Be Careful of 'Locky' Ransomware

Ransomware persists as one of the top crimeware threats thus far into 2016. While the use of document-based macros for ransomware distribution remains relatively uncommon, a new family calling itself “Locky”. It's suspected that the group that distributes Locky is affiliated to one of those behind Dridex "due to similar styles of distribution, overlapping file names, and an absence of campaigns from this particularly aggressive affiliate coinciding with the initial emergence of Locky," Palo Alto wrote. 

Ransomware has proven to be an enormous problem. The malware encrypts files on a computer and sometimes on an entire network, with attackers demanding a payment to gain the decryption key. Files are unrecoverable unless the affected organization has regularly backed up and that data hasn't been touched by ransomware, either. 



There are indications that Locky's operators may have staged a large attack. Palo Alto Networks said it detected 400,000 sessions that used the same kind of macro downloader, called Bartallex, that deposits Locky onto a system. More than half of the systems targeted were in the U.S., with other affected countries including Canada and Australia.