Technical Analysis of Thanos Ransomware

Abstract

Ransomware is a developing menace that encrypts users’ files and holds the decryption key hostage until the victim pays a ransom. This particular class of malware has been in charge of extortion hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Adding to the problem, generating new variations is cheap. Therefore, new malware can detect antivirus and intrusion detection systems and evade them or manifest in ways to make themselves undetectable. We must first understand the characteristics and behavior of various varieties of ransomware to create and construct effective security mechanisms to combat them. This research presents a novel dynamic and behavioral analysis of a newly discovered ransomware called Thanos. It was founded in 2020 and is building up to be the leading malware used by low-to-medium-level attackers. It is part of a new ransomware class known as RaaS (Ransomware as a Service), where attackers can customize it for their desired target audience. So far, it is more prevalent in the middle east and North Africa and has over 130 unique samples already. As part of this investigation, the Thanos ransomware is carefully being analyzed. A testbed is created in the virtual artificial environment that mimics a regular operating system and identifies malware interactions with user data. Using this testbed, we can study how ransomware generally affects our system, how it spreads, and how it continually persists to access the user’s information. We can design a new security mechanism to detect and mitigate Thanos and similar ransomware based on behavior examination results.