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# Axios and Unit 42's Sam Rubin Discuss Disruptive Cyberattacks

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By [Elad Koren](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/author/elad-koren/?ts=markdown "Posts by Elad Koren")  
Dec 10, 2024  
2 minutes  
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Sam Rubin, SVP of Consulting and Threat Intelligence at Unit 42, recently spoke with Sam Sabin, cybersecurity reporter at Axios, about the increasingly destructive cyberattacks organizations face.

The article highlighted how threat actors are shifting their strategies from traditional ransomware attacks to more disruptive methods designed to cripple businesses' critical systems and cause extended downtime. While Unit 42 Incident Response insights indicate that the volume of ransomware incidents in 2024 are consistent with 2023, attackers are increasing the intensity of their attacks to force companies into paying higher ransoms.

> If you're a \[software-as-a-service\] business, and you are absolutely shut down and hemorrhaging customers and hemorrhaging money, that's an incredibly painful situation.

- Sam Rubin in Axios

Recent attacks are highly targeted and sophisticated, as hackers accurately identify the critical systems and dependencies of organizations. In one example that Sam Rubin highlighted, an attack on a single vendor disrupted over 100 partner businesses, leading to weeks of business downtime. In another case, a company losing millions daily from operational downtime quickly paid a ransom to stop the financial fallout.
![Sam Rubin, Unit 42's SVP of Consulting and Threat Intelligence](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/1731635906160-230x153.jpeg)
Sam Rubin, Unit 42's SVP of Consulting and Threat Intelligence

Ransomware groups, like Scattered Spider and BlackCat/ALPHV are at the forefront of some of the most recent high-profile campaigns, leveraging advanced tools and tactics, including generative AI, to target organizations. These groups are weaponizing software vulnerabilities at scale and conducting highly targeted phishing campaigns to obtain initial access into organizations, before targeting their virtual machines in many cases. With destructive attacks on the rise, heading into 2025, organizations must prioritize [resilience](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/sase/operational-resilience-ensuring-business-continuity-with-prisma-sase/) and preparedness to mitigate potential disruptions.

Find the full article following the [conversation with Axios](https://www.axios.com/2024/12/03/cyberattacks-business-shutdowns-data-breaches).

Unit 42 recently discussed this and more in our [2025 threat landscape predictions](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/2024/11/unit-42-predicts-top-threats-in-2025/), where Sam Rubin explored emerging cybersecurity challenges and strategies for the coming year.

*** ** * ** ***

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