Tag: vmware
60% of Cybersecurity Professionals Considering Job Change – March 5th
Cybersecurity professionals are restless, with over 60% planning to switch jobs in the next year. A new study by IANS Research and Artico Search highlights career stagnation as a major reason, while salaries remain high across the industry. The report finds senior professionals are the most eager to leave, frustrated by limited growth opportunities. Specialists in cloud security, application security, and threat intelligence, however, continue to command the highest salaries.
New ransomware threat emerges in 2025
A new and unusually dangerous and sophisticated gang of cybercriminals, named BlackLock, has emerged as a major ransomware threat in 2025. Cybersecurity company Reliaquest observed a staggering 1,425 percent increase in the gang’s activities in the last quarter of 2024. Its ransomware is built to target Windows, VMWare ESXi, and Linux environments and is designed as a double-extortion attack, which involves not only locking the target organization’s critical data by encrypting it, but also by identifying sensitive information and threatening to expose it. “BlackLock’s rise has been both swift and strategic, targeting organizations across a wide range of sectors and geographies,” reports Reliaquest.
Ransomware Payments Reach a Collective Payout Estimated at $1B in 2023 – February 8th
According to Chainalysis, the estimated total value received by ransomware attackers reached $1.1B in 2023. The Chainalysis report also states that the estimated $1.1B only pertains to ransomware demands collected, and does not account for operational and third-party disruption costs.
Russia-Backed Hackers Infiltrate Microsoft’s Corporate Email System – January 22nd
Microsoft announced on a blog post that the email intrusion attack began in November 2023 and was discovered on January 12th, 2024. Microsoft deduced that the attack originated from a Russian nation-state hacking group. The Microsoft blog post stated the attack gained access to a small percentage of Microsoft corporate email accounts, consisting of Microsoft leadership, security, and IT team members. The incident is still under investigation and reported to the SEC, Microsoft vowed to take any further necessary action while being as transparent as possible.
UK Purchase Scams Surge up to £580M – October 25th
UK Finance has reported a significant increase in authorized push payment (APP) fraud in the first half of 2023. APP fraud refers to threat actors practicing identity fraud to trick victims into sending money to bank accounts under their control.