Karakurt Ransomware Gang's Attack on Beacon ABA Services

The Karakurt ransomware gang has allegedly attacked Beacon ABA services. Karakurt posted Beacon ABA Services to its data leak site on June 10th. Beacon ABA Services is a private group practice of behavior analysts and behavioral therapists based in Massachusetts, USA. Beacon specializes in providing evidence-based treatment interventions to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD).

Karakurt's Unique Ransomware Model

Karakurt practices a unique style of the ransomware model in that they do not encrypt compromised machines or files but instead focus on data exfiltration and then demand a ransom payment with the threat to leak or sell the stolen data. While Karakurt had a lower volume of attacks in 2022 than some of its peers, the attacks were extremely effective and yielded high ransom payments. Karakurt ransom demands have ranged widely from $25,000 to a whopping $10,000,000+ with strict payment deadlines.

Operational Tactics and Targets

Karakurt does not maintain a RaaS (Ransomware-as-a-Service) platform but has been assessed to be closely related to the defunct Conti ransomware syndicate. They have been observed deploying or abusing tools like Cobalt Strike, Mimikatz, AnyDesk, and other tools to elevate privileges and move laterally within a network. Karakurt is opportunistic and does not target specific sectors, industries, or types of victims and has likely automated some target selection based on ease of compromise by way of vulnerability exploits like Log4Shell, outdated VPN appliances, or through stolen VPN and RDP credentials.