Ransomware continues to be a blight across the landscape and has gotten new life thanks to the pandemic and a growing collection of capabilities to make malware operators more potent. While using both cloud computing (what is somewhat mistakenly called ransomware-as-a-service or RaaS) and extortion techniques aren’t new, they are being deployed more often and in more clever and targeted ways than ever before. This has brought a rise in overall ransom attacks and in demanded payouts. One report has average ransom demands increasing by a third since Q32019.

In this blog post for Avast, I describe what RaaS is and how it is being exploited by the Darkside crime group.

If you are compromised by Darkside, there is this decryptor tool available. Suggestions (as with other ransomware preparation): ensure your backups are intact and accurate, intensify phishing awareness and education, and lockdown your accounts with MFA.