The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has disclosed that a Cuban ransomware gang has breached 49 organizations from US critical infrastructure sectors.
“The FBI has identified, as of early November 2021 that Cuba ransomware actors have compromised at least 49 entities in five critical infrastructure sectors, including but not limited to the financial, government, healthcare, manufacturing, and information technology sectors,” the federal law enforcement agency said.
The FBI also added that this ransomware group had made over $40 million since it started targeting US companies.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has revealed that the Cuba ransomware gang has compromised the networks of at least 49 organizations from US critical infrastructure sectors.
“The FBI has identified, as of early November 2021 that Cuba ransomware actors have compromised at least 49 entities in five critical infrastructure sectors, including but not limited to the financial, government, healthcare, manufacturing, and information technology sectors,” the federal law enforcement agency said.
The FBI also added that this ransomware group had made over $40 million since it started targeting US companies.
Cuba ransomware is delivered on victims’ networks through the Hancitor malware downloader, which allows the ransomware gang to gain easier access to previously compromised corporate networks.
Hancitor (Chancitor) is known for delivering information stealers, Remote Access Trojans (RATs), and other types of ransomware.
Zscaler spotted it distributing the Vawtrak information-stealing trojan. Since then, it switched to password-stealers, including Pony and Ficker, and, more recently, Cobalt Strike.
For initial compromise of their victims’ systems, Hancitor uses phishing emails and stolen credentials, exploits Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities, or break-in via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) tools.
Once in using the access provided by Hancitor, Cuba ransomware operators will use legitimate Windows services (e.g., PowerShell, PsExec, and various other unspecified services) to deploy their ransomware payloads remotely and encrypt files using the “.cuba” extension.
In the flash alert, the FBI also asked systems admins and security professionals who detect Cuba ransomware activity within their enterprise networks to share any related information they have with their local FBI Cyber Squad.
Useful information that can be shared to help identify the attackers behind this ransomware gang includes “boundary logs showing communication to and from foreign IP addresses, Bitcoin wallet information, the decryptor file, and/or a benign sample of an encrypted file.”
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