{
  "family": "bitman",
  "sample_count": 8,
  "category": "ransomware",
  "description": "Bitman (classified in antivirus detection telemetry under designations including Ransom:Win32/Bitman, Ransom.Win32.Bitman, and Win32/Bitman) is a crypto-ransomware designed to locate, encrypt, and hold hostage high-value user documents, database stores, and system files. Disseminated across enterprise networks and consumer workstations via social engineering, phishing attachments, malicious drive-by downloads, or weaponized software cracks, Bitman executes an initial reconnaissance phase upon system ingress. The binary evaluates host privileges, detects active hypervisors and sandbox environments to evade behavioral analysis, and establishes resilient autostart persistence by configuring registry keys under HKCU\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run or registering background Windows services. Operational mechanics characteristic of this family include file system traversal, high-speed symmetric/asymmetric encryption, Volume Shadow Copy destruction via vssadmin, and extortion note display. Outbound communication is established with remote threat actor infrastructure to beacon operational status and receive tasking, posing significant security risks to data integrity and host availability.",
  "cta": "Published by the SystemHelpdesk Threat Intelligence Team.",
  "aliases": [
    "Ransom:Win32/Bitman",
    "Ransom.Win32.Bitman",
    "Win32/Bitman"
  ],
  "enrichment_level": "curated_sourced",
  "faq": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What is Ransom:Win32/Bitman?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Bitman is a ransomware threat designed to infiltrate Windows systems and execute unauthorized operations without user consent."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "How does Bitman compromise target systems?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "It commonly infiltrates systems via phishing emails, trojanized software installers, exploit kits, or unpatched vulnerabilities."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What persistence mechanisms does Bitman utilize?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "It typically creates autostart entries in the Windows Registry (HKCU/HKLM Run keys), registers scheduled tasks, or installs hidden background services."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What risks does Bitman pose to an enterprise?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "It can lead to credential theft, system manipulation, unauthorized remote access, data loss, or secondary malware delivery."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "How can administrators detect and eliminate Bitman?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Deploy modern EDR solutions with updated behavioral signatures, isolate infected endpoints, audit autostart persistence entries, and conduct full antimalware scans."
      }
    }
  ],
  "faq_count": 5,
  "mitre_attack": [
    "T1486",
    "T1490",
    "T1489",
    "T1547.001",
    "T1083"
  ],
  "cisa_advisory": null,
  "last_updated": "2026-10-16",
  "mitre_attack_detail": [
    {
      "id": "T1486",
      "name": "Data Encrypted for Impact",
      "tactic": "Impact"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1490",
      "name": "Inhibit System Recovery (Deleting Shadow Copies)",
      "tactic": "Impact"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1189",
      "name": "Drive-by Compromise (Exploit Kits)",
      "tactic": "Initial Access"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1083",
      "name": "File and Directory Discovery",
      "tactic": "Discovery"
    }
  ],
  "containment_steps": [
    "Instantly isolate the infected endpoint from the network to halt the encryption process, specifically protecting mapped network shares.",
    "Determine the exact variant of Bitman/TeslaCrypt based on the appended file extension (e.g., `.vvv`, `.ecc`).",
    "Check public resources (like NoMoreRansom) to see if a free decryption tool is available for the specific variant, as the master keys for TeslaCrypt were eventually released by the developers.",
    "If no decryptor is available, restore the affected systems from secure, offline backups."
  ],
  "what_to_avoid": [
    "Do not reboot the machine immediately; capture a live memory dump (RAM) first, as older variants sometimes left the decryption keys in memory.",
    "Avoid paying the ransom, especially for Bitman/TeslaCrypt, as the operators have historically shut down their infrastructure, and free decryptors exist for many versions."
  ],
  "target_industries": [
    "Healthcare",
    "Critical Infrastructure",
    "Enterprise"
  ],
  "motivation": "Financial Extortion",
  "threat_actors": [
    "Unknown / Cybercriminal"
  ],
  "target_geographies": [
    "Global"
  ],
  "attack_stage": [
    "defense_evasion",
    "impact"
  ],
  "ecosystem": [
    "windows_pe"
  ],
  "is_emerging": false,
  "sources": [
    {
      "name": "Microsoft Defender Threat Encyclopedia - Ransom:Win32/Bitman",
      "url": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/threats/malware-encyclopedia-description?Name=Ransom:Win32/Bitman"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kaspersky Threat Intelligence - Ransom.Win32.Bitman",
      "url": "https://threats.kaspersky.com/en/threat/"
    },
    {
      "name": "MITRE ATT&CK - Enterprise Techniques",
      "url": "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1486/"
    }
  ],
  "target_platforms": [
    "Windows 11",
    "Windows 10",
    "Windows Server 2022",
    "Windows Server 2019"
  ]
}