The alert, which includes further technical details on the observed attacks, as well as indicators of compromise (IoCs) and mitigation recommendations, was published on the same day that the US announced charges against three Iranians who allegedly launched ransomware attacks against entities in at least five countries. The actors may sell the data or use the exfiltrated data in extortion operations or ‘double extortion’ ransom operations where a threat actor uses a combination of encryption and data theft to pressure targeted entities to pay ransom demands,” the advisory reads.

Depending on the perceived value, the actors may encrypt data for ransom and/or exfiltrate data. “After gaining access to a network, the IRGC-affiliated actors likely determine a course of action based on their perceived value of the data. These actors often operate under the auspices of Najee Technology Hooshmand Fater LLC, based in Karaj, Iran, and Afkar System Yazd Company, based in Yazd, Iran,” the joint advisory reads. critical infrastructure sectors as well as Australian, Canadian, and United Kingdom organizations.

“The IRGC-affiliated actors are actively targeting a broad range of entities, including entities across multiple U.S. Malicious attacks carried out by these advanced persistent threat (APT) actors, the authoring agencies say, involved encrypting files and exfiltrating data to engage in ‘double extortion’ activities. In a joint advisory published as an update to a November 2021 alert, agencies in the four countries say that Iranian state-sponsored threat actors affiliated with IRGC have been exploiting known vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange, Fortinet OS, and VMware Horizon Log4j for initial access.

Government agencies in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia say that threat groups associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have been engaging in data encryption and extortion operations.

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