Double extortion is a type of cyberattack that combines the tactics of traditional ransomware with data exfiltration. It's like a one-two punch that significantly increases the pressure on victims to pay the ransom. Here's how it works:

1. Infiltration and Encryption: Attackers gain access to a victim's network (often through phishing, malware, or exploiting vulnerabilities) and encrypt sensitive data, just like in a typical ransomware attack. This prevents the victim from accessing their critical files and systems.

2. Data Theft: Before or during the encryption process, the attackers also steal a copy of the victim's valuable data. This could include customer information, financial records, intellectual property, or anything else the attackers deem valuable.

3. Double Threat: The attackers then contact the victim, demanding a ransom to decrypt the data. But here's the twist: they also threaten to publish, sell, or leak the stolen data if the ransom isn't paid. This creates a double whammy for the victim. They face disruptions in their operations due to encrypted data and the potential damage of having their sensitive information exposed.

Why is double extortion so dangerous?

• Increased pressure to pay: Victims are more likely to pay the ransom when faced with the double threat of operational disruption and data exposure.

• Reputational damage: Leaked data can severely damage a company's reputation, erode customer trust, and lead to legal and financial consequences.

• Higher ransom demands: Attackers often demand higher ransoms in double extortion schemes because they have more leverage over their victims.

How can organizations protect themselves?

• Strong security practices: Implement robust security measures such as multi-factor authentication, regular software updates, employee security awareness training, and strong data backup and recovery procedures.

• Data loss prevention (DLP) tools: These tools can help detect and prevent data exfiltration attempts.

• Incident response plan: Develop a plan to respond to ransomware attacks, including how to communicate with attackers, assess the situation, and potentially recover data without paying the ransom.

Double extortion ransomware is a serious and growing threat. Organizations must be proactive in their security efforts to mitigate the risk of falling victim to this attack.

ThreatNG can enhance security through its comprehensive capabilities in external discovery, external assessment, and reporting. It offers a suite of investigation modules and intelligence repositories that provide valuable insights into potential threats and vulnerabilities, including ransomware attacks. Additionally, ThreatNG seamlessly integrates with complementary solutions to strengthen security measures further.

ThreatNG's Capabilities

ThreatNG excels in three key areas:

1. External Discovery: ThreatNG automatically identifies and maps an organization's external attack surface, including unknown, forgotten, or hidden assets. This comprehensive discovery process ensures that no potential entry point for attackers is overlooked.

2. External Assessment: ThreatNG continuously assesses the security posture of all discovered assets, providing detailed risk scores and actionable insights. This assessment helps organizations prioritize remediation efforts and mitigate vulnerabilities effectively.

3. Reporting: ThreatNG offers a variety of reports that provide clear and concise information about an organization's security posture. These reports are tailored to different audiences, from executives to technical teams, and help facilitate informed decision-making.

Breach and Ransomware Susceptibility

ThreatNG includes a specific capability called Breach and Ransomware Susceptibility. This module evaluates an organization's vulnerability to breaches and ransomware attacks based on external attack surface and digital risk intelligence, which includes domain intelligence (exposed sensitive ports and known vulnerabilities), dark web presence, and sentiment and financials (SEC Form 8-Ks).

This module helps organizations:

• Identify and assess potential vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit to deploy ransomware.

• Proactively address security gaps to reduce the risk of ransomware attacks.

• Monitor the dark web for mentions of the organization concerning ransomware groups or activities.

• Stay informed about the latest ransomware threats and trends.

Investigation Modules

ThreatNG's investigation modules enable in-depth analysis of potential threats. These modules include:

• Domain Intelligence: This module provides comprehensive information about a domain, including DNS records, SSL certificates, and associated organizations.

• Social Media: This module analyzes social media posts to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities.

• Sensitive Code Exposure: This module scans code repositories for sensitive information attackers could exploit.

• Cloud and SaaS Exposure: This module identifies and assesses cloud and SaaS services used by the organization, highlighting potential security risks.

• Dark Web Presence: This module monitors the dark web for mentions of the organization, its employees, or its assets, providing early warnings of potential threats.

Intelligence Repositories

ThreatNG leverages a wealth of intelligence repositories to provide up-to-date information on threats and vulnerabilities. These repositories include:

• Dark web: ThreatNG continuously monitors the dark web for leaked credentials, mentions of the organization, and other relevant information.

• Compromised credentials: ThreatNG maintains a database of compromised credentials to identify potential account takeovers.

• Ransomware events and groups: ThreatNG tracks ransomware events and groups to provide insights into the latest threats.

• Known vulnerabilities: ThreatNG leverages vulnerability databases to identify and assess known weaknesses in software and systems.

Complementary Solutions

ThreatNG seamlessly integrates with a range of complementary solutions to enhance its capabilities. These solutions include:

• Security Information and Event Management (SIEM): ThreatNG can integrate with SIEM solutions to provide real-time threat monitoring and incident response.

• Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIPs): ThreatNG can integrate with TIPs to enrich threat intelligence and provide more comprehensive insights.

• Vulnerability Scanners: ThreatNG can integrate with vulnerability scanners to provide more comprehensive vulnerability assessment and remediation.

Examples of ThreatNG Working with Complementary Solutions

• ThreatNG can integrate with a SIEM solution to correlate threat intelligence from both systems, providing a more comprehensive view of the threat landscape.

• ThreatNG can integrate with a TIP to enrich threat intelligence with external threat data, providing more context and insights into potential attacks.

• ThreatNG can integrate with a vulnerability scanner to prioritize remediation efforts based on the severity of vulnerabilities and the likelihood of exploitation.

By combining its capabilities with the strengths of complementary solutions, ThreatNG provides a robust and comprehensive security solution that can adapt to the evolving threat landscape.