SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.—If ransomware has yet to become a concern for the credit union community, it should be this year, as ransomware attacks are expected to dramatically increase, analysts warn.
Ransomware is a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid. Crooks first use the malware to encrypt the contents of a victim’s computer and then extract a ransom in exchange for decrypting the data and allowing the victim to regain access.
Until now, most attacks have targeted consumers, and to a lesser extent businesses, working on Windows platforms, explained Jaikumar Vijayan in ThirdCertainty. Credit unions, too, have reported that these attacks are growing.
What will spread the attacks this year, said Vijayan, are inexpensive do-it-yourself ransomware kits that are beginning to become available in underground markets. Losses to ransomware to date range from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars.
“Analysts are concerned that cyber criminals are on the verge of widening the scope of their attacks,” reported Vijayan. “Earlier this month, researchers at security vendor Emsisoft analyzed a malware tool dubbed Ransom32 that many believe is a harbinger of things to come on the ransomware front.”
Ransom32 is the first ransomware tool written entirely in Javascript. That makes it easily portable to other platforms like Linux and Mac OS X, Vijayan explained.
“Unlike the JavaScript in a browser that is sandboxed to prevent access to the file system and other local resources, Ransom32 also is designed to have unfettered access to the system,” Kowsik Guruswamy, chief technology officer at Menlo Security, told ThirdCertainty. “Ransom32 is one of a kind in that it’s cross-platform, which alone increases the targets for the malware authors. Since the underlying chromium interpreter is cross-platform, this allows Ransom32 to target users across all of the (operating systems) and devices in one go. This is the worrisome part.”