'.odin File Extension' Ransomware

Posted: September 27, 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.

Threat Level:	8/10
Infected PCs:	108

First Seen:	September 27, 2016
Last Seen:	November 25, 2021
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The '.odin File Extension' Ransomware is a Trojan built off of the preexisting code of the '.locky File Extension' Ransomware (or simply Locky). The '.odin File Extension' Ransomware uses a combination of the AES-RSA encryption method to encode and block your files while preventing you from identifying the key for decrypting them back to their prior formats. Until safe decryption solutions for this family become available, PC owners should use backups to mitigate any file damage and anti-malware software for stopping the '.odin File Extension' Ransomware's encryption attacks from succeeding.

The Touch of the Wrong God on Your Files

Like the anti-malware products that counter them, threatening programs aren't static, which readers can discern easily by the rapid evolution of updates, variants, clones, and copycats of similar threats, regarding threatening file encryptors particularly. Trojans specializing in this form of attack often derive themselves from primary sources that offer the majority of their code, but with enough changes to make previous anti-malware solutions less effective against them. For example, the '.odin File Extension' Ransomware, as an updated release of the Locky Ransomware and the Zepto Ransomware.

The '.odin File Extension' Ransomware still uses the ubiquitous infection vector of e-mail messages for distributing its installers, with messages designed for luring victims into opening threatening attachments (often disguising themselves as a business or delivery-related document). With its installation's success, the '.odin File Extension' Ransomware combines an AES algorithm for encoding your files, along with RSA for protecting the decryption code. The '.odin File Extension' Ransomware also drops ransom messages on the PC's desktop.

Most, but not all changes between the '.odin File Extension' Ransomware and previous versions of the '.locky File Extension' Ransomware are aesthetic. Malware experts can outline the following as the most noticeable differences:

The Trojan generates different ransom instructions (with names such as '_HOWDO_text.html') and includes a BMP image, along with two HTML Web pages.
Perhaps most visibly, the '.odin File Extension' Ransomware changes the extension of each encrypted file to '.odin,' after the Norse deity, rather than the previous '.locky' or '.zepto' extensions. Like other members of its family, the '.odin File Extension' Ransomware continues renaming the content with randomly-generated strings in addition to the extension swap.
The types of data the '.odin File Extension' Ransomware targets are slightly different from that of the '.locky File Extension' Ransomware. Although it doesn't damage the operating system's essential components, malware analysts can corroborate that the Trojan does target nearly four hundred extensions worth of information, including many, lesser-victimized formats, such as WAD, DOT, CSV, RDB, MEF, ERBSQL, XIS and FRM.

Excising the Name of Antiquated Religion from Your Data

Since the '.odin File Extension' Ransomware's family has a history of (albeit inconsistently) erasing the Windows default backups, PC users shouldn't anticipate being able to use local backups to restore their encrypted content. The '.odin File Extension' Ransomware encryption attacks also may affect unprotected drives that it can access via network connections, and removable devices (USB thumb drives or disc storage) are similarly at risk. No public decryption product has been released to counteract the '.odin File Extension' Ransomware or other variants of the '.locky File Extension' Ransomware, which could leave PC users without better protection with no choice but to pay the ransom demands and hope for a good faith transaction of the decryptor.

PC operators should scan potentially toxic files before executing them, particularly for content fitting the profile of well-known infection vectors, such as fake delivery invoices. Although the '.odin File Extension' Ransomware does include updates making it cover a wider variety of information with its encryption attacks, malware analysts find no significant changes in its distribution philosophy, meaning that victims can protect themselves via the previously upheld standards in safe online behavior.

If possible, keep anti-malware tools active in memory for stopping or removing the '.odin File Extension' Ransomware before it can encrypt any data, and avoid paying fees to purchase possibly non-working decryptors. Unfortunately, victims can no longer rely on saving in unpopular formats to keep their files safe from being struck by the lightning bolt of file-encrypting Trojans.

'.odin File Extension' Ransomware

Threat Metric

The Touch of the Wrong God on Your Files

Excising the Name of Antiquated Religion from Your Data

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