What’s occurring?
Safety researchers have warned {that a} new ransomware group has taken an uncommon twist on the standard methodology of extorting cash from its company victims.
So what’s completely different this time?
Whereas many ransomware assaults see an organization’s firm’s knowledge exfiltrated by attackers, and the menace made that stolen knowledge will probably be offered to different cybercriminals or launched to the general public, the Volcano Demon gang…
Sorry, excuse me? Volcano Demon?
Sure, that is the identify of the ransomware gang. Can I proceed?
Positive. Go forward. What are they doing?
As I used to be saying… the Volcano Demon group does not seem to hassle going to the trouble of making a website on the darkish net to publish leaked knowledge. As a substitute, it conducts its negotiations with its victims through the telephone.
Wow. So may I truly find yourself chatting with the attackers if I labored at an organization that was struck by a ransomware assault?
Sure, and it is more likely {that a} member of workers exterior your cybersecurity crew finds themselves within the prickly place of appearing as a negotiator, not like a requirement that arrives through an electronic mail or a ransom word dropped by the cybercriminals in your compromised community.
Why would a ransomware gang even do that?
I hear you. As ransom negotiation strategies go, it sounds positively old-school to have a dialog over the telephone. You would possibly anticipate somebody extorting a ransom again within the Seventies to make their calls for on a phone name, however not a lot within the digital age the place expertise may help cover a villain’s true id and site.
Safety researchers at Halcyon, which has reported seeing at the very least two profitable assaults perpetrated by Volcano Demon within the final week, say that the calls could be threatening in nature and are available from unidentified caller-ID numbers.
So the corporate’s knowledge is encrypted by the ransomware?
Sure, the Volcano Demon ransomware group encrypts information in your firm community with LukaLocker, altering file extensions to .nba.
So they need cash for a decryption key. However do in addition they steal the info?
I am afraid so. Previous to knowledge being encrypted within the assault, it’s exfiltrated out of organisations. Which means firms could be threatened with the distribution of their knowledge in the event that they refuse to pay up.
How does a ransomware gang phoning you up change issues?
It is simple to think about how a telephone name could be extra intimidating than an electronic mail message. Media experiences point out that the calls demanding the ransom could be “frequent” and that the attackers have a “heavy accent.” At this stage, it has not been doable to find their nation of origin.
In a standard ransomware state of affairs, it is often pretty easy for the sufferer to determine who will have interaction with the attackers and doubtlessly negotiate how a lot of a ransom to pay. Nonetheless, a telephone name from an attacker may happen at any time of day or evening and may be to any of many doable phone numbers inside your organisation.
Workers who’re working exterior of the cybersecurity crew could unexpectedly discover themselves chatting with an attacker. Dealing with conversations of this sort is difficult sufficient for any enterprise; some will even herald skilled negotiators. However when it may be anybody on the payroll who receives the decision from the extortionist, it is a lot more durable to manage.
So, you stated the telephone calls could be intimidating and threatening?
Sure. The cybercriminals can have no qualms about making threats to safe their payday. And the ransom word left by the attackers does not beat across the bush both:
“Your company community has been encrypted. And that’s not all – we studied and downloaded a whole lot of your knowledge.” “When you ignore this incident, we are going to make sure that your confidential knowledge is broadly accessible to the general public. We are going to guarantee that your shoppers and companions learn about all the pieces, and assaults will proceed. Among the knowledge will probably be offered to scammers who will assault your shoppers and staff.”
However will not the authorities be capable of discover out the place the telephone name has come from?
Though the calls have thus far come from unidentified caller-ID numbers, there’s hope that the attackers’ use of telephone calls somewhat than benefiting from the darkish net’s anonymity will finally work to the police’s benefit.
Editor’s Observe: The opinions expressed on this visitor creator article are solely these of the contributor and don’t essentially mirror these of Tripwire.
