Technical Breakdown: 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Confirmation of File Extension: Every file encrypted by the Coza ransomware receives the single, appended suffix .coza (e.g., reportQ1.xlsx.coza). Renaming Convention: After encryption the original basename is preserved; only the .coza extension is appended. A small batch of observed samples add the victim’s machine ID in lowercase…

Technical Breakdown – COWA (a.k.a. COWA87) Ransomware 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Confirmation of File Extension: “.COWA” (always upper-case on compromised Windows hosts; lower-case .cowa has occasionally been seen when the extender binary is executed on *nix/WSL paths that preserve case). Renaming Convention: Files are first exfiltrated to the C² server (or to the…

COVM Ransomware – Technical & Recovery Intelligence Report A community resource maintained by the cybersecurity response team for the file-extension {{ .covm }} Technical Breakdown 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Confirmation of File Extension: .covm (all lowercase). Every encrypted file acquires this suffix in addition to the original extension, e.g. Presentation.pptx becomes Presentation.pptx.covm. Renaming…

Detailed Community Resource: The covm Ransomware (Dharma/Phobos Sub-variant) Technical Breakdown: 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Exact File Extension: .covm Renaming Convention: Each encrypted file is renamed twice: Original file loses its extension. A set of labels is appended in the following sequence: Victim’s unique hexadecimal ID (id[8-hex-digits], id[16-hex-digits], or id[32-char-in-CRC-like-format]) Affiliate / campaign ID…

Technical Breakdown: 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Confirmation of File Extension: .covid21 Renaming Convention: OriginalFilename.ext → OriginalFilename.ext.[victim-ID].covid21 The victim-specific ID is a 10-byte hexadecimal string that may look like: AE4F77C5F6.covid21. 2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline Approximate Start Date/Period: Earliest public sightings in honeypot telemetry date to March 12 2021—shortly after domain names matching the…

IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION The term “COVID-19” corresponds to the 2019 coronavirus pandemic, not a ransomware file extension. To provide the resource you requested, please confirm the exact file-extension that the ransomware appended to encrypted documents (for example .covid19, .covid, .covid-19, etc.). Once verified, I’ll supply the full technical breakdown and recovery playbook for that specific strain.…

Technical Breakdown: 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Extension: .covid (henceforth referred to as Covid ransomware) Renaming Convention: Each encrypted file is given a rename in the form: original_filename.ext.{unique_ID}.covid – Example: Invoice_2024.xls.f2a7c89b-3411-4f56-9c61-9b9b3f39aa90.covid The long UUID between the last dot and the .covid suffix appears to be a 128-bit hexadecimal client ID, different on every infection…

COVERTON Ransomware Analysis & Response Guide Raised awareness after waves of attacks that append the “.coverton” extension to files. Technical Breakdown: 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Confirmation of File Extension: The ransomware modifies every encrypted file to add the suffix “.coverton”. Renaming Convention: [original_file_name].[original_extension].coverton Example: Report-Q1-2024.docx → Report-Q1-2024.docx.coverton On shared/network drives you may see…

Technical Breakdown: 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Confirmation of File Extension: cov19 (note that this is NOT related to COVID-19; attackers reused the term purely for shock value). Renaming Convention: Each encrypted file is appended with the domain-locked suffix .{id=[4-7-digit-hash].[[email-string@malware-builder].cov19 (example: Q4_report.xlsx.{id=298B3E4E}.{[email protected]}.cov19). The filename itself is left intact—only the extension changes—so victims can still…

Technical Breakdown: 1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns Confirmation of File Extension: The ransomware appends .cov (lower-case) to every encrypted file, producing names like Budget2025.xlsx.cov, README.txt.cov, or Employee_DB.mdf.cov. Renaming Convention: Original filename + original extension + .cov. No random 6-character strings, email addresses, or hexadecimal IDs are added, making the blunt nature of the rename…