VB2018 video: Behind the scenes of the SamSam investigation

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 29, 2018

Yesterday, a federal grand jury in the US unsealed an indictment charging two Iranians with being behind the SamSam ransomware.

SamSam has been one of the most successful ransomware campaigns in recent years, thanks to the clever targeting of specific organisations, including universities, hospitals and local governments. This targeting allowed the attackers to ensure the targeted organisation really couldn't recover the files without the private key, enabled them to create a very smooth 'support' process for those victims that did pay, and to make large very ransom demands: the group is believed to have received more than US$6m in ransom payments, with the number of losses through damages believed to be five times as high.

The best source on the ransomware is a Sophos paper from this summer. This report was also the source of a presentation Sophos researcher Andrew Brandt gave on the ransomware at VB2018, in which he described the history and the inner workings of the malware, as well as how the actors behind it had remained hidden for so long.

ransom-collection-over-time.png

It is unclear whether in the current political climate (and given the fact they do not appear to have targeted Iranian organisations) the alleged SamSam authors will face justice, or even whether their indictment will bring an end to their activities. But it does serve as a reminder that even attackers with good OPSEC, such as those behind SamSam, have a very hard time staying hidden.

We have uploaded Andrew's VB2018 presentation to our YouTube channel.

twitter.png
fb.png
linkedin.png
hackernews.png
reddit.png

 

Latest posts:

VBSpam tests to be executed under the AMTSO framework

VB is excited to announce that, starting from the Q3 test, all VBSpam tests of email security products will be executed under the AMTSO framework.

In memoriam: Prof. Ross Anderson

We were very sorry to learn of the passing of Professor Ross Anderson a few days ago.

In memoriam: Dr Alan Solomon

We were very sorry to learn of the passing of industry pioneer Dr Alan Solomon earlier this week.

New paper: Nexus Android banking botnet – compromising C&C panels and dissecting mobile AppInjects

In a new paper, researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Bansal provide details of a security vulnerability in the Nexus Android botnet C&C panel that was exploited in order to gather threat intelligence, and present a model of mobile AppInjects.

New paper: Collector-stealer: a Russian origin credential and information extractor

In a new paper, F5 researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Chaturvedi present a 360 analysis of Collector-stealer, a Russian-origin credential and information extractor.

We have placed cookies on your device in order to improve the functionality of this site, as outlined in our cookies policy. However, you may delete and block all cookies from this site and your use of the site will be unaffected. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to Virus Bulletin's use of data as outlined in our privacy policy.