DeadLock Ransomware: Smart Contracts for Malicious Purposes


DeadLock is a ransomware family discovered in July 2025. It is notable for not being associated with any known affiliate programs and for lacking a Data Leak Site (DLS). This, combined with the limited number of reported victims, has resulted in low exposure for the group. However, Group-IB specialists have discovered an interesting use of Polygon smart contracts for proxy server address rotation or distribution.

This finding warrants public attention, especially since the abuse of this specific blockchain for malicious purposes has not been widely reported. In addition, the recent discovery of similar techniques show that the abuse of smart contracts for malicious purposes could become an emerging trend.

Read more…
Source: Group IB


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • Supply chain attack targeting Ledger crypto wallet leaves users hacked

    December 14, 2023

    Hackers compromised the code behind a crypto protocol used by multiple web3 applications and services, the software maker Ledger said on Thursday. Ledger, a company that makes a widely used and popular crypto hardware and software wallet, among other products, announced on X that someone had pushed out a “malicious version” of its Ledger Connect Kit, ...

  • ALPHV ransomware gang returns, sorta

    December 14, 2023

    The ALPHV ransomware gang, arguably the second most dangerous “big game” ransomware operator, appears to be back in business after its infrastructure went down for five days. But all does not appear to be going well for group. ALPHV’s dark web leak site may be back but it is only showing a single victim with no ...

  • Rhadamanthys v0.5.0 – A Deep Dive Into The Stealer’s Components

    December 14, 2023

    Rhadamanthys is an information stealer with a diverse set of modules and an interesting multilayered design. In their last article on Rhadamanthys, Check Point researchers focused on the custom executable formats used by this malware and their similarity to a different family, Hidden Bee, which is most likely its predecessor. In this article they do a ...

  • Exploring Encrypted Attacks Amidst the AI Revolution

    December 14, 2023

    Zscaler ThreatLabz researchers analyzed 29.8 billion blocked threats embedded in encrypted traffic from October 2022 to September 2023 in the Zscaler cloud, presenting their findings in the Zscaler ThreatLabz 2023 State of Encrypted Attacks Report. According to the Google Transparency Report, encrypted traffic saw a significant rise in the last decade, reaching 95% of global traffic ...

  • Microsoft patches 34 vulnerabilities, including one zero-day

    December 13, 2023

    December’s Patch Tuesday is a relatively quiet one on the Microsoft front. Redmond has patched 34 vulnerabilities with only four rated as critical. One vulnerability, a previously disclosed unpatched vulnerability in AMD central processing units (CPUs), was shifted by AMD to software developers. Read more… Source: Malwarebytes labs  

  • Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Exploiting JetBrains TeamCity CVE Globally

    December 13, 2023

    The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and partners assess Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) cyber actors – also known as Advanced Persistent Threat 29 (APT 29), the Dukes, CozyBear, and NOBELIUM/Midnight Blizzard – are exploiting CVE-2023-42793 a at a large scale, targeting servers hosting JetBrains TeamCity software since September 2023. Software developers use TeamCity software ...