The BianLian Ransomware Gang's Attack on Aarti Industries

The BianLian ransomware gang has allegedly attacked Aarti Industries. BianLian posted Aarti Industries' details to its data leak site on June 4th, claiming to have stolen financial, projects, and technical data. Aarti Industries has neither confirmed nor denied the attack. Aari Industries is a pharmaceutical chemicals manufacturer headquartered in Maharashtra, India. It has 20 manufacturing sites in India and employs more than 7000 people.

BianLian: A Notorious Cybercriminal Organization

BianLian is an infamous cybercriminal organization involved in the development and deployment of ransomware. Since June 2022, they have targeted various critical infrastructure sectors in the United States. Additionally, they have extended their attacks to include Australian critical infrastructure sectors, as well as professional services and property development domains.

Methodology of Attacks

To gain unauthorized access to their victims' systems, the group exploits valid Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) credentials. They employ open-source tools and command-line scripts to carry out reconnaissance and gather credentials. Victim data is then extracted using File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Rclone, or Mega. Subsequently, the BianLian group proceeds to extort money from their victims by threatening to expose the obtained data unless a payment is made.

Evolution of Extortion Tactics

Initially, the group utilized a double-extortion approach, which involved encrypting victims' systems after data exfiltration. However, starting around January 2023, they primarily focused on data exfiltration-based extortion.