Ransomware is getting more complex, and anti-virus companies are worried they may not be able to decrypt ransomed files, according to a new report.
Malware Evolution: April to June 2006, Hidden Wars by anti-virus company
Kaspersky Labs warns that ransomware authors are creating more
sophisticated encryption algorithms in a bid to outfox security
companies, blackmail users and companies.
"We were able to decrypt 330- and 660-bit keys within a reasonably short
space of time, but a new variant, with a longer key, could appear at any
time," said Aleks Gostev, a senior virus analyst at Kaspersky Lab. "If
RSA, or any other similar algorithm that uses a public key, were to be
used in a new virus, anti-virus companies might find themselves
powerless, even if maximum computing power was applied to decrypting the
key."