Latest news with #Ivanti
Techday NZ
5 days ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
Ransom payments surge to USD $1.13 million as data theft rises
Coveware by Veeam has released its Q2 2025 ransomware report, indicating significant increases in both the frequency and financial impact of targeted social engineering attacks, particularly those involving data exfiltration. The report highlights that average and median ransom payments rose sharply during the second quarter. The average ransom reached USD $1.13 million, a 104% increase from Q1 2025, while the median doubled to USD $400,000. This escalation follows a pattern of more significant demands after incidents in which data is stolen rather than systems encrypted. Social engineering threats According to Coveware by Veeam, three major ransomware groups - Scattered Spider, Silent Ransom, and Shiny Hunters - dominated activity in Q2. These offenders shifted away from broad, opportunistic attacks to highly targeted campaigns, employing sophisticated impersonation techniques. The tactics included posing as employees or service providers to breach help desks and exploit internal processes. "The second quarter of 2025 marks a turning point in ransomware, as targeted social engineering and data exfiltration have become the dominant playbook," said Bill Siegel, CEO of Coveware by Veeam. "Attackers aren't just after your backups – they're after your people, your processes, and your data's reputation. Organisations must prioritize employee awareness, harden identity controls, and treat data exfiltration as an urgent risk, not an afterthought," Data exfiltration on the rise The report found that data theft is now prioritised over encryption in extortion efforts. Exfiltration was involved in 74% of ransomware cases handled by Coveware in Q2. Attackers increasingly rely on multi-extortion tactics and are known to issue delayed threats, prolonging risks to targeted organisations long after the initial breach is detected and contained. Targeted sectors and company sizes Analysis of the case data indicates that the professional services, healthcare, and consumer services sectors accounted for the highest proportion of incidents, comprising 19.7%, 13.7%, and 13.7% of attacks, respectively. Mid-sized enterprises, defined as those employing between 11 and 1,000 people, represented 64% of victim organisations. The report notes that attackers view such companies as offering the best balance between substantial ransom payout potential and relatively less developed cyber defences. Attack methods and vulnerabilities Credential compromise, phishing emails, and exploitation of internet-facing services remain the principal means of obtaining initial access to victim networks. The report also points to increased exploitation of vulnerabilities in well-known platforms including Ivanti, Fortinet, and VMware. Simultaneously, there has been a rise in attacks by so-called "lone wolf" perpetrators. These individuals are described as seasoned extortionists who use generic toolkits, but without clear branding or affiliation to known ransomware groups. The top ransomware variants in Q2 were named as Akira (19%), Qilin (13%), and Lone Wolf (9%). For the first time, Silent Ransom and Shiny Hunters also appeared within the top five variants monitored. Ransom payment dynamics The report attributes the dramatic increase in payment values largely to larger organisations choosing to pay ransoms following theft of sensitive data. This occurred even as the overall percentage of organisations agreeing to pay ransoms remained steady at 26%. Coveware by Veeam reports that its findings are based on proprietary data collected during incident response engagements, rather than external or third-party sources. The company utilises forensic tools and detailed documentation of threat actor behaviour to generate its quarterly insights. These reports are intended to offer actionable guidance on ongoing trends and new tactics, techniques, and procedures emerging within the ransomware landscape. Through real-time analysis, Coveware by Veeam has identified patterns that inform recommendations for enhancing organisational defences, such as improved employee training, more rigorous identity management protocols, and preparedness for incidents focused purely on data theft.
