New details provide valuable insight into exactly how Darkside works to compromise and encrypt systems, with valuable guidance to avoid becoming a victim of ransomware.
The U.S. government’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has been busy responding to the recent major attacks on critical infrastructure organizations by working diligently to collect, organize, and now disseminate intelligence about the Darkside ransomware-as-a-service variant. In a newly released Malware Analysis Report (MAR) on Darkside, CISA provides a ton of valuable detail including how Darkside is executed, directories and files it includes/excludes, process names used, services it terminates, and domain and IP information. This detail helps security practitioners understand how to detect Darkside before it can have an impact.
In addition, their May Alert (AA21-131A), entitled DarkSide Ransomware: Best Practices for Preventing Business Disruption from Ransomware Attacks has been updated to include indicators of compromise as a STIX package.
Some of the best practices to stopping Darkside and other ransomware variants are also worth noting:
- Require Multi-factor Authentication
- Enable strong email filtering
- Filter network traffic to block ingress and egress C2 traffic
- Keep systems and software updated
- Stop macros and unwanted applications from running
- Implement a Security Awareness Training program and regularly perform simulated phishing attacks to test users
