A new cybersecurity coalition, which is backed by IT Security Guru, has launched this week in a move to fight back against ransomware.
The coalition is part of a new movement headed by managed security service provider Talion, called #RansomAware, which encourages organisations to come clean on ransomware and speak up about the attacks they are facing.
Today businesses are facing a tidal wave of ransomware attacks and recent data from Cybereason has revealed that 47 percent of UK organisations reported significant loss of business following a ransomware attack, while 45 percent of organisations who admitted to losing business reported losing C-Level talent as well.
The RansomAware campaign aims to shift from blaming executives for ransomware attacks to opening up on attacks to learn about attacker techniques and build better defences.
“We believe we need to stop cyber shaming organisations and move away from a culture of blaming individuals to a place where we can be open and transparent about how these attacks are taking place. Cybercriminals collaborate on their attacks, so we must collaborate to make our defences stronger. It is ‘us’ against ‘them’,” said Michael Brown, CEO at Talion.
Talion’s RansomAware coalition is formed of cyber security experts, businesses, academia, and government to promote collaboration and information sharing. Founding members include Talion, BAE Systems, RISCS, 36 Commercial, Insight Enterprises, Inc., KnowBe4, UK Cyber Security Association, Comparitech, Siemplify, Eskenzi PR, IT Security Guru, Outpost24, Cydea, Devo Technology Mishcon de Reya and Decipher Cyber.
“We see examples of collaboration and intelligence sharing in other industries, the medical sector for example has a formal process whereby when a medical mistake is made, the information is shared across the community to educate others and avoid the mistake being repeated. We need to band together with peers in our industries to look at ways of taking a collective response against ransomware attacks. Imagine if every law firm, university, or utilities provider stood together and publicly stated, we will not pay ransoms. Cyber criminals will follow the money, what we need to do is cut them off at the source, said Madeline Carr, Director of RISCS & Professor of Global Politics & Cyber Security at UCL.
To support the movement, Talion also carried out a survey on UK consumers and cybersecurity professionals to find out their attitudes towards ransomware. The findings revealed that 78 percent of consumers and 79 percent of cyber security professionals believe ransomware payments to cybercriminals should become illegal, while 81 percent of security professionals believe sharing information between businesses who have been attacked is the key to building better defences against ransomware.
Talion is inviting businesses to share their ransomware stories via a webform at https://talion.net/ransomaware/
