Regardless of what type of ransomware infects your PC, they usually all demand the same thing: money. Your files are encrypted, your PC is unusable, and hundreds of dollars or Bitcoin needs to be paid in order to unlock everything. However, a new piece of ransomware is a little different. Once it has control of your PC, all it desires is for you to play a game.

As BleepingComputer reports, it's called PUBG Ransomware and was discovered by the MalwareHunterTeam. An infection results in your files being encrypted and updated to use the .PUBG extension. The message that appears on-screen informs you of the encryption, but then offers two options to unlock your PC. The first is to simply play the game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) , while the second is the enter a restore code, which happens to be present on-screen for you to copy.

Another top quality ransomware that asks you to play a game to decrypt files: "PUBG Ransomware".

Sample: https://t.co/qyEHMG2orL

Extension: .PUBG

This sample only encrypts files on desktop (including subdirectories)...@BleepinComputer @demonslay335 pic.twitter.com/5406DPbwmX — MalwareHunterTeam (@malwrhunterteam) April 9, 2018

The ransomware monitors your PC for when PUBG is launched. If the game is detected as running, the decryption of your files happens automatically.

This is one of the few ransomware infections you won't mind having as it's not demanding any money and the unlocking of files can be achieved almost immediately. It looks as though whoever wrote the ransomware is just a big fan of the PUBG game and wants more people playing it. The method used to encourage that is rather drastic, though.

If you do get infected by this ransomware, count yourself lucky. It should act as a reminder that your PC isn't protected and clearly needs to be running a reliable security solution.

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