{"id":4152,"date":"2026-01-18T12:42:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T12:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/deadlock-ransomware-uses-polygon-smart-contracts-for-proxy-rotation\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T12:42:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T12:42:25","slug":"deadlock-ransomware-uses-polygon-smart-contracts-for-proxy-rotation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/deadlock-ransomware-uses-polygon-smart-contracts-for-proxy-rotation\/","title":{"rendered":"DeadLock Ransomware Uses Polygon Smart Contracts For Proxy Rotation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"cphContent_pnlArticleBody\" data-layout-id=\"2\" data-edit-folder-name=\"text\" data-index=\"0\">\n<p>A ransomware operation known as DeadLock has been observed abusing Polygon blockchain smart contracts to manage and rotate proxy server addresses.<\/p>\n<p>DeadLock first appeared in July 2025 and has maintained a relatively low profile since then. It is not linked to known ransomware affiliate programs and does not operate a public data leak site.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the limited number of reported victims, Group-IB researchers said its technical approach deserves attention for its novelty and potential reuse by other threat actors.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>New DeadLock\u00a0Infrastructure<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The latest DeadLock samples observed by the cybersecurity firm include an HTML file used to communicate with victims through the Session encrypted messaging platform.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of relying on hard-coded servers, the malware retrieves proxy addresses stored inside a Polygon smart contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Group-IB noted that retrieving data from the blockchain relies on read-only calls that do not generate transactions or incur network fees, a design choice that complicates traditional blocking approaches.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0 JavaScript code found within the calls\u00a0queries a specific Polygon smart contract to obtain the current proxy URL. That proxy then relays encrypted messages between the victim and the attacker\u2019s Session ID.<\/p>\n<p>Key aspects of the approach include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>Decentralized storage of proxy addresses on the Polygon blockchain<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Fallback mechanisms using multiple RPC endpoints<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Use of smart contract functions to update infrastructure on demand<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Read more on blockchain abuse in cybercrime: Malicious npm Packages Exploit Ethereum Smart Contracts<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The research also links multiple smart contracts to a single creator wallet, which was funded shortly before deployment. Transaction history shows the same method being used to set new proxy servers over time, suggesting active management of the infrastructure.<\/p>\n<h2>Broader Implications For Defenders<\/h2>\n<p>Group-IB said DeadLock also uses AnyDesk as a remote management tool and deploys PowerShell scripts to stop services and delete shadow copies, increasing the impact of encryption.<\/p>\n<p>Victims\u2019\u00a0files are renamed with a .dlock extension, and later ransom notes threaten to sell stolen data if payment is not made.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers explained that similar blockchain-based techniques have recently been reported in other campaigns, including cases where smart contracts were used to store malicious payloads or command locations.<\/p>\n<p>While DeadLock remains low volume, its use of Polygon smart contracts demonstrates how decentralized platforms can be repurposed for resilient command-and-control (C2).<\/p>\n<p>The findings suggest that abuse of public blockchains for malware operations is likely to grow, challenging defenders to adapt detection strategies without disrupting legitimate use of decentralized technologies.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A ransomware operation known as DeadLock has been observed abusing Polygon blockchain smart contracts to manage and rotate proxy server addresses. DeadLock first appeared in July 2025 and has maintained a relatively low profile since then. It is not linked to known ransomware affiliate programs and does not operate a public data leak site. Despite<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4152-d4b42c33-88f2-4b0d-b4f3-495bdb87e255.jpg",300,300,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4152-d4b42c33-88f2-4b0d-b4f3-495bdb87e255-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4152-d4b42c33-88f2-4b0d-b4f3-495bdb87e255.jpg",300,300,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4152-d4b42c33-88f2-4b0d-b4f3-495bdb87e255.jpg",300,300,false],"large":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4152-d4b42c33-88f2-4b0d-b4f3-495bdb87e255.jpg",300,300,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4152-d4b42c33-88f2-4b0d-b4f3-495bdb87e255.jpg",300,300,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4152-d4b42c33-88f2-4b0d-b4f3-495bdb87e255.jpg",300,300,false],"morenews-featured":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4152-d4b42c33-88f2-4b0d-b4f3-495bdb87e255.jpg",300,300,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4152-d4b42c33-88f2-4b0d-b4f3-495bdb87e255.jpg",300,300,false],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4152-d4b42c33-88f2-4b0d-b4f3-495bdb87e255.jpg",300,300,false],"crawlomatic_preview_image":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4152-d4b42c33-88f2-4b0d-b4f3-495bdb87e255-146x146.jpg",146,146,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"henry","author_link":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/author\/henry\/"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>","tag_info":"Uncategorized","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}