Indian multinational tech firm, Tata Technologies, recently confirmed it had been hit by a ransomware attack that affected several IT services, taking them offline. Tata Technologies is a division of the larger automaker organization Tata Group that operates in automotive and aerospace engineering, and general R&D engineering. The firm is a major tech developer and contractor of key state projects in India and hires more than 11,000 employees. Tata Group has 18 operation centers in India, Asia-Pacific, America, and the European Union, and a yearly revenue of about $600 million USD

On January 31^st 2025, the company released a statement saying that the cyber-attack had impacted “a few of our IT assets,” prompting the firm to shut down several digital services as a precautionary strategy. The firm assured its customers that it had launched an immediate investigation to contain the incident: “Further detailed investigation is underway in consultation with experts to assess the root cause and to take remedial action as necessary. We remain committed to the highest standards of security and data protection and are taking all necessary steps to mitigate any potential risks.”

In the statement, Tata Technologies said that the affected services had been restored, and its client delivery services were fully operational and remained unaffected, with a spokesperson claim there has been no disruption to operations and services were continuing to be delivered to customers seamlessly.

Further information such as the identity of the ransomware gang responsible for the attack, specific departments affected, or whether data was lost, stolen, or compromised were left out in the filing.

Overview of the Ransomware Attack on Tata Technologies

Why was Tata Tech a Target?

Tata Technologies predominantly focus on automotive design and manufacturing industries, providing engineering and IT solutions to customers worldwide. Given the escalating cyber threats targeting the manufacturing industry, hackers possibly viewed the company as a lucrative “business” to earn from.

Despite its prowess in providing engineering and IT solutions, Tata Technologies fell victim to a ransomware incident that disrupted the company’s operations and compromised some of its sensitive data. The incident allegedly took place on a weekend, which is a habitual strategy employed by cyber-attackers to exploit scaled down IT personnel. Upon detection, the organization commenced its incident response plan which involved isolating infected systems and leveraging cybersecurity expertise to assess the magnitude of the data breach.

What is Ransomware?

Ransomware is a malicious computer program (malware) used by hackers to encrypt a victim’s data and render it inaccessible until they (the victim) pay a ransom to the cybercriminals. Simply put, ransomware is a hacker’s software designed to deny victims/businesses access to their files they have saved in their computers. By encrypting this data and demanding a ransom be paid for the files to be unencrypted, users or enterprises are placed in a position where cooperating with the cybercriminals (i.e., paying the ransom) is often the only way to recover their data.

Ransomware campaigns have rapidly become the leading techniques to deploy malware. Ransomware attacks often prey on big companies whose services are critical, such as state corporations and critical infrastructures (energy production, banks, oil transmission, etc.). Causing service outages and potential data breaches in these industries is more likely to lead to a ransom being paid because the alternative is even greater financial losses and irreversible reputational damage.

How does Ransomware work?

The contemporary ransomware craze started with the infamous WannaCry Attack that occurred in May 2017.  This worldwide, highly publicized cyber-attack illustrated that encryption Trojans can be extremely profitable to malicious actors. After that, several ransomware variants were developed and have since been used to terrorize users and organization across the globe.

As mentioned, to be successful, these blackmail Trojans must gain access to target IT systems and encode (encrypt) data to enable attackers to blackmail the victim to pay a ransom in order to get their files back. This execution process may vary from one variant to another, but they all follow the same fundamental steps, namely:

• Step 1: infection and Distribution Vector: while ransomware gangs can employ different methods to gain access to organizational IT data, they often use a few select infection vectors. Phishing Campaigns (emails, smishing, voice phishing, etc.) are the most common infection vectors to propagate malicious URLs/links to unsuspecting users. Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is another ransomware infection vector used by hackers who have stolen/guessed login credentials of an organization to access the IT infrastructure of the entity remotely. They can download malware directly on the machine and encrypt data.
• Step 2: Data Encryption: Data encryption starts immediately after attackers gain access to users’ systems. This generally involves using their controlled encryption key to encode data.
• Step 3: Ransom Demand: after encrypting data, cybercriminals commence the blackmailing: demanding a ransom from the victim to get their data decrypted. Typically, hackers display a note showing the amount of cryptocurrency they want for victims to access their files. Once paid, the attackers will provide a decryption key to reverse the decoding and restore access (or at least, this is the hope).

Rise in Ransomware Campaigns in 2024 and Early 2025

Tata’s recent incident is part of the increasingly growing global trend of ransomware attacks. Ransomware gangs have mastered the landscape and are exploiting vulnerabilities in data infrastructures and employing intricate social engineering techniques.

India’s Evolving Ransomware landscape

Lately, India has undergone an impressive digital transformation, with an exceptional growth in mobile usage, internet access, and IT solutions. These developments have grown India’s digital economy and positioned the country as a global leader. Nevertheless, these advancements have an equal share of challenges, especially in the world of cybersecurity.

The surge in digital transactions has resulted in massive cloud migration and extensive network interconnectivity. With rise in the adoption of these technologies in India, the country has found itself grappling mounting cyber threats that are threatening its digital landscape and economic stability. Cyble’s Threat Intelligence Report 2024 shows that:

• Cyber-attacks targeting Indian businesses have increased by 35 percent year-over-year.
• Healthcare organizations, financial institutions, and state corporations are the hardest hit businesses by ransomware attacks.
• There has been a 45 percent increase in ransomware incidents, a 30 percent increase in phishing schemes, and a 50 percent in data leaks on darknet involving Indian enterprises. In the first half of 2024, the country experienced a 24 percent surge in ransomware attacks compared to the previous year.
• In 2024, approximately 370 million malware incidents were detected, which is 702 attacks per minute on average.

