A infamous ransomware group has demanded greater than half a billion {dollars} from victims in lower than two years.
That staggering statistic has been made public in an replace to a joint advisory issued by the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Company (CISA) and the FBI, warning organisations concerning the menace posed by the BlackSuit gang.
BlackSuit, confirms the advisory, is an evolution of the Royal ransomware which made headlines attacking victims starting from US healthcare organisations to telecoms companies. Royal was itself born out of the stays of the notorious Russian Conti group.
BlackSuit, like many different ransomware threats, exfiltrates information from compromised corporations after which threatens to publish stolen recordsdata on leak websites if a ransom will not be paid.
That does not make BlackSuit uncommon. What does make BlackSuit stand out in a crowded scene of rasnomware gangs is the sheer amount of cash it has tried to extort from its many victims.
In line with the CISA/FBI joint advisory:
“Ransom calls for have sometimes ranged from roughly $1 million to $10 million USD, with cost demanded in Bitcoin. BlackSuit actors have demanded over $500 million USD in complete and the most important particular person ransom demand was $60 million.”
The quantity of ransom demanded will not be specified within the preliminary ransom be aware delivered throughout an assault, however as an alternative is equipped when a sufferer makes direct contact with the attacker through a hyperlink on the darkish internet.
The advisory notes that there was a rise not too long ago within the variety of incidents the place victims have acquired e-mail communications and even telephone calls from their attackers whereas negotiating cost.
If BlackSuit feels their sufferer will not be going to conform to their calls for, or fails to barter, it’ll usually publish the sufferer’s information on its leak web site.
Though BlackSuit’s sizeable ransom calls for might strike comprehensible worry into many organisations, the CISA/FBI advisory notes that it has “exhibited a willingness to barter cost quantities.”
After all, that does not imply that it’s essentially the proper factor to pay your extortionists if you end up the sufferer of a ransomware assault.
Paying a ransom encourages criminals to launch extra assaults sooner or later, and never paying could also be itself incur substantial bills by way of rebuilding buyer belief, model popularity, and rebuilding relationships with companions.
Being the sufferer of a ransomware assault usually means there isn’t any sensible choice – solely a much less dangerous one.
Previous victims of the BlackSuit ransomware gang have included East Central College, CDK World, universities, and even a zoo.
