Evillocker
Overview
Executive Summary
EvilLocker is a highly destructive Ransomware family designed to extort financial payment from victims by encrypting their critical data. It is known for its rapid deployment and aggressive encryption routines, prioritizing the immediate and widespread encryption of local and network-mapped drives to cause maximum operational disruption before security teams can respond.Infection Vector and Technical Capabilities
EvilLocker is typically distributed via weaponized email attachments (spear-phishing) or deployed by threat actors who have purchased RDP credentials from Initial Access Brokers (IABs) and manually executed the payload within the compromised network. Upon execution, EvilLocker initiates a standard but devastating attack sequence:- Volume Shadow Copy Deletion: Before encryption begins, the ransomware executes commands (e.g., `vssadmin.exe Delete Shadows /All /Quiet`) to destroy local system backups and recovery points, ensuring the victim cannot easily restore their files using Windows features.
- Strong Cryptography: It utilizes strong encryption algorithms (often a combination of AES for file encryption and RSA for key encryption) to encrypt documents, databases, images, and archives. The encrypted files are usually appended with a specific, unique extension (often `.evil` or a randomized string).
- Ransom Note Generation: A text or HTML file is dropped in every directory containing encrypted files. This note provides instructions on how to purchase cryptocurrency (usually Bitcoin) and contact the attackers to obtain the decryption key.
Threat Assessment
An EvilLocker infection is a critical security incident resulting in immediate and often catastrophic loss of data availability. The destruction of local backups means that without secure, offline backups, organizations face a stark choice between massive data loss or paying a criminal extortion demand.Incident Response and Remediation
- Immediate Network Severance: The infected endpoint must be immediately disconnected from the corporate network, Wi-Fi, and any VPNs to prevent the ransomware from propagating to mapped network drives and cloud storage sync folders.
- Preserve Memory (Do Not Reboot): If possible, capture a forensic image of the system's RAM before powering it down, as the decryption key might temporarily reside in volatile memory.
- Eradication and Restoration: Paying the ransom is strongly discouraged. The only reliable remediation strategy is a complete bare-metal wipe of the infected systems and a full restoration from secure, air-gapped backups.
Known aliases
Threat reports may refer to this family under multiple names:
MITRE ATT&CK Techniques
This family has been observed using the following ATT&CK techniques: T1486 T1490
Generated Detections (Boilerplate)
These YARA and Sigma rules are auto-generated based on the family name and aliases. They must be heavily tuned before deployment in a production environment.
YARA Rule
rule MALWARE_WIN_EVILLOCKER {
meta:
description = "Detects Evillocker (ransomware)"
author = "SystemHelpdesk Boilerplate Generator"
date = "2026-07-06"
strings:
$s1 = "evillocker" ascii wide nocase
$s2 = "ransom.evillocker" ascii wide nocase
$s3 = "win32/filecoder.evil" ascii wide nocase
$s4 = "trojan-ransom.win32.evillocker" ascii wide nocase
condition:
uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}Sigma Rule
title: Suspicious Evillocker Activity
id: 0fbcc89cce6ba3b411edaa80ad4fae98
status: experimental
description: Detects generic indicators of the evillocker malware family.
logsource:
category: process_creation
product: windows
detection:
selection:
Image|endswith:
- '\cmd.exe'
- '\powershell.exe'
CommandLine|contains:
- "*evillocker*"
- "*ransom.evillocker*"
- "*win32/filecoder.evil*"
- "*trojan-ransom.win32.evillocker*"
condition: selection
level: mediumReferences & External Analysis
- Search "evillocker" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I remove the Evillocker Ransomware from Windows?
Manual removal of Evillocker is highly discouraged as it may leave persistence mechanisms intact. We recommend disconnecting the device from the internet and utilizing a professional incident response service or enterprise-grade EDR software to conduct a full forensic sweep.
Is Evillocker a virus or a Ransomware?
Evillocker is classified as a Ransomware. Unlike traditional viruses that infect files, modern malware like Evillocker typically operates as a standalone payload designed to compromise systems, steal data, or deploy secondary stage implants.
What are the main symptoms of a Evillocker infection?
Symptoms of Evillocker can include unexpected system slowness, unauthorized outbound network traffic to unknown IP addresses, disabled security software, and suspicious background processes running from AppData or Temp directories.
Related Families (Category: ransomware)
Explore other malware families in the same category:
Protect Your Network Against Ransomwares
Want to prevent Evillocker and similar threats from compromising your organization? Read our comprehensive defensive guide: Ransomware Protection Guide.
Machine-readable
Get this profile as JSON: https://jordanricky1604-ship-it.github.io/malware-families-catalog/api/evillocker.json
Ecosystem & Interactive Environments
This profile is part of the Malware Families Catalog, a public dataset of 2,899 malware families. The catalog is also published across our ecosystem: Hugging Face, Kaggle, Zenodo, Replit, StackBlitz, CodeSandbox, and CodePen.