Tech giant Microsoft has launched three brand new cybersecurity services for businesses in an effort to provide more support in the battle against ransomware and other online threats.

The three new services will be placed under an umbrella service category that also includes Microsoft’s pre-existing security services such as Microsoft Security Services for Incident Response.

The decision comes after increased demand for cybersecurity tools like antivirus software and services due to the worrying rise of ransomware, malware, and other online threats, and the fact that there are various businesses that either don’t have a security operations center or need extra support to deal with cyber attacks.

Microsoft Launches New Cybersecurity Services

The three services – which were launched under the umbrella service category of “Microsoft Security Experts” – are human-led services designed to facilitate “secure, compliant, and productive outcomes” for businesses that use them.

In a blog post announcing the launch of the new services penned by Vasu Jakkal, Microsoft Corporate Vice President (Security, Compliance, Identity, and Management), one of the key reasons cited for launching the new service are the challenges that many businesses face while trying to create and maintain a functioning security team.

Now, instead, companies will have access to Microsoft’s teams of experts across three new services:

• Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting is for companies who have a working SOC (security operations center) but want additional support from Microsoft and access to Microsoft Defender’s team that proactively hunts threats.
• Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR is for businesses that need to enlarge and expand their security operations center.
• Microsoft Security Services for Enterprise, on the other hand, is for large businesses that essentially want Microsoft to provide services such as onboarding assistance, modernizing cybersecurity protocols, and handling incident response.

Existing security services provided by Microsoft – such as Microsoft Security Services for Incident Response & Microsoft Security Services for Modernisation – will become part of the Microsoft Security Experts category.

A Difficult Landscape for Businesses

Microsoft’s decision to launch these new services has been spurred on by the worrying rise in cyberattacks that have taken place over the last three to four years.

According to Microsoft, the company blocked 9.6 billion malware attacks and over 35.7 billion phishing attempts.

On top of this, “Microsoft Security is actively tracking more than 35 ransomware families and 250 unique threat actors,” and also “blocks more than 900 brute force password theft attempts every second.”

The company’s security products – which now rake in $15 billion a year in sales – are growing faster than any other product category developed by the business, despite the success of video conferencing and business communications platform Microsoft Teams during the pandemic.

This isn’t that surprising, however, considering cybercrime is set to cost businesses $10.5 trillion globally by 2025.

What Else Can You Do to Protect Your Company?

Ensuring you have appropriate cybersecurity tools to shield yourself from online threats is one of the most important parts of operating a business in 2022. Antivirus software with built-in ransomware protection, for instance, is a vital tool that every business should be using.

Training is equally as important as software – having staff that can spot threats that may appear in their email inbox, and know how to respond if a ransomware attack takes place, play a central role in shielding your business from harm.

Microsoft’s new security services may be precisely what you’re looking for if your business needs a human-led, hands-on approach and access to Microsoft’s vast bank of data on cyberthreats and attackers – a resource it seems likely will become increasingly valuable as attacks continue.

The US Department of State has offered a $15 million reward to anyone who has information on the identity and location of the online gang that distributes Conti ransomware.

The threat group – which recently forced the Costa Rican government into declaring a state of emergency – declared its support for Russia during the early days of the invasion of Ukraine and has claimed responsibility for a slew of cyberattacks over the past two years.

The value of the reward reflects the very real threat the group poses to both public and private sector digital infrastructure in the US, and the need to protect yourself with the relevant cybersecurity tools.

Price Set for Gang Information

Around $10 million dollars will be handed over to anyone who can correctly show the US government where the Conti gang operates and/or the identity of gang members.

An additional $5 million will be gifted to anyone who provides information that directly leads to their arrest.

“In offering this reward, the United States demonstrates its commitment to protecting potential ransomware victims around the world from exploitation by cybercriminals,” said Ned Price, spokesperson for the US Department of State.

In a statement, Department spokesperson Ned Price revealed that, as of January 2022, there have been around 1,000 victims of Conti ransomware, who combined have paid the gang around $150 million – ten times that of the reward figure.

Conti ransomware is, according to the Department, the “costliest strain of ransomware ever documented.”

Conti Ransomware: The Biggest Online Threat?

It’s important to remember that Conti is in fact the name of the ransomware strain, rather than the gang – although their success with that specific strain of malicious software has made the moniker stick.

Many believe the threat group Wizard Spider is responsible for the attacks involving Conti ransomware, but it’s hard to confirm (hence why the US’s reward for information is so lucrative).

The Conti strain first hit the headlines in 2020. Now, they have a site where they post leaked documents from victims who will not or cannot cough up the ransomware payload.

The group behind the Conti ransomware strain was one of the first malicious threat groups to throw their support behind Russia – however, this backfired after one disgruntled gang member leaked reams of internal chat data from the group’s messaging boards.

The group’s success with ransomware has no real analog – the amount of money they’ve been able to extort out of victims is unparalleled.

Protecting Your Business from a Ransomware Attack

Protecting yourself against ransomware and other online threats is extremely important, particularly if you’re a small business – roughly 82% of ransomware attacks happen to small businesses.

Being prepared will involve training staff to be alert to the signs of things like phishing attempts in emails, but also equipping workers with the right software to protect themselves.

For instance, most good antivirus software in 2022 has ransomware protection included, which can extend to the real-time backup of files but also includes things like email filtering and malware detection.

