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WastedLocker Ransomware Insights
Arete Analysis
Summary
WastedLocker is a new ransomware variant with encryption capabilities that some researchers believe to be linked to the sanctioned “Evil Corp” group. However, Arete’s analysis determined that evidence of the connection is not conclusive.
On December 5th, 2019 the U.S. Department of Justice announced indictments against 17 individuals including 2 Russian nationals Maksim Yakubets and Igor Turashev that were the primary ringleaders of the Russian hacking group known as “Evil Corp”. The Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) followed up with the announcement of sanctions against “Evil Corp”.
Figure 1. “Wanted by FBI” poster of Maksim Yakubets
Figure 2. “Wanted by FBI” poster of Igor Turashev
At least since 2012 the criminal group operated a malware known as “Dridex” (also known as “Bugat” and “Cridex”), which was primarily delivered to victims’ systems through phishing emails. Once infected, the “Dridex” malware was able to steal users’ credentials for online financial accounts and were ultimately leveraged by cyber criminals to transfer money from the victims bank accounts to offshore accounts held by Evil Corp. In 2017 the “Evil Corp” decided to change their methodology and started to release BitPaymer ransomware through Dridex.
Even with the indictments by the US DOJ, “Evil Corp” remained just as active operating as normal. According to the Arete Cyber Threat Intelligence, in recent weeks the number of victims compromised by Dridex grew significantly (i.e. 2-3x times more than the total numbers of Trickbot, Emotet and Qbot victims combined).
Figure 3. Alleged Evil Corp mastermind Maksim Yakubets stands next to his Lamborghini Huracan
The recent research article by analysts from NCC Group shared a theory that “Evil Corp” group might be behind the WastedLocker ransomware (aka Wasted) which was originally spotted in the wild in May 2020. Based on the NCC Group’s assessment the link between Wasted and Bitpaymer was made based on a few similarities between the two ransomware variants – i.e. the use of alternative data stream (ADS) and SocGholish fake update framework. Arete conducted research and determined that evidence of the connection between “Evil Corp” group and WastedLocker ransomware variant is not conclusive for 4 main reasons:
Alternate Data Stream (ADS) is often being used by cyber criminals to hide malicious files/scripts inside of legitimate files. This method is not uniquely attributed to Wasted/Bitpaymer ransomware and has been used by other ransomware variants (e.g. TeslaCrypt, CrytoWall, Maze and etc.), at least since 2015.
SocGholish is a JavaScript-based framework that has been used in “fake updates” attacks and observed downloading Dridex, Azorult InfoStealer, NetSupport Manager RAT, and Chthonic. While the Dridex banking trojan has been directly associated with “Evil Corp” and Bitpaymer, SocGholish doesn’t appear to have an exclusive relationship with this group primarily because cyber criminals have been observed using various malware families to exploit and establish persistence. These cyber criminals are known to change their tactics and many have demonstrated change by adopting other cyber criminals malware, e.g. trojans/RATs have been used in deployments of other ransomware variants – e.g. Azorult was observed in Phobos attacks, NetSupport RAT has been associated with GandCrab attacks in the past.
Dridex trojan was not found on any system for all WastedLocker ransomware matters that Arete has handled to date.
No overlaps in money laundering infrastructure – blockchain analysis of payments show no overlaps in the bitcoin wallets IDs nor the exchanges used by Dridex/Bitpaymer and WastedLocker operators. While Dridex/ Bitpaymer use illegal exchanges in Russia to cash out their earnings, WastedLocker operators primarily use exchanges in Asia.
WastedLocker Overview
WastedLocker is a new variant of ransomware that was initially reported in May of this year. The WastedLocker ransomware encrypts files on the victims’ systems using the AES algorithm and appends the file extension .[organization initials] wasted to each file it encrypts. Wasted also generates a separate ransom note for each encrypted file. For each victim, WastedLocker operators create 2 contact email addresses which are listed in ransom notes. The ransom demands also appear to be related to the amount of research the operators have done based on what they believe the victims can afford to pay. In some instances, clients have reported compromised accounts opening financial information during the period of unauthorized access. Unlike some other ransomware variants, the decryption tool for WastedLocker is universal, meaning it will work on every system within the compromised network without requiring a unique decryptor for each system.
Continuing Research
Arete Threat Intelligence continues to work with law enforcement contacts to conduct analysis into WastedLocker. The cybercriminals behind this variant have been quick to identify and infect victims’ systems with ransomware resulting in a devastating blow to the victims’ IT infrastructure and interrupting profitable business operations. The tactics and techniques used by the group have been stealthy and have the entire security community reacting to improve defenses, share indicators, and preemptively secure their perimeters. Research continues into the tools, tactics, and procedures.
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FortiGate Exploits Enable Network Breaches and Credential Theft
A recent security report indicates that threat actors are actively exploiting FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) appliances as initial access vectors to compromise enterprise networks. The activity leverages recently disclosed vulnerabilities or weak credentials to gain unauthorized access and extract configuration files, which often contain sensitive information, including service account credentials and detailed network topology data.
Analysis of these incidents shows significant variation in attacker dwell time, ranging from immediate lateral movement to delays of up to two months post-compromise. Since these appliances often integrate with authentication systems such as Active Directory and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), their compromise can grant attackers extensive access, substantially increasing the risk of widespread network intrusion and data exposure.
What’s Notable and Unique
The activity involves the exploitation of recently disclosed security vulnerabilities, including CVE-2025-59718, CVE-2025-59719, and CVE-2026-24858, or weak credentials, allowing attackers to gain administrative access, extract configuration files, and obtain service account credentials and network topology information.
