Hunters International takes reins of Hive ransomware infrastructure

Newly emergent ransomware operation Hunters International has launched attacks leveraging the infrastructure and source code of Hive ransomware, which was dismantled in a law enforcement operation in January, The Hacker News reports. Initial reports have purported Hunters International to be a Hive ransomware rebrand but Hunters International emphasized that its attack infrastructure has been purchased from Hive, said Bitdefender Technical Solutions Director Martin Zugec in a report. Despite code similarities between both operations, Hunters International has sought to simplify its attacks with reduced command line parameters, more concise malware, and a streamlined encryption key storage approach. Hunters International has also focused more on data exfiltration activities, according to the report. "While Hive has been one of the most dangerous ransomware groups, it remains to be seen if Hunters International will prove equally or even more formidable... This group emerges as a new threat actor starting with a mature toolkit and appears eager to show its capabilities, [but] faces the task of demonstrating its competence before it can attract high-caliber affiliates," noted Zugec.