Meet LockBit: The Most Prevalent Ransomware in 2022

Affected platforms: Microsoft Windows, Linux, ESXi, MacOS
Impacted parties: Microsoft Windows, Linux, ESXi, and MacOS Users
Impact: Encrypts and exfiltrates victims’ files and demands ransom for file decryption and not to leak stolen files
Severity level: High

On June 14^th, 2023, the CISA, FBI, MS-ISAC, and multiple international cyber security organizations released a joint advisory for the LockBit ransomware. This ransomware group has been active since early 2020, targeting organizations across numerous industries, including energy and government sectors. According to the advisory, LockBit was the most active ransomware in 2022.

This blog provides insights into the LockBit Group's activities over the past few years.

What is LockBit?

LockBit is a ransomware group that has been active since early 2020 (the active period goes back to 2019 if its predecessor “ABCD ransomware” is included in the “LockBit” family) providing a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) service to for-hire online criminals known as affiliates. The affiliates’ job is to select and infiltrate victim organizations and deploy the ransomware provided by the LockBit developer.

The developer has consistently worked to improve the ransomware: LockBit 2.0 (also known as LockBit Red) was released in mid-2021, and LockBit 3.0 (also known as LockBit Black) became available in early-2022. The latest LockBit ransomware variant, “LockBit Green,” appeared in early 2023. While the LockBit ransomware initially only supported the Windows platform, the LockBit threat actor group added support for Linux/VMware/ESXi and macOS platforms in 2021 and 2023, respectively. The group also works with partners who want to sell exfiltrated data but do not want to encrypt victims' files.

LockBit uses a dual extortion tactic, demanding that victims pay a ransom to recover their files and not release the stolen information to the public. LockBit is also believed to threaten Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against victims if the demanded ransom is not paid.

Due to its prevalence and popularity among cybercriminals, FortiGuard Labs has published several blogs and threat signals for LockBit ransomware:

Blog

• Can You See It Now? An Emerging LockBit Campaign
• Ransomware Roundup: LockBit, BlueSky, and More

Threat Signal

• #StopRansomware: LockBit 3.0 (AA23-075A)
• LockBit 2.0 Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) Incorporates Enhanced Delivery Mechanism via Group Policy

As a RaaS, the LockBit operator offers its affiliates a variety of options for splitting the ransom fee. The ransom payment is typically split 1:4 between the LockBit operator and the affiliates.

Using the features provided by the LockBit operator, its affiliates can perform a variety of activities, including:

• Create private chat rooms to communicate with victim organizations
• Use of a custom “StealBit” stealer for data exfiltration
• Upload images, data, and communication history with victim organizations to the LockBit blog (data leak site)
• Set exceptions for computer names, file names, and file extensions that are not to be encrypted
• Shut down and remove Windows Defender
• Run the ransomware in SafeMode
• Delete shadow copies

It also has “do not target” and approved “target” industry lists for file encryption and data exfiltration.

• Affiliates are NOT allowed to encrypt files belonging to critical infrastructure, such as nuclear/thermal/hydroelectric power plants, gas and oil pipelines, oil production stations, and refineries. However, affiliates are allowed to steal data from such organizations without encrypting files.
• Affiliates are NOT allowed to attack post-Soviet countries: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, and Estonia.
• Affiliates ARE allowed to target non-profit organizations
• Affiliates ARE allowed to target private and for-profit educational institutions
• Affiliates ARE allowed to attack medical and pharmaceutical institutions/companies, as long as the attack does not result in death. Affiliates are free to steal data without encrypting files.
• Affiliates ARE allowed to attack government agencies (as long as they make a profit)
• Affiliates ARE ENCOURAGED to attack police stations and law enforcement agencies

Prevalence

Data gathered through Fortinet’s FortiRecon service supports the CISA advisory's claim that LockBit was the most active ransomware in 2022. According to our internal research, LockBit ransomware accounted for approximately 50% of the 3,298 ransomware incidents we observed in 2022.

LockBit ransomware victim organizations are spread across several industries. As explained, the LockBit operator imposes "do not attack" rules for specific industries and countries. However, it's up to each affiliate to follow the rules.

History of LockBit Ransomware

ABCD ransomware

ABCD ransomware, which first appeared in September 2019, is believed to be the predecessor of LockBit ransomware. Unlike its slightly more sophisticated successor, ABCD ransomware only allows victims to contact it using email. The ransomware also deletes shadow copies by running the command vssadmin delete shadows /all /quiet & wmic shadowcopy delete, making it difficult to recover files.

