September 02, 2021
Greetings,
CISA and the FBI released a Joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA), Ransomware Awareness for Holidays and Weekends, to caution organizations to protect themselves against ransomware attacks during holidays and weekends – when offices are normally closed.
Although CISA and FBI do not currently have any specific threat reporting indicating a cyberattack will occur over the upcoming Labor Day holiday, malicious cyber actors have launched serious ransomware attacks during other holidays and weekends in 2021, including Mother's Day, Memorial Day, and Independence Day.
The Joint CSA highlights the recent actor tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and attacks that have occurred over holidays and weekends. The CSA also identifies both immediate and longer term actions organizations can take to protect against the rise in ransomware, including:
Cybercriminals have increasingly targeted large, lucrative organizations and providers of critical services such as public safety agencies, with the expectation of higher value ransoms and an increased likelihood of payments. The FBI and CISA encourage all entities to examine their current cybersecurity posture and implement the recommended best practices and mitigations to manage the risk posed by all cyber threats, including ransomware. We strongly encourage you to sign up for US-CERT alerts at us-cert.cisa.gov to receive timely, important updates. Visit cisa.gov/publication/communications-resiliency for additional cyber and communications resiliency resources.
Any amplification of this alert through your communications and social media channels is appreciated. And as always, thank you for your continued collaboration. The advisory can be found here and is also available on the new, whole-of-government ransomware website, Stopransomware.gov.
Thank you for sharing this information broadly.
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
Defend Today Secure Tomorrow
Defend Today Secure Tomorrow
