'A_Princ@aol.com' Ransomware

Posted: August 24, 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.

Ranking:	17,317
Threat Level:	10/10
Infected PCs:	54

First Seen:	August 24, 2016
Last Seen:	August 15, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The 'A_princ@aol.com' Ransomware is a Trojan that uses the encryption technology to hold the contents of your PC hostage. In theory, paying the ransom may provide you with one data recovery solution, although malware experts recommend alternatives not provided by the con artists at a high fee. Whether or not data recovery is an issue, use a proven anti-malware product to delete the 'A_princ@aol.com' Ransomware and stop any further attacks.

A New Line on the Road Map of Ransomware

The threatening software industry has shown a clear focus on using threats as construction kits for third-party con artists, making profits off of selling the means to break the law, rather than launching attacks of their own. This model makes for frequent releases of near-clones of old threats, such as Crysis Ransomware and 'Grand_car@aol.com' Ransomware, or the even newer the 'A_princ@aol.com' Ransomware. Although all the three threats route extortion money through slightly different communication channels, all of them share employing file encryption to damage your computer's data (potentially permanently).

Predominant symptoms of an the 'A_princ@aol.com' Ransomware's attacks include:

Seeing your desktop wallpaper forcibly changed and locked to a ransom message. This message uses a default graphic that malware experts have seen in other campaigns, along with new text that claims that the 'A_princ@aol.com' Ransomware's administrators are 'technical support.'
The 'A_princ@aol.com' Ransomware scans for non-essential files (ones not required by your operating system, as determined by their locations and extensions) and runs them through an encryption routine. Most Trojans of the 'A_princ@aol.com' Ransomware's family use a combination of AES and RSA. Malware experts did note the continuing usage of the '.xtbl' extension for the names of affected data, which is an attribute shared with another family of Trojans. The 'A_princ@aol.com' Ransomware also will insert its personal e-mail address into their names.

Paying a Prince's Ransom for Your Files – or Nothing at All

The 'A_princ@aol.com' Ransomware uses e-mail messages while avoiding any overt mention of its ransom fees, as a social engineering technique for gaining the victim's initial trust. In most cases, con artists will pretend to offer a decryptor for threats like the 'A_princ@aol.com' Ransomware, and only demand money after the victim has downloaded additional (and potentially threatening) software. Entities within the PC security sector are working on developing decryption solutions for threats associated with the 'A_princ@aol.com' Ransomware currently, which should be available for free.

The potential dearth of working decryptors forces malware experts to encourage the general usage of good backup strategies, such as keeping automatic backup schedules for cloud accounts. Doing so lets you restore any data that the 'A_princ@aol.com' Ransomware attacks without decryption being a potential technical obstacle.

Anti-malware products are useful both for blocking the infection vectors of this Trojan and removing the 'A_princ@aol.com' Ransomware outright. When new campaigns leveraging digital extortion are being produced almost daily, scanning an e-mail attachment, or social networking link, can be the simplest way to save your files from permanent encryption.

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:

%WINDIR%\System32\Payload.exe

File name: Payload.exe
Size: 155.64 KB (155648 bytes)
MD5: ebcdda10fdfaa38e417d25977546df4f
Detection count: 37
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %WINDIR%\System32
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: August 15, 2023