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Editor’s note: This is one of a series of articles focused on the Conti ransomware family, which include a detailed analysis of a Conti attack, A Conti Ransomware Attack Day-By-Day, and a guide for what IT administrators can expect when Conti ransomware hits.

For the past several months, both SophosLabs and the Sophos Rapid Response team have been collaborating on detection and behavioral analysis of a ransomware that emerged last year and has undergone rapid growth. The ransomware, which calls itself Conti, is delivered at the end of a series of Cobalt Strike/meterpreter payloads that use reflective DLL injection techniques to push the malware directly into memory.

Licensing is used to enable various features on the Sophos XG Firewall (SF) and the same general principles apply regardless of whether the license is for a hardware firewall or a virtual/software firewall. Certain Cyberoam iA / NG and Sophos SG appliances can also run the XG Firewall operation system. Sophos knows how to keep a computer from getting a nasty bug. The company provides security hardware and software that corporations use to protect PCs, servers, and mobile devices from viruses, malware, spyware, and other threats.

Because the reflective loaders deliver the ransomware payload into memory, never writing the ransomware binary to the infected computer’s file system, the attackers eliminate a critical Achilles’ heel that affects most other ransomware families: There is no artifact of the ransomware left behind for even a diligent malware analyst to discover and study.

That isn’t to say there aren’t artifacts and components to look at. The threat actors involved in attacks using Conti have built a complex set of custom tooling designed not only to obfuscate the malware itself, when it gets delivered, but conceal the internet locations from which the attackers have been downloading it during attacks, and prevent researchers from obtaining a copy of the malware that way as well.

Two-stage loading process

The first stage of the Conti ransomware process involves a Cobalt Strike DLL, roughly 200kb in size, that allocates the memory space needed to decrypt and load meterpreter shellcode into system memory.

The shellcode, XORed in the DLL, unfurls itself into the reserved memory space, then contacts a command-and-control server to retrieve the next stage of the attack.

This C2 communication is distinctive for a number of reasons. First, the malware appears to be using a sample Cobalt Strike configuration script named trevor.profile, published on a public Github archive. The profile serves as a sort of homage to an incident in which security researchers attending a conference found an insect in a milkshake at a restaurant outside the conference center.

But it doesn’t appear that the Conti attackers have modified this sample script very much, which makes the C2 communication notable in two ways: The script designates certain characteristics used during this phase of the attack, including a User-Agent string (“Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko)“) that mimics that of a computer running Windows 7 but, distinctively, fails to identify the specific browser; and a static URI path (“/us/ky/louisville/312-s-fourth-st.html“) that includes the address of the infamous restaurant where the researcher discovered the bug in their shake.

The initial connection to the C2 server is to a page named Menus.aspx on the server; That page delivers the next payload, which the first one loads into memory — another Cobalt Strike shellcode loader that contains the reflective DLL loader instructions.

If that works successfully, the malware then contacts the “312-s-fourth-st.html” page on the same C2 server. The attackers only trigger these chains of events during an active attack, placing the ransomware binary on the C2 server so that it can be retrieved by this process only while the attack is ongoing, and removing it immediately afterwards.

Elusive ransomware payloads

Because of the ephemeral nature of the placement of the ransomware payload, analysts had difficulty obtaining samples for research. But we were able to salvage some of the in-memory code from infected computers where the malware was still running.

The ransomware process is not particularly unique, but it does reveal the ransomware creator’s ongoing interest in thwarting analysis by security researchers.

The ransomware itself uses a relatively common anti-analysis technique sometimes referred to as “API-by-hash,” in which Conti uses hash values to call specific API functions; Conti has an added layer of encryption over the top of these hashes to futher complicate the work of a reverse engineer. The malware has to perform two cycles of decryption on itself in order to perform those functions.

Among the behavior observed by responders, the ransomware immediately begins a process of encrypting files while, at the same time, sequentially attempting to connect to other computers on the same network subnet, in order to spread to nearby machines, using the SMB port.

Conti’s developers have hardcoded the RSA public key the ransomware uses to perform its malicious encryption into the ransomware (files are encrypted using the AES-256 algorithm). This isn’t unusual; It means that it can begin encrypting files even if the malware is unable to contact its C2.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the only threat this ransomware poses to its targets: Conti ransomware has also adopted a “leaks” site like several other ransomware threat actor groups. The attackers spend some time on the target network and exfiltrate sensitive, proprietary information to the cloud (in recent attacks, the threat actors have used the cloud storage provider Mega).

