Group-IB researchers assess the rising complexity of the global threat landscape and highlight the ever-growing significance of threat actor coalitions in the report, which examines cybercrime developments in H2 2020–H1 2021.

In most sophisticated ecosystems, multiple people and functions work together. It works the same way now in cybercrime. In the cybercrime supply chain, the suppliers create and produce things like malware and zero-code exploits, then they license, sell, and share their technology with distributors and affiliates, who then sell their solutions to clients who target those solutions at victims.

According to FortiGuard Labs statistics, average weekly ransomware activity was more than tenfold higher in June 2021 than a year ago. Over the course of a year, this shows a continuous and overall steady increase.

While the actors behind the sale didn’t reveal how they obtained the cards or what their origins were, they did disclose that the loot contained more than 3,000 brand-name gift cards.