// Ransomware Negotiation Transcript
fog Ransomware Negotiation — Redacted Organisation
// Context
About This Negotiation
This transcript documents a fog ransomware negotiation with a redacted victim organisation. The negotiation consisted of 144 messages exchanged.
The initial ransom demand was $200,000. The final outcome is not confirmed in the transcript.
// Primary Source
Full Transcript — Verbatim
Reproduced from Casualtek's Ransomchats archive. URLs have been redacted.
Victim names are shown only where the breach was publicly reported in mainstream media. Any organisation wishing their name redacted can contact us at enquiries@binary-response.com — we will act promptly.
Hi
hi
I will give you details in a minute
[provides a plain TXT files list]
this is what has been taken from your network
What are the instruction to restore our data?
Hi are you there?
I will give you instructions after payment
What payment?
If you want your data fully decrypted and the files we stole removed from our source, you will have to pay a fee. We will also be able to provide a security report and explain how we did it to get in. I will give you our demand soon.
Any news?
If you need a proof we indeed possess your data, send me a couple of directories to the files you want to see. To test our tool, send me 3 random encrypted files and we will decrypt them for free. Our demand is $200,000.
Hello, we don't know how to make the payment or how to facilitate it for you. On the other hand, we are a very small company and cannot afford the payment you are mentioning. What options do we have? And about the three files what is the procedure?
As for the files, if you need a proof we indeed possess your data, send me a couple of directories to the files you want to see. We can provide you with a $20,000 discount if you pay us this week. The price is fair for your company.
We are willing to cooperate, but the amount requested is far beyond our capabilities as a small company. We can offer a smaller sum and pay it as soon as possible. Additionally, we need to clearly understand the payment process and the guarantees we have to securely recover our data. Please provide detailed instructions on how to proceed and assure us that we will receive all our data without further issues
I can't give you an additional discount until I see your number. The price can be increased at any second if you keep haggling like this.
What number do you mean?
The number you are ready to pay at the moment.
We can offer $120,000 and want to be transparent, avoiding a prolonged negotiation. Additionally, we need to understand how to make the payment. We will provide several files for you to decrypt to verify your capabilities.
$120,000 is not a bad offer but I can't accept this. I also want to avoid a prolonged negotiation, so our final price is $150,000. You have 2 days to gather the rest $30k and we will be done with it. I will give you our wallet for payment later.
We are agreeable to proceeding with the following conditions: First, we will provide several encrypted files for you to decrypt as proof of your decryption capabilities. Following this, we will make an initial payment of $120,000 in exchange for the instructions and necessary tools to decrypt the rest of our systems. Once we have successfully recovered our data, we will make a final payment of $30,000. In return, we expect a report detailing how the attack was carried out and confirmation that all our data has been removed from your possession and any related systems
[provides a zip archive of encrypted files]
tell is there the file named "auth.log.fog.savepoint" somewhere near the file "auth.log.fog"?
We couldn't find the file you mentioned, could you tell us where this file should be located and what it contains?
it should be in the same directory with the file auth.log.fog that your gave me
Isn't in this directory
[provides 2 decrypted files]
I will give you everything right away when I received the full 150k payment. Let's resolve the issue quickly.
[redacted] this is id for payment
We understand your position, but we must adhere to our agreed-upon model. We need to follow the steps we outlined previously: first providing a portion of the payment, receiving the necessary decryption instructions, and then completing the full payment upon confirmation. Additionally, specify which cryptocurrency it is for the payment.
We work with bitcoins. We cannot violate our policy, which means we cannot accept fractional payments.
Once the payment is made, how does the decryption process work? What guarantees do we have that all our data will be fully recovered and secured? We also want to understand what you will provide to us after the payment. Please understand that we are concerned due to our lack of experience with situations like this and need reassurance that everything will be resolved properly.
