According to a recent article on the Bleeping Computer security news site, a digital “vaccine” has been found by security researcher Amit Serper to prevent the Petya ransomware from crippling computers. The site, which notes that other experts agreed with his findings, details how users can create a read-only file called “perfc” in their C:/Windows folder to ‘vaccinate’ their computers and stop Petya (NotPetya/SortaPetya/Petna).
Petya sparked mass worldwide disruption recently, hitting more than 12,000 machines running on Microsoft Windows-based networks in 64 countries. Ukraine and Russia appeared hardest hit by the new strain of ransomware….. malicious software that locks up computer files and hard drives with all-but-unbreakable encryption and then demands a ransom of $300 in bitcoins for its release. However, given the low ransom amount, experts say the payment demands do not work, and that the virus is primarily focused on destroying data, causing wider disruption or making a political statement. Experts are still unsure about the attack’s origins or its real purpose.
In the U.S., the malware affected companies such as the drugmaker Merck and Mondelez International, the owner of food brands such as Oreo and Nabisco
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