Since March 2023, Akira ransomware has impacted a wide range of businesses and critical infrastructure entities in North America, Europe, and Australia. In April 2023, following an initial focus on Windows systems, Akira threat actors deployed a Linux variant targeting VMware ESXi virtual machines.
As of January 1, 2024, the ransomware group has impacted over 250 organizations and claimed approximately $42 million USD in ransomware proceeds. Early versions of the Akira ransomware variant were written in C++ and encrypted files with a .akira extension; however, beginning in August 2023, some Akira attacks began deploying Megazord, using Rust-based code which encrypts files with a .powerranges extension.
Read more…
Source: U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Division
Related:
- UK government “left council to deal with ransomware attack” that cost £11m
February 9, 2023
The government left Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council to fight a massive ransomware attack alone for a week, with minimal support or correspondence, the council’s leader has said. Mary Lanigan told MPs yesterday that while police and cybercrime officers were on site within two days, help from Westminster was lacking. Recovering from the incident cost ...
- UK cracks down on ransomware actors
February 9, 2023
Seven Russian nationals have assets frozen and travel bans imposed ransomware is a tier 1 national security threat, with attacks against businesses and public sector organisations increasingly common. Recent victims include UK schools, local authorities and firms – whilst internationally the Irish Health Service Executive, Costa Rican government and American healthcare providers were targeted new campaign of ...
- Beyond the basics: Implementing an active defense
February 9, 2023
Having an active defense posture, where the defenders actively use threat intelligence and their own environment telemetry to uncover potential compromises, is the next stage in the cyber security maturity road. Instead of waiting for detections to trigger, defenders can take initiative and hunt down threat actors inside their environment, putting a halt to their ...
- New ESXiArgs ransomware version prevents VMware ESXi recovery
February 8, 2023
New ESXiArgs ransomware attacks are now encrypting more extensive amounts of data, making it much harder, if not impossible, to recover encrypted VMware ESXi virtual machines. Last Friday, a massive and widespread automated ransomware attack encrypted over 3,000 Internet-exposed VMware ESXi servers using a new ESXiArgs ransomware. Read more… Source: Bleeping Computer
- CISA and FBI Release ESXiArgs Ransomware Recovery Guidance
February 8, 2023
Today, CISA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory, ESXiArgs Ransomware Virtual Machine Recovery Guidance. This advisory describes the ongoing ransomware campaign known as “ESXiArgs.” Malicious cyber actors may be exploiting known vulnerabilities in unpatched and out-of-service or out-of-date versions of VMware ESXi software to gain access to ESXi servers ...
- Medusa botnet returns as a Mirai-based variant with ransomware sting
February 7, 2023
A new version of the Medusa DDoS (distributed denial of service) botnet, based on Mirai code, has appeared in the wild, featuring a ransomware module and a Telnet brute-forcer. Medusa is an old malware strain (not to be confused with the same-name Android trojan) being advertised in darknet markets since 2015, which later added HTTP-based DDoS ...