Hacker in Snowflake Extortions May Be a U.S. Soldier

Two men have been arrested for allegedly stealing data from and extorting dozens of companies that used the cloud data storage company Snowflake , but a third suspect -- a prolific hacker known as Kiberphant0m -- remains at large and continues to publicly extort victims. However, this person's...

CISA and Partners Release Update to BianLian Ransomware Cybersecurity Advisory

Today, CISA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI, and the Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre ASD’s ACSC released updates to StopRansomware: BianLian Ransomware Group on observed tactics, techniques, and procedures TTPs and indicators of compromise attributed to...

Russian Man Extradited to US, Face Charges in Phobos Ransomware Operation

Russian national Evgenii Ptitsyn, linked to Phobos ransomware, faces U.S. charges for extortion and hacking, with over $16M…...

New 'Helldown' Ransomware Variant Expands Attacks to VMware and Linux Systems

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a Linux variant of a relatively new ransomware strain called Helldown, suggesting that the threat actors are broadening their attack focus. "Helldown deploys Windows ransomware derived from the LockBit 3.0 code," Sekoia said in a report shared with The...

Unwrapping the emerging Interlock ransomware attack

Cisco Talos Incident Response Talos IR recently observed an attacker conducting big-game hunting and double extortion attacks using the relatively new Interlock ransomware. Our analysis uncovered that the attacker used multiple components in the delivery chain including a Remote Access Tool RAT...

Canadian Suspect Arrested Over Snowflake Customer Breach and Extortion Attacks

Canadian law enforcement authorities have arrested an individual who is suspected to have conducted a series of hacks stemming from the breach of cloud data warehousing platform Snowflake earlier this year. The individual in question, Alexander "Connor" Moucka aka Judische and Waifu, was...

Talos IR trends Q3 2024: Identity-based operations loom large

Threat actors are increasingly conducting identity-based attacks across a range of operations that are proving highly effective, with credential theft being the main goal in a quarter of incident response engagements. These attacks were primarily facilitated by living-off-the-land binaries LoLBin...

Fake North Korean IT Workers Infiltrate Western Firms, Demand Ransom

North Korean hackers are infiltrating Western companies using fraudulent IT workers to steal sensitive data and extort ransom.…...

Threat Brief: Understanding Akira Ransomware

Overview Akira is a prolific ransomware that has been operating since March 2023 and has targeted multiple industries, primarily in North America, the UK, and Australia. It functions as a Ransomware as a Service RaaS and exfiltrates data prior to encryption, achieving double extortion. According ...

Crooked Cops, Stolen Laptops & the Ghost of UGNazi

A California man accused of failing to pay taxes on tens of millions of dollars allegedly earned from cybercrime also paid local police officers hundreds of thousands of dollars to help him extort, intimidate and silence rivals and former business partners, the government alleges. KrebsOnSecurity...

Hacktivist Group Twelve Targets Russian Entities with Destructive Cyber Attacks

A hacktivist group known as Twelve has been observed using an arsenal of publicly available tools to conduct destructive cyber attacks against Russian targets. "Rather than demand a ransom for decrypting data, Twelve prefers to encrypt victims' data and then destroy their infrastructure with a...

Black Basta Ransomware: What You Need to Know

Overview Black Basta is a ransomware group operating as ransomware-as-a-service RaaS, first spotted in April 2022. It is known to use double extortion techniques where the group demands payment for the decryption and non-release of stolen data. Earlier versions of Black Basta share many...

The Dark Nexus Between Harm Groups and ‘The Com’

A cyberattack that shut down two of the top casinos in Las Vegas last year quickly became one of the most riveting security stories of 2023. It was the first known case of native English-speaking hackers in the United States and Britain teaming up with ransomware gangs based in Russia. But that...

Ransomware Groups Demystified: Lynx Ransomware

As part of our research and tracking of threats, Rapid7 Labs is actively monitoring new and upcoming threat groups and the ransomware domain is known for having a large number of them. In the Ransomware Radar Report, Rapid7 Labs shared the observation that in the first half of 2024, 21 new or...

Ex-Engineer Charged in Missouri for Failed $750,000 Bitcoin Extortion Attempt

A 57-year-old man from the U.S. state of Missouri has been arrested in connection with a failed data extortion campaign that targeted his former employer. Daniel Rhyne of Kansas City, Missouri, has been charged with one count of extortion in relation to a threat to cause damage to a protected...

RansomHub Ransomware Group Targets 210 Victims Across Critical Sectors

Threat actors linked to the RansomHub ransomware group encrypted and exfiltrated data from at least 210 victims since its inception in February 2024, the U.S. government said. The victims span various sectors, including water and wastewater, information technology, government services and...

U.S. Agencies Warn of Iranian Hacking Group's Ongoing Ransomware Attacks

U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence agencies have called out an Iranian hacking group for breaching multiple organizations across the country and coordinating with affiliates to deliver ransomware. The activity has been linked to a threat actor dubbed Pioneer Kitten, which is also known as Fox...

BlackByte Ransomware Exploits VMware ESXi Flaw in Latest Attack Wave

The threat actors behind the BlackByte ransomware group have been observed likely exploiting a recently patched security flaw impacting VMware ESXi hypervisors, while also leveraging various vulnerable drivers to disarm security protections. "The BlackByte ransomware group continues to leverage...

Latvian Hacker Extradited to U.S. for Role in Karakurt Cybercrime Group

A 33-year-old Latvian national living in Moscow, Russia, has been charged in the U.S. for allegedly stealing data, extorting victims, and laundering ransom payments since August 2021. Deniss Zolotarjovs aka Sforzacesarini has been charged with conspiring to commit money laundering, wire fraud and...

Attackers Exploit Public .env Files to Breach Cloud Accounts in Extortion Campaign

A large-scale extortion campaign has compromised various organizations by taking advantage of publicly accessible environment variable files .env that contain credentials associated with cloud and social media applications. "Multiple security missteps were present in the course of this campaign,...