Archive for November, 2016
Posted by Siren on November 30, 2016
A new ransomware plague is roving the Internet in search of victims. Its distinctive feature is the .wallet extension being appended to all personal files stored on a PC and network drives. The extension will also contain the attackers’ email address, which may be amagnus@india.com, stopper@india.com, or lavandos@pr.com. Researchers have denominated this strain the Dharma […]
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Posted by Siren on November 28, 2016
The IT infrastructure of the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA), also referred to as Muni, has been suffering a deep ransomware impact since last weekend. The perpetrating program called HDDCryptor, also known as Mamba, hit more than 2,000 machines on Muni’s network. The collateral damage is that the infection disabled the agency’s digital fare […]
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Posted by Siren on November 28, 2016
What can possibly be a more harmful computer threat than file-encrypting ransomware? The only infection that beats this malware category in terms of the damage is the perpetrating code that affects Master Boot Record of a targeted machine. HDDCryptor, aka Mamba ransomware, completely denies access to a compromised operating system, encodes important files and instructs […]
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Posted by Siren on November 25, 2016
Although restoring files encrypted by the ZZZZZ ransomware is very problematic due to a complex crypto locking mechanism, some techniques may be of help. What is the .zzzzz file virus? Zzzzz file virus is the newest version of the Locky ransomware that encrypts its victims’ data and appends the .zzzzz extension to the scrambled filenames. […]
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Posted by Siren on November 22, 2016
SVG stands for “Scalable Vector Graphics”, which is a fairly popular XML-based image format that allows for extensive animation effects. One of the main pros of .svg extension files for graphics designers is that these objects can be handled via commonplace text editors, just like XML text files. The virtues being obvious, cybercriminals have come […]
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Posted by Siren on November 21, 2016
A new variant of the Locky ransomware appears to be in rotation right now. As opposed to its precursor dubbed Thor, this spinoff appends the .aesir extension to one’s encrypted files. Furthermore, the infection creates an updated set of ransom notes named “([random_number])-INSTRUCTION.html” and ““([random_number])-INSTRUCTION.bmp” to provide victims with a data decryption walkthrough. The threat […]
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Posted by Siren on November 16, 2016
Ransomware operators appear to be realizing the risk of being exposed and prosecuted. This pressure is being heated up by the fairly successful activity of Chainalysis, a relatively new startup aimed at tracking Bitcoin transactions. This initiative may lead to effective attribution of ransomware attacks through chasing the cryptocurrency paid by victims. The breaking news […]
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Posted by Siren on November 11, 2016
There is an uptick in the volume of phishing emails allegedly sent on behalf of Apple’s iTunes Store. The threat actors attempt to wheedle personally identifiable information out of recipients by urging them to click on an embedded rogue link. The persuasion effect is attained through a notification about a nonexistent order that the user […]
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Posted by Siren on November 3, 2016
Popular applications have always been cybercriminals’ favorite targets. The fact that a huge number of people worldwide opt for using Skype as their online communication medium couldn’t possibly stay beyond threat actors’ focus. There have been numerous incidents in the past where Skype accounts got spammed with rogue links, and this trend is on the […]
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