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Take a deep dive into BlackSuit ransomware and explore its capabilities, deployment, and some current targets. Explore how Deep Instinct is able to detect and prevent BlackSuit from taking advantage of your data.

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Five weeks ago, the KADOKAWA corporation began to experience service outages affecting multiple websites. The outages spread to other operations and were identified as a <a href="https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/blacksuit-ransomware-gang-claims-attack-on-kadokawa-corporation/">ransomware attack</a> by the BlackSuit ransomware group. BlackSuit claimed responsibility and threatened the public release of stolen information on July 1st unless their ransom demands were met.&nbsp;&nbsp;BlackSuit's ransomware is very similar to the Royal ransomware strain, which itself is considered the successor to the notorious Conti group. This suggests potential connections or shared developers. This connection can be explained in more detail in some of our older material that has been published on the subject: we examined both <a href="https://info.deepinstinct.com/conti-leaks-cyber-threat-reports">Conti</a> and <a href="https://www.deepinstinct.com/blog/black-basta-ransomware-threat-emergence">BlackBasta</a>, a Conti offshoot.&nbsp;<figure style="text-align: center"><div data-img-caption-container="true" style="display: inline-block; text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.contentstack.io/v3/assets/blt1ec077b6b53d6b3e/blt360d20b0f113f264/6696f82b06a674d134c5a4ee/fig1-blacksuit-victims.png" style="text-align: center;" /><figcaption style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">Figure 1: BlackSuit ransomware victims</figcaption></div></figure>Based on our analysis, we found that Deep Instinct prevents&nbsp;all new Blacksuit Windows Ransomware samples with an eight-month-old brain. Across the industry, however, these samples have a much lower detection rate than earlier sample versions of BlackSuit. As demonstrated in the graph above, that lower detection rate matches the sudden growth of BlackSuit ransomware victims.&nbsp;The samples BlackSuit is using are well designed for infiltration of legacy systems. Let’s take a closer look.&nbsp;<h5>Latest samples analysis:</h5>Newer samples of BlackSuit’s code mainly added additional layers of complications like encoding strings and imported DLLs for Anti-Analysis. They also added a mandatory ID argument to bypass automatic emulation, making the new samples more evasive.&nbsp;<figure style="text-align: center"><div data-img-caption-container="true" style="display: inline-block; text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.contentstack.io/v3/assets/blt1ec077b6b53d6b3e/blt2084d114ec3f8209/6696f82b77a7809e9044a25f/fig2-strings-encryption.png" style="text-align: center;" /><figcaption style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">Figure 2: String decryption</figcaption></div></figure>For example, according to VirusTotal, even though old Blacksuit samples have a high detection rate, the new samples from recent months have a much lower detection rate, indicating significant changes.<figure style="text-align: center"><div data-img-caption-container="true" style="display: inline-block; text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.contentstack.io/v3/assets/blt1ec077b6b53d6b3e/blt5bed08ab64e581fe/6696f82cd0c0ef789ec561b6/fig3-VT-detection-rate.png" width="auto" height="auto" style="text-align: center;max-width: auto;width: auto;height: auto;" /><figcaption style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">Figure 3: Detection rate in VirusTotal of new Blacksuit samples when first submitted</figcaption></div></figure>One of the more impactful changes allowed the threat actor to mask the ransomware as a legitimate part of a known free antivirus, Qihoo 360, including false watermarking. This masking has drastically lowered detection. The ransomware is hidden deep inside the legitimate looking application and only has to be executed with a token in the command line to operate as a ransomware.&nbsp;<figure style="text-align: center"><div data-img-caption-container="true" style="display: inline-block; text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.contentstack.io/v3/assets/blt1ec077b6b53d6b3e/blteae79a1729b07bfd/6696f82c77a780582d44a263/fig4-embedded-legitimate-urls.png" style="text-align: center;" /><figcaption style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">Figure 4: Embedded URLs</figcaption></div></figure><figure style="text-align: center"><div data-img-caption-container="true" style="display: inline-block; text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.contentstack.io/v3/assets/blt1ec077b6b53d6b3e/blt4e96f1780d57f20a/6696f82c6c1019fd6f39795e/fig5-fake-metadata.png" style="text-align: center;" /><figcaption style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">Figure 5: Fake Metadata</figcaption></div></figure>The masquerade file is not signed, indicating this is not the real Qihoo application. The functionality post infiltration remained the same as the other new samples, including the same mutex used.&nbsp;<figure style="text-align: center"><div data-img-caption-container="true" style="display: inline-block; text-align: center;"><img src="https://images.contentstack.io/v3/assets/blt1ec077b6b53d6b3e/blt3971600a651708d4/6696f82c79f2042205390cf0/fig6-VT-detectio-rate-stealthy-sample.png" style="text-align: center;" /><figcaption style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">Figure 6: VirusTotal detection rate.</figcaption></div></figure>

