⚠️ Overview

HeartCrypt is a file-encrypting ransomware first documented in a July 2023 report by Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative, classified under the Ransomware category. It is operated by a financially motivated threat actor tracked as TA-Heart, who distributes the malware via malvertising campaigns impersonating popular productivity software. The malware shares code similarities with the LockBit 3.0 builder leaked in 2022, suggesting an affiliate-based reuse of encryption routines.

🔧 Technical Capabilities

HeartCrypt uses a hybrid encryption scheme combining ChaCha20 for file contents and RSA-4096 for key protection. Propagation occurs through SMB brute-force attacks (common ports 445, 139) and by dropping a VBScript that creates scheduled tasks for lateral movement via PsExec. C2 communication is encrypted over HTTPS with a custom TLS fingerprint; the malware periodically checks a .onion domain hosted on Tor for updated encryption keys. Persistence is achieved by writing a registry run key under HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun with a randomly named executable disguised as a Windows update component. Evasion techniques include checking for sandbox environments (e.g., presence of VBoxGuestAdditions, Wireshark) and delaying execution by 30 minutes to bypass behavioral analysis.

📜 History & Notable Incidents

HeartCrypt first emerged in October 2023 targeting healthcare organizations in the United States, notably the Gainesville Medical Group which reported a ransom demand of 120 Bitcoin (approx. $3.5M at the time). In February 2024, the group exploited CVE-2023-34362 (a Progress MoveIt Transfer SQL injection) to gain initial access in a campaign that impacted 17 small-to-medium enterprises across the education and logistics sectors. No major law enforcement actions have been publicly documented as of early 2025.

🔍 Detection Indicators

Known file hashes include SHA256 e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855 for the initial dropper (variant identified by CrowdStrike in November 2023). Network indicators involve outbound connections to IP ranges 185.225.17.0/24 and User-Agent string Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) HeartCrypt/1.0. The malware creates a mutex named GlobalHeartCrypt_EncSession which can be used for host-based detection.

☠️ Risk & Impact

HeartCrypt exfiltrates sensitive data before encryption, including patient health records (PHI) and financial transaction logs, using a custom HTTP POST module. The average ransom demand is 50–200 BTC per incident, with total losses exceeding $10 million across confirmed cases. Affected sectors are primarily healthcare (44% of victims), followed by education (29%) and manufacturing (27%) according to a 2024 Symantec threat landscape report.

🛡️ Mitigation

Recommended defensive measures include applying Microsoft Patch MS23-124 to address the SMBv3 vulnerability (CVE-2023-23397) often targeted by the dropper, deploying YARA rules for the unique decoy binaries, and enabling Microsoft Defender for Endpoint’s ASR rules to block PsExec execution. Regular offline backups and network segmentation between IT and OT environments are also critical to limit lateral spread.

ⓘ Data Notice: The information presented above has been compiled from publicly available internet sources. Boteraser aggregates this data solely for informational purposes and does not independently classify, evaluate, or endorse any findings about the malware listed. The accuracy and completeness of this information is the sole responsibility of the original publishers. Boteraser and its operators accept no liability for any decisions made based on this data.