Again in 2021, Sophos X-Ops revealed an article on the highest ten methods ransomware operators ramp up strain on their targets, in an try and get them to pay. Final 12 months, X-Ops revealed that menace actors have since developed a symbiotic relationship with sections of the media, leveraging information articles as extortion strain. Three years on, menace actors proceed to adapt and alter their techniques to extend leverage in opposition to their targets.
The strategies we described within the 2021 article – resembling threats to publish knowledge, calling staff, and notifying clients and the media about breaches – are all nonetheless in use as we speak. Nonetheless, ransomware gangs are adopting some new, and regarding, techniques.
A quick abstract of our findings:
Ransomware operators more and more weaponize professional entities – such because the information media, laws, civil regulatory enforcement authorities, and even regulation enforcement – to ramp up strain on victims
In some instances, criminals encourage affected clients and staff to assert compensation, or launch litigation – generally offering the names and call particulars of CEOs and enterprise homeowners
Menace actors declare to evaluate stolen knowledge for proof of criminal activity, regulatory noncompliance, and monetary discrepancies – all of which can be utilized as additional leverage and to inflict reputational injury
Ransomware criminals overtly criticize their victims, and can generally try and deride them as unethical or negligent, which may additionally trigger reputational injury – in addition to contributing to some menace actor teams’ makes an attempt to ‘flip the script’ and painting themselves as beneficent vigilantes
Ransomware operators look like more and more comfy with stealing and leaking extraordinarily delicate knowledge, together with medical data, nude photos, and, in a single case (as we’ll cowl later), the private particulars of a CEO’s daughter
Laws and litigation
One thing we didn’t see a lot, if any of, in 2021 was ransomware actors weaponizing laws, or encouraging secondary victims of their assaults – resembling shoppers, clients, and staff – to launch lawsuits, so as to improve strain on focused organizations. Nonetheless, we’ve seen a number of latest examples of this.
In November 2023, ALPHV/BlackCat filed a Safety and Alternate Fee (SEC) grievance in opposition to one in all its personal victims. The menace actor alleged that the corporate had didn’t notify the SEC of the breach throughout the 4 days required underneath the brand new ultimate guidelines (which, whereas adopted in July 2023, didn’t really come into power till December of that 12 months).
We noticed threats to reveal non-compliance in different contexts, too. In some instances, it’s one thing for which menace actors look like particularly looking out. As we reported in our December 2023 piece on the connection between ransomware gangs and the media, at the very least one menace actor seems to be actively recruiting for individuals to search for cases of non-compliance and monetary irregularities – probably to make use of this as leverage for extortion.
Determine 1: A menace actor posts a recruitment advert on a legal discussion board, searching for somebody to search for “violations,” “inappropriate spending,” “discrepancies,” and “cooperation with corporations on sanction lists.” It’s not clear that that is linked particularly to ransomware
It’s value noting that this type of exercise can require appreciable experience – as famous by one menace actor on a legal discussion board beneath (Determine 2) – however is probably going nonetheless engaging to ransomware operators if it supplies them with extra ammunition.
Determine 2: A menace actor supplies some recommendation on discovering “inconsistencies in tax reporting” on a legal discussion board
At the least one different ransomware group claims to do such a analysis. The WereWolves menace actor notes, on its leak website, that it topics stolen knowledge to “a legal authorized evaluation, a industrial evaluation and an evaluation when it comes to insider info for opponents.”
Determine 3: An excerpt from the WereWolves ransomware leak website
We famous one notably disturbing instance, the place the Monti ransomware gang claimed that an worker at a compromised group had been trying to find little one sexual abuse materials. The menace actor posted a screenshot of a browser historical past window, together with a PowerShell window displaying the alleged username of the offender. Monti went on to state that “in the event that they don’t pay up, we’ll be compelled to show over the abuse info to the authorities, and launch the remainder of the knowledge to the general public.”
