A July 4 deadline for Windows users who have not updated their systems is fast approaching. It was only two weeks ago that a two-week-old security vulnerability found in Windows was found to have been reactivated. Despite Microsoft's claim that CVE-2024-26169 is not exploitable, Symantec's security researchers believe otherwise, finding “some evidence” that attackers might have prepared an exploit for the CVE-2024-26169 vulnerability before patching the vulnerability.
As of last month, several U.S. government agencies – including CISA and the FBI – have collaborated on a Cybersecurity Alert which warns that “Black Basta affiliates have compromised a wide range of critical infrastructure, businesses, and industries throughout North America, Europe and Australia.”
There are over 500 organizations in the world that have been affected by Black Basta affiliates in the year 2024.
Several organizations have released the joint CSA, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), to provide information regarding the Black Basta attacks, which are referred to hereafter as the authoring organizations. A variant of ransomware known as Black Basta has encrypted and stolen data from at least 12 out of 16 critical infrastructure sectors, including the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) sector.
The FBI has conducted investigations into Black Basta and third parties have reported on these TTPs and IOCs. This is a ransomware-as-a-service variant that was first detected in April 2022 and is considered a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) variant. It is believed that the Black Basta ransomware will have affected more than 500 organizations globally by May 2024, affecting a wide range of businesses in North America, Europe, and Australia as well as critical infrastructures.
Black Basta is a Russian-linked ransomware that originated in early 2022. It was used to attack over 329 organizations around the world and has grown to become one of the fourth most active strains of ransomware based on the number of victims. According to the group, they are using double-extortion tactics to extort victims by threatening to publish stolen data unless the victim is willing to pay a ransom. Several researchers have suggested that BlackBasta may have originated as a part of Conti Group, a ransomware gang that has been in operation for quite some time now.
It has been revealed through the leak of Conti’s online chats that the group had ties to the Russian government and that it supported the invasion of Ukraine. The group ended in May 2022, but its online chats were leaking this information. Affiliates of Black Basta use common methods for gaining access to a system such as phishing emails and exploiting known vulnerabilities then use a double extortion technique to gain access to the system as well as steal data. There are two types of ransom notes: those which include instructions as to how to pay as well as those which do not.
The ransomware group instead gives victims a one-time use private code and instructs them to contact the group via a website that is only accessible through the Tor browser, a URL that contains a .onion extension. According to the majority of ransom notes, victims are usually given between 10 and 12 days before becoming subject to the publication of their data on the Basta News website, which the Black Basta ransomware group runs.
Black Basta attacks businesses in a range of different industries, affecting the construction industry (10% of victims), the legal sector (4%) and the real estate sector (3%). This group of ransomware is known as Black Basta and its victimology is very similar to that of the Conti ransomware group.
Both groups have a shared appetite for many of the same industries as Black Basta. Among the victims of Black Basta, 61% are from organizations that are based in the United States, followed by 15% from the German authorities. There are several high-profile victims of Black Basta, which include Capita, a software services company with billions of dollars worth of UK government contracts, and ABB, a company that has more than US$29 billion in revenue. The information regarding whether or not a ransom was paid by either company has not been publicized.
The healthcare industry is an attractive target for cybercriminals due to the size of the organization, the technological dependence, the access to medical information and the unique impact of disruptions to patient care. There are several ways in which a member of the Black Basta organization will gain access to a system, and these methods include phishing emails, exploiting known vulnerabilities, and then using double extortion techniques to gain access to the system as well as stealing data. A ransom note can be divided into two types: those that provide instructions on how to pay the ransom, and those which do not provide instructions.
As an alternative to encrypting the victims' files, the ransomware group comprises a group of individuals that give victims an individual one-use private code in addition to instructing them to contact the group via a website only accessible by Tor browsers, one that contains a .onion extension on the URL. There is usually between 10 and 12 days of grace allowed to victims according to ransom notes that are generally released by the Black Basta malware group before their data is exposed on Basta News, which is a website that publishes data from the victims.
It is not uncommon for Black Basta to attack businesses across a wide range of different industries, with 10 per cent of victims coming from the construction industry, 4 per cent from the legal sector, and 3 per cent from the real estate industry. It seems that the Black Basta ransomware group, which has a victimology very similar to that of the Conti ransomware group, has been seen to distribute a similar type of ransomware. There is a clear affinity between the two groups when it comes to several of the same industries as Black Basta.
Black Basta has been responsible for the murder of 61% of American victims, followed by 16% of German victims, and the vast majority of victims belong to organizations based in the United States and Europe. The Black Basta scam has claimed the lives of several high-profile companies, including Capita, a software company with billions of dollars worth of contracts with the British government, and ABB, a company with one of the world's largest revenue bases within the US$29 billion range. Neither company has provided any information regarding a ransom payment that has been made by one of the companies, which is of concern.
The healthcare industry represents an appealing target for cybercriminals due to several critical factors. Firstly, the sheer size and scale of healthcare organizations make them lucrative targets. Additionally, their substantial reliance on advanced technology heightens vulnerability to cyberattacks. Furthermore, these organizations possess extensive repositories of sensitive medical information, making them particularly attractive to malicious actors. The potential disruptions to patient care resulting from cyber incidents also underscore the unique and profound impact of such breaches within the healthcare sector.