The Indian government recently passed a law that demands all companies collect and hold user data for up to five years, which stands at odds with the core mission statement of most VPNs.

VPNs are used by both businesses and consumers all over the world to encrypt their internet traffic and protect themselves with an enhanced level of online privacy.

But this new law may mean this privilege is no longer available to internet users in India, who already have to deal with their government’s intrusive approach to online life.

India Passes Data Retention Law

India has passed a new national directive that applies to VPN companies, as well cloud service providers, data centers, and crypto exchanges, which effectively makes it a legal requirement to collect specific, extensive customer data and hold onto it for at least five years. Companies will also have to report “unauthorized access to social media accounts” as part of the directive.

Instigated by the country’s Computer Emergency Response Team, known as CERT-in, ignoring the demands could lead to up to one year in jail.

VPN companies operating in India will have to hold on to customer names, data about usage patterns, validated physical and IP addresses, and other types of information that could be used to identify an individual.

Concerningly, even if a customer cancels their subscription with a VPN company and deletes their account, the data will still have to be held.

Why This Creates a Massive Problem for VPN Companies

The main selling point of every good VPN has been that it doesn’t hold, collect, or record any user data on the customers that use its services – this is the whole reason that people use VPNs when they head onto the internet. The core purpose of a Virtual Private Network is that the web addresses you visited are decoupled from your IP address – so the demand to collect customer information and activity-related data is completely at odds with this.

Some VPN companies have taken this a step further, deploying RAM-only servers that wipe themselves clean every time they’re powered down (which is regularly). This has been a trend in the industry for a year or so now and most of the big names you’ll recognize (ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Surfshark) all have RAM-only servers.

The prevalence of RAM-only servers in VPN infrastructure in India will cause providers of such services legal problems for just carrying on operating the same way as they have been.

What happens in countries where VPNs are illegal?

Importantly, India hasn’t passed a piece of legislation that says VPNs are outright illegal. Instead, they’ve made it a legal requirement to collect certain types of data – which VPNs deliberately don’t do – and have subsequently made VPNs illegal as a byproduct.

There are very few countries where VPNs are completely illegal – but this directive passed by the Indian Government may provide a pathway for countries that have struggled to crack down on VPN usage but would quite like to. There are a number of countries (like China) where, legally, VPNs are in a bit of a grey area.

With the technology completely illegal in so few countries, it will be interesting to see how the Indian government chooses to enforce this law and how it affects businesses that use VPNs – especially considering the state of their global economy.

In places like the US, business VPNs are very popular, and this makes it more difficult for countries like China to crack down on the technology because their commercial usage is so vital and important that it would be economically unwise to do so. Considering this, it wouldn’t be unsurprising if there were some unforeseen effects of the ban in India.

One thing is for certain though – internet freedom in the world’s second-most populous country has been dealt a massive blow.

You might want to rethink cryptocurrency as a retirement plan, as the Labor Department has come out and openly criticized the move by Fidelity Investments to allow investors to put bitcoin into their 401(k) accounts.

From non-fungible tokens (NFT) to bitcoin, the blockchain fever is in full force around the world. While prices have dipped in recent months and NFT scams have become near-daily headline news, investors are still hungry to keep the cryptocurrency bubble afloat. Mainstream entities have even gotten on board, with companies accepting cryptocurrency for everything from movie tickets to clothing.

However, the Labor Department is skeptical about one company’s plans to allow bitcoin investments in retirement plans, as it could have a negative effect on something that’s supposed to be anything but volatile.

Labor Department: “We have grave concerns”

Fidelity Investment announced earlier this month that it would allow investors in 401(k) accounts access to bitcoin, making it the first investment firm to allow cryptocurrency investments in retirement plans.

“There is growing interest from plan sponsors for vehicles that enable them to provide their employees access to digital assets in defined contribution plans, and in turn from individuals with an appetite to incorporate cryptocurrencies into their long-term investment strategies,” said Dave Gray, head of workplace retirement offerings and platforms at Fidelity Investments.

However, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Ali Khawar, acting assistant secretary of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, said that the Labor Department has “grave concerns with what Fidelity has done.” The concerns are largely based in the volatility of bitcoin and cryptocurrency being used as an investment tool for plans that are supposed to be as stable as possible.

“For the average American, the need for retirement savings in their old age is significant. We are not talking about millionaires and billionaires that have a ton of other assets to draw down.”

To be clear, the Labor Department isn’t entirely against the use of cryptocurrency in general, with Khawar noting that it has some “intriguing use cases.” However, with bitcoin and cryptocurrency still fluctuating so dramatically, he believes it needs to “mature” before being used in something as important as retirement plans.

Crypto at Work: A Growing Trend

This certainly isn’t the first instance of mainstream entities trying to insert cryptocurrency into their business. In fact, it’s a growing trend, with AMC, Gamestop, JC Penny, the Gap, and Shopify all accepting cryptocurrency payments for their products and services. Even the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Dolphins have begun allowing cryptocurrency transactions for tickets and merchandise.

It’s not just companies either. One study found that 36% of employees in the US would like the option to be paid, in part, in cryptocurrency, and 42% would like NFTs to be a performance reward option.

Simply put, times are a-changing. Getting on board with cryptocurrency as an employer could be a good way to attract new talent, although understanding the risks will be key to making sure you don’t end up holding the bag if something goes wrong.