Locky

MITRE ATT&CK does not currently catalogue Locky, so this is our assessment of the techniques it uses, drawn from public reporting. The techniques themselves, and every "what that means" definition below, come from MITRE ATT&CK v19.2. Confidence: medium. Treat it as orientation, not attribution.

1. T1059.001 PowerShell Execution

   What they do: locky executes PowerShell scripts to stage payloads and manipulate system processes before encryption.

   What that means: Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.

2. T1547.001 Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder PersistencePrivilege Escalation

   What they do: locky modifies Registry Run Keys to ensure persistence across reboots on compromised systems.

   What that means: Adversaries may achieve persistence by adding a program to a startup folder or referencing it with a Registry run key.

3. T1685 Disable or Modify Tools Defense Impairment

   What they do: locky disables antivirus tools by terminating security processes and modifying Windows Defender settings.

   What that means: Adversaries may disable, degrade, or tamper with security tools or applications (e.g., endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools, intrusion detection systems (IDS), antivirus, logging agents, sensors, etc.) to impair or reduce visibility of defensive capabilities.

4. T1027.016 Junk Code Insertion Stealth

   What they do: locky inserts junk code into legitimate binaries to evade static malware analysis tools.

   What that means: Adversaries may use junk code / dead code to obfuscate a malware’s functionality.

5. T1070.004 File Deletion Stealth

   What they do: locky deletes Volume Shadow Copies via vssadmin /delete command to prevent file recovery.

   What that means: Adversaries may delete files left behind by the actions of their intrusion activity.

6. T1018 Remote System Discovery Discovery

   What they do: locky performs remote system discovery via SMB enumeration to map the victim network topology.

   What that means: Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of other systems by IP address, hostname, or other logical identifier on a network that may be used for Lateral Movement from the current system.

7. T1135 Network Share Discovery Discovery

   What they do: locky scans network shares using net use commands to identify additional victims for lateral movement.

   What that means: Adversaries may look for folders and drives shared on remote systems as a means of identifying sources of information to gather as a precursor for Collection and to identify potential systems of interest for Lateral Movement.

8. T1021.002 SMB/Windows Admin Shares Lateral Movement

   What they do: locky exploits SMB/Windows Admin Shares to move laterally between networked servers in US environments.

   What that means: Adversaries may use Valid Accounts to interact with a remote network share using Server Message Block (SMB).

9. T1486 Data Encrypted for Impact Impact

   What they do: locky encrypts victim files using a custom ransomware binary with AES-256 encryption.

   What that means: Adversaries may encrypt data on target systems or on large numbers of systems in a network to interrupt availability to system and network resources.

10. T1490 Inhibit System Recovery Impact

    What they do: locky calls system recovery inhibitors to block backup restoration attempts after encryption.

    What that means: Adversaries may delete or remove built-in data and turn off services designed to aid in the recovery of a corrupted system to prevent recovery.

+7025 more wallets not shown (the 12 largest by amount received are listed).

Crowdsourced payment data from Ransomwhere, licensed CC BY 4.0. Figures are what has been reported and attributed to this family, not a confirmed total. Cite as: Cable, Jack. (2024). Ransomwhere: A Crowdsourced Ransomware Payment Dataset (1.1.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6512122

The note this group leaves on a compromised machine. Click a filename to read it.

!!! IMPORTANT INFORMATION !!!!

All of your files are encrypted with RSA-2048 and AES-128 ciphers.
More information about the RSA and AES can be found here:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA_(cryptosystem)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Encryption_Standard
    
Decrypting of your files is only possible with the private key and decrypt program, which is on our secret server.
To receive your private key follow one of the links:
    1. http://6dtxgqam4crv6rr6.tor2web.org/[snip]
    2. http://6dtxgqam4crv6rr6.onion.to/[snip]
    3. http://6dtxgqam4crv6rr6.onion.cab/[snip]
    4. http://6dtxgqam4crv6rr6.onion.link/[snip]

If all of this addresses are not available, follow these steps:
    1. Download and install Tor Browser: https://www.torproject.org/download/download-easy.html
    2. After a successful installation, run the browser and wait for initialization.
    3. Type in the address bar: 6dtxgqam4crv6rr6.onion/[snip] 
    4. Follow the instructions on the site.

!!! Your personal identification ID: [snip] !!!

Ransom-note text from RansomLook, licensed CC BY 4.0.