Experts from the information security company Trustwave reported the discovery of a large-scale campaign of spam messages that are used to download ransomware victims onto their PCs under the guise of updates for the Windows operating system.
Microsoft never sends emails asking you to update Windows. It's clear that the new malware campaign is targeting people who don't know it.
The source says that messages are being sent to users with the title βInstall the latest Microsoft Windows update right now!β or βMicrosoft Windows Critical Update!β The text of the letter talks about the need to install important Windows updates, which are supposedly attached to the letter, as quickly as possible. The message does contain an attachment that appears to be a JPG image, but is actually a .NET executable file. If you receive a similar letter, then under no circumstances should you run this file, as this will lead to dire consequences.
The fact is that the file attached to the letter is Cyborg ransomware, which will encrypt all user files, block their contents and change the extension to .777. As with other ransomware, the user will be delivered a text file called Cyborg_DECRYPT.txt, which contains instructions on how to decrypt the files. It is not difficult to guess that the user is asked to pay for decryption, but there is no need to rush to do this, since there is no guarantee that this will help.
Experts recommend being careful with unknown letters that come from unfamiliar people and organizations. You should be vigilant and do not open attached files unless you are sure of their origin.
Source: 3dnews.ru