These funds were used to
pay for a Pastebin Pro account on the dark web, which was subsequently used to post fresh
ransomware drop instructions.
As previously reported, NotPetya trashes compromised systems and acts more like a wiper than conventional ransomware. Though alternate means of recovering data have been discovered, it's still unlikely to be any help, so payment would still be a waste.
NotPetya spread to devastating effect last week using a variety of mechanisms. A poisoned update to a Ukrainian tax software program called M.E.Doc was the primary initial infection vector, according to security researchers.