Business Wire
7 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Coveware by Veeam Reveals Q2 2025 Ransomware Surge: Social Engineering and Data Exfiltration Drive Record Payouts
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Coveware by Veeam ®, the leading authority in ransomware response and cyber extortion trends, today unveiled its Q2 2025 ransomware report, spotlighting a dramatic escalation in targeted social engineering attacks and a surge in ransom payments driven by sophisticated data exfiltration tactics. 'The second quarter of 2025 marks a turning point in ransomware, as targeted social engineering and data exfiltration have become the dominant playbook,' said Bill Siegel, CEO of Coveware by Veeam. 'The second quarter of 2025 marks a turning point in ransomware, as targeted social engineering and data exfiltration have become the dominant playbook,' said Bill Siegel, CEO of Coveware by Veeam. 'Attackers aren't just after your backups – they're after your people, your processes, and your data's reputation. Organizations must prioritize employee awareness, harden identity controls, and treat data exfiltration as an urgent risk, not an afterthought.' Key Q2 2025 findings from Coveware by Veeam include: Social Engineering Drives the Biggest Threats: Three major ransomware groups – Scattered Spider, Silent Ransom, and Shiny Hunters – dominated the quarter, each leveraging highly targeted social engineering to breach organizations across sectors. These groups abandoned mass opportunistic attacks for precision strikes, using novel impersonation tactics against help desks, employees, and third-party service providers. Ransom Payments Soar to New Highs: Both the average and median ransom payments rocketed to $1.13 million (+104% from Q1 2025) and $400,000 (+100% from Q1 2025), respectively. This spike is attributed to larger organizations paying out after data exfiltration-only incidents, even as the overall rate of organizations paying ransoms held steady at 26%. Data Theft Overtakes Encryption as Primary Extortion Method: Exfiltration was a factor in 74% of all cases, with many campaigns now prioritizing data theft over traditional system encryption. Multi-extortion tactics and delayed threats are on the rise, keeping organizations in the crosshairs long after an initial breach. Professional Services, Healthcare, and Consumer Services Hit Hardest: Professional services (19.7%), healthcare (13.7%), and consumer services (13.7%) bore the brunt of attacks. Mid-sized companies (11 – 1,000 employees) comprised 64% of victims, a sweet spot for attackers balancing payout potential against less mature defenses. Attack Techniques Evolve, Human Factor Remains Key Vulnerability: Credential compromise, phishing, and exploitation of remote services continue to dominate initial access, with attackers increasingly bypassing technical controls via social engineering. Groups regularly exploit vulnerabilities in widely-used platforms (Ivanti, Fortinet, VMware), and 'lone wolf' attacks by seasoned extortionists using generic, unbranded toolkits are on the rise. New Entrants Reshape Ransomware Rankings: Q2's top ransomware variants were Akira (19%), Qilin (13%), and Lone Wolf (9%), while Silent Ransom and Shiny Hunters entered the top five for the first time. Coveware by Veeam has helped thousands of cyber extortion victims and developed industry leading software and services that enable rapid forensic triage, extortion negotiation and remediation, cryptocurrency settlements and decryption services with a singular goal and outcome - data recovery from ransomware attacks. Through these incidents, Coveware by Veeam has gathered data and insights on threat actor patterns that provide an unrivaled view of the current threat landscape. These valuable findings are shared with customers to help educate and reduce risks, improve security posture, and ensure rapid recovery. Select Coveware by Veeam capabilities are incorporated into Veeam offerings including Veeam Data Platform and the Veeam Cyber Secure Program, delivering the insights and capabilities to a broader set of customers. Coveware by Veeam's quarterly report is based on firsthand data, expert insights and analysis from the ransomware and cyber extortion cases that they manage each quarter. By utilizing real-time incident response, proprietary forensic tools (including Recon Scanner), and comprehensive documentation of threat actor behavior, attack vectors, and negotiation outcomes, Coveware by Veeam delivers unparalleled visibility into the threat landscape. By aggregating and analyzing case-specific data – rather than relying on third-party sources – Coveware by Veeam is able to identify emerging trends, track tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), and provide actionable, experience-based intelligence on the rapidly evolving ransomware landscape. To learn more on this latest report from Coveware by Veeam, read the blog post. For more information on Veeam, visit About Veeam Software Veeam®, the #1 global market leader in data resilience, believes every business should be able to bounce forward after a disruption with the confidence and control of all their data whenever and wherever they need it. Veeam calls this radical resilience, and we're obsessed with creating innovative ways to help our customers achieve it. Veeam solutions are purpose-built for powering data resilience by providing data backup, data recovery, data portability, data security, and data intelligence. With Veeam, IT and security leaders rest easy knowing that their apps and data are protected and always available across their cloud, virtual, physical, SaaS, and Kubernetes environments. Headquartered in Seattle with offices in more than 30 countries, Veeam protects over 550,000 customers worldwide, including 67% of the Global 2000, that trust Veeam to keep their businesses running. Radical resilience starts with Veeam. Learn more at or follow Veeam on LinkedIn @veeam-software and X @veeam. Frequently Asked Questions: What are the biggest ransomware threats facing organizations in 2025? According to the latest report from Coveware and Veeam, the main threats are targeted social engineering attacks and data exfiltration, led by groups like Scattered Spider, Silent Ransom, and Shiny Hunters. Which industries and company sizes are most impacted by ransomware attacks? The latest report from Coveware and Veeam found professional services, healthcare, and consumer services firms are most targeted. Mid-sized companies (11–1,000 employees) make up 64% of victims due to less mature defenses. How have ransomware techniques evolved in 2025? The latest report from Coveware and Veeam found that attackers now focus on credential compromise, phishing, and exploiting remote services. Social engineering is a key weakness, and there's a rise in 'lone wolf' attacks using generic toolkits and vulnerabilities in platforms like Ivanti, Fortinet, and VMware. How can organizations strengthen their defenses against ransomware? Coveware by Veeam advises boosting employee security awareness, hardening identity controls, and urgently addressing data exfiltration risks. Using Veeam's resilience and recovery solutions helps reduce risk and maintain business continuity.
