Rsa Ransomware

The Rsa Ransomware is a file-locking Trojan that keeps your digital media captive with encryption. This attack is likely to be irreversible, and users should be sure of the safety of their backups as the most reliable counter-strategy to infections. However, anti-malware programs from most vendors should block or delete the Rsa Ransomware, and other members of its family, readily.

A Trojan Competing for 'Most Appropriately-Named Program'

File-locking Trojans can have extremely disingenuous interfaces, names, and themes, which serve the role of faking their authenticity or exacerbating the visible danger. However, they also can be truth-tellers in limited areas. Such is so with the Rsa Ransomware, another release from a significant Ransomware-as-a-Service family.

The Rsa Ransomware is a new build from the family that began with the Crysis Ransomware, underwent significant updates through Dharma Ransomware, and continues attacking victims with variants like the Start Ransomware, the Group Ransomware, and the Php Ransomware. Its central and defining feature is its encryption, which it inflicts on the user's documents, music, pictures, and other media in a secure, two-algorithm combination. This attack 'locks' them and stops their opening in any related programs.

The 'ransom' portion of this software lies in its negotiations through a campaign-specific e-mail address – in this instance, an AOL one. The Rsa Ransomware also adds 'rsa' extensions onto the names of all of the victimized files, which refers to the second half of its encryption routine and the key that secures it. Unfortunately, this nametag doesn't reveal the pertinent securing information – the underlying key – which makes the knowledge worthless to the victims.

Fighting Back against Encryption Arriving without Warning

Some users may find recovery possibilities through their undeleted Windows Restore Points, but most versions of the Rsa Ransomware's family will erase this information through hidden system commands successfully. Malware researchers advise having backups on other devices for a better chance of getting one's files than paying a ransom. Users also can always provide samples to any appropriate cyber-security researchers, in case the Rsa Ransomware's build includes unexplored vulnerabilities or other traits that are of value as public knowledge.

Users always should prepare for potential attacks arriving through e-mail-based vectors, such as attached documents with embedded macro exploits. Disabling macros and updated Microsoft Office software, along with other vulnerable programs, can help with closing off the common infection vectors. Avoiding illicit download resources is also a net improvement to evading encounters with file-locking Trojans from most families.

Always have your anti-malware programs isolate or delete the Rsa Ransomware as it's detected. Because of changes to Windows components like the Registry, and the absence of a standard UI, inexperienced users shouldn't try uninstalling the Rsa Ransomware without assistance.

The Rsa Ransomware is part of a long and seemingly-profitable history of Trojans tossing files into a digital cell and throwing away the key – in some cases, semi-literally. Investing all of one's livelihood into something without a backup is always a proposition with only drawbacks.