The post-Covid Ransomware trends are forcing organizations to plan robustly
Ransomware attacks and their trends in 2020 have wildfire across the USA, (of course) the pandemic. While it’s lesser-known to the general public than the events mentioned above, the covid 19 has led to an expeditious and dramatic increase in the number of cyberattacks in the world of cybersecurity. Many analysts have worried that this will add to the economic destruction the covid has already brought about to the global economy.
And yet, the more entities change, the more they stay the same. As we bring out during cybersecurity awareness month and in our threat bulletin for 2020, most of the threats we saw in 2020 were similar (or at least of a similar type) to those of recent years. Ransomware is gradually becoming the number one threat for businesses of all sizes, and this trend will continue in 2020.
Wider Business Sector 
The patterns described before will be recognizable to private-sector system admins and network engineers. However, as of 2020, ransomware has begun to impact systems and organizations outside of private business.
The increasing frequency of ransomware attacks on the healthcare industry has been one of the most concerning developments of 2020. Over 750 healthcare providers will be affected in 2020 alone, with combined recovery costs approaching $4 billion.
These assaults came in a variety of flavors and used a variety of different methods. In California, for example, Wood Ranch Medical shuttered its doors when management determined that it would be hard to reconstruct computerized patient medical data after a catastrophic ransomware assault.
Additionally, ransomware attacks and their trends in 2020 show threat actors are duping ransomware victims via encrypted data.
Network Scouting for mobility
Attackers may breach domain controllers and obtain access to as many computers as possible by using hacking tools, expansive tools, and pen-testing tools such as Cobalt Strike, Mimikatz, PowerSploit, and Pyxie. By doing so, attackers compile a list of the target’s network devices. Depending on the attacker’s activities, they may either buy the inventory on an underground forum, with the successful bidder gaining access and installing their virus of choice or go straight to the next step and distribute ransomware.
Spear phishing that distributes ransomware
Adversaries would choose a victim and then create an email message that seems as genuine as possible. This is in striking contrast to conventional phishing, which sends email campaigns to vast databases of naive contacts using a broad brush approach. Unaware customers will then click on a link or download files, infecting their machine with malware. The FBI issued a warning in July 2020 about these activities, stating that their occurrence had risen by 67 percent year over year. Spear phishing operations are also getting more advanced: hackers are using domain spoofing techniques to send scimitar emails from websites that seem to be legitimate senders.
This can only mean one thing: increased perimeter breach success. And, as the previous three lines demonstrate, attacks may cause tremendous amounts of damage once inside. Ransomware is more hazardous than at any point in history.
Ransomware shifts from one target to many
The surge of assaults that occurred in 2020 resembled those from previous years, at least in their early phases. The attackers would next attempt to acquire access to an IT network through a phishing assault or exploit a known/unknown vulnerability. Following this first breach, automated propagation techniques were gradually introduced. However, a single objective is no longer sufficient. Eventually, there will be a move away from human-operated ransomware and toward malware indifferent to tiny networks.
Today’s ransomware assaults spread laterally across companies, searching for high-level credentials and exfiltrating data. Their objective is to strike as many machines as possible – i.e., to inflict the most amount of damage. They’re not content with just locking the computers; they’re attempting to steal data that they can use for a variety of malicious reasons in addition to demanding a ransom. The distinction between this kind of ransomware and previous versions is between an assault and an onslaught.
Rather than just expecting to discover them, preventing these lateral moves must be a security team focus. Otherwise, a single malware assault may do irreversible damage.
Ransomware has grown to become a multibillion-dollar business, and this endeavor will only grow in size. Cybercriminals will use every bit of power they have over their victims to maximize their earnings. With all of the patterns seen so far this year, it’s fair to conclude that a reprieve from this danger is not imminent. As a result, defenses should be strengthened, and experts recommend maintaining easily accessible backups.
The pandemic did not slow down cybercriminals. Instead, ransomware attacks and their trends in 2020 took the chance to spend more time online adapting old tricks to spread different fakes, scams and target major ransomware organizations. Today’s technology offers an exceptional opportunity for the top enterprise to run an unsegregated process and sustain contact and function. It is recommended that people be more observant and mindful of what they see online and check stuff before trusting news, applications, networks, sells and even video material.
