Bitdefender releases MortalKombat decryptor to help recover your files

MortalKombat decryptor is free of charge

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Cybersecurity researchers Bitdefender have released a new decryptor for the MortalKombatransomwarewhich can help save your precious files, free of charge.

Availablefrom the Bitdefender website now, the decryptor was released just over a month after security experts first started reporting on MortalKombat. In January 2023, Cisco Talos reported on threats targeting victims in the United States, casting a wide net to target random users with malicious emails carrying a .ZIP attachment with a BAT loader script.

The victims that run the script end up downloading and running both the ransomware binary and the Laplas Clipper,BleepingComputerexplained, adding that the speed at which the MortalKombat decryptor was published could be due to the fact that it is based on Xorist, a commodity ransomware allegedly decryptable since 2016.

Backing up encrypted files

To run the decryptor, the victims don’t need to install it on the affected endpoints, as it’s a standalone executable. It also backs up all of the files before trying to decrypt them, to be on the safe side in case the decryption process fails for any reason. Furthermore, the decryptor can replace previously decrypted files, and can be executed from the command line which should help IT teams managing large networks run automated decryptions.

What is ransomware and how does it work?>The 10 worst ransomware attacks ever>These are the best firewalls right now

Ransomware is one of the most devastating forms ofmalware, and also one that is the quickest to evolve and introduce new things.

To protect against ransomware threats, businesses should first educate their employees on the dangers of phishing and social engineering, as those are the usual first steps leading up to a ransomware infection. Furthermore, having a strongantivirussolution, afirewall, and abackup, is highly recommended.

Via:BleepingComputer

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Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.

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