CryptXXX Jumps From Angler to Neutrino Exploit Kit

Crooks behind the revamped CryptXXX 3.100 ransomware have switched its distribution from the Angler Exploit Kit to the Neutrino Exploit Kit. The sudden change in distribution was spotted on Monday by researchers at the SANS Internet Storm Center. “This is not the first time we’ve seen campaigns...

University of Calgary Pays $20,000 Following Ransomware Attack

Officials at the University of Calgary admitted this week that the school recently paid $20,000 CDN to rid its systems of ransomware that hampered productivity for 10 days. Linda Dalgetty, the school’s VP of Finance and Services, acknowledged via press release on Wednesday that the school paid th...

University Pays Hackers $20,000 to get back its Ransomware Infected Files

What's the worst that could happen when a Ransomware malware hits University? Last month, the IT department of the University from where I have done my graduation called me for helping them get rid of a Ransomware infection that locked down all its student's results just a day before the...

New Angler Exploits Bypass EMET Mitigations

New Microsoft Silverlight and Adobe Flash exploits that bypass Microsoft’s Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit EMET have found their way into an updated version of the Angler Exploit Kit. EMET is a suite of freely available tools for Windows machines that mitigate memory-based attacks. The...

BlackShades Strain of Ransomware Teases Researchers

Researchers who dig deep through the code of one of the latest strains of ransomware might be surprised and even a little irked at what they find. Hidden inside some of those strings of code are taunts aimed at them. According to Lawrence Abrams who runs BleepingComputer.com, the malware,...

Updated CryptXXX Ransomware Big Money Potential

CryptXXX ransomware has received a major overhaul by its authors, putting it on the fast track to unseat Locky as top moneymaker for criminals. Researchers at Proofpoint said that on May 26, cybercriminals released an updated CryptXXX 3.100 version of the ransomware that includes a new StillerX...

Researchers Uncover Affiliate Network for Ransomware

Ransomware as a business is maturing and nowhere is that better illustrated than in Russia, according to Flashpoint researchers. The security firm released two reports on Thursday, one on a burgeoning ransomware-as-a-service business model PDF in Russia and the second on new developments in Russi...

Windows Zero Day Selling for $90,000

Hackers claim to have unearthed a zero-day vulnerability giving attackers admin rights to any Windows machine from Windows 2000 to a fully patched version of Windows 10. The zero day is for sale on the black market for $90,000. Security experts say the zero-day exploit looks legitimate and in the...

Hackers Find Bugs, Extort Ransom and Call it a Public Service

Crooks breaking into enterprise networks are holding data they steal for ransom under the guise they are doing the company a favor by exposing a flaw. The criminal act is described as bug poaching by IBM researchers and is becoming a growing new threat to businesses vulnerable to attacks. Accordi...

Cybercrime Hit Businesses Hardest in 2015, says IC3 Report

Businesses were hit hardest by inbox-based scams in 2015 that robbed U.S. companies of $263 million. The numbers come from the FBI’s recently released 2015 Internet Crime Report that tallies the types of cybercrimes hitting U.S. business and individuals the hardest. According to the FBI, its...

Amazon Users Targets of Massive Locky Ransomware Spam Campaign

Amazon customers were targeted in a massive spear phishing campaign where recipients received Microsoft Word documents with a macro that triggered downloads of the Locky ransomware. Researchers at Comodo Threat Research Labs say it is one of the largest spam ransomware campaigns this year. Fatih...

Exploit Kits Attacking Adobe Flash Player Zero Day

Update Exploits for the most recent Adobe Flash Player zero-day vulnerability have been integrated into the Angler, Neutrino and Magnitude exploit kits, and are leading compromised computers to different ransomware strains, banking malware, and a credential-stealing Trojan. A French researcher wh...

How to Decrypt TeslaCrypt Ransomware Files Using Master Key

Here’s some rare good news for victims struggling to unlock files encrypted by the TeslaCrypt ransomware. You can now decrypt all files locked by TeslaCrypt without paying a ransom. That means victims no longer need to search endlessly for ways to recover TeslaCrypt-encrypted data. The solution h...

Master Decryption Key Released for TeslaCrypt Ransomware

The criminals behind the TeslaCrypt ransomware have closed up shop and publicly released the master decryption key that unlocks files encrypted by the malware. The news is significant given the investment and constant innovation devoted to TeslaCrypt, which has been one of the most active...

Ransomware Activity Spikes in March, Steadily increasing throughout 2016

UPDATE June 15, 2016: This post has been updated to include new data on ransomware activity, which is also now broken down by region. Cyber extortion for financial gain is typically carried out in one of two ways. The first method is a business disruption attack – a category we discussed at lengt...

Ransomware Activity Spikes in March, Steadily increasing throughout 2016

UPDATE June 15, 2016: This post has been updated to include new data on ransomware activity, which is also now broken down by region. Cyber extortion for financial gain is typically carried out in one of two ways. The first method is a business disruption attack – a category we discussed at lengt...

Cerber Ransomware On The Rise, Fueled By Dridex Botnet

Starting in April security experts at FireEye spotted a massive uptick in Cerber ransomware attacks delivered via a rolling wave of spam. Researchers there link the Cerber outbreaks to the fact that attackers are now leveraging the same spam infrastructure credited for making the potent Dridex...

Petya Ransomware Installs Mischa As Failsafe

The Petya ransomware strain signaled a new escalation for crypto-malware when it surfaced in March. For the first time, ransomware went beyond encrypting files on local and shared drives and instead set its sights on locking up the Master File Table on compromised machines. Petya did have its...

Cerber Ransomware Partners with the Dridex Spam Distributor

Cerber ransomware incorporates the unusual feature of “speaking” its ransom message after successfully infecting a user machine and encrypting files. Cerber was first seen in the wild at the end of February 2016 and was observed being delivered mostly via exploit kits EK, notably using Magnitude...

Cerber Ransomware Partners with the Dridex Spam Distributor

Cerber ransomware incorporates the unusual feature of “speaking” its ransom message after successfully infecting a user machine and encrypting files. Cerber was first seen in the wild at the end of February 2016 and was observed being delivered mostly via exploit kits EK, notably using Magnitude...