
So one distribution route gets de-fanged and what does an anti-virus company do? Warn the malware slingers so they discover it a little sooner than they might otherwise have done.
The blog is headed "I'm with Stupid".
Pranksters have infiltrated the control system behind the infamous Locky ransomware and replaced the malware’s main payload with a dummy file. Locky normally spreads using malicious and disguised JavaScript inside email attachments supposedly containing an invoice or similar. Malicious messages are sent to prospective marks in …
"unauthorised access to a computer" or somesuch.
I for one, however, would applaud them in this instance.
In the absence of a decent "gin and tonic" icon, I suppose a virtual pint is the best we can offer these virtuous operators.
"If this happens it’s normally impractical to recover scrambled files without paying crooks a fee"
Unless, you know, you take regular back ups of your valuable and irreplaceable data like a sensible person. Unfortunately when it comes to the security of their data far too many people are not sensible, but in an ideal world the only data lost should be that created between the last backup and the time the ransomware hit.