In one observed incident, attackers created a FortiGate admin account with unrestricted firewall rules and maintained access over time, consistent with initial access broker activity. After a couple of months, threat actors extracted and decrypted LDAP credentials to compromise Active Directory.
In another case, attackers moved from FortiGate access to deploying remote access tools, including Pulseway and MeshAgent, while also utilizing cloud infrastructure such as Google Cloud Storage and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Analyst Comments
Arete has identified multiple instances of Fortinet device exploitation for initial access, involving various threat actors, with the Qilin ransomware group notably leveraging Fortinet device exploits. Given their integration with systems like Active Directory, NGFW appliances remain high-value targets for both state-aligned and financially motivated actors. In parallel, Arete has observed recent dark web activity involving leaked FortiGate VPN access, further highlighting the expanding risk landscape. This aligns with the recent reporting from Amazon Threat Intelligence, which identified large-scale compromises of FortiGate devices driven by exposed management ports and weak authentication, rather than vulnerability exploitation. Overall, these developments underscore the increasing focus on network edge devices as entry points, reinforcing the need for organizations to strengthen authentication, restrict external exposure, and address fundamental security gaps to mitigate the risk of widespread compromise.
Sources
FortiGate Edge Intrusions | Stolen Service Accounts Lead to Rogue Workstations and Deep AD Compromise
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Vulnerability Discovered in Anthropic’s Claude Code
Security researchers discovered two critical vulnerabilities in Anthropic's agentic AI coding tool, Claude Code. The vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE-2025-59536 and CVE-2026-21852, allowed attackers to achieve remote code execution and to compromise a victim's API credentials. The vulnerabilities exploit maliciously crafted repository configurations to circumvent control mechanisms. It should be noted that Anthropic worked closely with the security researchers throughout the process, and the bugs were patched before the research was published.
What’s Notable and Unique
The configuration files .claude/settings.json and .mcp.json were repurposed to execute malicious commands. Because the configurations could be applied immediately upon starting Claude Code, the commands ran before the user could deny permissions via a dialogue prompt, or they bypassed the authentication prompt altogether.
.claude/settings.json also defines the endpoint for all Claude Code API communications. By replacing the default localhost URL with a URL they own, an attacker could redirect traffic to infrastructure they control. Critically, the authentication traffic generated upon starting Claude Code included the user's full Anthropic API key in plain text and was sent before the user could interact with the trust dialogue.
Restrictive permissions on sensitive files could be bypassed by simply prompting Claude Code to create a copy of the file's contents, which did not inherit the original file's permissions. A threat actor using a stolen API key could gain complete read and write access to all files within a workspace.
Analyst Comments
The vulnerabilities and attack paths detailed in the research illustrate the double-edged nature of AI tools. The speed, scale, and convenience characteristics that make AI tools attractive to developer teams also benefit threat actors who use them for nefarious purposes. Defenders should expect adversaries to continue seeking ways to exploit configurations and orchestration logic to increase the impact of their attacks. Organizations planning to implement AI development tools should prioritize AI supply-chain hygiene and CI/CD hardening practices.
Sources
Caught in the Hook: RCE and API Token Exfiltration Through Claude Code Project Files | CVE-2025-59536 | CVE-2026-21852
Article
Ransomware Trends & Data Insights: February 2026
After a slight lull in January, Akira and Qilin returned to dominating ransomware activity in February, collectively accounting for almost half of all engagements that month. The rest of the threat landscape remained relatively diverse, with a mix of persistent threats like INC and PLAY, older groups like Cl0p and LockBit, and newer groups like BravoX and Payouts King. Given current trends, the first quarter of 2026 will likely remain relatively predictable, with the top groups from the second half of 2025 continuing to operate at fairly consistent levels month to month.
Figure 1. Activity from the top 5 threat groups in February 2026
Throughout the month of February, analysts at Arete identified several trends behind the threat actors perpetrating cybercrime activities:
In February, Arete observed Qilin actively targeting WatchGuard Firebox devices, especially those vulnerable to CVE-2025-14733, to gain initial access to victim environments. CVE-2025-14733 is a critical vulnerability in WatchGuard Fireware OS that allows a remote, unauthenticated threat actor to execute arbitrary code. In addition to upgrading WatchGuard devices to the latest Firebox OS version, which patches the bug, administrators are urged to rotate all shared secrets on affected devices that may have been compromised and may be used in future campaigns.
Reports from February suggest that threat actors are increasingly exploring AI-enabled tools and services to scale malicious activities, demonstrating how generative AI is being integrated into both espionage and financially motivated threat operations. The Google Threat Intelligence Group indicated that state-backed threat actors are leveraging Google’s Gemini AI as a force multiplier to support all stages of the cyberattack lifecycle, from reconnaissance to post-compromise operations. Separate reporting from Amazon Threat Intelligence identified a threat actor leveraging commercially available generative AI services to conduct a large-scale campaign against FortiGate firewalls, gaining access through weak or reused credentials protected only by single-factor authentication.
The Interlock ransomware group recently introduced a custom process-termination utility called “Hotta Killer,” designed to disable endpoint detection and response solutions during active intrusions. This tool exploits a zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2025-61155) in a gaming anti-cheat driver, marking a significant adaptation in the group’s operations against security tools like FortiEDR. Arete is actively monitoring this activity, which highlights the growing trend of Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks, in which threat actors exploit legitimate, signed drivers to bypass and disable endpoint security controls.
Sources
Arete Internal