When running a business that deals with online payments, protecting your customers data is essential. Thats why people increasingly turn to PCI Compliant solution.

Because indeed, ensuring that your business follows the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is one of the most important steps it can possibly take to protect customer data and ensure compliance with the payment card industrys regulations and guidelines.

But what is the PCI DSS? What are the requirements? And how to become PCI compliant? All these questions we will try to answer in this very article.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a standard created by major payment card brands to ensure that merchants follow best practices in data security. The standard was introduced in 2004 and has been updated since then.

This is the complex of rules that merchants must follow to ensure that their systems are secure and protect customer data.

Sometimes beginners have a question: does DSS refer to a specific technology? So, we would like to answer now: no, it does not. As we have said, it is just a set of requirements that merchants must follow in order to be PCI compliant.

Its up to the merchant to decide on the security system or systems that comply with the standard. Becoming PCI compliant is not a difficult process, but it requires knowledge and understanding of the essence of the above-mentioned standards.

There are 12 requirements that merchants must meet to be compliant with the standard. The requirements fall under four main categories:

So, firstly merchants must build and maintain a secure network that protects cardholder data throughout the transaction process. They must use firewalls to protect cardholder data, and they must employ intrusion detection systems and intrusion prevention systems.

They must also use encryption to protect data in transit, such as over wireless networks. They must also use encryption to protect data at rest, such as stored in databases (we will speak more on this issue later). They must ensure that their service providers use adequate security measures to protect cardholder data.

Merchants must protect cardholder sensitive information throughout the transaction process, including during transmission and storage. They must also protect it during any subsequent communications with the cardholder, such as emails. In addition, they must use strong encryption to protect data in transit and at rest.

Strong encryption is an encryption technique that renders sensitive information unreadable, both in transit and at rest. Strong encryption should be used with all personal data, including cardholder data. The special encryption method we want to discuss here is tokenization.

As technology has advanced and become more prevalent in our daily life, cyber security has become increasingly important, and this shift has entailed the development of various security technologies.

One of the most popular and widely used methods for protecting sensitive data is tokenization, which replaces sensitive data with non-sensitive equivalents.

In other words, Tokenization is a method for protecting data based on the principle that, in cryptography, matter cant be created or destroyed, only moved.

This principle is applied when sensitive information is being converted into non-sensitive tokens. The tokens are then stored in a database, and when needed, can be used to recover the sensitive information.

This process is known as tokenization and token substitution. The tokens are similar in structure to the original data, but they do not contain the same information.

In fact, a token is just a line of randomly generated signs which may be somehow connected to sensitive information, but still, it doesnt contain it (even in the changed form). Thus, the tokens can only be used for recovery purposes and cannot be used to steal sensitive data.

To sum it all up, tokenization is the process of converting a piece of sensitive data into a unique code or identifier. This code can be used instead of the original data to perform functions and transactions without exposing sensitive information.

Tokenization is popular for protecting the credit card information. It can also be used to protect user IDs and passwords, access codes, and other data that must be kept secret from unauthorized users.

It can even be applied to protect the integrity of physical assets like cars and houses, and so on. Thats why tokenization is a reliable option regarding PCI DSS compliance.

The first step towards becoming PCI compliant is to gain a thorough understanding of the PCI standards. As we have already said, the PCI DSS is divided into twelve major requirements that are applicable to all merchants and service providers.

So, lets take a closer look at each of them:

Surely, we recommend you to observe this issue deeper by yourself after all, its the most important part of the compliance process.

In addition, businesses must also comply with the PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) or Report on Compliance (ROC).

The SAQ includes questions about security measures taken by a business, including firewalls, encryption technology, and anti-virus software.

On the other hand, ROC requires an external assessor to audit the security systems of a business and provide an independent report outlining the findings.

Both assessments are designed to protect customer data while helping businesses remain compliant with PCI guidelines and regulations.

So, you would need to complete a Self-Assessment Questionnaire or RoC.

