DDoS and Ransomware: A Disastrous Combination

A ransomware and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack combination can be a recipe for disaster. One particular ransomware group, Avaddon, has recently maneuvered toward this indicator of attack.

Deadly Combinations of DDoS and Ransomware

Ransomware attacks alone can be extremely detrimental to an organization and their operations. When they work in cohesion with DDoS attacks, it provides threat actors with nearly immediate leverage.

A DDoS attack is described as overloading a network or website with activity to the point of being forced to restart or turn off.

Threat groups like Avaddon, see an opportunity to expand on the double extortion technique. If they have already encrypted and exfiltrated your organization’s data, a DDoS attack will only add to the problems and provide more reason for victims to pay for the restoration of data and networks.

On Avaddon’s leak site, they explain “Their site is currently under a DDoS Attack, we will attack it until they contact us. We still have many ideas on how to make problems for the company and their clients. Think about the company’s reputation.”

We, too, think you should worry about your company’s reputation by investing in a security firm like SpearTip to prevent these unfortunate occurrences from happening in the first place.

As these new tactics and techniques are adopted by threat groups, other perpetrators may try to implement them as well. DDoS can be used as a scare tactic for companies who have fallen victim to threat actors, but it will be interesting to see if other groups try to use this method in the future.

SpearTip professionals have been following the Avaddon ransomware group’s activity for quite some time, but they have been known mainly as a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) group where other threat actors can utilize their code to carry out an attack.

As always, we recommend putting forth the effort to budget for a cybersecurity plan and being proactive in fortifying your defenses. We even created ShadowSpear, an endpoint detection and response tool, to combat threat actors, protect organizations from diminished brand reputation, and maximize profits.