Ransomware adds password stealing to its arsenal

Slowly but surely, more and more users are becoming acquainted with the existence of ransomware and when faced with one, they opt not to pay the requested “fine” and instead seek help for disinfecting their computers.

But malware developers are not ready to give up on the scam, so they are trying a new approach and are using scareware’s current main reason of being as a diversion to steal information that can ultimately lead to money gain.

Microsoft researchers are warning about a new variant of the well-known Reveton ransomware doing rounds.

It is being delivered on the victims’ computer via the Blackhole exploit kit, and on the surface acts like it always did: locks the computer screen and demands money to unlock it:

But in the background, the malware downloads a password-stealer component from its C&C server and runs it.

“PWS:Win32/Reveton.B can steal passwords for a comprehensive selection of file downloaders, remote control applications, FTP, poker, chat and e-mail clients, as well as passwords stored by browsers and in protected storage,” say the researchers. “However, as it can load almost any DLL served by the C&C on the fly, this might change.”

Keeping your OS and software updates should minimize the possibility of being faced with malware, they say, but in case you do get hit by a Reveton infection, it’s a good idea to change all your passwords once you remove the malware from the computer.