Executive Summary

On January 25, 2026, global logistics provider NaviGistics was hit by a severe ransomware attack, crippling its worldwide operations. The attack was carried out by a new threat group, Entropy Collective, using a previously unseen ransomware variant named QuantumLeap. The attackers encrypted critical servers, halted the company's core logistics platform, and exfiltrated over 2 terabytes of sensitive data. A ransom of $50 million has been demanded to prevent the public release of the stolen information and to provide a decryptor. The initial infection vector was a compromised VPN account without multi-factor authentication, highlighting a critical security gap. The incident has caused a complete shutdown of NaviGistics' shipping, tracking, and freight forwarding services, with recovery expected to take weeks and result in significant financial losses.

Threat Overview

Threat Actor: Entropy Collective (newly identified group) Malware: QuantumLeap (new ransomware strain) Victim: NaviGistics, a global logistics and shipping company Impact: Global operational shutdown, data encryption, data exfiltration, and a $50 million ransom demand.

The attack began with the compromise of a corporate VPN account that was not protected by multi-factor authentication. After gaining initial access, the Entropy Collective actors conducted a lengthy reconnaissance phase, moving laterally across the corporate network for several weeks to identify and map critical assets. Once they had established a deep foothold, they deployed the QuantumLeap ransomware across data centers in North America, Europe, and Asia. The ransomware is noted for its high speed and its ability to neutralize security defenses, including disabling endpoint protection software and deleting Volume Shadow Copies to frustrate recovery efforts. The attackers are employing a double-extortion tactic, leveraging the threat of releasing sensitive exfiltrated data to pressure NaviGistics into paying the ransom.

Technical Analysis

The attack chain followed a common but effective pattern for enterprise-wide ransomware deployment.

1. Initial Access: The threat actors exploited a weak security posture, using credentials for a VPN account that lacked multi-factor authentication (T1133 - External Remote Services).
2. Persistence & Discovery: After gaining entry, the actors likely established persistence and spent weeks conducting network reconnaissance (T1082 - System Information Discovery) to understand the network topology and identify high-value targets like domain controllers and backup servers.
3. Lateral Movement: The attackers moved laterally across the network, likely using tools such as RDP or PsExec to access different systems (T1021.001 - Remote Desktop Protocol).
4. Defense Evasion: QuantumLeap malware includes capabilities to disable or modify security tools (T1562.001 - Disable or Modify Tools) on endpoints before encryption.
5. Impact: The core of the attack involved two key techniques:
   • Data Exfiltration: Over 2 TB of data was exfiltrated to attacker-controlled infrastructure before encryption (T1041 - Exfiltration Over C2 Channel).
   • Data Encryption & Recovery Inhibition: The ransomware encrypted critical files (T1486 - Data Encrypted for Impact) and deleted Volume Shadow Copies to prevent system recovery (T1490 - Inhibit System Recovery).

Impact Assessment

The attack on NaviGistics has immediate and far-reaching consequences. Operationally, the complete shutdown of its logistics platform means shipments cannot be tracked, processed, or forwarded, causing a major disruption to the global supply chain for its numerous clients. Financially, the company faces direct costs from the incident response and recovery efforts, potential regulatory fines for the data breach, and significant revenue loss for every day its systems remain offline. The $50 million ransom demand represents a substantial financial threat. Reputational damage will be severe, as trust from customers is eroded due to the operational failure and the exposure of their sensitive shipping and financial data. Full recovery is projected to take weeks, if not months, given the complexity of the interconnected global network.

Cyber Observables for Detection

Security teams should hunt for the following activities associated with this type of attack:

Detection & Response

Defenders should focus on early-stage detection to prevent widespread impact.

• Monitor VPN Access: Implement robust monitoring for VPN connections. Alert on logins from unusual geographic locations, multiple failed login attempts from a single IP, or a successful login after a series of failures. D3FEND Technique: User Geolocation Logon Pattern Analysis (D3-UGLPA).
• Detect Lateral Movement: Use EDR and SIEM solutions to detect common lateral movement techniques. Create alerts for the use of tools like PsExec.exe or wmic.exe originating from non-administrative workstations. Monitor for an account making numerous logon attempts across multiple systems in a short period. D3FEND Technique: Remote Terminal Session Detection (D3-RTSD).
• Identify Defense Evasion: Endpoint protection solutions should have anti-tampering features enabled. Monitor for any attempts to stop or disable security services or execute commands like vssadmin.exe delete shadows. D3FEND Technique: Process Analysis (D3-PA).

Mitigation

Organizations should implement layered defenses to protect against similar attacks.

1. Secure Remote Access: Mandate multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all remote access, especially for VPNs and other internet-facing systems. This is the single most effective control to prevent the initial access vector used in this attack. D3FEND Countermeasure: Multi-factor Authentication (D3-MFA).
2. Network Segmentation: Segment networks to prevent attackers from moving laterally from the IT environment to critical OT or data center environments. Restrict communication between network zones to only what is strictly necessary. D3FEND Countermeasure: Network Isolation (D3-NI).
3. Immutable Backups: Maintain offline and immutable backups of critical data. Follow the 3-2-1 rule (three copies, on two different media, with one offsite). Regularly test backup restoration procedures to ensure they are effective in a real-world incident.
4. Endpoint Security: Deploy a modern Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solution with behavioral analysis capabilities to detect and block ransomware activity, such as rapid file encryption and the deletion of shadow copies.
5. Privileged Access Management (PAM): Strictly control and monitor the use of privileged accounts. Implement Just-In-Time (JIT) access to limit the window of opportunity for attackers to compromise administrative credentials.