[BreachExchange] Maze ransomware gang retires from cyber crime

[Destry Winant]

https://www.itpro.co.uk/security/357619/maze-ransomware-gang-retires-from-cyber-crime

The Maze ransomware gang, behind some of the most notorious attacks of
2020, has announced that it’s shutting down its operations for good.

The notorious group, first discovered in May 2019, built a solid
reputation in a short space of time to encrypt all the files it can on
infected systems before demanding a ransom to return the documents.

Maze distinguished itself from several other groups in the way it
threatened to release the information over the internet should the
ransom not have been paid. It’s a method that has since inspired other
groups, such as Ryuk, Mount Locker and REvil, to set up their own
sites and threaten public disclosure in a similar way.

REvil hacking group says it has made more than $100m in a year
Sopra Steria confirms it was hit by new Ryuk ransomware variant
The truth about ransomware

The gang would have issued a warning that they were planning to
release details of a security breach, or distribute commercially
valuable information, and use stolen data to attack clients and
partners.

Maze has been highly active over the last year and a half, most
recently using its devastating strain to cripple the systems of
several large companies, including Canon in August, as well as a Xerox
in July.

The group, meanwhile, targeted the systems of several major
organisations in June, including VT San Antonio Aerospace and
MaxLinear, in attacks that involved hackers stealing large volumes of
data. Cognizant, too, fell victim to Maze in April, in an attack which
led to the loss of up to $70 million for the IT services provider.

“The Project is closed,” the press release said, according to cyber
security expert Graham Cluley. “Maze Team Project is announcing it is
officially closed. All the links to out project, using of our brand,
our work methods should be considered to be a scam.

“We never had partners or official successors. Our specialists do not
works with any other software. Nobody and never will be able to host
new partners at our news website. The Maze cartel was never exists and
is not existing now. It can be found only inside the heads of the
journalists who wrote about it [sic].”

The group continued to warn about the way that cryptocurrency markets
are changing, with the value of digital currencies rising “higher and
higher”, to the extent all Bitcoin will be concentrated in the hands
of a few. The suggestion is that these market shifts may affect how
lucrative the Maze group’s cyber crime antics may be in the future.