Criminals increasingly target small, mid-sized firms, SRO reports.
The securities industry is facing a surge in ransomware attacks, and firms are increasingly willing to pay off their attackers and move on, reports the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. (FINRA).
In a notice to the industry, the U.S. self-regulatory organization said that ransomware incidents are becoming increasingly frequent and sophisticated, including attacks that involve the theft of client data and enable ongoing network access for the perpetrators.
“Ransomware attacks have proliferated due to, in part, increased use of technology and continued adoption of cryptocurrencies, which bad actors use to hide their identities when collecting ransom payments,” FINRA said in its notice — adding that the availability of attack services on the dark web have enabled attacks on a “much larger scale”.
