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:
- European Parliament election prep unearthed data breach
May 8, 2024
The breach, dating back to early 2024, was uncovered two weeks ago as the European Parliament intensified efforts to reinforce its cybersecurity in preparation for the upcoming European elections in June, a press officer from the European Parliament told Euronews. The compromised application which has now been taken offline is called ‘PEOPLE’, and collated sensitive information ...
- Kansas: First responders impacted by City of Wichita cyber attack
May 8, 2024
The City of Wichita is staying tight-lipped on details about a cyber attack that led to the shutdown of some of its online systems. Getting details on the cybersecurity attack, how it happened and what information could be at risk has been a challenge. The City has not had answers to many of KSN’s questions. What ...
- Dmitry Khoroshev named as alleged leader of ransomware gang LockBit
May 7, 2024
The alleged leader of what was once the world’s largest ransomware outfit, LockBit, has been named as Russian national Dmitry Khoroshev by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), after the seizure of the criminal gang’s infrastructure. Khoroshev, who lived his online life under the name LockBitSupp, has been sanctioned by the UK, US and Australia as ...
- China suspected of hacking UK armed forces payroll
May 7, 2024
The government suspects China was behind the hack of an armed forces payroll system, the BBC understands. Defence Secretary Grant Shapps will not identify a specific culprit when he addresses MPs today, but is expected to warn of the dangers posed by cyber espionage from hostile states. The system used by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) ...
- Exploits and vulnerabilities in Q1 2024
May 7, 2024
Software vulnerabilities that threat actors can exploit or are already actively exploiting are a critical component of evolving cyberthreat landscape. In this report, Kaspersky researchers present a series of insightful statistical and analytical snapshots relating to the trends in the emergence of new vulnerabilities and exploits, as well as the most prevalent vulnerabilities being used by ...
- UK: Cyber attack on Scots health board sees stolen data published on dark web
May 7, 2024
A large volume of data stolen during a cyber attack on a health board has been published by a ransomware group. Cyber criminals were able to access a significant amount of data including patient and staff-identifiable information during the attack on NHS Dumfries and Galloway which began at the end of February. Data relating to a ...