The Hakuna Matata ransomware is noted as one of the popular virus strains that have been active in the last few weeks. This article will help you understand how the ransomware infects its victims, what kind of damage it can cause to the victim and how everyone can prevent these attacks by following our expert advise.
Hakuna Matata Ransomware Description
This virus is a dangerous ransomware which has the goal of encrypting the most important user data. The virus uses a very strong cipher which makes it impossible to recover the files without the use of a quality anti-spyware utility. Upon infection with it the virus starts its encryption engine and after the process is complete it generates a ransom note which is used to extort the victim. All affected data is renamed using the ‘.hakunamatata’ extension. And like other similar threats it requests a large amount of money paid in the Bitcoins currency. This means that all financial transactions cannot be traced down to a specific user as the network allows for anonymity.
Hakuna Matata Ransomware Infection
The virus is probably an independent creation by a malicious actor. This means that it does not borrow any code from one of the famous malware families such as Cerber, Locky or Crypto Locker. There are some indications that it might possess a small part of code that is derived from several open source projects in its encryption engine. However there are substantial differences and such a statement cannot be verified. In many cases the infections are caused by following one of the popular delivery methods:
Email Spam Messages – Computer hackers employ bulk messages which use a varying level of social engineering content to attempt to infect their predefined targets. Messages that pose as originating from legitimate institutions are frequently poisoned with dangerous links or direct attachments that contain the virus. In the last few months we have detected a trend of distributing counterfeit invoices and other types of documents that contain malicious macro instructions. When the victim opens up the document and executes them an infection is triggered.
Dangerous Redirects – All sorts of dangerous malicious ads which are frequently found on hacked sites can lead to a ransomware infection. Browser hijackers are another popular source of malicious redirects.
Software Installers – The Hakuna Matata ransomware can also be distributed alongside various software installers which can easily be modified to contain malware. They can often be found on illegal download sites and BitTorrent trackers which distribute pirate copies of famous software and computer games.
Exploit Kit Attacks – Hackers can attempt to carry out attacks that aim to intrude into the target machine. After a vulnerability has been exposed they can plant the ransomware along with other malware such as Trojans to institute additional damage.
How To Prevent a Hakuna Matata Ransomware Attack
Ransomware intrusions are caused mainly by weak security or social engineering tricks. In many cases the hackers rely on bad security configurations or gain the trust of the targets and deploy the virus by pretending that it is a legitimate application. The infections can be prevented if the users follow a good security policy which follows the basic procedures of browsing securely the Internet:
Users should not download any software from unknown sites or BitTorrent trackers. All applications and games must be acquired via their official channels. The majority of virus attacks are caused by infected software or computer games downloaded from pirate sites and BitTorrent trackers.
Email spam messages distribute legitimate-looking documents and use social engineering tricks to lure the victims into executing the virus code.
Computer users can prevent virus infections by using quality anti-spyware solutions that can easily detect and delete infections and restore files and the system.
Backup copies of all important files must be made in an offline location that is used only when necessary.
The Hakuna Matata ransomware can easily be removed by following our in-depth removal guide. |
