A new strain of ransomware, a Petya-esque variant being called Petya/NotPetya, is swiftly spreading across the globe today, impacting tens of thousands of computers as of 2:00 p.m., PST. More powerful, professional, and dangerous than last month's WanaCrypt0r attack, the Petya-esque ransomware uses the same EternalBlue exploit to target vulnerabilities in Microsoft's operating system. However, unlike WanaCrypt0r, this ransomware instructs you to reboot your computer and then locks up your entire system. Long story short: if you get this infection, you're hosed. reassure that if you're currently using the premium version (or the premium trial) of Malwarebytes with real-time protection turned on, you are protected from this threat. Our premium technology blocks the Peyta-inspired ransomware before it can encrypt your system. (The free version of Malwarebytes, however, does not protect you against this attack. To see which version you have, open up your Malwarebytes software and look for the version name at the top of the window.) If you're not currently using the premium version of Malwarebytes, we recommend that you update your Microsoft Windows software immediately. Microsoft released a patch for this vulnerability in March. You may access the patch. We also recommend you be extra vigilant about opening emails, as one suspected method for spreading this infection is through infected Office documents delivered via. |
