The Daixin Team, a ransomware group, has claimed responsibility for hacking the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) and has issued a threat to leak the stolen data. NTMWD, a regional water district serving North Texas, is a governmental entity providing wholesale water, wastewater treatment, and solid waste services to member cities. The Daixin Team announced the breach on its Tor leak site, asserting that it has stolen a substantial amount of sensitive data, including board meeting minutes, internal project documentation, personnel details, audit reports, and more.
The group is now threatening to publish the stolen data, putting NTMWD at risk of potential fraud. The Daixin Team’s modus operandi involves targeting U.S. businesses, particularly in the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) Sector, with ransomware operations. The group has been active since at least June 2022, focusing on deploying ransomware and exfiltrating personal identifiable information (PII) and patient health information (PHI). The cybercriminals gain initial access through exploiting vulnerabilities in VPN servers or leveraging compromised credentials obtained through phishing attacks. Once inside the target’s VPN server, the threat actors move laterally using Secure Shell (SSH) and Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), escalating privileges through methods like credential dumping and pass-the-hash, ultimately delivering the ransomware.
The Daixin Team’s actions prompted a warning from federal agencies, including CISA, the FBI, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), emphasizing the group’s active targeting of critical sectors. The alert includes indicators of compromise (IOCs) and details the group’s tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). The incident highlights the critical need for enhanced cybersecurity measures in safeguarding critical infrastructure entities from ransomware attacks, data breaches, and extortion attempts. The water district is currently grappling with the aftermath of the breach, striving to secure its systems and protect sensitive information from unauthorized disclosure.
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