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---
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title: " Ransomware Simulation"
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date: 2021-06-23T18:13:59+05:30
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draft: false
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description: "Simulate a ransomware attack on your network and assess the potential damage."
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weight: 1
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pre: "<i class='fa fa-lock'></i>"
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---
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The Infection Monkey is capable of simulating a ransomware attack on your
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network using a set of configurable behaviors.
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## Encryption
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In order to simulate the behavior of ransomware as accurately as possible,
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the Infection Monkey can [encrypt user-specified files](#configuring-encryption)
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using a [fully reversible algorithm](#how-are-the-files-encrypted). A number of
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mechanisms are in place to ensure that all actions performed by the encryption
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routine are safe for production environments.
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### Preparing your environment for a ransomware simulation
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The Infection Monkey will only encrypt files that you allow it to. In
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order to take full advantage of the Infection Monkey's ransomware simulation, you'll
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need to provide the Infection Monkey with a directory that contains files that
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are safe for it to encrypt. The recommended approach is to use a remote
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administration tool, such as
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[Ansible](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/) or
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[PsExec](https://theitbros.com/using-psexec-to-run-commands-remotely/) to add a
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"ransomware target" directory to each machine in your environment. The Infection
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Monkey can then be configured to encrypt files in this directory.
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### Configuring encryption
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To ensure minimum interference and easy recoverability, the ransomware
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simulation will only encrypt files contained in a user-specified directory. If
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no directory is specified, no files will be encrypted.
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Infection Monkey appends the `.m0nk3y` file extension to files that it
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encrypts. You may optionally provide a custom file extension for Infection
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Monkey to use instead. You can even provide no file extension, but take
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caution: you'll no longer be able to tell if the file has been encrypted based
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on the filename alone!
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### How are the files encrypted?
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Files are "encrypted" in place with a simple bit flip. Encrypted files are
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renamed to have a file extension (`.m0nk3y` by default) appended to their
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names. This is a safe way to simulate encryption since it is easy to "decrypt"
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your files. You can simply perform a bit flip on the files again and rename
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them to remove the appended `.m0nk3y` extension.
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Flipping a file's bits is sufficient to simulate the encryption behavior of
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ransomware, as the data in your files has been manipulated (leaving them
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temporarily unusable). Files are then renamed with a new extension appended,
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which is similar to the way that many ransomwares behave. As this is a
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simulation, your
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security solutions should be triggered to notify you or prevent these changes
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from taking place.
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### Which files are encrypted?
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During the ransomware simulation, attempts will be made to encrypt all regular
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files with [targeted file extensions](#files-targeted-for-encryption) in the
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configured directory. The simulation is not recursive, i.e. it will not touch
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any files in sub-directories of the configured directory. The Infection Monkey will
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not follow any symlinks or shortcuts.
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These precautions are taken to prevent the Infection Monkey from accidentally
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encrypting files that you didn't intend to encrypt.
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### Files targeted for encryption
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Only regular files with certain extensions are encrypted by the ransomware
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simulation. This list is based on the [analysis of the Goldeneye ransomware by
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BitDefender](https://labs.bitdefender.com/2017/07/a-technical-look-into-the-goldeneye-ransomware-attack/).
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- .3ds
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- .7z
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- .accdb
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- .ai
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- .asp
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- .aspx
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- .avhd
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- .avi
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- .back
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- .bak
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- .c
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- .cfg
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- .conf
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- .cpp
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- .cs
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- .ctl
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- .dbf
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- .disk
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- .djvu
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- .doc
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- .docx
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- .dwg
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- .eml
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- .fdb
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- .giff
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- .gz
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- .h
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- .hdd
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- .jpg
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- .jpeg
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- .kdbx
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- .mail
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- .mdb
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- .mpg
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- .mpeg
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- .msg
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- .nrg
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- .ora
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- .ost
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- .ova
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- .ovf
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- .pdf
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- .php
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- .pmf
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- .png
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- .ppt
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- .pptx
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- .pst
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- .pvi
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- .py
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- .pyc
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- .rar
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- .rtf
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- .sln
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- .sql
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- .tar
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- .tiff
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- .txt
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- .vbox
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- .vbs
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- .vcb
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- .vdi
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- .vfd
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- .vmc
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- .vmdk
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- .vmsd
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- .vmx
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- .vsdx
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- .vsv
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- .work
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- .xls
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- .xlsx
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- .xvd
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- .zip
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## Leaving a README.txt file
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Many ransomware packages leave a README.txt file on the victim machine with an
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explanation of what has occurred and instructions for paying the attacker.
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The Infection Monkey will also leave a README.txt file in the target directory on
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the victim machine in order to replicate this behavior.
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The README.txt file informs the user that a ransomware simulation has taken
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place and that they should contact their administrator. The contents of the
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file can be found
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[here](https://github.com/guardicore/monkey/tree/develop/monkey/infection_monkey/ransomware/ransomware_readme.txt).
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