Crypto. Locker Ransomware Information Guide and FAQInfo: The original Crypto. Locker infection was disabled on June 2nd, 2. Operation Gameover took down its distribution network. Since then there have been numerous ransomware infections that have been released that utilize the Crypto. Locker name. It should be noted that these infections are not the same infection that is discussed below. If you have recently been infected with something that is calling itself Crypto. Locker, you are most likely infected with the Torrent. Locker infection. For more information on Torrent. Locker, please visit our Torrent. Locker support topic. Once at the topic, and if you are a member, you can subscribe to it in order to get notifications when someone adds more information to the topic. The purpose of this guide. There is a lot of incorrect and dangerous information floating around about Crypto. Locker. As Bleeping. Computer. com was one of the first support sites to try helping users who are infected with this infection, I thought it would be better to post all the known information about this infection in one place. This FAQ will give you all the information you need to understand the infection and restore your files via the decrypter or other methods. In many ways this guide feels like a support topic on how to pay the ransom, which sickens me. Unfortunately, this infection is devious and many people have no choice but to pay the ransom in order to get their files back. I apologize in advance if this is seen as helping the developers, when in fact my goal is to help the infected users with whatever they decide to do. All of this information has been compiled from my own experimentation with this infection, from Fabian Wosar of Emsisoft who first analyzed this infection, and through all the consultants and visitors who contributed to our 2. Crypto. Locker support topic. Big thanks to everyone who contributed information about this infection. This guide will continue to be updated as new information or approaches are gathered. If you have anything that you think should be added, clarified, or revised please let us know in the support topic linked to above. Info: There is a very active Crypto. Locker support topic, which contains discussion and the experiences of a variety of IT consultants, end users, and companies who have been affected by Crypto. Locker. If you are interested in this infection or wish to ask questions about it, please visit this Crypto. A decryption tool for files that have been infected by the WildFire ransomware, comprising a large database of unlocking keys that will be further expanded. Locker support topic. Once at the topic, and if you are a member, you can subscribe to it in order to get notifications when someone adds more information to the topic. What is Crypto. Locker. Crypto. Locker is a ransomware program that was released in the beginning of September 2. Windows including Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. This ransomware will encrypt certain files using a mixture of RSA & AES encryption. When it has finished encrypting your files, it will display a Crypto. Locker payment program that prompts you to send a ransom of either $1. This screen will also display a timer stating that you have 7. This ransom must be paid using Money. Researchers have released a free decryption tool for Jigsaw, the sadistic ransomware that gradually deletes all of a victim's encrypted files. Tool for decrypting files affected by Trojan-Ransom.Win32.Rannoh infection. Decrypt the system Remove a banner Protect against ransomware Security tips. Pak vouchers or Bitcoins. Once you send the payment and it is verified, the program will decrypt the files that it encrypted. When you first become infected with Crypto. Locker, it will save itself as a random named filename to the root of the %App.
Data% or %Local. App. Data% path. It will then create one of the following autostart entries in the registry to start Crypto. Locker when you login: KEY. It does this because you can use shadow volume copies to restore your encrypted files. The command that is run when you click on an executable is. Please note that registry key names will be random. Some examples of domain names that the DGA will generate are lcxgidtthdjje. Once a live C& C server is discovered it will communicate with it and receive a public encryption key that will be used to encrypt your data files. It will then store this key along with other information in values under the registry key under HKEY. When it finds files that match one of these types, it will encrypt the file using the public encryption key and add the full path to the file and the filename as a value under the HKEY. This ransom must be paid using Bitcoin or Money. Pak vouchers. It also states that you must pay this ransom within 9. Warning: If you enter an incorrect payment code, it will decrease the amount of time you have available to decrypt your files. So if you plan on paying the ransom, please be careful as you type the code. More technical details about this infection