RTM Locker is the latest enterprise-targeting ransomware operation found to be deploying a Linux encryptor that targets virtual machines on VMware ESXi servers.
At the time, Trellix and MalwareHunterTeam had only seen a Windows ransomware encryptor, but as Uptycs reported yesterday, RTM has expanded its targeting to Linux and VMware ESXi servers.
Due to this, an organization’s servers are commonly spread over a mix of dedicated devices and VMware ESXi servers running multiple virtual servers.
In a new report by Uptycs, researchers analyzed a Linux variant of the RTM Locker that is based on the leaked source code of the now-defunct Babuk ransomware.
The RTM Locker Linux encryptor appears to be created explicitly for attacking VMware ESXi systems, as it contains numerous references to commands used to manage virtual machines.
The existence of an ESXi-targeting version is enough to categorize RTM Locker as a significant threat to the enterprise.
