<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe attackers kept this GPO active for over three days, silently harvesting credentials each time users logged in. After exfiltrating the stolen credentials, the attackers deleted the files and event logs to cover their tracks before deploying the ransomware. Finally, attackers used another GPO to schedule the execution of the ransomware, leaving ransom notes in every directory on the infected machines.<\/gwmw><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Victims of this variant of Qilin ransomware attack must reset all Active Directory passwords and warn users to change passwords for the sites saved in their Chrome browsers. <\/gwmw><\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Predictably, ransomware groups continue to change tactics and expand their repertoire of techniques. The Qilin ransomware group may have decided that, by merely targeting the network assets of their target organizations, they were missing out.” concludes the report. “If they, or other attackers, have decided to also mine for endpoint-stored credentials \u2013 which could provide a foot in the door at a subsequent target, or troves of information about high-value targets to be exploited by other means \u2013 a dark new chapter may have opened in the ongoing story of cybercrime.”<\/em><\/gwmw><\/p>\n\n\n\n