Cyber risk solution provider Resilience has noted that cybercriminals have begun shifting their tactics to bypass security controls by hitting critical vendors and seeking larger extortion targets.
In its Midyear 2023 Claims Report, the firm says that cybercriminals are returning to “big-game hunting,” particularly focusing on organizations with sensitive data with the capital to pay larger ransom demands. Additionally, attacks on vendors and data exfiltration are on the rise.
Vishaal Hariprasad, CEO and co-founder of Resilience, commented: “While Ransomware remains a top concern for our clients, with data from firms like Chainalysis showing 2023 on track to be one of the most active years on record. However, ransomware risk can be mitigated to the point that victims can choose not to pay a ransom.
“Resilience data shows only 15% of the overall Resilience client base who experienced an extortion incident in the first half of 2023 elected to pay to resolve an incident.”
The firm’s data shows that third-party vendor incidents account for 28.9% of its clients’ all-time claims, ahead of phishing at 23.1%.
Traditional ransomware is now expanding to encryption-less extortion, says the company, and threat actors are expanding on previous tactics in which they encrypted data and offered decryption keys in exchange for ransoms.
Resilience notes an increase in encryption-less data exfiltration attacks that threaten to publish sensitive material unless the criminals’ extortion demands are met.
