Ransomware attacks are hitting energy, oil and gas sectors especially hard, report finds

The Sophos report finds that ransomware is increasingly severe for energy, oil & gas, and utilities—victims are taking longer to recover and are more likely to pay ransoms. Nearly half of successful attacks exploited unpatched vulnerabilities and over a quarter involved compromised credentials; the report warns of fragile legacy systems and limited IT staffing in critical infrastructure, and notes concerns about nation-state actors (e.g., Volt Typhoon) potentially targeting civilian services.