14 DAY TRIAL // Two more ransomware groups seem to vanish from the Internet, in another possible aftershock of Colonial's cyberattack, as Reuters states.
According to Allan Liska, a researcher with cybersecurity company Recorded Future, the websites, operated by groups called "AKO" and "Everest," seem to be inaccessible from the weekend.
She also said that “it’s unusual to see two of the bigger names go down for 24 hours”
“That makes me think it’s a conscious choice to take their site offline”.
This action follows the aftermath of DarkSide's attack which powered off the United States' largest fuel pipeline network. This popular cybercriminal group closed their websites to avoid public attention.
Colonial Pipeline’s operations started again on Thursday after being powered off for almost a week after they allegedly paid the $5 million ransom requested by hackers.
Other cybercriminal groups following the same pattern
Other cybercriminal groups of ransomware claim they are planning to shut down or scale back criminal operations in the U.S. One possible explanation for backing down may be that the U.S. government started to pressure them.
Groups such as REvil or Avaddon said that they avoid attacking the government, non-profit organizations, or healthcare industry.
U.S. international pressure, legal requirements of technology providers or even government-backed hacking may be some of the reason for the retreat. Still, the situation remains unclear. The FBI has not sent a message immediately to comment upon the disappearance of the websites of ransomware operators.
In her previous declarations regarding ransomware groups, Lisa stated that certain targets were off-limits in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, but that did not last long.
“We’ve seen this song-and-dance before,” Liska said. “It remains to be seen whether this is something they’re going to follow through on or whether they’re putting out releases to get good press”.