A new threat group calling itself Crimson Collective has claimed responsibility for a data breach at Loteria de Medellin, a state-operated lottery in Colombia. The group has shared samples of sensitive information related to prize winners, which they are now attempting to sell.
Compromised Winner Data
The criminal gang announced the breach on its Telegram channel, stating that it was leaking samples and selling the entire cache because the lottery organization failed to respond to its ransom emails. Crimson Collective claims to have exfiltrated over 1TB of compressed data from the lottery's systems.
Analysis of the leaked samples, which appear to be highly sensitive, confirmed they include:
- National ID numbers and scanned copies of identification cards.
- Bank account certificates and full account numbers.
- Full names, physical addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses.
- Signatures and fingerprints.
- Internal prize claim and payment forms.
Cybernews researchers noted that malicious actors likely believe this data is highly valuable because lottery winners may be more susceptible to scams. The leaked information could easily be used for widespread phishing, scams, or identity theft.
Profile of Crimson Collective
Crimson Collective is a relatively new but ambitious ransom gang. It gained attention after recently claiming to have stolen 570GB of data from Red Hat Consulting's internal GitLab repositories. The group has also previously targeted the Colombian telecommunications operator Claro and falsely claimed a breach against the gaming giant Nintendo.
Rapid7 researchers report that Crimson Collective primarily focuses on the collection and exfiltration of valuable assets like databases, project repositories, and customer information. According to Dark Reading, the group has recently joined the ranks of the notorious cybercrime conglomerate Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters, which includes the Scattered Spider, LAPSUS$, and ShinyHunters groups.
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