Matrix Ransomware being distributed through malvertising

Security expert Jérôme Segura from Malwarebytes has spotted that Matrix Ransomware has risen again, it is now being distributed through malvertising.

Malware researcher Jérôme Segura from Malwarebytes has discovered that Matrix Ransomware is now being distributed through malvertising campaign.

The Matrix Ransomware was first spotted in 2016, in April 2017 the threat intelligence expert Brad Duncan uncovered the EITest campaign using the RIG exploit kit to distribute this malware.

Since then the Matrix ransomware slightly disappeared from the threat landscape, but now it seems to be back and it is being delivered through malvertising campaign that triggers an Internet Explorer flaw (CVE-2016-0189) and Flash one(CVE-2015-8651).

When a computer is infected with the latest variant of the Matrix Ransomware, the malicious code will encrypt the files on the victim’s machine, scramble their file names, and append the .pyongyan001@yahoo.com extension to the file scrambled name.

The ransomware also drops a ransom note (#_#WhatWrongWithMyFiles#_#.rtf) in every folder that contains files it encrypted, then it will display a ransom screen.

To protect your system, it is essential to install all available security updates for any software installed on the machine, run a security software, and always backup your data.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – ransomware, malvertising)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.