Rhysida Ransomware Group Targets Chilean Army

The Rhysida ransomware group has allegedly attacked the Army of Chile. The Chilean Army is the land arm of the Chilean Armed Forces and consists of 80,000 troops organized into six divisions, a special operations brigade and an air brigade. Rhysida claims to have breached the Chilean Army’s internal systems on May 26th and is auctioning off stolen data.

Rhysida's Emergence and Tactics

The Rhysida ransomware group, which first appeared in May 2023, presents itself as a “cybersecurity team” aiming to raise awareness about the security vulnerabilities of their targets. However, their tactics involve breaching systems and encrypting victims’ data, demanding ransom payments for its return. Rhysida appears to select its targets randomly, indicating opportunistic rather than targeted campaigns. As such, any organization or individual could become a victim.

The group appears to be in the early stages of its development cycle, with typical ransomware features such as VSS removal conspicuously absent. Rhysida does, however, utilize double-extortion tactics and threatens victims with the publication of stolen data. It also employs Cobalt Strike or similar frameworks and launches phishing campaigns.

Method of Attack

Rhysida launches ransomware, initiating a systematic traversal of all files on the infected system’s local drives. Victims are instructed to communicate with the ransomware group through their TOR-based portal using the unique identifier provided in ransom notes.