On Ransomware, PNP and Infosec

Technology

“I’m so three thousand and eight
You so two thousand and late”
Boom Boom Pow, Black Eyed Peas

And so our beloved Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) warned the Filipino citizenry about ransomware. Wow! I’m lost for words, so let me just sing a song from the the Black Eyed Peas instead

We have this quote/saying in Filipino “Huli man daw at magaling, naihahabol din!” So let me welcome the Philippine National Police, PNP-ACG to the Ransomware party! Habol na lang mga Boss Chief, kaya natin ito!

On the brighter side of things, I’m happy that our PNP finally gave some warning about the dangers of ransomware. I know they are doing their best in keeping up with the latest threats and cybercrime and as a responsible Pinoy infosec (information security) dude here in the Philippines, I support  them on these efforts.

On the geeky tech side of things, Ransomware started sprouting like mushrooms in the last 2~3 years (or maybe more). How do I know this one? I’m just lucky, because I eat malware for breakfast (almost every day) 🙂  I am very thankful that I am part of this wonderful team that helps protect the world from these types of online threats! I love you TM Team! 🙂

So when I read GMAnews article on PNP, Ransomware it brings back “senti” ransomware moments because if I remember it correctly, the first ransomware that caught my interest was the Bundespolizei Police Ransomware (around 2012). Bundespolizei is Germany’s Police force and that ransomware variant pretends to becoming from the German Police entity and it demands payments/ransom from the victims. More geeky details of the German police ransomware here . Police and ransomware always go together pala talaga! Hehehe!

I also promised on my some blogging thoughts  post that I will do something different on my blog this year so let me take this opportunity to launch (or re-launch) my infosec/security focused blog AVsecurityProductManager.com. I have posted a Ransomware inspired article there and this is a shameless plug so please visit me there too.

For more details about Ransomware please visit Trend Micro Ransomware info page

Before we end, some disclosure: I work at Trend Micro. The views expressed in this blog are mine and mine alone (and do not necessarily represent my employer’s positions, strategies or opinions). Read my about page on what I do.

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