SafePay Ransomware: What You Want To Know – Cyber Tech

What’s the SafePay ransomware?

SafePay is a comparatively new ransomware risk that was first noticed round September 2024. Like different ransomware, SafePay encrypts victims’ information in order that they can’t be accessed, after which calls for the fee of a cryptocurrency ransom for his or her restoration. As a part of a “double extortion” tactic, the hackers behind SafePay additionally steal knowledge from affected organisations and threaten to publish it on their darkish net leak website if a ransom shouldn’t be paid.

What makes SafePay uncommon?

Most fashionable ransomware gangs function a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) mannequin, the place associates are allowed to deploy the ransomware in return for a proportion of the proceeds they handle to extort. Nonetheless, SafePay doesn’t function like this. As an alternative, it seems to not supply itself to associates, however as an alternative the identical group develops and deploys the ransomware themselves somewhat than relying upon others. 

Certainly, a banner on SafePay’s darkish net leak website says:

SAFEPAY RANSOMWARE HAS NEVER PROVIDED AND DOES NOT PROVIDE THE RAAS

Why would they not function as a ransomware-as-a-service mannequin? Aren’t they turning their again on plenty of money?

Whereas it’s true that SafePay could also be closing the door on affiliate revenue, it does supply the advantage of higher operational safety and tighter management of how its ransomware is used.

Fascinating. So, why is SafePay within the information?

A just lately revealed risk report launched by safety specialists at NCC Group revealed that SafePay was at the moment probably the most lively ransomware group. Within the month of Could 2025 alone, 70 ransomware assaults have been linked to Safepay, accounting for 18% of the full.

In a sign of the ransomware group’s elevated exercise, this was the primary time that SafePay had appeared in NCC Group’s high 10 listing of risk actors.

What has made SafePay so profitable so rapidly?

The reply to that query shouldn’t be clear, however it’s suspected that SafePay could also be intently associated to different infamous ransomware teams, together with LockBit, BlackCat, and INC Ransomware.

In different phrases, the parents behind SafePay will not be new to the scene?

Right. If the hyperlinks to different infamous ransomware gangs are discovered to be true, it will imply that these are cybercriminals who’re skilled in extorting cash out of their victims, and have the sources to make a major influence.

Which firms have been hit by SafePay?

UK telematics enterprise Microlise, which presents automobile monitoring companies to the likes of DHL and Serco, revealed that it had been hit by ransomware in October 2024, and was one among SafePay’s first publicised victims after the theft of 1.2TB of information. Different victims have included a North Carolina anatomic pathology lab, which was breached in January 2025 in an assault that noticed the theft of knowledge associated to over 200,000 sufferers, together with names, birthdates, addresses, medical health insurance particulars, and medical therapy knowledge.

Isn’t any-one protected from being hit by SafePay ransomware?

Properly, truly, sure, some persons are. The SafePay ransomware is programmed to examine the language settings of the pc it’s working on, and if it spots the system is working any of the next languages, it’ll instantly cease working with out inflicting any injury: If the system language matches any specified languages, the malware will instantly terminate. A whole listing of languages checked could be seen beneath:

• Armenian
• Azerbaijani (Cyrillic)
• Belarusian
• Georgian
• Kazakh
• Russian
• Ukrainian

Why would the ransomware need to try this?

Two instantly causes bounce to thoughts. One is, as an illustration, that the ransomware doesn’t need to depend – say – Russian firms amongst its unintended victims, in concern that native legislation enforcement businesses would possibly come after it.

Is sensible. What different motive might there be?

Properly, perhaps the ransomware authors’ themselves run computer systems that are configured to make use of these languages. They’d hardly need to grow to be unintended victims of SafePay themselves, would they?

I assume not. So, how can my enterprise shield itself from the SafePay ransomware? I do not suppose it will be sensible to vary the language settings of all our PCs to Russian.

SafePay is understood for breaking into organisations through the use of stolen VPN or RDP credentials. It has not been reported to have used phishing methods often seen in lots of different ransomware assaults. Subsequently, organisations that fear they may be focused can be sensible to implement multi-factor authentication on all distant entry factors, disable unused RDP or VPN entry fully, and use IP allowlists or geofencing the place attainable. As well as, we advocate all firms observe our normal recommendation for defending towards ransomware assaults, which incorporates suggestions comparable to:

• Making safe off-site backups.
• Operating up-to-date safety options and making certain that your computer systems are protected with the newest safety patches towards vulnerabilities.
• Utilizing hard-to-crack distinctive passwords to guard delicate knowledge and accounts, in addition to enabling multi-factor authentication.
• Encrypting delicate knowledge wherever attainable.
• Lowering the assault floor by disabling performance that your organization doesn’t want.
• Educating and informing workers concerning the dangers and strategies utilized by cybercriminals to launch assaults and steal knowledge.

Editor’s Observe: The opinions expressed on this and different visitor writer articles are solely these of the contributor and don’t essentially mirror these of Fortra.