Phoenix Ransomware

Posted: December 7, 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:	77

First Seen:	December 7, 2016
Last Seen:	July 23, 2020
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Phoenix Ransomware is a variant of the RIP Ransomware, a Hidden Tear-based threat that locks your files and creates ransoming messages for selling its decryption solution. The Trojan targets specific directories and formats of content for locking, which may cause damage that the victim can't reverse. Protecting your PC with anti-malware tools capable of removing the Phoenix Ransomware and backups for recovering content at no charge are the two most highly-recommended tactics against this threat.

More Problems Crawling out of the Ashes of Hidden Tear

It's no surprise to anyone who's followed the trends of the threat industry to find that free resources of programming code make repeated appearances in entirely separate campaigns. The 'freeware' aspect of such attacks can lend themselves to unpredictable delivery methods or even confuse branding between two related threats, such as the Phoenix Ransomware and the RIP Ransomware. Both these Trojans use Hidden Tear as the basis of their attacks, although their ransom notes show the footprints of different threat actors.

Although the Phoenix Ransomware has yet to see deployment targeting files against live targets, early versions of this threat include full file-encrypting features that can isolate data based on its location and format. Default Phoenix Ransomware settings will block content including PNG images, TXT text documents, and SQL databases, in addition to roughly a dozen additional extensions. Malware experts also saw the Phoenix Ransomware appending the extension '.R.i.P' to each name, creating potential obfuscation between it and the RIP Ransomware.

The Phoenix Ransomware also creates Notepad-based ransom notes for offering its decryption services, although victims must transfer a 0.2 Bitcoin payment before the con artist assists them. Like similar threats, the use of cryptocurrency prevents you from recalling the money, if the con artist fails to comply, as well as protecting the threat actor's identity.

Grounding a Trojan Just Beginning to Spread Its Wings

No evidence of the Phoenix Ransomware being in deployment has surfaced, but malware researchers find this threat to be equally as threatening to your saved content as other, live versions of Hidden Tear Trojans. The Trojan is configurable for encoding different formats of files easily, as well as different directories. Free decryption solutions viable against past versions of Hidden Tear may or may not be able to help victims recover by decoding the content that the Phoenix Ransomware attacks.

Threat actors often depend on below-standard security practices from their victims for distributing threats like the Phoenix Ransomware. Scanning files from potentially threatening sources, such as unconfirmed e-mail senders, can identify common Trojan installers like Zlob. Active anti-malware products also may block and delete the Phoenix Ransomware before it finishes encrypting the contents of your computer.

Sadly, industriousness on the part of con artists calls for matching vigilance from any law-abiding PC user, who may be burned by new threats like the Phoenix Ransomware, if they let their security solutions become out-of-date sufficiently.

Phoenix Ransomware

Threat Metric

More Problems Crawling out of the Ashes of Hidden Tear

Grounding a Trojan Just Beginning to Spread Its Wings

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