The main portion of the executable is nearly identical to Qihoo's real QHAccount.exe file, resulting in security software evasion.<figure><div data-img-caption-container="true" style="display: inline-block; text-align: center;"><img alt="image003.jpg" src="https://images.contentstack.io/v3/assets/blt1ec077b6b53d6b3e/blt5dac21065b6f0d02/66990ac7d316c70da3b3419f/image003.jpg" height="auto" /><figcaption style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">Figure 7: Side by side comparison of BlackSuit and Qihoo executables</figcaption></div></figure>Disclaimer: The official Qihoo 360 is not in any way involved with BlackSuit. The masking is the work of bad actors assuming Qihoo’s identity.&nbsp;<h5>Behaviors:</h5>The common behavior shared with all Windows samples didn’t change much and the main functionality remained the same, though some commands have changed:<table><tbody><tr><td>-p&nbsp;</td><td>Specifies the target directory where the ransomware will encrypt files&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>-killvm&nbsp;</td><td>Terminates the virtual machine (VM), preventing analysis&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>-allfilesEncrypt&nbsp;</td><td>Encrypts all accessible files, maximizing damage&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>-networkEncrypt&nbsp;</td><td>Encrypts files on connected network drives, spreading the attack&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>-localEncrypt&nbsp;</td><td>Restricts encryption to the local machine storage, limiting immediate impact&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>-percentEncrypt&nbsp;</td><td>Encrypts a specified percentage of files, potentially increasing performance&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>-demonoff&nbsp;</td><td>Operates in stealth mode, making detection harder&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>-list {file}&nbsp;</td><td>A targeted list of files to be included in the encryption process&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>-delete&nbsp;</td><td>The ransomware deletes itself after execution, hindering investigation&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>-thrcount {number}&nbsp;</td><td>Specifies the number of threads used for encryption, impacting both performance and resource usage.&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>-skip {file}&nbsp;</td><td>A list of files to be excluded from encryption&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>-noprotect&nbsp;</td><td>Disables self-protection mechanisms, allowing termination of the ransomware&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table>&nbsp;The new samples have encoded strings to complicate analysis, and need to be supplied with -id &lt;32 characters&gt;. They can also receive additional instructions, such as:&nbsp;&nbsp;<table><tbody><tr><td>-ep&nbsp;</td><td>(like the previous percentEncrypt) sets a percentage of each file that will be encrypted. Partial encryption&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>-path&nbsp;</td><td>Specific directory to encrypt&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>-localonly&nbsp;</td><td>(an addition to the previous networkEncrypt) without network drives&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>-networkonly&nbsp;</td><td>(an addition to the previous networkEncrypt) without local files&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>-aavm&nbsp;</td><td>(like the previous allfilesEncrypt) encrypts everything&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table>&nbsp;BlackSuit ransomware also boasts a few other functionalities:&nbsp;<ul><li>Initiates Asymmetric Key Exchange to get the secret encryption key.&nbsp;</li></ul><ul><li>Deletes shadow copies, in order to disable easy local restore:&nbsp;</li></ul><ul><ul><li>vssadmin delete shadow /all /quiet&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ul></ul><ul><li>Encrypts&nbsp;</li></ul><ul><ul><li>Appends .blacksuit to the encrypted files&nbsp;</li></ul></ul><ul><li>Skips:&nbsp;</li></ul><ul><ul><li>Various file types like executables, drivers, and installers to avoid breaking the system.