Ransomware is a huge shadow over many businesses and individuals’ heads. It has loomed as a significant threat since the first stains hit the internet inside malicious zip files masquerading as “Xerox” documents. Since that time ransomware and the groups behind it have evolved significantly. At the top of the food chain are groups like Hive and Conti who have not only evolved their own tools but utilize strategic approaches to their organizations complete with acquisitions and, in some cases, attempted legitimate business fronts to further their activities.

There is an old saying that say, what someone can lock, someone else can unlock. This is usually used regarding attackers getting into a network or compromising protected data. It is not often applied to security researchers unlocking information encrypted by a major ransomware threat group. However, this is exactly what has happened as researchers at Kookmin University in South Korea say they have utilized a flaw in the encryption method used by Hive Ransomware to find a way to unlock it.