First Node.js-Powered Ransomware Discovered (softpedia.com)

An anonymous reader writes: A security researcher from Emsisoft has discovered a new ransomware family coded via NW.js (formerly Node-WebKit). Why is it unique? Because it is the first of its kind to use JavaScript for the ransomware's source code, it provides cross-OS support (we may see the first universal Windows-Linux-Mac ransomware in the future), and because the security researcher describes it as "successor of CryptoLocker" when it comes to encryption quality. The ransomware, Ransom32, is offered as a RaaS service on the Dark Web, only targets Windows machines in its first version, and is currently undecryptable.

Comments

Attack vector?

[mark-t]

Specifically, what is the actual attack vector for this? All it seems like to me is that they've made a cross-platform trojan.... one that still needs to be explicitly executed by the end user. since the only self-executing js that I know of is within a web browser, and the javascript running inside of that can't even see the local filesystem, can it?