Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Crypto malware close to uncrackable

Malware is now big business for criminals. One of the latest dirty tricks is "ransomware" which encrypts the user's files so that they are unreadable, then offers to decrypt them on payment of money. So far, all the known attempts to do this have failed due to weak encryption: security experts have been able to break the code and recover the files.

Computerworld is reporting that Kaspersky Labs are warning that malware is very close to using virtually uncrackable encryption.

Gotsev raised the alarming possibility that victims could at some point in the near future have their files encrypted in such a way that the security industry would not be able to issue a fix. If this comes to pass -- and Kaspersky's claims that the day is not far off are plausible -- it will mark an important moment for the whole software security industry.

The obvious answer could be simply not to allow ransomware on to a PC in the first place, an approach that Gotsev and other security companies will be keen to stress.

You think???

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