In this webcast we overview the results of our analysis of the current desktop and mobile ransomware families, describing their common and peculiar characteristics. We describe how ransomware acts when observed running within a sandbox, and how decoy machines should be prepared in order to correctly trigger their actions and collect useful IOCs. Then, we present HelDroid, a fast, efficient and fully automated static analyzer that recognizes known and unknown mobile scareware and ransomware samples from goodware. In particular, HelDroid detects, in a generic way, if an app is attempting to lock and/or encrypt the device without the user's consent, and if ransom-requesting messages are displayed on the screen using text analysis.
Federico Maggi is an Assistant Professor at Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione, Politecnico di Milano in Italy, working at the NECST Laboratory. Specifically, his research interests are in analysis of internet threats, and in particular malware analysis. Federico is instructor of the graduate-level course of computer security at Politecnico di Milano and has been invited in several venues to give lectures and talks about his research work.
Andrea Continella is a PhD student in Computer Science and Engineering at Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria (DEIB), Politecnico di Milano in Italy, working at the NECST Laboratory. His research activity is mainly focused on computer security and in particular on malware analysis. Andrea has been working on analysis and defense mechanisms against advanced malware, including for example the current generation of trojan horses, or the infamous ransomware families.
Meg Diaz is a member of the products team at OpenDNS, where she is responsible for the strategy and development of multiple products. Diaz has been in the security industry for more than seven years, with experience in network, endpoint, cloud and data security. Prior to OpenDNS, she worked at RSA, The Security Division of EMC in various roles. Diaz graduated with honors from Cornell University, where she majored in applied economics and management and minored in communication.