Determine 4: A part of a publish on the Monti ransomware leak website
We additionally famous an occasion of a menace actor encouraging individuals whose personally identifiable info (PII) appeared in a knowledge breach to “partake in litigation in opposition to the sufferer.” Furthermore, the menace actor additionally offered a “snippet of the negotiations” and inspired these affected to “categorical your considerations” to an government on the focused group – offering not simply that particular person’s title, but additionally their phone quantity.
Determine 5: A menace actor posts on a legal discussion board, offering materials for “those that want to partake in litigation in opposition to the sufferer”
This tactic of naming particular people – together with contact particulars – is utilized by multiple ransomware gang. The Qiulong group, for instance, frequently consists of the main points of CEOs and enterprise homeowners on its leak website, typically accompanied by insults, private info, and accusations of negligence.
Determine 6: A publish on the Qiulong ransomware leak website. Be aware the reference (redacted within the picture above) to a selected make of automotive the CEO drives
Equally, the Snatch menace actor frequently names particular people as “accountable” for knowledge breaches.
Determine 7: A publish on the Snatch leak website, which names a selected particular person who Snatch claims is “accountable for knowledge leakage”
Determine 8: The Snatch menace actor explains its reasoning for together with the private knowledge of enterprise homeowners and authority figures on its leak website
In a single case, we famous that the Monti ransomware group had not simply named a enterprise proprietor and revealed their Social Safety quantity, however had additionally posted a picture of them, crudely edited to incorporate satan horns and a speech bubble studying “I’m a dumb p***y who doesn’t care about my shoppers.”
From the angle of ransomware operators, referring to particular people serves three functions. First, it supplies a ‘lightning rod’ for any subsequent blame, strain, and/or litigation. Second, it contributes to the specter of reputational injury (lined within the subsequent part). And third, private assaults can menace and intimidate the management of the focused group.
It might appear considerably ironic that menace actors are weaponizing laws to attain their very own unlawful aims, and the extent to which this tactic has been profitable is unclear. Nonetheless, when used, it probably provides to the already appreciable strain skilled by C-suite executives – notably within the context of at the very least one CEO beforehand being convicted following authorized motion associated to a ransomware assault. Whereas out of scope for this explicit article, it’s value noting that the present authorized panorama pertaining to the private threat and accountability of CEOs and CISOs in such conditions seems unsure. Whereas we’re not conscious of any convictions arising from ransomware teams referring breach info to regulators or regulation enforcement, that doesn’t imply it received’t occur sooner or later – and the likelihood is prone to be of concern to C-suites.
Furthermore, the truth that some ransomware operators declare to take a vigilante function to reveal wrongdoing, irregularities, and legal exercise inside organizations presents an attention-grabbing moral difficulty, regardless of the irony that doing so helps their very own legal exercise.
Ethics, reputational injury, and embarrassment
In Determine 4 above, the WereWolves ransomware group claimed to reveal (and threatened to report) critical legal exercise allegedly occurring at a corporation. Whereas this by no means negates the illegality and seriousness of ransomware assaults, it raises an moral dilemma: Which is worse, the ransomware assault itself, or the attackers’ revelation of probably legal exercise happening throughout the group that was victimized?
Many ransomware criminals thrive on this moral gray space, and need to seem ethical, moral, or genuinely involved about safety and confidentiality. As we famous in our earlier article on this matter, quite a few ransomware gangs are trying to ‘flip the script’ and painting themselves as a power for good, by referring to themselves as “trustworthy…pentesters”, or as a “penetration testing service” conducting “cybersecurity [studies]” or “safety audit[s].” In fact, professional penetration testers function with the prior permission of, and underneath parameters set by (and generally, lively supervision by) the businesses who rent them; ransomware criminals don’t.
Cactus, as an example, describes itself as a “Direct Safety Audit Company (DSAA) revolutionizing a buyer journey, one hyper-targeted resolution at a time.” The language right here is – most likely deliberately – harking back to company advertising materials.
Determine 9: On the FAQ web page on its leak website, the Cactus ransomware group claims that it conducts “community safety audits”
In distinction, many ransomware gangs confer with their targets as “irresponsible,” “negligent,” or uncaring.
