Announced War between Ransomware Criminals

Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts the victim's hard drive cryptographically until he pays a ransom. It's a very popular method among cybercriminals. This tactic has been so successful that some ransomware makers have begun to sabotage the ransomware of others in their attempts to prevent competition.

ransomware

3.500 were leaked online earlier this week for a species ransomware known as “Chimera”, which supposedly allows Chimera victims to decrypt with τα αρχεία τους, χωρίς να χρειαστεί να καταβάλουν λύτρα σε bitcoins. Τα κλειδιά αποwere apparently published by the makers of the rival ransomware package called “Petya & Mischa”, which I claimedthat they violated the Chimera development system, seized the keys and pieces of the code.

Chimera is a particularly nasty type of ransomware that not only locks the victim's hard drive, but threatens to leak their confidential files online if the ransom is not paid. It's still unclear whether the leaked keys will actually work and decrypt the locked machines affected by the malware, however, security firm Malwarebytes, which first noticed the , states that it will take some time to review them.

In any case, the developers of Petya & Mischa seem to have shared these keys to "promote" their own ransomware, which is based on the stolen Chimera code now is offered as a service in Tor, to those cyber criminals wanting to earn some bitcoins out of it.

It seems that some kind of noxious war has begun among the criminals. Earlier, ransomware developers have said they are outraged by a recent fake ransomware, which displays frightening messages, but does not actually unlock the victim's hard drive when he pays a ransom. The rationale of criminals is that fake ransomware could make people believe that they can not get their files back if they hit a real ransomware, endangering future profits.

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Written by Dimitris

Dimitris hates on Mondays .....

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