The way to cybersecurity!
Today’s cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated, and the conduct of ransomware attacks is shifting to a model based on affiliate networks and services. Criminals know that their business is worth trillions of dollars, and at the same time the chances of being caught by the police are quite low, because cybercrime networks stretch across national borders. In this situation, fighting them is a concerted effort by ransomware experts. security, law enforcement, government, business, and society at large.
A needle in a haystack
Cybercrime is now an empire that functions like any other criminal organization of its kind – with bosses, managers and stooges. Its world, however, is a bit more complicated. Take, for example, the most important reason why hackers don’t get caught – it’s jurisdictional. Many cybercriminals operate in countries that do not have an extradition agreement in place, such as. to the United States. It makes them harder to track down, capture and prosecute.
There is a wealth of data on ransomware and other types of cybercrime. However, accurately estimating the scale of this phenomenon is difficult because a significant number of victims do not report to law enforcement. Although there have been several large, successful attacks recently, still less than 0.05% of cybercriminals are arrested and brought to justice. This gives criminals a sense of confidence and allows them to act without fear of facing consequences. The cybercrime supply chain has grown, with so many moving parts and participants at each point that a concerted global effort is needed to track and stop them all.
2021 a year of change
In cyber security, not every action has an immediate or lasting effect. However, several events that took place in 2021 point to positive changes taking place in the fight against criminals.
Joining forces through collaboration is being prioritized as a way to disrupt the supply chains of cybercriminals. Data sharing and established partnerships allow us to respond more effectively to hackers and better predict what techniques they will use in the future. The results of this collaboration include. Coordinated takeover of the Emotet infrastructure, one of the most successful malware tools in recent years, and disruption of the Egregor, NetWalker and Cl0p ransomware campaigns. These are major successes for governments and law enforcement in the fight against cybercrime. The U.S. Department of Justice has even indicted someone associated with NetWalker. FortiGuard Labs data showed a slowdown in malware activity after Emotet was inactivated. In contrast, activity related to TrickBot and Ryuk variants persisted after the event, but was smaller in scale.
A collaborative effort
FortiGuard Labs’ mission is to provide Fortinet customers with the best threat intelligence to protect them from malicious activity and sophisticated cyber attacks. – However, we don’t stop there. Fortinet actively collaborates with over 200 partners with whom it shares threat intelligence. These include cyber threat intelligence companies, national CERTs, CSIRTs, government agencies, international organizations including NATO and Interpol, and other key partners such as MITRE and the World Economic Forum Cyber Security Center – says Derek Manky of FortiGuard Labs.
Fortinet is also a member of Interpol’s Global Expert Group (ICGEG), and works with the FBI, which it helps fight cybercrime and cyberterrorism. Is one of several private sector companies that have provided support to an Interpol-led operation to combat cybercrime in the ASEAN region. Fortinet is also a co-founder of the Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA). It has grown from four founding members to an active association of threat researchers, security vendors and alliance partners to share threat information and improve cyber defenses at member companies and their customers. CTA aims to thwart attacks by increasing digital resilience – the more entities share knowledge, the better prepared they will be to fight cybercrime.
Fortinet is also a founding member and supports many initiatives of the World Economic Forum Cyber Security Center – it holds one of only two permanent seats in this international council. The Center for Cyber Security was created to shape the future of the field, build digital trust around the world, protect innovation, institutions, companies and individuals, and secure our growing dependence on the digital economy.
