CISA, FBI recommend vigilance online to ward off ransomware attacks around Thanksgiving

Ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the F.B.I. are urging vigilance to ward off ransomware attacks.

Ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI are urging vigilance to ward off ransomware attacks, asking companies to implement multi-factor authentication and employees not to click on suspicious emails.

"While we are not currently aware of a specific threat, we know that threat actors don't take holidays," said CISA Director Jen Easterly in a statement. "We will continue to provide timely and actionable information to help our industry and government partners stay secure and resilient during the holiday season. We urge all organizations to remain vigilant and report any cyber incidents to CISA or FBI."

"Specifically, malicious cyber actors have often taken advantage of holidays and weekends to disrupt critical networks and systems belonging to organizations, businesses, and critical infrastructure," the statement continues.

Colonial Pipeline, which is responsible for gas lines that run through the country, was targeted with a ransomware attack over Mother's Day weekend. JBS meat supplier became a victim of a ransomware attack over Memorial Day weekend. Kaseya, an IT company that provides services to businesses, was hit with a ransomware attack over the Fourth of July weekend.