Archive for Ransomware

New Ransomware Will Overwrite Your Computer’s Boot Record

Petya ransomware corrupts master boot recordsRansomware keeps getting uglier by the day. Now comes a report from Germany of a new version of Ransomware that will overwrite the boot record of your computer. This version is called the Petya ransomware,

Up until now, most ransomware viruses were writing a highly secured password to files on the computer disk, blocking you from opening those files unless you pay the ransom.

But the Petya ransomware attacks the boot record. With a corrupt boot record, you will not be able to boot your computer at all!

According to anti-virus vendors, the Petya ransomware is being distributed through spam email that masquerades as job applications.

And if this is not enough to put you on your toes, consider that this Friday is April 1st!

BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!

Thanks to PCWord for their in depth article on the Petya ransomware!

Analysis of a Ransomware

Ransonware (often referred to as Cryptolocker) is a malicious virus threat in today’s environment.

If the virus gets onto your computer, it will begin locking down files on your computer by writing a hidden secured password to those files. It will then display a message that you have XX number of hours or days to pay the ransom to get the password to unlock your files.

Unless you have solid backup, your two options are: pay the ransom or lose all your files. The ransom could be in the hundreds of dollars. For a California hospital, that ransom was to the tune of $17,000 dollars!

MalwareBytes has a blog post on their site dated March 1, 2016 which gives an in-depth analysis of how such a ransomware virus works.

I found it an interesting read, and thought I would pass it along.

You can go directly to the blog post and read it, or I saved it as a PDF file that you might find easier to read.

Kudos to MalwareBytes!

Ransomware Prevention Kit Now Available

Back HomeThirdTier has announced the availability of their Ransomware Prevention Kit.

This is an update over their 2013 kit. This is a “build your own” solution kit. They offer many different things so that you, as an I.T. professional, can put together what your client or company needs. It also includes some educational material.

There’s no cost to the kit, itself. But they are using this as a fundraiser to support females that want to enter the field of Information Technology. Way to go, Amy Babinchak and Susan Bradley!

The kit includes:

  • Group Policies
  • New WMI Filters
  • Software Restriction Policy instructions
  • TOR, Flash, Zip blocking
  • Firewall settings
  • PC and User settings
  • Securing backup
  • Application Whitelisting
  • Recovery Keys
  • Deployment Script
  • Powerpoint Presentation Slides
  • Blog post listing
  • Other Resources
  • File Server Resource Manager
  • and new content added from time to time