Implementing Ransomware Kill Switch Detection

Kill Switch Types Found in Ransomware:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1. MUTEX-BASED (most common):
   - Ransomware creates a named mutex at startup
   - If mutex already exists → another instance is running → exit
   - Defense: Pre-create the mutex to prevent execution
   - Examples:
     WannaCry:     Global\MsWinZonesCacheCounterMutexA
     Conti:        kasKDJSAFJauisiudUASIIQWUA82
     REvil:        Global\{GUID-based-on-machine}
     Ryuk:         Global\YOURPRODUCT_MUTEX

2. DOMAIN-BASED:
   - Ransomware resolves a hardcoded domain before executing
   - If domain resolves → security sandbox detected → exit
   - Defense: Register/sinkhole the domain to activate kill switch
   - Examples:
     WannaCry v1:  iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea.com
     WannaCry v1:  fferfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea.com

3. REGISTRY-BASED:
   - Check for specific registry key/value before executing
   - If key exists → exit (anti-analysis or kill switch)
   - Defense: Create the registry key proactively

4. FILE-BASED:
   - Check for existence of specific file or directory
   - If marker file exists → exit
   - Defense: Create the marker file on all endpoints

5. LANGUAGE-BASED:
   - Check system language/keyboard layout
   - Exit if Russian/CIS country keyboard detected
   - Common in Eastern European ransomware groups

# Windows mutex vaccination using ctypes
import ctypes
from ctypes import wintypes

kernel32 = ctypes.WinDLL('kernel32', use_last_error=True)

def create_mutex(name):
    """Create a named mutex to vaccinate against ransomware."""
    handle = kernel32.CreateMutexW(None, False, name)
    error = ctypes.get_last_error()
    if handle == 0:
        return False, f"Failed to create mutex: error {error}"
    if error == 183:  # ERROR_ALREADY_EXISTS
        return True, f"Mutex already exists (already vaccinated): {name}"
    return True, f"Mutex created successfully: {name}"

KNOWN_RANSOMWARE_MUTEXES = [
    "Global\\MsWinZonesCacheCounterMutexA",        # WannaCry
    "Global\\kasKDJSAFJauisiudUASIIQWUA82",        # Conti
    "Global\\YOURPRODUCT_MUTEX",                     # Ryuk variant
    "Global\\JhbGjhBsSQjz",                         # Maze
    "Global\\sdjfhksjdhfsd",                         # Generic ransomware
]

<!-- Sysmon configuration for mutex monitoring -->
<Sysmon schemaversion="4.90">
  <EventFiltering>
    <!-- Event ID 1: Process creation with mutex indicators -->
    <ProcessCreate onmatch="include">
      <CommandLine condition="contains">mutex</CommandLine>
      <CommandLine condition="contains">CreateMutex</CommandLine>
    </ProcessCreate>
  </EventFiltering>
</Sysmon>

Detection via Event Logs:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Windows Security Log:
  Event ID 4688: Process creation (enable command line logging)

Sysmon:
  Event ID 1:  Process create (includes command line and hashes)
  Event ID 17: Pipe created (named pipes, similar to mutexes)

PowerShell detection:
  Event ID 4104: Script block logging (detect mutex creation in scripts)

Velociraptor artifact:
  Windows.Detection.Mutants - Enumerates all named mutant objects

DNS Monitoring for Kill Switch Domains:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1. Monitor DNS queries for known kill switch domains
2. High-entropy domain names (>4.0 entropy in domain label) may indicate
   ransomware kill switch domains or DGA-generated C2 domains
3. Queries to newly registered domains from endpoints that typically
   only access well-established domains

Indicators:
  - Domain with no prior resolution history
  - Domain registered in last 24-72 hours
  - High character entropy in domain name
  - Resolution attempt followed by either mass encryption (kill switch failed)
    or process termination (kill switch activated)

# PowerShell: List all named mutant objects using Sysinternals Handle
# handle.exe -a -p <PID> | findstr "Mutant"

# Velociraptor query for mutex hunting:
# SELECT * FROM glob(globs="\\BaseNamedObjects\\*") WHERE Name =~ "mutex_pattern"

# Python-based enumeration (requires pywin32):
# import win32event
# handle = win32event.OpenMutex(0x00100000, False, "Global\\MutexName")