A Brief Weekly Review of Top Stories that Dominated the Cyberworld

The outgoing week saw many events that made headlines. From Russian-language cybercriminal forum ‘XSS’ banning DarkSide and other ransomware groups to Google rolling out new advanced feature to fight security threats, the cybersecurity realm was full of exciting developments.

Here’s a brief review of what took place in the past week.

DarkSide and other ransomware groups banned by Russian-language cybercriminal forum ‘XSS’

As per a media report, XSS, a popular cybercriminal forum, slapped a blanket ban on ransomware sales, ransomware rental, and ransomware affiliate programs on their platform.

The move came after worldwide scrutiny of ransomware groups augmented following a detrimental attack on Colonial Pipeline that left parts of the United States with gas scarcity for days.

DarkSide purportedly felt the pressure in other ways, with the group sending out a statement on another cybercriminal forum, Exploit, claiming to have had some of their tools upset.

DarkSide held responsible for Colonial Pipeline attack

DarkSide, an organized group of hackers, was held responsible for the shocking Colonial Pipeline attack a few days ago. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also confirmed the group was behind the malicious attack.

Colonial Pipeline, which supplies 45% of the East Coast’s fuel, exposed a ransomware outbreak on the company’s systems which forced the suspension of operations and some IT systems.

Almost a week after the May 7 attack, Colonial Pipeline resumed operations. The company said it would take many days for the pipeline’s deliveries to return to normal.

Google rolled out new advanced feature to fight security threats

Search engine giant Google came up with new cutting-edge security defender features for Google Workspace to help admins battle cybersecurity threats.

The Alert Center will feature real-time alerts with information about security measures in the admin’s domain that are powered by VirusTotal.

As per Google, the objective is to help decrease the load on admins of security notification noise and provide an integrated view of the most critical alerts.