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The Mallox ransomware leak site Updated, Continental The only new gang added to our monitoring in October is Mallox.
Malwarebytes ransomware software#
The Bl00dy ransomware gang is thought to have used it (Bl00dy does not appear on our list this month because it did not post any leaks in October) a LockBit clone was rumoured to have been used in an attack on the Bank of Brazil and a bitcoin address seen in ransom notes dropped by an unknown group using modified LockBit software has received about $20,000 in payments. At the time we predicted that we would see gangs using using it to create their own ransomware, outside of the LockBit affiliate operation. In September, the software builder for LockBit 3.0 ransomware was leaked (yes, we got a copy). Using laundering techniques like the one described above would require a minimum of 50,000 ATM transactions, which might explain why cryptocurrency transfers and money laundering seem to have been prime targets for law enforcement efforts in the last two years. Money mules are then sent to cash out up to $7,000 at a time from ATMs.Īccording to the Ransomware Task Force, victims paid $350 million in ransoms in 2020. Given the huge sums of money that have been extorted by ransomware gangs over the past five years into relatively few hands, this suggests there must be a significant money operation.Īccording to LBO, it transfers ransom money "to Chinese exchangers, from there to another exchange." The money is then transfered to cards using a variety of methods, to avoid detection.
Malwarebytes ransomware professional#
By our numbers, those 100 people are responsible for about one third of all RaaS attacks, which hints that the number of professional criminals actively engaged in ransomware attacks is probably quite low. According to LBO, LockBit has "no more than 100 people" working as affiliates. The scalability of RaaS comes from the use of affiliates-partner organizations that actually carry out attacks using LockBit RaaS, and pay for it with a share of their ransoms. If "over 10" is close to ten, that would appear to make LockBit's staff almost an order of magnitude smaller than Conti, which was thought to have around 100 staff before it disbanded. In amongst the usual adolescent self-aggrandizing, LBO provided some interesting information about the size of the LockBit organization, and how ransoms paid in cryptocurrency are laundered into hard cash.Īccording to LBO, LockBit has "over 10 members", consisting of "pentesters, developers, money launderers, testers, and negotiators". In October, VX Underground published an interview it said was with the founder of the LockBit group, who it called "Lockbit administrator" (LBO). Known ransomware attacks by industry sector, October 2022 Our analysis of the most affected industry sectors also tells a familiar story, with services the most afflicted sector, as has been the case all year. Known ransomware attacks by country, October 2022 In October, the USA was the country most afflicted by ransomware, by some distance. Known ransomware attacks by the three most prolific gangs of 2022 Since we began monitoring ransomware leak data in March, neither has come close to matching LockBit's activity, which has at times accounted for almost half of all RaaS activity. A comparison with its nearest rivals, ALPHV and Black Basta, is instructive. Since the disappearance of Conti in the first half of the year, LockBit has been by far the most widely used form of RaaS, based on known attacks. However, this apparent decline is simply a return to the level of activity typical for 2022. LockBit posted just less than half as many victims on its dark web leak site in October (59) as it did in September (109).
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Known ransomware attacks by gang, October 2022 This information represents victims who were successfully attacked but opted not to pay a ransom.Īs we enter the final three months of 2022, LockBit remains preeminent among the criminal gangs selling ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS). Malwarebytes Threat Intelligence builds a monthly picture of ransomware activity by monitoring the information published by ransomware gangs on their dark web leak sites.
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