Forbes
08-08-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Why Having An 'Owner's Mentality' Makes All The Difference
Dennis Kozak is the Chief Executive Officer at Ivanti, responsible for the company's overall strategic direction and growth. In my first week as a CEO, I built upon my experience as COO by spending as much time listening to customers as I did in meetings with employees and other leaders. I was (and am) determined to make decisions based on firsthand information—directly from our customers. Many executive teams fall into a comfortable yet dangerous pattern: They make key decisions while understanding only a fraction of what actually happens within their business. It's the leadership equivalent of claiming to own a vineyard when you've never walked the rows, tasted the grapes or gotten soil under your fingernails. Ownership Or Occupancy? I often describe the difference between effective and ineffective leadership as the gap between owner and renter mentality. It goes far beyond who holds the title or signs the papers. Renters make surface-level improvements, but only when necessary. They fulfill basic obligations but don't often dig deep. They think short-term, rarely planning beyond their current lease. This limited commitment is perfectly reasonable when you're renting an apartment, but it can be problematic when you're leading a company. Owners invest differently. They understand every corner of their property. They make improvements with long-term value in mind, not just immediate comfort. They build relationships with neighbors, thinking about community impact beyond their property line. This ownership mentality isn't automatic when you get a leadership title. I've seen C-suite executives who operate like renters—making decisions based on quarterly targets without understanding their deeper impact. And I've seen employees and contractors who think like owners—going beyond their job description to solve problems that affect the entire company. Whether you treat your organization as an owner or a renter isn't determined by your title; it's determined by your mindset. How Ownership Thinking Evolved My perspective on ownership evolved as I spent my career exploring different business functions. Each role I held expanded my view of what effective ownership requires. • Finance: When I held a finance role, I learned that owners must understand not only costs and revenue but also how financial decisions impact customer experience and employee morale. • Operations: My time in operations taught me how execution challenges can transform perfect strategies into messy realities. • Sales: Sales showed me that customers don't just buy products, they buy into your vision and trust in your long-term partnership. Many assume executive leadership automatically means you have a stronger ownership mentality. I've found the opposite. The higher you climb, the easier it is to lose touch with ground-level reality. Leaders can easily fall into making decisions from 30,000 feet, seeing only what filters through layers of management. Real-Time Leadership Laboratory The (major!) contrast between public and private environments further shaped my leadership perspective. After holding leadership positions at two public companies, joining Ivanti as a private equity-backed COO, and eventually CEO, I acquired new insights into ownership dynamics. Public companies face constant pressure to demonstrate quarterly performance. This environment makes a true ownership mindset challenging—the market rewards short-term wins over long-term investment. The private setting allows for deeper commitment to foundational improvements. Without quarterly earnings calls driving every decision, we can invest in structural changes that might not show immediate returns but create lasting value. This private environment doesn't automatically create better ownership thinking, however. The key difference is where and how you spend your time as a leader. Customer Zero Leadership True ownership means embracing a "customer zero" strategy. That is, experiencing your company's products, services and processes firsthand before asking anyone else to use them. Being customer zero means spending time in every department and understanding challenges across the organization. Depending on the day, I might work alongside our marketing team on messaging clarity, join customer success calls to hear feedback directly or participate in sales meetings to understand what resonates with prospects. This approach offers unfiltered insights that no executive summary can capture. It sends a clear message throughout the organization: No function is beneath leadership attention, and every role matters to company success. Building An Ownership Culture The most powerful way to cultivate ownership thinking across your organization is to model it yourself. When employees see leaders investing time to understand ground-level challenges, they are more likely to adopt similar behaviors. And feel their work is valued. This culture shift happens through consistent demonstration, not occasional gestures. It requires leaders who: • Ask questions and spend time listening before offering solutions. • Focus on where value is created, not just where decisions are made. • Take responsibility for outcomes, not just intentions. • Invest in structural improvements, not just quick fixes. • Think about legacy impact, not just immediate results. Leaders who embrace true ownership thinking make decisions with a different calculus. They weigh short-term gains against long-term vision. They consider impact across stakeholder groups rather than optimizing for a single metric. The Ownership Gap The greatest leadership challenge I see is bridging what I