As reported by the safety outfit CloudSEK (opens in new tab), a brand new ransomware group known as GoodWill forces its victims to present to the poor in an effort to regain entry to their information.
GoodWill appears to originate out of Mumbai, India, and like different ransomware will encrypt essential information on an contaminated gadget, requiring an encryption key supplied by the hackers to regain entry. Not like typical ransomware assaults, which ask for cash within the change, Goodwill fees victims with three peculiar acts of charity. It’s unclear from the CloudSEK report how many individuals have been focused by the group, or whether or not anybody has truly gone by way of with the method.
The primary activity is to “present new garments/blankets to needy individuals of highway aspect [sic] and make a video of this occasion,” with proof posted to Fb, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Subsequent, GoodWill targets should “within the night, decide any 5 poor kids (below 13 years) of your neighborhood and take them to Dominos / Pizza Hut or KFC, then permit them to order the meals they like to eat and attempt to make them really feel joyful.” The hackers additionally need you to movie and take photos of the youngsters for social media, very cool. The ultimate GoodWill cost is to pay for the medical payments of somebody who cannot afford to, and, in fact, publish it to Fb et al.
It is all a bit… corny? Like one thing out of a sequence e-mail your grandma may ship, besides the safety menace may be very actual. The factor of posting proof to social media, coupled with the unbelievable profile body supplied to anybody who’s overcome all of the hurdles, signifies to me that that is far more about humiliation than truly serving to anybody.
GoodWill’s scheme jogs my memory of how the man from Loss of life Word thought he was going to vary the world by orchestrating extralegal executions of small-time criminals. Mild Yagami, my man, if you wish to transfer the needle you must suppose larger. I am certain these GoodWill guys can do some digging and determine why so many individuals have huge medical payments…
However I’d by no means encourage felony exercise of any variety. Alongside the final chain e-mail vibe I am actually caught up on the entire “take 5 needy youngsters out to eat” factor. What mum or dad of their proper thoughts would permit that? “Don’t fret, I am not attempting to abduct your child—hackers simply stole all the info for my HVAC enterprise and that is how I get it again. I additionally should movie your youngster consuming. Regular stuff.”
Karmically, possibly all this cynicism is simply me begging to be GoodWill’s subsequent sufferer. These kooky hackers in Mumbai are about to show me a beneficial lesson about giving, humility, and filming individuals (together with kids) experiencing life-changing Kentucky Fried Rooster.
