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ransomware attacks
ALPHV Cyber Crime cyber threat Cyberattacks CyberCrime Cybersecurity Financial Fraud LoanDepot ransomware attacks

ALPHV Ransomware Strikes: LoanDepot and Prudential Financial Targeted

 


Recently, Prudential Financial and loanDepot, two Fortune 500 companies were attacked by the ALPHV/Blackcat ransomware gang, which claims responsibility for the breaches. Despite the threat actors still having to prove their claims, the two companies were added to ALPHV's dark web leak site today, which is the first time the threat actors have added them to the dark web leak site. As a result of failed negotiations, ALPHV will be selling the stolen data from loanDepot's network and releasing Prudential's data for free as well. 

There was a data leak on the site of the infamous ALPHV ransomware operator - the BlackCat group - that revealed Prudential Financial and loanDepot as being the targets of the attacks on both firms, as an apparent admission by the group that it had been behind the attacks on these firms. Currently, the group has only added the names to its site, while the actual data has not yet been available. Because negotiations with Prudential Financial broke down, the group will be publishing its database for free for all to see. 

A company representative stated that the company would provide free credit monitoring and identity protection to those affected by the data breach. With roughly 6,000 employees and more than $140 billion in loan servicing in the United States, loanDepot is among the largest nonbank retail mortgage lenders in the U.S. A suspected cybercrime group breached Prudential Financial's network on February 4 and stole employee and contractor data. 

Prudential Financial also revealed on Tuesday that this breach occurred on February 4. Despite Prudential's ongoing investigation of the incident, it has not been determined if the attackers also exfiltrated customer or client data, even though the incident is being assessed in its full scope and impact. With revenue expected to exceed $50 billion in 2023, this Fortune 500 company will rank second in the world for life insurance companies in the U.S. 

They employ more than 40,000 people around the world. As part of the State Department's announcement, rewards of up to $10 million are being offered for tips that could lead to the identification or location of ALPHV gang leaders. 

During the first four months of this gang's activity between November 2021 and March 2022, it was linked to more than 60 breaches around the world, and an additional $5 million reward was offered for information on individuals who were either involved or attempted to be involved in ALPHV ransomware attacks. 

Law enforcement agencies estimate that ALPHV will have received at least $300 million through ransom payments from over 1,000 victims by the end of September 2023, as per the law enforcement agency. The Prudential Financial Corporation (Prudential Financial) filed an 8-K form with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) last week detailing the incident that occurred. 

Although the company is still investigating the incident, its latest findings were that no sensitive information concerning its customers or clients was compromised. More than 40,000 people work for Prudential every year, and as a result, the company has more than $50 billion in revenues each year, making it one of the world's largest financial services companies. 

As a result of the new information, which comes shortly after the U.S. Upon receiving information that could help identify or locate ALPHV leaders, the State Department offered up to $10 million, with an additional $5 million for information on those who participated (or attempted to participate) in the ALPHV ransomware attack, for information that could lead to that identification. 

One of the most popular and active ransomware groups, next to LockBit, or Cl0p, is ALPHV. It has made headlines across the globe for its activism and popularity. In the latter half of 2021, it became apparent that DarkSide and BlackMatter had merged, possibly after these two companies merged. ALPHV and its affiliates are believed to have extorted hundreds of millions of dollars from its victims during its lifetime.
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Sophos report
ALPHV Black Cat ransomware group Cyber Attacks PR charm tactic Ransomware Groups Sophos report

Ransomware Groups are Using PR Charm Tactic to Put Pressure on Victims to Pay Ransom


Recently, ransomware groups have been increasingly adopting newer tactics, one of them being the transparent, quasi-corporate strategy with the media, with the benefits of building pressure on the victims to pay ransom. 

According to a report, released this week by Sophos X-Ops, ransomware groups like Royal, the Play and RansomHouse were seen engaging with journalists. This partnership is dubious, however advantageous to both the parties: hackers expose their victims or, in some high-profile cases, amend the record, while reporters receive scoops directly from primary (but untrustworthy) sources.

According to Christopher Budd, director of threat intelligence for Sophos X-Ops, "This shows that they're true hackers[…]Now they're trying to hack the information sphere, as well as the technical sphere."

Cybercriminals in Corporate Clothing

These days, ransomware organizations provide channels for direct connection that are not limited to victims. In addition to the typical "Contact Us" forms and PR-focused Telegram channels, useful resources and FAQs are available to support them.

