Ransomware Targets Transit and Goverment Organizations in Ukraine, Russia

Ransomware Targets Transit and Goverment Organizations in Ukraine, Russia

A new ransomware called Bad Rabbit (variant of Petya) is spreading through Ukraine and Russia.

  • By Sydny Shepard
  • Oct 24, 2017

[UPDATE: Oct. 25, 2017 9:00 AM]

Bad Rabbit has continued to spread overnight in places like Russia, Ukraine and Poland. CrowdStrike has been following the ransomware closely and has provided Security Today with their expert insight on the wide spread cyberattack.

“CrowdStrike Intelligence has observed that a cyber attack leveraging ransomware-style malware called BadRabbit was targeting entities in Eastern Europe," VP of Intelligience Adam Meyers said. "Initial investigation of this activity suggests several parallels with the destructive NotPetya malware that targeted Ukrainian interests in June 2017, although verification of these overlaps is ongoing at this time.

"To date, CrowdStrike Intelligence has found that BadRabbit and NotPetya DLL (Dynamic Link Library) share 67% of the same code, giving us reason to believe the same actor is likely behind both attacks. Bad Rabbit is likely delivered via the website argumentiru[.]com which is a current affairs, news and celebrity gossip website focusing on Russian and near-abroad topics.

"CrowdStrike Intelligence can confirm that this website was hosting a malicious JavaScript inject as part of a Strategic Web Compromise (SWC) attack on 24 October 2017.”

Original story posted below.

A new wave of ransomware has hit several targets in Russia and Eastern Europe on Tuesday, according to media reports and several security companies.

The malware, named "Bad Rabbit," has hit three Russian media outlets, including the news agency Interfax, according to Russian security firm Group-IB. Once it infects a computer, Bad Rabbit displays a message in red letters on a black background, a similar scene to those who were impacted by the massive NotPetya breach.


The ransom message asks victims to log into a hidden service website to make a payment of 0.5 bitcoins, valued at $282. The site also displays a countdown of over 40 hours before the price of decryption goes up.

The airport of Odessa, in Ukraine was also hit by a damaging cyberattack on Tuesday, but at this point it is unclear if it was hit by Bad Rabbit.

The Ukrainian computer emergency agency CERT-UA posted an alert warning of a new wave of cyberattacks, but it did not clearly mention Bad Rabbit.

Kaspersky Lab said in a blog post that that "most" Bad Rabbit infections are in Russia. Some also in Ukraine, Turkey and Germany. The company called Bad Rabbit "a targeted attack against corporate networks."

About the Author

Sydny Shepard is the Executive Editor of Campus Security & Life Safety.

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