Akira attacks Wright Brothers Construction
Incident Date:
April 16, 2024
Overview
Title
Akira attacks Wright Brothers Construction
Victim
Wright Brothers Construction
Attacker
Akira
Location
First Reported
April 16, 2024
Ransomware Gang Akira Attacks Wright Brothers Construction
Background
Ransomware gang Akira has attacked Wright Brothers Construction, although no further details have been disclosed. Wright Brothers Construction Company is a top provider of commercial-grade construction services, employing dedicated and experienced individuals. In 1961, James and Robert Wright founded Wright Brothers Construction Company in Charleston, Tennessee.
Akira Group
Akira first emerged in March 2023, and the group may have links to the notorious Conti gang, although this is difficult to ascertain given the Conti code was leaked in 2022. Interestingly, Akira’s extortion platform includes a chat feature for victims to negotiate directly with the attackers, and it has been observed that Akira will inform victims who have paid a ransom of the infection vectors they leveraged to carry out the attack. This is not a “standard procedure” for ransomware, as many ransomware operators have engaged in multiple attacks on the same victim.
Attack Details
A decrypter was released that may have worked on earlier variants or obscure samples of Akira, but its utility has proven to be null for recovery. Akira maintains a modest but growing attack volume, putting them in about the middle of the pack when compared to other ransomware operators. Ransom demands appear to range between $200,000 to more than $4 million. Akira operates a RaaS written in C++ that is capable of targeting both Windows and Linux systems, typically by exploiting credentials for VPNs. Akira modules will delete Windows Shadow Volume Copies leveraging PowerShell and is designed to encrypt a wide range of file types while avoiding Windows system files with .exe, .lnk, .dll, .msi, and .sys extensions. Akira also abuses legitimate LOLBins/COTS tools like PCHunter64, making detection more difficult.
Recent Developments
In July, a Linux variant for Akira was detected in the wild, and the group was also observed remotely exploiting a zero-day in Cisco’s Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) software (CVE-2023-20269) in brute-force attacks since at least August. Akira has also been observed exploiting VMware ESXi vulnerabilities for lateral movement. The group has attacked dozens of organizations across multiple industry verticals, including education, finance, and manufacturing.
Operations
Akira operations include data exfiltration for double extortion with the threat to expose or sell the data should the victim fail to come to terms with the attackers. They are assessed to have leaked gigabytes of stolen data from victims.
Recent Ransomware Attacks
The Recent Ransomware Attacks (RRA) site acts as a watchtower, providing you with near real-time ransomware tracking of attacks, groups and their victims. Given threat actors’ overarching, lucrative success so far, ransomware attacks have become the most ubiquitous, and financially and informationally impactful cyber threat to businesses and organizations today.
The site’s data is generated based on hosting choices of real-world threat actors, and a handful of other trackers. While sanitization efforts have been taken, we cannot guarantee 100% accuracy of the data. Attack updates will be made as source data is reported by reputable sources. By viewing, accessing, or using RRA you acknowledge you are doing so at your own risk.