Compliance may be a complex procedure, but the benefits of PCI DSS Compliance are worth it. For one thing, this type of compliance helps to protect cardholder data and reduce the potential for fraud or misuse.

Furthermore, being PCI compliant shows customers that their information is secure with your business and increases their trust in you as an online vendor or retailer.

Having a PCI-compliant system also reduces the risk of financial losses due to data breaches, as well as any associated fines or penalties resulting from non-compliance.

Additionally, organizations that meet these standards often receive preferential treatment from payment processors and acquirers who recognize the value of such compliance measures.

After all, if you fail to become PCI compliant and still you carry out credit card transactions, you will be fined. You definitely dont need these troubles, so its your priority to gain this status.

In hopes that weve explained the basics of PCI DSS compliance successfully, we wish you all the best of luck possible.

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PCI DSS Compliance: The Road Map - Robotics and Automation News

Kim Komando| Special to USA TODAY

Online privacy is an oxymoron. For example, theres an advertiser ID on your phone thats supposed to keep your location anonymous. Are you surprised it doesnt? Me neither. Tap or click here for steps to see and remove your advertiser ID.

Its not always advertisers and Big Tech spying. A stranger or someone you know might be poking around your accounts. Tap or click for a quick check you must do to keep your Facebook, Google, and Netflix accounts secure.

Privacy isnt a given. Here are five ways to take as much as you can back:

You collect cookies when you browse the web on your phone, computer, or tablet. These bits of data store information about the websites you visit. Cookies store your logins, personalization settings, advertising information and other details.

The upside is that cookies save images and files and stop you from having to log in every time you visit a site. But these cookies contain a lot of your details. Fortunately, you can delete cookies manually in a few steps.

Tap or click here to delete cookies from your phone. Hit this link for steps to clear cookies from your computers browser.

Better yet, use Incognito Mode. When you surf the web Incognito, your browser doesnt save your history, cookies, site data, or information you enter in forms. It does keep any downloaded files or bookmarks created during the session.

Exclusive limited-time offer: As a special thank you to my readers, I'm giving you a free Windows or Mac guide full of tips, tricks, and great downloads. Claim your free Windows or Mac guide now at my website at Komando.com/FreeGuides.

Be warned: Your internet service provider can still see your activity, as can a school or employer providing your internet access or computer.

To go incognito on Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, press Ctrl + Shift + N (or Command + Shift + N on a Mac). Tap or click for three times you should always browse Incognito.

For even more privacy, fire up a VPN. A virtual private network is a layer of protection between your devices and the internet. It hides your IP address and your location. It also encrypts your data after it leaves your device and travels to whatever website youre visiting.

Dont even think about using a free VPN. At best, it will lack the necessary privacy features and slow you down. At worst, it's hiding malware or tracking your information. My pick is ExpressVPN, the VPN I used before it became a sponsor of my national radio show.

Just think about everything sitting in your inbox. In the wrong hands, those digital messages can do much damage.

Encryption is a method to protect your email from hackers, criminalsand prying eyes. It's a process where your email messages are scrambled, so if hackers manage to intercept them, all they'll see is gibberish.

Big-name email services like Gmail and Yahoo don't provide end-to-end encryption. Encryption is tough to implement, and it generally requires all correspondents to participate. The process isn't end-to-end if your email uses encryptionbut mine doesn't. At some point, your message will be vulnerable.

If encrypting your emails is essential, you'll need to switch to a secure service like StartMail, ProtonMail, Mailfence, Tutanota, or Hushmail.

Use Gmail? You can send a Confidential email. Email sent in Confidential mode can't be forwarded, and you can choose whether to require a recipient to use a passcode to read it. Tap or click here and scroll to No. 3 for steps to try it yourself.

Your phone knows precisely where youve been over the past few days, weeks, even months. If it hasbeen a while since you looked at your phones location settings, do it now.

Check this hidden location setting on your iPhone:

Click Settings, then Privacy.

Select Location Services, then scroll down to System Services.

Choose Significant Locations to see the record of where youve been and toggle it off.

