The BlackCat/ALPHV Ransomware Attack on ITW Food Equipment Group

The BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware gang has attacked ITW Food Equipment Group. ITW Food Equipment Group is a food equipment manufacturer founded in 2001 and headquartered in Illinois, USA. BlackCat/ALPHV posted ITW Food Equipment Group to its data leak site on June 27th alongside screenshots of stolen PII. The ransomware gang claims to have stolen 701GB of data, including internal company data.

Technical Details of the Attack

First observed in late 2021, BlackCat/ALPHV/ALPHV 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. BlackCat/ALPHV/ALPHV has the ability to disable security tools and evade analysis. BlackCat/ALPHV/ALPHV has rapidly become one of the more active RaaS platforms over the course of 2022.

Ransom Demands and Tactics

BlackCat/ALPHV/ALPHV typically demands ransoms in the $400,000 to $3 million range but has exceeded $5 million. BlackCat/ALPHV/ALPHV 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. BlackCat/ALPHV/ALPHV 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.