One of the most well-known and dangerous attacks in the online world is ransomware attacks . These attacks result in the encryption of a computer's files by someone else and in order to decrypt them, the owner of the infected device is required to pay a ransom to the hackers in order to receive the decryption keys. One ransomware that seems to be making the rounds on the internet lately is the Muhstik Ransomware, in which the hackers demand a ransom in Bitcoin , worth around $700, to get your files back.
However, it seems that now some of the hackers using this ransomware may have found their teacher! Specifically, some hackers attacked and encrypted files belonging to a programmer named Tobias Fromel. While Fromel had to pay the ransom to get his files back, the hackers did not know that he also had some knowledge of hacking and who decided to get his revenge by hacking the command and control server belonging to the attackers!
While he didn't manage to catch them, what he did manage to do was obtain around 3,000 decryption keys, which he then leaked for free on Pastebin. This means that if you're a victim of the Muhstik attack and don't want to pay the ransom to get your files back, there's a chance that the decryption key is among the ones Fromel leaked.
A company called Emsisoft has also released a decryptor that will help victims decrypt computers . Meanwhile, Fromel acknowledges that while he has gotten his revenge, his actions aren't exactly legal.