call the "ownership gap"—the distance between what leaders think is happening on the front lines and what is actually happening there. Executives who make decisions without understanding operational realities create solutions that don't address the root of the issue. They optimize processes that look efficient on paper but create frustration for customers and employees. Closing this gap requires humility and curiosity. It means acknowledging that leadership titles don't confer perfect understanding. It requires regular, direct exposure to customer experiences and employee challenges. An Owner's Mentality The companies that consistently outperform competitors aren't just better at strategy or execution. They're places where ownership thinking extends beyond the C-suite to every level of the organization. When everyone approaches problems with an owner's mentality—thinking beyond job descriptions to focus on what the business truly needs—adaptation becomes natural rather than forced. The next time you face a leadership challenge, ask yourself: "Am I approaching this as an owner or a renter?" Answering honestly will tell you more about your leadership effectiveness than any performance metric. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Forbes
08-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Is AI Making Us All Liars? Maintaining Truth In An Era Of Efficiency
Sal Viveros, Head of Global Corp Communications at Ivanti. There has always been tension between speed and accuracy. It's at the root of more than a few problems, and it's not hard to point to a culprit exponentially increasing that tension: AI. I'm not an AI hater. Far from it. But I'm also hyper-aware of AI's role in creating and magnifying issues. I can speak specifically to the PR and corporate communications space, but it goes beyond comms—and the impact needs to be acknowledged and addressed sooner rather than later. A January 2025 report from Muck Rack shows that AI adoption in PR has nearly tripled since 2023, but only 38% of PR pros report having company guidelines for AI use. Although that's an increase from last year, it's still nowhere near where it needs to be, given the ethical implications of unregulated AI usage. I'm the first to acknowledge AI's productivity benefits. From drafting content to analyzing media coverage, these tools transform our daily workflows. But at Ivanti, where we evaluate the impact of technology across industries, we recognize that efficiency without verification creates new vectors for unintentional misinformation. And that's putting it nicely. When Efficiency Supersedes Accuracy AI is pretty irresistible in the communications space. It can create outlines in seconds, analyze interviews in minutes and scale campaign personalization effortlessly. But what's the flip side of those benefits? Leveraging unregulated AI creates conditions where misinformation can easily enter official communications channels. Unlike human writers, AI models process information based on statistical patterns without distinguishing between fact and fiction. These systems produce authoritative-sounding content regardless of accuracy—a particularly dangerous dynamic in communications where credibility is essential. And that's still a relatively innocuous downside compared to the privacy concerns inherent in prompting AI with potentially sensitive company details or PII (personally identifiable information). The Ethical Tangles Of AI Fact-checking and sensitive info exposure isn't even the whole concern here. Other ethical tangles include questions like: • Should communications materials disclose when AI contributed substantially to their creation? • What accountability do PR professionals bear for AI-generated content they publish? • How do we prevent algorithmic bias from perpetuating harmful stereotypes in communications? The Public Relations Society of America's (PRSA) guidance on AI ethics addresses these concerns directly, questioning whether audiences should know when they're interacting with AI rather than humans. These considerations become increasingly important as AI capabilities advance. For what it's worth, Ivanti has taken a proactive step by creating its own generative AI platform for internal use. This platform allows employees to leverage AI to foster creativity and efficiency while maintaining ethical guardrails. By building a bespoke AI tool, we support innovation across the organization while ensuring that AI is used in a way that aligns with company standards and values. Creating Governance That Works At Ivanti, we emphasize the need for comprehensive AI implementation plans that include training, documentation and ethics guidelines. Without these frameworks, organizations risk increased tech complexity rather than simplified workflows. That's definitely not the aim. What do these plans look like in practice? For comms professionals seeking practical governance approaches, here are a few research-backed ideas: • Document clear AI boundaries. Specify which communications require complete human authorship versus AI assistance. • Implement fact verification protocols. Establish procedures for reviewing AI-generated statistics and references. • Develop transparency policies. Create guidelines on when to disclose AI involvement in content creation. • Diversify AI tools. Recognize that each system has different limitations and cross-check results. • Prioritize team training. IBM emphasizes that AI literacy forms the foundation for addressing more complex issues like bias and privacy. What's The Real Problem? With this intentionally provocative title, I asked if AI is making all of us liars. The truth is that AI does seem to contribute to obfuscation. But I don't think AI itself is the problem. Instead, it's a failure to acknowledge that companies must take decisions about AI disclosures seriously and operate clearly and consistently. In short, the question isn't whether to use AI, but how to implement and manage it responsibly. Forbes Communications Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Forbes
