Anyway, it takes this ransomware some time before it gets down to the crypto job proper. The entropy is in fact smaller as the keys are 2048 bits long, but it’s still enough to make the decryption vector of file recovery efforts null and void. Incidentally, the recent edition of Cryptolocker mentions RSA-4096 asymmetric cipher on its warning screen, but this isn’t quite true. Cryptolocker user interface with ransom demands The way this crimeware deploys encryption is tricky as it actually leverages an amalgam of RSA and AES, thus leaving hardly any data recovery options for the assaulted person other than paying the ransom. Although it has gone through several critical ups and downs, its recurrent iterations never failed to hit the headlines due to the invariably large attack surface, unbeatable cryptographic grip on infected users’ personal files, and high success rate of payload serving. The malicious program known as Cryptolocker typifies such an inviolability.

The threat landscape has changed considerably over this period, but some infections from this cluster stay and still thrive. It has been around three years since the first fully functional instances of encryption-based ransomware emerged.

The article covers must-know facts about Cryptolocker, an advanced persistent Trojan that applies uncrackable RSA cipher to encode victims’ data.

Crypto locker on machine