Security News > 2023 > November > Black Basta ransomware operation nets over $100M from victims in less than two years
The Black Basta ransomware group has reportedly generated upwards of $100 million in revenue since it started operations in April 2022.
Black Basta is believed to be a ransomware offshoot of the former Conti group, assembled before its closure in May 2022.
Since Black Basta spun up, the research indicates that at least 90 of its total number of victims, which tops 300 to date, have paid the criminals' ransom demands.
Breaking down the group's payments, the researchers found that in many cases the Qakbot botnet-cum-malware loader was used to deploy Black Basta malware.
In cases where Qakbot was a precursor for Black Basta deployment, 10 percent of any profits made from an attack would go to Qakbot's operators.
Analysis of payments also indicated that the core team behind Black Basta typically collected around 14 percent of all ransom payments, a share that's typical of most ransomware-as-a-service operations, the researchers said.