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AMBA Ransomware

Posted: June 30, 2016

Threat Metric

Threat Level: 8/10
Infected PCs: 54
First Seen: June 30, 2016
Last Seen: May 11, 2020
OS(es) Affected: Windows

The AMBA Ransomware is a Trojan that holds the data of your PC hostage by way of a data-encrypting process, after which the AMBA Ransomware asks the user to use e-mail communications for instructions. Based on previous incidents, malware experts find that most Trojans of the AMBA Ransomware's type use e-mail attacks for their installations, although other infection vectors also are possibilities. Using third-party means of restoring your data and traditional anti-malware tools for removing the AMBA Ransomware remains the prescribed response.

The Unexpected Asking Price for Your Website

Threatening data encryptors are often noted for their attacks against businesses, NGOs, and governmental operations, all of which are likely holders of valuable information worth holding for ransom. However, relatively small targets also may be on a threat author's radar, including website owners. For one example, malware researchers might note the AMBA Ransomware, whose campaign appears to target, in part, website server machines.

The AMBA Ransomware may gain access to the PC through methods not yet analyzed. Past attacks by nearly identical Trojans most often use e-mail spam carrying attachments that install the associated threat. The AMBA Ransomware's installation follows with the insertion of an automatic launch routine, which eventually loads the AMBA Ransomware's file scanning process.

This process encrypts different formats of data on the infected machine, including Word documents, Notepad TXT and PHP server files. The AMBA Ransomware also appends a new extension, 'the AMBA,' onto each piece of data. The AMBA Ransomware's payload also creates a 'Readme' document that it deposits in the same directory as your encrypted content. The instructions in this last file ask the victims to make contact through the provided e-mail address for recovering their data. In practice, most con artists use such circumstances as bargaining platforms for Bitcoin transactions that can range from under one hundred USD to several thousand dollars in value.

Keeping the Sign of the AMBA Ransomware Off Your Site

The previously mentioned attacks are just some of those seen in the rest of the world, but the AMBA Ransomware's campaign includes components targeting Russian-speaking victims specifically. Web administrators and other victims believing themselves likely targets should consider common-sense security steps, such as scanning all incoming files, and using fully-patched server platforms that are less at risk from direct attacks. As a last resort, safe backup repositories also can overwrite the damaged content, as is the case with most file encryption Trojans.

Malware experts have found no public decryptors designed to reverse the AMBA Ransomware's encryption attack. Although the AMBA Ransomware's authors note such issues in their ransom notes and recommend avoiding any third-party solutions, provided decryption services often are extremely unreliable. PC owners with the means to do so may wish to consider submitting samples of the AMBA Ransomware, along with any encrypted content, to security researchers with the means of developing decryption applications at no charge.

Removing the AMBA Ransomware may not restore your website, but it will prevent future security issues or other attacks against new files on the same PC. Keeping the threat databases of your anti-malware products in updated condition will help them detect threats like the AMBA Ransomware immediately, as well as the Trojans that most likely may install them.

In the end, no matter what country you reside in, a trivial amount of time spent securing your server will save you potentially painful costs in the long run.

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