The ultimate idea is: that by broadcasting their deeds in the news, these threat actors put public pressure on the victims, further pressurizing their suppliers, customers, etc. 

The threat actors often imply this idea in ransom notes. For example, Sophos recently analyzed a ransom note published by the Royal ransomware group, stating how "anyone on the internet from darknet criminals ... journalists ... and even your employees will be able to see your internal documentation" if the ransom deadline was not achieved. 

Attackers Playing Analysts

However, not all ransomware groups are joining hands with the media with the same humour. Groups like Clop ransomware and LockBit interacted more antagonistically with the outside world.

And while it appears petty or posturing at times, these conflicts are occasionally handled professionally.

For instance, in response to initial reports containing purportedly incorrect information about the MGM attack, ALPHV published a 1,300-word statement. 

Budd says, "In trying to assert their authority and take their claim, they actually published what amounts to threat research — the type of stuff that security companies do. And they provided some fairly objective, detailed technical explanation about the actions they had taken."

He notes that the ALPHV statement felt like something a security firm would publish. He observed that ransomware groups are “consciously adopting some of the principles” that security companies use daily.

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Securities and Exchange Commission
ALPHV Beauty Brand Beauty Giant attacked BlackCat CLOP Clop Ransomware Gang Cyber Attacks Estée Lauder ransomware attacks Securities and Exchange Commission

Estée Lauder: Cosmetic Brand Amongst the new Victims of Ransomware Attack


On Tuesday, U.S.-based cosmetic brand Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. confirmed to have witnessed a ransomware attack, following which it compromised some of its data and took down some of its systems.

Apparently, ransomware gangs ALPHV/BlackCat claim to have executed the attacks, listing Estée Lauder to their illicit sites on the dark web along with an airline, comms regulator, hard drive storage provider, and others.

Among the attacked victims is the file transfer tool MoveIt, attacked by the massive Clop breach in late May. The data theft has caused disturbance to several entities that used MoveIt services and claim around 378 organizations and 20 million individuals as its victims.

However, it is still not clear if Estée Lauder is one of the victims. The company has not revealed the nature or scope of the data that is compromised, but some screenshots tweeted by Emsisoft threat analyst Brett Callow of posts from Black Cat and Clop claim that the compromised data include ‘customer data.’

Another message by Clop reveals that they have extracted 131 GB of data from the beauty giant. The ransomware gang also condemn the company stating it “doesn't care about its customers, it ignored their security!!!”

Adding to this, the ALPHV/Black Cat screen grab has threatened to expose more data that has been compromised, stating, “Estée Lauder, under the control of a family of billionaire heirs. Oh, what these eyes have seen. We will not say much for now, except that we have not encrypted their networks. Draw your own conclusions for now. Maybe the data was worth a lot more.”

A statement from the beauty brand confirmed the attack, where its statement and disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission mentions an “unauthorized third party” that managed to “access to some of the company’s systems,” but it did not explain what the attackers hoped to gain or what they demanded if anything.

Estée Lauder added that “the incident has caused, and is expected to continue to cause, disruption to parts of the company’s business operations.” The company is now focusing on “remediation.” It has taken down at least some of its systems and is working with law enforcement to investigate the matter.

In the recent series of ransomware attacks, Estée Lauder has thus joined list with other big names that were a victim, including Walmart, Ikea, McDonald’s, and many others.

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US Government
ALPHV ALPHV ransomware gang Casepoint Casepoint investigation Data Breach Legal tech firm TechCrunch US Government

Casepoint Investigates Alleged Breach After Hackers Claimed Theft of Government Data


US-based legal technology platform, Casepoint has apparently investigated a potential cybersecurity incident following claims of threat actors, who have hacked the platform claiming terabytes of sensitive data.

Casepoint offers legal advice for governmental organizations, businesses, and law firms in litigation, investigations, and compliance. The company has a number of well-known clients, including the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Marriott Hotels, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. Courts, and the Mayo Clinic.

Vishal Rajpara, the CTO and co-founder of Casepoint, released a statement in which he declined to confirm but otherwise did not seem to refute rumors that the ALPHV ransomware gang was responsible for the attack. BlackCat, the Russia-based ransomware gang claims to have stolen two terabytes of confidential data from Casepoint, which included data from the US government and “many other things you have tried so hard to keep,” the gang stated.

