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...

Ransomware review: July 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...

Ransomware Attacks Are on the Rise, Again

Ransomware attacks tumbled in 2022, offering hope that the tide was turning against the criminal gangs behind them. Then things got a whole lot worse...

Ransomware review: June 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 didn't pay a ransom. This provides the best overall picture of...

Living Off the Land (LOTL) attacks: Detecting ransomware gangs hiding in plain sight

Regular readers of our monthly ransomware review read our April edition here know that Ransomware-as-a-Service RaaS gangs have been making headlines globally with their disruptive attacks on organizations. Sometimes, though, its not enough to merely know about of the problem. In order to truly...

Ransomware Attacks Have Entered a ‘Heinous’ New Phase

With victims refusing to pay, cybercriminal gangs are now releasing stolen photos of cancer patients and sensitive student records...

National Cybersecurity Strategy Document: What you need to know

The US Government has been working on the National Cybersecurity Strategy Document 2023 for some time now, and its finally been released. The strategy document, which replaces the last such piece of work from 2018, attempts to indicate the general direction of the US approach to cybercrime and...

Russia’s Sway Over Criminal Ransomware Gangs Is Coming Into Focus

Questions about the Kremlin’s relationships with these groups remain. But researchers are finally getting some answers...

Ransomware review: September 2022

Malwarebytes Threat Intelligence builds a monthly picture of ransomware activity by monitoring the information published by ransomware gangs on their Dark Web leak sites. This information represents victims who were successfully attacked but opted not to pay a ransom. This article is also availab...

Healthcare industry tore down by Karakurt ransomware group

Threat Level Actor Report For a detailed threat advisory, download the pdf file here Summary The Karakurt ransomware group is a recent addition to the list of cybercriminal gangs, with reports of its first appearance in late 2021. Since June 2022, the recent attacks have had an impact on the US...

Ransomware review: July 2022

Malwarebytes Threat Intelligence builds a monthly picture of ransomware activity by monitoring the information published by ransomware gangs on their Dark Web leak sites. This information represents victims who were successfully attacked but opted not to pay a ransom. In July, LockBit maintained...

Ransomware review: July 2022

Malwarebytes Threat Intelligence builds a monthly picture of ransomware activity by monitoring the information published by ransomware gangs on their Dark Web leak sites. This information represents victims who were successfully attacked but opted not to pay a ransom. In July, LockBit maintained...

Demo: Your data has been encrypted! Stopping ransomware attacks with Malwarebytes EDR

It’s no secret that ransomware is one of the most pressing cyber threats of our day. What worse, ransomware gangs have increased their attacks on a range of vulnerable industries, with disruptions to business operations, million-dollar ransom demands, data exfiltration, and extortion. With...

Conti ransomware group’s pulse stops, but did it fake its own death?

The dark web leak site used by the notorious Conti ransomware gang has disappeared, along with the chat function it used to negotiate ransoms with victims. For as long as this infrastructure is down the group is unable to operate and a significent threat is removed from the pantheon of ransomware...

Ransomware Group Debuts Searchable Victim Data

Cybercrime groups that specialize in stealing corporate data and demanding a ransom not to publish it have tried countless approaches to shaming their victims into paying. The latest innovation in ratcheting up the heat comes from the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group, which has traditionally...

Ransomware: April 2022 review

The Malwarebytes Threat Intelligence team monitors the threat landscape continuously and produces monthly ransomware reports based on a mixture of proprietary and open-source intelligence. April 2022 was most notable for the emergence of three new ransomware-as-a-service RaaS groups—Onyx, Mindwar...

Conti Ransomware Gang's Internal Chats Leaked Online After Siding With Russia

Days after the Conti ransomware group broadcasted a pro-Russian message pledging its allegiance to Vladimir Putin's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, an anonymous security researcher using the Twitter handle @ContiLeaks has leaked the syndicate's internal chats. The file dump, published by malware...

Decryptor Keys Published for Maze, Egregor, Sekhmet Ransomwares

The shackles have been broken for victims of Maze/Egregor/Sekhmet ransomware: On Wednesday, decryption keys were released for all three ransomware strains in a forum post. The liberator, using the handle “Topleak,” described themselves as the developer of the three ransomwares. It’s been lovely,...

New GootLoader Campaign Targets Accounting, Law Firms

Once prolific spreaders of REvil ransomware, the GootLoader malware gang has pivoted to actively targeting employees of law and accounting firms with malicious downloads. The Threat Response Unit from eSentire issued an alert about having over the past three weeks observed GootLoader attacks on...

New Ransomware Variants Flourish Amid Law Enforcement Actions

Ransomware groups continue to evolve their tactics and techniques to deploy file-encrypting malware on compromised systems, notwithstanding law enforcement's disruptive actions against the cybercrime gangs to prevent them from victimizing additional companies. "Be it due to law enforcement,...