1.888.900.DRIZ (3749)
The Driz Group
  • Managed Services
    • SME CyberShield
    • Web Application Security >
      • Schedule WAF Demo
    • Virtual CISO
    • Compliance >
      • SOC1 & SOC2
      • GDPR
    • Third-Party Risk Management
    • Vulnerability Assessment >
      • Free Vulnerability Assessment
  • About us
    • Testimonials
    • Meet The Team
    • Resources
    • In the news
    • Careers
    • Subsidiaries
  • Contact
    • Newsletter
  • How WAF Works
  • Blog
  • Managed Services
    • SME CyberShield
    • Web Application Security >
      • Schedule WAF Demo
    • Virtual CISO
    • Compliance >
      • SOC1 & SOC2
      • GDPR
    • Third-Party Risk Management
    • Vulnerability Assessment >
      • Free Vulnerability Assessment
  • About us
    • Testimonials
    • Meet The Team
    • Resources
    • In the news
    • Careers
    • Subsidiaries
  • Contact
    • Newsletter
  • How WAF Works
  • Blog

Cybersecurity Blog

Thought leadership. Threat analysis. Cybersecurity news and alerts.

10/29/2017

0 Comments

Bad Rabbit Ransomware, New variant of NotPetya, Is Spreading

 
Bad Rabbit ransomware

Bad Rabbit Ransomware, New variant of NotPetya, Is Spreading

Bad Rabbit ransomware, a new variant of NotPetya, is spreading across Eastern Europe and other parts of the world.

According to the Russian News Agency TASS, Bad Rabbit ransomware attacked the Russian mass media and Ukraine’s airport and subway. Symantec reported that Bad Rabbit primarily attacked Russia (86%), followed by Japan (3%) Bulgaria (2%), Ukraine (1%), US (1%) and all other countries (7%).

NotPetya versus Bad Rabbit

NotPetya is a malicious software (malware) that was released into the wild in June of this year. It wreaked havoc to thousands of computers worldwide, including Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Russia and the US. Merck, Nuance Communications, FedEx are some of the victims of NotPetya.

Similar to NotPetya, users of computers infected by Bad Rabbit received a notice that their files are encrypted. Both malware have the same style of ransom note, suggesting to victims to pay certain amount to get access to files. Both are worms, which mean that they’ve the ability to self-propagate – self-reproduce by infecting other computers in the network.

One stark difference between NotPetya and Bad Rabbit is the use of self-propagation tools. While NotPetya self-propagates using EternalBlue and EternalRomance, Bad Rabbit self-propagates by only using EternalRomance.

EternalBlue and EternalRomance are just two of the many exploits released in April of this year by the group called “Shadow Brokers”. The group claimed that EternalBlue, EternalRomance and the other hacking tools they’ve released were used by the National Security Agency (NSA) in exploiting the vulnerabilities in Windows operating system. According to Microsoft, it released a security update or patch dated March 17, 2017, fixing the vulnerabilities exposed by Shadow Brokers.

The second difference between NotPetya and Bad Rabbit is that NotPetya is a “wiper” rather than a ransomware. A wiper’s aim is to wipe out or delete all computer files for good, while ransomware’s aim is to generate money from victims. None of the victims of NotPetya were able to unlock their encrypted files. According to Symantec, its analysis of Bad Rabbit confirms that it’s not a wiper as the encrypted files can be recovered if the key is known.

How Bad Rabbit Works

Bad Rabbit infects victims’ computers in the following manner:

  • Use of Watering Holes

The first contact of victims of Bad Rabbit is via watering holes – legitimate websites that are altered by cybercriminals. Bad Rabbit compromised many popular websites in the affected countries.

According to researchers at ESET – the first who observed Bad Rabbit’s campaign last October 24th, some compromised sites have JavaScript injected in their HTML body or in one of their .js file.

  • Social Engineering

Once a victim visits one of these compromised sites, Bad Rabbit malware is dropped or downloaded into the victim's computer as a fake software update to Adobe Flash Player.

Bad Rabbit malware masquerading as an update to Flash Player enters the victim’s computer by employing social engineering – convincing the victim that there’s a need to update his or her Flash Player. In the middle of the computer screen, a popup shows up asking the user to download an update for Flash Player.

  • Use of Open-Source Tools

Once the fake Adobe Flash Player "Install" button is clicked, the Bad Rabbit malware drops five open-sourced tools described below into the victim’s computer. According to Symantec, the download originates from a particular domain. It’s possible though that victims may have been redirected there from another compromised sites, Symantec said.

