social engineering

Google discovered a new scam—and also fell victim to it

Google said that its Salesforce instance was among those that were compromised. The breach occurred in June, but Google only disclosed it on Tuesday, presumably because the company only learned of it recently.

“Analysis revealed that data was retrieved by the threat actor during a small window of time before the access was cut off,” the company said.

Data retrieved by the attackers was limited to business information such as business names and contact details, which Google said was “largely public” already.

Google initially attributed the attacks to a group traced as UNC6040. The company went on to say that a second group, UNC6042, has engaged in extortion activities, “sometimes several months after” the UNC6040 intrusions. This group brands itself under the name ShinyHunters.

“In addition, we believe threat actors using the ‘ShinyHunters’ brand may be preparing to escalate their extortion tactics by launching a data leak site (DLS),” Google said. “These new tactics are likely intended to increase pressure on victims, including those associated with the recent UNC6040 Salesforce-related data breaches.”

With so many companies falling to this scam—including Google, which only disclosed the breach two months after it happened—the chances are good that there are many more we don’t know about. All Salesforce customers should carefully audit their instances to see what external sources have access to it. They should also implement multifactor authentication and train staff how to detect scams before they succeed.

“The girl should be calling men.” Leak exposes Black Basta’s influence tactics.

Biz & IT, exploits, ransomware, Security, social engineering / Beth Washington / April 9, 2025

A leak of 190,000 chat messages traded among members of the Black Basta ransomware group shows that it’s a highly structured and mostly efficient organization staffed by personnel with expertise in various specialties, including exploit development, infrastructure optimization, social engineering, and more.

The trove of records was first posted to file-sharing site MEGA. The messages, which were sent from September 2023 to September 2024, were later posted to Telegram in February 2025. ExploitWhispers, the online persona who took credit for the leak, also provided commentary and context for understanding the communications. The identity of the person or persons behind ExploitWhispers remains unknown. Last month’s leak coincided with the unexplained outage of the Black Basta site on the dark web, which has remained down ever since.

“We need to exploit as soon as possible”

Researchers from security firm Trustwave’s SpiderLabs pored through the messages, which were written in Russian, and published a brief blog summary and a more detailed review of the messages on Tuesday.

“The dataset sheds light on Black Basta’s internal workflows, decision-making processes, and team dynamics, offering an unfiltered perspective on how one of the most active ransomware groups operates behind the scenes, drawing parallels to the infamous Conti leaks,” the researchers wrote. They were referring to a separate leak of ransomware group Conti that exposed workers grumbling about low pay, long hours, and grievances about support from leaders of Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. “While the immediate impact of the leak remains uncertain, the exposure of Black Basta’s inner workings represents a rare opportunity for cybersecurity professionals to adapt and respond.”

Some of the TTPs—short for tactics, techniques, and procedures—Black Basta employed were directed at methods for social engineering employees working for prospective victims by posing as IT administrators attempting to troubleshoot problems or respond to fake breaches.

“The girl should be calling men.” Leak exposes Black Basta’s influence tactics. Read More »