Charity begins at home goes the adage, but a new strain of ransomware takes that phrase and evolves it into something unique.

GoodWill is a new ransomware variant that was identified by Indian cybersecurity firm CloudSEK in March. Much like other forms of ransomware, GoodWill encrypts documents, photos and other files before demanding a ransom for an encryption key.

However, rather than sending Bitcoin to a wallet, GoodWill tells the victim to perform three socially driven tasks.

These include:

• “Donating new clothes to the homeless and record evidence to post on social media
• Take five less fortunate children to Dominos Pizza or KFC. Evidence of this must be posted to social media
• Provide financial assistance to anyone who needs urgent medical attention but cannot afford. Record audio evidence and share with the operators.”

Once these tasks are complete, the victim of the ransomware attack must post to social media about how the ransomware transformed them into a kind human being. The evidence must then be shared with the ransomware operators for verification at which point the victim will be sent the decryption kit.

“Our researchers were able to trace the email address, provided by the ransomware group, back to an India-based IT security solutions & services company, that provides end-to-end managed security services,” CloudSEK told The Economic Times.

If we’re to be 100 percent honest, we’re not sure how to feel about this. On one hand, cybercrime is illegal and encrypting a target’s drive could prove costly. On the other hand, GoodWill is forcing people to do some social good rather than paying a faceless nameless ne’er-do-well somewhere.

While we commend the attackers for flipping the script as regards cybercrime and ransomware, ransomware is still incredibly dangerous. Should GoodWill hit a company for instance, the jobs that company provides could be at risk, especially if it doesn’t abide by the payment conditions and never receives a decryption kit.

GoodWill is an interesting ransomware variant but at the end of the day it’s still ransomware. Be vigilant but also maybe, do something for social good as well, just in case GoodWill is watching.

[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]