DNS Early Detection – Breaking the Black Basta Ransomware Kill Chain

Analysis And Methodology:

The CISA alert released disclosures on Black Basta ransomware in May 2024 with detailed malicious domain listings. Infoblox then extracted malicious domains identified within the CISA alert and other sources. The Infoblox team then analyzed the malicious domains that had been identified earlier by our feeds to determine whether they had been identified earlier.

We used our lookalike domain technology to identify domains earlier than OSINT availability in two instances. An lookalike domain is designed to resemble a legitimate domain, often used in cyber attacks. Cybercriminals create these malicious domains to deceive users into thinking they are interacting with a trusted entity. This can lead to phishing, malvertising, and other similar attacks.

Infoblox identified 78.72% of the Black Basta ransomware MALICIOUS domains an average of 59.5 days earlier than OSINT availability. This enabled our customers to stop the execution of the intended Cyber Kill Chain1 by automatically blocking access to these dangerous domains.

Our team researched each malicious domain identified in OSINT in the Infoblox Dossier portal. We reviewed our timeline feature to extract the earliest dates associated with Infoblox's high-risk designation. We also extracted the WHOIS information for additional context.

The Black Basta ransomware threat was active before the CISA alert OSINT data was released. Our early identification of these domains has provided compelling timeline data. Our team found that, in many cases, the threat actors were already ramping up activity shortly after we included them in our feeds and long before visibility to the public at large via OSINT availability.

Several dangerous domains in our data cloud were queried and blocked within days to a few weeks after we included them in our feeds. So, the threat actors were active and likely successful many months before the availability of OSINT information unless you were using Infoblox Threat Intel feeds.

The conclusions of our analysis illustrate the potential benefits of Infoblox Threat Intel feeds:

• 78.72% of the Black Basta ransomware domains were identified as high risk by Infoblox an average of 59.5 days (1.96 months) before the OSINT designation as malicious became available. Except for only four (4) domains, this same group of domains was identified within 2 to 3 days after the WHOIS domain registration date.
• Our DNS early detection program identifies high-risk domains weeks to months ahead of OSINT's identification as malicious.

OSINT publication dates may sometimes be unclear or lack precision. The dates of published articles by reputable 3rd parties may not always accurately reflect the OSINT availability of each domain. The critical point is that even if you have the OSINT data, it must propagate through the threat feeds you use and your cybersecurity ecosystem to support actionable policies. This is all automated with Infoblox DNS Detection and Response (DNSDR) and our threat intel data.

Comparison To Whois Data

WHOIS data draws a line in the sand and gets you as close as possible to hard data. A comparison with WHOIS data tells you how your threat intelligence systems work. To provide context on the performance of our threat intel feeds, we extracted WHOIS dates and found that almost all of the Black Basta ransomware domains were blocked within 2 to 3 days after the WHOIS domain registration date. The WHOIS dates are relatively precise and provide another perspective on the high value and relative performance of DNS threat intel feed content.

The threat actors behind most campaigns have learned to continually create and change the domains they use to camouflage their malicious activities. New domains are issued every day. Any key domains used in perpetuating the Black Basta ransomware campaigns may be shut down at any time and replaced with new infrastructure. Infoblox DNS Early Threat Detection gives your cyber defenders an important advantage.

MITRE ATT&CK TACTICS AND TECHNIQUES USED BY BLACK BASTA

BLACK BASTA MITRE ATT&CK Tactics and Techniques
Initial Access
Phishing	T1566	Black Basta affiliates have used spear phishing emails to obtain initial access.
Exploit Public-Facing Application	T1190	Black Basta affiliates have exploited ConnectWise vulnerability CVE-2024-1700 to obtain initial access.
Privilege Escalation
Exploitation for Privilege Escalation	T1068	Black Basta affiliates have used credential scraping tools like Mimi Katz, ZeroLogon, NoPac and printNightmare for privilege escalation.
Defense Evasion
Masquerading	T1036	Black Basta affiliates have conducted reconnaissance using utilities with innocuous file names, such as Intel or Dell, to evade detection.
Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Tools	T1562.001	Black Basta affiliates have deployed a tool called Backstab to disable endpoint detection and response (EDR) tooling. Black Basta affiliates have used PowerShell to disable antivirus products.
Execution
Command and Scripting Interpreter: PowerShell	T1059.001	Black Basta affiliates have used PowerShell to disable antivirus products.
Impact
Inhibit System Recovery	T1490	Black Basta affiliates have used the vssadmin.exe program to delete shadow copies.
Data Encrypted for Impact	T1486	Black Basta affiliates have used a public key to encrypt files fully.

Infoblox Threat Intel for Early Threat Detection

Infoblox Threat Intel uses proprietary techniques to identify potentially malicious domains much earlier than other technologies. Infoblox flags these domains as high risk so your defenders can automatically block them, often weeks to months before OSINT designates them malicious.

By taking this proactive approach, defenders can stop attacks days, weeks, or even months before they appear in OSINT or threat intelligence feeds.

Threat actors continually adjust their techniques and often use malicious domains to quickly launch damaging and dangerous attacks. Once that link to a malicious domain is clicked, the Kill Chain can rapidly unfold to the detriment of the defenders. These malicious domains are often detected and shared too late by OSINT and threat intel feeds

For Additional Information

Infoblox Threat Intel provides fast access to accurate, contextual threat alerts and reports from our real-time research teams. High-Risk Domains feeds were introduced as an Infoblox proprietary capability on November 10, 2022, and, since then, have successfully provided many thousands of customers with the advanced information to block domains that ultimately become malicious long before most other threat intelligence sources identify them as malicious. Infoblox allows your team to leverage the high value of DNS-based threat intelligence while ensuring a unified security policy across your entire security infrastructure. Infoblox threat data minimizes false positives, so you can be confident in what you are blocking.

Infoblox Threat Intel data is HIGH VALUE, can be used with relatively LOW EFFORT, and can SHRINK THE TIME TO VALUE and INCREASE THE RETURN ON INVESTMENT for your threat intelligence program.

To learn more about Infoblox Threat Intel and DNS early detection:
https://www.infoblox.com/threat-intel/

To learn more about BloxOne Threat Defense:
https://www.infoblox.com/products/bloxone-threat-defense/

To learn more about the National Security Agency (NSA) and Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) guidance on Protective DNS:
https://media.defense.gov/2021/Mar/03/2002593055/-1/-1/0/CSI_PROTECTIVE%20DNS_UOO117652-21.PDF

OSINT sources on Black Basta ransomware included, but were not limited to:
https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa24-131a

To reference our earlier blog on Black Basta published in May 2023:
https://blogs.infoblox.com/threat-intelligence/black-basta-anatomy-of-the-attack/

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