A joint advisory issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Agency (NSA) has warned that the BlackMatter ransomware group has targeted “multiple” organizations deemed critical infrastructure, including two organizations in the U.S. food and agriculture sector.
The agencies did not name did not name the victims, but Iowa New Cooperative, an Iowa-based farm service provider, was last month hit by a ransomware attack that saw hackers demand a $5.9 million ransom to unlock their systems. The attack was followed by a similar attack on Crystal Valley, a Minnesota-based farm supply and grain marketing cooperative.
The advisory provides an overview of the BlackMatter threat, its tactics (which includes the wiping of backup data stores and appliances, rather than encrypting them), detection signatures, and mitigation best practices. It also lends credence to the wider bel …
