RansomHouse picks a fight with Namibia's defense establishment

Namibia's defense ministry network has been targeted by the RansomHouse cybercrime group, according to the country's computer security incident response team (NAM-CSIRT). The attribution was made directly by NAM-CSIRT after RansomHouse listed the defense force as a victim on its leak site on September 16. Although the domain in the listing belonged to the Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs (MODVA), the group's statement treated the target as a company with $434 million in annual revenue.

RansomHouse demanded that the defense force contact them to prevent the leaking of confidential data and projects documents. The incident is believed to involve the ransomware group's trademark double extortion tactics, where systems are encrypted and threat actors simultaneously threaten to disclose alleged stolen information. NAM-CSIRT remains actively involved in coordinating support, investigations, remediation measures, and post-incident reviews as part of the National Incident Management framework.

The chief executive of Namibia's Communications Regulatory Authority and head of NAM-CSIRT emphasized the importance of timely reporting and information sharing to build a fuller picture of the threat landscape and urged organizations to strengthen their cyber defenses.