocent victims have found themselves dealing with their own cybersecurity problem. And that's just what has happened to the notorious LockBit ransomware gang, which has been given a taste of its own medicine.

New DOGE Big Balls Ransomware Tools in the Wild

During the Netskope Threat Labs hunting activities, we came across a payload that led us to a multi-stage chain involving several custom PowerShell scripts, open source tools (such as Mimikatz and Rubeus), vulnerable drivers being exploited, and red team framework payloads (such as Havoc). After further investigation, we discovered these files were part of the arsenal of what seems to be an operator of a ransomware named “DOGE Big Balls,” a variant of the Fog ransomware.

GhostGPT, the new malicious chatbot and its impact on cybersecurity

At this juncture, it is no surprise that cybercriminals are leveraging the potential of generative artificial intelligence to strengthen their attacks. However, the emergence of new models specifically designed to generate threats quickly has made this task even easier for bad actors. At the end of 2024, researchers discovered a new AI chatbot created for cybercriminal purposes.

RATatouille: A Malicious Recipe Hidden in rand-user-agent (Supply Chain Compromise)

On 5 May, 16:00 GMT+0, our automated malware analysis pipeline detected a suspicious package released, rand-user-agent@1.0.110. It detected unusual code in the package, and it wasn’t wrong. It detected signs of a supply chain attack against this legitimate package, which has about ~45.000 weekly downloads.

What does it mean to be cyber resilient?

Achieving should be a priority for all! Everyone needs to pull their weight when it comes to protecting the lifeblood of your organization: your data. Let’s take a new approach to cybersecurity, one that assumes that cyber attacks WILL happen. Resilience means being ready for anything! Learn more about what it means to be truly by checking out the link in our bio.

Top 4 Cybersecurity Threats Facing Businesses Today

Keeping your business data safe is more important than ever. As more companies use technology and remote work grows, the risk of cybersecurity threats increases. No matter the size or small business can be a target. To stay safe, businesses need strong cybersecurity plans and must know what threats to watch out for. In this post, we'll look at the top cyber threats businesses face today and how to guard against them. Let's get started and learn how to protect your business from these risks.

Uptick in Ransomware Threat Activity Targeting Retailers in the UK

Between April and May 2025, several large UK retailers were impacted by security incidents which resulted in the disruption of their operations. Arctic Wolf is monitoring the threat landscape for new indicators of compromise related to Scattered Spider and DragonForce, and will alert Managed Detection and Response customers if any malicious activity is observed.

Ep 8: Living Off The Land

Cyber experts start getting called into electric, water, pipeline, railway, and transportation hubs around the country. Hackers have found a clever way to embed in these systems, using a small, unsuspecting device in everyday Americans’ homes. And once these hackers get in, they’re not dropping the usual malware, or sucking much of any data out. Unlike their predecessors, these hackers are very careful to cover their tracks. It appears they’re just lying in wait. Sleeper cells waiting for marching orders. So what’s the trigger? And what happens if they pull it?

The Dark Side of Online Bookings: Infostealers and Phishing in the Hospitality Industry

The high profile MGM Resorts hack by ransomware group ALPHV/BlackCat has served as a wake up call to the hospitality industry, demonstrating that the industry is a lucrative target for cybercriminals. The hack was hugely impactful to MGM making for sensational headlines in mainstream media, however what struck security experts were the social engineering methods used by the threat actors and how effective they were in bypassing security controls and technologies.

Juice Jacking: Why Using Public USB Charging Stations Can Lead to Identity Theft

We've all been there: You're away from home when you notice your phone's battery is dangerously low. For most people, the quick solution is to find a public charging station and restore their battery power. However, this may not be the safest option!

Venom Spider Uses Server-Side Polymorphism to Weave a Web Around Victims

As part of our ongoing tracking of the threat actor TA4557 (also known as Venom Spider), the Arctic Wolf Labs team discovered a new campaign targeting corporate human resources departments and recruiters. The threat group uses phishing techniques to drop an enhanced version of a potent backdoor called More_eggs onto victim devices.

PDFast But Luckily Not So Furious

Beginning in early April 2025, Kroll has observed a large wave of malicious activity surrounding "PDFast" software. Initial access for the campaign appeared to begin either through a new install of the application, through drive-by compromise on the site pdf-fastcom, or via pre-installed versions of the application that have since been updated with a malicious version.