There’s finally reason to hope in the war against ransomware

Now when ransomware tries to take over your computer, there’s something you can be sides pay up: stop it, buy more time to deal with it or mitigate the damage it might do.

These options include both hardware and software approaches IT pros can take to defeat the malware, a group at this weekend’s Security BSides Boston conference was told.

By looking at how several variants of ransomware work – CryptoLocker, CryptoWall, Locky, SamSam – researcher Weston Hecker found characteristics of their behavior that could be turned against them.

One method goes after the droppers that first infect target machines in preparation for downloading the main malware payloads. Their purpose is to examine the machines for indications that it might be an inhospitable host and to eliminate the roadblocks if possible.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here