The BianLian Ransomware Gang's Latest Attack

The BianLian ransomware gang has attacked the Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard. The Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard is a marine repair facility headquartered in Al Hidd, Bahrain. It was founded in 1977 by Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Libya.

BianLian posted the Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard to its data leak site on June 28th, claiming to have stolen client data, ship and vessel plans, crew members' personal data, business files, and accounting data.

Who is BianLian?

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.

How Does BianLian Operate?

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. 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.