While I wait for Nashville traffic to clear (picture above), I decided to take this as an opportunity to write up some thoughts and provide links for the current “ransomware” outbreak. I became aware of this on Tuesday and started monitoring the situation via Twitter. I thought it a good idea to create a list and add people who are providing the most useful information about the current outbreak. I figured it would be useful for future security related events.

There are already some good blog posts out there with what we currently know. SANS Internet Storm Center and Symantec Security Response have really good information. What I’d like to focus on is the idea that this is outbreak is a cover up for a nation-state attack. As I watched Twitter it seemed like a very particular set of organizations were getting hit by this ransomware. There were reports in several different countries and different types of organizations, but something didn’t feel right. I didn’t know anyone experiencing this event or see reports of local government or schools getting hit with this stuff. If there is truly an outbreak I would expect to hear about outbreaks in those areas. They run IT (let alone security) on a shoestring budget. All the reports seem to focus on those areas in Ukraine.

On my ride into work this morning the Risky Business podcast floated the idea that this was a targeted attack by a nation-state (Russia) at Ukraine (don’t call it “The Ukraine). Based on what I’ve seen it makes sense. Furthering the idea is Matt Suiche who wrote up an article on Petya as a wiper not ransomware he dug into the code for the malware and found that some of it had changed. This makes things much more difficult to recover from. If this is a cyber attack on another nation then the goal is certainly destruction. Crafting malware to look like ransomware but make things irrecoverable is a good way to accomplish that goal. It also helps with creating disinformation (something Russia does).

Then there’s the article from the grugq. He tracks down the MeDoc connection, which is considered the starting point for the infection. MeDoc is an accounting software package. The malware was sent through it’s update service. Now, if I’m a criminal trying to make money of this thing I use phishing emails to send this thing out to as many places as possible. Targeting a software vendor to deliver ransomware seems like way too much work for not a lot of payout. In fact the email address for payments has already been shutdown. Even if you wanted your files back you’re not getting them, because communication with the attackers is gone. Last check of the bitcoin wallet is $10,296.2 USD, according to @petya_payments on Twitter.

The problem with news like this is that there’s a lot of information flying out there. Not all of it good. It’ll take a few days to sort through everything, even then we won’t have a clear picture. In several weeks US intelligence will have their say. Like they recently did with WannaCry (it was North Korea). I think this is a targeted attack involving countries. There will be collateral damage, but it’s unlikely to affect a majority of us. In fact it looks like the initial attack has long since passed. Again, it’s early and some of this information is likely misguided or incorrect or new information will come out. There are some researchers saying that it’s not a wiper. The link in the post is another good resource for information and a good example of the community working through early information. He does agree that the malware's purpose is destruction, he's just not sure it's a wiper. I'm not versed enough in malware analysis to make a distinction either way. Wiper or ransomware are minor details, both will cause a lot of destruction. We should have a clearer picture in the next few days.

Suggestions for defending yourself are in the SANS and Symantec articles. Simple answer is to patch your shit and evaluate SMBv1 needs. I also took this event as an opportunity to email some internal folks and ask questions about our systems and see how they responded. When people talk about war gaming a security incident, these are good opportunities, even if you’re not impacted.

Resources:

I think traffic got worse.

This blog post first appeared on Exploring Information Security.