In addition to encrypting files, a new strain of ransomware, FireCrypt, also attempts to carry out a weak DDoS attack.

Ransomware purporting to come from a phony government agency, something called the Central Security Treatment Organization, has been making the rounds, researchers say. The ransomware, which is already known by a number of names including Cry, CSTO ransomware, or Central Security Treatment Organization ransomware, uses the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) to communicate and the photo sharing service Imgur and Google...

It didn’t take long for attackers to start capitalizing on the popularity of Pokémon GO. Shortly after Niantic, the company behind the now ubiquitous app, released it last month, researchers spotted a malicious, backdoored version of the app on a file repository service. Now attackers are pushing SMS spam messages to entice Pokémon GO players to visit...

For the second time since June 1, the handlers of CryptXXX ransomware have changed their ransom note and Tor payment site. More importantly to those developing detection signatures and administrators, this update no longer makes changes to the file extensions of encrypted files. “To make it more difficult for administrators, this release no longer uses...

We’ve already seen ransomware take on many forms this year, but researchers this week claim they’ve noticed a new strain unlike any they’ve seen prior–a type composed entirely of JavaScript. The ransomware, dubbed RAA by researchers, has been circulating through attachments masquerading as Word .doc files according to Lawrence Abrams, who wrote about the malware late...

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, BlackShades Crypter a/k/a SilentShades was spotted late last...

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 crypto-ransomware strains since it debuted in February 2015. Researchers at...

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 shortcomings and before long, researchers were able...

Ransomware clearly has people on many fronts worried, so much so that the United States and Canada took an unprecedented step last week to issue a joint advisory on the threat posed by crypto-ransomware. The U.S. Cyber Emergency Response Team together with the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre penned a comprehensive warning on the heels...

Several flavors of ransomware, most notably Cryptowall, have come packaged with support features. But a new piece of crypto-ransomware called PadCrypt has upped the game with a live chat feature that victims can use to interact with the attackers about ransom payments and other information. Discovered by a Swiss researcher at abuse.ch, PadCrypt is the...