Determine 10: The 8Base leak website mentions “irresponsible processing of…private knowledge and enterprise secrets and techniques” and consists of the assertion that “we’re sorry that you simply had been affected by corporations’ negligent angle to the privateness and safety of their clients’ private knowledge.” Be aware the declare that this “offers you the chance to request compensation”
Of explicit curiosity in Determine 10 is 8Base’s promise that they’ll “take away private info from disclosure on demand…for gratis to you,” following requests from particular person shoppers of the focused group.
Once more, that is (maybe) an try and make the group seem cheap and moral, nevertheless it’s additionally mixed with a strain tactic aimed on the group. In the identical paragraph, 8Base notes that “as well as we’ll present your knowledge set that you should utilize in a lawsuit to compensate the injury induced to you.”
Determine 11: In a publish on its leak website, the Blacksuit ransomware group claims that the administration of a focused group “doesn’t care about you or your private info”
Determine 12: A screenshot of the Area Bears leak website, asking guests whether or not they belief focused corporations with their knowledge
In lots of instances, this criticism continues after negotiations have damaged down and victims have determined to not pay. As an example, the Karakurt group, in a ‘press launch,’ known as out a hospital after it didn’t pay a ransom.
Determine 13: The Karakurt group criticizes a hospital after it didn’t pay the ransom, calling it “dishonest and irresponsible”
Usually, within the context of exposing safety weaknesses and negligence, ransomware operators painting themselves as morally superior to their targets. Sometimes, the waters are muddied additional.
The Malas ransomware gang, for instance, calls for that its victims “make a donation to a nonprofit of their alternative.”
Determine 14: An excerpt from a publish on the Malas ransomware gang’s leak website. The citation within the final response is attributed to financier Warren Buffet
Different menace actors have beforehand adopted the same method. In 2022, for instance, the GoodWill ransomware group demanded that victims carry out charitable actions – resembling feeding poor kids, or offering garments and blankets to the unhoused – and publish video proof on-line. In 2020, the Darkside ransomware gang claimed to have donated a proportion of its positive aspects to 2 charities. So far as we will inform, there have been no identified victims of the GoodWill ransomware pressure, so we don’t know if the tactic was profitable, and at the very least one of many two charities to which Darkside donated funds said that it might not be maintaining the cash.
Malas, nonetheless, takes issues a step additional. Along with requiring charitable donations, it additionally explicitly criticizes particular organizations on the premise of alleged moral shortcomings – arguably combining ransomware with hacktivism.
Determine 15: A publish on the Malas leak website following an assault on a group company (an organization that makes an attempt to get well money owed on behalf of collectors)
Determine 16: One other publish on the Malas leak website, referring to an assault on a corporation within the pure assets sector
Malas admits that this method has not been notably profitable. On its FAQ, its response to the query “Has it been efficient?” is an unequivocal “To date, no.” Apparently, the writer of the FAQ claims that one of many causes for that is that victims “received’t ship cash to real grass-roots organizations.”
Determine 17: Malas goes into some element as to why it believes its method has not been efficient
Nonetheless, in trying to current its targets as morally poor, Malas is actually no totally different to its friends. It leverages the specter of reputational injury, in the identical approach that different ransomware gangs do. The intent is to cut back belief and good religion, with the proposed resolution being for the goal to pay up and subsequently negate, at the very least partially, any hostile impression.
Malas can also be no totally different to its friends with regards to its communications with victims. Like different ransomware teams, it threatens to promote or publish knowledge and inform journalists and clients.
Determine 18: An excerpt from the Malas leak website
The prevalence of this menace was one thing we famous each in our article on ransomware gangs and the media, and in our 2021 examination of ransomware strain techniques. Aware that many information retailers are eager to publish tales on ransomware, and that media consideration could compound reputational injury to organizations and improve the strain to pay up, many ransomware gangs explicitly make this menace on their leak websites, and can solicit media protection and communication with journalists.
As well as, some menace actors additionally threaten to inform clients, companions, and opponents. The intent right here is to generate and intensify strain from a number of angles and sources: media consideration, clients, shoppers, different corporations, and doubtlessly regulatory our bodies too.
