Recent reports from the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) indicate the organization has been working to alert organizations of early-stage ransomware attacks. Through their proactive cyber defense capability, pre-ransomware notifications, CISA has notified more than 60 organizations since the start of the year. These warnings enable organizations to evict threat actors from their networks before file-encrypting ransomware is deployed, thus reducing the potential data loss, impact on operations, and financial burden of the attack.
In order to send out notifications, CISA uses tips received from the cybersecurity research community, threat intelligence companies, and infrastructure providers. Once a tip is received, CISA’s field personnel notifies the victim organization and provides it with mitigation instructions. In cases where ransomware actors have already encrypted a network, CISA works closely with the victim organizations to provide TTPs and guidance to help reduce the impact of an attack. They also urge organizations to report observed ransomware attacks, including indicators of compromise and TTPs, to help prepare mitigation guidance for future attacks.
In conclusion, CISA’s pre-ransomware notifications are a vital tool in the fight against ransomware. By providing organizations with an early warning of a potential attack, they enable organizations to take action to mitigate the attack before any data is encrypted or exfiltrated. This is a key step in reducing the potential damage that a ransomware attack can cause.
Key Points:
- CISA has been alerting organizations of early-stage ransomware attacks
- Organizations are warned of potential attacks so they can evict threat actors before file-encrypting ransomware is deployed
- CISA’s pre-ransomware notifications enable organizations to reduce potential data loss, impact on operations, and financial burden of the attack
- Organizations are urged to report observed ransomware attacks, including indicators of compromise and TTPs, to help prepare mitigation guidance for future attacks