A new strain of ransomware known as RansomBoggs linked to the Russian-affiliated threat group Sandworm has been spotted to be targeting Ukraine with a new ransomware strain dubbed RansomBogg by Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET.
“While the malware written in .NET is new, its deployment is similar to previous attacks attributed to Sandworm,” said ESET.
ESET also stated that the files and coding used in this process are named after Monsters, and that the most recent cyberattacks bear the hallmarks of those previously launched by Sandworm, such as the use of a PowerShell computer script to distribute ransomware that is nearly identical to that seen last April during the Industroyer2 attacks against the energy sector.
It begins with a teasing intro that sets up the verbal payload, which consists of the standard notification of illegal data encryption in which ransomware actors render a company’s vital information unusable until a fee is paid as ransom.
According to ESET’s analysis of the new ransomware, it generates a randomly generated key and encrypts files with AES-256 in CBC mode, appending the “.chsch” file extension. The RSA public key can be hardcoded in the malware or provided as an argument, depending on the variant used in the attack.
On encrypted systems, the ransomware leaves ransom notes impersonating James P. Sullivan, the main character in the Monsters, Inc. film, with additional references found within the malware’s code.
The sources for this piece include an article in BleepingComputer.