Kaseya VSA ransomware attack

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On 2 July 2021, a number of managed service providers (MSPs) and their customers became victims of a ransomware attack perpetrated by the REvil group, [1] causing widespread downtime for over 1,000 companies. [2] [3] The attack was carried out by exploiting a vulnerability in VSA (Virtual System Administrator), a remote monitoring and management software package developed by Kaseya. [4] Two suspects were identified and one sentenced. [5] [6]

Timeline and impact

On March 23, DIVD researcher Wietse Boonstra found six zero-day vulnerabilities in Kaseya VSA (Virtual Systems Administrator). [7] The DIVD warned Kaseya and worked together with company experts to solve four of the seven reported vulnerabilities. The DIVD later wrote an KASEYA VSA, behind the scenes blog about finding the 0-days.

Despite the advance warning from DIVD, Kaseya did not patch all the reported bugs before they were exploited by REvil to deploy ransomware. [1] [8] An authentication bypass vulnerability in the software allowed attackers to compromise VSA and distribute a malicious payload through hosts managed by the software, [9] amplifying the reach of the attack. [10] In response, the company shut down its VSA cloud and SaaS servers and issued a security advisory to any customers, including those with on-premises deployments of VSA. [11]

Initial reports of companies affected by the incident include Norwegian financial software developer Visma, who manages some systems for Swedish supermarket chain Coop. [12] The supermarket chain had to close down its 800 stores for almost a week, some in small villages without any other food shop. They did not pay ransom, but rebuilt their systems from scratch after waiting for an update from Kaseya. [13]

The REvil ransomware gang officially took credit for the attack and claimed to have encrypted more than one million systems during the incident. They initially asked for a $70 million ransom payment to release a universal decryptor to unlock all affected systems. [14] On July 5, Kaseya said that between 800 and 1,500 downstream businesses were impacted in the attack. [15]

After a 9 July 2021 phone call between United States president Joe Biden and Russian president Vladimir Putin, Biden told the press, "I made it very clear to him that the United States expects when a ransomware operation is coming from his soil even though it’s not sponsored by the state, we expect them to act if we give them enough information to act on who that is." Biden later added that the United States would take the group's servers down if Putin did not. [16] [17]

On 13 July 2021, REvil websites and other infrastructure vanished from the internet. [18]

On 5 July 2021, REvil announced that they would release a universal decryptor in exchange 70 million USD paid in Bitcoin. [19] On 23 July, Kaseya announced it had received a universal decryptor tool for the REvil-encrypted files from an unnamed "trusted third party" and was helping victims restore their files. [20]

On 8 October 2021, Ukrainian national Yaroslav Vasinskyi was arrested in Poland in connection with the ransomware attack, pending extradition to the United States. [5]

On 8 November 2021, the United States Department of Justice unsealed indictments against Yaroslav Vasinskyi, who was still in Polish custody, and another suspect — Russian national Yevgeniy Polyanin. Vasinskyi was charged with conducting ransomware attacks against multiple victims including Kaseya, facing a maximum sentence of 115 years in prison. [5] [21] Polyanin was charged with conducting ransomware attacks against multiple victims including Texas businesses and government entities, facing a maximum sentence of 145 years in prison. [5]

On 3 March 2022, Yaroslav Vasinskyi was extradited to the United States and arraigned in Texas a few days later. [21]

On 1 May 2024, Yaroslav Vasinskyi was sentenced to 13 years and seven months in prison and ordered to pay over $16 million in restitution for "his role in conducting over 2,500 ransomware attacks and demanding over $700 million in ransom payments". [6]

As of 23 June 2024, Yevgeniy Polyanin was still wanted by the FBI and was believed to be living in Russia. [22]

Related Research Articles

Ransomware is a type of malware that permanently blocks access to the victim's personal data unless a "ransom" is paid. While some simple ransomware may lock the system without damaging any files, more advanced malware uses a technique called cryptoviral extortion. It encrypts the victim's files, making them inaccessible, and demands a ransom payment to decrypt them. In a properly implemented cryptoviral extortion attack, recovering the files without the decryption key is an intractable problem, and difficult-to-trace digital currencies such as paysafecard or Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are used for the ransoms, making tracing and prosecuting the perpetrators difficult.

Cryptovirology refers to the study of cryptography use in malware, such as ransomware and asymmetric backdoors. Traditionally, cryptography and its applications are defensive in nature, and provide privacy, authentication, and security to users. Cryptovirology employs a twist on cryptography, showing that it can also be used offensively. It can be used to mount extortion based attacks that cause loss of access to information, loss of confidentiality, and information leakage, tasks which cryptography typically prevents.

