"Defray Ransomware Used in Targeted Attacks on Education and Healthcare Verticals"
New ransomware by the name of “Defray” has recently been discovered by researchers at Proofpoint, which is being used in a campaign to specifically target education and healthcare organizations. Researchers have revealed that this ransomware uses Microsoft Word document attachments within email for distribution. The perpetrators behind Defray are asking victims to pay $5,000, while allowing them to negotiate for a lower payment amount. Researchers have also revealed that once encryption is completed by the Defray ransomware, various malicious activities may be performed on the targeted system such as the disabling of startup recovery, deletion of column shadow copies, and more. This article further discusses what has been discovered in the examination of Defray ransomware by researchers.