Researchers Learning More About Petya Ransomware

Researchers are digging through samples of the Petya ransomware, and while they’ve learned some about its inner workings, they still haven’t mastered enough to come up with a decryptor. Petya is the latest twist on crypto-malware. It was found recently targeting companies in Germany in a spam...

SamSam: This New Breed Of Ransomware Targets Hospitals

Hackers are escalating recent attacks against hospitals with new strains of server-side ransomware dubbed SamSam and Maktub. Unlike traditional ransomware samples that rely on gullible users to click on a malware-infected email attachment or visit a booby-trapped website, this new breed of...

Petya Ransomware Master File Table Encryption

First ransomware locked your desktop. Then it encrypted your files. Not long after, webservers, shared drives and backups were targeted. Now? Introducing Petya, ransomware that targets the Master Boot Record. Spotted in email campaigns sent to human resources offices in German companies, the...

Suspicious Office File Mail Phishing Attempt

Certain exploits or ransomware can be downloaded using office file extensions as mail attachments . A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to entice unsuspecting users to execute arbitrary files...

PowerWare Ransomware Uses PowerShell for Fileless Infections

Attackers are not through testing the limits of what they can do with new features in ransomware samples. That latest found in the wild is called PowerWare and it was discovered a week ago targeting a company in the healthcare industry, researchers at Carbon Black told Threatpost. What sets...

Surge in Spam Campaign Delivering Locky Ransomware Downloaders

FireEye Labs is detecting a significant spike in Locky ransomware downloaders due to a pair of concurrent email spam campaigns impacting users in over 50 countries. Some of the top affected countries are depicted in Figure 1. Figure 1. Affected countries As seen in Figure 2, the steep spike start...

On Apple Patches, the iMessage Bug, Apple vs. FBI, Locky, and Badlock

Mike Mimoso and Chris Brook recap the week in news, including how the FBI vacated Tuesday’s Apple hearing, a crypto iMessage bug that was patched, and the latest hospital to be hit by the ransomware Locky. The two also preview Badlock and what, if any, implications this week’s announcement may...

Surge in Spam Campaign Delivering Locky Ransomware Downloaders

FireEye Labs is detecting a significant spike in Locky ransomware downloaders due to a pair of concurrent email spam campaigns impacting users in over 50 countries. Some of the top affected countries are depicted in Figure 1. Figure 1. Affected countries As seen in Figure 2, the steep spike start...

Locky Ransomware Causes 'Internal State of Emergency' at Kentucky Hospital

For a strain of ransomware that’s only been in the wild for a little more than a month, Locky has sure been able to make a name for itself. The malware gained notoriety last month when it confounded administrators at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles and apparently took...

Malvertising Campaign Hits Top Websites to Spread Ransomware

Hackers are always in search for an elite method to create loopholes in the cyberspace to implement the dark rules in the form of vulnerability exploitation. Top Trustworthy sites such as The New York Times, BBC, MSN, AOL and many more are on the verge of losing their face value as a malwertized...

Malvertising Campaign Lands On Top Websites

Big-name websites were hit with a cunning malvertising campaign over the weekend that attempted to sneak TeslaCrypt ransomware on computers vulnerable to the potent Angler Exploit Kit. Top sites running the malicious ads included The New York Times owned NYTimes.com, Answers.com and AOL.com,...

Suspicious HTTPS YAHOO Mail Attachment Containing JavaScript Code

Many phishing campaigns are known to use mail attachments containing JavaScript code. A remote attacker could send e-mails including such files and convince users to manually trigger their execution. This would allow the malicious code to run and infect the target system. This method is often use...

Suspicious HTTPS Gmail Mail Attachment Containing JavaScript Code

Many phishing campaigns are known to use mail attachments containing JavaScript code. A remote attacker could send e-mails including such files and convince users to manually trigger their execution. This would allow the malicious code to run and infect the target system. This method is often use...

On How Amazon is Approaching Encryption, OS X Ransomware KeRanger, and More

Mike Mimoso and Chris Brook discuss the week in news, including how Amazon is backtracking on encryption when it comes to their devices, a new set of alleged passcode bypasses for iOS, and the new OS X ransomware KeRanger. Download: ThreatpostNewsWrapMarch112016.mp3 Music by Chris Gonsalves...

Locky Ransomware Now Part Of Massive Spam Attack

Researchers are tracking a massive spam campaign pelting inboxes with Locky ransomware downloaders in the form of JavaScript attachments. The huge spike, reported by security firm Trustwave, represents an extraordinary uptick in the attempted distribution of the Locky ransomware. Trustwave said...

KeRanger OS X Ransomware Impact Likely Mitigated

It’s likely that the first functional ransomware for OS X is a dud. Discovered on Friday by researchers at Palo Alto Networks, the KeRanger ransomware sits dormant for three days before encrypting files from a comprehensive list of 300 file extensions; today would be Day 3. The malware was includ...

First Mac OS X Ransomware Targets Apple Users

Mac users, even you are not left untouched! The World's first fully functional Ransomware targeting OS X operating system has been landed on Macs. Ransomware – one of the fastest-growing cyber threats – encrypts the important documents and files on infected machines and then asks victims to pay...

Multiple OS Malicious File Containing JS Downloader

A malicious JavaScript downloader file was observed as part of Locky ransomware campaign. A remote attacker could convince users to manually trigger it. This would allow the malicious code to run and infect the target system...

URL Path Containing Suspicious Executable

Certain URL paths may be indicative of malicious executable files that are characteristic of the Locky ransomware. A remote attacker could entice unsuspecting users to access such URLs, leading to execution of malicious files on the affected system...

CTB-Locker Ransomware Spreading Rapidly, Infects Thousands of Web Servers

Ransomware has steadily evolved over the past decade, moving from isolated attacks on individual computers to wider campaigns that disrupt entire services. Families such as Cryptowall and Locky showed how quickly file-encrypting malware could spread across Windows systems. Researchers are now...