A brand-new cybersecurity coalition, which has the backing of IT Security Guru, has come forth this week in a move to combat ransomware. To say we’ve been engaged in a war with the malicious actors who create these viruses and other security threats would be an understatement to say the least. The coalition belongs to a new movement lead by managed security service provider Talion, referred to as #RansomAware, which compels enterprises to speak about ransomware and talk about the attacks they are encountering.  

Present-day businesses are looking at a tidal wave of ransomware-related compromises and latest information from Cybereason has unveiled that 47% of U.K. enterprises faced considerable loss of business subsequent to a ransomware attack, whereas 45% of enterprises who confessed to losing business reported the loss of C-level executives as well.  

The RansomAware campaign intends to shift the focus from placing the blame on executives with regards to ransomware attacks to providing data on attacks to learn about attacker strategies and developing improved defences.  

“We believe we ought to stop cyber shaming organisations and shift away from a culture of blaming individuals to a place where we can be more democratic and transparent with regards to these attacks that are occurring. Cybercriminals work together on their attacks, so we must also work together to make our defences more robust. It’s Us vs. Them, stated Michael Brown, Chief Executive Officer at Talion. 

Talion’s RansomAware coalition is composed of cyber security specialists, organizations, academia, and state entities to promote working together and data sharing. Founding members consist of Talion, RISCS, BAE Systems, KnowBe4, Insight Enterprises Inc., 36 Commercial, Siemplify, Comparitech, UK Cyber Security Association, Decipher Cypher, Devo Technology Mischcon de Reya, Cydea, Outpost 24, IT Security Guru, and Eskenzi PR. 

“We see instances of working together and data sharing in other domains, the medical field for instance has a formalized procedure whereby when a medical error occurs, the data is shared throughout the community to instruct others and prevent the mistake from happening again. We are required to group together with our colleagues from industries to look at methods of driving a mass response against the malicious actors who propagate ransomware. Visualize if all law firms, universities, or utilities providers stood hand-in-hand with each other and openly made the declaration, we will not pay ransoms. Cyber criminals will go wherever the money takes them, what we are required to do is cut them off at the point of origin, stated Madeline Carr, Director of RISCS and Professor of Global Politics & Cyber Security at UCL.  

To assist the movement, Talion also executed a survey on UK-based customers and cybersecurity specialists to identify their attitudes and thoughts about ransomware. The discoveries unveiled that 78% of customers and 79% of cyber security specialists share the opinion that ransomware payments to malicious actors must be rendered illegal, whereas 81% of security specialists were of the opinion that sharing data across enterprises who have been compromised is a matter of criticality to develop improved defences against ransomware.