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Montreal-area city hit by ransomware: report

A city in the Montreal area was hit with ransomware over the weekend, according to a Quebec news service.

La Presse reported this morning that Westmount Mayor Christina Smith confirmed the attack. Westmount is a municipality of approximately 21,000 in Montreal.

Lockbit ransomware gang claims to copy 14 TB of data and release it within two weeks unless ransom is paid. The city’s website was not affected by the attack.

Brett Callow, a threat analyst at Emsisoft based in Columbia, UK, warns that LockBit’s claims should not be assumed to be accurate when it comes to the exfiltration of at least 14 TB of information. “They have exaggerated in the past and may do so again,” he said in an email.

According to La Presse, the attack was discovered Sunday morning by city officials who noticed a computer problem.

La Press quotes Claude Vallières, the city’s IT director. We are still investigating the infected server, but have not communicated with anyone…”

Ransomware is arguably the most devastating cybercrime facing Canadians, according to the recently released National Cyber ​​Threat Assessment by the federal government’s Canadian Center for Cyber ​​Security. “As long as ransomware remains profitable, cybercriminals will almost certainly continue to deploy it,” the report said in part.

Exactly one year ago, the center released a ransomware playbook detailing how to defend against and recover from ransomware attacks. “No single mitigation is robust enough to counter the evolving ransomware threat. Organizations can protect their devices, systems, and networks from not only ransomware, but other types of malware and cyberattacks. A defense-in-depth (multi-layered) strategy should be employed to protect .The strategy should include multiple layers of defense with several mitigations or security controls at each layer.”

The playbook advises organizations to take the following steps:

1- Create a backup plan that includes preventing your backups from becoming corrupted.

2- Create an incident response plan and put the plan into action.

3- Create a recovery plan. This starts with taking an inventory of all hardware and software.

4- Manage all user and administrator accounts to ensure that staff do not use insecure passwords and that sensitive data is accessible only to those who require passwords. Strengthen account login with multi-factor authentication.

5- Have a cyber security awareness program that regularly reminds staff how to be safe and recognize cyber threats.

6. Implement cybersecurity controls such as creating application allow lists to control who or what can access your network and systems, robust application patching processes, and email domain protection.

Seven-segment the IT network and place sensitive and high-value information in different zones of the network

Protect your Internet-facing or exposed systems with encryption, firewalls, MFA, and frequent vulnerability assessments.

Montreal-area city hit by ransomware: report

Source link Montreal-area city hit by ransomware: report

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