Technical Breakdown: 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Confirmation of File Extension: BLACKOUT writes the hard-coded extension .blackout to every encrypted file (lower-case, no preceding space or delimiter). Renaming Convention: It keeps the original file name and appends “.blackout” once—e.g., annual_report.xlsx becomes annual_report.xlsx.blackout. Directory and file names are otherwise untouched; it does not embed campaign…

Technical Breakdown: 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Confirmation of File Extension: BlackMatter officially appends .blackmatter (in some campaigns .blm) to every encrypted file. Renaming Convention: The malware first copies the victim’s hostname and time-stamp to the new filename, then appends the extension, e.g. Document.docx → hostname_2021-09-18_15-08-32.Document.docx.blackmatter 2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline Approximate Start Date/Period:…

Technical Breakdown: 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Confirmation of File Extension: Yes—after encryption, the BlackMagic ransomware appends .blackmagic directly to the original filename. Renaming Convention: Each affected file is renamed in the following pattern: original.file.name.xxxxxxxxxx.blackmagic The 10-character string (x) is an alphanumeric victim ID generated at runtime; it is consistent across all files on…

Technical Breakdown: ────────────────── File Extension & Renaming Patterns • Confirmation of File Extension: .blacklegion (lowercase, no space before the dot). • Renaming Convention: original-filename.original-extension.blacklegion – Example: Report.xlsx.blacklegion, QuarterlyBudgets.csv.blacklegion – No prefix or UUID injected into the name (common with BlackLegion compared with families like Scarab that prepend victims’ IDs). Detection & Outbreak Timeline • First…

Technical Breakdown – Black Kingdom (a.k.a. DEMON, DEMON1, VaultCrypt) 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Exact file extension in use: .DEMON, .dmn, or .vault. Note that Black Kingdom chooses the suffix after encryption is finished, so some samples still append .blackkingdom instead. Renaming Convention: Original: C:\Docs\Invoice_April_2023.xlsx After encryption: Invoice_April_2023.xlsx.id-<8-hex-chars>.[[email protected]].DEMON (i.e., filename + randomized 8-char victim-ID…

Technical Breakdown: 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Confirmation of File Extension: blackhunt appends “.blackhunt” to every encrypted file. Example: budget_Q1.xlsx → budget_Q1.xlsx.blackhunt Renaming Convention: The ransomware preserves the original file name and extension, then tacks ­.blackhunt to the end. It does not overwrite or shorten the file name, which helps forensic analysts correlate encrypted…

Technical Breakdown: 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Confirmation of File Extension: The ransomware appends the literal string “.blackheat” to each encrypted file name. Renaming Convention: ${original_name}.${original_extension}.blackheat Example: Q1_Report.xlsx becomes Q1_Report.xlsx.blackheat 2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline Approximate Start Date/Period: Mass detections and security-community chatter began in the last week of May 2024 (public sandbox reports…

Below is the consolidated, up-to-date intelligence sheet on the BlackHeart ransomware (extension blackheart, as it appears in the wild). Use it for blue-team playbooks, incident-response runbooks, and public awareness efforts. Where no single authoritative source exists, I have annotated the item as “Collective/defensive consensus”. Technical Breakdown 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Confirmation of file…

Technical Breakdown: “blackheart” Ransomware 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Confirmation of File Extension: The malware appends the literal string .blackheart (lowercase, no dots or brackets) to every encrypted file. Renaming Convention: – Original file: resume.docx – After encryption: resume.docx.blackheart – No second-level renaming stages have been observed, which helps avoid confusion when triaging what…

Technical Breakdown 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Confirmation of File Extension: .blackhatup Renaming Convention: Files are renamed using the pattern [original_name][ID][attacker_email].blackhatup. Example: Financial2024.pdf.id[12A4C78E][email protected] 2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline Approximate Start Date/Period: Large-scale outbreaks were first noted in early February 2024. Underground chatter and a minor spike in VirusTotal submissions were observed in late January…