FortiGuard Labs found what appears to be an even earlier version of the ABCD ransomware (SHA2: 49c0acf512146620dd26f515804324c8e4b4cc8eb8b9ab5d9c57e201241bc7ae). While this variant encrypts files, its ransom note only contains the victim's personal ID.

The transition can be seen in a subsequent ABCD ransomware sample (SHA2: c8205792fbc0a5efc6b8f0f2257514990bfaa987768c4839d413dd10721e8871). This sample drops a ransom note, “Restore-My-Files.txt,” and changes the desktop wallpaper. Both refer to LockBit, but encrypted files still have a ".abcd" extension. It's also worth noting that the LockBit operator set up a data leak site on TOR.

LockBit

ABCD ransomware was rebranded as LockBit in January 2020. This new LockBit variant changes the file extensions of encrypted files to ".lockbit" instead of ".abcd".

It drops a ransom note with the same name as the ABCD ransomware, and communication was centralized on the TOR website rather than via email.

This LockBit variant also replaces the desktop wallpaper on compromised machines to indicate the presence of the ransom note. The threat actor appears to have been using two different wallpapers.

LockBit 2.0 (LockBit Red)

LockBit ransomware was updated to LockBit 2.0 (also known as LockBit Red) in mid-2021. This new variant still appends a ".lockbit" extension to the files it encrypts but now uses a red file icon that mimics the shape of a B.

LockBit 2.0 displays a ransom note on the desktop and a text file called Restore-My-Files.txt. This time, the LockBit threat actor added an alternate website that can be accessed through regular web browsers.

LockBit Linux-ESXi Locker

In October 2021, the LockBit developer released a new LockBit ransomware variant designed to work on Linux and ESXi virtual machines. Like the Windows version, this new LockBit variant encrypts files on compromised devices and leaves a ransom note called "restore-my-files.txt."

LockBit 3.0 (March 2022~)

LockBit 3.0 was released in March 2022. This variant appends a random 9-character file extension instead of the ".lockbit" extension used by the two previous LockBit variants. It also changes the file icon of the encrypted files to a black file icon that mimics the shape of a B.

LockBit 3.0 drops a ransom note labeled "[random nine letters]_README_txt." The threat actor also set up more mirror TOR and regular websites in case they become inaccessible. This turned out to be the right move, as in mid-2022, reported distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks took down LockBit's leak sites. The group also added 'Tox' and 'Jabber' as alternative communication methods for victims. Another noteworthy addition was an advertisement for victims, in which the LockBit group seeks insiders willing to provide internal information and access to the corporate network.

It also replaces the desktop wallpaper with a reference to the dropped ransom note.

LockBit Green

The latest LockBit ransomware variant, "LockBit Green," appeared in January 2023. A random 8-character extension is now added to the LockBit Green extension, and LockBit Green leaves a ransom note titled, "!!!-Restore-My-Files-!!!.txt". This new variant also contains a new encryption tool based on the leaked Conti source code.

