Among the most common mistakes of the average user there is also that of opening emails with little attention, this because you can run into a series of malware or other unwanted programs: one of these is ransomware.
Ransomware means: “we encrypt your data, do you want to decrypt them? Pay!“, Doing it very, very briefly.
LockerGoga ransomware, finally the “cure”
A decryptor for LockerGoga ransomware was made available by the Romanian cybersecurity firm Bitdefender from their site in collaboration with Europol, the project No More Ransom and the Zurich police.
Identified in January 2019, LockerGoga has made news for its attacks on the Norwegian aluminum giant Norsk Hydro. It is said to have infected more than 1,800 unfortunate devices in at least 71 countries, causing damage estimated at $ 104 million.
The ransomware operation received a major blow in October 2021 when 12 people in connection with the group, along with MegaCortex and Dharma, were arrested as part of an effort by the international law enforcement agencies.
The arrests, which took place in Ukraine and Switzerland, also included the seizure of cash worth $ 52,000, five luxury vehicles and a series of electronic devices. One of the defendants is currently in custody in Zurich.
Zurich cantonal police also said they spent the past few months examining data storage devices confiscated from the individual during the 2021 arrests and identified numerous private keys used to lock the data.
A decryption utility for MegaCortex (another ransomware) is also expected to be released in the coming months.
Victims are recommended to file criminal charges in their countries of origin.
“These keys allow damaged companies and institutions to recover data that was previously encrypted with the LockerGoga or MegaCortex malware“, has declared the agency.
As a recommendation, the police department is urging organizations to securely manage emails, block suspicious email attachments, create regular backups, enforce two-factor authentication, and keep IT systems up to date.
Why are these forms of digital ransomware so widespread?
Although experts recommend secure email management, regular backups, basically ransomware like accidentally downloaded from mail they download, they don’t magically arrive on your computer or phone.
Before taking appropriate precautions to protect your data it’s bad to say but employees should be taught to… use a computer. LockerGoga (or other ransomware) shouldn’t hit devices at all.
It may seem like a paradox, but often a (wrong) association is made like “if he uses that device many hours a day, it means he knows how to use it“. Nothing more wrong!
A child who, for example, spends many hours on a tablet playing, it does not necessarily know life, death and miracles of the Android or iOS operating system.
The same applies to an employee who spends 8 hours a day in front of a PC, many of them have not even been trained with some kind of school (or in any case training) in a purely IT capacity.
Yes, you got it right: an employee who spends 8 hours in front of the computer is not necessarily able to use the computer in the best way (perhaps avoiding to accidentally download LockerGoga…).
I already hear your objection saying “eh, but you are an expert these things you notice“; in reality, similar scams also exist in the real world, like on paper mail if you don’t pay attention; see the case of a few years ago fake fines from Croatia.
Someone who doesn’t notice the details of a fake fine like this, maybe even pays to the post office and instead of paying a fine gives the money to who knows who.
This concept of attention to detail applies as much to the real world as it is to the internet, and it is a problem well before the network.
As I often argue “people’s IT problems must be looked for outside the IT world“.
#Bitdefender #releases #decryption #LockerGoga #Ransomware