Iranian Hackers Behind Malicious New Cyber Attacks

 The latest warning from the research team at Check Point, published today, is a timely reminder that the shifting sands of the cyber landscape will be a serious issue for president-elect Biden. On the surface, this latest report is on the increasing scourge of ransomware—a primarily commercial threat. But dig a little deeper and what becomes clear is that this shines a light on enhanced capabilities in Iran, which is quickly honing its malicious skillset.

A week ago, Check Point reported on ransomware attacks against “an exceptional number” of Israeli companies. While some of those attacks used known tools— the likes of REvil and Ryuk, Check Point warned that “several large corporations experienced a full-blown attack with a previously unknown ransomware variant names Pay2Key.”

According to the research team, the campaign built around this new Pay2Key ransomware “presented an ability to make a rapid move of spreading the ransomware within an hour to the entire network.” Ransom demands were low—less than $150,000, but the fact a new and virulent threat had been launched onto the market needed to be taken seriously.