Heres how to adjust location settings on an Android:

Open Settings, then scroll down and tap Location.

To stop all tracking, you can toggle Use location off.

If you dont want to remove all permissions, tap App location permissions.

For each app, tap it to choose your preferred setting: Allow all the time, Allow only while using the app, Ask every time, or Don't allow. You can also decide whether an app sees your precise location or an approximate location.

Sorry to break it to you. Your streaming services are tracking your activity, too. It makes sense. Netflix, Hulu and all the rest want to know what shows you like so they can recommend content youll enjoy and dont mind paying for.

The monitoring isn't for your benefit, though. Streaming services collect your viewing history and the ads you watch or skip. Thenthey share this data with advertisers.

Tap or click here for a step-by-step guide on deleting your history on Netflix, Hulu and more.

If you have a smart TV, you have essential settings to review there, too. Tap or click to stop your Samsung, LG, Amazon Fire TV, or Roku TV from spying.

Google always seems to know just what you want, and its not in your head. Google tracks every search, click, messageand request. Now and then, clear your search history and activity. Here's how:

Go to myaccount.google.com and log in. Alternatively, go to google.com and click the circle icon in the upper right-hand corner with your image or initials inside. Then click Manage your Google Account.

Click Data & Privacy in the left-hand menu.

You will see checkmarks next to Web & App Activity, Location Historyand YouTube History. Click each one to adjust your settings. Toggle them off to stop further tracking if you choose.

On these pages, you can also set up Auto-delete for future activity. I highly suggest you enable this. You can choose three months, 18 months, or 36 months.

Dont stop there. Tap or click for more Google privacy settings you can change now.

Sound like a tech pro, even if youre not! Award-winning popular host Kim Komando is your secret weapon. Listen on 425+ radio stations or get the podcast. And join over 400,000 people who get her free 5-minute daily email newsletter.

Learn about all the latest technology on theKim Komando Show, the nation's largest weekend radio talk show. Kim takes calls and dispenses advice on today's digital lifestyle, from smartphones and tablets to online privacy and data hacks. For her daily tips, free newsletters and more, visit her website atKomando.com.

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Online privacy protection: How to stop your phone, TV from tracking ... - USA TODAY

For more than a year, Jawid wondered if he would ever reunite with his wife. Originally from Afghanistan, the former interpreter worked with the United States Army before earning his U.S. citizenship. Jawid moved to the states with a plan for his wife, Farzana, to join him once her visa process was complete. Their plan, however, was shattered on August 15, 2021, when the Taliban took over Afghanistan. Farzana, like thousands of other Afghanistan citizens, was unable to evacuate, and because of her husbands connection with the U.S. Army, she was in danger of Taliban retaliation.

Day and night, I was thinking about how to get my family out of Afghanistan, Jawid recalled. My wife was always asking me, Did you find a solution?

Photo by Operation Recovery

After the Taliban takeover, Jawid sought help from Operation Recovery, a U.S.-based nonprofit with a mission to safely evacuate at-risk Afghan citizens. Farzana was one of more than 7,500 applicants on Operation Recoverys evacuation list. As the nonprofit assembled the tools it needed to coordinate with family members and potential evacueesas well as volunteers known as shepherdsthey realized that communication was a huge challenge due to the sheer volume and elevated risk of putting people in danger.

Since the Taliban controls the internet, email is not a reliable way to communicate. They actually use the network to track down people theyre searching for, said Jon Collette, president and CEO of Operation Recovery. We needed secure communications.

To do this, Operation Recovery looked to Amazon Web Services (AWS) Wickr. AWS Wickr is an end-to-end encrypted service that allows secure one-to-one and group messaging, voice and video calling, file sharing, screen sharing, and location sharing. With Wickr, encryption takes place locally on the client endpoint. Every call, message, and file is encrypted with a new random key, and remains indecipherable in transit; only the intended recipients and the customer organization (not even AWS) can decrypt each transmission.

