Home Malware Programs Ransomware Chimera Ransomware

Chimera Ransomware

Posted: September 24, 2015

Threat Metric

Ranking: 14,913
Threat Level: 10/10
Infected PCs: 61
First Seen: September 23, 2015
Last Seen: September 1, 2023
OS(es) Affected: Windows

The Chimera Ransomware is a file encryptor that blocks your access to your files so that the Chimera Ransomware can force you to pay a cash ransom. Although the symptoms of the Chimera Ransomware attacks are very high in visibility, third parties rely on the difficulty of casual file decryption encouraging their victims to pay ransoms promptly. Nevertheless, there are no guarantees of receiving a decryption key after rewarding con artists for their behavior, and malware experts advise using anti-malware products to remove the Chimera Ransomware, as a preferable resolution.

The Many Heads of Ransomware in Action

The creation of many, new variants of ransomware over the past few years isn't necessarily an indication that the strategy is failing at being profitable. However, con artists may prefer developing variants of their file encryptors for specific regions, such as one can see with the Chimera Ransomware. The Chimera Ransomware tailors its pop-up ransom messages to German and English-speaking PC users. As a result, its distribution is estimated to be targeting North Americans and German residents, although not necessarily exclusively.

Besides its poly-linguist capabilities, the Chimera Ransomware also implements attacks that malware experts long have noted as being standard to most ransomware campaigns. The Chimera Ransomware scans for files of specific formats on the infected machine and implements a simple encryption routine, which makes the files unavailable for reading by compatible software. The Chimera Ransomware also appends a '.crypt' extension to these files for easy identification.

The Chimera Ransomware's ransom message (a simple HTML pop-up) delivers approximately the same message to both audiences: demanding BitCoin transfers to an address in exchange for the decryption key that restores your files. Another interesting inclusion is a link to a third-party cloud storage page that hosts additional instructions, pointing to the Chimera Ransomware's perpetrators being happy to use commercial resources for their campaign.

Slaying a File Blocker with No Loss of Files

Perhaps ironically, the Chimera Ransomware's attacks can be stopped by using the same kind of Cloud storage services the Chimera Ransomware exploits to host your files in a safe location. Alternate methods of file recovery include using USB or DVD-based backups or retrieving freeware decryptor tools for reversing the damage to your files. In all cases, paying the ransom requested by the Chimera Ransomware is an uncertain means of reacquiring any lost data that you should discount as a plausible option. Likewise, visiting Web links distributed by threat authors is a potential danger to the further safety of your machine and should be avoided, if possible.

There are unconfirmed reports of the Chimera Ransomware's including a self-deletion function used only after the Chimera Ransomware encrypts any files on the hard drive. Regardless of whether you believe the Chimera Ransomware has uninstalled itself or not, any PC compromised by this threat should be scanned by at least one brand of dedicated anti-malware product. Deleting the Chimera Ransomware, much like Bellerophon's killing of the mythic beast of the same name, may require using more than one attempt at extermination.

Aliases

MSIL9.RN [AVG]MSIL/LXY.BIV!tr [Fortinet]Trojan.MSIL.Injector [Ikarus]Trj/CI.A [Panda]Artemis!60FABD1A2509 [McAfee]Trojan:Win32/Dynamer!ac [Microsoft]Trojan[Spy]/Win32.Selltim [Antiy-AVL]Troj/Ransom-BIV [Sophos]BehavesLike.Win32.BackdoorNJRat.dm [McAfee-GW-Edition]TROJ_GEN.R00XC0RIM15 [TrendMicro]Trojan.Encoder.1980 [DrWeb]Trojan-Spy.Win32.Selltim.sl [Kaspersky]Win32:Malware-gen [Avast]Suspicious.Cloud.2 [Symantec]Trojan ( 004cfc921 ) [K7AntiVirus]
More aliases (25)

Technical Details

File System Modifications

Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.

The following files were created in the system:



C:\Users\<username>\Downloads\The-MALWARE-Repo-master\The-MALWARE-Repo-master\Spyware\HawkEye.exe File name: HawkEye.exe
Size: 237.56 KB (237568 bytes)
MD5: 60fabd1a2509b59831876d5e2aa71a6b
Detection count: 28
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Users\<username>\Downloads\The-MALWARE-Repo-master\The-MALWARE-Repo-master\Spyware\HawkEye.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: September 1, 2023
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