OXFORD, U.K.  — October 28, 2021 —

Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, has published an article, “The Top 10 Ways Ransomware Operators Ramp Up the Pressure to Pay,” detailing how ransomware attackers are implementing a wide range of ruthless pressure tactics to persuade victims to pay the ransom. The article is based on evidence and insight from Sophos’ Rapid Response team of 24/7 incident responders who help organizations under active cyberattack. It highlights the shift in ransomware pressure techniques from solely encrypting data to including other pain points, such as harassing employees.  

“Since organizations have become better at backing up their data and restoring encrypted files from backups, attackers are supplementing their ransom demands with additional extortion measures that increase the pressure to pay,” said Peter Mackenzie, director, Incident Response at Sophos. “For  example, the Sophos Rapid Response team has seen cases where attackers email or phone a victim’s employees, calling them by their name and sharing personal details they’ve stolen – such as any disciplinary actions or passport information – with the aim of scaring them into demanding their employer pays the ransom. This kind of behavior shows how ransomware has shifted from a purely technical attack targeting systems and data into one that also targets people.”

The article includes a recorded voicemail that a SunCrypt ransomware affiliate left for an employee of a targeted organization (published with the permission of the affected organization.)

How Attackers Ramp Up the Pressure to Pay

Below are the top 10 ways attackers are increasing pressure on their ransomware victims to get them to pay the ransom:

  1. Stealing data and threatening to publish or auction it online
  2. Emailing and calling employees, including senior executives, threatening to reveal their personal information
  3. Notifying or threatening to notify business partners, customers, the media, and more of the data breach and exfiltration  
  4. Silencing victims by warning them not to contact the authorities
  5. Recruiting insiders to help them breach networks
  6. Resetting passwords
  7. Phishing attacks targeting victim email accounts
  8. Deleting online backups and shadow volume copies
  9. Printing physical copies of the ransom note on all connected devices, including point of sale terminals  
  10. Launching distributed denial-of-service attacks against the target’s website

The article explains each tactic in more detail, with examples of ransomware groups that have deployed that tactic. The article also includes advice on what defenders can do to protect their organization and employees from attacker behaviors and cyberthreats in general.

Further information on attacker behaviors, real-world incident reports and advice for security operations professionals is available on Sophos News SecOps.

Tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs), and more, for different types of ransomware are available on SophosLab Uncut, the home of Sophos’ latest threat intelligence.

About Sophos

Sophos is a cybersecurity leader defending 600,000 organizations globally with an AI-driven platform and expert-led services. Sophos meets organizations wherever they are in their security maturity and grows with them to defeat cyberattacks. Its solutions combine machine learning, automation, and real-time threat intelligence with frontline human expertise from Sophos X-Ops to deliver advanced, 24/7 threat monitoring, detection, and response.

Sophos offers industry-leading managed detection and response (MDR) alongside a comprehensive portfolio of cybersecurity technologies — including endpoint, network, email, and cloud security, extended detection and response (XDR), identity threat detection and response (ITDR), and next-gen SIEM. Together with expert advisory services, these capabilities help organizations proactively reduce risk and respond faster, with the visibility and scalability needed to stay ahead of evolving threats.

Sophos goes to market with a global partner ecosystem, including Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs), resellers and distributors, marketplace integrations, and cyber risk partners, giving organizations the flexibility to choose trusted relationships when securing their business.  Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, U.K. More information is available at www.sophos.com.