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Category — ransomware
Hackers Exploiting SimpleHelp RMM Flaws for Persistent Access and Ransomware

Hackers Exploiting SimpleHelp RMM Flaws for Persistent Access and Ransomware

Feb 07, 2025 Vulnerability / Threat Intelligence
Threat actors have been observed exploiting recently disclosed security flaws in SimpleHelp's Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) software as a precursor for what appears to be a ransomware attack. The intrusion leveraged the now-patched vulnerabilities to gain initial access and maintain persistent remote access to an unspecified target network, cybersecurity company Field Effect said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "The attack involved the quick and deliberate execution of several post-compromise tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) including network and system discovery, administrator account creation, and the establishment of persistence mechanisms, which could have led to the deployment of ransomware," security researchers Ryan Slaney and Daniel Albrecht said . The vulnerabilities in question, CVE-2024-57726, CVE-2024-57727, and CVE-2024-57728 , were disclosed by Horizon3.ai last month. Successful exploitation of the security holes could allow f...
Ransomware Extortion Drops to $813.5M in 2024, Down from $1.25B in 2023

Ransomware Extortion Drops to $813.5M in 2024, Down from $1.25B in 2023

Feb 06, 2025 Cybercrime / Ransomware
Ransomware attacks netted cybercrime groups a total of $813.5 million in 2024, a decline from $1.25 billion in 2023. The total amount extorted during the first half of 2024 stood at $459.8 million, blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis said, adding payment activity slumped after July 2024 by about 3.94%. "The number of ransomware events increased into H2, but on-chain payments declined, suggesting that more victims were targeted, but fewer paid," the company said . Adding to the challenges is an increasingly fragmented ransomware ecosystem, which, in the wake of the collapse of LockBit and BlackCat, has led to the emergence of a lot of newcomers that have eschewed big game hunting in favor of small- to mid-size entities that, in turn, translate to more modest ransom demands. According to data compiled by Coveware, the average ransomware payment in Q4 2024 was at $553,959, up from $479,237 in Q3 . The median ransomware payment, in contrast, dropped from $200,000 to $...
Watch Out For These 8 Cloud Security Shifts in 2025

Watch Out For These 8 Cloud Security Shifts in 2025

Feb 04, 2025Threat Detection / Cloud Security
As cloud security evolves in 2025 and beyond, organizations must adapt to both new and evolving realities, including the increasing reliance on cloud infrastructure for AI-driven workflows and the vast quantities of data being migrated to the cloud. But there are other developments that could impact your organizations and drive the need for an even more robust security strategy. Let's take a look… #1: Increased Threat Landscape Encourages Market Consolidation Cyberattacks targeting cloud environments are becoming more sophisticated, emphasizing the need for security solutions that go beyond detection. Organizations will need proactive defense mechanisms to prevent risks from reaching production. Because of this need, the market will favor vendors offering comprehensive, end-to-end security platforms that streamline risk mitigation and enhance operational efficiency. #2: Cloud Security Unifies with SOC Priorities Security operations centers (SOC) and cloud security functions are c...
Top 3 Ransomware Threats Active in 2025

Top 3 Ransomware Threats Active in 2025

Feb 06, 2025 Malware Analysis / Threat Detection
You arrive at the office, power up your system, and panic sets in. Every file is locked, and every system is frozen. A ransom demand flashes on your screen: "Pay $2 million in Bitcoin within 48 hours or lose everything." And the worst part is that even after paying, there's no guarantee you'll get your data back. Many victims hand over the money, only to receive nothing in return, or worse, get hit again. This isn't a rare case. Ransomware attacks are crippling businesses worldwide, from hospitals and banks to small companies. The only way to stop the damage is by proactively analyzing suspicious files and links before they can be executed. Below, we break down the top three ransomware families active in 2025: LockBit, Lynx, and Virlock, and find out how interactive analysis helps businesses detect and stop them before it's too late. LockBit: Teasing a Comeback in 2025 LockBit is one of the most notorious ransomware groups, known for its highly efficient encryption, do...
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websitePush SecurityAI Agents / Identity Security
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What Is Attack Surface Management?

What Is Attack Surface Management?

Feb 03, 2025 Attack Surface Management
Attack surfaces are growing faster than security teams can keep up – to stay ahead, you need to know what's exposed and where attackers are most likely to strike. With cloud adoption dramatically increasing the ease of exposing new systems and services to the internet, prioritizing threats and managing your attack surface from an attacker's perspective has never been more important. In this guide, we look at why attack surfaces are growing and how to monitor and manage them properly with  tools like Intruder . Let's dive in. What is your attack surface? First, it's important to understand what we mean when we talk about an attack surface. An attack surface is the sum of your digital assets that are 'reachable' by an attacker – whether they are secure or vulnerable, known or unknown, in active use or not. You can also have both internal and external attack surfaces - imagine for example a malicious email attachment landing in a colleague's inbox, vs a new FTP server being...
Crazy Evil Gang Targets Crypto with StealC, AMOS, and Angel Drainer Malware

