The BlackCat Ransomware Gang's Attack on New Horizons Medical

The BlackCat ransomware gang has attacked New Horizons Medical. New Horizons Medical is a surgical center headquartered in Totton, England. BlackCat posted a statement to its data leak site on June 14th, which reads: “We have been on your network for a long time and have had time to analyze your business. We have stolen your confidential data. If you ignore or refuse the deal, we will be forced to release all of your data to the public. Our blog is followed by a lot of well-known media outlets, the case will get a lot of publicity and will cause devastating damage to your business. Especially when it comes to drugs and similar information. The only way to avoid this is to make a deal with us. Appoint a responsible person to negotiate and let’s get down to business!”

Technical Insights into BlackCat/ALPHV Ransomware

First observed in late 2021, BlackCat/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 has the ability to disable security tools and evade analysis. BlackCat/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.