"The Top 5 Most Dangerous Criminal Organizations Online Right Now"

Ransomware attacks continue to grow in size, frequency, and ransom demand. It is essential to understand the groups behind these attacks in order to take them down. The top five most dangerous criminal organizations currently online include DarkSide, REvil, Clop, the Syrian Electronic Army, and FIN7. DarkSide was the group behind the ransomware attack against the U.S. Colonial Pipeline's fuel distribution network that led to gas shortages and higher prices. REvil is a Russia-based ransomware-as-a-service group that recently targeted the global meat processing company JBS. The Clop ransomware group has yielded half a billion U.S. dollars through its double-extortion tactic in which threats are made to targeted organizations to pay an extra ransom so that stolen data is not leaked to the public. The Syrian Electronic Army is a hacktivist group as it is known for launching online attacks to promote political propaganda. FIN7 is another Russia-based group that is arguably the most successful online criminal organization of all time, as many of its operations have been undetected for years. This article continues to discuss recent ransomware attacks, the top five most dangerous online criminal organizations, and why it is difficult for law enforcement agencies to take such organizations down.

The Conversation reports "The Top 5 Most Dangerous Criminal Organizations Online Right Now"