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Farmer protests in India have garnered significant attention from around the world , and the protest that started on the roads and the railway track has now reached cyberspace.
According to a report by cybersecurity firm, Quick Heal, a new ransomware Sarbloh is being distributed via malicious Word documents that contain political message supporting farmer community.
The downloaded ransomware encrypts the files on the system with extension .sarbloh and shows the ransom note. In this case, the attack does not ask for money, but demands justice for farmers.
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The attack led by Khalsa Cyber Fauj uses military-grade encryption on system files to make them useless. Quick Heal researchers said the attackers want to convey a message that victim's data will not be recovered until demands of the farmers are met.
“Your files are locked. Your files are gone. They will not be recoverable until the demands of the farmers have been met,” the starting of the note reads.
“The latest Sarbloh ransomware that appears to be working in the favor of farmers without any monetary gains is a testimony to their growing attack abilities,” Himanshu Dubey, Director - Quick Heal Security Labs said in a statement.
Quick Heal advised users not to download any documents coming from unknown emails and messages. Besides, it asked users to avoid clicking unverified links and those in spam email.
