Petya Is Not Ransomware, It's a 'Wiper'

The outbreak of the ExPetr malware isn’t a ransomware attack, but more precisely, it’s a wiper attack that sabotaged PCs globally, overwriting their Master Boot Record forever. That’s the analysis of security experts from Kaspersky Lab and Comae Technologies who shared their latest research on th...

Original Author of Petya Ransomware is Back & He Wants to Help NotPetya Victims

The author of original Petya ransomware is back. After 6 months of silence, the author of the now infamous Petya ransomware appeared today on Twitter to help victims unlock their files encrypted by a new version of Petya, also known as NotPetya. "We're back having a look in NotPetya," tweeted...

ExPetr/Petya/NotPetya is a Wiper, Not Ransomware

After an analysis of the encryption routine of the malware used in the Petya/ExPetr attacks, we have thought that the threat actor cannot decrypt victims' disk, even if a payment was made. This supports the theory that this malware campaign was not designed as a ransomware attack for financial...

New Petya Distribution Vectors Bubbling to Surface

Join Kaspersky Lab and Comae Technologies Thursday June 29, 2017 at 10 a.m. Eastern time for a webinar “The Inside Story of the Petya/ExPetr Ransomware.” Click here to attend. While Microsoft and others continue to shore up links between yesterday’s global ransomware outbreak and the update...

Turns Out New Petya is Not a Ransomware, It’s a Destructive Wiper Malware

What if I say the Tuesday's devastating global malware outbreak was not due to any ransomware infection? Yes, the Petya ransomware attacks that began infecting computers in several countries, including Russia, Ukraine, France, India and the United States on Tuesday and demands $300 ransom was not...

Schroedinger’s Pet(ya)

UPDATE June 28th, 2017: After an analysis of the encryption routine of the malware used in the Petya/ExPetr attacks, we have thought that the threat actor cannot decrypt victims' disk, even if a payment was made. It appears this malware campaign was designed as a wiper pretending to be ransomware...

Tools Used by Lamberts APT Found in Vault 7 Dumps

Links have emerged connecting targeted attacks going back a decade against high-profile government, industrial and financial targets around the world to hacking tools and documents leaked in the Vault 7 dump. Researchers at Kaspersky Lab today published a technical report on the activities of a...

Destructive StoneDrill Wiper Malware On The Loose

There have been a handful of wiper malware attacks in the wild in the last decade with Shamoon’s destruction of more than 35,000 workstations at Saudi Aramco in 2012 and the Dark Seoul attacks on Sony Pictures Entertainment the most high profile. However, since last fall, Shamoon has resurfaced...

Wiper - Dangerous filesystem permissions, WebView code execution vulnerabilities

HackApp vulnerability scanner discovered that application Wiper published at the 'play' market has multiple vulnerabilities...

Rombertik Malware Can Overwrite MBR if Audited

A new strain of spyware that logs keystrokes and steals data has a destructive side to it, unleashing wiper capabilities if it detects it’s being analyzed and audited. A limited number of samples of the malware, dubbed Rombertik by researchers at Cisco Talos, were spotted at the start of the year...

DHS Releases Destover Wiper Malware Indicators of Compromise

US-CERT released a not-so-cryptic advisory this weekend providing enterprises with indicators of compromise and detailed descriptions of the malware used against “a major entertainment company,” the Department of Homeland Security’s description of Sony Pictures Entertainment. DHS describes in gre...

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,...

FBI Flash Warning Alerts Businesses to Wiper Malware Attacks

The FBI issued a five-page flash warning yesterday urging American enterprises to be on the lookout for wiper malware. The alert, a Reuters report said, described some details about the malware but kept the victim anonymous. It’s general practice for the FBI not to name victims in such alerts. Th...

Behind the South Korean Government DDoS Attacks

BERLIN–In the last few years, there have been a series of DDoS attacks and intrusions on government networks in South Korea that have resulted in the loss of untold amounts of data. The four attacks haven’t been linked together or attributed to the same attackers, but there are some similarities ...

Grid Utilities Critical Infrastructure Protection Lacking

It would seem that what spurs private and public electric grid utility operators to action with regard to cybersecurity isn’t the Chinese or Iranians attacking them, but the word “mandatory”. A paper published yesterday by two U.S. legislators revealed that when there are mandatory cybersecurity...

ICS-CERT Tips for Critical Infrastructure to Avoid Shamoon

Most publicly known malware attacks are disruptive in nature, for example causing the interruption of online banking services or taking websites temporarily offline. Few attacks cause actual physical damage to computers where hard drives are damaged and data lost or destroyed. The Shamoon virus i...

South Korea Blames North Korea for March Cyberattack

Officials from the Republic of Korea are saying North Korea’s military intelligence agency was responsible for the mid-March malware attacks that knocked several prominent South Korean banks and broadcasters offline, according to a Dow Jones Newswire report. The South Korean Science Ministry...

South Korea Cyber Attack, Wiper malware and Chinese IP Address

Yesterday we reported about a massive Cyber attack on South Korea that was responsible for shutting down networks of South Korean banks and TV broadcasters. Police are still investigating the cyber attack but the country's Communications Commission has revealed that the hacking originated from a...

Theories Abound on Wiper Malware Attack Against South Korea

Disruptions to businesses in South Korea continue today after hackers used wiper malware to take a number of banks and television networks offline yesterday. A number of financial systems at a half-dozen banks and production systems inside South Korea’s major television networks remain down,...

South Korea Cyber Attack, Wiper malware and Chinese IP Address

Yesterday we reported about a massive Cyber attack on South Korea that was responsible for shutting down networks of South Korean banks and TV broadcasters. Police are still investigating the cyber attack but the country's Communications Commission has revealed that the hacking originated from a...