In cybersecurity, we often say that attackers only need to be right once – and defenders need to be right every time. Traditionally, we’ve focused on perimeter breaches, phishing campaigns, and zero-day exploits.
But increasingly, attackers are bypassing these hardened defenses and taking a different route: persuading someone on the inside to hand over the keys. A recent BBC investigation illustrated this shift in stark terms. A journalist was approached by the ransomware group Medusa and offered a portion of a ransom if they provided login access to BBC systems.
Read more…
Source: Rapid7
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