Russian companies are being attacked by a new group of ransomware hackers – Kommersant

Experts from the Digital Forensics Laboratory of FACCT (formerly Group-IB) have discovered a new criminal group of extortionists calling themselves Werewolves. The group has been actively attacking Russian companies since June, demanding a ransom of up to $1 million for decryption and non-publication of stolen data. The attackers are also willing to pay company insiders for compromising information about the employer and top managers.

From May to October 2023, the list of their victims includes 21 companies, 15 of which are Russian. These are microfinance organizations, oil and gas sector enterprises, IT companies, etc. The peak of the attacks of the new group in Russia occurred in September-October of this year: at least 11 Russian companies were attacked, the amounts of the required ransom started from $130 thousand and reached $450 thousand. The attackers expect to receive a record ransom amount of $1 million from a Russian bank by threatening publication of data volume of 120 TB, FACCT told Kommersant

Over nine months, the number of hacker attacks on companies through compromised employee data increased by 10% compared to the same period last year, according to data from cybersecurity analysts Informzashita. Such attacks accounted for 80% of all illegal penetrations into infrastructure.

Read more in the Kommersant article. “Hackers went with the loot”.

Tatiana Isakova