Some of the data stolen, according to TechCrunch, included private information from a Georgia-based hospital, a legal document, a state-sponsored ID and an internal document apparently issued by the FBI. However, the FBI is yet to confirm the allegations made by TechCrunch.

Following Casepoint’s acknowledgment of the investigation, ALPHV updated on the issue in a statement published on May 31. The firm also shared what seems to be the login details for the company’s software.

Rajpara published a statement on the issue, saying “Casepoint remains fully operational and have experienced no disruption to our services[…]the third-party forensic firm that we have engaged is currently running scans and deploying advanced endpoint detection monitoring tools and will be looking for signs of suspicious activity.” “We are early on in our investigation and are committed to keeping our clients informed as we learn more.”

However, Rajpara declined to comment on whether the business has technological resources to identify the data that was accessed or exfiltrated or whether it has been contacted by the ALPV ransomware organization with any communications, such as a ransom demand. 

ALPHV Gang

The ALPHV gang has previously claimed to have attacked NextGen Healthcare, a U.S.-based maker of electronic health record software, and Ring, a video surveillance firm owned by Amazon. Despite the hackers' denials that they were connected to the gang, data obtained from Western Digital was also hosted on ALPHV's leak site.

Some other known victims of the ALPHV gang include Bandai Namco, Swissport, and the Munster Technological University in Ireland.  

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Software
ALPHV BlackCat BlackMatter Constellation Network Cyber Attacks DarkSide Ransomware Software

Constellation Software Cyberattack Claimed by ALPHV

 


According to the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group's claims, Constellation Software's network was compromised as a result of a cyberattack, it was also mentioned in the recent posting on the ransomware gang's leak site. Essen Medical Associates, as well as a Canadian software company, were victimized by the ransomware gang. 

A statement by Constellation Software Inc., a Toronto-based company, revealed that on Wednesday, it had been affected by a cyber-security incident that affected only one of its IT infrastructure systems. 

As a result, some limited personal information was affected by this incident. Additionally, Constellation's businesses also impacted a limited number of business partners. Rather than directly contacting these individuals or business partners, Constellation's operating groups and businesses will now contact them.  

Those who had their data compromised and those who have business associates in the affected area have also been contacted for further information. 

A small number of individuals had their private information compromised in the incident. Some data belonged to a small number of business partners of various Constellation businesses that were potentially affected. 

The constellation software company is composed of six divisions dedicated to acquiring, managing, and growing software companies. These divisions are Volaris, Harris, Jonas, Vela Software, Perseus Group, and Topics. 

As a Canadian company that employs over 25,000 people in North America, Europe, Australia, South America, and Africa, and generates $4 billion in revenue every year, Vanguard has a global presence. It has also acquired more than 500 companies in the software industry since 1995 and provides services to more than 125,000 customers in more than 100 countries. 

According to Constellation, the incident involved a small number of systems involved in internal financial reports and data storage related to them. There was a requirement for Constellation's operating groups and businesses to comply with this. There was no impact on the operations and businesses of Constellation's autonomous IT systems that were within its control. In addition, the company's business operations have not been adversely affected by the incident. 

Listed on ALPHV/BlackCat's leak site was the list of attachments the ransomware group had gathered from two data breaches that had been compromised. 

Following the Essen Medical Associates cyberattack, 24 attachments were breached as a result, although 25 attachments were breached following the Constellation Software cyberattack.   

Statement from the company regarding the cyberattack on Constellation Software 

As a result of the ALPHV/BlackCat leak site post released shortly after the announcement of the cyberattack, Constellation Software issued a press release confirming the attack. On April 3, a limited number of the company's IT systems were compromised due to a cyber incident reported by the company. 

It is understood that only a few business and operating groups within the organization utilize the organization's financial reporting and data storage systems. These groups provide internal financial reporting to the organization.   

Constellation's independent IT systems are not impacted by this incident in any shape or form, so it is not an issue with any of its operating groups or businesses. According to the press release issued, Constellation's business operations have not been impacted by the incident.   

ALPHV has already leaked some documents containing business information online to prove they were accessing and exfiltrating files from Constellation's network. This information can be found in the documents they leaked.  

In November 2021, the DarkSide/BlackMatter gang launched a ransomware operation that has been hacked to get the keys to the country. This was believed to be a rebranding of them. First becoming aware of the group as DarkSide, they attacked the Colonial Pipeline in 2012 and immediately found themselves in the crosshairs of international law enforcement. 