can be at this blog post by Emsisoft. Known file paths and registry keys used by Crypto. Locker. This section lists all known file paths and registry keys used by Crypto. Locker. The file paths and registry keys that are currently being used by Crypto. Locker will be highlighted in blue. The File paths that are currently and historically being used by Crypto. Locker are: %App. Data%\< random. App. Data%\. In Windows XP, %Local. App. Data% corresponds to C: \Documents and Settings\< Login Name> \Local Settings\Application Data\. In Windows Vista, 7, and 8, %Local. App. Data% corresponds to C: \Users\< Login Name> \App. Data\Local. The Registry key that is used to automatically start Crypto. Locker when you login to Windows are found below. Please note that the * in the Run. Once entry tells Windows to start Crypto. Locker even in Windows Safe Mode. Crypto. Locker also creates a registry key to store its configuration information and the files that were encrypted. In the past the registry key that was used was HKEY. Newer version now include the version of the malware, which is currently 0. The registry key that is currently being used to store the configuration information is. HKEY. Under this key are 3 registry values that are described below: Value Name. Description. Public. Key. The Public. Key value contains the public key that was used to encrypt your files. This key will not help you decrypt the encrypted files on your computer. Version. Info. The Version. Info value contains information that includes the current version of the malware, the IP address of the Command & Control server, and the timestamp of installation. Wallpaper. The Wall. Paper value contains information regarding the wallpaper that will be shown as the background on the infected computer's desktop. Under the HKEY. This list is then processed by the decryption tool to decrypt your files if you paid the ransom. For each file that is encrypted, a new REG. When naming the values, Crypto. Locker will replace all occurrences of the forward slash character (\), with a question mark. An example of how an encrypted file's value entry would be named is C: ? Users? Public? Pictures? Sample Pictures? Penguins. You can use the List. Crilock program to export a human readable list of these encrypted files from the registry into a text file. Since the release of the Crypto. Locker Decryption Service it is possible to decrypt files without this registry key being available. The new decrypter provided by this service will instead scan your files and attempt to decrypt them using the embedded private decryption key. This will prevent it from further encrypting any files. Some people have reported that once the network connection is disconnected, it will display the Crypto. Locker screen. It is not advised that you remove the infection from the %App. Data% folder until you decide if you want to pay the ransom. If you do not need to pay the ransom, simply delete the Registry values and files and the program will not load anymore. You can then restore your data via other methods. It is important to note that the Crypto. Locker infection spawns two processes of itself. If you only terminate one process, the other process will automatically launch the second one again. Instead use a program like Process Explorer and right click on the first process and select Kill Tree. This will terminate both at the same time. Is it possible to decrypt files encrypted by Crypto. Locker? Updated 8/6/1. Fire. Eye and Fox- IT have released a method of possibly retrieving your private decryption key and a decrypter to use to decrypt your files. These keys were made available through Operation Tovar and were not retrieved by cracking the encryption. To try and retrieve your key, please visit their site http: //www. Crypto. Locker encrypted files. The service will then try attempt to decrypt that file using all of the known encryption keys. If they are able to successfully decrypt your file, they will then email you the decryption key with instructions on how to use it. In order to use the decryption you need to paste the entire decryption key they send you, quotes and all, after the - -key argument of the Decryptolocker. An example of how you would decrypt all of the folders and files under a particular folder can be found in this post. As the instructions and how to use the tool are not particularly user- friendly, if you need any help, please see feel free to ask in the Crypto. Locker Support Topic. It should also be noted that you can use a different script, that it appears the Fire. Eye/Fox- IT one was based off of, as well. Instructions on using the alternative decrypter can be found here. If your key is not available using the above methods, the only methods you have of restoring your files is from a backup or Shadow Volume Copies if you have System Restore enabled. Newer variants of Crypto. Locker attempt to delete the Shadow Copies, but it is not always successful. More information about how to restore your files via Shadow Volume Copies can be found in this