Hackers target online gambling companies

The group of hackers, known as APT27, were gaining access to specific servers and demanding US$100m in Bitcoin as ransom

Israeli cybersecurity firms,?Profero?and Security Joes,?are reporting a series of?malicious software?attacks, known as ransomware,?against five unnamed online gambling companies by a?group known?as Advanced Persistent Threat 27 (APT27).?

APT27 was originally?focused on corporate?intelligence?rather than financial gain but?have?now shifted to gambling companies.?

The report?also?identified a Chinese-led hacking group known as?Winnti?(aka APT41), which has?a history of going after online gaming. The APT27 attacks used similar?DRBControl?malware to gain access?to?targeted servers.?

Once the hackers gained access to a specific server, they?utilized?the BitLocker encryption tool built into Windows to deny access?to the rightful?owners?of the servers rather?than?applying?a custom piece of ransomware?and then?demanded a total of US$100m in Bitcoin from the targeted gambling operators to unlock the servers.?

The gambling companies did not give in to the hackers’ demand as ransoms were?not paid?and companies were able restore access to their servers by using back up files.?

Amit?Serper (pictured left), a cybersecurity researcher, told Haaretz that these designed attacks are very similar to those used by state-sponsored Chinese hackers. Their certain ways of attacking a system are easily?noticeable?and that is why?Serper?thinks it was this specific group of hackers.?However, since state-sponsored Chinese hackers tend to use the same tactics, there is the possibility that another country could be impersonating these hackers, such as North Korea according to Amit?Serper.?

Furthermore, there may also be the possibility that these attacks were a response to China’s fight against ‘cross-border’ gambling.?The hackers may have used the ransomware tactic?as a way to hinder operators by stopping them from accepting bets from mainland gamblers. This hacking tactic?could be a new form of?penalizing mainland gamblers and help in their fight against cross-border gambling.

Source: Calvinayre