July 21, 2022
A new ransomware named Luna was discovered by Kaspersky security researchers via a dark web ransomware forum. Luna can be used to encrypt devices running Windows, Linux and ESXi systems.
The ransomware is very simple and based on command line options adjudged to be under development with limited capabilities. Written in the programming language Rust, the ransomware operators were able to exploit its platform-agnostic nature, to port it to several platforms with only minor changes to the source code.
“The advertisement states that Luna only works with Russian-speaking affiliates. Also, the ransom note hard-coded inside the binary contains spelling mistakes. For example, it says ‘a little team’ instead of ‘a small team.’ Because of this, we assume with medium confidence that the actors behind Luna are speakers of Russian,” Kaspersky said.
According to researchers, the cross-platform language allows Luna ransomware to bypass automated static code analysis attempts.
While the ransomware strain is still being monitored, Kaspersky indicates that there is very little data on victims compromised with the Luna ransomware.
The sources for this piece include an article in BleepingComputer.