section below. If you do not have System Restore enabled on your computer or reliable backups, then you will need to pay the ransom in order to get your files back. When you pay the ransom you will be shown a screen stating that your payment is being verified. Ransomware - Definition - Trend Micro USARansomware. More modern ransomware families, collectively categorized as crypto- ransomware, encrypt certain file types on infected systems and forces users to pay the ransom through certain online payment methods to get a decrypt key. Ransom Prices and Payment. Ransom prices vary depending on the ransomware variant and the price or exchange rates of digital currencies. Thanks to the perceived anonymity offered by cryptocurrencies, ransomware operators commonly specify ransom payments in bitcoins. Recent ransomware variants have also listed alternative payment options such as i. Tunes and Amazon gift cards. It should be noted, however, that paying the ransom does not guarantee that users will get the decryption key or unlock tool required to regain access to the infected system or hostaged files. Ransomware Infection and Behavior. Users may encounter this threat through a variety of means. It can also arrive as a payload either dropped or downloaded by other malware. Some ransomware are known to be delivered as attachments from spammed email, downloaded from malicious pages through malvertisements, or dropped by exploit kits onto vulnerable systems. Once executed in the system, ransomware can either lock the computer screen, or, in the case of crypto- ransomware, encrypt predetermined files. In the first scenario, a full- screen image or notification is displayed on the infected system's screen, which prevents victims from using their system. This also shows the instructions on how users can pay for the ransom. The second type of ransomware prevents access to files to potentially critical or valuable files like documents and spreadsheets. Ransomware. In this sense, it is similar to FAKEAV malware, but instead of capturing the infected system or encrypting files, FAKEAV shows fake antimalware scanning results to coax users into purchasing bogus antimalware software. The History and Evolution of Ransomware. Early Years. Cases of ransomware infection were first seen in Russia between 2. It also created a text file that acted as the ransom note informing users that the files can be retrieved in exchange for $3. In its earlier years, ransomware typically encrypted particular file types such as DOC, . XLS, . JPG, . ZIP, . PDF, and other commonly used file extensions. In 2. 01. 1, Trend Micro published a report on an SMS ransomware. To do this, the malware copies the original MBR and overwrites it with malicious code. It then forces the system to restart so the infection takes effect and displays the notification (in Russian) once the system restarts. View infographic: Ransomware 1. What, How, & Why. Ransomware Spreads Outside Russia. Ransomware infections were initially limited to Russia, but its popularity and profitable business model soon found its way to other countries. By March 2. 01. 2, Trend Micro observed a continuous spread of ransomware infections across Europe and North America. A case in 2. 01. 2 involved a popular. This watering hole tactic resulted in widespread infections in France and Japan, where the shop also had a significant fan- base. Instead of the usual ransom note. Known as Police Ransomware or Police Trojans, these malware are notable for showing a notification page purportedly from the victim. Thus, affected users living in the US receive a notification from the FBI. Once a system is infected with a Reveton variant, users are prompted to pay through. These payment methods afford ransomware perpetrators anonymity, as both Ukash and Pay. Safe. Card have. During the latter part of that year, Trend Micro reported on variants that played an. The Evolution to Crypto. Locker and Crypto- ransomware . The encrypted files ensured that victims are forced to still pay the ransom even if the malware itself was deleted. Due to its new behavior, it was dubbed as . Like previous ransomware types, crypto- ransomware demands payment from affected users, this time for a decrypt key to unlock the encrypted files. One key is used to encrypt the data and another is used to decrypt the data (one key, called the public key, is made available to any outside party; the other is kept by the user and is called the private key.) AES uses symmetric keys, which uses the same key to encrypt and decrypt information. The malware uses an AES key to encrypt files. However, this key is encrypted with an RSA public key embedded in the malware, which means that a private key is needed to decrypt it. Further research revealed that. The spammed messages contained malicious attachments belonging to TROJ. It downloads a ZBOT variant, which then downloads the Crypto. Locker malware. Near the end of 2. This variant, detected as. This means that the malware can easily spread compared to other variants. The new variant doesn. Technical differences have led some researchers to believe this malware was produced by a copycat. Another file- encrypting ransomware type soon came into the picture. The crypto- ransomware known as Crypto. Defense or Cryptorbit (detected as TROJ. In 2. 