The government issues a warning opposing Akira. What is the Akira ransomware? Understand it today

An alert of ransomware called Akira was issued by the Computer Emergency Response Team of India. It was found that the ransomware known as Akira was to attack not on Windows but Linux devices as well. The ransomware makes theft of data, encrypts it, and threatens the victims to make a double ransom to get recovery and decryption done. A myriad of victims have been targeted so far by the people behind the ransomware. These victims mainly come from the United States.

Getting to know the Akira Ransomware

The ransomware named Akira is designed for the purpose of encrypting data. Not only this, it forms a ransomware note and deletes Windows Shadow Volume copies on the device. The ransomware not only holds the ability to encrypt files, but also to alter filenames of the encrypted files, by appending the names with the ".akira" extension, and that is from where the ransomware got its name.

The ransomware can shut down Windows services or close processes, the ones that may prevent the ransomware from impacting the system or encrypting the files. It makes use of VPN services, especially in cases where the users do not have two-factor authentication enabled, for the purpose of tricking the users to download malicious files into their devices.

What happens when the device gets infected by the ransomware?

When the device gets infected by ransomware, it thefts on sensitive data or it may encrypt it. Then, the group behind the ransomware targets the victims to make them pay a ransom. In case the victim showcases reluctance, the group threatens to release the encrypted data on the dark web blog. All these facts and more compelled the government to issue a warning against the Akira ransomware. It is important to safeguard one's devices against such ransomware.

Affecting the devices

Such ransomware very smartly affects the devices, They are usually spread across the masses via phishing emails containing malicious attachments. These attachments are usually in the form of archived content (zip/rar) files. The devices are attacked through other methods as well, such as drive-by-download. This is actually a cyber-attack that downloads malicious code unintentionally into the device. People may fall into the trap by clicking on specially designed web links in emails, or by hitting on malicious codes. Moreover, another method through which the ransomware is spread is through insecure Remote Desktop connections.

Protection from such ransomware- the takeaway

The VERT has advised that users must follow some basic internet hygiene activities and adhere to protection protocols to make sure that their security against the ransomware is maintained. One such important activity is to maintain up-to-date offline backups.

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