Commonwealth Sign Falls Victim to Ransomware Attack

Commonwealth Sign fell victim to a ransomware attack by Qilin on 3 February. The attack managed to penetrate the victim’s defenses and steal important data. The victim refused to contact the attackers to negotiate the terms, which resulted in Qilin announcing that it would leak the company’s confidential data publicly.

Introduction to Qilin Ransomware

Qilin (aka Agenda) is a RaaS operation that first emerged in July of 2022 that is written in the Go and Rust programming languages and is capable of targeting Windows and Linux systems. Rust is a secure, cross-platform programming language that offers exceptional performance for concurrent processing, making it easier to evade security controls and develop variants to target multiple OSs.

Qilin’s Attack Methodology

Qilin operators are known to exploit vulnerable applications including Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Each Qilin ransomware attack employs tactics such as altering the filename extensions of encrypted files and terminating specific processes and services. The utilization of Rust as the ransomware's foundation proves particularly effective due to its evasive nature and inherent complexity, allowing for seamless customization across various operating systems such as Windows, Linux, and others. Notably, the Qilin ransomware group can generate samples for both Windows and ESXi versions.

Qilin’s Dark Web Presence

Qilin promotes its ransomware on the dark web, utilizing a proprietary DLS (Dedicated Leak Site) that contains distinctive company identifiers and leaked account information, as uncovered by experts from Group-IB Threat Intelligence.

Double Extortion Technique

The operators behind Qilin employ a double extortion technique, whereby they not only encrypt a victim's sensitive data but also exfiltrate it. Subsequently, they demand payment for a decryptor and insist on the non-disclosure of stolen data even after the ransom has been paid. Qilin ransomware features multiple encryption modes, all under the control of the operator.