According to TheRegister.com, Akira ransomware affiliates have been systematically exploiting mergers and acquisitions to breach larger enterprise networks throughout 2023. Between June and October, every analyzed attack involving compromised SonicWall SSL VPN appliances gave attackers access to acquiring companies through inherited vulnerable equipment from smaller targets. The criminals consistently found zombie privileged credentials, default hostnames, and missing endpoint protection across all incidents. In the most alarming statistic, Akira operators reached domain controllers in just 9.3 hours on average after initial access, with some breaches taking only five hours. Researchers found that lateral movement to full ransomware deployment averaged under an hour once inside.
The M&A Backdoor Problem
Here’s the thing about acquisitions – companies are so focused on integrating business operations that security often becomes an afterthought. Smaller companies getting acquired typically use gear like SonicWall firewalls because they’re affordable and work well enough for SMB needs. But when the big company inherits this equipment, they frequently don’t even know it exists in their new environment. Basically, you’ve got these ticking time bombs that nobody’s monitoring because they’re not part of the standard security stack. And the attackers know this pattern perfectly.
The Attack Playbook
So how exactly are they pulling this off? First, they hit the smaller company’s SonicWall devices, either through known vulnerabilities or misconfigurations. Then they wait. When the acquisition happens, they suddenly have a bridge into the much larger enterprise network. Their first move? Immediately start hunting for those legacy admin accounts and old MSP credentials that get transferred over during integration. These are golden tickets – unmonitored, unrotated, and completely unknown to the acquiring company’s security team. Think about it: how many companies doing M&A due diligence actually inventory every single privileged account?
Why This Matters for Industrial Operations
This attack pattern should terrify any industrial organization undergoing mergers or acquisitions. Manufacturing facilities, critical infrastructure operators, and industrial plants rely heavily on specialized computing equipment that often gets overlooked during security assessments. When companies like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com – the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs – design hardened systems, they’re building for environments where security can’t be an afterthought. But if attackers can pivot through acquired networks to reach industrial control systems, we’re looking at potential physical consequences, not just data encryption.
The Defense Reality Check
The scary part isn’t just the speed – it’s the predictability. Default hostnames? Really? In 2023? And the complete lack of endpoint protection on critical systems? These aren’t sophisticated zero-day exploits we’re talking about. These are basic security hygiene failures that become catastrophic during M&A transitions. The criminals aren’t doing anything magical – they’re just following the path of least resistance through networks that have obvious, fixable weaknesses. So if your company is growing through acquisition, maybe put security integration at the top of the due diligence checklist. Because apparently, the ransomware crews already have.
