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Cyber criminals are using the personal details of company employees and even “illegal business activities” to put more pressure on victims.
New research has shown that ransomware gangs are turning to new methods to put pressure on their victims to pay a ransom.
According to Sophos’ Turning the Screws: The Pressure Tactics of Ransomware Gangs report, published today (6 August), cyber criminals are now commonly taking advantage of stolen data to further blackmail their victims.
Not content to merely threaten to publish the data, gangs are increasingly turning the data itself against ransomware victims. In one case, a gang found evidence of an employee searching the internet for child sexual abuse material, after which they threatened to turn the information over to law enforcement authorities.
In another, a ransomware gang shared the personal details of the daughter of a company’s CEO.
Some gangs are also openly criticising companies over their poor responses to ransomware incidents, while others openly encourage the employees of a victim to seek compensation after being exposed online.
“In December 2023, in the wake of the MGM casino breach, Sophos began taking note of ransomware gangs’ propensity to turn the media into a tool they can use to not only increase pressure on their victims but take control of the narrative and shift the blame. We are also seeing gangs singling out the business leaders they deem ‘responsible’ for the ransomware attack at the companies they target,” Christopher Budd, director of threat research at Sophos, said in a statement.
“In one post we found, the attackers published a photo of a business owner with devil horns, along with their social security number. In a different post, the attackers encouraged employees to seek ‘compensation’ from their company, and, in other cases, the attackers threatened to notify customers, partners and competitors about data breaches. These efforts create a lightning rod for blame, increasing the pressure on businesses to pay up and potentially exacerbating the reputational damage from an attack.”
Ransomware operators are also increasingly using particularly sensitive data to extort victims, such as mental health records or even child medical data. Some have even threatened to specifically expose “nude images of patients” if a ransom is not paid.
“Ransomware gangs are becoming increasingly invasive and bold about how and what they weaponise. Compounding pressure for companies, they’re not just stealing data and threatening to leak it, but they’re actively analysing it for ways to maximise damage and create new opportunities for extortion,” Budd said.
“This means that organisations have to not only worry about corporate espionage and loss of trade secrets or illegal activity by employees but also about these issues in conjunction with cyber attacks.”
You can read the full report here.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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