Dungeon Spider

Description

(CrowdStrike) Dungeon Spider is a criminal group operating the ransomware most commonly known as Locky, which has been active since February 2016 and was last observed in late 2017. Locky is a ransomware tool that encrypts files using a combination of cryptographic algorithms: RSA with a key size of 2,048 bits, and AES with a key size of 128 bits. Locky targets a large number of file extensions and is able to encrypt data on shared network drives. In an attempt to further impact victims and prevent file recovery, Locky deletes all of the Shadow Volume Copies on the machine.

Dungeon Spider primarily relies on broad spam campaigns with malicious attachments for distribution. Locky is the community/industry name associated with this actor.

Locky has been observed to be distributed via Necurs (operated by Monty Spider).

Names

Name	Name-Giver
Dungeon Spider	CrowdStrike

Country

• Russia

Motivation

• Financial gain

First Seen

2016

Observed Countries

• Worldwide

Tools

• Locky

Operations

• 2016-02: A cyberattack launched against the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center has forced staff to declare an “internal emergency” and left employees unable to access patient files. https://www.zdnet.com/article/hollywood-hospital-becomes-ransomware-victim/
• 2016-02: A red marquee bannered on the homepage of the Methodist Hospital in Henderson, Kentucky announced a cyberattack that successfully penetrated their networks, prompting it to operate under an “internal state of emergency”. https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/cyber-attacks/locky-ransomware-strain-led-kentucky-hospital-to-an-internal-state-of-emergency
• 2016-04: Japanese Trends in the Aggressive Activity of the “Locky” Ransomware https://www.fortinet.com/blog/threat-research/japanese-trends-in-the-aggressive-activity-of-the-locky-ransomware.html
• 2016-06: Locky Ransomware Hides Under Multiple Obfuscated Layers of JavaScript https://www.mcafee.com/blogs/other-blogs/mcafee-labs/locky-ransomware-hides-under-multiple-obfuscated-layers-of-javascript/
• 2016-08: Locky Ransomware Distributed Via DOCM Attachments in Latest Email Campaigns https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2016/08/locky_ransomwaredis.html
• 2017-01: Without Necurs, Locky Struggles https://blog.talosintelligence.com/2017/01/locky-struggles.html
• 2017-04: Now, cybercriminals are using PDFs instead of Word documents to deliver Locky ransomware. https://www.vadesecure.com/en/locky-malware-comeback/
• 2017-08: New Locky Ransomware Phishing Attacks Beat Machine Learning Tools https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/new-locky-ransomware-phishing-attacks-beat-machine-learning-tools/d/d-id/1330010
• 2017-08: Locky Ransomware switches to the Lukitus extension for Encrypted Files https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/locky-ransomware-switches-to-the-lukitus-extension-for-encrypted-files/
• 2017-09: Locky ransomware strikes at Amazon https://www.pandasecurity.com/mediacenter/malware/locky-ransomware-strikes-amazon/
• 2017-11: The most recent change for Locky came as one of the most popular ways to spread malware: spear phishing emails. https://threatvector.cylance.com/en_us/home/threat-spotlight-locky-ransomware.html
• 2018-02: Locky Ransomware Is Back in a Big Way https://shadownet.co.za/2019/07/01/locky-ransomware-is-back-in-a-big-way/

Information

• https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/meet-crowdstrikes-adversary-of-the-month-for-october-dungeon-spider/
• https://www.proofpoint.com/us/threat-insight/post/Dridex-Actors-Get-In-the-Ransomware-Game-With-Locky
• https://securelist.com/locky-the-encryptor-taking-the-world-by-storm/74398/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locky

Other Information

Uuid

32791f72-1874-4af1-bd3a-82dfc544b436

Last Card Change

2020-04-15