The comprehensive LockBit Green ransom note is reproduced below, as the ransom note dropped by the ransomware is badly formatted.

~~~ LockBit 3.0 the world’s fastest and most stable ransomware from 2019~~~

>>>>> Your data is stolen and encrypted.

If you don’t pay the ransom, the data will be published on our TOR darknet sites. Keep in mind that once your data appears on our leak site, it could be bought by your competitors at any second, so don’t hesitate for a long time. The sooner you pay the ransom, the sooner your company will be safe.

Tor Browser Links:
hxxp://lockbitapt[redacted][.]onion
hxxp://lockbitapt[redacted][.]onion
hxxp://lockbitapt[redacted][.]onion
hxxp://lockbitapt[redacted][.]onion
hxxp://lockbitapt[redacted][.]onion
hxxp://lockbitapt[redacted][.]onion
hxxp://lockbitapt[redacted][.]onion
hxxp://lockbitapt[redacted][.]onion
hxxp://lockbitapt[redacted][.]onion

Links for normal browser:

hxxp://lockbitapt[redacted][.]onion.ly
hxxp://lockbitapt[redacted][.]onion.ly
hxxp://lockbitapt[redacted][.]onion.ly
hxxp://lockbitap[redacted][.]onion.ly
hxxp://lockbitapt[redacted][.]onion.ly
hxxp://lockbitapt[redacted][.]onion.ly
hxxp://lockbitapt[redacted][.]onion.ly
hxxp://lockbitapt[redacted][.]onion.ly
hxxp://lockbitapt[redacted][.]onion.ly

>>>>> What guarantee is there that we won’t cheat you?

We are the oldest ransomware affiliate program on the planet, nothing is more important than our reputation. We are not a politically motivated group and we want nothing more than money. If you pay, we will provide you with decryption software and destroy the stolen data. After you pay the ransom, you will quickly make even more money. Treat this situation simply as a paid training for your system administrators, because it is due to your corporate network not being properly configured that we were able to attack you. Our pentest services should be paid just like you pay the salaries of your system administrators. Get over it and pay for it. If we don’t give you a decryptor or delete your data after you pay, no one will pay us in the future. You can get more information about us on Ilon Musk’s Twitter hxxps://twitter[.]com/hashtag/[redacted]?f=live

>>>>> You need to contact us and decrypt one file for free on TOR darknet sites with your personal ID

Download and install Tor Browser hxxps://www.torproject[.]org/

Write to the chat room and wait for an answer, we’ll guarantee a response from you. If you need a unique ID for correspondence with us that no one will know about, tell it in the chat, we will generate a secret chat for you and give you his ID via private one-time memos service, no one can find out this ID but you. Sometimes you will have to wait some time for our reply, this is because we have a lot of work and we attack hundreds of companies around the world.

Tor Browser personal link available only to you (available during a ddos attack):
hxxp://lockbitsup[redacted][.]onion

Tor Browser Links for chat (sometimes unavailable due to ddos attacks):

hxxp://lockbitsup[redacted][.]onion
hxxp://lockbitsup[redacted][.]onion
hxxp://lockbitsup[redacted][.]onion
hxxp://lockbitsup[redacted][.]onion
hxxp://lockbitsup[redacted][.]onion
hxxp://lockbitsup[redacted][.]onion
hxxp://lockbitsupt[redacted][.]onion
hxxp://lockbitsup[redacted][.]onion
hxxp://lockbitsup[redacted][.]onion

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

>>>>> Your personal ID: [redacted] <<<<<

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

>>>>> Warning! Do not delete or modify encrypted files, it will lead to problems with decryption of files!

>>>>> Don’t go to the police or the FBI for help and don’t tell anyone that we attacked you.

They won’t help and will only make things worse for you. In 3 years not a single member of our group has been caught by the police, we are top notch hackers and we never leave a trail of crime. The police will try to prohibit you from paying the ransom in any way. The first thing they will tell you is that there is no guarantee to decrypt your files and remove stolen files, this is not true, we can do a test decryption before paying and your data will be guaranteed to be removed because it is a matter of our reputation, we make hundreds of millions of dollars and are not going to lose our revenue because of your files. It is very beneficial for the police and FBI to let everyone on the planet know about your data leak because then your state will get the fines budgeted for you due to GDPR and other similar laws. The fines will be used to fund the police and the FBI, they will eat more sweet coffee donuts and get fatter and fatter. The police and the FBI don’t care what losses you suffer as a result of our attack, and we will help you get rid of all your problems for a modest sum of money. Along with this you should know that it is not necessarily your company that has to pay the ransom and not necessarily from your bank account, it can be done by an unidentified person, such as any philanthropist who loves your company, for example, Elon Musk, so the police will not do anything to you if someone pays the ransom for you. If you’re worried that someone will trace your bank transfers, you can easily buy cryptocurrency for cash, thus leaving no digital trail that someone from your company paid our ransom. The police and FBI will not be able to stop lawsuits from your customers for leaking personal and private information. The police and FBI will not protect you from repeated attacks. Paying the ransom to us is much cheaper and more profitable than paying fines and legal fees.

