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KillDisk Ransomware

Posted: December 29, 2016

Threat Metric

Threat Level: 10/10
Infected PCs: 24
First Seen: December 29, 2016
OS(es) Affected: Windows

The KillDisk Ransomware is an updated variant of a Trojan that, previously, erased necessary files to disable the PC. This new version conducts encryption attacks on those files, instead, so that it may monetize its attacks by extorting money in return for giving the victim a decryption key. Due to the high cost and unreliability of this option, malware experts strongly urge all relevant organizations to keep backups in secure locations as an alternate recovery choice and use anti-malware products to protect their systems from the KillDisk Ransomware.

A Trojan Moves from Killing to Hostage-Taking

Although, usually, the sub-sections of the threat industry that deal with ransoming data for money versus attacking industrial sectors remain separate, the KillDisk Ransomware signifies that some threat actors are interested in fusing the two disparate elements together. Just as its name would seem to indicate, the KillDisk Ransomware's most direct predecessors are hard drive-wiping-Trojans such as those seen disabling the essential systems of Ukrainian power providers. With surprisingly few changes, the KillDisk Ransomware is now turning its capabilities towards encryption.

Malware experts can verify that the majority of the KillDisk Ransomware's code remains consistent with past KillDisk variants. The Trojan terminates some application processes selectively but avoids tampering with security software that could trigger any alerts. Although a full installation requires elevated or administrator privileges, once a threat actor installs it, the KillDisk Ransomware maintains its persistence as a registered service.

The KillDisk Ransomware uses a notably advanced version of the AES-RSA double-layered encryption to block files instead of deleting them. Its authors demonstrate a high degree of professionalism in the KillDisk Ransomware's payload by avoiding more direct encryption methods that leave larger footprints for security software to detect. Like most file-encrypting Trojans of humbler origins, once its attack finishes enciphering all appropriate data, the KillDisk Ransomware displays a Bitcoin ransom notification through a pop-up window.

Pulling the Kill Switch on the New Twist in Industrial Sabotage

The KillDisk Ransomware's ransom sum for giving the victim its decryption help is the largest of its kind to date, with a USD value of over two hundred thousand. Although this fee may be 'appropriate' for such lucrative targets as national electricity companies and other, infrastructure-heavy victims, the threat actors are no more guaranteed of keeping their word than in prior incidents against ordinary PC users. Since the KillDisk Ransomware uses the same decryption keys for all of its installations, a working decryptor should, in theory, function for reversing the damages of all attacks.

However, backups offer a much more dependable and inexpensive recovery solution. The KillDisk Ransomware may encrypt data accessible over networks, and concerned organizations should take steps for isolating their backups from any potentially compromised machines. Malware experts also emphasize that threat actors installed previous versions of the KillDisk Ransomware after gaining backdoor access with limited restrictions, meaning that network passwords also could be compromised.

While traditional anti-malware protection should be able to block and delete the KillDisk Ransomware, this threat is unlikely of being the only security problem with an infected PC. Its existence also is a key example of how even the most business-like and industrious of ill-minded groups still are, at the end of the day, in it for the money.

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