Cybersecurity company Avast on Wednesday announced the availability of free decryption tools for three pieces of ransomware: Babuk, AtomSilo and LockFile.
Users and organizations that had their files encrypted by these ransomware families can use the decryptors to recover their files.
Babuk emerged earlier this year and it targeted major organizations around the world. Avast managed to create the decryption tool based on the source code and decryption keys that were leaked by someone claiming to be part of the Babuk group a couple of months ago.
McAfee reported in July that errors in the attackers’ code made it impossible for some victims to recover their files, even if they had decided to pay the ransom.
The decryption tools for AtomSilo and LockFile were created based on an analysis conducted by Jiří Vinopal, a researcher from the Czech Republic.
AtomSilo emerged in September and quickly made headlines for exploiting a vulnerability in Atlassian’s Confluence collaboration software, and the use of DLL sideloading to make attacks more stealthy.
Vinopal discovered a flaw that allowed Avast to create a free decryptor, but the cybersecurity firm noted that some files, particularly ones with proprietary or unknown formats, may not be decrypted by its tool.
LockFile, which is very similar to AtomSilo, emerged in July and it made headlines due to its use of the ProxyShell exploits, as well as its intermittent encryption of files in an attempt to defeat detection by security tools.
The free decryption tools for Babuk, AtomSilo and LockFile are available as Windows executable files and they are easy to use.
The No More Ransom initiative currently provides free decryptors for more than 150 ransomware families. In July, the organization said it had helped more than 6 million ransomware victims recover their files and prevented cybercriminals from earning roughly $1 billion.
Related: Free Decryptor Released for BlackByte Ransomware
Related: Decryptor Released for Ransomware That Allegedly Helped Cybercriminals Make Millions
Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.
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