• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

DoNot APT is expanding scope targeting European foreign ministries

 | 

Nippon Steel Solutions suffered a data breach following a zero-day attack

 | 

Iranian group Pay2Key.I2P ramps Up ransomware attacks against Israel and US with incentives for affiliates

 | 

Hackers weaponize Shellter red teaming tool to spread infostealers

 | 

Microsoft Patch Tuesday security updates for July 2025 fixed a zero-day

 | 

Italian police arrested a Chinese national suspected of cyberespionage on a U.S. warrant

 | 

U.S. CISA adds MRLG, PHPMailer, Rails Ruby on Rails, and Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

IT Worker arrested for selling access in $100M PIX cyber heist

 | 

New Batavia spyware targets Russian industrial enterprises

 | 

Taiwan flags security risks in popular Chinese apps after official probe

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Google Chromium V8 flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Hunters International ransomware gang shuts down and offers free decryption keys to all victims

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 52

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 531 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

North Korea-linked threat actors spread macOS NimDoor malware via fake Zoom updates

 | 

Critical Sudo bugs expose major Linux distros to local Root exploits

 | 

Google fined $314M for misusing idle Android users' data

 | 

A flaw in Catwatchful spyware exposed logins of +62,000 users

 | 

China-linked group Houken hit French organizations using zero-days

 | 

Cybercriminals Target Brazil: 248,725 Exposed in CIEE One Data Breach

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Breaking News
  • Cyber Crime
  • Hacking
  • Malware
  • Experts link the Black Basta ransomware operation to FIN7 cybercrime gang

Experts link the Black Basta ransomware operation to FIN7 cybercrime gang

Pierluigi Paganini November 03, 2022

Sentinel Labs found evidence that links the Black Basta ransomware gang to the financially motivated hacking group FIN7.

Security researchers at Sentinel Labs shared details about Black Basta‘s TTPs and assess it is highly likely the ransomware operation has ties with FIN7.

The experts analyzed tools used by the ransomware gang in attacks, some of them are custom tools, including EDR evasion tools. SentinelLabs believes the developer of these EDR evasion tools is, or was, a developer for FIN7 gang.

Further evidence linking the two includes IP addresses and specific TTPs (tactics, techniques, and procedures) used by FIN7 in early 2022 and seen months later in actual Black Basta attacks.

Black Basta has been active since April 2022, like other ransomware operations, it implements a double-extortion attack model.  

On the other end, FIN7 is a Russian financially motivated group that has been active since at least 2015. It focused on deploying POS malware and launching targeted spear-phishing attacks against organizations worldwide.

The Sentinel Labs’s analysis revealed that Black Basta ransomware operators develop and maintain their own toolkit, they documented only collaboration with a limited and trusted set of affiliates.

“SentinelLabs began tracking Black Basta operations in early June after noticing overlaps between ostensibly different cases. Along with other researchers, we noted that Black Basta infections began with Qakbot delivered by email and macro-based MS Office documents, ISO+LNK droppers and .docx documents exploiting the MSDTC remote code execution vulnerability, CVE-2022-30190.” reads the report published by the experts. “One of the interesting initial access vectors we observed was an ISO dropper shipped as “Report Jul 14 39337.iso” that exploits a DLL hijacking in calc.exe.”

The report details Black Basta’s initial access activity, manual reconnaissance, lateral movements, privilege escalation techniques, and remote admin tools.

In order to weaken the security defenses installed on the target machine, Black Basta targets installed security solutions with specific batch scripts downloaded into the Windows directory.

The threat actors were disabling Windows Defender executing the following scripts:

\Windows\ILUg69ql1.bat
\Windows\ILUg69ql2.bat
\Windows\ILUg69ql3.bat

The attackers also used the same naming convention (ILUg69ql followed by a digit) for batch scripts found in different intrusions.

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -command "New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender' -Name DisableAntiSpyware -Value 1 -PropertyType DWORD -Force"
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -command "Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring 1"
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass Uninstall-WindowsFeature -Name Windows-Defende

The DisableAntiSpyware parameter allows disabling the Windows Defender Antivirus in order to deploy another security solution. The DisableRealtimeMonitoring is used to disable real time protection and then Uninstall-WindowsFeature -Name Windows-Defender to uninstall Windows Defender.

The experts noticed that starting from June 2022, Black Basta operators deployed a previously undocumented custom EDR evasion tool.

The researchers discovered a custom tool, WindefCheck.exe, which is an executable packed with UPX. The sample is a binary compiled with Visual Basic which displays a fake Windows Security GUI and tray icon with a “healthy” system status, even if Windows Defender and other system functionalities are disabled.

In the background, the malware disables Windows Defender, EDR, and antivirus tools before dropping the ransomware payload.

black basta custom tool Fi7

The researchers discovered multiple samples linked to the above tool and found one packed with an unknown packer, which was identified as ‘SocksBot. (aka BIRDDOG)’ It is a backdoor that was used by the FIN7 group since at least 2018, it also connects to a C2 IP address 45[.]67[.]229[.]148 belonging to “pq.hosting,” a bulletproof hosting provider used by FIN7 in its operations.

“We assess it is highly likely the BlackBasta ransomware operation has ties with FIN7. Furthermore, we assess it is likely that the developer(s) behind their tools to impair victim defenses is, or was, a developer for FIN7.” concludes the report. “As we clarify the hand behind the elusive Black Basta ransomware operation, we aren’t surprised to see a familiar face behind this ambitious closed-door operation. While there are many new faces and diverse threats in the ransomware and double extortion space, we expect to see the existing professional criminal outfits putting their own spin on maximizing illicit profits in new ways.”

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook

[adrotate banner=”9″][adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, FIN7)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]


facebook linkedin twitter

Black Basta ransomware Cybercrime Hacking hacking news information security news IT Information Security malware Pierluigi Paganini ransomware Security Affairs Security News

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 10, 2025
DoNot APT is expanding scope targeting European foreign ministries
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 09, 2025
Nippon Steel Solutions suffered a data breach following a zero-day attack
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    DoNot APT is expanding scope targeting European foreign ministries

    APT / July 10, 2025

    Nippon Steel Solutions suffered a data breach following a zero-day attack

    Data Breach / July 09, 2025

    Iranian group Pay2Key.I2P ramps Up ransomware attacks against Israel and US with incentives for affiliates

    Malware / July 09, 2025

    Hackers weaponize Shellter red teaming tool to spread infostealers

    Malware / July 09, 2025

    Microsoft Patch Tuesday security updates for July 2025 fixed a zero-day

    Security / July 08, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT