For those who are unfamiliar with ransomware, basically it is a type of malware that prevents users from accessing certain files or features on your computer unless you were to pay the hacker money to unlock it. We suppose you could think of it as kidnapping of your digital files. Now if you were to encounter ransomware in the future, you’re in luck as Kaspersky Labs and the Dutch police have released a new tool that could unlock your files for free.
So the next time you’re reaching over to your wallet to pay the hacker, keep this in mind as it could potentially save for a lot of money. How Kaspersky managed to do this was thanks to the National High Tech Crime Unit of the Dutch Police who had received a database from a CoinVault (one of the many variants of ransomware) that contained decryption keys.
Using these decryption keys, Kaspersky was able to build a decryption tool that could potentially unlock your computer and/or files. However it has been noted that it is not a 100% guaranteed success, but with further investigation, the police are hoping to discover additional keys that could help improve the tool’s success rate.
Of course a better way to avoid getting yourself in these kinds of situations is to be wary of email attachments, especially from senders you might not be familiar with. Also being discerning with your choice of download location is also a good way to prevent not just ransomware but other types of malwares and viruses from infecting your computer. In the meantime if you’d like to checkout the tool, head on over to Kaspersky’s website for the details.