A new ransomware ‘Bad Rabbit’ strikes Russia and Ukraine

A new ransomware “Bad Rabbit” is sweeping Russia and Ukraine, among other Eastern European countries. Initial targets include Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure and Kiev’s public transportation system. The Russian news service Interfax also issued an official update stating that it had been hacked and that it was working to restore its systems.

Once it infects a computer, Bad Rabbit displays a message in red letters on a black background, reminding of an aesthetic used in the massive NotPetya ransomware outbreak.

#BadRabbit #cryptor attacked a number of Russia's major media. @interfax_news pic.twitter.com/5iLNs131Ml

— Group-IB (@GroupIB_GIB) October 24, 2017

On Tuesday, the virus attacked Russian media groups Interfax and Fontanka, and transportation targets in Ukraine including Odessa's airport, Kiev's subway and the country's Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, according to Russian cybersecurity firm Group-IB. Interfax also confirmed its servers had gone down due to a cyberattack.

According to the Kaspersky Lab, Bad Rabbit infections have been detected in Turkey and Germany as well. “Based on our investigation, this is a targeted attack against corporate networks, using methods similar to those used in the attack,” the firm reported. “However, we cannot confirm it is related to . We continue our investigation.”