Suppose you’re a large, US-based business with at least $100 million in revenue, using the remote desktop protocol. A virtual private network (VPN), Active Directory credentials, Panels access or Remote Monitoring and Management, etc.
In that case, you are the perfect ransomware victim—not someone in the healthcare or education sector, as one might expect. Compared to the revenue-generating giants, these victims cannot pay much ransom. This is likely with cyber insurance and more significant cash reserves.
And if you’ve already suffered a ransomware attack, the hacker who snagged your data (referred to as initial access brokers) will sell your data to as many as possible. This will increase the likelihood that you will continue to be the perfect victim.
Initial access brokerage has become a gigantic business. If you are a hacker, why go through the time-laboured effort of creating ransomware. You can buy or arrange a one-time percentage of any ransomware payment with an IAB for access to an already hacked network? As a case the ransom demanded of the victims is very minor as compared to the cost for entry.
But hackers are specific on ideal victims
“Ransomware attackers appear to form “industry standards” defining an ideal victim based on its revenue. Additionally on geography and excluding certain sectors and countries from the targets list,” reads a July 2021 report by KELA, an international cybersecurity firm.
But attacking the healthcare and education industries seems to have raised some ethical sense in hackers and is avoided. Hacking governments is non-lucrative but something to avoid because of the possibility of being investigated.
Cyology Labs recommends maintaining regular updates on all your software, deploying patches after attacks to lock out any hacker using IAB ransomware. The experts at Cyology Labs can run full security audits on your network. Additionally, we will make recommendations, update existing software and deploy patches.
For more on Cyology’s auditing practises and services offered, visit our team at www.cyology.com
