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Author of Original Petya Ransomware Publishes Master Decryption Key (bleepingcomputer.com)

Posted by msmash on from the good-will dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The author of the original Petya ransomware -- a person/group going by the name of Janus Cybercrime Solutions -- has released the master decryption key of all past Petya versions. This key can decrypt all ransomware families part of the Petya family except NotPetya, which isn't the work of Janus, but is believed to be the work of a nation-state actor that targeted Ukraine. Most (original) Petya campaigns happened in 2016, and very few campaigns have been active this year. Users that had their files locked have wiped drives or paid the ransom many months before. The key will only help those victims who cloned their drives and saved a copy of the encrypted data. Experts believe that Janus released Petya's decryption key as a result of the recent NotPetya outbreak, and he might have decided to shut down his operation to avoid further scrutiny, or being accused of launching NotPetya.

2 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. Russia? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    So we're calling them mysterious "nation state" actors now, when they attack NATO and Ukraine using launch methods linked to Putins military? Seriously? Just call Russia.

    Also why the voter databases?

    Did they ever figure out why Russia targetted the voter databases of swing states during the US election? Those 39 hacks:

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-13/russian-breach-of-39-states-threatens-future-u-s-elections

    I can understand why Trump is trying to get that election data now (to pass laws to minimize the number of anti-Trump votes ready for the next election), but why did the Russians try to get that same data? If they couldn't pass laws to block voters, how would they use it without first getting a puppet into power?

  2. Follow the money... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Casey Neistat did a review of "American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road" by Nick Bilton. The Silk Road was the black market of the Internet where you could have gotten anything. I haven't read it yet but looks like a good read.

    https://youtu.be/7-nzTfv5IZY?t=88