Part of Wickr's mission is to improve the world through privacy, said Chris Lalonde, AWS Wickr software development director. The kind of encryption that we use is three layers deep and is impenetrable by modern computer systems, even the most sophisticated computer systems that exist today.

AWS Wickr serves a diverse set of customers, allowing businesses and public sector organizations to communicate more securely while also meeting auditing and regulatory requirements. Financial service organizations use Wickr to maintain data retention requirements and secure chain of custody, while safeguarding sensitive IP and intelligence. In addition, enterprises use Wickr to help bolster out-of-band communication during an incident and eradicate the use of shadow IT within their organizations.

Wickr teamed up with consulting firm, UNCOMN, to develop a solution that would integrate Operation Recoverys existing case management system and provide end-to-end encrypted communication for shepherds and evacuees. To further improve efficiencies and streamline workflow, the solution also includes a bot to answer frequently asked questions surrounding evacuees case statuses. This gives shepherds the ability to query information from Operation Recoverys systems at any time, without requiring human intervention.

So far, Operation Recovery has used its AWS Wickr solution to coordinate the evacuation of nearly 4,000 at-risk Afghan citizens, including Farzana. After three years apart, she was finally reunited with Jawid in the U.S., where the couple is building a new life.

Photo by Operation Recovery

We are together and have our best life, said Jawid.

In addition to the continued coordination of evacuations, Operation Recovery and its partners are providing humanitarian aid to individuals across Afghanistan in an effort to help as many people as possible find safety.

Learn more about Operation Recovery's mission and initiatives.

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How AWS Wickr's encryption service is helping at-risk Afghan citizens - About Amazon

The key to data integrity is reliability and trust at all times. Backups are a vital part of data and application recoverability and must always be secure.

Encryption is essential to data protection, and backups are no exception. Data backup encryption adds another layer of protection from major threats, including "unauthorized access, exfiltration and unauthorized data restores," said Christophe Bertrand, a practice director at TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG).

"Encrypting backups can aid in regulatory compliance and protect an organization from criminal activity. Many regulations discuss encryption in a broad sense, and the rule of thumb should really be that this applies to backups as well," Bertrand said. "As data is backed up from point A to point B, encrypting the data in flight is highly recommended so that it can't be intercepted."

Encryption in transit involves encrypting data that is moving across the network, said Jack Poller, a senior analyst at ESG. Any web transaction using Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security, or SSL/TLS -- such as HTTPS -- is encrypted in transit. This protects the data from an attacker that can see data moving across the network, for example, via a Wi-Fi connection.

Encryption at rest involves encrypting data that is stored on disk or in the backup system. This protects the data if an attacker has access to the data storage system. While some backup applications create backup files in a proprietary format, additional protection is necessary to keep potential attackers from easily accessing and reading these files or repositories.

If data backups are not encrypted, an attacker could gain access to the backup system and exfiltrate backup data, Poller said.

Exfiltrated backup data that is encrypted has no value to cybercriminals because malicious actors and the public can't read the data.

"This is a typical method of operation of ransomware actors who double dip by both preventing the organization from accessing their own data and holding exfiltrated data hostage. [It requires] a separate payment to prevent the public exposure of the data," he said.

If data is encrypted, only individuals who hold the keys can make sense of the data. Exfiltrated backup data that is encrypted has no value to cybercriminals because malicious actors and the public can't read the data, Poller said.

This is a last layer of defense, protecting the organization in the worst case, and is part of a defense-in-depth strategy.

In general, most data security and data privacy regulations apply to backup data, just as they apply to any other data sets. Organizations must encrypt any sensitive or regulated information to ensure that data is protected in case of exfiltration or inadvertent public exposure.

Specific regulations that apply to backup data include the following:

When it comes to hardening your cyber-resilience overall, there are no downsides, Bertrand said. Still, there might be tradeoffs. Encryption is computationally expensive, and it affects the time and possibly the cost of the backup and recovery process, he noted.

"In some cases, backup encryption can incur performance penalties, but modern solutions handle security by design in general, including encryption, at scale," Bertrand said.

