Extractor Ransomware

Posted: May 3, 2017

Threat Metric

The Threat Meter is a malware assessment that SpywareRemove.com's research team is able to give every identifiable malware threat. Our Threat Meter includes several criteria based off of specific malware threats to value their severity, reach and volume. The Threat Meter is able to give you a numerical breakdown of each threat's initial Threat Level, Detection Count, Volume Count, Trend Path and Percentage Impact. The overall ranking of each threat in the Threat Meter is a basic breakdown of how all threats are ranked within our own extensive malware database. The scoring for each specific malware threat can be easily compared to other emerging threats to draw a contrast in its particular severity. The Threat Meter is a useful tool in the endeavor of seeking a solution to remove a threat or pursue additional analytical research for all types of computer users.

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:	10/10
Infected PCs:	21

First Seen:	May 3, 2017
Last Seen:	July 23, 2019
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Extractor Ransomware is a Delphi-based Trojan that can create text-based extortion messages on your PC and block your files by modifying them with an encryption routine. The latter has the potential to render your digital media irrecoverable and prevents them from opening until you decrypt them, which requires a custom key. Use backups or help from appropriate third-party security experts to recover any blocked files after your anti-malware solutions remove the Extractor Ransomware.

Trojans Extracting Money under Duress

Though it's never been fully competitive with more popular languages like C++, the Delphi programming language is forming the crest of a new wave of recent, file-encrypting threats. Separate Trojans using it for their campaigns include the RSAUtil Ransomware, the Amnesia Ransomware, and the Extractor Ransomware. As the last of these, the Extractor Ransomware offers some possible clues as to its origins and distribution exploits, although other aspects of its payload are generic relatively.

Samples of the Extractor Ransomware are in circulation with Turkish-language filenames, potentially disguising the Trojan as a topology-related data file. Its author uses an InstallShield-based setup routine, although the Extractor Ransomware may show limited symptoms of being present until after it starts encrypting the local media. Types of data most likely of being attacked by this Trojan (and similar classifications of threats) include text documents, spreadsheets, music, pictures, local Web pages and compressed archives.

Malware experts also can verify the Extractor Ransomware's using the '.xxx' extension for identifying the files it encrypts, which gives it a symptom in common with unrelated threats, like the Taka Ransomware. The other, visible function from the Extractor Ransomware's payload is the creation of a Notepad message for ransoming your files, which includes a custom ID and an e-mail address for negotiating with the remote attacker.

Affordable Alternatives for Extracting Your Media from Wrong Hands

The Extractor Ransomware uses a highly non-standard serial number generator for tagging its victims, which can help to differentiate it from very similar, file-encrypting threats that require different decryption solutions. Other elements of the Extractor Ransomware's campaign also imply that its threat actor is trying to compromise business servers highly, instead of individual PCs. From their previous research, malware experts point out that such attacks are likely to come from e-mail spam campaigns or brute-force attacks against systems with bad password management particularly.

The use of complicated, unique, and often rotated passwords can prevent extortionists from gaining easy remote access to your servers. Standard anti-malware solutions also include varying degrees of protection against corrupted file attachments, including document-embedded exploits that may install Trojans automatically. However, even removing the Extractor Ransomware with an anti-malware product completely will not decrypt any locked files automatically.

With the Extractor Ransomware's threat actor keeping his ransom demands to himself, theoretical victims may want to think about just how high such non-guaranteed decryption services can get. Establishing and maintaining a backup is always a strategy malware experts can recommend in favor over paying for something that may never arrive.

Technical Details

File System Modifications

Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.

The following files were created in the system:

file.exe

File name: file.exe
Size: 1.85 MB (1854732 bytes)
MD5: db8f3a38ec2bbf12700f19d5c7b1adbe
Detection count: 55
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: May 8, 2017