New 0mega ransomware targets businesses in double-extortion attacks

A brand-new double-extortion ransomware operation known as “0mega” targets businesses all around the world and wants millions of dollars in ransom payments.

Since its May 2022 inception, the ransomware operation known as 0mega (spelled with a zero) has targeted several victims.

Information about 0mega

Since a ransomware sample for the 0mega operation hasn’t yet been discovered, not much is known about the encryption method used.

We do know that the ransomware writes ransom notes with the name DECRYPT-FILES.txt and appends the.0mega extension to the names of the encrypted files.

These ransom notes are made specifically for each victim, and they often include the name of the business and a list of the various kinds of data that have been taken. Additionally, some letters contain threats that, in the event that a ransom is not paid, the 0mega gang will reveal the attack to commercial partners and trade groups.

The victims can contact the ransomware group via the “help” chat feature of the Tor payment negotiation site included in these ransom notes.

Victims must submit their ransom notes, which contain a special Base64-encoded blob required by the website to identify the victim, in order to log in.

Dedicated site for leaking 0mega data

Like practically other ransomware operations that target businesses, 0mega has a specific site for data leaks where threat actors disseminate stolen information if a ransom is not paid.

152 GB of data that were taken from an electronics repair business in a May incident are now hosted on 0mega’s leak site.

Last week, though, there was a second victim who has now been eliminated, suggesting that the business may have paid a ransom.

We need to keep a watch on this operation because it is still very fresh and there may be other assaults in the future.