CISA, FBI & NSA Issue Ransomware Warning Alert

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and National Security Agency (NSA) published a cyber security advisory regarding increased Conti ransomware attacks. 

The three US federal agencies urge enterprise IT admins to review their organisations' network security posture and implement the immediate actions outlined in the joint advisory to defend against Conti ransomware. This advisory includes technical details on the threat and mitigation steps that public and private sector organisations can take to reduce their risk to this ransomware.

CISA and the FBI have observed over 400 attacks using Conti ransomware against US and international organisations to steal files, encrypt servers and workstations, and demand a ransom payment to return stolen sensitive data. The joint cyber security advisory from CISA, the FBI, and the NSA shares the tactics, techniques, and procedures associated with BlackMatter activity that could help organisations protect against the BlackMatter ransomware gang.

BlackMatter ransomware-as-a-service activity started in July with the clear goal of breaching corporate networks belonging to businesses in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK with a revenue of at least $100 million. Conti is considered a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model ransomware variant, however there is variation in its structure that differentiates it from a typical affiliate model. 

It is likely that Conti developers pay the users of the ransomware a wage rather than a percentage of the proceeds from a successful attack.

“Americans are routinely experiencing real-world consequences of the ransomware epidemic as malicious cyber actors continue to target large and small businesses, organizations, and governments,” said Eric Goldstein, Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity, CISA. “CISA, FBI, and NSA work tirelessly to assess cyber threats and advise our domestic and international partners on how they can reduce the risk and strengthen their own capabilities. We encourage Americans to visit stopransomware.gov to learn how to improve their own cybersecurity to mitigate risk of becoming a victim of ransomware... The FBI, along with our partners at CISA and NSA, is committed to providing resources in an effort to help public and private sector entities protect their systems against ransomware attacks,” said Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran of the FBI’s Cyber Division. 

“The cyber criminals now running the Conti ransomware-as-a-service have historically targeted critical infrastructure, such as the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), prior to Conti campaigns, and the advisory highlights actions organisations can take right now to counter the threat,” said Rob Joyce, Director of Cybersecurity at NSA. “NSA works closely with our partners, providing critical intelligence and enabling operations to counter ransomware activities. We highly recommend using the mitigations outlined in this advisory to protect against Conti malware and mitigate your risk against any ransomware attack.”

Using the MITRE ATT&CK common lexicon of adversary behavior, the advisory highlights observed Conti actors’ techniques used to conduct their exploits, such as spearphishing campaigns, remote monitoring and management software, the “PrintNightmare” vulnerability, and remote desktop software. Also, artifacts from a recently leaked threat actor “playbook” identify Internet Protocol (IP) addresses Conti actors have used for their malicious activity. Organisations should read and implement the recommended mitigations and continue to be vigilant against this ongoing ransomware threat.

If an organisation should become a victim of ransomware, CISA, FBI and NSA strongly discourage paying the ransom. Paying a ransom may embolden adversaries to target additional organisations, encourage other criminal actors to engage in the distribution of ransomware, and does not guarantee that a victim’s files will be recovered. 

As a cyber security community, one of the best ways to prevent future ransomware attacks and hold these criminals accountable is for cyber attack victims to report it.

CISA:       US-CERT:     ITPro:      Bleeping Computer:     Cyberscoop: 

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