Ransomware developers have always been competitive, trying to get more victims involved in their scams. Nevertheless, during the recent months, we have been witnessing a boiling battle of the Titans as Osiris and Locky virus were competing for the top position in the most successful ransomware list. And it looks like the ruling of the notorious Locky is coming to an end with Osiris slowly but surely pushing it out of its throne. It is interesting that both of these infections were programmed by the same group of hackers. In fact, Osiris is considered as one of Locky’s follow-up versions. However, its new distribution strategies and better obfuscations techniques make it a serious competitor capable of outrunning its predecessor.
Over the last couple of years, the popularity of ransomware viruses has drastically sprung up as more and more hackers began to feel the itch of making some easy money. The success of this illegal money extortion technique has even inspired creators of other malware, (Tech Support Scams for instance), to adapt ransomware features in their own work. It is likely that this virus family will grow even more dangerous over time, so you have to be prepared to withstand it. Either you find yourself in the target of Osiris or Locky, be sure you have backup copies of your important files saves somewhere safe, preferably, on some external storage device.