Ransomware

Ransomware has been in the news a lot lately. This ingenious bit of software is a popular tool for thieves to separate you from your hard-earned money. The problem with it is that it works. There is no known fix once your computer has been infected. To get your files back you will probably have to pay the extortion and hope the unlock works.

Pretty much everyone knows what a computer virus is. Well, the Ransomware comes into your computer in the same way. Download the wrong file and it is free to work in your computer. Ransomware has a built-in key that matches a key code that the thief has. Once the file is in your computer, the Ransomware uses the keycode to build an encrypted code specific to your computer before deleting the original code. The encrypted code can then only be deciphered using the key code the thief has. All that really means is that you can’t break the code. Even in the case of Colonial Pipeline they did not break the code, they paid for the decryption key. The FBI then retrieved most of the money by hacking the hackers account and taking the money back.

Once the key framework is built, the Ransomware goes to work encrypting your files. One file at a time, the software walks through your computer replacing each file with an encrypted copy of the file with an encrypted file name. This takes some time, depending on how many files you have, so the Ransomware tries to stay quiet while it works. When the encryption is complete or if the process is discovered, you will see something along the line of the following on a blue screen:

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