NotPetya: Cyber Attack Prevention through Awareness via Gamification

Abstract

NotPetya, when released in 2017, was believed to be ransomware. NotPetya injects malicious codes in the computer and then attempts to gain administrator access. Following that, it infects other computers in the network. NotPetya uses the EternalBlue Server Message Block (SMB) exploit to conduct the attacks. The hard drives get encrypted, and when the computer is booted, the ransom note is displayed. NotPetya does not provide enough information for a decryption key to be produced, making it a malware. Businesses across industries have been affected without having an opportunity for system recovery. While definite solutions are lacking, vaccines exist, where, the presence of a local file, blocks the NotPetya execution. Activating the vaccine can be tedious and cumbersome for average computer users. Hence, our solution is intended to educate them in an interactive manner. Users will be more susceptible towards the vaccination while learning about security habits that need to be practiced. From this, average computer users can walk away with the knowledge that can protect them from future attacks.