BDDY Ransomware

The BDDY Ransomware is a file-locking Trojan that's part of the AES-Matrix Ransomware's family. Infections will render large quantities of digital media non-openable through encrypting each document, picture, etc. Users should depend on backup management for damage mitigation and anti-malware solutions for removing the BDDY Ransomware appropriately.

A New Program that's not Much of a Buddy

The AES-Matrix Ransomware's family is one of the smaller 'pillars' of the Ransomware-as-a-Service industry and cements its stability through multitudinous campaigns like those of the Kromber Ransomware, the MDRL Ransomware, the NGSC Ransomware and the KOK8 Ransomware. A new variant as of early 2020 appears with all of the usual features: data encryption, ransoming messages and backup-wiping. Unfortunately, the only current unknown regarding the BDDY Ransomware's campaign is how it's getting to its victims.

The BDDY Ransomware is a Windows-based program that's a file-locker Trojan definitively or a Trojan that encrypts content to stop it from opening. Formats of data it can target include text documents, pictures, audio, generic databases, and other media potentially high valued. The encryption method by AES-Matrix Ransomware's family, as per its name, includes an AES algorithm and usually is secure against any third-party's unlocking or decryption services.

More superficial symptoms of the BDDY Ransomware infections include adding 'BDDY' extensions to filenames and creating RTF documents with its ransom notes. Although paying a ransom may not end up giving the victim a decryptor, the BDDY Ransomware's service offers a 'free trial' for three files. Malware experts find minimal dangers in taking advantage of this help, which could give some limited data retrieval without the accompanying extortion.

Staying Secure from a Criminal's File-Ransoming Business

Despite how quickly it can take place, encryption, when implemented appropriately, is strong against even cryptography-experienced researchers' efforts at reversing it surprisingly. Individual users and larger entities, such as businesses, should always back any critical data up to other devices. Local backups, while sometimes retrievable, are nearly-universal targets for deletion by the BDDY Ransomware and thousands of similar Trojans.

There also are many and convenient means of blocking possible infection routes for the BDDY Ransomware. Out of these tactics for self-defense, malware experts recommend disabling JavaScript and Flash especially, installing security patches, not enabling macros in documents or spreadsheets, and securing your accounts with appropriately-complex passwords. Nearly all file-locker Trojans have at least a single factor in common: requiring security mistakes from their victims before gaining any access to the system.

Anti-malware tools also should, in most situations, detect and contain or delete the BDDY Ransomware from Windows computers. They can't, however, unlock any media.

The success and profits of AES-Matrix Ransomware's family are anything but a shock to anyone paying attention to the RaaS industry. The BDDY Ransomware is another 'employee' in a Black Market that's full to the brim of bad-faith actors strong-arming money out of those who aren't protected by backups.