Conti
Since Jul 31, 2020, Conti has listed 351 organizations on its leak site.
Listings per month
- Total listings
- 351
- First listing
- Jul 31, 2020
- Latest listing
- Jun 7, 2022
- MITRE ATT&CK techniques
- 23
Conti is an extremely damaging ransomware due to the speed with which it encrypts data and spreads to other systems. It was first observed in 2020 and it is thought to be led by a Russia-based cybercrime group that goes under the Wizard Spider pseudonym. In early May 2022, the US government announced a reward of up to $10 million for information on the Conti ransomware gang.
It posted no listings in the last 12 months.
Most targeted country: United States, with 12 listings (3% of the total).
Most targeted sector: Manufacturing, with 91 listings (26% of the total).
Targeted countries
Showing 10 of 351 results
23 MITRE ATT&CK techniques across 12 stages are documented in the group's attacks.
- 1
Initial access
The attacker gets into the corporate network for the first time.
T1078.002Valid Accounts: Domain AccountsT1190Exploit Public-Facing ApplicationT1566.001Phishing: Spearphishing Attachment - 2
Execution
Malicious code runs on the target system.
T1047Windows Management InstrumentationT1059.001Command and Scripting Interpreter: PowerShell - 3
Persistence
Access survives reboots and password changes.
T1136.002Create Account: Domain AccountT1547.001Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Registry Run Keys - 4
Privilege escalation
The attacker moves to accounts with higher privileges.
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation - 5
Defense evasion
Security software and logging are bypassed.
T1218.011Signed Binary Proxy Execution: Rundll32T1562.001Disable or Modify Tools - 6
Credential access
Passwords, tokens and session data are stolen.
T1003.001OS Credential Dumping: LSASS MemoryT1003.003OS Credential Dumping: NTDS - 7
Discovery
Systems, accounts and data on the network are mapped.
T1046Network Service DiscoveryT1482Domain Trust Discovery - 8
Lateral movement
The attacker moves to other systems inside the network.
T1021.001Remote Services: Remote Desktop ProtocolT1021.002Remote Services: SMB/Windows Admin Shares - 9
Collection
Data to be stolen is selected and gathered.
T1005Data from Local SystemT1560.001Archive Collected Data: Archive via Utility - 10
Command and control
Compromised systems are controlled remotely.
T1071.001Application Layer Protocol: Web ProtocolsT1219Remote Access Software - 11
Exfiltration
Data is moved out of the organization; the threat to publish it in the listing relies on this data.
T1567.002Exfiltration Over Web Service: Exfiltration to Cloud Storage - 12
Impact
Systems are encrypted or services are stopped.
T1486Data Encrypted for ImpactT1490Inhibit System Recovery
What does a ransomware group do?
Ransomware groups break into corporate networks, move data out and encrypt systems. If the ransom is not paid, they list the organization on a leak site and threaten to publish the data.
How does Conti get into organizations?
The attacker gets into the corporate network for the first time.
- T1078.002 · Valid Accounts: Domain Accounts
- T1190 · Exploit Public-Facing Application
- T1566.001 · Phishing: Spearphishing Attachment
Which defenses matter most?
Priority defenses based on the documented techniques:
- Keep internet-facing VPN, remote desktop and firewall interfaces patched, and require multi-factor authentication on these accounts.
- Allow scripts and macros only for users who need them, and keep behavioral rules enabled in endpoint protection.
- Monitor newly created services, scheduled tasks and startup entries.
- Reduce local administrator accounts and perform privileged tasks from separate, monitored accounts.
- Alert when security software is disabled or logs are cleared.
- Regularly check whether employee passwords and session cookies appear in infostealer logs.
- Monitor accounts that run many queries in a short time and unusual network scans.
- Segment the network and expose management protocols only on the management network.
- Monitor large file archiving operations.
- Block unapproved use of remote management tools.
- Monitor unusual data volumes sent to cloud storage and file transfer services.
- Keep offline, immutable backups and test restores regularly.
What should you do if your organization is listed on a leak site?
- Record the listing and any published sample files; do not visit the leak site from the corporate network.
- Isolate affected systems and preserve logs without deleting them.
- Determine which data left the organization; if personal data is involved, review notification obligations with your legal team.
- Make any decision about the ransom demand together with legal, management and incident response.
- Do not bring systems back online before the attacker’s entry point is closed.
Is your organization mentioned?
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