The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency are warning Gmail, Outlook and other email platform users about a new cyberattack that could be targeting them.
The hacks are linked to a group that has targeted victims in the medical, education, legal, insurance, tech, and manufacturing fields, according to a news release.
As of February, the hackers have hit about 300 people, according to federal authorities.
The cyberattacks are part of Medusa, a ransomware variant identified in June 2021, the FBI announced last week.
They operate with a double extortion tactic: They lock up data and threaten to leak it unless they get paid, according to authorities.
FBI and CISA recommend organizations implement the mitigations to improve cybersecurity posture based on threat actorsÐÔÊӽ紫ý™ activity.
- Securely store multiple copies of sensitive data and servers in separate locations, using options like hard drives and cloud services.
- Use long passwords and change them frequently.
- Set IP two-factor authentication, which requires users to provide two or more verification factors to access their accounts, particularly accounts that access critical systems.
- Identify, detect, and investigate odd activity with a networking monitoring tool.
- Make sure all operating systems, software, and firmware are up to date.
- Require VPNs or Jump Hosts for remote access.
- Filter network traffic by stopping unknown or untrusted origins from accessing remote services on internal systems.
- Disable unused ports
- Make sure all backup data is encrypted and inflexible.