&nbsp;</li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Already encrypted files and the ransom note.&nbsp;</li></ul></ul><ul><li>Eventually, BlackSuit’s ransomware is capable of disabling safe mode and shutting down the system:&nbsp;</li></ul><ul><ul><li>bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>shutdown /r /t 0&nbsp;</li></ul></ul><ul><li>Drops ransom note: Usually named readme.blacksuit.txt. The content text is encrypted to avoid signature detection for the ransom note. The note includes a link for communication with the threat actor for ransom negotiations.</li></ul><figure style="text-align: center"><div data-img-caption-container="true" style="display: inline-block; text-align: center;"><img asset_uid="blt771fca19a69b58a1" alt="fig7-ransom-note.png" src="https://images.contentstack.io/v3/assets/blt1ec077b6b53d6b3e/blt771fca19a69b58a1/6696f82de13bf8b63bf84456/fig7-ransom-note.png" width="auto" height="128" style="text-align: center;" /><figcaption style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">Figure 8: BlackSuit’s ransom note</figcaption></div></figure><h5>Infection chain</h5>The common initial attack vectors are RDP (possibly with stolen credentials), VPN and firewall vulnerabilities, Office email attachments (Macros), Torrent websites, Malicious ads, and various 3rd-party trojans. And the attackers have also used tools like CobaltStrike, WinRAR, PUTTY, Rclone, Advanced IP Scanner, Mimikatz, and GMER. The variety of attack vectors opens the possibility for infection across a much broader target group, endangering large amounts of data.&nbsp;<h5>Leak and news site</h5>The BlackSuit group operates a news and leak site on the DarkWeb that includes all the known victims of the threat actors. Once the timer for the ransom payment ends, the exfiltrated data is published.&nbsp;Alleged victims of BlackSuit ransomware have their data published under a profile featuring key information about their organization, including industry, number of employees, revenue, and contact information.<figure><div data-img-caption-container="true" style="display: inline-block; text-align: center;"><img alt="Figure 8: An example of an alleged victim's profile on BlackSuit's leak site " src="https://images.contentstack.io/v3/assets/blt1ec077b6b53d6b3e/blt6451cbdff41a7b39/6697d044d0c0efef3ec5697e/fig9-darkweb-leak_redact_WB.png" width="auto" height="auto" style="width: auto; height: auto;" /><figcaption style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">Figure 9: An example of a victim profile on BlackSuit's leak site</figcaption></div></figure><a href="https://info.deepinstinct.com/request-a-demo">Request a demo</a> to see how Deep Instinct can protect you from BlackSuit ransomware.&nbsp;Explore the BlackSuit IOCs below.<h5>IOCs</h5>f1684fb118d4d8fc56653fcc49e12a659b64c4459ba037fa94f21783235cc6ba&nbsp;dede96fd44c0f78eb79ceb63b898874e8922efc59d8bfb9f86505b1992bc00a3&nbsp; 6a2e454942cfeebb1140e1a28cb05fd49461d07792e97663378399c719fbc9ee&nbsp;79ab73a0e9dd8eac045c00fd1bd172a7f359588901f93c83e6740157eb21e7df&nbsp;7f09c2e35783fca69f0e12f31d767cecf8a98567f2b6f1e2d81d2b2e93fe6307&nbsp;60a9785ec20ec08b6792e304fc4b363abd54b8a7a2945dca9f97ee07783c4759&nbsp;5aeaa5c4f4100b2084814be72a695a5bf4a95fdb8a0c65704523608baa79b726&nbsp;d96ff4b3e188f7ff96ed28c1381a6318dd76bb1fbd6ca02c6ab0236e1c7f35aa&nbsp;3be3a3c2c1abc1d401e845a2b8952f4f3e55b510f3d6c1eb2a4503c7be09bec1&nbsp;90ae0c693f6ffd6dc5bb2d5a5ef078629c3d77f874b2d2ebd9e109d8ca049f2c&nbsp;6ad8215bd6b52d897dcfa0a9829720d0532adc741460ecb4b8f00c4427b6141c&nbsp;8605dec4ae4bd9f51297d1f244d0647bc0637d6ce6a957a5f810c64ae63276cb&nbsp; 2adcf43d221de2f72ba5088dac3a3193219412882df711d095f04e3f5b40767c&nbsp;&nbsp;readme.blacksuit.txt&nbsp;.blacksuit&nbsp;vssadmin delete shadows /all /quiet&nbsp;Mutex: WLm87eV1oNRx6P3E4Cy9&nbsp;

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Ivan Kosarev

From Ivan Kosarev.

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