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:
- Spyder Loader: Malware Seen in Recent Campaign Targeting Organizations in Hong Kong
October 18, 2022
Symantec has observed a likely continuation of the Operation CuckooBees activity, this time targeting organizations in Hong Kong. Operation CuckooBees was first documented in May 2022 by researchers at Cybereason, who said the intelligence-gathering campaign had been operating under the radar since at least 2019, stealing intellectual property and other sensitive data from victims. The victims observed ...
- CISA Releases Two Industrial Control Systems Advisories
October 18, 2022
CISA released two Industrial Control Systems (ICS) advisories on October 18, 2022. These advisories provide timely information about current security issues, vulnerabilities, and exploits surrounding ICS. CISA encourages users and administrators to review the newly released ICS advisories for technical details and mitigations: ICSA-22-291-01 Advantech R-SeeNet ICSA-21-336-06 Hitachi Energy APM Edge (Update A) Read more… Source: U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure ...
- Verizon notifies prepaid customers their accounts were breached
October 18, 2022
Verizon warned an undisclosed number of prepaid customers that attackers gained access to Verizon accounts and used exposed credit card info in SIM swapping attacks. “We determined that between October 6 and October 10, 2022, a third party actor accessed the last four digits of the credit card used to make automatic payments on your account,” ...
- Defenders beware: A case for post-ransomware investigations
October 18, 2022
Ransomware is one of the most pervasive threats that Microsoft Detection and Response Team (DART) responds to today. The groups behind these attacks continue to add sophistication to their tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) as most network security postures increase. In this blog, DART researchers detail a recent ransomware incident in which the attacker used a ...
- The benefits of taking an intent-based approach to detecting Business Email Compromise
October 18, 2022
Business email compromise (BEC) is one of the most financially damaging online crimes. As per the internet crime 221 report, the total loss in 2021 due to BEC is around 2.4 billion dollars. Since 2013, BEC has resulted in a 43 billion dollars loss. The report defines BEC as a scam targeting businesses (not individuals) ...
- Linux dodges serious Wi-Fi security exploits
October 17, 2022
You may recall that Linus Torvalds recently added support for Rust in the Linux kernel. One of the big reasons for adding Rust was to put an end to Linux code memory problems. It can’t come soon enough. Recently, five serious Linux Wi-Fi security holes were uncovered. What did they all have in common? Go ahead, guess? ...