03-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Why CEOs Really Do Need To Be Customer Zero
Dennis Kozak is the Chief Executive Officer at Ivanti, responsible for the company's overall strategic direction and growth. A colleague once brilliantly suggested staying in your own guestroom for a night to see what your guests really experience. After all, a nice mattress gets overshadowed quickly if car headlights keep waking you up—and you wouldn't know that if you didn't sleep there. Being Customer Zero is the equivalent of sleeping in your guest room every night. My first week as CEO, I didn't need to get briefed on our products because I lived in them. I insisted our IT team set me up with the same experience our customers have—not a special executive version, not a sanitized demo, but the real thing. That decision revealed more about our business than a hundred PowerPoint presentations ever could. But too many tech leaders remain disconnected from the day-to-day reality of using their own solutions. They see polished demos and curated metrics but miss the friction points that frustrate actual users. CEOs as Customer Zero is not a marketing stunt. It's not a charming talking point. It's a necessity for effective leadership and operations. Establishing A Real Ownership Mentality Throughout my career, I've distinguished between what I call owner mentality versus renter mentality. Renters make decisions based on short-term convenience. Owners invest in understanding every aspect of their property because they're committed to its long-term value. Customer Zero cultivates this ownership mentality throughout the organization. When your marketing team struggles with the same UX issues your customers face, those "minor bugs" suddenly become urgent priorities. When your sales team relies on your security solutions to protect sensitive deals, product promises transform into personal commitments. What Being Customer Zero Looks Like In Practice At my company, we put this approach to the test during extraordinary circumstances. When we rapidly grew to 3,200 employees through several strategic acquisitions, we faced exactly the kind of challenges our customers deal with: We remotely managed and provisioned around 3,000 devices globally while deprovisioning approximately 2,000 devices—all during peak pandemic disruption. Our team generated over 22,000 tickets on our platform, with automatic resolution and self-help functionality reclaiming substantial bandwidth for our IT support team. We implemented our own DevSecOps processes, scanning our code for vulnerabilities and prioritizing critical security issues—the same workflow we recommend to customers. The results weren't always comfortable, but they were invaluable. Our teams delivered unfiltered, candid feedback about functionality and user experience. We made changes accordingly, often discovering issues no focus group would have uncovered. How Being Customer Zero Drives Transformation Being Customer Zero drives three critical transformations: Like many of our customers, our company has on-premises products moving to the cloud. By experiencing this migration firsthand, we get immediate feedback on gaps between these environments. When you acquire different solutions with varying technology stacks, integration becomes critical. Our Customer Zero program evaluates these integrations through day-to-day use, testing both single-pane-of-glass management and API functionality. Nothing builds credibility like saying, "We rely on this so heavily that our business would collapse without it." Customer Zero creates authentic conviction in both sales teams and customers. How To Become Customer Zero For Your Own Company If you're considering implementing your own Customer Zero initiative, start with these practical approaches: • Champion universal adoption at the executive level. • Create formal feedback channels between internal users and development. • Measure and track internal usage metrics as seriously as customer metrics. • Document both successes and pain points for transparent customer conversations. • Prioritize internal user experience issues in your development backlogs. The most crucial element? Commitment to authenticity. If your team discovers limitations, fix them before expecting customers to adapt around them. Checking Your Ego At The Door Let's be honest: Becoming Customer Zero can be humbling. Maybe really humbling. You'll discover rough edges in your products. You'll experience frustrations your customers have silently endured. You might even question past decisions about product priorities. That discomfort is exactly the point. It forces your organization to confront reality rather than marketing aspirations. To make it work, you have to check your ego at the door. This approach has transformed how we innovate. Our teams now operate at the leading edge—managing complex IT data while leveraging AI and automation capabilities because our own business depends on them working flawlessly. Every executive should regularly ask: Would I bet my business on my own product today? If the answer makes you hem and haw even a little bit, you've identified your most pressing priority. The greatest gift you can give customers isn't another feature—it's the confidence that comes from knowing you trust your solutions enough to build your own success upon them. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
