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Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed a new ransomware strain called  GoodWill  that compels victims into donating for social causes and provide financial assistance to people in need. "The ransomware group propagates very unusual demands in exchange for the decryption key," researchers from CloudSEK  said  in a report published last week. "The Robin Hood-like group claims to be interested in helping the less fortunate, rather than extorting victims for financial motivations." Written in .NET, the ransomware was first identified by the India-based cybersecurity firm in March 2022, with the infections blocking access to sensitive files by making use of the AES encryption algorithm. The malware is also notable for sleeping for 722.45 seconds to interfere with dynamic analysis. The encryption process is followed by displaying a multiple-paged ransom note that requires the victims to carry out three socially-driven activities to be able to obtain the decryption

Today's modern companies are built on data, which now resides across countless cloud apps. Therefore  preventing data loss  is essential to your success. This is especially critical for mitigating against rising ransomware attacks — a threat that  57% of security leaders expect to be compromised by within the next year .  As  organizations continue to evolve, in turn so does ransomware . To help you stay ahead, Lookout Chief Strategy Officer, Aaron Cockerill met with Microsoft Chief Security Advisor, Sarah Armstrong-Smith to discuss how  remote work  and the cloud have made it more difficult to spot a ransomware attack, as well as how deploying behavioral-anomaly-based detection can help mitigate ransomware risk.  Access the full interview .  Aaron Cockerill:  I feel like the way modern enterprises operate, which includes a combination of technologies, has allowed the ransomware to thrive. Having experienced this type of attack in my past roles, I know how many CISOs are feeling

The introduction of Open AI's ChatGPT was a defining moment for the software industry, touching off a GenAI race with its November 2022 release. SaaS vendors are now rushing to upgrade tools with enhanced productivity capabilities that are driven by generative AI. Among a wide range of uses, GenAI tools make it easier for developers to build software, assist sales teams in mundane email writing, help marketers produce unique content at low cost, and enable teams and creatives to brainstorm new ideas.  Recent significant GenAI product launches include Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Salesforce Einstein GPT. Notably, these GenAI tools from leading SaaS providers are paid enhancements, a clear sign that no SaaS provider will want to miss out on cashing in on the GenAI transformation. Google will soon launch its SGE "Search Generative Experience" platform for premium AI-generated summaries rather than a list of websites.  At this pace, it's just a matter of a short time befo

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of the latest version of the Chaos ransomware line, dubbed Yashma. "Though Chaos ransomware builder has only been in the wild for a year, Yashma claims to be the sixth version (v6.0) of this malware," BlackBerry research and intelligence team said in a report shared with The Hacker News. Chaos is a customizable ransomware builder that  emerged  in underground forums on June 9, 2021, by falsely marketing itself as the .NET version of Ryuk despite sharing no such overlaps with the notorious counterpart. The fact that it's offered for sale also means that any malicious actor can purchase the builder and develop their own ransomware strains, turning it into a potent threat. It has since undergone five successive iterations aimed at improving its functionalities: version 2.0 on June 17, version 3.0 on July 5, version 4.0 on August 5, and version 5.0 in early 2022. While the first three variants of Chaos functioned more l

Even as the operators of Conti threatened to overthrow the Costa Rican government , the notorious cybercrime gang officially took down its attack infrastructure in favor of migrating their malicious cyber activities to other ancillary operations, including Karakurt and BlackByte. "From the negotiations site, chatrooms, messengers to servers and proxy hosts - the Conti brand, not the organization itself, is shutting down," AdvIntel researchers Yelisey Bogusalvskiy and Vitali Kremez  said  in a report. "However, this does not mean that the threat actors themselves are retiring." The voluntary termination, with the exception of its name-and-shame blog, is said to have occurred on May 19, 2022, while an organizational rejig was happening simultaneously to ensure a smooth transition of the ransomware group's members. AdvIntel said Conti, which is also tracked under the moniker  Gold Ulrick , orchestrated its own demise by utilizing information warfare techniques.

