Conti ransomware group is wreaking havoc with its extortion attacks around the world. More than 1,000 victims of the group have paid $150 million in ransom, according to the FBI.
What is happening?
- Recently, the President of Costa Rica declared a national emergency after devastating cyberattacks launched by the Conti ransomware group on multiple government agencies.
- A few days ago, the group claimed to have targeted Perú MOF - Dirección General de Inteligencia. Further, the group claimed to have stolen 9.41 GB of data from the agency.
- Last month, the ransomware group claimed responsibility for a cyberattack that forced Nordex (a wind turbine company) to shut down its internal systems on March 31.
- The ICO was investigating a cyberattack across TrustFord branches across the U.K. The attack was believed to be launched by the Conti ransomware group and targeted their systems.
Federal agencies have identified threats from Conti actors as one of the top priority concerns, and several actions are being taken to curb this threat.
A million-dollar reward
The U.S. government is offering a reward of up to $15 million for information on the threat actor.
- The reward includes $10 million for the identification or the location of the leaders of the group.
- Additionally, $5 million is offered for information that results in the arrest of anyone connected with Conti.
Conclusion
The attacks by Conti ransomware are really concerning and even forced a nation to declare a national emergency. Even the leak of its valuable information did not impact the operations of the group. Thus, organizations are suggested to invest in robust preventive strategies, including anti-ransomware solutions, frequent backups of data, and network firewalls along with email gateways.
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