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CrazyHunter Ransomware

Jan 27, 2026

Threat Overview - CrazyHunter Ransomware

The CrazyHunter ransomware variant emerged as a highly disruptive ransomware threat observed throughout 2025, with campaigns heavily targeting organizations in Taiwan, and a notable focus on critical sectors such as healthcare. Researchers observed CrazyHunter being deployed in real-world incidents where operational impact was immediate, including a case study involving a hospital environment where compromise resulted in widespread disruption and system encryption. The threat group demonstrates a clear evolution from opportunistic execution into a repeatable and stealth-driven intrusion operation, combining ransomware deployment with defense evasion techniques that significantly increase the likelihood of success.

It is worthy to note that reporting attributes CrazyHunter to a Prince ransomware fork, which indicates the actors are leveraging an existing ransomware codebase while operationalizing it into a distinct campaign structure tailored for real-world enterprise attacks.

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CrazyHunter Ransomware Hunt Collection

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Timeout Delayed Execution

This Threat Hunt package identifies the use of delayed execution tactics involving timeout.exe to introduce pauses between command executions. This technique is commonly used by threat actors to evade detection mechanisms, delay payload execution, or coordinate multi-stage attacks. By leveraging legitimate system tools to create timed delays, malicious activity can blend in with normal operations, making it harder to detect using traditional signature-based approaches. This hunt focuses on uncovering patterns of timed delays that may indicate stealthy or staged execution behaviors associated with post-exploitation activity or automated threat actor workflows.

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Potential Use of Findstr or Find with Tasklist

This Threat Hunt package identifies instances where adversaries may be using the native Windows tasklist command in combination with the findstr utility to locate security-related processes. Adversaries and malware often use this method to search for and target processes associated with security products and other interesting services. By identifying these processes, attackers can attempt to manipulate or disable security mechanisms, gather sensitive information, or facilitate more effective ways to execute based on what processes are discovered.

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SharpGPOAbuse Tool Utilization

This hunt package identifies execution of SharpGPOAbuse, an open-sourced tool that can be used to take advantage of a user's edit rights on a Group Policy Object (GPO) in order to compromise the objects that are controlled by that GPO.

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