Dragonforce

DragonForce is a notorious malware and ransomware group that has made its presence felt across the globe. The group first gained attention in 2022, when it launched cyberattacks on over 70 government and commercial organizations in India, following offensive remarks against Prophet Muhammad by Nupur Sharma, a spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of the Indian Government. DragonForce Malaysia, despite maintaining anonymity, boldly asserts its presence across various social platforms. It was also implicated in a wave of hacktivist activities led by pro-Russian groups like LulzSec, noname057(16), Cyber Army Russia Reborn, Cyber Dragon, and Dragonforce, targeting the Olympic games in response to Russia and Belarus's exclusion. The threat actors behind DragonForce are experienced in their tactics, negotiation style, and data leak operations, as evidenced by their sophisticated attacks and the existence of a dedicated data leak site. A notable incident involved an attack on Ohio Lottery customers and employees, with allegedly stolen files appearing on the DragonForce data leak site. However, the state lottery did not link the incident to any known threat actors or hacking groups, even though DragonForce claimed responsibility for the attack. In 2023, DragonForce Malaysia announced plans to create a ransomware operation, but cybersecurity researchers have found little evidence to attribute the ransomware attacks directly to this Malaysian group. The group has been active in voicing opposition to conflicts such as Israel's war on Hamas, targeting several Israeli organizations. Nevertheless, cybersecurity company Tripwire cautions that the similar names among these groups might not necessarily indicate a connection, suggesting that the name "DragonForce" could be intentionally chosen by the ransomware gang to mislead investigators.