Known as Hunters International, the Rainmware Gang announced on its dark web page on Thursday that it was closing.
Hackers wrote in a post, “After carefully considering and in the light of recent developments, we have decided to shut down the Hunteers International Project.” “This decision was not made lightly, and we recognize the impact we have interacted on the outfits.”
Hackers also said that they are free decryption key “being introduced to all companies that are affected by our ransomware.”
“Our goal is to ensure that you can recover your encrypted data without the burden of ransom,” the gang wrote, who asked the victims to go to your official site to receive the decryption keys and recover the encrypted files.
At the time of writing, there is no such information on the website.
Hunters International has claimed several victims in its existence of two years, including An American Cancer CenterAnd this American martial serviceHowever, law enforcement agency Refused to be hacked By Cybercrime Gang.
In the past, many ransomware gangs have released the decryption keys of their victims, then closed, each of them for different reasons. Some only closed to return under a new name, perhaps in an attempt to confuse researchers and law enforcement agencies, and sometimes to avoid restrictions. Others decided to call it quiet after receiving enough money to retire.
In the case of Hunters International, it is still very early to mention what the gang’s motivations are, but there were rear signs as April that pointed to a rebrand and infection to a group called World Leaks, according to Alan Lisca, a threat in the cybercity firm, a threat intelligence analyst.
“I think it is more of a ‘cutting’ with the old infrastructure,” Lisca said, who has been monitoring ranges for years. “As far as the release of decryption keys is concerned, at this point they are not likely to make any money from the victims of any hunter, who are still out of there, so they probably see it as a gesture that doesn’t really spend anything.”
The World Leaks Group uses a new ransomware software and a new site has been hosted, but the people behind it can be the same, Lisca said.
Licka said that the reason for the gang’s darkness may be that “using the same technical infrastructure makes you more vulnerable to law enforcement,” referring to the hive, a ransomware gang that was seized and closed by the FBI in 2023.
“Or, they got air that the law enforcement was closing and decided to overtake them,” he said.