In addition, encryption alone is not enough to protect data, so organizations must manage multiple encryption keys.

"It's not sufficient to protect all data in the organization with one key -- if an attacker gets access to the key, they get access to all data," Bertrand said. "The same for backups: Get access to the key, get access to all data in the backup data set. Therefore, organizations need to have separate keys for divisible, distinct chunks of data -- including distinct chunks of backup data."

Original post:
Use backup encryption to protect data from would-be thieves - TechTarget

Research by:Jiri Vinopal, Dennis Yarizadeh and Gil Gekker

Key Findings

While responding to a ransomware case against a US-based company, the CPIRT recently came across a unique ransomware strain deployed using a signed component of a commercial security product. Unlike other ransomware cases, the threat actor did not hide behind any alias and appears to have no affiliation to any of the known ransomware groups. Those two facts, rarities in the ransomware ecosystem, piqued CPR interest and prompted us to thoroughly analyze the newly discovered malware.

Throughout its analysis, the new ransomware exhibited unique features. A behavioral analysis of the new ransomware suggests it is partly autonomous, spreading itself automatically when executed on a Domain Controller (DC), while it clears the event logs of the affected machines. In addition, its extremely flexible, operating not only based on a built-in configuration but also on numerous optional arguments which allow it to change its behavior according to the operators needs. While it seems to have taken inspiration from some of the most infamous ransomware families, it also contains unique functionalities, rarely seen among ransomware, such as the use of direct syscalls.

The ransomware note sent out to the victim was formatted similarly to Yanluowang ransomware notes, although other variants dropped a note that more closely resembled DarkSide ransomware notes (causing some to mistakenly refer to it as DarkSide). Each person who examined the ransomware saw something a little bit different, prompting us to name it after the famous psychological test Rorschach Ransomware.

Execution Flow

As observed in the wild, Rorschach execution uses these three files:

Upon execution of cy.exe, due to DLL side-loading, the loader/injector winutils.dll is loaded into memory and runs in the context of cy.exe. The main Rorschach payload config.ini is subsequently loaded into memory as well, decrypted and injected into notepad.exe, where the ransomware logic begins.

Figure 1 Rorschachs High Level Execution Flow on both endpoints and on Domain Controllers.

Rorschach spawns processes in an uncommon way, running them in SUSPEND mode and giving out falsified arguments to harden analysis and remediation efforts. The falsified argument, which consists of a repeating string of the digit 1 based on the length of the real argument, rewritten in memory and replaced with the real argument, resulting in a unique execution:

Figure 2 Rorschachs process tree spawns processes with falsified arguments.

The ransomware uses this technique to run the following operations:

When executed on a Windows Domain Controller (DC), the ransomware automatically creates a Group Policy, spreading itself to other machines within the domain. Similar functionality was linked in the past to LockBit 2.0, although the Rorschach Ransomware GPO deployment is carried out differently, as described below:

Our colleagues in AhnLab published a more thorough behavioral analysis of another Rorschach variant which provides further details into the operations.

In addition to the ransomwares uncommon behavior described above, the Rorschach binary itself contains additional interesting features, differentiating it further from other ransomware.

The actual sample is protected carefully, and requires quite a lot of work to access. First, the initial loader/injector winutils.dll is protected with UPX-style packing. However, this is changed in such a way that it isnt readily unpacked using standard solutions and requires manual unpacking. After unpacking, the sample loads and decrypts config.ini, which contains the ransomware logic.

After Rorschach is injected into notepad.exe, its still protected by VMProtect. This results in a crucial portion of the code being virtualized in addition to lacking an IAT table. Only after defeating both of these safeguards is it possible to properly analyze the ransomware logic.

Although Rorschach is used solely for encrypting an environment, it incorporates an unusual technique to evade defense mechanisms. It makes direct system calls using the syscall instruction. While previously observed in other strains of malware, its quite startling to see this in ransomware.