>>>>> What are the dangers of leaking your company’s data.

First of all, you will receive fines from the government such as the GDRP and many others, you can be sued by customers of your firm for leaking information that was confidential. Your leaked data will be used by all the hackers on the planet for various unpleasant things. For example, social engineering, your employees’ personal data can be used to re-infiltrate your company. Bank details and passports can be used to create bank accounts and online wallets through which criminal money will be laundered. On another vacation trip, you will have to explain to the FBI where you got millions of dollars worth of stolen cryptocurrency transferred through your accounts on cryptocurrency exchanges. Your personal information could be used to make loans or buy appliances. You would later have to prove in court that it wasn’t you who took out the loan and pay off someone else’s loan. Your competitors may use the stolen information to steal technology or to improve their processes, your working methods, suppliers, investors, sponsors, employees, it will all be in the public domain. You won’t be happy if your competitors lure your employees to other firms offering better wages, will you? Your competitors will use your information against you. For example, look for tax violations in the financial documents or any other violations, so you have to close your firm. According to statistics, two thirds of small and medium-sized companies close within half a year after a data breach. You will have to find and fix the vulnerabilities in your network, work with the customers affected by data leaks. All of these are very costly procedures that can exceed the cost of a ransomware buyout by a factor of hundreds. It’s much easier, cheaper and faster to pay us the ransom. Well and most importantly, you will suffer a reputational loss, you have been building your company for many years, and now your reputation will be destroyed.

Read more about the GDRP legislation:
hxxps://en.wikipedia[.]org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation
hxxps://gdpr[.]eu/what-is-gdpr/
hxxps://gdpr-info[.]eu/

>>>>> Don’t go to recovery companies, they are essentially just middlemen who will make money off you and cheat you.

We are well aware of cases where recovery companies tell you that the ransom price is 5 million dollars, but in fact they secretly negotiate with us for 1 million dollars, so they earn 4 million dollars from you. If you approached us directly without intermediaries you would pay 5 times less, that is 1 million dollars.

>>>> Very important! For those who have cyber insurance against ransomware attacks.

Insurance companies require you to keep your insurance information secret, this is to never pay the maximum amount specified in the contract or to pay nothing at all, disrupting negotiations. The insurance company will try to derail negotiations in any way they can so that they can later argue that you will be denied coverage because your insurance does not cover the ransom amount. For example your company is insured for 10 million dollars, while negotiating with your insurance agent about the ransom he will offer us the lowest possible amount, for example 100 thousand dollars, we will refuse the paltry amount and ask for example the amount of 15 million dollars, the insurance agent will never offer us the top threshold of your insurance of 10 million dollars. He will do anything to derail negotiations and refuse to pay us out completely and leave you alone with your problem. If you told us anonymously that your company was insured for $10 million and other important details regarding insurance coverage, we would not demand more than $10 million in correspondence with the insurance agent. That way you would have avoided a leak and decrypted your Information. But since the sneaky insurance agent purposely negotiates so as not to pay for the insurance claim, only the insurance company wins in this situation. To avoid all this and get the money on the insurance, be sure to inform us anonymously about the availability and terms of insurance coverage, it benefits both you and us, but it does not benefit the insurance company. Poor multimillionaire insurers will not starve and will not become poorer from the payment of the maximum amount specified in the contract, because everyone knows that the contract is more expensive than money, so let them fulfill the conditions prescribed in your insurance contract, thanks to our interaction.

LockBit for MacOS

