'.fairytail File Extension' Ransomware

The '.fairytail File Extension' Ransomware is a variant of the Cryakl Ransomware family, which uses AES-based encryption for keeping you from opening your files, such as pictures, documents, movies or music. This threat also creates Web page-based warnings asking you to pay a ransom within three days or lose your media. Having backups or using free decryption applications can provide non-ransom-based restoration options, and malware experts always encourage blocking or uninstalling the '.fairytail File Extension' Ransomware via appropriate anti-malware products.

A New Chapter in the Tale of the Cryakl Ransomware

The Cryakl Ransomware campaign of 2016 is experiencing a new update for competing with the other, more active families of file-locking threats this year, such as the open-source Hidden Tear, the RaaS Globe Ransomware, or the file-deleting Jigsaw Ransomware. The '.fairytail File Extension' Ransomware includes the standard features of this and similar families of Trojan that extort money after blocking the user's media. These attacks include creating ransom notes, using encryption to convert files into non-usable formats, and changing the names of those files without any consent.

The '.fairytail File Extension' Ransomware converts the files that it attacks with an AES or Rijndael encryption algorithm, and inserts '.fairytale' extensions into their names afterward. Unlike the Cryakl Ransomware that it is a minor update of, the '.fairytail File Extension' Ransomware also includes an additional function for modifying the rest of the file's name for making it look corrupt, by inserting additional gibberish characters.

After blocking media, such as documents or pictures, different versions of the '.fairytail File Extension' Ransomware also may generate either HTML or TXT-based ransom messages (local Web pages or Notepad text files). These files include an updated version of the first ransoming instructions by the Cryakl Ransomware and include a three-day limit on paying the Bitcoin ransom. Since there is a free decryption tool available for the Cryakl Ransomware, malware experts, likewise, recommend not paying the ransom for the '.fairytail File Extension' Ransomware, and seeking input from a reputable cyber-security specialist for the 'unlocking' of any of your files.

Guaranteeing that Your Files' Fairy Tale Gets a Happy Ending

Other than the change of its extension and some of the details of its ransom transaction recommendations, the '.fairytail File Extension' Ransomware is a simple update of the original Trojan. Despite no major features that malware experts would note as being significant, the '.fairytail File Extension' Ransomware does damage your non-executable files and has the potential to encrypt or corrupt them beyond the possibility of a recovery. Symptoms you also may find in most file-locking Trojan attacks include malfunctioning security and data-recovery tools, the deletion of the Shadow Volume Copies or the System Restore points and changes to your desktop's wallpaper.

Users can protect their PCs from the '.fairytail File Extension' Ransomware in the following ways:

• Scanning e-mail attachments can identify disguised executable and document-embedded exploits, such as damaged macros, that could drop Trojans on your computer. These spam e-mail-based attacks may customize their content for their targets such as by pretending to be delivering invoices for the recipient. Scanning attachments with security software can detect the majority of these threats.
• File-sharing networks may disguise the '.fairytail File Extension' Ransomware as being another download type, such as a key generator for a top-selling game. As with the previous attack, analyzing the download with an appropriate threat-detecting product can identify a Trojan dropper regardless of its name.
• Corrupted websites may run exploits, such as the Exploit:Win32/CVE-2011-0096, that let them install software automatically. Disabling JavaScript, Java, Flash, and advertisements are ways of preventing these vulnerabilities from loading automatically. Most anti-malware products with Web-browsing protection also may block the attacks without disallowing any 'safe' script-based content.

Updated versions of file-locking threats may include changes to the encryption algorithms in use that block your data. Always test the compatibility of a decryptor on a spare copy of a file and not the original. However, most Windows PCs with anti-malware protection should delete the '.fairytail File Extension' Ransomware without decrypting your media ever becoming a requirement.

Although the Cryakl Ransomware has provided little activity in the industry of file-locking threats, in comparison to Trojans like the Jigsaw Ransomware or EDA2, it remains a threat to any saved files potentially. Making spare saves in another location is a minor burden to keep a cryptocurrency ransom from becoming your next 'business expense.'