Kozy.Jozy Ransomware

Posted: June 22, 2016

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.

Ranking:	10,035
Threat Level:	10/10
Infected PCs:	656

First Seen:	June 22, 2016
Last Seen:	September 28, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Kozy.Jozy Ransomware is a Trojan that blocks the content of your PC by encrypting it. Ordinarily, con artists ask for money in return for reversing the effects of such attacks but can provide no hard guarantee of following through on their word. Taking that risk into account, malware analysts always encourage other solutions, such as keeping a non-local backup and using your anti-malware tools for removing the Kozy.Jozy Ransomware infections.

A Ransom Delivered Straight to Your Desktop

Even seemingly inconsequential variations in threats can be symptomatic of productive forces at work, such as the presence of dedicated black market rentals or internal update branches. The Kozy.Jozy Ransomware is just one specimen exhibiting such seemingly minor differences between different installations. However, the broad strokes of its payload always keep to a dependable pattern of using encryption against the PC user's data, presumably so that its administrators can collect a ransom afterward.

The essential functions of the Kozy.Jozy Ransomware's payload are as follows:

The Kozy.Jozy Ransomware scans for specific types of data, including compressed archives (such as ZIP), Microsoft Office content, images, and CD-based media. The Kozy.Jozy Ransomware sends all such information through an encryption routine.
The name of each file noted above is given a new extension, including a string of non-random alphanumeric characters (such as .31342E30362E32303136_(0-20)_KTR1).
The threat also deletes Windows-based local backups by abusing a hidden CMD command.
Lastly, the Kozy.Jozy Ransomware changes your desktop image to its ransom note. Current messages are JPG images displaying Russian text redirecting their victims to e-mail communication channels, most likely for ransoming purposes.

Although malware experts have seen previous threats adhering to file-renaming formats similar to that used by the Kozy.Jozy Ransomware, past attacks invariably inserted e-mail addresses directly into the names. The Kozy.Jozy Ransomware 's lack of such could indicate a branch in a Trojan development kit, or that a brand new toolkit is in distribution.

Wiping a Potential Ransom Off Your Screen

Many file encryptors threaten of using more robust encryption algorithms than their developers bother to implement. Regrettably, the Kozy.Jozy Ransomware holds faithful to its claims of using asymmetric RSA-2048, making the potential for free decryption extremely limited. For the immediate future, malware analysts still advise using backups kept on non-local devices, such as USB-based peripherals, which can override the Kozy.Jozy Ransomware's encrypted content without needing to decrypt it.

Distribution models of threats derived from third-party development kits may vary substantially between different administrators. However, e-mail spam is, overall, the preferred means of distributing threats like the Kozy.Jozy Ransomware, particularly to the business systems most vulnerable to losing valuable data. Expect such messages to take disguised formats with their contents associated with local industry work, or general notifications, such as invoices for failed deliveries.

This threat does not distribute itself, and may require assistance from a second threat, such as a Trojan dropper or a document-embedded exploit, to achieve system persistence. Use your anti-malware products as usual for identifying and deleting a Kozy.Jozy Ransomware infection. However, the Kozy.Jozy Ransomware may see variations and updates coming into the future, and malware experts also must stress that

Kozy.Jozy Ransomware

Threat Metric

A Ransom Delivered Straight to Your Desktop

Wiping a Potential Ransom Off Your Screen

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