Taiwanese network-attached storage (NAS) devices maker QNAP on Thursday warned its customers of a fresh wave of DeadBolt ransomware attacks. The intrusions are said to have targeted TS-x51 series and TS-x53 series appliances running on QTS 4.3.6 and QTS 4.4.1, according to its product security incident response team.  "QNAP urges all NAS users to check and update QTS to the latest version as soon as possible, and avoid exposing their NAS to the internet," QNAP  said  in an advisory. This development marks the third time QNAP devices have come under assault from  DeadBolt ransomware  since the start of the year. In late January, as many as 4,988 DeadBolt-infected QNAP devices were identified, prompting the company to release a forced firmware update. A second uptick in new infections was  observed  in mid-March.  DeadBolt attacks are also notable for the fact that they allegedly leverage zero-day flaws in the software to gain remote access and encrypt the systems. A

Ransomware  is not a new attack vector. In fact, the  first malware of its kind  appeared more than 30 years ago and was distributed via 5.25-inch floppy disks. To pay the ransom, the victim had to mail money to a P.O. Box in Panama. Fast forward to today, affordable ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) kits are available on the dark web for anyone to purchase and deploy and attackers have an infinite number of channels available to them to infiltrate organizations as a result of reliance on cloud and mobile technologies. Initiating a ransomware attack is all about discretely gaining access. And as employees can now access your data from anywhere, you have lost visibility into how they do so. To safeguard against these attacks, you're not just looking for malware, you need continuous insights into your users, the endpoints they use and the applications and data they access. Lookout , a leader in endpoint-to-cloud security, has published an interactive infographic to help you visualiz

A ransomware group with an Iranian operational connection has been linked to a string of file-encrypting malware attacks targeting organizations in Israel, the U.S., Europe, and Australia. Cybersecurity firm Secureworks attributed the intrusions to a threat actor it tracks under the moniker Cobalt Mirage, which it said is linked to an Iranian hacking crew dubbed Cobalt Illusion (aka APT35, Charming Kitten, Newscaster, or Phosphorus). "Elements of Cobalt Mirage activity have been  reported  as  Phosphorus  and  TunnelVision ," Secureworks Counter Threat Unit (CTU)  said  in a report shared with The Hacker News. The threat actor is said to have conducted two different sets of intrusions, one of which relates to opportunistic ransomware attacks involving the use of legitimate tools like  BitLocker  and DiskCryptor for financial gain. The second set of attacks are more targeted, carried out with the primary goal of securing access and gathering intelligence, while also depl

The notorious ransomware operation known as REvil (aka Sodin or Sodinokibi) has resumed after six months of inactivity, an analysis of new ransomware samples has revealed. "Analysis of these samples indicates that the developer has access to REvil's source code, reinforcing the likelihood that the threat group has reemerged," researchers from Secureworks Counter Threat Unit (CTU)  said  in a report published Monday. "The identification of multiple samples with varying modifications in such a short period of time and the lack of an official new version indicates that REvil is under heavy active development once again." REvil, short for Ransomware Evil, is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) scheme and attributed to a Russia-based/speaking group known as  Gold Southfield , arising just as  GandCrab  activity declined and the latter announced their retirement. It's also one of the earliest groups to adopt the double extortion scheme in which stolen data from

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has proposed a penalty of nearly $1 million to Colonial Pipeline for violating federal safety regulations, worsening the impact of the ransomware attack last year. The $986,400 penalty is the result of an inspection conducted by the regulator of the pipeline operator's control room management ( CRM ) procedures from January through November 2020. The PHMSA  said  that "a probable failure to adequately plan and prepare for manual shutdown and restart of its pipeline system [...] contributed to the national impacts when the pipeline remained out of service after the May 2021 cyberattack." Colonial Pipeline, operator of the largest U.S. fuel pipeline, was forced to temporarily take its systems offline in the wake of a  DarkSide ransomware attack  in early May 2021, disrupting gas supply and prompting a  regional emergency declaration  across 17 states. The inciden

Unless you are living completely off the grid, you know the horrifying war in Ukraine and the related geopolitical tensions have dramatically increased cyberattacks and the threat of even more to come. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) provides guidance to US federal agencies in their fight against cybercrime, and the agency's advice has proven so valuable that it's been widely adopted by commercial organizations too. In February, CISA responded to the current situation by issuing an unusual " SHIELDS UP! " warning and advisory. According to CISA, "Every organization—large and small—must be prepared to respond to disruptive cyber incidents." The announcement from CISA consisted of a range of recommendations to help organizations and individuals reduce the likelihood of a successful attack and limit damage in case the worst happens. It also contains general advice for C-level leaders, as well as a tip sheet on how to respond to r

The U.S. State Department has  announced  rewards of up to $10 million for any information leading to the identification of key individuals who are part of the infamous Conti cybercrime gang. Additionally, it's offering another $5 million for intelligence information that could help arrest or convict individuals who are conspiring or attempting to affiliate with the group in a ransomware attack. The department called the Conti variant the "costliest strain of ransomware ever documented." Conti , the work of a Russia-based transnational organized crime group dubbed Gold Ulrick, is one most prolific ransomware cartels that has continued to strike entities globally while simultaneously  expanding its empire  by absorbing TrickBot and running side hustles that involve data extortion. After the syndicate expressed public support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, it  suffered a major breach  of its own after its source code and internal chats were released

