“We created DarkSide because we didn’t find the perfect product for us,” reads the launch announcement. “Now we have it.” It’s a line that could come out of any number of VC-friendly pitch decks, but DarkSide is no startup. It’s the latest strain of ransomware built to shake down big-game targets for millions—with attacks that are couched in an uncanny air of professionalism.
Guaranteed turnaround times. Real-time chat support. Brand awareness. As ransomware becomes big business, its purveyors have embraced the tropes of legitimate enterprises, down to corporate responsibility pledges. In that same “press release,” posted to the operators' site on the dark web on August 10 and first reported by cybersecurity news site Bleeping Computer, the DarkSide hackers pinky-swear not to attack hospitals, schools, nonprofits, or government targets.
“The groups are increasingly becoming ruthlessly efficient,” says Brett Callow, a threat analyst at antivirus company Emsisoft. “They have more of a chance of success the easier they make life for their victims—or the easier they make it to pay them.”
DarkSide, Inc.
The rise of the buttoned-up ransomware hacker has been gradual and widespread, and is partly a function of success breeding success. The more resources these groups have, the more they can allocate toward streamlining their services. In 2019 ransomware attacks potentially grabbed at least $7.5 billion from victims in the US alone, according to Emsisoft.
The group behind DarkSide isn’t the first to wear a patina of professionalism. REvil ransomware, which predates and shares some characteristics ..
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