Chris Young at his keynote at Focus 2016 reflected on some trends over the last year. One of his observations, which is also expanded on in Mcafee’s book “The Second Economy,” is that threat actors or “black hats” use time against defenders (see below for excerpt from book).

Three years ago, the trend and focus was about threat actors prolonging the attacks. That is, it is about being persistent in the environment as long and stealthy as possible to harm the victim. It is about extending the length of the attack(s). The persistence can be by the original threat actor or a new threat actor that has purchased access from the former. Of course, these persistent  threats are still occurring.

However,in 2016, with the increase in ransomware attacks, threats actors are now using time to pressure victims to avoid long term harm (i.e., a hospital cannot treat patients in their ER department because their computer systems are unaccessible). It is about shortening the length of time of the attack as much as possible.

The Takeways

1. Read “Second Economy”
2. Communicate to your stake holders about ransomware and how time is being used against you