Under a header labeled YOU SHOULD BE AWARE! , the ransom note threatens, “Just in case, if you try to ignore us. We’ve downloaded a pack of your internal data and are ready to publish it on out (sic) news website if you do not respond. So it will be better for both sides if you contact us as soon as possible.”

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Detection guidance

Conti ransomware, on its own, is unable to bypass the CryptoGuard feature of Sophos Intercept X; Our endpoint products may detect components of Conti under one or more of the following definitions: HPmal/Conti-B, Mem/Conti-B, Troj/Swrort-EZ, Troj/Ransom-GEM, or Mem/Meter-D. Network protection products like the Sophos XG firewall can also block the malicious C2 addresses to prevent the malware from retrieving its payloads and completing the infection process.

Indicators of compromise for malware samples examined in this research has been posted to the SophosLabs Github.

Pune, India, April 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global endpoint security market size is expected to grow from USD 13.99 billion in 2021 to reach USD 24.58 billion by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.3% during the forecast period. The growing implementation of artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), connected devices, and others for the development of endpoint solutions by major IT companies can have an outstanding effect on the market growth, states Fortune Business Insights, in a report, titled “Endpoint Security Market, 2021-2028.” The market size stood at USD 12.93 billion in 2020.

To get to know more about the short-term and long-term impacts of COVID-19 on this market, please visit: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/endpoint-security-market-100614

Driving Factor:

Surging Number of Connected Devices to Spur Demand for Endpoint Security Solutions

The growing number of attacks due to the rising digitalization and connected devices will incite the development of the market. Attackers infiltrate secured enterprise networks through laptops, smartphones, wearable devices. Moreover, the rising adoption of solutions such as the internet of things, industrial control system, and smart sensors to counter cyber-attacks will bode well for the global market. According to a 2017 Global Enterprise Security Survey by Fortinet, more than half of enterprises respondents reported endpoint data breach attacks. Furthermore, the growing number of unknown attacks can create lucrative opportunities for the market. For instance, in 2018 Cisco Systems, Inc. declared to block 20 billion risks per day for its customers. These instant detection and response solutions are boosting the adoption of endpoint security solutions.

The report on endpoint security market incorporates:

  • All-inclusive analysis of all the segments
  • Key market trends
  • Latest industry development
  • Future projections
  • Leading regions in the market
  • COVID-19 impact

Shift towards Work-from-home to Lift Endpoint Security Business During COVID-19

The global pandemic has been encouraging to the IT industry, as many companies shifted to work-from-home, thus spurring opportunities for this market. The changing policies of companies due to high-security risks have resulted in high demand for endpoint security amid coronavirus. According to IDC, 70% of breaches targeted endpoint devices in the year 2020. Similarly, according to a PWC report, cyber-attacks in India doubled in the starting three months of the year 2020. Furthermore, the high number of data breaches in the healthcare industry will aid the expansion of the market during the coronavirus. According to the Fortified report, 47% of data breaches have been reported by the healthcare industry during the first half of 2020.

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Market Segments:

The Cloud-based Endpoint Solution Segment to Hold the Largest Share

Based on components, the market is categorized as software and services. The software segment is expected to hold the largest share during the forecast period due to rapidly increasing unknown attacks on the enterprises.

By deployment analysis, the endpoint security market is divided into cloud and on-premises. The on-premises segment is likely to hold the lion’s share during the forecast period. The organizations prefer on-premises security solutions. The cloud-based endpoint solution segment is expected to account for the largest share during the forecast period due to its deployment and scalability.

Based on end-users, the market is categorized into commercial and consumer. The commercial segment covers industries such as BFSI, IT and telecommunications, retail, healthcare, government & public sector, transportation, and others. The commercial is predicted to grow rapidly due to the unknown attacks on healthcare and government organizations.

Based on enterprise analysis, the market is sorted into large enterprises and small & medium enterprises. The increasing adoption of BYOD policy and advanced connected technology in large enterprises will boost the segment’s growth.

The industry segment is characterized into BFSI, IT and telecommunications, retail, healthcare, government & public sector, transportation, and others.

Geographically, the market is divided into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.

