Talos have been working in conjunction with Cisco IR Services on what we believe to be a new variant of the SamSam ransomware. This ransomware has been observed across multiple industries including Government, Healthcare and ICS. These attacks do not appear to be highly targeted, and appear to be more opportunistic in nature.
Given SamSam's victimology its impacts are not just felt within the business world, they are also impacting people, especially if we consider the Healthcare sector. Non urgent surgeries can always be rescheduled but if we take as an example patients where the medical history and former medical treatment are crucial the impact may be more severe. Furthermore, many critical life savings medical devices are now highly computerized. Ransomware can impact the operation of these devices making it very difficult for medical personnel to diagnose and treat patients leading to potentially life threatening situations. Equipment that might be needed in time-sensitive operations may be made unavailable due to the computer used to operate the equipment being unavailable.
The initial infection vector for these ongoing attacks is currently unknown and Talos is investigating this in order to identify it. The history of SamSam indicates that attackers may follow their previous modus operandi of exploiting a host and then laterally moving within their target environment to plant and later run the SamSam ransomware. Previously, we observed the adversaries attacking vulnerable JBoss hosts during a previous wave of SamSam attacks in 2016. Although the infection vector for the new variant is not yet confirmed, there is a possibility that compromised RDP/VNC servers have played a part in allowing the attackers to obtain an initial foothold.
Cisco Systems Inc. published this content on 22 January 2018 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 22 January 2018 18:04:05 UTC.
Original documenthttps://blogs.cisco.com/security/talos/samsam-the-evolution-continues-netting-over-325000-in-4-weeks
Public permalinkhttp://www.publicnow.com/view/600CEDA1F657079784124900F8DDD5BA2F599835
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