Dubbed “BlackLock” (aka "El Dorado" or "Eldorado"), the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) outfit has existed since March 2024. In Q4 of last year, it increased its number of data leak posts by a staggering 1,425% quarter-on-quarter. According to independent reporting, a relatively new group has rapidly accelerated attacks and could become the most dominant RaaS group in 2025.
Fortunately, it will not happen due to certain events happening "behind the scenes." As you may know, Christmas and Winter Holidays are the best times for cybercriminals to attack, defraud, and extort victims globally. But in some cases, they may expect unexpected gifts too. Around that time, Resecurity identified a vulnerability present at the Data Leak Site (DLS) of BlackLock in the TOR network - successful exploitation of which allowed our analysts to collect substantial intelligence about their activity outside of the public domain.
FEBRUARY 21st was a typical day, recalls Ben Zhou, the boss of ByBit, a Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange. Before going to bed, he approved a fund transfer between the firm’s accounts, a “typical manoeuvre” performed while servicing more than 60m users around the world. Half an hour later he got a phone call. “Ben, there’s an issue,” his chief financial officer said, voice shaking. “We might be hacked…all of the Ethereum is gone.”