List of companies profiled in Endpoint Security Market report:

  • AhnLab, Inc. (Gyeonggi-do, South Korea)
  • Alert Logic, Inc. (Texas, United States)
  • AO Kaspersky Lab (Moscow, Russia)
  • Bitdefender S.R.L. (Bucharest, Romania)
  • BlackBerry Limited (Cylance) (Waterloo, Canada)
  • Check Point (Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel)
  • Cisco System, Inc. (California, United States)
  • Comodo Security Solutions, Inc. (New Jersey, United States)
  • CrowdStrike, Inc. (California, United States)
  • CurrentWare (New York, United States)
  • Cybereason, Inc. (Massachusetts, United States)
  • Druva Inc. (California, United States)
  • Fidelis Cybersecurity (Maryland, US)
  • FireEye, Inc. (California, United States)
  • Forcepoint LLC (Texas, United States)
  • Fortinet (California, United States)
  • F-Secure Corporation (Helsinki Finland)
  • GoSecure, Inc. (California, United States)
  • Intel Corporation (California, United States)
  • Ivanti (Utah, United States)
  • LogMeIn, Inc. (Massachusetts, United States)
  • Malwarebytes Ltd. (California, United States)
  • McAfee, LLC (California, United States)
  • New Net Technologies LLC (Florida, United States)
  • Palo Alto Network Inc. (California, United States)
  • Panda Security (Bilbao, Spain)
  • RSA Security LLC (Massachusetts, United States)
  • SentinelOne (California, United States)
  • Sophos Ltd (Abingdon, United Kingdom)
  • Symantec Corporation (California, United States)
  • Trend Micro Inc. (Tokyo, Japan)
  • VMware, Inc (Carbon Black Inc.) (California, United States)
  • Webroot, Inc. (Colorado, United States)

Who Owns Sophos

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Regional Insights:

Rising Adoption of Connected Devices to Boost Market in North America

The market in North America is expected to hold the largest share during the forecast period. The region earned USD 5.04 billion in terms of revenue in 2020. The growth is attributed to the growing adoption of connected devices and the internet of things across several industries. The presence of numerous security solution providers in the US will enable speedy expansion of the market in North America. Europe is expected to hold the largest share during the forecast period due to the expanding cybersecurity infrastructure.

Germany and the UK are expected to expand the endpoint security market share in Europe. The German organizations have increased their IT budget to deal with cyber-attacks. Likewise, the UK government has rolled out end-user device guidance for the organizations offering deployment of external devices. Asia Pacific is expected to experience a rapid growth rate during the forecast period due to the increasing IT spending across various industries. The implementation of AI, internet of things, connected devices, and cloud services by industries will boost this industry in the region.

Quick Buy – Endpoint Security Market Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/checkout-page/100614

Detailed Table of Content:

  • Introduction
    • Definition, By Segment
    • Research Methodology/Approach
    • Data Sources
  • Executive Summary
  • Market Dynamics
    • Macro and Micro Economic Indicators
    • Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities and Trends
    • Impact of COVID-19
      • Short-term Impact
      • Long-term Impact
  • Competition Landscape
    • Business Strategies Adopted by Key Players
    • Consolidated SWOT Analysis of Key Players
    • Porter’s Five Force Analysis
    • Global Market Share Analysis and Matrix, 2021
  • Key Market Insights and Analysis, By Segments
  • Companies Profiled
    • Overview
      • Key Management
      • Headquarters etc
    • Offerings/Business Segments
    • Key Details
      • Employee Size
      • Past and Current Revenue
      • Geographical Share
      • Business Segment Share
    • Recent Developments
  • Annexure/Appendix
    • Global Endpoint Security Market Size Estimates and Forecasts (Quantitative Data), By Segments, 2016-2027
      • By Component (Value)
        • Software
        • Services
      • By Deployment (Value)
        • Cloud
        • On-Premises
      • By End-user (Value)
        • Commercial
        • Consumer
      • By Enterprise Size (Value)
        • Large Enterprises
        • Small & Medium Enterprises
      • By Industry (Value)
        • BFSI
        • IT and Telecommunications,
        • Retail,
        • Healthcare
        • Government & Public Sector
        • Transportation
        • Others
      • By Region (Value)
        • North America
        • Europe
        • Asia Pacific
        • Middle East & Africa
        • Latin America

Key Development:

January 2019: Sophos Ltd. acquired an endpoint security platform provider DarkBytes. DarkBytes offers unified platform and enterprise endpoint solutions. Sophos Ltd. aims to gain the expertise of the company and provide endpoint, firewall, mobile devices security services.

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