The Stakes Have Never Been Higher
Recent data paints a sobering picture: ransomware attacks surged 46% in Q1 2025 alone, while attackers are getting faster and more sophisticated. With median dwell time at just five days and many attacks happening after hours when teams are offline, the window for detection and response is shrinking rapidly.
Recently, the Qilin ransomware gang exposed nearly 40,000 Social Security numbers at Lee Enterprises, causing $2 million in recovery costs and widespread revenue losses. This isn't an isolated incident—it's becoming the norm.
Why Traditional Security Approaches Fall Short
The harsh reality? You can't protect what you can't see.
Modern ransomware groups aren't using obvious attack methods anymore. They're leveraging sophisticated tactics like living off the land (LOTL) techniques, exploiting legitimate tools already in your environment, and combining espionage with extortion. The recent Fog ransomware campaign exemplifies this evolution—using unusual toolsets that hint at targeted intelligence gathering alongside financial extortion.
The Critical Blind Spots Putting Your Organisation at Risk
Most organisations have significant visibility gaps that ransomware operators actively exploit:
- Identity Vulnerabilities: Stolen credentials remain the top initial access vector, present in 44% of breaches in 2024. Without proper monitoring of privileged accounts and login anomalies, attackers slip in unnoticed.
- Endpoint Blindness: Ground zero for most attacks, yet many organiations only monitor what runs, not how applications behave - missing the subtle signs of malicious activity.
- Network Lateral Movement: Perimeter security isn't enough when attackers are already inside, moving between network segments undetected.
- Cloud Exposure: With 95% of data breaches involving human error, cloud environments are especially vulnerable to misconfigurations and risky user behaviour.
- Communication Channels: Email remains a top entry point, but many miss the subtle indicators of phishing, spoofing, and malicious attachments.
- The Game-Changing Approach: Proactive Visibility
The organisations that survive and thrive are those that think like attackers—anticipating moves rather than reacting to them. This means:
- Comprehensive monitoring across identity, endpoints, network, cloud, and communications
- Behavioural analysis to spot anomalies before they become breaches
- Threat intelligence that keeps you ahead of evolving tactics
- Integrated security solutions that eliminate blind spots between tools
Your Next Step Forward
The reality is stark, but there's hope. Organisations with proper visibility and proactive detection can spot ransomware before it causes catastrophic damage. The key is implementing comprehensive monitoring that covers every potential attack vector and blind spot.
If you're responsible for your organisation's cybersecurity posture, I encourage you to run through this detailed visibility checklist: Can You See Ransomware Coming? Run This Vision Check.
The checklist covers seven critical areas where most organisations have dangerous blind spots, along with actionable steps to address them. It's a sobering but essential read for any security professional.
The cost of reactive security is measured in millions of dollars and months of recovery time. The cost of proactive visibility? A fraction of that investment. Which can your organisation afford? Get in touch with us today, and speak to one of our specialists to get specific advice and help on what you can do for your organisation. You can't afford not to!