Once the payment is made, you will get the .exe files that you will need to run on your systems (win or esxi) to decrypt your files. We guarantee that you will be able to recover all the encrypted data. We will give you a deletion log file which means the files we stole .were removed from our source.
We need to finalize the financial and legal aspects on our end before proceeding with the payment. Once everything is ready and the payment is made, we will notify you immediately.
Standing by, thanks.
We are currently reviewing the payment method, and since we are not familiar with this process, we are unsure how to proceed. Could you explain how this is typically done and which services are usually used? We want to ensure that everything is handled correctly.
see the link [REDACTED URL]
Thanks ,we are checking, but the registration process and validation will take some time.
sure
How's your progress with that?
The cryptocurrency purchase platform needs to verify the user, and this won't be completed until tomorrow. The process is turning out to be quite long and complex for us.
tell me when you have updates
Sure
We have conducted an initial test to verify that the process we're following is correct. Could you confirm that you have received the first transfer of $5? Meanwhile, we are in the process of acquiring the total amount of cryptocurrency needed for the full payment, but it is taking some time.
I received 0.000082
Okay, we are in the process of obtaining the full amount. Once we have it, we will proceed with the transfer.
Once the payment is received, what are the next steps?
I will give you the decrypter after I see the money in the wallet
and instructions of course
We are gathering the payment in the exchange, but we need to proceed gradually with the euro money transfers to the wallet. I believe we can have it ready in less than 48 hours. Maybe in 24 hours. I'll keep you informed.
From the moment we make the payment transfer, how long will it take you to send me the decryptors for Windows files and virtual machines? Will you send them here, or should I give you an email?
I will send the decrypters via this chat after full sum received
Hi, I already have the funds available. I'm going to make a small test transfer from this wallet, and then the rest will be ok?
Sure. But you have already sent a test amount of 0.000082 BTC. Anyway, you can send another one.
Please give me 3 hours and we will proceed. I write to you here. Thank you.
Standing by.
Hi, we just did the test transfer. Please tell me everything is ok.
When you verify it we make the final large transfer.
I see 0.003 confirming
ok Sr.
We proceed to make the payment. Can you confirm that I will have the decrypters instantly please?
You're online?
I can confirm
ok, thanks. wait a minute please
ok
we are working on it, give me just 2 minutes. please prepare the decrypters to send me.
preparing
it's OK.
Transfer OK.
It has arrived, can you confirm it for me?
confirming
Thanks!
give me a minute
ok, sr.
Esxi
chmod +x unlocker
./unlocker --id [redacted] --log --target "/vmfs/volumes/"
Windows
unlocker.exe -nomutex -console -target \\SERVER\C$
unlocker.exe -nomutex -console -target C:\
[provides a zip file with the decryptor]
OK, we'll try it out and I'll write to you if there are any questions or problems. Thanks.
ok I am here
[provides a PNG file]
It gives us an error with the ESXI, I attach an image
maybe too many files on the machine?
specify one vm in directory of decrypter
we are having some problems. I leave you screenshots:[provides 2 PNG files]
I am attaching the files that we cannot decrypt. Let's see if you can help us since they are very important to be able to operate:[provides 3 TXT files]
We have carried out the test of specifying a machine instead of a folder and it does not give an error, but it does not decrypt either.
It is a very serious problem for us. Please, help.
For example, these files are impossible to decrypt (and they are small):[provides 8 .FOG files]
my team is working on it
how many vms did you already fix and run?
We are very concerned because those machines are the SAP and two other environments we use to operate the business. Without these environments, we cannot function. Let me tell you which machines they are:
1 - [redacted]-flat.vmdk
1 - [redacted].vmdk
0 - [redacted]-flat.vmdk
0 - [redacted]-flat.vmdk
[redacted]-flat.vmdk
[redacted]-flat.vmdk
0 - [redacted]-flat.vmdk
0 - [redacted].vmdk
[redacted]-flat.vmdk
[redacted]-ctk.vmdk
And swap files:
vmx-[redacted].vswp
vmx-0 - [redacted].vswp
vmx-[redacted].vswp
vmx-[redacted].vswp
[redacted].vswp
And .vmsd file:
0 - [redacted].vmsd
And also many other files in .log format that are secondary and not needed to start the machines.
