{
  "family": "chimera",
  "sample_count": 1,
  "category": "ransomware",
  "description": "<h3>Executive Summary</h3>\nChimera is a highly aggressive strain of enterprise ransomware that pioneered the \"double extortion\" tactic. It not only encrypts the victim's critical data, halting business operations, but it also actively exfiltrates sensitive files to attacker-controlled servers before encryption begins. The threat actors then threaten to publish this confidential data (intellectual property, customer records, financial data) on public \"leak sites\" if the ransom is not paid, significantly increasing the pressure on the victim organization.\n\n<h3>Infection Vector and Technical Capabilities</h3>\nChimera typically infiltrates networks via highly targeted spear-phishing campaigns delivering malicious payloads (often utilizing exploits like those found in the Angler Exploit Kit) or by brute-forcing weakly secured Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) servers.\n\nOnce inside the network, it executes a devastating two-pronged attack:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Data Exfiltration (The First Extortion):</strong> Before encrypting anything, Chimera maps the network and silently uploads high-value files to external cloud storage or FTP servers controlled by the attackers.</li>\n<li><strong>Rapid Encryption (The Second Extortion):</strong> It utilizes strong cryptography (AES+RSA) to encrypt user files and network shares, appending a `.crypt` extension. It actively deletes Volume Shadow Copies (`vssadmin.exe Delete Shadows`) to prevent easy data restoration.</li>\n<li><strong>Psychological Pressure:</strong> The ransom note explicitly states that data has been stolen and will be published if the cryptocurrency demand is not met, creating a severe GDPR/compliance crisis alongside the operational outage.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<h3>Threat Assessment</h3>\nA Chimera infection is a catastrophic security and public relations incident. It poses an existential threat to the organization through severe data loss, extended downtime, guaranteed regulatory fines (due to the data breach aspect), and immense reputational damage.\n\n<h3>Incident Response and Remediation</h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Immediate Network Segmentation:</strong> Instantly sever the network connection of all infected machines to halt the lateral movement and, crucially, stop any ongoing data exfiltration.</li>\n<li><strong>Data Breach Protocol:</strong> Because Chimera exfiltrates data, this incident must be immediately treated as a major data breach. Engage legal counsel and prepare for mandatory regulatory disclosures (e.g., GDPR, CCPA). Do not attempt to negotiate without professional IR guidance.</li>\n<li><strong>Eradication and Recovery:</strong> Eradicating ransomware requires a complete infrastructure rebuild. All affected machines must be wiped to bare metal and rebuilt from known-good, offline backups. All enterprise credentials must be rotated globally.</li>\n</ul>",
  "cta": "Published by the SystemHelpdesk team.",
  "aliases": [
    "Ransomware.Chimera",
    "Trojan-Ransom.Win32.Chimera",
    "Extortion.Chimera"
  ],
  "enrichment_level": "insufficient_information",
  "faq": [],
  "faq_count": 0,
  "mitre_attack": [
    "T1486",
    "T1048",
    "T1490"
  ],
  "cisa_advisory": null,
  "last_updated": "2026-07-02T07:43:55Z",
  "type": "Ransomware (Double Extortion)",
  "target_industries": [
    "Global / Opportunistic"
  ],
  "motivation": "Opportunistic",
  "threat_actors": [
    "Unknown / Cybercriminal"
  ],
  "target_geographies": [
    "Global"
  ]
}