A new form of “ransomware-as-a-service” that allows users to customize their campaigns has been discovered on the dark web.

Called Satan, as in the prince of darkness, the platform can create a customized ransomware payload that encrypts a victim’s files. Satan users also can customize the amount of ransom they are demanding, with the platform’s creators handling payments and taking a 30 percent cut as compensation.

“Now, the most important part: the bitcoin paid by the victim will be credited to your account,” the Satan page reads. “We will keep a 30 percent fee of the income, so, if you specified a 1 BTC ransom, you will get 0.7 BTC and we will get 0.3 BTC. The fee will become lower depending on the number of infections and payments you have.”

According to ZDNet, the Satan platform contains a number of other features, including fee payment records, transaction tracking, Satan version releases and creation of droppers, which install software on a targeted system. In addition, users can create notes related to their victims and can translate their malware into different languages.

The ransomware itself, which is spread by phishing campaigns or malicious links, encrypts files and adds on a .stn extension before demanding that victims pay up to decrypt their files. The bad news is that because of its use of strong RSA-2048-bit and AES-256-bit encryption, there is no way to decrypt the files other than to pay up to receive a key to unlock them.

Those wishing to use the Satan platform need to sign up for an account and have the option of providing a public key for two-factor authentication and also must connect a bitcoin wallet to their account to receive ransom payments.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation believes that ransomware raised a staggering $1 billion in 2016, meaning it’s a highly lucrative business, with services such as Satan making the ability to enter the market all that more easier.

Image: screenshot from Satan