Feds Warned to Look Out For Ransomware Grinches over the Holidays

The Grinch appears at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.

The Grinch appears at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. tarabird/istockphoto

Federal cybersecurity officials would prefer you keep your holidays a little more secure.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, my good friend Michael Bechetti texted me a funny little .gif cartoon where a turkey was talking with the Grinch—you know, the green guy who stars in the classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas movie, song, cartoon and Dr. Seuss story. In that little funny picture, the turkey had collected some money from his feathered friends and was trying to hire the Grinch to steal Thanksgiving. From the expression on his furry face, I don’t think the Grinch was interested.

At about the same time, I got a notice about a joint alert from CISA and the FBI warning that ransomware criminals were ramping up their campaigns over the holidays, and were also expected to target federal agencies and critical infrastructure alongside just about everyone else on the planet.

The holiday for me was a good one, and I got some much needed downtime, plus some time with my family. In fact, I settled into a holiday mindset surprisingly quickly this year. I guess I needed the break. The only thing is that the CISA warning kind of stuck in my head, because as nice as the holiday time is for most of us, it’s easy to forget that criminals don’t see the world in the same way. In fact, many likely see the holidays as an opportunity to strike while our collective guard is down. The warning made that point perfectly clear.

“As Americans prepare to hit the highways and airports this Thanksgiving holiday, CISA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are reminding critical infrastructure partners that malicious cyber actors aren’t making the same holiday plans as you,” the warning states. “Recent history tells us that this could be a time when these persistent cyber actors halfway across the world are looking for ways—big and small—to disrupt the critical networks and systems belonging to organizations, businesses and critical infrastructure.”

The warning stresses that there are no active threats at this time, but given the pattern of attacks over the holidays, especially on weekends or at night when people are likely away from their offices, that it’s smart to be especially vigilant. Because even though the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes as he reformed and became a good guy, there is little reason to believe that ransomware criminals will follow suit.

The warning provides some good advice to take in order to keep agencies, critical infrastructure providers and businesses safe during this otherwise joyous time.

That advice includes:

  • Identifying IT and security employees who would be available to work over the weekends and holidays to respond to incidents and guard against ransomware attacks.

  • Implementing multi-factor authentication for all remote access and administrative accounts.

  • Mandating strong passwords and ensuring they are not reused across multiple accounts.

  • If an organization uses remote desktop protocol (RDP) or any other potentially risky service, make sure that it is secure and monitored.

  • Remind employees not to click on suspicious links, especially as phishing and other attacks ramp up during the holidays, and consider conducting exercises to raise awareness about these threats.

I believe this is the first year that CISA and the FBI have specifically sent out a warning about cybersecurity over the holiday season, but the situation is such that it is surely warranted now. The year-end security report from Atlas VPN reads almost like a horror novel.

According to the report, there were 107.28 million new threats identified for Windows operating systems in 2021, an increase of 18% or 16.53 million from last year, and that is without even including December in the totals. That means that criminals have been busy, creating about 328,000 new malware samples every single say throughout 2021. It seems like they are the ones who might need a break over the holidays, but you can bet they won’t take one.

It’s sad that we have to think about things like this, especially during an otherwise happy or festive time. But just like keeping your eyes peeled while walking through a dark parking lot or holding your wallet or purse close when out in public, so too must we now remain vigilant in cyberspace. Yes, even during the holidays.

Kudos to those IT workers who will be tapped to keep federal networks and critical infrastructure safe over the holiday season. Your role is absolutely critical this year, and we appreciate your service.

John Breeden II is an award-winning journalist and reviewer with over 20 years of experience covering technology. He is the CEO of the Tech Writers Bureau, a group that creates technological thought leadership content for organizations of all sizes. Twitter: @LabGuys

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.