ChinaYunLong Ransomware

Posted: July 20, 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:	37

First Seen:	July 20, 2017
Last Seen:	July 23, 2019
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The ChinaYunLong Ransomware is a Trojan that blocks your data to extort money from you afterward through its pop-up messages. The ChinaYunLong Ransomware's payload is targeting Chinese-speaking PC users, although malware researchers can confirm that its encryption attack is compatible with other Windows environments, regardless of their language support. Having anti-malware protection can block the ChinaYunLong Ransomware or delete it after it compromises your PC, and backups can alleviate any damages this threat might cause to your media.

A New Season for Media Extortion in China

Although most file-encoding threats malware experts are analyzing have an overall preference for English-based ransom notes, some Trojans use less general linguistic configurations. Trojans like the ChinaYunLong Ransomware, which attack the residents of individual nations, are more likely to be found in circulation through infection methods sharing that trait, such as an e-mail message containing contents of theoretical interest to the Chinese. However, even a PC user in America or Britain is equally vulnerable to its file-blocking encryption attacks.

The ChinaYunLong Ransomware blocks general formats of data, such as DOC, DOCX, PDF, TXT, JPG, PNG, and ZIP (text documents, pictures, and compressed archives, respectively) by converting each file with an encryption algorithm malware experts are still identifying. Any locked file is detectable by the '.yl' extensions that the ChinaYunLong Ransomware adds, which it places after any already present ones. The blocked content requires a compatible decryption routine before the user can open them again, which leads into the threat actor's apparent extortion plan.

The Trojan delivers its extortion recommendations through a window pop-up showing an icon imitating the 'Anonymous' hacktivist collective's mascot, the Trojan's name (in English), and other text in Chinese. Readers should note that for victims whose PCs lack any Chinese character support, the latter will display as gibberish, making even the chance of following the ChinaYunLong Ransomware's instructions impossible.

Cycling the Seasons Back to File Security

The ChinaYunLong Ransomware's executable is circulating with a name indicating that its threat actor may try to disguise it as a data management program, which could associate its infection vectors with free software websites, torrents, or even some kinds of e-mail spam. Only a few anti-malware products are detecting the ChinaYunLong Ransomware accurately, with some even misidentifying the Trojan as being adware or a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) that would pose less of a threat to your computer. Until a greater analysis of the Trojan's encryption cipher can occur, malware analysts can offer no judgments about whether any encoded content is retrievable through free or paid means.

Backing up your media can prevent the ChinaYunLong Ransomware from accessing the only copies of any content that's worth paying to recover. Because some threats of this category also make attempts to damage or delete localized backups, malware researchers always advise that you use protected cloud services or removable devices to keep your backups intact. Besides removing the ChinaYunLong Ransomware from an infected PC, anti-malware products also may block its arrival methods, including corrupted document and browser scripts.

A Trojan's payment plan being border-restricted doesn't always apply to the attacks it uses, as well. If they're not using backups or other forms of protection, even a Canadian, Jamaican or Egyptian PC user is equally vulnerable to attacks from the Chinese ChinaYunLong Ransomware.

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: 906.24 KB (906240 bytes)
MD5: a11828339f07c41bdf234317c6418b7f
Detection count: 21
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file