FBI – CISA Published a Joint Advisory as Colonial Pipeline Suffers a Catastrophic Ransomware Attack

Following a catastrophic ransomware assault on a Colonial Pipeline, the FBI and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) published a joint advisory. The notice, issued on Tuesday 11th May, contains information on DarkSide, malware operators running a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) network. 

DarkSide is in charge of the latest Colonial Pipeline cyber assault. Past Friday – 7th May, the fuel giant has said that a Cyberattack had obliged the company, which was found to be an intrusion of DarkSide affiliates, to stop pipeline activities and to pull the IT systems offline. 

Cybercriminal gangs use DarkSide for data encryption and to gain entry to a victim’s server. These groups attempt to disclose the information if the victim is not paying the ransom. DarkSide leverage groups have recently targeted organizations, including production, legal, insurance, healthcare, and energy, through various sectors of CI. 

Colonial pipeline is yet to be recovered, and the FBI is engaged with them as a key infrastructure supplier – one of which provides 45% of the fuel of the East Coast and typically provides up to 100 million gallons of fuel per day. 

“Cybercriminal groups use DarkSide to gain access to a victim’s network to encrypt and exfiltrate data,” the alert says. “These groups then threaten to expose data if the victim does not pay the ransom. Groups leveraging DarkSide have recently been targeting organizations across various CI sectors including manufacturing, legal, insurance, healthcare, and energy.” 

The ransomware from DarkSide is available to RaaS clients. This cybercriminal template has become prominent because only a core team needs to create malware that can be transmitted to other people. 

RaaS can also be offered on a subscription basis as a ransomware partner, and/or the developers may earn cuts in income when a ransom is paid. In exchange, developers continue to enhance their ‘product’ malware. 

Furthermore the FBI – CISA advisory also provides tips and best practices to avoid or mitigate ransomware threats. 

The most important defense act against ransomware is prevention. It is crucial to follow good practices to defend against attacks by ransomware, that can be damaging to a person or an organization. 

“CISA and FBI urge CI [critical infrastructure] asset owners and operators to adopt a heightened state of awareness and implement recommendations […] including implementing robust network segmentation between IT and OT networks; regularly testing manual controls; and ensuring that backups are implemented, regularly tested, and isolated from network connections,” the agencies say. “These mitigations will help CI owners and operators improve their entity’s functional resilience by reducing their vulnerability to ransomware and the risk of severe business degradation if impacted by ransomware.”