DragonForce Ransomware Group Targets Saudi Arabia with Large-Scale Data Breach
Summary:
DragonForce, a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) group discovered in August 2023, executed a considerably major cyberattack, first announced on February 14, 2025, against a large enterprise in Saudi Arabia's real estate and construction sector, marking their first major attack against a KSA entity. The attack, disclosed in a recent Resecurity report, resulted in the exfiltration of over 6 TB of sensitive data. The group strategically timed their extortion deadline just before Ramadan, and upon its expiration, released the stolen data. DragonForce targets high-value industries with complex IT infrastructures, utilizing advanced tactics such as customized CAPTCHA filters to evade tracking of their data leak site by security organizations. They have been exploiting known vulnerabilities, including CVE-2021-44228, CVE-2023-46805, CVE-2024-21412, CVE-2024-21887, and CVE-2024-21893, and employ automated data exfiltration to the DragonForce server. Their attacks’ initial access vectors primarily involve phishing and exploiting RDP and VPN vulnerabilities. DragonForce ransomware group offers one of the most competitive affiliate programs in the cybercriminal ecosystem, offering up to 80% of the successful ransom payment to affiliates.
Security Officer Comments:
The DragonForce attack on Saudi Arabia highlights a concerning trend of sophisticated ransomware groups targeting critical sectors and reaffirms Group-IB’s assertion that DragonForce is targeting organizations worldwide. Although almost half of DragonForce’s attacks have targeted US organizations. However, this latest attack highlights DragonForce’s expanding operations. The strategic timing of the attack, just before Ramadan, indicates a calculated effort to maximize pressure on the victim organization and therefore increase the success rate of the phishing attempts. The release of 6TB of sensitive data provides an indicator of the potential damage of the breach and the significant financial and reputational implications.
DragonForce's use of advanced evasion techniques, such as customized CAPTCHA filters, demonstrates their commitment to hindering cybersecurity firms’ analysis of their operations. The exploitation of multiple known vulnerabilities, including critical ones like Log4j and Connect Secure, indicates that many organizations are still failing to patch systems promptly. The group's RaaS model, offering high commission rates, further exacerbates the threat by lowering the barrier to entry for script kiddies. The automated nature of their data exfiltration and publication processes emphasizes the need for robust detection and response capabilities. The focus on the real estate and construction sector, vital to Saudi Arabia's non-oil economy, suggests a deliberate targeting of high-value assets. Their oil production contributes to 75% of their GDP and these sectors are integral to diversifying their economy. This incident serves as a stark reminder that proactive security measures, including employee training, network segmentation, and especially vulnerability management, are essential to enterprise security. Furthermore, the use of automated exfiltration emphasizes the importance of network monitoring for unusual outbound traffic.
Suggested Corrections:
IOCs and TTPs are available here.
Backup your data, system images, and configurations, regularly test them, and keep the backups offline: Ensure that backups are regularly tested and that they are not connected to the business network, as many ransomware variants try to find and encrypt or delete accessible backups. Maintaining current backups offline is critical because if your network data is encrypted with ransomware, your organization can restore systems.
Update and patch systems promptly: This includes maintaining the security of operating systems, applications, and firmware in a timely manner. Consider using a centralized patch management system; use a risk-based assessment strategy to drive your patch management program.
Test your incident response plan: There's nothing that shows the gaps in plans more than testing them. Run through some core questions and use those to build an incident response plan: Are you able to sustain business operations without access to certain systems? For how long? Would you turn off your manufacturing operations if business systems such as billing were offline?
Check Your Security Team's Work: Use a 3rd party pen tester to test the security of your systems and your ability to defend against a sophisticated attack. Many ransomware criminals are aggressive and sophisticated and will find the equivalent of unlocked doors.
Segment your networks: There's been a recent shift in ransomware attacks – from stealing data to disrupting operations. It's critically important that your corporate business functions and manufacturing/production operations are separated and that you carefully filter and limit internet access to operational networks, identify links between these networks, and develop workarounds or manual controls to ensure ICS networks can be isolated and continue operating if your corporate network is compromised. Regularly test contingency plans such as manual controls so that safety-critical functions can be maintained during a cyber incident.
Train employees: Email remains the most vulnerable attack vector for organizations. Users should be trained on how to avoid and spot phishing emails. Multi-factor authentication can help prevent malicious access to sensitive services.
