Locky Ransomw Reading Time: 3 minutes

Overview

One of thefirst times the public witnessedfirsthandand realized the power of ransomware was when WannaCry broke out in 2017. The government, education, hospitals, energy, communications, manufacturing and many other key information infrastructure sectors suffered unprecedented losses.Looking back, thatwas just the beginning, as there have since been many versions, such asSimpleLocker, SamSam and WannaDecryptor for example.

Comodo’s Threat Research Labs has received news that the ‘Black Rose Lucy’ ransomware has new variants that are attacking AndroidOS.

Black Rose Lucy malware did not have ransomware capabilities at the time of its discovery by Check Point back inSeptember2018.At that time,Lucy was a Malware-as-a-Service(Maas) botnet and dropper for Android devices. Now, it’s back with new ransomware capabilities that allow it take control of infected devices to modify and install new malware applications.

When downloaded, Lucy encrypts the infected device and a ransom message pops up in the browser, claiming it is a message from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) due to pornographic content found on the device.The victim is instructedto pay a $500 fine by entering credit card information, instead of the more common Bitcoin method.

Lucy Ransomware

Figure 1. Lucy ransomware used resource images.

 

Analysis

Comodo Threat Research Center collected samples and conducted an analysis when we realized that Black Rose Lucy was back.

Transmission

Disguised as a normal video player application, via media share links,it silently installs when a user clicks.Android securitydisplays a message requesting the user to enable the Streaming Video Optimization (SVO). By clicking ‘OK’,the malware will gain accessibilityservice permission. Once that happens, Lucy canencrypt the data on the victim’s device.

Lucy popup cheating

Figure 2. Lucy popup cheating message

 

Load

Inside the MainActivity module, the application triggers the malicious service, which then registers a BroadcastReceiver that is called by the command action.SCREEN_ON and then calls itself.

This is used to acquire the ‘WakeLock’ and ‘WifiLock’ service:

WakeLock: which keeps the device’s screen on;
WifiLock: which keeps the wifi on.

Figure 3

Figure 3.

 

C&C

Unlike previous versions of malware,TheC&Cservers is a domain, not an IP address.Even if the server is blocked, it can easily resolve a new IP address.

 

cc server

 

Figure 4. C&C servers

The Luck Use CC Server

Figure 5. The Lucy use C&C servers

The Lucy Command

The Lucy Control

Figure 6: The Lucy Command & Control

 

Encryption/Decryption

 

Git Device Directory

Figure 7: Git device directory

 

 

Lucy- Encryption Function

Lucy- Encryption Function

 

Figure 8: Lucy encryption/decryption function

 

Ransom

Once Lucy encrypts the infected device, a ransom message pops up in the browser, claiming the message is from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), due to pornographic content found on the device.The victim is instructedto pay a $500 fine by entering credit card information, instead of the more common Bitcoin method.

Summary

Malicious viruses have been evolving. They are more diverse and efficient than ever.Sooner or later,mobilewill be a massive ransomware attack platform.

Tips for Prevention

1.Download and install trusted applications only
2.Don’t click on any aplication of unnknown origin,
3.Make regular, non-local backups of important files,
4.Install anti-virus software

Related Resources

Website Malware Removal

Website Malware Scanner

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