  1. Mimikatz

Mimikatz is an open-sourced tool used for changing privileges and recovering Windows passwords in plaintext.

  1. Default Passwords

In addition to Mimikatz, Bad Rabbit also uses a hardcoded list of commonly used default passwords in attempting to guess Windows passwords.

  1. ReactOS

ReactOS is an open-sourced tool that’s used as an alternative to Windows operating system. The use of ReactOS, according to Symantec, reduces the amount of detectable suspicious activity on an infected computer.

  1. DiskCryptor

DiskCryptor is an open-sourced tool that’s used to perform encryption. After individual files in the victim’s computer are encrypted, Bad Rabbit will then conduct a full disk encryption. Once the system is restarted, a ransom note is displayed, demanding a ransom amounting to 0.05 Bitcoin (US$280).

  1. EternalRomance

Bad Rabbit spreads to other vulnerable computers in the network by using EternalRomance, an exploit that bypasses security over Server Message Block (SMB) – referred to as the transport protocol used by computers using Windows operating system for a variety of purposes, including file sharing, printer sharing and access to remote Windows services.

According to researchers at RiskIQ, long before the distribution of Bad Rabbit ransomware last October 24th, cyber attackers have already compromised the affected websites used as watering holes. The researchers said that they “can track the distribution vector back to early 2016 showing that victims were compromised long before the ransomware struck.”

"The thing we do not understand at this point is why they decided to burn this information position to mass distribute the Bad Rabbit ransomware rather than save it for another type of malware," RiskIQ researchers said.

How to Prevent Bad Rabbit Attacks

  1. Use strong password

As Bad Rabbit uses factory or default passwords, it’s important to protect your computer with a strong password. This security measure, however, isn’t enough to protect you from Bad Rabbit.

  1. Keep Your Operating System and Software Up-to-date

Bad Rabbit self-propagates by using the hacking tool EternalRomance. A security update or patch that stops EternalRomance has already been made available by Microsoft since March 17, 2017.

"Using unpatched and unsupported software may increase the risk of proliferation of cybersecurity threats, such as ransomware,"

US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) said.

  1. Don’t Be Fooled by Fake Software Updates

In an effort to keep your all software up-to-date, be careful though of falling into traps of fake updates.

Fake Adobe Flash Player update has long been the favorite of many cyber criminals as they always find security vulnerabilities of this software. If an update pops up in your monitor, don’t click the button, and visit the official Adobe website for updates.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Steve E. Driz, I.S.P., ITCP

    Picture
    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    June 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015

    Categories

    All
    0-Day
    2FA
    Access Control
    Advanced Persistent Threat
    AI
    AI Security
    Artificial Intelligence
    ATP
    Awareness Training
    Blockchain
    Botnet
    Bots
    Brute Force Attack
    CASL
    Cloud Security
    Compliance
    COVID 19
    COVID-19
    Cryptocurrency
    Cyber Attack
    Cyberattack Surface
    Cyber Awareness
    Cybercrime
    Cyber Espionage
    Cyber Insurance
    Cyber Security
    Cybersecurity
    Cybersecurity Audit
    Cyber Security Consulting
    Cyber Security Insurance
    Cyber Security Risk
    Cyber Security Threats
    Cybersecurity Tips
    Data Breach
    Data Governance
    Data Leak
    Data Leak Prevention
    Data Privacy
    DDoS
    Email Security
    Endpoint Protection
    Fraud
    GDPR
    Hacking
    Impersonation Scams
    Incident Management
    Insider Threat
    IoT
    Machine Learning
    Malware
    MFA
    Microsoft Office
    Mobile Security
    Network Security Threats
    Phishing Attack
    Privacy
    Ransomware
    Remote Access
    SaaS Security
    Social Engineering
    Supply Chain Attack
    Supply-Chain Attack
    Third Party Risk
    Third-Party Risk
    VCISO
    Virtual CISO
    Vulnerability
    Vulnerability Assessment
    Web Applcation Security
    Web-applcation-security
    Web Application Firewall
    Web Application Protection
    Web Application Security
    Web Protection
    Windows Security
    Zero Trust

    RSS Feed

Picture

1.888.900.DRIZ (3749)

Managed Services

Picture
SME CyberShield
​Web Application Security
​Virtual CISO
Compliance
​Vulnerability Assessment
Free Vulnerability Assessment
Privacy Policy | CASL

About us

Picture
Testimonials
​Meet the Team
​Subsidiaries
​Contact us
​Blog
​
Jobs

Resources & Tools

Picture
​Incident Management Playbook
Sophos authorized partner logo
Picture
© 2025 Driz Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Photo from GotCredit