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:
- FBI sees surge in online shopping scams, FTC says most reports ever
August 3, 2020
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) today warned of an increased number of reports coming from victims of online shopping scams. The public service announcement, published on the agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), says that the scam victims report that they found the scammers’ websites either via direct searches on popular web search engines ...
- Take a “NetWalk” on the Wild Side
August 3, 2020
The NetWalker ransomware, initially known as Mailto, was first detected in August 2019. Since then, new variants were discovered throughout 2019 and the beginning of 2020, with a strong uptick noticed in March of this year. NetWalker has noticeably evolved to a more stable and robust ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model, and our research suggests that the malware ...
- Google: Eleven zero-days detected in the wild in the first half of 2020
August 3, 2020
According to data collected by Google’s Project Zero security team, there have been 11 zero-day vulnerabilities exploited in the wild in the first half of the year. The current number puts 2020 on track to have just as many zero-days as 2019 when Google security researchers said they tracked 20 zero-days all of last year. Details about ...
- How the FBI tracked down the Twitter hackers
August 1, 2020
After earlier today US law enforcement charged three individuals for the recent Twitter hack, with the help of court documents released by the DOJ, ZDNet was able to piece together a timeline of the hack, and how US investigators tracked down the three suspected hackers. The article below uses data from three indictments published today by the ...
- WastedLocker: technical analysis
July 31, 2020
The use of crypto-ransomware in targeted attacks has become an ordinary occurrence lately: new incidents are being reported every month, sometimes even more often. On July 23, Garmin, a major manufacturer of navigation equipment and smart devices, including smart watches and bracelets, experienced a massive service outage. As confirmed by an official statement later, the cause ...
- US defense and aerospace sectors targeted in new wave of North Korean attacks
July 30, 2020
Tracked under the codename of “Operation North Star,” McAfee said these attacks have been linked to infrastructure and TTPs (Techniques, Tactics, and Procedures) previously associated with Hidden Cobra — an umbrella term the US government uses to describe all North Korean state-sponsored hacking groups. As for the attacks themselves, McAfee said they were run-of-the-mill spear-phishing emails ...