INC Ransom Breaches Two More
Inc Ransom announced 2 more victims recently based in the USA. These are Normal Urology Associates and West Idaho Orthopedics & Sports Medicine. The hackers posted the evidence of the attacks on their public platform.
- No details have been published regarding the value of the ransom or how much data was leaked
- Inc Ransom is one of the more novel ransomware actors, as it only emerged publicly in July 2023
- Despite its short time in the industry, Inc Ransom has gained a fearsome reputation
- The cybercriminal group is very controversial, with some claiming it’s not even a legitimate organization
Ransomware attacks have been on the rise over the past year, despite a drastic drop between 2021 and 2022. As the recent data shows, over 73% of the businesses have been targeted with at least one ransomware attack during 2023.
Around 50% of the businesses have been hit since 2018. More importantly, a significant number of them have been hit multiple times over the span of one year. The latter may seem like a coincidence, but it’s not.
The reason why so many companies get hit multiple times over a short time span is because of how ransomware attacks function. As is the case with Inc Ransom as well, the hackers will encrypt the victim’s system and steal confidential data.
If the victim chooses to negotiate with the hackers and decides to pay the ransom, the hackers will provide the decryption key. However, they’re also supposed to delete the stolen data, which usually doesn’t happen.
Instead, the hackers will either sell it, keep it for later use, or pass it on to other cybercriminal groups. They also place hidden gateways into the victim’s system, so they can access it at a later date. This explains the recurrent ransomware breaches.
Who Is Inc Ransom?
The shortest answer would be that nobody knows for sure. More importantly, some people suggest that Inc Ransom isn’t even a legitimate group. Instead, the theory is that more powerful ransomware groups use Inc Ransom as a diversion.
This helps them conduct their business as usual, while it’s Inc Ransom that takes all the heat coming from law enforcement agencies. And these are essentially chasing a ghost, because Inc Ransom is just a name, not an actual group.
That being said, the theory hasn’t been confirmed. As it stands, Inc Ransom hackers advertise themselves as a legitimate ransomware organization and beyond. Unlike other ransomware groups, Inc Ransom pose as cybersecurity experts.
The claim is that they offer cybersecurity services and that their ransomware breaches are nothing more than compensation for their services. Interestingly enough, they even help the victim fix their system vulnerabilities. After they pay the ransom, of course.
Experts warn that this is just a psychological tactic meant to deceive the victims into having another perspective on the issue. In reality, they are cybercriminals who steal data and blackmail their victims to extort them.
It’s nothing new and Inc Ransom falls in the same category. Which is why cybersecurity professionals advise against negotiating with the hackers.
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