Black Basta at a Law Firm: 99% Ransom Reduction

The Challenge

Black Basta actors encrypted all case files, client records, and internal correspondence at the firm. They issued a double-extortion threat — claiming to have stolen the data and threatening public release unless $1 million was paid. The operational disruption lasted the full two-week recovery period, limiting access to client matters.

How We Responded

1. 1
   Threat Identification & Isolation

   Black Basta ransomware was confirmed as the variant. Infected systems were immediately isolated to prevent further lateral spread across the network.

2. 2
   Forensic Investigation

   A comprehensive forensic investigation examined network logs and exfiltration indicators. Proven Data's analysis found the data theft claims to be false — no data had been exfiltrated.

3. 3
   Ransom Negotiation

   While technical recovery proceeded, Proven Data negotiators engaged the threat actor and reduced the ransom demand from $1,000,000 to $10,000.

4. 4
   In-House Decryption

   Proven Data exploited a known weakness in Black Basta's encryption implementation to recover the majority of encrypted data without relying solely on the attacker-supplied decryption key.

5. 5
   Data De-Corruption & Restoration

   Decrypted data was cleaned and de-corrupted, restoring full integrity to case files and client records.