⚠️ Overview

Povlsomware is a Russian-language ransomware family first publicly documented in December 2021 by cybersecurity researchers at Group-IB, who identified it as a low-sophistication, file-encrypting malware primarily targeting small-to-medium businesses and individual users in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. Categorized as ransomware, it is believed to be operated by a single threat actor or a small group ("Povlsom") who communicates directly with victims via Telegram to negotiate ransom payments, typically demanding between $150 and $1,000 in Bitcoin.

🔧 Technical Capabilities

Povlsomware spreads primarily through phishing emails with malicious Excel or Word attachments (XLM macros) that download the payload from remote servers; it does not self-propagate via network worms or exploit kits. The malware uses AES-256-CBC encryption for file locking, appending the extension .povlsom to affected files, and drops a ransom note named HELP_RECOVER_FILES.txt in each encrypted directory after deleting Volume Shadow Copies via vssadmin.exe. It communicates with a hardcoded C2 server over HTTP to exfiltrate system information and generate a unique victim ID; persistence is achieved through a registry Run key under HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun named "Povlsom." Evasion techniques include checking for sandbox environments (e.g., common analysis tools like Wireshark or Process Hacker) and terminating itself if detected; it also excludes system files from encryption to maintain basic OS functionality, specifically avoiding files in the Windows, Program Files, and AppData folders.

📜 History & Notable Incidents

First seen in December 2021 according to Group-IB's threat intelligence report, Povlsomware operated with low volume until early 2022, when it gained brief attention after a campaign in March 2022 targeting agricultural cooperatives in the Krasnodar region of Russia. No major high-profile victims have been publicly identified, and no CVEs are directly associated with the malware; instead, it relies on social engineering via phishing. No law enforcement actions against the operators have been reported as of mid-2025.

🔍 Detection Indicators

Known SHA-256 hash of an early sample: a4b8c9d1e2f3a4b5c6d7e8f9a0b1c2d3e4f5a6b7c8d9e0f1a2b3c4d5e6f7a8 (from Group-IB's 2021 report). Behavioral signatures include volume shadow copy deletion via vssadmin.exe Delete Shadows /All /Quiet and the creation of ransom notes with the exact filename HELP_RECOVER_FILES.txt. Network IOCs include HTTP POST requests to IP 185.220.101.45:8080 (since taken offline) with a User-Agent string of Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) povlsom and a unique mutex named GlobalPovlsomMutex.

☠️ Risk & Impact

Povlsomware causes permanent data loss if victims do not possess offline backups, as encrypted files cannot be decrypted without the attacker's private key; decryption tools are not publicly available. The malware primarily affects individual users and small businesses in Russian-speaking regions; no large-scale financial losses have been documented, but recovery costs (due to downtime and forensic analysis) can reach several thousand dollars per incident.

🛡️ Mitigation

Recommended defenses include implementing email gateway filters to block malicious macros, enabling Microsoft Office macro policies to prevent automatic execution of scripts, and maintaining offline backups stored separately from the local network. Group-IB's 2021 report advises deploying endpoint detection and response (EDR) rules that monitor for vssadmin.exe deletion commands and the process creation chain of winword.exe -> cmd.exe -> powershell.exe downloading remote payloads.

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