Global Ransomware Ecosystem

The global ransomware scene has long been commanded by a handful of players. In fact, five hacker groups, namely LockBit 3.0, MEOW, PLAY, Hunters International, and RansomHub, were associated with 40 percent of all ransomware incidents in the last quarter of 2024.

Recently, the number of active ransomware gangs globally increased to hit 59, indicating an increasingly complex and competitive threat ecosystem. Studies show that the first half of 2024 witnessed a 30 percent surge in ransomware attacks globally.

How Enterprises can Protect Their IT Infrastructure against Ransomware Attacks

Leverage Best Cybersecurity Practices

Appropriate preparation can drastically lower the repercussions of a ransomware attack. Taking the following cybersecurity best practices into account can greatly minimize the exposure of an organization to ransomware:

• Bolster Cyber Awareness and Training: phishing emails are the most common ransomware distribution vectors. Educating IT personnel on how to identify and avoid emails sent by malicious actors can greatly reduce ransomware attacks.
• Backup Data: organizations should use automated, secure data backups to enable them to recover their sensitive information with minimal losses and without giving in to hackers’ demands (i.e., paying ransoms).
• Regularly Patch Systems: hackers often exploit unpatched data systems to install their malware. To combat this, organizations should patch their systems with the latest security updates to minimize vulnerabilities.
• Ensure Strong User Authentication: to prevent data breaches caused by remote access infection vectors, such as RDP, organizations should use strong authentication techniques to make it difficult for hackers to use stolen or guessed login credentials.

Use Anti-Ransomware Solutions

The use of “anti-ransomware solutions” implies installing specialized computer programs and implementing security practices crafted to detect, identify, prevent, mitigate, and thwart ransomware incidents. These technologies have monitoring features to inspect anomalies and block potential cyber threats before they can do encrypt files and hold IT systems hostage.

These solutions act as protection layers designed to prevent/mitigate ransomware attacks. Examples include:

• Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM): EPM tools protect user devices by enforcing the Principal of Least Privilege: user permissions are relegated to that of a standard user without far-reaching access to the wider network or sensitive data and systems, which prevents ransomware from spreading further than the device of initial compromise.
• Advanced Antimalware solution with ransomware prevention capabilities: several modern antimalware software come with specialized ransomware prevention features to enable fast and wide-variant ransomware detection and automatic restoration in the event of security incident.
• Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR): EDR provides comprehensive monitoring of all devices connected to an IT system to point out potential ransomware activities.
• Email security gateways: these tools are used to filter ransomware-laced emails and automatically delete them to prevent unsuspecting users from opening them.
•  Application whitelisting: these security features only allow pre-approved software/application to run on an organizational IT system, thus preventing installation of unauthorized programs that could perhaps be malicious.

How Admin By Request Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) Could Have prevented the Tata Technologies Ransomware Attack

The ransomware incident at Tata industries highlights the significance of having an effective endpoint privilege management (EPM) on your IT system. An integral component of a successful ransomware attack is lateral movement after compromising the first endpoint – an action made impossible by solutions such as Admin By Request EPM.

What is Admin By Request?

Admin By Request is a robust tool within the Privileged Access Management (PAM) space that allows organization to manage or administer user permissions on endpoints. The core function is to limit administrative privileges to prevent privilege escalation, the installation of unauthorized programs, and access to critical services – thus reducing an organization’s attack surface.

Key Features

• Just-in-Time Privileges: Admin By Request EPM allows organizational security teams to request elevated privileges only when they need them, with these privileges being temporary and reverted when the task requiring them is complete. Ransomware requires extensive use of elevated privileges, meaning Just-in-time, temporary access would greatly hinder a successful ransomware infection.
• Session Monitoring: Admin By Request provides real-time monitoring of granted privilege sessions – including video recording of remote privileged access – giving IT admins full visibility of activities conducted during elevated access.
• Audit Trails: the tool comes with all-inclusive logging and reporting capabilities to help security teams track user activity and gather a complete audit trail in the case of a compromised endpoint.
• Policy Enforcement: helps users to enforce policies concerning installation and access to software and services, guaranteeing that only authorized individuals can access organizational IT infrastructure.

How Admin By Request could have Prevented the Tata Technologies Ransomware Attack

1. Minimized Attack Surface: the implementation of Admin By Request in Tata’s IT systems could have reduced the number of security personnel with access to admin privileges. This way, the minimized attack surface would have made it difficult for malicious software to so get so widely deployed in their network.
2. Controlled Software Installation: the incorporation of Admin By Request in Tata’s IT infrastructure would have enabled the institution to closely administer and monitor software installs and prevent the installation of unauthorized programs – like ransomware – on its endpoints.
3. Real-Time Monitoring: Admin By Request would have provided visibility for security teams to detect anomalies, such as lateral movement, and respond promptly to these cyber threats.
4. Anti-malware software: Admin By Request EPM integrates with OPSWAT MetaDefender’s Cloud API, which scans file downloads with 35+ antimalware engines. This component of the solution could have prevented the initial compromise of the endpoint when the malware was first installed.

Key Takeaways

The Tata Technologies ransomware incident is a critical reminder to all industry players and security providers of the ever-evolving cyber threat ecosystem. The attack highlights the importance of leveraging robust cybersecurity solutions and practices, particularly for the management and control of endpoint privileges, which play a crucial role in enabling ransomware spread.

Adopting solutions such as Admin By Request EPM immensely minimizes the risk of ransomware attacks by enforcing limited privilege policies, managing administrative access, and offering active monitoring and auditing capabilities.

Incorporating all-inclusive PAM strategies within an organization’s IT infrastructure helps enhance its security posture and protect its sensitive data from potential cyber threats. Get started with Admin By Request with a Free Plan for 25 endpoints today.