What is Triple Extortion Ransomware?

Originally, ransomware used a single extortion vector, encrypting data and demanding a ransom for the decryption key. Double extortion ransomware attacks added data theft to the attack, extorting a ransom to not leak the data if a victim refuses the original ransom request.

Triple extortion ransomware adds a third threat to the attack. In addition to encrypting and exfiltrating data, an attacker might perform a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, threaten the victim’s customers, or make other threats.

How Does A Triple Extortion Ransomware Work?

A triple extortion ransomware attack performs all of the same functions as a double extortion attack. The attacker will deploy ransomware on an organization’s network, and it might move laterally through the network to a system with high-value data. Once there, it will exfiltrate sensitive data before encrypting it.

Once data encryption is complete, the attacker makes their ransom demand of the victim. Originally, the organization might use the encrypted and exfiltrated data as leverage for a ransom demand. However, triple extortion ransomware attackers will escalate to include a third extortion attempt. Some possibilities include:

• DDoS Attacks: Triple extortion attacks may include a ransom DDoS component. This type of attack involves extorting a ransom not to perform a DDoS attack or to stop an ongoing one.
• Third-Party Attacks: Ransomware attackers may also extort third parties associated with a business. This includes customers, stakeholders, or partners of the organization.

Risks and Impacts to Businesses from Triple Extortion Ransomware

Some common risks and impacts of triple extortion ransomware attacks include:

• Reputational Damage: Triple extortion ransomware attacks have a higher probability of brand damage than other ransomware attacks. If an attacker disrupts an organization’s services or directly threatens third parties, this increases the potential for damaged relationships.
• Financial Losses: Ransomware attacks are designed to make money for cybercriminals, so a victim may incur financial losses due to payment of a ransom demand. However, the organization may also suffer financial losses due to the cost of remediating the attack, downtime during the incident, and lost customers or partnerships.
• Data Loss: Ransomware is designed to encrypt data as part of its extortion efforts. Even if the organization has backups or pays the ransom, then some data may be lost.
• Service Outages: Ransomware attacks create the potential for service outages due to the encryption of potentially important data. Triple extortion attacks amplify this risk since they may involve DDoS attacks, which directly impact the availability of an organization’s services.
• Legal Fees: A triple extortion ransomware attack may involve the loss of customer data and extortion of an organization’s customers and partners. This could cause the victim to be legally liable and face penalties.
• Regulatory Penalties: Triple extortion ransomware attacks involve the theft of sensitive customer data. This may inspire regulators to investigate and levy penalties against the organization for non-compliance and the failure to protect customer data.

Examples of Triple Extortion Ransomware

Some ransomware groups known to engage in triple extortion ransomware attacks include the following:

• AvosLocker: AvosLocker emerged in 2021 and is a Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) group that uses affiliates to spread its malware.
• BlackCat: BlackCat emerged in 2021 and was formed by members of BlackMatter, a RaaS group created the same year.

How to Prevent Triple Extortion Ransomware Attacks

Ransomware attacks can cause significant harm to a business. Some best practices for preventing ransomware attacks include:

• Cyberawareness Training: Ransomware attackers commonly target the user, using phishing attacks or attempting to guess weak passwords. Cybersecurity training can help employees to avoid insecure behaviors and identify common attacks.
• Data Backups: Ransomware attacks often involve data encryption, which can cause data loss and force the company to pay a ransom. Creating regular backups enables organizations to restore lost data without paying the ransom.
• Patching: Exploitation of software vulnerabilities is another common attack vector for ransomware. Regularly applying patches and updates can reduce an organization’s vulnerability to attack.
• Strong User Authentication: Ransomware groups also take advantage of weak credentials to deploy ransomware, accessing corporate systems through RDP, VPNs, or other remote access solutions. Deploying secure methods of user authentication — such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) can reduce the risk of these account takeover attacks.
• Network Segmentation: Ransomware commonly needs to move laterally through the target network from its initial foothold — often an employee workstation — to a high-value target (database server, etc.). Network segmentation makes this movement more difficult and detectable by creating additional boundaries within the corporate network.
• Anti-Ransomware Solutions: Anti-ransomware solutions can identify malware based on its signature or unique behaviors. This allows it to block or remediate a ransomware infection before it causes significant damage to the business.
• Threat Intelligence: The ransomware threat landscape is constantly evolving, and security solutions need the latest data to identify and respond to new threats. Integrating threat intelligence with network and endpoint security solutions enables them to more accurately and rapidly remediate these threats.