Large Danish Real Estate Company EDC Hit by BlackBasta Ransomware

At the moment of writing, there are no statements on the website of EDC in regard to the claimed ransomware attack by the BlackBasta ransomware group. EDC is a real estate company that specializes in buying, selling, and valuing real estate.

Who is BlackBasta?

BlackBasta is a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) that emerged in early 2022 and is assessed by some researchers to be an offshoot of the disbanded Conti and REvil attack groups. The group routinely exfiltrates sensitive data from victims for additional extortion leverage. BlackBasta engages in highly targeted attacks and is assessed to only work with a limited group of highly vetted affiliate attackers.

BlackBasta has quickly become one of the most prolific attack groups in 2023 and was observed leveraging unique Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) for ingress, lateral movement, data exfiltration, and deployment of ransomware payloads. Ransom demands vary depending on the targeted organization with reports that they can be as high as $2 million dollars.

Evolution of BlackBasta's RaaS Platform

BlackBasta continues to evolve their RaaS platform, with ransomware payloads that can infect systems running both Windows and Linux systems. BlackBasta is particularly adept at exploiting vulnerabilities in VMware ESXi running on enterprise servers.

BlackBasta ransomware is written in C++, can target both Windows and Linux systems, encrypts data with ChaCha20, and then the encryption key is encrypted with RSA-4096 for rapid encryption of the targeted network. In some cases, BlackBasta leverages malware strains like Qakbot and exploits such as PrintNightmare during the infection process.

BlackBasta also favors abuse of insecure Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) deployments, one of the leading infection vectors for ransomware.

Targeted Sectors and Double Extortion Scheme

BlackBasta typically targets manufacturing, transportation, construction and related services, telecommunications, the automotive sector, and healthcare providers. BlackBasta also employs a double extortion scheme and maintains an active leaks website where they post exfiltrated data if an organization declines to pay the ransom demand.