Threat Assessment: Ignoble Scorpius, Distributors of BlackSuit Ransomware


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


Sign up for our Newsletter


Related:

  • Static Unpacking For The Widespread NSIS-Based Malicious Packer Family

    May 28, 2024

    Packers or crypters are widely used to protect malicious software from detection and static analysis. These auxiliary tools, through the use of compression and encryption algorithms, enable cybercriminals to prepare unique samples of malicious software for each campaign or even per victim, which complicates the work of antivirus software. In the case of certain packers, classifying ...

  • Moonstone Sleet emerges as new North Korean threat actor with new bag of tricks

    May 28, 2024

    Microsoft has identified a new North Korean threat actor, now tracked as Moonstone Sleet (formerly Storm-1789), that uses both a combination of many tried-and-true techniques used by other North Korean threat actors and unique attack methodologies to target companies for its financial and cyberespionage objectives. Moonstone Sleet is observed to set up fake companies and job ...

  • pcTattleTale spyware leaks database containing victim screenshots, gets website defaced

    May 28, 2024

    The idea behind the software is simple. When the spying party installs the stalkerware, they grant permission to record what happens on the targeted Android or Windows device. The observer can then log in on an online portal and activate recording, at which point a screen capture is taken on the target’s device. What goes around ...

  • ABN Amro on alert as supplier hit by ransomware attack

    May 28, 2024

    ABN Amro is warning customers that their personal details may be at risk after a ransomware attack at one its supplier. The ransomware attack was inflicted on AddComm, which distributes documents and tokens physically and digitally to ABN Amro clients and employees. External cybersecurity experts are currently investigating exactly what data has been stolen at AddComm. Read ...

  • Spying, hacking and intimidation: Israel’s nine-year ‘war’ on the ICC exposed

    May 28, 2024

    When the chief prosecutor of the International criminal court (ICC) announced he was seeking arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders, he issued a cryptic warning: “I insist that all attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence the officials of this court must cease immediately.” Now, an investigation by the Guardian and the Israeli-based magazines +972 ...

  • Router Roulette: Cybercriminals and Nation-States Sharing Compromised Networks

    May 27, 2024

    Cybercriminals and Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actors share a common interest in proxy anonymization layers and Virtual Private Network (VPN) nodes to hide traces of their presence and make detection of malicious activities more difficult. This shared interest results in malicious internet traffic blending financial and espionage motives. A prominent example of this includes a cybercriminal ...