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:

  • Hive ransomware gets upgrades in Rust

    July 5, 2022

    Hive ransomware is only about one year old, having been first observed in June 2021, but it has grown into one of the most prevalent ransomware payloads in the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) ecosystem. With its latest variant carrying several major upgrades, Hive also proves it’s one of the fastest evolving ransomware families, exemplifying the continuously changing ...

  • AstraLocker ransomware shuts down and releases decryptors

    July 4, 2022

    The threat actor behind the lesser-known AstraLocker ransomware told BleepingComputer they’re shutting down the operation and plan to switch to cryptojacking. The ransomware’s developer submitted a ZIP archive with AstraLocker decryptors to the VirusTotal malware analysis platform. BleepingComputer downloaded the archive and confirmed that the decryptors are legitimate and working after testing one of them against files ...

  • British Army Twitter and YouTube feeds hijacked by crypto-promos

    July 4, 2022

    The British Army has apologizsed after its Twitter and YouTube accounts were compromised by entities that used them to promote NFTs. As recorded by The Wayback Machine, the @BritishArmy Twitter feed hosted content promoting non-fungible tokens described thusly: “The Anomalies is a collection of special Possessed 1/1s”. According to Web3-watcher Web3 is going just great – the ...

  • What to do about inherent security flaws in critical infrastructure?

    July 3, 2022

    The latest threat security research into operational technology (OT) and industrial systems identified a bunch of issues — 56 to be exact — that criminals could use to launch cyberattacks against critical infrastructure. But many of them are unfixable, due to insecure protocols and architectural designs. And this highlights a larger security problem with devices that ...

  • Crypto sleuths pin $100 million Harmony theft on Lazarus Group

    July 1, 2022

    Investigators at a blockchain analysis outfit have linked the theft of $100 million in crypto assets last week to the notorious North Korean-based cybercrime group Lazarus. The company said it had tracked the movement of some of the stolen cryptocurrency to a so-called mixer used to launder such ill-gotten funds. Blockchain startup Harmony announced June 23 ...

  • Microsoft finds Raspberry Robin worm in hundreds of Windows networks

    July 1, 2022

    Microsoft says that a recently spotted Windows worm has been found on the networks of hundreds of organizations from various industry sectors. The malware, dubbed Raspberry Robin, spreads via infected USB devices, and it was first spotted in September 2021 by Red Canary intelligence analysts. Cybersecurity firm Sekoia also observed it using QNAP NAS devices as command ...