Neil Bothma, Author at DataStream

The Cybercriminal Hierarchy

We recently had the chance to sit down with Vincent D’Agostino, Head of Cyber Forensics and Incident Response at BlueVoyant. BlueVoyant provides security services like third-party risk and digital rights protection, among many others.

Before Vincent brought his talents to BlueVoyant, he spent a number of years with the FBI, seven of these on the team dedicated to dealing with traditional organized crime. While the connection isn’t obvious between that world and the world of cybercrime, someone with Vincent’s experience has context most of us lack—and this was just one of the things we spoke about during our conversation.

Understanding Ransomware Response

We recently had the opportunity to interview Devon Ackerman, Practice Lead & Head of #DFIR Services for North America at Kroll. Before he was at Kroll, Devon worked with the FBI as a supervisory special agent, coordinating both domestic and international digital forensic investigations.

6 Reasons Your Company is Not Safe from Ransomware, No Matter How Much You’re Spending

Cybersecurity is one of the biggest concerns for every business today. Hacking and ransomware attacks deliver high returns for a relatively low effort and the significant rise in revenue fuels increasingly more aggressive and costly attacks. That recipe means the cybercriminal community will expand and ramp up its activities to keep those cash streams flowing.

Preparing an Organization for Cyber Attacks

As more and more people realize that cyberattacks don’t just happen to ‘others’ but are likely to happen to their organizations, it should be clear that simple awareness of these events is not sufficient: you have to prepare for when, not if, these events happen. We recently had the chance to sit down with Stu Panensky, Partner at FisherBroyles, LLP. Stu and his team have dealt with over 100 ransomware attacks in a counseling role and have a lot of wisdom to share about the current state of cyberattacks and what organizations can and should do to prepare for them.

Understanding the Business of Cybercrime

Small business owners may think of cyber criminals as freelance or small group threat actors, but plenty of those criminals work within sophisticated organizations that function like legitimate businesses. Someone who has observed these criminals at work is Mark Lance, Senior Director of Cyber Defense at GuidePoint Security. We recently had the chance to speak with Mark and wanted to share a few of his insights to help small business owners realize before it’s too late that everyone is at risk.

Tracing the Digital Fingerprints of a Threat Actor

If you’ve got a robust security system in place and have a team member that has over 15 years of cybersecurity experience, you might feel like you’ve done enough to be safe. Unfortunately, for at least one business, that wasn’t enough.

We recently had a chance to chat with Luke Emrich, Director of Incident Response at Tetra Defense. He investigated the above case and shared what he learned as well as some tips for how organizations can better prepare for attacks.

What Are An MSP’s Liabilities When Clients Become Cybercrime Victims?

The risks MSPs face are not always clear. While most IT business owners are aware of the consequences of losing clients, hiring bad drivers, and not locking their doors, other potential threats are not quite so clear. For example, knowing where the ultimate responsibility falls when a client becomes the victim of a ransomware attack or some other type of cybersecurity incident can get a bit fuzzy.

Triple Extortion Schemes Give Cyber Criminals More Power and Leverage

The riskiest thing many businesses do is maintain the status quo. The cybercrime community appears to take that to heart as they continue to renew and upgrade previously retired malware and launch new and more damaging versions of their malicious software. The greater the creativity, the more money they can generate from unsuspecting individuals and businesses. Unfortunately, cybercriminals are very innovative and imaginative, so MSPs and other security professionals need to work even harder to keep ahead of the latest schemes and attack methodologies.

Disgruntled Former Employees Take Revenge

It all started on a Friday morning when employees of a major staffing agency were locked out of an app on their mobile devices that allowed them to clock in and out. This app would track the hours they worked, allowing employees to get paid. The agency would also know how many hours to bill their customers. It’s a simple and paperless solution that works very well…when the technology cooperates.

Surviving and Learning From Kaseya Cyberattack

When cyberattacks happen, most of us only hear reports from the media about what the FBI might be doing or how the company that was attacked is coping with it. We don’t often get a chance to hear from those on the front lines—from the businesses who were affected or from those who helped those businesses get back up and running.