Onyx ransomware was initially identified by researchers in mid-April 2022. The ransomware group uses the double extortion technique to target its victims where it exfiltrates the victim’s data, then encrypts it. If the victim cannot pay the ransom, then Threat Actors (TA) leak the victim’s data on their leak site.…
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Update History Date Description of Updates Aug. 10th 2022 Adding clarifying details on activity involving active directory. Aug. 10th 2022 Update made to the Cisco Response and Recommendations section related to MFA. Executive summary On May 24, 2022, Cisco became aware of a potential compromise.…This post is also available in: 日本語 (Japanese)
Executive SummaryBeginning in early May 2022, Unit 42 observed a threat actor deploying Cuba Ransomware using novel tools and techniques. Using our naming schema, Unit 42 tracks the threat actor as Tropical Scorpius.
Here, we start with an overview of the ransomware and focus on an evolution of behavior observed leading up to deployment of Cuba Ransomware.…
Industrial Spy is a relatively new ransomware group that emerged in April 2022. In some instances, the threat group appears to only exfiltrate and ransom data, while in other cases they encrypt, exfiltrate and ransom data. Industrial Spy started as a data extortion marketplace where criminals could buy large companies’ internal data; they promoted this marketplace using README.txt…
Hive ransomware is one of the most active financially motivated threat actors of this period, adopting the current Double Extorsion model. They started their malicious activities in June of the past year, and just in a year of activity they collected a big number of victims, demonstrating the capability to hit even critical infrastructures. …
In June 2022, LockBit revealed version 3.0 of its ransomware. In this blog entry, we discuss the findings from our own technical analysis of this variant and its behaviors, many of which are similar to those of the BlackMatter ransomware.
In March 2022, less than a year after LockBit 2.0 first emerged, researchers caught wind of an upcoming new variant of the LockBit ransomware. LockBit…
By Jim Walter & Aleksandar Milenkoski
LockBit 3.0 ransomware (aka LockBit Black) is an evolution of the prolific LockBit ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) family, which has roots that extend back to BlackMatter and related entities. After critical bugs were discovered in LockBit 2.0 in March 2022, the authors began work on updating their encryption routines and adding several new features designed to thwart researchers.…
ReversingLabs recently discovered instances of the AstraLocker 2.0 malware distributed directly from Microsoft Word files used in phishing attacks.
Executive SummaryReversingLabs recently discovered of a new version of the AstraLocker ransomware (AstraLocker 2.0) that was being distributed directly from Microsoft Office files used as bait in phishing attacks.…
We look into a recent attack orchestrated by the Black Basta ransomware group that used the banking trojan QakBot as a means of entry and movement and took advantage of the PrintNightmare vulnerability to perform privileged file operations.
Since it became operational in April, Black Basta has garnered notoriety for its recent attacks on 50 organizations around the world and its use of double extortion, a modern ransomware tactic in which attackers encrypt confidential data and threaten to leak it if their demands are not met.…
This post is also available in: 日本語 (Japanese)
Executive SummaryHelloXD is a ransomware family performing double extortion attacks that surfaced in November 2021. During our research we observed multiple variants impacting Windows and Linux systems. Unlike other ransomware groups, this ransomware family doesn’t have an active leak site; instead it prefers to direct the impacted victim to negotiations through TOX chat and onion-based messenger instances.…
This blog post was authored by Jérôme Segura
There are many techniques threat actors use to slow down analysis or, even better, evade detection. Perhaps the most popular method is to detect virtual machines commonly used by security researchers and sandboxing solutions.
Reverse engineers are accustomed to encountering code snippets that check certain registry keys, looking for specific values indicating the presence of VMware or Virtual Box, two of the most popular pieces of virtualization software.…
This research was conducted by Ross Inman (@rdi_x64) and Peter Gurney from NCC Group Cyber Incident Response Team. You can find more here Incident Response – NCC Group
tl;drThis blog post documents some of the TTPs employed by a threat actor group who were observed deploying Black Basta ransomware during a recent incident response engagement, as well as a breakdown of the executable file which performs the encryption.…
Researchers have recently noted the emergence of a new ransomware operator calling itself ‘Mindware’. The gang is thought to be responsible for a number of attacks beginning around March to April 2022, with suggestions that the malware was used to attack a not-for-profit mental health provider.…
Black Basta Besting Your Network?
first appeared in April 2022. To date, this group has claimed attribution of 29 different victims across multiple industries using a double extortion strategy where the attackers not only execute ransomware but also steal data and threaten to release it publicly if the ransom demands are not met.…
Update 05.27.22: An unknown APT group is targeting Russian government entities with at least four separate spear-phishing campaigns since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict. Source: Security Affairs.
It’s not often that we get to observe the behind-the-scenes drama that can accompany the creation of new malware, but when we do, it gives us a fascinating glimpse into how threat actors operate.…
Nokoyawa is a new Windows ransomware that appeared earlier this year. The earliest samples collected by FortiGuard researchers were compiled in February 2022 and share substantial code similarities with Karma, another ransomware that traces its lineage to Nemty through a long string of variants. Nemty is a ransomware family that FortiGuard Labs researchers reported on back in 2019.…
In December last year, the vulnerability (CVE-2021-44228) of Java-based logging utility Log4j became a worldwide issue. It is a remote code execution vulnerability that can include the remote Java object address in the log message and send it to the server using Log4j to run the Java object in the server.…
Published On : 2022-05-12
Onyx Ransomware ReportSuspected Malware: onyx RansomwareFunction: RansomwareRisk Score: 8Confidence Level: HighThreat actor Associations: Unknown
Executive Summary:The activity of new ransomware named “Onyx” was first observed in the second half of April 2022. This ransomware group has seven victims listed on its data leak page[.onion…
The Quantum Locker is a ransomware strain that was first discovered in July 2021. Since then, the ransomware was observed used in fast ransomware attacks, in some cases even Time-to-Ransom (TTR) of less than 4 hours, leaving defenders little time to react.…
Secureworks® Counter Threat Unit™ (CTU) researchers are investigating attacks by the Iranian COBALT MIRAGE threat group, which has been operating since at least June 2020. COBALT MIRAGE is linked to the Iranian COBALT ILLUSION threat group, which predominantly uses persistent phishing campaigns to obtain initial access.…