This New Ransomware Is So Broken It Permanently Destroys Your Files Instead of Encrypting Them

Ransomware attacks have grown in complexity and frequency over the past decade, but as horrible as an attack can be, malicious actors often honor the ransom and decrypt files after receiving payment. With the rise of VECT 2.0 ransomware, however, engineers at Check Point Research have found that the malware encrypts data improperly, and it cannot actually be decrypted afterward, effectively destroying the data. This means that if you or your business fall victim to VECT 2.0 ransomware, the data will be lost forever even if you pony up the ransom, unless you had a secure backup, of course.

While data loss or theft due to ransomware attacks is commonly an expected outcome whether or not the ransom is paid, it's unusual for the ransomware to be so poorly-coded that the criminals are incapable of decrypting captured data. Despite the recent partnership between the VECT developers and ...