Ransomware Looming As Major Long-Term Threat

On May 30, 2014, law enforcement officials from the FBI and Europol seized a series of servers that were being used to help operate the GameOver Zeus botnet, an especially pernicious and troublesome piece of malware. The authorities also began an international manhunt for a Russian man they said...

FBI Offers $3 Million Reward For Arrest Of Russian Hacker

The US State Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday a $3 Million reward for the information leading to the direct arrest or conviction of Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev, one of the most wanted hacking suspects accused of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars with h...

Chicago Police Department Pays $600 Cryptoware Ransom to Cybercriminals

Cyber criminals have started targeting government enforcement of the Ransomware in an attempt to extort money. Recently, the police department of the Midlothian Village in Illinois has paid a ransom of over $600 in Bitcoins to an unknown hacker after being hit by a popular ransomware attack. The...

Destover Wiper Malware Analysis

Researchers are starting to stitch together clues about the wiper malware that has landed a body blow to Sony Pictures Entertainment. Not only were thousands of files and documents leaked that included unreleased movies, confidential company presentations and financial records, employee records,...

Microsoft Warns of Crowti Ransomware

Researchers with Microsoft have spotted a spike in Crowti, a ransomware similar to Cryptolocker that encrypts files on victims’ machines and then asks for payment to unlock them. The malware has existed for several months but it wasn’t until mid-October that Microsoft’s Malware Protection Center...

NewGOZ Gameover Zeus Botnet Rebuilds

It didn’t take long for an updated version of GameOver Zeus to make some headway in rebuilding itself. Research published today from Arbor Networks demonstrates that cybercriminals behind GameOver Zeus, which was taken down by law enforcement in early June, have renewed the botnet with at least...

Podcast: Black Hat News Wrap, Day Two

Dennis Fisher, Mike Mimoso and Brian Donohue discuss the news from day two of Black Hat, including a CryptoLocker working group, a medical device security and privacy roundtable and overview of the various security and privacy improvements at Yahoo over the last year. Image via Black Hat USA 2014...

Free CryptoLocker Ransomware Decryption Tool Released

When I say Ransomware, the first nasty piece of malware strikes in the mind is CryptoLocker. A nasty strain of ransomware malware that threatened most of the people around the world by effectively destroying important files of the victims forever. CRYPTOLOCKER - A DEVASTATING THREAT CryptoLocker ...

CryptoLocker Infections Continue as New Rasomware Evolves

U.S. and European law enforcement officials last month, performed a coordinated takedown of the GameOver Zeus botnet. At the time, they claimed that the operation also neutralized the infamous CryptoLocker ransomware, which criminals had distributed using GameOver’s infrastructure. However, Tyler...

Critroni Crypto Ransomware Seen Using Tor for Command and Control

There’s a new kid on the crypto ransomware block, known as Critroni, that’s been sold in underground forums for the last month or so and is now being dropped by the Angler exploit kit. The ransomware includes a number of unusual features and researchers say it’s the first crypto ransomware seen...

Android Ransomware First to Encrypt Data on Mobile Devices

A strain of ransomware that encrypts data on Android mobile devices, the first of its kind, has spread to 13 countries since it was first spotted less than a month ago. Researchers at Kaspersky Lab today disclosed details on Pletor, an expensive Trojan that popped up on an underground forum selli...

Cryptowall Ransomware Spreading Rapidly through Malicious Advertisements

Ransomware is an emerging threat in the evolution of cybercriminals techniques to part you from your money. Typically, the malicious software either lock victim’s computer system or encrypt the documents and files on it, in order to extort money from the victims. Though earlier we saw the samples...

FBI, European Authorities Go After GameOver Zeus Botnet

UPDATE–Law enforcement agencies in Europe and the United States, including Europol and the FBI, ran a coordinated takedown of the GameOver Zeus botnet on Friday, seizing servers and disrupting the botnet’s operation. Authorities say that the same botnet has been used to distribute the CryptoLocke...

Apple Ransomware Targeting iCloud Users Hits Australia

A handful of iPhone, iPad and Mac users, largely confined to Australia, awoke Tuesday to discover their devices had been taken hostage by ransomware. Instead of their normal home screens, users were greeted with a message promising that their devices would be unlocked if a ransom, somewhere betwe...

Police Ransomware Malware Targeting Android Smartphones

After hacking PCs, Cyber criminals have now begun targeting Smartphones with a special piece of malicious software that locks up the devices until the victims pay a ransom to get the keys to unlock the phone, called Ransomware. Ransomware typically targets users' personal computers and has become...

Ransomware Scam Plagued by Weak Crypto

A new piece of ransomware that emerged earlier this month is encrypting its victim’s files with an easily breakable cryptographic algorithm. BitCrypt, as it is known, purports to lock down files with 1024-bit RSA encryption but actually only deploys a much weaker 426-bit key. According to...

ICEPOL Ransomware Servers seized by Romanian Police that infected 260,000 Computers

After Financial and Banking Malwares, Ransomware has become the first choice of money motivated cybercriminals. A new Ransomware Trojan known as ICEPOL has been one of those widespread malware which has been successfully installed approximately 267,786 times worldwide and 42,400 in the USA alone...

Cryptolocker Malware learned to replicate itself through removable USB drives

In the category of Ransomware Malware, a nasty piece of malware called CRYPTOLOCKER is on the top, that threatened most of the people around the world, effectively destroying important files of the victims. Cryptolocker, which strongly encrypts victims' hard drives until a ransom is paid, is now...

CryptoLocker Creators Infected Nearly 250,000 Systems, Earned $30 M Since September

UPDATE: The math in this and other reports was simply tabulated incorrectly. New American presidents often are measured by what they accomplish in their first 100 days. By that yardstick, the crew behind the CryptoLocker ransomware have been a raging success. The unknown group of attackers have...

Cutwail Spam Botnet Feels Effect of Blackhole Takedown

The arrest of alleged hacker Paunch and the subsequent dismantling of the Blackhole Exploit Kit operation has cybercrime groups scrambling to find another automated means of delivering exploits. In the meantime, some are settling for old-school tactics that include infected email attachments and ...