Nubeva, a cybersecurity decryption specialist, has applied for a U.S. patent to accelerate delivery of its customized decryptor technology to victims plundered by ransomware, company officials said.
Ransomware decryptors are the linchpin that cyber extortionists hold over the figurative heads of their victims, threatening that should a company withhold ransom payments their data will remain permanently locked, destroyed, or sometimes worse, posted publicly.
According to the San Jose, California-based Nubeva, its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered Ransomware Reversal decryptor builder customizes decryptors for customers affected by new ransomware variants. That helps to reduce recovery time for organizations struck by ransom demands.
Building a Decryptor Within an Hour
Nubeva said it can build a custom decryptor within an hour after an organization ‘s systems are grabbed by a cyberattacker. Nubeva’s ransomware reversal software is available to end-user enterprises, managed security service providers, incident responders, and cybersecurity solution manufacturers.
Nubeva's cloud-based technology uses a private, cryptographically trained AI engine to analyze sample encrypted data using the captured keys to determine the appropriate decryption methods and mechanisms. The technology can then write the decryptor software, test kits, and documentation to improve the efficiency of creating decryptors for novel ransomware variants.
The company, which expects to begin production of its technology later this year, aims to provide quicker recovery solutions for affected organizations.
Steve Perkins, Nubeva chief marketing officer, explained how the company’s “primary value” is in helping company’s get systems back online:
“We specialize in decrypting ransomware by capturing encryption keys, which is the hardest part of the process and something we've mastered. With those keys, our expert team builds decryptors, and we continue to add to our growing library. But our vision has always been that when a customer is hit with a new variant, we build and deliver a custom decryptor within an hour. By leveraging AI, we're enhancing a process we've already mastered, speeding up the creation of crucial decryptors. This innovation provides further confidence to our customers and reduces the time and expertise required as threat actors continue to evolve.”
No More Ransoms?
Nubeva’s business case for its technology is that it eliminates the need to pay ransoms.
Ensuring rapid and reliable data restoration helps organizations minimize operational disruptions, data loss, and the associated financial and other losses and delivers a new level of business resilience against ransomware, officials said.
Last month, in a third-party evaluation conducted by MISI, Nubeva’s Ransomware Reversal technology achieved a 100% success rate, passing all seventeen prescribed tests without any failures. It demonstrated a 100% key capture rate from a diverse range of specific high-profile ransomware strains tested against, including Lockbit, Ragnar Locker, and BlackBasta. In addition, security assessments found no observed vulnerabilities or unnecessary network ports opened.
