{"id":9097,"date":"2017-04-25T13:40:07","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T20:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.hellotech.com\/?p=9097"},"modified":"2023-02-02T12:58:30","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T20:58:30","slug":"rensenware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware","title":{"rendered":"Brush Up on Your Gaming Skills&#8230; or RensenWare Could Lock Your Files Up for Good"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Video games are fun except when losing means you lose access to your hard drive. That\u2019s exactly what a new kind of ransomware, aptly named RensenWare, does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a refresher, ransomware is a kind of malware that holds your files hostage when it gets your computer infected. This malicious software typically forces you to pay a ransom if you wish to regain access to your encrypted data. It\u2019s a really serious problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Curiously, a new strain is out there and it requires you to pay a different kind of ransom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-rensenware-unleashed\">RensenWare Unleashed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>RensenWare isn\u2019t like your usual ransomware. While most of its kind requires victims to pay cash to recover their files, this new strain demands a unique ransom: be a high scorer in an anime-style arcade game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Named after the anime game <em>Touhou Seirensen (Undefined Fantastic Object)<\/em>, RensenWare will require you to score over 200 million points on the game\u2019s \u201clunatic\u201d level. As the name suggests, it\u2019s the game\u2019s highest difficulty level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fail to deliver what RensenWare requires you to do and you will no longer be able to access all your computers files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-not-so-fun-game\">A Not-So-Fun Game<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Originally developed by a Korea-based undergraduate student who goes by the name <em>Tvple Eraser<\/em>, RensenWare was supposed to be a joke. A pun on the name of a Japanese shooting game that was released in 2009, it shows infected users an anime sailor girl pop-up on a dashboard. It doesn\u2019t look scary too scary at first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Upon closer inspection, however, it reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMinamitsu \u2018The Captain\u2019 Murasa encrypted your precious data like documents, musics, pictures, and some kind project files.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<em>How can I recover my files?<\/em> That\u2019s easy. You just play <em>TH12 ~ Undefined Fantastic Object<\/em> and score over 0.2 billion in LUNATIC level. This application will detect <em>TH12<\/em> process[es] and score automatically.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Doesn\u2019t seem too fun, does it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-shutting-down-isn-t-an-option\">Shutting Down Isn\u2019t an Option<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As scary as these may sound, the good news is that the ransomware\u2019s creator didn\u2019t try to distribute the malware at all. In fact, he apologized for such a dangerous joke and has released a <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/0x00000FF\/rensenware_force\/releases\">tool to bypass RensenWare\u2019s encrypted file lock<\/a> for anyone who may have downloaded the original malware by accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Tvple Eraser<\/em>, the RensenWare creator, simply released this malware into GitHub. He then recalls falling asleep right after and then waking up realizing the malware had begun wreaking havoc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He\u2019s not sure how many folks have been infected by accident, so he swiftly designed a downloadable piece of software to neutralize his own ransomware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When asked whether he\u2019s capable of scoring 0.2 billion in the game\u2019s most punishing level, <em>Tvple Eraser<\/em> said: \u201cUh, oh\u2026 nope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-threat-could-be-out-there\">The Threat Could be Out There<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While the publicly available encryption key and RensenWare\u2019s cooperative creator may give victims a shed of hope, it\u2019s not improbable that someone could have copied the malware for their own devious ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Put simply: it isn\u2019t a far possibility that an actual, malicious copy that blocks the removal tool could be in the works as we speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before the unthinkable happens, you\u2019d be wise to brush up on your <em>TH12 ~ Undefined Fantastic Object<\/em> skills on your downtime\u2014just in case. Or you could be getting yourself a close look at this odd ransomware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-better-be-safe-than-sorry\">Better Be Safe than Sorry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Ransomware is evidently on the rise so it\u2019s best that you do a couple of things to protect your data and yourself from such digital threats. For starters, know <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/protect-emails-from-malware-infection\/\">how to protect emails from malware infection<\/a>. Invest in a reliable cyber security software, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond these tips, you\u2019ll have to think about regularly backing up your data. It may be quite a chore to do so, but you\u2019ll one day be thankful you went through all that hassle to protect your files. Besides, there are a whole lot of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/portable-hard-drives-flash-ssd-sd\/\">handy portable drives<\/a> out there that can make your file transfer processes so much faster than what you expected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Video games are fun except when losing means you lose access to your hard drive. That\u2019s exactly what a new kind of ransomware, aptly named RensenWare, does. As a refresher, ransomware is a kind of malware that holds your files hostage when it gets your computer infected. This malicious software typically forces you to pay a ransom if you wish to regain access to your encrypted data. It\u2019s a really serious problem. Curiously, a new strain is out there and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9108,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17587,17593],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-staying-safe"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.10 (Yoast SEO v20.10) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Brush Up on Your Gaming Skills... or RensenWare Could Lock Your Files Up for Good<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Video games are fun except when losing means you lose access to your hard drive. That\u2019s exactly what a new kind of ransomware, aptly named RensenWare, does.