The fact that ransomware infections are through the roof is not really new anymore, but the fact that someone created a ransomware that requires victims to play a game and get a top score to get their files back sure is.
According to Malware Hunter Team, rensenWare forces players to get a high score in a rather difficult PC game in order to decrypt their files. Normally, hackers demand people to pay the Bitcoin equivalent of a few hundred bucks to get their files back.
So what do these guys want? Well, first of all, the malware will encrypt documents, music files, pictures and “some kinda project files.”
Secondly, they want you to score over 0.2 billion in LUNATIC level of TH12 – Undefined Fantastic Object. While that may not sound that difficult, it actually is, especially if you’re not that good a gamer.
Of course, this isn’t exactly the worst type of ransomware out there, and it’s clear it was made as a joke. In fact, its creator, an individual who goes on Twitter by the handle Tvple Eraser, released an apology after RRansomwarewas made public.
“First of all, I’d like to apologise to everyone for making shocked, or annoyed. Ransomware is definitely kind of highly-fatal malware, but I made it. I made it for a joke and just laughing with people who like Touhou Project Series. So I distributed source code except for compiled binary on the web. However, at the point of the distribution, the tragedy was beginning,” the author, who often posts in Korean on Twitter, wrote in the apology letter.
The hacker admits it may have been a good idea to remove the encryption/decryption logic before distributing the code, but failed to do so. They admit that it’s natural for people to blame them for what resulted from the code sharing.