In April 2023, samples of LockBit for MacOS were submitted to a public file scanning service. Now that LockBit covers all major platforms (Windows, Linux, ESXi, and MacOS), LockBit developers look to stay one step ahead of competitors and further expand their influence.

Evidence that they plan to take their efforts further was uncovered in late 2022 when a post offering to purchase the Raccoon Stealer source code was discovered. This addition to their arsenal would enable them to integrate known infostealer code into the LockBit ransomware.

Infection Vector

LockBit's initial access vectors include exploiting vulnerabilities and exposed Remote Access Protocol (RDP), drive-by compromise, and the use of phishing and spear-phishing emails. The LockBit group is also known to purchase existing access to targeted organizations from initial access brokers on the dark web.

According to the CISA advisory, the LockBit ransomware group is reportedly exploiting the following N-day vulnerabilities:

• CVE-2023-0669 (Fortra GoAnywhere MFT License Response Servlet Command Injection)
• CVE-2023-27350 (PaperCut NG SetupCompleted Authentication Bypass Vulnerability)
• CVE-2021-44228 (Apache Log4j Error Log Remote Code Execution)
• CVE-2021-22986 (F5 iControl REST Interface Remote Command Execution Vulnerability)
• CVE-2020-1472 (Microsoft Windows Server Netlogon Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability)
• CVE-2019-0708 (Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Services Remote Code Execution Vulnerability)
• CVE-2018-13379 (FortiOS SSL VPN Web Portal Pathname Information Disclosure Vulnerability)

Please note that there are patches available for all of these security vulnerabilities.

Post-Infection Activities

After LockBit affiliates gain access to victim environments, the attackers move laterally across compromised networks and exfiltrate information using various custom and dual-use tools, such as Stealbit and rclone, living-off-the-land tactics, and publicly available file-sharing services.

LockBit Data Leak Site

LockBit has a data leak site on TOR where LockBit affiliates can post information about victims and their stolen data.

Each victim has their own page with a countdown timer and examples of stolen information. In some cases, LockBit threat actors offer to extend the ransom deadline, download stolen information, and destroy all copies for a fee.

The LockBit group also offers a file-sharing service that supports files up to 2GB. The service also has options to automatically remove uploaded files after 24 hours, seven days, or on the first download, as well as a password setting.

A data leak page with search functionality is also available.

The LockBit leak site was initially not as sophisticated as it is today—proof that the LockBit developer has put much effort into improving the site along with improvements to the ransomware code over the years. The below figure of the LockBit Data Leak site is courtesty of id-ransomware.

Conclusion

The LockBit Group has worked hard to improve its services to those who work with them. These efforts have enabled LockBit to remain at the forefront of the ransomware realm in terms of popularity and prevalence.

IOCs

Note that many LockBit ransomware samples exist due to the high prevalence of the ransomware over several years. Because of this, this section only contains up to 10 samples from each LockBit generation.

Protection

FortiGuard Labs has the following AV signatures in place for the LockBit samples in the IOC section:

• W32/Filecoder.NXQ!tr.ransom
• W32/LockBit.29EA!tr.ransom
• W32/Filecoder.OAN!tr.ransom
• W32/Lockbit.C2F8!tr.ransom
• W32/Lockbit.K!tr.ransom
• W64/GenKryptik.FSFZ!tr.ransom
• Linux/Filecoder_LockBit.D!tr
• ELF/LockBit.D!tr.ransom
• Linux/Filecoder.BU!tr
• Linux/Filecoder_LockBit.B!tr
• Linux/Filecoder_LockBit_AGen.A!tr
• Linux/Filecoder_LockBit.A!tr
• OSX/Filecoder_Lockbit.A!tr

Additionally, the following AV signatures are available for LockBit samples:

• W32/Filecoder_Lockbit.A!tr
• W32/Filecoder_Lockbit.BHHHVJJ!tr.ransom
• W32/Filecoder_Lockbit.E!tr
• W32/Filecoder_Lockbit.E!tr.ransom
• W32/Filecoder_Lockbit.H!tr
• W32/Filecoder_Lockbit.H!tr.ransom
• W32/Filecoder_Lockbit.I!tr
• W32/Filecoder_Lockbit.I!tr.ransom
• W32/Filecoder_Lockbit.P!tr.ransom
• W32/Filecoder_Lockbit.Q!tr
• W32/Filecoder_Lockbit.Q!tr.ransom
• W32/Filecoder_Lockbit.R!tr
• W32/Filecoder_Lockbit.R!tr.ransom
• W32/Filecoder.LOCKBIT!tr
• W32/Filecoder.LOCKBIT!tr.ransom
• W32/LockBit.20D4!tr.ransom
• W32/LockBit.2513!tr.ransom
• W32/LockBit.29FC!tr.ransom
• W32/Lockbit.2D74!tr.ransom
• W32/LockBit.323D!tr.ransom
• W32/Lockbit.82C9!tr.ransom
• W32/LockBit.921B!tr.ransom
• W32/LockBit.B8275!tr.ransom
• W32/Lockbit.D!tr.ransom
• W32/Lockbit.E!tr.ransom
• W32/LockBit.E755!tr.ransom
• W32/LockBit.F84F!tr.ransom
• W32/Lockbit.P!tr.ransom
• W32/Lockbit.R!tr.ransom
• W32/Lockbit.VHO!tr.ransom
• W32/Predator.LOCKBIT!tr.ransom
• W32/Ransom_Lockbit.R002C0DD823
• W32/Ransom_Lockbit.R002C0DDP23
• W32/Ransom_Lockbit.R002C0DEB23
• W32/Ransom_Lockbit.R002C0DEC23
• W32/Ransom_Lockbit.R002C0DED23
• W32/Ransom_Lockbit.R002C0DF223!tr.ransom
