CYBERSECURITY
DAVID HIGGINS
TITLE : SENIOR DIRECTOR , FIELD TECHNOLOGY OFFICE
COMPANY : CYBERARK
EXECUTIVE BIO
LOCATION : ENGLAND
David Higgins is Senior Director in the Field Technology Office CyberArk . Since joining CyberArk in 2010 , David has worked to help many of the world ’ s largest , most complex organisations understand and secure access to their critical data and assets .
This is usually in the form of an untraceable cryptocurrency like Bitcoin . In some cases , victims are instructed to pay the perpetrator by a set time or risk losing access forever . In other cases , the perpetrator intermittently raises the ransom demands until the victim pays .”
How ransomware infects systems As Higgins describes , by distributing ransomware in bulk using common “ spray and pray ” tactics – such as phishing , social engineering and exploit kits – attackers can target many organisations and infect numerous desktops , laptops and servers with minimal effort .
“ Attackers can also , however , go to great lengths to understand a victim ’ s technology stack so they can identify and exploit vulnerabilities while pinpointing the most valuable data to encrypt and hold for ransom ,” he says . “ They can be extremely patient , escalating privileges to circumvent security systems and evading detection for months – or longer – before deploying the ransomware payload . During this time , attackers often target data backups ( if they exist ) so the organisation can ’ t restore files after they ’ ve been encrypted .”
Whereas traditional anti-virus solutions use signature patterns to identify and block
cybermagazine . com 43