Cisco Ransomware Tool Can Now Decrypt All Versions of TeslaCrypt

Albeit the Teslacrypt developers released the master decryption key on the Internet a few weeks ago, it has taken security firm Cisco quite some time to develop an anti ransomware tool. Now that their tool is ready, users can freely decrypt files infected by all four versions of TelsaCrypt.

TeslaCrypt Is No Longer A Costly Threat

Although the new decryption tool by Cisco will decrypt files held hostage by any version of TeslaCrypt, it remains annoying to deal with Bitcoin ransomware. Luckily, the security firms have gotten a lot of help from the ransomware developers themselves, as they released the decryption key on the Internet several weeks ago.

Cisco is the second company to update their decryption tool, nullifying the threat once posed by this popular Bitcoin ransomware. Kaspersky Labs updated their Rakhni utility a while ago, which now decrypts files affected by TeslaCrypt 3 and 4. Users dealing with this nasty malware will not have to pay the Bitcoin fee ever again.

Cisco Talos Security Research Engineer Earl Carter told the media:

“We’re not sure [the master key] works on previous versions. Version 2 had a flaw and was decrypted, plus we had the decryptor for the original. All the different decryptors required the user to figure out which version they were infected with and find the right decryptor. We updated our original tool so that now everything is in one spot.”

It has to be said, the decision by TeslaCrypt developers to shut down the project remains rather strange to this very day. Bitcoin ransomware is a lucrative business model, and TeslaCrypt was causing its fair share of havoc all over the world. However, this particular strain of malware was also subject to being picked apart by security experts, as there were some significant vulnerabilities in its encryption model.

While TeslaCrypt may no longer be a significant threat to computer users around the world, there are still plenty of other types of Bitcoin ransomware in circulation. Every type of malware used different encryption standards and some of them are openly taunting security experts. The threat is far from over, but for now, there is one less contender to deal with.

Source: Threatpost

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