Show HN: SilentArena – Learn ransomware behavior safely (C-based)

2 days ago 5

🔽 Download SilentArena v0.1 (.tar.gz)
Released for educational use. Safe by design.

wget https://github.com/SilentPuck/SilentArena/releases/download/v0.1/SilentArena_v0.1.tar.gz tar -xvzf SilentArena_v0.1.tar.gz cd SilentArena make

A safe simulation of ransomware-like behavior — built to teach, not to destroy.


SilentArena Lite is a training environment that simulates how a basic file encryption malware might operate — without any real danger.

  • It only affects files inside the folder victim_data/
  • It does not delete or overwrite your real files
  • It logs its actions in attack.log
  • It includes a simple scanner to analyze traces

  • The encryptor finds files inside victim_data/
  • Applies XOR encryption (0x5A) to each file
  • Creates .locked encrypted versions
  • Writes log entries for each encrypted file

⚠️ Always run tools from the root of the project folder, not from inside build/!

Example:

./build/encryptor --simulate ./build/scanner ./build/decryptor

You’ll see:

  • .locked files in victim_data/
  • attack.log with timestamps and actions

  • Scans for .locked files
  • Shows how many were encrypted
  • Displays contents of attack.log

  • Finds all .locked files
  • Reverses the XOR encryption
  • Restores the original filenames

No. Absolutely not.

  • It does not affect your real system
  • It does not encrypt anything outside victim_data/
  • It requires --simulate to run
  • The source code is open and safe to inspect

Because learning to defend means learning how attacks behave.
This is not a toy. It’s a tool to think like an attacker — and train like a defender.


This version is intentionally limited for safety and clarity.

If you found it useful and want to see deeper, more realistic simulations
(such as auto-delete, stealth, obfuscated logs)...

support the project:

XMR: 46vt374N1tRduTQZFodskNbqygTnkFFo3SLJ8btmGkbyFpib65qFVMycF2PsDFpr1dUAv77JnpV5669HnRnULJ2Y6JkuFiS

BTC: bc1q7jrq0u4yu6s5jgtrwkmwjaqhttam3ch3ura4aw

I won't promise anything. But I might just build more...


SilentPuck
Forged in silence. Written in C.
Tools for invisible people.

https://x.com/SilentPuck
https://github.com/SilentPuck

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