How Digital Forensics and Incident Response Teams Are Battling Ransomware Attacks Globally

When a ransomware attack occurs, every moment matters. Based on 2023 data, companies in the United States took an average of three days to identify they had experienced a cyber incident, then the forensic investigation process took approximately 33 days, with breach notifications issued nearly 60 days later. These statistics emphasize the importance of Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) capabilities and DFIR solutions for organizations that want to regain control in the shortest timeframe possible.

To better explain, let us envision a company experiencing an overnight encryption of its customer database. The IT team rolls into the office the next day to find ransom demands flashing on every screen. The faster an incident response team moves, the less degradation is experienced. From identifying the breach point, to isolating affected systems and cataloguing digital evidence, DFIR professionals act as first responders to mayhem.

Understanding the DFIR Approach

Digital Forensics and Incident Response are two distinct disciplines that encompass an investigative aspect and an action-oriented aspect. Digital Forensics focuses on determining how the attack occurred, what systems were compromised, and whether data was exfiltrated. The incident response deals with mitigating the threat, restoring business operations, and ensuring the threat does not occur again in the future.

Forensic professionals will fully investigate the digital footprint of the attack, trace the behavior of the malware, analyze log files, and preserve digital evidence to be used for legal or compliance purposes. At the same time, incident responses dealing with a cyber-crisis, such as a ransomware attack, will be involved in shutting down networks compromised by the incident, developing clean backups for their workers, and renegotiating demands of the attacker, if it means saving their data or workloads.

At Cyble (an AI-native security platform), the approach to Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) services is differentiated by adopting a proactive mindset in preparing for, managing, and recovering from cybersecurity incidents. Methods of DFIR services can include real-time threat detection and containment during and after a breach, as well as facilitating professional delegation on behalf of a company when negotiating with an attacker. In this situation, Cyble serves to foster resilience while under attack.

How DFIR is Working to Combat Ransomware Across the World

DFIR teams are developing global ransomware incident response plans across critical areas including healthcare, financial services, and government—focused on accelerating time-to-respond, accuracy, and teamwork.

One particular incident in a European hospital network was caused by a ransomware attack, resulting in the organization suffering 100% downtime on all patient management IT systems. The DFIR team, within a few hours, successfully segmented the infected servers, identified the ransomware via forensics, and began restoring clean backups. Their quick response reduced downtime, minimized the impact of the ransomware attack, and prevented any leakage of affected medical records.

This case study illustrates the importance of implementing DFIR best practices in the case of ransomware incidents, such as keeping backups current, conducting regular incident table-top exercises, and by employing trusted forensic specialized tools.

The Significance of Digital Evidence 

Every instance of ransomware has a story to tell, contained in logs, files, or memory fees. Digital evidence collected during a ransomware attack enables investigators to retrace the footsteps of the attacker, identifying phishing emails, malicious scripts, and/or exploited vulnerabilities that led to the incident.

Digital evidence is useful after the initial mitigation of malware, but can also be leveraged to enhance future defenses. When an organization experiences a ransomware incident, they can evaluate their incident response plan specific to ransomware with the goal of cutting down the discovery-to-remediation time next time through applying lessons learned.

Tools Used to Enable DFIR Investigations

To determine the full scope of incidents that lead to ransomware events, investigators have a suite of forensic tools (memory analysis, packet capture, EDR agents, etc.) that the DFIR team will utilize in their responses for investigative aids. These tools allow the DFIR team to visualize the entire attack chain, hidden malware, and confirm whether the organization rid itself of the malware.

For example, there are advanced agent EDR systems that can recognize unusual patterns in systems from left behind artifacts related to encrypted files or unauthorized admin logins. They can alert responders to these patterns before ransomware propagates to organizations systems. Forensic imaging tools or similar technologies are another example to help ensure captured evidence is preserved without modification, which allows them to provide a reliable audit trail of evidence that helped them to establish holistically what happened in a ransomware incident.

Global Coordination Against Ransomware

The synergy of global collaboration is what makes Digital Forensics and Incident Response very much effective. DFIR professionals from different nations frequently exchange ai threat intelligence to trace the movements of ransomware actors, study the new strains of malware, and carry out the takedown together.

For instance, when the REvil ransomware group hit organizations around the globe, forensic experts and law enforcement agencies of several countries united their efforts in tracing cryptocurrency payments and locating the server infrastructure. Such coordination illustrates how DFIR combats ransomware at a global scale, converting isolated actions into a united front.

Conclusion

Ransomware is a technological and a human problem at the same time. Even the most advanced tools are of no use if the employees are not trained to recognize suspicious links or phishing attempts. Therefore, the most effective Digital Forensics and Incident Response strategies integrate technology, process, and people.

Businesses need to have a good incident response plan for ransomware, perform regular tabletop exercises to test it, and keep their DFIR teams supplied with the most current threat intelligence. By creating a culture where the awareness of AI in Cybersecurity and general cybersecurity is second nature, the companies will not only lessen their attack surface but also be able to recover faster after the breaches happen.