Gingerbread Ransomware

Posted: November 14, 2016

Threat Metric

The Threat Meter is a malware assessment that SpywareRemove.com's research team is able to give every identifiable malware threat. Our Threat Meter includes several criteria based off of specific malware threats to value their severity, reach and volume. The Threat Meter is able to give you a numerical breakdown of each threat's initial Threat Level, Detection Count, Volume Count, Trend Path and Percentage Impact. The overall ranking of each threat in the Threat Meter is a basic breakdown of how all threats are ranked within our own extensive malware database. The scoring for each specific malware threat can be easily compared to other emerging threats to draw a contrast in its particular severity. The Threat Meter is a useful tool in the endeavor of seeking a solution to remove a threat or pursue additional analytical research for all types of computer users.

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.

Threat Level:	10/10
Infected PCs:	39

First Seen:	November 14, 2016
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Gingerbread Ransomware is a crypto-threat designed to focus on residents of Russian-speaking countries. The ransomware is not that widely spread as of November 2016, but malware researchers have intercepted a working sample successfully, which reveals some interesting facts about the way the Gingerbread Ransomware operates, and it how it extorts its victims for money. The ransomware uses a ransom note written in Russian, and an English version was not found in the sample that malware researchers analyzed. The peculiar thing about the ransom message is that its author has written it as a short 'story,' which tells victims that grandpa & grandma have lost their house, and they need money to get it back... money that they'll get by receiving ransom fees from victims of the Gingerbread Ransomware. It goes without saying that this sort of story should not win the sympathies of ransomware victims, and if you become a victim of the Gingerbread Ransomware, you should not agree to pay the ransom fee under any circumstances.

The Russian ransom message that the Gingerbread Ransomware delivers does not specify the amount of money that victims need to pay to have their files restored. It only tells them to contact kolobocheg@aol.com by sending the randomly generated victim ID found in the ransom note. The ransom message also instructs victims to visit a dead website, which should be hosted at hxxp;//filesencoded.com. However, as of November 2016, this page is inactive, and there is nothing useful there. Some file extensions that the Gingerbread Ransomware may use are *.HELP@AUSI.COM_Xqxxx, *.sos@ausi.com_Zqxxx, *.SAD@FIREMAN.NET_Amxxx, *.COMODO@EXECS.COM_hexxxx, *.SOS@AUSI.COM_Idxxx, *.ZANZIBAR@umpire.com_Zaxxx, *.REDBULL@PRIEST.COM_Rbxxx, and others.

Unfortunately, victims of the Gingerbread Ransomware can't rely on free decryption software to help them tackle this ransomware. The best thing they can do, for now, is to use a reputable anti-malware utility to remove the corrupted files from their computers and stop the Gingerbread Ransomware from causing more damage. Recovering the files damaged by the Gingerbread Ransomware is not guaranteed to work since the encryption routine this crypto-threat uses has not been cracked by cyber security experts successfully. However, victims of this threat might be able to recover some data partially with the assistance of advanced file recovery utilities or features such as Windows System Restore.

Gingerbread Ransomware

Threat Metric

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