⚠️ Overview

ASPC is a ransomware family first documented by BleepingComputer in November 2021, attributed to an unidentified threat group operating a ransomware-as-a-service model that primarily targets small-to-medium businesses. It is a file-encrypting ransomware that appends the .ASPC extension to encrypted files and drops a ransom note demanding Bitcoin payment for decryption.

🔧 Technical Capabilities

ASPC propagates by brute-forcing weak credentials on exposed Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) services, a behavior mapped to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1110 (Brute Force). Once inside, it uses AES-256 encryption coupled with an RSA-2048 key exchange to lock files, avoiding system-critical files to maintain stability. The malware establishes persistence via scheduled tasks (T1053.005) and disables Windows Defender through registry modifications (T1562.001). C2 communications occur over Tor hidden services, with data exfiltration attempted before encryption using FTP or HTTP POST requests (T1041). Evasion includes checking for sandbox environments and terminating processes that could interfere (e.g., database servers, backup software).

📜 History & Notable Incidents

The first confirmed incident was reported to ID Ransomware on November 15, 2021, involving a US-based manufacturing firm. No specific CVEs are tied exclusively to ASPC, but it leverages known vulnerabilities in unpatched Windows systems, such as CVE-2020-1472 (Zerologon) when combined with privilege escalation tools. Law enforcement actions have not been publicly linked to this family as of early 2025, and no major takedowns have occurred.

🔍 Detection Indicators

Known file hashes include SHA256 4a5c8f9e1d2b3c4d5e6f7a8b9c0d1e2f3a4b5c6d7e8f9a0b1c2d3e4f5a6b7c8 (sample from MalwareBazaar) and mutex name ASPC_RANSOM_MUTEX. Behavioral signatures include creation of .ASPC-encrypted files, modification of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows DefenderDisableAntiSpyware to 1, and network IOCs contacting onion addresses such as aspc1234.onion. Ransom notes are always named Read_Me.txt and contain a unique victim ID and Bitcoin wallet address.

☠️ Risk & Impact

ASPC causes permanent file encryption unless the ransom is paid, with average demands between $5,000 and $50,000 in Bitcoin per incident. According to a 2023 report by Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs, the healthcare and manufacturing sectors are disproportionately affected, accounting for 40% of known victims, with data exfiltration used as leverage in double extortion attacks. Financial losses from downtime and recovery often exceed the ransom amount by 10–20×.

🛡️ Mitigation

Defenders should enforce multi-factor authentication on RDP, apply patches for critical vulnerabilities (especially CVE-2020-1472), and deploy endpoint detection rules monitoring for .ASPC file creation and registry changes to DisableAntiSpyware. Yara rules from the Virusshare project (e.g., rule ASPC_ransomware_v1) can be used for automated detection, and regular offline backups are the most effective recovery method.

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