FAKE WINDOWS 10, ANTIVIRUS UPDATE IS BEING USED TO SPREAD RANSOMWARE

Sun 16 October 2022:

According to cyber-security researchers, a ransomware campaign is targeting home users by impersonating software updates such as Windows 10 and antivirus installations.

Then, according to the HP threat research team, the Magniber ransomware campaign demands $2,500 from victims to unlock their data.

“Notably, the attackers used clever techniques to evade detection, such as running the ransomware in memory, bypassing User Account Control (UAC) in Windows, and bypassing detection techniques that monitor user-mode hooks by using syscalls instead of standard Windows API libraries,” the team explained.

Even though Magniber does not fall into the category of ‘Big Game Hunting’, it can still cause significant damage.

“Home users were the likely target of this malware based on the supported operating system versions and UAC bypass. The attackers used clever techniques to evade protection and detection mechanisms,” the security researchers noted.

With the UAC bypass, the malware deletes the infected system’s shadow copy files and disables backup and recovery features, preventing the victim from recovering their data using Windows tools.

The infection chain starts with a web download from an attacker-controlled website.

The user is asked to download a ZIP file containing a JavaScript file that purports to be an important antivirus or Windows 10 software update.

Home users can protect themselves from ransomware campaigns like this one by following this simple advice:

Home users should only download software updates from reputable sources, according to the HP security team, as the campaign relies on tricking people into opening phony software updates.