It was just another day at the office for me, Glen, at GreTek Systems. I am an IT professional specializing in todays computer technology’s issues and also work in cybersecurity. As I sipped my morning coffee and scrolled through his inbox, one email caught his eye. The sender was one of my long-time crypto clients, and the owner of a small hedge fund group here in the Asheville area, who also deals and trades cryptocurrency.
“Help!” the email read. “Our computer and server were hit by a ransomware attack overnight. Our users’ wallets have been encrypted, and the hackers are demanding a massive Bitcoin payment to decrypt everything. What should we do?”
Ransomware attacks on cryptocurrency companies were becoming increasingly common, but they were never fun. I quickly typed back that I would come right over to take a look. I could see the owner and his traders were in a panic when i arrived. Everyone was crowded around computer screens covered in ominous ransom demands. How bad is it he asked?
The hackers say we have 48 hours to pay, or they’ll delete everything!” I sat down at one of the infected computers and started poking around. The ransomware used robust encryption algorithms, but like most malicious software, it had vulnerabilities I thought I could exploit.
I worked methodically, analyzing the code, studying how it communicated with command and control servers, and mapping out how it moved laterally across the network. A few hours later, my persistence paid off. I discovered a flaw in how the malware handled cryptographic keys during the encryption process. It was complex, but I managed to reverse-engineer the ransomware’s algorithms just enough to extract the master decryption key.
Finally Progress Is Now Right Around the Corner
I let out a sigh of relief as I was finally able to unlock a test wallet using the decrypted key. “I’ve got it,” I told the anxious owner. “I should be able to write a custom decrypted to unlock all your users’ wallets and computers.”
“That’s incredible!” the owner said, tears in his eyes. “I can’t thank you enough!
Over the next several hours, I finished building and running the decryption tool. Wallet after the wallet was unlocked, funds were restored. The hackers may have won the battle by infecting the computers on the network initially, but thanks to my skills and determination, they lost the war.
Also, I recommended I redo all the computers and laptops and install a Linux operating system on all of the company PCs, specializing in the highest security against attacks like this. I use Linux operating systems exclusively for financial trading and any cryptocurrency.
Twenty hours later, I finally went home to collapse into bed.
I was happy to have helped the investment owners and their customers recover from a devastating cyber attack. The ransomware crooks would have to look elsewhere for their next score. For me, Glen, the IT pro, it was just another malware attack thwarted.
It was an expensive lesson about opening an email without looking at the senders email address and also double checking with another colleague to verify it.