Karma Ransomware

Posted: November 15, 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:	5

First Seen:	November 15, 2016
Last Seen:	December 8, 2020
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Karma Ransomware is a Trojan that compromises your PC by installing itself when you download third-party software and blocks your files to ransom them. Making regular backups that you don't store on your local drive is one method malware experts recommend for making a recovery from these attacks efficient and cost-free. However, you always should strive to remove the Karma Ransomware or stop its installation with your anti-malware security before it has a chance to render permanent harm to your saved data potentially.

Some Bad Karma for Trusting the Wrong Software Sites

For con artists running threat campaigns, figuring out how to install their software can be the most vulnerable and sensitive phase, even more so than the initial coding. Although malware experts most often tie recent campaigns to inevitable misuses of e-mail, not all threat actors prefer spam-based attacks. The Karma Ransomware's author uses a much less targeted technique of bundling his file-encrypting Trojan with another program, out of hopes that suitable victims will install it.

The Karma Ransomware bundles itself in ZIP archives with installers for Windows Tuneup at the windows-tuneup.com website. The latter product, a system optimizer that claims to improve your PC's performance, is rated as being a threatening software by significant portions of the PC security industry, and malware experts classify it as a Potentially Unwanted Program (or PUP) currently. After a PC user decompresses the ZIP and runs through the installation process, the Karma Ransomware launches some features of its own: encrypting your files with a cipher, after which it drops a pop-up message.

The Karma Ransomware's pop-up claims that the Trojan already has removed itself from your computer, possible to confuse victims into believing that the instructions are warnings from unrelated parties. The message sells a Karma Decryptor program for reversing the file-blocking effects of the Karma Ransomware's payload, but only after you agree to pay a fee.

Breaking Your Files out of the Karmic Cycle

The Karma Ransomware is much less narrowly-aimed than most file-encryption Trojans' campaigns, and its distribution methods don't target specific businesses, governments or NGOs. However, for PC users needing to improve their system's performance, the Karma Ransomware's disguise offers a suitable infection vector with no warnings until after the attack concludes. As recently determined by malware analysts, the Karma Ransomware does use code obfuscation to conceal itself from being detected by security software and maintains its system persistence with a combination of memory-injected modules and scheduled tasks.

The Karma Ransomware will not display an independent process necessarily, and it and related threats may impede your security software. When removing the Karma Ransomware, always reboot your PC and select Safe Mode through the method recommended by your operating system's developer. Most anti-malware products using their latest databases should be capable of detecting the Karma Ransomware as a threat, although malware experts noted some cases of its incorrect classification as a backdoor Trojan.

Although no decryption solutions have been made available for reversing the Karma Ransomware's encoding attacks, you can help appropriate security companies by providing samples of quarantined threats and encrypted data. For now, malware experts' can encourage no data-preserving guidelines more essential than watching what you download from dubious websites and backing all data up as a matter of habit.

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:

file.exe

File name: file.exe
Size: 728.32 KB (728328 bytes)
MD5: 1cb51c130e6f75f11c095b122e008bbc
Detection count: 70
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: November 15, 2016