New Satana ransomware encrypts user files and master boot record

Attackers are developing an aggressive new ransomware program for Windows machines that encrypts user files as well as the computer's master boot record (MBR), leaving devices unable to load the OS. The program is dubbed Satana -- meaning "Satan" in Italian and Romanian -- and, according to researchers from security firm Malwarebytes, it is functional but still under development. Satana is the second ransomware threat affecting the MBR and seems inspired by another program, Petya, that appeared in March. The MBR code is stored in the first sectors of a hard disk drive, contains information about the disk's partitions and launches the operating system's boot loader. Without a proper MBR, computers don't know which partitions contain the OS and how to start it.