IT Giant Accenture Hit by LockBit Ransomware; Hackers Threaten to Leak Data

Global IT consultancy giant Accenture has become the latest company to be hit by the LockBit ransomware gang, according to a post made by the operators on their dark web portal, likely filling a void left in the wake of DarkSide and REvil shutdown. "These people are beyond privacy and security. I...

PlugwalkJoe Does the Perp Walk

Joseph "PlugwalkJoe" OConnor, in a photo from a paid press release on Sept. 02, 2020, pitching him as a trustworthy cryptocurrency expert and advisor. One day after last summers mass-hack of Twitter, KrebsOnSecurity wrote that 22-year-old British citizen Joseph "PlugwalkJoe" OConnor appeared to...

Kaseya Obtains Universal Decryptor for REvil Ransomware

Kaseya has obtained a master decryptor key for the REvil ransomware that locked up the systems of at least 60 of its customers in a spate of worldwide cyberattacks on July 2. The attacks, which exploited now-patched zero-days in the Kaseya Virtual System/Server Administrator VSA platform, affecte...

What’s Next for REvil’s Victims?

Last week, the servers of ransomware giant REvil vanished. Many applauded as dark-web and clear-web sites used to support the backend infrastructure of REvil, aka Sodinokibi, as well as to leak victims’ data, slipped offline early Tuesday morning. Not REvil’s victims, though. They’re now stuck,...

REvil is Off-Line

This is an interesting development: Just days after President Biden demanded that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia shut down ransomware groups attacking American targets, the most aggressive of the groups suddenly went off-line early Tuesday. … Gone was the publicly available "happy blog" th...

Babuk ransomware builder leaked following muddled “retirement”

In the last days of April 2021, the operators of Babuk ransomware announced they were going to focus on demanding a ransom for information stolen from compromised networks, leaving the encryption part of their operation behind. It meant that they no longer needed ransomware at all. “Babuk changes...

A week in security (June 21 – June 27)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Want to stop ransomware attacks? Send the cybercriminals to jail, says Brian Honan: Lock and Code S02E11 Atomic research institute breached via VPN vulnerability Hotel staff bust Hermes SMS scammer with suspiciously large number of cables City of Liège hit by...

Protecting Against Recent Ransomware Attacks

Modern ransomware attacks targeting large enterprises continue to evolve from double to triple or even quadruple extortion tactics. Discover how to stay one step ahead with our case study of the ransomware family, Nefilim...

Faux ‘DarkSide’ Gang Takes Aim at Global Energy, Food Sectors

Several organizations in the oil, gas and food sectors have received threatening emails from cybercriminals posing as DarkSide – the ransomware gang behind the Colonial Pipeline hack. According to researchers at Trend Micro, threat actors are taking advantage of the notoriety around the pipeline...

Ukraine Police Arrest Cyber Criminals Behind Clop Ransomware Attacks

Ukrainian law enforcement officials on Wednesday announced the arrest of the Clop ransomware gang, adding it disrupted the infrastructure employed in attacks targeting victims worldwide since at least 2019. As part of an international operation between the National Police of Ukraine and authoriti...

Avaddon Ransomware Gang Evaporates Amid Global Crackdowns

Ransomware group Avaddon has decided to shutter its criminal enterprise after landing in the crosshairs of law-enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Australia. Avaddon, a prolific ransomware-as-a-service RaaS provider, released its decryption keys to BleepingComputer — 2,934 in total — with each k...

JBS Paid $11M to REvil Gang Even After Restoring Operations

JBS Foods paid the equivalent of $11 million in ransom after a cyber-attack that forced the company to shut down some operations in the United States and Australia over the Memorial Day weekend. The company made the payment to cybercriminals to ensure the protection of its data and mitigate any...

Emerging Ransomware Targets Dozens of Businesses Worldwide

An emerging ransomware strain in the threat landscape claims to have breached 30 organizations in just four months since it went operational by riding on the coattails of a notorious ransomware syndicate. First observed in February 2021, "Prometheus" is an offshoot of another well-known ransomwar...

Beef Supplier JBS Paid Hackers $11 Million Ransom After Cyberattack

Meat processing company JBS on Wednesday confirmed it paid extortionists $11 million in bitcoins to regain access to its systems following a destructive ransomware attack late last month. "In consultation with internal IT professionals and third-party cybersecurity experts, the company made the...

DarkSide Ransomware

DarkSide ransomware is a relatively new ransomware strain that threat actors have been using to target multiple large, high-revenue organizations resulting in the encryption and theft of sensitive data and threats to make it publicly available if the ransom demand is not paid. Because of its...

Hackers Breached Colonial Pipeline Using Compromised VPN Password

The ransomware cartel that masterminded the Colonial Pipeline attack early last month crippled the pipeline operator's network using a compromised virtual private network VPN account password, the latest investigation into the incident has revealed. The development, which was reported by Bloomber...

The Rapid Resurgence of DDoS Extortion (That Didn't Take Long)

Just when we thought DDoS extortion was fading into the rearview mirror, it's time to circle up the trucks again gas tanks full. Starting last week and rapidly accelerating, we began seeing in our data and hearing firsthand from organizations about a new wave of extortion activity -- new Bitcoin...

The Rapid Resurgence of DDoS Extortion (That Didn't Take Long)

Just when we thought DDoS extortion was fading into the rearview mirror, it's time to circle up the trucks again gas tanks full...

On the Taxonomy and Evolution of Ransomware

Given the frequency with which “ransomware” appears in news articles, it may be worthwhile to take a step back and actually consider what the term means. Any malware or attack that culminates in extorting ransom from the victim is commonly referred to as ransomware. The general idea is to encrypt...

DarkSide Getting Taken to ‘Hackers’ Court’ For Not Paying Affiliates

Cybercriminals who have worked as affiliates with ransomware group DarkSide, responsible for the Colonial Pipeline attack, are having a tough time getting paid for their work now that the group has had its operations interrupted; so, they’re turning to admins of the group’s Dark Web criminal foru...