Oil ransomware, identified as Blue Locker, targets critical infrastructure in Pakistan's oil and gas sector, posing a significant threat.
Blue Locker Ransomware Targets Pakistan's Critical Infrastructure
A sophisticated ransomware variant known as Blue Locker has been wreaking havoc on critical sectors, most notably the oil and gas industry in Pakistan. In August 2025, the nation's second-largest oil company, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), fell victim to this malicious software.
Blue Locker shares a lineage with the Proton ransomware family, exhibiting similarities with variants like Shinra, discovered in 2024. Security analysts have identified connections between this campaign and earlier ransomware operations, suggesting possible shared authorship or code reuse among cybercriminal groups.
Advanced Evasion Techniques
The Blue Locker ransomware employs advanced anti-analysis techniques, including process enumeration to identify and terminate security tools, specifically targeting Chrome processes. To bypass file locks and gain access to Chrome's password database, it forcibly terminates the Chrome process.
Blue Locker also uses XOR-encoded strings resembling Chinese characters to evade detection. These strings, when decoded, reveal the target: "Chrome.exe".
Targeting Critical Infrastructure
The breach at PPL affected operational data, including Petrel Studio exploration files, production databases, operations plans, and financial records. The timing of the attack, coinciding with Pakistan's national holiday, raises concerns about potential nation-state involvement.
In response, the National Cyber Emergency Response Team (NCERT) of Pakistan issued warnings to 39 government ministries due to the ongoing ransomware campaign targeting critical infrastructure. The NCERT has actively blocked indicators of compromise such as known SHA-256 hashes associated with Blue Locker and the related malicious network domains.
Technical Characteristics
Delivered mainly through targeted phishing with malicious attachments or PowerShell loaders, Blue Locker establishes persistence by inserting itself into the Windows Registry key, ensuring automatic execution on system reboot. It escalates privileges by bypassing User Account Control (UAC) and encrypts files with a combination of AES and RSA cryptography, excluding critical system files and certain extensions.
Encrypted files receive the extension ".Blue". The ransomware also deletes shadow copies to block recovery through built-in Windows mechanisms. Additionally, it employs defense evasion including obfuscation, timestomping, and detection of sandbox/virtual environments.
PPL's spokesperson confirmed the incident and stated that internal cybersecurity protocols were activated and a comprehensive forensic analysis was initiated. The company expressed commitment to transparency and phased system restoration.
In summary, Blue Locker is a highly dangerous ransomware strain linked to Proton ransomware, delivering targeted attacks on critical infrastructure like Pakistan Petroleum, utilizing advanced techniques to maintain persistence, evade defenses, and inflict severe disruption with data theft and encryption. The strategic targeting of energy sector infrastructure suggests actors with geopolitical objectives, though attribution remains challenging due to deliberate obfuscation techniques employed by the attackers.
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