T1Happy Ransomware

The T1Happy Ransomware is a file-locking Trojan that encrypts your media so that it can't open, and adds extensions to their names. Available builds of the T1Happy Ransomware don't extort money from their victims but tell them to contact a cyber-security expert for their decryption help. Malware experts recommend doing so in the event of an absence of appropriate backups and using anti-malware tools for removing the T1Happy Ransomware properly.

A Trojan that's Happy to Dispense with Profits

File-locking Trojans are almost basing themselves off of profit-seeking motives and may demand a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, drop mining-based threats along with the rest of their payload, or try other means of monetizing the circumstances of the infection. However, although nearly all threat actors wielding such software are concerned with finances, there are exceptions. The T1Happy Ransomware is, possibly, the boldest of these to date.

The T1Happy Ransomware is a small Windows program that, when it runs, encrypts files such as documents or pictures. The attack runs through a hidden, background process, without pop-ups or other displays of its occurring. Success will keep your files from opening, besides also adding 'happy' extensions into the filenames.

Malware experts also are tracking strange ransom notes in the T1Happy Ransomware's payloads. These messages, Notepad files that it places on the desktop, have no requests about paying money or procuring the unlocker from the threat actor. The odd alternative that the T1Happy Ransomware offers is telling the victims that they should decompile the program for finding the internal key for decrypting the media. Whether the T1Happy Ransomware is a joke or a serious statement on cyber-security is unknown, and its campaign has no well-defined infection or distribution strategies.

One Reason for Being Happy about a T1Happy Ransomware Infection

As strange as it may seem, the T1Happy Ransomware does use an unprotected encryption method, and experienced cyber-security researchers should have little trouble decompiling it and isolating the unlocking code. Doing so will help with decryption for restoring any files directly. However, since making an encryption attack into a secure one is a simple task for any programmer, malware experts encourage saving dutifully-maintained backups heavily.

Because of its casual nature as a threat even being a prank possibly, the T1Happy Ransomware's campaign may not exploit the same vectors that malware experts often anticipate necessarily, such as spam e-mails or brute-force hacks. Torrents are a low-effort method by which criminals distribute threatening software of various types, including some file-locking Trojans. Users who monitor their download sources and have anti-malware products available for detecting and removing the T1Happy Ransomware should be at low risk.

The T1Happy Ransomware is the happiest file-locking Trojan one could ever see: one that gives an easy escape to the problem that it causes. That doesn't mean that it's not better to avoid the infection in the first place, however.