Were You Targeted by Ransomware? The FBI Wants to Hear About It

At the end of January, the Federal Bureau of Investigation went public with an announcement that they had taken down the servers and Dark Web sites utilized by the Hive ransomware gang. This is a major victory, in terms of fighting cybercrime, but a certain statistic from this operation shows a somewhat disconcerting trend.

Let’s examine a statistic that FBI Director Christopher Wray shared during a press conference:

In the Seven Months of the FBI’s Operation, an Estimated 20% of Hive’s Victims Reported Issues to Law Enforcement

Let’s allow that to sink in for a moment—one in five of the ransomware group’s victims actually made an effort to report these issues to law enforcement, like the FBI. If that doesn’t seem like enough, that’s because it isn’t. Worse yet, this estimate seems high, according to other officials.

There are assorted reasons that ransomware victims might be reluctant to come forward, including:

• They may hesitate to involve federal investigators, assuming they would serve as another distraction for their internal IT teams and get in the way of their own data recovery efforts.
• These businesses are under quite a bit of stress, as they’re dealing with a direct threat to their operations. This may cause them to not think of reaching out and interfacing with the authorities.
• Some businesses may assume that involving the authorities will result in their own investigations becoming overrun, or the attackers becoming instigated into upping their attack.

However, the FBI’s goal is to identify those responsible for a given attack and to recover the data and/or funds, working discreetly to lend its aid to those impacted.

The FBI is actively working to foster relationships with businesses, actually, agents from its various field offices seeking out these interactions proactively so that (should an incident happen) there is already a rapport between the agency and the impacted organization.

Make No Mistake: If You Work with Us, We’ll Lean on the FBI in the Case of Ransomware Attack

It would be foolish not to, to be frank. Not only does it mean that your issue would be addressed with considerably more resources, it also assists the Bureau in collecting attack data that furthers their anti-cybercrime efforts—always a good outcome to shoot for.

Of course, working with us helps to make it less likely that you’ll be attacked successfully—not only will our monitoring and maintenance help you resist threats, we’re here to help you prepare your team to spot and respond to them appropriately as well. Find out more by giving us a call at (202) 640-2737.