Petya Ransomware Has a Variant Called GoldenEye That's Also Spreading Fast

As Petya ransomware spreads at a drastic rate world over targeting businesses and government agencies, security firm Bitdefender has identified a variant of this Ransomware that's straight from a Bond movie and is ironically called GoldenEye.

Petya Ransomware is a malware that holds crucial files hostage and then demands $300 in bitcoin before victims can regain access.

The variant GoldenEye goes a step further with two layers of encryption and the researchers say that it locks up both your files as well as your system. As per reports, the malware forces an infected PC to reboot as soon as it finishes encrypting files, so you'll see the ransom demands as soon as possible.

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There's also a hidden Trojan on Petya that steals victims' usernames and passwords. Just like WannaCry attacks a couple of months ago, both GoldenEye and Petya effect only Windows PCs and not Mac users.

So what's the difference between WannaCry and Petya? If you are affected by Petya, there is no accidental kill switch that you can accidentally or intentionally trigger, which was the case in WannaCry.