MS13 Ransomware

The MS13 Ransomware is a file-locking Trojan and a variant of the Crysis Ransomware's Dharma Ransomware line. It can block your files through the use of threatening encryption, remove their non-secure backups, and create messages with ransom demands. Paying ransom for unlocking services from criminals can be fruitless, and most users should keep a backup as the most reliable recovery solution. For disinfection, the anti-malware software from most companies removes the MS13 Ransomware safely from your computer.

The Dharma Ransomware Puts on Gang Colors

The Los Angeles-born crime gang, MS13, is a mascot for a new version of a Ransomware-as-a-Service, although it's not likely that this branding is with the group's permission. This file-locker Trojan is an update to the Dharma Ransomware sub-division of the diverse the Crysis Ransomware family, which produces variants of itself for renting out to other criminals' campaigns. The MS13 Ransomware is one of the most recent of these in a long heritage, such as the '.btix File Extension' Ransomware, the 'ht2707@email.vccs.edu' Ransomware, the KARLS Ransomware, the 'usacode@aol.com' Ransomware, and more.

The MS13 Ransomware infections are most threatening for users without any backups, or with only local, Windows default one. Its payload searches for files of appropriate formats for holding hostage, which range from text documents to videos, audio, and databases, and encrypts each one with an RSA-secured AES algorithm. Searching for the appended 'ms13' extension that the MS13 Ransomware adds will give users a comprehensive list of the encryption targets, and the Trojan additionally inserts e-mails and IDs that it uses for its ransoming process.

Since the MS13 Ransomware runs off of a Ransomware-as-a-Service or RaaS structure, its ransom has almost no changes from the old versions that are already available in previous Dharma Ransomware campaigns. The criminals ask for e-mail negotiations and Bitcoin payments before handing over the decryption service that might recover the user's files. As malware experts, often, find the rates of success with these Black Hat decryptors far less than one hundred percent, consenting victims are gambling that the loss of their money will help with any media recovery.

Your Options for Avoiding Paying Cyber-Gangs for Your Belongings

The MS13 Ransomware's payload includes some precautions against users getting their files back too effortlessly, such as by using the Windows Restore Points. It also may impact networks without adequate security for file-accessing privileges, besides the system that hosts the Trojan's installation. Most file-locking Trojans don't, however, possess specialized anti-cloud backup capabilities, and malware experts especially recommend portable, detachable devices for most users' backup and recovery needs.

Individuals can implement security standards that avoid the most likely of the MS13 Ransomware's possible infection exploits, as well. Cautious login and password choices will remove brute-force tools' capacity for breaking into accounts remotely, and monitoring e-mail attachments and links should alert users to possible Trojan droppers, such as corrupted Word documents with macro-based attacks. Most anti-malware products can detect the unique identifiers of this Trojan's family and should remove the MS13 Ransomware as a threat.

The MS13 Ransomware may be heading for California or somewhere else entirely, but its brothers and sisters attack the world at large. Whatever your culture is, long-term safety for your files requires not keeping them all in one place that a program like the MS13 Ransomware can loot without trouble.