The experts from threat intelligence firm Recorded Future have informed  about a new threat – the ransomware called Karmen, capable of encrypting files on the infected PC using the strong AES-256 encryption protocol. The files remain inaccessible until the victim decides to pays a large sum of money for the decryption key.

Unlike the most ransomware-type programs, Karmen is a particularly vicious. The virus is known to permanently delete its decryptor if a sandbox environment or antivirus software is detected on the victim's computer. In case like this, even if the victim pays the ransom, she or he will never regain access to the encrypted files.

This is yet another example of how important it is to make backup copy of our data, especially when we come across such a malicious ransomware like Karmen.

Recorded Future company also reports that the virus was created by a group of German and Russian cybercriminals and could be the beginning of a larger spam campaign aimed at the corporate networks.