Hermes Ransomware

Posted: February 15, 2017

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:	89

First Seen:	February 15, 2017
Last Seen:	June 17, 2020
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Hermes Ransomware is a Trojan that may lock the files of your PC by encrypting them or display extortion-based messages to lock your screen. These attacks aren't always reversible, and PC users who care about preserving their files should use dutiful backup strategies to keep the Hermes Ransomware from causing any damage. Users with active anti-malware protection also may block and delete the Hermes Ransomware before it installs and begins encoding any of your local content.

A Not-So-Divine Messenger to Your Hard Drive

Although threat authors are efficient about reusing the components of old campaigns, the result to the victim sometimes is misleading or even, intentionally, an incorrect working information. For a current example, malware researchers are observing the Hermes Ransomware campaign, which delivers details about its payload through a ransom message from past attacks by a variety of separate threats. Readers assuming that the Trojan is operating in good faith may endanger their PCs further or waste money pointlessly, supposing that the Trojan is honest about the strength of its file-locking attacks.

As with most file-encryptor Trojans, the Hermes Ransomware holds both digital data and, potentially, the Windows UI hostage for the sake of extorting a Bitcoin-based currency from the PC's user. The primary symptoms occurring after an infection can include:

The Hermes Ransomware may encrypt your files using an algorithm malware experts have yet to identify (although a combination of the AES and RSA is very common). Filenames also experience modifications in the form of new extensions ('.HERMES'). Compatible programs, such as Word for DOC-based documents, are unable to interpret the encrypted file data until you decrypt them with a custom utility.
The Hermes Ransomware also creates HTML Web page-based ransom instructions, which con artists use for extorting payments for their decrypting help. The same series of instructions are already circulating throughout unrelated Trojan campaigns, although malware experts do note the updates to the e-mail addresses used for negotiations.
In some cases, Trojans like the Hermes Ransomware also may use their ransoming pop-ups to block your desktop or divert focus from other applications, locking you out of your operating system's user interface, as well as your files.

Keeping a Trojan from Playing a God of Bitcoins

Although its payload is similar to some previously-extant families of Trojans, the Hermes Ransomware has yet to display verifiable ties to other threat campaigns, although it's unlikely of being an original product strictly. Threat actors are prone to distributing file-encrypting Trojans through e-mail primarily, with brute-force attacks against RDP-enabled systems and bundled downloads serving as viable routes of secondary infection vectors. While the Hermes Ransomware claims to provide a 'sample' decryptor for free, due to restricted sample availability, no unlimited free decryptor is yet available.

Encrypted files aren't always recoverable. The risks of file damage include a corrupted encryption process or even the Hermes Ransomware failing to preserve the necessary key for decoding the data. However, very few file-encryption Trojans attack non-local backups. Saving copies of your files to cloud servers or storage devices can make them available for restoring without requiring paying any ransom fee (which, when implemented through methods like Bitcoin, is non-refundable). Otherwise, having your anti-malware applications removing the Hermes Ransomware before it begins enciphering your PC is the best defense malware experts can recommend.

Despite taking its name from Greek myths, the Hermes Ransomware shows no unusual features worthy of its deified title. Its authors are, as per the norm, strictly dependent on simple mistakes in network security and data storage being made by the victim before the attack even takes place.

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:

name.exe

File name: name.exe
Size: 543.19 KB (543195 bytes)
MD5: 6bbff3614efa6329bb43b2b0a6be8b9c
Detection count: 49
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file

%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\svchosta.exe

File name: svchosta.exe
Size: 52.22 KB (52224 bytes)
MD5: af93204bc5fa9b99c9b9b9012be9bb1b
Detection count: 19
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\svchosta.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: June 26, 2020