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Operator dossier

wastedlocker is a ransomware operator no longer publishing new disclosures. Darkfield has indexed 2 public victims claimed by this operator between July 23, 2020 and October 16, 2020. WastedLocker is a sophisticated ransomware operation that emerged in July 2020, primarily motivated by financial gain through targeted attacks against high-value organizations. The group is believed to have Russian origins and operates independently rather than as a Ransomware-as-a-Service model, with security researchers linking it to the Evil Corp cybercriminal organization previously associated with the Dridex banking trojan. WastedLocker operators typically gain initial access through spear-phishing campaigns and exploit kits, utilizing legitimate administrative tools for lateral movement and employing custom encryption algorithms to lock victims' files, while notably focusing on data encryption rather than exfiltration-based extortion tactics. The group gained significant attention for targeting major U.S. organizations, including a high-profile attack against Garmin in July 2020 that reportedly resulted in a multi-million dollar ransom demand and temporary disruption of the company's services. Current intelligence suggests WastedLocker activity has significantly declined following increased law enforcement scrutiny and sanctions against Evil Corp members, with minimal confirmed operations reported since late 2021.

Most-targeted sectors

Most-affected countries

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

All groups

wastedlocker

2 victims indexed · first seen 6 years ago · last activity 6 years ago

2
Victims indexed
#300 of 364 tracked operators
3m
Active period
Jul 2020 → Oct 2020
1
Countries hit
top US · 2

At a glance

Status
inactive
First seen
6 years ago
Last activity
6 years ago
Primary sector
Communication · 1 hits

About

WastedLocker is a sophisticated ransomware operation that emerged in July 2020, primarily motivated by financial gain through targeted attacks against high-value organizations. The group is believed to have Russian origins and operates independently rather than as a Ransomware-as-a-Service model, with security researchers linking it to the Evil Corp cybercriminal organization previously associated with the Dridex banking trojan. WastedLocker operators typically gain initial access through spear-phishing campaigns and exploit kits, utilizing legitimate administrative tools for lateral movement and employing custom encryption algorithms to lock victims' files, while notably focusing on data encryption rather than exfiltration-based extortion tactics. The group gained significant attention for targeting major U.S. organizations, including a high-profile attack against Garmin in July 2020 that reportedly resulted in a multi-million dollar ransom demand and temporary disruption of the company's services. Current intelligence suggests WastedLocker activity has significantly declined following increased law enforcement scrutiny and sanctions against Evil Corp members, with minimal confirmed operations reported since late 2021.

References

3 links

External sources curated by the MISP threat-intel community.

Timeline

2 months
2020-07-01T00:00:00+00:00 · 12020-10-01T00:00:00+00:00 · 1
2020-07-01T00:00:00+00:002020-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

Top countries

🇺🇸 United States
2

Top sectors

Communication
1
Commercial Facilities
1

MITRE ATT&CK

3 techniques · 3 tactics

Tactics

Initial AccessExecutionImpact

Techniques

  • T1566Phishing
  • T1059Command and Scripting Interpreter
  • T1486Data Encrypted for Impact

Recent victims

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Source

Updated 6 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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