As a result of the servers being seized in November, they were forced to shut down operations one month later in July 2021. This was even though they rebranded themselves as BlackMatter one month later. The Emsisoft decryptor exploits a vulnerability in ransomware to exploit a weakness in the encryption algorithm.   

To demonstrate the access that ALPHV gained and the exfiltration of files from Constellation's network, ALPHV has already posted many documents online that contain business information about Constellation. 

A lot of people are currently aware of the ALPHV group as one of the biggest ransomware threats threatening corporations all around the globe. It was also named as the most likely attacker by the FBI in April, after they hacked over 60 companies between November 2021 and March 2022 as part of a ransomware operation. According to the FBI, ALPHV has "extensive networks and extensive experience with ransomware operations."
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Ring LLC
ALPHV ALPHV ransomware gang Amazon Data Breach Data Stolen Home Security ransomware attacks Ring Ring LLC

Ring Data Breach: What you Need to Know About the Home Security Company Attack


With innovative doorbells and security cameras making a huge breakthrough for home security across the world, Ring now stores a great amount of data. Although the company has recently been facing ransomware gang threats to expose the data online. 

About Ring LLC 

Ring LLC is a home security and smart home company owned by Tech-giant Amazon. The firm creates home security systems with exterior cameras, such as the Ring Video Doorbell smart doorbell, and runs the Neighbors app, which allows users to share video footage with each other online in a communal setting. 

Ring Data Breach 

According to a report by Motherboard, the ALPHV ransomware gang has claimed to have acquired access to Amazon-owned Ring’s systems and its data. Despite the fact that there is no proof of a system breach, Ring did indicate as much in a statement to the news organization. But, it is well known to them that a ransomware assault has affected one of its third-party providers. 

In a response to Ring, ALPHV shares a post on Twitter saying “There’s always an option to let us leak your data”. The ransomware group has not yet made any of the data it is said to have stolen from the business available. But, there is still cause for alarm when Motherboard discovered a Ring listing on ALPHV's data dump website. 

Ransomware groups like ALPHV have evolved into using data dump sites to entice victims into paying ransoms in order to regain access to their data. In an effort to persuade businesses to cooperate with the hackers holding their data hostage, a tiny percentage of the stolen data from those businesses is frequently posted publicly. 

ALPHV Ransomware Gang 

The ALPHV ransomware gang has attacked companies in the US, Europe, and Asia. The group has also been referred to as BlackCat, named after the malware it deploys. In the past, ALPHV has taken credit for hacking hospitality firms like the Westmont Hospitality Group, which manages IHG and Hilton hotels around the world, as well as leaking medical data from the Lehigh Valley Health Network. 

ALPHV's data dump site, where it posts stolen data in collections referred to as "Collections," is another feature that sets it distinct from other ransomware organizations. Other ransomware organizations may have comparable websites, but ALPHV's is renowned for being indexed and simpler to search. 

Should you be Worried About Your Ring Data? 

Currently, Amazon is looking into a third-party vendor's data breach that ALPHV has claimed responsibility for. We are unlikely to hear anything more until this investigation is over. Ring's products are widely utilized in homes all over the world since they are among the best video doorbells and home security cameras today. 

However, the firm employs end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in the majority of nations to prevent governments and other parties from accessing the data from your cameras and snooping on them. If the ALPHV ransomware gang did end up infiltrating Ring’s third-party vendors, it is possible that the group has also managed to steal corporate or customer data in the attack. 

If you are concerned about your Ring data or even the fact that the firm is charging for features that were previously free, it is a good time to consider some alternatives instead. In any case, we will probably soon learn whether or not the ALPHV ransomware gang managed to steal client data.  

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Russia
ALPHV Cyber Crime Cyberattack Cybersecurity Google LockBit Microsoft NATO Russia

The Ukraine Invasion Blew up Russian Cybercrime Alliances

 


Over the years, Russia has built up one of the world’s most formidable cybercriminal ecosystems. Russian hacker groups are linked to disruptive cyberattacks including one of the United States’ most critical oil pipelines and the world’s largest meat producers.  

