dharma

Dharma is a ransomware family that first emerged in December 2016, operating primarily as a financially motivated cybercriminal enterprise that has targeted organizations across multiple sectors through opportunistic attacks. The group's origins and specific affiliations remain largely undocumented in major threat intelligence reports, though their operational patterns suggest they function as independent actors rather than a formal ransomware-as-a-service operation. Dharma operators typically gain initial access through brute force attacks against Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) services and exploit weak or default credentials, subsequently deploying their ransomware payload that encrypts files and appends distinctive extensions to affected systems. Based on available data, the group has conducted limited documented campaigns with only two confirmed victims, primarily targeting critical manufacturing and government facilities in the United States and Ukraine, suggesting a preference for high-value infrastructure targets. Current intelligence indicates minimal recent activity from Dharma operators, with the group appearing to maintain low-profile operations or potentially having reduced their operational tempo since their initial emergence.