Sep 30, 2023
Ransomware / Cyber Threat
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is warning of a new trend of dual ransomware attacks targeting the same victims, at least since July 2023. "During these attacks, cyber threat actors deployed two different ransomware variants against victim companies from the following variants: AvosLocker, Diamond, Hive, Karakurt, LockBit, Quantum, and Royal," the FBI said in an alert. "Variants were deployed in various combinations." Not much is known about the scale of such attacks, although it's believed that they happen in close proximity to one another, ranging from anywhere between 48 hours to within 10 days. Another notable change observed in ransomware attacks is the increased use of custom data theft, wiper tools, and malware to exert pressure on victims to pay up. "This use of dual ransomware variants resulted in a combination of data encryption, exfiltration, and financial losses from ransom payments," the agency said. "Second ran