Security News > 2021 > April > A ransomware gang made $260,000 in 5 days using the 7zip utility
A ransomware gang has made $260,000 in just five days simply by remotely encrypting files on QNAP devices using the 7zip archive program.
While most ransomware groups put considerable development time in their malware to make it efficient, feature-rich, and have strong encryption, the Qlocker gang didn't even have to create their own malware program.
These exploits allowed the threat actors to remotely execute the 7zip archival utility to password protect all the files on victims' NAS storage devices.
Using such a simple approach allowed them to encrypt over a thousand, if not thousands, of devices in just five days using a time-tested encryption algorithm built into the 7zip archive utility.
Enterprise-targeting ransomware usually demands ransom payments ranging from $100,000 to $50 million to decrypt all of a victim's devices and not leak their stolen data.
As the Qlocker ransomware uses a fixed set of Bitcoin addresses that victims are rotated through, it has been possible for BleepingComputer to collect the addresses and monitor their payments.