A recently released study suggests that the conflict between Russia and the former Soviet Union disrupted the criminal ecosystem in Russia and its former Soviet satellite states. This was a year after the illegal invasion. Alexander Leslie, the associate threat intelligence analyst at Recorded Future's Insight Group, believes this is one of the most significant developments in the history of cybercrime. It has broad implications affecting nearly every aspect of the world of cybercrime.

In a recent interview with The Register, Leslie told them that these fractures can be felt in all facets of the Russian-speaking underground: digital fraud, dark web forums and marketplaces, ransomware gangs, and hacktivists, all of whom derive their revenue from Russian-speaking underground activities. 

"Russia's military intervention in Ukraine has ushered in the era of volatility and unpredictability in the world of international cybercrime, which carries a multitude of implications for the defense community," Leslie said in a statement. 

As per the report, Russian cybercrime refers to a wide range of crimes perpetrated by miscreants who speak Russian languages in a variety of parts of the world, including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltics, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia.  Leslie, during the time before the war, all of these criminal elements shared a common goal. This goal was refusing to target entities located in the Commonwealth of Independent States. This was so as not to draw attention from law enforcement. The day after the Russian government began attacking critical infrastructure on February 24, 2022, the Conti ransomware gang immediately declared its "full support" for the Russian government and pledged to use all the resources at its disposal to take back the critical infrastructure that had been destroyed. There were later claims that the country had condemned the war, but the damage had already been done at that point. 

Hundreds of internal documents from Conti's internal domains were leaked by a Ukrainian security researcher on February 27, 2022. It was the so-called Conti leaks that led to the Trickbot leaks, which were able to reveal Trickbot's senior leadership by using the information revealed in the Conti data dump, which was appropriated by the Trickbot leaks. According to reports, Conti closed down its operations in the weeks that followed. 

Moreover, Conti's rival gangs such as ALPHV (BlackCat) and LockBit neither declared their loyalty to the Kremlin to any significant extent, while on the other hand, some of his rival gangs did. 

There is also a decrease in the number of ransomware attacks in the context of the war in general, which may be attributable to fewer Russian cyberattacks as well. It has been a year since the war started and fears of large-scale disruptions of Ukrainian and Western infrastructure have not yet been realized. Although Russia has not given up, Google reported that it would increase the targeting of Ukrainian users by 250 percent by the year 2022 compared to 2020. In contrast, it will increase the targeting of NATO users by 300 percent.  

As experts point out, this is not necessarily an indictment of Russia's cyber capabilities. Instead, it is an indication of the effectiveness of Ukrainian cyber defense backed up by its Western allies and companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon on the ground. This is a largely successful strategy.  

The Georgia Institute of Technology's Nadiya Kostyuk, who specializes in modern warfare and cyber conflict, has said that that support was "crucial" to Ukraine's cyberspace remaining relatively unscathed, despite the geopolitical turmoil around the world. 

It is currently apparent that Ukraine's cyber capabilities haven't kept up with those of Russia even though it has been developing them since 2014. According to her, Microsoft, along with other companies, had played a huge part in building more resilient networks and systems as well as defending Ukraine's cyberspace. 

Forum Rules for the Russian Dark Web. 

The war did not only expose the fault lines of ransomware gangs, but also other criminals associated with these gangs. It would appear that the invasion of Ukraine also violates an unwritten rule on Russian-language dark web forums, which holds that criminals would not target organizations in former Soviet states unless they were inside the country. 

Despite the increased geographical decentralization of cybercriminal groups, Leslie predicts that the industry will become more centralized in the future.

During the kinetic war and in the immediate aftermath of it, there was also an increase in pro-Russian hacktivist groups. The 'second wave' of hacktivism took place around March 22, 2022, when Killnet's campaign against the Latvian government was initiated, following the initial wave of hacktivism, which included pre-existing groups such as the Stormous ransomware gang as well as new crews that were created to support the Russian war effort. 

An Increase in the Number of Killnets

Despite that, Recorded Future claims that Killnet dominated this second wave of electronic music. 

As a consequence of these attacks, the gang and its subgroups have expanded their targets beyond Europe. They have in recent years targeted the Americas, Asia, and other parts of the world. 

Recorded Future says that most of the pro-Russian hacktivist groups active since the end of the war are no longer active despite estimates by security researchers such as @Cyberknow20 that there were 70 or more such groups active at the beginning of the war. 

As the authors point out, although they identified about 100 such groups between February 24, 2022, and February 10, 2023, only a few remain active today. This is even though a total of about 100 groups were identified. 

