LockBit attacks LEC London
Incident Date:
March 11, 2024
Overview
Title
LockBit attacks LEC London
Victim
LEC London
Attacker
Lockbit
Location
First Reported
March 11, 2024
LockBit Ransomware Group Targets Laser Eye Clinic in London
LockBit ransomware group has attacked the Laser Eye Clinic (LEC London). No further details have been disclosed. LEC London is an international eye clinic that specializes in the treatment of myopia, presbyopia, and cataracts, offering cutting-edge solutions to liberate individuals from glasses, contact lenses, and reading glasses. With over 30 years of expertise in refractive surgery, LEC London has a team of distinguished doctors and surgeons committed to delivering unparalleled care and outcomes to our valued patients.
About LockBit Ransomware
LockBit is a RaaS (Ransomware-as-a-Service) that has been active since 2019. It is highly adept at security tool evasion and boasts an extremely fast encryption speed. LockBit is noted for multiple means of extortion where the victim may also be asked to pay a ransom for any sensitive information exfiltrated in the attack in addition to paying a ransom for the encryption key. LockBit employs publicly available file-sharing services and a custom tool dubbed Stealbit for data exfiltration.
LockBit is by far the most prolific ransomware operation to date and has proven that it follows through on threats, having exposed a large amount of exfiltrated Boeing data in Q4-2023. LockBit has demanded ransoms in excess of $50 million and hit the world’s biggest computer chip maker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), with a $70 million ransom demand in July.
Innovation and Evolution of LockBit
LockBit continues to innovate its RaaS platform following the release of LockBit 3.0 in June of 2022 and introduced what is considered to be the first iteration of a macOS ransomware variant in April of 2023. The latest versions incorporate advanced anti-analysis features and are a threat to both Windows and Linux systems. LockBit 3.0 is modular and configured with multiple execution options that direct the behavior of the ransomware on the affected systems.
LockBit employs a custom Salsa20 algorithm to encrypt files. LockBit takes advantage of remote desktop protocol (RDP) exploitation for most infections and spreads on the network by way of Group Policy Objects and PsExec using the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. LockBit also appears still to be supporting the older LockBit 2.0 variant from 2021.
LockBit operators were observed frequently exploiting the Citrix Bleed vulnerability (CVE 2023-4966). LockBit tends to target larger enterprises across any industry vertical with the ability to pay high ransom demands, but it has also tended to favor healthcare organizations. LockBit is a very well-run affiliate program and has a great reputation amongst the affiliate (attacker) community for the maturity of the platform as well as for offering high payouts of as much as 75% of the ransom proceeds.
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.