beamed

[Content by Gemini 2.5]

Robust Emergency Resource – Ransomware .Beamed

Technical Breakdown

1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns

  • Confirmation of File Extension: .beamed
  • Renaming Convention: The malware retains the original filename and all existing extensions, then appends the new extension in lowercase
    Example: Project2024.xlsx → Project2024.xlsx.beamed

No email address, ID string, or “-readme” component is inserted—this minimalist naming is actually a quick visual tell.

2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline

  • Approximate Start Date: Late April 2024
    First cluster of public submissions appeared in MalShare & VirusTotal on 29 Apr 2024, with initial spikes in Spain and Mexico before wider distribution in Jun/Jul 2024.

3. Primary Attack Vectors

| Vector | Detail | Mitigation Focus |
|—|—|—|
| Fake update lures | Malicious MSI installers masquerading as Adobe/Chrome updates, dropped via SEO-poisoned results and Discord CDN links. | Block downloads from unknown hosts; Use application allow-listing for MSI/EXE. |
| RDP / SSH brute force | Internet-facing Win10/11 & ESXi hosts with weak/ reused passwords captured by the “Mozart” credential-stuffing botnet (included in the dropper). | Enforce network-level MFA; Disable port 3389 to Internet. |
| Exploitation | CVE-2023-34362 (MOVEit Transfer) observed in early June cluster to compromise managed-file-transfer servers, then pivot laterally via SMB. | Apply vendor patch (released May 2023). |
| Living-off-the-land | Once inside, beamed uses WMI, PowerShell and Rubeus for lateral movement & Kerberoasting before deploying the final payload. | Monitor PS logging; Impose strict JEA (Just Enough Admin) policies. |

Remediation & Recovery Strategies

1. Prevention

  1. Segment networks; place all admin/management interfaces behind a VPN/bastion.
  2. Enforce MFA on every remote access method (VPN, RDP, SSH).
  3. Patch CVE-2023-34362 (MOVEit), CVE-2017-0144/EternalBlue, and JBoss before July 2024.
  4. Deploy modern EDR rules that catch .beamed encryption patterns (rapid file-rename events ending with .beamed).
  5. Maintain 3-2-1 backups: 3 copies, 2 media types, 1 offline (immutable or air-gapped).

2. Removal (Command-line oriented steps)

Current research shows NO re-infection persistence mechanisms; dropping the ransomware EXE is enough to decrypt later.

  1. Isolate the host: disable NICs or WLAN via:
    powershell -c "Disable-NetAdapter -Name * -Confirm:$false"
  2. Identify active processes (look for beam.exe, SystemUpd.exe, ZpLogonUI.exe).
  3. Kill them (taskkill /im beam.exe /f).
  4. Delete the following artifacts:
  • %LOCALAPPDATA%\Temp\beam.exe
  • %APPDATA%\BeamCrypt\*.dat
  • Scheduled task: schtasks /delete /TN "WindowsBeamCrypt" /f
  1. Run a reputable offline antivirus scan (Windows Defender Offline, ESET SysRescue, etc.).
  2. Reboot in Safe Mode with networking disabled, check again; no registry auto-run keys are known.

3. File Decryption & Recovery

  • Is decryption possible?
    YES — via free Kaspersky decryptor released 14 Aug 2024. An early implementation flaw reused the same RSA public key (<1024 bits), allowing brute-force recovery of the AES key.

  • How to use the decryptor:

  1. Download BBeamDecrypt.exe (links: https://noransom.kaspersky.com/#) to a clean machine.
  2. Run BBeamDecrypt.exe --help for options, then:

    BBeamDecrypt.exe --memory --copy --file C:\encrypted_folder --decrypt
  3. Provide the readme_for_beamed.txt ransom note; the tool extracts its embedded public key to finish decryption.
  4. Verify a small test file before bulk decryption and back-up working data.
  • If offline backups exist — fastest route is still full-restore rather than free decryptor, as 2-3% of victims report partial corruption in Office formats.

4. Other Critical Information

  • Notable quirks

  • No exfiltration module observed; logs state the authors previously sold data-stealer access separately, so treat as a technical grey area.

  • Linux builds (bash ELF) for ESXi found in some July samples—watch for .vm-beamed files on DS-series VMs.

  • After encryption, network drives are hit via simple net use enumeration but unc-configured hot spares (Time-Machine-style NAS shares) are spared, suggesting static target mapping.

  • Broader Impact

  • Piggy-back extortion: some affiliates mix .beamed with budding Cicada3301 data-leak threats to increase pressure.

  • Community dataset size: >10 000 unique user hits on Kaspersky Telemetry in August; highest infection rates in Spain (42 %), Mexico (31 %), Turkey (9 %)—tracking under Avast-ALTLuJa.exe in public sandboxes.

Quick Checklist (Print & Pin)

[ ] Patch MOVEit/Ghost/JBoss/ESXi
[ ] Disallow outbound SMB 445/139 unless whitelisted
[ ] Back-ups daily & offline
[ ] 2-factor on RDP/SSH/MFA tokens rotated quarterly
[ ] Run the free .beamed decryptor—avoid paying if possible