by Boris Badenov aka Grief Gang aka Russian hackers have targeted the NRA with ransomware.
A ransomware gang believed to operate out of Russia says it hacked the National Rifle Association, the most powerful gun–rights group in the United States.
The gang, which calls itself Grief, published a handful of what appear to be the NRA files on a dark web site. The files, reviewed by The Associated Press, relate to grants the NRA has awarded. Ransomware gangs often post a victim’s files publicly in hopes of spurring them to pay out a ransom.
The Record posted the following screen shot of some of the items the Grief Gang supposedly has stolen from NRA servers. Grief Gang is reported to have posted 13 files from the ones that they illegally downloaded.
NBC reports that this is the same gang that are under sanction by the US government.
While paying any ransomware hacker is a risk, Grief is particularly tricky. Cybersecurity experts widely believe Grief is a rebranded effort by a group of Russian cybercriminals who previously used the nickname Evil Corp, which is currently under sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department.
“It’s the same group,” said Allan Liska, a ransomware analyst at the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.
Liska went on to say that given the troubles the NRA faces right now that he suspects their cybersecurity team is probably in disarray.
The only official response from the NRA is a tweet.
“NRA does not discuss matters relating to its physical or electronic security. However, the NRA takes extraordinary measures to protect information regarding its members, donors, and operations – and is vigilant in doing so.”–Andrew Arulanandam, managing dir., NRA Public Affairs
— NRA (@NRA) October 27, 2021
I think this photo of Wayne from the South China Post pretty much sums it up.
Somehow I don’t think Bill Brewer is going to get him out of this one.