Tag Archive for: infected

83% of Ransomware Infected Organizations Paid Over $900,000 Each / Digital Information World

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The average number of ransomware attacks being experienced by companies grew from four to five in 2022, and that’s just one of the many signs pointing to a worsening state of cybersecurity. Law enforcement agencies usually tell organizations to never pay ransoms because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making the malicious actors target them repeatedly.

However, ExtraHop’s latest Global Cyber Confidence Index revealed that 83% of organizations that fell pretty to a ransomware attack ended up paying the ransom. The fear of data loss and operational disruption likely led to them biting the bullet, and it is estimated that the companies that paid the ransom had to pay an average of over $925,000 apiece.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that malicious actors often use the double extortion method when companies pay up. Paying a ransom once makes it more likely that you will pay it again than might have been the case otherwise, so there is a clear correlation between failing to follow post-ransomware instructions and having to go through the ordeal all over again.

77% of experts who are working in the field of IT said that obsolete cybersecurity infrastructure was leading to an increased number of attacks with all things having been considered and taken into account. Spending nearly a million dollars to upgrade this infrastructure might be a far more useful strategy for companies to consider since it can prevent ransomware from making its way onto their systems in the first place.

In spite of the fact that this is the case, most companies tend to have a reactive strategy than a proactive one. Creating backups and keeping cybersecurity tech up to date is both more affordable as well as more efficient, yet most companies are failing to meet this very basic requirement. Until major companies start to take cybersecurity more seriously, the number of these attacks will only grow ever greater. It will be interesting to see if these findings have any sort of impact on how ransomware is dealt with.

Read next: New Investigation Discovers iPhones Being Injected With Spyware Through Exploitation Of…

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CISA adds Android zero-day that infected Chinese shopping app to KEV catalog

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An Android zero-day that exploited millions of devices via a Chinese ecommerce app was added Thursday to the catalog of known exploited vulnerabilities by the U.S. agency in charge of securing the nation’s cybersecurity and infrastructure.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency was responding to reports in the press about the zero-day vulnerability and confirmation from researchers on the vulnerability’s authenticity.

About a week after Google removed Pinduoduo from its Play Store in late March, researchers at mobile security company Lookout confirmed for Ars Technica that the Pinduoduo app appeared to take control of devices, harvest data, and install other software, with millions of devices potentially impacted.

Google described the bug — CVE-2023-20963 — as a high-severity (7.8 CVSS score) privilege escalation flaw that targets Android’s framework component. The vulnerability affects Android 11, Android 12,  Android 12L, and Android 13. CISA advised security teams to patch the bug immediately and civilian federal agencies have two weeks to patch the vulnerability.

The suspension by Google of Pinduoduo app comes at a time of increased tensions between the United States and China over the popular social media app TikTok, which some U.S. lawmakers and intelligence officials say could pose security threats.

CISA’s addition of CVE-2023-20963 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) list aligns with our findings regarding exploitation of this vulnerability in the wild, said Justin Albrecht, threat intelligence researcher at Lookout. According to Lookout telemetry data, Albrecht said many of these victims were located outside of China, including victims within the United States.

Albrecht said the privileges gained by exploiting this vulnerability let the malicious code install apps and grant permissions, such as accessing notification content without user interaction; remove apps; make it impossible for the user to remove certain apps; infect third-party apps present on the device with malicious code; and access and manipulate data that is private to third-party apps.

“The prevalence of iOS and Android exploits continues to grow,” said Albrecht. “Recent…

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Data Doctors: Signs your computer is infected

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Data Doctors’ Ken Colburn explains how signs of a malware infection can be somewhat obvious or, in some cases, very difficult to detect, and not to ignore strange behavior from your computer.

Q: I’m seeing unusual activity on my computer — what are the signs of it being infected?

A: It could be malware. Malware is a general term for any kind of ‘malicious’ software designed to exploit users or cause harm to their devices.

Signs of a malware infection can be somewhat obvious or, in some cases, very difficult to detect, depending upon the goals of the author of the software.

Malware that’s designed to exploit users for their personal information, ransomware, or ID theft is the most dangerous, so it’s important not to ignore strange behavior from your computer.

Slow Performance

One of the most obvious signs of malware is noticeably slower performance.

If you’re waiting a long time for your computer to start up or it seems to lag regularly, it’s not necessarily a sign of malware, but it should be investigated either way.

Your computer has a finite number of resources that malware or running excessive programs can silently be consuming, which can lead to diminished performance.

Determining what is causing the slow performance will help you determine if you have been infected or just have too much loading up automatically when you start your computer.

Browser Changes

Your web browser has become one of the most valuable targets for malware because your daily internet activity can be monetized by bad actors by redirecting you to their sites and services.

Some malware will hijack your browser and change your start page or default search engine, or change where and how you connect to the internet, which can force you onto malicious websites and cause everything to seem sluggish.

They can also add new toolbars or add-ons that appear in your browser’s headers.

Unusual Notifications

If you see unusual messages or errors popping up, this can be an indication of a form of malware that has infected your operating system. This type of malware can also create new icons on your desktop or add programs that you…

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A brief explainer on signs your computer could be infected

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Q: I’m seeing unusual activity on my computer – what are the signs of it being infected?

A: Malware is a general term for any kind of “malicious” software designed to exploit users or cause harm to their devices.

Signs of a malware infection can be somewhat obvious or in some cases very difficult to detect, depending upon the goals of the author of the software.

Malware that’s designed to exploit users for their personal information, ransomware or ID theft is the most dangerous, so it’s important not to ignore strange behavior from your computer.

Slow Performance

One of the most obvious signs of malware is noticeably slower performance.

If you’re waiting a long time for your computer to start up or it seems to lag regularly, it’s not necessarily a sign of malware, but it should be investigated either way.

Your computer has a finite number of resources that malware or running excessive programs can silently be consuming, which can lead to diminished performance.

Determining what is causing the slow performance will help you determine if you have been infected or just have too much automatically loading up when you start your computer.

Browser Changes

Your web browser has become one of the most valuable targets for malware because your daily Internet activity can be monetized by bad actors by redirecting you to their sites and services.

Some malware will hijack your browser and change your start page or default search engine, or change where and how you connect to the Internet, which can force you to malicious websites and cause everything to seem sluggish.

They can also add new toolbars or add-ons that appear in your browser’s headers.

Unusual Notifications

If you see unusual messages or errors popping up, this can be an indication of a form of malware that has infected your operating system. This type of malware can also create new icons on your Desktop or add programs that you don’t recognize.

Message Inquiries From Others

If your friends start asking if you sent a strange email or social media message, it’s possible malware has infiltrated your email program or social media profiles.

Disabled Security Program

Internet security…

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