Passcrypt

Overview

Ransom:Win32/Passcrypt (or Trojan:Win32/Passcrypt) is a severe threat generally classified as Ransomware or a destructive Password Stealer. It is designed to extort victims by either strongly encrypting critical personal or corporate data, or by exfiltrating highly sensitive credentials and threatening to release or misuse them unless a ransom is paid. The encryption routines utilized are typically unbreakable without the attacker's private key.

Understanding Passcrypt
To an end-user, a Passcrypt infection represents an immediate crisis: documents and databases are suddenly inaccessible, appended with a strange extension, and a ransom note (often a `.txt` or `.hta` file) is presented on the desktop. For an enterprise, it triggers a 'Code Red' incident response, requiring immediate network isolation to prevent lateral movement and the encryption of enterprise file shares and backups.

Execution and Extortion Mechanics
Passcrypt is frequently distributed via targeted phishing (`T1566.001`), exploit kits, or dropped by other initial access malware (like Emotet or Trickbot). Upon execution, it achieves persistence (`T1547.001`) and actively attempts to impair endpoint defenses (`T1562.001`). Crucially, before encryption begins, Passcrypt often executes commands like `vssadmin.exe delete shadows /all /quiet` to destroy Windows Volume Shadow Copies, preventing easy system restoration (`T1490`). It then rapidly iterates through the filesystem and mapped network drives, encrypting files matching high-value extensions (e.g., `.docx`, `.sql`, `.pdf`) using AES/RSA algorithms (`T1486`). Advanced variants may also exfiltrate sensitive data *before* encryption to enable 'Double Extortion'.

Indicators of Compromise & Impact
The impact is catastrophic data loss and potential regulatory fines if data was exfiltrated. Host-based IoCs include massive spikes in disk I/O and CPU usage during the encryption phase, the sudden appearance of ransom note files in every directory, and EDR alerts for `vssadmin.exe` or `wmic.exe` attempting to delete shadow copies. Network IoCs may include anomalous, high-volume outbound traffic if the ransomware incorporates a data exfiltration module.

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

Observed techniques used by this family, mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework:

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_PASSCRYPT {
    meta:
        description = "Detects Passcrypt (ransomware)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Boilerplate Generator"
        date = "2026-07-06"
    strings:
        $s1 = "passcrypt" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}

Sigma Rule

title: Suspicious Passcrypt Activity
id: f9b0d23e29e1b0a11df65ffaf925c904
status: experimental
description: Detects generic indicators of the passcrypt malware family.
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith:
            - '\cmd.exe'
            - '\powershell.exe'
        CommandLine|contains:
            - "*passcrypt*"
    condition: selection
level: medium

Containment & Response Steps

Ordered checklist for responders. Adapt to your environment and engage professional support for active incidents.

1. Immediately physically disconnect the infected endpoint from the network (pull the Ethernet cable) to stop the ransomware from encrypting network shares and spreading laterally.
2. Do NOT reboot the infected machine; if possible, capture a live memory image (RAM dump) as the encryption keys might temporarily reside in memory.
3. Restore the encrypted systems from secure, offline backups that were isolated from the network at the time of the attack.
4. Verify the integrity of Active Directory; ransomware is often deployed network-wide by attackers who have already compromised Domain Admin credentials.

What to Avoid

Common mistakes during response to this family that can destroy evidence, spread the infection, or worsen recovery.

1. Do not pay the ransom immediately; paying funds criminal syndicates, and there is no guarantee the provided decryptor will actually work or that data wasn't already stolen.
2. Avoid reconnecting restored machines to the network until the initial entry vector (e.g., a vulnerable VPN or weak RDP password) has been completely secured.

References & External Analysis

• Search "passcrypt" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Families (Category: ransomware)

Explore other malware families in the same category:

• Goabeny
• Jumpta
• Genasep
• Xxyeut
• Msidrop

Machine-readable

Get this profile as JSON: https://jordanricky1604-ship-it.github.io/malware-families-catalog/api/passcrypt.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.