As cyber policing increases and more resources are poured into it hackers will turn to a new form of malware that surfaced last year with the discovery of Dorkbot/NGRbot. This malware had embedded code that if altered, would self-destruct and wipe out all information on the hard drive. Sophisticated self-destruct mechanisms will be added to malware for hackers to cover their tracks. We could also see it emerge as a component within ransomware, that is, if a ransom isn’t paid with a set time frame, data will be destroyed.
1. Blastware to destroy systems, erase data and cover hacker tracks
This destructive new trend of malware, following Scareware and Ransomware could lead to the ability for hackers to infiltrate systems, gather data and then wipe out the information to on systems and hard drives to cover tracks and thwart forensics. The first indications of Blastware were observed in 2014 in the guise of Dorkbot/NGRbot, where the hackers had code routines built in, that if altered, would self-destruct and wipe out all information on the hard drive.
This is a direct counter response to the rise of incident response services. Fortinet predicts that APT developers will build in sophisticated self-destruct mechanisms in seek and destroy fashion that could hamper law enforcement and forensics efforts as these resources increase to fight cyber crime. Hackers may also seek to use these tactics for ransom – i.e. to destroy data if ransom isn’t paid in a certain timeframe.