How can we solve this? Do you need me to share more files that we cannot decrypt?
I have shared some small files above that cannot be decrypted.
All the files we cannot decrypt are these (I already listed them above, but here they are again for your reference):
This is very urgent because we cannot operate the business without it. We have tried everything possible. We have tried decrypting locally, on other machines, specifying directory paths, and the final paths of the machines.
there are some options for solving this
start decryption of the following folders using --threads 16
/vmfs/volumes/[redacted]/
/vmfs/volumes/[redacted]/
/vmfs/volumes/[redacted]/
/vmfs/volumes/[redacted]/
/vmfs/volumes/[redacted]/
when you have 'error open file' try to recheck permissions of a file copying it to another folder because permissions could change. use the command ls -la. Example: -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8024 Aug
Decrypter should be run as host
file permissions -rw
If host and permission don't match, then change host using 'chown' or change permissions using 'chmod'
Or another options is to try replace a file to another folder an run decrypter to decrypt exactly this one file
ok let's try it.
Using -- threads 16 and other parameters that we have tried does not work, I attach an image:[provides a PNG file]
Let's test the permissions issue of the second option. However, we run it as root.
We tried the third option yesterday and this morning and it doesn't work for us.
Now I'll tell you about the issue of permissions.
None of the options work.
Without these files we cannot operate, they are the core of the organization.
Do you want me to upload virtual machines to the cloud, or give you access to a system?
please help
my team is working on the trouble
Upload to the cloud we will fix the file
OK sr. Thanks!!!![provides a .vswp.fog file]
I'm sending you this small file so that your team can analyze why the decrypter doesn't decrypt. We followed all your instructions. Let's see if you can try it in your environment. It's 83Mb of file so you don't have to pass anything bigger that is difficult to handle.
[provides a JPG file]
In this image more information with the permissions:[provides another JPG file]
ok
wait
Thanks!!!!
I will have news for you most likely on Sunday
OK, thank you very much for your attention. We will be waiting for your news.
send me vmdk or vmdk-flat file
In a few hours you will have the files in a repository. Does that seem okay to you? This way we will not be able to share so many gigabytes. Thank you very much, without these virtual machines our entire company cannot work. It is the core of the business.
Thank you very much
We almost have a machine uploaded to the cloud to share the link with you. We have uploaded a "small" 1.2Gb file of those that also cause problems and are on critical routes for us:
[REDACTED URL]
Give me a few minutes and I'll send you the link for the vdmk machine
Thank you for your help. Without these operational vdmk machines our company would go bankrupt.
We have the vdmk uploaded to the cloud. I am sending you credentials:
sftp://[redacted].vmdk.fog
Password: [redacted]
We are waiting for your news. With these files and the 83Mb one I sent you earlier that is also causing problems, I think your programmers could see what is wrong with the decrypter.
We are very concerned because all the critical files of vmdk virtual machines are in this situation. (8 machines)
got it
I wait for something from my team
Thanks
Hi, sorry to bother you. I wanted to know if we'll receive any updates today on how to resolve the file decryption issues. We are overwhelmed as we cannot decrypt files like the ones I mentioned in the conversation. Thank you, sorry for the insistence.
Please, if you don't help us, our company will close, and we will lose our jobs.
we will help
wait
Thanks!!!!
Can we turn off the SFTP machine where we have uploaded the .vmdk file?
We can leave it active if necessary.
let it be active for some time
Ok thanks
try to copy a vmdk file to a separate folder and run it after removing extension .fog
OK,wait a moment.
// Analysis
Analyst Observations
- This is an unusually long negotiation, suggesting extended back-and-forth and significant engagement from both parties.