Description Summary
Fog ransomware emerged in May 2024 and is notable for fast operational tempo — affiliates have been observed encrypting environments within hours of initial access. Initial access has primarily come via compromised SonicWall SSL-VPN credentials. Fog has both Windows and Linux/ESXi variants.
Threat Actor
Closed operator group with rapid TTP deployment.
Technical Indicators
Encryption Extension
.fog / .FLOCKED
Encryption Algorithm
AES-256 + RSA
Ransom Note Name
readme.txt
Targeted Industries
Education, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Financial
First Seen
May 2024
Last Seen
Active
Geographical Location
United States, Europe
MITRE ATT&CK Matrix
| Tactic | TTP | Technique Name |
|---|---|---|
| Initial Access x 4 | T1566 | Phishing |
| T1190 | Exploit Public-Facing Application | |
| T1078 | Valid Accounts | |
| T1133 | External Remote Services (SonicWall SSL-VPN) | |
| Execution x 1 | T1059 | Command and Scripting Interpreter |
| Execution Persistence x 1 | T1053 | Scheduled Task/Job |
| Defense Evasion x 2 | T1562.001 | Disable or Modify Tools |
| T1070.004 | File Deletion | |
| Discovery x 2 | T1083 | File and Directory Discovery |
| T1082 | System Information Discovery | |
| Lateral Movement x 2 | T1021.001 | Remote Services: RDP |
| T1021.002 | SMB/Windows Admin Shares | |
| Exfiltration x 2 | T1041 | Exfiltration Over C2 Channel |
| T1567.002 | Exfiltration to Cloud Storage | |
| Impact x 3 | T1486 | Data Encrypted for Impact |
| T1490 | Inhibit System Recovery | |
| T1489 | Service Stop |