Conti ransomware group might actually be helping Russia during the ongoing conflict between it and Ukraine. This detail was claimed after thousands of chat messages and files were leaked.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the media with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at Parliament on February 17, 2015 in Budapest, Hungary. Putin is in Budapest on a one-day visit, his first visit to an EU-member country since he attended ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasions in France in June, 2014.
These files were acquired, thanks to the efforts made by an anonymous Ukrainian cybersecurity expert. This tech expert was able to breach the system of Conti, allowing him to gather the alarming chat messages and files.
Right now, various hacking groups are still linked to Russia, such as REvil. Conti is another ransomware gang that is believed to be working with the Russian government.
Conti Ransomware Group Helping Russia?
According to The Wired's latest report, the Ukrainian security expert was able to acquire a cached of around 60,000 files and chat messages.
In this file photo taken on August 04, 2020, Prince, a member of the hacking group Red Hacker Alliance who refused to give his real name, uses a website that monitors global cyberattacks on his computer at their office in Dongguan, China's southern Guangdong province. - As the number of online devices surges and super-fast 5G connections roll out.
He leaked the documents online at the end of February, allowing other cybersecurity researchers to study the acquired files.
They found out that the chat messages and files show how the ransomware group operates on a daily basis and how it achieves its cryptocurrency ambitions.
"You can see from the chats that they were closing some stuff and switching to private chats. But it was really business as usual," said MalwareBytes' Threat Intelligence Director Jerome Segura.
Now, various cybersecurity experts claim that the Conti ransomware gang is connected to the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.
Are the Leaked Conti Files Legit?
CPO Magazine reported that the leaked Conti documents published between Feb. 27 and Feb. 28 were already checked by independent cybersecurity experts.
They confirmed that the acquired chat messages and other files are authentic. Those who reviewed the Conti documents said that the files contain explicit information about the ransomware gang's BTC addresses and private URLs.
In other news, the state-sponsored Iranian hackers recently deployed the Log4j security flaw. Meanwhile, the Kronos ransomware gang was able to steal thousands of social security numbers from Puma.
For more news updates about the Conti ransomware group and other hacking gangs, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.
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Written by: Griffin Davis
