BlackBasta attacks Kohl Wholesale
Incident Date:
December 16, 2023
Overview
Title
BlackBasta attacks Kohl Wholesale
Victim
Kohl Wholesale
Attacker
Blackbasta
Location
First Reported
December 16, 2023
BlackBasta Ransomware Attack on Kohl Wholesale
BlackBasta claimed a ransomware attack against Kohl Wholesale. The group obtained 525GB of corporate data, including accounting records, accident information, customer service data, human resources data, driver’s license information, medical cards, and other personal documents. The company has posted a notice on their website noting that they "are experiencing internet issues that are affecting some of our phone lines and our online ordering portal." Kohl Wholesale is a foodservice distributor of many national and regional brands.
Background on Black Basta
Black Basta is a RaaS that emerged in early 2022 and is assessed by some researchers to be an offshoot of the disbanded Conti and REvil attack groups. The group routinely exfiltrates sensitive data from victims for additional extortion leverage. Black Basta engages in highly targeted attacks and is assessed to only work with a limited group of highly vetted affiliate attackers. Black Basta has quickly became one of the most prolific attack groups in 2023 and was observed leveraging unique TTPs for ingress, lateral movement, data exfiltration data, and deployment of ransomware payloads.
Ransom Demands and Tactics
Ransom demands vary depending on the targeted organization with reports that they can be as high as $2 million dollars. Black Basta continues to evolve their RaaS platform, with ransomware payloads that can infect systems running both Windows and Linux systems. Black Basta is particularly adept at exploiting vulnerabilities in VMware ESXi running on enterprise servers.
Black Basta ransomware is written in C++, can target both Windows and Linux systems, encrypts data with ChaCha20, and then the encryption key is encrypted with RSA-4096 for rapid encryption of the targeted network. In some cases, Black Basta leverages malware strains like Qakbot and exploits such as PrintNightmare during the infection process. Black Basta also favors abuse of insecure Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) deployments, one of the leading infection vectors for ransomware.
Target Industries and Double Extortion
Black Basta typically targets manufacturing, transportation, construction and related services, telecommunications, the automotive sector, and healthcare providers. Black Basta also employs a double extortion scheme and maintains an active leaks website where they post exfiltrated data if an organization declines to pay the ransom demand.
Recent Ransomware Attacks
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