Bitcoin-hungry hackers broke their own decryption tool, analysts warn
Reported today on TheNextWeb
For the full article visit: https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/12/10/bitcoin-hackers-ryuk-ransomware-decryption-encryption-broken/
Bitcoin-hungry hackers broke their own decryption tool, analysts warn
System admins: make all the backups, right now
Cybersecurity researchers warn that paying Bitcoin BTC to retrieve files locked by the prolific Ryuk ransomware may still result in data loss.
This means that Ryuk's latest victims are stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they refuse to send their attackers Bitcoin, they'll lose access to their data altogether, but if they pay, the hackers will provide them with a decryption tool that doesn't work.
Software company Emsisoft told Hard Fork that the attackers themselves are responsible for breaking their own encryption tool with an update.
"Obviously, we're hoping to get the word out about this as quickly and widely as possible so that affected organizations can avoid data loss," said Emsisoft via email.
Ryuk now cuts off one too many bytes during decryption
The firm explained that in one of the latest versions of Ryuk, attackers made changes to the way it calculates the length of certain files. This has