Ransomware gangs skip the CEO, head straight for the 40-something IT manager


Turns out the fastest way to get a company to consider paying a ransom isn’t calling the CEO – it’s targeting the 46-year-old IT manager.

That’s according to Zscaler, whose ThreatLabz researchers tracked 351 victims across 334 organizations caught up in a single ransomware campaign over the course of a month.

The data suggests today’s ransomware crews have become oddly specific about their preferred victim profile: nearly two-thirds of victims held manager-level titles or above, the average victim was a 46-year-old Gen Xer, and three-quarters worked in accounting and finance, sales, operations, HR, or marketing. Half worked in the industrial or IT sectors.

Read more…
Source:  The Register News


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • A Timeline Perspective of the SolarStorm Supply-Chain Attack

    December 23, 2020

    On Dec. 13, the cyber community became aware of one of the most significant cybersecurity events of our time, impacting both commercial and government organizations around the world. The event was a supply-chain attack on SolarWinds OrionⓇ software conducted by suspected nation-state operators that we are tracking as SolarStorm. Unit 42 was able to connect ...

  • Card-Not-Present Fraud: 4 Security Considerations for Point of Sale Businesses

    December 23, 2020

    As the retail world’s center of gravity shifts to the cloud, payment card fraud has followed suit. According to Verizon’s retail vulnerabilities study, attacks against e-commerce applications are by far the leading cause of retail data breaches. This trend mirrors similar outcomes in other industries, like food service. A complimentary Verizon study finds remote attacks ...

  • DHS warns of data theft risk when using Chinese products

    December 23, 2020

    The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned American businesses of the data theft risks behind using equipment and data services provided by companies linked with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The reason that prompted this business advisory is the need to highlight the PRC government-sponsored data theft risk to all organizations and individuals who ...

  • FBI warns of ongoing COVID-19 vaccine related fraud schemes

    December 22, 2020

    US federal agencies have warned about scammers exploiting the public’s interest in the COVID-19 vaccine to harvest personal information and steal money through multiple ongoing and emerging fraud schemes. The warning was issued earlier today through the FBI National Press Office by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Health and Human Services Office ...

  • Holiday Puppy Swindle Has Consumers Howling

    December 22, 2020

    Puppy photos are undeniably irresistible but beware; researchers have uncovered a scheme selling fake German Shepherd puppies for Bitcoin, leaving buyers crushed and without a tiny fuzzy friend to cuddle on Christmas morning. The scam was discovered by an intrepid researcher at Anomali, who got wind of the fake puppy offer and decided to investigate. Image: ThreatPost Read ...

  • Partial lists of organizations infected with Sunburst malware released online

    December 21, 2020

    Multiple security researchers and research teams have published over the weekend lists ranging from 100 to 280 organizations that installed a trojanized version of the SolarWinds Orion platform and had their internal systems infected with the Sunburst malware. The list includes the names of tech companies, local governments, universities, hospitals, banks, and telecom providers. The biggest names ...