SYMBOLCOMMON_NAMEaka. SYNONYMS
win.mount_locker (Back to overview)

Mount Locker

aka: DagonLocker, MountLocker, QuantumLocker

Actor(s): Vanilla Tempest

VTCollection    

According to BlackBerry, MountLocker is a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS), active since July 2020
The MountLocker ransomware was updated during early November 2020 to broaden the targeting of file types and evade security software.
Victim’s files are encrypted using ChaCha20, and file encryption keys are encrypted using RSA-2048.
The ransomware appears to be somewhat secure; there are no trivial weaknesses allowing for easy key recovery and decryption of data. MountLocker does however use a cryptographically insecure method for key generation that may be prone to attack.

References
2025-07-24 ⋅ Bleeping Computer ⋅ Sergiu Gatlan
BlackSuit ransomware extortion sites seized in Operation Checkmate
BlackSuit Royal Ransom BlackSuit Mount Locker Royal Ransom
2024-04-29 ⋅ The DFIR Report ⋅ The DFIR Report
From IcedID to Dagon Locker Ransomware in 29 Days
IcedID Mount Locker
2023-06-27 ⋅ SecurityIntelligence ⋅ Charlotte Hammond, Ole Villadsen
The Trickbot/Conti Crypters: Where Are They Now?
Black Basta Conti Mount Locker PhotoLoader Royal Ransom SystemBC TrickBot
2023-04-03 ⋅ The DFIR Report ⋅ The DFIR Report
Malicious ISO File Leads to Domain Wide Ransomware
Cobalt Strike IcedID Mount Locker
2023-03-30 ⋅ United States District Court (Eastern District of New York) ⋅ Fortra, HEALTH-ISAC, Microsoft
Cracked Cobalt Strike (1:23-cv-02447)
Black Basta BlackCat LockBit RagnarLocker LockBit Black Basta BlackCat Cobalt Strike Cuba Emotet LockBit Mount Locker PLAY QakBot RagnarLocker Royal Ransom Zloader
2022-11-28 ⋅ The DFIR Report ⋅ The DFIR Report
Emotet Strikes Again – LNK File Leads to Domain Wide Ransomware
Emotet Mount Locker
2022-11-10 ⋅ Intezer ⋅ Nicole Fishbein
How LNK Files Are Abused by Threat Actors
BumbleBee Emotet Mount Locker QakBot
2022-10-25 ⋅ Microsoft ⋅ Microsoft Security Threat Intelligence
DEV-0832 (Vice Society) opportunistic ransomware campaigns impacting US education sector
BlackCat Mount Locker PortStarter Zeppelin Vanilla Tempest
2022-10-10 ⋅ RiskIQ ⋅ Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC)
DEV-0832 Leverages Commodity Tools in Opportunistic Ransomware Campaigns
BlackCat Mount Locker SystemBC Zeppelin
2022-09-14 ⋅ SecurityScorecard ⋅ Vlad Pasca
A Detailed Analysis of the Quantum Ransomware
Mount Locker
2022-08-22 ⋅ Microsoft ⋅ Microsoft
Extortion Economics - Ransomware’s new business model
BlackCat Conti Hive REvil AgendaCrypt Black Basta BlackCat Brute Ratel C4 Cobalt Strike Conti Hive Mount Locker Nokoyawa Ransomware REvil Ryuk
2022-05-19 ⋅ IBM ⋅ Charlotte Hammond, Golo Mühr, Ole Villadsen
ITG23 Crypters Highlight Cooperation Between Cybercriminal Groups
IcedID ISFB Mount Locker WIZARD SPIDER
2022-05-09 ⋅ Cybereason ⋅ Lior Rochberger
Cybereason vs. Quantum Locker Ransomware
IcedID Mount Locker
2021-11-05 ⋅ Blackberry ⋅ The BlackBerry Research & Intelligence Team
Hunter Becomes Hunted: Zebra2104 Hides a Herd of Malware
Cobalt Strike DoppelDridex Mount Locker Phobos StrongPity
2021-10-18 ⋅ The DFIR Report ⋅ The DFIR Report
IcedID to XingLocker Ransomware in 24 hours
Cobalt Strike IcedID Mount Locker
2021-10-15 ⋅ Trend Micro ⋅ Fernando Mercês
Ransomware Operators Found Using New "Franchise" Business Model
Glupteba IcedID Mount Locker
2021-08-04 ⋅ kienmanowar Blog ⋅ m4n0w4r, Tran Trung Kien
[QuickNote] MountLocker – Some pseudo-code snippets
Mount Locker
2021-08-04 ⋅ CrowdStrike ⋅ CrowdStrike Intelligence Team, CrowdStrike IR, Falcon OverWatch Team
PROPHET SPIDER Exploits Oracle WebLogic to Facilitate Ransomware Activity
Cobalt Strike Egregor Mount Locker Prophet Spider
2021-07-14 ⋅ Intel 471 ⋅ Intel 471
How cybercriminals create turbulence for the transportation industry
Mount Locker Nefilim
2021-06-23 ⋅ Symantec ⋅ Threat Hunter Team
Ransomware: Growing Number of Attackers Using Virtual Machines
Mount Locker
2021-05-23 ⋅ Chuongdong blog ⋅ Chuong Dong
MountLocker Ransomware
Mount Locker
2021-05-18 ⋅ Github (Finch4) ⋅ Finch
Analysis of MountLocker
Mount Locker
2021-05-10 ⋅ DarkTracer ⋅ DarkTracer
Intelligence Report on Ransomware Gangs on the DarkWeb: List of victim organizations attacked by ransomware gangs released on the DarkWeb
RansomEXX Avaddon Babuk Clop Conti Cuba DarkSide DoppelPaymer Egregor Hades LockBit Mailto Maze MedusaLocker Mespinoza Mount Locker Nefilim Nemty Pay2Key PwndLocker RagnarLocker Ragnarok RansomEXX REvil Sekhmet SunCrypt ThunderX
2021-04-23 ⋅ GuidePoint Security ⋅ Drew Schmitt
Mount Locker Ransomware Steps up Counter-IR Capabilities, Hindering Efforts for Detection, Response and Investigation
Mount Locker
2021-03-31 ⋅ Sophos ⋅ Michael Heller
Sophos MTR in Real Time: What is Astro Locker Team?
Mount Locker
2021-02-23 ⋅ CrowdStrike ⋅ CrowdStrike
2021 Global Threat Report
RansomEXX Amadey Anchor Avaddon BazarBackdoor Clop Cobalt Strike Conti Cutwail DanaBot DarkSide DoppelPaymer Dridex Egregor Emotet Hakbit IcedID JSOutProx KerrDown LockBit Mailto Maze MedusaLocker Mespinoza Mount Locker NedDnLoader Nemty Pay2Key PlugX Pushdo PwndLocker PyXie QakBot Quasar RAT RagnarLocker Ragnarok RansomEXX REvil Ryuk Sekhmet ShadowPad SmokeLoader Snake SUNBURST SunCrypt TEARDROP TrickBot WastedLocker Winnti Zloader Evilnum OUTLAW SPIDER RIDDLE SPIDER SOLAR SPIDER VIKING SPIDER
2020-12-23 ⋅ Dissecting Malware ⋅ Marius Genheimer
Between a rock and a hard place - Exploring Mount Locker Ransomware
Mount Locker
2020-12-11 ⋅ Blackberry ⋅ BlackBerry Research and Intelligence team
MountLocker Ransomware-as-a-Service Offers Double Extortion Capabilities to Affiliates
Cobalt Strike Mount Locker
2020-11-19 ⋅ Bleeping Computer ⋅ Lawrence Abrams
Mount Locker ransomware now targets your TurboTax tax returns
Mount Locker
2020-11-13 ⋅ Bleeping Computer ⋅ Sergiu Gatlan
Biotech research firm Miltenyi Biotec hit by ransomware, data leaked
Mount Locker
2020-09-24 ⋅ Bleeping Computer ⋅ Lawrence Abrams
Mount Locker ransomware joins the multi-million dollar ransom game
Mount Locker
Yara Rules
[TLP:WHITE] win_mount_locker_auto (20260917 | Detects win.mount_locker.)
rule win_mount_locker_auto {