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Brush Up on Your Gaming Skills... or RensenWare Could Lock Your Files Up for Good - The Plug - HelloTech\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Video games are fun except when losing means you lose access to your hard drive. That\u2019s exactly what a new kind of ransomware, aptly named RensenWare,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Plug - HelloTech\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hellotech\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-25T20:40:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-02T20:58:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/rensenware-min.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"426\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@HelloTech\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@HelloTech\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dec00225dd888a509740ace5e4d9de6c\"},\"headline\":\"Brush Up on Your Gaming Skills&#8230; or RensenWare Could Lock Your Files Up for Good\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-25T20:40:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-02T20:58:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware\"},\"wordCount\":685,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Staying Safe\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware\",\"name\":\"Brush Up on Your Gaming Skills... or RensenWare Could Lock Your Files Up for Good\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-25T20:40:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-02T20:58:30+00:00\",\"description\":\"Video games are fun except when losing means you lose access to your hard drive. That\u2019s exactly what a new kind of ransomware, aptly named RensenWare, does.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Brush Up on Your Gaming Skills&#8230; or RensenWare Could Lock Your Files Up for Good\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Plug - HelloTech\",\"description\":\"Turn to The Plug for informative tech news that you can use. \",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"HelloTech\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/HT-logo-revised-final.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/HT-logo-revised-final.png\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":174,\"caption\":\"HelloTech\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hellotech\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HelloTech\",\"http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/hello_tech\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCIR-fbAKRfVuAbciDr2z4nQ\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dec00225dd888a509740ace5e4d9de6c\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cbb537d18df244ad7d57a3639d94ede5cd90bf1fb742392af5731beaf11ffeb1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cbb537d18df244ad7d57a3639d94ede5cd90bf1fb742392af5731beaf11ffeb1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Brush Up on Your Gaming Skills... or RensenWare Could Lock Your Files Up for Good","description":"Video games are fun except when losing means you lose access to your hard drive. That\u2019s exactly what a new kind of ransomware, aptly named RensenWare, does.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Brush Up on Your Gaming Skills... or RensenWare Could Lock Your Files Up for Good - The Plug - HelloTech","og_description":"Video games are fun except when losing means you lose access to your hard drive. That\u2019s exactly what a new kind of ransomware, aptly named RensenWare,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware","og_site_name":"The Plug - HelloTech","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hellotech","article_published_time":"2017-04-25T20:40:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-02T20:58:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":426,"url":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/rensenware-min.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@HelloTech","twitter_site":"@HelloTech","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dec00225dd888a509740ace5e4d9de6c"},"headline":"Brush Up on Your Gaming Skills&#8230; or RensenWare Could Lock Your Files Up for Good","datePublished":"2017-04-25T20:40:07+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-02T20:58:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware"},"wordCount":685,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["News","Staying Safe"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware","url":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware","name":"Brush Up on Your Gaming Skills... or RensenWare Could Lock Your Files Up for Good","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-04-25T20:40:07+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-02T20:58:30+00:00","description":"Video games are fun except when losing means you lose access to your hard drive. That\u2019s exactly what a new kind of ransomware, aptly named RensenWare, does.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/rensenware#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Brush Up on Your Gaming Skills&#8230; or RensenWare Could Lock Your Files Up for Good"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/","name":"The Plug - HelloTech","description":"Turn to The Plug for informative tech news that you can use. ","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"HelloTech","url":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/HT-logo-revised-final.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/HT-logo-revised-final.png","width":1000,"height":174,"caption":"HelloTech"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hellotech","https:\/\/twitter.com\/HelloTech","http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/hello_tech","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCIR-fbAKRfVuAbciDr2z4nQ"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dec00225dd888a509740ace5e4d9de6c","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cbb537d18df244ad7d57a3639d94ede5cd90bf1fb742392af5731beaf11ffeb1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cbb537d18df244ad7d57a3639d94ede5cd90bf1fb742392af5731beaf11ffeb1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}