Ransomware remains one of the most relentless and disruptive threats facing modern businesses where its ever-evolving tactics keep security teams on constant alert.
From global conglomerates to nimble SMEs, no organization is immune to the chaos and financial losses a breach can inflict.
As we move forward, one thing is certain: complacency is not an option.
Why Does Ransomware Still Work in 2025?
1. Credentials Remain Easy Targets
Phishing, vishing, and social engineering continue to be the preferred attack vectors for ransomware groups.
According to a 2024 Verizon DBIR report below, 68% of breaches involve the human element, with phishing and credential theft leading the way and 32% breaches involved ransomware or Extortion (Verizon, 2024). Attackers exploit employees’ trust – whether by email or phone, tricking them into revealing login credentials or authorizing malicious access.
2. Outdated and Fragmented Security Controls
Despite increased adoption, many organizations still rely on outdated or inconsistently implemented security controls, especially with multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Attackers have adapted, exploiting legacy authentication, inconsistent coverage, and gaps in MFA deployment, often targeting help desks or leveraging unused backup accounts.
The result is that security fragmentation creates exploitable gaps, even in organizations that believe they are well protected. As IT environments become more complex, maintaining consistent and up-to-date controls across all endpoints is critical to defending against modern ransomware tactics (Marvin, 2025).
3. Gaps in Monitoring and Incident Response
Even in well-resourced environments, detection gaps persist.
Many Security Operations Centers (SOCs) struggle with real-time monitoring or lack visibility into hybrid, multi-cloud environments. Attackers capitalize on this, operating undetected for months.
According to IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, breaches involving stolen or compromised credentials took the longest to identify and contain an average of 292 days.
Similarly, phishing and social engineering attacks lingered for an average of 261 and 257 days respectively before detection and containment (IBM Security, 2024).
These prolonged dwell times give adversaries ample opportunity to pivot, exfiltrate data, and deploy ransomware.
4. Legacy Systems and Security Silos
Fragmented IT environments and legacy systems remain attractive targets for attackers as many organizations still operate with a mix of outdated and modern technologies, often leaving legacy platforms under-patched and poorly monitored.
Siloed security operations and disconnected tools further complicate the issue, causing critical alerts to be missed or left uncorrelated, allowing attackers to establish a foothold and move undetected (Crowdstrike, 2025).
Without unified security management, the complexity of today’s environments increases both the risk and potential impact of ransomware.
Case Study: Scattered Spider – Ransomware at Enterprise Scale
The “Scattered Spider” group is emblematic of why even the world’s most sophisticated organizations are at risk. In 2025 alone, high-profile luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton (Korea subsidiary), Cartier, Dior, and Victoria’s Secret have confirmed significant data breaches. (Fadilpašić, 2025)
Industry analysts attribute many of these coordinated attacks to Scattered Spider, a loosely organized, highly skilled collective known for targeting high-value sectors.
Why Do They Succeed?
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- Social Engineering and Help Desk Exploitation: Scattered Spider operators are adept at vishing, often impersonating internal staff during calls to IT help desks. Through extensive reconnaissance, they can answer security questions and trigger password or MFA resets, frequently compromising Microsoft Entra ID, SSO, and VDI accounts.
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- SaaS and Account Exploitation: Once inside, attackers move laterally across cloud and on-premise SaaS platforms, seeking credentials, network diagrams, or sensitive data to facilitate further compromise.
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- Living Off the Land: Rather than deploying obvious malware, attackers leverage legitimate IT tools already present in the environment, allowing them to blend in and evade detection.
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- Cloud & Email Evasion: Tools such as S3 Browser are used to enumerate and exfiltrate AWS S3 bucket contents, while attackers manipulate email transport rules to suppress alerts and maintain persistence. (CSA Singapore, 2025)
These attacks demonstrate that technical controls alone are not enough, organizations must also address gaps in people, processes, and technology.
How We Empower Enterprises to Stay Ahead of Ransomware
In today’s landscape, even the world’s biggest brands aren’t immune to ransomware attacks. Building true resilience means going beyond basic defences, it requires a layered, proactive approach to security.
That’s where LGA comes in.
Our security suite empowers organizations to break the attack chain and stay a step ahead of ever-evolving threats.
1. Harden Authentication
LGA helps organizations prevent account takeovers at the source by implementing passwordless and hardware-based multi-factor authentication (MFA).
This robust approach secures both administrative and cloud accounts, dramatically reducing the risk of credential compromise. By eliminating weak or inconsistent MFA, we close one of the most common doors that attackers exploit.
2. Enable 24/7 SOC Monitoring
We equip organizations with around-the-clock threat detection and rapid response. Our local SOC team delivers continuous monitoring, enabling you to spot anomalies, lateral movement, and the earliest signs of ransomware activity, before damage is done.
3. Monitor Cloud Environments
With LGA, organizations gain deep visibility and real-time protection across all cloud platforms. Our advanced monitoring detects suspicious activities like unauthorized access or privilege escalation, ensuring your security teams can act fast and contain threats before they escalate.
4. Plan Regular Tech Refreshes
Staying ahead of vulnerabilities means keeping technology up to date.
LGA enables organizations to systematically refresh outdated software and infrastructure, shrinking your attack surface and making it harder for attackers to exploit legacy systems.
We also work side-by-side with your team to build robust incident response plans, deliver ongoing security awareness training, and drive continuous improvement throughout your organization. This layered, integrated strategy is essential to stopping sophisticated attacks before they cause harm.
Ready to stay ahead of ransomware and emerging threats?
Contact LGA today to discover how our end-to-end cybersecurity solutions can keep your business protected.
References
Crowdstrike. (2025, February). Crowdstrike 2025 Global Threat Report. Crowdstrike. https://go.crowdstrike.com/rs/281-OBQ-266/images/CrowdStrikeGlobalThreatReport2025.pdf?version=0
CSA Singapore. (2025, July 4). Ongoing Campaign by SCATTERED SPIDER. CSA Singapore. https://www.csa.gov.sg/alerts-and-advisories/alerts/al-2025-066
Fadilpašić, S. (2025, July 7). Louis Vuitton says customer data was leaked following cyberattack.
IBM Security. (2024). Cost of a data breach report 2024. IBM Corporation. https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach
Marvin, M. (2025, January 23). Mandatory MFA is Not Enough. Portnox. https://www.portnox.com/blog/security-trends/mandatory-mfa-is-not-enough/
Verizon. (2024). 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report. Verizon https://www.verizon.com/business/resources/reports/2024-dbir-data-breach-investigations-report.pdf
