Publishing the keys should render existing versions of the ransomware far less dangerous for victims.
What happens when malware retires? In the case of ransomware package GandCrab, the whole world learns your secrets. In a July 15 announcement, the FBI shared the decryption keys for multiple versions of GandCrab, rendering future attacks using these versions little more than an annoyance to their victims.
The keys' release follows a June 1 announcement from GandCrab developers that they were shutting down the criminal network and retiring after earning, they claim, more than $150 million from the roughly 18 months GandCrab was in operation. That's out of more than $2 billion in claimed earnings from the entire GandCrab network.
While existing strains of GandCrab have been rendered less dangerous with the release of the keys, researchers and law enforcement agencies are warning that new strains, with new encryption keys, are likely to be developed in the future.
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