    meta:
        author = "Felix Bilstein - yara-signator at cocacoding dot com"
        date = "2026-09-17"
        version = "1"
        description = "Detects win.mount_locker."
        info = "autogenerated rule brought to you by yara-signator"
        tool = "yara-signator v0.6.0"
        signator_config = "callsandjumps;datarefs;binvalue"
        malpedia_reference = "https://malpedia.caad.fkie.fraunhofer.de/details/win.mount_locker"
        malpedia_rule_date = "20260916"
        malpedia_hash = "53a643781c18e08f4a50949af60172d837a0b6f6"
        malpedia_version = "20260917"
        malpedia_license = "CC BY-SA 4.0"
        malpedia_sharing = "TLP:WHITE"

    /* DISCLAIMER
     * The strings used in this rule have been automatically selected from the
     * disassembly of memory dumps and unpacked files, using YARA-Signator.
     * The code and documentation is published here:
     * https://github.com/fxb-cocacoding/yara-signator
     * As Malpedia is used as data source, please note that for a given
     * number of families, only single samples are documented.
     * This likely impacts the degree of generalization these rules will offer.
     * Take the described generation method also into consideration when you
     * apply the rules in your use cases and assign them confidence levels.
     */


    strings:
        $sequence_0 = { 498be8 4d8bc8 4c8bc2 4c8bf2 }
            // n = 4, score = 500
            //   498be8               | test                eax, eax
            //   4d8bc8               | dec                 ecx
            //   4c8bc2               | mov                 ebp, eax
            //   4c8bf2               | dec                 ebp

