Wipers - Destruction as a means to an end
Summary: Cisco Talos describes wiper attacks as malware deployed with the singular purpose of destroying or disrupting systems and data, with no direct financial motivation, unlike ransomware. The destructive capability ranges from overwriting specific files to destroying the entire filesystem, and past wiper attacks have served a dual purpose of generating social destabilization and sending a public message while destroying traces of the actors' activities.
Why it matters: For businesses, this is often the worst kind of attack because there is no expectation of data recovery, and the harder the recovery process becomes, the bigger the business impact.
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- Detection & Response
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