In November, the ransomware group ALPHV, also known as Black Cat, took an unusual approach by notifying the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about a data breach allegedly committed by the software company MeridianLink. ALPHV accused MeridianLink of failing to report the breach to the government within the mandated four days under new SEC rules, which require public companies to disclose "material cybersecurity incidents" promptly. Interestingly, ALPHV claimed responsibility for the breach itself, accusing MeridianLink of neglecting to disclose the security incident promptly.
MeridianLink, the alleged victim, denied the severity of the incident, acknowledging a cybersecurity event but asserting minimal business disruption and no evidence of unauthorized access to production platforms. The company committed to notifying affected parties if any personal information compromise was confirmed.
The situation raises questions about ALPHV's motives and the effectiveness of such tactics. The Lock and Code podcast recently discussed this incident with Recorded Future intelligence analyst Allan Liska. The conversation explored ALPHV's potential goals with the SEC complaint, whether similar threats had occurred in other regulatory contexts, and offered insights into the evolving landscape of ransomware attacks. Liska emphasized a disturbing trend of attacks growing in scale, audacity, and impact, signaling a challenging landscape for organizations facing cybersecurity threats in the coming year.
“There are no protections anymore,” Liska said. “For a while, some ransomware actors were like, ‘No, we won’t go after hospitals, or we won’t do this, or we won’t do that.’ Those protections all seem to have flown out the window, and they’ll go after anything and anyone that will make them money. It doesn’t matter how small they are or how big they are.”
Liska continued:
“We’ve seen ransomware actors go after food banks. You’re not going to get a ransom from a food bank. Don’t do that.”
Tune in today to listen to the full conversation.
You can also find Lock and Code on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, plus whatever preferred podcast platform you use.
Show notes and credits:
Intro Music: “Spellbound” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Outro Music: “Good God” by Wowa (unminus.com)
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