        $sequence_1 = { 4c8b05???????? 488bcb 488b15???????? e8???????? 85c0 }
            // n = 5, score = 500
            //   4c8b05????????       |                     
            //   488bcb               | dec                 eax
            //   488b15????????       |                     
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   85c0                 | mov                 ecx, ebx

        $sequence_2 = { f30f5905???????? 0f5ad0 66490f7ed0 e8???????? }
            // n = 4, score = 500
            //   f30f5905????????     |                     
            //   0f5ad0               | lea                 eax, [esp + 0x30]
            //   66490f7ed0           | dec                 eax
            //   e8????????           |                     

        $sequence_3 = { 488364242800 4c8d442430 488364242000 4533c9 488b4c2458 33d2 c744243001000000 }
            // n = 7, score = 500
            //   488364242800         | mov                 ecx, eax
            //   4c8d442430           | dec                 esp
            //   488364242000         | mov                 eax, edx
            //   4533c9               | dec                 esp
            //   488b4c2458           | mov                 esi, edx
            //   33d2                 | dec                 eax
            //   c744243001000000     | and                 dword ptr [esp + 0x28], 0

        $sequence_4 = { 81e10000ffff 81f900000780 7503 0fb7c0 }
            // n = 4, score = 500
            //   81e10000ffff         | inc                 ebp
            //   81f900000780         | xor                 ecx, ecx
            //   7503                 | dec                 eax
            //   0fb7c0               | mov                 ecx, dword ptr [esp + 0x58]

        $sequence_5 = { 488d4df0 4889442428 4533c9 4533c0 }
            // n = 4, score = 500
            //   488d4df0             | xor                 ecx, ecx
            //   4889442428           | dec                 eax
            //   4533c9               | mov                 ecx, dword ptr [esp + 0x58]
            //   4533c0               | xor                 edx, edx

        $sequence_6 = { 4c8bf2 8bf1 33d2 33c9 }
            // n = 4, score = 500
            //   4c8bf2               | dec                 esp
            //   8bf1                 | lea                 eax, [esp + 0x30]
            //   33d2                 | dec                 eax
            //   33c9                 | and                 dword ptr [esp + 0x20], 0

        $sequence_7 = { 488b0b 41b902000000 4533c0 33d2 }
            // n = 4, score = 500
            //   488b0b               | mov                 ecx, dword ptr [esp + 0x58]
            //   41b902000000         | xor                 edx, edx
            //   4533c0               | mov                 dword ptr [esp + 0x30], 1
            //   33d2                 | dec                 esp

        $sequence_8 = { ff15???????? 8bc8 81e10000ffff 81f900000780 }
            // n = 4, score = 300
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   8bc8                 | mov                 ebp, eax
            //   81e10000ffff         | dec                 ebp
            //   81f900000780         | mov                 ecx, eax

        $sequence_9 = { ff15???????? 85c0 7509 f0ff05???????? }
            // n = 4, score = 300
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   85c0                 | and                 dword ptr [esp + 0x20], 0
            //   7509                 | inc                 ebp
            //   f0ff05????????       |                     

        $sequence_10 = { 488bcb ff15???????? 4c8b05???????? 488bcb }
            // n = 4, score = 300
            //   488bcb               | xor                 eax, eax
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   4c8b05????????       |                     
            //   488bcb               | xor                 edx, edx

        $sequence_11 = { 7505 e8???????? 833d????????00 7409 }
            // n = 4, score = 300
            //   7505                 | dec                 esp
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   833d????????00       |                     
            //   7409                 | mov                 eax, edx

        $sequence_12 = { 83f835 7513 8d44242c 50 68???????? e8???????? 59 }
            // n = 7, score = 100
            //   83f835               | mov                 ecx, dword ptr [esp + 0x58]
            //   7513                 | xor                 edx, edx
            //   8d44242c             | mov                 dword ptr [esp + 0x30], 1
            //   50                   | mov                 dword ptr [esp + 0x3c], 2
            //   68????????           |                     
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   59                   | dec                 eax

        $sequence_13 = { 8bf8 85ff 7523 f0ff05???????? 53 }
            // n = 5, score = 100
            //   8bf8                 | and                 dword ptr [esp + 0x20], 0
            //   85ff                 | inc                 ebp
            //   7523                 | xor                 ecx, ecx
            //   f0ff05????????       |                     
            //   53                   | dec                 eax

        $sequence_14 = { 6a02 50 ff15???????? 03c0 50 }
            // n = 5, score = 100
            //   6a02                 | and                 dword ptr [esp + 0x20], 0
            //   50                   | inc                 ebp
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   03c0                 | xor                 ecx, ecx
            //   50                   | dec                 eax

        $sequence_15 = { e8???????? 83c40c e8???????? ff15???????? 50 68???????? 57 }
            // n = 7, score = 100
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   83c40c               | mov                 dword ptr [esp + 0x30], 1
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   50                   | mov                 dword ptr [esp + 0x3c], 2
            //   68????????           |                     
            //   57                   | dec                 eax

    condition:
        7 of them and filesize < 368640
}
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