Hunters International Ransomware Infiltrates US and Canada-Based Companies
Hunters International attacks 4 American and Canadian, each with hundreds of employees and considerable revenue. The victims didn’t discuss the attacks publicly.
- Hunters International isn’t as active as other ransomware actors, but they pose a serious threat nonetheless
- Thorite Group and Tamdown from the UK have 300 and 600 employees respectively, making them noteworthy targets for the cybercriminal organization
- The other 2, Charles Tent from UK and Innovative Automation from Canada, only have 81 and 102 employees respectively
- Hunters International posted evidence of the attack on their TOR website and gave the victims a deadline for negotiations
The ransomware organization hits pretty much indiscriminately, targeting small, medium, and large corporations equally. The group is financially motivated, so they will always go where the money is.
While Hunters International is pretty much unknown in the cybercriminal world, their profile and roots speak for themselves. It is believed that Hunters International is the successor of Hive, one of the most dangerous ransomware actors in the world.
The problem is that the FBI, along with its German counterparts and other organizations, managed to crack down on Hive at the end of 2023. They managed to both destroy Hive’s public presence and eliminate its structure as a whole.
As a result of the operation, the FBI supposedly secured 300 decryption keys, which were active for victims under attack at that point. A total of 1,000 more decryption keys were recovered afterwards and made public to prevent future attacks.
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Who Is Hunters International Really?
The operation that terminated Hive revealed that Hunters International shares approximately 60% of the ransomware code with the now defunct Hive. This is too large of a percentage to be mere coincidence.
So, the current theory is that Hunters International is Hive in disguise, formed out of the remains of the latter. This means that this novel organization is actually extremely potent and dangerous, although it may not seem at this point.
Hunters International hasn’t been particularly active since its inception, which could only be due to the group trying to stay low. The organization became active shortly after Hive’s demise, so it still ranks as a very new entity.
Despite this appearance of mediocrity, experts warn that Hunters International bear the signs of a future global threat. They advise those at risk to strengthen their ransomware protection and rely on experts to secure their networks against unwanted intrusions.