Cybersecurity Governance Briefing — December 10, 2024
CISA and the FBI issued their 2024 ransomware trends report with sector targeting data, initial access patterns, and mitigations that boards must fold into 2025 resilience plans.
Executive briefing: CISA and the FBI published the 2024 Ransomware Trends Report highlighting healthcare, K-12, and manufacturing as the most targeted sectors, and charting the persistence of RDP compromise, valid account abuse, and third-party access vectors. Zeph Tech is updating board risk dashboards, tabletop scenarios, and supplier assessments so the 2025 ransomware playbook reflects the federal guidance.
Key industry signals
- Sector impact. The report confirmed 35% year-over-year growth in healthcare incidents and detailed operational technology (OT) disruptions across food and beverage manufacturing.
- Initial access. Valid account abuse via stolen VPN and identity provider credentials overtook phishing as the top access vector, with managed file transfer compromises remaining a critical third-party failure mode.
- Extortion shifts. Double-extortion remained dominant, but the report warned of growing triple-extortion tactics that blend distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) pressure with data theft.
Control alignment
- NIST CSF 2.0 Govern/Protect. Ensure supplier agreements mandate MFA, segmentation, and vulnerability disclosure for remote access channels referenced in the report.
- HIPAA Security Rule 164.308(a)(1). Map ransomware detection and contingency plans to the updated threat intelligence, particularly for hospitals.
Detection and response priorities
- Instrument identity threat detection to flag anomalous MFA push fatigue, stale service accounts, and atypical VPN client fingerprints.
- Expand tabletop exercises to include DDoS extortion and data-leak site monitoring with legal, communications, and cyber insurance stakeholders.
Enablement moves
- Share report findings with suppliers through third-party risk portals, requiring attestation on remote access hardening and incident reporting SLAs.
- Update board briefing materials with incident trend charts, ransom payment benchmarks, and insurance renewal implications derived from the report.
Sources
Zeph Tech helps security leaders pressure-test ransomware defenses, from credential hygiene and EDR coverage to legal response plans aligned with federal reporting expectations.