An analysis of four months of chat logs spanning more than 40 conversations between the operators of Conti and Hive ransomware and their victims has offered an insight into the groups' inner workings and their negotiation techniques. In one exchange, the Conti Team is said to have significantly reduced the ransom demand from a staggering $50 million to $1 million, a 98% drop, suggesting a willingness to settle for a far lower amount. "Both Conti and Hive are quick to lower ransom demands, routinely offering substantial reductions multiple times throughout negotiations," Cisco Talos  said  in a report shared with The Hacker News. "This signals that despite popular belief, victims of a ransomware attack actually have significant negotiating power." Conti  and  Hive  are among the most prevalent ransomware strains in the threat landscape, cumulatively accounting for  29.1% of attacks  detected during the three-month-period between October and December 2021. A

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed a new variant of the AvosLocker ransomware that disables antivirus solutions to evade detection after breaching target networks by taking advantage of unpatched security flaws.  "This is the first sample we observed from the U.S. with the capability to disable a defense solution using a legitimate Avast Anti-Rootkit Driver file (asWarPot.sys)," Trend Micro researchers, Christoper Ordonez and Alvin Nieto,  said  in a Monday analysis. "In addition, the ransomware is also capable of scanning multiple endpoints for the Log4j vulnerability (Log4shell) using Nmap  NSE script ." AvosLocker , one of the newer ransomware families to fill the vacuum left by  REvil , has been linked to a number of attacks that targeted critical infrastructure in the U.S., including financial services and government facilities. A ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) affiliate-based group first spotted in July 2021, AvosLocker goes beyond double extortion

The infamous ransomware group known as Conti has  continued  its onslaught against entities despite suffering a massive data leak of its own earlier this year, according to new research. Conti, attributed to a Russia-based threat actor known as Gold Ulrick , is the second most prevalent malware strain in the ransomware landscape, accounting for  19% of all attacks  during the three-month-period between October and December 2021. One of the most prolific ransomware groups of the last year along the likes of LockBit 2.0, PYSA, and Hive, Conti has locked the networks of hospitals, businesses, and government agencies, while receiving a ransom payment in exchange for sharing the decryption key as part of its name-and-shame scheme. But after the cybercriminal cartel came out in support of Russia over its invasion of Ukraine in February, an anonymous Ukrainian security researcher under the Twitter handle  ContiLeaks  began leaking the source code as well as private conversations between i

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is sounding the alarm on the BlackCat ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS), which it said victimized at least 60 entities worldwide between as of March 2022 since its emergence last November. Also called ALPHV and  Noberus , the malware is notable for being the first-ever ransomware written in the Rust programming language, which is known to be memory safe and offer improved performance. "Many of the developers and money launderers for BlackCat/ALPHV are linked to  DarkSide / BlackMatter , indicating they have extensive networks and experience with ransomware operations," the FBI said in an  advisory  published last week. The disclosure comes weeks after twin reports from  Cisco Talos  and  Kasperksy  uncovered links between BlackCat and BlackMatter ransomware families, including the use of a modified version of a data exfiltration tool dubbed Fendr that's been previously only observed in BlackMatter-related activity. "A

A recent Hive ransomware attack carried out by an affiliate involved the exploitation of "ProxyShell" vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Exchange Server that were disclosed last year to encrypt an unnamed customer's network. "The actor managed to achieve its malicious goals and encrypt the environment in less than 72 hours from the initial compromise," Varonis security researcher, Nadav Ovadia,  said  in a post-mortem analysis of the incident.  Hive, which was  first observed  in June 2021, follows the lucrative ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) scheme adopted by other cybercriminal groups in recent years, enabling affiliates to deploy the file-encrypting malware after gaining a foothold into their victims' networks. ProxyShell  — tracked as CVE-2021-31207, CVE-2021-34523, and CVE-2021-34473 — involves a combination of security feature bypass, privilege escalation, and remote code execution in the Microsoft Exchange Server, effectively granting the attacker

The Five Eyes nations have released a  joint cybersecurity advisory  warning of increased  malicious attacks  from Russian state-sponsored actors and criminal groups targeting critical infrastructure organizations amidst the ongoing military siege on Ukraine. "Evolving intelligence indicates that the Russian government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks," authorities from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S.  said . "Russia's invasion of Ukraine could expose organizations both within and beyond the region to increased malicious cyber activity. This activity may occur as a response to the unprecedented economic costs imposed on Russia as well as material support provided by the United States and U.S. allies and partners." The  advisory  follows  another alert  from the U.S. government cautioning of nation-state actors deploying specialized malware to maintain access to industrial control systems (ICS) and supervisory control an