WantToCry ransomware remotely encrypts files


SophosLabs analysts investigated WantToCry ransomware attacks that involved the threat actors abusing the Server Message Block (SMB) service for initial access and then exfiltrating files to attacker-controlled infrastructure for remote encryption. The detection surface is significantly reduced because WantToCry operates without local malware execution, and there is no post-compromise activity beyond exfiltrating files and rewriting them to disk.

Read more…
Source: SophosLabs


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • Graphican: Flea uses new backdoor in attacks targeting Foreign Ministries

    June 21, 2023

    The Flea (aka APT15, Nickel) advanced persistent threat (APT) group continued to focus on foreign ministries in a recent attack campaign that ran from late 2022 into early 2023 in which it leveraged a new backdoor called Backdoor.Graphican. This campaign was primarily focused on foreign affairs ministries in the Americas, although the group also targeted a ...

  • Dissecting TriangleDB, a Triangulation spyware implant

    June 21, 2023

    Over the years, there have been multiple cases when iOS devices were infected with targeted spyware such as Pegasus, Predator, Reign and others. Often, the process of infecting a device involves launching a chain of different exploits. Due to this granularity, discovering one exploit in the chain often does not result in retrieving the rest ...

  • Microsoft Azure and Outlook outages were caused by DDoS attacks

    June 19, 2023

    Microsoft has confirmed that outages to its Azure and Outlook services were caused by DDoS attacks, which the company puts down to the threat actor that it tracks as Storm-1359. This follows the tech giant’s new nomenclature for threats, whereby Storm denotes a group that is in development. Otherwise known as Anonymous Sudan, it is said ...

  • Whitehall wide open to cyber-attack, warn campaigners

    June 18, 2023

    Government departments responsible for running health and social care, and for collecting taxes, are using outdated software that leaves them wide open to cyber-attacks, according to a disturbing new investigation. The use of “legacy” servers and databases has been uncovered through freedom of information (FoI) requests from the low-tax pressure group the TaxPayers’ Alliance. It has ...

  • Understanding Malware-as-a-Service

    June 15, 2023

    Money is the root of all evil, including cybercrime. Thus, it was inevitable that malware creators would one day begin not only to distribute malicious programs themselves, but also to sell them to less technically proficient attackers, thereby lowering the threshold for entering the cybercriminal community. The Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) business model emerged as a result of ...

  • Barracuda ESG Zero-Day Vulnerability (CVE-2023-2868) Exploited Globally by Aggressive and Skilled Actor, Suspected Links to China

    June 15, 2023

    Starting as early as October 10, 2022, UNC4841 sent emails to victim organizations that contained malicious file attachments designed to exploit CVE-2023-2868 to gain initial access to vulnerable Barracuda ESG appliances. Over the course of their campaign, UNC4841 has primarily relied upon three principal code families to establish and maintain a presence on an ESG appliance, ...