Try this One Weird Trick Russian Hackers Hate

Try This One Weird Trick Russian Hackers Hate:

In a Twitter discussion last week on ransomware attacks, KrebsOnSecurity noted that virtually all ransomware strains have a built-in failsafe designed to cover the backsides of the malware purveyors: They simply will not install on a Microsoft Windows computer that already has one of many types of virtual keyboards installed - such as Russian or Ukrainian. So many readers had questions in response to the tweet that I thought it was worth a blog post exploring this one weird cyber defense trick.

[...] DarkSide, like a great many other malware strains, has a hard-coded do-not-install list of countries which are the principal members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) - former Soviet satellites that mostly have favorable relations with the Kremlin.[*]

Simply put, countless malware strains will check for the presence of one of these languages on the system, and if they're detected the malware will exit and fail to install.

[...] Will installing one of these languages keep your Windows computer safe from all malware? Absolutely not. There is plenty of malware that doesn't care where in the world you are. And there is no substitute for adopting a defense-in-depth posture, and avoiding risky behaviors online.

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