PayPal receives patent for ransomware detection technology

PayPal for a strategy for detecting and stopping ransomware attacks.

in accordance with US patent number 10262138, issued on April 16, PayPal believes it could possibly discover the early degrees of a ransomware infection, and take one of two moves --to cease the encryption method, or to shop a replica of the untainted original file to a faraway server, before it receives encrypted, as a backup, so it can be restored in a while.

How PayPal can become aware of ransomware

at the patent's coronary heart is the method in which PayPal claims it might probably observe the onset of a ransomware infection.

PayPal says that its device will stay up for when local information are loaded internal a computer's memory cache equipment, the vicinity all info are loaded when an application needs to execute an operation.

PayPal's device will seek a undeniable motion pattern --when the file is duplicated, and excessive-entropy (encryption) operations are performed on the replica.

here is a common technique used via many ransomware strains, which encrypt a duplicate of the common file, after which permanently delete the fashioned, sending the encrypted reproduction for storage on disk, to change the legit file.

PayPal's solution is to detect this sample and introduce a whitelist of purposes that are allowed to perform such moves.

If the app process executing these operations isn't on the whitelist, PayPal's equipment will cease the manner, and/or ship a copy of the customary file to a far off cloud service for backup storage.

different ransomware detection systems developed during the past

The theory is unique when compared to other ransomware detection techniques.

as an instance, in early 2016, a US developer named Sean Williams created a ransomware detection equipment for Linux programs known as Cryptostalker that monitored the filesystem for newly written information, and if the files were created at excessive speeds and that they contained random statistics (the signal of encrypted content material), Cryptostalker would stop the file writing manner and alert the system proprietor.

in a similar fashion, in December 2016, cyber-security firm Cybereason released the now-defunct RansomFree app, which detected the onset of a ransomware infection using folder names containing special characters that ensured ransomware would first encrypt data saved in these directories earlier than the rest. RansomFree worked by way of monitoring info in these folders for changes, detecting the system that made the adjustments, and stopping it.

one more ransomware detection gadget turned into covered with home windows 10 v1709, released in October 2017, with the addition of the controlled Folder entry characteristic, rebranded as Ransomware insurance policy in view that home windows 10 v1803.