We have seen so many new strains of ransomware like WannaCry, GoldenEye, CryptoLocker, Petya and Bad Rabbit (to name a few) that it’s beginning to become a full time job just to keep up with this new strain of computer virus/ malware.
This new strain of ransomware (we’ll just call it Devil to make things simple) began searching through the network to gain control of key machines like servers using a Trojan virus variation. The targeted servers that did not have this Microsoft security update were then infected but this particular malware code did not activate right away but remained hidden. Then, after lying dormant, the ransomware struck and encrypted all machines that it touched.
While this new malware was most likely created for monetary gain, there is much debate in the cyber security world about this, with questions arising about Devil possibly being created simply as a cyber attack. One clue has been found inside the code of Devil when researchers found bits of the Russian language. This has led researchers to believe that Devil originated in Russia and may have been designed to simply damage it’s targets.