{"id":61120,"date":"2019-06-03T12:46:47","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T17:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=61120"},"modified":"2019-06-03T12:47:31","modified_gmt":"2019-06-03T17:47:31","slug":"gandcrab-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/gandcrab-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"Criminals Retire Profitable Ransomware Variant GandCrab"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

$2B Later – GandCrab is Going Dark<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The creators of GandCrab are informing all of their affiliates and victims, the ransomware will be retired in the next 20 days. Along with that, all of their victim’s decryption keys will be deleted. Creating a sense of urgency for their victims, it may lead to a final payday for hackers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is the correspondence, retrieved by security researchers, of the news: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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BleepingComputer<\/a>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now, one may think, if a security researcher can obtain this, what can be done to prosecute the criminals. Unfortunately, it isn’t that easy. With the anonymity features of the dark web, as well as the additional measures hackers take to stay hidden, finding them is no easy feat. This is no secret, considering the hacker included the following quote in their message above, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We have proven that by doing evil deeds, retribution does not come.” <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

That comment in itself is incredibly powerful, and true. Cyber criminals are continuing to spread attacks without consequence. This begs the question, what can users do? If attacks happen, typically our first response is to notify the authorities. Although, with cyber attacks, it leads no where. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To properly mitigate the risk of becoming their next victim, users are encouraged to do the following: <\/p>\n\n\n\n