Octocrypt, Alice, and AXLocker Ransomware, new threats in the wild

Experts from Cyble Research and Intelligence Labs (CRIL) discovered three new ransomware families: AXLocker, Octocrypt, and Alice Ransomware.

Threat intelligence firm Cyble announced the discovery of three new ransomware families named AXLocker, Octocrypt, and Alice Ransomware.

The AXLocker ransomware encrypts victims’ files and steals Discord tokens from the infected machine. The analysis of the code revealed that the startencryption() function implements the capability to search files by enumerating the available directories on the C:\ drive. The malware only targets specific file extensions and excludes a list of directories from the encryption process.

The AXLocker ransomware uses the AES encryption algorithm to encrypt files, unlike other ransomware it does not change the name or extension of the encrypted files.

“After encrypting the victim’s files, the ransomware collects and sends sensitive information such as Computer name, Username, Machine IP address, System UUID, and Discord tokens to TA.” reads the analysis published by Cyble.

The malware uses regex to find the Discord tokens in the local storage files, then sends them to the Discord server along with other information.

Once the ransomware has encrypted the files, it shows a pop-up window that contains a ransom note with instructions to contact the operators. The ransom note doesn’t include the amount requested to the victims to recover their files.

Cyble also discovered a new ransomware strain dubbed Octocrypt, it is a Golang ransomware and its operators are adopting the Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) business model. The malware appeared in the threat landscape around October 2022 and is offered for USD400.

“The Octocrypt web panel builder interface allows TAs to generate ransomware binary executables by entering options such as API URL, Crypto address, Crypto amount, and Contact email address.” continues Cyble.

The third ransomware strain discovered by Cyble dubbed “Alice” is also offered as a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS).

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, AXLocker ransomware)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.