Organizations Can Combat WannaCry & Jaff Ransomware With Well Instrumented DNS – Techzone360

The Infoblox Intelligence Unit observed two global malware outbreaks on Friday, May 12.Although there is no indication that the two attacks were related, both were ransomware attacks with the goal of encrypting the victims files and demanding payment (mostly in the form of a Bitcoin payment) in order to decrypt them.

Several reports conflated the two outbreaks based on the evidence at hand and the common use of ransomware. Subsequent investigation revealed that they were separate attacks utilizing different distribution capabilities and malware. It is important to understand the difference between the two attacks because each one requires slightly different remediation measures.

The first attack, WannaCry, is a self-propagating worm, which leverages a known and patched vulnerability in Microsoft Server Message Block (SMB). It leverages an exploit called ETERNALBLUE and goes on to establish a backdoor known as DOUBLEPULSAR to allow for future access to the infected systems. WannaCry spreads by connecting to SMB services on local and Internet-facing systems with the vulnerability of running the backdoor. The malware then spreads laterally by attempting connections to all systems on the local network.

During its initial infection, WannaCry checks whether an external domain (killswitch domain) is available. If the killswitch domain can be

contacted, the encryption function does not run. The killswitch domains are not a command-and-control server for the malware and should be monitored but not blocked. Before May 12, the domains were not registered. Shortly after the attack started, amalware researcherregistered and sinkholed the first domain. This helped prevent a lot of later infections since the malware was able to resolve the domain. If left to run normally, WannaCry will encrypt most files on a machine. Once the files are encrypted, users will be prompted to pay $300 in Bitcoin to get their files back. The cost goes up to $600 if a user takes too long to pay, and eventually the user will be unable to pay to have files returned. Note that Microsoft had issued a patch for the SMB vulnerability that was being exploited in March 2017. That patch was not universally implemented.

While the world was preoccupied with WannaCry, there was another ransomware attack in progress called Jaff. The Jaff ransomware was launched by Necurs, one of the largest botnets in the world, notorious for spreading threats such as the Locky ransomware and the Dridex banking Trojan. It sends misleading emails to its victims encouraging them to open an attached PDF document. This document asks for additional permissions when opened and, if approved, allows the delivery and execution of the ransomware payload. The emails used to deliver Jaff employ standard spam techniques, but the exact details vary between each of the concurrent campaigns.

Once Jaff has been downloaded and executed by the malicious document, it connects to its C2 servers to communicate that encryption of the victims files has begun. Jaff then proceeds to encrypt the victims files, instructs the victim to install Tor Browser, and directs the users to a specific website that displays a ransom note and payment instructions. The exact amount demanded by the ransom varies over time, but currently averages around 2 Bitcoin (roughly $3,500 dollars).

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Edited by Alicia Young

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Organizations Can Combat WannaCry & Jaff Ransomware With Well Instrumented DNS - Techzone360