Maze

Maze ransomware group emerged in October 2019 as a financially motivated cybercriminal organization that pioneered the "double extortion" model, threatening to publicly leak stolen victim data if ransom demands were not met. The group is believed to have originated from Russia or Eastern Europe based on their operational patterns and was suspected of having connections to the earlier Chacha ransomware, operating as an independent group rather than a ransomware-as-a-service model. Maze operators primarily gained initial access through exploit kits, RDP brute force attacks, and spear-phishing campaigns, utilizing tools like Cobalt Strike for lateral movement and typically exfiltrating sensitive data before deploying their custom ransomware that used a combination of RSA and ChaCha20 encryption algorithms. The group became notorious for high-profile attacks against major organizations including Cognizant, Xerox, LG Electronics, and several healthcare systems during the COVID-19 pandemic, with ransom demands often reaching millions of dollars and their leak site regularly publishing stolen data from non-paying victims. Maze officially announced their retirement in November 2020, claiming they were ceasing operations and transferring some of their affiliates to other ransomware operations like Egregor.