- An emerging Ransomware named Anubis has a destructive feature that can both encrypt and permanently erase victims’ files.
- Anubis targets organizations in sectors like healthcare, hospitality, and construction across the U.S., Canada, Peru, and Australia.
- This ransomware supports a flexible affiliate program with negotiable revenue splits up to 80% for affiliates.
- Attackers use phishing emails to gain access, escalate privileges, and can wipe files beyond recovery, increasing pressure on victims.
- The discovery follows reports of new infrastructure linked to the FIN7 group using fake software updates to deliver Malware.
A new form of ransomware dubbed Anubis has surfaced, featuring the ability to encrypt files and also permanently destroy them if a ransom is not paid. Anubis became active in December 2024 and has since targeted organizations in sectors such as healthcare, hospitality, and construction in the United States, Canada, Peru, and Australia.
Researchers from Trend Micro say the ransomware includes a special "wipe mode" that erases files completely, making recovery impossible even if victims attempt to pay the ransom. "The ransomware features a ‘wipe mode,’ which permanently erases files, rendering recovery impossible even if the ransom is paid," according to Trend Micro researchers Maristel Policarpio, Sarah Pearl Camiling, and Sophia Nilette Robles in a recent report.
Anubis operates as a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS). It runs an affiliate program with negotiable revenue splits, allowing affiliates to take as much as 80% of the ransom paid by victims. Alternative schemes for data extortion and access sales offer 60-40 and 50-50 splits, respectively. The researchers explain that Anubis affiliates use phishing emails to gain initial access, escalate user privileges, delete backup copies (called volume shadow copies), and then encrypt or wipe files. When in "wipe mode," file contents are destroyed, reducing their size to zero while leaving file names and extensions intact.
“The ransomware includes a wiper feature using /WIPEMODE parameter, which can permanently delete the contents of a file, preventing any recovery attempt,” Trend Micro noted. This dual-threat capability is considered rare and increases the likelihood of victims paying.
It is important to note that this Anubis ransomware has no connection to an Android banking trojan or to the FIN7 hacking group, which uses the same name for other malware.
In related developments, threat intelligence firm Recorded Future reported new infrastructure associated with FIN7, some of which pretends to be legitimate software products to spread the NetSupport RAT remote access tool. Distribution methods have included fake browser update pages and bogus download sites for software like 7-Zip.
Currently, only fake 7-Zip pages were found to be active as of April 2025, according to Recorded Future’s Insikt Group.
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