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BBC Visits 'Hated and Hunted' Ransomware Expert (bbc.co.uk)
In "Hated and hunted," a BBC reporter describes visiting a ransomware expert "who has devoted himself, at huge personal cost, to helping victims of ransomware around the world."
They hate him so much that they leave him angry threats buried deep inside the code of their own viruses... "I was shocked but I also felt a real sense of pride," says Fabian. "Almost like, a little bit cocky. I'm not going to lie, yeah, it was nice...." He works remotely for a cyber security company, often sitting for hours at a time working with colleagues in different countries. When he's "in the zone", the outside world becomes even less important and his entire existence focuses on the code on his screen. He once woke up with keyboard imprints all over his face after falling asleep during a 35-hour session.
All of this to create anti-ransomware programs that he and his company usually give away free. Victims simply download the tools he makes for each virus, follow the instructions and get their files back... According to research from Emsisoft, the cyber security company Fabian works for, a computer is attacked every two seconds. Their network has managed to prevent 2,584,105 infections in the past 60 days -- and that's just one anti-virus firm of dozens around the world.... "It's pretty much an arms race," says Fabian. "They release a new ransomware virus, I find a flaw in its code and build the decryption tool to reverse it so people can get their files back. Then the criminals release a new version which they hope I can't break... It escalates with them getting more and more angry with me...."
Fabian accepts that moving around and restricting his life and circle of friends is just a part of the sacrifice for his hobby-turned-profession... He earns a very good salary but looking around his home and at his life it's hard to see how he spends it.
He estimates that he's "upset or angered" 100 different ransomware gangs (based on his analysis of the Bitcoin wallets where they collect their ransoms.) One group had collected about $250,000 (£191,000) in three months -- until Fabian created a countering anti-ransomware program -- which is one reason he carefully hids his identity.
"I know how much money they make and it would be literally nothing for them to drop 10 or 20,000 for like some Russian dude to turn up to my house and beat the living hell out of me."
All of this to create anti-ransomware programs that he and his company usually give away free. Victims simply download the tools he makes for each virus, follow the instructions and get their files back... According to research from Emsisoft, the cyber security company Fabian works for, a computer is attacked every two seconds. Their network has managed to prevent 2,584,105 infections in the past 60 days -- and that's just one anti-virus firm of dozens around the world.... "It's pretty much an arms race," says Fabian. "They release a new ransomware virus, I find a flaw in its code and build the decryption tool to reverse it so people can get their files back. Then the criminals release a new version which they hope I can't break... It escalates with them getting more and more angry with me...."
Fabian accepts that moving around and restricting his life and circle of friends is just a part of the sacrifice for his hobby-turned-profession... He earns a very good salary but looking around his home and at his life it's hard to see how he spends it.
He estimates that he's "upset or angered" 100 different ransomware gangs (based on his analysis of the Bitcoin wallets where they collect their ransoms.) One group had collected about $250,000 (£191,000) in three months -- until Fabian created a countering anti-ransomware program -- which is one reason he carefully hids his identity.
"I know how much money they make and it would be literally nothing for them to drop 10 or 20,000 for like some Russian dude to turn up to my house and beat the living hell out of me."
I like to see the national breakdown. I know a few e Europe groups that are permanently butt hurt.
Ironically silk road had a solution for this problem. Just create an etherium payable contract that pays when the ransom where evil doer is killed, as measure by whatever method the contract specified as satisfactory proof the right person received the right result.
Of course this is also a terrible idea. Paying mercs to kill people is going to result in incompetent mercs and dead innocents. Not to mention the whole idea of murder.
Still given human nature if this option were offerend anonymously but widely available I'm also sure the go fund me kitty would swell.
THe only thing one can say is that in the end you'd be both remorseful and gratified and possibly incarcerated
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
When they go low, we aim high
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
alternate headline: "Assassins pay BBC to find address of ransomware expert."
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
How do you know Abel was good?
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
“It’s pretty much an arms race,” says Fabian. "They release a new ransomware virus, I find a flaw in its code and build the decryption tool to reverse it so people can get their files back.”
How does this work? There's probably some government agencies with the ability to crack various encryption schemes, but a dev at some anti-virus company?
I'm sure he's pretty good at what he does, and there's probably a handful of instances where the ransomware folk did something dumb. But file encryption is pretty standard stuff, and I can't imagine it's too hard to generate a unique decrpytion key for each victim and to stop that key from persisting on the victims machine.
So is the story mostly hype and the guy just cracked a couple crappy tools? Are the ransomware folk really that incompetent? Or am I missing something?
I stole this Sig
Years ago, Fabian was a teen heartthrob back during my mother’s youth... and now, here in his twilight years, he’s helping ransomware victims recover their data? That’s seriously impressive.
#DeleteChrome
Backup people!
Ah, the "subtlety" of Western propaganda. The dude who turns up and beats the living hell out of the good guy can't be just Dude. Quite often it has to be Russian Dude. Malice or stupidity? Or just plain old xenophobia?
Obviously it confuses you. So that's one who doesn't.
Cain was a farmer and offered up fresh, moist fruits and vegetables while Able was a rancher/herder and offered up the carcasses of animals rich in fat.
Both were offering their best products, but the flames were bigger and brighter when consuming the fat bone and fur than they were when consuming the fresh, moist, vegetables, so it was assumed that God was more pleased by the one that burned better than the other.
Due to that assumption, Cain became jealous and killed his brother.
As far as I am aware, God was happy with both, at least until Cain committed murder.
But a virus writer would certainly be aware of a free fix for their virus being distributed on a public web site....
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
Hello,
Computer virus writers, since back in the day of writing DOS viruses, did often put message directed at anti-virus companies and even individual employees, as well as shout-outs to other virus writers and virus-writing groups. Song lyrics and poems would occasionally be included as well, sometimes to be displayed as part of a payload, otherwise just in there for, one presumes, the curious. The Stoned boot sector/MBR virus' "Legalise marijauana. Your PC is now stoned" message comes to immediate mind.
Of course, these days, computer viruses are almost extinct. There are about two or three families of viruses which are still active (Sality, Virut, ...). Everything else is just various kinds of non-replicating malware, like the ransomware this article discusses. Replicating ransomware like Petya and WannaCry are still comparatively rare.
Today, there is little concern from most developers about the size of their code, at least in the same way it was back in the mini-computer and dawn of the PC era where RAM might have been measured in kilobytes. When you have malware which is hundreds of KB long, or even over a megabyte like Stuxnet, the need to optimize code for size becomes something of a non-issue.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
Dexter is a good dog.