01. 4, Trend Micro saw two variants of a new malware called. CRIBIT variants use the encryption algorithms RSA(4. AES and RSA(1. 02. AES to encrypt the files, and specifies that the payment for unlocking files be made in Bitcoins. It was discovered that a variant of the. This FAREIT variant can steal information from various cryptocurrency wallets, including. These files contain important information such as transaction records, user preferences, and accounts. The Angler Exploit Kit. In 2. 01. 5, the Angler exploit kit was one of the more popular exploit kits used to spread ransomware, and was notably used in a series of malvertisment attacks through popular media such as news websites and localized sites. Angler was constantly updated to include a number of Flash exploits, and was known for being used in notable campaigns such as the Hacking Team leak and Pawn Storm. Because of its easy integration, Angler remains a prevalent choice as a means to spread ransomware. POSHCODER: Power. Shell Abuse. A new variant of Ransomware and Cryptolocker threats surfaced that leverages the Windows Power. Shell feature to encrypt files. Trend Micro detects this as TROJ. Windows Power. Shell is a built- in feature in Windows 7 and higher. Cybercriminals often abuse this feature to make threats undetectable on the system and/or network. Once all files on the infected system are encrypted, it displays the following image: Ransomware Infects Critical Files. While crypto- ransomware may have become popular with cybercriminals, this doesn. Police ransomware was still observed locking screens of infected computers with this screen: What makes this particular ransomware different from other police ransomware is that it. Patched malware is any legitimate file that has been modified (via addition or injection) with malicious code. Modifying a legitimate file can be advantageous to cybercriminals as the rate of execution of malicious code will depend on the infected file. Infecting a critical file can be considered an evasion technique as it can help prevent detection by behavioral monitoring tools due to whitelisting. Additionally, cleaning critical files such as user. DLL requires extra care as one misstep can crash a system, which could be seen as a possible obstacle for cleaning tools. The infected. With a profitable business model and a payment scheme that affords anonymity for its operators, ransomware development is expected to accelerate over the coming years. Thus, it is crucial for users to know how ransomware works and how to best protect themselves from this threat. Ransomware Evolved: Modern Ransomware. After the shift to crypto- ransomware, the extortion malware has continued to evolve, adding features such as countdown timers, ransom amounts that increase over time, and infection routines that enable them to spread across networks and servers. The latest developments show how threat actors are experimenting with new features, such as offering alternative payment platforms to make ransom payments easier, routines that threaten to cause potentially crippling damage to non- paying victims, or new distribution methods. Some of the most notable crypto- ransomware families seen in 2. One of the most actively- updated ransomware families, Locky ransomware is known for deleting shadow copies of files to make local backups useless, and is notorious for being used in multiple high- profile attacks on healthcare facilities. PETYA (RANSOM. CERBER was also found to have a customizable configuration file that allows distributors to modify its components. CERBER is also notorious for being used in an attack that potentially exposed millions of Microsoft Office 3. Featuring imagery from the Saw movie franchise, Jigsaw's ransom note features a countdown timer to pressure its victims into paying. Recent Jigsaw variants also featured a chat support feature that allows victims to contact the cybercriminal. At the endpoint level, Trend Micro Smart Protection Suites features behavior monitoring and application control, as well as vulnerability shielding to minimize the risk of getting infected by ransomware threats. Trend Micro Deep Discovery Inspector detects and blocks ransomware on networks, while Trend Micro Deep Security. Its endpoint protection also delivers several capabilities such as behavior monitoring and a real- time web reputation service that detects and blocks ransomware. For home users, Trend Micro Security 1. Ransomware Prevention: Avoid opening unverified emails or clicking links embedded in them. Back up important files using the 3- 2- 1 rule. The Trend Micro Crypto- Ransomware File Decryptor Tool can decrypt files locked by certain variants of crypto- ransomware without paying the ransom or the use of the decryption key.
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