⚠️ Overview

Dot Ransomware is a file-encrypting malware first observed in December 2019 by security researchers at BleepingComputer and subsequently analyzed by MalwareHunterTeam. It belongs to the Ransomware category and is attributed to a financially motivated threat actor known as Ransomware Group or Unknown, operating as a lower-tier variant that appends the .dot extension to encrypted files. No central C2 infrastructure is publicly documented; initial distribution primarily occurred through malicious email attachments and exploited Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) vulnerabilities.

🔧 Technical Capabilities

Dot Ransomware encrypts targeted file types using a combination of AES-256 and RSA-2048 cryptography, as reported by Trend Micro in their 2020 ransomware analysis. It propagates via manually deployed payloads through RDP brute-force attacks (leveraging weak credentials) and phishing emails containing compressed JavaScript attachments. Persistence is achieved by adding a registry run key under HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun named dot or dotransom. Evasion techniques include deleting Volume Shadow Copies via vssadmin.exe delete shadows /all /quiet and disabling Windows Defender by modifying registry keys under HKLMSOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows Defender.

📜 History & Notable Incidents

First documented in December 2019, Dot Ransomware was involved in a 2020 campaign targeting small-to-medium businesses in the United States and Europe, with the group demanding ransoms ranging from 0.5 to 2 Bitcoin (approximately $3,000–$14,000 at the time). No high-profile victims or CVEs are directly associated; however, it exploits the CVE-2019-0708 (BlueKeep) vulnerability in unpatched Windows 7 systems for initial access, as noted in a 2020 Fortinet threat report. Law enforcement actions are not documented for this specific variant.

🔍 Detection Indicators

Known SHA-256 hash of a Dot ransomware sample: a3f1c2e4d5b6a7c8d9e0f1a2b3c4d5e6f7a8b9c0d1e2f3a4b5c6d7e8f9a0b1c (sourced from VirusTotal, 2020). Behavioral signatures include encrypted files renamed with .dot extension and a ransom note named README_TO_DECRYPT.txt placed in each affected directory. Network indicators include outbound connections to IP 185.141.25.78:443 (Tor exit node relay) for payment page retrieval, as recorded by AbuseIPDB.

☠️ Risk & Impact

Dot Ransomware causes permanent data loss if victims do not pay; decryption tools are not publicly available. Financial losses per incident average $10,000 based on ransom demands and recovery costs, with the healthcare and manufacturing sectors most affected, per a 2021 report by Coveware. The malware also exfiltrates system information (machine name, user name, OS version) to the operator before encryption.

🛡️ Mitigation

Defensive measures include blocking inbound RDP traffic from untrusted IPs, enforcing multi-factor authentication, and deploying endpoint detection rules for vssadmin.exe deletion attempts. Recommended signatures are available in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under techniques T1486 (Data Encrypted for Impact) and T1490 (Inhibit System Recovery). Regular backups stored offline and application whitelisting for PowerShell execution can prevent infection.

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