What’s the Cicada ransomware?
Cicada (also referred to as Cicada3301) is refined ransomware written in Rust that has claimed greater than 20 victims since its discovery in June 2024.
Why is the ransomware known as Cicada?
The criminals behind Cicada seem to have named it after the mysterious Cicada 3301 puzzles posted on the web between 2012 and 2014, seemingly to recruit very smart people.
After all, there isn’t any purpose to imagine that the ransomware is in any trend associated to the enigmatic puzzles that appeared a decade earlier than it – apart from by the title.
Honest sufficient. What kind of firms are being hit by Cicada?
In accordance with a weblog publish by safety researchers at Morphisec, a minimum of 21 firms, predominantly in North America and the UK, have been hit by Cicada since June 18, 2024.
A lot of the organisations affected have been small and mid-sized companies (18), with the remaining three described as enterprises. Victims have been famous in a wide range of business sectors, together with manufacturing/industrial, healthcare, retail, and hospitality.
Organizations hit by the Cicada ransomware are greeted by a message telling them that attackers have downloaded their necessary information and that information on the corporate’s community have been encrypted.
An additional message says that the gang is ready to supply “proof that the info has been stolen” and can delete all of the stolen info and “enable you to rebuild your infrastructure and forestall comparable assaults sooner or later” if a cryptocurrency cost is made.
And I assume they are going to publish the info for those who do not pay up?
Sure, the Cicada gang says that if a ransom isn’t paid in time, then the stolen information can be printed on its weblog. However additionally they say that the info can be despatched “to all regulatory authorities in your nation, in addition to to your clients, companions, and opponents.”
That is a nasty risk. Do we all know who’s behind Cicada?
Though we have no idea the identities of these accountable, safety researchers say that there are placing similarities between Cicada and the ALPHV BlackCat ALPHV ransomware – which can also be written in Rust.
Whereas there is not any definitive proof, the similarities between Cicada and BlackCat, together with the usage of Rusy, evasion strategies, and timing, recommend a potential connection.
You’ve got talked about Rust a couple of instances. What’s that?
Rust is a programming language that has grow to be common with ransomware builders lately. Particularly, ransomware teams like BlackCat and Hive have used Rust to create strains of their malware – partially as a result of it makes reverse-engineering extra difficult and because of the difficulties some malware detection methods have in reliably detecting Rust-based ransomware by way of static evaluation.
I assumed the authorities had taken motion to disrupt the ALPHV BlackCat ransomware?
Effectively remembered. In December 2013, the US Division of Justice introduced it had disrupted the ransomware gang’s operations and seized decryption keys to assist victims unlock their information with out paying a ransom.
Nevertheless, that victory was short-lived. ALPHV BlackCat re-emerged, threatened retaliation towards nations that assisted with the takedown, and explicitly warned that it will assault hospitals in future.
They do not sound like a pleasant bunch.
That is placing it mildly.
What can I do to scale back the chance of Cicada and different ransomware threats attacking my organisation?
- Hold your safety software program up to date.
- Educate your workers about phishing emails and different social engineering strategies.
- Implement sturdy backup and restoration procedures.
- Monitor your atmosphere for suspicious exercise.
- Contemplate using risk looking companies to proactively determine and mitigate threats.
Different greatest practices embrace creating robust, distinctive passwords, and preserving software program present. It’s also suggested to report ransomware assaults to CISA, an area FBI area workplace or a Secret Service area workplace.
Editor’s Word: The opinions expressed on this visitor creator article are solely these of the contributor and don’t essentially replicate these of Tripwire.