Link(s):
https://securityonline.info/dragonforce-ransomware-group-targets-saudi-arabia-with-large-scale-data-breach/
https://www.resecurity.com/blog/article/dragonforce-ransomware-group-is-targeting-saudi-arabia
DragonForce, a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) group discovered in August 2023, executed a considerably major cyberattack, first announced on February 14, 2025, against a large enterprise in Saudi Arabia's real estate and construction sector, marking their first major attack against a KSA entity. The attack, disclosed in a recent Resecurity report, resulted in the exfiltration of over 6 TB of sensitive data. The group strategically timed their extortion deadline just before Ramadan, and upon its expiration, released the stolen data. DragonForce targets high-value industries with complex IT infrastructures, utilizing advanced tactics such as customized CAPTCHA filters to evade tracking of their data leak site by security organizations. They have been exploiting known vulnerabilities, including CVE-2021-44228, CVE-2023-46805, CVE-2024-21412, CVE-2024-21887, and CVE-2024-21893, and employ automated data exfiltration to the DragonForce server. Their attacks’ initial access vectors primarily involve phishing and exploiting RDP and VPN vulnerabilities. DragonForce ransomware group offers one of the most competitive affiliate programs in the cybercriminal ecosystem, offering up to 80% of the successful ransom payment to affiliates.
Security Officer Comments:
The DragonForce attack on Saudi Arabia highlights a concerning trend of sophisticated ransomware groups targeting critical sectors and reaffirms Group-IB’s assertion that DragonForce is targeting organizations worldwide. Although almost half of DragonForce’s attacks have targeted US organizations. However, this latest attack highlights DragonForce’s expanding operations. The strategic timing of the attack, just before Ramadan, indicates a calculated effort to maximize pressure on the victim organization and therefore increase the success rate of the phishing attempts. The release of 6TB of sensitive data provides an indicator of the potential damage of the breach and the significant financial and reputational implications.
DragonForce's use of advanced evasion techniques, such as customized CAPTCHA filters, demonstrates their commitment to hindering cybersecurity firms’ analysis of their operations. The exploitation of multiple known vulnerabilities, including critical ones like Log4j and Connect Secure, indicates that many organizations are still failing to patch systems promptly. The group's RaaS model, offering high commission rates, further exacerbates the threat by lowering the barrier to entry for script kiddies. The automated nature of their data exfiltration and publication processes emphasizes the need for robust detection and response capabilities. The focus on the real estate and construction sector, vital to Saudi Arabia's non-oil economy, suggests a deliberate targeting of high-value assets. Their oil production contributes to 75% of their GDP and these sectors are integral to diversifying their economy. This incident serves as a stark reminder that proactive security measures, including employee training, network segmentation, and especially vulnerability management, are essential to enterprise security. Furthermore, the use of automated exfiltration emphasizes the importance of network monitoring for unusual outbound traffic.
Suggested Corrections:
IOCs and TTPs are available here.
Backup your data, system images, and configurations, regularly test them, and keep the backups offline: Ensure that backups are regularly tested and that they are not connected to the business network, as many ransomware variants try to find and encrypt or delete accessible backups. Maintaining current backups offline is critical because if your network data is encrypted with ransomware, your organization can restore systems.
Update and patch systems promptly: This includes maintaining the security of operating systems, applications, and firmware in a timely manner. Consider using a centralized patch management system; use a risk-based assessment strategy to drive your patch management program.
Test your incident response plan: There's nothing that shows the gaps in plans more than testing them. Run through some core questions and use those to build an incident response plan: Are you able to sustain business operations without access to certain systems? For how long? Would you turn off your manufacturing operations if business systems such as billing were offline?
Check Your Security Team's Work: Use a 3rd party pen tester to test the security of your systems and your ability to defend against a sophisticated attack. Many ransomware criminals are aggressive and sophisticated and will find the equivalent of unlocked doors.
Segment your networks: There's been a recent shift in ransomware attacks – from stealing data to disrupting operations. It's critically important that your corporate business functions and manufacturing/production operations are separated and that you carefully filter and limit internet access to operational networks, identify links between these networks, and develop workarounds or manual controls to ensure ICS networks can be isolated and continue operating if your corporate network is compromised. Regularly test contingency plans such as manual controls so that safety-critical functions can be maintained during a cyber incident.
Train employees: Email remains the most vulnerable attack vector for organizations. Users should be trained on how to avoid and spot phishing emails. Multi-factor authentication can help prevent malicious access to sensitive services.
Link(s):
https://securityonline.info/dragonforce-ransomware-group-targets-saudi-arabia-with-large-scale-data-breach/
https://www.resecurity.com/blog/article/dragonforce-ransomware-group-is-targeting-saudi-arabia