CryptoShocker Ransomware
Posted: June 20, 2016
Threat Metric
The following fields listed on the Threat Meter containing a specific value, are explained in detail below:
Threat Level: The threat level scale goes from 1 to 10 where 10 is the highest level of severity and 1 is the lowest level of severity. Each specific level is relative to the threat's consistent assessed behaviors collected from SpyHunter's risk assessment model.
Detection Count: The collective number of confirmed and suspected cases of a particular malware threat. The detection count is calculated from infected PCs retrieved from diagnostic and scan log reports generated by SpyHunter.
Volume Count: Similar to the detection count, the Volume Count is specifically based on the number of confirmed and suspected threats infecting systems on a daily basis. High volume counts usually represent a popular threat but may or may not have infected a large number of systems. High detection count threats could lay dormant and have a low volume count. Criteria for Volume Count is relative to a daily detection count.
Trend Path: The Trend Path, utilizing an up arrow, down arrow or equal symbol, represents the level of recent movement of a particular threat. Up arrows represent an increase, down arrows represent a decline and the equal symbol represent no change to a threat's recent movement.
% Impact (Last 7 Days): This demonstrates a 7-day period change in the frequency of a malware threat infecting PCs. The percentage impact correlates directly to the current Trend Path to determine a rise or decline in the percentage.
| Threat Level: | 8/10 |
|---|---|
| Infected PCs: | 13 |
| First Seen: | June 20, 2016 |
|---|---|
| OS(es) Affected: | Windows |
The CryptoShocker Ransomware is a Trojan that uses an encryption algorithm (conventionally used for protecting private data) to hold your PC's files for ransom. Such attacks often come with no hard guarantee that the ransom's recipients can or will restore your encrypted data, which is why malware experts discourage paying the fee. Free decryption solutions and backups can protect your hard drive from this threat's worst effects, and anti-malware products can, as always, identify and remove the CryptoShocker Ransomware along with all other, attendant threats.
The Latest Shocker for Your File System
Malware authors have shifted their development in particular directions over the course of 2016, such as a de-emphasis of EDA2 code, although threats like the AlphaLocker Ransomware still are extant. However, such changes in threat coding practices and the continual creation of functional countermeasures in the security industry have yet to see the end of the 'ransomware' file encryption industry. The CryptoShocker Ransomware is one of the newest products in this black market that malware analysts have identified.
The AlphaLocker Ransomware stays well within the standards and practices of previously established file encryptors and uses an AES-based algorithm for encrypting your content. Besides its attacks rendering your files unopenable, the AlphaLocker Ransomware also adds a new '.locked' extension to each one. The similarity between this Trojan and others, such as the RAA Ransomware, shows no signs of being anything other than superficial.
The payload also includes the addition of a new shortcut to the PC's desktop. This shortcut leads to a Web page demanding a Bitcoin ransom in return for your data's restoration. Unusually, the AlphaLocker Ransomware's message doesn't specify a Bitcoin quantity; instead, it uses USD values, which may fluctuate according to the current conversion rates. At this time, the 200 USD ransom fee the AlphaLocker Ransomware asks is equivalent to 0.26 in Bitcoin.
Malware experts found no 'sample' decryption services or other forms of good faith that would show that the AlphaLocker Ransomware's authors are capable of keeping their word. Instead, the victim is expected to make the payment and hope that the Web page will refresh itself to the appropriate format afterward.
Quelling a Premium Trojan's Shock on a Budget
Great innovation isn't always necessary for threat authors to cause extensive damage to your PC. The CryptoShocker Ransomware isn't a creative implementation of a file encryption Trojan, but its encryption standards are sufficiently robust to stand up to casual solutions. PC owners may wish to provide samples to appropriate PC security institutions, who can use them for developing a free decryptor for this threat. Your content should not be renamed to remove the new extension, which would prevent you from identifying the encrypted content and not resolve the fundamental nature of the attack, which reorders internal file data.
For any files that you can't decrypt outright, you can overwrite them via non-encrypted sources. Of these resources, malware experts most often encourage using backups stored on detachable hard drives, with cloud services serving as an almost equally effective secondary option. The CryptoShocker Ransomware may not provide a decryption service or provide one that damages your data instead of restoring it, and paying a ransom to the CryptoShocker Ransomware's authors always should be a last resort.
Cliches sometimes become such due to being pragmatically functional. Just as the CryptoShocker Ransomware differs little from other file encryptors, your response to it should be in keeping with past standards in anti-malware security. Use dedicated security products for uninstalling the CryptoShocker Ransomware, or, ideally, detecting it before it installs itself.
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