Unit 42 researchers have observed an increase in BlackSuit ransomware activity beginning in March 2024 that suggests a ramp up of operations. This threat emerged as a rebrand of Royal ransomware, which occurred in May 2023. Unit 42 tracks the group behind this threat as Ignoble Scorpius.
Since the rebrand, Unit 42 has observed at least 93 victims globally, a quarter of which were in the construction and manufacturing industries. The group describes themselves as an “extortioner named BlackSuit” and claims to reverse file encryption for “quite a small compensation essentially.” Although the group states the compensation is small, Unit 42 has observed that, on average, the initial ransom demand is about equal to 1.6% of the victim organization’s annual revenue.
Read more…
Source: Trend Micro
Related:
- Hacked health firm HCRG demanded journalist ‘take down’ data breach reporting, citing UK court order
March 6, 2025
A U.S.-based independent cybersecurity journalist has declined to comply with a U.K. court-ordered injunction that was sought following their reporting on a recent cyberattack at U.K. private healthcare giant HCRG. Law firm Pinsent Masons, which served the February 28 court order on behalf of HCRG, demanded that DataBreaches.net “take down” two articles that referenced the ransomware ...
- Unpacking a B2B Business Email Compromise (BEC) Scenario
March 5, 2025
When an organization is subject to a Business Email Compromise (BEC), a single email could result in substantial monetary losses. Threat actors employing such tactics could employ different techniques, ranging from simple to advanced, and have seen increased activities yearly. A recent investigation examined not a typical BEC scenario where a threat actor simply sends a ...
- Android zero-day vulnerabilities actively abused – update as soon as you can
March 5, 2025
Google has issued updates to fix 43 vulnerabilities in Android, including two zero-days that are being actively exploited in targeted attacks. The updates are available for Android 12, 12L, 13, 14, and 15. Android vendors are notified of all issues at least a month before publication, however, this doesn’t always mean that the patches are available ...
- US charges Chinese hackers who allegedly caused millions of dollars worth of damages
March 5, 2025
US prosecutors on Wednesday announced criminal charges against multiple Chinese nationals for allegedly hacking a range of US companies and municipalities for profit, causing millions of dollars’ worth of damage. Victims of the hackers include US-based critics of the Chinese government, Asian government foreign ministries, and US federal and state agencies, the Justice Department said. Some ...
- Critical Zero-day Vulnerabilities in VMware ESXi, Workstation, and Fusion
March 4, 2025
Broadcom has addressed three exploited vulnerabilities that, when chained, can allow an attacker to access the hypervisor through a running virtual machine. VMware’s official advisory does not include all affected product versions. VMware’s official advisory VMSA-2025-0004 includes a Response Matrix detailing the fixed releases for each product. VMware have also released an FAQ detailing the following: You are ...
- Israel: IDF to impose social media restrictions after probe revealed posts assisted Hamas
March 4, 2025
The IDF is working to impose restrictions on soldiers and officials regarding their activity on social media, following the IDF probe published on Monday which showed markers left by IDF soldiers on social media granted Hamas a complete breakdown of nearly every unit, sub-unit, and building within the Nahal Oz IDF base when it invaded ...