Ransomware Joke Gone Wrong – Daily Security Byte

Rather than extorting you for money, a new piece of ransomware forces you to get an extremely difficult high score in a video game to get your files back. Rensenware is the name of an experimental ransomware variant created by a Korean coder as a joke. Unfortunately, his joke went too far when he posted his experiment on Github and went to sleep. Apparently, people downloaded this novel ransomware and infected themselves. Since then, the developer has apologized and released a tool that can “force” the high score you need to unlock your files. Watch today’s video to learn more about this unusual ransomware, and how you might avoid all ransomware in general.

Episode Runtime: 3:06

Direct YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ7fZDr2bx0

EPISODE REFERENCES:

• New ransomware forces you to get better at gaming – Kotaku
• Rensenware locks your files until you get a high score – The Verge
• Malware blogger covers Rensenware in a video – YouTube
• Download Rensenware Forcer to recover your files – Github

Corey Nachreiner, CISSP (@SecAdept)