AutoLocky Ransomware
Posted: April 19, 2016
Threat Metric
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.
Ranking: | 5,207 |
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Threat Level: | 10/10 |
Infected PCs: | 31,319 |
First Seen: | April 19, 2016 |
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Last Seen: | October 11, 2023 |
OS(es) Affected: | Windows |
The AutoLocky Ransomware is a Trojan that uses the AES file encryption for blocking you from opening your data. While the AutoLocky Ransomware includes some visual elements of the '.locky File Extension' Ransomware, malware experts determined that these two threats are completely unrelated. However, the usual data protection strategies, along with using anti-malware products for uninstalling the AutoLocky Ransomware, still are the most viable solution to an infection.
The Script Trojan that Thinks Too Highly of Itself
Although the most secure and well-coded examples of threatening software might make notable waves throughout PC security media, not all coders have the ability to create efficient threat projects. Some con artists may choose to confuse the origins of their inferior wares with more well-known Trojans, which you can see in the AutoLocky Ransomware campaign. By implying that its attacks are part of the payload of a '.locky File Extension' Ransomware, this threat misleads its victims into believing that their data is more unrecoverable than it is.
Like the '.locky File Extension' Ransomware, the AutoLocky Ransomware uses file encryption (based on an AES-128 standard) to block content on the infected hard drive, with any files renamed to the usual '.locky' format. The AutoLocky Ransomware transfers the machine-specific decryption key to a remote server, although, unlike the Trojan it imitates, the AutoLocky Ransomware makes no use of the Tor Browser. Dropped text and Web page files ask the victims to pay over three hundred USD in Bitcoin value to buy the con artists' decryption solution. Until then, any compatible programs can't read the affected files.
The AutoLocky Ransomware has the outer characteristics that malware experts would expect to see in most file encryption Trojans, but the AutoLocky Ransomware also includes significant vulnerabilities. Other PC security entities already have produced working decryptors for the AutoLocky Ransomware, largely as the result of the threat's using the AutoIT scripting language. The original '.locky File Extension' Ransomware utilizes C++, making it more difficult for security researchers to decompile and analyze the program.
The AutoLocky Ransomware's distribution methods are unconfirmed, although it does use PDF icons for concealing its executable file.
All the Extra Keys to Unlocking an AutoLocky Ransomware Infection
Although an AutoLocky Ransomware attack can place an immediate blockade on your saved data, this Trojan is dependent on a false air of impenetrability for acquiring its ransom payments. Besides the serious AutoIt decompilation issue that is most likely the mark of the original coder's inexperience, the AutoLocky Ransomware also makes a particularly unforgivable mistake: failing to delete local backup data. With intact Shadow Volume Copies, Windows users can restore their files without worrying about needing to decrypt them one by one. The more secure backup methods recommended by malware experts for general data protection, such as restoration from USB devices or cloud servers, also are just as effective.
Always disinfect your system before enacting a recovery plan from the effects of a Trojan's attack. Although the AutoLocky Ransomware is a relatively primitive, unsophisticated threat, the AutoLocky Ransomware still is accurately classifiable as a threatening software designed with the explicit intent of harming your PC and defrauding you. Run any applicable anti-malware tools from within Safe Mode while deleting the AutoLocky Ransomware. Current versions of the AutoLocky Ransomware also fail to conceal their memory processes or startup tasks, both of which you may monitor through the usual Windows applications.
The AutoLocky Ransomware shows the surprising frailty that can be behind a seemingly implacable Trojan payload. Keeping a clear head during an infection can do just as much to help resolve the attack as having the proper anti-malware defenses.
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