Considering the rehashing and new found abundance of ransomware and crypto lately in the news, and some being intelligent while others not so much in their willingness to pay, I thought I’d ask the question of everyone here.
Have you been, or know someone who has been hit with ransomware? If so, what was the outcome?
Personally, I have been. Many years ago, I was hit on my personal machine, because I was being a lazy dumbass, and Murphy gave me the middle finger because of it.
~10TB of data, workstation and my then slackware md raid arrays. wannacry is a real mofo. Cost me $500 and a trip to a drug-deal like setting at a Starbucks in DTLA because BTC was still relatively new.
When I consulted a buddy of mine somewhat locally before I did anything, who’s much smarter than I, his words were, “Your F’ed”, pay and hope or loose everything.
I was lucky enough to get an honest (I guess?) russian group who allowed proof of decryption and once paid, gave me the decryption keys/app. Then the weeks of restoration…
What did I learn? Well, don’t be a lazy dumbass with yourself, treat yourself as well or better than your customers/clients, and if you see any hint of Murphy, stop and think, as you really don’t want him showing up, unless of course it’s Robocops Murphy, he’s cool, but only 1 & 2.
In pfSense, Suricata & FreeNAS I Trust