There has been a lot of talk about the advanced and sophisticated ransomware strategies involved in the 2018 ransomware campaigns. Employing such strategies is a new threat that has caught the attention of ransomware removal experts in cybersecurity circles.
Kaspersky Labs officials were the one who discovered a virus which seemed like a newer version of the notorious Rakhni Ransomware. Interestingly, it came along with an added mining malware component.
How Does The Malware Operate?
The malware discovered is able to enter into a computer and analyze its entire internal structure. It then decides whether the computer will be more suitable to be attacked with a ransomware or a mining malware.
Ransomware virus encrypts a computer’s files and threatens the user to pay ransom to get back their data and remove ransomware. The advanced malware looks for a computer’s ability to detect and remove ransomware as well as analyze the quality of data stored in the hard disks. If it locates sensitive data, it opts to infect the computer with ransomware.
On the other hand, if the hardware of the computer consists of the latest and powerful equipment, along with a GPU, then the virus opts to install a cryptocurrency mining malware. Computers with powerful hardware and GPU are considered as highly effective for mining cryptocurrencies. The cryptocurrencies that are mined by the mining components of the malware are mostly Dash and Monero.
Motivations behind the Malware
Cryptocurrency mining viruses are gaining traction in the last few months along with the increasingly dangerous and sophisticated ransomware campaigns. Cybercriminals have realized that they cannot always get hold of crucial data in a ransomware attack as many people have either a back-up or they have the latest security measures that remove ransomware before it can start the encryption process.
Hence, they bundled cryptocurrency mininig malware with ransomware to get the best out of both worlds. The virus is mainly attacking computer systems in Russia as more than 90 percent of attacks have been found there. However, users from various Asian and European countries have also reported these advanced attacks.
The malware is mainly spreading through emails. Therefore, one needs to be cautious when opening emails from unfamiliar sources.
