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Operator dossier

cryptolocker is a ransomware operator no longer publishing new disclosures. Darkfield has indexed 8 public victims claimed by this operator between November 6, 2013 and April 28, 2019. **Overview:** CryptoLocker was one of the first major ransomware families to achieve widespread notoriety, emerging in late 2013 and operating primarily with financial motivations through sophisticated encryption and payment demands. The group pioneered many techniques that became standard in the ransomware ecosystem, including the use of strong encryption and anonymous payment methods. **Origin & Affiliation:** CryptoLocker is believed to have originated from Eastern European cybercriminal groups, though specific attribution remains unclear. The operation appeared to function as an independent criminal enterprise rather than a ransomware-as-a-service model, with the core group maintaining direct control over the malware distribution and payment infrastructure. **Attack Methodology:** CryptoLocker primarily gained initial access through email-based phishing campaigns containing malicious attachments, often disguised as legitimate business documents or shipping notifications. The malware employed strong RSA-2048 encryption to lock victim files and demanded payment in Bitcoin, representing an early adoption of cryptocurrency for ransom payments. Unlike modern ransomware groups, CryptoLocker did not typically exfiltrate data before encryption, focusing solely on file encryption for extortion. **Notable Campaigns:** The group's most significant impact occurred between 2013 and 2014, when it infected an estimated 500,000 computers worldwide and generated millions of dollars in ransom payments. Law enforcement action through Operation Tovar in 2014 successfully disrupted the Gameover Zeus botnet infrastructure that CryptoLocker relied upon for distribution, leading to the recovery of encryption keys for many victims. **Current Status:** The original CryptoLocker operation was effectively dismantled by law enforcement actions in 2014, though the name and techniques have been adopted by various copycat groups in subsequent years.

Most-affected countries

Recent disclosures by cryptolocker

All 8 indexed disclosures. Click any row for the full per-victim dossier.

See every disclosure indexed for cryptolocker →

How we know this. Operator profiles on Darkfield are built from continuous monitoring of every leak site the group is known to operate, cross-correlated with community-curated feeds (RansomLook, ransomware.live, RansomWatch, MISP-galaxy). Status flips from active to inactive when no new disclosure appears for 60 days. MITRE ATT&CK mappings shown in the interactive section below are sourced from CISA, vendor analysis, and the MITRE community catalog — we attribute each technique back to its source. Aliases reflect operator re-brands and affiliate splits.

Inactive ransomware operator

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cryptolocker

8 victims indexed · first seen 13 years ago · last activity 7 years ago

8
Victims indexed
#221 of 364 tracked operators
5y 5m
Active period
Nov 2013 → Apr 2019
2
Countries hit
top US · 7

At a glance

Status
inactive
First seen
13 years ago
Last activity
7 years ago
Primary sector
Government Facilities · 3 hits

About

**Overview:** CryptoLocker was one of the first major ransomware families to achieve widespread notoriety, emerging in late 2013 and operating primarily with financial motivations through sophisticated encryption and payment demands. The group pioneered many techniques that became standard in the ransomware ecosystem, including the use of strong encryption and anonymous payment methods. **Origin & Affiliation:** CryptoLocker is believed to have originated from Eastern European cybercriminal groups, though specific attribution remains unclear. The operation appeared to function as an independent criminal enterprise rather than a ransomware-as-a-service model, with the core group maintaining direct control over the malware distribution and payment infrastructure. **Attack Methodology:** CryptoLocker primarily gained initial access through email-based phishing campaigns containing malicious attachments, often disguised as legitimate business documents or shipping notifications. The malware employed strong RSA-2048 encryption to lock victim files and demanded payment in Bitcoin, representing an early adoption of cryptocurrency for ransom payments. Unlike modern ransomware groups, CryptoLocker did not typically exfiltrate data before encryption, focusing solely on file encryption for extortion. **Notable Campaigns:** The group's most significant impact occurred between 2013 and 2014, when it infected an estimated 500,000 computers worldwide and generated millions of dollars in ransom payments. Law enforcement action through Operation Tovar in 2014 successfully disrupted the Gameover Zeus botnet infrastructure that CryptoLocker relied upon for distribution, leading to the recovery of encryption keys for many victims. **Current Status:** The original CryptoLocker operation was effectively dismantled by law enforcement actions in 2014, though the name and techniques have been adopted by various copycat groups in subsequent years.

References

2 links

External sources curated by the MISP threat-intel community.

Timeline

6 months
2013-11-01T00:00:00+00:00 · 12013-12-01T00:00:00+00:00 · 12015-01-01T00:00:00+00:00 · 12016-05-01T00:00:00+00:00 · 22016-06-01T00:00:00+00:00 · 12019-04-01T00:00:00+00:00 · 2
2013-11-01T00:00:00+00:002019-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

Top countries

🇺🇸 United States
7
🇦🇺 Australia
1
United States dossier →Australia dossier →

Top sectors

Government Facilities
3
Critical Manufacturing
1
Emergency Services
1
Healthcare and Public Health
1
Communication
1
Education Facilities
1
Government Facilities dossier →Critical Manufacturing dossier →Emergency Services dossier →Healthcare and Public Health dossier →

MITRE ATT&CK

3 techniques · 3 tactics

Tactics

Initial AccessExecutionImpact

Techniques

Recent victims

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Source

Updated 7 years ago

Data on this page is sourced from the group's own leak posts, cross-checked with public ransomware trackers (RansomLook, ransomware.live, RansomWatch), MITRE ATT&CK, and our own Tor and Telegram crawlers. This is a public observatory page — share freely.

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