Robin Hood CyptMix ransomware promises to donate fee to charity

Pierluigi Paganini May 06, 2016

This is a novelty in the cyber criminal underground, crooks behind the new born CyptMix ransomware promise to donate the fee to charity.

No doubts, a very creative idea to extort money to the victims enticing them to pay for a good cause and telling them to think to have the opportunity to help the children.

Of course, the criminals don’t provide further details on the way they intend to donate the earnings.

“Your money will be spent for the children charity. So that is mean that You will get a participation in this process too. Many children will receive presents and medical help! And We trust that you are kind and honest person! Thank You very much! We wish You all the best! Your name will be in the main donors list and will stay in the charity history!” reads the ransom note sent to victims of the CyptMix ransomware shared by the experts at Heimdal Security who spotted the new threat.

It is the first time that experts see this kind of Psychological manipulation in ransomware-based attacks. This new strain of malware is spread through spam emails and drive-by attacks.

Even more curious is that the alleged benefactors called themselves the “Charity Team.”

Victims of the CyptMix ransomware need to pay 5 bitcoins (approximately $2200 at the current price per bitcoin), a ramson very expensive respect other similar threats.

simple-ransomware-infection-chain CyptMix ransomware

 

The experts in Heimdal Security revealed that new threat re-uses large parts of open-source ransomware code. For example, this ransomware is a

“For example, this ransomware is a CryptoWall 4 variant and it also includes CryptXXX components.” states Heimdal  Security.

The crooks behind the CyptMix ransomware have also fixed the developmental errors which made the decryption tool created by Kaspersky to work.

We can only hope that these criminals have truly noble intentions, as wrote Andra Zaharia, from Heimdal Security.

“We can hardly trust cyber criminals to have a kind and generous side to them,”

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Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – CyptMix ransomware, cybercrime)



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