‘Barely able to keep up’: America’s cyberwarriors are spread thin by attacks
Charles Carmakal has a problem: Ransomware has become so prolific that he has too much business.
“We’re getting calls from organizations almost every single day,” Carmakal, the chief technology officer at the cybersecurity giant Mandiant, said in a phone call. “We’re barely able to keep up.”
And that was before cybersecurity professionals had to deal with one of the most pervasive ransomware attacks ever: the hack of the software company Kaseya, which allowed one ransomware group to infect more than 1,500 organizations last weekend.
The cybersecurity industry is stretched thin. Ransomware attacks are now so prolific that some companies simply cannot help every newly hacked victim get back online. And a shortage of workers means no immediate help in sight.
“I feel bad, but we turn down a lot of organizations because we don’t have the capacity to help them,” Carmakal said.
A once-quiet epidemic, ransomware — in which hackers, often from Russia or other former Soviet bloc countries, break into private computer systems to encrypt and often steal files to hold for ransom — has emerged in 2021 as a major national security issue. In recent months, ransomware gangs have launched several high-profile attacks, including on a major pipeline and a meat supplier, and frequently hampered schools and hospitals. Ransomware cost American victims an estimated $1.4 billion last year.
Source: NBC News