Even those that remain are not very effective, as there are only a few left. A new FBI report describes Killnets' distributed denial of service attacks as having "limited success" in the course of their attacks. Additionally, the researchers point out that their impact on the overall war effort has been "minimal" at best, in terms of the effects on the war effort. 

Is 2023 Going to be a Year of Change?

A second year of the war is expected to bring more of the same from security researchers, with insider criminal gangs leaking information, hacktivist attacks making headlines, and database dumps being sold on dark-web forums - possibly with a rise in Russian and Belarusian databases that have been leaked - as well as credential leaks targeting .ru and .by domains that have been targeted by hackers.  As a result of the malware-as-a-service threat landscape and the ongoing changing of the criminal forums on the dark web, "volatility and instability" are predicted to persist through 2023 throughout the Russian-speaking dark web market. 

In the short term, Leslie predicts that the cyber efforts of Ukraine are likely to be stepped up in 2023. The public-private partnership has helped foster increased collaboration between intelligence agencies and the provision of active defensive support, and we anticipate that this will only increase in the years to come, Leslie added. 

The majority of offensive operations are likely to be undertaken by the IT Army of Ukraine. This is expected to maintain support to enable a method of crowdsourced hacktivism that will continue to dominate offensive operations. 

He says he expects more hack-and-leak attacks from the Ukrainian IT Army in the future, but the most dominant methods of attack will likely remain DDoS attacks and website defacement.
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Ransomware
ALPHV Australian cyber attack Cyber Attacks LJ Hooker Optus Ransomware

Latest Cyberattack on LJ Hooker by a Ransomware Gang

 


It is reported that a ransomware gang has been able to steal the personal data of at least 375 gigabytes from a franchise of the Australian real estate giant, LJ Hooker, as a result of its ransomware attacks. The data collected include passport scans, credit card information, and loan information. 

As part of a blog post used to preview some of the data stolen in the cyber-attack against LJ Hooker, which was posted on the dark web on November 30, the blog mentioned LJ Hooker's name as a victim of the Russia-linked ransomware gang ALPHV, also known as "BlackCat." 

As VICE has already reported, the company began publishing personal information about employees' passports. Many social media login credentials, profit-loss statements, and a contract for the sale of a property have also been posted by the group. 

The group claimed to have even more “internal company data,” including employees' personal information, such as IDs, and client data, including “financial information” and “credit card information.” 

Using independent verification, VICE corroborates part of the preview, which pertains to an office of LJ Hooker, located in New South Wales. 

As confirmed by a spokesperson for LJ Hooker in a statement to VICE, at least one of their offices had become the victim of a data breach. LJ Hooker is still working to determine the scope of the breach while the company is currently taking steps to protect the data of its customers from another breach. The company has "informed the relevant government cyber and data bodies." The company is still investigating the scope of the infringement. 

As far as the Australian authorities are concerned, ALPHV was first identified by the security community in late 2021 as a "ransomware-as-a-service" program associated with "Russian-speaking cybercriminals". There is a growing concern that the group, in 2022, will pose an "increased threat" to Australia's "government" and "critical infrastructure." 

There is widespread understanding that this collective was one of those responsible for last year's breach of the Colonial Pipeline. This is the world's largest fuel pipeline in the United States. Oil refineries provide about 45 percent of the gasoline consumed in the eastern part of the country. 

There were approximately 10,000 gas stations left without gas in the country as a result of the action of hackers. This led to a panic buying spree among people. Hence, Colonial bowed to the orders of the group and paid a ransom of approximately $US5 million, which was equal to a total of 75 Bitcoins at the time. This was a result of this ransom demand. 

A large-scale data breach has been carried out against an Australian company, LJ Hooker, for the third time in the last three months resulting in substantial data leakage. 

Initially, Optus was hit back on September 22, when it was reported that the telecommunications giant had been attacked by hackers who had compromised the data of up to 9.8 million Australians due to the cyberattack. Later, the hack would become one of the largest ever recorded in the history of Australian hackers. 

After a similar attack was reported on October 13 on Medibank, it was reported shortly after that approximately 3.9 million Australians were subjected to a similar attack. This resulted in compromised personal information regarding them. 

During November, the dark web was flooded with patient records of more than 1,500 individuals. Last week, the hackers posted a new 5GB dump of data announcing that the case had been closed.
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