Cyber Security Threat Summary:
The City of Dallas, Texas, has suffered a Royal ransomware attack, causing it to shut down some of its IT systems to prevent the attack's spread. Dallas is the ninth largest city in the United States, with a population of approximately 2.6 million people, according to US census data. Local media reported that the City's police communications and IT systems were shut down Monday morning due to a suspected ransomware attack. This has led to 911 dispatchers having to write down received reports for officers rather than submit them via the computer-assisted dispatch system. The Dallas County Police Department's website was also offline for part of the day due to the security incident but has since been restored” (Bleeping Computer, 2023).

In its announcement, the City stated it is working with vendors to isolate systems to prevent the attack from spreading and remove the ransomware strain from infected servers.

Security Officer Comments:
Royal is a notorious ransomware group that has been active since January 2022. The group consists of members of Conti gang which disbanded last year due to increased pressure from law enforcement. Initially, when starting off, Royal actors leveraged encryptors from other groups like BlackCat. However, as of recently, Royal has come out with its own encrptor, Zeon.

Like any other groups, after successful encryption, the Royal will leave behind a ransomware note on targeted systems. In the latest attack, the group decided to use a rather unusual method, where they leveraged the network printers on the City of Dallas’ network to print out hard copies of their ransom note.

Suggested Corrections:
Backup your data, system images, and configurations, regularly test them, and keep the backups offline: Ensure that backups are regularly tested and that they are not connected to the business network, as many ransomware variants try to find and encrypt or delete accessible backups. Maintaining current backups offline is critical because if your network data is encrypted with ransomware, your organization can restore systems.

Update and patch systems promptly:
This includes maintaining the security of operating systems, applications, and firmware in a timely manner. Consider using a centralized patch management system; use a risk- based assessment strategy to drive your patch management program.

Test your incident response plan:
There's nothing that shows the gaps in plans more than testing them. Run through some core questions and use those to build an incident response plan: Are you able to sustain business operations without access to certain systems? For how long? Would you turn off your manufacturing operations if business systems such as billing were offline?

Check Your Security Team's Work:
Use a 3rd party pen tester to test the security of your systems and your ability to defend against a sophisticated attack. Many ransomware criminals are aggressive and sophisticated and will find the equivalent of unlocked doors.

Segment your networks:
There's been a recent shift in ransomware attacks – from stealing data to disrupting operations. It's critically important that your corporate business functions and manufacturing/production operations are separated and that you carefully filter and limit internet access to operational networks, identify links between these networks and develop workarounds or manual controls to ensure ICS networks can be isolated and continue operating if your corporate network is compromised. Regularly test contingency plans such as manual controls so that safety critical functions can be maintained during a cyber incident.

Train employees:
Email remains the most vulnerable attack vector for organizations. Users should be trained how to avoid and spot phishing emails. Multi Factor authentication can help prevent malicious access to sensitive services.

Link:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/