Everest cybercriminals offer corporate insiders cold, hard cash for remote access The Everest ransomware group is stepping up its efforts to purchase access to corporate networks directly from employees amid what researchers believe to be a major transition for the cybercriminals. In a post at the top of its dark web victim blog, Everest said it will offer a "good percentage" of the profits generated from …
Promises of large payouts are made to professionals in exchange for facilitating access for the thieves or deploying the ransomware themselves.
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Demonware gang offered 40 percent of the total proceeds of a successful attack in exchange for deploying the ransomware.
If theres a "professional" prepared to do that he wouldnt really need the gang
{insert some kind of Office Space (1999) quote}
The insider wouldn't have to write the code to encrypt the files, set up the infrastructure to communicate with the victim without immediately being caught, or negotiate payment with the victim, and would be at least somewhat insulated from the initial investigation. If the article is right, this is also a guaranteed payment whether the victim pays up or not. Those are, unfortunately, terms that might convince someone to do it.
It would make some sense for law enforcement to set up things like this if only to reduce the trust that others might have in stuff like it. Unfortunately, anyone who responded to an invitation from law enforcement impersonating a ransomware gang would probably be able to claim entrapment. However, I'd expect some law enforcement to pretend to be willing accomplices to try to gain more information about the real gangs.
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