New Trend Micro report highlights how underground intrusion specialists team up with ransomware groups

A new report from Trend Micro highlights how “access-as-a-service” providers and ransomware groups have come together to compromise and victimize more targets. 

Alliances between these types of cybercriminal teams can allow malware to spread further and faster into lucrative targets, most often company networks. A ransomware’s lifespan is fueled by finding new victims, a need that can be fulfilled by the intrusion experts that rent or sell access to different company networks.

A report from the Advanced Intelligence (AdvIntel) security organization shows how the complex underground syndicates and different malware groups can operate together. 

As AdvIntel details in the report, ransomware groups pursue different strategies to deliver their malware, while network intrusion experts are always looking for ways to monetize their access skills. A partnership between such groups is mutually beneficial.    

The prices for access range from US$3,000 to $20,000. The most expensive “package” the group was selling included full access to a company’s administrative panel, server hosts, and corporate VPN networks. Apparently the group was able to gain access through a variety of techniques, including abusing pentesting tools like Metasploit and Cobalt Strike Beacon.