Ransomware makers TeslaCrypt have shut down after saying sorry for all the damage they caused.
This move, which has allowed anti-ransomware researchers to create a fool-proof decryption app, TeslaDecoder. The ransomware would hunt down and encrypt video games on your Windows PC, something that I suspect upset quite a few gamers in the few years that the malware was active.
The news means that many hard drives that were rendered useless by the malware are now available and almost every file can be accessed using the unlock system.
“I cannot thank everyone enough. One customer of ours has all his holiday pictures and videos from back to 2008 encrypted,” said jwhitted24 “We saved the drive just incase this was decrypted.”
TeslaCrypt’s website was on the Tor network and now consists of a master key and an apology. Obviously the only real way to beat ransomware is to have regular backups but, barring that, this rare occurrence is the next best thing.