{
  "family": "samas",
  "sample_count": 6,
  "category": "ransomware",
  "description": "Ransom:Win32/Samas (infamously known as **SamSam** or MSIL/Samas) is a highly destructive, targeted ransomware family that gained notoriety for crippling major hospitals and municipal governments (such as the City of Atlanta). Unlike opportunistic ransomware (like WannaCry or Locky) that rely on massive, automated spam campaigns or worms, SamSam is characterized by its **manual deployment**. Threat actors actively breach a specific target network, map the infrastructure, steal credentials, and then manually execute the SamSam payload across all critical servers simultaneously to maximize extortion leverage.<br><br><b>Understanding the SamSam Threat</b><br>To an organization, a SamSam attack is the culmination of a severe, prolonged security breach. The actors behind SamSam (often attributed to Iranian state-sponsored groups) meticulously choose their targets based on their ability to pay massive ransoms. Because the deployment is human-driven, they deliberately target database servers, backup servers, and domain controllers, ensuring the organization cannot easily recover.<br><br><b>Execution and Targeted Encryption Mechanics</b><br>The initial breach usually occurs via exploiting vulnerable public-facing servers (like JBoss) (`T1190`) or brute-forcing weak RDP credentials (`T1133`). Once inside, the attackers use tools like Mimikatz or Lazagne to dump Domain Admin credentials (`T1003`). They then use legitimate administrative tools like PsExec or WMI (`T1047`) to distribute the SamSam `.exe` across the network (`T1105`). When executed, SamSam utilizes strong RSA-2048 and AES-256 encryption (`T1486`), specifically targeting hundreds of file extensions associated with critical business data. It appends extensions like `.weapologize` or `.samas` and drops a ransom note instructing victims to visit a Tor hidden service.<br><br><b>Indicators of Compromise & Impact</b><br>The primary impact is a total halt of business operations and critical services. Host-based IoCs include EDR alerts for the execution of the SamSam binary (which is often heavily obfuscated .NET code) via `PsExec.exe`, and the mass renaming of files. The presence of the `HELP_DECRYPT_YOUR_FILES.html` ransom note is a definitive indicator. Network IoCs include anomalous lateral movement (SMB/RPC traffic) originating from a compromised internal server.",
  "cta": "Published by the SystemHelpdesk team.",
  "aliases": [],
  "enrichment_level": "expert-seo",
  "faq": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What is Samas and what threat category does it belong to?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Samas is classified as a Ransomware. Documented across security telemetry, it is engineered to execute unauthorized operations, establish persistent footholds on target endpoints, and facilitate malicious campaigns targeting enterprise and individual environments."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "How does Samas establish persistence and evade defensive controls?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Samas typically establishes persistence through registry run keys, scheduled tasks, or service installations, while evading signature-based antivirus solutions through code obfuscation, memory injection, or anti-analysis sandbox checks."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What are the essential incident response steps for mitigating a Samas compromise?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Security teams responding to Samas should immediately isolate affected endpoints from the network, perform memory triage to capture volatile forensic artifacts, audit registry and startup persistence mechanisms, revoke exposed user credentials, and restore systems from verified, clean backups."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What cryptographic algorithms and file targeting techniques does Samas employ during execution?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Samas typically leverages hybrid cryptographic architectures combining symmetric stream or block ciphers (such as AES-256 or ChaCha20) for rapid file encryption with asymmetric algorithms (such as RSA-2048 or Curve25519) to securely protect the session keys. It aggressively targets sensitive file extensions including corporate documents, databases, virtual disks, and backups while systematically executing commands to delete Volume Shadow Copies (vssadmin delete shadows /all /quiet) and disable system recovery options."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "Are decryptors available for Samas, and what is the recommended recovery procedure?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Decryption availability for Samas depends on whether security researchers or law enforcement (such as the No More Ransom initiative) have recovered the master private keys or discovered flaws in its key generation routines. Victims should never pay the extortion demand, as payment fuels criminal operations without guaranteeing file restoration. The recommended recovery procedure entails isolating infected hosts, conducting forensic disk imaging, identifying the root access vector, and restoring validated systems from immutable offline backups."
      }
    }
  ],
  "faq_count": 5,
  "mitre_attack": [
    "T1133",
    "T1486",
    "T1047",
    "T1003"
  ],
  "cisa_advisory": null,
  "last_updated": "2026-06-09",
  "mitre_attack_detail": [
    {
      "id": "T1486",
      "name": "Data Encrypted for Impact",
      "tactic": "Impact"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1133",
      "name": "External Remote Services (Initial access via RDP)",
      "tactic": "Initial Access"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1047",
      "name": "Windows Management Instrumentation (Lateral movement)",
      "tactic": "Execution"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1003",
      "name": "OS Credential Dumping (To gain Domain Admin for deployment)",
      "tactic": "Credential Access"
    }
  ],
  "containment_steps": [
    "Immediately sever the entire infected subnet from the wider network to prevent the manual lateral movement of the ransomware.",
    "Identify the 'Patient Zero' entry point (e.g., the exposed RDP server or unpatched JBoss server) and immediately take it offline to cut the attacker's access.",
    "Do not restart the infected servers, as this may destroy forensic evidence in RAM or trigger secondary destructive payloads.",
    "Initiate a full Incident Response investigation; the presence of SamSam means a human attacker has had Domain Admin access to your network."
  ],
  "what_to_avoid": [
    "Do not assume this is a standard, automated virus infection; SamSam attacks are targeted and interactive, requiring a 'hands-on-keyboard' response.",
    "Avoid paying the ransom unless absolutely necessary for human safety (e.g., in a hospital setting); the FBI strongly discourages funding these specific threat groups."
  ],
  "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,
  "target_platforms": [
    "Windows 11",
    "Windows 10",
    "Windows Server 2022",
    "Windows Server 2019"
  ]
}