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Dridex, also known as Bugat and Cridex, is a form of malware that specializes in stealing bank credentials via a system that utilizes macros from Microsoft Word.

REvil was a Russia-based or Russian-speaking private ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation. After an attack, REvil would threaten to publish the information on their page Happy Blog unless the ransom was received. In a high profile case, REvil attacked a supplier of the tech giant Apple and stole confidential schematics of their upcoming products. In January 2022, the Russian Federal Security Service said they had dismantled REvil and charged several of its members.

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Kaseya Limited is a company headquartered in Miami that develops software for network monitoring, system monitoring, and other information technology applications. It is majority-owned by Insight Partners and owns the naming rights to the Kaseya Center. The name of the company means "protect and defend" in the Sioux language. The company was estimated to be valued at $12 billion in April 2023.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Une cyberattaque contre une société américaine menace une multitude d'entreprises". Le Monde (in French). 3 July 2021. Archived from the original on 11 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Lily Hay Newman (2021-07-04). "How REvil Ransomware Took Out Thousands of Business at Once". Wired . Archived from the original on 2021-11-10. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  3. ↑ McMillan, Robert (2021-07-04). "Ransomware Attack Affecting Likely Thousands of Targets Drags On". Wall Street Journal . ISSN   0099-9660. Archived from the original on 2021-09-28. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
  4. ↑ Osborne, Charlie (2021-07-23). "The Kaseya ransomware attack: Everything we know so far". ZDNet . Archived from the original on 2021-08-16. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Ukrainian Arrested and Charged with Ransomware Attack on Kaseya". United States Department of Justice . November 8, 2021. Archived from the original on November 11, 2021. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  6. 1 2 "Sodinokibi/REvil Affiliate Sentenced for Role in $700M Ransomware Scheme". Office of Public Affairs, United States Department of Justice. 2024-05-01. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  7. ↑ Boonstra, Wietse. "Report DIVD-2021-00002 - KASEYA VSA". DIVD.
  8. ↑ "The Unfixed Flaw at the Heart of REvil's Ransomware Spree". Wired . July 8, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
  9. ↑ Hammond, John. "Rapid Response: Mass MSP Ransomware Incident". Huntress. Archived from the original on 2021-10-26. Retrieved 2021-07-24.
  10. ↑ Gerrit De Vynck; Aaron Gregg; Rachel Lerman (July 6, 2021). "Ransomware attack struck between 800 and 1,500 businesses, says company at center of hack—Kaseya's software touches hundreds of thousands of firms, but company says vast majority were unaffected". The Washington Post . Retrieved July 6, 2021.
  11. ↑ Giles, Martin (3 July 2021). "A New Wave Of Ransomware Has Been Sparked By A Cyberattack On Tech Provider Kaseya". Forbes . Archived from the original on 23 September 2021.
  12. ↑ Tidy, Joe (3 July 2021). "Swedish Coop supermarkets shut due to US ransomware cyber-attack". BBC News . Archived from the original on 5 October 2021.
  13. ↑ Greig, Jonathan (July 26, 2021). "Kaseya denies paying ransom for decryptor, refuses comment on NDA". ZDNet . Archived from the original on October 3, 2021. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  14. ↑ Tung, Liam (5 July 2021). "Kaseya ransomware attack: US launches investigation as gang demands giant $70 million payment". ZDNet . Archived from the original on 9 October 2021.
  15. ↑ Satter, Raphael (5 July 2021). "Up to 1,500 businesses affected by ransomware attack, U.S. firm's CEO says". Reuters . Archived from the original on 11 November 2021.
  16. ↑ "Biden tells Putin Russia must crack down on cybercriminals". AP NEWS. July 9, 2021.
  17. ↑ Sanger, David E. (July 13, 2021). "Russia's most aggressive ransomware group disappeared. It's unclear who disabled them". The New York Times.
  18. ↑ Business, Brian Fung, Zachary Cohen and Geneva Sands, CNN (July 13, 2021). "Ransomware gang that hit meat supplier mysteriously vanishes from the internet". CNN.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. ↑ "Gang behind huge cyber-attack demands $70m in Bitcoin". 2021-07-05. Retrieved 2024-08-19.
  20. ↑ "Ransomware key to unlock customer data from REvil attack". BBC News . BBC. July 23, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  21. 1 2 "Sodinokibi/REvil Ransomware Defendant Extradited to United States and Arraigned in Texas". Office of Public Affairs, United States Department of Justice. 2022-03-09. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  22. ↑ "YEVGENIY IGOREVICH POLYANIN". FBI. 2024-06-23. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
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