Cactus Ransomware Group Targets Paul Stuart

Cactus ransomware group has claimed responsibility for an attack against Paul Stuart. The group, in their post on the dark web, listed the affected company but refrained from providing additional details. Based in New York City, Paul Stuart epitomizes men’s luxury clothing. With four boutiques across the US and a strong presence in department stores throughout Japan, the brand boasts a prestigious reach in the fashion industry.

Cactus's Modus Operandi

Cactus has been in operation since at least March 2023. Cactus has been observed employing known vulnerabilities within VPN appliances to initiate an initial breach. Once gaining entry to the network, Cactus operators engage in activities such as enumerating local and network user accounts and identifying accessible endpoints. They then proceed to generate new user accounts and utilize custom scripts for the automated rollout and activation of the ransomware encryptor through scheduled tasks.

It is noteworthy that the ransomware encryptor utilized by Cactus exhibits a unique characteristic – it necessitates a decryption key for the execution of the binary, likely implemented to evade detection by anti-virus software. This decryption key is concealed within a file containing random text named ntuser.dat, which is loaded through a scheduled task.