New ‘DarkBit’ ransomware gang shuts down Technion, demands $1.7 million ransom

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A cyber attack on the Israel Institute of Technology has brought to light the emergence of a potentially intense new ransomware gang, DarkBit.  

The institute, known as Technion, was struck by a ransomware attack over the weekend throughout which hackers demanded an 80-Bitcoin ransom, equal to close to $1.7 million (£1.4 million).

In the ransomware observe, the group threatened to increase the ransom sum by 30% if the academic institution unsuccessful to pay out the ransom in a 48-hour time period.

The ransomware be aware was also littered with anti-Israeli government rhetoric, suggesting that the attack was politically motivated.

Believed to be a hacktivist procedure, the probability of a victim having to pay DarkBit and then later acquiring the decryptor is normally lessen given that the attack just isn’t considered to be wholly enthusiastic by dollars.

“We’re sorry to tell you that we experienced to hack Technion network fully and transfer ‘all’ information to our safe servers,” the note study.

“So, continue to keep quiet, get a breath and believe about an apartheid routine that triggers difficulties here and there.”

The Israel Institute of Technology was strike by ransomware this morning.- DarkBit ransomware (???)- Ransom observe is political- Attackers want $1,700,000+ (80 BTC)- Ransom observe is written applying an English translatorImage courtesy of @CyberIL pic.twitter.com/jUjK9CvAhp

— vx-underground (@vxunderground) February 12, 2023

Technion confirmed it was dealing with a security incident in a assertion on the net on Sunday 12 February, adding that it was working to decide the full scale of publicity. 

“The Technion is below cyber attack. The scope and nature of the attack are less than investigation,” the assertion browse, “To have out the method of amassing the info and managing it, we use the very best specialists in the industry, in the Technion and outside, and coordinate with the authorities.”

Even though the specific scale of the attack is but to be disclosed, the university claimed in a follow-up assertion that campus action, like examinations, would not be influenced.  

Who are DarkBit? 

DarkBit seems to be just one of the latest ransomware groups to emerge in new months.  

The identity of the group remains unclear, but given the politically billed language in the ransomware notice remaining about the weekend, the group could be the latest innovative ‘hacktivist’ team to land on the scene.

In its Twitter bio, the group claims to be towards “racism, fascism and apartheid”.

Hacktivist teams have wrought havoc on organisations globally and the subcommunity within cyber security has acquired distinctive notice because the war in Ukraine broke out.  

Pro-Russian hacktivist team, Killnet, for case in point, has claimed responsibility for a range of devastating attacks versus public companies in Ukraine because the onset of the conflict in February very last calendar year.  

Previously this thirty day period, the group launched attacks from a lot more than a dozen US hospitals amidst its ongoing reprisal marketing campaign against nations supporting the Ukrainian war effort.

Bogdan ‘Bob’ Botezatu, director of danger analytics at Bitdefender, advised IT Pro that when hacktivism is far from a new pattern, the latest geopolitical activities have resulted in a surge of hacktivist-relevant incidents.  

“Hacktivism is regarded as a kind of hacking to assist civil, political, or religious triggers. It has turn out to be chiefly consecrated with the arrival of the Anonymous hacking team and has come to be extra and much more routinely made use of in the earlier couple of several years as hacking groups affiliated with point out actors have entered the scene,” he said.   

“In the earlier yr by itself, due to the fact the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, various hacking teams have brazenly offered their cyber crime know-how to guidance Russia’s result in by hacking into companies in countries portion of NATO or the EU.” 

Chris Hauk, buyer privacy champion at Pixel Privacy, famous that DarkBit’s ransomware demand message also warned Technion to “be thorough when you come to a decision to fire your personnel, specially the geek ones”.  

This comment, Hauk pointed out, could suggest that the attack could have been the end result of revenge from a disgruntled previous worker.  

Hauk’s suggestion follows identical reviews by security researcher, Dominic Alvieri, who tweeted yesterday that the team has “gone from hacktivist, to ransomware team, now to a disgruntled previous staff all in one working day.” 

Some areas of this posting are sourced from:
www.itpro.co.uk