Since the fallout of Conti ransomware in mid-2022, Conti-affiliated threat actors have splintered off and developed or joined other ransomware groups to continue extorting victim organizations. Due to Conti’s source code being leaked, attribution back to the Conti ransomware group via code overlap is much more difficult. However, leveraging blockchain analysis, we can begin to discern what ransomware groups Conti-affiliated threat actors have worked with; one such group is Akira.

Ransomware impersonates Sophos, FIN8 group uses modified backdoor to deliver BlackCat ransomware, and Chinese espionage actors continue to evolve.

On June 15, 2023, the residents of Spring Valley, IL woke up to the sobering news that St. Margareth’s Health hospital, one of only a few hospitals in the region, would be closing. The cause of the closure? A devastating cyberattack. After falling prey to cybercriminals, the hospital’s personnel were unable to submit claims to insurers, Medicare or Medicaid for months, which ultimately spelled its financial doom. The St. Margareth’s incident is not an outlier.

In today’s digital landscape, cyber threats continue to evolve at an alarming pace, with hackers constantly finding new ways to infiltrate systems and compromise sensitive data. One such sophisticated threat is fileless malware, a stealthy form of malicious software that operates entirely in the computer’s memory without leaving any trace on the hard drive.

The threat of ransomware attacks continues to strike organizations, government institutions, individuals, and businesses across the globe. These attacks have skyrocketed in frequency and sophistication, leaving a trail of disrupted operations, financial loss, and compromised data. Statistics reveal that there will be a new ransomware attack after every two seconds by 2031 while the companies lose between $1 and $10 million because of these attacks.

The rapid and widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) has ushered in a new era of technological advancement, revolutionizing various industries and becoming immensely popular worldwide. AI-driven applications and solutions have streamlined processes, improved efficiency, and enhanced the overall user experience. However, this surge in AI’s popularity also comes with a dark side.

The Amadey Trojan Stealer, an active and prominent malware, first emerged on the cybersecurity landscape in 2018 and has maintained a persistent botnet infrastructure ever since. Several campaigns have used this malware, like the previous Splunk Threat Research blog related to RedLine loader, the multi-stage attack distribution article from McAfee in May 2023 and the campaign where it uses N-day vulnerabilities to deliver Amadey malware noted in March 2023 by DarkTrace.