Understanding Ransomware and Defense Strategies

When it comes to cybersecurity, most people think about firewalls, passwords, and antivirus software. But what about the attackers themselves? Understanding how they operate is just as important as having the right defenses in place. That's where Paul Reid comes in. As the Vice President of Adversary Research at AttackIQ, Paul and his team work to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals by thinking like them and identifying vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.

In this episode, we dive into the world of cyber threats, ransomware, and the business of hacking. Paul shares insights from his 25+ years in cybersecurity, including his experience tracking nation-state attackers, analyzing ransomware-as-a-service, and why cybercrime has become such a highly organized industry. We also talk about what businesses and individuals can do to protect themselves, from understanding threat intelligence to why testing your backups might save you from disaster. Whether you're in cybersecurity or just trying to keep your data safe, this conversation is packed with insights you won't want to miss.

Show Notes:

• [00:58] Paul is the VP of Adversary Research at AttackIQ.
• [01:30] His team wants to help their customers be more secure.
• [01:52] Paul has been in cybersecurity for 25 years. He began working in Novell Networks and then moved to directory services with Novell and Microsoft, Active Directory, LDAP, and more.
• [02:32] He also helped design classification systems and then worked for a startup. He also ran a worldwide threat hunting team. Paul has an extensive background in networks and cybersecurity.
• [03:49] Paul was drawn to AttackIQ because they do breach attack simulation.
• [04:22] His original goal was actually to be a banker. Then he went back to his original passion, computer science.
• [06:05] We learn Paul's story of being a victim of ransomware or a scam. A company he was working for almost fell for a money transfer scam.
• [09:12] If something seems off, definitely question it.
• [10:17] Ransomware is an economically driven cybercrime. Attackers try to get in through social engineering, brute force attack, password spraying, or whatever means possible.
• [11:13] Once they get in, they find whatever is of value and encrypt it or do something else to extort money from you.
• [12:14] Ransomware as a service (RaaS) has brought ransomware to the masses.
• [13:49] We discuss some ethics in these criminal organizations. Honest thieves?
• [16:24] Threats look a lot more real when you see that they have your information.
• [17:12] Paul shares a phishing scam story with just enough information to make the potential victim click on it.
• [18:01] There was a takedown of LockBit in 2020, but they had a resurgence. It's a decentralized ransomware as a service model that allows affiliates to keep on earning, even if the main ones go down.
• [20:14] Many of the affiliates are smash and grab, the nation states are a little more patient.
• [21:11] Attackers are branching out into other areas and increasing their attack service, targeting Linux and macOS.
• [22:17] The resiliency of the ransomware as a service setup and how they've distributed the risk across multiple affiliates.
• [23:42] There's an ever growing attack service and things are getting bigger.
• [25:06] AttackIQ is able to run emulations in a production environment.
• [26:20] Having the ability to continuously test and find new areas really makes networks more cyber resilient.
• [29:55] We talk about whether to pay ransoms and how to navigate these situations.
• [31:05] The best solution is to do due diligence, updates, patches, and separate backups from the system.
• [35:19] Dealing with ransomware is a no win situation. Everyone is different.

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• Paul Reid - Vice President, Adversary Research AttackIQ
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• Understanding Ransomware Threat Actors: LockBit