Ransomware Creator Apologizes and Offers up Decryption Keys
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 06/02/2015 09:32 AM
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A ransomware writer, who goes by the handle "Poka Brightminds", is publicly apologizing for releasing ransomware called Locker and is offering up encryption keys. He said he never intended to release the malware on the internet.
"Poka Brightminds" also provided a technical description of the file structure of the encrypted data and a method to decrypt them. The files would also be automatically decrypted on June 2, the ransomware author said.
The malware was spread using the cracked software for Minecraft.
The person whose identity remains unknown also posted a database dump on the Mega cloud storage site cotaining the encryption keys.
Although Locker threatens to delete the key used to encrypt the files after 72 hours, it doesn't do so. Instead, it increments the ransom by 0.1 Bitcoin or about $25.
The exact number of infected machines is only a guess, however the database dump contains almost 63,000 rows.
Source: ITNews
"Poka Brightminds" also provided a technical description of the file structure of the encrypted data and a method to decrypt them. The files would also be automatically decrypted on June 2, the ransomware author said.The malware was spread using the cracked software for Minecraft.
The person whose identity remains unknown also posted a database dump on the Mega cloud storage site cotaining the encryption keys.
Although Locker threatens to delete the key used to encrypt the files after 72 hours, it doesn't do so. Instead, it increments the ransom by 0.1 Bitcoin or about $25.
The exact number of infected machines is only a guess, however the database dump contains almost 63,000 rows.
Source: ITNews
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