Resources

This week, GroupSense CEO Kurtis Minder was featured on the Lock and Code podcast. During his episode, "Calling in the Ransomware Negotiator," Kurtis and host David Ruiz discuss the intricacies of ransomware negotiation. "In his experience, Minder has also learned that the current debate over whether companies should pay the ransom has too few options. For a lot of small and medium-sized businesses, the question isn't an ideological one, but an existential one: Pay the ransom or go out of business."

If you work in the cybersecurity field, you’ve seen an explosion of EDR (endpoint detection and response) tools in the last few years. There are EDR, MDR (managed detection and response), and XDR, (extended detection and response) tools everywhere. That market expansion won’t be slowing down anytime soon— the global market size is expected to grow from $2.6 billion this year to $5.6 billion by 2027. 

Local elections are an essential part of our democratic process. Smaller offices typically have a much larger impact on constituents' day-to-day lives, but what happens when those candidates don't feel safe enough to run? Recently, Bloomberg City Lab wrote about the hostility directed at candidates in local elections rising over the last couple of years. GroupSense Director of Intelligence Operations, Bryce Webster-Jacobsen, was featured in the article, commenting on threats to candidates in cyber space.

When you think of security in a government agency, lots of images might come to mind: key card scanners, color-coded security clearances, and complex access management systems. If you’ve ever worked for a government agency or contractor, you probably recall the hours of training modules on security protocols. When it comes to controlling access to information, these agencies have things locked down, but much like third-party data breaches or security incidents, there are weak links in the system. 

Over the past few months, threat actors carried out highly targeted SMS phishing attacks against Twilio, CloudFlare, and Cisco. With security or cybersecurity practices of their own, threat actors were particularly bold in carrying out these attacks, and they achieved varying levels of success. One thing that threat actors can count on, however, is that people will click on links no matter how much security training they go through— human error caused 82% of breaches in 2021.

GroupSense CEO Kurtis Minder was honored to present at the Metroport Chamber Membership Luncheon on August 10. The Metroport Chamber brings seven business communities together to connect and build lasting partnerships that strengthen the Texas business community. 

Ransomware is hitting small businesses hard. But most of the legislation, regulations, and headlines focus on large businesses. The math is simple -- large businesses impact many end-users, and they have lots of money to pay lobbyists, so they wind up stealing the show when it comes to ransomware. But what about the local print shop, deli, or accounting office? Even though small businesses are suffering from ransomware 70 percent more often than large businesses (according to the Cyber Edge 2022 Cyberthreat Report), government regulations haven’t changed to accommodate them.

GroupSense COO Kelly Milan was featured on eChannelNews speaking on GroupSense's new MSP partnership program with Provelocity. In the video interview, Kelly and host Julian talk about the challenges that many organizations face when it comes to cybersecurity: looking beyond detection and response. With GroupSense's MSP program, organizations can cost-effectively monitor the cyber crime underground for risk. Because GroupSense operates outside of the firewall, our analysts can be on the same forums where cyber criminals conduct their business. This allows us to monitor for all of the things that a firewall can miss, and creates a more proactive cybersecurity posture.

Pro-Russian hacktivist group Killnet has kept very busy since Russia invaded Ukraine. After declaring war against organizations in Ukraine-allied countries, Killnet carried out attacks in Lithuania, Norway, and Italy, to name a few. These attacks have left many wondering if their organizations will be next.

During the week of July 18, GroupSense analysts noted an announcement from Killnet. The group claimed that they would attack Lockheed Martin, a US defense contractor, with a new cyber tool. This attack would be different than most others that Killnet carries out: they will not be using a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack. GroupSense analysts believe that Killnet continue shifting away from DDoS attacks, and instead carry out hack-and-release attacks. GroupSense analysts provided screenshots and translations from hacking forums with evidence supporting the move from DDoS to hack-and-release.

On July 12, a Killnet affiliate group called Zarya Squad posted six files to Telegram they claim to have stolen from the State Archival Service of Ukraine.

Our last blog, “The OpSec Conversation You Haven’t Had,” highlighted the often-forgotten side of cybersecurity: operational security, or OpSec. The increase in remote work won’t stop anytime soon—research estimates that 36.2 million Americans will work from home by 2025. That’s an 87% increase from pre-pandemic levels. If your organization is starting to reevaluate its cybersecurity policies, a factor worth considering is the work-from-anywhere trend. Since employees can work from anywhere, they can protect your organization from anywhere.