CDK Paid $25 Million in Bitcoin to Ransomware Group.

A ransomware group tied to the June cyberattack on CDK Global received more than $25 million in Bitcoin, according to chain investigator ZachXBT.

Last month, CDK Global suffered an attack that disrupted its software, affecting about 15,000 US car dealerships.

CDK paid 387 BTC to stop cyber attack.

According to ZachXBT, an address associated with BlackSuit received a payment of 387 BTC on June 21. The money is then transferred to several central exchanges. Blacksuit emerged in 2023 and became a popular ransomware group targeting US companies.

This payment coincides with a previous Bloomberg report that CDK Global plans to pay a ransom to keep the data public. The company agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars to quickly restore the operating system.

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However, CDK did not confirm that the ransom was paid. Instead, nearly 15,000 car dealership customers announced they were back online last week.

Ransomware involves deploying malware that restricts access to computer systems or data and demanding a ransom, usually in cryptic form. Blockchain analysis firm Chinalysis has announced that the payout for crypto-related ransomware attacks will double to more than $1 billion by 2023.

A hacking group called “cl0p,” the analytics firm said, has made nearly $100 million in ransom payments during this period. The team used file sharing software MOVEit.

“The ransomware landscape is not only vast, but also continuously expanding, making it challenging to track every incident or monitor every ransom payment made in cryptocurrencies…[There is] An increasing number of new players, attracted by high profit potential and low entry barriers, Chinalysis opined.

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A group called Black Basta has reportedly stolen at least $107 million in bitcoins. Most of these illegal ransom payments are attributed to the Russian crypto exchange Garantex. In particular, BeinCrypto reported a Bitcoin ransomware attack targeting Romanian hospitals in February, demanding 3.5 BTC as ransom.

These high-profile cases have prompted federal agencies such as the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to issue several advisories about these malicious players.

“Regularly patch and update software and applications to their latest versions and conduct regular vulnerability assessments,” the FBI advises.