Key Findings A new ransomware family called DeadLock was discovered in July 2025, distinguished by its innovative abuse of Polygon smart contracts to manage its command-and-control (C2) infrastructure. DeadLock embeds the proxy URL directly into the blockchain via a `setProxy` function, creating an immutable and resilient communication channel that is difficult for law enforcement to take down. This "EtherHiding" technique echoes methods previously observed with North Korean
