Ransomware attacks have compromised 962 organizations last month, which is not only a 126% increase over the same time last year but also the highest on record in terms of monthly victimization, according to SiliconAngle.
More than a third of the intrusions last month were attributed to the Clop ransomware operation — whose activity in February was 300% higher than in January, owing to its targeting of a pair of vulnerabilities impacting Cleo file transfer software, tracked as CVE-2024-50623 and CVE-2024-55956, a report from S.C. Bitdefender SRL showed.
Aside from the rising prevalence of attacks, ransomware operations have also been significantly modifying their targeting strategies, prioritizing edge network devices and software weaknesses in two-stage intrusions aimed at concealing malicious activity.
Such attacks involve initial network access through automated scanning and exploitation of vulnerable devices that will be followed by weeks- or months-long infiltration before the deployment of ransomware, said researchers, who urged organizations to promptly patch exploited bugs and implement threat hunting and detection systems.
