RSA-NI Ransomware

The RSA-NI Ransomware is a file-locking Trojan that's a possible fork of the AES-NI Ransomware. The RSA-NI Ransomware's campaign is using targeted attacks that allow the cybercrooks to run the RSA-NI Ransomware directly, after which they may remove the Trojan while leaving behind a ransom note. Users always should have their anti-malware products remove the RSA-NI Ransomware or verify its non-presence, and try all free options for recovering the files before considering paying the threat actor.

An Unexpected Breach of Server Privacy

The psychological manipulation in all attempts at extortion, whether they occur in person or through software, often showcases different techniques for some victims than other ones. One of the most infamous for the file-locking Trojan industry is the Jigsaw Ransomware and its many imitators, who use content-erasing features as a supplement to their ability to block files. However, malware experts also find Trojans like the RSA-NI Ransomware as equally threatening due to their potential for exfiltrating and collecting data instead of destroying it.

The RSA-NI Ransomware operates within a campaign highly similar to that of the AES-NI Ransomware and may be a direct relative, although malware analysts lack sufficient samples to confirm it. The RSA-NI Ransomware blocks the user's files using an RSA-based cipher, instead of the most often-seen combination of AES for the media and RSA for the key. Media affected by this attacks is unreadable by all associated programs unless the user can decrypt them, which requires both the custom key and an appropriate decryption program.

Creating text-based ransoming messages is an almost mandatory feature among most file-locking Trojans, but the RSA-NI Ransomware conveys instructions with additional leverage. The Trojan's admin forewarns any readers that failing to pay the ransom will cause all data to become available to the public, presumably, including confidential business data. Malware experts can't verify whether the RSA-NI Ransomware uploads the same files that it locks genuinely or if this is an empty threat currently.

Plugging Up the Worst Kind of Leaks

The RSA-NI Ransomware campaign, just like that of the AES-NI Ransomware, is a series of attacks that target business, government, and NGO servers explicitly while ignoring recreational-use PCs. Any users considering themselves at risk should be cautious about opening e-mail attachments, especially documents that may contain exploits prompting them to enable supposedly harmless content that could infect the computer. Malware analysts also recommend rotating secure, unique passwords routinely, in light of the frequency of brute-force attacks that could let the cybercrooks install the RSA-NI Ransomware by themselves.

RSA is rarely decryptable for free, and its use by the RSA-NI Ransomware should motivate all users to maintain complete fail-safe backups. Information on the ransoms for the RSA-NI Ransomware campaign is unavailable, but the con artists can ask for payment by methods that don't let the victim recover the money if they don't get the decryptor easily. Competent anti-malware programs should terminate the RSA-NI Ransomware before its encryption ever starts.

A company's servers are only as safe as its network security is robust. The RSA-NI Ransomware is a sharp notice that the cost of ignoring the safety of your hardware may be more than 'just' losing the contents of a drive.