• W32/Ransom_Lockbit.R023C0DEA23
• W32/Ransom_Win32_LOCKBIT.ENC
• W32/Ransom_Win32_LOCKBIT.EOD
• W32/Ransom_Win32_LOCKBIT.YXCGT
• W32/Ransom_Win32_LOCKBIT.YXCGUT
• W32/Ransom_Win32_LOCKBIT.YXCLQZ!tr.ransom
• W64/Lockbit.886F!tr.ransom
• W64/Lockbit.A!tr.ransom
• W64/LockBit.EF55!tr.ransom
• HTML/Lockbit.FCBE!tr.ransom
• MSIL/Lockbit.96B2!tr.ransom
• Data/Lockbit!tr.ransom
• Data/Lockbit.9AFA!tr.ransom

FortiGuard Labs has put the following IPS signatures in place for the vulnerabilities reportedly exploited by LockBit ransomware threat actors:

• Fortra.GoAnywhere.MFT.LicenseResponseServlet.Command.Injection (CVE-2023-0669)
• PaperCut.NG.SetupCompleted.Authentication.Bypass (CVE-2023-27350)
• Apache.Log4j.Error.Log.Remote.Code.Execution (CVE-2021-44228)
• F5.iControl.REST.Interface.Remote.Command.Execution (CVE-2021-22986)
• MS.Windows.Server.Netlogon.Elevation.of.Privilege (CVE-2020-1472)
• MS.Windows.RDP.Channel.MS_T120.Remote.Code.Execution (CVE-2019-0708)
• MS.Windows.Server.NTLM.Relay.Spoofing (CVE-2021-36942)
• ZK.Framework.Remote.Code.Execution (CVE-2022-36537)
• MS.Exchange.Server.Autodiscover.Remote.Code.Execution (CVE-2021-34473)
• MS.Exchange.Server.Common.Access.Token.Privilege.Elevation (CVE-2021-34523)
• MS.Exchange.MailboxExportRequest.Arbitrary.File.Write (CVE-2021-31207)
• FortiOS.SSL.VPN.Web.Portal.Pathname.Information.Disclosure (CVE-2018-13379)
  

Note: For more information on CVE-2018-13379, see the blog “Prioritizing Patching is Essential for Network Integrity.”

FortiGuard Labs Guidance

Due to the ease of disruption, damage to daily operations, potential impact to an organization’s reputation, and the unwanted destruction or release of personally identifiable information (PII), etc., it is vital to keep all AV and IPS signatures up to date.

Since the majority of ransomware is generally delivered via phishing, organizations should consider leveraging Fortinet solutions designed to train users to understand and detect phishing threats:

The FortiPhish Phishing Simulation Service uses real-world simulations to help organizations test user awareness and vigilance to phishing threats and to train and reinforce proper practices when users encounter targeted phishing attacks.

Our FREE NSE training: NSE 1 – Information Security Awareness includes a module on internet threats designed to help end users learn how to identify and protect themselves from various types of phishing attacks and can be easily added to internal training programs.

Organizations also need to make foundational changes to the frequency, location, and security of their data backups to effectively deal with the evolving and rapidly expanding risk of ransomware. When coupled with digital supply chain compromise and a workforce telecommuting into the network, there is a real risk that attacks can come from anywhere. Organizations are encouraged to implement cloud-based security solutions, such as SASE, to protect off-network devices, advanced endpoint security, such as EDR (endpoint detection and response) solutions that can disrupt malware mid-attack, and Zero Trust Access and network segmentation strategies that restrict access to applications and resources based on policy and context. These solutions are proven to minimize risk and reduce the impact of a successful ransomware attack.

By operating these solutions as part of the industry's only fully integrated Security Fabric, organizations can also take advantage of native synergy and automation across your security ecosystem, Fortinet also provides an extensive portfolio of technology and human-based as-a-service offerings that can be deployed independently or as part of the Fortinet Security Fabric. These services are powered by advanced AI-enabled technologies and our global FortiGuard team of seasoned cybersecurity experts.

Best Practices include Not Paying a Ransom

Organizations such as CISA, NCSC, the FBI, and HHS caution ransomware victims against paying a ransom partly because the payment does not guarantee that files will be recovered. According to a U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) advisory, ransom payments may also embolden adversaries to target additional organizations, encourage other criminal actors to distribute ransomware, and/or fund illicit activities that could potentially be illegal. For organizations and individuals affected by ransomware, the FBI has a Ransomware Complaint page where victims can submit samples of ransomware activity via their Internet Crimes Complaint Center (IC3).

How Fortinet Can Help

FortiGuard Labs’ Emergency Incident Response Service provides rapid and effective response when an incident is detected. And our Incident Readiness Subscription Service provides tools and guidance to help you better prepare for a cyber incident through readiness assessments, IR playbook development, and IR playbook testing (tabletop exercises).

Learn more about Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs threat research and intelligence organization and the FortiGuard AI-powered security services portfolio.