Calipso.god@aol.com Ransomware

Posted: September 8, 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:	31

First Seen:	September 8, 2016
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The 'Calipso.god@aol.com' Ransomware is a Trojan that holds your files hostage until you pay a ransom. Because the 'Calipso.god@aol.com' Ransomware uses data-enciphering attacks that may be difficult or impossible to decode, malware experts recommend protecting the contents of your PC with backups on other systems, rather than by paying its fee. This threat will conceal its program files from the user, and anti-malware tools always should be used for removing the 'Calipso.god@aol.com' Ransomware efficiently.

A Trojan Detaining Sequestering Your Files All to Itself

Although the original Greek reference evokes images of nymphs waylaying famous heroes on islands, 'Calipso' soon may come to be more closely associated with Trojans capturing files than with the Greek mythology. The 'Calipso.god@aol.com' Ransomware is a Trojan whose campaign is persisting from April to August of 2016, targeting victims in both eastern and western Europe. The most likely distribution method is e-mail spam, which is consistent with old patterns among file encrypting threats.

After it infects your PC, the 'Calipso.god@aol.com' Ransomware scans all accessible drives for data associated with prominent but non-essential formats. Microsoft Office spreadsheets and documents are archetypal examples of content attacked by threats of this classification. The Trojan uses an unknown ciphering technique to block these files and place its con artists in the plausible position of asking for payment before they help you decode them.

Besides encoding them, the 'Calipso.god@aol.com' Ransomware appends extra characters to the names of the above files. The 'Calipso.god@aol.com' Ransomware shares similarities in its naming format with a small number of previously analyzed threats, including the Vipasana Ransomware and the Rector Ransomware. The affected content is detectable by noting the version number, ID number, e-mail address and, most visibly, the '.cbf' extension at the end.

Bringing a Trojan 'God' Down to Earth

In the eyes of its administrators, the 'Calipso.god@aol.com' Ransomware's most important feature is the ransom message it hijacks the victim's desktop background for displaying. This message exhorts the victims to pay a ransom within forty-eight hours before the Trojan deletes their files and makes claims of using an exceptionally durable encryption technique based on an RSA-1024 algorithm. PC users versed in this industry will note that the wording is copied and pasted from past campaigns and that the encryption algorithm citation is inaccurate.

Although its boasts of using high-bit ciphers are not tenable, malware experts have yet to note any vulnerabilities that would allow the 'Calipso.god@aol.com' Ransomware to be decrypted at no charge, so far. While research continues, PC owners should use other data security measures, including having backups that give them ways of restoring content not relying on saving the original files. Dedicated anti-malware software can delete the 'Calipso.god@aol.com' Ransomware, and you should do so before you introduce any new, potentially irreplaceable data to the PC.

The 'Calipso.god@aol.com' Ransomware places itself in a strong bargaining position but is far from being a god among men. All of the usual, previously-recommended safety measures for stopping other file encryption Trojans should suffice for crippling its ongoing campaign.

Calipso.god@aol.com Ransomware

Threat Metric

A Trojan Detaining Sequestering Your Files All to Itself

Bringing a Trojan 'God' Down to Earth

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