Ransomware threatens Danish production companies
A recent threat assessment from the FE Center for Cyber Security (CFCS) warns of an increasing threat from organized ransomware groups targeting Danish manufacturing companies. According to CFCS, several Danish production companies have already been hit by ransomware in 2023.
CFCS believes that manufacturing companies are attractive targets for ransomware actors for several reasons. First, they often have a significant turnover and may therefore be able to pay larger ransoms to the attackers. In addition, the hackers likely believe that manufacturing companies are more likely to pay the ransom, as an attack that results in downtime can have serious financial consequences.
Not only financially attractive companies are at risk; even manufacturing companies with critical functions become targets of ransomware actors, as the attackers do not discriminate in their choice of victims.
A particularly worrying trend that the CFCS highlights is the dominance of the threat landscape by organized ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) groups. RaaS operates as a criminal business model where masterminds develop ransomware and offer it as a service to other criminal partners who carry out the attacks.
Although traditional ransomware attacks usually involve encrypting data and systems, certain groups have developed the method further. These groups steal the victim’s data without encrypting it and then threaten to leak or sell the information unless a ransom is paid. This approach may be more attractive to ransomware groups as it requires less work and fewer technical skills.
In the threat assessment, CFCS identifies manufacturing companies as companies that manufacture physical products such as machinery and medicine. These companies face an increasing threat and it is critical that they implement robust cyber security measures to protect their operations and data from potential ransomware. The FE Center for Cyber Security urges companies to be aware and proactive to counter this growing cyber threat.
Read more at FE- Center for Cyber Security here:
