DeadLock is a ransomware family discovered in July 2025. It is notable for not being associated with any known affiliate programs and for lacking a Data Leak Site (DLS). This, combined with the limited number of reported victims, has resulted in low exposure for the group. However, Group-IB specialists have discovered an interesting use of Polygon smart contracts for proxy server address rotation or distribution.
This finding warrants public attention, especially since the abuse of this specific blockchain for malicious purposes has not been widely reported. In addition, the recent discovery of similar techniques show that the abuse of smart contracts for malicious purposes could become an emerging trend.
Read more…
Source: Group IB
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- IcedID Botnet Distributors Abuse Google PPC to Distribute Malware
December 23, 2022
After closely tracking the activities of the IcedID botnet, Trend Micro researchers have discovered some significant changes in its distribution methods. Since December 2022, Trend Micro observed the abuse of Google pay per click (PPC) ads to distribute IcedID via malvertising attacks. This IcedID variant is detected by Trend Micro as TrojanSpy.Win64.ICEDID.SMYXCLGZ. Advertising platforms like Google ...
- Patch now: Serious Linux kernel security hole uncovered
December 23, 2022
Just what every Linux system administrator wants just before the holidays: A serious Linux kernel security bug. The Zero Day Initiative (ZDI), a zero-day security research firm, announced a new Linux kernel security bug. This hole allows authenticated remote users to disclose sensitive information and run code on vulnerable Linux kernel versions. How bad is it? ...
- LastPass admits attackers have a copy of customers’ password vaults
December 23, 2022
Password locker LastPass has warned customers that the August 2022 attack on its systems saw unknown parties copy encrypted files that contains the passwords to their accounts. In a December 22nd update to its advice about the incident, LastPass brings customers up to date by explaining that the August 2022 attack saw “some source code and ...
- Crooks copy source code from Okta’s GitHub repository
December 23, 2022
Intruders copied source code belonging to Okta after breaching the identity management company’s GitHub repositories. Okta was alerted by Microsoft-owned GitHub earlier this month of “suspicious access” to its code repositories and determined that miscreants copied code associated with the company’s Workforce Identity Cloud (WIC), an enterprise-facing access and identity management tool to enable workers and ...
- Ransomware and wiper signed with stolen certificates
December 22, 2022
On July 17, 2022, Albanian news outlets reported a massive cyberattack that affected Albanian government e-services. A few weeks later, it was revealed that the cyberattacks were part of a coordinated effort likely intended to cripple the country’s computer systems. On September 10, 2022, Albanian local news reported a second wave of cyberattacks targeting Albania’s ...
- OpenImageIO file processing issues could lead to arbitrary code execution, sensitive information leak and denial of service
December 22, 2022
Cisco Talos recently discovered nineteen vulnerabilities in OpenImageIO, an image processing library, which could lead to sensitive information disclosure, denial of service and heap buffer overflows which could further lead to code execution. OpenImageIO is an image processing library useful for conversion and processing, as well as image comparison. This library is utilized by 3D-processing software ...