Pierluigi Paganini December 15, 2023

Resecurity shared a list of IP addresses associated with the simultaneous attack performed by 3 ransomware groups directly related to the ‘password spraying’ attack. The attack leveraged multiple Residential IP Proxies based in the APAC region. The bad actors leveraged Business Email Compromise (BEC) as the vector to deliver their ransom payment demands anonymously by using compromised e-mail accounts which belonged to other organizations to further complicate the investigation.

These cooperative ransom campaigns are rare, but are possibly becoming more common due to the involvement of Initial Access Brokers (IABs) collaborating with multiple groups on the Dark Web. Another factor that may be leading to greater collaboration are law enforcement interventions that create cybercriminal diaspora networks according to cybersecurity researchers. Displaced participants of these threat actor networks may be more willing to collaborate with rivals.

Still, the growing systemic significance of IABs in the cybercriminal underworld has fomented a more fluid threat landscape where ransomware operators move from one group to another in pursuit of the best financial conditions. Thus, the malicious activity of disparate ransomware gangs may overlap due to the interconnection of varied cybercriminal actors and infrastructures. This is why it is critical to share such intelligence for further analysis with the broader cybersecurity community.