{"id":242839,"date":"2026-07-13T14:54:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T18:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/ransomware-groups-change-identities-to-evade-cybercops\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T15:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T19:00:11","slug":"ransomware-groups-change-identities-to-evade-cybercops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/ransomware-groups-change-identities-to-evade-cybercops\/","title":{"rendered":"Ransomware Groups Change Identities to Evade Cybercops"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ransomware Groups Change Identities to Evade Cybercops<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/cybersecurity\/2026\/ransomware-groups-change-identities-to-evade-cybercops\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-07-13 14:54:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.pymnts.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: <\/a><\/p>\n

Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. Ransomware hackers have reportedly begun rebranding to escape digital law enforcement.<\/p>\n

As the Wall Street Journal (WSJ)\u00a0reported\u00a0Monday (July 13), this isn\u2019t a new tactic, but one that is happening more frequently as cyberdefenders adopt better security tools.
\nStopping ransomware attacks has \u201cbecome a game of whack-a-mole,\u201d with the number of ransomware and data-extortion attacks jumping from 1,363 in the first three months of year to 1,885 in the first quarter of 2026, the report said, citing cybersecurity firm ZeroFox.
\n\u201cCybercriminal groups are constantly reinventing themselves,\u201d said\u00a0Brian Carlson, chief technology, data, digital and innovation officer in North America at food services and facilities management company\u00a0Sodexo.
\nWhether hackers show up using a new name or begin employing new tactics, Carlson said, \u201corganizations can\u2019t rely on yesterday\u2019s defenses to address today\u2019s threats.\u201d
\nAnd\u00a0Steven Masada, assistant general counsel at\u00a0Microsoft\u2019s\u00a0digital crimes division, told the WSJ ransomware groups tend to rebrand following web takedowns, media exposure, sanctions or even a loss of trust within the underground economy. <\/p>\n

Aside from new names, other changes can include new infrastructure providers, communication platforms, malware tools, payment methods and affiliates \u2014 or completely new business models, Masada said.
\n\u201cAs\u00a0AI and automation lower barriers to entry, threat actors can evolve their tactics even faster, making rebranding and reinvention an increasingly common feature of the cybercrime ecosystem,\u201d he added.
\nDick O\u2019Brien, principal intelligence analyst on cybersecurity firm\u00a0Symantec\u2019s\u00a0threat hunter unit, said cybercrime rebranding \u201cprobably happens more often than we know.\u201d
\nO\u2019Brien\u2019s company said last week that an analysis of recent attacks by a group going by the name GodDamn Ransomware found \u201csignificant overlap\u201d with a previous hacking group known as Beast, which was itself a repackaging of a group known as \u201cMonster.\u201d
\nIn other cybersecurity news, recent PYMNTS Intelligence and Trulioo\u00a0research found that 76% of financial services firms earn\u00a0at least three-quarters\u00a0of their revenue through digital channels, making ID verification a larger business concern.
\nThat\u2019s because \u201cevery\u00a0failed check, inconsistent result or slow onboarding step can affect growth, fraud prevention and customer experience,\u201d as PYMNTS wrote last week.
\nFor banks, FinTechs and other financial services companies, the issue is not that digital identity systems are failing altogether. Most firms are still confident in their know your customer (KYC) and\u00a0know your business\u00a0(KYB) processes.
\n\u201cThe problem is that digital dependence raises the cost of \u2018good enough,\u2019\u201d the report added. \u201cIdentity systems now work like airport security for digital finance. They need to stop fraudsters without making legitimate customers miss the flight.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ransomware Groups Change Identities to Evade Cybercops https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/cybersecurity\/2026\/ransomware-groups-change-identities-to-evade-cybercops\/ Publish Date: 2026-07-13 14:54:00 Source Domain: www.pymnts.com…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":242840,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ransomware.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[26,24,32],"class_list":["post-242839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cybersecurity","tag-ai","tag-cybersecurity","tag-malware"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242839"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":242841,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242839\/revisions\/242841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}