11 November 2021  —  Eric Swotinsky
Incident reports

Hive cybercrime gang takes aim at Linux, FreeBSD

The Hive gang has developed new versions of its ransomware designed to encrypt both Linux and FreeBSD.

Windows may be popular, but it's far from the only operating system targeted by cybercriminals: 96.3% of the world's top 1 million servers run on Linux, as does 90% of all cloud infrastructure. A number of other ransomware gangs — including Babuk, DarkSide, and HelloKitty — have also created Linux encryptors.

Researchers who discovered the newer variants of Hive ransomware say that it's still in development. There is continued interest in the ability to encrypt multiple servers at once. 

Ransomware gangs will continue to refine their strategies, and we can only expect their attacks against today's IT environments to become more and more effective. Acronis Cyber Protect's Active Protection works on Linux to stop ransomware and other cyberthreats based on the malicious behaviors that they exhibit.