lockergoga

LockerGoga is a ransomware group that emerged in January 2019, primarily motivated by financial gain through targeted attacks against critical infrastructure and manufacturing organizations. The group is suspected to have origins in Eastern Europe, though specific attribution remains unclear, and operates independently rather than as a Ransomware-as-a-Service model. LockerGoga typically gains initial access through spear-phishing emails and credential stuffing attacks, then moves laterally through networks before deploying their custom ransomware payload that encrypts files and often disables network services and changes user passwords to prevent system access and recovery efforts. The group is notable for several high-profile attacks including strikes against Norsk Hydro in Norway, Altran Technologies in France, and various U.S. manufacturing firms, with their attacks causing significant operational disruptions particularly in industrial control systems. LockerGoga activity has significantly diminished since 2020, with security researchers observing minimal new campaigns attributed to this specific variant, suggesting the group has either ceased operations or potentially rebranded under different malware families.