Posted on 03/03/2023 11:17:47 AM PST by Golden Eagle
The U.S. government is sounding the alarm about the Royal ransomware operation, which it says has targeted numerous critical infrastructure sectors across the United States.
In a joint advisory released on Thursday, the FBI and U.S. cybersecurity agency CISA said that Royal ransomware has claimed multiple victims in the U.S. and internationally, including manufacturing, communications, education and healthcare organizations.
The warning comes after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services warned in December that Royal ransomware was “aggressively” targeting the U.S. healthcare sector. Royal’s dark web leak site currently lists Northwest Michigan Health Services and Midwest Orthopaedic Consultants among its victims.
The Royal ransomware gang was first observed in early 2022. At the time, the operation relied on third-party ransomware, such as Zeon, but has since deployed its own custom ransomware in attacks since September.
The U.S. government warns that after gaining access to victims’ networks — typically via phishing links containing a malware downloader — Royal actors “disable antivirus software and exfiltrate large amounts of data” before deploying the ransomware and encrypting systems.
In November 2022, Royal ransomware was reported to be the most prolific ransomware operation, overtaking Lockbit. Recent data shows that Royal was responsible for at least 19 ransomware attacks in February, behind 51 attacks attributed to LockBit, and 22 attacks linked to Vice Society.
According to the U.S. government’s advisory, ransom demands made by Royal vary from $1 million to $11 million, but it is not yet clear how much the operation has made from its victims. The advisory notes that Royal actors also engage in double extortion tactics, whereby they threaten to publicly release the encrypted data if the victim does not pay the ransom.
(Excerpt) Read more at techcrunch.com ...
CONVINCE AGAIN HOW WONDERFUL COMPUTERS ARE.
USE SMALL WORDS, please.
I only went to a one room school.
Just to prep us for the complete failure of all healthcare, banking, and infrastructure and blame it on the Russians.
They’re trying to psyche the idiots to legitimize war against Russia with American participation.
Send mercenaries to deal with ransomware and scam centers. Leave the bodies in place as a reminder to others.
Hey, the government is concentrating on unruly parents at school board meetings and those phantom white supremacists to worry about solving trivial problems like this.
USE SMALL WORDS, please.
Spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat.
Bkmk
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