Security News > 2022 > June > Cybersecurity Experts Warn of Emerging Threat of "Black Basta" Ransomware

The Black Basta ransomware-as-a-service syndicate has amassed nearly 50 victims in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand within two months of its emergence in the wild, making it a prominent threat in a short window.

"Black Basta has been observed targeting a range of industries, including manufacturing, construction, transportation, telcos, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, plumbing and heating, automobile dealers, undergarments manufacturers, and more," Cybereason said in a report.

Similar to other ransomware operations, Black Basta is known to employ the tried-and-tested tactic of double extortion to plunder sensitive information from the targets and threaten to publish the stolen data unless a digital payment is made.

The actors behind Black Basta have developed a Linux variant designed to strike VMware ESXi virtual machines running on enterprise servers, putting it on par with other groups such as LockBit, Hive, and Cheerscrypt.

Black Basta is said to be comprised of members belonging to the Conti group after the latter shuttered its operations in response to increased law enforcement scrutiny and a major leak that saw its tools and tactics entering the public domain after siding with Russia in the country's war against Ukraine.

The Conti team has since refuted that it's associated with Black Basta.

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2022/06/cybersecurity-experts-warn-of-emerging.html