Conor James reports:
When AlphV/BlackCat’s website went dark this month, it was like Chrimbo came early for cybersecurity defenders, some of whom seemingly believed law enforcement had busted one of the most menacing cyber criminal crews.
The excitement lasted just five days, though, and its website is now back online, albeit in worse shape than before. New victims are already being posted to the site. Regardless, many are skeptical of the ransomware group’s explanation that a “hardware fault” was to blame, and rumors that police infiltrated the ring are still wafting throughout the industry.
Though it happens rarely, it’s always a good day when a ransomware group is taken down by law enforcement. Rarer still is a takedown where one gets a detailed look at the methods that were used in these infiltrations.
Singapore-based Group-IB celebrated its 20th anniversary in the cybersecurity industry this year, and during this time its researchers have broken into an array of ransomware groups and their affiliates. The full number remains a secret.
Before the authorities got their hands on Hive at the start of this year, Group-IB’s researchers were inside as early as 2021, tricking their affiliates into accepting them, learning how they operated, and ultimately gathering the kind of information usually reserved for insiders only.
In 2023 alone, the serial intruders have infiltrated affiliates from Qilin and farnetwork, and over the past few years there have been many more to add to that list, though the details of which have scarcely been made public.
Group-IB’s threat intelligence team spoke to The Register about how they’re able to consistently break into cybercriminals’ ranks and the vast work that goes into each operation.
Read more at The Register.