Ransomware Research

About Balaclava

Balaclava

Balaclava was first discovered in February 2020 in enterprise cloud environments. Balaclava is found in environments with a number of different names, including DavesSmith, JerryGlanville, KEY0004, Michael, Coryell, PuckettJeffrey, etc. For a full list of all names, please see below.

Name Balaclava
AKA
  • DavesSmith
  • JerryGlanville
  • KEY0004
  • Michael
  • Coryell
  • PuckettJeffrey
First Seen February 2020

Genealogy

To better understand Balaclava, we can trace it’s origins. Below is a snapshot of Balaclava’s genealogy.

Balaclava » FarAttack
Targeting

Behavior of Balaclava

Balaclava is known to target specific file types. Below are all known file types that Balaclava is known to infect.

In some cases, ransomware will update the modified date, when it encrypts files. Balaclava updates the last modified date of the file it targets.

Learn More

Characteristics of Balaclava

Here are some of the unique characteristics that are helpful to know about Balaclava.

Suffixes

Some ransomware will change or append a suffix to the end of the file after they are encrypted, including changing the extension of a file. Here are some of the possible suffixes that Balaclava ransomware is known to change.

Suffixes.jerry_glanville_data@aol.com, .KEY0004, .michael, .coryell, .puckett_jeffrey, .daves.smith@aol.com

Ransomware Notes

Not all ransomware leaves a note. However, some ransomware leaves the infected party instructions on what the user should do to get rid of the ransomware, or satisfy the ransom. This often involves transferring money, often bitcoin or another cryptocurrency to a designated wallet.

Below are the type(s) of notes, content, and typical locations where Elastio has found ransom notes from Balaclava.

Typefile
File NameRECOVERY FILE.txt
Typefile
File NameHOW_TO_RECOVERY_FILES.txt
LocationEveryFolder

Executables

These are the names of the executables that contain the undetonated ransomware payload for Balaclava.

ExecutablesOUT_CLEANED+TSTDEL.EXE, Lock.exe1, C620F33063425F3.exe, puckett_jeffrey.exe, Lock.exe

External Pages

Ransomware often links to external pages such as payment pages, telegram contacts, etc. Below are some of the URLs Elastio has found to be associated with Balaclava.

External Pages
  • mailto:daves.smith@aol.com
  • mailto:glanville_data@aol.com
  • mailto:giveyoukey@tutanota.com
  • mailto:giveyoukey@cock.li
  • mailto:michael.reynolds74@aol.com
  • mailto:coryell.r@aol.com
  • mailto:puckett_jeffrey@aol.com
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