Acronis Blog
Acronis Cyber Protection Center
Eric Swotinsky

Latest stories from Eric Swotinsky

September 26, 2022 — 2 min read
Acronis
September 26, 2022 — 2 min read
Hive ransomware gang claims several new major victims
The infamous Hive ransomware gang has been busy lately. Just in the last week, they've claimed responsibility for four new victims.
September 26, 2022 — 2 min read
Acronis
September 26, 2022 — 2 min read
Phishing campaign abuses LinkedIn Smart Links
An ongoing phishing campaign is abusing a feature from LinkedIn called Smart Links in order to bypass some security filters.
September 26, 2022 — 2 min read
Acronis
September 26, 2022 — 2 min read
Emotet botnet used to deliver Quantum, BlackCat ransomware
The Quantum and BlackCat ransomware gangs are now using the Emotet botnet to deploy their payloads. Emotet was first deployed as a banking trojan in 2014, and has since evolved into a network of compromised computers.
September 19, 2022 — 2 min read
Acronis
September 19, 2022 — 2 min read
Cyber espionage campaign targets organizations across Asia
Researchers have identified new cyber-espionage activity focusing on government entities, state-owned aerospace and defense firms, telecom companies, and IT organizations in multiple Asian countries.
September 19, 2022 — 2 min read
Acronis
September 19, 2022 — 2 min read
Death of Queen Elizabeth II exploited to steal Microsoft credentials
A new phishing campaign has seen attackers impersonate Microsoft in order to bait recipients into inadvertently exposing their account credentials. Victims are invited to add a message of condolence on an online memorial board "in memory of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II."
September 19, 2022 — 2 min read
Acronis
September 19, 2022 — 2 min read
Linux variant of SideWalk backdoor discovered
The backdoor known as SideWalk, or StageClient, has been observed in various attacks over the last year, mainly against academic targets in East and Southeast Asia. These attacks were mainly against Windows systems, but a new variant targeting Linux systems has been discovered with similar functionality.
September 13, 2022 — 2 min read
Acronis
September 13, 2022 — 2 min read
Hotel giant IHG hit by cyberattack, bookings disrupted
Leading hospitality company InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (also known as IHG Hotels & Resorts) has been impacted by a cyberattack. The hotel group's APIs are down and showing 502 and 503 HTTP errors, while customers are unable to log into their accounts.
September 12, 2022 — 2 min read
Acronis
September 12, 2022 — 2 min read
Instagram phishing campaign dangles "blue badges" as lure
A new Instagram phishing campaign has been discovered, attempting to scam users of the popular social media platform by luring them with the offer of a coveted "blue badge" — official verification of the user's profile. As part of the alleged verification process, users are asked to reveal their password and other sensitive information, all of which is sent directly to the attacker.
September 12, 2022 — 2 min read
Acronis
September 12, 2022 — 2 min read
French clothing company Damart hit by Hive ransomware
Damart, a French clothing company with over 130 stores across the world, has been hit by the Hive ransomware gang. The attackers demand a ransom of $2 million but have opted to keep negotiations private for now.
September 01, 2022 — 2 min read
Acronis
September 01, 2022 — 2 min read
LockBit gang plans triple-extortion tactics
The LockBit ransomware gang has announced that it is working to take its operation to the triple-extortion level. The gang is now looking to add DDoS as an extortion tactic on top of encrypting data and exfiltrating it (to threaten future leaks).
September 01, 2022 — 2 min read
Acronis
September 01, 2022 — 2 min read
Library services firm Baker & Taylor hit by ransomware
Baker & Taylor, the world's largest distributor of books to libraries worldwide, confirmed it's still working on restoring systems after being hit by ransomware more than a week ago. With an annual revenue of $4.6 billion, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based firm currently services more than 5,000 public and academic libraries.
September 01, 2022 — 2 min read
Acronis
September 01, 2022 — 2 min read
Crypto-mining malware lurks on systems for weeks
A new threat campaign has seen cryptocurrency-mining malware distributed across at least 11 countries, disguised as translator apps and music download apps. The app itself provides the advertised functionality, but also hides a sneaky downloader.
August 29, 2022 — 2 min read
Acronis
August 29, 2022 — 2 min read
Quantum ransomware attack hits Dominican Republic government agency
The Dominican Republic's Instituto Agrario Dominicano (IAD) has suffered a ransomware attack by the Quantum group. According to the ransom note, at least four physical servers and eight virtual servers with the databases, applications and emails were compromised.