Determine 19: An excerpt from the FAQ on the Cactus leak website. Be aware the threats that “it’s extremely probably that you can be sued,” and that “journalists, researchers, and so on. will dig by way of your paperwork, discovering inconsistencies or irregularities”
Determine 20: An excerpt from the FAQ on the Play leak website. Be aware that there’s some related wording to the Cactus discover in Determine 19, within the reply to the “What occurs if we don’t pay?” query
We famous in our 2021 article that the specter of leaked private knowledge was a giant concern for organizations (and, in fact, for the people concerned), with each privateness and potential authorized ramifications. Whereas that is nonetheless the case, lately ransomware gangs have stepped up their sport, generally leaking, or threatening to leak, notably delicate knowledge.
Delicate knowledge, swatting, and extra
A number of ransomware teams have revealed delicate medical knowledge following assaults. This has included psychological well being data, the medical data of youngsters, and, just lately, blood check knowledge.
In a world the place knowledge breaches are more and more commonplace, threatening to leak extraordinarily delicate knowledge exacerbates the strain on sufferer organizations, and might trigger appreciable misery and concern to these affected.
In some instances, we seen ransomware gangs explicitly calling this out on their leak website – noting that stolen knowledge included “photos of nude sufferers” and “details about sufferers’ sexual issues.”
Determine 21: A publish on the Qiulong leak website
Determine 22: One other publish on the Qiulong leak website
In a single notably regarding instance, the Qiulong ransomware group posted screenshots of a CEO’s daughter’s id paperwork, together with a hyperlink to her Instagram profile.
Determine 23: The Qiulong ransomware group posts private knowledge of a CEO’s daughter on its leak website. From the restricted context offered, this may increasingly have been an act of revenge after negotiations had damaged down
In 2021, we famous that ransomware gangs would generally electronic mail and name staff and clients so as to improve strain on organizations. Nonetheless, lately, menace actors look like more and more all in favour of not merely threatening organizations instantly, but additionally secondary victims, as in Determine 23. As an example, as reported in January 2024, attackers threatened to ‘swat’ sufferers of a most cancers hospital, and have despatched threatening textual content messages to a CEO’s partner.
As we wrote in 2021, ransomware operators will typically warn their victims to not contact regulation enforcement. Nonetheless, the specter of swatting demonstrates some attackers’ willingness to weaponize regulation enforcement when it fits them – not not like their willingness to weaponize laws and laws.
An escalation in techniques
Whereas many ransomware gangs are nonetheless utilizing the strain techniques we reported on in 2021, there seems to have been an escalation. It’s not sure whether or not that is pushed by rising numbers of victims opting to not pay ransoms, competitors from different menace actors, ransomware teams feeling more and more emboldened, or different elements. Nonetheless, what is clear is that every one the techniques we focus on listed here are designed to intimidate focused organizations and other people linked to them.
Some ransomware teams will weaponize any professional useful resource to extend the strain on their targets – whether or not that’s the information media, as we explored in our earlier article, regulation enforcement, or threats of civil authorized motion or reporting malfeasance to regulatory authorities. Whereas it’s most likely too early to say if this method is efficient (and, it’s additionally value noting, the menace isn’t at all times carried out), the criminals’ goal is to generate strain from a number of angles and sources.
The usage of cellphone calls and swatting additionally point out a willingness to maneuver threats from the digital sphere and into the true world. Swatting, particularly, is an especially harmful crime that has on some events resulted in harm and dying, in addition to important psychological misery.
Sooner or later, ransomware gangs seem prone to proceed to plan and make use of novel methods to coerce their victims into paying, and to inflict reputational injury – and maybe worse – if ransoms are usually not paid.
Sophos has a number of assets to assist defenders defend in opposition to ransomware. You could find finest observe steerage, an anti-ransomware toolkit, a hyperlink to our incident response companies, and hyperlinks to a number of of our ransomware-related stories right here. Particular recommendation on configuring Sophos merchandise to forestall ransomware can also be obtainable.