power malware

Goodwill malware forces you to do good

Recently a new type of ransomware has been discovered. Instead of traditional ransomware that asks for…well ransom, the hackers ask you for good deeds instead. The software, called Goodwill, encrypts your data, only to be unlocked after three good deeds. To verify people actually follow through, they have to post their deeds on social media. Only after they have completed their good deeds, will they receive instructions to decrypt their data.

With so much more of our modern society moving to the online world, it is inevitable that activism (or hacktivism) will increasingly take on digital forms as well. For example, throughout the war in Ukraine.