ALPHV Ransomware Gang Attacks Creos

The ALPHV ransomware gang has attacked Creos. Creos is an energy company that owns and manages electricity networks and gas pipelines in Luxembourg. In statements issued on July 25th and 29th, 2022, Creos’s parent company, Encevo, said various Encevo companies had been hit with a cyberattack, rendering data inaccessible and exfiltrating files from its computers. Encevo detected the attack, which did not affect gas and electricity supply, on the night of July 22nd, 2022.

ALPHV published Creos on its data leak site on July 29th, claiming to have stolen roughly 150GB of information, including contracts, agreements, passports, bills, and emails.

Technical Details of the ALPHV/BlackCat Ransomware

First observed in late 2021, ALPHV/BlackCat employs a well-developed RaaS (Ransomware-as-a-Service) platform that encrypts by way of an AES algorithm where the AES key is encrypted using an RSA public key. ALPHV/BlackCat has the ability to disable security tools and evade analysis.

ALPHV/BlackCat is thought to be the first ransomware group using RUST, a secure programming language that offers exceptional performance for concurrent processing. The ransomware also leverages Windows scripting to deploy the payload and to compromise additional hosts. The developers have also been linked to DarkSide/BlackMatter ransomware attacks and may simply be a rebranding of those campaigns.

ALPHV/BlackCat also exfiltrates victim data prior to the execution of the ransomware – including from cloud-based deployments - to be leveraged in double extortion schemes to compel payment of the ransom demand. They have one of the more generous RaaS offerings, offering as much as 80-90% cut to affiliates.