The procedure involves utilizing the instruction itself, and it goes as follows:

In other words, the malware first creates a syscall table for NT APIs used for file encryption:

Figure 3 Creation of syscall table for certain NT APIs.

The end of the table is a section with the relevant syscall numbers:

Figure 4 Section containing the syscall table.

The example below shows how the syscall numbers are used:

Figure 5 Example use of direct syscall.

This obfuscated process is not required for the ransomware encryption logic, which suggests it was developed to bypass security solutions monitoring direct API calls.

In addition to the hardcoded configuration, the ransomware comes with multiple built-in options, probably for the operators comfort. All of them are hidden, obfuscated, and not accessible without reverse-engineering the ransomware. This table contains some of the arguments that we discovered:

This is only a partial list, with additional arguments suggesting networking capabilities, such as listen, srv and hostfile.

Example of how some of these arguments are used:

Before encrypting the target system, the sample runs two system checks that can halt its execution:

The Rorschach ransomware employs a highly effective and fast hybrid-cryptography scheme, which blends the curve25519 and eSTREAM cipher hc-128 algorithms for encryption purposes. This process only encrypts a specific portion of the original file content instead of the entire file. The WinAPI CryptGenRandom is utilized to generate cryptographically random bytes used as a per-victim private key. The shared secret is calculated through curve25519, using both the generated private key and a hardcoded public key. Finally, the computed SHA512 hash of the shared secret is used to construct the KEY and IV for the eSTREAM cipher hc-128.

Figure 6 The Rorschach hybrid-cryptography scheme.

Analysis of Rorschachs encryption routine suggests not only the fast encryption scheme mentioned previously but also a highly effective implementation of thread scheduling via I/O completion ports. In addition, it appears that compiler optimization is prioritized for speed, with much of the code being inlined. All of these factors make us believe that we may be dealing with one of the fastest ransomware out there.

To verify our hypothesis, we conducted five separate encryption speed tests in a controlled environment (with 6 CPUs, 8192MB RAM, SSD, and 220000 files to be encrypted), limited to local drive encryption only. To provide a meaningful comparison with other known fast ransomware, we compared Rorschach with the notorious LockBit v.3.

The result of the speed tests:

It turned out that we have a new speed demon in town. Whats even more noteworthy is that the Rorschach ransomware is highly customizable. By adjusting the number of encryption threads via the command line argument -thread, it can achieve even faster times.

When we compared Rorschach to other well-known ransomware families, we noticed that Rorschach uses a variety of time-honored methods together with some novel ideas in the ransomware industry. The name itself, Rorschach, is quite self-explanatory; with deep reverse engineering of the code and its logic, we found certain similarities with some of the more technically advanced and established ransomware groups.

We discussed Rorschachs hybrid-cryptography scheme in detail above, but we suspect that this routine was borrowed from the leaked source code of Babuk ransomware. See the following code snippets as examples:

Figure 7 Hybrid-cryptography scheme of Rorschach vs.Babuk.

Rorschachs inspiration from Babuk is evident in various routines, including those responsible for stopping processes and services. In fact, the code used to stop services through the service control manager appears to have been directly copied from Babuks source code:

Figure 8 Stopping predefined list of services Rorschach vs.Babuk.

It is also worth noting that the list of services to be stopped in Rorschachs configuration is identical to that in the leaked Babuk source code. However, the list of processes to be stopped differs slightly, as Rorschach omits notepad.exe, which is used as a target for code injection.

Rorahsach takes inspiration from another ransomware strain: LockBit. First, the list of languages used to halt the malware is exactly the same list that was used in LockBit v2.0 (although the list is commonly used by many Russian speaking groups, and not just LockBit). However, the I/O Completion Ports method of thread scheduling ****is another component where Rorschach took some inspiration from LockBit. The final renaming of the encrypted machine files in Rorschach is implemented via NtSetInformationFile using FileInformationClass FileRenameInformation, just like in LockBit v2.0.

Figure 9 Renaming of encrypted file using NtSetInformationFile.

