Rust programming language gained popularity over the Ransomware groups in 2023
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Graydon Hoare created Rust programming language in 2015. It gained popularity very quickly among the developers, but it also attracted many cybercriminals. First group that used Rust programming language to develop ransomware was BlackCat in the year 2021. Switching from other language to Rust made the detection of the ransomware more difficult, also the reverse engineering becomes more and more difficult for the security experts.
What makes Rust so powerful?
1. Rust manages the memory in compile time and do not have a garbage collector. This feature makes Rust do critical services easily without getting traced.
2. To eliminate bugs and secure the threads Rust uses a very reliable system and ownership model.
3. Rust's compiler is the real game changer. It turns source code into machine readable code, so efficiently that the reverse engineering getting harder and harder.
List of ransomwares written in Rust
BlackCat: Also known as ALPHV is the most popular among the ransomware groups, used Rust to develop REvil, BlackMatter etc.
Agenda: Original version was in Go programming language but the latest strain found written in Rust.
Hive: Same like agenda, it's recent version rewritten in Rust.
Luna: A new group of ransomware attackers found in july 2022.
RansomExx2: RansomExx was in C++ language but the second version is in Rust.
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