--- title: New Lotus data wiper used against Venezuelan energy,... description: A previously undocumented data-wiping malware called Lotus was deployed in targeted attacks against Venezuelan energy and utility organizations in late 2025.... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/new-lotus-data-wiper-used-against-venezuelan-energy-utility-firms-q7x8ymyqx twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: New Lotus data wiper used against Venezuelan energy, utility firms | daily.dev og:description: A previously undocumented data-wiping malware called Lotus was deployed in targeted attacks against Venezuelan energy and utility organizations in late 2025.... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/new-lotus-data-wiper-used-against-venezuelan-energy-utility-firms-q7x8ymyqx og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/q7X8YMyQX.png og:image:alt: New Lotus data wiper used against Venezuelan energy, utility firms og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # New Lotus data wiper used against Venezuelan energy, utility firms **[BleepingComputer](https://daily.dev/sources/bleepingcomputer)** · 4 min read · 2 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A previously undocumented data-wiping malware called Lotus was deployed in targeted attacks against Venezuelan energy and utility organizations in late 2025. Analyzed by Kaspersky, the malware uses two preparatory batch scripts to disable defenses, enumerate and lock out users, and disable network interfaces before executing the final wiper payload. Lotus operates at a low level using IOCTL calls to overwrite physical disk sectors with zeros, delete restore points, clear USN journals, and fill free space to prevent recovery. The attacks coincide with geopolitical tensions in Venezuela and a cyberattack on state oil company PDVSA. Defenders are advised to monitor for suspicious use of diskpart, robocopy, and fsutil, as well as NETLOGON share changes and mass account modifications, and to maintain validated offline backups. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Lotus Wiper Attack Targeted Venezuelan Energy Firms, Utilities](https://daily.dev/posts/lotus-wiper-attack-targeted-venezuelan-energy-firms-utilities-thxtofw2w) · Dark Reading · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [LOTUSLITE Backdoor Targets U.S. Policy Entities Using Venezuela-Themed Spear Phishing](https://daily.dev/posts/lotuslite-backdoor-targets-u-s-policy-entities-using-venezuela-themed-spear-phishing-7buohpgyp) · The Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Wipers from Russia’s most cut-throat hackers rain destruction on Ukraine](https://daily.dev/posts/wipers-from-russia-s-most-cut-throat-hackers-rain-destruction-on-ukraine-j7pibbj7x) · Ars Technica · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Insights: Increased Risk of Wiper Attacks](https://daily.dev/posts/insights-increased-risk-of-wiper-attacks-w4bxzr2pf) · Unit 42 · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#windows](https://daily.dev/tags/windows), [#malware](https://daily.dev/tags/malware), [#kaspersky](https://daily.dev/tags/kaspersky) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/new-lotus-data-wiper-used-against-venezuelan-energy-utility-firms-q7x8ymyqx) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"New Lotus data wiper used against Venezuelan energy, utility firms","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/new-lotus-data-wiper-used-against-venezuelan-energy-utility-firms-q7x8ymyqx","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/new-lotus-data-wiper-used-against-venezuelan-energy-utility-firms-q7x8ymyqx"},"datePublished":"2026-04-21T18:40:44.289Z","dateModified":"2026-04-21T18:41:06.250Z","description":"A previously undocumented data-wiping malware called Lotus was deployed in targeted attacks against Venezuelan energy and utility organizations in late 2025....","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/ad5081acc40c56b04042269409f7994a?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/ad5081acc40c56b04042269409f7994a?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"BleepingComputer","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"BleepingComputer","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--as8nJ3qy--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774959951/logos/bleepingcomputer?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/bleepingcomputer"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/new-lotus-data-wiper-used-against-venezuelan-energy-utility-firms-q7x8ymyqx","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"windows,malware,kaspersky","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BleepingComputer","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/bleepingcomputer"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"New Lotus data wiper used against Venezuelan energy, utility firms"}]} ```