As noted before, Rorschachs code is protected and obfuscated in a way that is unusual for ransomware, and is compiled with compiler optimization to favor speed and code inlining as much as possible. This makes finding similarities with other well-known ransomware families a real brain-buster. But we can still say that Rorschach took the best from the ransomware families with the highest reputation, and then added some unique features of its own.

As we noted, Rorschach does not exhibit any clear-cut overlaps with any of the known ransomware groups but does appear to draw inspiration from some of them.

We mentioned previously that Ahnlab reported a similar attack earlier this year. While it was carried out through different means, the ransomware described in the report triggers an almost identical execution flow. However, the resulting ransom note was completely different. The note was actually very similar to those issued by DarkSide, which probably led to this new ransomware being named DarkSide, despite the group being inactive since May 2021.

The Rorschach variant we analyzed leaves a different ransom note based on the structure used by Yanlowang, another ransomware group:

Figure 10 Ransom note from Rorschach.

Our analysis of Rorschach reveals the emergence of a new ransomware strain in the crimeware landscape. Its developers implemented new anti-analysis and defense evasion techniques to avoid detection and make it more difficult for security software and researchers to analyze and mitigate its effects. Additionally, Rorschach appears to have taken some of the best features from some of the leading ransomwares leaked online, and integrated them all together. In addition to Rorschachs self-propagating capabilities, this raises the bar for ransom attacks. The operators and developers of the Rorschach ransomware remain unknown. They do not use branding, which is relatively rare in ransomware operations.

Our findings underscore the importance of maintaining strong cybersecurity measures to prevent ransomware attacks, as well as the need for continuous monitoring and analysis of new ransomware samples to stay ahead of evolving threats. As these attacks continue to grow in frequency and sophistication, it is essential for organizations to remain vigilant and proactive in their efforts to safeguard against these threats.

Harmony Endpoint provides runtime protection against ransomware with instant automated remediation, even in offline mode.

When running on a machine infected with the Rorschach ransomware, Harmony Endpoint Anti-ransomware detected the encryption process in different folders, including modifications made to Harmony Endpoint honeypot files. It ran a ranking algorithm that provided a verdict identifying the process as a ransomware.

The following services are stopped through a GPO issued by Rorschach, probably to prevent conflicting write orders to Database files (and thus preventing encryption):

SQLPBDMSSQLPBENGINEMSSQLFDLauncherSQLSERVERAGENTMSSQLServerOLAPServiceSSASTELEMETRYSQLBrowserSQL Server Distributed Replay ClientSQL Server Distributed Replay ControllerMsDtsServer150SSISTELEMETRY150SSISScaleOutMaster150SSISScaleOutWorker150MSSQLLaunchpadSQLWriterSQLTELEMETRYMSSQLSERVER

The following processes are killed using a group policy (scheduled task) issued by Rorschach executing C:windowssystem32taskkill.exe. Some are likely terminated to prevent write conflicts, and some are security solutions:

wxServer.exewxServerView.exesqlmangr.exeRAgui.exesupervise.exeCulture.exeDefwatch.exehttpd.exesync-taskbarsync-workerwsa_service.exesynctime.exevxmon.exesqlbrowser.exetomcat6.exeSqlservr.exe

The following is a list of services, hardcoded in its configuration, to be stopped via the service control manager:

The following is a hardcoded list of directories and files to be omitted from encryption:

The following is a list of process names that during Rorschachs execution these names are compared to those running on the machine and killed if matched. This is done through a combination of CreateToolhelp32Snapshot, Process32FirstW, Process32NextW, OpenProcess, and TerminateProcess. There is some overlap and redundancy to the list of services killed via the service control manager.

Transferring its own files to each workstation:

Executing a scheduled task to run the attack:

**REDACTED**Administrador %LogonDomain%%LogonUser% InteractiveToken HighestAvailable PT10M PT1H false false IgnoreNew false false true true true false P3D 7 true true %Public%cy.exe run=**REDACTED**

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Rorschach A New Sophisticated and Fast Ransomware - Check Point Research