The FBI has identified, as of early November 2021 that Cuba ransomware actors have compromised at least 49 entities in five critical infrastructure sectors, including but not limited to the financial, government, healthcare, manufacturing, and information technology sectors. Cuba ransomware is distributed through Hancitor malware, a loader known for dropping or executing stealers, such as Remote Access Trojans (RATs) and other types of ransomware, onto victims’ networks. Hancitor malware actors use phishing emails, Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities, compromised credentials, or legitimate Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) tools to gain initial access to a victim’s network. Subsequently, Cuba ransomware actors use legitimate Windows services—such as PowerShell, PsExec, and other unspecified services—and then leverage Windows Admin privileges to execute their ransomware and other processes remotely. Cuba ransomware actors compromise a victim network through the encryption of target files with the “.cuba” extension. Cuba ransomware actors have demanded at least US $74 million and received at least US $43.9 million in ransom payments.