Petra ransomware attacks computers in the Ukraine, Russia, France and other countries across Europe . The malware has been identified by Bitdefender as GoldenEye. Government agencies in Ukraine, along with financial firms, banks and a power distributor, got hit by the attack Tuesday morning. Russia’s largest oil exporter, Rosneft, was also slammed with a cyberattack on its servers. This GoldenEye attack is a widespread attack across Europe and parts of the US.
Just like Petya, GoldenEye encrypts the entire hard disk drive and denies the user access to the computer. However, unlike Petya, there is no workaround to help victims retrieve the decryption keys from the computer.
The malware will also force your infected PC to reboot as soon as it finishes encrypting files, so you’ll see the ransom demands as soon as possible.
There is no identification as yet to the source of the attack. People have been encouraged not to pay the ransom of 300 bit coins. Unlike the “Wanna Cry” attack there is no kill switch for this attack. The attackers used a Posteo email account for victims to contact and make payment. That email account has been disconnected and the German police is investigating who setup the account. The infected computers no linger have a way to contact the hackers to retrieve their data at this time.
The story is unfolding and we will hear more about this breakout in the future. More infected countries are being announced. If your Microsoft Operating system is updated, you are safe from this infection.
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