For criminal-minded hackers, business is booming. Ransomware attacks on major businesses have been featured heavily in the news throughout 2021. Some of these have been high-profile, such as the attacks on the Colonial Pipeline, JBS (the world's largest meatpacker), or the large ferry service Steamship Authority. There are a number of ransomware gangs, Ransomware-as-a-Service providers, and types of ransomware out in the wild. You may be familiar with names like Conti, Ryuk, or GandCrab, for example.
Trojans remain a threat to businesses, with some of the most well-known being Emotet and TrickBot. Emotet, Trickbot, and GandCrab all rely on malspam as their primary vector of infection. These malicious spam emails, disguised as familiar brands, trick your end users into clicking malicious download links or opening an attachment loaded with malware. In an interesting twist, Emotet has evolved from being a banking Trojan in its own right into a tool for delivering other malware, including other banking Trojans like Trickbot.
So what happens when cybercriminals are able to hack into your network?
Emotet, for instance, hobbled critical systems in the City of Allentown, PA, requiring help from Microsoft’s incident response team to clean up. All told, the city racked up remediation costs to the tune of $1 million.
GandCrab is just as awful. It’s been estimated the ransomware with the gross sounding name has already netted its authors somewhere around $300 million in paid ransoms, with individual ransoms set from $600 to $700,000.
Trojans remain a threat to businesses, with some of the most well-known being Emotet and TrickBot. Emotet, Trickbot, and GandCrab all rely on malspam as their primary vector of infection. These malicious spam emails, disguised as familiar brands, trick your end users into clicking malicious download links or opening an attachment loaded with malware. In an interesting twist, Emotet has evolved from being a banking Trojan in its own right into a tool for delivering other malware, including other banking Trojans like Trickbot.
So what happens when cybercriminals are able to hack into your network?
Emotet, for instance, hobbled critical systems in the City of Allentown, PA, requiring help from Microsoft’s incident response team to clean up. All told, the city racked up remediation costs to the tune of $1 million.
GandCrab is just as awful. It’s been estimated the ransomware with the gross sounding name has already netted its authors somewhere around $300 million in paid ransoms, with individual ransoms set from $600 to $700,000.