Somebody has leaked the most recent model of LockBit’s encryptor to the web, and whereas at first it’d seem to be a knowledge breach and theft, the ransomware operator’s public consultant claims it’s truly the work of a disgruntled developer.

A model new Twitter account named Ali Qushji claimed their group hacked the servers of LockBit and located a builder for the LockBit 3.zero ransomware encryptor. Following the tweet, malware supply code library VX-Underground chimed in, saying they have been contacted by a person named “protonleaks” on September 10, with the identical content material. 

The identical supply additionally stated that LockBitSupp, the general public consultant of the LockBit operation, confirmed that this was not the work of a hacking group, however moderately a disgruntled developer, unhappy with the ransomware operator’s management.

Upset with management

“We reached out to Lockbit ransomware group relating to this and found this leaker was a programmer employed by Lockbit ransomware group,” VX-Underground tweeted (and subsequently deleted the tweet). “They have been upset with Lockbit management and leaked the builder.”

BleepingComputer has since confirmed the authenticity of the leak, stating it’s the LockBit 3.zero encryptor’s builder, codenamed LockBit Black, that was leaked. The model, that’s been within the testing part for 2 months main as much as June, got here with various new options, together with anti-analysis, a ransomware bug bounty program, and new strategies of extortion.

Leaking the builder doesn’t imply whoever will get contaminated with LockBit can now simply decrypt the hijacked knowledge. As an alternative, it signifies that different menace actors can compile their very own variations with ease, tweaking numerous configuration choices, the ransom word, and different particulars. Whereas which may harm LockBit’s operations to some extent, it additionally signifies that organizations might quickly be going through a fair greater variety of ransomware strains.

This isn’t the primary time an encryptor’s supply code leaked on-line. At first of Russia’s invasion on Ukraine, a hacker leaked Conti’s supply code, a ransomware group that publicly supported the invasion on the time. 

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Through: BleepingComputer (opens in new tab)