Conti has been one of the most aggressive ransomware operations over the past two years and continues to victimize many large companies as well as government, law enforcement and healthcare organizations. Researchers warn that unlike other ransomware groups that generally care about their reputation, Conti doesn’t always deliver on its promises to victims.
“Usually, the more successful ransomware operators put a lot of effort into establishing and maintaining some semblance of ‘integrity’ as a way of facilitating ransom payments from victims,” researchers from Palo Alto Networks said in an analysis. “They want to establish stellar reputations for ‘customer service’ and for delivering on what they promise—that if you pay a ransom, your files will be decrypted (and they will not appear on a leak website). Yet in our experience helping clients remediate attacks, Conti has not demonstrated any signs that it cares about its reputation with would-be victims.”