Ransomware gang behind pipeline hack sets up fake company to recruit programmers: report

The Russia gang suspected of being responsible for a pipeline hack that sent gas prices soaring in America has created a front group as it seeks to hire employees, according to a new report.

"A criminal organization believed to have built the software that shut down a U.S. fuel pipeline has set up a fake company to recruit potential employees, according to researchers at the intelligence firm Recorded Future and Microsoft Corp," The Wall Street Journalreported Thursday.

Fin7 is using the name Baston Secure to seek employees, the researchers say.

"Fin7 is believed to have hacked hundreds of businesses, stolen more than 20 million customer records and written the software used in a hack that disrupted gasoline delivery in parts of the Southeastern U.S., federal prosecutors and researchers say. The Bastion Secure website, which uses the logo BS, has listed jobs that are technical in nature and appear similar to work that would be performed at any security company—programmers, system administrators and people who are good at finding bugs in software," the newspaper reported.

The jobs are for nine-hour days, Monday through Friday, with a lunch break.

"The attempt to impersonate a legitimate company for recruiting purposes represents a new development by purveyors of ransomware to grow and spread a scourge that has disrupted meat production, hospital care, education and hundreds of businesses," the newspaper reported. "With hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal earnings, ransomware operators are increasingly operating like criminal startups with professionalized support staff, software development, cloud-computing services and media relations, security researchers say."

Read the full report.