The APT group DefrayX seems to have launched a brand new model of its RansomExx malware, rewritten within the Rust programming language — probably to keep away from detection by antivirus software program.
According to IBM Security X-Force Threat researchers, that evasion could also be profitable, at the least for now. IBM reported that one pattern that it analyzed “was not detected as malicious within the VirusTotal platform for at the least 2 weeks after its preliminary submission” and that “the brand new pattern remains to be solely detected by 14 out of the 60+ AV suppliers represented within the platform.”
Besides being more durable to detect and reverse-engineer, Rust has the benefit of being platform-agnostic. Thus, whereas the brand new model of RansomExx runs on Linux, IBM predicts a Windows model might be on its manner quickly, if it isn’t already unfastened and undetected.
RansomExx is much from the one malware bundle written in Rust. BlackCat, Hive, and, earlier than that, Buer are outstanding examples of malware that was rewritten to keep away from detection primarily based on the C/C++ variations.
DefrayX is thought for its assaults concentrating on cloud workloads and particular verticals, together with healthcare and manufacturing.