NSMF Ransomware

The NSMF Ransomware is a Trojan that makes your files unreadable by encrypting them. While malware researchers estimate that the NSMF Ransomware's development is incomplete, the Trojan's payload is functional, and victims may need to resort to backups or free decryptors to recover their data from an infection. Most users should be capable of detecting and deleting the NSMF Ransomware before its encryption starts, whereas they have some form of anti-malware protection enabled.to detect and delete the NSMF Ransomware before its encryption starts.

Trojans that are Peckish for Your Files and a Little More, Besides

The messages that extortionists use to communicate with those they attack are often resources ripe for providing background information on these people. While the conclusions from such indirect evidence may lead towards highly professional threat actors or less experienced ones, neither option makes the attack any less threatening than usual necessarily. For example, the NSMF Ransomware is one of the less professional works in development that malware experts can find this summer, but, still, with all the file-encrypting functionality of any other form of Hidden Tear.

Since its payload only attacks the contents of the desktop, the NSMF Ransomware is being dubbed a work-in-progress and is likely to broaden the directories under attack to include other locations (such as downloads), in the future. The NSMF Ransomware, like other versions of the Hidden Tear's family, uses the AES-based encryption to encipher and lock files of different formats, including frequently used media like documents and pictures particularly. The Trojan adds '.nsmf' to their names, which is a default feature of threats of this type, although malware experts have found no other campaigns using this string.

The NSMF Ransomware's stranger qualities all come from its ransom note, a simple text file it places on your desktop. The message offers 'pizza' as an alternative to a traditional Bitcoin-based payment for buying the decryption code, along with presumably sarcastic references to 'hating' other luxuries, such as alcohol. The Bitcoin fee asked for is incredibly high, well over ten thousand USD, which asks the question of whether or not the author is aware of the conversion rates for that cryptocurrency.

Sending Off Your PC with the Munchies

While free decryption methods are possible with many variants of Hidden Tear, some releases are updated and include additional protections for their encryption features. For PC users wanting to keep their files as safe as possible from threats of this type, malware experts recommend storing backups non-locally, such as on another storage device. The NSMF Ransomware's family does have a history of deleting local, Windows backups, along with disabling some security software that could be helpful for disinfecting the PC.

Since its threat actor is still working on this Trojan, the NSMF Ransomware's potential strategies for installing itself or circulating throughout the Web remain unidentifiable. Less experienced on artists merely may bundle Trojans like this one with other software, or upload it via torrents or piracy-themed websites. Spam e-mails and exploit kits also are recurring themes with file-locking Trojans. Most of these attacks are preventable with standard anti-malware products that would block and remove the NSMF Ransomware on sight.

Not being careful around Trojans like the NSMF Ransomware can be an expensive mistake. Although its threat actor may have the objectives aimed low, the Trojan, itself, is still a data encryptor, and, as such, can cause damage that's far easier to prevent than cure.