McAfee Enterprise today released its Advanced Threat Research Report: October 2021, examining cybercriminal activity related to ransomware and cloud threats in the second quarter of 2021. With the shift to a more flexible pandemic workforce and the highly publicized Colonial Pipeline attack, cyber criminals introduced new – and updated – threats and tactics in campaigns targeting prominent sectors, such as Government, Financial Services and Entertainment.
“Ransomware has evolved far beyond its origins, and cybercriminals have become smarter and quicker to pivot their tactics alongside a whole host of new bad-actor schemes, said Raj Samani, McAfee Enterprise fellow and chief scientist. “Names such as REvil, Ryuk, Babuk, and DarkSide have permeated into public consciousness, linked to disruptions of critical services worldwide. And with good measure, since the cybercriminals behind these groups, as well as others, have been successful at extorting millions of dollars for their personal gain.”
Each quarter, McAfee assesses the state of the cyber threat landscape based on in-depth research, investigative analysis, and threat data gathered by the McAfee Global Threat Intelligence cloud from over a billion sensors across multiple threat vectors around the world.
Ransomware Increases Dominance with Colonial Pipeline Impact
The second quarter of 2021 was a vibrant quarter for ransomware, earning its place as a high-profile cyber agenda item for the U.S. administration following the Colonial Pipeline attack. The impact of the abrupt halt in the supply chain affected much of eastern U.S., creating a frantic consumer run on fuel. Beyond the supply chain impact, ransomware expelled from the historically safe cybercriminal underground forums. The political response to the Colonial Pipeline attack saw two of the most influential underground forums- XSS and Exploit- announce a ban on ransomware advertisements. It also appeared to cause the DarkSide ransomware group to abruptly halt its operations, though McAfee Enterprise strongly believes its silence, at the same time the BlackMatter group appeared, is more than coincidental, especially as it mirrors the same move made before and after REvil’s period of silence. Despite these notable shifts in behavior, McAfee Enterprise’s global threat network identified a surge in DarkSide attacks from the group upon legal services, wholesale, and manufacturing targets in the United States.
