Since June 2023, Sophos X-Ops has discovered 19 junk gun ransomware variants — cheap, independently produced, and crudely constructed — on the dark web. The developers of these junk gun variants are attempting to disrupt the traditional affiliate-based ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model that has dominated the ransomware racket for nearly a decade. Instead of selling or buying ransomware to or as an affiliate, attackers create and sell unsophisticated variants for a one-time cost—which other attackers sometimes … More →

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