“Bad Rabbit” Malware

You may have seen media coverage this morning about another widespread ransomware attack, called “Bad Rabbit,” that has impacted thousands of computers in Europe. Ransomware is software that encrypts your files and then demands payment to the attacker for the decryption key. While there have been few reports of attacks in the United States so far, that may change through the day.

The malware spreads when the attacker infects an advertisement or an image on a website. (Many less-reputable websites don’t thoroughly check their advertisements.) When you visit the website, the infected advertisement presents a pop-up pretending to be an Adobe Flash software update. Clicking on the update installs the malware and begins the encryption process.

What can you do to protect yourself?

Your FIT computer is running antivirus software that will protect it from Bad Rabbit. However, antivirus software is not foolproof, so please follow the following guidelines, both at FIT and on your personal computers.  

• Be careful what sites you visit on the internet. Less reputable websites are less vigilant about checking advertisements and images.
• Make sure you have antivirus running on personal computers. To learn more about how to download free Sophos Antivirus for your personal computers, follow the instructions on the IT Cybersafe webpage.
• For the next week or so, don’t click on Adobe updates. As a rule, only click on updates where your computer tells you it has verified the publisher.
• Don’t store important files on your computer’s C: drive (local drive). Those files are not backed up, so if they are lost or damaged due to malware or mechanical failure, you can’t recover them. Store important files on an FIT file server or Google Drive.

Where can you get more information?
Here are additional articles about Bad Rabbit

• CNN Money     
• Newsweek

About Cybersafe
The Division of Information Technology is dedicated to informing the community of the latest cybersecurity threats. Visit fitnyc.edu/cybersafe and stay tuned for emails from [email protected] for the latest from the Cybersafe campaign at FIT.

Be aware—and be cybersafe!

Questions? Comments? Email [email protected] or call 212 217.HELP (4357).