Ranflood: the Italian answer to ransomware, the new open-source tool

The research group of the University of Bologna in collaboration with Arpae Emilia-Romagna has made available to users a new free and open-source tool, called Ranflood , to counter the growing and dangerous advent of ransomware. Ranflood uses a unique strategy to thwart these attacks by acting as a "dynamic trap" for viruses. This sophisticated software provides the virus with decoy files, bringing to light the attack in progress and thus allowing the user to implement defensive strategies.

Ranflood: a simple yet effective defender against ransomware

Regularly subjected to sophisticated tests in a controlled environment, this revolutionary tool has proven effective against some of the most well-known ransomware such as WannaCry, notorious for paralyzing the UK healthcare system in 2017, and LockBit, the malware responsible for disabling Lazio Region services in 2021. According to data released by the University of Bologna and published in Computer & Security, one of the major IT security magazines, Ranflood offers up to 94% effective protection against attacks.

How ranflood works and the future of cybersecurity

In the face of this devastating wave of attacks, Ranflood positions himself as an indispensable tool. It works by diverting the efficiency of the ransomware, directing it to bait files, and allowing the user time to fight back. As? Simple, Ranflood tackles the problem on two fronts: first, it generates thousands of decoy files in a very short time, wasting time for the ransomware attack on fictitious data; then, it steals resources from the attacked machine, decreasing the speed of the virus. Ranflood's experimental results are very promising. However, the research doesn't stop there. Concepts and techniques are already being reworked to stay one step ahead of cyber-criminals, ready to take advantage of any new technology for their crimes. The work on fighting ransomware is constantly evolving and progressing, as highlighted in the recent study "Data flooding against ransomware: concepts and implementations", published in Computer & Security. The gratifying result is thanks to the incessant work of the team of researchers of the University of Bologna (Department of Computer Science - Science and Engineering) and of the Information Systems and Digital Innovation Service of Arpae Emilia-Romagna.