The IT Nerd

LockBit 3.0 claims to have pwned another victim. This time they claimed to have pwned the Federal Reserve:

That’s not good if this is true.

Steve Hahn, Executive VP, BullWall had this to say:

   “Unless and until the data is released, this remains unconfirmed, but if true it’s certainly a grave situation. In having claimed that LockBit was taken down, the global agencies appear to have further accelerated LockBit’s activities and motivation. One of the leaders behind LockBit – Dmitry Khoroshev – operates a hydra-like organization with multiple heads, with new leaders emerging whenever one is taken down.

   “If confirmed, this attack would rachet up the already fraught geopolitical situation by calling into question whether foundational economic and supply chain elements in the US and Western Allies under direct attack, albeit by proxy via LockBit. The Federal Reserve, already under massive scrutiny for soaring inflation, high interest rates, and perceived pandemic-era missteps, could suffer substantial reputational damage. Erosion of trust in this foundational institution would have rippling effects across the US and global economy, and impact policies far beyond those directed by the Fed itself. Stability and trust are at the core of the Fed’s charter. Erosion of that trust could weaken confidence in the dollar.

   “The US can do little to prevent these Ransomware attacks, but it can buttress its defenses against them and implement failsafe kill switches that block access to data and critical resources. That requires a fundamental shift in mindset from prevention to containment, which starts with acceptance that threat actors will continuously work to bypass security defenses, and in fact may have already penetrated our most strategic organizations.

   “Russian threat actors have taken down hospitals, healthcare systems like United Healthcare, city governments and even cities like the City of Oakland who had to declare a state of emergency after a successful ransomware attack that even disabled 911 services. Prevention alone isn’t working, because it can’t. Stability depends on adopting strategies that immediately contain events, segment the data, limit the attack’s impacts, and enable quick recovery. Prevention alone won’t work.”

Evan Dornbush, former NSA cybersecurity expert follows up with this:

   “Responding to an attack like this after the fact is extremely delicate.

   “Policy makers need to give serious thought into new strategies to deter this kind of activity from happening in the first place. Clearly sitting and waiting is not effective, and for those waiting for law enforcement or the military to take action on the victims’ behalf’s — be they private, government, or quasi-government like the Fed — all signs point to continued patience.”

Let’s see if this is confirmed in the coming days. If it is confirmed, this will be a significant score for LockBit 3.0.

This entry was posted on June 25, 2024 at 8:30 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Hacked. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.