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Extortion Virus Code Cracked

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the unlock-your-stuff dept.

Billosaur writes "BBC News is reporting that the password to the dreaded Archiveus virus has been discovered and is now available to anyone who needs it. Archiveus is a 'ransomware' virus, which combines files from the My Documents folder on Windows machines and exchanges them for a single, password-protected file, which it will not unlock unless a password is given. The user would normally be required to pay the extortionist money in order to receive the password, but apparently the virus writer made one small, critical error in coding: placing the password in the code. BTW, the 30-digit password locking the files is mf2lro8sw03ufvnsq034jfowr18f3cszc20vmw."

4 of 371 comments (clear)

  1. Just wait... by hanssprudel · · Score: 5, Insightful


    Next time it will be a virus writer who knows about public key cryptography, and then you'll just have to pony up the dough... (or you could stop getting your computer infected with malware in the first place.)

    1. Re:Just wait... by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 5, Insightful

      >(or you could stop getting your computer infected with malware in the first place.)

      Backing up your data would also work.

      Notice how much this virus is like a proprietary file format? You can't get at your own data without paying for a license to the proprietary reader.

  2. If it's the same password... by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If it's the same password for every infection, wouldn't it be likely that the first victim who actually paid for it would then release it to the wild to screw-over the extortionist ASAP?

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  3. From the TFA by BaltikaTroika · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The most interesting part of TFA: "Victims are only told the password if they buy drugs from one of three online pharmacies."

    Are online pharmacies so unregulated that criminals can extort people as a means for advertising?

    Wow.