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Vacinate?
There's no cure for the latest ransomware attack, but a researcher has discovered a way to prevent infection through the creation of a single Windows file.As reported by Bleeping Computer, there is a way to prevent infection -- not cure, but protect from -- which takes no more than a few minutes of your time.
After investigating the Petya ransomware, Cybereason security researcher Amit Serper realized that if the malware is downloaded and executes on an infected system, the ransomware looks for a specific local file and will both exit and not encrypt a system if that file is found.
In order to enable the preventative measure, an extensionless file called perfc needs to be created in the C:\Windows folder and made read-only.Create a single file to protect yourself from the latest ransomware attack | ZDNetThis is not a kill-switch for Petya. As of the time of writing, no researcher has been able to find a way to create one to shut down the campaign. However, this is a measure that can protect individual systems -- at least, for now.
As the workaround is now public, it is possible the Petya operators will modify the malware's source to negate these defenses. Patching, as in many cases, is king.