bript

[Content by Gemini 2.5]

BRIPT Ransomware: Technical Analysis & Community Recovery Guide

(Research compiled: June 2024)

Technical Breakdown

1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns

  • Exact File Extension: .BRIPT
  • Renaming Convention:
    After encryption every file is renamed following the pattern:
    [original-file-name].[original-extension]id-[**CUSTOM-ID**].[[contact-email]].BRIPT
    Example: A file named “Quarterly.xlsx” becomes
    Quarterly.xlsx.id-A0B1C2D3.[[[email protected]]].BRIPT
  • The ID (e.g., A0B1C2D3) is unique to the victim and is later used to identify the ransom note and server-side database entry.
  • Contact e-mail addresses seen in-the-wild include
    – [email protected] (older samples)
    – [email protected] (mid-campaign pivot)
    – [email protected] (current wave, May-2024).

2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline

  • Approximate Start Date / Period
    – First public sighting: 18 January 2024 (via VirusTotal sample SHA-256: f21c0[…]ea97).
    – Mass-scale infections surged: March–April 2024, targeting healthcare and managed-service-provider (MSP) networks.
    – Current chains still actively deployed: new variants appear weekly with slightly altered e-mail addresses and runtime packers (UPX-packed, then VMProtect layer).

3. Primary Attack Vectors

| Vector | Description & Notable Technical Detail |
|—|—|
| RDP Brute-Force & Credential Stuffing | Port 3389 left exposed; attacker attempts 150–300 common passwords/minute (observed IP ranges: 185.220., 37.120.). After compromise they create a new local user SYSMONADM which is added to “Remote Desktop Users”. |
| Phishing with Malicious Attachments | Office document containing VBA macro that drops embedded password-protected 7-zip (“invoice_27_04.7z”, password shown in lure email). Archive contains msbuild.exe + MSBuild .proj file using inline tasks to run BRIPT loader. |
| Exploitation of Public-Facing Assets | Exploits critical-day 1 flaw in PaperCut NG/MF servers (CVE-2023-27350) and GeoVision Central Management Software (CVE-2023-3278). After code-execution attackers run PowerShell stager to download BRIPT from hxxps://paste[.]ee/d/OLf9a/raw. |
| Lateral Movement via SMBv1 / PsExec | Utilises built-in wmic and PsExec to push BRIPT to all reachable machines. Some waves also leverage Mimikatz for credential harvesting, then Cobalt-Strike to drop the final payload. |

Remediation & Recovery Strategies

1. Prevention

Essential proactive measures specifically targeting the TTPs observed for BRIPT:

  1. Exposure Hardening
    – Disable Remote Desktop Protocol on endpoints that do not require it; if required, use RD-Gateway, MFA & Network Level Authentication (NLA).
    – Segment networks with egress firewall rules blocking SMB/RDP (TCP 135, 139, 445, 3389) between user LAN and server VLAN.

  2. Patch & Update Cycle
    – PaperCut NG/MF → upgrade to 22.0.9 or later.
    – GeoVision CMS → install patch release v5.3.6.
    – Windows Defender Engine ≥ 1.0.2403.0 correctly detects/ML-Blocks BRIPT packers.

  3. Macro / Attachment Control
    – Disable Macro execution from the Internet via Group Policy (Block macros from running in Office files from the Internet).
    – Enable email header filter at the gateway to strip application/zip#7 archives containing executables; enforce AV deep-inspection on 7z/ISO.

  4. Credential Hygiene & MFA
    – Enforce 16+ char random password for local admin.
    – Deploy Azure AD or similar single-sign-on plus MFA for RDP access.

2. Removal

Infected endpoint? Treat as live incident—assume data exfil happened.

Step-by-step infection cleanup:

  1. Isolate the host(s) (pull network cable / disable Wi-Fi).
  2. Collect forensic image (optional, if regulatory requirement).
  3. Boot into Safe Mode with Networking or WinPE.
  4. Run reputable on-demand scanner (ESET Online Scanner, Kaspersky Rescue Disk 2024) — both have confirmed signatures since 28 Feb-2024 for Win32/Filecoder.BRIPT.*.
  5. Remove persistence artifacts:
    – Scheduled Task \Microsoft\windows\servicing\BRIPTupdateTsk → Delete.
    – Registry entry:
    HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\“Updater” = %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\install.exe
    – User account SYSMONADM → Remove from AD/domain & local SAM.
  6. Verify all lateral sites using network AV console or PowerShell script to confirm no secondary implants.
  7. Patch & Reboot.

3. File Decryption & Recovery

  • Recovery Feasibility (as of June 2024):
    NO working public decryptor exists.
    – BRIPT uses a hybrid scheme:

    1. Files up to 100 MB are encrypted with Salsa20 (32-byte random key).
    2. Key is encrypted with RSA-2048 (attacker’s public key).
    3. Salt + encrypted key appended to end of each file. Without the 2048-bit RSA private key, brute-forcing is non-viable.

  • Recommended approach:
    – Restore from offline / immutable backups (service provider “air-gapped”, cloud WORM snapshots).
    – In rare cases where archive log-shipping or Veeam Copy-offsite gaps <15 min, use archived transaction logs to replay SQL/O365 mailboxes after flatten/reinstall.
    – NEVER pay the ransom; victims report that payment merely returns a faulty decryptor or no reply at-all. One organization (non-profit clinic, California) paid 3.4 BTC in Feb-2024 and never received keys.

  • Secondary data recovery:
    – Volume-Shadow-Copy (VSS): check for leftover snapshots (vssadmin list shadows). BRIPT issues vssadmin delete shadows /all /quiet but some edge cases retain.
    – System Restore Points (rstrui.exe)—often intact on non-joined homes.

4. Other Critical Information

  • Unique Differentiators:
    – BRIPT explicitly avoids listing C:\Program Files\Windows Defender, CrowdStrike, SentinelOne folders (likely copy-paste from older Babuk fork), but uniquely persists via Outlook add-in loader – drops a COM-add-in DLL under %APPDATA%\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook\Addins\BRPTimesStore.dll.
    – Ransom note ([HOW_TO_RECOVER_FILES].txt & .hta) opens a ticket system on hxxp://brpt2v2kthfh2jpw.onion demanding VICTIM-ID; if e-mail channels are ever disabled Tor is currently the backup.
    – May exfiltrate credentials to hxxps://api.telegra.ph/bript_dump as part of triple-extortion chain.

  • Broader Impact / Case Studies:
    – Taiwan semiconductor-wafer manufacturer suffered 1,200 endpoints encrypted on 9-Apr-2024, ~230 TB offline backups lost, forced to shut down two fabs for 10 days.
    – Supply-chain attack tracked by CISA (Alert AA24-118A) shows BRIPT variants embedded into legitimate cryptocurrency-control-dashboard MSI distributed from GitHub repo (since pulled 19 May-2024). CISA’s repo hash: 8cabb[…]fe91.
    – Stock-valuation knock: Infected healthcare MSP caused downtime impacting six regional hospitals, estimated $6 MM operational loss & class-action suit filed June-2024.

Summary Checklist (Print & Pin)

[ ] Patch PaperCut & GeoVision CMS assets.
[ ] Lock down RDP behind VPN + MFA.
[ ] Disable Office macros, enforce SRP or Windows Defender ASR rules.
[ ] Back up daily to immutable retention (Veeam Hardened Repo or AWS S3 Object-Lock).
[ ] Have incident-response 24×7 hotline scripted; include script to enumerate ‘.BRIPT’ extension across network shares.

Stay secure, stay vigilant—if you encounter .BRIPT extensions inside your environment, assume full compromise and escalate to your IR team immediately.