Chicago FBI warns of threat of new ransomware attacks
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago FBI's cyber squad is on the front lines of a digital war against an international cyber mafia.
Special Agent Ali Sadiq tells the I-Team the dirty digital tricks of cyber criminals are evolving at a rapid pace.
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"It involves malware or malicious software that is installed by criminals on victim networks to encrypt or lock up their files, which they can then use to try to extort a ransom payment from the victims," said Sadiq.
Traditional ransomware attacks have evolved into a new world-wide illegal franchise.
"The Gunra ransomware strain is quite a recent strain that's come into existence," said Sadiq.
Gunra ransomware, described as a Russian-made digital dagger, is designed to pierce protected cyber infrastructure to steal and encrypt sensitive information on a target's devices.
"It could be your small mom and pop businesses. That could be critical infrastructure organizations. Those would include things like hospitals, energy grid companies, transportation systems, government services," Sadiq told I-Team.
Then come threats to publish private information used as leverage for a payout, according to this urgent warning from the FBI and federal officials.
"These criminal groups operate as criminal enterprises," said Sadiq.
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A new international cyber mafia behind keyboards and screens is leasing digital tools and space to exploit and extort.
"So, the affiliates that sign up with Gunra ransomware, they find and attack individual victims and they share the proceeds from any ransom payments that they receive," said Sadiq.
Former Homeland Security Acting Undersecretary for Intelligence and ABC News contributor John Cohen told the I-Team organized crime in the digital age poses a serious threat to national security.
"Criminal organizations as well as foreign and domestic threat actors have embraced the power of technology. They understand it. They're hiring expertise in it. They are using advanced computing capability, like artificial intelligence, to change their entire approach to engaging in crime," said Cohen.
He says nation-state adversaries like Russia, Iran and China will tap these cyber criminal syndicates for intelligence operations, offensive actions like the string of water infrastructure hacks across the country, and for building war chests.
"They'll use cyber-attacks and cyber-crime to acquire funding that they use to fund other military and threat-related activities. They'll team up with proxy groups and criminal organizations," said Cohen.
But there have been recent wins in the digital war. Alleged hackers were just extradited to the U.S. from Finland to be tried in Chicago. Prosecutors say they extorted more than $100 million from victims.
The FBI says it works very closely with local and international partners to locate those individuals and to collect the evidence necessary to prosecute them and to bring them to justice
There have been other federal extraditions from overseas for cases in Charlotte, Houston and in Tampa, where a Romanian national was sentenced to two decades in prison for conducting cyber ransoms.
