Book Image

Preventing Ransomware

By : Abhijit Mohanta, Mounir Hahad, Kumaraguru Velmurugan
Book Image

Preventing Ransomware

By: Abhijit Mohanta, Mounir Hahad, Kumaraguru Velmurugan

Overview of this book

<p><span id="description" class="sugar_field">Ransomware has turned out to be the most aggressive malware and has affected numerous organizations in the recent past. The current need is to have a defensive mechanism in place for workstations and servers under one organization.</span></p> <p><span class="sugar_field"><span id="description" class="sugar_field">This book starts by explaining the basics of malware, specifically ransomware. The book provides some quick tips on malware analysis and how you can identify different kinds of malware. We will also take a look at different types of ransomware, and how it reaches your system, spreads in your organization, and hijacks your computer. We will then move on to how the ransom is paid and the negative effects of doing so. You will learn how to respond quickly to ransomware attacks and how to protect yourself. The book gives a brief overview of the internals of security software and Windows features that can be helpful in ransomware prevention for administrators. You will also look at practical use cases in each stage of the ransomware phenomenon. The book talks in detail about the latest ransomware attacks involving WannaCry, Petya, and BadRabbit.</span></span></p> <p><span id="description" class="sugar_field">By the end of this book, you will have end-to-end knowledge of the trending malware in the tech industry at present.</span></p>
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
Title Page
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
Index

1. Scareware and rogue security software


Scareware is malicious software that usually suggests that the user has some problem in the system and then lures the user to buy fake software. Although we can't categorize scareware as ransomware, they certainly trick you into buying software.

A lot of them use simple Windows APIs to find out what software is executing on your system. They then display the drivers, registry, and software found on your system with a fake message that there are some errors in the system.

There are a lot of fake applications that claim to clean and fix registries, drivers, and other software on the victim's machine. They have a great graphical interface that can easily convince somebody without knowledge of security software. They even have toll free numbers for assisting their victims. A lot of these were distributed on well-known software repository sites and were also visible at the top in search engines:

Fig. Fake driver scanner

Fake Antivirus (FakeAVs) took the lead...