Politics and ransomware. No, it’s not a lost single from the Oasis back catalogue, but in fact a relatively recent tactic by ransomware developers looking to exploit the profiles of major politicians to install ransomware on victims’ computers. Donald Trump, Angela Merkel, and now Barack Obama all serve as lures for the unsuspecting. Despite its claims, does the “Obama campaign” deliver the ransomware it advertises? Well, perhaps not.
Recently identified by the MalwareHunterTeam and documented by Bleeping Computer, the Obama campaign displayed some confusing characteristics. For example, it encrypted only .exe files and asked for a tip to decrypt the files. This campaign does not behave like normal ransomware variants, which typically target user data files rather than .exe files.
This unorthodoxy got us thinking: Was there a nation-state behind this campaign? At present, there is not enough evidence to confirm its source, although the language resources are in simplified Chinese.
