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Badly-Coded Ransomware Locks User Files and Throws Away Encryption Key (softpedia.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A new ransomware family was not tested by its developer and is encrypting user files and then throwing away the encryption key because of an error in its programming. The ransomware author wanted to cut down costs by using a static encryption key for all users, but the ransomware kept generating random keys which it did not store anywhere. The only way to recover files is if users had a previous backup. You can detect it by the ransom message which has the same ID:qDgx5Bs8H
For optimal software testing, you need several types of testers.
The dev - Someone who knows how to code and what this software is supposed to do, and intimately.
The hacker - Someone who knows how to code, and doesn't care what the software wants because dammit, he's going to make it dance a frigging jig for giggles.
The user - Doesn't know coding, but knows the subject the software is based around because he's the one that uses it. He knows exactly what it needs to do and what he wants it to do and will gladly tell you how you are failing in that.
The ignorant - Can't code, doesn't want to, isn't sure if this computer thing is actually filled with enslaved magic pixies. If there's anyone that will do something no intelligent rational person will ever think of, the ignorant is king. You'd be amazed how many show-stopper bugs have been found by them.
Just asking......would anyone really be all that upset if the fucker that coded this was hunted down and beaten to death? Or shot full of holes?
I've searched my soul (what tiny, tiny fragments remain) and personally I wouldn't mind one bit.
Seriously, if I read tomorrow morning that he'd been found dead as a result of some brutal, awful violence, I wouldn't even stop eating my bagel.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
A malware app that someone has to be dumb enough to manually install is one thing, getting infected with something because your web browser or your email program is vulnerable is another. Most of the Windows malware I've heard about doesn't require someone to manually install software, it's as easy as clicking on the wrong link in IE.
Also, a lot of Windows malware seems to thrive because Windows is homogeneous. Remember that Lenovo malware that was (still is I think) baked into their laptops' BIOS, and would replace a critical Windows system DLL? That stuff only works because Windows is so uniform. If someone has Windows 8.1 installed, then you can count on that DLL being there, and you can count on being able to replace it with a modified DLL and have things work out the way you expect. This just isn't the case with Linux: every distro is different, files are in different places, files are not binary compatible (you can't just take libfoo.so.4.2.1.0 from Ubuntu and drop it into an Arch install and expect it to work), distros change versions every 6 months (so libfoo.so from Mint 17 is incompatible with libfoo.so from Mint 17.1), systems don't even use the same init system and low-level utils (Ubuntu and Mint still use upstart, Slackware still uses sysvinit), etc. Everything works fine because of package management and distros building everything all together at once, but malware expecting to monkey with the internals simply won't work because there's too many variables.
Yes, if someone distributes some Linux dancing-monkey malware, there's nothing you can do to prevent people from being stupid and installing it, but I haven't heard about this attack vector being a serious problem on *Windows* for a long time. Even the Windows users aren't that naive any more; they've had this stuff drilled into their heads for years. They're getting infected in other ways.