Brute Force or Something More? Ransomware Initial Access Brokers Exposed

Brute Force or Something More? Ransomware Initial Access Brokers Exposed
This blog summarizes an investigation of a brute force attack that led to the discovery of a larger ransomware ecosystem, suggesting ties to initial access brokers. Analysts explored the anomaly in attack procedures that deviated from standard practices of threat actors, indicating a complex underlying infrastructure. Affected: network security, ransomware ecosystem

Keypoints :

  • The investigation began with a brute force attack on an exposed RDP server.
  • The attack exposed the network to a sophisticated threat actor utilizing various IP addresses.
  • Anomalies in threat actor behavior were identified, specifically their exploration of credential files.
  • Maltrail indicated that some of the offending IP addresses were linked to Hive ransomware.
  • Further investigations uncovered multiple associated domains and suggested a broad ransomware infrastructure.

MITRE Techniques :

  • Brute Force Attack (T1110) – The threat actor attempted to gain access to the RDP server using multiple login attempts.
  • Credential Dumping (T1003) – Uncharacteristically, the actor searched file systems for credentials, indicating deviation from standard credential extraction methods.
  • Remote Service: Remote Desktop Protocol (T1021) – The attack leveraged RDP to gain unauthorized access to the network.

Indicator of Compromise :

  • [IP Address] 64.190.113[.]159
  • [IP Address] 147.135.36[.]162
  • [Domain] specialsseason[.]com
  • [Domain] 1vpns[.]com
  • [Certificate Fingerprint (SHA-256)] 6bc8b8f260f9f9bfea69863ef8d3c525568676ddadc09c14655191cad1acdb5b


Full Story: https://huntress.com/blog/brute-force-or-something-more-ransomware-initial-access-brokers-exposed

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