Free Decryptor Released for BitLocker-Based ShrinkLocker Ransomware Victims
Nov 13, 2024
Ransomware / Data Protection
Romanian cybersecurity company Bitdefender has released a free decryptor to help victims recover data encrypted using the ShrinkLocker ransomware. The decryptor is the result of a comprehensive analysis of ShrinkLocker's inner workings, allowing the researchers to discover a "specific window of opportunity for data recovery immediately after the removal of protectors from BitLocker-encrypted disks." ShrinkLocker was first documented in May 2024 by Kaspersky, which found the malware's use of Microsoft's native BitLocker utility for encrypting files as part of extortion attacks targeting Mexico, Indonesia, and Jordan. It appears to have been adapted from benign ten-year-old code. Bitdefender, which investigated a ShrinkLocker incident targeting an unnamed healthcare company in the Middle East, said the attack likely originated from a machine belonging to a contractor, once again highlighting how threat actors are increasingly abusing trusted relationships to ...