Crazy Evil Gang Targets Crypto with StealC, AMOS, and Angel Drainer Malware

Feb 03, 2025 Cybercrime / Cryptocurrency
A Russian-speaking cybercrime gang known as Crazy Evil has been linked to over 10 active social media scams that leverage a wide range of tailored lures to deceive victims and trick them into installing malware such as StealC , Atomic macOS Stealer (aka AMOS ), and Angel Drainer . "Specializing in identity fraud, cryptocurrency theft, and information-stealing malware, Crazy Evil employs a well-coordinated network of traffers — social engineering experts tasked with redirecting legitimate traffic to malicious phishing pages," Recorded Future's Insikt Group said in an analysis. The use of a diverse malware arsenal cryptoscam group is a sign that the threat actor is targeting users of both Windows and macOS systems, posing a risk to the decentralized finance ecosystem. Crazy Evil has been assessed to be active since at least 2021, functioning primarily as a traffer team tasked with redirecting legitimate traffic to malicious landing pages operated by other criminal cre...
How Interlock Ransomware Infects Healthcare Organizations

How Interlock Ransomware Infects Healthcare Organizations

Jan 29, 2025 Incident Response / Threat Intelligence
Ransomware attacks have reached an unprecedented scale in the healthcare sector, exposing vulnerabilities that put millions at risk. Recently, UnitedHealth revealed that 190 million Americans had their personal and healthcare data stolen during the Change Healthcare ransomware attack, a figure that nearly doubles the previously disclosed total.  This breach shows just how deeply ransomware can infiltrate critical systems, leaving patient trust and care hanging in the balance. One of the groups that targets this already fragile sector is the Interlock ransomware group. Known for their calculated and sophisticated attacks, they focus on hospitals, clinics, and other medical service providers. Interlock Ransomware Group: An Active Threat to Healthcare The Interlock ransomware group is a relatively recent but dangerous player in the world of cybercrime, known for employing double-extortion tactics.  This method involves encrypting a victim's data to disrupt operations and th...
Ransomware Targets ESXi Systems via Stealthy SSH Tunnels for C2 Operations

Ransomware Targets ESXi Systems via Stealthy SSH Tunnels for C2 Operations

Jan 28, 2025 Ransomware / Threat Intelligence
Cybersecurity researchers have found that ransomware attacks targeting ESXi systems are also leveraging the access to repurpose the appliances as a conduit to tunnel traffic to command-and-control (C2) infrastructure and stay under the radar. "ESXi appliances, which are unmonitored, are increasingly exploited as a persistence mechanism and gateway to access corporate networks widely," Sygnia researchers Aaron (Zhongyuan) Hau and Ren Jie Yow said in a report published last week. "Threat actors use these platforms by adopting 'living-off-the-land' techniques and using native tools like SSH to establish a SOCKS tunnel between their C2 servers and the compromised environment." In doing so, the idea is to blend into legitimate traffic and establish long-term persistence on the compromised network with little-to-no detection by security controls. The cybersecurity company said in many of its incident response engagements, ESXi systems were compromised eit...
Experts Find Shared Codebase Linking Morpheus and HellCat Ransomware Payloads

Experts Find Shared Codebase Linking Morpheus and HellCat Ransomware Payloads

Jan 23, 2025 Threat Intelligence / Data Breach
An analysis of HellCat and Morpheus ransomware operations has revealed that affiliates associated with the respective cybercrime entities are using identical code for their ransomware payloads. The findings come from SentinelOne, which analyzed artifacts uploaded to the VirusTotal malware scanning platform by the same submitter towards the end of December 2024. "These two payload samples are identical except for victim specific data and the attacker contact details," security researcher Jim Walter said in a new report shared with The Hacker News. Both HellCat and Morpheus are nascent entrants to the ransomware ecosystem, having emerged in October and December 2024, respectively. A deeper examination of the Morpheus/HellCat payload, a 64-bit portable executable, has revealed that both samples require a path to be specified as an input argument. They are both configured to exclude the \Windows\System32 folder, as well as a hard-coded list of extensions from the encryp...
QakBot-Linked BC Malware Adds Enhanced Remote Access and Data Gathering Features

QakBot-Linked BC Malware Adds Enhanced Remote Access and Data Gathering Features

Jan 23, 2025 Malware / Threat Intelligence
Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a new BackConnect (BC) malware that has been developed by threat actors linked to the infamous QakBot loader. "BackConnect is a common feature or module utilized by threat actors to maintain persistence and perform tasks," Walmart's Cyber Intelligence team told The Hacker News. "The BackConnect(s) in use were 'DarkVNC' alongside the IcedID BackConnect ( KeyHole )." The company noted that the BC module was found on the same infrastructure that was observed distributing another malware loader called ZLoader, which was recently updated to incorporate a Domain Name System (DNS) tunnel for command-and-control (C2) communications. QakBot, also called QBot and Pinkslipbot, suffered a major operational setback in 2023 after its infrastructure was seized as part of a coordinated law enforcement effort named Duck Hunt. Since then, sporadic campaigns have been uncovered propagating the malware. Origina...
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