Data wipers posing as ransomware are being distributed through malicious adult websites, BleepingComputer reports.
Threat actors have leveraged websites with host names suggesting that they were offering nude photos, which seek users to download the SexyPhotos.JPG.exe executable, a report from Cyble revealed.
Double-clicking the JPG-impersonating executable prompts the deployment and execution of four other executables and a batch file, which then copies the executables to the Windows Startup folder to build persistence. One of the executables dubbed "windowss.exe" triggers the delivery of the "windows.bat" file tasked for file renaming, while another executable "windll.exe" prompts the delivery of ransom notes.
While no data has been stolen by the fraudulent ransomware strain, it has been found to have the capability to delete nearly all files within victims' drives, according to researchers.
"Even if a decryptor is provided, renaming files to their original file name is impossible as the malware is not storing them anywhere during the infection," researchers added.
U.S. critical infrastructure organizations have been noted by the Department of Homeland Security to be at risk of cyberattacks leveraging artificial intelligence, with China and other nation-states exploiting the technology to deploy more advanced malware attacks and influence operations, CyberScoop reports.
Russia-based threat actors have been blamed by Bermuda Premier David Burt for being behind significant internet outages across the British overseas territory and another government in the Caribbean, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.