🔥 Outsmarting Hackers: Using Ransomware to Destroy Data

What if I told you the very weapon hackers use to hold our data hostage could become the most powerful shield to protect it?

That’s exactly the vision behind SEER—a bold, research-driven system that uses the encryption methods of ransomware to permanently, irreversibly, and provably destroy files. It’s not just theoretical. It’s been implemented, tested, and it works.

The full research, published by Jiahui Shang, Luning Zhang, and Zhongxiang Zheng at the Communication University of China, is available on arXiv:2504.11744. It’s an academic bombshell with real-world implications—and today, we’re going to unpack it for you.

Let’s dive into how we’re now using hackers’ own tricks to win the cybersecurity game.

💣 Why Deleting Isn’t Enough Anymore

Here’s a hard truth: most deletion methods don’t actually erase your data.

• Logical deletion only removes the pointer to a file. Forensic software can recover it in seconds.
• Overwriting can leave fragments behind—especially on SSDs, where flash memory complicates things.
• Physical destruction is effective but impractical for mobile, cloud, or emergency data purging.

In a crisis—say, a government breach or insider threat—you don’t have time to run a shredder. You need a digital solution that guarantees the data is gone. Like, mathematically gone.

So researchers asked: What if the strongest file-locking encryption we’ve seen—ransomware—was used for good?

🔐 Meet SEER: Encryption-Based Erasure with a Ransomware Twist

The answer is SEER—Secure and Efficient Encryption-based Erasure via Ransomware.

It’s a file destruction system that leverages the proven strength of Babuk ransomware encryption—used in high-profile cyberattacks—to permanently destroy sensitive files. Only this time, you’re in control.

Here’s what powers SEER under the hood:

• Curve25519 for secure key exchange
• SHA-256 for key derivation
• Sosemanuk stream cipher for efficient file encryption

But here’s the key twist: once encryption is complete, SEER deletes the keys instantly and irreversibly. No key = no access. Ever. Even NSA-level recovery tools won’t help you here.

“SEER doesn’t just encrypt your data. It burns the keys before anyone even knows they existed.”

🧩 How SEER Works—Step by Step

Let’s break it down:

1. Dynamic Key Generation

SEER generates ephemeral Curve25519 key pairs for each session. These are never reused or stored.

2. Encryption with Sosemanuk

The file is encrypted using a key derived from the shared secret—hashed with SHA-256. The process is lightning-fast and resistant to known cryptographic attacks.

3. Secure Key Destruction

Here’s the magic: as soon as encryption finishes, the keys are zeroed out in memory with memset(), leaving no trace behind. Even if a hacker has full access to your machine, the keys are already gone.

⚖️ SEER vs. Traditional Deletion: A Game-Changing Difference

Here’s how SEER stacks up:

In a benchmark, SEER wiped 10,000 1KB files in just 20 seconds—that’s 10x faster than Gutmann overwrite and 1000x more secure than logical deletion.

Plus, unlike formatting or overwriting, SEER encrypts before it erases, which means if someone tries to recover the file bits—they get encrypted garbage.

🧠 Why Use Ransomware Code?

Let’s be clear: SEER does not contain malware. But it borrows its strength from ransomware’s most successful feature—unbreakable encryption.

The team behind SEER carefully stripped out malicious features like network propagation or ransom payloads, and kept just the cryptographic core of Babuk ransomware, which includes:

• Elliptic-curve Diffie-Hellman key exchange
• Secure memory wiping
• Efficient, unpredictable key generation

So while the original Babuk code was built to extort millions, SEER weaponizes it in reverse—to protect users and permanently destroy sensitive data.

🔍 Proven Security—In Theory and Practice

What makes SEER more than just a cool idea?

It’s not only mathematically secure, it’s also battle-tested by the real world.

🔐 Theoretical Security

The SEER system’s core is based on:

• Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem (ECDLP)
• SHA-256 Collision Resistance
• Sosemanuk’s high entropy output

These are gold-standard assumptions in cryptography. Breaking them would require computing power that doesn’t yet exist (hello, quantum computers of 2050).

💣 Implementation-Level Security

Now here’s the kicker: SEER proves that if no one has cracked Babuk’s encryption in the wild, then the file erasure system built on it is equally secure.

And guess what?

• The Washington D.C. Police couldn’t recover 250GB of data hit by Babuk
• The Houston Rockets paid a ransom to recover their data
• As of 2025, no one has reverse-engineered Babuk’s crypto core, even with the full source code leaked online

This gives SEER what no other file erasure method has: real-world validation under hostile conditions.

🧬 Why This Matters: Shifting the Paradigm of Deletion

Traditional deletion tools are based on outdated assumptions:

• “If we overwrite the data, it’s gone.” (False)
• “SSD wear leveling doesn’t matter.” (False)
• “Who would look that hard?” (Everyone from hackers to competitors to nation states)

SEER says: Why not make the data completely unreadable—then erase the only way to ever decode it?

It’s deletion by design, not deletion by hope.

💡 Our Take: This Changes Everything

Using ransomware encryption to destroy files is the cybersecurity equivalent of judo—using the opponent’s strength against them.

Let’s be honest: hackers have spent years perfecting ransomware encryption. It’s proven, robust, and terrifyingly effective. So instead of reinventing the wheel, SEER reuses it—for defense.

This approach could revolutionize:

• Emergency data destruction in classified environments
• Secure deletion of medical or financial records
• End-of-life handling for cloud and IoT devices

And while the idea of using “ransomware” as a solution might feel counterintuitive, it’s exactly the kind of creative thinking cybersecurity needs today.

🔁 Final Thoughts: Destroy Like a Hacker, Protect Like a Pro

SEER isn’t just a new deletion tool—it’s a whole new way of thinking about data security.

By borrowing the cryptographic genius of ransomware (without the crime), it creates a final, irreversible method of file destruction. One that’s faster, safer, and more verifiable than anything before it.

So next time you’re “deleting” something sensitive—ask yourself:
💬 Did I truly erase it… or just hide it?

📣 Let’s Talk About It

Have thoughts on SEER? Or encryption-based erasure in general?

💬 Leave a comment.
📤 Share this with your security team.
🔗 Want to see the real research? Read the paper here