NZ Police ransomware infections

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gareth41

742 posts

Ultimate Geek

#123361 4-Jul-2013 19:53

How exactly are people getting infected with this? Ive had to remove this from several of our customers machines, but just cant work out how exactly they are being infected. Im assuming web servers emplying poor security are being compomised and used to carry this ransomware? Most of them have reported being in google image search.

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BDFL - Memuneh
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Geekzone

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#849395 4-Jul-2013 19:55

Most likely some injection in poorly designed/maintained websites distributing the malware. Usually those things are downloaded after the browser is redirected multiple times to different domains to hide what's going on.

Oblivian

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#849415 4-Jul-2013 22:03

Oh they made a NZ one now?

Had a few encounters with the Aussie federal police one.. smart too. Takes webcam pic and uses it against you :)

His particular one was an infected PDF I think. Emailed from an apparent known source (good ol yahoo harvest)

Another one to add to the list to remind NZPost staff too look our for. Made it hard to do Western Union transfers to help trap scams, and they should by rights flag warning warning for these too. Randoms walking in attempting to pay to an acct...

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
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#849502 5-Jul-2013 09:05

Its also pushed out by Apache systems that have been infected via a hole in the security (obviously patched by Apache now) but not everyone has updated to fix it. We just had a staff member get it and couldnt work out how, he was visiting legit "safe" sites.

I'll see if I can find the article I was reading on it.

Easiest fix we found for the malware was to create a new profile for the user and then run MalwareByes and Nod32 to flush it out of his old profile.

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Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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kiwigeek1

637 posts

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#922299 27-Oct-2013 00:58

I believe there are about 9 variants.. the new one uses a bug in flash player to install itself

the one I cleaned installed parts in users temp folder

and replaced the icons cache file in app data

just had to boot to win pe and delete both and then it booted normally

malware etc never found the new variants

I guess its changed again by now

then make sure shockwave and flash and adobe are the latest versions

since its flash hole didnt matter what browser.. but most infections always seem
mostly IE8-9 users

gareth41

742 posts

Ultimate Geek

#922304 27-Oct-2013 02:33

There is also one variant which when removed, leaves the system booting to a dos prompt and nothing else. The winnt shell reg key is changed so the system executes cmd.exe instead of explorer.exe. Easiest way to remove this is a system restore if possible then it reverses anything else changed by this ransomware. Otherwise, I just boot ubuntu from cd and locate/delete the exe to regain access to system. Boot system up again, fix shell reg key to point back to explorer.exe, also remove msconfig entry, then run malwarebytes.

AlbertRoy

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#923264 28-Oct-2013 21:39

Just removed this scam. System restore works + AdwCleaner and Malwarebytes after restore! Both are free
The funniest thing that this virus was created by russians )
http://privacy-pc.com/news/your-pc-is-blocked-background-of-the-police-ransomware-virus.html

kiwigeek1

637 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#923272 28-Oct-2013 22:00

malwarebytes doesnt detect the variant i encountered.. and system restore is brutal way often when used always seems to kill other drivers and apps installed when friends have used it making a bigger mess.

ideally a usb back image from ghost 15 is best but of course most users never that wise

I do a backup once a week of my system

anyhow its more fun unhacking it so can discover how it was done so can prevent next time

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kiwigeek1

637 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#923273 28-Oct-2013 22:02

also some say thats a lie and was a NSA project that got loose ;) but you never know really.. trust no one

Technofreak

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#923840 29-Oct-2013 22:02

An now there is this.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/business/technology/9293900/Nasty-virus-holds-computer-to-ransom

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aim

247 posts

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#923983 30-Oct-2013 09:14

Cryptolocker is a nasty one.

jnimmo

1097 posts

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#927108 4-Nov-2013 16:46

aim: Cryptolocker is a nasty one.

Security Now podcast listener by any chance? :)

aw

286 posts

Ultimate Geek

#931222 12-Nov-2013 09:27

Are the Police, DIA, or any other departments interested in receiving reports of these kind of incidents like CryptoLocker?

I just had a customer hit by this (fortunately on a PC that was both imaged and backed up, no data loss). The means of delivery was an e-mailed fake voicemail attachment.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
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#931224 12-Nov-2013 09:35

I would say there's very little local law enforcement can do when it involves criminals based on the other side of the world...

aw

286 posts

Ultimate Geek

#931252 12-Nov-2013 10:02

Fortunately due to those backups nothing needs doing. I was thinking more for statistical purposes etc

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#937399 19-Nov-2013 16:14

I was asked to clean a friends computer today. He is running XP and messages coming up that his files will be encrypted and locked by NZ Police for watching porn or something to that effect.
I never saw the message myself so unsure exact wording. Computer was still working but he said the message started Sunday.
I ran MSE and that was clear and ran malwarebytes which picked up 15 infections. I ran ccleaner as well. Also installed Firefox and adblocker. Everything else all updated.
Is that all i needed to do or will it still lock later

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

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