Security News > 2022 > August > New GwisinLocker ransomware encrypts Windows and Linux ESXi servers
A new ransomware family called 'GwisinLocker' targets South Korean healthcare, industrial, and pharmaceutical companies with Windows and Linux encryptors, including support for encrypting VMware ESXi servers and virtual machines.
On Wednesday, Korean cybersecurity experts at Ahnlab published a report on the Windows encryptor, and yesterday, security researchers at ReversingLabs published their technical analysis of the Linux version.
When GwisinLocker encrypts Windows devices, the infection begins with the execution of an MSI installer file, which requires special command line arguments to properly load the embedded DLL that acts as the ransomware encryptor.
For the Linux version analyzed by ReversingLabs, the encryptor focuses strongly on encrypting VMware ESXi virtual machines, including two command-line arguments that control how the Linux encryptor will encrypt virtual machines.
Unless the -sf command-line argument is used, the Linux ransomware will also exclude specific VMware ESXi related files to prevent the server from becoming unbootable.
Finally, the ransomware terminates several Linux daemons before initiating encryption to make their data available for the locking process.
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