Ransomware review: August 2023

This article is based on research by Marcelo Rivero, Malwarebytes' ransomware specialist, who monitors information published by ransomware gangs on their Dark Web sites. In this report, "known attacks" are those where the victim did not pay a ransom. This provides the best overall picture of...

Reflecting on supply chain attacks halfway through 2023

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Threat Source newsletter. Between the Talos Takes episode last week and helping my colleague Hazel with the Half-Year in Review, I realized how much I had already forgotten about 2023 already. Its been a whirlwind, personally and professionally, and I think it...

LOLKEK Ransomware Evolving New Tactics to Evade Detection

Threat Level Attack Report For a detailed threat advisory, download the pdf file here Summary LOLKEK ransomware is still being actively developed and uses new tactics to evade detection, including obfuscation, legitimate tools, and network shares. It encrypts all drives, including network shares,...

Focus on DroxiDat/SystemBC

Recently we pushed a report to our customers about an interesting and common component of the cybercrime malware set - SystemBC. And, in much the same vein as the 2021 Darkside Colonial Pipeline incident, we found a new SystemBC variant deployed to a critical infrastructure target. This time, the...

New Yashma Ransomware Variant Mimics WannaCry in New Attack

Threat Level Attack Report For a detailed threat advisory, download the pdf file here Summary A Vietnamese-origin threat actor employs a Yashma ransomware variant since June 2023, using unique GitHub-based ransom note delivery and mimicking WannaCry. This operation demonstrates the accelerated...

New Report Exposes Vice Society's Collaboration with Rhysida Ransomware

Tactical similarities have been unearthed between the double extortion ransomware group known as Rhysida and Vice Society, including in their targeting of education and healthcare sectors. "As Vice Society was observed deploying a variety of commodity ransomware payloads, this link does not sugge...

TargetCompany Ransomware’s FUD Obfuscation Maneuvers

Threat Level Attack Report For a detailed threat advisory, download the pdf file here Summary The TargetCompany ransomware employs a combination of its proprietary variant and the BatCloak obfuscator engine, acclaimed for its full undetectability FUD capabilities. Accompanying this fusion is the...

An Overview of the New Rhysida Ransomware Targeting the Healthcare Sector

In this blog entry, we will provide details on Rhysida, including its targets and what we know about its infection chain...

What Cisco Talos knows about the Rhysida ransomware

Cisco Talos is aware of the recent advisory published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services HHS warning the healthcare industry about Rhysida ransomware activity. As weve discussed recently, there has been huge growth in the ransomware and extortion space, potentially linked to the...

Microsoft Purview data security mitigations for BazaCall and other human-operated data exfiltration attacks

I recently worked with an enterprise customer who experienced a data exfiltration attack using the characteristics of the BazaCall campaign. BazaCall can be both a ransomware and data exfiltration attack that are used together to increase pressure on and damage to the victim. Microsoft Purview ha...

New Yashma Ransomware Variant Targets Multiple English-Speaking Countries

An unknown threat actor is using a variant of the Yashma ransomware to target various entities in English-speaking countries, Bulgaria, China, and Vietnam at least since June 4, 2023. Cisco Talos, in a new write-up, attributed the operation with moderate confidence to an adversary of likely...

Ransomware on the Move: Evolving Exploitation Techniques and the Active Pursuit of Zero-Days

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Ransomware on the Move: Evolving Exploitation Techniques and the Active Pursuit of Zero-Days

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Code leaks are causing an influx of new ransomware actors

Ransomware gangs are consistently rebranding or merging with other groups, as highlighted in our 2022 Year in Review, or these actors work for multiple ransomware-as-a-service RaaS outfits at a time, and new groups are always emerging. This trend is already continuing this year. Since 2021, there...

New threat actor targets Bulgaria, China, Vietnam and other countries with customized Yashma ransomware

Cisco Talos discovered an unknown threat actor, seemingly of Vietnamese origin, conducting a ransomware operation that began at least as early as June 4, 2023. This ongoing attack uses a variant of the Yashma ransomware likely to target multiple geographic areas by mimicking WannaCry...

A week in security (July 31 - August 6)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: The end looms for Meta's behavioural advertising in Europe Microsoft Teams used in phishing campaign to bypass multi-factor authentication Film companies lose battle to unmask Reddit users FAQ: How does Malwarebytes ransomware rollback work? How to protect your...

TargetCompany Ransomware Abuses FUD Obfuscator Packers

In this entry, we detail our analysis of how the TargetCompany ransomware abused an iteration of fully undetectable FUD obfuscator engine BatCloak to infect vulnerable systems...

FAQ: How does Malwarebytes ransomware rollback work?

As the old cybersecurity saying goes: "Its not if, but when." Everyone and their grandma have repeated this foreboding maxim about the nature of ransomware attacks, but sadly, that doesn't make it any less true. Time and again were reminded that ransomware can slip past even the best defenses...

Half-Year in Review: Recapping the top threats and security trends so far in 2023

From new ransomware groups, a growing mercenary space, espionage campaigns, supply chain attacks, and new "as a service" tools popping up, theres a lot to talk about already in the first half of 2023. Here are the main threats weve covered on our blog up until the end of June 2023. The timeline i...

Hey, are you REALLY ready to go on vacation? (No, you aren't)

Are you ready for a challenge? A real challenge? Do you laugh in the face of shark cages, scoff at the Marathon des Sables, and waft a dismissive finger in the direction of the Everest ascent? Are you ready to conquer the impossible? If so, then you might be ready for the ultimate challenge--taki...