Researchers at Mandiant have recently reported that a new ransomware group calling itself Sabbath appears to be the rebranded group Arcane and “picked up their pace” in November . Arcane has been known to target hospitals and schools.

The researchers identified the group in October after it attacked a Texas school district, held its data for ransom, and requested the ransom through Reddit instead of its own website.  It then launched a website that appeared almost identical to that of Arcane. According to Mandiant, Sabbath has added six additional victims to its extortion website in the past few days.

Although Mandiant reported Sabbath’s activity to the cloud hosting provider to disrupt its operations, this illustrates that the proliferation of ransomware groups and the sale of techniques continue to make ransomware a serious threat.

Photo of Linn Foster Freedman Linn Foster Freedman

Linn Freedman practices in data privacy and security law, cybersecurity, and complex litigation. She is a member of the Business Litigation Group and the Financial Services Cyber-Compliance Team, and chairs the firm’s Data Privacy and Security and Artificial Intelligence Teams. Linn focuses her…

Linn Freedman practices in data privacy and security law, cybersecurity, and complex litigation. She is a member of the Business Litigation Group and the Financial Services Cyber-Compliance Team, and chairs the firm’s Data Privacy and Security and Artificial Intelligence Teams. Linn focuses her practice on compliance with all state and federal privacy and security laws and regulations. She counsels a range of public and private clients from industries such as construction, education, health care, insurance, manufacturing, real estate, utilities and critical infrastructure, marine and charitable organizations, on state and federal data privacy and security investigations, as well as emergency data breach response and mitigation. Linn is an Adjunct Professor of the Practice of Cybersecurity at Brown University and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Roger Williams University School of Law.  Prior to joining the firm, Linn served as assistant attorney general and deputy chief of the Civil Division of the Attorney General’s Office for the State of Rhode Island. She earned her J.D. from Loyola University School of Law and her B.A., with honors, in American Studies from Newcomb College of Tulane University. She is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Read her full rc.com bio here.