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The malware has also become more diverse, with the number of ransomware families more than tripling from 30 to between and Ransomware has never been more lucrative, but what exactly is making it so easy for cybercriminals to cash in on unsuspecting users? Well, to further encourage victims to fork over the ransom, the payment gateways supporting ransomware have continued to become more advanced, almost rivaling modern online business websites in their professional design and sophisticated functionality.
Spora is perhaps the best example of such a payment mechanism, with the ransomware featuring a polished interface, a variety of recovery packages bitcoin payout methods of communications a chat box where you can communicate with the hackers. Meanwhile, bitcoin and blockchain technologies have set the foundation for payments systems that are easy to use, instant and more or less anonymous, making it substantially more difficult for authorities to trace transactions and hunt down the hackers.
Bitcoin is a digital currency. The currency is both decentralized and distributed, meaning it is powered entirely by its users and functions independently of any organization or middlemen e.
It is built on blockchain technology, which is a public ledger that records every bitcoin transaction that has ever been carried out and stores them in groups known as blocks. Once a block has been recorded in the ledger, it cannot be changed or manipulated without altering every single block that succeeds it. Every connected node has and distributes a copy of the blockchain, which ensures a high level of security and makes the system more or less invulnerable to corruption.
What bitcoin payout methods of communications the blockchain have to do with bitcoin? While these benefits offer a lot of real world appeal and have many legitimate applications, they have also contributed toward bitcoin becoming the preferred method of payment among cybercriminals. Bitcoin and the blockchain have quickly become integral pillars in the modern malware scene. In the past, hackers attempted to use other online payment systems such as Western Union and PayPal to carry out elaborate phishing scams.
However, because these systems were still linked to a bank account, investigators could usually follow the digital paper trail and track down the criminals. These attributes combined provide a high level of flexibility and enable the criminals to set up and close down operations on the go as they attempt to stay one step ahead of authorities. While the exact payment system can vary a little between ransomware families, the process typically looks something like this:.
Just like other forms of crime, ransomware can be executed in a clever, professional manner, or it can be rolled out ad hoc by opportunist cowboys. Upon infection, Spora presents the victim with bitcoin payout methods of communications website featuring a beautifully designed user interface which, unlike most other ransomware, does not require users to download Tor to access.
Spora also offers a variety of recovery packages: Spora has its own communications server and chat box, making it much more challenging for law enforcement to track. Crucially, Spora generates a new bitcoin address bitcoin payout methods of communications every victim, therefore making it much that much bitcoin payout methods of communications for law enforcement agencies bitcoin payout methods of communications track the ransom payments and therefore the criminals themselves.
At the other end of the spectrum we have NotPetyaransomware which recently caused widespread disruption across Europe and the rest of the world. Firstly, the campaign relied on a regular email address, which was quickly taken down by the email provider, bitcoin payout methods of communications the cybercriminals with no way of communicating with their victims.
Secondly, and contrary to Spora, NotPetya ransomware had only one hard-coded bitcoin wallet for victims to send money to, making it easy to track bitcoin payout methods of communications much money the hackers had generated and giving authorities a slight edge when it comes to hunting down the perpetrators.
Regardless of how badly you might want to regain access to your data, we strongly recommend that you do not become a part of this statistic. Here at Emsisoft, we always advise against paying the ransom for a few reasons:. Nevertheless, try to keep your cool and avoid giving into ransomware wherever possible, and remember to follow the right steps in case disaster strikes.
In Septemberfor example, the Dutch National High Tech Crime Unit, working in conjunction with Kaspersky Lab, arrested two men who were allegedly involved in a variant of CoinVault, a piece of ransomware that encrypts files and holds them to ransom. Unlike other versions of the ransomware, the code of this particular iteration was peppered with flawless Dutch phrases. Other high-profile bitcoin payout methods of communications authors who have been busted by authorities include 11 members of the Reveton ransomware gang, who were arrested by Spanish police in early ; and three British citizens involved in the Metropolitan Police ransomware who were arrested, somewhat ironically, by the real Metropolitan Police.
Malware analyst at Emsisoft. Cryptolocker hitting so many people in was what really piqued my interested in malware, and especially ransomware. Emsisoft launches new remote management interfaces, new online product documentation with user guides, improved Behavior-based malware detection and more!
Save download traffic and time by creating your own emergency scanner on the fly from within Emsisoft Anti-Malware. Learn more about the testing process and what the certification means. English version of the Spora ransom payment site. Sarah Malware analyst at Emsisoft. Newsletter Malware never sleeps. Be sure to stay up-to-date on emerging threats.
